In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcome Beth Benike, CEO of Busy Baby, a baby product company featured on Shark Tank and NPR’s How I Built This. Benike, a former Army veteran and mother, shares the story of Busy Baby, which started with a silicone placemat that suctions to surfaces and tethers toys to keep them off the ground.

Now offering eight interchangeable products, the company faces a crisis due to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, with $158,000 of inventory stuck in China and tariffs soaring to $230,000—far exceeding the anticipated $30,000 for a 20-30% rate. Manufacturing in the U.S. isn’t viable due to the lack of raw silicone material, high minimum order requirements, and costly equipment (e.g., $4.5 million for one product line).

Benike highlights the ripple effect on small businesses, like trucking firms and port workers, as imports stall and shelves risk going empty, potentially disrupting holiday sales since 80% of U.S. toys come from China. She plans to pivot to selling in Europe, Canada, and Australia, despite unfamiliar markets, as tariffs make U.S. sales unsustainable.

The discussion also touches on unfair tariff exemptions for large companies like Lenovo, leaving small businesses like Busy Baby struggling, and the broader economic threat to jobs and consumer spending. Benike remains determined to protect her team and find solutions, urging listeners to visit busybaby.com.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to Busy Baby and Beth Benike

01:28 - The Journey of a Veteran Entrepreneur

03:24 - Manufacturing Decisions: The China Dilemma

06:02 - Tariffs and Their Impact on Small Businesses

10:01 - The Future of Retail: Empty Shelves Ahead

12:07 - The Ripple Effect of Manufacturing Challenges

17:38 - Exploring Alternatives: Europe and Beyond

21:17 - Intellectual Property and Relationships in China

25:05 - The Disparity Between Small and Large Businesses

28:05 - The Human Element: Team and Community Impact

32:11 - Conclusion: The Bigger Picture for Small Businesses

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman, Chad Sowash, and J.T. O'Donnell serve up a spicy mix of summer vibes, NFL draft hot takes, and enough industry tea to fill a Chipotle burrito bowl. They’re hyped about the Pro Voice Talent Agency launch, a slick new gig for white-collar pros, and cackle over Chipotle’s bold leap into Mexico—because nothing screams “¡Olé!” like guac south of the border. But hold the salsa, because the real drama unfolds with Indeed and ZipRecruiter’s legal cage match, proving job boards are scrappier than a reality TV reunion.

The hosts dive into Recruit Holdings snatching up ZipRecruiter like it’s the last taco at a buffet, hinting at a job board consolidation that’s juicier than office gossip. Big Tech’s antitrust troubles get a roasting—turns out, the government’s got more shade to throw than a TikTok troll. Layoffs are hitting harder than a Monday morning hangover, with entry-level jobs for grads vanishing faster than free pizza at a college fair. The trio stresses that communication skills are the new black for jobless newbies.

Things get wilder as they unpack the creator economy’s rise, where TikTok dancers and YouTube ranters are the new CEOs. AI’s flipping the job market like a pancake, but the hosts aren’t laughing about the military’s AI weapons race—yep, Skynet vibes are real, and they’re begging for some adult supervision. With snark, wit, and a side of “what the heck is happening,” this episode is a masterclass in navigating the chaotic world of work. Grab your earbuds and tune-in.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Summer Vibes

03:05 - NFL Draft Predictions and Team Dynamics

09:52 - J.T.'s Talent Agency Launch

11:58 - Chipotle's Expansion into Mexico

15:03 - Indeed vs. ZipRecruiter Legal Drama

22:06 - Google and Facebook Antitrust Challenges

25:17 - The Impact of Layoffs on the Workforce

33:06 - The Rise of the Creator Economy

40:14 - AI and the Future of Work

42:57 - The Military and AI Weapons Race

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this episode of the Chad and Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash rope in Alex Fourlis, the big cheese (sorry, Joel) at Veritone Hire, for a wild ride through the job market’s circus. Fourlis, with 25+ years of recruitment street cred, brags about Veritone slinging over a million jobs a month worldwide—like a digital paperboy on steroids.

The trio dives into the chaos: hiring’s been dropping faster than a bad Tinder date for two years, automation and programmatic advertising are the cool kids Enterprises can’t stop swiping right on, and AI in recruitment is basically the robot overlord we all saw coming. LinkedIn’s flexing as the job board prom king, while Google for Jobs lurks like that quiet kid who might just steal the crown.

Smaller job boards? They’re scrambling to jazz up their tech, services, and content—or risk fading into obscurity like a MySpace page. Fourlis spills the tea on how these sites have been their own worst enemies (think clunky UX and “please wait” vibes), and why smart employers need to mix up their ad game like a DJ at a wedding.

Veritone’s here to play hiring fairy godmother with analytics fairy dust, and the chat—covering job ad maturity models to AI’s job-search takeover—serves up laughs and wisdom. It ends with Fourlis tossing out his LinkedIn like a mic drop, daring listeners to slide into his DMs.

On this episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast, our hosts sling wit and wisdom faster than paintballs at a corporate team-building fiasco, dreaming up a tournament that’d make HR - and Cheesman - cry.

Topics are spicy with the soap opera at Deel, where legal drama’s juicier than a reality TV reunion. Plus, they geek out over Indeed’s search boxes making a comeback and some fancy new premium service—because job hunting needed more flair.

Switching gears, they clown on Indeed’s latest job-seeker gadgets, throw shade at LinkedIn’s “innovations,” and size up Adzuna’s AI job search bot like it’s a contender in a tech cage match.

They also muse about the future of U.S. manufacturing jobs and raise eyebrows at the cash flow in the adult entertainment biz, courtesy of OnlyFans’ economic glow-up. It’s a wild ride of laughs, hot takes, and enough wit to make your commute feel like a comedy special.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Paintball Tournament Idea

05:58 - Education System Discussion

12:16 - LGBTQ+ Education and Political Challenges

18:00 - Unleash Event and Networking Opportunities

20:00 - Deel CEO Drama and Corporate Governance

22:53 - Indeed's Search Box Return and Premium Service

27:23 - Job Seekers and Employer Signals

30:03 - Indeed's New Features and Their Implications

34:58 - LinkedIn's Recent Developments

41:36 - Adzuna's AI Job Search Agent

45:42 - The Future of Manufacturing Jobs

53:00 - Economic Indicators from OnlyFans

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Jeff Taylor, the nutty professor behind Monster.com, crashes the mic to dish on job boards, entrepreneurial chaos, and why the hiring game’s more bonkers than a squirrel on espresso.

He takes us on a nostalgia trip through Monster’s heyday, chuckling at how Indeed swooped in like a job-posting ninja and the LinkedIn deal hit like a plot twist in a bad rom-com—spoiler: LinkedIn won. Taylor’s saga is a hoot: from birthing Monster, to getting a decade-long MBA beatdown from Ray Dalio at Bridgewater (think Wall Street with extra yelling), to now pimping his new gig, BoomBand, which promises to rescue resumes and job postings from the stone age—because who needs parchment scrolls in 2025?

He cracks up over flops like Eons—“Facebook handed me my lunch”—and slings zingers like “Jeff Taylor is back, bitches,” while preaching that job seekers are the real MVPs, job boards are deader than disco, and keeping market share is like wrestling a greased pig. With a gleam in his eye, he’s hell-bent on jazzing up resumes to strut past, present, and future vibes, proving that thriving in this HR tech madhouse means diving headfirst into the crazy—and maybe dodging a few industry punches along the way.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to Jeff Taylor

02:02 - Jeff's Entrepreneurial Journey

03:34 - The Evolution of Job Boards

06:37 - The Challenges of Job Market Dynamics

08:29 - The Impact of Aggregators on Job Boards

10:54 - The LinkedIn Deal and Its Consequences

12:36 - Reflections on Monster's Legacy

19:37 - Lessons from Eons and Future Aspirations

29:05 - The Evolution of Monster and Ad Agencies

34:00 - Transitioning to Bridgewater and Learning from Ray Dalio

39:30 - The Journey to BoomBand: Challenges and Insights

46:46 - Reinventing Recruitment: The Future of Resumes and Job Postings

This week on HR’s most dangerous podcast, things get wild with updates from the espionage-soaked saga between Rippling and Deel — Rippling needs more cash and Deel loses top talent.

But wait, there's more:

China and Dave Chappelle’s next-level tariff trolling

North Korean IT infiltrations at Fortune 500 companies? That’s right — the hackers are already inside the house.

💥 And in the middle of it all? A 23 years-old CEO named Jasper Carmichael Jack, an AI startup called Artisan, and a Shopify world where your job has to beat the bots to survive.

If you're in HR, tech, or just love a good spy thriller with a side of corporate chaos — this one’s for you. Get ready to rethink remote hiring, laugh nervously, and maybe double-check your VPN.

🔊 Listen now. Before your office gets Pyong-yanged.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

The Chad and Cheese Podcast Does Europe mixes humor with sharp analysis on Europe’s evolving landscape. The episode kicks off with light banter before diving into Tesla’s struggles in Europe, where sales have plummeted—down 41.1% in France and 55.3% in Sweden—due to Elon Musk’s anti-EU stance and Trump’s tariffs. These tariffs also threaten U.S. wineries and tourism, prompting travel warnings from Portugal. Meanwhile, European defense strategies are shifting, with Macron pushing for rearmament, Germany increasing military spending, and tensions rising over Greenland’s NATO position, signaling Europe’s move away from U.S. dependence.

In business news, the U.K.-based job platform Adzuna saw a 33% revenue drop in 2024, partly blamed on economic struggles and the Russia-Ukraine war, though Chad attributes it to losing U.S. government contracts. Barcelona’s HR startup Factorial secured $120 million in funding, expanding to 13,000 clients while steering clear of Deel and Rippling’s espionage lawsuit. Meanwhile, Adecco and Salesforce’s new partnership aims to merge human and digital workforces, but Chad doubts Salesforce’s commitment, suspecting they’ll use Adecco’s data before cutting ties.

The hosts highlight Europe’s growing shift toward local self-sufficiency, with China’s BYD surpassing Tesla as European trust in U.S. firms wanes. Belgium’s strikes reflect concerns over pension cuts and reduced African aid. On a lighter note, Lieven gives a shoutout to his 14-year-old son, Jan-Julius, for developing an AI chatbot to improve job matching at House of HR, while Chad cheers for Portugal and Spain in the UEFA Nations League. As Europe adapts to economic and geopolitical changes, the trio sees deglobalization accelerating, reinforcing local investment and industry while distancing from American influence.