A two-hour feedback session with the SEO Gets founder changes MetaMonster's direction. Meanwhile, Andrew realizes he's burnt out on AI and capitalism and Sean defends Spider-Man Magic cards against gatekeepers. Also: surfing vs hiking debates, fractured ankles, the three C's of career satisfaction, and why JetLag's Magic episode was terrible.

Links:

• Andrew’s Twitter: @AndrewAskins
• Andrew's website: https://www.andrewaskins.com/
• MetaMonster: https://metamonster.ai/
• Sean’s Twitter: @seanqsun
• Miscreants: http://miscreants.com/
• Margins: http://margins.so/
• Sean's website: https://seanqsun.com/

For more information about the podcast, check out https://www.smalleffortspod.com/.

Transcript:
00:00:01.15
Sean
What's up?

00:00:02.51
Andrew
I miss you It's been too long.

00:00:03.76
Sean
I miss you

00:00:05.97
Andrew
i did that Long time. Been a long time.

00:00:09.78
Sean
too. Long time. Yeah.

00:00:13.45z
Andrew
When did we last like actually talk other than a couple of quick Slack messages?

00:00:17.87
Sean
Like last year, pretty much.

00:00:19.81
Andrew
don't think it was that long.

00:00:20.14
Sean
This one. My brain's in 2026 already. It's it's cold. i i look outside at like four o'clock. It's already dark.

00:00:28.96
Andrew
My three of my best friends in Atlanta and I have a group chat that we started when I moved here. And it's it's titled See You in 2026, which like started as a joke because like my one friend quit his job and had a little bit of travel planned. And like I had a little bit of travel planned and they, the couple in the group chat had some travel planned. And so it was just kind of a joke. And now our friend who started the group chat, who quit his job,

00:00:56.88
Andrew
he is currently in seoul south korea he he is actually like we're actually not going to see him until 2026 pretty much he did

00:00:59.48
Sean
Whoa, cool.

00:01:05.52
Sean
Sorry, did you say he was in Seoul, South Korea or Seoul?

00:01:10.83
Andrew
seoul i said seoul south korea did did fuck that up okay did i say south k-kir-olina no i maybe i did that would be wild

00:01:13.50
Sean
Oh, I don't know why heard South Carolina. That's okay. We'll go back to the tape. We'll see if I was crazy or if you were crazy. No, i've definitely misheard you. I definitely.

00:01:24.85
Sean
We'll go back to the tape later.

00:01:25.18
Andrew
He's in South Korea right now in Seoul.

00:01:26.62
Sean
Cool.

00:01:27.26
Andrew
Apparently it's cold.

00:01:29.54
Sean
Yeah.

00:01:30.14
Andrew
I forget how far north it is, but he's...

00:01:32.06
Sean
you should You should ask him how crazy things were when Korea won the League Legends finals again. Yeah, kind of curious.

00:01:40.80
Andrew
Ooh, okay, will do. Yeah, he's been... But dude's been traveling all fucking over the place. I'm so happy for him.

00:01:48.26
Sean
Nice.

00:01:49.12
Andrew
Yeah, he seems like... lighter and happier which is good to see yeah yeah

00:01:52.72
Sean
Nice. That's good. That's good. Do you feel lighter and happier with less hair on your head?

00:02:01.66
Andrew
I am uh okay the I am no is the answer I feel like I'm a bit in a uh phase that I feel like I end up in every few years where I'm like questioning and trying to rediscover my personal style. And that often starts with trying to find a haircut that I like.

00:02:24.41
Andrew
my My typical haircut is just like the very standard white guy, like a little bit short on the sides, a little bit slicked over on top.

00:02:24.10
Sean
mean,

00:02:33.51
Andrew
And I just, know I always come back to it and then I go, this doesn't feel like me. And then I try something else and I'm like, well, this also doesn't feel like me.

00:02:43.31
Andrew
So... yeah i don't know i i'm trying i'm trying a messy fringe this time thanks

00:02:48.07
Sean
it looks good. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. I think it looks good. I think i like it looks good. You got you got like your oversized, boxy, drop shoulder t-shirt, the haircut.

00:03:00.87
Sean
Very trendy. Very trendy.

00:03:02.34
Andrew
i just watched a youtube video where like three people roasted a guy for wearing a uniqlo erism like boxy t-shirt and i was like fuck i thought that

00:03:08.64
Sean
Haters. Haters. Haters. They're so comfortable. Haters.

00:03:12.39
Andrew
they are so comfortable yeah

00:03:12.84
Sean
Get over themselves. Haters. oh Yeah. Don't take me back to skinny jeans, you know? was terrible time.

00:03:21.28
Andrew
i feel like they weren't they weren't advocating for skinny but they were also like they were basically saying if you're gonna go boxy you need to it needs to look intentional like you're intentionally trying to be boxy like if you have like one boxy thing and then one more skinny thing it can look weird And like fit still matters. And that like the most timeless look is something kind of in between. It's not like crazy baggy, but also not crazy skinny.

00:03:49.69
Andrew
But then that's also kind of boring. I don't know.

00:03:52.68
Sean
i think I think there's ways to make all of it work.

00:03:52.83
Andrew
don't know.

00:03:56.37
Sean
It just kind of depends on silhouette and whatnot. I like this look, by the way. I actually think this is this is a very nice like haircut on you, especially with the with the earrings.

00:04:06.02
Sean
Yeah.

00:04:07.38
Andrew
Thanks, dude. I appreciate that.

00:04:08.23
Sean
Yeah. Yeah.

00:04:09.50
Andrew
I only got like two words of it because you're breaking up for me a little bit right now.

00:04:13.48
Sean
Oh, really? Okay.

00:04:15.39
Andrew
But

00:04:15.50
Sean
We'll try that again.

00:04:16.02
Sean
I actually think it it looks really good. I think it, yeah, especially with the earrings and whatnot.

00:04:21.82
Andrew
thanks. Appreciate it

00:04:23.75
Sean
You look like five years younger. That's cool.

00:04:26.49
Andrew
it. I don't know if I want to look five years younger as part of this. i'm like I want to own being in my 30s.

00:04:31.01
Sean
I see.

00:04:32.59
Andrew
And I'm OK.

00:04:34.21
Sean
You still look like you're in your 30s.

00:04:35.90
Andrew
okay

00:04:35.93
Sean
You still, just like,

00:04:37.38
Andrew
So you're saying before I looked like I was approaching 40. I

00:04:41.06
Sean
just like your late thirty s I guess that business means approaching for... I don't know. I haven't seen you in so long that I... My image of you is just your, like, 20-something-year-old profile picture in Slack at this point. So, I don't know.

00:04:55.90
Andrew
i i jumped on a call with a friend earlier today who I hadn't talked to in a long time. And we hadn't had like a video call in at least six months, if not longer. And he was like, whoa, because I just got in the haircut. He hadn't seen me with earrings. I last week talked, I had a f...