Airbnb was the stupidest idea for a business. The idea was to rent an air mattress in someone else’s occupied apartment. A Literal air bed and breakfast. I mean, who would pay to sleep on the floor of the apartment of a complete stranger?
Turns out quite a few actually. While no longer air mattresses, today Airbnb has over 150 million hosts who’s properties accommodate more than a half a billion guests a year
You Won’t Believe How airbnb Got Started!
Today, Airbnb is one of the most successful short-term rental businesses in the world today. Since its formation in 2008, it has experienced massive growth, starting out with just a few friends renting extra space in their home to an international multibillion-dollar corporation.
Here is the insane inside story of how 3 guys turned that into a $31 billion company.
The story is crazier than the idea. Watch founder, Brian Chesky explain the crazy story of how 3 college kids created one of the world’s largest companies on the stupidest for a business to LinkedIn Founder, Reed Hastings, at a Y Combinator event.
“All my life I’ve seen murders and robberies. I came from that world where everything was dog-eat-dog. If you had money or jewelry, if you couldn’t defend it or protect it, you’re going to loose it.”
– Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson was first arrested at 10 years old. 38 more times by age 13.
Needless to say, he grew up in a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn. If you couldn’t protect yourself, you got taken advantage of. Mike was in over 400 fights in his life.
He quite literally fought his way through life and still is to this day…
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How Mike Tyson Blew a $600 Million Fortune
By the age of twenty Tyson was one of the most famous figures on the planet. Namely for being the most talented boxers of all time. And for biting off Evander Holyfield’s ear off during one of the most televised matches in boxing history.
Here’s that throwback…
During his boxing career he amassed over $685 million and he accomplished to spending all of it. Every last penny…
He not only managed to blow through a half billion in cash, he then eventually owed over $50 million in debts, including another $13.4 million to the IRS.
So What Did Mike Tyson Spend $685 Million On Exactly?
Mike routinely traveled with an entourage so large it rivaled the size of a small country.
He owned Siberian tigers and spent hundreds of thousands/year to care for them.
He bought over $400k worth of pigeons too…it’s a long story
He had fleets of luxury vehicles, a posse of prostitutes, and a 21-bedroom mansion.
He was known to spend over $240k month for entertainment and another $100k/month for Jewelry and clothes.
During his lifetime, Tyson reached the peaks of fame and fortune most of us mere mortals will never know or experience. He climbed from the gutter to the height of success. But even at the top of the world by the age of 20, he still had a darkness inside of him…
Watch Mike explain his incredible life story and lessons of gratitude from his personal experiences literally fighting for his life.
Taco Bell is the largest Mexican restaurant on the planet by volume. Here’s how they did it…
Taco Bell has been dominating Mexican fast food since the 1960s. They own over 7,000 locations consistently generating over $10 billion dollars in annual sales.
Watch the full story how or read the summary below.
First and foremost, Taco Bell wouldn’t be a thing without it’s founder, who knew how to spot a potential opportunity when he saw one.
A cook who served in WW2, Bell returned home to start a restaurant in San Bernardino CA. Inspired by the McDonald’s franchise, Bell copied the model. Literally, Taco Bell used to be called Bell’s Hamburgers, they originally sold cheeseburgers and hot dogs.
Until one day Glen added tacos to the menu, altering the course of taco history…
2. Taco Bell Single Handedly Introduced the World to Tacos
The second reason for Taco Bell’s now icon status, was their role in introducing tacos the American market.
After 14 years in the restaurant business and having gone through 5 different restaurants and concepts, Glen launch Taco Bell in March 21, 1962 in Downey CA.
At the time, most Americans had no clue what a taco was. When ordering, most customers asked for a “tay-ko”, simply because they simply had never heard of a taco. Kind of like the whole gyro “guyroh” thing…
And they obviously fell in love with them. Putting Taco Bell on the map.
“I always smile when I hear people say that they never had a taco until Taco Bell came to town”. – Glen Bell
3. Pepsi Gave Them a Shit Load of Money
Another reason for their success was their partnership deal with Pepsi.
In the 1970s Pepsi was expanding and looking to invest in new markets. They bought Pizza Hut for $315 million, giving them access to sell their sodas to customers dinning in the largest Pizza Chain on the planet up until that time. Pepsi wanted to saturate the Taco consumer market too. So they gave Glen a handsome $125 million for the right to sell Pepsi products at every Taco Bell.
Pepsi’s infusion of cash enabled the franchise to massively scale. They went from just under 1,000 locations in 1978 to nearly 7,000 by 1998. Meaning, almost every Taco Bell you’ve ever visited was started between the 80’s-90s Pepsi infused growth period.
4. Absolutely Bat-Shit Crazy But Catchy Menu Items…
While declaring to serve Mexican food, no one buys into that claim when it comes to Taco Bell. That’s because they have become famous for coming up with bat-shit crazy menu items.
The fourth key to the mega taco franchise model was their dedication to marketing. Especially standing out in crowded markets through their off the wall menu item.
Items like the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, the Mtn Dew Baja Taco Blast, their most successful product launch; the Crunch Wrap Supreme, and most recently the Doritos Locos Tacos. Or finally the rather nachos fries.
5. Taco Bell Excels at Marketing to Drunk People too…
Despite how much you want to hate them, Taco Bell continues to stay relevant across generations. They have a consistent track record of being customer focused and keeping their cost low. Something they have been promoting in their ads for decades…
One of their most successful marketing campaigns was “the forth meal of the day” commercials. After noticing a high influx in sales late at night (wink wink), the Bell starting promoting a “4th meal of the day”.
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On a more serious note though, probably the biggest reason Taco Bell has been so success over the years has been their commitment to their original mission; “thinking outside the bun”. Mission accomplished…
Russia and Ukraine export nearly a third of the world’s wheat and barley. And more than 70 percent of its sunflower oil…
The war in Ukraine is preventing grain from leaving the “breadbasket of the world” and making food more expensive across the globe.
World food prices were already climbing, and the war has made things worse, preventing over 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from getting into the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
According to this article in Intelligencer, West Africa is facing its worst food crisis in a decade, with the number of people in need of emergency food aid standing at 27 million in April and rising fast. Another 13 million face severe hunger in the Horn of Africa, and as many as 19 million will be food insecure in Yemen by the end of this year.
Europe embraces for another mass migration crisis sparked by food shortages in Africa and the Middle East.
Sri Lanka, once more prosperous than its neighbors, applied last month for 100,000 metric tons of food aid from a regional food bank as its debt crisis threatens to leave millions hungry.
Watch this video for a full explanation of the developing food crisis…
Host of Dropping Bombs podcast and CEO of LightSpeed VT dropped a knowledge bomb on a recent episode of Dropping Bombs podcast. Host, Brad Lea commented on the importance of developing a personal brand for C-Suite Executives.
When talking about the importance of creating a personal brand, Brad stated:
“People don’t follow brands they follow people. So your personal brand is ultimately what’s going to tee up doing business.”
In short, Brad believes everyone should develop a personal Brand for their business, no matter what business you’re in.
With over a half million social followers and hundreds of thousands of monthly podcast downloads, Brad knows a thing or two about how to leverage a personal brand.
Here are Brad Lea’s tips on getting starting creating a digital brand presence.
Brad Lea’s Step By Step Advice to Create a Personal Brand:
Let the world know who you are
Get on the big 6 social media platforms and put yourself out there; share your thoughts, opinions, values, beliefs. Don’t just repeat what everyone else is saying.
Don’t be afraid to be polarizing, not for the sake of confrontation, but for the sake of confronting the elephant in the room as it relates to your industry.
But that can often be scary, that’s where tip #2 comes into play…
Don’t be afraid of what other people think
The biggest reason Brad says executives are not active on social is they worry too much about what other people think. Especially on social media where anyone can leave a comment or offer a difference of opinion.
Remember, not everyone will agree with you but that doesn’t matter. You’re goal is to connect with those who do.
As Brad says” “if you never feel the hate, you never feel the love.”
Now for the last and final tip.
Continue to push out content over time
While the actual amount of time will depend on your individual business and circumstances, for a small to medium-sized business, a strong content marketing strategy generally takes between six and nine months to yield real results.
These are just a few of the tips Brad Lea shared in a recent podcast episode. Watch the full clip below.
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About Brad Lea:
Brad Lea is the founder of Lightspeed VT, the most advanced training platform on the market. Soon-to-be billionaire and host of the Dropping Bombs Podcast, Brad Lea built LightSpeed VT into a multi-million dollar global tech company from scratch.
As its Founder and CEO, his vision led to LightSpeed VT becoming the world’s leading interactive training system, a system that he’s proud to share with others. In addition to being a CEO, Brad is also the author of The Real Deal.
Brad has helped generate millions for countless companies and individuals, including heavy hitters Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Grant Cardone, Tom Hopkins, World Series Poker, Top Chef, Chase Bank, and so much more. He’s also been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, GCTV, and is a regular guest on several top-rated podcasts such as The $ales Podcast,Success is a Choice and The Inner Changemaker.
Ford Motor Co.’s luxury division on Thursday debuted the Lincoln Model L100 Concept at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California. And it’d totally badass…
Lincoln debuted the new futuristic product branding scheduled for 2040 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The new Model L100 concept pushes the boundaries of Lincoln’s “Quiet Flight” design to create connected experiences that reimagine the ultimate vehicle sanctuary of tomorrow.
WATCH the video explaining Ford’s plans to dominate the future of transportation design…
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At the product launch, Ford’s Executive Chair, Bill Ford, said;
“Lincoln has been one of the most enduring and stylish automotive brands in the world and in many ways, it is perfectly positioned for a second century defined by great design, zero-emissions and technology-led experiences. Lincoln has always been special to me and my family, especially my father and my grandfather. If there is one secret to Lincoln’s longevity, it is the brand’s ability to balance its core values with a desire to innovate and create the future.”
“Concept vehicles allow us to reimagine and illustrate how new experiences can come to life with the help of advanced technologies and allow our designers more creative freedom than ever before,” said Anthony Lo, chief design officer, Ford Motor Company. “With the Model L100, we were able to push the boundaries in ways that evolve our Quiet Flight brand DNA and change the way we think about Lincoln designs of tomorrow.”
Content is king, everybody knows that. But what the hell does it mean?
The phrase “content is king”, came from an essay published in 1996 on the first page of Microsoft, by the soon to be self-made billionaire, Bill Gates.
In his essay, Gates publicly predicted what was predicated for the success of any person or business that wished to grow a business online.
Spoiler alert (it’s content). Here’s why…
Content is King – Summary From the 1996 Essay
“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet – just as it was in broadcasting.
“… the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment.
No company is too small to participate.
I expect societies will see intense competition- and ample failure as well as success-in all categories of popular content.
Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products – a literal marketplace of content.”
How to Compete in a Marketplace of Content?
It means that brands are turning to story telling to get the attention of their customer. It means that in order to rise above the noise we can’t be more noise.
You don’t want to promote content for the sake of creating content (God knows the world doesn’t need more content).
Don’t interrupt the content your customer is searching for. Create the content they are searching for.
List out the 5 biggest obstacles your customer faces (as they relate to your product or service). Then create content to solve that problem.
At the end of the day you just need to build a list of people that share the journey of solving that pain-point to achieve success…and up-sell to that list your solution.
It’s that simple, that hard, and that unavoidable.
“I like it, I love it, I want some more of it!” – Billy Ray Cyrus
If you’re into this topic get the full story below.
Want to learn the strategy to operate as a media company? We created a comprehensive overview, where I can teach you how to operate your business as a media brand in 32 pages.
Learn how to compete in a market place of content. Click the link below.
So, Twitter recently revealed a plan to remove one million fake bot accounts every, single day.
The company announced Wednesday that it will begin removing millions of accounts:
Bots
Inactive accounts from users’ follower numbers
Fake accounts
in all, the update will remove “tens of millions” of accounts from users’ follower number and impact around 6 percent of all follows on Twitter.
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All of which begs the question: what the hell are Twitter bots?
What the Hell are Twitter Bots Exactly?
So, I looked it up and it turns out that Twitter bots are automated accounts that can do the exact same things as human beings do on Twitter. Except I picture them singing “I can do everything you can do- better,” while doing it.
For Example:
They can send out tweets, follow users, and even like and retweet postings by others. Which on the surface doesn’t sound nefarious, however in practice, that’s exactly what they are.
So What Are Bots Being Used For?
Spam bots can be programmed to drive traffic to a website for a product or service using fake accounts and reviews.
They can be used to spread political lies and promote messages. Or event disperse links to fake giveaways or financial scams.
Why is Twitter Removing Tens of Millions of Accounts?
After announcing his recent plans to acquire Twitter, Elon Musk said one of his priorities was to force the company to crack down on bots that promote scams involving cryptocurrencies.
Musk has asked Twitter’s executives to share more details on the company’s claim that it keeps the number of automated bots under 5%. Unless it can prove that bots represent less than 5% of the accounts being served ads on the platform, the $44 billion deal might… fly away.
Wayfair, the online home goods retailer, announced today it was laying off close to 900 employees. This comes after the company announced a hiring freeze back in May.
The layoffs represent about 5% of the company’s global workforce and 10% of its corporate team. 400 jobs are being cut in Boston alone at the company’s HQ).
This announcement came as an alarm to investors, causing the stock to plummet…
Wayfair has been struggling to keep customers after a spike at the start of the pandemic. Earlier in August, Wayfair said it lost 24% of active customers since last summer.
Recent regulatory filings revealed that the job cuts will help Wayfair “manage operating expenses and realign investment priorities.”
CEO Niraj Shah wrote in an letter to employees that the layoffs were a “difficult decision” resulting from Covid-19.
“We were seeing the tailwinds of the pandemic accelerate the adoption of e-commerce shopping, and I personally pushed hard to hire a strong team to support that growth,” Shah wrote. “This year, that growth has not materialized as we had anticipated. Our team is too large for the environment we are now in, and unfortunately we need to adjust.”
Is This the Beginning of the End for Wayfair?
Wayfair had flourished at the beginning of the pandemic, when demand for inexpensive furniture and other home decor upgrades that it broke global supply chains and caused lengthy shipment delays.
But fast forward to the present economy, inflation has killed discretionary spending for middle-income shoppers, who have pulled back their purchases to focus on paying for necessities like groceries, gas and rent. Wealthier customers have shifted their spending from furniture and other goods to travel and services. Mortgage rates have climbed significantly, cutting into demand for new homes as well (a key demographic for the company).
Overall, Wayfair posted a net loss of $378 million during the quarter. Wayfair’s shares have lost about 70% of their value since the start of the year. The layoffs will cost Wayfair between $30 million to $40 million for employee severance and benefits.
Dave Thomas was an orphan. Growing up, eating hamburgers in restaurants was the only thing that gave him a sense of belonging and purpose. When he was 8-years-old, he set out a plan to open the best restaurant in the world and later founded Wendy’s.
But even at an early age Dave knew that in order to grow a successful business, he was prepared to learn everything about the business from the ground up.
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15 year old Dave started as a busboy at a Hobby House Restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana where a guy named Cornel Sanders was touring the country, trying to convince restaurant owners into converting their buildings into Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises.
Thomas’ boss, Hobby House owner Phil Clauss, was one of those restaurant owners. Hobby House became Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Thomas became one of KFC’s first cooks.
A new waitress, Lorraine Buskirk, caught his eye and they were soon married in 1954.
Dave and his wife Lorraine grew their family to include five children – Pam, Ken, Lori, Molly and Melinda (Wendy was her nickname and who Dave named the business after). All the while, Dave worked toward his goal of owning his own restaurant.
He was pivotal in helping grow KFC. He simplified the menu and came up with the classic rotating red bucket sign. Thomas also convinced the colonel to appear in TV ads for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Thomas’ success eventually enabled him to sell his stake in the four franchises back to the colonel, for $1.5 million. He used the money to open his first Wendy’s and became multimillionaire by the age of 35.
Today there are 6,900 restaurants worldwide.
Dave Thomas passed away in 2002 with a net worth of $4.2 billion. Dave wins.
