Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said he’s seeing more evidence that higher oil prices are supporting economic growth in Canada, and expects the bank will have a higher inflation forecast at the end of the month.
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Macklem sees higher oil prices boosting growth, inflation
Mark Carney makes closing argument to Alberta against path to independence from Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a final appeal to voters considering a path toward independence in his home province of Alberta on Friday, warning that a referendum is a dangerous gamble at a time of growing threats to Canada’s sovereignty.
With U.S. President Donald Trump waging a trade war and threatening to make Canada the 51st state, Carney warned that the referendum comes at the “worst possible time” and urged Albertans not to take the outcome for granted.
“Don’t let anyone tell you this is already decided. Turnout will determine the outcome,” Carney told a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, where he grew up.
“This is not a game. This is not poker. A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep uncertainty and lost opportunities for Albertans and Canadians,” he said.
Monday’s vote is not a direct referendum on independence. Alberta, home to most of Canada’s proven oil reserves — the fourth largest in the world — will decide whether to remain a province or instruct the government to begin the legal process toward a future referendum on separation.
Carney’s closing appeal came after two days of campaigning against separation in the province. Earlier Friday, the Liberal prime minister joined Alberta’s conservative premier Danielle Smith in a show of unity against independence.
Smith praised Carney for improving relations with a province that frequently clashed with his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, over his carbon tax and other energy policies.
“I think what we can agree on is that we have had some real change in the last 18 months,” Smith said alongside Carney in Red Deer, Alberta.
Smith noted that Carney grew up in Alberta and remains an Edmonton Oilers fan.
“He can’t be all bad, right?” she joked.
Trump’s threats raise the stakes
“Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us. Never. Never,” Carney warned Friday in Edmonton, repeating a warning he made a day earlier in Calgary.
At Thursday’s Calgary rally and Friday’s Edmonton rally, the crowd erupted in its loudest applause when Carney spoke about reducing Canada’s economic dependence on the United States.
Carney acknowledged Alberta’s longstanding resentment of federal energy policies.
“Growing up, I remember how Ottawa made Albertans feel like our resources weren’t our own,” he said.
But he also emphasized his deep ties to the province.
“Alberta is my home. I grew up here. This city, this province, this country have given me everything: my family, my education, my values,” he said.
Some Albertans say the vote shouldn’t have been called
Outside the Edmonton rally venue Friday, Alberta independence supporters waved flags and held a sign reading “Say no to Carney’s new world order.”
Smith called the referendum despite opposing independence herself. She recently cited a poll showing 22% of Albertans support separation, a figure she said was still too high.
Smith also faces pressure from separatists within her governing United Conservative Party. Former Premier Jason Kenney said the independence movement gained influence within the party as activists angry over COVID-19 restrictions, some influenced by conspiracy theories, embraced separatism.
But some Albertans who want to remain in Canada are angry with Smith for calling the vote.
“I think it’s a travesty really to be putting our province and our country through this when such a small portion of people are rabble rousing and saying they want to separate from Canada,” said Deb Lee, a retired Calgary resident who voted in advance to remain in Canada.
Smith said Carney had substantially addressed seven of nine federal laws Alberta opposed. She also cited cooperation on a proposed oil pipeline.
Independence advocate Tanya Clemens dismissed the agreements between Carney and Smith as “basically pinky promises” that came with too many conditions.
Political leaders unite against separation
Carney’s chief political rival, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, also urged Albertans Friday to remain in Canada.
“Don’t leave your fellow Canadians behind. Lock arms with them,” Poilievre said.
Despite their agreement on keeping Alberta in Canada, Carney and Smith remain divided over nine other questions on Monday’s ballot involving immigration and provincial powers. Smith wants voters to approve them, while Carney has urged their rejection.
“For the first time in a long time, Alberta and Canada are walking together,” Smith said.
TSA Gateside Program Shrinks From 300 Airports Back to Just 13
TSA Gateside Program Limited to Just 13 Airports
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has paused the expansion of its new Gateside by TSA PreCheck program, which allows people to go through airport security without a plane ticket.
The program launched in September at 13 airports and quietly expanded to roughly 300 airports earlier this month. However, that expansion has now been reversed, with Gateside once again available only at the original 13 airports.
TSA says it is evaluating participation levels and how the program affects airport operations.
How Gateside by TSA PreCheck Works
To participate, you need to have TSA PreCheck eligibility and a valid Known Traveler Number.
You must submit an application 1 to 3 days before the planned airport visit. If approved, you can go through a TSA PreCheck screening lane using an acceptable ID and your Gateside approval. There is no additional fee for the pass. Children are eligible to visit but must be entered on their parent/guardian’s reservation.
Passes are valid for one calendar day, and re-entry is allowed on that date. Approval is not guaranteed and airports can limit passes during busy periods.
Which Airports Still Offer Gateside?
The program remains available at these 13 airports:
- Phoenix-Mesa Gateway (AZA)
- Columbus (CMH)
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
- Detroit (DTW)
- Wichita (ICT)
- Indianapolis (IND)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Little Rock (LIT)
- Oklahoma City (OKC)
- Omaha (OMA)
- San Diego (SAN)
- Salt Lake City (SLC)
Turn Vibe-Coded Prototypes Into Tools Your Company Can Actually Use
<p>Lessons from companies that got it right.</p>
What Happens If You Start Investing and the Market Crashes?
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How should you react during a market crash? This breakdown explains how to manage your portfolio when headlines turn negative.
Many investors feel the urge to sell when they see share prices falling, but reacting to short-term noise often undermines your long-term investing goals. This video explores the mechanics of market volatility, contrasting the difference between buying during positive news cycles and holding through economic downturns. We analyze why interest rate cuts and price drops are often part of the cycle rather than signs of permanent failure.
Your specific investment strategy depends heavily on your personal circumstances and your intended timeframe. Rather than trying to time the market, we examine how to structure your assets to withstand periods of stress. By focusing on your individual goals, you can build a resilient approach that ignores the panic and keeps you focused on your objectives.
Subscribe for weekly investment strategy breakdowns, and comment below on how you manage your portfolio risk when the market turns.
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Do You Lean Democrat Or Republican On Education Policy? Take Our Quiz To Find Out
Key Points
- The quiz scores statements on a five-point scale and places you in one of five results, from Strong Democrat to Strong Republican.
- Each statement maps to a 2024 party platform, a federal law such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a bill in Congress or a state policy.
The College Investor’s education policy quiz shows whether your views on elementary education, college costs and student loans line up more with Democrat or Republican platforms.
Rate each statement and you’ll get an overall result, plus a separate lean for K-12 schools and for college.
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Where Do You Stand On Education Policy?
Do your views on schools, college costs and student loans line up with Democrats or Republicans?
Rate each statement from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Your result compares your answers to recent party platforms, federal laws and state policies on education. It takes about two minutes.
Your answers stay in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent.
Neutral
Your Education Policy Result
DemocratIndependentRepublican
On K-12 Schools
On College And Student Loans
See why each statement leans the way it does
Link copied. Paste it anywhere to share.
Results compare your answers to party positions on education policy only. The College Investor.
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{s:’K-12′,t:’School funding should follow each student to the school their family chooses.’,d:’R’},
{s:’K-12′,t:’Public school teachers and college professors should be able to earn tenure.’,d:’D’},
{s:’College’,t:’Colleges should require SAT or ACT scores for admission.’,d:’R’},
{s:’College’,t:’Community college should be free.’,d:’D’},
{s:’College’,t:’There should be limits on how much students can borrow in federal student loans.’,d:’R’},
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How Does The Education Policy Quiz Work?
The quiz asks you to rate each statement from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Agreeing with half of the scored statements leans Democrat, and agreeing with the other half leans Republican, so someone who agrees with everything lands in the middle.
Many of the statements cover the biggest changes to student loans and federal aid in years, which Congress passed in 2025, along with other current policy debates such as test optional higher education.
A strong answer counts twice as much as a mild one, and Neutral doesn’t move you either way. Your answers place you on a scale between the two parties, and where you land sets your result. If the student loan statements hit close to home, our Student Loan Calculator estimates what you’d pay under the new repayment plans.
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Education Quiz Result Bands
| Result | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Strong Democrat | Your answers match Democratic positions on nearly every statement |
| Lean Democrat | You side with Democrats on more statements than Republicans |
| Independent | Your answers split roughly evenly between the parties |
| Lean Republican | You side with Republicans on more statements than Democrats |
| Strong Republican | Your answers match Republican positions on nearly every statement |
Why Does The Quiz Split K-12 And College?
The results screen scores K-12 and college separately because plenty of people lean one way on K-12 education and the other way on student loans and higher ed policy.
The K-12 section covers preschool, school meals, teacher tenure and school choice, including the new federal school choice tax credit.
The college section covers admissions testing, free community college, student loan borrowing limits, accountability, endowment taxes and student loan forgiveness.
Why Each Statement Leans The Way It Does
Each statement ties to a party platform, a law, a bill introduced in Congress or a state policy. Open the drop-downs below after you take the quiz to see which party each statement lines up with, the sources behind it and where the parties overlap.
For the full sequence of federal changes, see our student loan timeline through 2028.
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Why Each Statement Leans The Way It Does
Spoiler alert: take the quiz first. Tap any statement to see which party it lines up with and the laws, bills and platforms behind it.
K-12
1Preschool should be free and publicly provided.
Agreeing Leans Democrat
Why: The 2024 Democratic Party platform pledged free, universal preschool for every 4-year-old. In July 2025, congressional Democrats reintroduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, which would fund state preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds and push states toward universal access in high-need communities.
Where the parties overlap: Free pre-K isn’t only a blue-state policy. Republican-led Florida and Oklahoma both run universal pre-K programs, according to the Education Commission of the States.
2All public school students should get free school meals, regardless of family income.
Agreeing Leans Democrat
Why: California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont serve free meals to all students, according to the Food Research & Action Center, and New York funded universal meals for the 2025-26 school year. All of those states have Democratic-controlled legislatures, though Colorado’s program came from a voter-approved ballot measure. In Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced the Universal School Meals Program Act, which would make breakfast, lunch and dinner free for every student.
Where the parties overlap: High-poverty schools in every state can already serve free meals to all students through the federal Community Eligibility Provision. The partisan split is over covering every student, regardless of income.
3School funding should follow each student to the school their family chooses.
Agreeing Leans Republican
Why: The 2024 Republican platform supports universal school choice in every state. The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a federal school choice tax credit worth up to $1,700 for donations to K-12 scholarship groups, starting in 2027. The Democratic platform opposes private-school vouchers, and 30 Senate Democrats introduced a bill to repeal the credit.
Where the parties overlap: Some Democrats break with their party here. Democratic lawmakers in Louisiana, Nebraska and Pennsylvania have voted for expanded school choice, the Associated Press reported.
4Public school teachers and college professors should be able to earn tenure.
Agreeing Leans Democrat
Why: The 2024 Republican platform supports ending teacher tenure and adopting merit pay. Republican-led Florida ended tenure for new K-12 teachers in 2011, and North Carolina and Kansas later rolled back their own tenure protections, according to Education Next. At the college level, Florida’s university system approved reviews of tenured professors every five years.
Where the parties overlap: The Democratic platform doesn’t address tenure directly. This statement leans Democrat because the push to end or limit tenure has come from Republicans.
College
5Colleges should require SAT or ACT scores for admission.
Agreeing Leans Republican
Why: The Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, sent to universities in October 2025, asked schools to require a standardized test from undergraduate applicants. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found 47% of Republicans said test scores should be a major factor in admissions, compared with 34% of Democrats.
Where the parties overlap: Testing’s comeback isn’t only political. Every Ivy League school now requires or strongly recommends scores, and dozens of colleges have brought back SAT and ACT requirements on their own.
6Community college should be free.
Agreeing Leans Democrat
Why: The 2024 Democratic platform pledged to make trade school and community college free for every American. Democrats have repeatedly introduced the America’s College Promise Act, which would give states $3 in federal money for every $1 they spend to waive community college tuition.
Where the parties overlap: Republican-led Tennessee launched the first statewide free community college program in 2015. A new study of Tennessee Promise found it raised earnings 6% to 8% for eligible students.
7There should be limits on how much students can borrow in federal student loans.
Agreeing Leans Republican
Why: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ended Grad PLUS loans for new borrowers and set new federal borrowing caps on July 1, 2026: $100,000 for graduate students, $200,000 for professional students and $65,000 per child in Parent PLUS loans. The law passed without a single Democratic vote in the House or Senate.
Where the parties overlap: Undergraduate federal loans have had limits for decades under both parties. The fight is over graduate and parent borrowing, where caps now push more families toward private student loans.
8Colleges whose graduates have bad financial outcomes should lose access to federal student loans for those programs.
Agreeing Leans Republican
Why: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created an earnings test for every college, public or private. Under the Education Department’s final rule, programs whose graduates don’t out-earn high school graduates in two of three years lose federal loan access, starting as early as the 2028-29 school year.
Where the parties overlap: This is one of the closest calls in the quiz. The Biden administration’s 2023 gainful employment rule also cut aid to programs with poor earnings, but only certificate programs and for-profit colleges. Republicans applied the test to all colleges.
9Colleges with large endowments should pay taxes on their investment profits.
Agreeing Leans Republican
Why: Republicans created the first college endowment tax, a 1.4% tax on net investment income, in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised it to as much as 8% for the wealthiest schools and exempted colleges with fewer than 3,000 students.
Where the parties overlap: This lean is weaker than most. Democrats voted against the 2025 law as a whole, not against the endowment tax on its own.
10The federal government should offer blanket student loan forgiveness with no strings attached.
Agreeing Leans Democrat
Why: The Biden administration’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 per borrower, about $430 billion in total, was struck down 6-3 by the Supreme Court in Biden v. Nebraska in June 2023, after Nebraska and five other states sued. Under the current administration, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said student loan forgiveness is not happening.
Where the parties overlap: Even the 2024 Democratic platform stopped short of blanket cancellation. It pointed to $167 billion approved through targeted programs. A strong “agree” here puts you with the progressive wing more than the party line. Both parties still support targeted student loan forgiveness programs.
11Monthly student loan payments should be based on income, with lower payments for lower earners.
Not Scored: Both Parties Agree
Why: Both parties support tying student loan payments to income. Republicans built the Repayment Assistance Plan into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It charges 1% to 10% of income, with a $10 monthly minimum and forgiveness after 30 years.
Where the parties split: The fight is over how generous payments should be. The Biden-era SAVE plan offered lower payments and faster forgiveness until seven Republican-led states sued, and a court order ended SAVE in March 2026.
Why Do So Many People Land In The Middle?
Education policy doesn’t split as cleanly along party lines as many voters assume. Republicans built income-based payments into the Repayment Assistance Plan, an idea Democrats also backed with the SAVE plan. A Republican president is who launched the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Republican-led Tennessee launched the first statewide free community college program, and the Biden administration wrote a rule to cut federal aid to low-earning career programs before Republicans wrote an earnings test for every college into law.
Admissions testing shows the same overlap. Dozens of schools, including every Ivy League college, have brought back SAT and ACT requirements based on their own admissions data rather than pressure from either party. A result of Independent usually means your views cut across party lines, not that you lack them.
What The Quiz Doesn’t Measure
The quiz compares your views to party positions on education policy only, and it isn’t a recommendation for how to vote. Party positions also shift and individual candidates may not align with their overarching party. The statements reflect platforms, laws and bills as of October 2026, and we’ll update them as Congress and the states act on student loan debt and school policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is This Quiz Biased Toward One Party?
The quiz is built to be balanced. Five statements lean Democrat when you agree and five lean Republican, and every statement uses plain policy language instead of party names. The drop-downs cite the platform, law or bill behind each lean, including things like the Grad PLUS loan elimination.
Why Isn’t The Income-Based Repayment Statement Scored?
Both parties support tying student loan payments to income, so the statement doesn’t sort cleanly. Republicans created RAP in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Democrats backed the SAVE plan until a court order ended SAVE in March 2026.
The parties disagree on how low payments should go and how long borrowers pay before forgiveness, which is harder to measure than overarching policy practices.
Does The Quiz Save My Answers?
No. Your answers stay in your browser and aren’t stored or sent anywhere, and retaking the quiz starts fresh. You can share your result with the share buttons on the results screen, which send only your result band and a link to this page, not your answers.
Which Laws And Policies Does The Quiz Reference?
The quiz draws on the 2024 Democratic and Republican platforms, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Biden v. Nebraska and state policies on school meals, pre-K and tenure. Each dropdown links to its sources, along with our reporting on topics such as new federal loan limits.
Editor: Colin Graves
The post Do You Lean Democrat Or Republican On Education Policy? Take Our Quiz To Find Out appeared first on The College Investor.
4 Charts That Explain the Copper Supply Crunch Investors Should Watch
The case for copper and copper stocks like Freeport-McMoRan (FCX -0.74%) or a copper ETF like the Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX -1.05%) rests on the idea that demand will outstrip supply, putting upward pressure on the copper price. It’s a strong argument for long-term investment in an industrial metal that’s critical to the economy of the future. Here’s why.
Demand will exceed supply.
According to an S&P Global report, “Copper in the Age of AI,” copper demand will exceed the baseline supply, with a widening gap appearing after 2030. I’ve re-created a chart using the data. As you can see, copper supply is projected to start declining from about 2035, driven by pressures including:
- Declining ore grades
- Rising costs for energy and labor
- Mining complexity
- Difficulty of acquiring permits amid environmental activist pressure
While it’s not impossible that some of these pressures can be relieved or even removed, it makes sense not to bake in any assumptions that they will be until there’s hard evidence they’re happening.
Data source: S&P Global. Chart by author. MMt is millions of metric tonnes.
Supply pressures
Increasing costs and declining ore grades, notably in the U.S. and Chile, are a constant feature of mining company presentations. For example, Freeport-McMoRan’s CEO Kathleen Quirk recently told investors that some of its U.S. mines had “been around for over 100 years” and now had low grades, which forces the company to prioritize efficiency, including investments in automation and technologies such as its low-cost leaching initiative.
In addition, miners are using muon technology (cosmic rays from outer space) to better identify mining deposits,
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and accounts for almost a quarter of global production. The chart shows the deteriorating trend in the country’s copper ore grades. This is something likely to create upward pressure on costs as well as potentially price some mining operations out of production, even as prices rise. It may also cause delays in investment as appraisals are made assuming declining ore grades.
Data source: Chilean Copper Commission. Chart by author.
Nonnegotiable copper demand?
Usually, when supply exceeds demand and prices rise, there’s additional impetus to develop technological or other solutions that can improve supply. I’ve already mentioned Freeport-McMoRan’s leaching initiative, which management believes could ultimately recover 800 million pounds of copper per annum from existing stockpiles, compared with its 2028 copper sales expectation of 4.1 billion pounds.
In addition, at least in theory, a high price could cause a substitution effect, leading to the use of alternative materials. Furthermore, it could also cause some demand destruction.
Image source: Getty Images.
While these factors are highly likely to play a part, their impact might be muted, given that much of the projected demand for copper comes from sources that may prove non-negotiable.
The chart shows S&P Global’s projections for copper demand; “energy transition & addition” includes transmission and distribution, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, “AI & data centers” includes hyperscaler data centers, enterprise data centers, and robots.
Data source: S&P Global, Chart by author. MMt is millions of metric tonnes.
The picture of incremental demand is better illustrated by this chart, which shows more than 60% of the incremental demand from 2024-2040 will come from AI and data centers and the energy transition. That demand might prove relatively inelastic.
Data source: S&P Global. Chart by author.
A copper supply crunch coming?
Rising demand and pressure on supply imply a supply crunch, but history suggests technological improvements and the substitution effect will mitigate demand growth and improve supply. However, recent history also suggests permitting won’t be easy, not least for greenfield sites, and that declining ore grades in mature copper mines in the U.S. and Chile are a real problem.
On balance, I’d rather be bullish than bearish on copper over the long term.
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Investment property hotspots may present DSCR opportunity
- Key Insight: A handful of states reached investor-property shares exceeding 25 percent.
- Expert Quote: ‘While investor home purchases increased during the second quarter, they didn’t keep pace with the much larger increase in overall home sales during April, May and June,” — Ivo Draginov, BatchData President
- Forward Look: What’s coming: A noticeable rise in non-QM activity expected in 2026.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review.
Processing Content
A handful of states have investor-property shares exceeding 25%, a number that may provide clues to lenders looking to tap into the growing market for the type of non-qualified mortgages designed for the segment.
Approximately 15.9 million homes, representing 18% of the U.S. market, were classified as
Certain states, though, had a much larger share of such properties, the real estate data provider said. Maine led the nation with 30.9% of units classified as investment real estate, followed closely behind by Wyoming at 30.6%. Rounding out the top five were Alaska at 26.7%, Montana at 26.6% and Hawaii with 25.6%.
“All of these states depend heavily on tourism, so it’s likely that many of the investor-owned homes are vacation homes and short-term rental properties,” researchers at BatchData wrote in its second-quarter pulse report.
Three other states that see
Currently, the states with the greatest number of investor units are the most populated scattered across the Sun Belt, led by Texas at 1.4 million properties, BatchData reported. California follows at just under 1.2 million, with Florida just behind at 1.1 million investor properties.
The numbers hint at where opportunity may lie for lenders seeking to grow or expand into debt-service-coverage-ratio mortgages, one of the types of loans defined as non-QM.
With residential mortgage rates now at their highest in years, industry leaders have touted the
Investment purchases grow, but market share shrinks
Just as the housing market has seen activity slow in recent months, investment property sales similarly retreated compared to a year ago, according to the report. Investors bought 284,068 homes in the second quarter, a 22% drop from the 366,027 purchased a year earlier.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, though, investor purchases grew from approximately 277,394 three months earlier. Still, market share decreased over the three-month period.
“While investor home purchases increased during the second quarter, they didn’t keep pace with the much larger increase in overall home sales during April, May and June,” said BatchData President Ivo Draginov.
Despite the quarterly uptick, the number of purchases accounted for just 26.7% of sales transactions, the smallest slice in five quarters, as traditional homebuyers were responsible for the majority. The current investor share is still above percentages seen two years ago.
Starting an AI Side Hustle is Easy — Steal This System
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Discover why being able to create a product doesn’t prove anyone will pay for it
- Explore how customer insight, distribution and feedback can help you build a stronger business
- See how AI employees can support the research and testing behind your next idea
You’ve probably seen the videos. Build an app in an afternoon. Launch a business with a few prompts. Use AI to turn something you know into an income.
And people are earning money this way. In an Adobe Express survey of 1,010 gig workers, published in February 2026, 46% said they were earning income with AI as a side hustle.
But there’s a question I’d ask before opening another tool: if someone else can create the same thing, why would a customer choose yours?
In the video above, I share how Lovable turned a familiar frustration—“I’ve got an app idea, but I can’t code” — into an AI-powered business that reached a reported $400 million in annual recurring revenue by February 2026. What interests me is what you can learn from it: how do you spot a problem people would pay you to make disappear?
You don’t need to build the next Lovable to learn something from that. Think about the people you already understand. What do they keep putting off because it’s too difficult, too expensive or takes too much time? That’s a much more useful place to start than asking AI for another list of business ideas.
Of course, even when people want what you’re selling, you still have to reach them. Dropbox learned that the expensive way. Its early advertising experiments cost $233–$388 to acquire a customer for a $99 product. Then a referral program helped increase signups by 60%.
Imagine deciding your business idea was a failure when the real problem was how you were trying to find customers.
In this video, I walk through those stories, share what marketing Unstoppable taught me about getting people to look at a familiar problem differently, and explore what the prototypes behind Dyson’s vacuum can teach us about knowing what to change.
Along the way, I’ll show you how AI employees can help you research customers, develop an offer and learn from the response. Because being able to produce more work is useful. Knowing which work is worth doing can save you months.
Before you spend another weekend building your idea, watch the video. We’ll work through four questions that could change what you decide to build in the first place.
For a limited time, download the free AI Marketing Team Setup, including the team map, role instructions and starter skill to help you build your first marketing agent. You’ll also get a free chapter from my book, The Wolf Is at The Door: How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World, to help you navigate what comes next as AI changes how we work and build businesses.
Key Takeaways
- Discover why being able to create a product doesn’t prove anyone will pay for it
- Explore how customer insight, distribution and feedback can help you build a stronger business
- See how AI employees can support the research and testing behind your next idea
You’ve probably seen the videos. Build an app in an afternoon. Launch a business with a few prompts. Use AI to turn something you know into an income.
And people are earning money this way. In an Adobe Express survey of 1,010 gig workers, published in February 2026, 46% said they were earning income with AI as a side hustle.