MGR Unplugged

Earnings Season! David joins Manuel at MGR Unplugged to discuss 2nd Quarter earnings reports from some of our favorite companies, including Starbucks, Intel, Alphabet (Google), Tesla, Facebook, Amazon, and more!

• Starbucks Earnings:  We love coffee and apparently, a lot of people love Starbucks too!
• Snap Earnings: Finally the stock price gets back to its IPO range!  
• Intel: Good numbers, but we wonder about their future... Are they starting to fall back?
• Google Earnings: After a disappointing first quarter, revenues are back up in the second quarter.  Ad revenues dominate.
• Tesla Earnings: Oh boy... Tesla is down.  Production issues again.  But we've heard that before.
• PayPal Earnings: Not what investors expected, but we think they will do better next quarter.
• Facebook Earnings: The Teflon company.  No matter all the negative press, revenues keep going up and up and up again!
• Amazon Earnings: Not bad considering their new Prime 1 Day Delivery ate part of their profit.  But who's brave enough to bet against Amazon?
• Antitrust Probe: Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon... will be watching very thoroughly to see what the US Dept. of Justice has to say about their Antitrust investigation.  Stay tuned.... wait! you already are, right?

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On the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, David joins Manuel at MGR Unplugged to chat about some of the latest trending topics, including:

David's interview with Joshua Browder, the developer of the “Do Not Pay” App (Apple Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/donotpay/id1427999657 

The DoNotPay app is the home of the world's first robot lawyer. Fight corporations, beat bureaucracy and sue anyone at the press of a button. This app is completely free and you keep 100% of what you save.  You can listen to the full interview on our sister podcast at www.MGREdge.com

Elon Musk's Neuralink Presentation.
The N1 Implant and what applications it may have in the future.  You can view his presentation here: https://youtu.be/lA77zsJ31nA

Amazon Prime’s first results.  

• Amazon says this year’s Prime Day surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined
• Amazon said it sold over 100,000 laptops, 200,000 televisions, 300,000 headphones, 350,000 luxury beauty products and more than 1 million toys.
• In the U.S., it said top-selling items were the LifeStraw Personal Water Filter, the Instant Pot DUO60 and 23andMe health and ancestry kits.
• The online retailer, which didn’t disclose an actual sales figure in the press release, called the two-day sale across 18 countries the “largest shopping event in Amazon history.” Last year’s Prime Day only ran for 36 hours.
• Data compiled from CNBC's article here: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/amazon-announces-prime-day-2019-results.html

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One of the most popular online shopping platforms today – Shopify- has developed a very seamless integration between its software and Facebook/Instagram for this very reason: to create a seamless shopping experience for all visitors and shoppers. And now Shopify is going even further by launching its own fulfillment network.

We discuss how Shopify's new feature will benefit current Shopify users and how it could possibly affect Amazon's own FBA Program.

We dig deeper into ad advanced advertising techniques between Shopify and Facebook/Instagram

Product Page Retargeting

Learn how to run ads to anyone who visited a product page without purchasing.

By starting with your retargeting and loyalty campaigns, you're building a sales funnel that captures all those eventual visitors, whether or not they purchased from you. This way, every time you spend money in your awareness campaign, you'll know that the visitor you created will continue to get exposure to your brand, long after they visited your site. 

Starting with retargeting and loyalty might not be as exciting as getting new customers, but if you're serious about building your business for long-term success, it's the best place to start!

Understanding Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)

Facebook dynamic product ads promote relevant products to customers who have visited your online store. Facebook tracks visitor behavior on your online store using the Facebook pixel, and then builds an audience of visitors who were active on your store in the last 30 days. Dynamic product ads are shown as personalized Facebook carousel ads for each visitor, and include the products they viewed or added to their cart.

Dynamic product ads automatically promote your inventory to people who have expressed interest on your website. Dynamic ads look exactly like other single image ads, or collection ads on Facebook and Instagram; however, instead of individually creating an ad for every item you promote, you create an ad template that automatically uses images and details from your catalog for items you'd like to advertise.

Facebook uses a product catalog to create dynamic product ads. After you set up the Facebook Marketing app in Shopify, your products are automatically synced to Facebook for use in dynamic product ads. You might see publishing errors listed in the Facebook Marketing app. You can resolve these errors from the product details page for a product with errors.

With Facebook + Shopify Integration - The Small Business Challenge

1) For more proficient advertisers or businesses engaging the services of an Ad Agency:  If you want FULL control over your Dynamic Product Ads, you will prefer to take  advantage of Facebook's built-in creative tools.  The step-by-step process is a bit more complex but definitely worth the effort.

2) If you're a self-starter of can't afford contracting an agency for now, you will probably prefer to use Shopify's new integration with Facebook. It’s a more simple process with fewer features but you can still automate DPAs directly inside Shopify without ever having to leave the Admin. Not the ideal long term solution but it will do the job in the short term.

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My guest today is a very honest and inspirational man.  His name is Anthony “Doc” Ameen.  He’s a combat veteran who was severely wounded in 2008 while operating in Afghanistan.  He underwent 34 surgeries to reconstruct several parts of his body, however, the lower half of his left leg had to be amputated.

He’s been featured in Huffington Post, People Magazine, and The New York Times, among other publications, and he’s also the recipient of the Purple Heart, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat Valor Distinction, and two Veteran of the Year Awards.  

This conversation is intense at times as we recount the most excruciating times of his life.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please leave us a comment for him or for all other combat veterans who are in need of our support as they return home from duty. 

Brief Bio:

Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1981, “Doc” Ameen enlisted in the U.S. Navy, becoming a Hospital Corpsman. In 2008, Doc was deployed with the 2nd Battalion/7th Marines 1st Marine Division in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, and was critically wounded while running to render medical aid to a severely wounded Marine. After 34 surgeries, and almost 3 years of physical therapy, Doc regained walking. 

In 2011, he was inspired to help other veterans struggling with their recoveries. Doc founded Wings For Warriors, a nationally recognized non-profit organization that helps veterans’ families travel to visit their wounded heroes; also providing benefits counseling and resources to negotiate health care benefits. Wings For Warriors has served more than 5.000 wounded warriors and 300 military families nationwide. 

Anthony now happily lives in Phoenix with his family, wife, and four children.

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In this episode, Manuel is joined by David Gil, host of The Edge Podcast, to go over some of the books we've been reading lately.  We cover the pros and cons of the various book formats, eBooks, audiobooks, physical books, as well as some of the books that we have read lately that we feel have made an influence in our everyday lives. 

We start our conversation talking about how we've transitioned from the traditional book format to eBooks and Audio Books.  Which format we prefer for each particular type of book or genre as well as the pros and cons of each of them.

How the closing of a number of book stores has also affected our reading habits by not being able to go to the store to be browsing through books and titles the traditional way before deciding which one to buy.

During the podcast, David and Manuel mention a variety of books and authors, including:

David's Mentions:

• Shoe Dog
• Tesla by Margaret Cheney
• Walter Isaacson Biographies: Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, George Washington
• The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• Pre-Suasion
• Only the Paranoid Survive
• Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
• The Selfish Gene
• Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Manuel's Mentions:

• The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humanity
• Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
• Ego is the Enemy: Ryan Holiday
• Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think
• Jenson Button: Life to the Limit
• 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
• The Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
• Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
• Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

There are many more books in our library but we only had 45 minutes to talk about them!  Share your picks with us and stay tuned to future episodes about books we love in the future.  

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A decade ago, the cars that can drive themselves were just a subject of sci-fi movies.  But today, due to companies like Waymo, Tesla, Ford and many others, autonomous vehicles are quickly becoming a reality.  Here's a glimpse of where we are beyond the headlines. 

There are five benchmark levels established to define autonomous features.  They range from Level Zero, where the vehicle is not automated at all, to Level 5, which means it can drive itself on all roads and in all conditions, making the human behind the wheel - and the steering wheel itself - redundant.

Current "driver assistance" systems are Level 2 in the jargon, and the driver is meant to keep his or her hands firmly on the wheel.

We review the two major technologies being tested: lidar sensors and camera sensors and discuss the pros and cons of each of them.  Will there be a winner or will the two technologies co-exist with cars using both of them sharing the roads?

KPMG Study: The study rated countries on 26 variables within 4 pillars: 

• policy & legislation
• technology & innovation
• infrastructure
• consumer acceptance

Netherlands, Singapore, USA, Sweden and the UK are the top five countries best prepared for autonomous vehicles.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk claims Tesla will have 1 million robo-taxis on the roads next year.  However, we acknowledge that he's missed the mark before and legislation may not be ready for such claim. 

On the commercial side, self-driving technology may be ready sooner rather than later and it could take jobs away from people like truck drivers, delivery drivers and other individuals working in the transportation sector.

Always and interesting topic that we will very likely revisit in the near future. Take a listen and let me know what you think!

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In this episode, Manuel is joined by David Gil, host of The Edge Podcast, to go over the best live TV streaming services for cord-cutters. Pros and cons of each of them and the types of features that you should be looking for if you’re planning to cut the cord.  

Some of the options that we discuss include: 

• YouTube TV
• DirecTV Now 
• Hulu With Live TV
• PlayStation Vue 
• Sling TV 

All of the above offer a viable alternative to your traditional cable subscriptions, however, each of them offers a different mix of channels.  But especially, not all of them offer your local area network affiliates such as ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.  So yes, that’s another consideration if that’s important for you. And Sports!  If you follow your local team, we also cover what streaming services are best for sports fans.

Finally, if Live TV is not your thing, below are the current household names with Disney+ about to join the field in November 2019.   

• NETFLIX 
• Amazon Prime
• Disney + 

So take a listen and let us know what you think!  Or maybe you just love your current cable option?

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In this episode, Manuel is joined by David Gil, MGR Agency's Amazon expert to go over the latest news related to Amazon's Sellers, Vendors and Advertisers.  A must listen for all businesses selling on Amazon!

• 01:30 - Amazon Sellers and Amazon Vendors.  Understanding the difference
• 03:30 - Why some big brands are deciding to switch to Seller Central and leave their Vendor status
• 04:30 - Advertising on Amazon.  Different options for Sellers and Vendors.  Which is best?
• 08:00 - The importance of Amazon Brand Registry
• 12:30 - The new Amazon Live Streaming service.  What you need to know
• 14:30 - Amazon Product Sample Program.  
• 17:30 - Why Amazon is becoming the number one search engine for product searches
• 23:00 - Amazon Prime Shipping.  Now rolling out free next day shipping in certain areas
• 26:00 - Setting up your Amazon store.  Challenges that you may encounter in the process

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Today's episode was a short conversation discussing both the challenges and opportunities that exist in the now digital first business world. How can companies adapt and thrive?

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