End of 2022 Predictions

Video Transcription

Harry Brelsford 

Hey nation nation back with Ben Baker, north of the border up in Vancouver. Are you in the heat dome, that everybody's sitting on the West Coast?

Ben Baker 

You know what, thank God the heat dome is starting to come. We got wind today, probably somewhere in the 40 to 50 mile an hour range. That is, you know, the trees are bending over. But we have been in about 90 days of 8590 90 degrees and for the West Coast, that's warm, you know, no, no, no one here has air conditioning, you know, our houses are not built for it. So, you know, for us to sit there and say, well, it's 80 degrees. And my friends in Texas going, Hey, that's a spring day.

Harry Brelsford 

Yeah, I spent darn near the month of August in Seattle with my summer bird. Snowbird strategy. Didn't make it as far north as you. But what a relief because the Texas had the heat dome, the summer. I mean, it was some real heat. Let me tell you,

Ben Baker 

I look at it and say probably lost eight to 10 pounds, you know, just sitting in my office in my chair, it's, it's the perfect weight loss. You know, I could sit there I could work all day. And I'm still losing weight.

Harry Brelsford 

Yeah. Well, hey, it's been a few months, we're headed into fall. What are you? What are you hearing? What are you seeing? What are you predicting? You know,

Ben Baker 

it's interesting. I mean, we've got a whole bunch of stuff going on, we got the you know, we still have the great resignation coming down the pipe, we still, you know, all this quiet quitting, which it's really interesting to see how are people defining it? You know, what are they defining the quiet creating, and then we have the big art coming down the pipe. And it's going to be interesting to see how all those things come together. And, you know, when we bring them all together, and we smash them together, like an atom, you know, what's going to happen? Is it going to implode? Or is it going to explode? And I think that a lot of companies right now are sitting by the sidelines going alright. Let's keep an eye open. Let's sit there and say things are going well, today. Things are interesting. There's still conversations going on, but we're not really sure what's coming up next. And you have, you know, a whole slew of industries out there. You know, some people are extremely optimistic. Some people are extremely pessimistic. And a lot of people are just, you know, they got one hand on the throttle and one hand on the cash register. And they're just sitting there going, alright, which way do we go? Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what does the next six months bring with all that coming together? Yeah, I

Harry Brelsford 

concur. This one's different. You know, I've been on today's it's, it's early September, it's my time to kind of load up with some podcasts, you know, the business all too? Well? Absolutely. The, this one's different? Well, you know, you can say they're all different. Oh, 708 was different. The pandemic was different. But yet again, this one's different in my mind's eye is lay person, because, you know, you got the increasing rate environment, and I get that. But then you have, you know, super strong employment numbers, right. So, this one's different man.

Ben Baker 

And the thing is, is you and I do have a few gray hairs on the side of our temples. And we we've seen this before. I mean, I remember going in 1999 2000, I remember stuff before that. And so this is not my first trip to the rodeo. And what I realized is, it could either be worse than we think it could be better than we think. But there's always opportunity in every single recession, and every single change, there's opportunity, it's a matter of sitting there going. Okay, what's next? What are people afraid of? What are people challenged by what are people, you know, are optimistic about? What do people want to do? What are they not able to do? Because they don't have the experience skill or expertise themselves? How can I help? And I think that those are the people that are resilient, you know, creative, adaptable, are going to find a way through this and they're going to actually come out of this thing with more shekels in their wallet. Based on the fact that there's so they're going alright, just because the markets down for some people means that the markets up for somebody else. And it's being able to sit there and say, All right, where's the wind going? And how do I set my sail? To be able to take advantage of it?

Harry Brelsford 

Yeah. And then down here. Throw on the complexities of it's an election year and you know, and I'll just leave it at that, you know, folks get involved left, right. Red, Blue get involved. That's, that's, that's all I'm gonna say. Right. Just just get involved so you can't complain from the sofa. But It's an election year. And so that's a whole nother dynamic is to, you know, what realistically could pass through the the US Senate and House and get signed at this late date. We're just after Labor Day down here. And it I don't know, there's there's some initiatives in a startup I'm involved in where I'd like to see some movement in passage of a couple of bills. Not going to happen. I mean, I'm talking to people that do public policy not going to happen. No,

Ben Baker 

no. And that's the thing is, is that the government shuts down, you know, I mean, it gets earlier and earlier, every election, it really, truly does, because everybody's afraid that they say the wrong thing, or they do the wrong thing, or they backed the wrong initiative. So it's better to do nothing to do something at all. And I think that's a lesson of something we need to stop doing. It doesn't matter if we're public, political politicians, or bureaucrats or private business owners. You know, doing nothing is not an option. Because when we do nothing, we're putting our faith in our in our faith in somebody else's hands. You know, when we do something when we make a decision, and go, alright, this is the information I have in front of me, this is the opportunities I have in front of me. I'm going to pick this one. Are you going to get 100% of the opportunities, right? Are you going to make 100% of the decisions right every single time? No, you're not none of us are. But by not making a decision by not moving forward by not taking advantage of whatever all you're doing is putting you're in a position where you're going to start sliding backwards because you're not moving forward.

Harry Brelsford 

Yeah. Yeah. And no, I hear you. Well, hey, well, we'll catch up to you next quarter. Maybe look at predictions for 2023

Ben Baker 

I would love that. Yeah, let's

Harry Brelsford 

keep this party going get get on down here to Austin. Are we're just headed into I'll end up we started with weather. No, I'll end on weather. Because we broke the heat dumb. We're down in my mind's eye 20 degrees. It's festival season. See? So all the festivals are now starting down here. So we're headed into a wonderful nine months after a horrible three months and so when you when you get those November monsoons I know you're a part of the world pop on down, we'll we'll go find us a turkey and catch it and have a turkey day.

Ben Baker 

So can I sleep on your couch for South by Southwest? Is that is that the opportunity? There you go. There you go. All right.