The National Association of Realtors agreed to pay $418 million to settle an antitrust suit that showed that they colluded to inflate commissions, block competition, inflate US housing prices, and harm consumers.  The $418 million might seem like a lot, but it’s less that a half percent (.5%) of the $100 billion of real estate commissions that consumers pay every single year!   So why did they settle? Because if they didn’t settle they could have faced a fine close to $6 Billion!  They...

Today I am going to complain and I feel gross about it because my life is amazing and no one wants to hear someone complain. But I want to share this story because I think it shows a side of humanity that people don’t talk about. TLDR: Here’s the short version… * I believe in active citizenship, so I joined the School Board. * I had a silly idea to donate $3,000 to any staff or teacher at the school district. * To make it a democratic process, I allowed anyone to nominate a staff member...

My friend posted a short video from the amazing Jon Stewart. I love Stewart and I think he’s a national treasure. But on this particular issue, I think he has it exactly backwards. Here is the video: Thanks for reading Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I would suggest, this isn’t a problem of corporations. Definitely not ALL corporations. Let me explain, last week I closed a business that I founded called Open...

First a confession… I’ve been predicting Full Self-Driving cars would be a reality “this year” for about a decade, so you might want to take my predictions with a grain of salt. 😂😂 However, I recently got my hands on Tesla’s Full Self Driving version 12, marking the first iteration that leverages machine learning and neural networks, akin to AI systems like ChatGPT. This new approach eschews traditional programming for a model where the system learns by observing the world’s best drivers...

I bet my friends $500 that I could make them happier in 7 days and 100% either got happier or stayed very happy. It was a huge success! In my opinion… However, one of my readers significantly disagreed with me. I shared the readers previous comment in my last post titled “Challenge Results: All Participants Got Happy In 7 Days!” That reader replied to the last post so I wanted to share it to see what you all think. I want to get outside opinions to see if maybe I’m off the mark on this...

I wanted to give a short personal update: I've joined Scribe Media as VP of Marketing. I've been a fan of Scribe for a long time because they have published some of my favorite books including those from David Goggins & my good buddy Eric Jorgenson. If you read business books, I've probably given you a copy of The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant. Scribe has been around for almost a decade and has produced 2,000 plus books. Hundreds of them have been Amazon best sellers and 23+ were New York...

Welcome to Year Of The Opposite: Travis Stoliker's Newsletter for People That Don't Subscribe to Newsletters. Ex: Saddleback, Liquid Web, & Techsmith. Read Time: 6 minutes. 3 months ago I proposed a crazy challenge: “You'll be happier in 7 days or I'll pay you $500!” I proposed this challenge because I was worried about how many of my friends were telling me that they were depressed. I had an idea that perhaps the strategies that worked to resolve my own depression from grief might help...

I’m very sorry for my absence. My son and I fell very sick with a stomach bug and we are finally back rejoining the world. That was rough. Thanks for your patience. Whenever I’m sick I am reminded of the quote: “A healthy person wants a million things. A sick person wants just one.” This made me want to tell the story of the medical therapy ATA188. A month ago I shared the story of an incredible invention that will cure the terrible pain from Sickle Cell Disease. Miraculously, there are...

Joe, I apologize for posting this letter publicly. I know you’re a private guy. But I don’t have your new address. Today marks two years since you left us and I have a lot of updates to share. But dude, I gotta confess, I was pretty angry at you for leaving the way you did. It kinda f****d me up. Losing you sent me into a depression that was difficult to overcome. Hell, I still can’t listen to Jimmy Eat World songs without getting overwhelmed with emotion. You’ve kinda ruined that band...

Sickle Cell Disease impacts about 100,000 people in the US every year. It’s an incredibly painful disease where the cells become misshapen like a crescent moon or a sickle. This shape causes the cells to get trapped and restrict the blood flood which causes chronic pain, organ damage, strokes, and shortened life expectancy. Bone marrow transplant has been the best treatment for patients, but it was very challenging to find a potential donor. Only 15% of siblings are a suitable match to be a...

I’m currently reading ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his son’. Both books have me thinking a lot about childhood and parenting. I will be 56 years old when Lane turns 18 and as an older father, my mortality is always on my mind. I know that despite my best efforts to improve my health, any of us could be taken at any time. I don’t want Lane to be fatherless. Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To...

I was honored that one of my readers asked for my assistance in evaluating the health claims made by products referred to as “Hormonal Teas”. The specific advertisement she referenced was from a company called “Avery Apothecary” and the product is “Goddess Tea Blend.” The product makes several claims on their website: “Ladies, enjoy a cup of this tea every day and the synergy of the plants help to restore and keep balance in your cycle. Regular health and hormone upkeep can help prevent...

One of my first challenges in the Year Of The Opposite was the 40 degree cold plunge. Now, I'm addicted to it, not solely for the muscle recovery and numerous health benefits (which I'll cover in another post), but because of what it does for my brain, mood, and attitude. Over the past year I have been increasing my tolerance up to a current maximum of 14 minutes in 40-42 degree water. But my regular routine is 5-7 minutes at the Michigan Athletic Club. I love it! Here are some of the...

First: Thank You to all the new subscribers to my Newsletter. I appreciate you. Because we have so many new subscribers, today’s newsletter is going to be a bit different. I thought it would be appropriate to provide a bit of background on myself, explain what The Year Of The Opposite is, and let you know what kind of writing you should expect to receive from this newsletter. Reminder: As a reminder, my name is Travis Stoliker and I was one of the Co-Owners of Saddleback BBQ & Slice by...

You may have already seen the news that I have sold all of my shares in Saddleback BBQ, Slice By Saddleback, all of our properties, and the LLC’s to Co-Owner, Matt Gillett. It’s been a long process and I have a lot of mixed feelings about the sale that I’m still trying to process. On one hand, I’m super proud of what we have achieved and that the businesses are in a place where they can be fully handed off to Matt. On the other hand, I will miss regularly interacting with all of our...

This has been one of the most impactful processes that I have used to improve my mental heath, build deeper relationships, and accomplish my personal and professional goals. This is a free step by step guide on how to complete a 360 degree review of your strengths and weaknesses and use the power of artificial intelligence to synthesize the data to produce an actionable list of 10 New Year’s resolutions. These resolutions are then turned into 5 simple tasks/habits to improve your life. When...

Summary (The TLDR) * Alarming data is coming in: Some patients on Wegovy & Ozempic are seeing 50% to 60% of their weight loss come from lean tissue. (muscle). Patients may be getting lighter on the scale but increasing their body fat percentage. This is concerning. (One study here) * As a comparison, when losing weight naturally, it is typical that about 25% of your weight loss will come from lean tissue and muscle mass. * But, there is a SOLUTION! To combat this, patients taking these...

No one took me up on my offer last week. Lets try again. As you may recall, last week I made the offer that “I will improve your winter blues in 7 days, or I'll pay you $50.” I was nervous because I was risking $23,000 of my own money and trying to have some “skin in the game” as they say. It started off strong with four people saying that they wanted to do it, but unfortunately, no one made it after just the first day. I’m so confident that this will make anyone happier and I’m so...

I will improve your Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or winter blues within 7 days or I will pay you $50. It’s that simple. If you’re like me, the short days, lack of sunlight, and cold weather can make me a little sad or throw my mood off in general. I’ve developed a system that helps me overcome the winter blues. I am risking $23,000 of my own money because I’m that confident that my system will improve your winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Here is my offer! I will...

As most of you know, I am the Co-Owner of two BBQ restaurants and two Pizza places in the Lansing, Michigan area. We also offer two BBQ sauces and two spice rubs in our restaurants and retailers around Michigan and online. But this isn’t a sales pitch for them… I’m mentioning this because I want to give you a FREE bottle of Sauce as a Thank You for being a subscriber to this newsletter! All you need to do is reply to this email and I will send you a coupon code so that you can get a free...

This will be a very brief note: I want to thank Rachel Hosie from Insider.com for covering my story (read it here!) and the Year Of The Opposite. Thank You! I want to thank YOU for subscribing and following this journey. It means the world to me. Some people have wondered ‘How Did the Insider.com Article Happen?’ My good friend Matt Tubergen came across this article from Rachel at Insider.com “A man lost 125 pounds by doing the opposite of everything he tried before, including eating...

As I celebrate my 43rd birthday, it’s a time of great reflection. The theme of this year continued to be "The Year of The Opposite.” It’s a good time to look back and reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Health Triumphs The year started with a momentous occasion: running my first half-marathon distance on my 42nd birthday in Las Vegas. As the year unfolded, my health milestones were significant. In September 2022, my risk of dying from a cardiac event in the next 10 years showed a...

Current affairs are downright terrifying, maddening, devastating, and perplexing. While I may not have any particularly insightful contributions to the ongoing discourse, I do want to touch on a general point. In today's climate, we frequently find ourselves bombarded with distressing or shocking news from around the globe. We're often compelled to quickly assess incomplete information, identify who is in the right or wrong, and declare our allegiances both vocally and publicly. Year Of The...

Preamble: My Thoughts On Sharing the Good & The Bad. Today I’m going to talk about a topic that almost no one wants to discuss: Sadness. The reason I want to talk about this even though it’s difficult and uncomfortable to do so is that: * Sadness struck me unexpectedly this morning and I want to attempt to understand what caused it & how to avoid it in the future. * I think social media and newsletters like this can project and incomplete and potentially misleading representation...