Hey All!

There’s a lot in today’s podcast. Hope you enjoy it and I promise there is more to come.

I’m out!

Mark

Hey everyone, it's Mark and it's time for WTM. What's the Mishegoss?And after doing the podcast yesterday, I really got enthused last night andreally thought about it because I have to be honest, I haven't been doing apodcast in a while. So doing it yesterday just really got me excited again. AndI miss doing podcasting. I really enjoy it. I'd rather do this than write, but I'dlike to write too. But it's more about being able to get my voice out there. But I thought of some things. I've been looking at doing another podcast called The Language of Hype. And the whole concept of that is about con men or salesmen, however you want to look at it. And then I thought, you know, that's a great Mishegoss project. And it fits in line with What the Mishegoss.

Then there were some other things I was working on. And I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet because I'm looking at doing some podcasts for seniors. But the main one was the Language of Hype. So I'm going to kill that one, but I'm going to include it into here. And I'm going to kick off with thisstory today.

You know, years ago, there was a CEO, or he wasn't a CEO yet. He wanted to be the CEO of this company that he was working for. So hewent on a binge of recruiting stockholders and Employees. And they really liked his ideas and his promises. He got them so enthused. And he was basically like a cult personality. And he knew how to work the room. So he kept grilling these people and grilling them over and over. And what they finally did they revolted and ousted The CEO that was there and brought him in. He was voted by the stockholders and employees loved him. And he went in and for four years, almost five years, he ran this company, ran it into the ground.

He didn't complete maybe 50% of his promises, but everyone was left inshambles. And what happened was he ended up Another CEO came in oranother gentleman wanted to be CEO, one of the vice presidents. And he ranand he did basically the same thing, made a bunch of promises and got inand became the CEO. And this CEO was basically ousted, but he wouldn'tleave. He wouldn't leave the office. And they really had to bring in police andthey had to get escorts and get them out of there because you wouldn'tleave. And he had all these stockholders that still believed in his They just said he didn't have enough time.

Anyways, they oust him. They bring in a new CEO. And the problem was this CEO comes in and he spent most of his four or five years at the beginning trying to fix what the other CEO had done and had ruined the company. So he never got off the ground to doing what he promised to do.

So... The other CEO, the old CEO, the ex-CEO, started working his magic again. And he got a bunch of acolytes to work for him andgo out there and press people and push the stockholders and push theemployees and meet with employees secretly and do things. And he endedup getting back in. It's an amazing story. Now, the thing is, the moral to thestory is, it's all about how you work the room. Okay? And... With the newsletter, Sarcastic Mishegoss, and this podcast, What the Mishegoss, there's this thing of the language of hype.

Now, I come from a background of sales. I worked in the brokerage industry. I went on to open up my own hedgefund. And I've always sold something. But the thing is, what I learned from afew The best sales trainers in the world was you need to work the room. You need to know your audience and you need to listen more than anything else. Even though you want to hear your voice, you need to listen. You need to hear what the people are asking for and what they're saying. So my mentor, Jack,pushed me to learn how to listen. And there was a lot of tricks to doing it. And one day we'll talk about that because it's an art that isn't handled anymore. But here's the thing. The language of hype fits all categories. It fits politics. It fits religion. It fits scam artists. It fits cult artists. You name it, they're in it. Coaches.

Now, I've always had a big gripe about coaching. I'm not saying allcoaches are thieves. And I'm not saying any coaches are thieves. What I am saying is this. Coaches are not regulated. There's no degree. You get acertificate. And these organizations set up a class online. You go through it and you get a certificate. Whoop-de-doo. It's not a therapist. You're not apsychologist. You're not a psychiatrist. You're there to listen to someone and you're going to give them life coaching or business coaching. And the problem with that is most of the time those coaches want to hear themselves talk. They listen to what you might say, but their big thing is, hey, I got to keepyou here for 15 minutes or whatever they do because they're charging youmaybe 150 bucks an hour or maybe more.

But the thing is, do you really need a coach? Maybe you just need a mentor. Maybe you just need to have more confidence in yourself. Going to a coach is not going to give you confidence,although they will tell you that you keep coming to me, things are going to get better. That's not true. OK, so the idea of the podcast was going to be the language of hype was going to cover a lot about coaching, about the con people that are out there pulling this off because of it not being regulated.

Also about salespeople and techniques that they use like the shut up. A lot ofpeople don't realize when you go buy a car, there's a technique that a lot ofthese and not just cars, but insurance agents, especially insurance agentsand other people use this thing called the shut up. What they do is they put anumber in front of you. And then they shut up. And they're taught this. Remember this. When they're going to school to learn how to sell insuranceor cars or whatever, they're taught this technique. And what it basically does is put the pressure on you. And they're thinking, and the way they're taught,is that the first one who speaks loses. Because soon as you talk, they climb onto that. And they know what you're looking for. Looking for them, know what they need to ask you. You know, you might say, well, I got to go talk tomy wife. Bam, they already got all the way to object to that. But this is thelanguage of these people and politicians do it routinely. And it's all about howthey get into the mind of the voter, how they get into the mind of others, notjust voters, but anyone. You know, other politicians. Politicians talk topoliticians and sometimes they can sway you. It's listening to what you needto hear to know what to say.

Now, Mishegoss, as I said, Yiddish for mad, crazyand insane. And a lot of this stuff is insanity because it's all being dealt out inthe world, open, but people don't see it because people They believe insomething. They believe in a person or they believe in a theory. They believein an ideal. They believe in something else. And they're not really listening towhat's behind that promise, that idea, that brainstorm that some politicianhas or maybe it's some CEO of a company that's got the greatest thing sincesliced bread and the company's going to make billions and billions of dollarsand stockholders are going to get wealthy. And then come to find out, it's all a joke. It was all a lie. More and more of these snake oil salesmen are out there nowadays. And it's happening.

I just read an article the other day about theseguys that were buying multiple cars. Now, here's what the deal was. But you've got to understand both sides of this. So you go in and buy a car.Normally, you buy a car, let's say today, Saturday. It takes 30 to maybe on the outside, 60 days before it hits your credit, okay? So during that period, you're kind of open to go buy another car, maybe three cars, four cars. The same with housing. You could go out and buy a home today. Before it hits your credit, you can buy another home. Well, here was the thing. The story was that these guys are out there scamming the lenders because they'd go and buy three or four cars, But where's the real scam here? Because as long as they're making the payments, they're on the hook for all these cars, but if they let it go, they lose the car. But if they look, they're not, you know, unless they can sell the car hot or whatever. But the bottom line was these guys were going out and scamming the lender. But here's the thing, it's the dealers, if you think about it, a salesman job is to sell cars. All of a sudden you're looking, you buy a truck, and then you see something else you need, maybe for your kid. So you say, Boy, I wish I didn't buy this truck. I could havedone this. Of course, they're going to say, look, you've still got time. We've got room. And this happened to me and Patti. So I know where this is going.So they convinced us that we could get this other truck. No problem, becausethe first one is not going to show up in your credit for 30 to 60 days. You're allset. But we did it. Luckily, we were able to handle it, and our son took it over at some point. But the point of the matter is, these salesmen do the same thing. They push it because they know they can get it through the lender.They might go to a different lender. They'll go to, you know, you might start with GM and then you go to a credit union, then you go to another bank, whatever it is. Before you know it, you've got three cars on the line andthey're blaming you because you're scamming the system. But actually you'rebeing pushed into that position, if you're not strong-willed, into business.Financing maybe two or three cars that you don't really need. Or you'rebuying two homes and you don't need two homes. But because of the deal,because it's so sweet, you jump at it. Because these people are listening to your talking, what you're saying, what you're upset about, what you're concerned about.

You know, you're worried about your kid coming up, needs a car, and all of a sudden, hey, we can make this deal work for you right now.Same with homes. The language of hype is all throughout religious leaders, as I said, politicians especially, salespeople. And it all depends on you being an astute listener to know when you're being hyped. And the plan is, well, the plan for the original podcast was to cover that in one podcast separate. But now I want to add it to this because I think that could make this What The Mishegoss more interesting to talk about stuff that's relative to us in life and what's going on in the world and what we see and what's going on. And how do you decipher certain things that are being said that you need to know?

There's a lot of things going on right now in politics. And I really don't like politics. I mean, I love politics, but I hate talking about it because it just startsa big fight. But you know what? Some people don't see the forest through th etrees. They're not listening to the right words. They're hearing what they wan tto hear, selective hearing, and that's it. And they don't care about the rest.And then they see when it starts happening, they change, but it's too late. I went through this recently with a relative where I had been complaining about a politician and saying, you just don't see it. And they didn't believe me and they didn't want to hear it. And they voted for this person. And then within the last three months, they're complaining that they should have listened to me. They should have listened to what I had to say. Their eyes, they were blinded by the dreams. That's what happens. It's all a dream. Look at these cult leaders. I've been watching a lot of cult movies, not movies, but documentaries, because I've been looking at certain things in the past and thinking about different people I've worked with and techniques that were being used. And most of it, and even myself, it's a cult-like thing.Phenomenon. Because what you're trying to do is get people to believe in you. To get them to believe in you, you've got to give them something. You've got to give them a dream. And once you've got their dream, if you're listening closely and you see them and you listen to what they're saying and how they're responding to that dream, then you know where to go with it. And as awful as it is to say, it's not just con men. It's anyone and everyone. Because that's the goal, to get those people to follow you, to do something for you. To invest in you. To buy your product. Whatever it may be. But it's still the language of hype.

Anyways, look, I just wanted to come back because I was really excited about yesterday's podcast and getting back into it. Now I'mreally turned on and really going to bang this out. I may make just a podcast on this site. I don't know yet. I might write here and there. But all I ask is you give me a chance. Listen in. Comment if you like. Let me know how things are going. If you're enjoying the podcast, it's really great to hear from you. Andwe'll see you next week.

I guess this is the trailer, and first episode combined. I will get to recording a trailer at some point.

I just wanted to get this up and running.

Mark & Patti

Transcript

Hey everyone, this is WTM, What the Mishegoss. And my name’s Mark, and along with my wife Patti, we’re gonna be talking to you about a bunch of things. And this podcast is kind of the other part of Sarcastic Mishegoss, which is a newsletter on Substack. So that’s why this podcast is on Substack. Cause they’re gonna be sisters. I used to run a podcast called It’s All Mishegoss. And maybe some of you have heard of it or you heard me talk about it. And if you ever listened to it, you’d see what it was about. It basically was usually up to an hour, but could be short as five minutes. Up to an hour about stuff going on, topics, problems, whether it was political, religious, education, Sexual, everything. We covered everything. Because it’s all Mishegoss. So I decided what the Mishegoss would fit. Now this is kind of the trailer and an episode. Just to get things rolling. And I’m testing out a new mic so hopefully this is working out for everyone. Hope you can hear everything clearly. Actually this mic is very sensitive and it’s picking up all the little things that I do wrong. I happen to have a loud voice, as you can tell. And sometimes I over speak louder than I have to because I get excited and I blow the bell curve on the microphone dial there and it goes into the red. And I apologize for that. And I’m going to let you know up front that it’s going to happen. And it’ll probably happen quite often. Something else I’m testing out is I’m wearing headphones. I never do that. Also, this is pretty cool. When you get closer to the mic, it’s better for you guys. Maybe I don’t have to yell as much. No wonder singers speak into the mic so close. I’m used to having a microphone that’s not that good. And it’s all right. But this one is so much better. Anyways, you know, I don’t know if you watched the president’s speech last night. I didn’t. I’m not a fan of his. Although I have to say back in 2015 and 16 when he was running against Hillary, I liked him. But I knew him. I dealt with him back in New York City, which is where I’m from. And I had a lot of dealings with him through a brokerage firm I worked at. And then when I had my own hedge fund, I was dealing with him. He’s not an honest man. And he’s only out for himself. He will be always. And that’s part of life. And we have people like that. So he’s president. He’s president. That’s what you deal with. People voted him in. They like him. There’s nothing we can do. You can vote him out when the time comes. But there’s going to be issues. But anyways, that’s the kind of stuff that gets under my skin and I want to talk about. Just like, you know, they’re attacking the Pope. They’re attacking this. And the Pope, I think, as much as I’m semi-Catholic, I’m a lapsed Catholic. That’s what I am. Which I don’t even understand that. But anyways, you know, attacking the Pope. Just isn’t right, no matter what. And the Pope really should stay out of politics, to be honest with you. I mean, religion and politics just doesn’t go. And it’s never been something that people, you know, it’s always been agreed that religion and politics need to stay apart. The church and the state, I should say. Great terminology. But, you know, these things happen. And this is an American Pope. We’ve never had an American Pope. So it was bound to come to something. When he first got elected pope, I thought this is going to be really weird because he’s rooted in America. I mean, even though he traveled all over the world and was bishop and cardinal at different places, he was still an American wherever he went. Now he’s an American in Rome. And I can attest to being an American overseas. You still have that no matter what. I was born in Sicily, but my heritage is American because I really grew up here most of my life. Part of my life was spent overseas in different locations, but it started in Sicily, in Catania. But that was when I was younger. And by the time I was 13 or 14, we had moved to the States. And I consider myself an American. And, you know, you have values and you have concerns about America. And I believe the Pope in his own right has concerns about America and the people of America. And while the Pope doesn’t oversee America per se, like the President does, he does care. So he speaks up more than most Popes have ever done for America. So I kind of like it, but I get worried about the interaction and then the government attacking him and making statements and calling him stuff. That’s where it gets petty. And that’s what we live in this right now is a petty world over all the stuff going on. Is it ever going to end? God only knows. You know, the way things are around here, I don’t know when it’ll end. I’m going on five minutes right now, so I’m not going to go too much longer. I don’t think, but you never know. I mean, I’m on a roll right now. Like I said, this is the first podcast, the first episode. And where it’s going to go, You’re going to have to hang in there and follow and listen and see where we go. But I promise you, I don’t want to say, I don’t want to promise you it’ll be interesting. I promise you it’ll be different. Now, do you guys know what Mishegoss means? It’s Yiddish. Crazy, insane, mad. Now, there’s a caveat to that. It’s both good and bad. At first, I was told Mishegoss always means bad. But then my friend, who I’ll be talking about a lot, his name is Jack. Who was very Jewish at the time. He’s passed away now. And he’s the one that got me using the word Mishegoss. Because he came in my brokerage firm one day at the hedge fund and started yelling, this place is Mishegoss. It’s all Mishegoss. And when I asked him what he meant, he told me. And that’s when the place was crazy. I mean, you got 35 brokers trading and doing things. You know it’s going to be. And then secretaries and everything else. And I was in his building. He owned a bank building downtown. The bank had closed up. And I got the building. So my headquarters were right there. And he was constantly in there driving me insane. And I learned a lot from him. He was my mentor. And he was my second dad. And he taught me a lot. A lot of things that I never thought about. And it changed my way of doing things and doing business and treating people. And thankfully, he did that. Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent. Oh, by the way, there’s one thing you should know. I have ADHD. So I tend to move from topic to topic and go all in circles. But I always come back to something to close out something. But I used to do a podcast about ADHD. And I shut that down after three years. And like I said, I’ve had this podcast. Well, it’s all Michigan. It’s a long time ago. So I am working out. The finer details of this podcast as far as maybe subjects that I won’t touch. I don’t think I should talk politics because that causes a lot of issues. Then again, religion causes a lot of issues. Then again, sex causes. By the time you’re done, you don’t have any topics because everything causes an issue. But I think things need to be said when they need to be said. And with that in mind, I’m going to close this off because we’re going on eight minutes. And I don’t want to go on too long because I’m not sure, like I said, I don’t know where I’m going to go with this. And I think the way the podcast is going to be is it’s not going to be set in stone of what day it’s going to come out or what hour because I can’t work that way. I like working when the spur of the moment hits me, I’m going to come on. I don’t make notes. Everything is off the cuff. I don’t have little... I see some things, I talk about it, that’s what it is. I might compile a whole bunch of things, so I have a bunch to talk about. And then it’s a matter of whether I can remember everything I want to talk about. Because I don’t write it down. I don’t jot notes, I don’t do nothing. If you’re wondering about this, the only thing that’s recorded is I’m going to record this today, I’m going to save it, and I’m going to put it up. So it’s not technically live, but it is live. It’s live to me because I’m doing this right now, and I’m not going to schedule it. I’m going to post it. As soon as I finish, it gets posted. I don’t edit these things. You get what you get. I make mistakes. I write. I make mistakes. I talk. I make mistakes. But you know what the bottom line is? I get my point across. And I get my feelings out there. And you’ll know when I really care about something. You’ll be able to tell. Trust me. Anyways, thanks for listening. I hope you keep listening in. Tune in. Check out the newsletter. It’s on this right here where you’re at. And stay tuned, okay? Thanks for listening. This is WTM. What’s the Mishegoss? And guess what? I’m out of here.