Entrepreneurship is a bitch. You should do it anyway. 

I’m serious. 

Go for it. Even if you have to do it at night, on weekends, or while your boss thinks you’re “working from home.” 

Because no matter how much you love your boss, you love yourself more. Or at least I hope you do. Because I do, and I’ve never met your boss. 

Apologies to my CEO friends and other bosses. I’ll take full blame for the mass exodus this causes among your team. My entire company reads this, so I’m totally self-sabotaging here. And that’s okay. 

If our best and brightest want to leave to pursue their dream, I’ll hold the door open for them. I’ll even be their first customer. Unless they open a vegan restaurant, in which case I’ll tell all my vegan friends about it on social media.

Chase your thing.  

I’m not saying it’s easy. Far from it. But, whatever your idea, whatever your passion, whatever your gift, it’s yours. And there’s nothing like sharing it, terrifying and humbling as it might be.

You don’t have to do it alone. I had the best partner ever in my first company. I have dozens of them now. 

Or maybe you prefer to own 100% of whatever you do. That’s cool. 

Me, I’ve brought in an army of investors, board members, and option-holding colleagues. I chose that path, because I care more about the dream of CivicScience and the difference it can make in the world, than walking out of here with every penny I can. Each of our many partners and shareholders is bringing me closer to that dream. When we nail it, there will be plenty of pennies to go around.

​​​​But you might want to be a solo act. Bake something awesome. Write a weekly newsletter (just not on Saturday mornings because I patented that). Play poker. Be a consultant. 

Go it alone, if that’s your vibe. 

Just go.

Someone asked me recently about the biggest do-overs I’d like to have in my career and I couldn’t think of one. Because the million bone-headed mistakes I can remember are all mistakes I won’t make tomorrow. 

And the only mistake I would’ve truly regretted is the one I didn’t make (twice).

Here’s what we’re seeing:

Hard news consumption has been declining and lifestyle content is on the rise, mostly because of Democrats. I wrote about this a few weeks ago, then did a crazily-attended webinar on the subject, and this week, we published a bunch of new data. Why? Because it’s super effing important. The percentage of Democrats who say they’re closely following political news is the lowest it’s been since January 2016, when the idea of Donald Trump becoming President was still seen as a farce by most. People are burned out on news across the board, and the rate of migration toward lifestyle and entertainment is way up as a result. Yes, it will evolve as the midterms approach, then back again. But whether you’re a publisher or an advertiser, this is something you should be watching very closely. If only you knew a company that could help you with that.

People are getting increasingly comfortable venturing out in public again, just not for work. Every category of public activity we track has been on the rise since an early January, Omicron-borne low point. Dining out, shopping, going to the movies, even concerts are becoming more palatable by the day. The one exception – comfort going back to work – fell in recent weeks, after reaching its highest point since October. We still have a long way to go before we’re back to pre-Delta days, but people feeling increasingly safe is a good thing.

Just because people aren’t psyched about going back to the office doesn’t mean they aren’t sick of working from home. I’m kind of a statistic here, feeling more and more eager to work with my team in person a few days a week, as soon as we can do it mask-less. While job satisfaction among remote workers was much better than on-site workers in the early days of the pandemic, those numbers are a mirror image today. People working from home are reporting lower and lower levels of job happiness and life balance these days. It’s particularly bad among Gen Z’s and younger Millennials. They’re completely over it. 

Young people aren’t terribly excited about the Super Bowl either, but not because they think the halftime show is an oldies concert. Rest assured, I will be glued to the TV on Sunday, sipping on gin and juice with my fellow Gen Xers. The likely Super Bowl audience skews much older than last year, not so much because of the halftime show, but likely due to a lack of star power on the field. Overall viewership could improve over 2021, but Mahomes and Brady drew eyeballs, young and old. Eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds are, in fact, the most likely to watch the halftime show, with Xers right behind (because we taught our kids to appreciate great music). There’s a ton of other Super Bowl-related stuff packed into this awesome study – including a significant uptick in betting this year. I can’t wait.

 ​​​​​

People are kind of pissed at Amazon for raising the price of Prime, but I’m pretty sure they’re bluffing. As superlative as our data can be, I always take survey results with a grain of salt when we ask people what they’ll do if Company X raises prices. I’m convinced people threaten to leave out of spite and few actually do. We ask these questions more to understand who is so ticked off and how ticked off they are compared to the many other things we’ve surveyed like it. And in this case people are particularly mad. A $20 price increase for Prime is tough to swallow among people who are feeling the pinch of inflation, especially younger people. Whether they leave in droves, time will tell, but I doubt it. Prime is just too freaking convenient.

Here’s more free stuff from our CivicScientists: 

  • Online casinos came of age during COVID, especially among the crypto crowd;
  • Over one-third of Americans say the pandemic has no effect on their day-to-day life at this point;
  • Valentine’s Day gifting is bouncing back almost to 2020 (pre-COVID) levels;
  • Meanwhile, Galentine’s Day is still a thing, particularly among single women, which makes me wonder why my single guy friends don’t do Palentine’s Day;
  • Random facts about people who can change a flat tire – like they’re less likely to buy an electric car.

 
The top questions of the week:


Answer Key: Skim; Duke Dick would be awesome; Monthly if it’s easy to cancel; Totally OK; Aisle by a mile.

Hoping you’re well.

JD



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