You Can't Lose!

This week felt seismic. What happens when elite engineers get their hands on tools like Codex and suddenly compress four weeks of work into four hours? This is not about AI replacing developers. It is about AI amplifying the great ones and what that means for agencies, pricing, value, and the next 6 to 18 months of client services. __________ In this episode of You Can’t Lose!, we break down the r...

If someone is telling you that positioning is the best way for all agencies to improve sales, they probably sell positioning consulting. There are some universal truths, but they require a lot more hard work, and you can't pay someone to do it for you. Beware of experts, they're usually most expert at selling to you and people like you...

Hopefully y'all are experiencing what I am demanding all of my clients call a 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 with an uncommon rash of sales opportunities and energy at 11:59 of the year 2025. This is bonkers. Here's some quick context and advice before EOY.

New plans & big plans for You Can't Lose! in 2026, as well as a tease for some more updates from Richard to follow about exciting new Second Harvest things too!

Joe and Richard unpack why creative work, and life, is more about steady contact than home runs. They explore the art of doing less but better, resisting the urge to please everyone, and finding meaning in risk, friction, and imperfection.

In this episode, Richard joins fresh off his Second Harvest retreat in Spain to talk about the myth of constant creativity, Joe talks about the beauty of the “average Thursday,” and Richard speaks to why resistance is the doorway to real growth. We trade stories about chasing the thrill of deadline chaos, the grind versus the high of agency life, and the trap of mistaking busyness for progress. Ri...

This week Richard and Joe are still unpacking Second Harvest leading to some insights into the concept of hospitality as a skill. Convening the right people, the right way, and letting uncommon outcomes happen is a skill both Richard and Joe have developed over decades and applying these ideas to clients and relationships can yield profound outcomes.

Richard and Devon launched Second Harvest in Austria successfully and he's here to spill a ton of behind the scenes details, insights into the event, deeper dives into the unique philosophy behind Second Harvest, how it went, and where it goes from here. This is a must-listen if you've followed this event at all along the way! https://www.secondharvest.co/

In this episode, Joe and Richard explore the difference between community and alliance: “An alliance is going someplace… it has direction.” They trade time-travel hypotheticals, reflect on the problem-solving joy of The Martian and The Last of Us , and debate whether their businesses are behaving like nouns or verbs. “Do something with this,” Joe insists, as they revisit lessons from the Philadelp...

While Richard was away Joe catches up with Anthony Colangelo, partner at Pine Works, host of Main Engine Cut Off & cohost of Off-Nominal, engineering leader, iOS product developer, birds fan, dad, and Joe's spiritual nephew. Anthony has grown a space flght, exploration, and policy podcast empire rooted in his sincere passion and strong opinions re: the topic. They discuss the MECO origin s...

Richard and Joe break down their conversation with Chris & Aaron Quinn, more details about agency acquisitions, private equity vs venture capital, and they spill the beans about The Philadelphia Experiment April 9-11.

Chris and Aaron Quinn join to share their experiences creating, growing, and ultimately scaling eHouse through an acquisition. Thanks to our friends for being so candid and informative about their experiences!

Duolingo announced changing their job titles from UX Design to Product Experience Design and created a 2013-Twitter-era dust up so Richard and Joe chime in with their thoughts. We discuss the purpose of job titles, the way identity effs with you, and to bring it back to sales in a meta way we ask what's more important? That you achieve your objective? Or that you're properly credited and a...

This episode has it all! Richard shares how embedding "brown M&M" contract requirements helps you get what you want He also discusses how the TNT (takes no talent) parts of a business lead to success Joe provides an example: Respond to new leads shockingly quickly and meet your clients' enthusiasm Richard describes his tantric response to awkward silences (NSFW) Joe then accuses...

Richard and Joe discuss the little cohort/therapy group they're in and how beneficial that relationship has become over the past year. Within that discussion Richard explains how effective it can be to manage communication patterns within a community, for example conducting types of conversations in person while conducting very different conversations within the same community online. He describes...

There's a few big ideas in this week's episode. Richard makes a strong case that Pipedrive weighted outcome forecasting for open opportunities and leads is steering you wrong. It's 0% forecastable revenue until the check clears. Joe says tracking sales quarterly sets you up to fail. There are two selling seasons and two off-seasons every year, plan accordingly. Richard and Joe both illustrate how...

In our ongoing "Parenting Advice That's Not For Everyone" Richard and Joe explain in detail the benefits of arming your kids with humor, and how to make your kids funny. From the benefit of "banned books" to letting your kids funny their way out of trouble to shoving your 8-year-old into Victoria's Secret, this episode has it all.

This week Joe and Richard discuss some tactical tricks of the trade as well as examples from the industry and from popular culture. What's the value of showing a client a glimpse into a far future state of their project as a concept car? How does casting the vision far ahead dramatically improve the client's ability to be attracted to novel ideas, rather than poke holes based on their constraints?...

This week Joe unpacks some old Happy Cog notebooks and they spark a conversation about our identity and relationship to our work. How revisiting previous versions of yourself and your experiences can reinvigorate your current status quo. And how to overcome the urge for perfect by embracing small experiments in progress.

This week we talk about reinforcing change with repetition. Consistently reinforcing new behaviors and processes to drive lasting change. Investing in talent growth by positioning your agency as a talent incubator. Leveraging alumni networks and expanding your agency's reputation and business opportunities. We also dig into Adapting to AI's impact and staying competitive as AI reshapes search beha...

Joe and Richard discuss: The challenge and opportunity of inexperience The mistake of getting permission or seeking credentialing The risk of not taking risks Why owners tire of running agencies after 7+ years What to do about that... And Joe takes shots at luminaries in the agency consulting space, the danger of their "always do this" didactic style of best practices, and why they should go fuck...

In this episode, Joe and Richard explore the idea of blending work and life, highlighting the ability to mix business with pleasure on trips, and emphasize how midlife can be a time of reinvention rather than decline. The episode also touches on the benefits of running life "experiments" to explore new directions after major transitions like career changes or personal loss. Richard shares his thou...

Well it's not the end, but we're talking about ways the podcast's focus will evolve and change. No spoilers yet, but this week we talk more about a "Second Harvest." The opportunity to make the next 50 years of our lives a better 50 years than the first. Look for some updates over the next few weeks as You Can't Lose! evolves. Hell it might even split into two podcasts! Who knows?

When the kids are loaded on to the school bus and Richard and Joe are left alone in their houses we start digging into some bigger picture ideas... Some of which might harbinger and new direction for the podcast over the next few weeks...????

This week the boys discuss their life hacks for successful business travel that also fill your cup spiritually. The TL;DR version is spend one additional day wherever you travel, and put up a Bat Signal once your there to attract some serendipitous meetings and hangs. Lots more detail and tips in this week' episode!