Podcasts about ADS

THROWWBACKKK!!!"Hello and welcome back to the show! Today I join the Cult of Conspiracy to talk about the zombie and vampire origins and why they have survived the test of time! Enjoy!"Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)!⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠Want to reach out? Ghost.peach@outlook.com

2 hours and 23 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. What Dusty Just Done Did Starts at 0:51 Not only did we have this team come out of nowhere to be the best in the history Michigan basketball. The Dusty May Era is now a fever dream. Takes a little bit out of it. This is college basketball now. Understand why he wouldn't want to be a college coach today; he explicitly said he never got to feel like they won a championship. NCAA can be blamed for letting it get here but also they have no power whatsoever to fix all the things that mean the second you win a title you have to recruit your new team. Second time in a row the college coach the NBA took was Michigan's. This is not the Cavs; Dallas is a good gig. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. The Future of Michigan Basketball Starts at 19:04 They're promoting Mike Boynton to interim head coach, with a possibility of permanence. Greater that 50% chance he's the HC without the interim title, but might execute a search. Five days after they announce a hire the portal is open for Michigan alone, which is probably what scared them into this now. McKenney is back, probably Cadeau back, direction of things is a battle to hold onto the transfer bigs. Boynton: got tagged by the FBI thing, can see his tenure as not successful, or successful for the Minnesota of the Big 12. He has a trademark, which is defense: five of six years with a top-20 unit. Still relatively young, can recruit. Program: "What option do we have?" UNNNNNGGGGGHHHHHH. Actual option: Josh Schertz! Trademark is twos, built a real roster there, is Dusty's best coaching buddy. Don't care as much about roster continuity (Brian Ellerbe, Sherrone Moore) because the players won't be around long. Also if you poach a coach you have access to another team's roster and coaching staff, whereas right now Michigan and the Mavs are competing for Michigan staff and Michigan and the world are competing for Michigan's players. Other names to look at: Niko Medved was our next pick two years ago, did as well as possible with Minnesota last year. Where is Michigan Basketball in program rankings? Would Purdue swap with us? Purdue built their fanbase over years of having a program, just like Michigan hockey. 3. The Warde Talk Starts at 53:17 What are you supposed to do with a guy who alternates between asleep-at-the-wheel scandals and national championships? Push back against Brian's assertion that people "don't want to work for him" because these are all individual situations. He's not a bad guy, but he's also not a guy who *does* things, unless that's milking the fanbase or turning Michigan Stadium into an F1 race of ads. His oeuvre is not doing anything, because that worked with Harbaugh in 2020, and now that's a modus operandi. Talking ADs history since Canham. Push back against Brian's lionizing of Canham: he was a visionary, but his record also includes Dr. Anderson and trying to prevent/undermine Title IX. We end up preferring Bill Martin of all our lifetime ADs—he built the boxes to prevent ads in the stadium. Don't think missing out on Les Miles was a loss. Brian's Warde assessment: He typed "how to AD" into ChatGPT. Does losing Dusty May like this change your opinion on Warde Manuel? No. But it's weird that he keeps surviving (no president to fire him). 4. 2027 Football Recruiting Starts at 1:20:46 Doesn't look any different from a Harbaugh class at this point. If you're good at scouting and developing you're fine. OL class is small but Lipsey stacks another elite tackle and they had to fend off ND for Louis Esposito, Rouleau is a Frey-type. Xavier Muhammad is a very good DT, Tavares Harrington a find at CB, and they held onto some important guys in-state in a good Michigan year. LB recruiting is still underfunded, Brian is fine with that because it's very a "what's in your head" position with no consensus on what schools want. State of the recruiting industry: Paramount got bought and 247 is getting raided as incompetent ownership sets in. On3 is more reactive to scouting this cycle, and almost universally rate M commits higher. White whales: #1 is CB Josh Dobson, Seth Tillman would be a big, big deal because DTs are hard to come by, Monsanna Torbert would be a big win over Ohio State. Lincoln Mageo would be a good OL to finish with. Would like to have more TEs coming in. 5. World Cup Starts at 1:50:04 Takes hotter than Dusty May's agent. Count how many times Brian calls USA "Michigan." Are the Americans the most pleased with their performance in Group Phase (2nd to Canadians). Freeman (son of Antonio) is very reliable defensively, main thing is you can put Dest at wing. Sauciest player in US history? McKenzie is everywhere, runs into the box from deep were especially effective vs Paraguay. Pulisic injury: not going to play him in the useless Turkey game, should be fine. Tim Ream has been trying to play soccer for us forever, always been the best guy on the ball. Decent draw, should be favored (when they make the field) for a couple of rounds. Success point is get to the quarters; they can go into a game against a world power and expect to compete, not win, and not win three in a row. Four years ago they were too young. Don't mind the 48-team format; it saps a lot of tension out of the Group Stage when three teams advance, but a lot of "small teams" have battled. Brazil is still working back to being BRAZIL. Germany is Ohio State but not a peak year Ohio State. France is super talented. Alex: If you play Bosnia and Herzegovina you play two countries at once. Seth: Actually it's more like seven point eight. MUSIC: "Hit or Miss"—Odetta "Take Da Charge"—Project Pat "Love on My Brain"—Jim Ford "Dog Has Its Day"—Toledo “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Four of the biggest voices in Bitcoin — Michael Saylor, Whitney Webb, Jeff Booth, and Col. Douglas Macgregor — in one episode. We went back through the most-watched, most-shared moments from the show and built them into a single story: what's broken with the money, why Bitcoin fixes it, and what you can actually do about it. In about 35 minutes you'll hear the clearest case for why the system feels rigged, why these four believe Bitcoin is the way out, and the one line Saylor leaves you with: Bitcoin will win — but not everyone wins with it. Topics: Why Jeff Booth says we've never actually lived in a free market Michael Saylor on why Bitcoin is "the best asset, with no second best" How broken money quietly concentrates wealth at the very top Whitney Webb on digital ID, programmable money, and how to opt out Why no politician or billionaire is coming to save you The mindset shift that turns doom into building something better ----- Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU  --- Coin Stories is powered by Gemini. Invest as you spend with the Gemini Credit Card. Earn up to 4% back in sats on everyday purchases like gas and groceries. Sign up today https://www.gemini.com/natalie  ---- Ledn is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $10 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. Get .25% off your first loan, learn more at https://www.Ledn.io/natalie  ---- Abundant Mines is a fully-managed Bitcoin mining in the U.S. You own the miners. You keep 100% of the Bitcoin. Voted #1 mining company by peers. Get 1 month of free hosting: AbundantMines.com/Natalie ---- Natalie's Bitcoin Product Partners: Check out my favorite lightning wallet and trivia app Speed Wallet. If you're a business, let Speed help you accept BTC like they did for Steak 'n Shake! Visit http://speed.app/natalie/ and use code COINSTORIES10 for 5,000 free sats Block's Bitkey Cold Storage Wallet was named to TIME's prestigious Best Inventions of 2024 in the category of Privacy & Security. Get 10% off using code STORIES at https://bitkey.world   Master your Bitcoin self-custody with 1-on-1 help and gain peace of mind with the help of The Bitcoin Way: https://www.thebitcoinway.com/natalie  With BitcoinIRA, you can invest in bitcoin 24/7 inside a tax-advantaged IRA. Choose a Traditional IRA to defer taxes, or a Roth IRA for tax-free withdrawals later. Take control of your future with BitcoinIRA: https://www.bitcoinira.com/natalie  Natalie's Upcoming Events: Join us for the biggest Bitcoin conference in Europe at BTC Prague this June 10-13 with a keynote from Michael Saylor, Code HODL for discounted passes: https://btcprague.com/  The best time to plan for Bitcoin 2027 is right now. Early bird tickets are live — grab the lowest pricing available and use code HODL for 10% off: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2027?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=HODL    Extra Services to Consider: Protect yourself from SIM Swaps that can hack your accounts and steal your Bitcoin. Join America's most secure mobile service, trusted by CEOs, VIPs and top corporations: https://www.efani.com/natalie   Ditch your fiat health insurance like I did four years ago! Join me at CrowdHealth: www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie  ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. Ads in this episode are baked-in and may reference promotions or offers that are no longer available at the time of listening. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

Welcome back to the show! Today I have the beginning of a wild journey. I want to unpack the disappearance of 3 year old Madeleine McCann. In many ways, she is the UK's JonBenét. And yes, just like the investigation we did on JonBenét, this story is full of twists, turns, cover-ups and scandalous behavior. What will be the cosmic conclusion to this case? Stay tuned to find out!Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)!⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠Want to reach out? Ghost.peach@outlook.com

Join Jim and Greg for the Tuesday 3 Martini Lunch as they discuss NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani's support for socialist candidates in the NY congressional primaries, Texas U.S. senate candidate James Talarico's ridiculous comments on whiteness, the media's ongoing infatuation with the Obama presidency and distortion of why the right opposed him, and the endless ads for today's Maryland congressional primary.First, Jim and Greg scrutinize Mamdani and the Democratic party's continued push towards socialism. Mamdani has endorsed socialists in three Democratic congressional primaries being held today. Two of them are running against incumbent Democrats, signaling a shift further to the left within the party.Next, they react to Talarico's absurd statements in his latest podcast appearance. His streak of insane woke rhetoric continues as he says that his imagination is limited by his "whiteness and masculinity.” Jim and Greg wonder when the left's obsession with identity will end.Then, Jim and Greg comment on the revisionism surrounding Obama's presidency and legacy. Former network journalists Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza are trying to repaint Obama as a moderate rather than a leftist, and claiming the only reason the right opposed him was because of his race. Finally, they express their annoyance with the non-stop campaign ads for billionaire Maryland Democratic congressional candidate David Trone. Many on the left continue to support him, in spite of their proclaimed hatred for the wealthy.Please visit our great sponsors:AG1Visit https://DrinkAG1.com/3ML Get a FREE Morning Person Hat and a FREE AG1 Flavor Sampler in your Welcome Kit with your first AG1 subscription.Fast Growing Trees Better plants, better growing, and an extra 20% off with code MARTINI at https://FastGrowingTrees.com/Martini for a limited time; terms and conditions may apply.QuoMoney is on the line. Always say hello with QUO. Try QUO for FREE, PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/3ML.New episodes every weekday. 

Join Lisa, Matt, Jules, and Noa as they take a deep dive into one of the most polarizing true crime cases in recent memory: the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe and the murder trial of Karen Read. Did Karen Read deliberately strike O'Keefe with her SUV and leave him to die in the snow? Or was she framed as part of a larger cover-up designed to protect powerful insiders? In a case filled with conflicting testimony, disputed forensic evidence, questionable investigative tactics, and endless speculation, separating fact from fiction has become nearly impossible. In this episode, we break down the competing theories surrounding O'Keefe's death, examining witness statements, digital evidence, timelines, and the forensic findings that have fueled heated debates across the true crime community. We discuss the intense media scrutiny that transformed this trial into a national obsession and explore how internet sleuths, podcasts, and social media have shaped public perception of guilt and innocence. The conversation also tackles uncomfortable but necessary questions about police accountability, the "blue wall of silence," and whether loyalty within law enforcement can sometimes stand in the way of the truth. Could investigative mistakes and tunnel vision explain the inconsistencies in the case, or do the unanswered questions point to something much more troubling? As we review the many scenarios presented throughout the investigation, we grapple with the reality that proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is often far more complicated than it appears. With allegations of corruption, claims of a cover-up, and no shortage of unanswered questions, the Karen Read case remains one of the most fascinating and controversial legal battles of our time. If you're obsessed with true crime podcasts, unsolved mysteries, courtroom drama, forensic evidence, and high-profile murder cases that leave you questioning everything, this episode is one you won't want to miss. *Please note all opinions in the show are our own and solely in regards to the specific case we are discussing in this episode* We made a one stop shop for all the Eye for an Eye links our listeners might want to check out whether its where to listen, our merch shop, all of our socials, our email, or ways to support the show,  we'd love for you to visit the link below!  https://msha.ke/eyeforeyepod/ Tired of Ads? Want to support our show? Please consider supporting Eye for an Eye with as little as $1 a month via patreon.com/eyeforeyepod Enjoy today's show? Don't forget to rate (those 5 stars are waiting to be clicked), review, subscribe and tell your friends!  Want in on the discussion?Join us on our Facebook page or group, Instagram @eyeforeyepod, twitter @eyeforeyepod or shoot us an email at eyeforeyepod@gmail.com and let us know your thoughts- does the punishment fit the crime? __ Cover Art Created by: Rachel Gregorino, dollbambino@gmail.com Music: GarageBand Mix made by Lisa  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you a pest control owner looking to grow? Join Our Facebook Group with 4,300+ Members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pestcontrolmillionairesDan Leibrandt helps pest control and home service companies grow through local SEO, lead generation, and AI-powered marketing strategies. He's the owner of Pest Control SEO: https://pestcontrolseo.com/As a co-author of Zip Code Kings (https://www.amazon.com/Zip-Code-Kings-Ultimate-Growing/dp/B0FWRK7S9X) and partner to Pest Control Millionaires, Dan teaches business owners how to increase visibility, generate more leads, and stay ahead of industry trends. Check out his Podcast ‘'Pest Control Legends'': https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/danleibrandt/Jonas's Socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonasaolson/?hl=esFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonas.olson.18/The Pest Control Millionaire Podcast is all about helping small business owners scale their lawn and pest companies by talking to experts in the service industry.For business coaching and mentorship, visit: pestcontrolmillionaires.com Produced by Sofia Salaverri and Dalton Fisher, Fisher Multimedia LLCFisherMultiMedia.comChapters:00:00 – Introduction & Dan Leibrandt's Entrepreneurial Journey02:30 – Why Dan Chose Pest Control SEO as His Niche04:35 – Building a Personal Brand06:30 – AI Agents: The Biggest Marketing Shift of 202610:08 – Using Claude AI to Create Images, Ads & Marketing Assets14:00 – How Pest Control Owners Can Use AI Today19:00 – SEO Audits, Robots.txt & AI-Powered Website Optimization21:55 – The Future of Search, AI Agents & Customer Acquisition34:12 – What AI Means for Pest Control Companies and Office Staff38:00 – Why Human Relationships Will Still Matter in an AI World#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast #jonasolson

Houston Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez joins HEA for a conversation on how he is operating Houston athletics two years into his tenure. Nuñez discusses his working relationship with Chancellor Renu Khator and explains why he intentionally sought out presidents earlier in his career to better understand higher education leadership (and why future ADs should do that today). I asked Nuñez how ADs are blocking out the noise of so much commentary and industry news but still making sure they stay informed. He also responds to my curiosity on which would make fans more happy, Houston's pursuit of a national championship in men's basketball, or the football program making the College Football Playoff. The conversation also explores Nuñez's thoughts on what job descriptions and verticals he needed to make to fit their vision and approach to chase revenue. We also discussed the realities of competing in the state of Texas, both on the field and in the increasingly competitive business environment that now defines modern college sports.0:00 Introduction0:30 The Modern AD Preview4:25 Thoughts on Ryan Berryman and Jalen Dominguez at New Mexico11:05 Working with Long-Time Chancellor Renu Khator in this Era13:15 How The AD Job is Similar to College Presidents17:50 Blocking Out Industry Distractions and Extracting Good Information20:50 Isomorphism in Higher Education and College Athletics23:30 Competing Against Texas in Sports, Attention and Business 25:11 Men's Basketball National Championship or College Football Playoff Win?29:25 Reconfiguration of Job Descriptions for Revenue Generation Strategy33:48 Advice for Traditional Administrators to Stay the Course but LEARN Outside Comfort ZoneRead the first edition of The Modern AD: https://higheredathletics.com/AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.comOnrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: https://onrise.careGame One is the apparel company that can outfit your teams in Adidas, Nike or Under Armour. Learn more: https://www.game-one.com/The Future Athletics Director Program from the University of Oklahoma's Price Executive Academy is designed to help aspiring ADs develop the skills and knowledge necessary to advance their careers. Registration is now open, with a limited number of spots available through July 1. Use discount code EARLYAD at checkout to receive 15% off the registration cost. For more information, contact Executive Director Nick Tobey, MSOD, at nick.tobey@ou.edu or visit the program page and registration links below.Program Information: https://priceexecutiveacademy.ou.edu/... (https://bit.ly/OUFutureAD)Register Here: https://bit.ly/FutureADRegistration

Send us Fan MailYou don't need another strategy. You need fewer distractions.If you've been telling yourself, "I'm working nonstop, but nothing seems to move," this episode is for you. The problem may not be a lack of effort—it may be a lack of focus. Today, I share why so many doctors feel stuck when they're actually scattered, and how narrowing your attention to the few things that truly matter can change everything. We'll talk about the 80/20 rule, hiring help, intentional rest, and building a practice that grows without draining you.Because growth doesn't come from doing more. It comes from focusing on less.Direct Care Society® - Readiness Assessment  Form  Support the showDirect Care Launch Course: A self-guided course to your Direct Care practice now available here. Summer Special: You will receive additional 6 live group coaching support (value $3600). Get started now!---Build Your Profitable Direct Pay Package get on my email list to be the first to know about the next live coaching session hereFor specialists tired on insurance and ready to do something about it. If you're ready to open but don't know where to start, take the readiness assessment and book a clarity call here.Join the Direct Care Society, a private WhatsApp community here. Ads free!EMR I'm currently using in my Direct Care practice Simple PracticeFind me on LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/teadpmMore resources teadpm.com

Send us Fan MailYou don't need another strategy. You need fewer distractions.If you've been telling yourself, "I'm working nonstop, but nothing seems to move," this episode is for you. The problem may not be a lack of effort—it may be a lack of focus. Today, I share why so many doctors feel stuck when they're actually scattered, and how narrowing your attention to the few things that truly matter can change everything. We'll talk about the 80/20 rule, hiring help, intentional rest, and building a practice that grows without draining you.Because growth doesn't come from doing more. It comes from focusing on less.Direct Care Society® - Readiness Assessment  Form  Support the showDirect Care Launch Course: A self-guided course to your Direct Care practice now available here. Summer Special: You will receive additional 6 live group coaching support (value $3600). Get started now!---Build Your Profitable Direct Pay Package get on my email list to be the first to know about the next live coaching session hereFor specialists tired on insurance and ready to do something about it. If you're ready to open but don't know where to start, take the readiness assessment and book a clarity call here.Join the Direct Care Society, a private WhatsApp community here. Ads free!EMR I'm currently using in my Direct Care practice Simple PracticeFind me on LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/teadpmMore resources teadpm.com

https://youtu.be/b_G8krkwKv8 Ganesh Krishnan, CEO of AiHello, is helping Amazon sellers automate advertising, improve profitability, and scale their businesses using AI. Driven by a mission to give entrepreneurs more freedom and enable them to build businesses around products they love, Ganesh shares how AI can eliminate repetitive work while allowing business owners to focus on strategy, innovation, and growth. In this conversation, Ganesh introduces The AiHello Ads Framework: Tap into the Wisdom of Crowds, Find the Right Keywords, Bid at the Right Level, Dynamically Adjust Bids, and Rinse and Repeat. He explains how AI can leverage historical marketplace data to identify profitable keywords, optimize bids automatically, and continuously improve campaign performance. Ganesh also discusses the dangers of AI hallucinations, why Amazon's incentives differ from sellers' incentives, how AI has transformed his own company's operations, and his vision for building zero-hallucination AI systems capable of advancing toward artificial superintelligence. — Build AI Superintelligence with Ganesh Krishnan  Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here, and welcome Ganesh Krishnan, the CEO of AiHello, an Amazon Ads automation company helping you grow your revenues, reduce work hours spent on ads management, and decrease your ad costs. Welcome to the show, Ganesh.  Thank you, Steve. Nice to meet you  Well, it’s great to have you here, and let’s jump right in. And my first question is, what is your personal ‘Why,’ and how are you manifesting it in AiHello?  So it started off with my thesis that we all need to do good towards the planet. A long time ago, I started having my own natural things, selling chemical-free, ecological, sustainable, good-for-the-planet, good-for-your-wallet, good-for-your-health items, and I would sell organic items. And eventually, what I realized was that it was taking a lot of my time marketing, managing it, changing the bids, doing everything. I started working more and more on AI because I’ve worked in AI commercially. I worked in AI in my industry. That was my job. So I said, “Why not use, apply that to my own startup, to my own industry for selling organic things?” And once I started selling it, some of my friends reached out and said, “Can we use your AI for our own businesses?” And I said, “Sure, why not?”  And then I started opening it up. And then one person came through and said, “Okay, let’s release it to the general public, see how it goes.” And then as we started earning money, I realized that I don’t need to do a job. I can have this startup, and I can help different people have their own lifestyle. You could have your own lifestyle. You could sell your own stuff that you like, e-commerce, usually on Amazon, and then we help you have your lifestyle. So this is my personal ‘Why’, is we need more equality. We need more people doing stuff they love rather than doing stuff they hate to do, and they hate to wake up and go to work. So do what you love. We are here to empower you.  Wow, that’s amazing. So you are empowering people to start their own e-commerce businesses on Amazon, and you help them with AI tools to get up to speed and compete with the big boys.  That is correct.  Yeah. I love it. So on your LinkedIn profile, you mentioned that you are, I don’t know what the word was that you used, but something to do with superintelligence, AI superintelligence. So what is it that you are doing, and what is your vision of how AI superintelligence can be tapped into?  It’s a very long topic. But to start off with, we used the old form of AI, which is a lot of regression, a lot of statistics, a lot of big data learning, and a lot of neural networks, if you felt fancy. And then LLMs became a huge thing. And we launched AiHello probably six or seven years ago. LLMs became a big thing two or three years ago. And it was pretty fancy. It was very good. It made life easy for us. But we cannot use it within AiHello to give it to clients, primarily because LLMs start hallucinating once you go past a certain context. The problem with hallucination is that it exponentially becomes larger and larger. Because if the previous thesis is wrong, if your previous hypothesis is wrong, then it builds on top of it, and it builds the wrong things.  Hallucination exponentially becomes worse. And when it comes to finance, when it comes to ads, and when you’re working with sensitive data, this can be catastrophic. So you cannot use these large language models for finance, for situations where you need precise data, and especially when you have lots of context. It’s going to lose the context of the first part. Just because you mentioned something at the start of the conversation doesn’t mean it’s not important. It is critical. As humans, we understand what is the most critical part of a conversation, and then we keep that in mind. But LLMs, because of context limitations, just keep on going and start hallucinating.  So a few months ago, we came up with the idea that we could use something like a large language model, but not based on the transformer model. And we could base it on data so that there is almost zero hallucination. So instead of building weights, we build it based on data. And we launched this. We don’t use it on AiHello, but we decided to use it on an email service because we have a lot of emails. We process a lot of emails for clients. We process a lot of emails for specialists. So we could use the zero-hallucination approach within emails, and if it is successful, then we can put it into AiHello.  And we can, of course, release it as an API as well. So this is going to set the basis of artificial superintelligence because what is stopping us right now from reaching or breaching that wall of artificial superintelligence is this hallucination. And of course, there is also logic. LLMs are pretty stup*d. They don’t understand. You can teach them, they learn, but they do not question what you teach them. They always take it on blind faith.  Yeah. Wow. That is genius. I love it. You are going to un-hallucinate AI. And if it stops hallucinating, essentially it becomes a lot more powerful and scalable. AI becomes scalable, or this whole process becomes scalable. That’s fascinating. So your ‘Why’, your mission, is to empower all these people to run their businesses. Do you have a framework for this that you could describe in three to five steps? How do you get someone up and running with their own business on an e-commerce platform? Or do you have any other framework that you could share with the audience? Something simple that they may be able to benefit from? One of the caveats of using AI is that it needs a lot of data. So if you’re just starting out with your e-commerce business, you need to put more of your human intelligence, more of your gut instinct, more of your thoughts, and more of your emotions into building it out. And once you have built up enough data, then you can put it into AiHello and start automating it. So what I would say, if you’re starting an e-commerce business, is hire a specialist who can help you launch off the ground.  Do a bit of the hypothesis work, do a bit of the analysis, and then come to AiHello and start automating it. You can only start automating once you have a good idea of how things work for you. And finding how things work for you is something you need to do on your own. It’s like you can’t start running, or you can’t start driving a car, until you learn how to crawl and until you learn how to walk.  Okay. So basically, it’s the age-old innovation thing that you have to innovate something on your own, and then you can scale it with AI. That is correct.  Yeah. So let’s say I came up with some kind of formula, concept, or product that is currently not being promoted, and I believe it would work. Or maybe I’ve already tested it and I want to scale it. I want to get on Amazon and sell it there. What can you do for me? What are the steps for me to be successful with AiHello’s help? So the first thing when you select a product, is: what are the keywords for it? What keywords do you use for that product? The second would be: what are the bids for that product? For each keyword, what is the right bid to put up? And then you have other things like budgeting. Do you change the bid depending on the time of day? Do you change the bid in total? Those are the things that you need to keep adjusting continuously.  With AiHello, we automatically harvest the right keywords for your product. We change the bid. We optimize the bid. We also do dayparting, where you can change the bid depending on the time of day. So there are different things that you can use AI for. You could certainly do all of it manually, but it’ll probably take you days or weeks to do what AI can do in a couple of minutes.  So a couple of minutes. But doesn’t the AI also need traffic data to be able to define things?  Yeah. So one of the other things about AiHello is that, because we have the wisdom of crowds, if you come up with a keyword, we know exactly how that keyword is going to perform. As you say, you have the wisdom of crowds. Can you extrapolate what you’ve experienced with other products and other customers onto a new product that doesn’t yet have a lot of traffic? Is this what you mean by the wisdom of crowds? Or what do you mean by the wisdom of crowds?  Let me give you an example. Let’s assume you want to sell coffee, and you go to our platform and say, “This is my product. It’s coffee. Help me sell it.” So what we do is, we know this is coffee. What are the keywords around it that are going to help sell it? Because we’ve sold other coffee products, we know that organic coffee sells well. We know coffee in the morning sells well. Black coffee sells well. Caffeine sells well.  And we also know, based on the previous performance of other keywords, what a good bid is for each keyword. If you don’t know the keywords, then of course you have to spend time researching them. And if you don’t know the bids, then you have to spend time researching what bid to put in. But we do all the research for you, and you put it in. And the second part, the bigger part, is that if the bid doesn’t work out, if you’re not selling, then we increase the bid automatically. If you are losing money, then we decrease the bid automatically. So that bid optimization is a critical part of AiHello.  Yeah. We use Amazon ads to promote my books. And yes, it takes a lot of skill to find the keywords, eliminate the negative keywords, adjust the bids, have the right bids, and avoid overspending or underspending. But Amazon also does much of the machine learning. So what is it that Amazon does, and what is it that you have to do? And why doesn’t Amazon do what you have to do?  The most critical piece of information to keep in mind is that your aims and objectives are the opposite of Amazon’s aims and objectives. Amazon’s aim is to make money, and your job is to make money. You don’t care if Amazon makes money or not, and Amazon doesn’t care if you make money or not. So when you put up a bid, when you run ads, Amazon will maximize that ad spend, whatever it is. In some ways, it’s like a casino.  You go to a casino, and the job of the casino is to win money from you, and your job is to win money from the casino. Ads have become a lot like gambling nowadays. You throw money into it. You expect to make money. Ninety percent of people lose money, and they give up. And Amazon always finds fresh sellers to move on. You cannot depend on Amazon because Amazon is not on your side.  Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, I always thought that on some platforms it was really difficult to make money with ads. Facebook, I think, is so competitive that it’s probably very difficult to make money. I know a lot of people who have spent a lot of money on Facebook, but I don’t know very many who have figured out a formula that continues to work. Okay. So you’ve helped someone find their keywords, the right bids, and how to adjust those bids. But what we’ve found is that at some point, ads die, and then we have to switch things up. It actually happens quite frequently that you have to create new campaigns and new ads. So what’s the dynamic there? How do you optimize so that you’re not still supporting ads that don’t work anymore, and you switch at the right point?  So when we say ads, it’s not technically the campaigns. A campaign is just a container for all of your ads. You have products inside it, and you have keywords inside it. So a campaign is made up of products and keywords. And the question is, when you say ads die, did the keywords die? Then you need to add new keywords, right? You always have to keep adding new keywords and testing new keywords. It’s a continuous job of trying to find the right keywords for your book or your product, and then optimizing the bids constantly to make sure that you’re profitable.  You have to make sure that your ads don’t die because of a lack of fresh keywords. And of course, there’s always a limit to the number of keywords you can add because each product has a limited number of keywords that people are searching for. Maybe there’s a long-tail keyword that’s going to make money, but there’s not enough search volume. Or maybe there’s a high-volume search keyword, but it’s not profitable for you. So you have to figure out what the right strategy is for you. Eventually, if your product is good, you’ll make money. If your product is not good, you won’t make money. That’s the bottom line. With ads, you quickly find out if your product…  So essentially, it’s a cyclical thing. So you find the keywords, you figure out the right bids, you adjust the bids, and then you have to find new keywords and keep doing this.  Yeah.  So why do keywords go stale? Do people not search for certain things anymore?  There could be multiple reasons for it. One reason is that a competitor has come in and taken your search volume. And you have to know: are you losing search volume? Are you gaining search volume? Has your search volume dropped off? The second reason is that people are not searching for that keyword anymore. Is it out of fashion? The third is: are you underbidding? Is the bid too low? Again, you would know by the number of impressions. Have the impressions dropped off?  If the impressions have dropped off, is it because of a competitor? If it’s not because of a competitor, are people searching less? Are your bids too low? If the search volume is the same, are people clicking less? Why are they clicking less? Is it your images? Is it your product? Is your product no longer in fashion? I mean, I don’t know. Maybe a few months ago, fidget spinners were really in fashion, and nowadays no one uses them. So those things go out of fashion.  Yeah. The spinners, I remember. They’ve been out of fashion for a while.  Yeah.  Yeah, that’s fascinating. So it’s a never-ending cycle of innovation and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. So let me ask you this: What drives growth in your business?  Most of the growth is… There are different ways to put it. Four years ago, we used to create a lot of blogs. We used to create lots of content. We used to create lots of YouTube videos. And then ChatGPT came along. If you ask kids now, “Do you Google that?” They don’t know what Google is. They really don’t know what Google is. And that’s not a cliché. It’s surprising. They’ll be like, “What Google?” Everything goes through ChatGPT.  So for us, growth went from Google to ChatGPT. And we didn’t spend enough time optimizing for LLMs on our site. So what drove growth before was blogs and YouTube. And what drives growth now is large language models like ChatGPT and Claude. People just ask ChatGPT, “What do I do about this on Amazon?” It recommends solutions, and then we go through them.  So how do you leverage large language models or AI applications?  This was one of the biggest boosts to our company. We managed to set the processes right. We managed to create the templates. We managed to bring structure to our company. Development work has become ten times faster. The turnaround is ten times faster. We’re able to release features quickly. We’re able to find bugs in our existing code quickly. There are a lot of things going on. If I were to say that our company is no longer the same company it was even a year ago, that would not be an exaggeration. It would be the truth. What we were a year ago is not at all what we are right now.  So in what way did you change? Is it coding that accelerated and changed everything? I mean, in what other ways did you change as a company?  So the code is all done with AI first. Our developers use AI. They put in the prompt, they check the results. There is a second developer who checks whether everything is okay and whether everything is done. And then finally there’s QA, and then we push it to staging. We used to do roughly one-month or forty-five-day sprints. Now we do weekly sprints. So it has gone four times faster. The biggest hurdle for us was managing clients and how we manage them. We never had any structure.  So we talked a lot with ChatGPT. We talked a lot about what the right way was to bring structure and accountability into the system. We managed to set up all the software required for accountability. It helped us fix those issues. It created structure. It created accountability for all the people, and then we implemented that. Finally, the last one, which was the most debatable, is that we require a lot of content. We require a lot of graphics. We require a lot of videos for clients on Amazon. I actually went to buy something on Amazon a few days back, and what was puzzling was that when I zoomed in on the images, you could see they were AI-generated because they all had these silly AI mistakes—spelling mistakes, random words.  So almost everything on Amazon right now, all the images, are kind of AI-generated. It’s hard to blame them. We ourselves use AI for a lot of the images. We make sure we don’t have the silly mistakes, but we do use AI as well. So the turnaround time for graphics is faster because of AI as well. Though some clients do complain that they don’t like AI-generated assets. And if a person looks a bit too AI-generated, they just reject it outright. So that is the most debatable part of it. But overall, our company is called AiHello. It’s AiHello. And if we don’t say hello to AI, then we’re not AiHello.  Yeah. Love it. I love the head and the one arm.  Yes.  The hello, and that’s it.  Yeah.  So what is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business right now? We are a remote-first company, and I’m struggling to bring about accountability among all the team members. We do have a good number of employees. Ninety percent of our employees are good. Ten percent still have accountability issues. And for me, that is a bit of a hurdle. It is a bit of a challenge to push those people who are dragging their feet about AI. Yeah. Because they are not comfortable with AI. They want to do what they are good at and don’t want to do something new.  There is also a bit of hesitation that they might lose their jobs because of AI, although we’re not planning to let go of anyone. Rather, we are hiring more people because we’re able to grow faster. There is an old saying that companies won’t go extinct because of AI, but companies that don’t use AI will go extinct because of AI. Because we are using AI a lot, there is a chance for us to scale, for us to expand significantly. And I want to tap into this advantage and grow. I want to hire more people, and I want to grow. I don’t want to let people go.  So this is a very good opportunity. You hear about Coinbase letting people go. You hear about Facebook letting people go because of AI. And I think those are all nonsensical excuses. Those companies are not growing very well, and they are blaming AI for letting people go, which I think is absolutely nonsensical. There is a very good opportunity for people to grow and for companies to grow using AI and increase their hiring. If you’re letting people go because of AI, it’s just a nonsensical excuse.  So what do you think is the mental hang-up for people? What prevents better AI adoption or faster AI adoption? A long time ago, when computers were being introduced into many industries, I remember there were huge protests because people thought computers would take away jobs. And it did happen. People did lose jobs because of computers. There were many people pushing papers who lost their jobs. And a lot of people refused to learn about computers because they said, “This is nonsensical. I can do it better by hand.” Can you imagine telling people right now that it’s better to do things by hand than to use a computer?  I mean, if you want to do calculations, please don’t use Excel or Google Sheets. Use a pen and paper and tell me you can do it better. It would be absurd to think that way. But at that time, people really did have the mentality that it was better to do things by hand than with Excel. Now, the AI revolution is probably a thousand or a million times bigger than that. And you can drag your feet. There will always be people who drag their feet and say, “I can do it better. AI is just nonsensical.” And sure, some of that is true. But the overwhelming majority of tasks are going to be done extremely well with AI.  And it’s not just large language models. It’s everything. Regression analysis, data analytics, big data analytics, forecasting, calculations. I’m not even talking about transformer models. I’m talking about everything related to AI. So much can be automated and done by AI that if you’re not involved with it, you’ll get left behind, just like the people who didn’t use computers. Do you feel like people have to be highly educated to be able to use AI? Or can people with less formal education benefit from it as well?  I don’t think it has anything to do with education. I think the learning curve for AI is smaller than the learning curve for computers. If you’re already using computers, you can just install a command-line interface and have things running. Actually, you can go to ChatGPT and ask some questions, and you can build something. But if you want to build serious applications, you can use a command-line interface and build them out. I think the learning curve is probably just a couple of hours to become proficient with these tools. I’m thinking more about this: As AI tools develop and take many of the routine, repeatable tasks off our shoulders, doesn’t that mean we will spend more of our time on high-level thinking and orchestration? And won’t that require some kind of mental ability to do that? It requires you to understand context, understand the implications of things, and be able to connect the dots. So that’s what I mean. The people who can really use AI tools have this higher level of awareness and thinking. They can combine ideas and create new things. But are there AI tools that people with less advanced analytical skills can also use? Absolutely. And you’re 100% right. You’re 101% right. This is what I’ve been advocating for a very long time. Don’t spend your time doing mundane, repetitive daily activities that can be automated. Let AI handle them. You should focus on the things AI cannot do right now, which is human-level intelligence: Strategizing. Planning. Working on the bigger-picture tasks. So you’re 100% right, and that’s the direction we should be moving in. And this brings me back to the point I made earlier: You should do what you love. The things you don’t love, the repetitive tasks, should be done by AI.  Yeah. Love it. So what is your vision, ultimately, for AiHello?  So my vision for AiHello goes beyond AiHello. We have something called HalZero, which is the engine we want to put behind AiHello. It’s a zero-hallucination LLM. And we are working toward making it happen. We plan to release an API for it soon. If it does happen, then we would probably have a model that can take in data and answer general-knowledge questions with zero hallucination. And we’re building it based on how the human brain works. The human brain is not one-dimensional. ChatGPT is one-dimensional. Transformer models are one-dimensional.  You give them data, they run it through the transformer model—the encoder and decoder—and then they give you an answer. But the human brain is built in layers. What we call the lizard brain sits at the base, and as you go higher, things become more and more complex. So the brain is information and action, and everything is filtered through it. Then we act on the filtered result. Machine learning models right now do not have these kinds of filters. They have something similar, which is called chain of thought, but that’s really thinking out loud. This kind of reasoning should exist within the latent space of the machine learning model. It should be built into the model itself.  I’ll give you an example. If you had been taught all your life that the sun is green, and tomorrow you woke up in Virginia, went outside, and saw that the sun was yellow, you’d say: “Oh my God, I’ve been lied to all my life. The sun isn’t green.” You would question what you had been taught based on a single observation. But if a machine had been trained for years that the sun is green, and then it saw that the sun was yellow, it might conclude: “The sun is wrong today because I’ve been taught that the sun is green.” The real test of intelligence is this: Can it question its training data? And the answer is no. It won’t, because it has been trained on that data. It has been trained on those tokens.  Yeah. So that’s AI superintelligence? The ability to question the training data?  That is correct. Yeah. So we build it based on connections. How strong is this connection? How many people have stated this fact? What is my own observation? Which observation is stronger? There is always conflict. In the human brain, there is always a conflict between what people say and what we think. Then our logical brain chooses what is usually the best answer. That is how we have a collective consciousness. We also have a personal consciousness. We always have to decide which one is best.  Love it. Well, that’s great. So if you’re running a business and you need to sell a product, and you want to figure out how to be successful on Amazon, how to leverage your ads, and how not to overspend, where should you go? How can people get in touch with you, Ganesh, and your team? And what’s the first step for listeners?  You can send me an email at ganesh@aihello.com. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m always available, and I’m happy to have a chat with you.  All right. So if you’re listening out there and you’re in e-commerce, or you want to get into e-commerce, and you don’t know how to leverage all the tools that are out there, don’t forget: Amazon is in the business of making money, not necessarily making your business profitable. So you can use AiHello to help you. Reach out to Ganesh on LinkedIn and get your team involved. And if you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure you check back every week because I have successful entrepreneurs sharing their ideas—or at least some of the good ones—with you. So thanks, Ganesh, for coming.  Thank you, Steve.  And thank you for listening. Important Links: Ganesh's LinkedIn Ganesh's website Ganesh's email: ganesh@aihello.com

New AD interview out on Tuesday with Houston AD Eddie Nunez. Until then...some of you may have listened to me introduce HEA Insider subscription a few weeks ago. I've since rebranded it to "The Modern AD" and I want to share the first monthly edition with you for free. The Modern AD is a monthly briefing on the business, leadership, and evolution of the athletic director position from the perspective of university presidents.Each edition features insights and short lists for AD openings, unseen AD and college president interviews, leadership hiring trends, conference-wide AD and president backgrounds, cabinet position descriptions, deputy AD profiles, and original articles on the future of the AD position. Designed for busy practitioners, The Modern AD helps current and aspiring ADs better understand the role of university presidents and the ecosystem they work in. I hope you like it.The first monthly edition is free and ad-free: https://higheredathletics.com/mad-june-2026/If you feel like you got $10 worth of knowledge, consider tipping to support HEA: https://higheredathletics.com/mad-june-2026/#tipIf you're ready for next month's paid edition, subscribe today ($20/month) but don't get billed until the next edition in late July: https://higheredathletics.com/mad-june-2026/#subscribe

Send us Fan MailIn this 'EPISODE 470 MATTHEW 24 & 25 AND 1ST CORINTHIANS 15 IN THESE END TIMES? WHAT DID JESUS MEAN IN MATTHEW 24:21? IS THERE GOOD NEWS AHEAD? WILL THE EARTH AND WHAT WE DO CAUSE MAN TO GO EXTINCT? WHAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ALL ABOUT?' Can we really expect Jesus to return any minute now? Author and host Elbert Hardy explains...Support the showGo to itellwhy.com to read Elbert's books free of charge, no Ads and no requests for money or Email addresses. You can watch faith building YouTube Links to Videos and the listen to Elbert's Life of Christ Audio Book in 30 minute Episodes arranged and read by the author straight from the Bible, but rearranged in logical harmony of the Gospels, Revelation and other scriptures. All FREE of charge in the public interest.

In episode 497 of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb bring the Parable of the Talents to a close with one of the most theologically rich discussions in recent memory. Beginning in Matthew 25:24, they zero in on the one-talent servant — not merely as a cautionary tale about productivity, but as a profound case study in distorted theology. The servant's fatal error wasn't laziness alone; it was a fundamentally false picture of his master. That mischaracterization produced a craven, fearful inaction that the hosts argue maps directly onto the eschatological stakes of the parable. Drawing on Calvin, William Ames, and Reformed confessional commitments, Tony and Jesse make the case that right theology is never merely academic — it shapes the whole of life, and ultimately determines one's eschatological destiny. Key Takeaways The one-talent servant's core failure is theological, not behavioral — he constructs a false image of his master as harsh and exploitative, and that distorted theology governs everything that follows. False theology produces fatal inaction — the servant's fear is not godly fear but a craven dread rooted entirely in his mischaracterization of the master's character. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of self are inseparable — following Calvin's Institutes, the hosts argue that a right understanding of God as gracious and generous will produce active, trusting faithfulness, while a distorted view produces fearful, minimal compliance. The parable is fundamentally eschatological, not merely practical — interpreting the talents primarily as spiritual gifts or ministry opportunities misses the point; the parable is about who belongs to the master's kingdom and who does not. Character precedes action — the faithful servants do not become faithful by producing returns; they produce returns because they are faithful. The wicked servant buries his talent because he is wicked, not the other way around. William Ames understood the servant's sin as a violation of the ninth commandment — by burying his talent, the servant effectively bears false witness against God's own estimation of the gift, rejecting both the gift and the Giver. The "outer darkness" language is not out of place — it is the natural eschatological conclusion for someone who never genuinely knew or trusted the master, making the parable a picture of what it means to be outside the grace and presence of God entirely. Key Concepts False Theology as the Root of Inaction The most striking feature of the one-talent servant's account is not what he did — or failed to do — but what he believed. He tells his master, "I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed." Tony and Jesse point out that nothing in the parable supports this characterization. A master who entrusts his servants with what amounts to decades of wages — hundreds of years' worth of labor between three servants — is not a hard, exploitative figure. He is astonishingly generous and trusting. The servant has constructed a theological fiction, and that fiction becomes the prison of his own inaction. This is not a peripheral observation; it is the interpretive key to the entire parable. What we believe about God determines everything about how we live before Him. The Knowledge of God Shapes the Whole of Life Calvin famously opens the Institutes with the observation that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self are so bound together that it is nearly impossible to determine which is logically prior. Jesse draws on this insight to show that the one-talent servant's self-understanding — timid, fearful, paralyzed — flows directly from his distorted image of God. A person who genuinely knows God as gracious, generous, and long-suffering will be motivated to active, trusting faithfulness. A person who privately believes God to be harsh and demanding will retreat into fearful, minimalist compliance. This is not merely a first-century observation. It is a diagnostic tool for self-examination: the shape of our obedience reveals the shape of our theology. Reformed orthodoxy has always insisted that right doctrine is not academic — it is the engine of the Christian life. Character Precedes Action — The Anti-Works-Righteousness Reading One of the most important guardrails Tony and Jesse set up in this episode is against a subtle works-righteousness reading of the parable. It is tempting to hear the parable and conclude: do productive things for the kingdom, and you will be welcomed as a good and faithful servant. But the hosts argue that this inverts the logic of the text entirely. The faithful servants are not commended because they generated a return; they generated a return because they are faithful servants. The wicked servant buries his talent because he is wicked — his character drives his conduct, not the reverse. Justification and sanctification alike are received by faith in Christ alone, and no reading of this parable should suggest that our eschatological standing is secured by our productivity. The sheep act like sheep because they are sheep. That punchline, Tony notes, will carry them straight into the sheep and the goats passage next week. Memorable Quotes "Who is it that's not going to be saved in the last day? It's the people who don't recognize the master. The people who think that the master is a hard man who reaps where he has not sown and gathers where he has not scattered. Well, if we think that's who God is, we have a lot of trouble coming our way." — Tony Arsenal "A person who genuinely knows the living God as gracious, generous, long-suffering, with that kind of hesed kind of love — that person will be motivated to active, trusting faithfulness. A person who privately believes God to be harsh and demanding is always going to retreat in this fearful, minimal kind of compliance." — Jesse Schwamb "The sheep act like sheep because they're sheep. They don't become sheep because they do sheep things. They do sheep things because they're sheep." — Tony Arsenal Full Transcript Welcome to episode four hundred and ninety seven of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse  And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear Hey, brother  [00:00:42] Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. We're back at it again. We're hanging out in Matthew's gospel, the 25th chapter, and it's time to, I think, close out the Parable of the Talents, where we've got two servants that double their master's money, and one who buries his in the ground like a Calvinist who's confused predestination with doing nothing. And of course, all of this irony is the faithful servants, they can't even take credit. The master supplied the capital, the ability, and apparently even the bull market. It's grace all the way down. But meanwhile, the one talent guy returns exactly what he was given and he gets absolutely wrecked, and we're gonna dig into that. Gonna dig into- ... that later.  [00:01:26] Affirm or Deny Segment [00:01:26] Jesse Schwamb: But before we do, it's what everybody's waiting for. It's that time in the podcast where we affirm with something that we really like or we recommend or we think is undervalued, or we deny against something that's exactly the opposite. Not worth it, no good, get it out of here. So Tony, are you affirming with or denying against?  [00:01:43] Tony Arsenal: I'm denying against something related to the World Cup. Um-  [00:01:47] Jesse Schwamb: Okay ...  [00:01:48] Tony Arsenal: I am not a purist, so please don't hear me as, like, elitist soccer dude who is resistant to any sort of changes, but, um, I didn't actually even know this was happening. Are you following the World Cup at all, Jesse? [00:02:01] Jesse Schwamb: I'm trying to. I'm not against it, I'm just finding myself- Yeah ... stuck in  [00:02:05] Tony Arsenal: trying to like- There, there's a lot going on.  [00:02:06] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah ... yeah, coordinate everything.  [00:02:07] Tony Arsenal: Um, one of the things that they... And they're at weird times this year too- Yes ... at least so far they are.  [00:02:11] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly.  [00:02:11] Hydration Breaks Rant [00:02:11] Tony Arsenal: Um, one of the things this year that I noticed that I didn't know was happening, and I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, is, uh, I, I guess I understand why they're doing it, but they've instituted what they're calling mandatory hydration breaks-  [00:02:25] Jesse Schwamb: Oh,  [00:02:26] Tony Arsenal: I've read about this uh, into the games. Yeah. And essentially what this has done is it's turned a game that used to be, uh, and has always been two 45-minute halves-  [00:02:38] Jesse Schwamb: Mm-hmm ...  [00:02:38] Tony Arsenal: um, uh, with overage time, right? So, like, the, the ref will sometimes just, like, add a couple minutes. Usually it's, you know, three to five, maybe 10 minutes at the most to the end of the, the half. They've turned that from, uh, two 45-minute halves into now four, what is that? Like, 23-minute quarters, 22 and a half- Right ... minute quarters. Um, and they're not always quarters. They're not always evenly split. They sometimes do the hydration break early or later. Um, this is awful. It's just awful, right? One of the, one of the, um, maybe this is me being a little bit of a soccer purist. One of the things about soccer that makes it a challenging sport is the endurance of it.  [00:03:21] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:03:22] Tony Arsenal: Right? And contrary to what I think most people think when they watch soccer, um, it's one of the few games, few professional games that doesn't have a ton of breaks- Right? There's not a lot of times where, where match play actually stops for any real amount of time. Um, and that's what stoppage time is. It's not intended to be something like football, where there often is time on the clock where the clock is still moving, but the game is not, like, actively progressing forward, right? Right. You have to do something special to stop the clock. In soccer, uh, at least historically, 45 minutes of play is 45 minutes of play. It's, it's 45 minutes of actual actionable play. And now, um, you know, they stop the game. The clock doesn't continue, but now the game stre- like, the, the game itself stretches longer 'cause they've introduced these additional breaks. So I'm denying, uh... This just sounds like s- I'm such a ghoul here. I'm denying mandatory hydration breaks, not because I want soccer players to get sunstroke. Uh, they get plenty of water. There's plenty of times they get to stop and get water. It's- And this is... We didn't have mandatory hydration breaks when the World Cup was in Qatar. Right. Right? And everybody, for the most part, was fine. Like, the players were all fine. There were no casualties on the field. I don't even recall, like, major medical problems on the field. We're in LA now. Yeah, it's warm, summer, but come on, guys. Like, let's, let's, let's be real. This is not, uh, this is not rec league. This is not, you know, U15 league play with, with kids. These are adult men who condition for a living. Like, this is their job, is to be conditioned and for their bodies to be in peak performance. So it's just... It just interrupts the game. I don't know. I'm, I'm being a little crotchety here, but I feel like I have a right to be 'cause this is my show, and I can do what I want to. That's absolutely true. So I'm denying hydration breaks, mandatory hydrat- hydration breaks, which change the game. And a commentator actually commented about that on, on the match the other day. Um, it changes the dynamic of the game. It changes the strategy of the game. Um, it changes the whole feel of the game, right from the strategy of how long you have to be able to go, right? This will change how- how footballers have to condition themselves, 'cause they're no longer having to condition themselves for two 45-minute halves. They're having to condition themselves for four 22-and-a-half minute quarters, um, which is not the same game as, as that. So anyway, we'll- it's yet to see, be seen if that has any real impact on the outcome of any games or anything like that. But it was annoying to me, so I'm denying mandatory hydration breaks. [00:05:59] Jesse Schwamb: That's great. We haven't had a good denial in a little while on this podcast. I think that's fantastic. I mean, not the break, but the denial itself. Plus, and I don't wanna be... You'll have to tell me if I'm speaking conspiratorial here, because most of my apparent World Cup and general sports news still comes from The Wall Street Journal, so that might be a weird place to get it. But- ... the, I became aware of this through an article that was lamenting the exact same thing. Yeah. It was just basically all the arguments that you said. Like, it's weird, and the game wasn't designed this way, and it's definitely like an interruption. It's definitely like an insertion.  [00:06:32] Ads and Soccer Purism [00:06:32] Jesse Schwamb: And then, of course, was all the stuff about, isn't this really about just allowing commercial break time, and it's more about that, and we're just conveniently saying that we need the hydration breaks. And what else would they, we have them do if we needed to force them to take a break but say, "You know what? Why don't you guys take a knee and get some water- Yeah ... while we show you some ads?" So I imagine that doesn't sit well with people either.  [00:06:52] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. I mean, I'm sure that that's the case. Again, I, I haven't even been able to watch a full, full World Cup match, so I don't, I don't know... I don't even know how long the hydration breaks are, to be honest with you. But yes, it's an interruption in play where they can cut to commercial. And whether that was why they put this in place or not, or whether they're just utilizing it, it's obnoxious. Like, part of the fun of watching soccer is that there is no commercial break for the first 45 minutes. Right. Um, that's just part of- Which is unusual in sports ... part of the joy of the game, is that it's a continual game with no real breaks. Um, even when, like, a player is injured because, you know, there's an injury on the field or something like that, um, even when that happens, they don't cut to commercial because there was no planned commercial. They don't have anything there. Right. So, um, it's changed, like, the way... Y- you know, even, even things like this is gonna change how uniforms are thought out, because sponsorship money through uniforms used to be the m- one of the main commercial-driving, like, sponsorships for, um, for the game. So I'm just annoyed by it. [00:07:53] More Rule Changes [00:07:53] Tony Arsenal: There's an- a couple other things that I'm annoyed by this year. They have this... It's kinda like that automatic up call checker thing we talked about. Right. They have this, like, um- They call it mistaken identity, uh, recheck. Basically where if a player is fouled or appears to be fouled, they can, someone can flag it and it will recheck it and, like, digitally the system tells them whether there was a foul or not. And like I said before when we were talking about this a little bit before, um, there is a real element in the game, or there has been a real element to the game historically, where the ump is almost like, or the ref is almost like a third player, and you have to be wise and play the ref. Um, you have to, you know, there's, there's an element of a little bit of, uh, espionage and subtle- Right you know, subterfuge here going on in the game that I think people outside the game who are just watching, they look and they think like, "Oh, yeah, that guy flopped." But there's a whole, like, art and there's a whole form to that, and there's real cost if you do it poorly. Um, and so, like, we've already had one instance where a yellow card was called on a player. Uh, the other player simulated the foul. Um, and so they reversed it and gave the other guy a yellow card, but they did that after the game. Um, which, which is a whole other thing. Like, you play a whole game, um I could talk about this all night. Like when you get, when you get a red card- ... you're, you're out for an entire game, not just- Right the rest of this game. You're out for an entire game. Your position is out for an entire game, so that might mean you start the next match down a player. Well, what does that mean if you are given a red card sort of posthumously after the match, right? Right. Like, you- it's changed the whole calculation because for the whole game, that player, uh, was playing as though he didn't have a yellow card. And that, maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but he was playing the game as though he didn't have a yellow card, and then all of a sudden now he does. Um, he doesn't go... I don't think he goes into the next match starting with a yellow card. Um, a- and so I'm kind of like, "Well, what's the, what's the point?" But, um, you know, some of that plays into, like, if there's ties and ties, match, match point ties, then they start looking at who has penalties and stuff. But either way, it's annoying that they, they're introducing this. Like, we didn't need to have... Yes, there's probably a place for reviewing a, a bad ref's calls. Right. They've also added, like, automatic on offsides. There was a whole strategy and a whole part of the game of forcing a person offsides, of drawing a person offsides, being offsides without looking like you're offsides. Some people may look at that and go, "Well, that's cheating," but no, it's actually just part of the game. Right. Like, playing the ref and understanding that is part of the game. And now it's still part of the game, but it's part of the game in a different way, and that's... Maybe I am just being a purist, but I just, I don't like it. I don't like it. Give me back my beautiful game the way it's always been and get off my lawn, get off the turf, get off my pitch, whatever. Um, I'm denying the fact that the World Cup is not as it's always been. But also, like, we don't need this stuff. Like, the World Cup has been fine for how many years?  [00:11:03] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:11:03] Tony Arsenal: We don't need water breaks like this- W- i- you know, if it was like last World Cup, five players died from dehydration in the middle of the... Like, okay, like yeah, let's do some water breaks. But like, nobody died. Nobody even had major medical emergencies. I think a couple people had to come out of the game a little early 'cause they weren't well-hydrated. But like- Right ... run to the side, get a water bottle. Like, you can do that in the middle of a game. There's nothing- Yeah ... against the rules to stand by the sideline, drink when someone's doing a substitution or even in the middle of the game. I've seen that happen, where someone will sprint over to the sideline, they'll take a drink of water, and then they'll throw the cup back over. So anywho, we should move on. This could be my entire, my entire rant of, for a whole episode- Good ... against the weird changes in, in World Cup soccer, so.  [00:11:48] Jesse Schwamb: Listen, I love it.  [00:11:49] Peacock Spanish Hack [00:11:49] Jesse Schwamb: My favorite hack, uh, for World Cup soccer so far this year, and this was given to me by a colleague, uh, and a brother, I think this is fantastic, is right now because my wife is convalescing, we have all the subscriptions temporarily to allow, like, the full healing process to take place. Watch whatever you want, wherever you want. Except for the World Cup, because the, uh... I- it was just, like, where you could actually get it in English was, like, crazy expensive, at least for me. So here's the thing, though. Somebody reminded me uh, that we have Peacock and that because of Telemundo, could just watch and stream the entire World Cup in Spanish. So guess what, loved ones? We're learning a lot more Spanish- I love it ... and we're watching the World Cup with the announcers on. I'm not turning off that, 'cause that's the best part. And, you know, I'm getting, like, 25% of what's being said, but it is awesome. And there's- Yeah ... a lot more energy and excitement. So if for some reason you have Peacock and you're saying, "Oh, I'm missing the World Cup," technically you don't have to. It's all there for you. That's amazing. Just you gotta embrace Spanish.  [00:12:46] Tony Arsenal: That's amazing. And yes, actually, it probably is more entertaining.  [00:12:49] Jesse Schwamb: It is.  [00:12:50] Tony Arsenal: Um, and you don't, you don't need to... You really don't need to understand what the commentator is- No I mean, like 90% of the time the commentator's like, "Oh, he's having a good year," and, uh- ... yeah, like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, he's looking real great. Do you see how his, uh, laces are laced up?" Like, they're just trying to fill time.  [00:13:05] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:13:05] Tony Arsenal: So it doesn't really matter what they're saying. And when it does matter what they're saying, you'll get it just from the-  [00:13:11] Jesse Schwamb: Yes [00:13:11] Tony Arsenal: just from what the announcer's voices are doing. So I'll have to check that out. Yeah, the, the matches are at weird times, at least so far. I think, I think that once we get out of group play, m- a lot of the matches shift to the East Coast, so there'll be, uh, a little bit more normal times.  [00:13:25] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:13:25] Tony Arsenal: But, like, the first, the first, uh, US match was at 9:00 Eastern Time, and then, like, the last one's at 10:00 Eastern Time. Yeah.  [00:13:32] Jesse Schwamb: So  [00:13:33] Tony Arsenal: late. Yeah, super late, and it's a, it's a three-hour match by the time you, you get done with halftime and everything. So yeah, it'll, it'll... It's, it's frustrating. Although historically, um, every time the men, the men's team has won their first match, they've gotten out of group play, and every time they've lost their fir- first match, they have not gotten out of group play. And we, we really, really won our first match. Yes. Yeah. So I think, I think we'll get out of group play. I think probably, depending on how the, the cards roll, um, we'll probably, we'll probably get through our first elimination round, maybe our second, but we're not gonna go much further than that. Um, even, even that would be a, a pretty good victory, so- Anyway, football is life, right? Danny Ross. Um, do, did you watch Ted last night? Yes,  [00:14:24] Jesse Schwamb: I have seen it. Yes.  [00:14:25] Tony Arsenal: That was good. Football is life. Um, that's me this time of year. Like, I wore a soccer jersey to work on Friday, and nobody could tell me I couldn't do that, and I didn't care. So- I  [00:14:33] Jesse Schwamb: love it ...  [00:14:34] Tony Arsenal: uh, nobody even tried. Everybody, everybody's fine. Everybody loves soccer- How dare they ... and loves the World Cup, so. Yeah. That's the truth. Anywho, save me from this. I, I literally could talk about soccer all night. This is the one sport that I get like this. And the... Not even the one sport. The one sporting event that I get like this about is the World Cup. I love it. So you've gotta, you gotta stop me or I'm not gonna, not gonna stop. Let  [00:14:54] Jesse Schwamb: it out.  [00:14:54] Hydration Tabs Recommendation [00:14:54] Jesse Schwamb: Well, I would say, like, we could play that game with our affirmations and denials where it's, like, six degrees of separation, but we only need one. And this is gonna sound like it was planned, but it wasn't. Your denial, of course, as you've just well articulated, was about hydration breaks. Turns out my affirmation is actually about hydration. So-  [00:15:11] Tony Arsenal: Jesse's affirming hydration breaks. We're about  [00:15:13] Jesse Schwamb: to fight. Yeah. No, I'm, I'm definitely not a- affirming hydration breaks, but this might be the kind of hydration they're having. I don't know, but it's the one I'm gonna recommend. So where I live, it is the summertime, and where I live, we get both the heat and the humidity, and that's the oppressive part, isn't it? It's where it feels like the inside of a dog's mouth. And so I actually just came back from a run, and my go-to hydration break for myself is, uh, Nuun, N-U-U-N. And here's the reason why, is I've had Gatorade, I've had all the... I've had Liquid IV, I've had all that stuff. Most of the time it's r- too sweet. Nuun is just these effervescent dissolvable tablets that you drop into water, and it creates this low sugar electrolyte drink. It has all, like, the normal stuff. It has sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, all that good stuff, but there's just one gram of sugar. And it's this convenient little tab. Like, you can just get this whole little roll of tabs. You can carry them with you if you're going hiking or you're camping or you're out and gonna do a run. You just drop them into a bottle of water or whatever size water you want. I usually go 32 ounces is the way I like it. They have all, all kinds of flavors. It's just the right thing. Like, it's... It is like the refreshing thing of water, but when you're like, "You know what? I wanna taste something that's not water." So Nuun is, like, the right thing. I may have referred to it before, so I'm sorry if I did. But I'm referring with you can order it on, like, Amazon or any kind of, I don't know, general kind of camping or sports-oriented store is probably gonna be there. But it's... For me, it's the right thing because I don't know about you, but I find most sports drinks, like, in general too sweet. Like, you, you start... You have one, and then if I get through it, I'm kind of like, "Ugh, now I feel like my mouth is, like, really just coated in sugar, and that's not what I wanted." Yeah. So this feels like you're, you're getting a little less sweetness, but you don't feel guilty afterwards like you've just consumed a bunch of sugar. I will admit, I drink one I guess it's like 12 ounce Gatorade every week, just one. And this is because there's a delightful and loving, like, 72-year-old woman in our congregation who brings, I believe it's her own, she invests this every week. She brings for the team that is doing the worship through music Gatorade, uh, because she thinks we need to be replenished. So really, we have a hydration break- ... right before the service. But she, it's so beautiful and so delightful, I will never refuse it, and I am also on often parched at the time. So-  [00:17:31] Tony Arsenal: Yeah ...  [00:17:31] Jesse Schwamb: it does work out, so.  [00:17:31] Tony Arsenal: Jesse's worship team goes real hard. They need to hydrate in the middle. They do a mandatory hydration break in the middle of the- It's, yeah middle of the service.  [00:17:39] Jesse Schwamb: It's mandatory. Yes. We are strict.  [00:17:41] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And it's an, it's a good time for announcements and commercial breaks. Um, yeah. I, I think, uh, and you're... I don't know if you're gonna believe me when I say this. With all of the Nuun that passes its way around the family home when we're all here- Yeah at summertime, I've never had-  [00:17:57] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, really? ...  [00:17:57] Tony Arsenal: Nuun. Yeah. We never tried it. I think our go-to for, for sort of powdered energy drink or powdered, uh, sports drink is little Propel packets.  [00:18:05] Jesse Schwamb: Um- Oh,  [00:18:05] Tony Arsenal: that's not bad either. Propel's not bad. I like Propel. It's very sweet, but it, it doesn't- Yeah ... um, Propel- doesn't add sugar. I think that they've, they've got their formula where it's a sugar-free formula. Um, but it is very sweet. So sometimes I'll only do, like, a half a packet of Propel- Yeah ... which I know kind of, they, they argue that or they, like, advertise as, like, "It's the perfect balance of electro-" I don't know if it's the perfect balance of electrolytes, but- Um, but some is better than none probably. Yeah. And, uh, Propel is not better than Nuun apparently, so.  [00:18:36] Jesse Schwamb: I, I, I think Nuun is, like, top shelf electrolyte. And you can get it, like I said, in lots of flavors. One of the fun things is you can get it caffeinated or uncaffeinated. I mean, most, most of it is uncaffeinated. But if you're like you wanted to have some, they have a what they call Kona Cola, and it is cola-flavored and has caffeine. It's amazing, because it's, like, just slightly effervescent, a little bit bubbly. Not too much. It's still, like, refreshing, but if you like the cola flavor, which as you know is its own distinct combination of elements and spices, then it's right on. So- Yeah ... it's really nice. So there you go. Yeah. Nuun- I- And if you're gonna take a hydration break because you're being forced to while you're playing soccer, I highly suggest you choose Nuun. That's the way to go.  [00:19:22] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what they're drinking. I think most of the time they're just drinking water.  [00:19:26] Jesse Schwamb: Probably.  [00:19:26] Tony Arsenal: So I, I don't... I mean, I, I think you're supposed to drink something with some electrolytes, so maybe they have some electrolyte-  [00:19:32] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah ...  [00:19:32] Tony Arsenal: water in it. I don't know.  [00:19:33] Jesse Schwamb: I don't know. Probably.  [00:19:34] Join the Telegram Group [00:19:34] Jesse Schwamb: Here's the thing. If you wanna tell us what you like to drink or when you are, let's say, serving the Lord's people by participating in worship through music and you're forced to take a hydration break, as I am at times, then you need to go to t.mereformedbrotherhood. Put that into your browser right now. Take a hydration break and put t.mereformedbrotherhood into your browser and that will send you to a link for Telegram, which is just a little chat app in which we have a small corner of the world. It's brothers and sisters listening to the podcast, interacting, and it's about time, actually, we probably had some kinda taste test stuff-  [00:20:11] Tony Arsenal: Yeah with,  [00:20:12] Jesse Schwamb: like, these kinda hydration drinks. There's so many of them now. Some of them are, like, purposely salty. Some of them are really sweet. Some have all these crazy and wild flavors. Some of them have all kinds of caffeine. So let us know what you like, but best way to do that- Please ... is join the Telegram group. [00:20:26] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And please do not, uh, do not make your church stop their service for a hydration break. Please don't do that. The only hydration break I wanna hear you talking about in your church service is a baptism. So please-  [00:20:38] Jesse Schwamb: I knew that's  [00:20:38] Tony Arsenal: where you were going ... do not interrupt the Lord's day for a hydration break. Just if you need water, just, like, step out of the room, take a drink of water, come back. Or if you're in a church that lets you have water in the sanctuary, like most do, just take a drink. That's true. You don't have to- Yeah ... stand up. You don't need to have- That's good ... anyone interpret. Just take a quick drink and then be quiet. Just  [00:20:54] Jesse Schwamb: go to the sidelines, maybe sub out- Mm-hmm ... with somebody else who can play bass, and take a quick drink.  [00:21:00] Tony Arsenal: Exactly. Come back. Yeah. Or just dump the, dump the Propel powder straight in your mouth.  [00:21:05] Jesse Schwamb: I thought you were gonna say like have somebody come up, preferably like an elder, and just hose you down with a thing of Gatorade while you're, while you're  playing  [00:21:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, exactly. Just go up to the baptismal font, take a scoop of water, dump the Propel directly in the baptis- no, I'm just kidding. I shouldn't joke about that stuff. Yeah.  [00:21:19] Back to Matthew 25 [00:21:19] Tony Arsenal: Anyway, Jesse, I'm excited because although we are probably gonna round out this parable, we're not done with these parables because- Oh, yeah, that's  [00:21:28] Jesse Schwamb: right [00:21:28] Tony Arsenal: although we're gonna finish this parable this week, we'll probably finish it and get started talking about, uh, the next, the little chunk of text, which is not a parable, but we can't really, uh, divorce it from these parables 'cause they're all telling, they're all making the same or a very similar point about what the kingdom of heaven will be like in relation to the end times- Mm-hmm in relation to the eschatological, um, outcome of all things. Uh, and, and Christ in his teaching, um, he kind of rounds out this teaching and finalizes what these parables mean by talking to us about the sheep and the goats. Um, which again, is not really formed like a parable, but, uh, but it has very similar structures. It has some similar elements to it. Um, but it, it's so integral to what these, all what this sort of like, uh, anthology of eschatological parables mean in all the discourse. We really have to cover that to, to cover the others fully. But tonight we're gonna finish our discussion about the parable of the talents, which I'm excited about because I think we're gonna, we're gonna round out on some stuff that, um, I, I hope you've heard, uh, is probably not as, um, prominent as it should be. Uh, and this, we talked about last time that this parable has been, uh, not necessarily applied properly in many popular- Right ... teachings. Uh, and so I'm, I'm sure you've heard not so great interpretations. Hopefully we're gonna give you an interpretation that's a little bit more accurate and faithful to what the Bible teaches. [00:23:00] Reading the Parable Text [00:23:00] Jesse Schwamb: And so we're gonna pick it up in verse 24 of Matthew 25, because you'll probably recall, and if you haven't it's because you need to go back and listen, that we talked about the first two of these servants and the return that they were able to garner on the investment which the Lord gave them when He went away. And then there's the third dude. So we're gonna pick it up there and go all the way to the end of this, which allow us to close it out. So beginning verse 24, "And the one also had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you'd be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, have what is yours.' But the master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed; therefore you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have at least received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has more, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does not have,' excuse me, 'what he does have shall be taken away. And throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"  [00:24:18] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah.  [00:24:19] Textual Notes and Transition [00:24:19] Tony Arsenal: There, there's some, um, some textual things about this that I think, uh, we sh- should at least acknowledge. I don't know that we're gonna dig too deep into them. Um, it is very possible to, um, to read verse 30 Almost as an interpretive statement in itself rather than part of the, um, part of the parable itself. And, and so let me, let me see if I can, can parse that out. So if we read it as though it's part of the parable, then it is the s- the, the master in the parable who is saying, "And cast the worthless servant into the darkness; in the place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." I think that's the most natural reading, so I'll, I'll put my cards on the table that I think that we should read this as part of the parable itself. It's also possible linguistically and grammatically to sort of read this as an explanation, where Christ is now taking this principle of what has happened with the worthless servant, right? That even what he has will be taken away. And then, and then to sort of read this as a commentary that sort of, uh, like we saw before, um, kind of bridges this section with the next. So instead of reading, "And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness," uh, as though it were part of the parable, that it was this master within the parable saying this, we can read this as Christ saying that this is what will happen to those who are worthless servants. And then that follows up with, in verse 31, kind of h- connecting to when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all nations. Right. Th- this next sort of, like, more explicit, non-parabolical, um, uh, eschatological teaching. I think that former one is more natural, but just because it's, it's present in a lot of the commentaries that this is there, I wanted to at least call that out. I don't know that it makes a ton of difference in terms of how we understand the parable, but I do think, you know, part of what it means for us to wrestle through this is not just to take a particular position on the text, but to discuss, like, some of these ambiguities that are present. Um, and, and sometimes, um Sometimes I think we need to be cautious and really think through, because, uh, let me, let me rephrase it this way. None of the teaching in the Bible is sort of uninterpreted, untranslated, raw teaching of Christ. All of this is coming to us from the apostles retelling it, and yes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, so all of it's God's Word. But it's not as though, um, it's not as though Christ was first speaking in Greek. That's the big thing. But there are some places in the New Testament, in the Gospels, where it's not always clear whether a passage is Christ speaking or the, uh, the Gospel writer interpreting what Christ is speaking. This is one of those places where there's a little bit of a question mark about that. Um, again, I think the most natural reading is to read this as part of the statement of the master within the parable, but I did wanna just comment on that before we moved on much further.  [00:27:31] Buried Talent Scandal [00:27:31] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that's helpful because I think we've gotta understand that end in light of how it's evolving. And we, we're starting with that stark contrast between the first two, which receive this great reward, which receive accolades and praise, and then you have this one talent servant's response is all about hiddenness. He just digs a hole, puts it in the ground, and hides it away. Which by the way, of course, we talked about this in the other parables, like in the ancient world, burying valuables was recognized as a form of safekeeping. I mean, I think even Josephus mentions that. We talk about the pearl of great price. There was something to be known for, well, I have this valuable thing. The best place for me to, the best place for me to put it so that it isn't compromised is in the ground, in a secret place. And there's like a surface level, I guess, reasonableness to that act. But what's interesting and where it comes in with that heat that you're kinda talking about, that ends up being in the end this grand statement of the eschatological, eschatological reality, is that the parable here with this one talent servant treats all that action as like complete catastrophic failure. And I, I think as much as I can understand it, it's because the master did not give him this talent to protect it from loss. He gave it to him for, to use it for gain And so the servant has mistaken the nature of that commission entirely. He substituted like the security-seeking for risk-taking faithfulness. And so I think that informs some of then what happens in these latter verses here, like when we get all the way down to 30. Because I think when we read that, we see the, like the redistribution as scandalous. But the scandal really is in this lack of actions. Like gifts exercised grow, but gifts buried, they just atrophy. So the one t- talent servant's talent is taken because he's, he's already been treated as n- as it was, was nothing. He's functionally like forfeited it by burying it. And so the transfer of the 10-talent servant is the formal confirmation of what his own choices had, had already produced. I think there is something there about like the eschatological reality, reality that will unfold in the judgment, which of course leads to, into the end of this chapter  [00:29:36] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right on that.  [00:29:39] Misreading The Master [00:29:39] Tony Arsenal: Um, what we see the problem with the one talent servant is not, um, not that he's not productive.  [00:29:49] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:29:49] Tony Arsenal: I mean, I think that's, that's actually the symptom of the illness, not the illness itself. What we see with the, the one talent servant is that he misunderstands his task, as you're pointing out, but more foundationally, he misunderstands his master, right? And that, that's really the, the main point of the parable when we kinda get... You know, Christ, um, when He's telling a parable, He explains the parable. Sometimes He doesn't explain the parable at all. He just sorta drops the parable and then moves on. Other times He will give the interpretation itself, like directly. We saw that in the parable of the, uh, of the soils or the parable of the sower. Um, and, and other times the kind of like the main explanation of the parable is, is actually embedded in the parable. And I think for this parable, the main explanation is when the, the one talent servant, uh, comes forward and he, when he's explaining why he did what he did-  [00:30:47] Jesse Schwamb: Right [00:30:48] Tony Arsenal: he says, "Well, I knew you were a," uh, let me just find it for sure here. He says, um, "I knew that you were a..." I just lost it. My brain is totally lost here. You ever have that happen where you're trying to find a word- Yes ... on a text and you just can't? He says, "Master," in verse 24, he says, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours." There's a number of statements in here that just don't make any sense. Like, they're just... Like you said, a lot of these parables have kind of like a chump figure, where, like, he's sort of like the designated idiot of the parable. [00:31:31] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:31:32] Tony Arsenal: In this instance, there's so much wrong that it's almost hard to find something right. And, you know, he starts out, he says, "I knew you were a hard man." There's nothing in the parable, there's nothing that suggests that this is a hard man. There's nothing to suggest that. He, as we said last week, he trusts these servants with an almost unimaginable amount of wealth, right? He just leaves hundreds of years worth of wealth in the, in the, like... And it's not even like he's going off to war and he may never be coming back. He's just going on a journey.  [00:32:05] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:32:05] Tony Arsenal: He's just traveling for a little while, and he's like, "I'm gonna leave 100 years worth of labor with this guy and 40 years worth of labor with this guy and 20 years worth of labor with this guy." He, what, what, in what world is that a hard man who just blesses and trusts his servants with that amount of unimaginable wealth? But then he says, "I knew that you, uh, reaped where you did not sow and gathered where you scattered no seed." First of all, um, what kind of person accumulates this kind of wealth without reaping, uh, without the, like, a- apart from the principle of reaping and sowing and gathering and, and scattering? Like, he obviously is a very successful businessman. Um, the, the fact that this, uh, servant is couching this in agricultural terms, I think it's reasonable to think that this is a very successful landowner who has made good use of his land, has turned a profit Obviously he's reaping where he sows and he's gathering where he scattered or he wouldn't have this kind of money to throw around to leave with his servants in the first place. But the servant doesn't recognize that the fact that he was given one talent is in fact the master reaping or sowing and scattering the seed of these talents. So he's saying like, "Well, you reap where you have not sown," but the fact is like he was sown a full talent worth of resources and he, the, the master expected to reap what he had sown when he gets back. So this servant He's worthless and he's lazy, but he's also just kind of dumb in that he just doesn't- Right ... recognize the reality of what's going on. He has an incorrect understanding of who the master is. He thinks he's a hard man, when actually he's an incredibly trusting and generous master, right? The, the ESV masks this as servants. We're not talking about hired hands here. We're talking about slaves. Right. We're talking about h- probably about household slaves. This is doulos. These are the slaves that work in the fields, um, as opposed to, like, diakonos, which are the slaves that work in the house, right? These are, these are field servants. These are laborers that are indentured or are, are in servitude, and he gives them enough wages, enough labor, enough money, they could just take off and leave with it. They could buy their own freedom with this. Right. He trusts them with that. That's not a description of a hard man, a hard, lazy man who sows w- reaps where he doesn't sow and gathers where he doesn't scatter. So the primary issue here with this servant is not that he's lazy, although he is lazy. It's not that he's wicked. He is wicked. It's that he doesn't recognize who the master is. He doesn't understand who the master is and what is expected of him as a servant of that master, which I think, I think, as I've thought about this over the last week or so, I think that actually says everything about the eschatological import of this, right? Yes. Who is it that's not going to be saved in the last day?  [00:34:56] Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  [00:34:57] Tony Arsenal: It's the people who don't recognize the master. Right on. The people who think that the master is a hard man who reaps where he has not sown and gathers where he has not scattered. Well, if we think that's who God is, we have a lot of trouble coming our way. [00:35:10] Fearful False Theology [00:35:10] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that is the heart, right, of this dude's sin. It's a false theology of God that produces then this fearful inaction. Because, like you said, it's not just that he's been lazy. He has constructed this weird, distorted picture of his master, and then he allows that distortion to govern his behavior. So this, quote-unquote, "fear" is not like the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom, but it's this kind of craven dread that's rooted in a mischaracterization of the master's entire character. And one of the things that I think, among many, that's really great about the Reformed theological tradition is that it's always assisted, and I th- hopefully we along with it in our conversations, that, like, the right theology is not merely academic. It does shape the whole life, which is why, like, Calvin famously opens his institutes with this observation that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self are bound together. So- Yeah ... a person who genuinely knows the living God as gracious, generous, long-suffering, with that kind of hesed kind of love, who is good- W- that person will be motivated to active, trusting faithfulness. A person who privately believes God to be harsh and demanding is always, I think, going to retreat in this fearful, minimal kind of minimum champion-type compliance. It's the same thing, I think I always think about this for some reason, and mention it a lot probably, but it's the same thing with Joseph's brothers finding all their money back in the sacks-  [00:36:31] Tony Arsenal: Yeah ...  [00:36:32] Jesse Schwamb: with their food. It's, like, in that instant moment, all they have is fear and dread. And it- for this guy, that's exactly what he has. But it doesn't start, like you're saying, merely because he realizes that he should have done more, or he's comparing his return with that of everybody else, or even that he's going back and taking a look at his own actions and finding them to be full of want or lack. In fact, he does a really good job, at least in his own mind, theologically justifying his behavior. So here, what he, the real crime, the real shame, the real sin is that somehow he views the master as harsh and demanding and exploitative. That's wild. But of course, that was the root of everything else, which I think does give us pause to reflect on our own lives, like I said, as we come to understanding how this parable reads us. [00:37:20] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:37:21] Red Letters And Commentary [00:37:21] Tony Arsenal: And, um- Part of the reason why I think it's important to understand what I was talking about earlier with, you know, the, the Gospels are an interesting sort of like composite document in that, yes, they contain the true sayings of Jesus, the true, true, um, words of Christ. But this is also, a- and I promise that this will loop back around, this is, um, this is important for us. The red letters are no more God's word than the black letters, right? Mm-hmm. And what I mean by that is, like, the, the so-called words of Christ in scripture are not more inspired or more profitable than the words that are the commentary of the apostles. And I only say so-called, and I'll explain why I say that. As I said, like, Matthew is translating, uh, he- first of all, he's recalling what Christ has said. He's, he's probably not, um, sitting there with a, with a quill and a, you know, a piece of paper or a piece of parchment- Right ... transcribing what's, what Christ is saying as he goes. Right? He's, he was there. Matthew was there. He's recalling what Christ has said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's making editorial decisions about what Christ taught in terms of like, what of Christ's teaching do I capture? What do I summarize? And I think there's ... It's important because every word is inspired, but also it's understandable. And what I mean here, and what, the reason I'm kind of belaboring that is I think there's an interesting thing that happens in verse 29. It says, "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. And from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken." So this, this concept actually that, um, that verse 30 might be, uh, might actually be Matthew's commentary or even Christ's explanation of the parable, I think that actually, that actually expands to verse 29 in some of the commentators. So if we read it this way, and I think this, this may be valuable for us to at least ponder. If we read it this way, verse 27 is still the master in the parable space. It says, "Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents." There's a way of understanding this text, uh, and it's grammatically acceptable. I think theologically it doesn't change a lot, but it's worth us at least considering this. There's a way of reading this text where that's the end of the parable, and then Christ is explaining the parable, or Ma- or even maybe Matthew is commenting on the parable. It says, "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But to the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Now, I think that, um, as I said, the most natural way to read this is that the parable proper ends with verse 30, that all of this is part of the parable, all of this is the master in the parable speaking. But I do think verses 29 and 30 take on a more explanatory, um, uh, explanatory role, and this is the main reason why. The, the one parable, one talent servant in the parable, he's not properly described as the one who has not, right? He had one talent. He was given one talent. Right. It's not as though he had zero talents. The one who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and the one who has, more will be given.  [00:41:01] Has And Has Not [00:41:01] Tony Arsenal: This is actually, I think, where we can go really sideways on this parable. I hear this parable often interpreted as sort of this understanding that, like, God has blessed His people with certain gifts, and we have to use our gifts in the kingdom to be productive, and people who use their gifts in productive fashion will be given more responsibility and more opportunities. People who don't use their gifts, whatever opportunities they have will be taken away from them. Now, I, I would argue that's probably true on a practical level, um, and that's just actually just true in general, right? Right. A person who has responsibility, th- think of, like, your working environment. M- you know, all, most of our listeners are not working in regular pastoral ministry. This is one of those areas where I think, actually, the corporate world is more representative of how things are. Um, in the corporate world, if you are given responsibility and you excel and use that responsibility well and you are a productive servant of your company that you work for, you're going to be given more responsibility, whether that's in the form of a promotion, which is the ideal circumstances, or whether that's just your responsibilities as assigned, a job description expanding without pay. Either way, if you do a good job, if you, if you take the sphere of influence, the sphere of responsibility that you're given and you do a good job and you shepherd that well and you steward that well, that sphere of influence, that sphere of responsibility will expand. Um- If you squander it and you sit in your office watching TikTok videos or listening to music and you don't use that, uh, responsibility well, that sphere of influence will shrink, and ultimately it will shrink until you no longer have a job, right? It works a little differently, I think, in, like, traditional pastoral roles, and I think there are some in our audience that, them, are in those roles that this may not fit. That's a good general principle. I don't think that's what this is teaching. Like, I don't think this, this parable is about, like, productive ministry opportunities. Right. And if it was, we wouldn't be talking about people who have none, have not, right? We would be talking about people who have less. We'd be talking about people who are given less responsibility. The person who has no responsibility is who's in view here. And that's why- Mm ... I think it actually, this is shifting, this ex- explanation, whether it's, uh, sort of like an explanation, an explanatory punchline to the parable that's part of the parable itself, or whether it's Jesus or Matthew commenting on the meaning of the parable. The difference between those two things is important for us to think about. It's not so important in terms of what the actual meaning is. Because the difference here is that what we've now done is we've shifted from the context of a financial grounded analogy in the parable to now a broader discussion about the fact that there are those who have, and there are those who have not. And the people who have will be given more, and the people who have not will be taken away from. And if we were talking strictly financially, then now we're, like, in, like, Occupy Wall Street, 1% kind of era. We're talking about salvation. We're talking about, um, we're talking about the fact that God gives salvation to some, and He does not give salvation to others. He gives grace to some, and He does not give grace to others. And to those who have grace, more grace will be given. To those who have not grace, more will be taken away. And the outcome of that- Is that the worthless servant who is the one who has not, the worthless servant will be cast into the outer darkness, right? This is a, an explanation of what it means to be a worthless servant who ultimately ends their time. Ends is not the right word. Who ultimately has the outcome of s- of outer darkness for all eternity. If this parable is just about how we use our giftings and our skills and our money for the kingdom, and we're expected to be productive and to, like, increase the kingdom through our tithing and through our, like our service, then this comment about, like, the outer darkness is really out of place. Unless, unless we earn our salvation by that. Which of course we know we don't.  [00:45:22] Jesse Schwamb: Right. Right.  [00:45:24] Wicked And Slothful Heart [00:45:24] Jesse Schwamb: Here's how I think everything you said is true, and the scripture actually bears this out because it was exactly where you're going with that, which is we're talking more about the identity. Like, what, what makes this servant or slave worthless? That's the critical question. And then if we understand that, it'll help inform how we then interpret this idea of sheeps and goats, which we'll get to in a whole other episode. But if you look at verses 26 and 27, where the master then responds to this slave calls him wicked and slothful, slothful, right? So that his, his basically lack of usefulness comes embedded or underneath those two terms. So one, obviously the wickedness here is moral. It's a failure to fulfill a covenantal obligation to the master, which we've been talking about. So again, it's not just about laziness. Like there's, there's so much more there. It's as if that's the entry point for the master to bring condemnation on him in two forms. One is that wickedness. The second is this idea of like slothfulness, which is dispen- I was gonna say dispensational, but what I meant to say is dispositional. So it's like, uh, like a subtle inertia of the will, and together they're describing a person, and I think this is a critical point. This is a person whose heart has never been genuinely aligned with the master's purposes. Now, when we understand it that way, I think, then everything that follows makes a lot more sense because it's not just about bad timing in the market. It's not just about being fearful that you're gonna lose money and you're risk-averse, so therefore you hid, hid everything. It's really this idea that this, this s- slave, this one talent slave, he was not on board, not vibing with, not aligned with, however you wanna say it, with the master's purposes from the very beginning. And there is maybe we might say like a minimum of faithfulness, even interest on the deposit that God requires. But the question of course is never am I doing what the five talent servant does, but it's always am I using what I have been given? And in this way, like are we finding ourselves aligned, that our hearts are leaning into, that we find ourselves tilting towards what God has for us, both understanding who He is and who we are in light of who He is. What I find interesting is I found some really unique commentary from the great puritan William Ames in his book Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof. That's a title that only a puritan could- ... forward, um, where he actually treats this failure. So getting again to the sense of like why is it so grievous? Like in other words, why does the action of this servant, which we've already kind of touched on, lead into basically a character attack on the servant, and why is the connection between those two things legitimate? What he basically says is that he treats the failure to use one's gifts as God has given as a violation of the ninth commandment, which is bearing false witness against God's own estimation of those gifts. So this slothful servant, by burying his talent, effectively says, "This is not worth using." That is like the thing that God has given me, who God is Himself, I reject fully and outright. So why would that person then not be cast into outer darkness in kind of keeping with both like the, the breadth and scope of this parable, but also essentially what it's teaching about who this last, you know, servant is? [00:48:33] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and you know, as you say that, I think too, um- There's an element of this that is Because it ties to this servant's misunderstanding of the master, and then, a- and I think you're, you're bringing Calvin in here and, and sort of the idea that our knowledge of God and our kn- knowledge of self are so, like, intertwined that it- Right ... it's almost difficult to understand which comes first. Yes. Yes. Calvin concludes that the knowledge of God is logically prior, but he, he also acknowledges that, like, it's really tough to sort of like figure out which one is more logically prior. This servant starts from the understanding that the master is a wicked master, that he is an immoral, lazy master. I- and it's, it's ironic. It does- the text doesn't say this, but I think it's a reasonable extrapolation. Um, the, the wicked, slothful servant projects his own wickedness and his own slothfulness onto the master, right? He, he projects that the master is a wicked man, is a hard man, and also that he's lazy. He, he does- he reaps where he doesn't sow, he gathers where he doesn't scatter. And the action of the, of the, the character of the servant is not derived from his inaction. Right. It's his inaction that- Yes ... causes the, or it's his, his character- Character ... that drives his lack of action, right?  [00:50:12] Sheep Goats Identity [00:50:12] Tony Arsenal: The good and faithful servants, they're not, and this is where we're gonna come when we come next week. Like, this is where we're gonna go when we get to next week's. Just as maybe, like, I, I want you to listen next week, but you probably don't need to, 'cause I'm gonna give you the whole punchline here.  [00:50:27] Jesse Schwamb: Wow.  [00:50:27] Tony Arsenal: The sheep act like sheep because they're sheep.  [00:50:29] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:50:30] Tony Arsenal: They don't become sheep because they do sheep things. They do sheep things because they're sheep, and the goats do goat things because they're goats.  [00:50:37] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:50:37] Tony Arsenal: The wicked, lazy servant does wicked, lazy servant things because he's a wicked lady- lazy servant, right? He buries the talent in the ground because he's a wicked, lazy servant. The good, faithful servants j- just do what good, faithful servants do. They, they make a return on the master's talents because that's what they do, right? And I think where we have to be really careful and where, uh, the other pitfall that this parable can bring us to, and I kinda referenced it a little bit earlier, is there can be sort of this subtle works righteousness that creeps in, that we can believe if we're really good and productive for the kingdom, then that's what will earn us the good and faithful servant commendation when we, we cross into glory. The reality is there are those who cross into glory and hear good and faithful servant, right? There are those who will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." And there are those who will not. They will have what little they have taken away from them, and they will be cast into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, right? That's not a statement on what we've earned. It's a statement on who we are.  [00:51:48] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:51:49] Tony Arsenal: So you can either be the faithful servant who trusts the character of the Lord, who doesn't think Him to be a hard man, who reaps where He doesn't sow and gathers where He doesn't scatter. You can trust the master, and in the act of trusting the master and knowing His character, you just do what good, faithful servants do. You work hard, you follow the servant, the master's lead, and you produce a return on what is there. Right? In, a- and we didn't talk about this too much. In effect, these servants are reflecting the nature of the master.  [00:52:23] Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  [00:52:23] Tony Arsenal: Because you don't get to the point where you can leave 100 years worth of wealth to one servant, and 40 years worth of wealth to another servant, and 20 years worth of wealth to another servant if you have not yourself been a productive, faithful person who knows how to reap and sow appropriately, right? [00:52:42] Gospel Joy Or Darkness [00:52:42] Tony Arsenal: That is the key to this parable,

Alright, alright, alrighttt... We're back for part 2 of our blue avian taint discussion! JJ and I continue our conversation regarding the legend of David Wilcock, inconsistencies with the timeline of his passing and more.Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)!⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠Want to reach out? Ghost.peach@outlook.com

Back to the state where it ALL started for me as we visit with Rodney Baney, the Athletic Director at Oregon's Central Linn High School. Rodney shares his journey along with some Best Practices for ADs, Coaches, and Leaders on this episode of The Educational AD Podcast!

In this episode, I am talking about a question I think every Amazon seller should be asking regularly, is your Amazon account reaching its full potential?What I often see is that Amazon does not need to be performing badly for there to be room for improvement. In fact, some of the biggest opportunities come from accounts that are already generating sales, but have stopped evolving. Small gaps in optimisation, visibility, advertising, or operations can quietly limit growth without you realising it.I also see sellers giving up too early because they assume Amazon is not working for them, when actually the account simply has not had the right attention yet. When you start to look closely, there are usually clear, actionable areas that can improve both sales and profitability.So in this episode, I walk you through the key signs that your Amazon account reaching its full potential might not yet be happening, what to look for inside your listings and ads, and how small changes can start to compound into meaningful results over time.Chapters00:00 Introduction, why Amazon accounts often have hidden potential02:40 Signs your account could be doing more, even if sales feel steady06:10 Outdated listings and missed optimisation opportunities09:20 Visibility versus conversion, where sales can be quietly lost12:10Improving conversions through listings, images and storefronts15:20 Ads performance, data review and missed opportunities18:10 Operational improvements and profitability gains21:10 Final thoughts, why small changes compound over timeLET'S CONNECTFollow me on YouTubeFind me on InstagramWork with me Buy My Book: Bring Your Product Idea To LifeIf you enjoy this podcast, and you'd like to leave a tip, you can do so here: https://bring-your-product-idea.captivate.fm/supportMentioned in this episode:Amazon Made Easy is now openMy membership, Amazon Made Easy is now open. It's a membership for people who are selling on Amazon (or planning to) and want regular access to support, somewhere to ask questions and talk things through, and a bit of structure and accountability as they grow. Inside, there are live Q&A calls, optional co-working sessions and a small, supportive community. Find out more: https://vickiweinberg.com/membership membership

THROWWBACKKK!!!"Welcome back to the show! Today I have a real treat for you! It's the great Scott Peterson debate! Did he do it or not? Well, that's the question JJ Vance, Colby and I will be tackling today. There is a lot of information to discuss and unpack regarding this case. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!"Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠ Want to reach out?Ghost.peach@outlook.com

In this episode, Josh interviews Destaney, CEO of Better AMS, about advanced Amazon advertising strategies. Destaney shares insights on setting ad budgets based on brand goals, structuring campaigns for profitability and growth, and the importance of campaign-level organization. They discuss the challenges of managing large SKU counts and the need for software tools like Pacvue, highlighting that expertise is crucial to leverage such platforms. Destaney emphasizes using data-driven, white-hat strategies and staying proactive with Amazon ads. The episode wraps up with actionable tips and an invitation to connect with Better AMS for further learning and free brand audits.Chapters:Introduction & Guest Background (00:00:00)Josh introduces Destaney, CEO of Better AMS, and discusses her background in Amazon advertising.Destaney's Experience in Amazon Ads (00:00:49)Destaney shares her journey, starting young in Amazon ads, and her experience managing large ad spends.Budgeting for Amazon Ads (00:01:23)Discussion on how brand owners should approach setting budgets for Amazon ads based on goals and growth.Structuring Campaigns for Different Objectives (00:02:05)Destaney explains campaign-level structuring for profitability, keyword research, brand defense, and market share.Fluid Budget Allocation & Campaign Adjustments (00:03:05)How to fluidly adjust budgets between campaigns based on product launches and changing objectives.Challenges Managing Many SKUs & Need for Software (00:04:05)Josh describes the difficulty of managing 1200 SKUs and the need for software to optimize Amazon PPC.Evaluating Amazon PPC Software & Automation (00:05:14)Destaney discusses the importance of having knowledgeable staff and choosing the right software for automation.Advanced vs. Automated Software Solutions (00:07:08)Recommendations for advanced users (rules-based tools like Pacvue) vs. automated solutions for less experienced teams.Limitations of AI in Amazon Ad Tools (00:08:10)Destaney explains the current limitations of AI in Amazon ad software due to restricted data access.Pacvue & Importance of Expertise (00:09:04)Josh and Destaney discuss why Pacvue is powerful but requires deep Amazon ad knowledge to use effectively.Actionable Takeaways for Brand Owners (00:10:33)Josh summarizes three key action items: focus on brand metrics, shift mindset on ranking strategies, and invest in expertise.Closing & Where to Find Destaney (00:13:38)Destaney shares where listeners can follow her and learn more about Better AMS, including free brand audits.Links and Mentions:Tools and Software"Perpetua": "00:07:08""Pacvue": "00:08:40"Websites and Social Media"Better AMS" now BTRMedia: "00:13:52""LinkedIn": "00:13:52"Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm super excited to introduce you all to Destaney with Sean. Destaney is the CEO of better AMS and better. AMS is a retail media agency managing over $50 million of spend across Walmart and Amazon. So with that, welcome to the show, Destaney.Destaney 00:00:16  Thank you so much for having me, Josh. Really excited to be here.Josh 00:00:19  I'm super excited to have you on the show. My team is also excited to have you on the show, because they watch your YouTube videos and all the content that you're putting out, and oftentimes in our own strategy meetings, it will be, hey, I remember Destaney said this, Destaney said that. And so to have you on the podcast, I'm super excited to have you here. And I think I want to encourage our listeners to pay attention, because Destaney knows what she's talking about as it relates to Amazon advertising.Destaney 00:00:49  I hope so. I have been in this space for like six years, and I have done nothing but Amazon ads. So, you know, a lot of people are forced to go wide, whether it's because you're brand building or how quickly the industry industry changes.Destaney 00:01:02  I was super thankful to be thrown into Amazon advertising management at like 22 years old. I think my first large brand was managing around $10 million spend a quarter, so I, I had to learn really fast and this is all I know at this point. So thank you everyone for supporting my content because you are, you know, paying for my meals at night.Josh 00:01:23  I love it. A lot of brand owners come to you probably and say, oh well, my budget is unlimited if it's profitable, right? Like if it's profitable, then spend as much as you want. And I think I've fallen into that camp at some times. So Destaney, based on your wealth of knowledge and experience working with even higher level brands, doing 300 million a year, what, like how would you recommend a brand owner comes up with a budget for their products?Destaney 00:01:53  Yep. Yeah. So a budget's obviously so dependent on goals and growth and all of those things. So I always struggle to give that. I will say I interviewed a ton of the other agency owners.Destaney 00:02:05  I think we're managing in total. I kind of like over $500 million worth of spend. And what everyone said an average tacos for a high growth brand that's trying to be competitive is around 10 to 15%. I don't love giving that as a general gauge, because I know a lot of people have certain SKUs that are going to be a lot higher because they're more competitive category, different goals. And I hate giving like one size fits all solutions. Anyone who's listened to me or follow me knows that. It's like my biggest pet peeve. but I will say something to remember is that Amazon advertising is actually really precise. you know, sometimes like Facebook ads where you're doing audience targeting and behavioral aspects are combined in Amazon. Ads are not like that. You can be so granular. So one thing we recommend is we we set up all of our strategies on the campaign level. So when a brand comes to us we're going to have campaigns for profitability. We're going to have campaigns for keyword research. We're going to have campaigns for brand defense, and we're going to have campaigns for rank or market share.Destaney 00:03:05  And when we have all of those set up, that means we can take that budget and fluidly adjust based on our needs. So if we have a $20,000 a month budget and this month we're launching a new product, we're going to shift more of that budget to be focused on rank. And that's going to take away from our profitability campaigns, which means we're probably going to have a higher ACOs, but we're launching now the moment that becomes steady. We're going to lower our budget on our rank and move to profitability. So that way we can be really fluid with those adjustments that make your Amazon advertising align with your actual top line sales goals.Josh 00:03:40  Now that makes a lot of sense. Now I think we I could dive in even further with you. We could get into some real nitty gritty stuff here. Maybe that would have to be a part two. because what I'd like to shift into is we went through this last year in terms of trying to identify a software solution that could execute a lot of these good strategies.Josh 00:04:05  So for our team, you know, we hired an internal PPC manager. We were formerly with an advertising agency for I think four years. So we'd been with them for a long time. But to your point, you know, it's hard for an agency to really get into the details of every single product and tracking their metrics. And w...

What's going on everybody?! On today's episode, JJ Vance from Operation GCD and I discuss the legend of David Wilcock and of course, the blue avian taint agenda! This is going to be part one of a very interesting discussion. Enjoy!Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠ Want to reach out?Ghost.peach@outlook.com

What does scaling with Meta ads look like behind the scenes?   In this episode, I sit down with Claire English from The Unteachables to talk about what really happens when an established, purpose-led business finally decides to stop relying only on organic marketing and start investing in profitable Meta ads.   We talk about the mindset blocks around money, scaling, visibility and growth, especially for founders who genuinely care about people and don't want marketing to feel manipulative.   If you've ever wondered how much should I spend on Facebook ads, whether Meta ads actually work, or if ads can help you scale sustainably without burnout, this conversation is for you.   Learn more about working with Lume Marketing ●        The next 8-week mentoring program where you'll learn to run Meta ads like a pro is opening soon. Apply now. ●        Hire us to run your ads ●        Learn how to run your own ads   Claire shares how she built a hugely successful business organically over five years before joining my Meta ads training program, and what happened next blew both of us away.   We talk about the reality of scaling a business with Facebook and Instagram ads, the fear of spending money on ads for the first time, and what it looks like to move from six figure years to six figure months with a clear Facebook ads strategy.   We also get into the difference between growing a business and scaling one, why purpose-led growth matters, and how Meta ads can create more impact, income and freedom when used strategically.   One of my favourite parts of this episode is hearing Claire explain what scaling her ads gave her beyond revenue: more certainty, breathing room and the ability to support thousands more teachers without needing to be permanently glued to Instagram.   If you're a founder, educator, coach, service provider or product-based business owner trying to work out whether Meta ads are the next step for you, this episode will help you understand what sustainable business growth can really look like. It's also a reminder that there's no overnight success. The businesses that scale well usually have strong foundations first. Ads just help fan the flames.   What's one belief about money, marketing or Meta ads that you've had to work through in your own business? Come chat with us over on Instagram at @lumemarketing   Contact details mentioned: ●        Connect with Claire and The Unteachables on Instagram, LinkedIn or via their website ●        Connect with Lume Marketing on Instagram, Facebook of via our website ●        Megan Winter on LinkedIn ●        Ripple Festival   Resources ·       Should you run your own ads or partner with an agency? Take the quiz here to find out. ·       10 most common Meta ads red flags, and how to avoid them. Download for free here.   Loved the pod? ·       Leave a review and you may just find yourself getting a shoutout on the pod.

Oliver Bruce breaks down the real difference between SEO, AEO and GEO: search engine optimisation, answer engine optimisation and generative engine optimisation. Most marketers and most agencies treat these as the same thing with different names. They are not. They work on different surfaces, need different strategies and are measured with completely different KPIs.The stakes are simple. In the first four months of 2026, 68% of Google searches ended without a single click. Across 680 million AI citations, just 15 domains captured 68% of all citation share. This is a winner takes all environment. If your brand is not in the top tier of cited sources for your category, you are invisible to AI.Oliver walks through a step-by-step action plan for each discipline. How to fix your technical foundation and build topical authority for SEO. How to win featured snippets and zero click answers with AEO. How to become the source that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google Gemini trust, cite and recommend with GEO.This is a concrete playbook you can start executing this week.Key topics covered: The real difference between SEO, AEO and GEO Why 68% of Google searches now end without a click How to run a technical SEO audit AI crawlers can actually read Building topical authority with pillar pages and content clusters The EEAT signals Google uses to judge content quality Mapping the question landscape for answer engine optimisation Writing direct answer content that wins featured snippets Using structured data and schema to surface your content Auditing whether AI tools currently mention your brand at all Creating original research that AI models want to cite Building offsite brand presence across PR, Reddit and LinkedIn Monitoring your AI share of voice month on month Key takeaway: The brands that win the next decade of search will run SEO, AEO and GEO in parallel. The ones still selling the 2022 playbook will disappear from the conversation.Sponsored by Incard — Sponsored by Incard. Sign up now. All your finances. One platform. For 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Here's your promo code: UNLOCK2026 More Value:Follow on YouTube for deep-dives & video episodes: www.youtube.com/@TheUnlockOliverBruceNeed a 1-2-1 with Oliver or want to be on the show, visit: www.oliverbruce.co.ukRead more information on key points in Oliver's newsletter: The Brucey Bonus newsletterFollow The Unlock & Oliver's socials:LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Apple Podcast | Spotify podcast

What happens when a beauty entrepreneur creates an incredible product… but doesn't yet have the systems to scale it? In this episode from the Fixing a Stranger's Beauty Business in Under 20 Minutes series at 2025 LashCon, Sheila Bella sits down with Jessi, founder of G & E Spa Essentials, a clean skincare and wellness brand born from one mother's determination to help her daughter's health and sensitive skin. What started as homemade bath bombs in the basement has now grown into a business that produces over 200 products with a manufacturing warehouse and storefront. But now after committing to being an entrepreneur full time, Jessi is ready to level up!  She's looking for more reach, automation, scalability, and ultimately, enough income to retire her husband from teaching. In under 20 minutes, Sheila breaks down the exact strategy Jessi needs to scale from word-of-mouth growth into a true million-dollar brand using visibility, paid ads, funnels, email marketing, and automation. This episode is a masterclass on what actually creates sustainable growth in today's beauty industry. Because amazing products alone don't scale businesses. Systems do. Check out G& E Spa Essentials at: gandespaessentials.com

Natalie Brunell sits down with Strategy's Michael Saylor at BTC Prague, just after he took heat for selling 32 Bitcoin — and for recent comments defending how he measures the company's growth and what its stock is really worth. Saylor answers the critics and short sellers head-on, explaining why "never sell your Bitcoin" is advice for everyday holders, no longer a rule for a company built to buy Bitcoin and pay out Bitcoin-backed dividends. We discuss: Why "never sell your Bitcoin" is advice for individual retail investors How the company is built to survive a crash Why he argues Bitcoin needs credit to keep winning The four ideologies of Bitcoin When he expects capital to rotate back from AI into Bitcoin Follow Michael Saylor on X https://x.com/saylor ---- Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU  --- Coin Stories is powered by Gemini. Invest as you spend with the Gemini Credit Card. Earn up to 4% back in sats on everyday purchases like gas and groceries. Sign up today https://www.gemini.com/natalie  ---- Ledn is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $10 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. Get .25% off your first loan, learn more at https://www.Ledn.io/natalie  ---- Abundant Mines is a fully-managed Bitcoin mining in the U.S. You own the miners. You keep 100% of the Bitcoin. Voted #1 mining company by peers. Get 1 month of free hosting: AbundantMines.com/Natalie ---- Natalie's Bitcoin Product Partners: Check out my favorite lightning wallet and trivia app Speed Wallet. If you're a business, let Speed help you accept BTC like they did for Steak 'n Shake! Visit http://speed.app/natalie/ and use code COINSTORIES10 for 5,000 free sats Block's Bitkey Cold Storage Wallet was named to TIME's prestigious Best Inventions of 2024 in the category of Privacy & Security. Get 10% off using code STORIES at https://bitkey.world/STORIES Master your Bitcoin self-custody with 1-on-1 help and gain peace of mind with the help of The Bitcoin Way: https://www.thebitcoinway.com/natalie  With BitcoinIRA, you can invest in bitcoin 24/7 inside a tax-advantaged IRA. Choose a Traditional IRA to defer taxes, or a Roth IRA for tax-free withdrawals later. Take control of your future with BitcoinIRA: https://www.bitcoinira.com/natalie Natalie's Upcoming Events: The best time to plan for Bitcoin 2027 is right now. Early bird tickets are live — grab the lowest pricing available and use code HODL for 10% off: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2027?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=HODL  Extra Services to Consider: Protect yourself from SIM Swaps that can hack your accounts and steal your Bitcoin. Join America's most secure mobile service, trusted by CEOs, VIPs and top corporations: https://www.efani.com/natalie   Ditch your fiat health insurance like I did four years ago! Join me at CrowdHealth: www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie  ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. Ads in this episode are baked-in and may reference promotions or offers that are no longer available at the time of listening. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

Have you seen Shrek's face? Are you a believer? Shrek turned 25 this year and yet the humor - and deeper narrative threads - feel like they haven't aged a day. James looks into this swamped franchise and sees the ugly truth of fairy tales and friendship, why we should probably listen when an ass is talking, and most importantly why we shouldn't be a Farquaad. Watch the episode here. Chapters 0:24 - Welcome & Summary 1:27 - Popcorn Theology Ratings 7:05 - Subscribe, Share, Support 7:43 - Ads 9:46 - SPOILERS! Theology Thoughts 11:19 - The Truth of Fairy Tales 14:41 - Role Reversal 17:00 - Identity & Friendship 20:08 - How the SAVIOR Comes 24:24 - Donkeys & Change 27:47 - Wrap Up 30:02 - Until Next Time… Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and click the notification bell. Follow & connect: https://linktr.ee/popcorntheology Support: https://www.patreon.com/popcorntheology Rate and review to get 2 FREE Popcorn Theology Stickers! Write a 5-star review and send a screenshot, along with your mailing address, to feedback@popcorntheology.com, and you'll receive 2 FREE stickers! iTunes link here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/popcorn-theology/id990110281  #shrek #mikemyers #eddiemurphy #camerondiaz #FaithAndFilm #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #ChristianPodcast #MediaLiteracy #ReformedTheology #christianmoviereview Intro Music by Ross Bugden: https://youtu.be/Bln0BEv5AJ0?si=vZx_YiHK3hNxaETA

Our ORIGINAL Tech Tuesday guest - Athletic Director and Tech Guru Scott Paine - is back with a look back and a look forward on how "Tech" has impacted the role of ADs and what might be coming in the future! THIS is Tech Tuesday on The Educational AD Podcast!

Send us Fan MailDo you keep telling yourself you need more credentials, another certification, or even an MBA before you can build a successful direct care practice?In this episode, I challenge that belief and show you why the missing piece isn't more education—it's a clear offer. I break down the three types of direct care offers, why packages outperform fee-for-service, and the six elements every compelling offer needs. If patients seem confused, pricing feels awkward, or growth feels slow, this episode will help you create the clarity that turns expertise into a thriving practice. Support the showBuild Your Profitable Direct Pay Package get on my email list to be the first to know about the next live coaching session hereDirect Care Launch Course: A self-guided course to your Direct Care practice now available here. LIMITED TIME BONUS: You will receive additional 6 live group coaching support (value $1800). Get started now. Now. NOW!!For specialists tired on insurance and ready to do something about it. If you're ready to open but don't know where to start, take the readiness assessment and book a clarity call here.--> Join the Direct Care Society, a private WhatsApp community here. Ads free!EMR I'm currently using in my Direct Care practice Simple PracticeFind me on LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/teadpmMore resources teadpm.com

Send us Fan MailDo you keep telling yourself you need more credentials, another certification, or even an MBA before you can build a successful direct care practice?In this episode, I challenge that belief and show you why the missing piece isn't more education—it's a clear offer. I break down the three types of direct care offers, why packages outperform fee-for-service, and the six elements every compelling offer needs. If patients seem confused, pricing feels awkward, or growth feels slow, this episode will help you create the clarity that turns expertise into a thriving practice. Support the showBuild Your Profitable Direct Pay Package get on my email list to be the first to know about the next live coaching session hereDirect Care Launch Course: A self-guided course to your Direct Care practice now available here. LIMITED TIME BONUS: You will receive additional 6 live group coaching support (value $1800). Get started now. Now. NOW!!For specialists tired on insurance and ready to do something about it. If you're ready to open but don't know where to start, take the readiness assessment and book a clarity call here.--> Join the Direct Care Society, a private WhatsApp community here. Ads free!EMR I'm currently using in my Direct Care practice Simple PracticeFind me on LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/teadpmMore resources teadpm.com

In this video I join with Dave Kropf of @52Cues to talk about how we see the Future of Sync Licensing.#musiclicensing #synclicensing #musicroyaltiesLearn More About 52 Cues:https://www.52cues.com/WORK WITH ERIC:Work directly with composer and producer Eric Copeland and his sync production company Positive Spin Songs to develop albums of music for pitching to sync licensing for TV, Film, Ads, and Gaming. Weekly Partner Zoom Meeting, Monday Morning Updates, and work on an album monthly directly with Eric.https://payhip.com/b/iJpkeGet FREE stuff athttps://makemusicincome.com/free/DISTROKID:Get your music to Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and more for one yearly price.Get 7% Off:https://distrokid.com/vip/seven/911910Get 50% off if you are a student or educator!https://distrokid.com/student/911910NEED GEAR?SWEETWATER SOUND: Support the channel by using this link to find the latest deals and get the gear you need at our favorite music store, Sweetwater Sound!https://sweetwater.sjv.io/q4JEB5DISCO: Show off your amazing portfolio and be where the music supervisors and music buyers are!Click here:https://disco.ac/signup?b=2095&u=34391IDENTIFYY: Get paid when your music is used on YouTubeClick here:https://identifyy.com?referral=MTMzMjc2POND5: Get into Music Licensing easily! Use this referral code to sign up and get started selling YOUR music with Pond5!Click here:https://www.pond5.com?ref=FromtheMomentMusicJOIN OUR COMMUNITY ON DISCORD:https://bit.ly/3fYDSVdMY SYNC LICENSING MUSICPositive Spin Songs - https://positivespinsongs.comMY PERSONAL MUSIC:https://www.ericcopelandmusic.com0:00 - Welcome to the Future (and Dave)3:02 - Disclaimer5:58 - The Future of Sync for Beginners19:56 - The Future of Sync for Income27:19 - The Future of Sync 5 Years In37:41 - The Future of Sync & A.I.50:40 - Eric's Rant to Composers About A.I.54:28 - Sync and A.I Do Not Mix in 2026!1:01:03 - Changes to Libraries in the Future?1:08:03 - The Future of Dave in Sync1:10:32 - The Future of Eric in Sync1:14:56 - Stop Sync, Keep Making Income?1:18:41 - Should You Switch Sync Libraries?1:20:43 - The Future of Jazz in Sync?

When I first heard about Flightcast on the Podbiz show, I thought, "I have to have Rox Codes on my show." I had Rox do a Flightcast demo for members of the School of Podcasting. Rox has worked for Mr. Beast, Microsoft, Facebook and many more.In this episode of the School of Podcasting, I sit down with Rox Codes, co-creator of Flight Cast, the video-first hosting platform built in partnership with Steven Bartlett from Diary of a CEO.If you've been thinking about getting more serious with video podcasting, YouTube growth, or centralizing your stats from multiple platforms, this one is for you.This content may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services I trust and believe will provide value to you. Thank you for your support!Got Feedback On This Episode?I'd love to hear what you thought about this episode. If you have a minute or two, it's less than five questions and works great on your phone or computer. Share Your ThoughtsWhat We Talk About in This EpisodeIn this conversation, we cover:What Flight Cast actually is (and who it's for)Why it's a video-first hosting platformHow “one upload, one dashboard” pushes your show to YouTube, Spotify, Apple, RSS, and audio platformsHow you can keep it simple or go crazy with customizationSimple upload, powerful customizationUpload one episode and:Send video to YouTube, Spotify, Apple, RSSSend audio everywhere elseSchedule different release times per platform (e.g., 6 AM audio, 8 AM YouTube)Use different titles, descriptions, and even different edits per platformUpload separate versions of the file (say “subscribe” in one, “follow” in another)Use AI to:Generate titles, descriptions, and chapters in your own styleAuto-format chapters correctly for each platformAll your stats in one placeHow Flight Cast pulls:YouTube viewsSpotify streamsRSS downloadsAnd rolls them up into a single “plays” metricAdditional analytics you get:Day-by-day performanceNew vs returning followersCross-platform uniquesBreakdown by platform, country, state, cityA built-in “giant spreadsheet” you don't have to build yourselfAudience overlap (who listens to episode A and episode B)Using the built-in AI chat to answer questions like:“Rank all my episodes on YouTube in the last 6 months by views in the first 24 hours.”“What's my 100-day average per episode?”Ads, programmatic, and retention dataHow Flight Cast handles:Geo-targetingProgrammatic adsDynamic ad slotsWhy retention graphs matter more than a single download numberHow to look at:Drop-off moments (what caused the skip?)Chapter jumps (what are people skipping to?)Rox's “favorite stat” and why views still matter most in his worldClips, test channels, and experimentationLets you “always be testing” in the backgroundHow to ramp up clips:Start with 1 clip/daySlowly increase to 2, 3, then 4 maxWhy this kind of ongoing experimentation is like treating your show as a recipe, not a statueMoving from audio to video (without losing your mind)Rox's core idea:Video isn't a file format, it's an algorithmOn YouTube, TikTok, Reels, Shorts: publishing and discovery are the same thingThe big mindset shift:Audio podcasting = small optimization games (SEO, cross-promo, ads)YouTube = “get good” at a few big levers:ThumbnailsTitlesIdeasIntrosWhy the first 30 seconds, title, and thumbnail matter so much more than most of us want to admitTalking-head video vs fancy productionWhy talking heads are NOT bad content:Joe Rogan is talking headsDiary of a CEO is talking headsWhy audio quality is still 80% of the experience even on videoWhen 4K matters (and when it doesn't):720 → 1080 is a big jump1080 → 4K is “nice to have,” not mandatoryFlight Cast's support for full 4K, including Apple HLS video, and why they built it to “respect” creators who go the extra mileWho Flight Cast is for and pricingTarget user: serious video podcasters / “intermediate plus”Why Rox calls it a “jackhammer”—powerful, but you don't always need that much powerPricing (at the time of this conversation):Starts around $50/month for everything except clipsHigher tiers ($100–$250/month) if you want more clips and higher download limitsBasic plan includes:Up to 50,000 downloads/monthFull 4K video, Apple HLS, no bandwidth chargesAround 3 TB of storage (which almost nobody hits)Learning YouTube: resources Rox recommendsApril Lynn Alter (YouTube channel)Patty Galloway (YouTube channel)Creator Hooks by Jake Thomas (newsletter)A dose of reality about YouTube and videoWe talk frankly about:People who spend days or even weeks perfecting a thumbnailThe sheer amount of time it can take to get good at YouTubeMy big point:It's okay if you don't have that timeJust understand what you're up against so you don't get discouragedMy biggest fear:People add video to an already full plateBurn out on videoThen quit podcasting entirelyI want you to set realistic expectationsBonus: For audio-only podcasters who still want better statsPodAnalyst.com – in beta with their pro plan free for nowTracks:Listening completion at 25%, 50%, 75%, etc.How long people are actually listeningTo me, that's the real “is my show any good?” metric:If people are only listening to 25% of an episode, that's a signalYou can track up to 10 keywords, share stats with team members, and export data while they're in beta.My TakeawaysHere's what I want you to remember from this episode:If you go into video, YouTube is an algorithm game, not just a file format.You don't need cinematic production; you do need:Strong audioA compelling titleA curiosity-driven thumbnailA sharp first 30 secondsTools like FlightCast can:Save you time by distributing everywhere from one uploadHelp you understand your audience by putting all your stats in one placeYou don't have to “go full YouTuber” to benefit from thinking like one.And again, if you're already overwhelmed with audio, please don't feel like you “have to” add video. I'd rather you keep podcasting than burn out chasing an unrealistic video workload.Links MentionedI'll have links to everything we...

Shownotes - https://www.nerdnest.tv/podcast/episode-151

Send us Fan MailIn today's 'EPISODE 469 SECURITY DURING THE END TIMES--WHERE DOES OUR FAITH LEAD US? CAN JESUS REALLY COME TO OUR RESCUE? WHEN IS THE RAPTURE COMING? WILL IT BE SOON? WHERE DOES JESUS TALK ABOUT OUR RESCUE FROM THE GREAT TRIBULATION?' we can find our comfort in God's promise to come and save us... but we must hold on until the end to do this. Author and host Elbert Hardy suggests we focus on Jesus as our Savior and that he alone can and will be the One and ONLY Rescuer!Support the showGo to itellwhy.com to read Elbert's books free of charge, no Ads and no requests for money or Email addresses. You can watch faith building YouTube Links to Videos and the listen to Elbert's Life of Christ Audio Book in 30 minute Episodes arranged and read by the author straight from the Bible, but rearranged in logical harmony of the Gospels, Revelation and other scriptures. All FREE of charge in the public interest.

A complicated miscarriage. A goodbye in a hospital room. Two years of everything going wrong. Then they bought their first property — Claire eight months pregnant, the world in lockdown.

Crypto News: Michael Saylor lies saying Strategy never said it would sell its Bitcoin. Visa says it has moved $7B annually in stablecoins through its network. Stellar Development Foundation has unveiled a quantum preparedness plan to migrate all XLM accounts to quantum-resistant signatures by end of 2027. Ripple and Bitso expand their partnership, bringing Bitso's MXN-backed stablecoin MXNB to the XRP Ledger. Brought to you by

Well I have quiet a story for you guys today. I've heard some fucked up shit in my day but never a roadkill rapist. Jeffrey Dahmer would eat his heart out at the sight of this guy! (See what I did there) Anyways, got a great show here for us today! Enjoy!Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)!⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠Want to reach out? Ghost.peach@outlook.com

THROWWBACKKK!!!"Welcome back! Today I have a really fun episode for you! Ryan Dean from Dangerous World podcast, John Gusty author of Red Pill Revolution & Colby from Conspiracy Playtime join us to discuss some of the craziest psychological operations, inverted celebrities and so so much more!"Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)!⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠Want to reach out? Ghost.peach@outlook.com

Is modern streaming officially taking away what you pay for? In Episode 467, host Steve "Megatron" Phillips and TFG1Mike tackle the recent outrage surrounding Netflix's ad-supported tier. While the "Standard with Ads" plan saves a few bucks, subscribers are just realizing that licensing restrictions mean a glaring lock icon is blocking some of the platform's biggest movies and shows. We break down the frustration of paying for a service only to find your favorite content held hostage.Plus, we look at the massive win for digital media collectors as Lionsgate officially joins Movies Anywhere, unlocking hits like John Wick and Knives Out across connected retailers. From the fake internet rumors surrounding a Phineas and Ferb cast "prom photo" to the early teaser for Scooby-Doo: Origins hitting Netflix in 2027, we've got a jam-packed week in Geekdom.What you'll get out of this episode:The truth about Netflix's ad-supported tier and why certain shows are locked down.What Lionsgate joining Movies Anywhere means for your digital film library sync.Why internet rumor mills targeted Phineas and Ferb stars Vincent Martella and Alyson Stoner.Get Altered, Get Geeky, with the Altered Geeks!Top Stories & Featured LinksDigital Locker Win: Lionsgate is Joining Movies AnywhereTier Lockdown: Netflix Plans and Pricing: The Reality of the Ad-Tier Lock IconAnimation Teaser: Scooby-Doo: Origins Official Teaser Trailer (2027)TV News Order: NCIS: New York Ordered At CBS Starring LL COOL J & Scott CaanTopic KeywordsNetflix Ad Plan Lock Icon, Blockbuster Video Millennial Nostalgia, Lionsgate Movies Anywhere Launch, Scooby Doo Origins 2027, Vincent Martella Alyson Stoner Photo Rumor, Digital Movie Locker Sync, NCIS New York CBS, ScreenRant Clickbait Criticism, Google Icon Design Options, Streaming Service Licensing Restrictions.Keywords (Comma Separated)Netflix ad tier, Blockbuster nostalgia, Movies Anywhere Lionsgate, Scooby Doo 2027, Vincent Martella, Digital movie locker, Streaming lock icon, Streaming licensing restrictions, NCIS New York, Media consolidation 2026.

Eight years in this industry, and the one thing that's never changed? Everyone online has an opinion and they're saying it like it's law. High ticket is the only way to scale. No, passive income is the move. Master organic before you touch ads. Ads are a waste when you're small. Charge your worth. Batch your content. Outsource your zone of genius. The bold, all-or-nothing takes are everywhere, and when you're trying to actually build a business, they create more noise than direction. Today's episode is my unfiltered take on the advice circulating online right now. What I genuinely disagree with, why, and what I think the more honest, nuanced version of each actually looks like. We're covering a lot of ground: why "charge your worth" is too abstract to be useful and what strategic pricing actually requires, the real lifestyle behind passive income businesses (it's not what you're seeing in the content), why discounting doesn't automatically attract the wrong clients, the problem with blind delegation even when something isn't your zone of genius, and why telling new businesses to avoid paid ads until they hit a certain revenue number is one of the laziest pieces of advice on the internet. We also get into comparison, personal brand, morning routines, going viral, social proof, and what it actually means to love what you do. This isn't about arguing with the internet. It's about giving you the discernment to walk into any bold claim from a guru, a peer, even a friend and know how to think about it critically instead of absorbing it at face value. Because the most powerful place you can be as a business owner is the one where you trust your own read on things. This episode is designed to get you there. Timestamps:04:08 Personal Brand Reality12:27 Passive Income Truths19:44 Funnels Defined Simply22:27 Do You Need A Website25:27 Virality Versus Growth28:41 Discounting And Brand Tier33:16 Batching Content Myth35:33 Measure Output Not Process44:24 Referrals Aren't Enough48:11 Selling Without Testimonials51:28 Morning Routine Nuance56:22 Paid Ads For Small Brands To join the Ambitious Network for free, click HERE. To connect with Kate on Instagram, click ⁠HERE⁠. To apply for ITI, click ⁠HERE⁠. To submit a question to be answered on the podcast, click HERE.

Morgan Stanley manages trillions — and it's now putting Bitcoin in front of clients. Amy Oldenburg runs the firm's digital asset strategy, and she joins Natalie Brunell to break down what Wall Street actually sees in Bitcoin, why the price has been stuck, and what could finally move it. She also explains how much Bitcoin Morgan Stanley tells clients to own, why most financial advisors still aren't on board, and her honest take on where the price goes over the next 5 years. Topics: Why a 26-year Wall Street veteran embraced Bitcoin How much Bitcoin Morgan Stanley recommends owning Why Bitcoin is stuck even as the banks pile in What could spark the next big move Her real 5-year and 10-year Bitcoin outlook Why "all crypto is the same" is a costly mistake Amy Oldenburg is Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Morgan Stanley. Connect with her on LinkedIn.  ---- Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU  --- Coin Stories is powered by Gemini. Invest as you spend with the Gemini Credit Card. Earn up to 4% back in sats on everyday purchases like gas and groceries. Sign up today https://www.gemini.com/natalie  ---- Ledn is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $10 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. Get .25% off your first loan, learn more at https://www.Ledn.io/natalie  ---- Abundant Mines is a fully-managed Bitcoin mining in the U.S. You own the miners. You keep 100% of the Bitcoin. Voted #1 mining company by peers. Get 1 month of free hosting: AbundantMines.com/Natalie ---- Natalie's Bitcoin Product Partners: Check out my favorite lightning wallet and trivia app Speed Wallet. If you're a business, let Speed help you accept BTC like they did for Steak 'n Shake! Visit http://speed.app/natalie/ and use code COINSTORIES10 for 5,000 free sats Block's Bitkey Cold Storage Wallet was named to TIME's prestigious Best Inventions of 2024 in the category of Privacy & Security. Get 10% off using code STORIES at https://bitkey.world   Master your Bitcoin self-custody with 1-on-1 help and gain peace of mind with the help of The Bitcoin Way: https://www.thebitcoinway.com/natalie  With BitcoinIRA, you can invest in bitcoin 24/7 inside a tax-advantaged IRA. Choose a Traditional IRA to defer taxes, or a Roth IRA for tax-free withdrawals later. Take control of your future with BitcoinIRA: https://www.bitcoinira.com/natalie  Natalie's Upcoming Events: Join us for the biggest Bitcoin conference in Europe at BTC Prague this June 10-13 with a keynote from Michael Saylor, Code HODL for discounted passes: https://btcprague.com/  The best time to plan for Bitcoin 2027 is right now. Early bird tickets are live — grab the lowest pricing available and use code HODL for 10% off: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2027?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=HODL    Extra Services to Consider: Protect yourself from SIM Swaps that can hack your accounts and steal your Bitcoin. Join America's most secure mobile service, trusted by CEOs, VIPs and top corporations: https://www.efani.com/natalie   Ditch your fiat health insurance like I did four years ago! Join me at CrowdHealth: www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie  ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. Ads in this episode are baked-in and may reference promotions or offers that are no longer available at the time of listening. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

That's right folks! Got quite a story here for you. If you can't tell by the title, we're in for a wild ride. I don't want to give too much away, but we have a life story here that's checking all the boxes.Hate the Ads? Join Patreon! PATREON (ROOM 237)! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/Cosmicpeachpodcast⁠ Want to reach out?Ghost.peach@outlook.com 

Chuck's opening monologue. Chuck and Heath discuss the Big 12 ADs pushing the conference to take action on Brendan Sorsby's potentially playing for Texas Tech. Andrew Jones of Tar Heel 247 assesses where things stand at North Carolina.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rachel Steinbarger, the AD of Pratt Community College in Kansas, is on Wednesday Wisdom and she shares some Best Practices on Mental Health for ADs and for Athletes! THIS is The Educational AD Podcast! Thanks for Listening!

A Texas Tech quarterback’s gambling case has college football in chaos. Coaches, ADs, and conferences are questioning the future of NCAA enforcement, while critics warn the ruling could open the door to widespread sports betting issues. Is accountability disappearing from college athletics? #HCISSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

*Popcorn Theology Episode: "Spider-Noir – Web of Redemption"* _(Cue gritty saxophone wail and fedora-tippin' piano riff...)_ Listen up, youse mugs! James, Miles and Eric give the spiritual shakedown to this hard-boiled new Sony picture featurin' one Cagey fella. Hear us patter about dames that'll break your heart, mobsters with tommy guns, and one burned-out ex-superhero tryin' to stay outta the spotlight. If youse a fan of capes, confessions, or a black and white morality tale that's actually kinda grey, we got the goods, see? So grab your gat and fedora, pour yourself a stiff one and tune in. *Popcorn Theology: Poppin' kernels and provin' Scripture since... well, you know the drill.* Chapters:   0:24 - Welcome & Summary 2:47 - Popcorn Ratings 6:08 - Theology Ratings 8:40 - Subscribe, Share, Support 9:51 - Ads 11:55 - SPOILER WARNING and Authentic Black and White or True-Hue Full Color 16:37 - Popcorn Discussion 20:00 - "Why Don't Movies Look Like Movies Anymore?"  @impatrickt   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTUM9cFeSo 22:10 - Is Nicolas Cage Good or Bad? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdDd8f8nX-w 38:58 - How Do We Handle Our Grief? 50:27 - There's More to Being Good Than Doing What Feels Good. 53:55 - Appealing To Someone's Better Nature. 1:08:36 - Love is Not An Excuse To Do Whatever You Want.  1:10:47 - Megawatt: Pride Comes Before the Fall 1:15:36 - Until Next Time… Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and click the notification bell. Follow & connect: https://linktr.ee/popcorntheology Support: https://www.patreon.com/popcorntheology Rate and review to get 2 FREE Popcorn Theology Stickers! Write a 5-star review and send a screenshot, along with your mailing address, to feedback@popcorntheology.com, and you'll receive 2 FREE stickers! iTunes link here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/popcorn-theology/id990110281  #spidernoir #nickcage #spiderman #FaithAndFilm #MoviePodcast #FilmReview #ChristianPodcast #MediaLiteracy #ReformedTheology #christianmoviereview Intro Music by Ross Bugden: https://youtu.be/Bln0BEv5AJ0?si=vZx_YiHK3hNxaETA

Inventory can be a real challenge but GearLocker is a game changer for ADs and Coaches. Keenen McCurdy shares how and why you should add Gear Locker to your school! THIS is Tech Tuesday on The Educational AD Podcast!

What if growing your business didn't require posting on social media every day or spending thousands on an agency? In this episode, I sit down with advertising expert Lova Kremer to break down how entrepreneurs can start using ads to generate leads, validate offers, and scale their businesses without needing a massive budget or marketing team. Lova shares how he helps businesses scale from just $5 a day in ad spend to thousands of dollars per day, and why most entrepreneurs overcomplicate the entire process. We also talk about networking, leadership, investing in mentorship, and why understanding your marketing numbers can completely change the way you grow your business. Get ready to simplify your approach to advertising, and make smarter marketing decisions. Check out our Sponsors: Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at http://Shopify.com/happy. Indeed - Spend less time searching, and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to http://Indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. Fora Travel - Curious how to become a travel advisor and earn while you explore? Start at http://foratravel.com/happy. Zazzle - Save 25% on your first order today at http://Zazzle.com with code EARN. Monarch Money -  Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off at http://Monarch.com with code EYH. Northwest Registered Agent - Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Meet Lova Kremer, Ads and Business Scaling Specialist. 06:30 Why networking becomes easier when you focus on helping people first. 09:00 The communication skill that helps entrepreneurs solve problems faster. 14:30 How mentorship and coaching can help you break through business plateaus. 20:00 What are the leadership lessons you learned while scaling your company? 25:00 Why you shouldn't "stair-step" your goals as an entrepreneur. 29:00 How to use $5 a day ads to validate an offer before scaling. 31:15 The beginner-friendly ad strategy anyone can start using today. 38:00 How DM ads can generate conversations, leads, and sales on a small budget. 43:00 When should you keep marketing in-house versus hiring an agency? 47:15 How do social media algorithms work? 51:45 The 5 elements every high-converting ad should include. 55:15 The biggest misconception that prevents entrepreneurs from running ads. 57:15 Why paid advertising can accelerate both business growth and audience growth. RESOURCES Ready to scale your business with ads without doing the technical work yourself? Join the next cohort of the Lightning Mastermind today and lock in your special 40% launch discount before spots fill up. Get 40% off Lova's Ads Cohort using THIS SPECIAL LINK Apply for the Elite Entrepreneur Mastermind HERE! Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci Follow Lova IG: @lova_kremer Follow Lova LinkedIn: @lovakremer

I see it every single time. Great product. Solid branding. Ads running. And yet it won't scale. Conversions are flat, the economics don't work, and the founder is convinced it's the creative or the funnel or the targeting. It's never the ads. It's the offer. Here's the problem: most founders spend 90% of their time perfecting the product and almost no time on the complete package around it. The framing, the bundle, the guarantee, the AOV. And without that, no amount of ad spend is going to save you. In this episode, I break down what a deliberately engineered offer actually looks like, why getting it right is the single biggest unlock for scaling, and the real-world examples from our Foundr Operators members and the brands spending $100K-plus a day that prove it. Here's what you'll take away: Why conversion problems are almost always an economics and offer problem, not a product, creative, or funnel problem How IM8 turned a supplement powder into an irresistible offer and why every element of their bundle is deliberately engineered How Foundr Operators member Emma tripled her brand's revenue with Sisu without increasing traffic, just by rebuilding her offer The AOV floor every e-commerce brand needs to hit before paid ads can scale profitably What makes an offer feel risk-free: guarantees, social proof, returns policy, and friction reduction done right Why your customer isn't buying a product. They're buying certainty, value, and the feeling that this is the obvious choice If your ads aren't scaling and your conversion rate isn't moving, stop tweaking your creative and start here. Getting the offer right is the thing that changes the trajectory, and everything else gets easier once it clicks. If you're loving this solo series, I'd love to hear your feedback. Email me directly at nathan@foundr.com — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it. WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/operators⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠

Steven Tracy, CAA is the AD for Oswego East H.S. in the Chicago area and today he shares his journey along with some Best Practices for ADs, Coaches, and Leaders! THIS is The Educational AD Podcast! Thanks for Listening and Leading!

Don't let the stock market highs fool you. Macro analyst Luke Gromen, founder of FFTT, returns to deliver a brutal reality check on what is actually happening to your money. While mainstream media celebrates green days, a hidden liquidity crisis is building behind the scenes. In this episode, Gromen exposes the massive distortion in today's markets—the seven tech stocks holding up the entire economy and why Bitcoin has fallen so far behind as stocks hit ATHs. If you want to protect your portfolio from the ultimate "sudden stop," this is the realist roadmap you cannot afford to miss. We discuss: The AI Liquidity Trap: Why soaring tech stocks are secretly starving Bitcoin of cash. The S&P 500 Illusion: How just seven AI stocks are masking a massive market flatline. The Bitcoin Bottom: Why technical indicators point to a potential correction down to $40K. The Tech Bubble Trap: Why the government is mathematically forced to keep the AI bubble alive. Follow Luke Gromen https://x.com/LukeGromen ---- Order Natalie's new book "Bitcoin is For Everyone," a simple introduction to Bitcoin and what's broken in our current financial system: https://amzn.to/3WzFzfU  --- Coin Stories is powered by Gemini. Invest as you spend with the Gemini Credit Card. Earn up to 4% back in sats on everyday purchases like gas and groceries. Sign up today https://www.gemini.com/natalie  ---- Ledn is the global leader in Bitcoin-backed loans, issuing over $10 billion in loans since 2018, and they were the first to offer proof of reserves. With Ledn, you get custody loans, no credit checks, no monthly payments, and more. Get .25% off your first loan, learn more at https://www.Ledn.io/natalie  ---- Abundant Mines is a fully-managed Bitcoin mining in the U.S. You own the miners. You keep 100% of the Bitcoin. Voted #1 mining company by peers. Get 1 month of free hosting: AbundantMines.com/Natalie ---- Natalie's Bitcoin Product Partners: Check out my favorite lightning wallet and trivia app Speed Wallet. If you're a business, let Speed help you accept BTC like they did for Steak 'n Shake! Visit http://speed.app/natalie/ and use code COINSTORIES10 for 5,000 free sats Block's Bitkey Cold Storage Wallet was named to TIME's prestigious Best Inventions of 2024 in the category of Privacy & Security. Get 10% off using code STORIES at https://bitkey.world   Master your Bitcoin self-custody with 1-on-1 help and gain peace of mind with the help of The Bitcoin Way: https://www.thebitcoinway.com/natalie  With BitcoinIRA, you can invest in bitcoin 24/7 inside a tax-advantaged IRA. Choose a Traditional IRA to defer taxes, or a Roth IRA for tax-free withdrawals later. Take control of your future with BitcoinIRA: https://www.bitcoinira.com/natalie  Natalie's Upcoming Events: Join us for the biggest Bitcoin conference in Europe at BTC Prague this June 10-13 with a keynote from Michael Saylor, Code HODL for discounted passes: https://btcprague.com/  The best time to plan for Bitcoin 2027 is right now. Early bird tickets are live — grab the lowest pricing available and use code HODL for 10% off: https://tickets.b.tc/event/bitcoin-2027?promoCodeTask=apply&promoCodeInput=HODL  Extra Services to Consider: Ditch your fiat health insurance like I did four years ago! Join me at CrowdHealth: www.joincrowdhealth.com/natalie ---- This podcast is for educational purposes and should not be construed as official investment advice. Ads in this episode are baked-in and may reference promotions or offers that are no longer available at the time of listening. ---- VALUE FOR VALUE — SUPPORT NATALIE'S SHOWS Strike ID https://strike.me/coinstoriesnat/ Cash App $CoinStories #money #Bitcoin #investing

How do you write when your heart is broken? How do you go back into the publishing business after years away, knowing it's a very different industry to the one you left? With Jami Albright. In the intro, InAudio is now distributing audiobooks to BookShop.org; The Feedback Loop that Makes Better Writers [Author Nation Podcast]; Bones of the Deep on Goodreads. This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Jami Albright is the bestselling author of the Brides on the Run romances and the co-host of the Wish I'd Known Then Podcast. Today we're talking about her new novel, The Summer That Changed Us. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How Jami started writing fiction at 47 and waited a year before publishing her first book Why she fictionalised her sister's terminal cancer story rather than writing a memoir The difference between writing as therapy and writing for the reader Reactivating an email newsletter after almost two years of silence Going wide with a standalone women's fiction novel after years in KU and rom-com Letting go of the frantic hustle of indie publishing and redefining what success looks like You can find Jami at JamiAlbright.com. Transcript of the interview with Jami Albright Jo: Jami Albright is the bestselling author of the Brides on the Run romances and the co-host of the Wish I'd Known Then Podcast. Today we're talking about her new novel, The Summer That Changed Us. So, welcome to the show, Jami. Jami: Thank you, Joanna. I've made it. This is my first time on The Creative Penn, so I can retire tomorrow. Jo: And we were saying before the show, I really thought you had been on the show before, because over the years we've connected a lot. We met over a decade ago, didn't we? At the Smarter Artist Summit. I was like, “I'm sure you've been on the show,” and you haven't. So, yes, welcome. Jami: Thank you. You've been on our show, though. We did an interview with you a few years ago. Jo: Yes. Well, anyway, for anyone who doesn't follow your show— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and publishing. Jami: Okay. So I am the co-host of the Wish I'd Known Then Podcast for Writers. Sara Rosett and I have been doing that podcast since January 2020. Little did we know what was coming, and it really saved me, just mentally, being able to talk to people every week. I never wrote a word of fiction until I was 47. I'd never really written anything. I have really bad grammar. I tell a lot of stories, and I would make up stories, but I'd never write them down because of the grammar thing. But my reading buddy had her birthday coming up in about three months, and I thought, “You know what? I'm going to write Jennifer a book for her birthday. She doesn't care if I have bad grammar.” I just thought it would be on brand. It was so hard. I wrote myself into a corner very fast. When I told her, she said, “Well, now you have to.” So I got Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, I read that, and I started writing what is now Running from a Rock Star. But then my computer crashed and I lost it, and I was like, “Well, I'm not a writer.” So that was fine. Then I turned 50, and I told my family, “I think the only thing I regret is not finishing that book.” Of course they were like, “Well, you need to just do it again.” I was like, “No, I had 30,000 words.” A few weeks later my daughter came in and said, “Mom, I found this flash drive in my car. I think it has your book on it.” And it was 20,000 of the 30,000 words. So I was like, “Well, it's now or never.” So I joined Romance Writers of America and got involved in a critique group, and they absolutely kicked my butt for a good six months. I think every week they were surprised I came back, because it was so brutal. I knew I didn't know anything, and they taught me to write. Six months after I joined that first critique group, I won my first contest with the first 10 pages of that book. Then I just continued on. Three years later, I published Rock Star. I was going to publish it two years later, but I went to the Smarter Artist Summit, where I met you. I was advised by Julia Cant and Sean Platt and some other people to wait—preferably to have more books written. I had the second book written when the first one came out, but it still needed to be edited. So I waited a year, learned this business, and sold plasma to pay for my edits because I was poor. It was the best decision I ever made. Going to that conference, first of all, was the best $500 I've ever spent, and waiting that year really helped me learn this business. When I published the book, I had an email list of 1,200 people before the book ever came out. None of those things would have been set up had I published right after the Smarter Artist Summit, which is what I'd thought I would do, in the summer. So waiting gave me time to get everything set up so that when I published that book, it really took off from day one. I had 1,200 people on that newsletter list who wanted that book, because I had done a preview promo. Instead of putting out the whole book, I think I put out four chapters, and then people signed up. I don't know that that works anymore. Jo: I was going to say that. We should say to people, what was that, around 2016? Jami: 2017. Things have changed. Jo: Yes, things have changed, and I think this is so important. I had a question about this, and what they were implying was things that, like you said, we learned a decade ago. Things have changed. We'll come back to how you're doing it now, but just in terms of finishing off how you got started—those books did really well, didn't they? You had a couple of years there. How many books did you do? How did that go? Because you did have real success. Jami: Yes. From 2017 until really the beginning of 2021, if you look at my sales graph and my income, it just increased, increased, increased. 2019 was my very best year, but 2020 was only slightly lower as far as book sales and income. I only put out a book a year after the second book. The second book came out about six months after the first one, and after that it was about every nine months to a year that I put a book out. Everyone said you can't make money doing that, but I did. I think those books are very tropey. They're very hooky. That helped. I also think the timing of those books was really good. Rom-com was really coming up, and my rom-com is pretty wacky, but it's also really emotional too. If I get any critiques about them it's usually that “this book was way more emotional than I expected, and I was looking for something a little lighter.” They're just really wacky. They're rom-coms. Wacky circumstances. Small town, so there's all these small-town people. I just think it was a good time to release those. Those were good years. I miss those years. Jo: It's a good lesson, because it's not always up and to the right, is it? We're going to come back and revisit that. So then the pandemic hit, and on a more personal level, over the last few years, you've had a deeply difficult time that has led to The Summer That Changed Us, your latest book. So talk a bit about what's happened, why this book, and also why fictionalise it rather than write a memoir? I had that question. Jami: Okay. So 2021, my income was dropping, but it was still okay. I was still making more than enough that—thank God I don't have to make all the money in our household—but there was a level that I wanted to. At the end of 2021, my sister, who was the fourth of five sisters, had lived with cancer—non-smoker's lung cancer—for 10 years. She had the kind that, if you had a certain mutation, there were medications that worked amazingly well. Until they didn't, and then they put you on another class of that medication. So for 10 years, that's what she did. She missed work maybe three times in 10 years. People who met her never knew she had cancer unless they knew us. She just never acted like she had cancer. We would have to say, “Remember, you have cancer.” At the end of 2021, they ran out of that class of drugs. There were some being tested, but none had been approved. When she was diagnosed, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. You don't survive very long having stage four lung cancer with no medication. So I saw the writing on the wall pretty much at the end of 2021, but of course I was very hopeful that they could do something. By May of 2022, it was clear things were not going well. In July of 2022, she got a six-to-twelve-week diagnosis. She just went in one day thinking she was about to get radiation, not knowing anything, and they were like, “No, we can't do radiation, and you should get your affairs in order because you have six to twelve weeks to live.” Jo: Oh. Jami: People who've been through it know this feeling. It's like being hit by a wrecking ball. It just knocks everything off your axis. Your whole world implodes into this one moment, this person that you love. I live four hours away from my family. They all still live in the same small town. I was in Dallas at my daughter's at the time, and they live about 30 miles outside of Dallas. So I went to my mom's, and I stayed there. I was there for almost six months, if you count the time I was back and forth, because she was not doing great but she was still okay. She had always rallied and come back. But once she got the diagnosis, I stayed. She would go home, but she would come back to my mom's during the day, because her husband worked. She was a teacher, so she was off during the summer. I was just there, and we all just took care of her. When she decided to go on hospice, she wanted to be at my mom's. She didn't want to be at home—they lived out in the country. She wanted to be at my mom's, so we set her up in the living room. We're redneck country people. We bring our crazy people in, our sick people, just out for everybody to see. She was just in the middle of the living room in her hospital bed, and the world just revolved around that hospital bed. Once that happened, once I knew at the end of 2021 that things were not going to go well—I really did not believe she would die. But she died a month after she went on hospice in October of 2022. That whole year, I was useless. I could not write. I couldn't think of anything to write. I write funny. How do you write funny when your heart's broken? I couldn't do it. After she died, I knew it would take a while. I knew it would maybe even be a year. But as the weeks turned into months and the months turned into years, I haven't written—except for her obituary—I've not written a word since she died until I started writing this book a year ago. I started it on April 19th. Jo: I mean, the stories of grief—there seems to be no way of escaping whatever it ends up being. You didn't choose your response. Your deep grief was just there, and you couldn't write. I feel like sometimes people just try and force it. It sounds like that's what you needed, and you have done that. So what then gave you the impetus to finally write—and to choose fiction? Jami: I didn't write memoir. I did think about doing a memoir, but I don't read memoir, and I don't know how to write it. I was already behind the eight ball, trying to write a book at all because it had been forever. I don't need to learn how to write something completely different. Plus, it just felt too close to write the memoir. I had been in Mexico City with my daughter, who has an event planning company, and we were there scouting locations for one of her events. Janet Margot lives in Mexico City, so I reached out, and we had dinner. We were talking, and she had had two big losses about the same time that my sister passed away. So we were talking about how difficult it is afterwards, just getting your head back into a space of being creative at all. She said, “You really should write this book. You should tell this story. It hits everything: middle-aged women dealing with middle-age things. You've got your parents that you were dealing with, and then your sister. You should write this story.” I said, “No, thank you. I lived it. I don't want to write it.” But it just wouldn't go away. I couldn't figure out how I would tell it. Whose point of view? I couldn't do it from the dying sister's point of view because I didn't think I could be authentic. I was afraid to tell it from multiple POVs because the book has a lot of characters in it. My family is gigantic—my immediate family, my sisters, husbands, nieces and nephews, my kids, my mom and dad—there are 35 of us. Almost all of those are in and out of my mom's house all the time. So I knew I couldn't do multiple point of view. One day, I was driving home to my mom's house, and it just hit me. The whole story laid out in front of me, and that's what I did. The first draft was pretty much just a retelling of what happened to us. I added some fictional elements, but I just wanted to get the story out. It was hard. I started Adderall on April 19th of 2025—I know that, because that's the day I started this book. I do call this the book that Adderall wrote, because I could sit and focus for three or four hours, which I'd never really been able to do. I would come to Starbucks and I would sit and write this book, and I would cry sitting in Starbucks, like a crazy person. People would walk by and slide a napkin onto the table and just keep walking, because I'm sitting there crying like crazy. I was so superstitious, and things were working so well, that I was afraid not to come and write at Starbucks. Staying at home, I think, would have been really hard. I would maybe have sunk into a depression had I done this at home. So I just wrote the whole book at Starbucks. After I wrote the first draft, I went back in and made it more fictional. But a lot of the book—especially her stuff—is a lot of what happened. She was just crazy. I tell a story in the book that, this is the absolute truth, this happened. She was in college, and she had convinced my younger sister to go to a honky-tonk club because they were having a Miss Honky-Tonk contest. Before she could get up on stage to compete as Miss Honky-Tonk, she got in a fight with some girl, and the girl hit her in the head with a bottle and split her head open. She was bleeding. My youngest sister was like, “We've got to go to the ER.” And she just refused, because there was a $300 cash prize for winning, and she needed it to make rent. So she borrowed a towel from the bartender, wrapped it around her head, competed with that bloody towel on her head, and won that stupid contest. That story in and of itself was my sister. Everything about her is in that story. So a lot of the stories in there happened to her in one way or another. What happens to June in the book happened to my sister. Jo: This is interesting, because the same thing memoir writers face is something perhaps you face: how much of the writing is therapy and how much is for the reader? You said you sat there crying. Absolutely, writing for therapy is very important—but when you come to edit, there might be things that your therapy side of you is like, “That's so important to me.” How do you kill your darlings when you're editing your sister's life? Jami: That was hard. I had to take out a lot of what was in the first draft, mostly the stories. Once she came home on hospice, it was just a steady stream of people coming in, and everybody had a story about her. What I found in editing was that Hope, the main character, was mostly a spectator in those scenes instead of being actively part of them. So I had to take those out, because they didn't serve the purpose of the book. I committed early on to: while I wanted to tell the story, I did not want it to be self-indulgent. I did not want it to be a therapy session that I sold to people as a story. Because of that, I think that really helped. I really did think about that as I was revising. I sent it to a developmental editor, and I don't know how great she was, but she gave me some really good advice about a couple of things. One was, “There's just not enough conflict in this book. You say that Hope and the father have this really contentious relationship, yet we don't see it. There's a little bit of it here and there, but you're not really digging into that.” It's hard, because while the rest of the world doesn't know, my family knows that this is a lot of our story. I just had to let that go and not worry about what my family thought. They had all given me permission. I'd sort of said, “I want to do this. Are you guys okay with that?” I talked to her husband, and everybody was okay with me doing it. But I couldn't worry about what they were going to think. I would repeat to myself: if they want to tell this story, they can write their own book. I'm writing what I saw and telling a fictionalised story that will hopefully honour her, but also help other people feel like they're being seen, and also be entertaining. If you're going to write a book, it needs to be somewhat entertaining. Jo: I don't think you can help yourself. You're funny. Jami: Yes. The book is really funny. I tell people that and they're like, “Hmm, really?” And I'm like, “It is really funny.” But it's also really sad. Jo: Well, I think that's the truth—to defend myself. There is a lot of humour in grief. There is death and dying, and it's a human condition. Jami: It is a human condition, yep. Jo: There's comedy in all of the human condition. That's just the way it is, right? I heard you mention on an interview, I can't remember where it was, that you feel very connected to this book, and you're worried that people judging it or giving it a bad review might feel like an insult to your sister. How are you dealing with these kinds of fears about how to separate ourselves from our books? Jami: I've been in therapy—like, literal therapy—for that, because I felt like that would be hard. So far, I've only gotten a few reviews back. They've all been good reviews. I haven't had anyone say they hate it. I just have had to separate myself. It's not personal. Reviews are never personal. People not liking your book is never personal. That's just a mindset. I've had to change my mind about that. Knowing that's a pitfall I could fall into, I really keep it top of mind. My family knows that's an issue, so they know they have to pull me out of that hole if I drop in. So that's really how I've handled it so far. We'll see. Jo: Maybe it's time as well. You're almost back to the “book is your baby” situation. As the years pass, the book almost becomes separate, doesn't it? How you feel about your first bride book is probably like, “It's not even me anymore.” Jami: Right. I learned early that your book isn't really your baby. Once you publish it, it's your product. So that has never been very hard for me. I still hate bad reviews, and I take them personally like everybody else does, if I let myself. But ultimately, this is a book that I'm putting out for entertainment. Yes, it's very personal. Yes, it means a lot to me. But if people don't like it, it isn't because they don't like my dead sister. They just don't like my writing. Jo: It's tough, but it's good to talk about, because this is something many people feel. My memoir Pilgrimage—it's not the same at all—but I was just so scared of judgment. The fear of judgment. What people would think of me. That's kind of different, but— It's this question of how it'll land. The reality is, not many people read these books anyway. Jami: Well, I have worried about how it would land, but mostly I worry about how it would land with the people I love. My mom read it last week. I was there while she was reading it. That was no fun. She laughed, but it was devastating to her. She's like, “It's great, and I hate it.” Because it is so raw and real to her still—well, to all of us. That's where I worry, how it's going to land with them. But again, I've had to let that go. I had to let it go during the writing, because if I worried about that, then I would not have told an honest story. That was another thing—I didn't want it to be self-indulgent, and I wanted it to be honest. As honest as I could make it, even to the point of making people uncomfortable. There's a line. Once you cross it, there's no getting you back after that. So I walked that line really carefully, because I did want it to be honest about how I felt, how other people I know who've been through something like this feel. Also, just relationships. Because when you're in a big family like my sisters and I—we adore each other, but we can also go toe-to-toe real fast. It can get ugly, because we know each other really well. We're also a little bit redneck, so we don't pull any punches. Your sisters are always the most honest people in your life. I wanted that to be true in this book too—both sides of that story. Jo: Let's circle back to the business stuff and some of the things we talked about, because obviously this has been a really difficult time. There was no way to deal with it in any other way, but your business has changed. You had these great few years, good sales, and then you had other priorities. So how are you rebooting the business? Lots of people end up taking a few years out for whatever reason. How are you rebooting the business to try and sell some books? Jami: To be honest, I have the remnants of a business. I have tried over the last four years to run some ads to get the Bride's books going, but here's something that's very interesting, and if somebody can tell me why this happened, I would love to hear it. These books that have sold so many books—I mean, so many books—I could not give them away. It didn't matter what I did. I changed covers, I changed blurbs, I put them on sale, I took them off sale, I ran ads. Ads wouldn't really move the needle. I know that at a certain point, when you haven't published and your books get pushed down in the algorithm, that is an uphill battle. But it was almost like, one day they just fell off, and once they started falling, I could not get them back. I just couldn't. So that I didn't make myself crazy—because also during this time, I was just trying to keep my head above water—when I would deal with my books or go into my dashboard, I would feel horrible. I was already feeling horrible, so I didn't need to feel more horrible. So I just sort of let them go after a certain point. I've now started running some Facebook ads. I have one Facebook ad that's working really well, knock on wood, right now for my first Bride's book. The problem is, this book and my Bride's books are different. The voice and the tone are the same, but they're really different in a lot of ways. They're the same in a lot of ways. This book doesn't have any sex; the other books don't have anybody dying. But some of the things are really similar. So I may have some crossover. For whatever reason, this ad is working. My book one is ranked better than it's been ranked in forever—really good. I'm not spending a ton of money to do it. So I don't know what changed. I don't know if I'll ever know. I've revised my newsletter, and that's worked well. I still have around a 35 to 40% open rate on a newsletter that I didn't send out for almost two years. I was sending it out, but then I kind of stopped, and then I started again. Jo: I was going to ask you about that, because I often get people emailing me. They're like, “I have a really old newsletter from several years ago. I haven't emailed them for years.” So what did you say in that first email? Like, “Hey, I'm back”? Jami: I mean, I'm just like, “Remember me?” It really was kind of like that. Just, “I'm back. You guys know life has happened. I'm sure you understand. If you're still here, thank you so much. I have been writing. I have this book that I think some of you will really love.” That's really how it was. From the first email, even that first email had a higher open rate. I think it was close to 45%. I had not sent out a newsletter in two years literally. Jo: People were like, “What happened?” Jami: They're like, “Oh, she didn't die. That was her sister, not her.” But I've just been really fortunate. They've been really encouraging. Every time I send one out, I get really encouraging emails back. So I've sent out about the book. The majority of my readers are KU readers because my books are in KU. But this book is going wide. One of the things I'm doing because I have been a little concerned about… Janet Margot does a lot of Amazon ads stuff and she knows a lot about Amazon. We've talked a lot about whether I should use my real name, my pen name, or come up with another name. Should I worry about my readers buying the book and messing up my Also Boughts? All of those things, because my readers are romance readers. Some of them read women's fiction, but for the most part, they're romance readers. I've decided to stick with Jami Albright and not worry about it. There are just things you can't control, so I've had to hold everything with a really open hand with this book. I am offering the book on my website. I'm selling it at $7.99—I chose a high price point, because I just feel like, to sit with the other books that I want it to sit with, I need that price point. So I'm offering it on my website, starting at the end of this week, for $5. If they're KU readers and they don't buy books, but they want the book, they can get it for $5 on my website, which I think is reasonable. Jo: Mm. Absolutely. Jami: If that's too much for them, I understand and I get it. Time, things are hard right now, and if they can't do that, it's going to be in libraries, so they can request it at their library. But right now that's the plan. Hopefully that helps with the Also Boughts a little bit too. Even though, again, I just can't worry about those things. As a gift to my readers, I want to do this for them as well—give them a discount. Jo: And obviously this is a standalone, right? This is not— Jami: Yes, it is. Jo: Again, a bit like memoir, all the book marketing we talk about in fiction is “write a series.” It's much easier. So it is difficult to market a standalone in general. And this is something that happened, so it is a standalone situation. So do you feel like you're back in terms of writing? Have you got plans for more books, or is this a business for you going forward? Do you feel like you want to re-enter this whole world? Jami: I do. I have an idea for a book similar to this one—not in the same kind of genre, I mean, of women's fiction, kind of midlife fiction stuff. I have an idea. I had nothing for months and months and months, and a couple of months ago, this idea kind of came to me. I was like, “Oh, that's not bad.” So I'm mulling it over—I do a lot of mulling—and that's the next book I think I will write. I don't know that I'll write rom-coms again. Not because I don't love them. I do, and I love my rom-coms. But I'm just different. You do not go through something like this and come out on the other side the same. I don't know that I could carry an entire rom-com through without it being even more emotional than mine are now. So for right now, I'm going to write another one of these kinds of books where it's got a lot of emotion, family dynamic, tension and dynamics. Jo: That's great. I do feel like once you've written the book that was waiting—your sister's book—then more things arrive, and it's great to hear that that is arriving for you. And of course, we change. One of the nice things about writing for the long term and building more of a name brand is that you change, and your readers either follow you or they don't, but it's your life. So I think that's a good reason to have one pen name. I obviously have two, but my fiction pen name I've written all kinds of genres under. Why else would we keep doing this? I don't want to write the same book over and over again. Jami: Right. Believe me, I've had to eat a lot of crow over the last four years, and it's tasty with ketchup. I have decided that a lot of the stuff I said is true: about you write in one genre, you give the people exactly what they want, and you give it to them over and over again. I believe all of that. I still believe those things. It's just that I don't know that I'm capable of doing that right now. Also, I'm older. I am about doing the things that bring me joy and are not a drudgery. I want to say this, because I miss the success. I miss who I thought I was during that time. I miss the recognition. I'll freely admit it. I miss being the person doing the thing that everybody said couldn't be done. “You can't make money with one book a year.” Well, watch me. And I did. I miss that. What I don't miss, and I've had to be really, really honest with myself, which has been difficult—I don't miss the anxiety that came with that. There was a lot of franticness. I think that if you are in a lot of groups, you see that franticness. I've had to step back, like I've had to step back, and then go back into these groups, you hear authors and see authors, and there's just this frantic sense that we're losing everything, and we have to hold on so tight to everything. I was like that. I checked my ads constantly. I checked my dashboard constantly. My mom used to say, “This should be fun.” I'm like, “Mom, it's a business. It's not fun.” But I recognise that I loved that so much that I held onto it so tight. I don't want to go back to that. I don't have the energy for that. Since this all happened, I've gained four more grandchildren than I had. I have six grandchildren now. I want to spend time with them. I want to spend time with my adult children. I want to spend time with my mom and dad. So I can't be frantic about my sales—are they going up, are they dropping?—and give emotionally to the people I love in my life. If the last four years have taught me anything, it is that the one thing you can never get back is time. You can never get it back, and that is so important to me right now. With this book—and one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you when we were talking about when I would do it—I wanted to do it before it came out, because I've already won. Writing this book, writing a book that honours the bravest person I've ever known and doing the second-hardest thing that I've ever had to do, is the win. That's the win. Whatever happens with this book afterwards is just what happens with this book afterwards. It doesn't change who I am, and you told me that when we were in Vegas two years ago. That conversation really changed a lot for me, because you said, “You are a successful author.” I was still trying to come up with a plan to be a successful author again, and you were like, “You are a successful author. You've had success. That makes you a successful author. You don't have to chase that.” That changed so much of my thinking. If I could leave listeners with anything, it is that we need to recognise the things we can't control and just deal with the things we can control. That's kind of how my sister lived. She could not control her cancer, but she could control how she responded to it and how she went forward. I think a lot of times, when bad things happen, we want to make sense of them. We want a reason for them. And a lot of times there's just no reason. There's no reason my sister died. There's no reason she left two kids and a husband devastated and a family that just has a giant hole in it. There's no reason for that. What defines us is not figuring out why that happened. It's what we do with that going forward. I think that's important for me to remember when I start getting caught up in all the franticness of this business. Jo: Yes. Or not, as the case may be. You can just let the book be what it is. And I do feel like these deeper books, they're more slow burn. You wrote books that ran, ran like the bride. Now we're not running like the bride. Jami: I'm tired. I don't run unless a wild animal's chasing me. Jo: Exactly. Look, we're out of time, but just tell people, if they haven't listened, a bit about your podcast, Wish I'd Known Then with Sara Rosett. Tell people what they can find over on that podcast and why you're still doing it. You've been doing it throughout the whole time. While not writing, you've still been podcasting. Jami: It absolutely saved my life. It's kept me in this business. While I haven't been publishing, I still know what's going on. I know about direct sales, I know about what's happening behind the scenes, with Facebook ads. I've kept in touch with those things because of our podcast. It's an interview podcast like yours, but we talk to people about what they wish they'd known about indie publishing. Most people have some certain thing that they've been working on or doing, and we talk to them a little bit about that too. We ask the same questions every week to every guest, and it's so interesting how different the answers are, and yet how similar they are. I think that helps when you're going through it and you're like, “God, I must be the only one feeling this way.” But you tune into a podcast, and you hear week after week, “Oh, no, there are other people feeling the same way I'm feeling, or struggling with the same things I'm struggling with.” Hopefully we give people things to shoot for and to aspire to. We have some amazing guests. They've all been really gracious and really honest. I don't know if it's the questions, or just because Sara and I are our style, but they're really honest with us when they answer the questions. Jo: It's a great show. I recommend it a lot. Jami: Thank you. Jo: Where can people find you and your books online? Jami: You can find me at JamiAlbright.com—that's J-A-M-I-Albright.com. I'm on all the socials as Jami Albright Author. My books are on Amazon right now, but this book is actually now on all the retailers. So that's where you can find me. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jami. That was great. Jami: It was an honour. Thank you so much.The post Writing Through Grief And Rebooting an Indie Author Business With Jami Albright first appeared on The Creative Penn.