1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,760 The superpower that every citizen has is the ability to 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:06,120 control where they spend their time, money and attention by 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,160 focusing these on supporting local businesses who are having 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,440 a profound impact on your friends, your family and your 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:14,640 local community. So if you want to change the. 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:21,840 You can start with buying local. All right. 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,440 Welcome back everyone, to buying local. 8 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:28,320 Each week we sit down with local business owners. 9 00:00:28,830 --> 00:00:34,150 And this week, actually, we're sitting down with someone who 10 00:00:34,150 --> 00:00:36,870 has a, let's call it a startup, right? 11 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:38,030 Call it a startup. Yeah. 12 00:00:38,630 --> 00:00:43,750 So I want to go ahead and tell the audience who you are and the 13 00:00:43,750 --> 00:00:45,670 name of or just what your startup is. 14 00:00:45,790 --> 00:00:48,270 Give us a rundown. Hi, thanks again for having me 15 00:00:48,270 --> 00:00:50,470 on. My name is Jacob Goldman and I'm 16 00:00:50,470 --> 00:00:53,590 the cofounder of Layoff Lookout and layofflookout.com. 17 00:00:54,220 --> 00:00:57,340 We're a free early e-mail alert service that will let you know 18 00:00:57,340 --> 00:01:00,620 up to two months in advance if your employer will be is 19 00:01:00,620 --> 00:01:04,660 planning to do layoffs. So yeah, so I cofounded the the 20 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:09,500 the website with my cousin Noah. He's a engineering student up at 21 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:12,420 University of Vermont. And a few months ago we came 22 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:14,420 across war notices. And if you don't know what that 23 00:01:14,420 --> 00:01:19,820 is, every company that employs over 100 people in the United 24 00:01:19,820 --> 00:01:22,580 States is required to post something called a war notice. 25 00:01:23,130 --> 00:01:26,370 Which is a notice to their state when they're doing when they're 26 00:01:26,370 --> 00:01:28,690 planning mass layoff 60 days in advance. 27 00:01:29,130 --> 00:01:32,050 So when they're laying off 50 people or more, this notice will 28 00:01:32,050 --> 00:01:34,170 be posted. And that's public records. 29 00:01:34,170 --> 00:01:36,130 But it's really hard to find, hard to understand. 30 00:01:36,130 --> 00:01:38,330 You don't want to scrape the government documents every day. 31 00:01:38,690 --> 00:01:41,370 So what we can do is make it easy, come to our site, you put 32 00:01:41,370 --> 00:01:44,490 in your employer state in e-mail and then we'll send you an 33 00:01:44,490 --> 00:01:46,810 e-mail if your employer posted notice so you can know two 34 00:01:46,810 --> 00:01:49,570 months in advance. In New York, it's it's different 35 00:01:49,570 --> 00:01:52,810 for every state. The federal law is. 36 00:01:53,490 --> 00:01:57,130 And if this company employs over 100 people and 60 days in 37 00:01:57,130 --> 00:02:00,410 advance in New York, it's 5th. If they employ 50 people, 38 00:02:01,170 --> 00:02:05,290 they'll be a notice posted So. And this is, this is for mass 39 00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:06,410 layup. So like they're going to lay 40 00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:10,370 off, you know, 10 people or 15 people or whatever it is. 41 00:02:10,410 --> 00:02:13,930 Yeah, the federal law is fifth if they're planning 50 people. 42 00:02:13,970 --> 00:02:17,290 Oh, if they're laying off 50 people, not if they employ. 50 43 00:02:17,290 --> 00:02:19,370 in New York if they employ 50 people. 44 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,400 It's 100 is the federal law, and it varies state by state. 45 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,240 OK, got it. Bob Fitch. 46 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,120 Your local State Farm Insurance agent with a mission of helping 47 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,000 people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the 48 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,120 unexpected, and realize their dreams. 49 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,400 Whatever your needs may be, State Farm has got you covered. 50 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,120 And Bob? Fitch is your man, so let's just 51 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,760 to back up a little bit, right? So how old are you? 52 00:02:45,910 --> 00:02:47,990 19 All right, and you're in college right now. 53 00:02:48,070 --> 00:02:49,910 Too right, I just. Finished my first and I and I 54 00:02:49,910 --> 00:02:51,790 just think that's really cool because you know, obviously you 55 00:02:51,790 --> 00:02:56,070 and I, we talked previously and you and your cousin or you know 56 00:02:56,110 --> 00:03:00,630 your young guys, you had this this idea and and what was it 57 00:03:00,630 --> 00:03:03,350 that originally, you know like sparked the idea? 58 00:03:03,670 --> 00:03:07,270 Well, we we came across war notices and we just thought it 59 00:03:07,270 --> 00:03:11,350 was so interesting that not not predicting the future, but just 60 00:03:11,350 --> 00:03:13,630 a new stream of information that could really. 61 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,080 You know, affects really anyone with a with a job out there. 62 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,000 You know it's there's different figures but around half of 63 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,320 Americans are concerned about their job security. 64 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,560 You know this is a this is a big a big big market where there's 65 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,960 really no services for it. Everyone's focused on on resume 66 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,080 building, job search and need zip recruiter stuff like that. 67 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,880 And no one's worried about, you know, whatever one's worried 68 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,890 about so. We we're taking upon ourselves 69 00:03:41,890 --> 00:03:44,090 to really lean into that side of the job market. 70 00:03:44,170 --> 00:03:45,770 Yeah, I thought it was a really cool idea. 71 00:03:45,810 --> 00:03:49,370 So like, you know, something that we keep seeing in the news 72 00:03:49,370 --> 00:03:51,570 right now, right? So, you know, Meta's laying off 73 00:03:51,570 --> 00:03:54,770 people and Twitter's laying in all the big, the big tech 74 00:03:54,770 --> 00:03:58,330 companies are laying off hundreds if not thousands of 75 00:03:58,330 --> 00:04:00,330 employees, right? So. 76 00:04:01,630 --> 00:04:04,350 The value add, if I'm understanding correctly, is I I 77 00:04:04,350 --> 00:04:08,470 work at Twitter, Elon's about to do a big big labor cut. 78 00:04:15,110 --> 00:04:10,750 Yeah, Yeah. I It's at least going to give me 79 00:04:10,750 --> 00:04:14,750 60 days to know that, like I I could be on the chopping. 80 00:04:15,630 --> 00:04:19,070 So I mean, just think about what a two-month head start on that 81 00:04:19,070 --> 00:04:21,990 kind of information can do. You have 60 days to start saving 82 00:04:21,990 --> 00:04:23,670 money, get your finances together. 83 00:04:24,030 --> 00:04:26,990 You know you have 60 days to start your job search. 84 00:04:27,620 --> 00:04:29,900 I think if you had two months, you already have interviews 85 00:04:29,900 --> 00:04:31,820 lined up. You already maybe even have an 86 00:04:31,820 --> 00:04:34,380 offer lined up, so when you feel that hand on your shoulder, your 87 00:04:34,380 --> 00:04:35,620 boss calling you into their office. 88 00:04:36,180 --> 00:04:37,140 And on your. Shoulder. 89 00:04:37,140 --> 00:04:39,420 That's not the end of your life. What's the start of your next 90 00:04:39,420 --> 00:04:40,620 one? Yeah, Yeah. 91 00:04:40,620 --> 00:04:45,220 And so and like what do employers like try to make 92 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:47,580 those, you know, slide those announcements under the radar so 93 00:04:47,580 --> 00:04:50,260 to speak? Yeah, I mean think if you're if 94 00:04:50,260 --> 00:04:54,780 you're a manager or. Some place up high in the in the 95 00:04:54,780 --> 00:04:57,780 ladder, you don't want to just destroy morale for the next two 96 00:04:57,780 --> 00:05:01,340 months, you know and ruin you know the next two months of your 97 00:05:01,580 --> 00:05:03,620 of your revenue of your workforce, all of that. 98 00:05:03,940 --> 00:05:06,060 You know that's something you want to hide out And so this 99 00:05:06,140 --> 00:05:07,940 this is something you know it's not. 100 00:05:08,780 --> 00:05:12,580 It's not, it's not fair. And you know, obviously working 101 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:15,340 in corporate America, it's, you know. 102 00:05:16,340 --> 00:05:17,300 Nothing's. Fair, right. 103 00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:21,290 Nothing's fair, you know. They're not looking out for you. 104 00:05:21,330 --> 00:05:24,170 Your boss doesn't necessarily have your best interest in mind, 105 00:05:24,930 --> 00:05:28,730 so we're providing an opportunity for you to take 106 00:05:28,730 --> 00:05:31,730 control of your job security as an employer, and this is the 107 00:05:31,730 --> 00:05:35,170 only place to do that. Okay, so now I think it's 108 00:05:35,170 --> 00:05:37,370 interesting. So you. 109 00:05:39,010 --> 00:05:40,530 Were able to get some seed money for this. 110 00:05:40,770 --> 00:05:42,250 Tell us. Tell us where the seed money 111 00:05:42,250 --> 00:05:43,570 came from, tell the listeners, Rick. 112 00:05:43,610 --> 00:05:47,610 So we competed in two different business pitch competitions, one 113 00:05:47,610 --> 00:05:51,090 at my school and one at the University of Vermont, where my 114 00:05:51,090 --> 00:05:55,090 cofounder Noah Schwartz competed and presented. 115 00:05:55,090 --> 00:05:58,050 So we were awarded seed money. I go to. 116 00:05:58,050 --> 00:06:00,530 I attend Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. 117 00:06:00,530 --> 00:06:04,970 It's about 40 minutes South of Jacksonville and a couple months 118 00:06:04,970 --> 00:06:08,050 ago we had a pitch competition at the school and. 119 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,200 There was two days, the first day was set up similar to like a 120 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:12,760 science fair. People walk around and then they 121 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,800 voted on their on their top businesses. 122 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:19,160 And then the five companies with the biggest with the most votes 123 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,800 where they moved on to the next day in like a Shark Tank style 124 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,480 pitch competition. So you go in, got your, got your 125 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,240 presentation all set up and you had five minutes to pitch and 5 126 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,320 minutes for Q&A. And and we ended up receiving 127 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,080 some seed money, which we're very excited about. 128 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,040 And with that money, we're able to start. 129 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,440 We were able to hire our development team and get move 130 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,920 forward with that And then so for the second competition, Noah 131 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,800 competed at his school at UVM. Now we actually won that 132 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,080 competition and received the most innovative technology 133 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,240 award. So big awards there and some 134 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,000 really great money to keep to get us rolling. 135 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,480 Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. I think the whole thing's really 136 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,400 great, man. Like, you know, obviously coming 137 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,580 up with an innovative idea. Being able to put a pitch 138 00:07:04,580 --> 00:07:07,380 together for it, winning some seed money, hiring your 139 00:07:07,380 --> 00:07:10,620 development team, I mean it's really kind of the, you know, 140 00:07:10,620 --> 00:07:15,860 the whole what's the word? It's the dream, right behind 141 00:07:15,860 --> 00:07:18,340 entrepreneurism and and startup culture and all that. 142 00:07:18,340 --> 00:07:23,020 It's really fun and exciting. So, so you guys got the startup 143 00:07:23,020 --> 00:07:26,260 money, you've got so Layoff Lookout is the name of the 144 00:07:26,260 --> 00:07:28,380 business? Right layofflookout.com. 145 00:07:28,540 --> 00:07:30,740 You can go ahead and sign up right now. 146 00:07:30,740 --> 00:07:34,140 It's completely free and. I mean, there's really, if you 147 00:07:34,140 --> 00:07:36,900 have a job, there's no reason to not be signed off. 148 00:07:36,980 --> 00:07:40,180 Right, right. And So what kind of information 149 00:07:40,180 --> 00:07:43,180 are you sending out, just layoff information or is there other 150 00:07:43,180 --> 00:07:44,260 information that you're? Sending out, Yeah. 151 00:07:44,260 --> 00:07:48,220 So right now we are we're just it will just be sending out the 152 00:07:48,220 --> 00:07:50,820 layoff notifications for the WARN notices. 153 00:07:52,150 --> 00:07:56,270 In the in the future we plan to expand into into a newsletter 154 00:07:56,270 --> 00:07:59,110 that would come out weekly and then give you more information 155 00:07:59,110 --> 00:08:02,790 on a broader scale because we want to focus at this point 156 00:08:02,790 --> 00:08:07,190 specifically on that side of the job market and information 157 00:08:07,190 --> 00:08:10,710 related to that because right now any other business, 158 00:08:10,710 --> 00:08:16,030 newsletter business news, economic news, it's very broad. 159 00:08:16,610 --> 00:08:19,050 And this is something that affects a lot of people. 160 00:08:19,050 --> 00:08:21,290 You want to know, like if you work at a bank and the bank 161 00:08:21,290 --> 00:08:23,330 across the street is doing layoffs, that's something you 162 00:08:23,330 --> 00:08:27,130 want to know about. You want to know if you work for 163 00:08:28,730 --> 00:08:30,330 a meeting. I thought that was actually kind 164 00:08:30,330 --> 00:08:32,770 of interesting too, like where, you know, I'm working at a bank 165 00:08:32,770 --> 00:08:34,450 and the bank cross Street is kind of like. 166 00:08:35,179 --> 00:08:37,860 You know, that gives me some information competitively that I 167 00:08:37,860 --> 00:08:40,059 could possibly use. I could reach out, you know, 168 00:08:40,059 --> 00:08:42,100 that was one of the things when we talked before that I thought 169 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:46,260 was really cool that, you know, if I'm hiring and someone else 170 00:08:46,260 --> 00:08:48,980 is getting ready to do layoffs, like I can start targeting those 171 00:08:48,980 --> 00:08:49,900 employees. Right. 172 00:08:49,940 --> 00:08:52,820 And that's another thing, is, if you have that, say you're a 173 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:54,900 computer science engineer, right? 174 00:08:55,220 --> 00:08:57,660 And Google's laying off 500 of you guys. 175 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,400 All 500, You are going to be gunning for jobs in two months, 176 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,680 but if you have a two-month head start to get maybe you have a 177 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:07,360 position lined up, then you're not competing with the best of 178 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,040 the best that's been laid off from these big companies. 179 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,320 Yeah, you can kind of hit the market before the supply gets, 180 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,160 before it gets flooded, right, Demand drops down. 181 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:21,920 So what kind of, I guess you know that the developers that 182 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,780 you hired right now these guys? If I understand correctly, 183 00:09:24,780 --> 00:09:27,260 you're you're pulling information from somewhere from 184 00:09:27,260 --> 00:09:28,260 all over the country, like how does. 185 00:09:28,260 --> 00:09:30,940 That work, Yeah. So each state has their own 186 00:09:30,940 --> 00:09:34,620 Warren database. So it's there's 51 with with 187 00:09:34,620 --> 00:09:39,300 Washington DC And so we, our developers and also build 188 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:42,300 scrapers that collect that data every day and then we run a 189 00:09:42,300 --> 00:09:45,460 comparison with our user data. So when you come onto our site, 190 00:09:45,460 --> 00:09:47,700 you put in your employer, your state in your e-mail. 191 00:09:48,260 --> 00:09:52,260 And so then we we compare the employers in each state. 192 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,040 So that states list every day and so if there's a new notice 193 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,640 posted then you're notified. Interesting. 194 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,400 And now what if I want to be notified of at all notices? 195 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,240 How many notices do you think you send out on a regular basis? 196 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:10,400 Is it a lot? It's it's not a ton at this 197 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,760 point, yeah, but like it. I mean, that's probably good 198 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,280 from a market. From a market standpoint, yes, 199 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,780 but I mean we hope to. You know, just notify whenever 200 00:10:20,780 --> 00:10:22,620 there's a notice. We hope there's someone getting 201 00:10:22,620 --> 00:10:25,780 notified that can really take that into account and prepare 202 00:10:25,780 --> 00:10:27,740 themselves and set themselves up for their future. 203 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:29,540 And how long, how long have you guys been? 204 00:10:29,620 --> 00:10:31,180 How long has the site been active? 205 00:10:31,420 --> 00:10:33,500 Sites. Well, we started working on the 206 00:10:33,500 --> 00:10:35,940 project about three months ago. OK, All right. 207 00:10:35,940 --> 00:10:38,940 So you're still really new in the exception, yeah? 208 00:10:38,980 --> 00:10:42,340 Yeah, we got. Yeah, we are. 209 00:10:43,830 --> 00:10:46,910 We push it. We got 100 organic users in the 210 00:10:46,910 --> 00:10:48,390 last 30 days. That's awesome. 211 00:10:48,390 --> 00:10:51,630 With no money spent on on advertising. 212 00:10:51,630 --> 00:10:54,630 It's all just social media word of mouth. 213 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,560 So, so we should talk about the social media site because you 214 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:01,480 gave me a rundown about your social once you tell the 215 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:02,960 listeners about your your social media. 216 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,760 Strategy currently so we're we're at layoff lookout on on 217 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,920 everything on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, 218 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,760 YouTube as of last night. So yeah, we've been just, I've 219 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:20,040 been making short form content and really pushing on TikTok as 220 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:22,080 our as our main driver, but then also. 221 00:11:22,690 --> 00:11:26,730 You know and everything else, we got 32,000 TikTok views in the 222 00:11:26,730 --> 00:11:30,490 last in the lifetime of our of our account which I think it's 223 00:11:30,490 --> 00:11:35,330 about 60 days and 20% of our profile views become sign up. 224 00:11:35,330 --> 00:11:38,210 So that's our conversion rate on that which is actually which is 225 00:11:38,210 --> 00:11:39,770 pretty phenomenal. We're really proud of that. 226 00:11:40,290 --> 00:11:43,850 So and on there it's, you know anything from trying to tackle 227 00:11:43,850 --> 00:11:48,970 trends to to news to just trying to inform people, we really just 228 00:11:49,210 --> 00:11:53,650 we want to make a dent in. In the ethicacy and transparency 229 00:11:53,650 --> 00:12:05,970 of of the job layoff process. So. 230 00:11:56,730 --> 00:12:00,130 So just really anything to that can get us in front of people 231 00:12:00,130 --> 00:12:02,810 and really help people is is what we're doing. 232 00:12:03,050 --> 00:12:04,490 Yeah, I think that could, you know, get some. 233 00:12:06,170 --> 00:12:07,890 So you're spending most of your time on TikTok. 234 00:12:08,650 --> 00:12:09,770 At this point, yes. Why? 235 00:12:09,890 --> 00:12:13,730 Why TikTok? We feel TikTok at this point is 236 00:12:14,130 --> 00:12:18,870 is the best springboard for? For organic growth, I mean we've 237 00:12:18,870 --> 00:12:20,710 had a couple videos do really well. 238 00:12:20,710 --> 00:12:24,710 One of them got 20,000 views and like a week and that's and from 239 00:12:24,710 --> 00:12:28,790 that one we got over 80 signups from one video alone. 240 00:12:28,830 --> 00:12:31,190 That's amazing. Yeah, So it's and that's, you 241 00:12:31,230 --> 00:12:33,430 know, no money spent. Took me 20 minutes to make the 242 00:12:33,430 --> 00:12:36,550 video. So yeah, we're just doing as 243 00:12:36,550 --> 00:12:37,990 much as we can to try to catch on. 244 00:12:38,230 --> 00:12:40,590 Now and it's funny because I know you know, obviously we own 245 00:12:40,590 --> 00:12:42,830 a marketing company, 5 Towers Media and. 246 00:12:43,850 --> 00:12:47,010 Everyone's asked us about social media all the time, organic 247 00:12:47,010 --> 00:12:49,650 social media specifically. And I tell them all the same 248 00:12:49,650 --> 00:12:52,970 things that pretty much all of it's a waste of time. 249 00:12:52,970 --> 00:12:55,450 Except for TikTok, because Tik Tok's the only one handing out 250 00:12:55,450 --> 00:13:00,490 organic traffic like like like Facebook and Instagram used to. 251 00:13:00,850 --> 00:13:05,170 Can you tell me the contrast between? 252 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,360 TikTok and Instagram for the same because I assume you're 253 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,520 making the videos on TikTok and then sending it to the rest of 254 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:11,520 your channels. Yes. 255 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:13,280 Yeah. At this point, that's what we're 256 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,560 doing. So yeah, it really just feels 257 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,440 like TikTok really has the emphasis on pushing that organic 258 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,960 content. Now there's many different ways 259 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,240 to pump the algorithm on on different platforms, so like. 260 00:13:28,310 --> 00:13:30,550 TikTok and Instagram. So Instagram has Instagram 261 00:13:30,550 --> 00:13:32,350 reels. That's their short form content 262 00:13:32,590 --> 00:13:35,430 and they really prefer you to edit in house in their app and 263 00:13:35,430 --> 00:13:37,950 record in their app. And so there are videos that 264 00:13:37,950 --> 00:13:42,470 I've made or edited in Adobe suites and and then made and 265 00:13:42,470 --> 00:13:45,910 posted the different different social media outlets and those 266 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:47,990 don't do as well. They really like they'll 267 00:13:47,990 --> 00:13:52,110 literally get 50 views compared to if I make the same video and 268 00:13:52,110 --> 00:13:56,950 edit it in app, then it'll get pushed to 900 like at like right 269 00:13:56,950 --> 00:13:59,320 away. Like within within 20 minutes. 270 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,640 Interesting. So there's there's things like 271 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,640 that they like to you to use their trending sounds, they like 272 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,040 you to try to catch on the trends and different things that 273 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,800 you see like similar videos that are popping up all over the 274 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,240 place relating to current events. 275 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,400 Stuff like that, because they want their app to feel as fresh 276 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,760 as possible because so you kind of have to play into their game. 277 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,000 Yeah. Yeah, of of what the algorithm 278 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,240 likes. Damn algorithms. 279 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,360 Damn damn algorithms. Just making it hard for 280 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:31,640 everybody but you. So you're on average, though you 281 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:33,640 feel like your numbers are better on TikTok or? 282 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:35,600 Yeah, yeah. Compared, yeah. 283 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,880 We're really pushing emphasis in the last couple days and weeks 284 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,680 of trying to push our content through different on the 285 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:44,960 different outlets. Like just last night we were 286 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,720 focusing on reposting a lot of the tik toks on the YouTube 287 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,900 shorts, which I mean. I don't know the comparison and 288 00:14:51,900 --> 00:14:54,660 numbers to that. Obviously YouTube has a massive, 289 00:14:54,660 --> 00:14:57,740 massive audience and we want to tap into that and just help as 290 00:14:57,740 --> 00:15:02,340 many people as possible. So we've been just trying to get 291 00:15:02,340 --> 00:15:04,540 in front of as many people as we can with with that. 292 00:15:05,860 --> 00:15:09,020 What was the video about that got got all the the new sign 293 00:15:09,020 --> 00:15:11,060 yeah. So that one we we saw in our 294 00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:13,780 database that Meadow was going to be doing layoffs in August 295 00:15:13,780 --> 00:15:17,020 and I think they were laying off something like 500 people out of 296 00:15:17,020 --> 00:15:21,050 their New York offices. So I I put a little green screen 297 00:15:21,050 --> 00:15:23,850 up behind me with the with the screenshot of the PDF and the 298 00:15:23,850 --> 00:15:27,010 war notice that had all the information and I I just ran 299 00:15:27,010 --> 00:15:29,090 through it. I was like so we see this just 300 00:15:29,090 --> 00:15:31,290 came out Meadows going to be doing layoffs. 301 00:15:32,250 --> 00:15:34,690 August I think 16th was the date or something like that. 302 00:15:34,690 --> 00:15:37,810 And then it also has the offices that would be affected so 303 00:15:37,890 --> 00:15:40,850 different all over the all over New York and down towards the 304 00:15:40,850 --> 00:15:41,850 city in that. Area Yeah. 305 00:15:42,290 --> 00:15:44,570 Does Meta employ that many people in New York State? 306 00:15:44,850 --> 00:15:48,540 Yeah, they employ a lot. I mean, a lot of the big tech 307 00:15:48,540 --> 00:15:50,420 companies employ a lot of people down there. 308 00:15:50,420 --> 00:15:52,660 Big banks, big firms like that, Yeah. 309 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:58,660 But yeah, I mean it's also like a different like it's not just 310 00:15:58,660 --> 00:16:01,100 tech companies, there's, you know, everybody has to do it, 311 00:16:01,220 --> 00:16:05,860 yeah. Is Meta out of California? 312 00:16:06,590 --> 00:16:07,470 They're out of California, right? 313 00:16:07,470 --> 00:16:09,150 I think so. They have a couple head killers. 314 00:16:09,470 --> 00:16:10,990 Do they have? They have big. 315 00:16:11,350 --> 00:16:12,630 I have no idea how they're set up. 316 00:16:12,630 --> 00:16:13,470 Right. Yeah, it's. 317 00:16:13,470 --> 00:16:15,070 Well, so many people work remote now. 318 00:16:15,070 --> 00:16:17,830 It's like, yeah, they got, you know, it's all over the place. 319 00:16:18,070 --> 00:16:20,830 I know during COVID we specifically with meta, they 320 00:16:20,830 --> 00:16:25,990 started having like this concierge support service. 321 00:16:25,990 --> 00:16:29,310 It was like the worst thing ever because you'd be talking to 322 00:16:29,310 --> 00:16:31,590 people all over the place, like maybe New York City or wherever 323 00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:33,590 it was, but they didn't actually work for meta. 324 00:16:34,250 --> 00:16:36,650 Yeah, they outsource a lot of, Yeah, they'll they'll run out 325 00:16:36,650 --> 00:16:37,930 call centers and stuff like. That. 326 00:16:37,930 --> 00:16:39,050 Yeah. And then we get on the phone 327 00:16:39,050 --> 00:16:41,410 with them and like all right. Well, the and and you know again 328 00:16:41,410 --> 00:16:44,010 if you do marketing on Facebook like you'll know how glitchy 329 00:16:44,010 --> 00:16:47,170 that platform is or at least in my experience. 330 00:16:47,610 --> 00:16:50,810 And you know we'd get on and you'd be on weight hold these 331 00:16:50,810 --> 00:16:52,650 guys and then they'd be like well let me call you back from 332 00:16:52,650 --> 00:16:54,130 my personal number. It was just it was such a 333 00:16:54,130 --> 00:16:56,050 nightmare and then they would never be able to help you. 334 00:16:56,050 --> 00:16:59,410 They would just basically. Read stuff off of the support 335 00:16:59,410 --> 00:17:02,090 card and then if that didn't fix the problem, they'd be like, Oh 336 00:17:02,090 --> 00:17:03,650 well, we're gonna have to escalate this up to. 337 00:17:04,690 --> 00:17:05,569 Takes an hour and a. Half. 338 00:17:05,609 --> 00:17:06,569 Oh my God. How? 339 00:17:06,650 --> 00:17:10,290 Longer I I never used Facebook personally and we I opened an 340 00:17:10,290 --> 00:17:12,490 account for us a week or two ago. 341 00:17:12,770 --> 00:17:15,170 I mean, we didn't even pop up like I was looking up on my 342 00:17:15,170 --> 00:17:16,170 mom's phone. Our account. 343 00:17:16,170 --> 00:17:19,010 It wasn't possible for like for like days. 344 00:17:19,210 --> 00:17:22,930 For those of you listening, this is a real testimonial for the 345 00:17:22,930 --> 00:17:25,369 demographics of social media right now. 346 00:17:26,369 --> 00:17:29,010 People that are under 20 or not on Facebook I. 347 00:17:30,130 --> 00:17:31,170 Mean. There's a few of us, but. 348 00:17:31,290 --> 00:17:32,970 There's not one of them. Well, yeah, right. 349 00:17:32,970 --> 00:17:34,650 Like and you're only on now because. 350 00:17:34,690 --> 00:17:35,250 Of. Yeah. 351 00:17:35,290 --> 00:17:36,370 Because of work. Yeah. 352 00:17:36,570 --> 00:17:39,050 So, I mean, we were just trying to reach that audience of. 353 00:17:39,530 --> 00:17:44,930 Yeah, that that 35 to 55 year old audience, yeah for sure. 354 00:17:46,770 --> 00:17:49,490 So as you're looking towards the future and I know we're we're 355 00:17:50,130 --> 00:17:52,730 probably getting close on time, but as you're looking about 356 00:17:52,730 --> 00:17:55,050 moving forward to you know where are you guys trying to take 357 00:17:55,050 --> 00:17:56,170 this? Right. 358 00:17:56,170 --> 00:18:00,850 So we our goal is to help as many people as possible with 359 00:18:00,850 --> 00:18:06,410 this, with something that, with something that is not already 360 00:18:07,010 --> 00:18:08,250 there. There's no service, there's 361 00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:11,610 nothing that that targets this side of the job market, right. 362 00:18:12,370 --> 00:18:14,410 Everyone's worried, worried about their job security. 363 00:18:14,410 --> 00:18:17,650 Unless you're a a professor with tenure or a a job even. 364 00:18:17,810 --> 00:18:19,770 A. Company owner yourself, right? 365 00:18:20,050 --> 00:18:21,490 You're not getting laid. You're not. 366 00:18:21,730 --> 00:18:23,850 You're concerned about getting laid off, right? 367 00:18:24,250 --> 00:18:27,210 So. Our goal is to make a dent, as 368 00:18:27,210 --> 00:18:30,850 big a dent in that thing in that side of the market as possible. 369 00:18:31,210 --> 00:18:35,410 Now we want to expand on that. So in the future we're looking 370 00:18:35,410 --> 00:18:36,970 towards the newsletter as I purchase. 371 00:18:37,090 --> 00:18:41,650 As I mentioned previously, we also want to have the data 372 00:18:41,650 --> 00:18:46,770 public and have different of different visualizations, 373 00:18:46,770 --> 00:18:50,170 charts, graphs and have it searchable, filterable. 374 00:18:50,690 --> 00:18:53,530 Like on your website, someone goes your site and they can. 375 00:18:54,250 --> 00:18:57,840 Sit on so think. This data is not only applicable 376 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,240 to to employees, right? Right. 377 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,200 If you're a stock trader and you see that that, for example, 378 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,840 Facebook is laying off a lot of people in two months, that's 379 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,400 probably something you want to get ahead of. 380 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,760 You know, maybe you own that stock, you want to sell it, you 381 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,840 want to short it, something of that before. 382 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,080 The general public finds out in the stock tanks, yeah. 383 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,920 If you're a if you're a freelancer, right, maybe you you 384 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:20,840 work in a freelance marketing agency. 385 00:19:21,340 --> 00:19:24,540 I think all these, this type of company is doing a lot of 386 00:19:24,540 --> 00:19:26,420 layoffs. Maybe we go reach out with them 387 00:19:26,620 --> 00:19:31,980 and see what we can do to try to help out in in that sense is it 388 00:19:31,980 --> 00:19:34,620 like there's a lot of different ways of this data could be used 389 00:19:34,620 --> 00:19:37,700 and it's it can be utilized by not just people that have the 390 00:19:37,700 --> 00:19:42,020 jobs but also that work and can affect those industries, which 391 00:19:42,020 --> 00:19:45,940 is really every industry. Yeah. 392 00:19:45,940 --> 00:19:49,180 And then, so you know, we just want to. 393 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,680 We wanna make public this public data as accessible and as 394 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:59,600 consumable to an average an average employee, an average a 395 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,320 person as possible. So here's the business question. 396 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,560 How are you gonna monetize this? Yeah. 397 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,880 So we're our plan is to work with affiliates and advertisers. 398 00:20:09,980 --> 00:20:14,740 To run ads and partners on our on our newsletter with our site, 399 00:20:15,020 --> 00:20:18,460 we don't want to have ads on like on the site site itself but 400 00:20:18,460 --> 00:20:20,340 on our newsletter site we're open to that. 401 00:20:21,820 --> 00:20:27,020 And then also we want to do in the future a a premium tier of 402 00:20:27,020 --> 00:20:30,820 our thing that would provide that data, that database openly 403 00:20:30,820 --> 00:20:34,820 and maybe have have data analyst reports and. 404 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,560 And like professional work on that so you can you can pull 405 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,280 different things from the data. Yeah, yeah I'm just thinking 406 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,600 about that. So and I I like the stock trader 407 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,360 angle too. I mean because it's these so 408 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:52,920 these just to kind of back up. So I understand that portion of 409 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,840 it. So I'm a stock trader. 410 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:02,500 I'm signing up for your emails because the minute employers, 411 00:21:02,660 --> 00:21:06,540 employers have to do 60 days prior to and so the minute they 412 00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:08,580 file that is it like instantaneous. 413 00:21:08,580 --> 00:21:10,980 The minute they file that that it hits your system, that your 414 00:21:10,980 --> 00:21:13,660 system pulls from it or. Yeah, as soon as it's posted to 415 00:21:13,740 --> 00:21:16,060 a state's website, we have it. Interesting. 416 00:21:16,300 --> 00:21:18,220 That's cool. That's really cool, man. 417 00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:24,580 All right. So if people wanted to learn 418 00:21:24,580 --> 00:21:29,650 more about layofflookout.com, obviously the website. 419 00:21:29,690 --> 00:21:33,050 Yeah, you can sign off. Sign up at layofflookout.com. 420 00:21:33,050 --> 00:21:36,210 All the information's on there. You can follow us at Layoff 421 00:21:36,210 --> 00:21:43,210 Lookout LAYO FFL00K 0UT on on everything on Instagram, 422 00:21:43,210 --> 00:21:46,010 Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. 423 00:21:46,010 --> 00:21:48,890 I think that's it and everything. 424 00:21:49,570 --> 00:21:51,410 All updates will be posted through there. 425 00:21:53,990 --> 00:21:55,830 All notifications can come through your e-mail. 426 00:21:55,870 --> 00:22:00,750 Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Listen, I think it's great. 427 00:22:01,270 --> 00:22:04,150 Glad to be able to have you on the show today and talk about 428 00:22:04,150 --> 00:22:06,550 what you're doing. I think as a couple of young 429 00:22:06,550 --> 00:22:10,800 guys with an idea being innovative, taking a shot at it, 430 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,560 I think it's amazing. And I mean, it sounds like a 431 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:14,760 great idea. So I'm sure you guys are going 432 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:16,480 to be successful with it. So thank you so much. 433 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,120 Yeah, thanks again for coming on the show, man. 434 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:20,160 Yeah, absolutely. And thanks everybody for 435 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:22,960 listening. As always, you can find us on 436 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,720 glensfallstoday.com, Saratoga businessreport.com and 437 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,920 saratogatodaynewspaper.com. And you know, as we said, each 438 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:34,280 week we're sitting down with people that are coming up with 439 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,520 great ideas or running businesses in the local 440 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,160 communities and just trying to make everything better. 441 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,920 So keep listening. The superpower that every 442 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,480 citizen has is the ability to control where they spend their 443 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,240 time, money and attention by focusing these on supporting 444 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,320 local businesses who are having a profound impact on your 445 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,880 friends, your family and your local community. 446 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,720 So if you want to change the world, you can start. 447 00:22:58,120 --> 00:22:59,040 With buying local.