Megan Basham | P31
by Joe DiPietro, Publisher & CEO | Conservative Commerce
In Today’s Issue: We kick off our new P31 section – focusing on women in the Parallel Economy. If you know a female entrepreneur who aligns with Proverbs 31, we’d love to highlight her in this new section. Our contact info is down below. We also have a great line-up of business content today to help you grow and thrive in your Parallel Economy endeavors.
Introducing - P31
Megan Basham (married mother of two daughters) continues to set a worthy standard for Christian women in business aspiring for success and excellence in the model of the woman in Proverbs 31. Her much needed and best-selling book, “Shepherds for Sale,” was the most discussed book in US Christendom in 2024. It currently holds the astounding #2, #4, and #10 spots in its respective categories on Amazon.
As Mollie Hemmingway wrote in the Federalist, “Over the past several decades, the political left has taken a long march through America's most important institutions. While the political takeover of the media, universities, and the bureaucracy has been examined by many, the coordinated takeover attempt of Evangelical Christianity is one of the left's most insidious and least-discussed schemes. With her keen journalistic eye, rigorous investigatory skills, and riveting storytelling, Basham is finally dragging this plot out into the light, exposing how corrupted and vainglorious leaders tricked Evangelicals into betraying their doctrines to help accomplish left-wing political goals.”
Therefore, and needless to say, with screeching, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, the book was immediately denounced by every soy, spineless, sold-out, covidian, and gay-adjacent pastor in Big & Little Eva across the US. Which is why you absolutely need to buy a copy and read it. And possibly re-examine the church you are attending. As impactful as it is, Megan’s book barely scratches the surface concerning the existential threat Christians in the pew face from the pulpits in their churches. W’re hopeful that this book is the first of many on this topic.
In 2024, Megan was the first woman ever to be featured on the CanonPlus “Man Rampant” show, illuminating her major success in publishing, and exposing how a P31 woman can sometimes teach men much about success in business and life. Her appearance on Man Rampant was even more monumental in light of Doug Wilson’s leadership of CanonPlus and Man Rampant. Wilson is often criticized for the “Moscow Mood” and “Toxic Patriarchy,” and yet it was he who brought a woman on to Man Rampant.
When Megan is not writing books, speaking and appearing on innumerable podcasts and shows, writing articles for major Parallel Economy publications, or speaking at public events, she can be found on X, where she has over 140,000 followers.
Entrepreneurship
CrossPoliticNews Launch. January 15th. With full launch on March 1st. This press release just hit our inbox: “With fifteen journalist already in place, nearing the goal of obtaining fifty journalists by the end of 2025. And not just any journalists. We require all our journalists to send a pastoral letter of recommendation. That way, you know you're getting truth-telling, God-fearing journalists, each held accountable by the church. We are done with unreliable media that has been lying for decades. CrossPoliticNews is aims to solve that.” Interested journalists, subscribers and financial partners should visit CrossPoliticNews, or email Gabe Rench at waterboy@crosspolitic.com. Conservative alternative media played a massive role in electing President Trump and dethroning Biden. Another alt-media group is more firepower for the Parallel Economy and Conservative/Freedom-loving Americans.
DealMaking
DealMAX Event-Attendee Strategies: Last week we wrote about the upcoming DealMAX event and its importance within the middle-market dealmaking community. But the size and scope of the event can be intimidating for first time attendees. Fear not, DealMAX has put out a short video on how to leverage and maximize your time at the event. It’s definitely worth a watch if you plan on attending.
Seeking to Acquire Confectionary and Snack Businesses. Newport Partners has recently acquired two independent food manufacturing businesses (Dallas and Houston) in the confectionary space and is aggressively seeking to acquire more businesses in this channel – and also businesses in the snacks sector as well. If you are a potentially interested seller, please contact joe.dipietro@newportpartnersinc.com.
Stress Testing Your Business Acquisition Thesis or Live Deal: If you are a first-time business buyer – or even a second- or third-time business buyer (it never gets easier, and every deal is its own beast), and need some quick and very affordable help stress-testing your deal, please contact joe.dipietro@newportpartnersinc.com. Joe has over 30 years of experience acquiring businesses, and has a strong personal affinity for those business persons in the Parallel Economy tribe. Buying a business is fraught with landmines that can literally wreck you for life; and siloed advisors (accountant, banker, broker, attorney) can’t see the full 360 interconnectivity of the deal like another very experienced buyer can. It’s likely the most expensive and consequential expenditure you will ever make. Or not make – the vast majority of sell-side business acquisition pitches are horrific. Don’t fly blind, reach out today – joe.dipietro@newportpartnersinc.com.
Key Employee Retention in the Sale of a Business. One of the most dangerous post-closing risks for a business buyer is the loss of key employees after the closing. It can be catastrophic for the buyer, and that’s why the deal is structured to financially penalize the seller if this happens. But the buyer is never made whole either, so everyone loses. And despite the seemingly mutual benefits to avoid these significant financial losses, the pre-closing risk-mitigation strategy and tactics necessary to avoid the loss of these key employees is always a contentions negotiating point in the deal. The buyer has his ideas, and the seller hers. And often the chasm cannot be bridged and the deal collapses. Therefore, an independent consultant is often needed to help align the parties and avoid a deal collapse and/or post-close financial timebombs. As a helpful starter tool, the team at Prairie recently published “Retaining Management During a Liquidity Event: Key Strategies and Considerations.” You can reader this primer on the subject here.
The Growth of Secondaries in the Private Equity Sector. Or, how to profitably buy businesses without the brutally hard work of actually buying businesses. In recent years, the private equity landscape has witnessed a notable surge in the secondary market, driven by demand for flexibility, liquidity, and innovative solutions to investors’ evolving needs. Originally seen as a niche segment, secondary transactions are now recognized as essential components of portfolio management, providing both liquidity options and strategic advantages to limited partners (“LPs”) and general partners (“GPs”). Total dollar transactions were measured only in the millions for the first several years after the inception of this sector a few decades ago; now the transaction volume is projected to reach $500 billion soon. If you’re forming a business investment group focused on owning companies, this strategy might be a more smooth entre’ into the sector. For a brief but informative overview of the private equity secondaries market, do check out this report by SADIS.
For Sale - Large Scale Precision Metal Fabrication – EBITDA $16.5MM: This one just came across our desk. It’s rare to see a deal with this much EBITDA – and nearly $40MM in revenue – being generally circulated, so there is probably some hair on the deal and this is a second or third marketing round. As always, caveat emptor. If you’re in this sector and seeking a very large add-on or transformational acquisition, you can find the teaser and NDA here. If you need help assessing or structuring this opportunity, you can reach me here: joe.dipietro@newportpartnersinc.com.
Marketing & Advertising
To share recent news about your business, team, products or services, please send a press release or simply contact publisher@conservativecom.com.
The 2025 State of Marketing Report: HubSpot has just released their free The 2025 State of Marketing publication. Their teaser copy reads: “Ready to future-proof your marketing strategy? The 2025 State of Marketing Report by HubSpot is here to guide you through a transformative year of AI innovation, changing consumer expectations, and smarter, more human marketing.” Maybe it’s us, but should “AI” and “more human” even be in the same sentence/blurb? Anyway, they’re a giant in this sector, so no doubt there are some useful takeaways in the report to help you grow your business and optimize your marketing/ad efforts and spend. And yes, HubSpot is hugely woke, but – our standard caveat – all wisdom is God’s wisdom. You can learn more and download the free report here.
Business Events
InterimExecs Meetups in January. InterimExecs hosts numerous meetups across the US. The next local one will be held on January 30th in Chicago from 10 - 11:30am (CT) at the Goddess & The Baker at Superior and Wells downtown (165 W Superior St, Chicago, IL 60654). InterimExecs matches companies facing fast growing or troubled situations around the globe with top interim, contract and project executives. Through their Rapid Executive Deployment Program, they deploy executives individually or as a team into organizations facing a leadership gap or challenge such as declining sales, operational inefficiencies, roadblocks in launching a new initiative, product or service, or misalignment within the company. You can learn more about them here. To attend the Chicago meetup, please RSVP to Sher@InterimExecs.com.
The 27th Real Estate | Private Equity Summit. March 2025, New York. Geared toward decision makers in both RE and PE camps. There are $94 Billion in distressed assets forecasted and $80 Billion in multifamily distress on the horizon. Catastrophe for some; opportunities for others. Learn more here.
Business Opportunities
Making Energy Great Again in a Trump Presidency: Like Obama before him, Biden (and/or his handlers) did everything they could to destroy the US energy sector. But take heart – and dust off your energy-related business plan – President Trump doesn’t hate Americans and promises to right the many wrongs the Left has created on the energy front. Tom Knighton has a short but excellent backgrounder related to what will likely happen with President Trump’s nominee for energy secretary, Chris Wright, at the helm. Fun spoiler alert, this sector is poised for exponential growth.
Construction and Multi-Industry Supply Vendors – the Largest in Ohio History: We just received word on this massive new project: “Anduril, a leader in autonomous systems and weapons manufacturing, has just announced it has selected Columbus, Ohio as the location of Arsenal-1, its first hyperscale manufacturing facility. Arsenal-1 will redefine the scale and speed that autonomous systems and weapons can be produced for the United States and its allies and partners. This is a monumental and essential step toward rebuilding America’s defense industrial base, strengthening America’s warfighting capabilities, and enhancing deterrence amid rising international threats. Ohio is the ideal location for Anduril’s first Arsenal factory with its robust infrastructure to support Anduril’s unique needs, a highly skilled and diverse manufacturing workforce, and a legacy of leadership in aerospace and defense. Anduril is investing nearly $1 billion of its own dollars into the development of Arsenal-1 and will bring more than 4,000 direct jobs in the largest single job-creation project in the state’s history.”
You can learn more about Anduril, Arsenal 1, and read their entire press release here.
People Moves & Career Opportunities
Seeking a Director of Human Resources: Federalist Society - Washington, DC. This opportunity just hit our inbox via the The Conservative Job Board. The intro reads: “The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is seeking a Director of Human Resources. The Society has more than fifty full-time staff members in its D.C. office. The Director will be responsible for personnel management, orientation, training, performance evaluations, payroll, and driving the identification, evaluation, and selection of talent for open positions. The Director will supervise other human resources staff.” To connect on this opportunity, click here.
Finance & Operations
Supply Chain Risks for 2025: Due to President Trump replacing Biden and his incompetent global bureaucracy, respondents to a recent major study are somewhat more hopeful concerning supply chain risks in 2025. If President Trump hopes to hit his ambitious economic goals, he will need to immediately begin a proactive cyberwar against mankind’s dark keyboard cartels. Industry Week reports, “Companies expect less risk to their supply chains at the beginning of 2025 when compared to Q4 2024, but not by much. Companies say data and security breaches are the biggest threat they expect to affect their supply chains at the beginning of 2025, with one respondent noting that a cyber/data incident is not a matter of “if” but “when” for most businesses. Cybersecurity and Data Risk topped the list with an index of 76.97. “ “We anticipate that this area, for the foreseeable future, will be constantly increasing. We are in the midst of data and cyber warfare among nation states, corporations and other powerful entities. Securing data and building strong relationships with partners is key right now,”” writes another respondent.” You can read the entire report here.
Business Sector News & Reports
Apartment Syndication Groups. Fraud by any other name. “…With ambitions of earning personal wealth but lacking the skills to do so within a free market context, syndicators saw an opportunity fostered by the mania in money-printing and leapt into action. But the action they took bore no resemblance to investing, properly defined. Rather, apartment syndicators used salesmanship and various methods of swindling to separate thousands of regular people from their savings and skim a generous portion for themselves…” You can read the entire scathing article about this sector here.
E-Commerce/Omnichannel with Walmart: Walmart continues to grow and refine its fast-growing e-commerce platform. With 255 million customers, no set-up or monthly fees, 45% YoY growth in its e-comm/Marketplace platform, and enhanced optimization tools, it’s a channel every seller must at least consider. To help sellers get started, Walmart has recently released its newest online guide to help prospective sellers kickstart opportunities on this platform.
Working in AI Might Get You Killed. On this very recent episode of Tucker Carlson titled, “Mother of Likely Murdered OpenAI Whistleblower Reveals All, Calls for Investigation of Sam Altman,” Tucker and Suchir Balaji’s mom discuss Suchir’s murder and what likely led up to it. Suchir Balaji worked as an engineer for Sam Altman building AI, until he decided that Altman was committing crimes. Balaji became a whistleblower, and soon after was found dead in his apartment. California authorities bizarrely claim it was suicide – but then again California is a technocracy. Crime scene photos clearly show a murder. Balaji’s mother, Poornima Ramarao, tells the most shocking story you’ve heard in a long time. Let AI engineers take heed, some nasty participants are playing for keeps.
OPSEC
We have decided to carve out our OPSEC section – which has previously run in this publication – into its own publication. We hope to launch this new publication within the next 60 days. If your business provides any of the following within the civilian defense sector: Firearms, Ammo, Gear, Training, Comms, Sustainment, Apparel, Morale merch, Intelligence Reports, Etc., please contact us at publisher@conservativecom.com to share with our readers how you can equip, train, and outfit them.
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The Conservative Commerce Team
Joe DiPietro | Publisher & CEO
Joseph Steinmetz | Associate Publisher
Andy Renk | Web Strategy & Execution
David Franklin | Graphic Design
Jason McGinnis | Digital Research
Taylor Danforth | Digital Marketing
Michelle Brille | Database Management
Melissa Frete | IT Support
V.J. Dassim | Network Engineer
Kay Bauer | Board Advisor
Note: Some team members are still situated behind enemy lines and must use a nom de guerre.
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