Even though most of you reading this are dudes, you are still likely familiar with the CEO and founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely. She built her business into a $400+ million brand before selling it for $1.2 billion, making her one of the wealthiest and most influential entrepreneurs in the world. 

WeightWatchers, an iconic brand that has been around for 62 years and had reached a peak of $1.5 billion in sales in 2018, recently filed for bankruptcy due to escalating debt, citing competitive pressure as the reason for its failure. 

UPS recently announced it was laying off 20,000 employees and shutting down an estimated 73 leased and owned buildings, citing changes in the global trade policy and new or increased tariffs under the Trump administration. 

Last week we held our annual “all members” event that had 1,332 MSPs registered in person, over 950 attending virtually, plus another 350+ sponsor attendees. It’s a BIG show, with a LOT of moving parts.

Back in November there was much weeping and wailing when Trump won the election by a landslide with the usual gang of celebrities declaring they were leaving the country in protest just like they promised back in 2016. In response one Realtor created a billboard with a giant picture of Trump on it that said “Thinking of leaving the country? I can help you sell your house.” Yeah, save the e-mail, it’s funny AND a good marketing campaign.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my best clients, Charles Swihart, posted a chart on social media that showed how much his MSP grew after joining our program. An an aside, I did not ask him to do this, pay him to do this or even know he was going to do it.

Last week, Cabot Creamery recalled 1,700 pounds of their “extra creamy” premium sea-salted butter due to…wait for it…fecal contamination.

Last week, Trump announced a universal 10% tariff on all imported goods, with more to come, as a corrective measure to unequal foreign tariffs on US goods and as a revenue-raising strategy to help finance sweeping tax cuts they hope to announce later this year. 

On the list of the most pointless skills to master, Joel Strasser has won multiple Guinness World Records for putting things in his beard. If you have no life, you can waste a couple of minutes and watch the various videos he has online, putting straws, candy canes, chopsticks and golf tees in his whiskers. He even has a few motivational videos showing how he deals with critics and haters about growing a beard big enough to hold 3,500 toothpicks. 

A few years ago at a Producers Club meeting, I interviewed two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman, who was recently called home. I had always wanted to have “Big George” on my stage since hearing him speak back in 2009 about what it takes to be a champion, come back from a major setback and why we should have appreciation for hard work.