Greg Tirico

February 27, 2022

Episode #379: Memorable Mentors — P. J. O'Rourke

Greg Tirico

February 27, 2022

In this memorable mentors episode, Ed and Ron provided tribute to one of the greatest satirist and humor writers, P.J. O'Rourke. We explored P.J.'s books, and other stories from all the tributes that have been written about him recently. P.J. was one of a kind. Would it be possible to have another P.J. in today's woke society?

A Bit About P. J. O’Rourke
Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, and The Weekly Standard, and frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He was a columnist at The Daily Beast from 2011 to 2016.

He authored 16 books, including three that made The New York Times Best Seller list. The Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 states, "O'Rourke's original reporting, irreverent humor, and crackerjack writing makes for delectable reading. He never minces words or pulls his punches, whatever the subject."

Below are the show notes. Use them to follow along while listening to the podcast:

His Wikipedia page says PJ O'Rourke published sixteen books but Ron knows that's not right. It's closer to 20.
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” —PJ O’Rourke
“Barbarian leaders did not grab land in order to become rich. They were rich. Shopping is easy and convenient when you do it with a large band of armed men.” PJ O’Rourke
Written by PJ O’Rourke in 1994 and still relevant today! “Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People” https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Manners-Etiquette-Book-People/dp/087113375X
The book “Republican Party Reptile” by PJ O’Rourke contains his famous story about taking a Russian cruise https://www.amazon.com/Republican-Party-Reptile-Confessions-Adventures/dp/0871136228
“Politicians are always interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs.” —PJ O'Rourke
“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.” —PJ O'Rourke
From the PJ O’Rourke book, “Parliament of Whores” (a profound book), here’s a great quote, “Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.” https://www.amazon.com/Parliament-Whores-Humorist-Attempts-Government/dp/0802139701
“A politician who commends himself as ‘caring’ and ‘sensitive’ because he wants to expand the government’s charitable programs is merely saying that he’s willing to do good with other peoples’ money.” —PJ O'Rourke
“It’s impossible to get decent Chinese takeout in China. Cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba. And that’s all you need to know about Communism.” —PJ O'Rourke
“All The Trouble In The World” is a book by PJ O’Rourke that Ron spent a part of the day reviewing. It’s a great hodgepodge of world and economic topics that are still relevant today. https://www.amazon.com/All-Trouble-World-Overpopulation-Ecological/dp/0871136112
“The collegiate idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it.” —PJ O'Rourke
“My Grandmother wouldn't even speak the word Democrat if there were children in the room, she'd say Bastards instead.” —PJ O'Rourke
Have you read “On the Wealth of Nations” by PJ O’Rourke which is his (probably obvious) take on Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”? https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Books-Changed-World/dp/0802143423
“Don't Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards” is another great book from PJ O’Rourke and was published in 2011 https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Vote-Just-Encourages-Bastards/dp/0802145434
“Imports are good. Exports are bad. Imports are an income. Exports are an expense. Imports are Christmas morning. Exports are January’s Visa bill.” —PJ O'Rourke
“When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state ... this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people.” —PJ O'Rourke
RateThisPodcast.com/TSOE is where you can……rate this podcast! It only takes 15 seconds and we read all written reviews on the air - good, bad, or indifferent.
“Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut” is a great book by PJ O’Rourke written during the Clinton administration https://www.amazon.com/Guile-Youth-Innocence-Haircut-ORourke/dp/0871136538
“Your money does not cause my poverty. Refusal to believe this is at the bottom of most bad economic thinking.” —PJ O'Rourke
“Good writers make you want to read, but great writers make you want to write.” This is a great tribute to PJ O’Rourke from Matt Labash https://mattlabash.substack.com/p/p-j-orourke-1947-2022
That’s a wrap! A big THANK YOU to PJ O’Rourke for giving us such a great body of work. Here is a tribute to him from the Cato Institute https://www.cato.org/blog/p-j-orourke-rip

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

This week was bonus episode 379 - “MMT Nonsense” — Here are some of the links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.

Greg Tirico

February 21, 2022

Episode #378: Subscription Economy Update - February 2022

Greg Tirico

February 21, 2022

From time to time, Ron and Ed like to review the state of the subscription economy especially as it pertains to professional firms, but they weave in some other stories as well. Have you heard that Ed subscribed to a vacuum cleaner and salami? We also talked price increases and what they got right and WRONG about their own subscription. This show was FULL of useful information about the subscription economy and deserves a listen.

Here are a few significant links discussed during the show:

Bonus Content is Available As Well

This week was bonus episode 378 - “AOC's Valentine to Ron” — Here are some of the links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.

Greg Tirico

February 13, 2022

Episode #377: Interview with Meriel Schindler - The Lost Café Schindler

Greg Tirico

February 13, 2022

Ron and Ed welcome author Meriel Schindler whose book The Lost Cafe Schindler they both highly recommends. When her father, Kurt, died in 2017, he left behind piles of Nazi era documents related to their family's fate in Innsbruck, Austria, and a treasure trove of family photo albums reaching back to before World War I. Meriel was forced to confront not only their fractured relationship, but also the truth behind their family history.

Below are the show notes. Use them to follow along while listening to the podcast:

Meriel talked about distancing herself from some of her immediate family members as she grew into adulthood. It turns out some of her distant family relationships had significant connections to rather (in)famous WWII figures.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is highly respected by Meriel and worth several visits. https://www.ushmm.org/
Innsbruck, the capital of Austria’s western state of Tyrol, is where the Lost Cafe in Meriel’s book was located. It was one of the first places in Europe that you could hear jazz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innsbruck
In Austrian folklore, if you serve a piece of cake and it falls to the side, you are destined to have a terrible mother-in-law. That explains a lot.
The Austro-Hungarian empire was…..progressive….for a monarchy. By 1867, the monarch had come to understand that the Jewish population in the empire was quite useful (engineering, building, and so on). As a result, Jewish families started to move to Innsbruck in favor of education and wealth.
The economics of the Third Reich was not one of free market. It was quite state controlled and heavily centrally planned. This is at the root of the transition of the Lost Cafe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nazi_Germany
Life changed significantly for Meriel’s family when Germany took over Austria in 1938. Her grandfather’s cafe was now state controlled and he had to sell his family villa. It was a long game of dehumanization as everything was taken away.
Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary forces along with civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
Franz Hofer was the Nazi Gauleiter of the Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As the Nazi party chief for the Tirol/Vorarlberg province he was the most powerful figure in the region. On May 3, 1945 Hofer surrendered Innsbruck to American troops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Hofer
The story of the REAL Inglorious Bastards was recounted by Meriel today during the third segment of the show today. There is also a documentary that *might* feature the Lost Cafe. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3320110/
The Lost Café Schindler will celebrate a centenary THIS YEAR which is a testament such a great business. https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Caf%C3%A9-Schindler-family-search-ebook/dp/B08HHHGX5K
You should check out the Audible version of the Lost Cafe Schindler. It was “narrated by a professional” and not by Meriel. Her words, not mine!
A big THANK YOU to Meriel Schindler for spending time with us today and talking about her book, The Lost Café Schindler. Buy it at this link if you prefer https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Caf%C3%A9-Schindler-family-search-ebook/dp/B08HHHGX5K

The Lost Café Schindler: One Family, Two Wars, and the Search for Truth

By Schindler, Meriel

Buy on Amazon

Bonus Content is Available As Well

This week was bonus episode 377 - “Reagan on immigration” — Here are some of the links discussed:

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.

Greg Tirico

February 7, 2022

Episode #376: Fourth Interview with Dr. Paul Thomas

Greg Tirico

February 7, 2022

Making his fourth appearance on The Soul of Enterprise is Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC. Ron and Ed ask him how he scaled his practice from one to know three offices and what the implications are for his subscription model. In addition, we ask what regulatory barriers to providing care this way should be removed.

Below are the show notes. Use them to follow along while listening to the podcast:
It seems to Dr. Paul that Operation Warpspeed and 3 different vaccination options have helped with Covid. Omicron hit hard over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Things are starting to fortunately slow.

Does mRNA technology mean vaccinations can be developed faster? Dr. Paul believes this remains a political question due to the regulatory bodies and their ability to streamline the approval process.
Use the car analogy (Dr. Paul is based in Detroit), mRNA technology is the chassis with an ability to build out capabilities as a delivery mechanism. Think cancer, cystic fibrosis, and many others.
Did you know that you can join us at Patreon.com/TSOE for commercial free episodes AND bonus episodes? At a certain level you can get a shout out like Mark Gandy (@g3cfo) of CFOBookshelf.com. Mark recently interviewed Ed - go check it out!
How can you scale a Direct Primary Care business? Doesn’t it suffer from the same challenges as other subscription services? It comes down to serving one patient at a time with excellent medical care, forming deep relationships, and delivering on our promise.
Dr. Paul WROTE THE BOOK on Direct Primary Care. It’s called Startup DPC. Ron recommends this book because you can learn a lot from Dr. Paul’s experience. Here’s the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-DPC-Direct-Primary-Practice-ebook/dp/B0886GYD9Z
During the second segment of the show today, Dr. Paul talked about what he looks for in new hires coming out of residency and how the compensation model works. Admittedly , it’s a bit more detailed than what is manageable in a tweet.
How does Dr. Paul reduce churn? It starts with overdelivering on what you promise. Some churn is unavoidable but most patients stay with the practice because they get more value than what they pay in.
Dr. Paul mentioned Ikigai. It is a Japanese term that means a reason for being and refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai
After a long five years, Dr. Paul modestly increased the price of his services. While increasing business costs were a part of this, he has significantly increased the level of services offered by bringing on new doctors with specialties. Churn was minimal.
What can be done to lessen the regulatory issues to make it easier to get access to DPC? The DPC Coalition was formed specifically for this and other DPC access issues that need to be addressed. Find them at @dpccoalition or https://www.dpcare.org/
Above and beyond DPC, Dr. Paul recommends that patients hold a catastrophic loss policy as well. However, Dr. Paul firmly believes that low cost, high quality medicine is the guiding light for much of his work.
What does Dr. Paul measure as KPIs that you might not find on an income statement? He looks at new enrollments as a lagging indicator. Number of social media posts, number of blog posts, number of speaking events, and excellent Google reviews are all leading indicators.
Of the 1,636 DPC practices as of today, is there one near you? Check out the DPC Mapper to find out: https://mapper.dpcfrontier.com/
A masterclass in starting a Direct Primary Care practice? Yep! Dr. Paul now offers a DPC Master Class directly from his website, https://www.startupdpc.com/masterclass
A big THANK YOU to Dr. Paul for being transparent and sharing what he has learned about starting a Direct Primary Care business based on solid subscription pricing practices. Check him out at https://www.plumhealthdpc.com/ and, if you live in Detroit, consider becoming a patient!
Bonus link: Here is an interesting article on how to hire salespeople and ensure they are “accretive” under a subscription pricing model - https://www.saastr.com/a-framework-and-some-ideas-for-your-first-sales-comp-plan/