The Causey Consulting Podcast

It's easy for someone else to tell you what to do. Ya know, like "rules for thee, but not for me." I heard it a lot when I was running my business that failed. "Well, I mean, I wouldn't  go work an overnight shift at the DG for $8/hr but, I mean, you could." The same thing has gone on during the peak FOMO & YOLO of the housing market as well. "Oh, your house is a major investment. Probably the biggest one you'll ever have. Don't you want this? Can't you pick up 5 more jobs to afford it?" Reminds me of the mortgage broker who told me, "I'd never take out an ARM, but, I mean, you could if you want to." 😠

I've been ringing the alarm bell for months now. The Fed wants to crash the job market. They want to see unemployment go up. So what would you do if picking up another job is not an option? What if you can't work a full-time job and then operate 2 or 3 side hustles to afford something? What then? Personally, those are questions I would want to seriously contemplate before making any type of major purchase.

Links I discuss in this episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtLiCatmVsY

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/venessawong/housing-market-buyers-remorse-homeowner-regret

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Key topics:

✔️ ICYMI news, 10/23 - 10/28.
✔️ The Dollar Tree is the $1.25 tree with some items now $3, $5 & $7. Even the discount stores are not very discount anymore.
✔️More and more neighborhoods showing economic distress. I drove by a neighborhood that was built around 2006 or 2007 during the 125% loans + no money down fiasco, and some of the houses are falling apart.
✔️ Lots of articles going up against remote work - will they be fired first, remote work is disappearing, out of sight out of mind, etc. It's not a buried thesis. They want you back.


Links I mention:

https://medium.com/@sara_causey/how-can-this-be-surprising-d85892ed9228

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-whats-really-hurting-the-economy-100027920.html

https://www.barrons.com/articles/jobs-hiring-layoffs-cuts-labor-market-robert-half-earnings-51666373299

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/24/more-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-as-inflation-outpaces-income.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/not-time-greedy-home-flippers-110000999.html

https://tinyurl.com/3a6nthvr

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/juul-reportedly-discussing-bailout-5021881/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/the-lasting-effects-of-remote-work-6039074/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uKibtKuSe8

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6988501096616861696/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/remote-work-ads-are-disappearing-5020553/

https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2022/08/23/i-told-you-so-%f0%9f%8e%b6/

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-10-26/remote-workers-may-be-the-first-let-go-in-recession-related-layoffs

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxcVdTNR9r6iqa81-V35NQ8JGMFACeDD7T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfXxmRvxLoE&t=1239s

https://tinyurl.com/ytdzesp4

https://tinyurl.com/59hnmuzb

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/
Siren courtesy of Pixabay. 

On September 28th, I bucked the social media trend and told you that GM walking back its RTO mandate was temporary. It didn't represent a total capitulation on RTO in favor of WFH. Instead, IMO, it was a temporary stop-gap for people to either warm up to coming back or leave. And now we're here: "GM employees will be back in the office next year. Not all of them are happy." Told ya so!

Key topics:

✔️ More predictions from me: 3 days in the office will eventually transition to 5 days in the office. I do not believe hybrid work is being set up as a permanent model for most companies. Many people who work that way don't even like it and I just don't see it being a permanent thing.
✔️ Workplace feudalism as well as just *gestures broadly* feudalism in general is becoming too obvious to ignore. Is it really about "in person collaboration" or is it about compliance and obedience?
✔️ Be wary of people on social media who want to give you hot air and hopium. They might be lulling you into a happy coma that won't end particularly well.


Links I discuss in this episode:

https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2022/09/28/imagine-that/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2022/10/22/gm-employees-will-be-back-in-the-office-next-year-not-all-are-happy/69581964007/?gnt-cfr=1

https://survivingtomorrow.org/not-content-to-destroy-affordable-housing-investors-are-now-buying-trailer-parks-and-jacking-rents-f1e9b5d2a60b

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/11368300


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Let's kill the notion of forced corporate fun. You know what I'm talking about. The kind of bull 💩 that strikes fear in the heart of every introvert working for you...
Happy Hours... Team Building Events... Trust Falls... Lunch'n'learns... Saturday BBQs at Bob's house... 🙅🏻‍♀️

A recent viral TikTok where not even the person who organized the event showed up says a lot. 

Links I mention in this episode:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/viral-tiktok-proves-no-one-wants-to-go-back-to-the-office/437278

https://medium.com/@sara_causey/company-culture-bull-ff84efe99d3d

https://medium.com/codex/company-mandatory-fun-please-stop-30fae048df77


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Key topics:

✔️ ICYMI news, 10/17 - 10/21.
✔️ 1 in 4 Americans say they will skip Thanksgiving this year due to the costs. But on the same day, CNBC is telling us how great the stonk market is. Uh, is that helping any of you in any real way?
✔️"Credit reporting agency Equifax has turned its own employment record tracking tool on its own employees." IMAGINE THAT! Corpo America using a tool against you? Why, clutch my pearls, I can't hardly imagine such a thing. 🙄
✔️ TRAPs to trap you into not quitting a job prematurely? The only thing that surprises me about that is how surprised the general public seems to be. I mean... did you really think Corpo America wouldn't pull some 💩 like this?


Links I mention:

https://tinyurl.com/3fx8z5mr

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/will-holidays-bring-big-spending-5009905/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/goldman-sachs-in-huge-reshuffle-5007825/

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2022-10-17/its-time-to-say-so-long-to-inflated-wages

https://www.tastingtable.com/1056373/why-walmart-is-laying-off-almost-1500-employees/

https://tech.co/news/equifax-fires-overemployed-second-job

https://tinyurl.com/yc43vwrt

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gary-cohn-on-inflation-relief-were-going-to-have-to-see-job-destruction-100417449.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/19/heres-what-the-wells-fargo-cross-selling-scandal-means-for-the-bank.html

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/workers-handed-big-bills-for-quitting-5005297/

https://tinyurl.com/4wppwuk6

https://theintercept.com/2022/07/29/bank-of-america-worker-conditions-worse/

https://tinyurl.com/2paw49uz

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/workers-not-too-worried-about-layoffs-6044578/

https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2022/10/18/ding-ding-ding/

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/whats-next-for-great-resignation-in-a-recession/


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/
Siren courtesy of Pixabay. 

"It's all about money, not freedom. Nothing to do with freedom. If you think you're free, try going somewhere without money."

" Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control again... You are free to do what we tell you!"
-Both quotes from Bill Hicks

I recently watched the documentary "Neuromarketing: How Brands are Manipulating Your Brain | Consumer Decisions Documentary" on Java Discover. One of the training modules I have used in my coaching practice is titled, "Humans Are Emotional Creatures" because, well, we are. Even though people might love to think they make business and financial decisions using cold, pure logic... ❌ nope!

In this documentary, they use the dictionary definition of manipulation as "shrewd or devious management, especially for one's own advantage," particularly when the other person does not know that's what you're doing.

So what happens and what are the ethics involved when companies intentionally use neuroscience as neuromarketing? In other words: is it ethical when you are manipulated into making certain decisions without the knowledge that you are being manipulated?

Links I mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNbDw4NUf-Q

https://www.smh.com.au/national/rewriting-the-rule-book-so-dining-out-doesnt-leave-a-bad-taste-20130608-2nx3d.html

https://hbr.org/2019/01/neuromarketing-what-you-need-to-know

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/14/yuval-noah-harari-the-new-threat-to-liberal-democracy


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Recently, Orlando Miner published a great video titled, "The Housing Market Bubble Just Popped." Someone needs to tell greedy sellers here in the Midwest LOL. A lot of them haven't gotten the memo yet.

At about 8:30, he makes the comment about "sitting out with purpose" and that concept is amazing, IMO.

Key topics:

✔️ My friend, Eric, likes to say, "You're not waiting. You're persisting. There's a difference."
✔️ Even as these markets are changing, there are still brokers and realtors who will tell you to overpay for a 💩 house. It reminds me of the dog sitting in flames saying, "This is fine."
✔️ Ultimately, you gotta do you. Because when the dust settles, everyone else walks away. That broker or that realtor is not gonna help you make the monthly payment if things get tight.


Link I mention in this episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ujEelk8Lk

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

As I've said many times before: IMO, naivete is coming at too high of a price these days. BoA is warning: "US economy will soon start losing 175,000 jobs a month." They also predict job losses all through 2023. Do you have a job loss survival plan? Who is your first job-related phone call after a layoff? A good rule of thumb: 3 is 2, 2 is 1, 1 is none.

This information is not coming to you from weird fringe media outlets or banks no one ever heard of. You are literally being told by CNN and BoA that job losses loom large on the horizon. If you know of someone who needs to hear this, please share this episode with them.

Links I reference:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/economy/jobs-recession-unemployment/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fed-interest-rate-hikes-unemployment-increase-layoffs-inflation/


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

In the same way that real estate websites are FINALLY starting to admit the housing market is a hot mess, we're seeing the early wave of reports that the labor market isn't quite so hawt either.

IMO, the new narrative appears to be: Yeah, OK, the job market is slowing down but, like, you don't need to worry about layoffs. Really?!?

Article I reference:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/6/23388247/layoffs-recession-labor-market


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/