Million Dollar Days
Welcome to Million Dollar Days with Robby Choucair & George Passas. Your go-to podcast for a deep dive into the world of Life and Business Mastery.
Join hosts Robby Choucair and George Passas, a dynamic marketer and a seasoned Entrepreneur, as they navigate through an array of intriguing topics ranging from the everyday to the extraordinary.
Robby brings his marketing expertise to the table, offering insights into the latest strategies and trends. George, with his extensive experience in business, provides a grounded, practical perspective. Together, they explore everything from the feasibility of alien existence to effective goal setting, and even the nuances of religion.
Million Dollar Days is not just about business acumen; it's an exploration of life's many facets, wrapped up in conversations that are as enlightening as they are entertaining.
Tune in and be part of our journey, where every day is a million-dollar day, filled with learning, laughter, and the pursuit of mastery.
Million Dollar Days
When A Brand Becomes A Tribe: Why People Wear The Logo, Pay The Premium, And Stay Loyal
Blink and the holidays vanished, but the lessons stuck. We headed to California expecting pure magic at Disneyland and walked away with something bigger: a live masterclass in how the world’s strongest brands turn customers into fans. We break down immersive lands that feel like movie sets, fast pass systems that stall your day, and the high-cost, high-delight choices families make to skip lines. Then we compare it with Universal Studios, where lower expectations met smoother logistics, punchier ride design, and an experience that hits harder for adults.
From there, the story moves courtside. At the Intuit Dome, facial recognition handles entry, food, and merch with near-zero friction, while NBA entertainment keeps the energy up every minute. We talk about why that matters—because frictionless systems and constant engagement are what modern audiences expect everywhere. On the flight, a small act of care from Qantas turned anxiety into loyalty. That’s the blueprint: great product, memorable service, and thoughtful touches when it counts.
We also get honest about price and identity. Why do people wear Disneyland merch head to toe? Why do Yeti bottles command a premium? How did Porsche make ownership feel like joining a family while a service quote elsewhere did the opposite? Add Secretlab’s packaging and support, and you get a simple pattern: performance earns trust, service cements it, and symbols broadcast belonging. We connect those dots to practical takeaways for any founder or marketer—engineer emotional moments, remove buying friction, reward loyalty, and create artifacts people want to show off.
If you’re planning a theme park trip, curious about the economics behind billion-dollar experiences, or focused on building a brand that compels people to say “I only buy from them,” this conversation will spark ideas you can use now. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves brand strategy, and tell us: which brand has your unwavering loyalty—and why?
Can you believe it's the twelfth of January, halfway through the month already? Time flies. Man, blink and shit happens. You know, I remember the last week of the year, the last week of the work, last work week of the year, thinking, Fuck, I gotta I'm going to America on Friday. Right? And I go, man, I can't wait. It's gonna be so much fun. And it's like that's like five days away. It's still and it's gone. I've already come, I've already gone to the holiday, come back, and it's like shit, back at work. Where did the holidays go?
Robby:I think this is there's two things to this. Obviously, we want to hear about your trip. We've got a lot of uh listeners anticipating, you know, did George Carnegie all the rides at Disneyland. Uh how was your trip? It was really good, it was fantastic.
George:Like, what a life. How lucky are you? How long are you going for? A week. So seven days. LA? Yeah, LA pretty much the whole time. Well California. Yeah, California. Ah, yeah, yeah. So you left LA? The city, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Anaheim was about an hour away, which is where Disneyland is. Yep. And then went to some other areas as well. Yeah, okay, cool. How's Disneyland? Look, you know what? Happiest place on earth? I was happy. Was I the happiest I've ever been? No, I don't know. Look, honestly, no, it wasn't sad. And like I'd spoken to a lot of people about it that had been and said, Oh, it's amazing, it's the best, it's so good, it's fantastic. Man, I thought it was underwhelming. Underwhelming? Yeah, like I was it didn't live up to the expectation. I was expecting to go in there and to start crying from happiness. Like maybe I pumped it up so much, thinking that this was going to be such an amazing thing to do. And we walked in there, and look, it's great. Let me just get one thing straight. No one, no one, no one in the world does entertainment better than America. No one. Is that Disneyland? Almost no, just with almost everything, man. Yeah. Sporting events, they take it to another level. Like everywhere we went, like if you went to say a shopping center or an outdoor area, it had a 30-foot Christmas tree there lit up, looking better than any Christmas tree I've ever seen in my life. They had decorations everywhere, they'd have people dressed up in character walking down the streets. Like they do it so much better than everyone else. Why? I I think it must be ingrained in the culture at the moment. There must be that high level of expectation, you know. That's where the movies are, that's where everything is. It's it it must be a level of that. And that was definitely present at Disneyland as well. Like, don't get me wrong, guys. Like I say it's underwhelming. That's only because maybe I had a really, really high expectation, but it was it was still fantastic. And would I go again? Yes, I would. I would do it differently. Now that I've gone, I would plan it out a bit better now.
Robby:Okay, what was what was your what was your favorite thing from Disneyland specifically? And then we'll talk about the rest.
George:Okay, I the favorite thing was look, they really ingrained themselves in the characters in the world. Like they put in, you can see when you go into an area like the Star Wars area, it looked fantastic. Like you felt you're on in Star Wars, like in the set of a Star Wars film, whatever it was. They had the characters walking around, you could take a photo with them. It was really good in that. Yeah, for free. For free. I mean, sometimes depending on the character, like you'd have to line up. So say Iron Man would come up, he that you look on your app. They had an app where you can see the session times when people are there. You might have to line up and go get a photo with him and whatnot. But other than that, you'd see other characters walking around and getting, you can go get a photo with them. I've got my my son and daughter got some photos with a few of the characters there. So they do the actual worlds really good. Like when you're walking through it, they the attention to detail is fantastic. Fantastic. Like even walking on the rides, you go through the ride, and it's not like you're walking through a room with plaster walls. If you're in the Star Wars thing, then they've got like these bricks with cables and wires, and you really feel it's a really immersive experience. And I think they do that fantastic. Like that was really, really um good.
Robby:So what like what was missing? What would have had to have happened for you to sit there? Like a everything I wanted to do.
George:I think I think the the way they do the rides is a bit shit. Like we bought a five. Okay, first of all, let's talk about some costs because I think a lot of people Yeah, because I was under the impression that this was gonna be like 50 bucks a ticket. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly right. Let's talk about so a family of four. We got a two-day pass. So we did we we did the Disneyland and then we did the adventure park, which is they're they're literally side by side, but you kind of need a day for each. Well, it's what's adventure? So the adventure park's more for rides, and then Disneyland is like the attractions. There are still plenty of rides in Disneyland, and then it's Disneyland Adventure Park.
Robby:And can you are you going to predominantly separate days?
George:Yes. Yeah. So the first day we did Disneyland, which is more the attractions, the main street, like the the castle is there, all that sort of stuff. There's you know the Disneyland Castle. Oh, yes, yes. Yeah, so that's there. Um it was really good in that regard. Um so you go there, you look at all the attractions, they still got rides in there too. Now, what I was annoyed, we bought we bought a two-day pass for four people. That was two and a half thousand dollars Australian for two for four people for two days. Now, you do spend the whole day there as well. We bought the fast pass as well, so you get on your rides quicker. Now, what I what annoyed me a lot about the fast pass was you have an app and say you want to ride a roller coaster, you got to put in the app and you want to use your fast pass. You go, cool. You look at it, it says the roller coaster that you want to go on, it's at 12.30. And for you, it's 10 a.m. Now you go, cool, let's book that in for 12.30. Now, between 10 a.m. and 12.30, you can't use any other fast pass for another ride until you've done that one. So you either had to Did I tell you that? No, I didn't know. I'm sure it's in the fine print somewhere. I'm sure if I researched a bit more I could find that, but I didn't know that when I got there. So we were trying to book in fast pass for multiple rides. So we planned the day. Okay, cool, we'll go here, then we'll do that one, then we'll do that one, then we'll do that one. So between 12, 10 and 12.30, you either had to line up in a line, the the regular line, which was anywhere between pay extra for fast pass? No, yes. Yeah. Uh previous, yeah, before. So you either had to go, all right, I'm gonna do I'm gonna do the fast pass at 12.30. And then if you wanted to go on another ride between, you'd either have to look and see the wait times, maybe something that was 20 minutes, but generally if it's a low wait time, it's a shit ride or it's nothing that's great. Or you'd have to wait 45 minutes to 75 minutes just to get on a ride. And mind you, the rides go for five to ten minutes at the most, right? And it's like, fuck, are you gonna wait your whole day? You use your whole day just standing in line, and people do crazy. I don't know, like I couldn't think of anything worse. So that was annoying. That just annoyed me in that regard.
Robby:Um did it annoy so was it annoying for you as an adult? Yes, for me as an adult. Like George the Adult was annoying. Yeah, George the adult was annoyed. But the kids were like this.
George:Look, the kids, yeah, the kids were um, yeah, they still they still liked it too. Like they weren't, yeah, yeah. There was no negativity from them from their perspective. We still got to go in all the areas. Like as I said, you can still walk to the Star Wars world and walk around everywhere and do everything and be immersed in that whole scene. And you did that. That's what we kind of did as opposed to going on every single ride. Now, the you what you could do as well, which was another option, is you could pay$35 to$50 US and just get on straight away.
Robby:On the ride.
George:On the ride. So you could do that at every single world. So you'd have Star Wars, Avengers, uh, Mickey Mouse, whatever it was, cars, all that sort of stuff. And you could pay$50 uh US and do it. And it's like, okay, so I looked at that then and go, okay, next time I do this, I'm either gonna say, right, we're spending five grand at Disneyland. That's it. Whatever it is. We're not waiting, we're not doing anything. You've got to do it, we're gonna do this properly, we're gonna go on every ride. We'll do a few fast passes where we can, like we'll we'll use it. But then otherwise we're just gonna go in and pay for each ride. And you just do that through the app per person, per person, right? So I did it once in Star Wars because I planned it out. I'm like, okay, we'll go do the ride in Star Wars, then we'll go and do another one somewhere else. And I go, but the only way I can make this work is if I pay. So I pay for me and my son, and it was, and it ended up being a hundred and three dollars for the both of us at Aussie. Yeah. All right, bunch of it, because the the that's the other thing. Everything's very expensive in America, especially for us at the moment, because the exchange rate's about 1.6 more, right? So um that's that's a kick in the face as well. Now we went there, uh, we did that ride. I paid a hundred bucks ago, and it was a great ride. Like it was fantastic. It was probably one of the best rides we did. Really immersive, really digital. Like they've got um, how do you how do you say it? It's like a digital screen in front of you, and then you're in a booth that moves and goes up and down, and it really feels like they've the tech the technology behind the rides is fantastic now. It's so entertaining, and it feels like you're either like okay, we went on one that was the Millennium Falcon. That was one of the rides, and it's like you come in through this, it feels like you're walking through the Millennium Falcon, like they've set up the rooms, the studios, just like you see it in the movies. And like, oh, I remember that table, I've seen this, I've seen this, and as you're walking, and then you go sit in the cockpit, the cockpit, and then it's like all the VRs around you, you're pressing buttons, you're doing stuff. It was really, really good. Like, again, so impressed with that aspect of it, the detail they go into to make the user feel like you're really in the spaceship. So we did that, and then um went and saw some of the attractions, saw the rides. They had this thing at nighttime. So the night we were there, they didn't do the fireworks because it was too windy or something like that. But we did get to see this other attraction, which was I don't know what it was called, but it was fucking fantastic. They did it with um Mickey Mouse, and he was it was like Fantasia, the movie, but then they incorporated all the other Disney classic movies in that whole scene, and they had live action, but then they had these water jets that would pre that would have a projector of the the the movies and all that sort of stuff. It was just so good. And I remember sitting back there going, that's amazing how good they do everything. So that's what was really, really cool to see. The other thing which I noticed which was quite interesting to me, and my friend picked up on it too that we were there. We were there with some friends um as well. How many people actually wear Disneyland merch? While they're there, yeah, yeah, whilst whilst they're there. Like there are so many people that wear actual Disneyland jackets, jumpers, like they are so ingrained in that brand of Disneyland that they buy the product. Like, I I couldn't see myself buying something Disneyland, I would never wear it ever again if I did. You'd be buying it for the day. And the things aren't grown men and stuff, yeah. Like grown men, it a hundred percent. There's some people there that are more into it than the kids, like some adults, they'll dress up in full merch head to toe, absolutely everything. Like I'm telling you, man, like you almost be like, hey, 40. Yeah, sit down. But it's um yeah, I found that interesting. You buy the merch there, you can buy the merch there. I'm sure you could buy it outside of there, but yeah, they have so many stores there, and and in each world, so say you go to Star Wars, you could buy Star Wars merch too. All right, and then you go to wherever Avengers, you could go buy Aventure merch or Spider-Man merch or whatever you want to do with Michael, uh Mickey Mouse, Michael Mouse.
Robby:And it was uh that's so you're an adult. Yeah, um and it was busy.
George:Oh man, so many people. I think don't um can't fact check me on this, but I'm pretty sure the it's either the theme parks as a whole or that particular theme park makes a billion dollars a year. And it wouldn't surprise me. It's gotta be, yeah. Man, I'm telling dude, so much, so many people, so many people, and everything is expensive, like even for Americans. Like I was thinking about and going, how do how do Americans here they're on less so they get paid less than us? So it does balance out a little bit. I'm like, this is expensive even if you lived here. How do people come here and and and spend this sort of money on food, on on merchandise, on everything? I'm like, that's a really expensive day out.
Robby:Yeah, I think there's um it goes to the show, man. Like you you you almost want to turn around and say, like, fuck man, how are you charging so much for this thing? But it's like, how's everyone fucking paying for it?
George:Because the other thing I was gonna say, okay, and it got because again, business. I was always thinking about this shit. I'm like, people are not only paying willingly, they're gonna like give you more. Like, how do I book in next trip? Okay, so look at it from a business perspective. Look at what they've created, they've created raging fans, raging fans, and I get it, it's movies, it's nostalgia, it's a whole range of things, but they've created raging fans in that aspect, and you know what, they target adults more than they target the kids, right? Because the adults are the ones that are gonna go there and want to feel happy and be in their happy place, and they're exactly right, they have the money, and it's yeah, it was really interesting to see that.
Robby:I'm just gonna quickly search how much money Disneyland turns over annually, yeah. Good because I think um I think I think it's in the billions. Yeah, it's huge, Matt. It was huge.
SPEAKER_01:And look, looking back at it, like you're spending a whole day there.
Robby:So I can kind of Disneyland Resort California, industry estimates for the 24-25 period, 7.6 billion.
George:Fucking home billion. Yeah, that's turnover. That's amazing. That is that is phenomenal. Yeah, but there were so many people, like I couldn't even tell you how many people were in that resort. There would have to have been like 500,000 people there. Like, I it was so many people, and that's why the the lines are so long and why you want to do fast passes and all that sort of stuff. So if I go again to Disneyland, I'm gonna go there and say, right, we're paying for every ride. Like, go in there with the mentality of having the fast pass, using a few of them where you can, and just not waiting, going straight to line, go, cool, let's just pay for this one, let's go. Let's pay for this one, let's go.
Robby:Hey, that is um just Disneyland. That's just Disneyland and California. The uh California, yeah. So the Disneyland so Disney Parks, so Disney Parks experiences and products total in the fiscal year 2024. The parks division reported about$34.15 billion in revenue. That's wild. That is phenomenal. But that's that's that's the power of having a phenomenal brand. And it's like everyone associates.
George:I can't remember again. But it was a while ago. Disney paid for the rights to Marvel, right? They bought everything. They bought it. They bought X uh they bought them, you know, but I'm saying they paid billions of dollars for this. And I remember thinking, well, like what the hell? How did you how do you pay uh like billions of dollars, like$10 billion for Marvel? Like that's phenomenal. Where are you ever gonna make the money back? Do you know what I mean? Like they've just done it there. They they have that vision, okay, cool. We'll build this, we'll we'll buy Marvel for fucking$10 billion, whatever it's gonna be, but then we're gonna build an Avengers world where we're gonna sell products, where we're gonna sell this, where we're gonna sell that. Like the game there have the ecosystem, it's huge. The ecosystem is just never ending, never ending, and that was impressive. That was really, really impressive. I I really like that. Um, the other downer, the food shit. Uh so bad there. Like it's just it's it's just what you would expect, I suppose. You know, it's fried, it's just not great.
Robby:I should have um I should have told you to read this before you went, but I'm gonna tell you to read it now. Um podcast. I'm gonna tell everyone to if you listen listen properly. Uh I read a book by the CEO of Disney.
George:Oh yeah. I think I remember you telling me that actually.
Robby:Yeah, the book is called The Ride of a Lifetime. Yes, yeah, yes. Uh and it's quite cool because you get to see his you get to understand the whole Disney story. Yeah. As he goes through it, you get to see their acquisition of Pixar, uh, how they had to negotiate with Steve Jobs, um the stuff that was happening, like how they launched into China, Hong Kong, maybe someone somewhere there. Yeah. Um yeah, it's cool, it's cool. And it might give you a different outlook. Now that you've been there, you might be like, okay, like I see you know what I mean?
George:Yeah, see a different perspective. Without a doubt. Like it was, man, it was I was so impressed. And look, to handle half a million people like in on a day, that's a massive feat in itself. So it'd have to be, man. There were so many. This place is huge, it is so big, and then there's the two parts. There's probably a million people a day that go past this thing. That's how they go through the doors.
Robby:And what there's there's how many Disneylands?
George:Uh well, there's there, there's Paris, Japan, Japan, uh Hong Kong. There's I don't know if there's one in Hong Kong. There's another one in America in China or Hong Kong or something. Detroit. Del uh not Detroit. Delaware. I don't know. Anyway, somewhere. There's somewhere. So there's another one there too. But I would uh I would definitely do it again, except this time I have a better plan.
Robby:Why do you feel like you should do it again? For a guy that's underwhelmed.
George:Oh, look, if I'm gonna go all the way there and I'm with the family, I'll do it. Oh, look, even if we were saying, hey, we we've got to LA, okay, cool, let's go to Disneyland. Like it's worth going. Like, don't get me wrong, it's worth going. If you have young kids, even if you're going with your partner, it's worth going. There you will have a good time. I'm just saying 12 total. Yeah, I think my expectation was just phenomenal. I maybe I've maybe I thought I was gonna be moved in a way, taken back to my childhood or something like that. I don't know. I don't know. But for us, it was more about the kids, it was more about them having a really good time and and enjoying themselves. And they had fun, yeah. They did. They did. They had fun. Now, I'm gonna flip it a little bit. We also went to Universal Studios. Yeah, fantastic. Have you been there before? I've been to the one in in Singapore, yeah. But this one was heaps better. Oh, really? Yeah, okay, yeah, heaps better than Singapore. And like amazing. I I couldn't believe how good of it was. I was I was overwhelmed there. I thought that exceeded expectations. I was going in there thinking, oh, yeah, this is the shit Disney. Yeah, is that why then?
Robby:Is that why have you got have you gone in there with the uh yeah? Like we'll kind of just tick this box as well. No expectations. Yeah, I think that's what it might have been for me.
George:I think that's exactly what it is. I don't think Disneyland was bad. I just reckon I had an unfair expectation of it. Whereas when I walked into Universal, sorry, try so I think okay, I think Universal is better for adults. That's probably what it is.
Robby:Yeah, but like give me specifics.
George:Like definitely their ride experience, heaps better. Why? You we bought a fast pass as well for that. You literally go there, scan your ticket, yep, cool, go in. Yeah, but is it that's it for everywhere? Is it less people? There was less people, yeah. But there was still a lot of people. Yeah, you still wait. If you lined up, if you didn't purchase the fast pass, you were still lining up for half an hour to an hour in a ride. Cost for you uh cost was pretty similar. Okay. It was about 200 and it was$268 per ticket US for one day, for a whole day. And we were there the whole day from morning till like nearly like till night time. That's all right. You know what? I looking back, it's expensive because there's four of us as well. So I'm gonna buy four tickets, I'm like, fuck, prizes and shit. No, no, it's just one ticket price, that's it. But again, man, people are paying, people are paying. You're walking through the the the like even walking through the main alley, they've got all the stores there, they've got everything, they've got a lot of movies too. They had Transformers, The Mummy, um uh heaps more. I can't remember them off the top of my head. But we did a lot more of those rides there because we were able to, we're able to get into it, and they were all that VR three, like that immersive experience. You go into the world. Uh, there was a couple of like you got to the Transformers came out a few times as well, and you got to take photos with them. My kids did that, I believe. I'll just try to find one, a photo for you. But um, yeah, it was so cool, man. Like that that aspect was of it was really, really good. Uh what else was apart from the rides, the rides? Um, for the theme parks?
Robby:Yeah, like as in Nana, as in Why Was Universal Studios better?
George:Is that what it's called? Yeah, Universal. Yeah, Universal Studios. Um, I just think the experience there for me as an adult, I think was better. You got to go through, you did that ride where you go through all the what's it called, all the studios, and you get to experience that as well. That was really good to see where they film the movies, how they film the movies, what effects they do, all that sort of stuff. So it was really cool to do that. The rides themselves were really good. The the the worlds, because they were all broken up into worlds as well. It was very much like Disneyland in that regard. Like they set them up really immersive. I think Disneyland does that better, though, the actual world itself. Whereas Universal is more like here's a Transformers area, you step into the Transformers building and now you're immersive. Whereas outside the Transformers building, it's not as immersive, if you know what I mean. Yeah, as immersive. With their buildings where yeah, they don't lean into it as much. Whereas Disney they leaned hard into it. And there was no one there wearing Universal Studios jumper.
Robby:Okay.
George:Do you know what I mean? That's no one, yeah. That's not a single person. This is what I'm saying. The power of brand when in your business, in anything you're doing, it is so, so important. Imagine people just were walking around wearing legacy media everywhere. You'd be pumped, you'd be doing push-ups, you'd see someone walk past, and you go, All right, I'm pumped. It's it's a powerful, powerful thing. If you can get that level of love for your brand, unstoppable. Unstoppable.
Robby:Yeah, I I think what people also forget as well. Disney is like 80 years old. Yes, I was gonna say. Yes, and so for that.
George:That's what and I think that's why they're making so much bank. Yeah, and it's like even with all the time in marketing, movies with all that sort of stuff. Like people I grew up watching Spider-Man cartoons, yeah, and then when the first Spider-Man movie came out, I think it was 18, 19 years old. I loved it. I was so pumped to go to the movies. I was like, this is the greatest movie I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, because you there's a movie because that's what I yeah, that's right. And I feel that that's exactly what's happened with Disneyland now. You're getting the 30, the 30, 40-year-olds that grew up on those movies coming to see it there.
Robby:Yeah, they've also drilled it into you so much. Like, I don't know anyone in the world, and if you're listening to this and this is you, please miss because I'd love to know. But I don't know anyone in the world where you're like, we're going to Disneyland, and they're like, What's that? Yeah, you know what I mean? What's Disneyland? What's that? No, you know what Disneyland is. I don't want to go. You might not know the details, but you know what Disneyland is. And if someone said, Hey, here's a free pass to Disneyland tomorrow, you're not gonna be like, ah, give it a miss. Yeah. You want to go see it, you want to go check it out, you want to see what all the hype's about. Yeah. Um, yeah. Very powerful branding.
George:Yeah, very powerful branding. Uh went to a couple of basketball games too. Basketball's sick. That was cool, man. I'm not into it. I like when I say I'm not into it, I don't follow. But when I was there, so entertaining. Yeah, so good. We went to the we went to I can't remember the the name of the stadium. I'm gonna try to find it. Into the Intuit Dome. Intuit Dome, yeah. Yeah, INT. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Intuit Dome. One of the most technologically advanced or the most technologically advanced dome I've uh stadium I've ever been to. Now, it's new as well, it's only a year old or something like that. But you walk in there and it's all face facial recognition. There's no cards, there's no ticket scanning, there's none of that shit. Like you literally go there, these are our tickets, yep, cool. Look at the camera, scans your face, away you go. So then when you go and get so you have to scan your face. You scan your face. Yeah. So when you, if you're the first time that you've ever been there, you've got to scan your face and it does it. It scans your face and you go, yep, cool. Thanks, George. Go in. So we had we bought tickets initially. I go, yep, these are our tickets. Go, yeah, is this your first time here? There's an app as well where you can load your details into. And then you go and say you want to go buy a drink, you'll it'll scan your face again. Go, hey, George, no worries. So you go there, get the buffet, go grab the food that you want, walk, and just walk out. And you go and eat it. And then you could do that 10 times throughout the game. Merchandise, whatever you want, anything just scans your face. Merch, everything. Everything. You cannot, it was actually inconvenient because my mate bought the tickets. For me, it was an inconvenient. My mate bought the tickets, so it wasn't my details on the tickets. So if I scanned my face, it wasn't able to charge me. So I couldn't just go, like, I actually wanted to, my phone was on like 3% battery, and I need to go buy a char a cable so I could charge my phone. I couldn't just go and tap it and buy a cable. I had to get him to go and get me a cable because it was linked to his account because he bought the tickets. And yeah, when he left, when we left the stadium at the end of the game, uh he gets a notification on his phone, you've been charged you know$53. Thanks for visiting. So everything was contactless. We had sick tickets as well. So three dollars. Well, did you buy a bottle bottle? Yeah, just one bottle. Um, no, we had great tickets for that game too. Like he managed to, he's got some good contacts in the sporting world, so he was able to get us some uh tickets there at no cost, and they were great, like in a I would call it like a medallion club style area, yeah, which was cool. And then we went to Lakers as well. Uh Lakers uh versus the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day, and we had a box. So again, he's connected in the sports world, and uh shout out to crypto.com because they gave us the box, so uh it was at crypto.com arena, and um yeah, he knew one of the guys that are associated with them down there and and was able to get us a box for the LA game, which was fantastic as well. That was a really good experience again. Man, like no one does entertainment like the Americans.
Robby:Did uh did the kids end up doing the thing you were saying with the sign?
George:Oh yeah, they did. Didn't that nothing happen, but they did it, but you know, they were even coming into the they're very short are they I'd say they were a bit strict with that coming in, like the sign was they say you can make have an A3 sign, and we had a slightly bigger one. It's like no, you can't do that, it needs to be A3 or or smaller. Like, come on, like are you serious? It's just for the kids, they're just gonna be saying, Yeah, but it'll be obstructing people's view, and then she's like, Oh, you can cut it. That's a good yeah, I know, but then you go you can cut it and then sticky tape it together when you're back in there. I'm like, what? That doesn't make any sense. That's retarded. That was stupid. I was like, that come on, that's just ridiculous what you're saying now. Cut it in half and then sticky tape it back together. So semifold it. Yeah, so next anyway. So my mate walked, it was my mate's kid's sign, so he walked out and then just put it in his shirt and walked in again. Oh, and he got it in. Yeah, he got it in. So um, yeah, but like you're talking at the actual game itself, the entertainment's fantastic. Was LeBron playing? LeBron was playing, yeah. It was great to see him. Yeah, it was great to sorry. He's massive, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're all big though. He doesn't look that big because they're all giants. But um, yeah, it was it was great to see that they've got every time they score a goal, there's music constantly playing every time it's uh time out. They've got fan engagement's massive, it's true. Yeah, yeah. Like we actually okay, so we did this one thing, we had a box which fits 16 uh yeah, 16 people. So we went down and we were just me and my mate walking, we're like, we should invite like a couple people up to enjoy the experience. And we went in, we found a father and a daughter. They were just sitting there in the nosebleeds, and we're like, hey, look, we're from Australia, just want to let you know we've got a box. If you and your daughter want to come in, you're more than welcome to. So we got them to come in. They're like, Yeah, sure. But that was great. So we we got them to come in, which was really nice. Americans, yeah, just a couple people there, a father and a daughter there, just enjoying the game. I said, Hey, we've got a box, we're gonna have some food there, like drinks, whatever you want, come in and enjoy. And they did. Uh, I think they were really appreciative of it. It was we'll try and pay it forward. We got something nice, so we're trying to give it to other people too. Um, what else? What else? But yeah, look, uh as a whole, America's very expensive for us as Aussies at the moment. Catching Ubers everywhere. It was still cheaper than me hiring a car. My mate hired a car because he had to, he had to he's got a big family and has to take a lot of luggage, but we it was the four of us. We're just catching Ubers and a lift everywhere.
Robby:Uh Ubers were all right when we were there.
George:Yeah, it was totally fine. Totally fine. If anything, they're probably better. I feel like they were cheaper. Um, no, it works out being more expensive when you convert it. It was cheaper for us because there was four of us and we'd pay for one every one every fourth ride. Every fourth ride we'd be paying for. So, yeah, but for me, it was like we went to some factory outlets over there. It was funny. I paid 140 US in the Uber to get to the factory outlet. 140 US? Dude, yes. How far was the outlet? It was about an hour. Uh so that's 224 dollars, Aussie, that I paid to get to the factory outlet. To buy to buy topically to buy the same shit. I just like, yeah, just hear me out. Wasn't my decision. Yeah. Uh so I was like, we're we're spending$244 to get to somewhere to save$30 on a fucking jumper. You know what I mean? I go, you're you this is counterintuitive. We can't do this anyway. But it was more the again, the experience, like fuck it, exactly right. Just let's go. And look, I did buy a couple things. Uh the jeans I'm wearing came from there. So just do a quick shout out, shout out for the for the shout out to the to the guys. But the funny thing is, I went to DFO in South Wharf yesterday. It's all the same beans, dude. I dropped about I dropped about four or five hundred bucks yesterday at DFO. Just bike again. Yeah, just I was like, man, I there was stuff there that I I needed to get some shoes. And I um like once I looked at the price and you converted back, I'm like, this is the same price, if if not more expensive than back home. And yeah, I went to the Nike store, I went to a few of the other stores. I'm like, man, that these are cheaper and it's what I want. So I ended up getting them from here anyway.
Robby:Yeah, I don't know. You um yeah, I don't I didn't do that. I don't know. You did the same thing when we went as well.
George:Yeah, went to Vegas, yeah. Even then, I didn't buy like I wasn't shoes. Yeah, it's like I'll just like what's the in all honesty? I don't even enjoy this. I probably won't do it again if I go over there.
Robby:Yeah, I guess you you you're going for others sometimes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um okay, so third trip to America?
George:Yeah.
unknown:Okay.
Robby:What's your what's your uh obviously I've been to a few different America?
George:I like it. I would I would go there again, no issues. I think the food's a real downer. You've really got to know where to eat, otherwise you're gonna be having pizza, chips, fried chicken, yeah, like just sweets. Even we we went to the Cheesecake Factory once, which is a well-known establishment there. It's like super average, right? It's it's super average.
SPEAKER_01:Uh no, not really.
George:It wasn't bad food, but like they have a lot more variety. They had some pastas there, they had a few other things. And like again, I just I've been doing the carnivore diet for four weeks prior. So the week leading into leaving, I kind of introduced a few more carbs so I wouldn't feel sick when I got over there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
George:And like I didn't really do the carnivore whilst I was there, it was just too hard. But uh one of my my PT actually, he's going again, he's going at the end of Jan to the States to compete in uh high rocks. And he was telling me, he goes, We bought him and his wife bought at a supermarket, they bought like proper food because they're they're athletes, they're elite athletes. Like they're she's I think number seven in the world for high rocks. Oh, really? Yeah, she's full on. And he was saying they went to the supermarket to go buy foods like steaks, you know, everything that they want to buy. And he goes, We spent just as much money, if not more, buying groceries and what we would if we were eating out. I'm like, that's really interesting.
Robby:I think it's like that everywhere though.
George:Yeah, you reckon?
Robby:Yeah, I I think people you're you're massive on that.
George:Yeah, I think it's like super cheap. Do you take into consideration like uh take out the time. The time, yeah. Take out the time.
Robby:Yeah, just the actual this isn't that much cheaper unless you're eating like uh like plain pasta or something, like you know, like something that's really uh like rice and sauce or something. Yeah what I mean, like unless you're eating something super well, it's gonna cost you like two dollars, which is very rare. Like you're if you're cooking proper dishes, it's not cheap.
George:Yeah, I mean if you go get steaks for everyone, you go get four steaks, you know what I mean? It's it's at least 25 bucks a person for the steak. Good steaks, yeah. And then you need to cook them well, you gotta cook it, sides, yeah. And then you've got sides, yeah. So you're still probably gonna spend 150, 200 bucks for you will, you will.
Robby:I I swear to you, like do the crunch the numbers. Do you know what I mean? I've I've sat down and actually worked out how much I spend. I used to Uber Eats everything, I don't know as much anymore, but like I used to Uber Eats so much, and I would spend a thousand bucks on Uber Eats a month. Yeah, but I uh like most of my meals were Uber Eats, and I was like, that's not too bad. Like most people are going and spending 200 bucks at a grocery store anyway. I waste no time here.
George:Yeah, exactly. Everyone and I I think Ormosy said that a little while ago. Uh he was doing this thing about how you can save money, yeah, yeah, all these things, yeah. He was a bit extreme in some of them, but it made sense too. Yeah, that's right. It did make sense, and that was one of them. He goes, Okay, you gotta go to the supermarket, you gotta buy the food, then you have to bring it home, then you have to unpack it. He goes, This is how it can save you all this time.
Robby:Yeah, but then you also gotta and then you gotta cook, and then you gotta eat it, and then you gotta clean, and then you gotta you know what I mean? And it's like there's so much that goes behind it that people don't factor in. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, and all in all, honestly, I don't think it's I don't I I don't think it is that much cheaper if you buy good quality ingredients. I think if you're eating you can go and eat two minute noodles. Yeah, and if you do that, it's 100% cheaper. Yeah. And it's pretty quick. But you're probably gonna not live that long. There's no interest. I had two minute noodles. I reckon like I did it like um I reckon maybe a year ago, just out of like uh nostalgia. Like I know when you're like I grew up eating this, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's horrible. What's it? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Um you don't sit there and say this is sick. You're like, man, this is like this isn't good shit. How good in an ear? That is so funny.
George:This is horrible. Yeah, I think that the other aspect of eating from home is the mat is what sorry, eating from a supermarket is what you can I think you can control the health aspect of it a little bit more. Like the quality of the country.
Robby:If you eat a good place, like they they tend to be good too. Don't you think that for a place to charge premium they have to buy premium food?
George:Yeah, you would think so. Yeah, you would think so, yes.
Robby:Like I would hope so the odds of it not happening are less. Do you know what I mean? Um, but most people sit there and yeah, that I hate I guess so I push back so much on that statement. Yeah, yeah, because people are like, oh, but you know what's in the ingredients, yeah. It's like you fucking don't. Yeah, like do you know what I mean? You bought your meat from woolies, you got no fucking idea. Exactly. So stop acting like you're fucking a health freak now.
George:Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep. Um we flew business there and back, all four of us, which was great as well. With uh Qantas. Yeah. So that was good, but you know, another aspect that kids first. Yeah, there was a first business class international. Oh, yeah, first business international class. I think they've flown once domestic. I managed to get some with points.
Robby:But you know, but uh on a big plane, yeah, yeah.
George:So it was a seven, eight, seven on the way there, but we had an Airbus on the way back, so that was really cool to get on the really big plane, much better quality um inside. The the one we went there was a little bit dated, the actual interior and whatnot, but on the way back it was a lot newer. Yeah, so it was good. But you know, uh leveraging, you know, people will look at that and go, Oh, you see, because I posted a couple of stories on I sorry, a couple of posts on it about the flight and whatnot, and people look at it and go, Oh, what a wanker is fucking flying business and show showing off whatever it is. You know what? I've leveraged the business in such a way that we can do that I can do these things, and using points and using um the resources available to me, like why wouldn't I? It doesn't make sense. And I think if you can do that in your own business as well and start leveraging those available things to you, it's a no-brainer, and it makes the it makes the whole trip so much more enjoyable from the perspective of we didn't get jet lagged at like very little.
Robby:We got there America's good for that, yeah.
George:I think it's good. The time difference works really good.
Robby:Because I reckon last time I got that when I went to Europe, I was cooked.
George:Yeah, someone was saying that the other day. When I went to America, um, I was fine on the way back. So we got we left America at midnight, so you slept on the plane for mo for a good chunk, even if you slept five to six hours, I think that's fine to function the next day. I've done that here in when I'm being at home. And we got home, we got we landed at about 11 a.m. And then you just stay up until whatever the evening. And then you go to the evening and go to bed. And I woke up the next morning, I was so fresh. I had such a good sleep that night because I was in my bed, I was more comfortable, I was able to rest and get the get that energy that I needed, and next day I feel totally fine and haven't been haven't blinked since. Um the flights were good. Yeah, flight was good, no issues with it. Service was really good. You know, I I want to shout out the Qantas staff in the plane as well. So they were they were really good. Yeah, so I've given I've had you know what with Qantas, I've had some really good customer experience with Qantas a few times. Yeah, I think Qantas is a good brand. So yeah, I think they do, I think they do well. They get a lot of flack, um, but I think they do a really good job.
Robby:Yeah, I think they're a good brand. I think they try their best to look after you, and I think you notice it when you go and fly lesser brands. Yeah, then you jump on Quantas flight and you're like, oh, like these people are actually happy.
George:My wife was a nervous flyer too, and she had like on the way there, she was having like a bit of a panic attack on the plane, and the air hostess, she was coming, like she saw that she was up, like visibly didn't look right. She's go, like, are you okay? And she came over, she was talking to her, she was trying to calm it down. She goes, Look, is everything like, is there anything I can get you? She got her an ice pack, put on her neck, and she like started to feel better. And she goes, She thought she got the pilot to actually come out and speak to Nicole as well. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. A bit like she thought Nicole was nervous about flying, and she was probably more just claustrophobic more. Than anything. She was like, it's I don't care about I don't give a shit about the flight. It's more just I feel enclosed, I feel like I can't breathe. And it was that sort of aspect for her. But still, regardless, like she was so nice, so lovely. I can't remember her name, otherwise, I'd call her out. Uh, even when we left, she got she gave Nicole a bottle of champagne. She goes, Here, we just wanted to give you this. Hope you enjoy your flight next time and all that sort of stuff. It was just lovely people, really nice people. Yeah, that is I think that makes a huge difference from again, like talking about your business, your brand. Like that's the sort of stuff that makes me want to go, okay, cool. We'll just fly quantas from here on. Not gonna go anyone else.
Robby:Do you have that affiliation with any brands? Myself. Like, like, for example, like I buy everything Apple.
George:Yeah, look, I won't my phone. I probably I won't, I don't see myself ever buying another. It's like a Samsung. I don't see myself doing that. I think I'll always buy that. Yeah, someone's told I I've always been okay. Trust me. I've been PC my whole life. You'll be able to do that. That's probably the one thing.
Robby:Once you go that way, you'll never go back. It's just too easy with the phone connection and everything.
George:It's like I don't connect my P my phone and my PC.
Robby:Yeah, that's because they don't. Yeah, they don't. I can be like on my phone, copy something, and then paste it on my laptop. Yeah. It's sick. That's what it's it. That's fantastic. Um, yeah, anyway, trust me. Once you make the connection, you can't go back. But do you have any do you have that uh affiliation to any other brands?
George:Yeah, I mean, say PlayStation. I won't ever buy an Xbox or a Sega or a Nintendo. Yeah, actually, no, I've got a Nintendo. My son's got a Nintendo. So that I mean cars. Okay. You say Holden. Oh, back in the day. Yeah, funny, man. Back in the day, I was thinking that the other day. I've seen all these memes lately on socials. Who the fuck's a Ford guy? Oh, you're driving Ford. Hey, I back in the day I was Holden all the way, all the way. My Commodore, I fucking loved it. I had a VT Commodore. Greatest car I've ever had in my life. Still, till today. Still to do that, till today. Greatest car ever.
Robby:You got cars that completely eclipse it.
George:Yeah. But mate, I'll hey. I've got I'm still on car sales. I'm watching a a you're not gonna buy it. I will buy it. It's uh nine, it's two thousand and nine. Let's go take it for a drive. And then you won't buy it.
Robby:I think you're like, all right, just customers.
George:It's ages v. It's 99. They want 99, 100 grand for it, Elon. It's a VT GTS. That's why it's done 19,000 Ks. It's almost a show car, but I want to buy it. No one's bought it, but I want to buy it. So hey, shout out to your mate. I'm coming. Anyway, yeah, talk about cars, but now Ford, all the way. I wouldn't buy a Holden. I would I think Holden is such a shit brand at the moment. Yeah, but do they even fucking sell them anymore? Hold on? Yeah, exactly.
Robby:They're Chevy's now. Um, yeah, okay. So but that's probably not the so you don't have the level of affiliation to the point of a hundred percent loyalty.
George:Oh no, no, no, no, no.
Robby:But no, I'm saying it's a hundred percent. I'll give you I'll give you a really good example. Yeah, you're probably not gonna be able to relate. Apple's a good one, but like another one is like I bought, you know, my computer chair? Yeah, it's from Secret Lab. Yeah, I bought a computer chair from there, best chair I've ever owned. Yeah, right. I bought another one and bought a desk. Yeah, I have from them, from them. Yeah, I have 100% uh loyalty to that brand. Yeah, they release something, oh but their product is phenomenal. Hey, you can send me the link. I'll check it out. Phenomenal.
George:I think I'm massive on investing on a really good chair. Yeah, because fucking things.
Robby:These are gaming chairs, yeah. Do you know what I mean? And it's like well it's like gaming, people sit there and and play games for hours and hours. They do not move. Yeah. Um, yeah. The brand, like whenever if they release something and I want it and they do it, I'll buy it. It's more expensive. Yeah, way more expensive.
George:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Robby:Yeah. I bought the standing desk, it was 1200 bucks for the desk. It's a fucking metal sheet with it that goes up and down. But anything that goes wrong with it, anything like you tell them, hey, this thing on my chair, my chair's three years old, and this thing is starting to crack, they'll send you a new one. That's awesome. They'll be like, here you go. Yeah, great service. Like, that is you guys have earned my without a doubt.
George:I think that's so important doing street like that.
Robby:Yeah, I'm like, you guys have earned my child. You guys stand so much behind your product that anything that goes wrong with the stuff, you guys are like here. And it's like when you do that, I know yes, I'm gonna pay a premium to start.
George:I've got one for you. I don't know if it's at that to that level, but I've got one for you. Land Rover, so my car. I've had one, two, three, four. I've had probably five Land Rovers over the course of whatever, however many years. And my last one, two, I think three cars have been Discoveries. Two or three cars. The last three, two or three cars have been Land Rover Discoveries. I love that car. My car now, it's a Land Rover Discovery. Great car. All right, such a nice car, drives well, looks good. I'm a big fan. And I would I was like, no, I'm gonna buy, I'll buy the new one when it comes out too. And I can tell you, I do like that brand. And it's like it would take a lot for me to sway and buy another car brand at the moment.
Robby:Yeah, but but you don't.
George:But I recently bought a Porsche for my wife, and the experience that I went through when I when buying that vehicle at the dealership and how they made me feel, the engagement, the the the after service like that they gave us, it's like, wow, that was fantastic. Like they actually made more so than Land Rover ever have, they made me feel like they made me feel like it's it's a family. Hey, you are now joining our family. You are a part of us, you are a Porsche person now. Well done. Let's be friends, you know? And there's like into the club. Yeah, like the guy, the the dealer, sorry, the the like senior sales guy is like, here's my number. Call me anytime. If some if a button flashes, if something doesn't work, whatever, if you think if you just want to ask me a question about the car, just call me at any time. Send me a text, I'll get back to you straight away. She goes, I'll let you know when the new one comes out, when you want to get it serviced, we'll get you this car ready, we'll do all that sort of stuff. The whole experience of purchasing the car, it was exactly that. It was an experience. And so much so that I'm like, you know what? Maybe when I go and upgrade my discovery now, I'm gonna go get a Porsche four wheel drive. I'll get the four-wheel drive. Like what a what a yeah, what a great experience that was. It's a good car. They'll look after me. They'd looked after me like amazingly at for the particular vehicle that I bought. Like, why wouldn't I? And then I look at Land Rover and fuck the other day I went to get it serviced and they wanted two and a half thousand dollars. I don't know if fucking name and shame now. Two and a half thousand dollars for a basic service, yeah? Oil filter, oils. You started this I got upset.
Robby:Segment off as a as a fan.
George:Oh, I know, but this pissed me off the other day. That's why I probably wanted to change the actual vehicle itself, fantastic. But maybe the service is a little bit off. Two and a half grand, they wanted just to drop the oils and change a couple of filters. I'm like, what else are you doing? Oh, we'll do this. I'm like, relax. Then I called up Bryden Land Rover, just out of curiosity. I said, Hey, I've got a service how much? He was like, Yeah, 1100 bucks. Like, all right, here.
SPEAKER_01:Like, what's the difference between the two cars to charge me an extra$1,400? Nah, I guarantee you they weren't doing the same thing. You don't reckon? 100%. Why? It's a it's a scheduled service of the vehicle, but it's a scheduled service.
George:Yeah, I've looked at the dealership. Now, in saying that, they did come back at me and say, Oh, you need a new battery, you need to change your tires, you need this, you need this, you need this. It's just a different model. And I responded back saying, No, no, no. And I said, Oh, by the way, car's under warranty, you can replace the battery for me. Thanks. Like, oh yes, sorry, sir. We didn't realize that. I'm sure you didn't. Like, if it was my wife bringing the car in, you're like, Oh, your battery's fucked. This is fucked, this is fucked. Um, that just annoyed me because I for me it's the same thing. Why would it be any different?
Robby:Yeah, I understand. That's a bad brand move.
George:Yeah, I think that's a bad brand move, absolutely. Um, but the car itself, fantastic. And look, in saying that, if the new discovery comes out and I take it for a drive and I love it, good chance I'll probably buy it.
Robby:Yeah, yeah. But so people have the people have these affiliations to these brands. I get the new iPhone every single time it comes out.
George:Yeah, you're on the year, every year.
Robby:Yeah, every year. Yeah, I've got a thing list. Yeah, and I just pay them$99 and they give me the new one. And it's like cool. I'm trying to think of what what brand I might have that I give you an affiliation with another one. I think I've got one that you might have. C do. Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. I won't buy another jet ski. Yeah, that's you know what I mean. It's like, no, no, like I this is if I'm buying this, I'm buying this.
George:Yeah, oh man, 100%. You hit the nail on the head.
Robby:Yeah. Um, also, you know, we're trying to get you as the ambassador for C do. Right, hey.
George:Hey, dude, have you seen it lately? Fucking stupidity. 3.6 million views. That's just mental. Uh 3.7 million views.
Robby:C do it's gonna hit the yeah.
George:If you're listening, um I've got more content to come as well.
Robby:Yeah, so stop fucking around and send two jet skis. Two, two. So I need two.
George:That's right.
Robby:Two jet skis, and we'll do a lot more content. Yeah, and we'll create so much content.
George:So dude, hey, we've got a media agency here. Yeah, it's not even just gonna be on the phone, we'll get the proper videos out.
Robby:If if someone from seeding is listening to us, I swear to you, if you send us two jet skis, we will blow up the brand at no cost. Guys, no. We've got no idea. No idea what is about to happen. Anyway, anyway, balls and your cup. Hey, if two jet skis show up, I'll be pumped. So good. Um, another one that I can think of that I've recently had a conversation about Yeti. You know the brand Yeti. Yes. What do they do again? Yeti, they do like the water bottles, the SKIs and all that. Yep, yep. Dude, do you know how much those water bottles are? No. How much how much have you paid for a water bottle?
George:Well, you know, my kids have what are those fucking big ones called? Frank Green, yeah, Stanley. The Stanley ones. Yeah, yeah, they're like 80 bucks or some shit like that, 100 bucks. Isn't is that not wild? Stupidity, stupidity. There's a great brand there. Do you know what I mean? But is that absolutely wild? Yeah, to go, I'm gonna pay this much money for this, like for no reason. As in, it's the actual cost of it to make this. That's the power of brand. Like, it's just fucking phenomenal. It's it's it's people. I'm telling you, like these jackets at Disneyland, they weren't cheap, man. They were like 200 US. And I'm like, dude, like, what the fuck? Why I would never pay that for this thing, but people were everyone was wearing one, everyone, more than wearing a specific cartoon character, they were wearing Disneyland Resort. That's what it said. I'm like, man, they're just dominating, but yeah, bang on with that. There's people that pay like okay.
Robby:But the two-liter Yeti bottle. Yeah, two-liter. Yeah, yeah, yeti bottle. It was 200 bucks. Yeah, 200 for a water bottle. A dollar a mil. It's wild, isn't it? Wild, like$200. Yeah, I think maybe it was four litres. I can't remember, but it was the biggest bottle they have. And it was like$200 for a fucking water bottle. Yeah, like this is this is dumb, but the people who have it obsess over it. Anyone I know that has Yeti products, and the product is good. Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's also overpriced. Yeah. For a fucking bottle. That's right.
George:Uh but you would expect a good, you would expect more.
Robby:Yeah, but it's also like a fucking bottle.
George:Yeah.
Robby:Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I'm saying? Oh, 100%.
George:I'm huge on that stuff. I'm huge on that. Opportunity cost, I look at that all the time with everything I buy.
Robby:Uh it's a it's a I don't know if it's a downfall with me, but you know when someone says like I paid 20k for my mattress, I'm like, great, dude, like you're sleeping a lot. Yeah, you sleep every day. You know what I mean? I paid for my chair. Okay, cool. Like you spent a lot of time there. I bought a good screen. I understand. I bought these glasses. I okay, cool. You use them, but a fucking water bottle? Like, dude, and I got sucked in. I bought a uh a hydro flask like five years ago, and I paid like 70 or 80 bucks for it. Yeah, and it's like a one-liter, it was like rated the best bottle in the world at the time. At the time. And I thought, fuck, all right, cool, like let's get the best bottle in the world. And I've got that, and I've also got a$13 water bottle. And yes, does this one keep the water cooler for longer? Yeah, but guess what? I fucking drink both of them within the hour anyway. So it makes no like my life is not any different. Yeah, but the people who have it, rave about it. Like fucking ra Yeti, especially rave about it. Fucking fans, like, dude, even people who work here, they got like the little cup, the big cup, yeah, and it's like and they're not cheap, dude. They're not cheap. I got some builder elite ones, some coffee mugs that I got. Yeah, might sell them for 200 bucks. I'm I'm a fan. Um might buy one. Um yeah, it's that it's the power of having the association to the brand. Yeah, that's what it is.
George:Everyone has an association with a brand.
Robby:Every single person. And sometimes it's the sometimes it's the flex.
George:Yeah, the how it how it makes you look and feel, like Rolexes. Yes, you know, like how it makes you feel. Like, do you love Rolexes that much? Or is it a like nice to meet you, shake with your left hand?
Robby:Yeah, nice to meet you, and then there's um, yeah, everything you do, you're like, look, bro, yeah, you know. Um there is there's two, so there's two signs here, right? There's one, it's like the loyalty. Yeah, so there's people who wear Rolex and won't wear anything else, and then there's people who wear Rolex because it makes them feel a certain way, but if you get a more expensive watch, I'd throw the Rolex out in a heartbeat. And that's not loyalty to the brand, that's status. Status. You know what I mean? They're trying to position themselves in a particular way. There's people who want to drive a Porsche because it makes them feel like they're worth X. Yeah. And then there's people who want to drive a Porsche because they are Porsche enthusiasts. Yes, they're Porsche enthusiasts and they are loyal to the brand. And they're like, hey, this product is the product. Do you know what I mean? No one does it better than this product.
George:And I feel that that's uh that's the that's the feeling I got when I bought the Porsche from them as well. It was the same thing, like they made you feel like okay, you are now our clique, and now you as a consequence go, Oh man, I would never buy another car. Like, this is me. I'm part of the family. I'm gonna keep going. Oh, they are superior sports cars. No one builds a better car than that. You can have it as a daily drive, and you can have it as a race car on the weekend, whatever you want. It does both, and it's like, yeah, well.
Robby:What is it? What does a brand have to do to get that kind of um?
George:It has to deliver from you, it has to deliver from me personally, yeah. It has to perform, it has to perform in the way that it should, but also I think it has to exceed. I think it's gonna have a change in your feeling. Do you know what I mean?
Robby:You know, when I think that's what it has to be. When I think about um Secret Lab, the brand I was talking about. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It hasn't done anything outstanding. Yeah. A let me tell you, you're gonna talk about good. We said the service, though. You're not yeah, yeah, but like it hasn't the product. I haven't sat there and said, Oh, that's the chair is so it's like I sat on it, it's a good chair, but it's firm, it's very good. Yeah, yes, it's great. The desk is fucking their their packaging is unreal. You know the type of packaging with Apple, like when they have everything and it's really premium packaging. Yeah, I think that again, that that has a a subconscious effect, yeah, yeah, yeah. It does. And um, but like all in all, has the desk changed apart from the fact that I stand half the time, has it changed anything else in my day-to-day? No, nope, it looks cool. That's it. Hasn't performed anyway, but um, I'll tell you now, like, next chair is a secret lab. Yeah, next desk is a secret lab. I like it. Do you know what I mean? And it's like make the connections between the affiliations you have to brands and why you feel that way about them, and then say, okay, cool, how can I do this in my business? That's right. You know what I mean? How can I make people want to build, want to do business with you? Yeah, imagine people came and they were like, nah, bro, I'm not creating content for anyone else, man. Yeah, exactly. So true. Like, so powerful, man. So powerful. Yeah, and then it's like it becomes like a click. It's like, hey, oh, you use legacy, yeah, bro. Me too, man. You know what I mean?
George:And it's also because uh well, legacy isn't cheap. Yeah, like, oh wow, you use legacy? You can afford to use it. Yeah, all of a sudden you've got an level of uh elevation. That's right. It's like even TVs, like I've got an uh Samsung TV. Well, quite likely I'm gonna buy nothing else other than Samsung TVs. You know, I like the interface, I keep using them, they're great, good picture. So I continue to use Samsung like the last few TV. If you saw a Sony Brave, you're like, oh fuck it.
Robby:That's what I'm saying, yeah. And it's like some people are really good at building that association, some brands are. Yeah, Disney is one of them. Yeah. Uh, and some not so much. You know, you know what's a good one? Footy teams.
George:Yeah.
Robby:It's like that is a brake.
George:It is, I mean it's like not gonna go for Carlton.
Robby:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it's like you you there is there is almost a level of shame with changing. Yeah, uh, there would be. Yeah, and it's like it's like you can't change, you know, like that's like you can change, you can change your wife, don't change your footy team. Isn't that wild? I know, right? You know what I mean? You get remarried, that's fine, but you change your team, you're fucking, yeah. What's wrong with you? Yeah, that's that's that's funny. Unloyal, disloyal. Um, yeah, it's it's like building that level of association. I think it I think it really plays a huge part in the long game. In the long game, yes. Because Disney has been around for a long fucking time. Long game. Long time.
George:So 12 days into January. We have uh 11 and a half months to go. I think there should be a huge focus on brand. Yeah, I think I mean you've created a lot of content over the last year, so have I, and my intent is to create even more and to build even more brand over 2026.
Robby:I think um personal brand's gonna be just even more relevant than ever. People buy from people. Um last question about the US. What's the one thing you've been there a few times now, over different periods, you went twice last year. What is what's the one thing that we should do here that we don't do that they do there? Because you know, you talk about um like we have too much red tape here, right? Yeah, and you talked about the NBA and that when I was there and I went to uh to see Boston versus Brooklyn, dude, they were shooting uh t-shirts into the crowds. And my cousin caught one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
Robby:And oh, he didn't catch one, it fell at his feet. Uh yeah, the guy next to him fumbled it. Um, but he he got a free t-shirt. And it's like we were sitting pretty far back, like they were shooting these things. I feel like in Australia they'd be like, oh no, you can't do that. What if it hits someone? Blah, blah.
George:And it's like Granny falls off the top stage.
Robby:Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Dude, they shot, they shot this thing, like they put it into the whatever that gun is, and they bah and it like come, it came all the way up.
George:Yeah, I think they do go above and beyond in America, and I think we do lack that here. I think there's a little bit more entitlement. Yeah, there's a lot more entitlement here, even from service, yes. Like people work for tips, I get that, but as a consequence, people give a lot better service. I think people are generally nicer there at the service place. I I think the tips thing is dis I hate it, yeah. I hate it, but I'm just saying, in the sense of well, what they do for that tip, you know, they'll tend to be more responsive. Yeah, but it depends where you go to.
Robby:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, if you've got a like a really nice restaurant, but like the the expectation for you being to sit your Popeyes.
George:Yeah, exactly.
Robby:It's ridiculous. Did you eat in and out again? No, I didn't. Didn't get a chance to eat in and out didn't get a chance to yeah look very making decisions.
George:I know. But yeah I I think look they play a bigger game there. I think that's what we can bring here. We can do more than what we do. I think we sort of just do the minimum here. Well not the minimum but just the mentality there is people celebrate wins a lot more. They want to see you be successful. I think if we can bring that here I think that's the number one thing for us. I want to see people celebrating other people do you think that can be here?
Robby:I think it can yeah why not?
George:It's just a it's a it's a big shift in mindset. Yeah it's a cultural thing. Yeah um but yeah because I think I I'm gonna preach that myself like I love seeing people win I've seen my clients win I I think tall poppy is embedded into you almost like it's ingrained into you without you even noticing.
Robby:Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It is a and it's it's a real thing and you don't realize it until you go to a place like the States and then you realise like you know wearing this hat and wearing a million dollar doze hat right now for those listening and wearing this and going to the States was a big yeah eye opener. So all of a sudden everyone was like oh hey man love you it's like I reckon I've had one or two people can't tell me since I got back since I got back and it's been almost a year.
George:I've only had one person ever tell me they love my hat like the hat. That's it. And it was a guy at the airport in Australia. In Australia but over there when the in the week that we were there we had multiple people to say it.
Robby:Oh dude I I could I lost count of how many people made mention of it. Yeah that's it um but it's like we also get put off when someone tries to overly sell and we're like oh no no don't do that bro it doesn't work in Australia. It's like is that the problem?
George:Yeah that's very true people do have a bad association with sales yeah for sure awesome well 12 days down I hope the rest of the year is going to be magical for you build your brand build your personal brand look at what you can do and incorporate into your business and your life to get exceptional results look at other countries look at other people look at other businesses like study and implement take the action I think that's the biggest thing for you guys this year.
Robby:Yeah and I think um this would be the first week where people are kind of fully back at work starting back I think really having a focus on not just falling back into the groove yeah uh because you can do that and it's super easy kind of like just fucking get back into it and then it's like cool January's gone February's gone Q1's done oh we're halfway through the year I end the fine energy yeah yeah blah blah and then it's like fuck where to 2026 yeah um you know make those changes now like if you haven't you should have started already that's the truth and if you haven't this is your polite reminder to make sure that you make change the things you want to change and you know make sure your year doesn't kind of slip away because it it'll it'll go fast.
George:Very fast. Very fast. All right. Well thank you so much for tuning in again guys much appreciated. We have a big year coming up lots of um lots of things that we're gonna be talking about. So as always join us. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing. Look forward to seeing you next time.
Robby:Thanks everyone
