Yo, what's up, Daniel? Hey, what's up, man? How you doing? I'm good, man. Dude, I didn't know that you had Zachary disease. Zachary disease? What does this mean? Explain. That your face looks exactly like your butt.
[laughs] Oh. What? Dude, I didn't know you had this disease. Dude. [laughs] When did you get diagnosed? [laughs] Welcome to episode 36. Um- Oh. Dude, I heard that this morning. I was like, "That's kind of funny.
That's goofy." Um- Hey, we need ideas from our listeners on how we should celebrate episode 52.
We're still a few months out, but I think, like, a year of weekly episodes without skipping a beat, that requires something phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah. Like, we gotta- I- We gotta do something. I skipped a beat.
Let's not talk about that though. Yeah. I, I didn't miss one. I didn't- You- I didn't miss one... skipped. Great episode though. You skipped the beat. Actually, I have a question. Uh, I want you to introduce...
[laughs] 'Cause I didn't meet him, I want you to introduce me to Charlie. 'Cause I have somebody- Sure...
that has, like, a million followers on Instagram from a meme account, and he wants to understand how he monetizes it on X. Oh, I can definitely- So I think it's a really good-... make some intros. Yeah. Yeah.
I think it's, like, a really good synergy, if you will. Yeah. Dude, so my lunches this week, um, I've been having peanut butter and jellies, man. I've been- Dude, same... smashing PB and J's. Yesterday, I had two.
I had two- Two, yeah... yesterday for lunch. I've been having- Yeah. But so, like, I, I've been using PB Fit, all right? PB Fit. Okay. Okay, PB Fit. Keto bread, because it's 40 calories per piece.
Oh, your, your- Dude, just no, no, no, listen... PB and J's are so healthy. No. No. No, no, no. Don't get started. They are healthy. Don't do this to me. They are. But dude, it's like a volume eating thing.
It's like 400 calories, and it feels like I'm actually eating two whole sandwiches, and I'm like, "Yeah. Heck yeah." Yours are like, give me the- the thickest sourdough. [laughs] No, check it out. We- we had...
No, that- that'd be gross. You can't have PB and J on sourdough. No, you can't. That's too chewy. Too, ah. Uh, it's way too chewy. Too much bread.
Courtney brings in, uh, the leftover PB and J from one of my kids yesterday. He took, like, one bite and then just didn't want it. Ooh, that sounds good. So I just smashed it.
And it was, like, a kind of a small sandwich, so I get this text like 10 minutes later. She's like, "Do you want, like, a, an actual PB and J?" And I had just finished the other one. I was like, "Well, yeah."
So then I just had another one. I was like- Dude... "Wow, what an amazing lunch." I could eat PB and J every day for lunch. I mean- Me too. Have you ever had a Uncrustable? GOATed. Yes. Brother. Brother. Dude, amazing.
If you, if you ski or snowboard, I'm a snowboarder, but if you, if you go on the slopes and you need to pack a lunch, which you, you're doing.
If you go to any real mountain, you're taking some food, 'cause you get hungry. My friend, Uncrustable. Put an eight-pack of frozen Uncrustables in your backpack. Mm. Oh.
And by the time those junks melt, you're starving and ready to pound the- Dude... Uncrustable. Bro. So good. I wanna go s- snowboarding right now just to eat an Uncrustable. Just, yeah. [laughs] Have you ever... Hold on.
I'm trying to get, like, my head height the same height as yours. Yeah. Yeah. You're the worst. So I'm gonna scoot up. I'm gonna scoot up a little bit. You just need to grow. You just need to grow a few inches.
Have you... I know, you're, like, six foot four, which is insane. Um, have you ever toasted an Uncrustable? Uh, no. How would you do that?
I worked in an office once, um, back in the day, and they had Uncrustables, and I would just throw it in the toaster. And I would just- A toaster oven... like a normal piece of bread. So- Sure. Like, no.
Like, like, what you call... I, I call the things that you open a toaster oven. Yeah. No. So that's not- This is like a toaster with bread... you're talking literally a- You put literally s- Yes. Yes.
And then you, like, it was so fat that it barely fit. What if it exploded inside? It never did. It never did. So anyways, when you bite it, it's like this melted peanut butter. Oh, man. That- So incredible...
that is funny. Um, which actually yesterday I, with my two PB and J's, I toasted one and I didn't toast the other to see which one was better, and I just toasted the bread of it.
The one without to- without it being toasted was a lot better. It was so much better. Dude. But- That actually sounds pretty good. Look, I, um- I'm gonna have it for lunch...
you don't, I don't think you know this about me, but every couple weeks I meet with a few guys. Uh, the, you know, they're, you know, similar life stages. They all have two or three kids.
We're all 30-somethings, and we're all just kind of meeting to just chat, talk about life, talk about parenting, talk about, like, anything. Work.
I mean, it, you know, sometimes someone's like, "Dude, I gotta get a new job." Other times someone's like, "Man, kid threw a fit and I didn't know how to deal with it."
Sometimes just, you know, we went and played darts the other week, right? So it's like every now and again we're just hanging out.
But last night we were talking for hour and a half or so about how important friends are in the same stage of life, especially, so the second layer here is especially when you have young kids.
So we spent hour and a half talking about this.
And what was wild is I, like, right after I left this hangout, I get a DM from someone on LinkedIn, and I'm gonna read this DM, because I sent it to you, and I actually also screenshotted it and sent it to this group of guys, 'cause I was like, "You guys will have no idea what I just got in my DMs."
Like, like, it just, the irony was insane.
This guy says, "Y'all should do a brief segment on how dope it is when your kid makes a friend whose parents are the same type of people, and your wives also get along with those parents.
Also, just how hard it is just in general to have good friends in general when you have little kids."
And so you and I got talking about that quite a little, just, just a short while because this was last night before we recorded this, and I thought, "What a, what a fitting segment to talk about this on Two Dads and Tech."
I, I would not survive if I didn't have a village. Yeah. But I wanted to throw it out to you, like, how do you think through, like, having that village in this stage of life with two young kids, you know, 30-something.
You're not old, but you're also not right out of college anymore, you know? Like, we're in a very unique stage of life. Like, walk me through- Yeah... your, your approach to all this. Yeah.
Yeah, so I love this topic because it's something actually my wife and I are kinda, like, battling through right now. So we moved to, uh, Wisconsin a year ago, and she has a lot of high school friends still.
So, like, she's got a group of five, six moms here, or couples, whatever you wanna call them. They all have kids. They all have one kid, and the oldest one is maybe a year and a half younger than Liam.
So Liam's, like, a good amount older right now. Of course, in like a year or two it won't really matter, but right now he, he-Trumps him. Like, he's, he's bigger, things like that. Right. And so- Right...
I say this because, like, we're trying to find what we had in North Carolina. When people ask me, like, "Do you like the move to Wisconsin? Do you like Wisconsin? Do you miss North Carolina?"
Man, we lived in one of those new-build neighborhoods where every single family- Everyone... there- Yeah... was just starting out having kids. We moved there when Liam was, like, four months old.
Oh, my goodness, man, we... And we have incredible friends here, but we met so many great friends in North Carolina. Like, that is... So there's, there's a, a couple. Their name is...
And I don't think he listens to this. I was just with them last weekend, though. So they, uh, they had a parents' weekend.
A lot of the friends in the neighborhood had a parents' weekend where they kinda dumped the kids off to the grandparents, and then they went to a lake house in Virginia.
And my wife and I were, like, battling, like, do we really fly out there just to go to, like, a parents' weekend? Like, do we spend the money to do that?
We did it because they're like, their names are, uh, Shawn and Ashton. That's the mom and the dad. And then they have two kids the exact same age as Liam and Harrison.
Um, and they, like, obviously the kids weren't there, but the kids love each other. W- the dad and I are super, super...
Like, we have so many things in common that the moms, my wife and, and Ashton, they, you know, they have so much in common. Anyways,
the dynamic is, is so powerful, and I think it's so important because we're trying to find...
We always joke with them, like, we're trying to find our Shawn and Ashton here kinda thing because it's so important to find that.
Like, one, everyone has to like everyone from an adult perspective, and that's difficult already. Like, take kids out of the picture.
Going to meet new couples and being friends with couples is like, it's a weird, it's a weird thing, right? Like, you, you gotta like the dad- It does not happen easily... you also gotta like the mom. Yeah, it doesn't.
Yeah. It's like there's always some, like, you get home and, you know, like, it's one of your first times hanging out with a new family, and you, like, talk about it in the car ride home.
You're like, "So what'd you think about them?" And then you're like, "Ah, I mean, I don't know." Yeah. "She just didn't seem whatever." You know, you talk about it the whole way.
And, and yet more times than not, it's the guy is all over the, like, "Oh, yeah, that guy's awesome. Could totally see myself hanging out with him."
And then the mom- And the wife is like, "Well, I mean, yeah, let's try it." Yeah. Or, or vice versa. Yeah. It's, it's a rare occurring, occurrence- Yeah... that both are like, "Oh, we gotta hang out with these people."
Yeah. So I, I mean, I think it's so important. So that's actually, like, I think as Liam gets older, we'll kinda meet more people in the same age and stuff like that.
But right now, we don't have, like, that Shawn and Ashton, but we do have a really good group of friends that Colleen went to high school with- Nice... um, that we hang out with almost all the time.
But dude, it's so important. And it's like, it- it's so, it's just so hard to find at a young age. I think once the kids get older and they're in pre-K and things like that- Yep... it's probably a little bit easier.
Um, but yeah. Dude, it's, it's so important to have people just like you and- Yeah... and support you and stuff like that.
This group of guys, um, in the last let's call it two to five years, have all moved here from somewhere else, and some of them before they had kids now have kids. Some of them because they had kids moved here.
But you know, my wife and I, we moved from Chicago. Um, there was, uh, there's a guy in this group moved from Seattle, two from Louisiana, one from Baltimore, and we all found ourselves in this area.
And so we're, we're, you know, very similar just life stages and, you know, similar stories, but also quite a bit different. So the question then I wanna pass back to you is, do you regret moving to be closer to family?
'Cause I know, I know you moved to be closer to family. Yeah, yeah. That was kind of the, the, the catalyst for taking you to Wisconsin. Walk me through your thoughts on that. No, I mean, short answer is definitely no.
Um, and I say that because watching Liam grow up and build a relationship with his grandma and his grandpa, like, we call her Gaga, but it's incredible. Like, that's...
I know, like, right now in this exact moment, it's like, oh, we could be, you know, meeting up with friends to do, and do this and that.
But I know five, 10 years down the road as they get older, like, it- it's, it's like the memories that we're building now are, are definitely priceless, and it doesn't matter about friends whatsoever.
So no, the regret's never there. I do miss, like, North Carolina, and same with South Carolina, amazing states. Like, they have a lot- Mm-hmm... of stuff to offer.
They've got, at least North Carolina's got some mountains, and then you have the beach, and then, like, there's so much stuff around there. Love the state. Don't regret it at all.
Like, we just got to go to Virginia because the grandparents are right next door. You know? Yeah. Like- Yeah... I don't know what we would've done for the parents' weekend if we had no family in North Carolina. Yeah.
You know? So, uh, don't regret it at all. But, like, I, I love the state and miss the state. Like, that's, it is what it is. I can't, I can't hide that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Dude, did you, uh, I don't know if you follow Figma at all, but did you see their IPO just explode? Like, today? Well, no, the IPO- Well, when was-... a few days ago.
Uh, well, by the time this episode comes out- Did I, did I miss this? [laughs]... it's 10... Yeah, apparently. So you're- I was probably out of town, dude.
I've been- We know which of the two of us is tuned into the stock markets. Uh, anyways, IPO, Figma IPO'd at $33, and when the, when the markets opened, they shot up to o- over $150. Oh, my goodness.
And, and it's, it's, it's equalized around 85 to $90 per stock, per share. Yeah. Dude. I mean, people are getting wealthy. I mean, especially early shareholders and adopters after the IPO.
I'm sure people cashed out, you know. Dude, the employees are like- I got in... Oh, 100%. I, and you know, there's like, there's the period of time you can't sell back as an employee- Yeah...
so I don't know exactly how all that works. Um, but even people who, who got in at the IPO, $33. I got in at 85, uh, and sold some at 140, 150.
And so I, I, I didn't put that much in, so I didn't make, like, a life-changing amount of money. But, you know, it's always- Yeah... fun to, like, get some money in, in the stocks- Yeah, yeah, yeah...
and, and sell it off. But it, I saw this thread, and it was either on Twitter or on Threads, uh, which, good grief, there's too many words that get confusing when you say that, about how people who are not founders
can make life-changing amounts of money if they work at the right company. I think you and I see so many of the different founder, you know, mentalities out there.
It's like, oh, you're never, you're never gonna get rich on a W-2.And like, for the most part, that's true. Y-y- and rich, I think, is very relative. We have to define what rich means. Yeah.
A lot of people get a lot of money on W-2s.
But when you think of like generational wealth, you know, tens of millions of dollars and beyond, a lot of people are like, "Well, you can't do that unless you go start your own thing."
I think there's some Figma employees. Circle is another one that IPO'd, and it's up like six hundred and fifty percent right now since June. Yeah.
I mean, it begs the question, like, maybe, maybe if you pick the right company, like you could, you could, you could make tens of millions of dollars- Yeah... on that IPO.
Yeah, I think that's, that's why we talk about, especially in SaaS, the golden handcuffs a lot because everybody thinks that they're at a startup and their CEO's preaching like, "We're gonna IPO. We're gonna go big."
Like all this stuff, right? And so, and it's tough to leave those companies because you're like, "Dude, I can get a massive sum of money if I stay here."
But like just overall, if you think of how many companies actually IPO, like there's hundreds of thousands of companies out there. How many are actually IPO-ing? Not many.
So it's like the chances are very slim, but you know, luck is luck.
And so yeah, I think of two companies right off the top of my head where people probably made, if not generational wealth, became very, very, very wealthy, and it's Snowflake and MongoDB. So like- Oh, yeah...
I've got people at Snowflake that literally made a million dollars overnight. They woke up 20-something years old and like, "Holy cow, like I'm a millionaire now." Yep. So like- Yep...
yeah, I mean, I do think that you, you don't need to build a company to, to generate a ton and ton, ton of wealth.
But there are companies out there, Figma obviously one of them probably, um, that yes, if you get in at the right time and you stick it out.
I think sticking it out in today's age is really hard to do because everybody thinks the grass is greener on the other side.
Everybody thinks that they're gonna make more money if they go somewhere else from a salary perspective and not from an equity perspective. So a lot of people jump every two years, which, um, I did for sure.
I jumped like every fourteen months, I jumped because I was like, "Yeah, here's 40 more K in my base. Here's another forty more K in my base." Yep. Yep. I'm like, "Sick.
Wife, look, I'm making a decent amount of money just off my base," which means if we- Yeah...
my math is always if we assume I hit seventy percent of my quota, which I should definitely hit more, then I'm gonna make- Yeah... this much money. And so- Yep... such a dumb little, dumb, dumb math that I did.
It's a game. But- It's a game... it is a game. And speaking of like kind of on this work topic, I got a LinkedIn connection request today, a hand- like a handful because I'm super rich and famous and popular. I know.
You're so famous and beautiful. But, but one of them, you know, a lot of them don't include messages. Some of them do. Do you send messages with your connection request? I think we talked about this on another episode.
We did. But I can't remember. Yeah. Now, six or seven months ago, we talked about it. Um, it depends. It depends.
If I, if I'm, if I have a degree of confidence that the person has seen me, either in their comments, in an InMail, if we've obviously had a conversation recently, and will immediately recognize, oh, Daniel Burke, accept.
I don't send a, a note. If it's part of a cadence that I'm doing, you know, totally cold outbound with, I usually will send a note, but it's, it's typically very clickbaity and very intentionally clickbaity.
So a lot of times my cadence, a, a, a three-part cadence that I do with almost every piece of cold outreach, at least to start. Yeah. Cold email.
InMail that addresses the email but then expounds a bit opposite to what people think. Oh, expound in the email. No one's opening email. Expound in the InMail. And then clickbait the connection request.
"Hey, sent you an email." That's all I'm saying. No context. So one, they're gonna check their email. "What? Oh, let me see if this guy emailed me." Guarantee, if they see the note, they're gonna check their email.
I don't know if they're gonna open it. I don't know if they're gonna reply. But it is human psychology that if you say, "Hey, sent you an email," no context, like you're gonna go, "Oh, I wonder what the email says."
Like what if it's the lottery, you know? Yeah. So that's a very effective cadence that I've seen work with outbound. Otherwise, I don't know. I'm, I used to have a, a, a lot stronger opinion, always use a note.
But now the notes are- Yeah... so crappy, like it's actually pretty frustrating to try to sift through them. Okay, so that branches off to my second question is- Okay...
do you accept connection requests that don't have a note? Lately, I have not accepted any connection requests, except if I understand what they do from their byline. And- Interesting...
what they do is a close enough connection or adjacent to what I do. Yeah. Or what, like where I'm trying to break into, like if it's an account or account adjacent. I had a post about this recently.
I'm like, I, I have two thousand connection requests right now, and there are--
there's just no way for me to see what people do, 'cause someone's byline will be like, "Helping people understand the way CEOs' minds work when they're playing games at their friend's volleyball match."
I'm like, "What do you do?" Like, "What, what do you do?" No one's gonna go read your profile and try to figure out what you do. Like, tell me in three words. Like, my byline is Sales at Beehive. Yeah.
Then it says Host of Two Dads and Tech. Yeah. Yours is something like that. Like CEO of Demo, host of Two Dads Tech. Like tell me what you do immediately.
Don't make me look for it, and ninety-nine percent of bylines right now are like people having fun with their- Yeah. I'm like, I don't care- Dude... about those words. I hate two of these bylines.
One, I hate when you're pitching in your byline. Like you said, "I help CEOs and founders do this." I hate that.
Like at that point, when you connect to me, I know you're gonna pitch me because you're literally- I know... pitching me in your byline. I know.
And then I hate all the ones that have like the brackets and that they're like, you know, whatever.
And there's, I'm sorry if you're listening to this, but like it'll be like, dad of three, ultimate golfer, ultimate runner, um, such a- Yes... such a, such a silly little clown, three whatever.
Like I'm like, dude, that's a lot. Like I get you're trying to have fun- Yeah... and it's like a little, it's a little bit more authentic. Yeah. But there's one in particular, I can't call it out. Oh, you have to.
It really- You have to. No. It really- Text me right now, live on the show. Text me. No, you wouldn't, you wouldn't know, you wouldn't know her. Um, I- I don't care. I don't care. Text me.
Text me the name so I can go, I can figure out who it is and get a look. Let me see if it's the same, let me see if it's the same thing.
But, um, if anybody listens to this at my previous companies, you know exactly who [chuckles] I'm talking about. Um, I don't even know her name anymore. Oh, it's fine. Don't even worry about it. We can move on.
So wait, I, I ask that because I no longer accept, and I, so I don't really send notes in my connection request unless I like have kind of like what you said, like unless there's a really-Like high intent kind of like idea or something that they know me or they know the product or whatever.
Um- So you're just, you're just sending, you're just sending connection requests on LinkedIn- Yeah, yeah blanks... without, without notes. Blanks. Do you get pretty good hits on that? Yeah, I actually have.
I- How many connection requests do you, do you send in a, like give or take in a week? 3,000. 3,000 a day. Um- [laughs] Hold on. Let me- That's so stupid. I actually have... Hold on, hold on, hold on.
So, um, in a day, I don't know, 15 maybe. Um, it depends. Okay. It's gotta be like, it's gotta be in my, the ICPN- And you get more than 10 of those connecting or, uh, accepted? I get,
um, I get around, depends on the title, but around like a 30 to 40% connection, like an- Okay... acceptance rate. It's not bad. Um- I think we have it easier.
When, when you have a fairly decent sized following and you're very active on LinkedIn, like I will die on this hill, and I do sometimes, it's easier- You do die?... for us to do it. Yeah, I do. Yeah.
[laughs] It's easier for us to do outbound on LinkedIn because- I think so, too... people see us. Yeah. And you have out of 45, 50,000 followers, I have like 22,000 now, and we're just there all the time.
We're in people's comments, we're going semi viral or actually viral. We're posting a billion times a day. We have videos of ourselves everywhere on every platform. Like exposure makes our lives easier.
Dude- That's why I keep doing it... it does. It does. And I bring this up because I didn't, I don't accept anything without a, without a message anymore, even though I preach not to add a message. Oh, that's new.
Contradicting. That's new. Um, it's because I think most people don't, they're not active on LinkedIn, so they're not getting flooded with connection requests. That's true.
Like they might be from salespeople, but like there's so many people just connecting one it. Like I just got one- Yes... that's like, "Hey, I wanna learn sales from you." I'm like- Yes...
"I also wanna learn sales from someone," because I don't know how to do it. And so- Yes... um, yeah, so I don't... And if the, if the note is good enough, I'll accept it.
If the note- Yeah...'s not good enough, I just leave 'em all blank. I connected... I, I sent a connection request without a note to someone, uh, yeah, yesterday [laughs] as my, on accident, but I just... I, I clicked.
I thought it said accept, but it said connect. You know how like if you go to someone's profile and it's, you- they've already connected with you, it'll say accept.
So I clicked it thinking, "Oh, they already connected with me. Let me accept it 'cause I'm here already." But it said connect. I was like, "Whatever. I don't even care. I don't know who this person is," but [laughs]
if you're listening, we're good. But they said, "OMG, it's the Daniel Burke. So great to connect." I was like, "Oh, geez, what did I do?" [laughs] Um- Dude, your, your- So anyways...
click bait message should just be, "Are, is this you in the picture?" [laughs] And then that's it. [laughs] And then they're like, "Wait, what?" Then you're like, "No, I'm playing. Thanks for connecting."
[laughs] Oh, it's true. That would be good. Um, dude, I- There's a lot of good ways to get people to reply...
I learned on Wednesday that there, studies show that there are at least one or two things that relationships deal with, like that, you know, like that you might get annoyed with each other about, but there's like one or two things that almost every relationship has that it's like you just deal with because that's your significant other.
And so my question to you, and it's like things that can annoy you, things that might frustrate you, things like that, but there's always like one or two things, like a compromise. Like, "I love this person, so whatever.
Like, I will deal, deal with that."
Do you have anything in, in your relationship that you think is like your one or two things where it's like, "Hey, this is kind of like what we compromise on just because we are, you know, married," et cetera? Hmm.
Things like communication things or lifestyle things? Like what, what do you mean? Give me an example. Yeah. I'll give you an example, um, for sure. So one thing that like my,
kinda like my wife deals with is the fact like we're, we're literally driving out at 3:00 PM today to go to the lake. It's a five-hour drive. My wife has... And she's incredible. She's packed everything.
She's packed all the snacks, all my, all of my clothes- Amazing... all of my deodorant, everything like that. But like in return, like I'm driving. I don't complain about her driving, things like that. And like she,
like it, it, I would say like it kinda bothers her that I don't do it, but like that's her, that's like our thing is like she knows like she's gonna pack for the trips and stuff because it, it keeps her mind at ease- Mm...
one. Two, she's not forgetting anything if she does it, like that kinda thing. Yeah. But like I know that she would appreciate the help.
And if you're someone listening to this and you're a wife, you're probably like, "Dude, you're so annoying, Troy," but like that's our one thing. That's like our one thing. Yeah.
And there's, you know, things on mine too, but that's like that one thing where it's like she deals with because, you know- Yeah... whatever. It, it makes her feel better even though it pis- Yeah...
you know, kinda pisses her off, but yeah. We, we do. Absolutely. I mean, I think any healthy marriage learns healthy compromises. Now, I will say
there should be almost like rules of engagement without over-engineering a romantic partnership. Like there should be rules of engagement. Like, and here's what I mean by that.
We just had a conversation last night with, uh, some of our mentors we meet with pretty regularly just g- getting help parenting in our, in our marriage, all that stuff.
And rule of engagement could look something like, all right, you guys are in a conversation. Both of you are a little tired, hungry, annoyed, and you're starting to argue or bicker. A rule of engagement could look like,
"Let's not have this conversation right now." And if I say that or if she says that, there's a somewhat objective understanding that like stop, the puck stops here.
We can try again in 20, 30 minutes after we've taken some time to... So I think that's one like, I don't even know if it's called a compromise, but it's more of like a, all right, we've been married seven years.
We've been together for over 10. We know what sets each other off in our own form of communication and then just in the world. So like recently I've had a pretty like
rollercoaster of a few, I would say a few weeks, few months, a lot of just stuff happening in life. And so like the other day, um,
a typical day, like a, a normal day, I get off work and I'm as h- I'm, I- I'm as helpful as I can possibly be until the kids go to bed, knowing my wife has been with the kids all day.
That's probably barely holding on by a thread. [laughs] There just, there's just chaos always. So I'm like, "Let me see if I can hang out with them."
She usually wants to cook dinner without them in the room, so I'm like, "Let me just get them out of here. Uh, you know, we'll play a game together, go on a walk, whatever."
But that's like my role.Now what I did the other day after a really difficult day, I logged off, I helped with the kids still because I'm like, "I just gotta help with the kids."
But the second the kids were down, I, I said, "Courtney, can I just like go on a long run? It's gonna be a while." She's like, "Yeah, go for it." And I didn't even have to explain myself. She knew I had a rough day.
So I went and I ran.
I was out for an hour and a half, two hours in the evening, which is usually our time to connect and hang out and like the kids are in bed, let's just like, you know, watch a show together, talk, like something.
You know, haven't seen each other all day. So I think there's like compromises where the compromise comes from both of us having a dis- like a pretty deep understanding of each other's needs. Yeah.
Now, we're not perfect, and we make tons of mistakes and probably hurt each other's feelings all the time, but like I can pick up when something's off with her. She can pick up when something's off with me.
And so those compromises are more of like an act of love in those instances. Like, all right, "Hey, I'm gonna take the kids. Y- you know, go take, take a bath or something. Like, do what you gotta do." Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
"Get your, get your head right." And, uh, she'll do the same for me all the time. So I don't know. Um- Yeah... I can think more on it, but I think that's just part of a healthy relationship. Yeah.
Yeah, and I, I mean, I ultimately think a compromise in any marriage is definitely an act of love. Um, it's giving up something that you probably don't wanna do for your significant other.
And, and one of those, I like the, the idea of rule of engagements because we're the same way. Like, "Hey, this clearly isn't heading in the right direction. Let's pause it.
We'll come back to this conversation in 10 minutes, tomorrow." Another rule of engagement, and I've... [sighs] It bothers me when I see it.
Another rule of engagement is when you're with people out and about and your significant other frustrates you, don't make them look stupid.
Like, in my opinion, I've seen this happen where I'm like, oh my gosh, like, are they really like fighting while we're around? Like, just socially hanging out with people. Are they really like arguing- Yeah...
and bickering? Yeah. And table that conversation. When you get home, you leave- Yes... and get in the car, just be like, "Hey, I wanna talk about something that you brought up there that didn't make me feel right." Like,
I, I've just been in too many scenarios where I've seen it and I'm like, "Dude, this makes me so uncomfortable. What do I do?" Yeah. They're ar- [laughs] like- Yeah. Yeah, ugh. I- For some reason, it, it irks me.
And it's hard. No, I know. Like, some people, it's hard to not do it because they're so frustrated with their, you know, significant other, but... I had to learn early on in our...
And I, I'm prefacing that I'm not perfect at all, and I hurt my wife's- Yeah, same... feelings all the time, so I'm learning and growing. But- Me, me too. I don't text...
early, yeah, early, right, early in marriage, I remember a few distinct moments over some period of months of time where my, the way I communicated with her was too similar to the way I joke around with my friends. Yeah.
And so, you know, we'd be hanging out with a group of friends.
A lot of the times they were like groups of friends that we were all in college together, and it's like, but now this is my wife, and so it's like, it doesn't really work.
So I'd be joking around, and I would like kind of, maybe I would like say something, jab her a little bit. Again- Yeah...
playfully, but like, oh, wait, this is my wife, and there's people here, and it, maybe there's a little bit of truth in the jab, and it's, it's more of like something I would do with the buddies, and no one would be upset, and we would all laugh, and we would get over it.
And, you know, I'm like, oh, I, like I can't talk to my wife like that. And especially to your point, like in a, in a group setting. Yeah. There's a time and a place to joke with your wife.
But if it is at the expense of, like, her saving face, oh, do not. Yeah. Brothers, if you are listening to this, and you have a wife- Yeah...
don't joke at her expense unless, one, she has given you permission, and two, you are not with her friends. That's just- Yes... there's just no good way about it. Even if she's, like, laughing with you, like I...
Deep down, she doesn't want that. I, I, I- Yep... I think I know enough about my wife and the very little I know about the world, she does not want that. You're better off just not doing it at all. Yeah. Yeah.
Those friendly jabs are not as friendly as you think. No. And their friends don't think it's friendly. They actually think it's passive aggressive, and they think there's something underlying. Yes.
So those friendly jabs... And, and I'm gonna, like you, you mentioned it, you're not perfect. I'm not perfect either. In the very beginning of my wife's, my wife and I's relationship, I did many of those.
And the reason, like we were, we got together when we were both in our party stage. Like, we met in Vegas. Like, we met partying. Ooh. And so, I know, that's a whole nother story. And, but it's funny- Talk about it now.
I, I need to, I need to hear this story. Yeah. How'd you meet? You know. Yeah, yeah. So I had just gotten there for a work trip. She was actually leaving in a couple hours for, to go back home.
She was already there for three days. Um, but- Was she there for a work trip as well, or was she just living there? Her birthday. Her birthday trip. Nice. Nice. Nice. So she was with some girls.
Um- Was she wearing a sash? No sash. No sash. Okay. Okay. Okay. She was actually at a slot machine. You could tell, like she was, she was wind- She was ready to leave... she was winding down. She was ready to leave.
[laughs] Yeah. So- You're at the slot machines in Vegas, you're ready to go. You don't start with the slot machines. I know. We had just, literally just put our suitcases up, came downstairs. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And, uh, she was at a slot machine with one of her friends. The other friends were out partying still. She was with one of her friends. And again, this was, I was 24 or something.
I, this was definitely my, my peak party phase.
And then, yeah, we just went up to her, me and a couple of friends went up to her and her friend and was like, "Hey, hope y'all have a good night," and they ignored us, and so we're like, "All right," like that was rude.
So then we did a big circle and went back up to them and we went, we said, "Hey, we said we hope you have a good night." And then that sparked some conversation.
Um, and next thing you know, like I don't even know, like we're just talking. They're like, "Oh yeah, we live in Austin," or at this time we lived in Dallas, so I was like, "Yeah, I live in Dallas.
It's actually not that far." And, um, like I jokingly like took her ring off and then put it on her, her, you know, ring finger, and I was like, "Oh," like whatever. Like just some cutie, cutie little flirty stuff.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, a little cute, uh, uh, what is it? Meet cute? A little Troy meet cute? [laughs] Meet cute. Is that what you call it? Isn't that what it's called? A meet cute? I've never heard of that.
It's like the, the, the Hallmark movies where someone drops a pen, and they stand up- Oh... and there's like, you know, you know, long, bronze, handsome man- Oh, yes... right in front of her face. That's a meet cute.
[laughs] Okay. Well, then it was a meet cute. But anyways, we like, we talk for a bit. She's like, "Yeah, I'm in Austin. I'm in Dallas," whatever. We're like, "Okay.
Well, I'll at least get your number," 'cause at the end of the day, like we're not too far. Who cares? But yeah.
Next thing you know, texting turns into like FaceTimes, turns into like, "All right, you wanna come visit Austin?"
And then I moved to Austin.I don't know, three to six months later, um, and then COVID hit, and then that, like, sped everything up, to be honest. COVID hit, we were stuck with each other in the one apartment.
We were like, "Well, all right." A year and a half in, we got engaged.
And, um, kind of back to the conversation, in the beginning, we were both in the party stage, so, like, when I would visit Austin, we were both partying.
On the weekends I wouldn't visit Austin, so, like, we weren't really exclusively dating. It was just we were having fun. That's all it was. Yeah, yeah.
It's like there were definitely, like, those jabs where I'm like, "God, this is not healthy or whatever and whatever." Right. We kind of... But, like, you learn. Like, you learn to not, or you hope you learn.
So if you're, if you have a significant other- Some people don't...
and you're doing these friendly jabs that are kind of passive-aggressive and it's because you're actually kind of frustrated, but you're trying to make it look like a joke in front of people, it never looks like a joke in front of people.
It never does. Uh, so it's lear- it's a learned behavior. You can learn to table that conversation for later. Yep, yep. But you're, you're right.
Some people don't, and I think that that causes a lot of problems in marriages.
Um, but never, ever, I don't care if it's the wife or the husband, never, ever, ever make your significant other look bad in front of other people. That is not your job at all. That's actually the- Yep...
opposite of your job. So there's my thoughts on that and how we met. [laughs] No, I love that. I love that. That's... I think it's a good healthy reminder that your role as spouse, partner, husband, wife, whatever, is to
make your spouse look amazing, and it's not easy to do. And in fact, I think the longer you're together, sometimes the harder it becomes- Yeah... because you've seen every flaw. Yeah. Every single one.
But doesn't make it any less our jobs, our roles, our responsibility. Yeah. Yeah, that's well put. Dude, ignoring all, like, the controversy about Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle, like, let's, let's say...
And are you, I'm sure you're caught up, right? Or are you not? Yep. No, I'm caught up. You're, you're a Twitter guy. Okay. So ignoring- No, there's a, there's a... Wait.
On, before you even ask, there's a, there's a TikTok where the TikTok itself is the guy coming up to someone. He's like, "Hey, have you seen this TikTok? It's about..." Yes. Yes, I've seen the TikTok.
'Cause I haven't even told you, I've seen them all. [laughs] I've seen all the TikToks. So anyways, yes. I'm never gonna see them. [laughs] I am, I am caught up. [laughs] Okay. All right.
A lot of controversy, glamorizing, you know, whatever. Doesn't matter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
But ignoring the argument and the controversy of it all, do you think American Eagle accomplished what they wanted to? Certainly.
Uh, why, why put Sydney Sweeney in an ad if not to pump your numbers, get a ton of viral press, e- effectively free PR, even though they probably spent a lot of money for her? Yeah. Yeah.
I think they did what they wanted and, and in some ways rebranded. I mean, American Eagle was around when you and I were in middle school. Ooh, yeah. And so for you and I, 20 years ago,
i- I, I guess I'll speak for myself. When I think of American Eagle, I think of what I wore when I was in middle school. Yeah. And I'm probably not the minority.
I think anyone from late 20s to late 30s that thinks of American Eagle remembers what they wore 25 years ago. Yeah. But that's not what they want to be seen as.
They want to be seen as what people who are tuned in and fashionable and influencer-esque or creator-esque wear right now.
I have a friend who I grew up with who is a model for, either for or with, I don't know how it works, American Eagle, and she's, like, very, very famous in this world and doing some co-branding stuff with American Eagle.
Maybe it's Abercrombie. Either way. They're, but they're the same thing to me. Like, the same idea as I think of middle school.
But, like, they're, they're doing this very intentional rebranding, and I think that's what they probably wanted to happen with Sydney Sweeney.
If you, if Sydney Sweeney's in your vocabulary, it's because you're tuned into internet culture. Yeah. That's a- And now Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle are in the same sentence together.
I think they succeeded, whatever they were trying to do. Yeah, yeah. I- Why? What do you think? Yeah. I agree with that. There's always, like, the...
Well, the, that they just cut off, like, X amount of percent of who they possibly could have sold to if they rebranded in a different way. But, like- It's true... it's almost like if you, you know, you do whatever.
You say, like, "Hey, this is who I voted for." It's like, all right, you're cutting off, like, 50% of, of your audience- Can't please everyone... with everyone. Yeah. You can't. You can't.
So yeah, I think that at the end of the day, like, their stock went up and there's all, there's all these people that are like, "Oh, it's not about stock. It's about, you know, whatever." I don't care.
I think that they... I literally have no emotional attachment to this. I haven't thought about it too much. I haven't even looked into it. I just know that there's a lot of controversy around it.
So yeah, I think they probably got what they wanted, and like you said, their target audience right now is, like, how do we get all of these people that are s- are obsessed with, like, internet culture into- Yep...
American Eagle's doors? And, uh- Yeah... yeah, they probably got what they wanted. I will... To something you said, anyone that says it's not about stock about any public company, you are wrong. It is always about stock.
It's all about stock. [laughs] Yeah. Everyth- everything is about stock and- Yeah... pleasing shareholders. So- Whether you like it or not. No, really.
Whether you wanna put, you know, like, the politics or the controversy or, like, the, the equality, like, it's all about stock as a public company. Yeah, yeah. It's literally- It is...
is your business going to succeed or not? Like, that's- Yes... that's it. Yes. They don't really... You know, some care, but- Yes... at the end of the day, yeah. I saw, I saw someone compare what... [laughs] Someone.
I actually think it was President of the United States. Anyways, um, what they did... I... It's so funny. I was like, "Oh, I saw this funny meme." I was like, "Oh, it wasn't a meme.
It was a real post from Donald Trump about, uh, Sydney Sweeney and A- A- American Eagle comparing what Jaguar did with their rebrand like six months ago or something." What was their rebrand?
[laughs] Dude, chill the freak out. Are you serious? I, I don't get- We're living- I, I'm not on any social media besides LinkedIn, and we see things 12 months later. So, like- My goodness. No, you, you have to.
When they did this, like... I don't even know how to say it. The rebrand. Jaguar did... Are you serious? Did they change, like- Guys, someone back me up here.
I need listeners to go crazy in the comments on YouTube about the fact that Troy doesn't know what I'm talking about. It's, like, a viral- Trump mocks, Trump mocks Jaguar's rebrand as stupid and woke This was months ago.
Like, a super, super woke, like-CEO has since, like, stepped down from Jaguar. They, like, upset ninety-nine percent of their main fan base because Jaguar's like- What's wrong with it? Oh, man. Hold on.
Um, I was, I was not prepared to have this conversation this episode. I just assumed when I said Jaguar rebrand, you were gonna know everything. Yeah. I'm just- I'm learning. I'm learning right now...
that's like, this is like trying to explain a meme to someone that's like five levels deep. I can't do it. I can't do it. You have to just go back in time and be more obsessed with the internet.
And, uh- Dude, these cars look sick... wow, we found out a lot. What's up with these- We found, we found out a lot- What's up... the, the logo's cool... about Troy today.
He didn't know Figma IPO'd, he didn't know Jaguar rebranded. What else don't you know? Here, give me a list of three things- Hey... you don't know. How about this? How about this? Hey, everybody.
I just wanna let you know it's okay to disconnect from the world and actually go- No, it's not... spend time with your friends- No, it's not... and your family.
We don't, we don't have a, we don't have a seven-day disconnect challenge on twodadsintech.com right now. Dude. Yeah, so go get it.
No, I, I, I will say I've been really bad at keeping up with things for the last three months, and you know this. I can tell. I can tell. I've been traveling, and it's so exhausting.
This is- I've been asking Troy for our TikTok password for two months now. [laughs] I know. Still haven't given it to me. And I'm always like, "Yeah, hold on."
I'm on a plane or I'm on a call, and then I'm very forgetful. I swear. I'm very forgetful. Oh. I swear. I should do it right now. I should do it right... Well. By the moon. Yeah, you gotta do it right now.
Okay, but wait. One second. Wait a second. Let's back up. So I'm on Jaguar's site. I think their logo looks kinda cool. This- I don't know what their logo is right now, but they undid, they undid a lot.
So whatever their logo looks like- This, this car looks sick. W- Oh, no, they undid it. They undid it. You're not, you're not seeing what I'm referring to. Everything on their website right now is, is a step back.
What Jaguar's controversial rebrand can teach us. Hold on now. I'm learning, but- Look up after this episode, look up Jaguar, copy nothing. It's November 19th, 2024.
So actually, I said six months ago, closer to, like, 11 months ago. Anywho. I'm not, I'm not gonna play it right now, but it's about 30 seconds, and it, it's, it's like a viral
sensation on both sides of the spectrum of people who hated it and loved it. Mostly hated- Uh... because the main fan base. Yeah. So anyways. I see, I see this. Okay. I can- Yeah. Anywho. Yeah.
It looks, just, like, by this thumbnail, it looks like Trump would probably make fun of it. Just- Well, I guess he did. I don't even remember where I was going with that. [laughs] I don't... I know. I don't care either.
Um, hey, uh, what do you think the worst sales practice is that's taught? Um, that there's only one way to do it. Oh, I love that. Uh, I think- Yeah. Yeah. I think- It's cute... the most seasoned... Shut your mouth.
What's up, kid? I hear you. Have you seen, you've seen, you've seen- Who's in the background? Who is that? Is that Everett? I don't know. I don't hear him. Yeah. One of my kids. Uh, you've seen Step Brothers, right?
What is Step Brothers? I mean- [laughs] No, I'm kidding. Could you imagine? Now, now, now I know how uncultured you are. Ugh. I have to just ask. No. Yes. Yeah. You know the, the scene in there in the interview?
Sh- sh- sh- shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. Sh- shut, shut your mouth. Stop ta- Yep... stop talking. This interview is over. Anyways, I think the longer
a playbook has been proven in someone's sales career, the more close-minded they can become to things not in that playbook generating- Yeah... meaningful opportunity and pipeline. Um- 100% agree.
It's, it's, it's, you know, it's something I've seen many times up close and personal. It's something I've even fell into the trap of. It's like, "I know this works. I've seen it work."
It's like, "Yeah, but have you tried that?" "No, because I know this works." Well, it's okay. J- uh, both can be true. Your thing can work, and this other un- unrelated thing could also work.
So anyways, I think that, that's my short answer. Everybody, that is it for today's episode. I had an annoying and frustrating technical issue there at the end of the episode.
It cut off all my audio and made the rest of the audio sound like crap. And we had to re-record this, and we just kind of ran out of time to re-record it. Uh, so we're gonna deal with this for today's episode.
So if you made it this far, thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate you. Go ahead and hit five stars on, uh, what is it, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Just so you know, every time that you rate it five stars, it helps us a lot get, get viewed and get recognized by people that do not know anything about us. So means the world.
Twodadsintech.com, you can find everything there, our digital, uh, our seven-day digital disconnect challenge, all of our podcast episodes, um, merch, all that fun stuff. Um, what else? What else?
Daniel told me to say some other stuff. I think like go to YouTube, subscribe. What else did he tell me to say? Um, I think that's about it.
[laughs] Uh, but I really do appreciate every single one of you for listening and for making it this far.
Um, we could not be here without you, and I'm so excited that this is a part of my life now and that you guys are part of it as well. I will see you next week.