Good morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
Meta’s new AI agent Muse is offering an early look at the future of shopping.
Stung by tariffs, a maker of board games tried to bring its manufacturing back to the U.S.
Once again, it’s small businesses that are taking President Trump’s tariffs to court.
Consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade.
THE 21 HATS PODCAST
This week, Paul Downs, Jaci Russo, and Sarah Segal revisit a question that came up on the podcast more than a year ago: Is artificial intelligence going to doom professional service firms like Jaci’s branding agency and Sarah’s PR firm? So far, both Jaci and Sarah are feeling pretty good about their prospects. In fact, they’re seeing changes in the market that suggest AI may be helping rather than undermining their businesses. Paul, meanwhile, has encountered a different kind of AI mystery. For years, his custom conference table business has depended heavily on people finding him through Google. Recently, he discovered that his organic search traffic has fallen about 35 percent. That sounds alarming—except that his business is doing great. Paul says his tables are selling like “hotcakes,” and he’s backlogged into February. So what exactly is happening when traffic falls but sales keep growing?
Plus: In our latest Beyond Small segment, sponsored by Grasshopper Bank, Paul, Jaci, and Sarah talk about the financial processes they still insist on doing manually—even when technology could probably do more of the work for them. In each case, part of the reason is that doing the work themselves gives them a view into their operations that they don’t want to lose. As Sarah puts it, while she already knows how to handle public relations, “I am learning how to be a business owner every day.”
You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.
SUCCESSION SOLUTIONS WORKSHOP
We’ve got one seat left: I’m putting together an eight-session, small-group, virtual workshop for owners who want to start doing the real work of succession planning—but don’t want to tackle it alone and would rather not get all of their information from someone whose livelihood depends on steering them toward a specific solution. Participation will be limited to approximately 10 experienced owners who are serious about succession planning and willing to share candidly with one another. Starting in January, we’ll meet every other week on Zoom for two hours:
“The $1,650 early-registration price is available through Friday; after that, the price rises to $1,950. And, as always, there’s a full money-back guarantee.”
