Tactics of Influence and Persuasion. Ryan McNeill

[00:00:00] Bob Wheeler: Do you feel like you’re being constantly marketed to? That’s because you are big brands and corporations spend millions of dollars each year to influence your purchasing decisions. These tactics of influence and persuasion are all around us, and most consumers are not consciously aware of them. What can you do to protect yourself and your money?

In this episode, marketing consultant, Ryan McNeill shares some of the tactics used by brands to get us to buy their products and service. And let’s just say the next time you walk into a supermarket, you might begin to see shopping for groceries in a whole new way. Follow Ryan on TikTok and Instagram under the Handle at Invisible Influence and on YouTube as at Ryan McNeill, where he educates his followers about marketing tactics.

Big brands use. I’m Bob Wheeler, and this is Money You should Ask, where we explore why we do what we do when it comes to money.[00:01:00]

Ryan McNeill is a marketing consultant with a background in advertising and televis. From these experiences, Ryan has gotten to see firsthand how some of the world’s largest brands effectively use principles of psychology to persuade consumers on his TikTok account, which has now surpassed 250,000 followers.

And across social media, Ryan teaches audiences these tactics of influence and persuasion. His goal on social media is to teach consumers how to protect themselves against manipulation, and to teach entrepreneurs and business owners how to ethically apply these principles in their own. Ryan, it is absolutely a pleasure to have you on the show today.

Oh, thanks

[00:01:48] Ryan McNeill: so much, Bob. I’m so happy to be here. So you’ve done a lot of different jobs, but you find yourself as a marketing consultant and a TikTok creator.

[00:01:57] Bob Wheeler: How did this evolve?

[00:01:59] Ryan McNeill: A [00:02:00] question I ask myself a lot. I always try to figure out what is the through line of my career, because advertising, so working on, on campaigns fun brands, you’ve probably heard.

And then into this marketing thing and the thread centric career. I’ve always been so deeply fascinated with what it is that makes people tick, why people are behaving the way that they do. So that’s really what I’ve tried to bring to this TikTok account is basically the insights that I have gained over the years of working in these various fields that at times felt like I was kind of restarting into a completely different career.

But in the end, it does feel like there is some sort of cohesive thread, and that’s just, like I said, an interesting people in why they do the things they do. And what are the forces that are kind of nudging them towards making certain decisions that they’re making.

[00:02:48] Bob Wheeler: You know, it’s interesting because in marketing, and I mean advertising too, we used to always hear, and we still hear that there’s subliminal messages and there’s all these.

Indicators that we [00:03:00] unconsciously pick up on and stuff like that. And it sounds like what you’re saying is Yeah, some of that’s true. Like maybe it’s not always something backwards says eat the children. But you know, there’s stuff there.

[00:03:11] Ryan McNeill: It’s real, you just triggered a memory for me, which maybe the reason that I am so fascinated by this stuff, which was that.

I remember being in elementary school and a kid bringing a cassette tape to school, and it was during that eighties era of the satanic panic stuff of the backwards masking in music, and everyone was so concerned, right, with whether there were you messages embedded into popular music. I never really bought into that idea.

It seemed pretty far-fetched to me, but at the same time, I was so deeply fascinated with that concept that maybe there are these kinds of things. So that was sort of an introduction to this whole concept of like a secret society of people who are trying to influence our decisions. And as I got older and sort of got my professional life started, it seemed [00:04:00] less nefarious that maybe there’s a bunch of satanist, major neuropsychology tricks that are pushing us towards making some decisions.

[00:04:08] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, I’m hoping it’s the latter . Yeah. For friends , I mean, how did you feel when you found out that many of the decisions we make are not entirely our.

[00:04:18] Ryan McNeill: I was fascinated by this concept. The whole TikTok experience for me was as I started to learn more about this stuff and read more about it, and he’d listen to podcasts about it, TikTok became almost a way to kind of take notes on these fascinating little tidbits of information I was hearing.

And I was like, I could keep a journal or I could just kind of keep my notes in a public space like TikTok and maybe someone else will find this stuff interesting. And as it turns out, there’s an audience of people who are also interested in. Yeah. Well, it’s

[00:04:48] Bob Wheeler: amazing. I remember like just even when you’re in a touristy area and you’re walking down and you smell the caramel popcorn or you smell the chocolate [00:05:00] or fragrances or, and they’re piping that in, right?

Some of the places are piping that in and you’re like, oh my God. Where. Oh, it’s a block away, but they’re piping the scent somehow. Right, right. Can you give us some examples of marketing tactics companies use to get people to buy their products or to get people to come

[00:05:18] Ryan McNeill: in? Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny, I was gonna use my own TikTok account as my cheat sheet here,

Some examples of people who have used some of these tactics. Earliest ones that I remember reading about. It was a book called Coercion. And he talks about how shopping malls are laid out in a way that are intentionally confusing. If you’ve ever been walking around a shopping mall and come to yourself just.

Helplessly lost, right? That was indeed by design, that these shopping malls are laid out in a way that the longer you get lost and can’t find your way out, you’re obviously gonna spend more money just looking at some of these stores. So that was one of the things that [00:06:00] I remember early on, really fascinated me.

It also ties back to your grocery store visits Every time you go inside a grocery store, there are little things the way the store is set. It’s designed to get us to spend more time to walk the aisles more to the back. So if those necessities are positioned in a very strategic way, or the way that the stores have certain items at the perfect height for little kids to be able to see them and nag their parents and say, mom, dad, I really want this thing.

So store design and how retail places are laid out. I think that is such a fascinating. Even into studies about how the rate of music can really affect the pace at which we walk through a store. So maybe slower music is actually kind of encourages you to take your time and linger longer. So these are all just off the top of my head examples I’ve talked about on the channel as fascinating ways.

Stores are kind of using their design to get us to [00:07:00] spend more. Well, it’s funny,

[00:07:02] Bob Wheeler: I hate shopping, so I don’t go in a lot of stores. I like going into like do-it-yourself stores to buy stuff, but even there, or automobile stores, everybody’s got a refrigerator with all kinds of drinks, so they’re like 10 times what you could buy, pay for ’em at the grocery store.

And there’s a reason like they’ve got all these, oh wait, I forgot. I didn’t remember I needed a flashlight on a key ring, but now I do. But I do find, because I do go online, there’s a company right now, they’re like, you get two pair of shorts for 24. And I find myself going, oh, that’s it. No, I have like 50 pair of shorts.

I don’t need two more. But they look really cool and they’re fun and they’re only 24 bucks and I do not need them, but I’m almost find myself

[00:07:42] Ryan McNeill: Oh, absolutely. Almost clicky. Yeah. The pricing schemes, that’s a whole other amazing bag of worms to open up about how many of us fall victim to these kinds of things.

One of the ones. I think about that I, I talked about recently is how many websites, and I don’t know if I wanna call out some of the [00:08:00] specific brands that do this, but you’ve certainly visited some of these sites that use a tactic where they’ll withhold the, the actual full price of the item until you get to the final checkout.

And at that point, you’ve already have enough psychological buy-in that you really want this. And it is so devious, yet so effective, it drives me insane. So I love for people to know that these things are happening just so that they can psychologically combat what they’re up against here. Yeah,

[00:08:29] Bob Wheeler: and maybe at the end of the day, you really do want the pair of shorts, or you may really need the product, but just knowing.

That you might be succumbing. How can somebody tell if they’re succumbing to marketing or psychological tricks, or how do they know they’re making the purchase on their

[00:08:46] Ryan McNeill: own? I think for me it’s the more you can shine light on these tactics, the more you can be aware that they are being used against you.

So I think unless you have an awareness of the [00:09:00] actual tactics that are out there, it’s hard to know. I think people genuinely believe that a lot of the stuff is their own free will, when in fact, maybe this is actually just a little marketing slide of hand that’s happening. So just speaking for myself, as I have learned more about these tricks and tactics that are used, I can at least have an assessment of understanding why I’m feeling this great sense of urgency to buy something.

Yeah. And now if I’m about to make a significant purchase, I will kind of do that little inventory of. Is this something I actually made or like what happened here? And other times, even though I know it’s a tactic, I still fall victim to it. Sometimes your emotions just overcome you and you’re just like, well, I know I’m being duped here, but you know, well done to you sir.

Marketer who’s won me over. Well,

[00:09:52] Bob Wheeler: you know, you just get caught up in the moment. I was thinking, I was at the grocery store, somebody was talking about this exciting chopper thing and it [00:10:00] would do the onions and would do all these things, and I’m like, I will never use it. But they were so enthusiastic and man, it was a 10th of the price and okay, did I ever use it?

Never, never. And I walked outta there going, okay, no, I’m this time, this time I will use it. I didn’t never used it. That’s so. But I’m just caught up in that moment. They were such a great salesperson. I mean, now if I buy a major purchase, I’ll wait a day or I’ll say, oh, I have to talk to my business partner.

I’ve gotta talk to my spouse. I gotta check with somebody. I blame somebody else. When I didn’t have the heart to set a boundary personally, I’d blame somebody else. But yeah, they draw you in even if it’s not a scent or a marketing thing. I know like sometimes you’ll go to a store or I’ve gone into a store and they’ll say, wouldn’t you like to save money?

And, uh, on a phone. And I’m always like, no, I wanna pay full price. Like I’ve l And they’re like, they’re not expecting that. Cuz of course you’re supposed to say, yeah, of course I wanna save money. Tell me more. I’m always like, yeah, I’m not interested. I love paying price. [00:11:00] I love paying double. It’s totally cool.

And they don’t know what to do with me . Cause I just don’t wanna, I don’t wanna get suckered

[00:11:06] Ryan McNeill: in. Yeah. Your thing, talking about the Sailed person who maybe just overwhelmed you with some sort of show or something. One of these tactics that I think about all the time, and by the. All this stuff. I wanna give a plug to a book named Influenced by Robert Cini.

That is really, I feel like the Bible of this stuff. He has studied the sociology behind all this stuff, and he’s laid out a number of the most prevalent tactics that are used out there. One of those that came to mind as you’re talking about that is this idea of the power of reciprocity. It will happens sometimes where you’ll go into, let’s say a car dealer.

And they’ll hand you a bottle of water, and that may not just be because they’re looking out for your dehydration. It’s that that signals to our brains that once someone has done something for us, even as minors, that little gesture [00:12:00] that we now feel obligated to repay that debt back to them. Then on a more frightening level, it’s even been found that something as small as a pizza party paid for by a medical sales rep for a doctor’s.

Greatly enhances the chance that that doctor will prescribe whatever drug they’re selling. So it’s crazy how this stuff will infiltrate even our healthcare system and may have an impact on our wellbeing like that. So yeah, again, but it’s so helpful I think, to know that these tactics are out there. You know, it’s interesting

[00:12:32] Bob Wheeler: when you were talking about the bottle of water and it’s not just here in the States.

So I was in India and I knew they would try to get you to come in and buy a carpet or buy this or that or buy some souvenirs. And so we told the taxi driver, look, we’re gonna give you a really good tip. Don’t take us to any of those places. Right. Don’t let us get caught cuz we were with him for a couple weeks.

We’re like, really? You gotta take care of us. And man, he’s like, no worries, no worries. And we go to [00:13:00] this place, and of course they offer the coke. And I’m like, no, no, no. I won’t drink anything. I won’t drink Coke, water, nothing. But then they get us to go, like there’s a back, like there’s the next room a little bit further away from the door, Amanda.

They close the doors and they circled us and all of a sudden come out, all the gadgets and stuff. And we ended up spending like 50 bucks cuz it felt like it was the only way I was gonna get out. Yeah. . And I was like, even my taxi driver who promised me I was safe from the marketing was in on it cuz he was getting paid to take people to these places and shares in on the commission.

I’ve

[00:13:37] Ryan McNeill: been in that exact circumstance. I think that happened to me in Thailand. That, yeah, it took me a bit to key into what was going on here. Like, wait, what? This is not like the most popular tourist destination of Thailand. I think there’s some kind of handshake deal that’s happened here behind my back.

But yeah, I know you’re exactly what you’re talking about.

[00:13:55] Bob Wheeler: I mean, it’s not necessarily bad that they do this. Some of it we want, but I mean, [00:14:00] retail. Businesses wanna separate us from our money. That’s why they’re reaching out to us is we got money and they’d like to actually put it in their pocket and take it from ours.

So it’s not bad because if I’ve got a business, I’m gonna be doing the same thing, . Right? Right. If I’ve got a TikTok and Instagram, I’m trying to get people to come to follow me just like they want me to follow them. And so, you know, I have to have a little bit of recognition that I’m sort of doing the same

[00:14:24] Ryan McNeill: thing.

Oh, absolutely. And that’s one thing. I mean, I get people in my comment section on TikTok basically calling me out because I am a marketer. And so they’re saying, how can you know that all this stuff is going on and live with yourself essentially? And I make the same point that just because these tactics exist does not mean they always have to be used unethically, right?

That there are many instances. Persuasion techniques can be used for the public good. You know, you think about nonprofits who use these things [00:15:00] successfully, or public health campaigns who use these successfully. So in and of themselves, these things are just tools. It’s really how they’re used that determines whether or not it’s evil or not.

I think. Yeah,

[00:15:12] Bob Wheeler: absolutely. And I can tell you there are some companies that I think they’re advertising and their subtle stuff is so clever. Mm-hmm. , I actually buy it just because I’m like, that’s so clever. Right. And I’m totally in on it. Like, I didn’t get scammed. I love some of the cleverness. I’m like, Ooh, that’s good.

Ooh, that’s so subtle. Yeah. Like I actually applaud that stuff. I find it amazingly.

[00:15:37] Ryan McNeill: Oh, I’m with you. Yeah. Good marketing. I feel the same way that all things being equal between two brands. If one brand is entertaining me in some way. Yeah.

[00:15:46] Bob Wheeler: Well, I mean, if you think about it, like the Super Bowl, half the people are watching the Super Bowl for the commercials, right?

And they can sit there and say, I hate commercials, but not Super Bowl time. We all wanna see the good

[00:15:57] Ryan McNeill: one. Oh, absolutely. [00:16:00] Honestly, that’s what pulled me into advertising and that sort of thing. I love the short form content. I was working in music videos and advertising in my past after the kind of docu-series stint, so I absolutely love the medium of short form video.

So that’s why when TikTok came along I was like, huh, this is like a completely different re-imagining of what short porn video is all about. So yeah, I’ve been a fan of short videos for a long, long

[00:16:28] Bob Wheeler: time. Well, now that you are a TikTok creator and there’s a lot of people that do the social medias, Whether they pick LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook, whatever it might be.

What are some of the strategies that you use to help you weather the storm? Financially? Because algorithms change and you know, I have clients that are making 30,000 a month and then they’re making 3000 a month. How do you weather the storm financially as a freelancer and content creator when things are un.

[00:16:57] Ryan McNeill: Well, first of all, I do not rely [00:17:00] on TikTok for my income. Okay? If I did, it would be a really sad situation today, TikTok is notoriously bad about paying the creators. It’s actually creating for an interesting kind of showdown between. TikTok and say like YouTube, who is trying to lure creators away with some better payment options for those who create.

And hopefully I don’t get blacklisted on TikTok for publicly coming out on a podcast and saying that they pay horribly for the Creator Fund. But if you just Google Creator Fund, I think I will not be the first to publicly call out TikTok for their poor Monet. The other thing is I have a full-time job in addition to this, so all of this is supplementary income for me.

So that is, I think it would be an aspirational thing for just to create content all the time. Although that, I think I’ve read enough to know that being a full-time creator has its own pitfalls with burnout and that sort of thing. Yeah. [00:18:00] So I’ve kind of found this happy place of not relying on. TikTok as the main source of income, which I think too, the other thing is that a lot of times these creative projects, when they become the source of your income, they kind of lose the fun that they once had to begin with.

So yeah, once it crosses over from creative exercise to job, then I may no longer want to actually. Yeah, then

[00:18:26] Bob Wheeler: it’s a job. Then it’s a job. Exactly. and then it’s a job. So a little birdie told me that you fell in love in the paper towel aisle. Yeah.

[00:18:36] Ryan McNeill: So my now wife, when we first started dating, I remember we’d gone on a couple of dates and we were in Los Angeles there and a Ralphs, and I remember her meticulously calculating.

The cost per role of toilet paper or paper towels. And just thinking as she was doing that, I was like, oh, she and I see eye to eye financially. I do [00:19:00] the same ridiculous exercise, trying to figure out exactly what I’m paying, what the best deal is for paper towels. So when I caught her doing that, that was kind of an immediate signal.

This relationship might have legs, , .

[00:19:14] Bob Wheeler: I love that. Well, you know, it’s so important because a lot of people don’t have a sense of their partner’s financial mindset, spending habits. I have a lot of tax clients where, boy, they were in for surprise when they got married and inherited a whole bunch of debt. Or a really bad credit score or federal liens.

And so knowing that she was in alignment, did you talk with her a lot about money before you got married? I mean, was that something you both knew your credit scores or at least some ideas? Yeah, the

[00:19:45] Ryan McNeill: finances came out quite a bit. She had previously worked at a bank. And the other thing too, I think in school, I remember taking a class about relat.

And remembering this part about how much easier it is to end up with a [00:20:00] spouse who has a similar socioeconomic background to your own. And she and I were raised very similarly with middle class parents and I think that makes a lot easier to see eye to eye when it comes to finances. So yeah, we talked about money whenever she and I were both living as broke.

20 somethings in la. I think there’s something to be said about that, that of people who move to Los Angeles have a certain ambition and have to come out there and last a. You really have to plan and have a nest egg ready by the time you get to la. Yeah. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a really short visit and you’re gonna have to go back home with your tails, with your legs.

So I think she and I both had a similar backstory of having this dream to come out to LA and having to kind of save in order to try to fulfill that dream.

[00:20:48] Bob Wheeler: Was the marketing and psychology of coming to LA as good as you thought it?

[00:20:55] Ryan McNeill: Are you saying the psychology of the city

[00:20:58] Bob Wheeler: itself? Well, you know, people want to come to [00:21:00] California, the sunshine, the dreams, Hollywood.

And so was there like a little bit of seduction to come to California?

[00:21:08] Ryan McNeill: Oh, sure. I think that exists for everyone. I grew up in a town in Oklahoma of about 2,500 people. With one stoplight. We had a Pizza hut and a sonic, if you know what a sonic is. Yep. Love Sonic . So for me, moving to a big city that captured my imagination like nothing else.

You know, it seems so distant for me and like such a fairytale to even dream of a place like Los Angeles. So, yeah, absolutely. I bought into that kind of fairytale image of, of what Los Angeles was gonna. I probably heard the word Hollywood and had a very different image in my head of what that was supposed to be than what the actual Hollywood looks like.

It’s a little different. . Yeah, a little different. Yeah. Hollywood itself, there’s, there’s a great podcast, actually, 99% Invisible, just did an episode about Hollywood and the marketing behind Hollywood itself. It’s a pretty [00:22:00] interesting episode. Well, it’s

[00:22:01] Bob Wheeler: such a big draw. People come and I think often, at least tourists are somewhat disappointed that everything doesn’t glitter like it does in the movies, but Right.

It’s still a fun

[00:22:10] Ryan McNeill: place to. Oh, absolutely. I miss it all the time. I miss my friends up there. It’s a great.

[00:22:15] Bob Wheeler: You know, one of the things that I love about LA is it’s forward thinking in ideas. So whether it’s the marketing, whether it’s ideas or music, there’s so many people here that are bringing this creativity that you just get this synergy of.

Like you can feel it. I mean, it gets a little aggressive sometimes , but there’s just this energy of like on the forefront of something. Yeah,

[00:22:38] Ryan McNeill: I was just talking to someone about this recently. My wife and I have, since my parents have gotten older and we’ve actually come back to Oklahoma, which has been an interesting case study in money.

Just how different the financial situation is in Oklahoma, how cheap everything is compared to the large city. But I was talking to someone about how much I miss la, one of those things kinda like what you’re. Is that [00:23:00] feeling that at any time anything could happen, you could go into a cafe and there’s Robert De Niro or whatever it is.

It draws so many interesting people to it, not just in the film industry, but in so many industries. You could just, by happenstance, magic could happen any day, and I feel like that used to happen to me on a regular basis that these kinds of wild situations I never could have dreamed of, just kind of fell in my.

Yeah, everything

[00:23:27] Bob Wheeler: is possible. . Everything’s possible. Everything is possible. Yeah. Do you talk with your kids about money? I know you’ve got young kids, but do you talk with your kids about money and when they go to the store and see something at eye level, are you able to say, no, ,

[00:23:41] Ryan McNeill: this has been such a challenge.

I think. Well, one, in speaking to kids about money, We tried to do that. I recently bought a children’s book. I’ve listened to an NPR podcast and talked about a kid’s book. That was a great introduction to money. It was really cute for those who have small children. But [00:24:00] yes, I tried to talk to them about money.

I think the concept is still a little advanced for them. We bought little pretend money and coins and things, and we’ve established a piggy bank. I remember the most recent lesson that we learned was that my son really, really wanted some kind of toy at the store, and there was a great opportunity to teach about the idea of what a loan was.

just saying. I know you have money in your piggy bank back at home. I’m gonna loan you the $4 to buy this thing. And so he was asking questions, what is a loan? What does that mean? And so we got to kind of have a fun exercise in what it means to kind of me play the banker for a moment and come back and reclaim that $4 once we got back home.

And to answer that question, I guess, no, I did not resist my child in that moment because in the end, I bought him whatever he wanted and Right. I had to spin it into a lesson about loans .

[00:24:53] Bob Wheeler: Well, you know, but just having those conversations, it’s so important. I’ve actually just started a kids’ book series [00:25:00] called Financially Fit Kids.

I’m trying to, Bring in foundational things like making decisions, changing your mind. Budgeting in the first book, Darius wants a dog and every kid wants a dog or a pet. And what are the responsibilities and what does it cost for dog food or a collar just to start to get kids realizing mommy and daddy don’t just have an at m machine.

That just Oh, absolutely. Pours out money

on

[00:25:24] Ryan McNeill: a whim. Yeah. That is so helpful. . So did you have things like that when you were a child that you remember that keyed you?

[00:25:30] Bob Wheeler: Not at all. My parents , God bless my parents. Not a clue. They were borrowing from my piggy bank. They were not savers. And you know, they had five kids by the time they were like 25.

So , it was like they had a lot going on and they just didn’t have the skillset and a lot of parents don’t. And so it’s no blame, right? But I thought this is what I would’ve loved is to have this kind of information. So I wanted to write these books to just start to help other people that might. Have parents that are financially literate and on top of it all, [00:26:00] because a lot of us don.

Uh, that’s

[00:26:01] Ryan McNeill: so great. And to tie it back to Los Angeles again, I think the thing that really solidified my own financial literacy was freelancing out there for so long that a realization struck me that if this is gonna be a sustainable thing, I have to. Prepare for the bad times that are inevitably coming.

So if my children wanted to go off and be freelancers, I feel like it might be, you know, teach them the same type of lesson, then maybe it would be more difficult to learn if I had had a salaried position right at a college. Right. That sort of feast or famine mentality that comes with being a freelancer, you really have to count every penny and make sure that you’ve saved up.

[00:26:41] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, you gotta learn how to survive. Yeah, absolutely. You gotta learn how to survive.

Orion, we are at the Fast five. The Fast Five is brought to you by Survey Junkie. Join millions who take online surveys and make extra cash. Click on the link in the show notes to learn more about Survey Junkie. All right, [00:27:00] so Ryan, we’re just gonna shift the energy a little bit. Have a little more fun. Here we go.

Has a marketing strategy fooled you into buying something

[00:27:06] Ryan McNeill: recently? Yes. Hang on one second. I just thought about. It’s the countdown timer a lot of times, whether that’s, I think Amazon has used this in the past, but feeling like there is time running out gets me every time. I know I’ve done this with registering for conferences before where it’s like you only have 36 minutes to register to get the premium package or.

So that is one of those that drives me crazy cuz it’s so effective on me. .

[00:27:39] Bob Wheeler: It works. It works. Yeah. There’s a reason. Have your money habits stayed consistent your whole life or have they changed over time?

[00:27:46] Ryan McNeill: I would say my habits have stayed pretty consistent. I think as you get older, probably my mindset has shifted more towards looking at.

When I can just fully retire . So I probably pay more attention to like what [00:28:00] that end goal number is. But the habits themselves have remained pretty consistent to your ally. Yeah. That’s

[00:28:06] Bob Wheeler: cool. What’s one thing you think your wife spends too much money on?

[00:28:10] Ryan McNeill: Oh, Yeah. Oh man. If she hears this, what will she seem as?

Not an offensive answer. I’m gonna say it’s got a big skincare. Okay. Or maybe, perhaps it’s I’m, I still preach. Maybe the kids need fewer toys. I think that’s one thing we could do without a little .

[00:28:31] Bob Wheeler: Well, I knew it wasn’t gonna be paper towels or toilet paper cuz I know she, exactly.

[00:28:35] Ryan McNeill: It’s not

[00:28:35] Bob Wheeler: those things.

what’s one experience that you’ve had with your family that you were nervous about spending the money and then ultimately ended up being grateful for spending the money?

[00:28:45] Ryan McNeill: I think it’s always traveled. Travel is always that big expense that we save at four and it always hurts a little bit for how much we spend.

Mm-hmm. . It always ends up being worth it. I totally buy into that. All the [00:29:00] studies that show that experiences is where you’re gonna get the best bang for your buck in terms of expenditures. So we are much less a buying material goods family, and we’re much more on let’s pay for big experiences. We’re actually headed to Portugal next week, so yeah, love experie.

[00:29:18] Bob Wheeler: That is so cool. Is there anything that you will spend on, regardless of the cost, like it’s just something I’m gonna spend on it and not like gas or taxes , but something that like, like this fulfills me regardless of the cost.

[00:29:32] Ryan McNeill: My biggest splurges are probably on video gear in general. I’m such a video junkie.

That’s the area that my wife would say that I spend far too much money on is buying cool gear. So yeah, I recognize that I’m not always the most frugal, but I do love the shiny new cameras and toys. Sometimes you

[00:29:53] Bob Wheeler: just gotta have it. You gotta, yeah, it’s true. You gotta have it. Well, we are at [00:30:00] our m and m spot, our Sweet Spot, money and Motivation.

I’m wondering if you have a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom you could share with our listeners, some that’s worked for.

[00:30:09] Ryan McNeill: Absolutely. I would say, well, going back to what I’d said earlier, I think just your awareness of what is going on with marketing will hopefully give you the same sort of internal reflection that I now have.

About whether or not the items that are being sold to you are actually things that you need. I think it’s such a good practice to kind of take that beat and say, is this really gonna fulfill me in some way? Or is this kind of scratching a temporary itch and end up with costing me four more money that it’s worth?

So that’s the biggest thing, is know how you’re being sold to. And perhaps by having an awareness of these tactics, you can resist some of. Yeah. No, I

[00:30:53] Bob Wheeler: think that’s so true because if you can at least stop and ask yourself, does this fulfill me? Mm-hmm. , do I need it? [00:31:00] Even if you just have that momentary pause, you may end up buying it and it makes you so happy, even though it’s worth nothing after you, like maybe it’s a cool jacket or something.

Yeah. But at least if you stop and reflect and be a little intentional or know that they’re doing a really good sales job and you’re just gonna go with it. So that you at least aren’t a victim of it, you’re actually making choice.

[00:31:22] Ryan McNeill: Yeah. Because how often have you spent far too much money on a thing that a week or two weeks later the novelty is worn off and you are left with that sort of buyer’s remorse that, ah, I really should have thought about this one some more.

So I hate being left with that. Buyer’s remorse. Yeah. Taking that extra b I think is so.

[00:31:42] Bob Wheeler: No, absolutely. Well, Ryan, this has been so much fun and I appreciate that you’re out there letting people know about these things. Just to have awareness, right, so that, again, they’re not evil, they’re not bad. It’s just another way to sell.

And so that if we be conscious about it, then we’re still in choice. [00:32:00] and yes, I appreciate that. Even you, knowing all these things still get sucked in, still feel the countdown, right? And so that it doesn’t mean that we handle everything perfectly. I work in finance and taxes. It doesn’t mean I do everything perfectly.

It doesn’t mean I don’t have missteps. It doesn’t mean sometimes. I overspend on the budget, right? That’s what makes us human. But at least sharing that information so that other people can get that. And then also just checking in with yourself. I appreciate that piece. Like, Hey, my wife loves to count toilet paper sheets.

Like that’s the kind of thing you know is gonna serve you later. Having somebody that’s counting pennies, that’s a good thing. And so just that awareness and being open and knowing that probably that because you were freelancers having to learn how to survive instead of, oh, I can just rely on a paycheck.

Cuz people can rely on a paycheck, it can still disappear. And I think LA does force people to learn how to survive because it’s a lot of fun, but it’s also harsh and expensive. . Yeah. And crazy. Absolutely. So I appreciate all that. [00:33:00] Where can people find you online? Where can they learn more about you and where can they follow?

[00:33:05] Ryan McNeill: If you are interested in following my TikTok, my account is called Invisible Playbook, so you can just go to tiktok.com/invisible playbook and find me there. If you’re interested in learning more about some of the way I have grown my following on TikTok. I like to talk about that stuff too. I have a YouTube account.

It’s just my name, Ryan McNeill is my handle. Or you can go to my personal website, which is Ryan McNeill dot. McNeill is E N E I L L. Just one extra L to confuse people.

[00:33:38] Bob Wheeler: Why not , why not? Well, we’ll put all that in show notes. Ryan, it’s been such a pleasure and I appreciate what you’re out there doing, so keep doing it and thank you so much for

[00:33:47] Ryan McNeill: joining us today.

Thanks so much, Bob. It’s been a lot of fun.

[00:33:57] Bob Wheeler: We hope you enjoyed this episode. Did you learn something [00:34:00] new about your relationship to money today? Maybe you have a friend who has some financial blocks or beliefs that are holding them back. Please share this podcast so they too can get off the rollercoaster Ride of Financial Fears and journey towards financial.

To learn how to have a healthy relationship with money, visit the money nerve.com. That’s nerve not nerd. We’ll be back next week with another perspective on money and the emotions that bind us.