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- #90 Airline Credit Cards & Asking Yourself the Right Question
#90 Airline Credit Cards & Asking Yourself the Right Question
Plus: What do Walmart and Perplexity have in common with precious metals?
Dan Healy
22 Oct
Good morning, and welcome back.
What I like most about these 4th editions of the month is that they’re not too heavy. You still have Making Cents and Cool Communicator, which along with Hustle Hub have become staples of this newsletter. But you also get some stuff that brings a wide range of information:
Did You Know? always contains stories that occupy three different lanes: something you can use to your own benefit, something focused on interesting people, and something from the world of AI.
The Search Bar, which typically aims to update you on what’s popular right now - trending searches, most downloaded apps, most purchased products, etc.
Major Moves, which gives you three quick stories from the business world - one focused on a big company, one focused on a startup, and a third wild card.
Each section has its own unique purpose, but one thing that ties them together? They all make great topics of conversation the next time you find yourself networking. Whether it’s with peers at an event, or interviewing with a potential boss, or dining with a client, you can call on something from these sections to give these high-stakes interactions a pick-me-up.
(Or you can use the info as inspiration for your future billion-dollar business. Either one.)
The Highlights This Week 🧠
Fattening The Wallet 💰️
Making Cents #TBT: The Benefits of an Airline Credit Card.
Elevating Your Brand 🤝
Walmart, Perplexity, and Gold Making Major Moves
A Trends Newsletter Featured in The Search Bar
Network Like A Boss with Today’s Did You Know?
Boosting Your Productivity 📊
Cool Communicator: Productivity Begins With Leadership - 5 Simple Words To Become A Better Leader
Making Cents 💰️
OTF 🤝 TBT:
Why You Should Get an Airline Credit Card
Short and Sweet: There are too many rewards credit cards to count, but airline / miles credit cards make too much cents sense for anyone who travels regularly. (This was featured in edition #41, Learning from Billionaires and LinkedIn Profile Optimization back on 10/31/23.)
Why It Matters: Because if you’re a frequent flyer, the benefits are great, the best being that you can use accumulated points to purchase your next ticket at a steep discount.
Trips to the airport are usually stressful, but if you’re getting a free flight…
Perks commonly associated with Airline CC’s:
Free Checked Bags: Some offer one or more free checked bags, which is awesome when it normally costs > $30 per bag.
Priority Boarding: You get to feel special and have first crack at overhead bin space.
Airport Lounge Access: Some premium cards give you access to those ultra-cool airport lounges so you can wait for your flight in comfort and style.
Sign-Up BONUSES: Many offer generous sign-up bonuses that boost your miles right off the bat (we’re talking tens of thousands). Keep in mind - you’ll most likely have to meet certain spending requirements in the first few months to get the full bonus.
O.T.F
O.F.T: One Final Thought
We spend a lot of money. We deserve rewards. Just as you would considering any other rewards card, think about your life and needs and choose a card that will maximize the rewards. If you don’t fly a lot, go with a cash back card, but if you’re a traveler (for business or pleasure, or both), an airline CC rewards card could pay big dividends.
If you’re interested, here’s NerdWallet’s 2024 list of Best Cards for Frequent Flyers.
Did You Know? 🤔
Self-Interest: Did you know fruit’s been getting a bad rap? (Go eat some while we dispel some myths.)
Human Interest: Did you hear about those three guys who cracked the code on rich versus poor countries?
Artificial Interest: Did you hear about the AI tech that can identify you with a single photo?
Cool Communicator 💯
The Simple 5-Word Question That Can Boost Your Business
In this week’s Major Moves (you’re almost there), one of the companies we spotlight is Walmart, whose CEO recently appeared on Fox Business to discuss the state of the company within the context of the economy at large. That interview inspired this article from Inc, which posits that if you want to improve as a businessperson and as a leader, you should, as often as necessary, ask yourself one simple question:
Why Am I Doing This?
TL;DR Takeaways
“If you were talking about your business, could you fill in the [following] blank:
The purpose of this company is ___________________.
If you can’t answer, that’s O.K. - but it’s time to fix it.”
We’ve talked about this too many times to count in this newsletter, and we’ll continue to do it: no matter what you’re doing, no matter how big or small, you should know your purpose. You should know WHY you’re doing it.When running a business, your answer to the fill-in-the-blank above should be able to “sustain an organization.”
In other words, it needs to be a really good answer. You should probably take some time to really think it through.Whether you run your own business or manage people at a large company: your goal is to make it so that your employees can fill in that blank just as easily as you can. How do you do that? By saying it over and over, every day. This is our purpose. This is why we do what we do. You want it to become second nature, because then “when they make decisions for your company, they’ll be guided by the overall purpose you’ve articulated so often.”
O.T.F
O.F.T: One Final Thought
I don’t have much to add that hasn’t already been articulated in the italicized bits above. But you don’t need to be an entrepreneur or business owner or VP-level employee to benefit from this advice. It’s something Every. Single. Person can and should adopt in their lives. Anything you do, every time you go to speak, think to yourself, Why am I doing this? Or, if you are a results-oriented person, What do I want out of this? You will become a better decision-maker, better problem-solver, and better communicator.
The Search Bar 📊
In lieu of our usual content here, I want to take this opportunity to shout out one of my favorite newsletters: Exploding Topics.
If you click the link above, you can get some really interesting data about trends going as far back as five years and (if you’re a paid subscriber) projecting at least a year into the future.
Or you can subscribe to the free newsletter and get trends right in your inbox every week. This past week’s began like this:
If you are someone who stays up on trends looking out for that next big business idea (which is a big part of The Search Bar’s aim every month), this is the newsletter for you.
Major Moves 🗞️
WALMART: Doing everything they can to keep prices low
Walmart’s success has always been predicated on keeping prices low. And that’s not going to change, according to CEO John Furner, due to inflation, natural disasters, or anything else. “The purpose of this company is, and has been for years and years, to help people save money and live better.”
Dairy is one category of item that got more expensive at Walmart, but according to Furner, they’ve done everything they can to keep most other prices at or lower than last year’s.
Good for them ✊
perplexity: Making MAJOR startup moves
Perplexity, an AI search engine startup, “hopes to raise around $500 million at an $8 billion valuation” in its next fundraising round. Which is wild because it was just valued at $3 billion in its last fundraising over the summer. But they clearly feel the bump is well-deserved, since they “currently receive 15 million queries a day and bring in around $50 million in annualized revenue.”
If you wanna see what all the fuss is about (and why OpenAI should be worried), click here.
US ECONOMY: Gold and Silver to the moon?!?
Both the upcoming election and the war in the Middle East have people worried about the economy, and their response has been to double down on precious metals. “Gold surged to a record high on Monday while silver struck a near 12-year peak.”
Gold is currently at around $2,740 per ounce, and at least one UBS analyst expects it to hit $2,900 over the next year or so. (This is NOT investment advice; do with this information what you will.)
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition. Next week will be the 5th edition of the month, which means BONUS EDITION. What content might you find? Some tried-and-true sections, some brand new sections — the world is our oyster.
See you then! ✌️
