🤠 Is this your first rodeo?

If you’ve got 96k unused SkyMiles (that’s me, actually), but visit your local yoga studio or smoothie bar regularly, Ness might be for you.

It’s a new credit card company that rewards members for everyday healthy purchases, not just occasional travel splurges.

How it works

Ness’ first product is a Mastercard-backed charge card — meaning there’s no interest, but you pay your balance every month.

• Members earn 5x points for “healthy” purchases and 2x points elsewhere.
• They can be redeemed at marketplace vendors, including Sweetgreen, Warby Parker, and Canyon Ranch wellness retreats.

CEO and founder Derek Flanzraich…

… who previously founded media platform Greatist in 2011, told The Hustle that today’s health and wellness landscape has branched beyond just “eating well, working out, and looking sexy.”

“That’s why we reward people not just for gyms and healthy food, but for salons and spas, therapy, health care and health insurance, groceries, pharmacies — anything that contributes to a more holistic, modern understanding of what health really means,” he said.

Why now?

The $450B+ US wellness market continues to grow, with Gen Z and millennials at its forefront.

Yet wellness can also be expensive, even when you’re not trying everything Goop recommends or buying a Peloton. Flanzraich’s hope is that rewarding healthy purchases with healthy things will ultimately make it more affordable.

• That said, Ness’ first card comes with a $349 annual fee, but a $99/year card is in the works. Future plans include revolving cards and integration with HSAs and FSAs.

Fun fact: Ness recently named Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” fame as its “chief self-care officer,” but the shared name is coincidental. “Ness” comes from “wellness” — and Flanzraich’s love of Scotland and its Loch Ness monster.

Who says Wall Street’s the only place where people handle the big, uh, bucks?

Perhaps more than ever, cities are looking to bring the rodeo to town, per The Wall Street Journal — and with the numbers they’re putting up, can you blame ‘em for wanting to horse around?

Large-scale rodeos have long kicked local economies into high gear:

• The Calgary Stampede, for instance, says it brings CA$540m+ (~$400m USD) into Alberta, and the 2019 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo saw $227m in economic impact.

As for riders, last year they made $75k on average, with dozens roping in $1m+. According to the WSJ, riders could 2x that by joining a Professional Bull Riders (PBR) team, like the Missouri Thunder, whose owner, Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris, is worth a cool $8.3B.

• PBR launched in 1992 with $1k investments from 20 riders, and was eventually acquired by media conglomerate Endeavor in 2015 for $100m.

Supporting PBR’s work, quite literally, are folks like independent “soil savant” Randy Spraggins, whose responsibilities, at times, include getting 35 dump-truck loads of perfectly blended dirt into NYC’s Madison Square Garden.

Spurring growth in the West

In recent years, arguably no one thing has helped stirrup interest in Western culture more than the show “Yellowstone.”

A University of Montana study found that, because of the show, the state lassoed 2.1m visitors and $730m in 2021.

The show may have, however, also exacerbated a housing crisis, inspiring many wealthy “transplants” to move to Montana.

Ironic, because that’s exactly what half the show is about.