In this issue:

The quietest labor boom in the world isn’t tech or finance. It’s luxury household staffing. Housekeepers, estate managers, private chefs — demand has exploded. For agencies, it’s the busiest market in 20 years. Families want more service, more professionalism, more privacy — and they’re paying for it.

Pandemic relocations, second homes, and new wealth hubs (Miami, Dubai, Austin) are rewriting the map of private service. Luxury isn’t just owned. It’s operated. Behind every seamless lifestyle is a small, skilled team keeping the engine running.

Its got me thinking about Butler School. For real.

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The HR Blotter

The Last Real Dog in Hollywood - The animal actors of Hollywood are unionized now, or close to it. Trainers say streaming killed the old model—too many low-budget productions, too little time for real care. Studios want realism without risk, but it’s the animals and wranglers caught in the squeeze. Like every other corner of entertainment, the work’s gone gig: more digital doubles, fewer jobs with dignity. Even in Hollywood’s jungle, the fight for fair treatment is universal—every worker wants to know they’re not just replaceable CGI.

When the Visa Stamp Stops - Walmart just hit pause on its H-1B visa program, a move that ripples far beyond Bentonville. The company says it’s reevaluating how it balances domestic hiring with global talent needs—a polite way of saying cost, politics, and public optics are colliding. For tech workers on visas, it’s another reminder that “sponsorship” is a fragile promise. In today’s labor market, even the biggest employers are tightening their grip on who gets a seat at the table—and who’s suddenly out of work.

Trust on Trial: What Happens When AI Runs the Investigation - HR’s new detective wears silicon skin. Companies are experimenting with AI to handle workplace investigations—scanning emails, chat logs, and tone analysis to spot misconduct. It sounds efficient until you remember that algorithms don’t understand fear, nuance, or power imbalance. The risk is clear: when HR outsources judgment to code, it’s not just employees under investigation—it’s trust itself. In the future of work, empathy may be the hardest skill left to automate.

The Actress Who Never Sleeps - A virtual actress named Emily is landing meetings with real agents, proof that AI isn’t just taking jobs—it’s auditioning for them. Her creators trained her on human mannerisms and dialogue until she could cry on cue, no retakes needed. For Hollywood workers, it’s a new kind of competition: tireless, flawless, and cheap. The rest of us should take note—when performance itself becomes programmable, authenticity at work becomes the rarest talent of all.

The Spy Who Swiped Right - Silicon Valley’s spy problem has taken a seductive turn. Chinese and Russian operatives are using what insiders call “sex warfare” — luring engineers, founders, and defense contractors into relationships designed to extract secrets. Add to that pitch competitions wired for intellectual property theft and investors tied to foreign powers, and the tech world starts looking less like innovation’s frontier and more like espionage’s playground. For workers in the industry, the message is cold and clear: in a world where charm can be weaponized, vigilance is part of the job description.

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The Jim Stroud Podcast

Not subscribed to The Jim Stroud Podcast? Then you’ve been flying blind. Here’s a taste of what they’ve been hearing—while you’ve been missing it.

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The Million Dollar Mop

There’s a new kind of class war playing out — not on Wall Street, not in Silicon Valley, but in the living rooms of the ultra-rich.

And the foot soldiers? They carry mops.

Meet Gina. Twenty-six years in domestic service. Started with dust and dreams — cleaning middle-class homes filled with knockoff porcelain and plastic flowers. Now she polishes art that costs more than a house. The wrong swipe of a cloth could wipe out a down payment.

She’s part of a quiet revolution — the rise of the million-dollar mop economy. Where cleaning isn’t just labor. It’s preservation. A single mistake can cost seventy-five grand. And one wrong chemical? That’s a career.

The wealthy don’t just collect things anymore — they curate them. Every chair, every lamp, every doorknob is an “asset.” And if you can touch it without ruining it, you’re worth your weight in gold leaf.

Housekeepers like Gina aren’t just cleaners now. They’re conservators, art handlers, silent security guards who move through mansions like ghosts. They learn the difference between patina and tarnish, silk and synthetic, polish and destruction. One woman even “shined” her employer’s brass fittings — not realizing the dullness was intentional. The fix? Seventy-five thousand dollars.

She kept her job. The owner blamed herself. That’s how rare good help is.

Before the pandemic, a top housekeeper made sixty grand a year.
Now? The best ones earn six figures — plus benefits.

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That’s right: six figures to dust, protect, and maintain what the ultra-rich can’t even trust themselves to touch. Because when your coffee table costs more than a Ferrari, you don’t hire “help.” You hire expertise.

Before the pandemic, a top housekeeper made sixty grand a year. Now it’s six figures — plus benefits — if you can manage the museum-grade chaos of a billionaire’s life.
Think about that: the rich are richer, their homes are fancier, and the demand for people who can clean the uncleanable has exploded. Supply and demand — but gilded.

And yet, beneath all that polish, there’s irony.

Society still looks down on cleaning work, even when it’s guarding million-dollar artifacts. Gina says people see housekeepers as “the low end of society.” She’s right. But she’s also standing closer to history than most of us ever will — brushing dust off fortunes, protecting fragile symbols of excess that’ll outlast their owners.

So here’s the punchline: In a world obsessed with automation, status, and artificial intelligence — the most irreplaceable job might still be the one holding the rag.

Because when a mop can make or break a masterpiece, it’s no longer just cleaning.

It’s stewardship.
It’s trust.
It’s the million-dollar mop.

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One more thing before I go…

If I were on your payroll right now (and someone else was footing the bill), what would you have me tackle first? What mess would I be cleaning up for you?

Hit reply and tell me. I’m pulling real quotes for some market research — and yours might make the cut.

And as always, hit reply and let me know how I’m doing. Or slide into my DMs as the kids say. All good.

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