You Can't Lose!

In this episode, Richard joins fresh off his Second Harvest retreat in Spain to talk about the myth of constant creativity, Joe talks about the beauty of the “average Thursday,” and Richard speaks to why resistance is the doorway to real growth. We trade stories about chasing the thrill of deadline chaos, the grind versus the high of agency life, and the trap of mistaking busyness for progress. Richard breaks down how Second Harvest helps people confront fear, embrace stillness, and integrate deep reflection into daily life, not just during a retreat, but back home amid kids, clients, and chaos. It’s a conversation about cycles of work and rest, the illusion of endless optimization, and learning to find meaning in the 80% of life that’s not the highlight reel.

Richard and Joe dive into the power of hospitality as a vital skill, emphasizing the art of anticipating guests' needs. They discuss how thoughtfulness can lead to profound experiences, recalling how unexpected delights can elevate events. The hosts weigh the pros and cons of intimate gatherings versus larger parties, highlighting the importance of personal connections in a post-COVID world. They also explore how genuine messaging and memorable moments can transform both events and client relationships.

Richard and Devon launched Second Harvest in Austria successfully and he's here to spill a ton of behind the scenes details, insights into the event, deeper dives into the unique philosophy behind Second Harvest, how it went, and where it goes from here. This is a must-listen if you've followed this event at all along the way! https://www.secondharvest.co/

In this episode, Joe and Richard explore the difference between community and alliance: “An alliance is going someplace… it has direction.” They trade time-travel hypotheticals, reflect on the problem-solving joy of The Martian and The Last of Us, and debate whether their businesses are behaving like nouns or verbs. “Do something with this,” Joe insists, as they revisit lessons from the Philadelphia Experiment. Along the way, they ask: what if your lease is your marketing strategy?

While Richard was away Joe catches up with Anthony Colangelo, partner at Pine Works, host of Main Engine Cut Off & cohost of Off-Nominal, Engineering leader, iOS product developer, birds fan, dad, and Joe's spiritual nephew. Anthony has grown a space flght, exploration, and policy podcast empire rooted in his sincere passion and strong opinions re: the topic. They discuss the MECO origin story, how Anthony's vision drove the growth of the podcast, the power of authenticity, and the impact this project has on Anthony's life and career. Also it's a love fest.

Richard and Joe break down their conversation with Chris & Aaron Quinn, more details about agency acquisitions, private equity vs venture capital, and they spill the beans about The Philadelphia Experiment April 9-11.

Chris and Aaron Quinn join to share their experiences creating, growing, and ultimately scaling eHouse through an acquisition. Thanks to our friends for being so candid and informative about their experiences!

Duolingo announced changing their job titles from UX Design to Product Experience Design and created a 2013-Twitter-era dust up so Richard and Joe chime in with their thoughts. We discuss the purpose of job titles, the way identity effs with you, and to bring it back to sales in a meta way we ask what's more important? That you achieve your objective? Or that you're properly credited and acknowledged, and THEN achieve your objective?

Discover how embedding 'brown M&M' clauses can reveal client attention. Learn about the TNT approach, where simple actions like rapid follow-ups can dramatically boost your success. The hosts tackle the pitfalls of a 'Waiting Super Hard' sales strategy, highlighting that you miss every shot you don’t take. They also share insights on how a redesign of a client's website often signals trouble. Plus, their humorous take on agency life brings comic strip ideas to the forefront.

Richard and Joe discuss the little cohort/therapy group they're in and how beneficial that relationship has become over the past year. Within that discussion Richard explains how effective it can be to manage communication patterns within a community, for example conducting types of conversations in person while conducting very different conversations within the same community online. He describes how powerful that contextualization can be as well as how that deliberate focus prevents the online conversation from cannibalizing IRL or other communities. If you manage complex communication with communities, teams, or clients this is a super practical episode.