For Friends And Family Podcast

For the last 5 years, my guest, Emma Segal WAS (thanks to COVID) the events manager at a 400-year-old exclusive (think rock stars and celebs) private country house in the UK called Aynhoe Park. She gives me an overview of the wedding business and how it is basically toast until 2022, her weirdest and wildest bridezilla stories, and what people (mostly Americans) spend £100,000 on for a weekend wedding at Aynhoe Park. Sounds excessive and it is. Here is the link to the country house website. Prepare to drool. https://aynhoepark.co.uk/ Here is Emma's Linkedin in case you want to have a wedding in the UK in 2022 or something. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-segal-002917170/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Edith (UK) and Mary Ellen (Canada) give me insights into how each country is dealing with COVID. Masks are required whenever you are outside your home here in California but not in the UK or Canada. Small businesses seem to be faring better in Canada than the UK and US but it may be too early to tell. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Maybe you heard about the devastating Beirut blast and you had questions like I did. Why did so few people die? What really happened? What is life like now in Beirut? I speak with my friend Edith who recently left Beirut after 2 years and my other friend Mary-Ellen Anderson who went to visit Edith 2 days after the revolution started last year. So much interesting information about the history of Beirut and how the city works and what has happened since the explosion. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My second podcast with travel industry expert Christine Vincent who updates me on when travel might comeback, how Japan and Italy are giving people money to visit, and what she thinks people will want from travel in the future. Here are links to the two articles she references in the podcast about Japan and Italy.1) Is Japan Home To The Latest Greatest Coronavirus Travel Deal?https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/05/22/coronavirus-travel-deal-japan-subsidize-trip/#43817bd214f72) The Ultimate Coronavirus Travel Deal: This Island Wants To Pay You To Come Visit - https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/04/30/coranavirus-travel-deal-sicily-italy-island/#922c7a1af09f --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Here's some information on my guest Sophie from sophiewade.com. She and I had a great discussion about how work is changing and the importance of empathy. Sophie Wade is a speaker, author and authority on Future-of-Work issues. Her book, Embracing Progress: Next Steps for the Future of Work, is an Executive MBA Program textbook and required reading for several management school leadership courses.Sophie is Founder and Workforce Innovation Specialist at Flexcel Network, a Future-of-Work consultancy. Sophie's executive advisory work and transformative workshops help companies futureproof their work environments and attract, engage, and retain their multigenerational and distributed talent. She helps corporations maximize the benefits and minimize the disruption in their transition to talent-focused new work environments. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Phil is Canadian but lives in the UK. He works for Snow and Rock a ski retailer part of a larger retail group of about 100 stores. He tells me how they are coping and what is next for retail. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Dr. Abraham tells me 3 things that everyone needs to be doing during COVID to help their mental health. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/psychiatrists/dara-abraham-bala-cynwyd-pa/735569 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

The passion that Murray speaks about the 10 sports documentaries he has picked is infectious. See the list below. Follow Murray on Twitter at @murraybarnettWe also did a bonus list of 12 ESPN documentaries from when he worked at the company.The lists are in no particular order. On the podcast, Murray tells me his super faves.1. A Sunday in Hell (1976) | YouTube | Cycling2. Deep Water (2006) | Amazon Prime (rental) | Sailing3. Dogtown and Z Boys (2001) | Netflix | Skateboarding4. Do You Believe in Miracles (2001) | YouTube | Ice Hockey5. Freedom's Fury (2006) | N/A | Olympics 6. Iverson (2014) | YouTube rental | Basketball7. Salute (2008) | Amazon Prime | Olympics8. Sons of Cuba (2009) | Amazon Prime | Boxing9. TT: Closer to the Edge (2011) | Amazon Prime (rental) | Motorcycle10. Barkley Marathons: The race that eats its young (2014) | Amazon Prime (rental) | RunningBonusMurray's Best Ever ESPN Documentaries1. Kings Ransom – NHL's Wayne Gretsky's controversial move to the LA Kings2. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson3. 9.79 – 1988 100m Olympic Final4. The 16th Man – 1995 Rugby World Cup5. June 17th 1994 – OJ6. The Two Escobars -The 1994 FIFA World Cup and the tragedy of Andres Escobar 7. Jordan Rides the Bus – Michael Jordan plays Minor League Baseball8. Unmatched – Evert and Navratilova9. Once Brothers – NBA players torn apart by politics – Croatian Drazen Petrovic and Serbian Vlade Divac10. No Mas – Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran in the 1980's11. When the Garden was Eden – 1970's New York Knicks12. White, Blue and White – Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles at Tottenham Hotspur during the Falklands crisis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Eric lives in Peru by the ocean. The country is getting ready to open up with no masks required. He sent me a photo of a bleach UV truck. He tells me how Peru intends to open up safely. He doesn't sound convinced. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Tim lives in Arizona and has 2 boys 5 and 9. His wife works. He doesn't. He became the greatest Dad that ever lived. He tells me how the kids are coping and what it's like with school online. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

"They don't question the government!" Per tells me how Sweden can be lemming-like and how his wife's nephews told her NOT to come back at the beginning of the pandemic. We also learn about whether Sweden's plan is working for the country. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Mary Ellen in Toronto and Edith in London are both watching for the 'new normal'. Lots of things are not making sense. We also talk about vaccines and whether any of us would take them...first ;-) Pretty much an all round no to that. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Our man in Australia, Ben Parsons, tells me how he took a wrong turn and ended up in another state that required him to fill out forms to get home. He also told me about how sport is coming back in June and no one is wearing masks when they are out. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

I've done 50 episodes during COVID. This recap episode points out the good, the bad, and the ugly. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Here's back! Dr. Steve runs 911vets.com a mobile veterinary service in Los Angeles. He was gleeful for a few short weeks when the roads were empty and he could get around the city in minutes instead of hours. Now, he's not happy. This is his story. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My environmentalist friend Adam Hardy may have gotten everything he and his climate activist friends wanted. Oil at an all-time low, no noise pollution, no planes, no cars, and wildlife coming back in cities. Adam, who doesn't fly, doesn't own a car, and lives in London with his family is trying to decide if COVID is good for his climate change cause. His website https://carbonwatchdog.org/ is growing and he thinks now is his chance to convert a few more people who weren't convinced about climate change before. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Mary Ellen lives in Toronto and she is sorta depressed with the whole COVID thing. It's quite cute and hilarious. Edith and I laugh a lot. Edith says London is starting to return to normal but they are a long way off. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

If you like accents you are going to love this episode. David lives in Glasgow and works in the insurance business. He tells me about how pandemic insurance is going to change and why Scotland and England don't agree on COVID. Did I mention he has a great accent? Yes, he does. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

In podcast ep #13 Chris told us of his rapid exit from NYC to Florida - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/24690546 Now he's considering going back. In this podcast, he tells me about how his friends in NYC are coping and the 2 key factors that will determine when and if he returns. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Andrew McLuhan has some keen insights into how the world will change after COVID. I particularly liked the reference he made to how the arts will morph. He also explains what Marshall meant by 'medium' and it's not what you think. Andrew is cataloging every one of the thousands of mentions his media guru grandfather, Dr. Marshall McLuhan, made to his phrase, "the medium is the message" at his site website https://www.tmitm.com/. Also, here is the YouTube video Andrew makes reference to in the podcast between Marshall McLuhan and Norm Mailer. It's dense. Not gonna lie but fascinating if you are interested. Here's the link - https://youtu.be/PtrJntaTlic --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Ben lives near Brisbane. He is married with two kids. You basically have to get a visa to cross state lines and people are getting restless. Australia kids never stopped going to school as it would mean that their parents would have to take care of them. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Jenny is single and so is Mike. She is in Denver and he is LA. They are not happy that they will have to get tested for more than STDs before they date someone. They also agree that dating after COVID is going to be a mess. Especially if you are OCD. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Marketing guru and connector, Jed Schneiderman, gives us 9 reasons you need to do marketing different including for your business and personal brand during COVID. He is also a Linkedin expert and gives us 2 tricks to help you get your voice heard on the platform. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My friend LA real estate agent Dave says it's dead out there. He tells stories of deals falling apart multiple times, getting certified to see houses, and what lies ahead for the housing market. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My friend Raj Pannu lives in Manhattan. He has an MS of Immunology and a PhD in Biochemistry. His wife is a cancer doctor on the front lines at a hospital in NYC. He has some great insights into how the virus is impacting NYC and what the future holds. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My friend Karim recommended I talk to Sonja from simplifyhealthyliving.com about coffee. She had cancer. Toxins were a problem. She is Swiss but lives in Santa Monica. She decided to make her own organic coffee. She loves coffee, like, a lot and didn't want to cut it out of her life. She takes me on an organic coffee journey as I make fun of her Swiss accent. It's adorable. I learned a lot and had fun. She has a great laugh. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Holly was a recruiter for new video startup Quibi as well as being on the agency side before that. She gives me tips and tricks from the inside for weathering the storm during COVID. She's doing free webinars to help people with their Linkedin. Ping her on Linkedin if you would like to be part of one of her webinars - https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-gottlieb-2a998483/She's also a musician. Here are some of her YouTube videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTRUTOC9EKC3gEfjb9tocPw --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Nate and I talk about 4 blog posts he wrote. See below.Nate was a former manager at Inc. magazine, suicide prevention counselor and cattle rancher in the Australian Outback. He's now a coach who helps business owners and artists with strategy, mindset and emotional resilience. He also covers these topics as a writer in his column on Thrive Global and his blog on Medium.com.These are the 4 topics we discussed that are also blog articles Nate wrote.Be grateful for assholesStop coddling yourselfWhy too much time is screwing youWhy can't you complete your 10-year goal in 6 months? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

During this downtime, there are ways to make money online. Mike and I give you the step by step system to make your own online business. $10 per day X 365 days = $3650 which is a trip to Hawaii we think. We are probably wrong but you get the idea. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My Canadian friend based in France wanted to remain nameless for this interview as he has spent many years focused on his online privacy. One of the smartest guys I know about the Dark Web and keeping your information private online. He gives me some tips and tricks as well as REAL data on COVID. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Joel Comm (@joelcomm) and I see each other at social media conferences. We may not agree on everything and we look at the world from two different perspectives but we both believe that on social media you need to be civil. We discuss having to ban friends from our Facebook. It's not pretty. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My friend Simon lives about 4 hours out of Helsinki. He gives us some history about Finland including that they were actually Swedish for 800 years and then Russian. He's watching his Swedish neighbors and their COVID experiment. We also talk about his female prime minister and their 70-year-old president working together and the Internet as a human right. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

I've known Hitendra for years and I gave him a call in Mumbai to understand how 1.3 billion people could have so few cases. We also talked about how India got everyone to get a bank account through demonetization making it easy for the government to make payments to people in need. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Indian_banknote_demonetisation --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My Swedish friend Per Sjofors tells me why his country approached the COVID virus differently than others. His insights into how Swede's think helped me understand. I also like IKEA although we didn't talk about that. Opportunity missed. Next time. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Mary Margaret and I have been friends for over 30 years. She is a bank executive that got enraptured by the magical world of bread making. Her delicious Instagram is https://instagram.com/bigbank2riverbank She gives me tips, tricks, and insights into making bread during COVID. We talk gluten-free bread, kneading, and how to be a beginner breadmaker. She's so passionate about it you will be riveted listening to her. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My musician friend Holly had to go in for urgent surgery in Santa Monica. What she found when she got to the hospital was a bit surreal. She talks about the 'one glove' policy for shopping and what the ER nurses told her they were getting ready for. Here is Holly's Instagram. She does LIVE performances each day at 12noon LA time - https://www.instagram.com/hollygottlieb/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Ben Parsons tells stories in his great accent about how Australia is staying at only 6,000 cases so far. The best story about the guy who keeps getting fined by the police for running in Sydney. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Mike, Eric, and I give you insights on how to start an online business for next to nothing during COVID. Tips, tricks, resources, and strategies to get your idea from your brain to the internet for almost free. Make you money while you sleep. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Journalist Richard Clarke worked for Arsenal FC for 14 years and now is a sports consultant for football/soccer clubs in the UAE and Indonesia. We had a great discussion about sport overseas and in the UK. He has so much energy! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Christine works for travelsavers.com that represents over 3000 travel agents in North America. She gives me the low down on how COVID is making the travel industry change with tips, trends, and insights. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Edith, Mary Ellen, and I get passionate about what is going on as the pandemic hits London UK, Toronto, and Los Angeles hard. We have a really passionate discussion about what's going on and how the United States is perceived abroad. PM Boris Johnson is put into ICU and things look grim all round. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Joel has worked in films like Mean Girls, Incredible Hulk, and most recently the Apple+ TV series The Expanse. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370507/The most interesting part of our discussion was how the industry is coping and how it might change after COVID-19. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Mike has been dating in LA for a while. He wants to settle down with the right woman. They are elusive it seems and COVID isn't helping. It's a mess and we laugh a lot. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Dr. Steve Weinberg of 911vets.com here in LA tells me his pet stories this week and why traffic has changed in 1 week. Not in a good way. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

I wanted to randomly call towns around the world. My friend Dave thought it would be better if call small towns in America with weird names. Challenge accepted. I speak with David in the mayor's office of Chugwater, Wyoming population 202. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Sylvie is East German and a long time cancer researcher in the UK who has a PhD in virology. She helps me understand 'viral load' and how COVID may be around for a long time. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Sometimes doctors don't agree. Esther and I discuss information on Vitamin D from a previous podcast as well as how to tackle dental emergencies during COVID. Esther does a podcast on her channel Alternative Food Network. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Corina used to work for my company Jumpwire and now runs social media communities for video gaming brands around the world. She tells me how the virus has lead to exponential growth in gaming. She also tells us which games to try. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

My cousin Aidan has lived in South Korea for 20 years. He's married with 2 boys and lives on the island of 700,000 called JeJu off the coast of South Korea. The technology they use to control how the virus spreads is quiet impressive. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support

Out of all my podcasts, I give Ben the award for the best accent. So good. Australia doesn't have many cases but they are taking no chances. This will be my weekly call. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/forfriendsandfamily/support