Talkcast Transcript - Duane LeGate 1

From CaseyPedia

This is a transcript of the talkcast encounter between Duane LeGate and Casey Serin on 18 May 2007.

CASEY: Right, movin' on to Itsmecasey. Who is this? Are you there?

DUANE: Hey there.

CASEY: Yeah. Your username, Itsmecasey - come on, what's your real name, and where are you from?

DUANE: This is Duane LeGate, Marietta, Georgia - how are you doing, buddy?

CASEY: Duane! Love to hear from you - I'm glad you made it on the podcast! Let's talk about some of these things. What's with this Exubernation (sic) posting that I've been hearing about?

DUANE: OK, basically, Casey, I want to tell you two things.

CASEY: Yeah, go ahead.

DUANE: First, you and I have talked for a long time.

CASEY: Sure, yeah.

DUANE: Second, I like you as a person. I will make no mistake - you're a likeable guy. You are a likeable guy. I will tell you this, though - you exhibit a lot of the same behaviorisms, mannerisms, as a couple of close family members, one my sister who has got bipolar, and... Casey, look, I have done everything I know to do. I have tried to advise you. You know, a couple of weeks ago I was talking to you about your blog, I was talking to you about a board of directors, getting dissenting opinions, getting other opinions. I have tried to do everything under the sun that I know of to help you and, you know, candidly, you've shunned everything. So that's fine. It's your opinion to shun advice. But Casey, look around you. I will tell you something that will blow you away. And I don't talk about my family a lot, but I will this. I've got three sons. My oldest, who's twelve, he and I tonight, before I called you, we looked at his Charles Schwab account. This is a kid who hoes yards, he has a lemonade stand, you wouldn't believe it - he's been working since he's six. He's got over $4,000 saved, Casey, and it kinda hit me that his net worth smokes yours. There's a point in time, Casey, where you've got to sit there and look at yourself and go "What have I done?" If you've got to sign a contract with your wife, something's wrong. If you continue to break the contract that you talked about, something's wrong. So, candidly, my goal, and everything else is one of those tough love. And you know, Casey, you and I have talked about it many a time, tough love. We have not always had pleasant conversations, we've had some candid conversations. And the thing about it is, I'm not trying to ruin you. I'm not trying to hurt you. I've told somebody the other day: I would love to fly out to San Francisco and just shake you. I just want to shake you.

CASEY: (laughs) Uh-oh.

DUANE: I'm serious - I do. Because I don't wanna hurt you, but because you need to be shaken. I'm not sure if it is that you have been in your past coddled all your life, always had what you want to, you've got a sense of grandiose... I do think there's some bipolarisms there, Some people say narcissist, I don't know. I think you're an intelligent guy, I really really do. I think you're an intelligent guy. I think you apply it the wrong way. I don't think... let me back up. I think the problem, right now, is that nothing has ever happened to you. Ever.

CASEY: So there's no result. So tell me the top three mistakes I'm making right now for the benefit of the talkcast...

DUANE: No no no no no no no no no - let me back up. You have made mistake after mistake after mistake. And the only thing that's happened to you is that you woke up the next day and you did the same thing. When I say nothing has happened to you, I mean from a consequence standpoint. You know, the foreclosures... it would have eaten me alive, brother. And again, some of the e-mails I'm gonna expose, I want to expose this only to show your lack of empathy or sympathy for the people that have lost money. You talk about win-win, but so far it's been Casey win and cashback/bank lose. I can show you...

CASEY: What about all this financial trouble and all this stuff that I had to go through - do you think that's a win? I mean, it's not like I'm living on the cashback I stashed away and the house still in my pocket. I lost it all in my mistakes.

DUANE: Hey, Casey, first of all tell me where the win is. Where's the win?

CASEY: Exactly. I don't have a win, and certainly not cashback, 'cos you're saying I had a win in doing that. I mean, the cashback was nice to float the properties.

DUANE: Whoa brother. I didn't say you had a win. Here's the word challenge I'll give you right now.

CASEY: Yeah, go ahead.

DUANE: You need a thousand bucks. I wanna challenge you right now to give me one legitimate win. If you give me one legitimate win that you have done in the past six months, I will pay you five hundred bucks. One. One legitimate...

CASEY: What defines as a legitimate win?

DUANE: Hey, something you have done to be successful. I mean, have you advanced anything? Have you helped someone?

CASEY: How do you measure that? Do you measure that by money, or by exposure, or opportunities? Give me a way to measure it so I know how to deliver it to you.

DUANE: Something tangible. Not feelgood. OK? Have you paid back people that you've talked about? You and I have talked about many many many times how important it is to keep your lenders involved. When was the last time you called CashCall? Have you paid them back? When was the last time that you called any of your lenders, any of your unsecured creditors? When was the last time you have gotten a job, done something positive? When I'm talking about a win, Casey, look around you. Your wife. If all that stuff is true, that she made you sign this document, something's wrong. Your wife, your friends, everything's leaving you.

CASEY: Well now that's definitely true, we've had a lot of issues, that's a reason for drastic measures. So you tell me, a win would be paying off my lenders. What's another example of a win, so I know what to deliver?

DUANE: I mean, Jesus, Casey, ANYTHING! How about doing something... give me an example, any example of doing something positive. You've been playing with your D in this. I don't even know who this HeeKee guy is, but you've been screwing him over. You and I have talked about jobs - you refuse to get jobs. I talked to you about... you and I went through a valuation process the other day and it just irritated me no end. Not because I didn't get anything out of it, because I didn't sell or nothing else, but because you don't get it. You are in debt, brother.

CASEY: Okay.

DUANE: No consequences have ever happened to you and you don't think they're going to because they haven't. They will.

CASEY: Do you think I'm in danger of criminal consequences as well, aside from financial?

DUANE: Yes. And I've told you that many a time. I've told you that, Casey. I mean....

CASEY: Duane, did you look at the contract I signed with my wife? Did you think it would be fine if I start generating a thousand dollars a month from self-employment efforts?

DUANE: Wait - first of all, you're talking about going forward. Second of all, I would say absolutely not. And the reason why I would say that is because why in the hell, Casey, has it taken you six, eight, nine months to even get this far?

CASEY: That's a good question.

DUANE: It is a good question. If you're a frickin' man, you need to be able to be - and I'm sorry for all the people that are listening out there that view things in a new-school environment, but I view things in an old-school environment which is that the husband is the provider and the protector. Period. You have not provided and you have not protected. You have left your family exposed. You have trashed Galina almost daily on your blog. Now I'm assuming one of two things. Either you have no respect for her, or she's in on this whole thing. If she's not in on this whole thing, then you have no respect for her, because I cannot believe how you talk about her, with her, to her, to the entire world. It's like she's not there. It's wrong, Casey. It's wrong.

CASEY: Thanks for that feedback, and that's part of the reason why I'm looking to make some changes. Now, at the beginning of the blog I made very careful notes not to talk about her...

DUANE: Hey, sir, Casey. You and I have been going around this dance a long time.

CASEY: It sounds like you don't wanna hear any explanations. What do you wanna hear, Duane?

DUANE: Hey Casey. This is what I'll hear. I hear the same explanations from you over and over, which is "I'm going to make changes. I will be better next time. Oops - I might have screwed up." What I don't see, what I have not seen, is anything else...

CASEY: Come next Friday, if I actually don't make a thousand dollars and get a W-2 job, are you going to say that I've finally followed through?

DUANE: I will say you've followed through on one item out of probably two hundred. I will also say...

CASEY: (laughs)

DUANE: You laugh, Casey, go back and read your own blog.

CASEY: Well now that's true. You have a point there, I won't deny it.

DUANE: I will also say one very single... one minute thing. You need praise because you did one thing. One thing.

CASEY: (laughs)

DUANE: (sound drops out) ...do it consistently, do it over and over. Make your wife happy, provide stable income. You still need to talk to your lenders that you've screwed. You still need to talk to your people that you haven't. You still need to make amends. And if you don't think something's gonna happen, Casey, you are living in fantasy land. One of the reasons why I got so sick, and one of the reasons why I'm gonna expose every single thing is to sit there and show your wife Galina, me, the whole world, everybody that wants to know, how many opportunities that I've tried to either help you be... I've told you a million times I will give you X, Y and Z.

CASEY: Come on, man, it wasn't as clear-cut as you've described it, first of all.

DUANE: OK...

CASEY: And second, let me ask you this: if I was to pay off all my lenders within this year, would you say that was a win?

DUANE: Hell, absolutely! Absolutely.

CASEY: And if I was to tell you that the reason I was blogging... I mean, check this out: do you disagree that blogging creates opportunities and connections?

DUANE: Do I disagree with it?

CASEY: Do you disagree with that?

DUANE: OK, I'm just gonna make sure what you're asking me. No, I will not disagree with that, but I will tell you this...

CASEY: With my blogging, I'm putting myself in a position to pay off all that debt because just getting a regular job, there's no way I can pay off $170,000 any time soon.

DUANE: Casey, I'm going to show you by our e-mail, our conversations, I will have back-up documentation to where you actually could have. It would have been painful, it wouldn't have been easy, but you could have. OK? Don't sit there putting me on in a witness stand and giving me a bunch of yes or nos. Like: do you agree? Yes or no. Do you agree? Yes or no. If you want me to talk back to you, brother, I will all day long. All day long. You had a million different opportunities, and you've blown it. The opportunities that you actually see, the ones that you've even run by me - they're asinine. Look, I'm not a genius, OK? I'm a decent business person. But I will tell you that anybody that's seen the things that you've thrown by me, everybody in America would go "no". My twelve year old son, who operates a successful lemonade stand, Casey, would say "no".

CASEY: You feel that I'm just looking at more scam opportunities, is that what you're saying?

DUANE: What I'm saying is: you look for pie in the sky. You're looking for the... I said from day one, when you and I had a sponsorship opportunity, I went on your blog and, you know, if people go back, I went on your blog and I called you two things because I wanted to take you down from... not take you down, but bring you down a notch from the self-gloating standpoint. I called you (1) kid, and (2) I kept referring to the shiny little objects. I did that for a reason.

CASEY: Yeah, I remember that.

DUANE: And I did that in front of you while we were partners. I wanted, Casey, I wanted to help you... (sound drops out)

CASEY: I appreciate that help.

DUANE: I wanted to help you even up to two weeks ago. And the wild thing is, if I thought for a second that you were serious about trying to yourself I'd try to probably help you again.

CASEY: Wait - one thing I'm curious about, and I respect you very much. I very much respect you for what you've done, because I know you've gone through a similar thing in your life. Now tell me, why did you go on Exubernation and reveal our private conversations?

DUANE: I will tell you why, and I will tell you what was the last straw, OK?

CASEY: Yeah, go ahead.

DUANE: You and I had been talking for a long time, we'd talked about a lot of different things and every time we get to a certain point, when it comes down time for you to take action, you get scared and you run off, and there's a reason why you change. So then, as we're going through this whole process, when you were talking to me about selling your blog, I actually know people that might be interested in it, the whole nine yards. When you and I talked, I think it was two Saturdays ago, maybe it was three, I definitely remember where I was. And... actually, let me back up - as I'm telling Exurban Nation, I do a lot of 1-4-2-3-5. Let me back up. I've had valuation things come at me before, and it's basically very simple: would you take X, would you take Y, would you take Y, would you...? It doesn't really matter as much what you think you're worth, it's what your threshold is.

CASEY: Sure, I remember you saying you'd probably give me at least twenty grand for the blog, yeah.

DUANE: Whoa, do you remember - I said would you take twenty, and you said "I don't know, I've got to talk to Galina." And I said would you take thirty for it, and you said "Absolutely". And I said, OK, that's where your threshold is. If a hard-nosed negotiator...

CASEY: You didn't say you had thirty grand on the table, you said "I'll go and look into it". And then you said I backed out.

DUANE: No, I didn't say you backed out of the thirty thousand, please let me finish. I'm trying to figure out where your threshold is, and what you think the value is, because, candidly, when you said thirty thousand, that's what you'd have sold it for. OK? If I get you more, it's a bonus or whatever else. I wanted to also make sure that you were operating in a pie-in-the-sky mentality, to make sure that you didn't think it was worth 150, 200 or whatever else. If you remember, I told you that if I'm gonna do this, I'm going to actually get paid for this. I said ten per cent over twenty. Right? And you said "No, no - if you sell the blog for me, ten per cent for the whole thing." And I said "no, I don't want that". So then I go back and we start talking. I asked you for certain things - silence - you finally give them to me, that's fine...

CASEY: Yeah, I gave it to you a few days later, Duane, I gave you lots of good info. Come on, man, I gave you everything you needed.

DUANE: You did, you put it up on your Flickr account, you gave me the information at the same time that you gave the rest of the world the information.

CASEY: Sure, sure, there's nothing wrong with that.

DUANE: No, I'm just telling you. You're trying to tell your blog quick, to me 48 hours is a long time, to you it might be just another "oh by the way".

CASEY: Well, I told you that I wasn't completely positive on selling the blog. Now if you had a thirty thousand dollar offer then I would consider it.

DUANE: No, no, no, no, no. You told me you were selling the blog.

CASEY: Yeah, I said I'd run it by Galina and I would consider it. I can't just make a decision on my own without checking with my wife. I'd get in trouble with that.

DUANE: (laughs)

CASEY: So that's why I said hey, look into it, see what you can do, get back to me. I gave you the info you needed, you never got back to me with a real offer, and then the next thing I know you're on Exubernation spreading all the private e-mails. I thought we had trust, Duane. Come on, man.

DUANE: Hey, Casey. First things first. When you say you never got back to me, you did get back to me. You said to me that you were not going to sell it at the same time you're putting a post on the blog about how you hadn't decided whether to sell it or not. I'm tired of the troll posts. You play everybody for a fool. That's just it. The thing is, you and I talk about this a million times also. You get so mad at the Haterz™, and then you do everything that you can to thumb your nose at them. You thumb your nose.

CASEY: (laughs) That's definitely how it's seen as being, but it's not that bad. Come on, man. You know I talk about just what's going on. Yeah, every once in a while I throw in a little troll thing, but definitely not on my regular posts.

DUANE: But the thing is, Casey, I honestly believe you're more interested in the attention than you are in making a living.

CASEY: Now Duane, tell me, is there any value in advertising on my blog and the money I'm going to be generating here? I already have several people interested in purchasing. I already have a couple sold. Does that look like a win to you, or is that a waste of time?

DUANE: Well, I've noticed now that you've gone to just a win instead of a win-win. And the reason why I say that is: what are you providing the people that are giving you the hundred dollars for the links?

CASEY: What am I providing? Well, if they're willing to pay for it, they obviously see enough value. Would you pay for something that has no value?

DUANE: (laughs) Casey, you overpaid for every single house! So I guess the answer to your question is: you would, yes. OK? Most people see it mainly as an opportunity - hey, here's the guy on MSN. You know as well as I do that you don't have actionable traffic. The second thing I'll tell you is that if anybody's listening who's paid for the text links, they need to know that they're immediately devalued as of today from an SEO standpoint. The only value these guys are getting is from a traffic click-thru standpoint. So, you're trying to create a foreclosure help site...

CASEY: Now come on, Duane. Are you saying today Google came out and said for sure we're going to devalue all the links that say advertising around it? They can talk about it, but I haven't seen any announcement that that's for sure going to happen, one, and two, they may or may not even be able to detect that. Come on man, you're kinda jumping to conclusions here.

DUANE: OK, let me just tell you... Hey, Casey, this is where you're going to go into a situation that you cannot win. Do you know who GoogleGuy is? You ever heard of GoogleGuy? Go to www.mattcutts.com, OK? Matt Cutts is GoogleGuy. GoogleGuy is the guy that makes sure that everybody does things from a white hat perspective. They have got sophisticated algorithms so that way you don't think that I'm spewing bullshit - 'scuse my language - that you don't think that I'm spewing bullshit...

CASEY: I've seen that. I know what you're talking about. I've seen the talk on the internet and the SEO blogs about this possibility...

DUANE: Casey, here's the funny thing. I emailed Rob Dawg - Rob Coté from Exurban Nation - and I sat there and told him that the minute that I went public you were going to take my links down. OK? Well, that's fine, but it would hurt me from an SEO value. Two days later, in some of my most important terms, I went down across the board. Don't tell me what I know, all right? I'm telling the advertisers...

CASEY: Well, I appreciate your (inaudible). I mean, you've been doing it a lot longer than I have, so I'm not disregarding what you're saying. What I am trying to say that if people are willing to pay $100 for a text link, why are you saying I'm trying to scam 'em, or it's not a win-win?

DUANE: OK - are you trying to create a foreclosure help site or not?

CASEY: Of course - that's part of the goal.

DUANE: Is it part of the goal, or is it part of the goal because you're making a hundred bucks off of it? The thing is that you don't know when...

CASEY: How can I do it for free, Duane? How can I do a blog without getting paid? Would you do anything for free?

DUANE: No.

CASEY: Well, there you go.

DUANE: But I would do it with morals and ethics. If you're trying to help people that are in foreclosure, if that's the true goal of your site, what the hell are you doing taking a payday loan deal for?

CASEY: Payday loan? Oh, that's one of the... that's the one where...

DUANE: Yes, it's a CashCall brother-in-law, basically.

CASEY: So if someone wants a loan, and they want a payday loan, and they have a clear... you know, it's their decision what they buy. Are you saying that, you know, I... what are you trying to say by that? I mean, I'm just curious. Are you saying I should filter everything that's offering loans, or anything that's offering shark loans? What's your point?

DUANE: My point is basically this. If you've got any scruples behind you, you would only put up things that would help people in your situation. If you're talking about a foreclosure help site, you don't sit there and put up a porno link for a hundred bucks.

CASEY: Well of course, that's why I screen 'em.

DUANE: You've done a good job so far! So you've got a poor guy, Austin Real Estate, who's probably putting up the rest of your value. The chance of somebody having actionable traffic to buy or sell a home in Austin Real Estate is nil. OK? You've got payday loan lenders, you've got some kind of software deal up there...

CASEY: Duane, I appreciate your opinion, but I'm curious. Here you are talking to an audience. What is your goal in making it look like I'm doing something bad here? Because I don't believe I'm doing anything bad here. What is your goal with saying what you're saying?

DUANE: My goal is simply this, Casey. You have not had consequences for your actions, and, two, you need to hit - and I mean slam - on rock bottom before you're going to change. I believe...

CASEY: I need to hurt more? You feel I have more to go down? I have a lower level to descend to?

DUANE: Yes. And this is one of those tough love conversations. Candidly. This is. Because you have not changed your actions at all. Period.

CASEY: Well, Duane, I appreciate your advice again, but the only thing I don't appreciate here is publishing private e-mails. That was over the top, across the line. I don't publish your private e-mails. Come on, man, that was definitely not something called for. So that's one thing that I count against you. I wish you don't do that kind of thing again. We had a confidence level.

DUANE: Well, here's the thing about that. The confidence level was broken about 45 days ago when Mr Swaby blogged something that only you and I talked about.

CASEY: What's that?

DUANE: (laughs) You'll see it on Exurbannation.com. You'll see it. You broke my trust first, brother. I stayed silent, I've bitten my lip the whole nine yards, but you broke my trust first to a national audience. That's one. Two...

CASEY: Duane, what specifically did I do? I'm not aware of doing it.

DUANE: If you're not aware of doing it, then it's not a problem, because it must be, you know, not true.

CASEY: Look, are you talking about shopping the blog rights? Of course, I'm going to say "Hey, look, this person's offering this, this person's offering this..."

DUANE: No, that's not what I'm talking about.

CASEY: Tell me.

DUANE: I'm not going to tell you just yet - it will come out on Exurbannation.com

CASEY: All right, that's fine, that's fine. Now if Nigel's gonna break my trust, I mean that's going to be bad too. I feel like the only people I trust on the internet are starting to break my trust! Now I thought you were a very trustworthy guy. I mean, who can I trust now?

DUANE: Casey, you broke no less than ten pledges to me. No less. And I can sit here and name them. OK?

CASEY: First of all, let's assume for the argument's sake I broke some pledges. Does that mean if I do something bad to you you have to go out there and retaliate? Does that seem like a right thing to do?

DUANE: Hey, Casey. I didn't. Here's the thing. I didn't retaliate. I sat quiet. I didn't say a word. I had e-mails, I had (inaudible), and I had every opportunity to throw you under the bus, and I didn't. The only time I got ticked off - and the funny thing is, is one of the persons I wanted to bring in - they don't even know why I want to bring them in - but one of the guys I used to be mad at way back when is actually one of the guys that helped me out. OK? There's two things that happened, Casey, where you broke my trust. If you get mad at Nigel because he spouted the fact that you broke my trust, that's fine. But you broke my trust. I could have thrown you under the bus a million different times, and I didn't.

CASEY: Duane, when you say I broke my trust, please either talk in specifics or don't talk at all, because then people will assume that that's true, because at this point I'm not convinced it's true. Does that sound fair?

DUANE: OK, here's the thing. It is true, you will see it on Exurbannation.com. And it will probably be in part three of...

CASEY: By the way, why are we giving Exurban Nation so much fame here? I mean, couldn't you post it on your own blog? The Haterz™ are... I'm not like hating on the Haterz™ too much, I'm just saying Exurban Nation has crossed the line many many times over what they allow. And I mean Robert just kinda throws stuff on there for entertainment. Way way across some line every time. I just wish you'd put it on somewhere where it's a little bit more clean, personally. But that's a different subject.

DUANE: I will address that right now. I will address it right now, very simply. A long time ago when your site went down, I posted on my own boring-ass blog, RE News Network, OK?

CASEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

DUANE: That's the only, first and last post I put on there, and I have not posted since. One of the reasons why I have not posted anything at all - at all, period - was because I didn't want people to think that I was trying to suck off traffic, that I was trying to play off your story, that I wanted...

CASEY: Sure, that makes sense. And just to give you credit, I mean there's been times when you've really helped me out big time. I mean, you let me use your servers for a few days, a couple of weeks actually, till I got something else going. So I appreciate all the help you've given me.

DUANE: But Casey, here's the thing. You appreciate it, but you don't take advantage of it. I offered you... we were talking about a job up to two weeks ago. Up to two weeks ago. I was talking about helping you trying to monetize your blog. I was trying to help you get straight. You refused every single...

CASEY: One more time, come on, don't say it in such clear-cut terms. You said "I'll give you a job if I see your behavior improve". Now how am I supposed to know what that means? Come on, you said "I'll watch you for a few days, and hopefully your behavior improves", and that's the last thing I hear from you. And then you say "I'm not willing to give you a full-time job because of the way you treat your wife, I'm willing to give you some contract work." Then I sent you an e-mail about "OK, let's do some contract work" and I never heard back from you. Next thing I hear is Exubernation has posts from you about me, and that doesn't seem very right to me.

DUANE: OK, do me a favor - read this story from beginning to end, and you'll be able to follow the logic behind what I'm doing. What I'm trying to do right now, Casey, is basically give you an internet slap across the face.

CASEY: Well, Duane, I understand. I mean, it's kinda the fatherly son thing going. I mean, you feel you want to kind of whip me around, discipline me into being responsible. I appreciate that, I really do, I have nothing against it. But I fell like in some ways you've really gone too far, because you say you're giving me a job, yet really you're giving me a job with a whole bunch of strings attached. In other words, you want me to improve my behavior first, and that's very undefined. So I'm wondering what that means. And then I ask you for contract work, and you know, there's silence. And again, I'm telling you, it's not as clear-cut as you're making it seem like.

DUANE: OK, I will give you that. Here's what I'll tell you. The e-mails will back up my story. (recording goes quiet for a few seconds) ...you deal in shades of grey, and - I think I wrote you a million different times - I don't. OK? What I was talking to you about... I wasn't talking about you gotta have a better relationship with your wife. What I was talking about was family stability, and how important that was to me, how everybody within our organization has that, and I needed to see that from you. OK?

CASEY: Yeah, and that's good.

DUANE: So we did talk about then... contract work on a deliverable basis.

CASEY: Sure, sure.

DUANE: So then you come back and, well... (more recording silence)

CASEY: That's the last thing I heard from you. I asked you "What about contract work? Let's get it going!"

DUANE: No, it's not the last thing you heard from me, because I've got other stuff beyond that, and... that's not the case. Look, I don't wanna take up your entire TalkShoe tonight!

CASEY: (laughs) Well, I think some people will really appreciate hearing from you, so I do appreciate you calling in. It would add to the conversation.

DUANE: Hey Casey, here's a thing I'll tell you, and this is a wild thing. As a person, I like the hell out of you. And I guess I defended you last night and today up against everybody else because I believe you're an extremely intelligent guy. I think you use that intelligence (a) the wrong way and (b) I don't think you're wired correctly. And I'm telling you that not because I want to diss you in front of the audience, or anything else. I'm telling you that because I think you can do better. You need to pick yourself up, you need to stop this TalkShoe crap, you need to stop this beg-a-thon crap, and you need to do something. You need to be a man, and you need to be responsible.

CASEY: What do you think of the agreement I've made with my wife - do you think that's a step in the right direction?

DUANE: Casey, I've only seen the headlines of the agreement, I hadn't dialed into it, but I will tell you this - if it's had to go as far as a contract, then something is wrong. And you need to...

CASEY: Do you think it's a step in the right direction? By next Friday $1,000 in the hand or I get a job. And stop the blog, and stop all business for two years. It's pretty harsh.

DUANE: It's pretty harsh. I'd just... I mean, don't take this the wrong way, Casey, I don't think you can live up to it. I don't.

CASEY: You feel like I'm gonna fail.

DUANE: I don't feel like you're gonna fail, and I'm not rooting for you to fail. At all. I just... I've seen a pattern of behavior that will not stop. Something will happen, something will trip up. You'll get to $999 and call it success.

CASEY: (laughs) Well, Duane, I appreciate your concern for that, and, you know, hopefully that doesn't happen, so we'll have to just wait and see over the next week. Duane, I gotta wrap this up, we've gotta move onto the next callers. If you wanna stick around, I'll get back to you on the next cycle, but again, I appreciate you putting in your two cents - or actually more than two.

DUANE: All right, so do I need to hang up or can you skip to somebody else so I can listen?

CASEY: You can just stay on the line, I'll just mute you, and once I go over the list again I'll get back to you.

DUANE: Great.

CASEY: OK, I just muted Duane, we'll move onto the next person...