Podcasts about Apple Pay

Ep 265Tim Cook Has Now Been Apple's CEO for Longer Than Steve JobsDavid Pogue: Apple's first 50Apple slams DOJ lawsuit: 'threatens the very principles that set iPhone apart' - 9to5MacJapan Law Will Require Apple to Allow Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhoneOpet ih tuži ista firma oko ApplePay tehnologije.Apple increases American commitment to $600 billion, announces ambitious programSteve Troughton-Smith:I know it's a $3,000 Mac, but seeing any Mac laptop running Cyberpunk at high resolutions at 60fps, especially considering where we came from, is quite impressive.Francisco Tolmasky:Companies aren't people. No one working there when you were 13 is still there now.Launch day: iOS 18.6 and macOS Sequoia 15.6 now ready to be installedWhat has changed in macOS Sequoia 15.6?Macintosh HD Gets a New Look in Latest macOS Tahoe BetaMr. Macintosh:So, like... do we need to launch a full-fledged campaign to get Apple to change the Tahoe Disk Utility icon, like we did with Finder?Employees Arrested Over Alleged Theft of Chip Tech for Apple A20 Chip$15 million truckload of Apple & AMD products stolen in NevadaDesign and development shop the Iconfactory is selling some apps — and AI is partially to blame | TechCrunchIntroducing gpt-ossAccording to OpenAI, GPT-5 is "significantly less likely to hallucinate" compared to prior models.OpenAI Brings Faster, Smarter GPT-5 Model to ChatGPT UsersApple's Real AI Crisis Isn't Siri, But the Talent It's Losing to RivalsZahvalniceSnimano 9.8.2025.Uvodna muzika by Vladimir Tošić, stari sajt je ovde.Logotip by Aleksandra Ilić.Artwork epizode by Saša Montiljo, njegov kutak na Devianartu

When Joe can't get his Apple Pay payment to go through, he does a quick search for their customer service number and reaches an operator named Daisy. Daisy informs Joe that his account has been flagged – criminals have compromised his identity and are coming after his life savings. But there is nothing to worry about, Daisy works directly with the FBI, and she will help him protect his assets. Over the following months, Joe is in constant contact with Daisy as she helps him transfer his savings and precious metals investments to safe accounts. He tells her all about his wife, who recently passed away, and she shares details about her life. As their connection grows deeper, they make plans for a future together. But as soon as the money is gone, Daisy disappears, leaving Joe heartbroken. 

This Day in Legal History: Expansion of US House of RepresentativesOn August 8, 1911, President William Howard Taft signed into law a measure that permanently expanded the size of the U.S. House of Representatives from 391 to 433 members. This change followed the 1910 census, which revealed significant population growth and shifts in where Americans lived. Under the Constitution, House seats are apportioned among the states according to population, and each decade's census can lead to changes in representation. Prior to 1911, Congress often responded to new census data by simply adding seats rather than redistributing them among states. The 1911 legislation reflected both that tradition and the political realities of the time, as expanding the House allowed growing states to gain representation without forcing other states to lose seats. It also set the stage for the modern size of the House—just two years later, New Mexico and Arizona joined the Union, bringing the total to 435 members. That number has remained fixed by law since 1929, despite the nation's continued population growth. The 1911 increase carried implications beyond arithmetic: more members meant more voices, more local interests, and a larger scale for legislative negotiation. It also underscored Congress's role in adapting the machinery of government to the country's evolving demographics. In many ways, the expansion reflected Progressive Era concerns with fair representation and democratic responsiveness. While debates over House size have continued into the 21st century, the 1911 law remains a pivotal moment in the chamber's institutional development. By enlarging the House, Taft and Congress preserved proportionality between population and representation, even if only temporarily.After the 1911 increase under President Taft, the size of the House stayed at 435 members following Arizona and New Mexico's statehood in 1912. The idea at the time was that future census results would continue to trigger changes, either by adding more seats or by redistributing them among the states.But after the 1920 census, Congress ran into a political deadlock. Massive population growth in cities—and significant immigration—meant that urban states stood to gain seats while rural states would lose them. Rural lawmakers, who still held considerable power, resisted any reapportionment that would diminish their influence. For nearly a decade, Congress failed to pass a new apportionment plan, effectively ignoring the 1920 census results.To end the stalemate, Congress passed the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929. This law capped the House at 435 seats and created an automatic formula for reapportionment after each census. Instead of adding seats to reflect population growth, the formula reassigns the fixed number of seats among states. This froze the size of the House even as the U.S. population more than tripled over the next century.Critics argue that the 1929 cap dilutes individual representation—today, each representative speaks for about 760,000 constituents on average, compared to roughly 200,000 in 1911. Supporters counter that a larger House would be unwieldy and harder to manage. The debate over whether to expand the House continues, but the 1929 law has held for nearly a hundred years, making Taft's 1911 expansion the last time the chamber permanently grew in size.A fourth federal court blocked President Donald Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship, halting its enforcement nationwide. The order, issued on Trump's first day back in office, sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. unless at least one parent was a citizen or lawful permanent resident. Immigrant rights groups and 22 Democratic state attorneys general challenged the policy as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which has long been interpreted to grant citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil.U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland sided with the challengers, issuing the latest in a series of nationwide injunctions despite a recent Supreme Court ruling narrowing judges' power to block policies universally. That June decision left a key exception: courts could still halt policies nationwide in certified class actions. Advocates quickly filed two such cases, including the one before Boardman, who had previously ruled in February that Trump's interpretation of the Constitution was one “no court in the country has ever endorsed.”In July, Boardman signaled she would grant national relief once class status was approved, but waited for the Fourth Circuit to return the case after the administration's appeal was dismissed. Her new order covers all affected children born in the U.S., making it the first post–Supreme Court nationwide injunction issued via class action in the birthright fight. The case, Casa Inc. et al v. Trump, continues as part of a broader legal battle over the limits of presidential power in defining citizenship.Fourth court blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order nationwide | ReutersThe Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a lower court order restricting immigration enforcement tactics in much of Southern California. The Justice Department's emergency filing seeks to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong, who barred federal agents from stopping or detaining individuals based solely on race, ethnicity, language, or similar factors without “reasonable suspicion” of unlawful presence. Her temporary restraining order stemmed from a proposed class action brought by Latino plaintiffs—including U.S. citizens—who alleged they were wrongly targeted, detained, or roughed up during immigration raids in Los Angeles.The plaintiffs argued these tactics violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, describing indiscriminate stops by masked, armed agents. Judge Frimpong agreed, finding the operations likely unconstitutional and blocking the use of race, ethnicity, language, workplace type, or certain locations as stand-alone reasons for suspicion. The Ninth Circuit declined to lift her order earlier this month.The challenge comes amid a major escalation in Trump's immigration enforcement push, which includes aggressive deportation targets, mass raids, and even the deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines in Los Angeles—a move sharply opposed by state officials. The administration contends the restrictions hinder operations in a heavily populated region central to its immigration agenda. The Supreme Court will now decide whether to allow these limits to remain in place while the underlying constitutional challenge proceeds.Trump asks US Supreme Court to lift limits on immigration raids | ReutersMilbank announced it will pay seniority-based “special” bonuses to associates and special counsel worldwide, ranging from $6,000 to $25,000, with payments due by September 30. Milbank, of course, is among the big firms that bent to Trump's strong-arm tactics, cutting a $100 million deal and dropping diversity-based hiring rather than risk becoming his next executive-order target. The New York-founded firm used the same bonus scale last summer, signaling optimism about high activity levels through the rest of the year. Milbank, known for setting the pace in Big Law compensation, is the first major corporate firm to roll out such bonuses this summer—a move that often pressures competitors to follow suit.Special bonuses are not standard annual payouts, and last year rival firms mostly waited until year's end to match Milbank's mid-year scale, adding those amounts to their regular year-end bonuses. Milbank also led the market in November 2024 with annual bonuses up to $115,000. The firm is one of nine that reached agreements with President Trump earlier this year after his executive orders restricted certain law firms' access to federal buildings, officials, and contracting work.In a smaller but notable move, New York boutique Otterbourg recently awarded all full-time associates a $15,000 mid-year bonus, citing strong performance and contributions to the firm's success.Law firm Milbank to pay out 'special' bonuses for associates | ReutersMilbank reaches deal with Trump as divide among law firms deepens | ReutersA federal judge in North Dakota vacated the Federal Reserve's rule capping debit card “swipe fees” at 21 cents per transaction, siding with retailers who have long argued the cap is too high. The decision, which found the Fed exceeded its authority by including certain costs in the fee calculation under Regulation II, will not take effect immediately to allow time for appeal. The case was brought by Corner Post, a convenience store that claimed the Fed ignored Congress's directive to set issuer- and transaction-specific standards under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.Banks, backed by groups like the Bank Policy Institute, defended the cap as compliant with the law, while retailers and small business advocates supported Corner Post's challenge. This is Judge Daniel Traynor's second ruling in the dispute; he initially dismissed the case in 2022 as untimely, but the U.S. Supreme Court revived it in 2024, easing limits on challenges to older regulations. An appeal to the Eighth Circuit is expected, with the losing side likely to seek Supreme Court review. The ruling comes as the Fed separately considers lowering the cap to 14.4 cents, a proposal still pending.US judge vacates Fed's debit card 'swipe fees' rule, but pauses order for appeal | ReutersTexas-based Fintiv sued Apple in federal court, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets to develop Apple Pay. Fintiv claims the mobile wallet's core technology originated with CorFire, a company it acquired in 2014, and that Apple learned of it during 2011–2012 meetings and nondisclosure agreements intended to explore licensing. According to the complaint, Apple instead hired away CorFire employees and used the technology without permission, launching Apple Pay in 2014 and expanding it globally.Fintiv alleges Apple has run an informal racketeering operation, using Apple Pay to collect transaction fees for major banks and credit card networks, generating billions in revenue without compensating Fintiv. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages under federal and Georgia trade secret and anti-racketeering laws, including RICO. Apple is the sole defendant and has not commented.The case follows the recent dismissal of Fintiv's related patent lawsuit against Apple in Texas, which the company plans to appeal. The new lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Georgia, where CorFire was originally based.Lawsuit accuses Apple of stealing trade secrets to create Apple Pay | ReutersThis week's closing theme is by Antonín DvořákThis week's closing theme comes from a composer who knew how to weave folk spirit into the fabric of high art without losing either warmth or polish. Dvořák, born in 1841 in what is now the Czech Republic, grew from a village-trained violist into one of the most celebrated composers of the late 19th century. His music often married classical forms with the rhythms, turns, and dances of his homeland—an approach that made his work instantly recognizable and deeply human.His Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, written in 1887, is a prime example. Dvořák had actually written an earlier piano quintet in the same key but was dissatisfied with it; rather than revise, he started fresh. The result is one of the most beloved chamber works in the repertoire. Across its four movements, the quintet blends lyrical sweep with earthy energy—romantic in scope, yet grounded in folk idiom. The opening Allegro bursts forth with an expansive theme, the piano and strings trading lines as if in animated conversation.The second movement, marked Dumka, takes its name from a Slavic song form alternating between melancholy reflection and lively dance. Here, Dvořák's gift for emotional contrast is on full display—wistful cello lines give way to playful rhythms before sinking back into introspection. The third movement is a Furiant, a fiery Czech dance bristling with syncopation and vigor, while the finale spins out buoyant melodies with an almost orchestral fullness.It is music that feels both intimate and vast, as if played in a parlor with the windows thrown open to the countryside. With this quintet, Dvořák shows how local color can speak in a universal voice—how the tunes of a homeland can travel the world without losing their soul. For our purposes, it's a reminder that endings can be celebratory, heartfelt, and just a bit homespun.Without further ado, Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 – enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Sam Blackshear is the Co-founder and CTO of Mysten Labs, the company behind the Sui Network, and creator of the Move programming language that's revolutionizing smart contract development. From his academic roots in programming language research to his pivotal role at Facebook's Libra project, Sam shares the untold story of how he identified fundamental flaws in existing blockchain architectures and built solutions from the ground up.__________________________________PARTNERS

Episode 1403 - UFC Fight Night from The Apex this Saturday night features Roman Dolidze vs Anthony Hernandez. Live on TNT Sports we highlight 3 of the best bookmaker new customer offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our ladbrokes sign up offer guide. Boylesports Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets & Bonuses For new customers 18+ Boylesports are offering a Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets  & Bonuses offer. No promo code is required when registering.  Terms: New UK customers (Excluding NI) only. £40 in FREE Bets (FB) as £30 in sports bets & a £10 casino bonus (CB). Min Deposit £10. Min stake £10. Min odds Evs. FB applied on 1st settlement of any qualifying bet. FB 7-day expiry. 1 FB offer per customer, household & IP address only. Account & Payment restrictions. 14 days to accept £10 CB, then active for 3 days. CB 5x wagering & max redeemable £100. Game restrictions apply. Cashed out/Free Bets won't apply. 30 days to qualify. 18+. T&Cs apply. #Ad  boylesports promo code Ladbrokes Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets  For new customers only. 18+, Ladbrokes are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets. No promo code required when registering. Terms: 18+ New UK+IRE customers. Paypal and certain deposit types and bet types excluded. Min £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 = 4 x £5 free bets. Free bets valid for 4 days on sports, stake not returned, restrictions apply. T&Cs apply. #Ad  Ladbrokes dets: ladbrokes promo code William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill bonus code Here is our bet356 guide and our betfred sign up offer guide. Read our coral promo code new customer and coral sign up offer £50 guides. Read our pages bet 365 bonus code unibet sign up offer william hill sign up offer betfred bonus code Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/bet365-new-customer-offers/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly.

On the podcast I talk with Lucy and Nicole about how customer-driven iteration led Zumba from VHS tapes in 2001 to launching an app in 2024, their app2web experiments that boosted LTV by 17%, and how they are able to charge for content when countless Zumba classes are available for free on YouTube.Top Takeaways:

Episode 1401 - Saturday sees Southampton vs Wrexham. Live on Sky Sports, we highlight 3 of the best bookmaker offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our new customer offer bet365 guide. Betfred Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, Betfred are offering a Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets and Bonuses offer. Use promo code BETFRED50 when registering. Terms: New customers only. Register, deposit with Debit Card, and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply. betfred new customer offer Coral Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets For new customers 18+ Coral are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets offer. No promo code is required when registering.  Terms: 18+ New Customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4 x £5 free bets. Free bet available to use on selected sportsbook markets only. Free bets valid for 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. coral sign up offer William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill g40 offer bet 365 guide and our coral casino bonus code guide. unibet sign up offer and bonus code ladbrokes guides. Read our pages bet365 bonus code uk boylesports new customer offer ladbrokes sign up offer bonus code betfred Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/william-hill-promo-code-r30/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/ladbrokes-new-customer-offer/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/ladbrokes-promo-code-2025/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/coral-new-customer-offers/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly.

Episode 1402 - Friday sees Birmingham vs Ipswich. Live on Sky Sports, we highlight 3 of the best bookmaker offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our bet365 sign up offer guide. Betfred Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, Betfred are offering a Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets and Bonuses offer. Use promo code BETFRED50 when registering. Terms: New customers only. Register, deposit with Debit Card, and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply. new customer offer betfred Ladbrokes Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets  For new customers only. 18+, Ladbrokes are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets. No promo code required when registering. Terms: 18+ New UK+ROI customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £/€5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4 x £/€5 free bets (selected sportsbook markets only, valid 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. ladbrokes sign up offer William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill bet 10 get 40 bet366 guide and our coral promo code guide. unibet sign up offer and ladbrokes bonus code guides. Read our pages bet365 bonus code coral welcome offer betfred promo code new customer offer Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/bet365-new-customer-offers/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/coral-new-customer-offers/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/ladbrokes-new-customer-offer/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly.

Episode 1400 - Saturday sees Sheffield United vs Bristol City.  Live on Sky Sports, we highlight 3 of the best bookmaker offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our bet365 new customer offers guide. Betfred Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, Betfred are offering a Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets and Bonuses offer. Use promo code BETFRED50 when registering. Terms: New customers only. Register, deposit with Debit Card, and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply. betfred50 Ladbrokes Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets  For new customers only. 18+, Ladbrokes are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets. No promo code required when registering. Terms: 18+ New UK+ROI customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £/€5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4 x £/€5 free bets (selected sportsbook markets only, valid 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. ladbrokes sign up offer William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill g40 365bet guide and our coral promo code guide. boylesports sign up offer ireland and promo code ladbrokes guides. Read our pages bet365 promo code uk coral welcome offer william hill new customer offer new customer offer Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/bet365-new-customer-offers/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/coral-new-customer-offers/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/ladbrokes-new-customer-offer/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly.

Episode 1399 - Sunday sees Leicester vs Sheffield Wednesday. Live on Sky Sports, we highlight 3 of the best bookmaker offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our bet365 new customer offer guide. Betfred Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, Betfred are offering a Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets and Bonuses offer. Use promo code BETFRED50 when registering. Terms: New customers only. Register, deposit with Debit Card, and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. Full T&Cs apply. betfred new customer Coral Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets For new customers 18+ Coral are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets offer. No promo code is required when registering.  Terms: 18+ New Customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4 x £5 free bets. Free bet available to use on selected sportsbook markets only. Free bets valid for 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. coral new customer offer William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill 10 for 40 bet365 10 for 30 guide and our bonus code coral guide. unibet rangers new customer offer and ladbrokes bonus code guides. Read our pages bonus code bet365 boylesports bonus code ladbrokes bet 5 get 20 betfred promo code Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/william-hill-promo-code-r30/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/ladbrokes-new-customer-offer/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/ladbrokes-promo-code-2025/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/coral-new-customer-offers/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly.

Video - https://youtu.be/aROIgEg9R6cA digital wallet is more than just Apple Pay or Google Wallet — it's your money, ID, and tickets in your pocket. Here's how it works, how safe it is, and why you might want one.I used ChatGPT-4o, ScreenPal, and Pictory.ai to put this information together.If you're interested in trying Pictory.ai please use the following link. https://pictory.ai?ref=t015o

Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and CEO of Wintermute, dismantles crypto's biggest conspiracy theories with brutal honesty. He explains why market manipulation claims are "flat earth theory level stupidity" and reveals how markets actually work.From price crash accusations to wash trading conspiracies, Evgeny addresses every major theory while sharing his journey from 1990s Russia to multi-billion dollar crypto empire and his ultimate dream: colonizing Mars.__________________________________PARTNERS

Cash App launches a new payment option that supports Apple Pay and Google Pay for the first time. Elgato has launched the Facecam 4K webcam that allows users to attach 49mm lens filters. OpenAI introduces a new Study Mode feature that lets students be queried by an LLM instead of just regurgitating information. And we test our understanding of texting etiquette. Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Roger Chang, Joe. To read the show notes in a separate page click here! Support the show on Patreon by becoming a supporter!

Title: Build a Bigger Life, Not a Bigger Lifestyle: The Real Path to Freedom with Adam Caroll Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, guest (Adam Carroll) shares his journey from a traveling professional speaker to building sustainable wealth through passive income strategies. After realizing the limitations of trading time for money, Adam developed The Shred Method, a cashflow reorientation system that minimizes debt interest and frees up capital to build liquidity and invest. By leveraging lines of credit and algorithm-driven cash deployment, individuals can rapidly pay down debts and reallocate savings into passive income streams like real estate syndications, intellectual property, and other alternative investments. Adam stresses that most high-income earners don't have an income problem - they have a liquidity problem tied up in low-access retirement plans and excessive spending. Finally, he expands on his philosophy of "building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle," urging professionals to align spending and time with their values to achieve fulfillment and financial freedom within 10 years. Links to Watch and Subscribe:   Bullet Point Highlights: Trading time for money is limiting. Adam shifted from paid speaking gigs to building passive income streams for true freedom. The Shred Method minimizes interest expenses. By using cashflow more efficiently through lines of credit and optimized algorithms, debt is paid down faster, freeing liquidity for investing. Passive income is key to wealth. Adam focuses on real estate syndications, ATM tranches, intellectual property, and digital products to generate consistent, diversified passive cash flow. Most people have a liquidity problem, not an income problem. Money is often locked in 401(k)s or spent wastefully — instead, creating accessible liquidity allows for opportunity-based investing. Building a bigger life requires intentionality. Aligning spending and actions with core values (like family, freedom, growth) leads to fulfillment — not just more stuff. The game becomes fun. Once passive income starts flowing, investing becomes strategic, diversified, and compounding — eventually replacing active income and creating financial independence. Anyone can implement this. While you can DIY, Adam recommends coaching to fast-track understanding and execution of the Shred Method. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.094) What's up, Builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm (Seth Bradley), securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Adam, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Hey Seth, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited about our conversation today.   Yeah, dude, super stoked to have you on today. It's going to be an awesome show, man. Let's dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background. Take it back as far as you want to. Yeah.   Well, for the last 15 years or so, almost 20 now, guess, I've been making my living, opening my mouth and just speaking on stages all across the country. Had the opportunity to do a couple of international gigs, which was a blast. And in the midst of all that, making my living as a professional speaker, I realized that if I was very similar to your audience, if I wasn't doing the deal, doing the gig, doing the engagement, I wasn't getting paid.   (Adam Carroll) (01:26.184) And so a mentor of mine said, the goal is not to go to work and get paid. The goal is to go to work and get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. And so I started figuring out that what I really wanted to do with the messaging that I was delivering was turn it into sort of a mediapreneurship where I was a mediapreneur creating content, but then I'd get paid for the content over and over and over again. And that today looks like I've written a bunch of books.   I've got a documentary that I produced that aired on CNBC. And now we're starting to get into more of a SaaS business, which I'm sure we'll talk about. That's the shred method. But I, you what I do when people ask me, I tell them, I love to educate people about new and different ways of building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. And I would say you and I have that in common, because I know you're doing that on the show.   Yeah, absolutely, man. I gotta ask, how do you become a professional speaker? I bet a lot of people are thinking about that.   The origin story is kind of interesting because I was a clothier at the time in Denver, Colorado. And I was literally going out and meeting with high level executives in their offices, selling them custom made suits and shirts and sport coats and pants and whatnot. And it occurred to me in the middle of a meeting at one point, an appointment with one of my clients that I didn't want to measure in seams for the rest of my life. And I'll keep it PG but   This guy was one of my favorite clients. He was irreverent and funny and wasn't afraid to spend money on clothes. But this particular day, he confided in me that he wasn't wearing any underwear. And I was just like, dude, JP, what? You knew I was coming here today. He's like, I know, I just forgot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And I walked out and I went, I don't want to do this anymore. I just don't want to do this. And the company that I worked for is a fairly well known clothier. But   (Adam Carroll) (03:22.55) Every day I would drive around in my car listening to motivational messages. You know, they were on CDs at the time. I'm going to date myself, but I would listen to like Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield and Les Brown and Zig Ziglar. I would listen to all these CDs in my car. And Mark Victor Hansen said on one of the CDs that public speaking is one of the most noble professions because you get to travel the world. You get to change people's lives and you make a lot of money doing it. And I remember thinking.   That's what I want to do. All three of those things rolled into one. And so I reached out to a buddy of mine and said, dude, I don't think I'm in the right job. I need to be doing something else. He said, what do you want to do? And I told him, and you know how the universe kind of works in mysterious ways. He goes, well, Anne, who used to work with us, she works for a company that that's all they do is hire speakers. And so I sent in a tape, I auditioned, I got the gig.   And I was a W2 employee of theirs for about two years and then realized that I was being underpaid for the work I was doing, that I was actually probably one of the top 10 % of speakers on the roster. And then I realized that when you can make anywhere from a thousand to $5,000 an hour doing that, it was a pretty good paying gig if you were out on your own. I took the jump and have been doing it ever since.   Interesting man. I didn't realize that you could have a W-2 as a speaker I thought everybody that was speaking was getting the speakers that were getting paid, you know They were kind of doing it on their own. I don't realize there was kind of a there was a way to do it where there's a company that pays W-2 wages to speakers to speak it events. Yeah, it's interesting   It is interesting because there are companies that will hire you as a speaker to go and it may be sell their product or service. Or in this case, I was working for a company that was a division of monster.com, the job search company. And I was, I was speaking to high school and college students all across the country. And I probably presented to like 200,000 people in, two years time. So it was just a great practice run and a great way to cut my teeth on a very difficult audience. Because.   (Adam Carroll) (05:36.814) I don't know if you've ever been around a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school, but they're like the most apathetic human beings on the face of earth. They don't want to be there. I could have lit myself on fire and they'd been like, cool, what else you got? And then when I realized that there were speakers like me that were out who basically just said, this is my topic. This is my specialty, if you will. And here's the rate. And the more they spoke and the...   we have a theory that the more you speak, the more you speak. So once you get out, you hang your own shingle and say, I'm a speaker in this topic, people begin to know you as that person. And then word gets around and obviously you have to not suck on stage. That's part of it. But if you're great at keeping audiences attention, and I really studied NLP, neuro-linguistic programming to use the right words, I studied comedians to figure out what was funny and what wasn't, and it just worked.   Over time, I had more more bookings and at the peak of my career, I was doing like 70 or 75 gigs a year.   Wow, wow, that's incredible. Definitely didn't realize that was your background. I remember those folks coming to like the office and selling suits and doing that sort of thing. So that's pretty interesting. I'm sure a lot of listeners out there are familiar with that process as well.   Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a great, it was a great gig. mean, I met all sorts of really phenomenal business people. And I think for me, it was, it was like confirmation that I had this desire to, to impact people. And my boss at one point, he was like, Hey, these people love you. They want you to come around. They love the discussion and the conversation. They need to buy stuff from you. And, and there was a.   (Seth Bradley) (07:01.639) sorry, go ahead.   (Adam Carroll) (07:26.574) It's kind of a realization for me that I didn't necessarily want to have to sell. wanted people to buy. And speaking makes it real easy to do that.   Hmm. Yeah, makes sense. Let's jump right into it, man. Let's talk about the shred method. A lot of folks will find this very interesting. I know that I do. What is it? And let's just start there. What is it? Tell us a little bit about it.   Yeah, the shred method, first of all, thank you for asking. it's, it's, for me, I don't say this lightly, but nothing has built more wealth for me and my family than following this model. And the reason for it is there are two great expenses that everyone has in life. And I'm sure all of your listeners, be they attorneys, doctors, other professionally degreed folks.   If you're in a W-2 job, you know this to be true. The two greatest expenses we have in life are taxes and the interest expense on debt. Those are the two greatest expenses. And a gentleman that I had met years ago who helped me with tax situations, just a brilliant, brilliant strategist, he said, Adam, if you focus on minimizing your tax liability, that will get you halfway there. And it's very easy to do, buy real estate, have depreciable assets.   you know, make personal expenses, business expenses, etc, etc. But he said, if you can focus on minimizing the interest expense on debt, this is like a video game that you can't lose. And so when I learned about the shred method, and this is known by a variety of different terms, some people call it an Australian mortgage, it's called velocity banking, we've taken those concepts and turbocharged them.   (Adam Carroll) (09:09.474) almost like putting nitrous oxide in a gas tank, you know, in terms of making it go faster. But the shred method is a unique tool and a way of reorienting your cash flow through your household so that it is being used to the most efficient use possible. And to kind of qualify that, Seth, if you were to leave your home in the morning to go to the grocery store, as an example, and you came back home, emptied the car out,   knowing you had to go to post office at like 4 p.m., would you leave your car idling in the driveway all day?   (Adam Carroll) (09:46.284) Nope. No, and why wouldn't you?   Wasteful.   Yeah, wasteful, you'd burn gas, it'd be hard on the engine. It's just inefficient, right? And yet what most people do is they get their income, their income gets deposited into a checking account, and it sits there for days, weeks, months, sometimes years on end. And we never really use it to its highest efficiency. Meanwhile, we might have debts, commercial debts, primary mortgages, might have student loans yet. And all of those are accruing amortized interest.   right? And you might say it's compound interest working against you to a certain extent. But at the very least amortized interest means that the majority of the interest you're paying on that debt is upfront, it's in the first one to five years. And so the shred method teaches people how to take that income that is being super inefficient in an account, and instead begin to apply it through a process that allows you to blast away   the highest interest or highest payment debts that you have, freeing up cash flow, building equity, and ultimately, and this is the key, creating liquidity to go buy passive income properties, if you will, or other passive income plays.   (Seth Bradley) (11:02.058) Interesting. Yeah, and we actually haven't had anyone on the show to speak about this method, whatever nomenclature you might use. So let's go in a little bit more detail. mean, what is the vehicle? What is this flow of money that you're talking about?   So, know, logistically, here's how it works. Money typically would just get deposited into checking. You pay everything out of checking your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, living expenses. And the gurus would tell you that anything extra should really go towards savings and investments, right? And for most people, it goes to Costco, Target and Dining Out. That's where it goes. You know, it doesn't stay in the account, doesn't go into savings. If it does, it goes there for a small period of time. I think that most people   don't really have a savings account, they have a put and take account, because they put a little bit in, take a little bit out, put a little bit in, take a lot out. So the way this works is the money instead of being deposited straight to a checking account gets deposited into what we call a shred account. And the shred account could either be a line of credit, or it could be just a side account of money that you have sitting there that has not been accessed in some time. And what we tell our users is that   you really want to have either a line of credit or a shred account that is one and a half to two times what your monthly net take home is. So if you're bringing home 10 grand a month net, then ideally you want either a line of credit or a shred account of 15 to 20 grand. And the magic of this is the money is going to flow into that account. But the shred method is powered by a piece of software that is based on an algorithm that's tracking your income.   your expenses, the interest that you're paying on all your debts, and how much discretionary money you have available at any given point in time. And essentially, we're leveraging that in really short bursts of time against your largest debts, which could be, again, student loans, could be your mortgage, could be commercial properties. And in doing that, what we're doing is we're saving copious amounts of interest, like literally tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.   (Adam Carroll) (13:11.122) And in the process, we're freeing up a ton of equity. So people that are saying, hey, I'm paycheck to paycheck. It's hard for me to figure out how am I going to invest more money? We're telling them the money is going to come from the equity that you're creating in your properties by paying them down rapidly.   I love that because I can see where this is going to potentially free up some extra cash to invest. A lot of folks out there, including myself back in the day, we got caught up in this thing we call the golden handcuffs where we're just spending everything. Like you said, we're spending it on Target, on eating out, on things that we really don't need. mean, there's a time and place for spending money on having a good time and enjoying your life for sure.   But we just we tend to overdo it as our income grows our expenses grow right along with it And a lot of people that I talked to about investing they're like, you know I don't have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this real estate deal or a hundred thousand dollars in this real estate deal and it's like well Well, why don't you you know make three hundred thousand dollars you why don't you have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this awesome deal? Right or to you know, put aside for your emergency fund. Like why don't you have these things set up?   So, you know, we always have to walk them through, you know, the expenses is the issue. Really, it's what are you spending all this money on? we try to find how they can save on those expenses so that they can invest in these assets that are really going to set them financially free.   No doubt. And I think you hit the nail on the head. If somebody's making, and honestly, I tell people if you're making six figures plus $100,000 plus, and you don't have 10, 20, $50,000 ready to go, there's something fundamentally wrong. And here it is, we're sending too much money to our banker, and it just goes up in smoke. Right? We like to refer to it as the interest to income ratio, which is if you take how much income you make,   (Adam Carroll) (15:11.694) and you back out how much of that income is actually going to pay interest expense, it'll probably blow your mind. If someone's got a multi-six figure home or mortgage that they're paying on, and they've got student loans, and maybe they're driving a $50,000 to $100,000 vehicle with a payment attached to it, you're probably burning 50 to 60 grand a year in interest and not really thinking twice about it. So what this does is it starts to claw back some of the money that you're sending to your banker.   Which by the way, they make plenty of money. They don't need your money. That is the most profitable business out there is banking and lending. mean, literally, Seth, if you drive two miles around your property there, how many banks would you be able to stop at, do you think? Ballpark best guess.   Right, half a dozen.   Easily, right? And they're probably $10 million buildings minimum. Out there, they're even more, right? So, so this is the deal. They're profitable business ventures. And what we have to remember sometimes is we are their compound interest vehicle, right? Us making our payment every single month is what makes the banks all the money. And if we can game that system, if even for 12 to 18 months at the very beginning of our debt,   we can strip away a huge chunk of the interest that we would normally be paying them over the course of a decade or more. To your audience, that's how I'd say this is how you find the extra 50 or 100 grand because you do have it and it should be in the equity of your property and easily accessible as a liquidity tool. It just isn't because you haven't challenged the banking system.   (Seth Bradley) (16:57.073) Yeah. Now, is this something you can set up yourself or is this something that you need an expert to kind of walk you through? I'm sure if you could probably do it either way. It's just like anything else. You want to take the shortcut or not. But yeah, I just like to know your thoughts on that.   You're exactly right. I I could build a deck on my house if I wanted to and had three months to learn how to do it. Anybody can learn how to do this. My question to most people when they say, I do this myself? I'll say, yes, why haven't you? And for that, the investment with us is very minimal, mainly what it is is coaching and being able to help people get the logistics right. Because once they get it, it's very simple.   but there requires a little bit of retraining the brain in terms of how to handle your money and where the cash flow goes, because it's so, it's like so ingrained in us to live in the banker's business model, put money in checking, pay your bills, anything leftover goes over here. And if you look at it critically, the two groups that are really making money using the existing platform are bankers,   and any advisors that are accepting your money and then turning around and doing something with it. A friend of mine used to call it the helper class. So when the helper class has your money, they're making a ton of money, probably more than you are. And that's our goal is to begin to start to pull back some of the money from the helper class to keep it for ourselves to build those massive passive permanent streams of income.   Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. We tend to bash a few of those helper class folks. I mean, they're not all created equal, including some financial advisors and folks like that that, you know, they're okay people, but their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.   (Adam Carroll) (18:51.576) That's right. I would agree with that. I don't want to villainize them, but I think that personal finance is personal. The challenge that I have with anyone out there who espouses a certain way, mine included, is it has to be for the right kind of audience, the right avatar. From our perspective, the people that we help out are the ones who do want to break free from the W-2. They want to create massive passive permanent streams of income.   Over time, they'd like to build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. So if someone's chronically overspending, got to have the newest of the new every single time, they may not be a perfect fit with our strategy because the goal is to continually increase your income while either keeping your expenses similar or even trending down over time, which is not to say that you can't expand where you're spending. Your income is increasing exponentially relative to your expenses.   we do that through the model that we're teaching people. So, you if you're a new car every six months or 12 months kind of person may not be a perfect fit. But if you're somebody who's like, hey, the debt's kind of oppressive, I want to get rid of it. And I want to build, you know, massive wealth for future generations, then generally speaking, we're a pretty good fit for for those folks.   Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I feel like there's, there's probably, it's probably a math equation, right? Like we can't necessarily do it on this show because it's, everybody's taking it in by audio for the most part. there's gotta be an algorithm and you could probably, you know, set those expense numbers and interest numbers that you're paying on your mortgage and other debts and what you're going to pay on that through the shred method and kind of see the savings and how you can grow that wealth year over year.   You're exactly right. It is super fluid. So if your income changes, your expenses change, we plug all that data in and hit recalculate and the thing automatically adjusts to whatever your expenses are. So one of the things that I would never fault anyone for is taking awesome vacations or buying a new car, whatever your choice is. Again, we're not going to villainize anyone for living their life.   (Adam Carroll) (21:06.67) But what we can do through shred is to say, hey, if you're going to drop 10 grand on a vacation, it's going to change your payoff by a month or two months or six months, depending on your income and discretionary income. And if someone knows that and they're planning on it, at least they're armed with that information as opposed to, gosh, we shouldn't do this, but we did or should we buy this $50,000 card? Does it make sense? Or 80 or 150 or whatever your number is.   We can show you exactly do it, just know this is what it changes in the process.   Yeah, yeah, I like that because you can just show them this is the impact it's going to have on paper before they do it and then you can make a better decision on whether or not you want to do that or not.   Absolutely. And furthermore, and you'll appreciate this, I know you're of this mindset, you'll get to a point where it's like, if you want the new car, then invest the money in a syndication or another property that puts enough money in your pocket, you can go pay for the car. But let your assets pay for your liabilities. And I think that's the main thing that many people, I'm sure your listeners, certainly folks that we engage with.   They don't have a lot of assets. They work hard, they make good money, but that is the sum total of their income, is active income. And our goal is to increase passive income over time where it supersedes your expenses because at that point you're financially free.   (Seth Bradley) (22:36.758) Right, right. What are some of the passive investments that you're involved in or that you recommend to people once they've implemented this system and they're trying to build those passive income streams?   Yeah, there are a number of them and I keep getting introduced to more and more all the time, Seth. I mentioned that, you know, that I was a mediapreneur and that the goal was to work, do the work and then get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. So I started looking for other passive income streams. I really do love real estate. I've been invested in real estate for a long time. We divested of personally held real estate about four or five years ago. And   You know, I think I was too early to the party, but I thought the market was peaking and I thought I could get the max amount out of my properties. And I think I did at the time. And then we were introduced to syndications and we started really appreciating the fact that you could own a piece of a 350 unit apartment complex in South Carolina or Houston, Texas, or some other growing city and get a couple things, either monthly or quarterly income. You could get bonus depreciation.   And you basically got a K1 at the end of the year, which allows you to claim some of those expenses. And so we love syndications. We try and stack syndications on top of each other. they're coming due. They're selling every three or four or five years. So we'll put an amount of capital in knowing that it's going to turn over in short order. And we'll have another amount of capital to put in. And generally speaking, that capital amount just keeps going up.   So we love syndications. I've been introduced and we haven't pulled the trigger yet, but on ATM tranches where you can buy, have you heard this investment? Yep. So you can buy, you know, an amount of ATM machines where you're basically compensated on whatever the fee revenue on those are. There are many advantages to those. There are some drawbacks to it, but it's again, a passive income stream and one that's fairly consistent.   (Seth Bradley) (24:25.798) yeah, for sure.   (Adam Carroll) (24:44.59) Then I really like intellectual property plays. I will tend to invest in a business that has some IP and it may not cashflow right away, but I know that in two or three years, the IP is probably going to be worth something. It's more of a long-term play for me. I'm not going to put as much in it, but we have a couple of 25 to $50,000 investments in those kinds of deals as well. That, in addition to books and   documentary is still selling and things like that I'll keep doing. For me, the process of creating passive income is kind of a game. And so whatever the next thing is, I'm digging in, I want to learn it. total sidebar, but I'm trying to teach my sons and my daughter, this is the way of the future. It's not about working a nine to five and getting W2 and staying with the company for 30 years, it just doesn't happen anymore. It's about setting up   just perpetual income streams that allow you to live the way you want to live. And that, you know, I think that answers your question, hopefully.   (Seth Bradley) (25:52.174) Pardon the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're preaching to the choir here, man. That's awesome. And you're kind of pretty deep into it. A lot of people will invest in a syndication and it is expensive to get involved, right? I mean, it's 50 grand or so or more to get into one of these things. And they're like, okay, I'm done. But you can't be done. You have to keep saving, keep investing. And you're in it to the point where past investors start really start accumulating wealth because they start stacking.   They start coming due every two, three, four, five years. You put it back in another one and they just compound on each other. And you're really accumulating this tax free if you stack them correctly. So it is an incredible vehicle once you get going. And it does turn into a game. I mean, you can look at your bank account or look at your personal P &L and just see how it's growing over five, 10 years. It's incredible. And you're not doing any work. You're vetting the sponsor, the market and the deal and really just the sponsor once you get really good at it.   and you keep reinvesting with the same sponsors that you like and there's no work involved, no tenants, toilets and trash, none of that.   Yes. Yes. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you find a sponsor you really like and you jive with, it's easy to roll the money over to them because they're constantly looking for the next deal. their reputation, their personality, everything is based on their success. they have a very, very vested interest to make you money. And so I don't think I fully realized when I was younger   (Adam Carroll) (27:50.35) the power of having the ability to write a 50 or $100,000 check. And once you get there and you can do 50 or 100 or get to a point where you can write a $500,000 or a million dollar check, things change drastically because there are syndicators out there that will take a million bucks. They'll pay you $90,000 a year guaranteed on the investment. You'll get bonus depreciation and write-offs and all of that. And you'll have like a...   200 % return on it within four or five years, three, four or five years. That's where you can buy a new car every year or two or three, because you need like a $75,000 or $80,000 write-off to your business. So you need a truck or you need a heavy vehicle,   Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, that's a good point. mean, people that have $500,000, a million dollars or more liquid, I mean, you can just look at a simple math and you get an 8 to 10 % return on that in cash flow, just in cash flow. You know, if you're living reasonably, you can live off of that. So, yeah, so you can be, you you don't need $10 million, $20 million to retire off of this if you invest in the right deals.   Totally. Totally.   (Seth Bradley) (29:03.926) and kind of spread it across, diversify in different deals, different sponsors, different geographies, different asset types. You can be retired if you want to. It's closer than people think.   I would agree. We have a theory that nearly everyone and certainly your audience could be free, done, done completely in 10 years or less. Absolutely. We call it a 10-year freedom plan. the challenge, think, Seth, and I would be curious your take on this, but I think the challenge for most people is not necessarily an income problem. It's a liquidity problem. So you make good income, right? And we talked about it. It's the expenses that factors in.   But where the majority of your investments go are probably in qualified funds. They're sitting in 401ks and Roth IRAs. Unless it's self-directed, you can't really access it till you're 59 and a half. And even then it's 59 and a half to 70 and a half, you have free rein access. Otherwise the government's regulating how much you take out without fees or penalties. That's a liquidity problem. And so the shred method takes that into account and starts to build   pockets or buckets of liquidity that you can draw from. The first is your home equity, or it could be equity in a commercial property. And then the next would be building a bank of money that you're borrowing from at some point in time, just another bucket. And the more buckets of money that we create, the more liquidity you have and the more investments you can get into, thereby increasing your passive income. So to your point, you do this well, it's like a video game you can't lose over time.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. And we've been programmed to think if we have a high paying job, we just put as much as we can into a 401k and we're doing the right thing and we're doing everything that we need to do and we're not and then everything that doesn't go into that 401k we're spending. So we're not saving anything else. We're not keeping anything else liquid. And we're just assuming that we're going to be okay because we put this money in the 401k. Well, like you said, you can't access it until you're 60 years old. That's right. Unless you take it out with a major penalty. So   (Seth Bradley) (31:10.062) You know, one way to do that obviously is to roll it over in an SDIRA or self-directed, I'm sorry, 401k, the self-directed, something that you have some control over. And then it does become liquid in the sense that you can at least invest it in things that you want to invest in rather than a financial advisor or just stocks, bonds and mutual funds. And then as you said, there's different ways that you can free up liquidity, a HELOC.   something like that borrow against a life insurance policy we've talked about infinite banking policies things like that there's there's creative ways to do it you just need to be aware of it most people just aren't aware of how to how to do that   Yeah, I think that's what's so valuable about your show too, man, is that we only know what we know. And there's an enormous amount that we don't know we don't know. So when I got introduced to syndications, and I got introduced to the ATM tranches, and I'm looking at these going, you know, there is risk, there's risk in everything. But the risk is so mitigated. And you don't realize that if you're writing $100,000 check, and they're saying, yeah, we're going to pay you 9 % guaranteed.   And these are some syndicators will promise an interest rate based on what class of investor you are, A, B, C, D, whatever it may be. But when I looked at that and I go, if I'm striving to get eight to 10 % in the S &P 500, and I have zero control over that, where would I rather be placing my money? That was something I didn't know I didn't know. And it's always fascinating to me to begin sharing this with people because   When I share the shred method, a lot of folks go, not too good to be true. If it's so good, why isn't everybody doing it? And what I'll tell them is because of human behavior and because the bank's lobbies and their marketing engine is so powerful. But it's not magic, it's math. We're taking mathematical principles, risk-based principles and applying it to real estate or finance and figuring out how to make an amount of money that will supersede what you're.   (Adam Carroll) (33:13.782) your W2 job is pretty simple. That's right. Yeah.   Yeah, pretty simple. It's math. Just got to get it down on paper, right? Yeah. All right. Let's switch gears a little bit. I want to quickly get into, you know, this concept that you preach about building a bigger life at work because I think that's, you know, inspiring and that sort of thing and really life in general, right? Tell us about that concept and kind of dive in a little bit.   Yeah.   (Adam Carroll) (33:37.964) Yeah, you know, this started, it would actually started from a conversation I had with a recent college graduate, and they had gotten an advanced degree, they were going into a high paying job. And I think they'd been at it for maybe nine months or so. And we were having coffee and this person said to me, I'm just not satisfied. And I said, Well, what what is it you're not satisfied with? And they said, Well, the issue is that I thought at this point in time after graduating, he'd be traveling the globe.   You know, that was what he had always romanticized was just tons of travel and do whatever he wanted to do. And I said, well, what's keeping you from that? And he goes, well, you know, I just got into this long-term lease apartment. go, okay. And he said, and I bought a bunch of furniture that I financed. And, and then it's like, okay. He goes, I have a couple of gym memberships, not one, two gym memberships, you know, each probably 80 to 120 bucks a piece a month had a car payment because he needed a fancy car. And I said,   Dude, it sounds to me like you're building a bigger lifestyle, not a bigger life. And what you're asking for is a bigger life. And that became almost a deep dive search for me on what would building a bigger life mean for me and my family. And what I did, Seth, was I started digging into what are my core values? How can I live according to those core values, not according to my neighbor's core values, you who may be drastically different than mine? And...   I ended up writing a book called The Build a Bigger Life Manifesto, which breaks down how do you do this step by step. And there are 10 core tenets. And the first one is you got to build on a strong values foundation, like understanding what is it truly you value in life. And if you're doing more of that, then your life should be fulfilling. And mine are family, freedom, love, growth, and connection. And if I'm fulfilling those five buckets on a weekly basis, generally speaking, I'm really fulfilled.   And so the second is have a bigger vision and a bigger vision for your life might mean I'm not going to stay in this job for the next 20 years and hopefully make partner. then hopefully, because we all know that as you get promoted in a W-2 job, it doesn't mean you work less. It means you work more. And so my bigger vision was I want to make my vocation, my vacation. I'm going to speak, but I'm going to speak in cool places that I can take my family to. People are going to pay me really well to do it.   (Adam Carroll) (36:03.368) and I'm going to do it X number of times a year. And then I started asking, and this is the third step, asking bigger questions. And bigger questions look like, okay, so if I wanted to do that, how would I get better at speaking? How would I get so good that people will pay me 10 or 15 or 20 grand to go do what I do for an hour? What would that look like? I started asking not how would I pay my house off early? How would I pay my house off by the end of this year?   And when I asked that question, answers started coming and we were able to do it. So this is kind of the layout of how we walk people through this process. And for me, a bigger life today is just that, you know, I live for my family. I want to travel with them. I want to have tons of fun with them while they're still in the house. I have two teenagers and one in college. And soon, you know, eventually they'll be gone and it'll be my wife and I going and living the life that we most want.   Our lifestyle right now is pretty locked in. We have a beautiful home, we drive nice cars, but everything's paid for. And at this point, the goal is just to continually create massive passive permanent streams of income that afford us the ability to be generous, to live the life we want. And ultimately for me to be able to go share that message with other people.   And something so simple that you did there, it's just, you know, ask yourself what's important. A lot of us don't take the time to think about why we're upset, why are we not happy. And a lot of it comes down to not filling those buckets that are important to us on a regular basis. to be able to figure that out, you've got to take a few moments to think deeply about what it is that's important to you.   100%. And I'll give you a great example, Seth. One guy that we worked with, he realized that one of his core values that was not being fulfilled was adventure. So he loved his job and he goes, I don't know what it is, I'm just dissatisfied. And we went through the values assessment and adventure was on there. I go, well, where are you getting adventure? And he said, you know, that's the problem. I'm not, I haven't had an adventure in two years. I said, so maybe in building your life,   (Adam Carroll) (38:21.538) we need to figure out where are you carving out adventure for yourself or your family to make sure that you're doing it. For him, community was a big part of it. And he was getting some of that in his day-to-day client interactions. But what he really wanted was to build a community of friends that would go do stuff together. And I said, that's on you, man. If you really want that as part of your life, you got to build whatever that looks like.   And what if you combine that and adventure? So you get a whole group of adventure seekers that get together three times a year to go skiing in Aspen or, you know, go skydiving on a weekend or whatever it is. What would that look like to do that? And he lit up and you know, I could do this right now. So to your point, I think we're all very, very close to having a fulfilled life and building a bigger life. But you do have to take time to figure out what does that look like for you.   For sure, for sure. And a lot of the folks listening are attorneys and doctors and they tend to have high suicide rates, all these crazy things, substance abuse. people from the outside looking in think, why? Because you're making all this money. You have this high profession that everybody looks up to and you're not unhappy. And that's why, because those folks...   folks like us, we're just really focused on just that occupation. And that's it. And we don't focus on some of the other things that would fulfill us and make us happy. tons of attorneys I talk to try to get, they're like, how do I start investing as quickly as possible? Make as much money as quickly as possible so I can get out of this job because I hate being an attorney or I hate being a dentist or whatever it is. But really, that might not be the issue. The issue is that you're not filling up those buckets outside of your   career. And if you were to start filling those buckets, start paying more attention to those things, you might not be as unhappy in your career. And you might actually find that you enjoy what you're doing because you're good at it. You worked really hard to get there and you're making a good bit of money doing it.   (Adam Carroll) (40:22.06) No doubt, no doubt. I would add to that, that I think the majority of professions that you just listed, dentists, doctors, lawyers, et cetera, what they really want is they want to maintain professional status, do what they do, they've gone to school, they've learned how to do it. But over time, they want to work less and less, not more and more. And if you're doing what you recommend on the show, and if you're leveraging something like the shred method to create it, you can get to a point where   half or more of your income, ideally all of it, is replaced by passive income. But it requires that you get really focused on working for the right reasons and not filling in the lack of fulfillment or unhappiness with a new car or the next do-dad or spending a fortune on something. Instead, decide, I'm going to go get into an investment this year that will begin the process of creating passive income for me to start building the life that I truly want.   And it is, it's pretty transformational once you figure out how to do it and what the next steps are.   Yeah, it's like the matrix. mean, you start kind of, as soon as you start, it becomes a game, how you said it earlier in the show, and you just start seeing things that you didn't see before. You start being presented with new types of investments and businesses that you can invest in that you never saw before, but they were right under your nose. It does turn into a fun game, a money game.   Yeah, no question. I was at a conference not too long ago and they were calling me Morpheus because I made a reference to the red pill or the blue pill. And they were like, dude, you're Morpheus. I just took the red pill. Now I'm going down the rabbit hole. So beware. Are you ready to take the red pill?   (Seth Bradley) (42:08.374) Love that, love that. All right Adam, before we jump into the freedom four, what's one last golden nugget for our listeners?   A golden nugget for your listeners is that money today is abstract. It's not a concrete thing. Several decades ago, you would be given cash or you'd pay for things in cash. And today, virtually everything is a cashless transaction. And when we're not using cash, it doesn't feel real. If we're using Apple Pay or we're swiping our card or tapping our card,   It doesn't feel real. In fact, there's no pain sensor that triggers when you do that. The opposite is true on Amazon. When you hit one click ship for $47, a pleasure sensor actually is activated because you're in anticipation of that thing coming to you. So we also have to realize that the more money you make, it feels like, well, the more you have to spend. But because money doesn't feel real, you're spending way more than you think you are.   because of the abstract nature of it. So some of that is like reigning back in and understanding these are real dollars that you're putting on a card or swiping on your phone or whatever it may be and deciding is this the best intentional use of this money or could I be using it to build the life that I truly want? And I will add to that Seth that it's very short. There's a short amount of time that it requires you to function just a little bit differently.   order to get there where all the passive income covers your wants. So just like intentionality for the next 12 to 24 months will make a massive difference in your life.   (Seth Bradley) (43:48.502) Yeah, that's all it takes. All right, let's jump into the freedom four. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   I am part of an exercise group called F3 and it stands for fitness fellowship and faith. There's like 75,000 guys all over the world that do this every morning. And we get up, you know, rain, sun, sleet or hail. I mean, we were working out in like eight degree Fahrenheit weather this winter outside. It's always outside. And I love it. I do it four or five, sometimes six mornings a week. But for me, just getting up the first hour of my day will   will dictate what the rest of my day does. And so my F3 brothers and I, that's the right way for me to get started.   awesome. With all your success what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   you know, this is, this is going to sound a bit like an oxymoron statement, but a limiting belief is that, man, there's so much opportunity. And for me, I'm a bright, shiny object guy. for years, my wife was like, just pick one opportunity, please just pick one. And so for me, it's, you know, it's the fact that there is so much I can do limits me because you can really get very, very good at one thing.   (Adam Carroll) (45:08.078) But I'm a big fan of James Clear and the book Atomic Habits. And he'll say that it's hard to get traction when your focus is divided. And so I've been really intentional about zeroing in on my focus and knowing that this is what I'm setting out to do. And it may be for 12 months or 24 months or five years. And I'll reevaluate along the way. But I've got one thing and I'm really focused on that. So that's been a limiting belief I've had to get over.   Awesome. Awesome. What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   Well, go to the shredmethod.com not to do a self plug, it is. Go watch the masterclass, see what we do and how we do it. If you are already intrigued by this and are wondering like, what should I do with a HELOC or should I have a HELOC? My answer to everyone is everyone should have a HELOC, everyone. If you have equity in your home, why do you not have a line of credit? If for nothing else to have that is an emergency.   of some kind. So point blank, the first thing you ought to do is go access a line of credit, be it a home equity line, a personal line of credit, a P lock, or a B lock, a business line of credit. can also do a cash value line of credit. But I think you got to have one of those because when you understand this method, this process, that's a linchpin to making this work.   Great. How is passive income made your life better?   (Adam Carroll) (46:42.698) you know, I like to call it mailbox money and, man, love mailbox money. When it shows up, I celebrate and I've, I've had a mantra for years that I'm a money magnet, that money comes easily and frequently, that I get more checks in the mail than I do bills. And I just repeat those mantras over and over again. So every time I set up another form of passive income, man, it's just like a win.   that you feel deep down inside. And it doesn't matter, Seth, if it's 50 bucks or 15 bucks or five bucks or 5,000, right? Total sidebar, real quick story, but I was sitting with a buddy of mine at a conference and he kept showing me his phone and he was clearly showing off. But every time he'd pop up his phone, was like another sale was made. And it'd be like $27, $170, $300. And I go...   Dude, how are you doing this?" And he said, I set up these funnels and it's just a little digital product I created and we're doing ads and we're putting all the people towards these ads. And I said, so how many of those do get a month? He goes, I don't somewhere between $9,000 and $10,000 a month is coming in. And I remember feeling giddy for him and giddy about the idea that this could be possible, that you could just do whatever you want to do every day. Go fishing, go surfing, be on a sailboat somewhere and pull up your phone and be like, well, this is cool. just made...   $800. So for me, we have started to build that into what we're doing. I now get alerts on my Apple Watch. It's a Slackbot. So every time a sale is made, it pops up. we went to Mexico over spring break and the vendors on the Mexican beaches, they bless themselves every time they make a sale. And so now when a sale pops up on my Slackbot,   I'm like, all right, I made a sale. This is awesome. So how has it changed my life? I'm more grateful. I sleep well at night. I have peace of mind. And I know that, you know, future generations are going to be taken care of by the wealth that my wife and I are creating.   (Seth Bradley) (48:45.29) I love it, All right, Adam, this has been incredible. We're going to let listeners find out more about you.   Well, you can find out more about me personally at adamcarroll.info. It's two R's, two L's, adamcarroll.info. And again, if you want to check out the Shred Method, we have lots of free resources. So you can go and do a ton of research. We have a savings analysis there that you can plug in your numbers and see how much you could save and how quickly you could be out of debt. All of that is available at theshredmethod.com.   All right, brother. Appreciate your time. Thanks again for coming on the show and we'll to have you on again soon.   Love it, Seth. Keep doing what you do, man. This is super important stuff.   Alright brother, talk soon.   (Seth Bradley) (49:28.578) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Adam Carroll's Links: https://www.threads.com/@adam.carroll/ https://www.instagram.com/adam.carroll/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcarrollspeaks/ https://www.facebook.com/AdamSpeaks/ https://x.com/adamcarroll https://open.spotify.com/show/1fPEUnWdnbcOcbYdksY1Yi https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJREGkPP6UwMucJMPvDS8xg

Title: Build a Bigger Life, Not a Bigger Lifestyle: The Real Path to Freedom with Adam Caroll Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, guest (Adam Carroll) shares his journey from a traveling professional speaker to building sustainable wealth through passive income strategies. After realizing the limitations of trading time for money, Adam developed The Shred Method, a cashflow reorientation system that minimizes debt interest and frees up capital to build liquidity and invest. By leveraging lines of credit and algorithm-driven cash deployment, individuals can rapidly pay down debts and reallocate savings into passive income streams like real estate syndications, intellectual property, and other alternative investments. Adam stresses that most high-income earners don't have an income problem - they have a liquidity problem tied up in low-access retirement plans and excessive spending. Finally, he expands on his philosophy of "building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle," urging professionals to align spending and time with their values to achieve fulfillment and financial freedom within 10 years. Links to Watch and Subscribe:   Bullet Point Highlights: Trading time for money is limiting. Adam shifted from paid speaking gigs to building passive income streams for true freedom. The Shred Method minimizes interest expenses. By using cashflow more efficiently through lines of credit and optimized algorithms, debt is paid down faster, freeing liquidity for investing. Passive income is key to wealth. Adam focuses on real estate syndications, ATM tranches, intellectual property, and digital products to generate consistent, diversified passive cash flow. Most people have a liquidity problem, not an income problem. Money is often locked in 401(k)s or spent wastefully — instead, creating accessible liquidity allows for opportunity-based investing. Building a bigger life requires intentionality. Aligning spending and actions with core values (like family, freedom, growth) leads to fulfillment — not just more stuff. The game becomes fun. Once passive income starts flowing, investing becomes strategic, diversified, and compounding — eventually replacing active income and creating financial independence. Anyone can implement this. While you can DIY, Adam recommends coaching to fast-track understanding and execution of the Shred Method. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.094) What's up, Builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm (Seth Bradley), securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Adam, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Hey Seth, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited about our conversation today.   Yeah, dude, super stoked to have you on today. It's going to be an awesome show, man. Let's dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background. Take it back as far as you want to. Yeah.   Well, for the last 15 years or so, almost 20 now, guess, I've been making my living, opening my mouth and just speaking on stages all across the country. Had the opportunity to do a couple of international gigs, which was a blast. And in the midst of all that, making my living as a professional speaker, I realized that if I was very similar to your audience, if I wasn't doing the deal, doing the gig, doing the engagement, I wasn't getting paid.   (Adam Carroll) (01:26.184) And so a mentor of mine said, the goal is not to go to work and get paid. The goal is to go to work and get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. And so I started figuring out that what I really wanted to do with the messaging that I was delivering was turn it into sort of a mediapreneurship where I was a mediapreneur creating content, but then I'd get paid for the content over and over and over again. And that today looks like I've written a bunch of books.   I've got a documentary that I produced that aired on CNBC. And now we're starting to get into more of a SaaS business, which I'm sure we'll talk about. That's the shred method. But I, you what I do when people ask me, I tell them, I love to educate people about new and different ways of building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. And I would say you and I have that in common, because I know you're doing that on the show.   Yeah, absolutely, man. I gotta ask, how do you become a professional speaker? I bet a lot of people are thinking about that.   The origin story is kind of interesting because I was a clothier at the time in Denver, Colorado. And I was literally going out and meeting with high level executives in their offices, selling them custom made suits and shirts and sport coats and pants and whatnot. And it occurred to me in the middle of a meeting at one point, an appointment with one of my clients that I didn't want to measure in seams for the rest of my life. And I'll keep it PG but   This guy was one of my favorite clients. He was irreverent and funny and wasn't afraid to spend money on clothes. But this particular day, he confided in me that he wasn't wearing any underwear. And I was just like, dude, JP, what? You knew I was coming here today. He's like, I know, I just forgot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And I walked out and I went, I don't want to do this anymore. I just don't want to do this. And the company that I worked for is a fairly well known clothier. But   (Adam Carroll) (03:22.55) Every day I would drive around in my car listening to motivational messages. You know, they were on CDs at the time. I'm going to date myself, but I would listen to like Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield and Les Brown and Zig Ziglar. I would listen to all these CDs in my car. And Mark Victor Hansen said on one of the CDs that public speaking is one of the most noble professions because you get to travel the world. You get to change people's lives and you make a lot of money doing it. And I remember thinking.   That's what I want to do. All three of those things rolled into one. And so I reached out to a buddy of mine and said, dude, I don't think I'm in the right job. I need to be doing something else. He said, what do you want to do? And I told him, and you know how the universe kind of works in mysterious ways. He goes, well, Anne, who used to work with us, she works for a company that that's all they do is hire speakers. And so I sent in a tape, I auditioned, I got the gig.   And I was a W2 employee of theirs for about two years and then realized that I was being underpaid for the work I was doing, that I was actually probably one of the top 10 % of speakers on the roster. And then I realized that when you can make anywhere from a thousand to $5,000 an hour doing that, it was a pretty good paying gig if you were out on your own. I took the jump and have been doing it ever since.   Interesting man. I didn't realize that you could have a W-2 as a speaker I thought everybody that was speaking was getting the speakers that were getting paid, you know They were kind of doing it on their own. I don't realize there was kind of a there was a way to do it where there's a company that pays W-2 wages to speakers to speak it events. Yeah, it's interesting   It is interesting because there are companies that will hire you as a speaker to go and it may be sell their product or service. Or in this case, I was working for a company that was a division of monster.com, the job search company. And I was, I was speaking to high school and college students all across the country. And I probably presented to like 200,000 people in, two years time. So it was just a great practice run and a great way to cut my teeth on a very difficult audience. Because.   (Adam Carroll) (05:36.814) I don't know if you've ever been around a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school, but they're like the most apathetic human beings on the face of earth. They don't want to be there. I could have lit myself on fire and they'd been like, cool, what else you got? And then when I realized that there were speakers like me that were out who basically just said, this is my topic. This is my specialty, if you will. And here's the rate. And the more they spoke and the...   we have a theory that the more you speak, the more you speak. So once you get out, you hang your own shingle and say, I'm a speaker in this topic, people begin to know you as that person. And then word gets around and obviously you have to not suck on stage. That's part of it. But if you're great at keeping audiences attention, and I really studied NLP, neuro-linguistic programming to use the right words, I studied comedians to figure out what was funny and what wasn't, and it just worked.   Over time, I had more more bookings and at the peak of my career, I was doing like 70 or 75 gigs a year.   Wow, wow, that's incredible. Definitely didn't realize that was your background. I remember those folks coming to like the office and selling suits and doing that sort of thing. So that's pretty interesting. I'm sure a lot of listeners out there are familiar with that process as well.   Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a great, it was a great gig. mean, I met all sorts of really phenomenal business people. And I think for me, it was, it was like confirmation that I had this desire to, to impact people. And my boss at one point, he was like, Hey, these people love you. They want you to come around. They love the discussion and the conversation. They need to buy stuff from you. And, and there was a.   (Seth Bradley) (07:01.639) sorry, go ahead.   (Adam Carroll) (07:26.574) It's kind of a realization for me that I didn't necessarily want to have to sell. wanted people to buy. And speaking makes it real easy to do that.   Hmm. Yeah, makes sense. Let's jump right into it, man. Let's talk about the shred method. A lot of folks will find this very interesting. I know that I do. What is it? And let's just start there. What is it? Tell us a little bit about it.   Yeah, the shred method, first of all, thank you for asking. it's, it's, for me, I don't say this lightly, but nothing has built more wealth for me and my family than following this model. And the reason for it is there are two great expenses that everyone has in life. And I'm sure all of your listeners, be they attorneys, doctors, other professionally degreed folks.   If you're in a W-2 job, you know this to be true. The two greatest expenses we have in life are taxes and the interest expense on debt. Those are the two greatest expenses. And a gentleman that I had met years ago who helped me with tax situations, just a brilliant, brilliant strategist, he said, Adam, if you focus on minimizing your tax liability, that will get you halfway there. And it's very easy to do, buy real estate, have depreciable assets.   you know, make personal expenses, business expenses, etc, etc. But he said, if you can focus on minimizing the interest expense on debt, this is like a video game that you can't lose. And so when I learned about the shred method, and this is known by a variety of different terms, some people call it an Australian mortgage, it's called velocity banking, we've taken those concepts and turbocharged them.   (Adam Carroll) (09:09.474) almost like putting nitrous oxide in a gas tank, you know, in terms of making it go faster. But the shred method is a unique tool and a way of reorienting your cash flow through your household so that it is being used to the most efficient use possible. And to kind of qualify that, Seth, if you were to leave your home in the morning to go to the grocery store, as an example, and you came back home, emptied the car out,   knowing you had to go to post office at like 4 p.m., would you leave your car idling in the driveway all day?   (Adam Carroll) (09:46.284) Nope. No, and why wouldn't you?   Wasteful.   Yeah, wasteful, you'd burn gas, it'd be hard on the engine. It's just inefficient, right? And yet what most people do is they get their income, their income gets deposited into a checking account, and it sits there for days, weeks, months, sometimes years on end. And we never really use it to its highest efficiency. Meanwhile, we might have debts, commercial debts, primary mortgages, might have student loans yet. And all of those are accruing amortized interest.   right? And you might say it's compound interest working against you to a certain extent. But at the very least amortized interest means that the majority of the interest you're paying on that debt is upfront, it's in the first one to five years. And so the shred method teaches people how to take that income that is being super inefficient in an account, and instead begin to apply it through a process that allows you to blast away   the highest interest or highest payment debts that you have, freeing up cash flow, building equity, and ultimately, and this is the key, creating liquidity to go buy passive income properties, if you will, or other passive income plays.   (Seth Bradley) (11:02.058) Interesting. Yeah, and we actually haven't had anyone on the show to speak about this method, whatever nomenclature you might use. So let's go in a little bit more detail. mean, what is the vehicle? What is this flow of money that you're talking about?   So, know, logistically, here's how it works. Money typically would just get deposited into checking. You pay everything out of checking your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, living expenses. And the gurus would tell you that anything extra should really go towards savings and investments, right? And for most people, it goes to Costco, Target and Dining Out. That's where it goes. You know, it doesn't stay in the account, doesn't go into savings. If it does, it goes there for a small period of time. I think that most people   don't really have a savings account, they have a put and take account, because they put a little bit in, take a little bit out, put a little bit in, take a lot out. So the way this works is the money instead of being deposited straight to a checking account gets deposited into what we call a shred account. And the shred account could either be a line of credit, or it could be just a side account of money that you have sitting there that has not been accessed in some time. And what we tell our users is that   you really want to have either a line of credit or a shred account that is one and a half to two times what your monthly net take home is. So if you're bringing home 10 grand a month net, then ideally you want either a line of credit or a shred account of 15 to 20 grand. And the magic of this is the money is going to flow into that account. But the shred method is powered by a piece of software that is based on an algorithm that's tracking your income.   your expenses, the interest that you're paying on all your debts, and how much discretionary money you have available at any given point in time. And essentially, we're leveraging that in really short bursts of time against your largest debts, which could be, again, student loans, could be your mortgage, could be commercial properties. And in doing that, what we're doing is we're saving copious amounts of interest, like literally tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.   (Adam Carroll) (13:11.122) And in the process, we're freeing up a ton of equity. So people that are saying, hey, I'm paycheck to paycheck. It's hard for me to figure out how am I going to invest more money? We're telling them the money is going to come from the equity that you're creating in your properties by paying them down rapidly.   I love that because I can see where this is going to potentially free up some extra cash to invest. A lot of folks out there, including myself back in the day, we got caught up in this thing we call the golden handcuffs where we're just spending everything. Like you said, we're spending it on Target, on eating out, on things that we really don't need. mean, there's a time and place for spending money on having a good time and enjoying your life for sure.   But we just we tend to overdo it as our income grows our expenses grow right along with it And a lot of people that I talked to about investing they're like, you know I don't have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this real estate deal or a hundred thousand dollars in this real estate deal and it's like well Well, why don't you you know make three hundred thousand dollars you why don't you have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this awesome deal? Right or to you know, put aside for your emergency fund. Like why don't you have these things set up?   So, you know, we always have to walk them through, you know, the expenses is the issue. Really, it's what are you spending all this money on? we try to find how they can save on those expenses so that they can invest in these assets that are really going to set them financially free.   No doubt. And I think you hit the nail on the head. If somebody's making, and honestly, I tell people if you're making six figures plus $100,000 plus, and you don't have 10, 20, $50,000 ready to go, there's something fundamentally wrong. And here it is, we're sending too much money to our banker, and it just goes up in smoke. Right? We like to refer to it as the interest to income ratio, which is if you take how much income you make,   (Adam Carroll) (15:11.694) and you back out how much of that income is actually going to pay interest expense, it'll probably blow your mind. If someone's got a multi-six figure home or mortgage that they're paying on, and they've got student loans, and maybe they're driving a $50,000 to $100,000 vehicle with a payment attached to it, you're probably burning 50 to 60 grand a year in interest and not really thinking twice about it. So what this does is it starts to claw back some of the money that you're sending to your banker.   Which by the way, they make plenty of money. They don't need your money. That is the most profitable business out there is banking and lending. mean, literally, Seth, if you drive two miles around your property there, how many banks would you be able to stop at, do you think? Ballpark best guess.   Right, half a dozen.   Easily, right? And they're probably $10 million buildings minimum. Out there, they're even more, right? So, so this is the deal. They're profitable business ventures. And what we have to remember sometimes is we are their compound interest vehicle, right? Us making our payment every single month is what makes the banks all the money. And if we can game that system, if even for 12 to 18 months at the very beginning of our debt,   we can strip away a huge chunk of the interest that we would normally be paying them over the course of a decade or more. To your audience, that's how I'd say this is how you find the extra 50 or 100 grand because you do have it and it should be in the equity of your property and easily accessible as a liquidity tool. It just isn't because you haven't challenged the banking system.   (Seth Bradley) (16:57.073) Yeah. Now, is this something you can set up yourself or is this something that you need an expert to kind of walk you through? I'm sure if you could probably do it either way. It's just like anything else. You want to take the shortcut or not. But yeah, I just like to know your thoughts on that.   You're exactly right. I I could build a deck on my house if I wanted to and had three months to learn how to do it. Anybody can learn how to do this. My question to most people when they say, I do this myself? I'll say, yes, why haven't you? And for that, the investment with us is very minimal, mainly what it is is coaching and being able to help people get the logistics right. Because once they get it, it's very simple.   but there requires a little bit of retraining the brain in terms of how to handle your money and where the cash flow goes, because it's so, it's like so ingrained in us to live in the banker's business model, put money in checking, pay your bills, anything leftover goes over here. And if you look at it critically, the two groups that are really making money using the existing platform are bankers,   and any advisors that are accepting your money and then turning around and doing something with it. A friend of mine used to call it the helper class. So when the helper class has your money, they're making a ton of money, probably more than you are. And that's our goal is to begin to start to pull back some of the money from the helper class to keep it for ourselves to build those massive passive permanent streams of income.   Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. We tend to bash a few of those helper class folks. I mean, they're not all created equal, including some financial advisors and folks like that that, you know, they're okay people, but their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.   (Adam Carroll) (18:51.576) That's right. I would agree with that. I don't want to villainize them, but I think that personal finance is personal. The challenge that I have with anyone out there who espouses a certain way, mine included, is it has to be for the right kind of audience, the right avatar. From our perspective, the people that we help out are the ones who do want to break free from the W-2. They want to create massive passive permanent streams of income.   Over time, they'd like to build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. So if someone's chronically overspending, got to have the newest of the new every single time, they may not be a perfect fit with our strategy because the goal is to continually increase your income while either keeping your expenses similar or even trending down over time, which is not to say that you can't expand where you're spending. Your income is increasing exponentially relative to your expenses.   we do that through the model that we're teaching people. So, you if you're a new car every six months or 12 months kind of person may not be a perfect fit. But if you're somebody who's like, hey, the debt's kind of oppressive, I want to get rid of it. And I want to build, you know, massive wealth for future generations, then generally speaking, we're a pretty good fit for for those folks.   Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I feel like there's, there's probably, it's probably a math equation, right? Like we can't necessarily do it on this show because it's, everybody's taking it in by audio for the most part. there's gotta be an algorithm and you could probably, you know, set those expense numbers and interest numbers that you're paying on your mortgage and other debts and what you're going to pay on that through the shred method and kind of see the savings and how you can grow that wealth year over year.   You're exactly right. It is super fluid. So if your income changes, your expenses change, we plug all that data in and hit recalculate and the thing automatically adjusts to whatever your expenses are. So one of the things that I would never fault anyone for is taking awesome vacations or buying a new car, whatever your choice is. Again, we're not going to villainize anyone for living their life.   (Adam Carroll) (21:06.67) But what we can do through shred is to say, hey, if you're going to drop 10 grand on a vacation, it's going to change your payoff by a month or two months or six months, depending on your income and discretionary income. And if someone knows that and they're planning on it, at least they're armed with that information as opposed to, gosh, we shouldn't do this, but we did or should we buy this $50,000 card? Does it make sense? Or 80 or 150 or whatever your number is.   We can show you exactly do it, just know this is what it changes in the process.   Yeah, yeah, I like that because you can just show them this is the impact it's going to have on paper before they do it and then you can make a better decision on whether or not you want to do that or not.   Absolutely. And furthermore, and you'll appreciate this, I know you're of this mindset, you'll get to a point where it's like, if you want the new car, then invest the money in a syndication or another property that puts enough money in your pocket, you can go pay for the car. But let your assets pay for your liabilities. And I think that's the main thing that many people, I'm sure your listeners, certainly folks that we engage with.   They don't have a lot of assets. They work hard, they make good money, but that is the sum total of their income, is active income. And our goal is to increase passive income over time where it supersedes your expenses because at that point you're financially free.   (Seth Bradley) (22:36.758) Right, right. What are some of the passive investments that you're involved in or that you recommend to people once they've implemented this system and they're trying to build those passive income streams?   Yeah, there are a number of them and I keep getting introduced to more and more all the time, Seth. I mentioned that, you know, that I was a mediapreneur and that the goal was to work, do the work and then get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. So I started looking for other passive income streams. I really do love real estate. I've been invested in real estate for a long time. We divested of personally held real estate about four or five years ago. And   You know, I think I was too early to the party, but I thought the market was peaking and I thought I could get the max amount out of my properties. And I think I did at the time. And then we were introduced to syndications and we started really appreciating the fact that you could own a piece of a 350 unit apartment complex in South Carolina or Houston, Texas, or some other growing city and get a couple things, either monthly or quarterly income. You could get bonus depreciation.   And you basically got a K1 at the end of the year, which allows you to claim some of those expenses. And so we love syndications. We try and stack syndications on top of each other. they're coming due. They're selling every three or four or five years. So we'll put an amount of capital in knowing that it's going to turn over in short order. And we'll have another amount of capital to put in. And generally speaking, that capital amount just keeps going up.   So we love syndications. I've been introduced and we haven't pulled the trigger yet, but on ATM tranches where you can buy, have you heard this investment? Yep. So you can buy, you know, an amount of ATM machines where you're basically compensated on whatever the fee revenue on those are. There are many advantages to those. There are some drawbacks to it, but it's again, a passive income stream and one that's fairly consistent.   (Seth Bradley) (24:25.798) yeah, for sure.   (Adam Carroll) (24:44.59) Then I really like intellectual property plays. I will tend to invest in a business that has some IP and it may not cashflow right away, but I know that in two or three years, the IP is probably going to be worth something. It's more of a long-term play for me. I'm not going to put as much in it, but we have a couple of 25 to $50,000 investments in those kinds of deals as well. That, in addition to books and   documentary is still selling and things like that I'll keep doing. For me, the process of creating passive income is kind of a game. And so whatever the next thing is, I'm digging in, I want to learn it. total sidebar, but I'm trying to teach my sons and my daughter, this is the way of the future. It's not about working a nine to five and getting W2 and staying with the company for 30 years, it just doesn't happen anymore. It's about setting up   just perpetual income streams that allow you to live the way you want to live. And that, you know, I think that answers your question, hopefully.   (Seth Bradley) (25:52.174) Pardon the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're preaching to the choir here, man. That's awesome. And you're kind of pretty deep into it. A lot of people will invest in a syndication and it is expensive to get involved, right? I mean, it's 50 grand or so or more to get into one of these things. And they're like, okay, I'm done. But you can't be done. You have to keep saving, keep investing. And you're in it to the point where past investors start really start accumulating wealth because they start stacking.   They start coming due every two, three, four, five years. You put it back in another one and they just compound on each other. And you're really accumulating this tax free if you stack them correctly. So it is an incredible vehicle once you get going. And it does turn into a game. I mean, you can look at your bank account or look at your personal P &L and just see how it's growing over five, 10 years. It's incredible. And you're not doing any work. You're vetting the sponsor, the market and the deal and really just the sponsor once you get really good at it.   and you keep reinvesting with the same sponsors that you like and there's no work involved, no tenants, toilets and trash, none of that.   Yes. Yes. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you find a sponsor you really like and you jive with, it's easy to roll the money over to them because they're constantly looking for the next deal. their reputation, their personality, everything is based on their success. they have a very, very vested interest to make you money. And so I don't think I fully realized when I was younger   (Adam Carroll) (27:50.35) the power of having the ability to write a 50 or $100,000 check. And once you get there and you can do 50 or 100 or get to a point where you can write a $500,000 or a million dollar check, things change drastically because there are syndicators out there that will take a million bucks. They'll pay you $90,000 a year guaranteed on the investment. You'll get bonus depreciation and write-offs and all of that. And you'll have like a...   200 % return on it within four or five years, three, four or five years. That's where you can buy a new car every year or two or three, because you need like a $75,000 or $80,000 write-off to your business. So you need a truck or you need a heavy vehicle,   Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, that's a good point. mean, people that have $500,000, a million dollars or more liquid, I mean, you can just look at a simple math and you get an 8 to 10 % return on that in cash flow, just in cash flow. You know, if you're living reasonably, you can live off of that. So, yeah, so you can be, you you don't need $10 million, $20 million to retire off of this if you invest in the right deals.   Totally. Totally.   (Seth Bradley) (29:03.926) and kind of spread it across, diversify in different deals, different sponsors, different geographies, different asset types. You can be retired if you want to. It's closer than people think.   I would agree. We have a theory that nearly everyone and certainly your audience could be free, done, done completely in 10 years or less. Absolutely. We call it a 10-year freedom plan. the challenge, think, Seth, and I would be curious your take on this, but I think the challenge for most people is not necessarily an income problem. It's a liquidity problem. So you make good income, right? And we talked about it. It's the expenses that factors in.   But where the majority of your investments go are probably in qualified funds. They're sitting in 401ks and Roth IRAs. Unless it's self-directed, you can't really access it till you're 59 and a half. And even then it's 59 and a half to 70 and a half, you have free rein access. Otherwise the government's regulating how much you take out without fees or penalties. That's a liquidity problem. And so the shred method takes that into account and starts to build   pockets or buckets of liquidity that you can draw from. The first is your home equity, or it could be equity in a commercial property. And then the next would be building a bank of money that you're borrowing from at some point in time, just another bucket. And the more buckets of money that we create, the more liquidity you have and the more investments you can get into, thereby increasing your passive income. So to your point, you do this well, it's like a video game you can't lose over time.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. And we've been programmed to think if we have a high paying job, we just put as much as we can into a 401k and we're doing the right thing and we're doing everything that we need to do and we're not and then everything that doesn't go into that 401k we're spending. So we're not saving anything else. We're not keeping anything else liquid. And we're just assuming that we're going to be okay because we put this money in the 401k. Well, like you said, you can't access it until you're 60 years old. That's right. Unless you take it out with a major penalty. So   (Seth Bradley) (31:10.062) You know, one way to do that obviously is to roll it over in an SDIRA or self-directed, I'm sorry, 401k, the self-directed, something that you have some control over. And then it does become liquid in the sense that you can at least invest it in things that you want to invest in rather than a financial advisor or just stocks, bonds and mutual funds. And then as you said, there's different ways that you can free up liquidity, a HELOC.   something like that borrow against a life insurance policy we've talked about infinite banking policies things like that there's there's creative ways to do it you just need to be aware of it most people just aren't aware of how to how to do that   Yeah, I think that's what's so valuable about your show too, man, is that we only know what we know. And there's an enormous amount that we don't know we don't know. So when I got introduced to syndications, and I got introduced to the ATM tranches, and I'm looking at these going, you know, there is risk, there's risk in everything. But the risk is so mitigated. And you don't realize that if you're writing $100,000 check, and they're saying, yeah, we're going to pay you 9 % guaranteed.   And these are some syndicators will promise an interest rate based on what class of investor you are, A, B, C, D, whatever it may be. But when I looked at that and I go, if I'm striving to get eight to 10 % in the S &P 500, and I have zero control over that, where would I rather be placing my money? That was something I didn't know I didn't know. And it's always fascinating to me to begin sharing this with people because   When I share the shred method, a lot of folks go, not too good to be true. If it's so good, why isn't everybody doing it? And what I'll tell them is because of human behavior and because the bank's lobbies and their marketing engine is so powerful. But it's not magic, it's math. We're taking mathematical principles, risk-based principles and applying it to real estate or finance and figuring out how to make an amount of money that will supersede what you're.   (Adam Carroll) (33:13.782) your W2 job is pretty simple. That's right. Yeah.   Yeah, pretty simple. It's math. Just got to get it down on paper, right? Yeah. All right. Let's switch gears a little bit. I want to quickly get into, you know, this concept that you preach about building a bigger life at work because I think that's, you know, inspiring and that sort of thing and really life in general, right? Tell us about that concept and kind of dive in a little bit.   Yeah.   (Adam Carroll) (33:37.964) Yeah, you know, this started, it would actually started from a conversation I had with a recent college graduate, and they had gotten an advanced degree, they were going into a high paying job. And I think they'd been at it for maybe nine months or so. And we were having coffee and this person said to me, I'm just not satisfied. And I said, Well, what what is it you're not satisfied with? And they said, Well, the issue is that I thought at this point in time after graduating, he'd be traveling the globe.   You know, that was what he had always romanticized was just tons of travel and do whatever he wanted to do. And I said, well, what's keeping you from that? And he goes, well, you know, I just got into this long-term lease apartment. go, okay. And he said, and I bought a bunch of furniture that I financed. And, and then it's like, okay. He goes, I have a couple of gym memberships, not one, two gym memberships, you know, each probably 80 to 120 bucks a piece a month had a car payment because he needed a fancy car. And I said,   Dude, it sounds to me like you're building a bigger lifestyle, not a bigger life. And what you're asking for is a bigger life. And that became almost a deep dive search for me on what would building a bigger life mean for me and my family. And what I did, Seth, was I started digging into what are my core values? How can I live according to those core values, not according to my neighbor's core values, you who may be drastically different than mine? And...   I ended up writing a book called The Build a Bigger Life Manifesto, which breaks down how do you do this step by step. And there are 10 core tenets. And the first one is you got to build on a strong values foundation, like understanding what is it truly you value in life. And if you're doing more of that, then your life should be fulfilling. And mine are family, freedom, love, growth, and connection. And if I'm fulfilling those five buckets on a weekly basis, generally speaking, I'm really fulfilled.   And so the second is have a bigger vision and a bigger vision for your life might mean I'm not going to stay in this job for the next 20 years and hopefully make partner. then hopefully, because we all know that as you get promoted in a W-2 job, it doesn't mean you work less. It means you work more. And so my bigger vision was I want to make my vocation, my vacation. I'm going to speak, but I'm going to speak in cool places that I can take my family to. People are going to pay me really well to do it.   (Adam Carroll) (36:03.368) and I'm going to do it X number of times a year. And then I started asking, and this is the third step, asking bigger questions. And bigger questions look like, okay, so if I wanted to do that, how would I get better at speaking? How would I get so good that people will pay me 10 or 15 or 20 grand to go do what I do for an hour? What would that look like? I started asking not how would I pay my house off early? How would I pay my house off by the end of this year?   And when I asked that question, answers started coming and we were able to do it. So this is kind of the layout of how we walk people through this process. And for me, a bigger life today is just that, you know, I live for my family. I want to travel with them. I want to have tons of fun with them while they're still in the house. I have two teenagers and one in college. And soon, you know, eventually they'll be gone and it'll be my wife and I going and living the life that we most want.   Our lifestyle right now is pretty locked in. We have a beautiful home, we drive nice cars, but everything's paid for. And at this point, the goal is just to continually create massive passive permanent streams of income that afford us the ability to be generous, to live the life we want. And ultimately for me to be able to go share that message with other people.   And something so simple that you did there, it's just, you know, ask yourself what's important. A lot of us don't take the time to think about why we're upset, why are we not happy. And a lot of it comes down to not filling those buckets that are important to us on a regular basis. to be able to figure that out, you've got to take a few moments to think deeply about what it is that's important to you.   100%. And I'll give you a great example, Seth. One guy that we worked with, he realized that one of his core values that was not being fulfilled was adventure. So he loved his job and he goes, I don't know what it is, I'm just dissatisfied. And we went through the values assessment and adventure was on there. I go, well, where are you getting adventure? And he said, you know, that's the problem. I'm not, I haven't had an adventure in two years. I said, so maybe in building your life,   (Adam Carroll) (38:21.538) we need to figure out where are you carving out adventure for yourself or your family to make sure that you're doing it. For him, community was a big part of it. And he was getting some of that in his day-to-day client interactions. But what he really wanted was to build a community of friends that would go do stuff together. And I said, that's on you, man. If you really want that as part of your life, you got to build whatever that looks like.   And what if you combine that and adventure? So you get a whole group of adventure seekers that get together three times a year to go skiing in Aspen or, you know, go skydiving on a weekend or whatever it is. What would that look like to do that? And he lit up and you know, I could do this right now. So to your point, I think we're all very, very close to having a fulfilled life and building a bigger life. But you do have to take time to figure out what does that look like for you.   For sure, for sure. And a lot of the folks listening are attorneys and doctors and they tend to have high suicide rates, all these crazy things, substance abuse. people from the outside looking in think, why? Because you're making all this money. You have this high profession that everybody looks up to and you're not unhappy. And that's why, because those folks...   folks like us, we're just really focused on just that occupation. And that's it. And we don't focus on some of the other things that would fulfill us and make us happy. tons of attorneys I talk to try to get, they're like, how do I start investing as quickly as possible? Make as much money as quickly as possible so I can get out of this job because I hate being an attorney or I hate being a dentist or whatever it is. But really, that might not be the issue. The issue is that you're not filling up those buckets outside of your   career. And if you were to start filling those buckets, start paying more attention to those things, you might not be as unhappy in your career. And you might actually find that you enjoy what you're doing because you're good at it. You worked really hard to get there and you're making a good bit of money doing it.   (Adam Carroll) (40:22.06) No doubt, no doubt. I would add to that, that I think the majority of professions that you just listed, dentists, doctors, lawyers, et cetera, what they really want is they want to maintain professional status, do what they do, they've gone to school, they've learned how to do it. But over time, they want to work less and less, not more and more. And if you're doing what you recommend on the show, and if you're leveraging something like the shred method to create it, you can get to a point where   half or more of your income, ideally all of it, is replaced by passive income. But it requires that you get really focused on working for the right reasons and not filling in the lack of fulfillment or unhappiness with a new car or the next do-dad or spending a fortune on something. Instead, decide, I'm going to go get into an investment this year that will begin the process of creating passive income for me to start building the life that I truly want.   And it is, it's pretty transformational once you figure out how to do it and what the next steps are.   Yeah, it's like the matrix. mean, you start kind of, as soon as you start, it becomes a game, how you said it earlier in the show, and you just start seeing things that you didn't see before. You start being presented with new types of investments and businesses that you can invest in that you never saw before, but they were right under your nose. It does turn into a fun game, a money game.   Yeah, no question. I was at a conference not too long ago and they were calling me Morpheus because I made a reference to the red pill or the blue pill. And they were like, dude, you're Morpheus. I just took the red pill. Now I'm going down the rabbit hole. So beware. Are you ready to take the red pill?   (Seth Bradley) (42:08.374) Love that, love that. All right Adam, before we jump into the freedom four, what's one last golden nugget for our listeners?   A golden nugget for your listeners is that money today is abstract. It's not a concrete thing. Several decades ago, you would be given cash or you'd pay for things in cash. And today, virtually everything is a cashless transaction. And when we're not using cash, it doesn't feel real. If we're using Apple Pay or we're swiping our card or tapping our card,   It doesn't feel real. In fact, there's no pain sensor that triggers when you do that. The opposite is true on Amazon. When you hit one click ship for $47, a pleasure sensor actually is activated because you're in anticipation of that thing coming to you. So we also have to realize that the more money you make, it feels like, well, the more you have to spend. But because money doesn't feel real, you're spending way more than you think you are.   because of the abstract nature of it. So some of that is like reigning back in and understanding these are real dollars that you're putting on a card or swiping on your phone or whatever it may be and deciding is this the best intentional use of this money or could I be using it to build the life that I truly want? And I will add to that Seth that it's very short. There's a short amount of time that it requires you to function just a little bit differently.   order to get there where all the passive income covers your wants. So just like intentionality for the next 12 to 24 months will make a massive difference in your life.   (Seth Bradley) (43:48.502) Yeah, that's all it takes. All right, let's jump into the freedom four. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   I am part of an exercise group called F3 and it stands for fitness fellowship and faith. There's like 75,000 guys all over the world that do this every morning. And we get up, you know, rain, sun, sleet or hail. I mean, we were working out in like eight degree Fahrenheit weather this winter outside. It's always outside. And I love it. I do it four or five, sometimes six mornings a week. But for me, just getting up the first hour of my day will   will dictate what the rest of my day does. And so my F3 brothers and I, that's the right way for me to get started.   awesome. With all your success what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   you know, this is, this is going to sound a bit like an oxymoron statement, but a limiting belief is that, man, there's so much opportunity. And for me, I'm a bright, shiny object guy. for years, my wife was like, just pick one opportunity, please just pick one. And so for me, it's, you know, it's the fact that there is so much I can do limits me because you can really get very, very good at one thing.   (Adam Carroll) (45:08.078) But I'm a big fan of James Clear and the book Atomic Habits. And he'll say that it's hard to get traction when your focus is divided. And so I've been really intentional about zeroing in on my focus and knowing that this is what I'm setting out to do. And it may be for 12 months or 24 months or five years. And I'll reevaluate along the way. But I've got one thing and I'm really focused on that. So that's been a limiting belief I've had to get over.   Awesome. Awesome. What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   Well, go to the shredmethod.com not to do a self plug, it is. Go watch the masterclass, see what we do and how we do it. If you are already intrigued by this and are wondering like, what should I do with a HELOC or should I have a HELOC? My answer to everyone is everyone should have a HELOC, everyone. If you have equity in your home, why do you not have a line of credit? If for nothing else to have that is an emergency.   of some kind. So point blank, the first thing you ought to do is go access a line of credit, be it a home equity line, a personal line of credit, a P lock, or a B lock, a business line of credit. can also do a cash value line of credit. But I think you got to have one of those because when you understand this method, this process, that's a linchpin to making this work.   Great. How is passive income made your life better?   (Adam Carroll) (46:42.698) you know, I like to call it mailbox money and, man, love mailbox money. When it shows up, I celebrate and I've, I've had a mantra for years that I'm a money magnet, that money comes easily and frequently, that I get more checks in the mail than I do bills. And I just repeat those mantras over and over again. So every time I set up another form of passive income, man, it's just like a win.   that you feel deep down inside. And it doesn't matter, Seth, if it's 50 bucks or 15 bucks or five bucks or 5,000, right? Total sidebar, real quick story, but I was sitting with a buddy of mine at a conference and he kept showing me his phone and he was clearly showing off. But every time he'd pop up his phone, was like another sale was made. And it'd be like $27, $170, $300. And I go...   Dude, how are you doing this?" And he said, I set up these funnels and it's just a little digital product I created and we're doing ads and we're putting all the people towards these ads. And I said, so how many of those do get a month? He goes, I don't somewhere between $9,000 and $10,000 a month is coming in. And I remember feeling giddy for him and giddy about the idea that this could be possible, that you could just do whatever you want to do every day. Go fishing, go surfing, be on a sailboat somewhere and pull up your phone and be like, well, this is cool. just made...   $800. So for me, we have started to build that into what we're doing. I now get alerts on my Apple Watch. It's a Slackbot. So every time a sale is made, it pops up. we went to Mexico over spring break and the vendors on the Mexican beaches, they bless themselves every time they make a sale. And so now when a sale pops up on my Slackbot,   I'm like, all right, I made a sale. This is awesome. So how has it changed my life? I'm more grateful. I sleep well at night. I have peace of mind. And I know that, you know, future generations are going to be taken care of by the wealth that my wife and I are creating.   (Seth Bradley) (48:45.29) I love it, All right, Adam, this has been incredible. We're going to let listeners find out more about you.   Well, you can find out more about me personally at adamcarroll.info. It's two R's, two L's, adamcarroll.info. And again, if you want to check out the Shred Method, we have lots of free resources. So you can go and do a ton of research. We have a savings analysis there that you can plug in your numbers and see how much you could save and how quickly you could be out of debt. All of that is available at theshredmethod.com.   All right, brother. Appreciate your time. Thanks again for coming on the show and we'll to have you on again soon.   Love it, Seth. Keep doing what you do, man. This is super important stuff.   Alright brother, talk soon.   (Seth Bradley) (49:28.578) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Adam Carroll's Links: https://www.threads.com/@adam.carroll/ https://www.instagram.com/adam.carroll/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcarrollspeaks/ https://www.facebook.com/AdamSpeaks/ https://x.com/adamcarroll https://open.spotify.com/show/1fPEUnWdnbcOcbYdksY1Yi https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJREGkPP6UwMucJMPvDS8xg

Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O'Malley dive into PayPal's post-pandemic reset, tracing the fintech pioneer's slide from market darling to value-story candidate. Once lifted by lockdown spending and eBay tailwinds, PayPal has seen its growth stall, its take-rate decline, and investors seem to have given up on it. In this episode, Shawn and Daniel unpack whether new CEO Alex Chriss's “profitable growth” playbook, Fastlane one-click checkout, a margin-focused Braintree overhaul, and fresh bets on Ads and the PYUSD stablecoin, can restore momentum. They also debate how realistic PayPal's ambitious goals for the future are, what a sustained 6% share shrink via buybacks does for long-term EPS, how the new management team is incentivized, and whether PayPal's consumer moat still matters in an Apple-Pay world. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro 04:38 - How PayPal became the No.1 payment provider and what the PayPal Mafia is. 09:47 - Why investors fell out of love with PayPal's stock. 14:03 - What the next chapter under the new CEO will look like. 26:42 - Which new businesses could make PayPal dramatically more profitable? 33:31 - How the new strategy shows up in the numbers. 50:06 - Why the management incentive structure is a big benefit for shareholders. 51:36 - Whether stablecoins are bearish or bullish for PayPal. 01:01:11 - Whether PayPal is attractively valued at its current levels. 01:10:05 - Whether Shawn & Daniel add PYPL to The Intrinsic Value Portfolio. And much, much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Sign Up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Community.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Emerging Value Substack ⁠Article⁠. Crossroad's ⁠Interview⁠ with Alex Chriss. PayPal 2025 ⁠Investor Day⁠. The Reservist ⁠Article⁠ on the Payment Industry. Jimmy Soni's Book on The ⁠PayPal Mafia⁠. Explore our previous Intrinsic Value breakdowns: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Uber,⁠⁠⁠⁠Nike,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Reddit,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Nintendo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Airbnb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AutoZone⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alphabet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ulta⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Deere⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Madison Square Garden Sports⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out the books mentioned in the podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Feed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Try Shawn's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TIP Finance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Enjoy exclusive perks from our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠favorite Apps and Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠best business podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our ⁠⁠sponsors⁠⁠: ⁠⁠Harvest Right⁠⁠ Connect with Shawn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Daniel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rating and review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! It takes less than 30 seconds and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Diogo Mónica co-founded Anchorage Digital, America's only federally chartered crypto bank managing $60+ billion in digital assets. After helping a crypto fund recover their lost $1.5 million Bitcoin wallet, he realized the massive need for institutional crypto custody and built crypto's most trusted institution.__________________________________PARTNERS

Episode 1397 - Sunday sees England Women vs Spain Women.  We highlight 3 bookmaker offers available right now, if you fancy a bet. Make sure to visit our website for our bet365 new customer offer guide. Betfred Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, Betfred are offering a Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets and Bonuses offer. Use promo code BETFRED50 when registering. Terms: New customers only. Register with BETFRED50. Deposit £10+ via Debit Card and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get 3 x £10 in Sports Free Bets & 2 x £10 in Acca Free Bets within 10 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. T&Cs apply. betfred sign up offer Coral Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets For new customers 18+ Coral are offering a Bet £5, Get £20 in Free Bets offer. No promo code is required when registering.  Terms: 18+ New Customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4 x £5 free bets. Free bet available to use on selected sportsbook markets only. Free bets valid for 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. coral sign up offer William Hill Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets For new customers only, 18+, William Hill are offering Bet £10, Get £40 in Free Bets. Use promo code G40 when registering Terms: Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.begambleaware.org #ad william hill bet 10 get 40 365bet guide and our coral bonus code guide. unibet sign up offer and ladbrokes casino bonus code guides. Read our pages bet365 bonus code boylesports bonus code ladbrokes new customer offer ladbrokes 5 for 20 Top pages https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/bet365-new-customer-offers/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/bet365-bonus-code-uk/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/ladbrokes-new-customer-offer/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/promo-codes/coral-promo-code-2025/ https://www.newcustomeroffer.co.uk/offers/unibet-new-customer-offers/ Listeners & Subscribers 18+. Please be Gambleaware, you can visit GambleAware.org for more information and of course please bet responsibly. 

Apple Pay has changes Hannah's LIFE.

In this episode, Rob continues his conversation with one of his top salespeople, Kane Baron. They discuss the dos and don'ts of lending money to family and friends, reveal the secrets to investing in watches and cars, and share valuable lessons on raising financially savvy kids!  KEY TAKEAWAYS Lending money to family and friends can be risky; only do it if you're prepared to lose the money or the relationship. Consider giving the money as a gift instead. When investing in watches and cars, look for limited editions, good heritage, and scarcity to ensure the best returns. Teach your kids about money early on, as schools often fail to provide adequate financial education. Encourage them to start a company and learn how to manage their finances wisely. Cash is a liability, not an asset, as it depreciates in value over time. Invest in assets that produce income and protect your wealth from inflation. Centralised digital currencies could lead to a lack of competition and a social credit system, which may stifle creativity and reward laziness. Decentralised digital currencies offer more freedom and choice. If you become wealthy, be wise with your money. Consider being generous, but also know when to say no to protect your relationships and financial well-being.   BEST MOMENTS "If you're going to lend money to friends and family, if you don't want to lose the money and you want to make a return, you have to get a first charge on their property. Which means you have to be prepared to repossess the ass of your mum or dad if they don't pay you back." "The thing that will teach kids about money is struggle with money. You can teach them about money like I do." "Money loves speed. Money always moves at its fastest. So that's why people exchange money instantly online now. That's why you like the tap of your Apple Pay because it's super fast. It's convenient and easy to store and not easy to thieve." "I do loads of stuff like that, and I don't ever tell anyone about that. So I like to make myself proud every day."   VALUABLE RESOURCES https://robmoore.com/ bit.ly/Robsupporter   https://robmoore.com/podbooks rob.team ABOUT THE HOST Rob Moore is an author of 9 business books, 5 UK bestsellers, holds 3 world records for public speaking, entrepreneur, property investor, and property educator. Author of the global bestseller “Life Leverage” Host of UK's No.1 business podcast “The Disruptive Entrepreneur” “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything” CONTACT METHOD Rob's official website: https://robmoore.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robmooreprogressive/?ref=br_rs LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoore1979  

在上一集中餐出海的节目中，我们聊到品牌落地美国的第一战：选址、服务、口味、与本地化挑战。但真正能在美国扎根下来的，克服这些困难与挑战还远远不够。本期节目，我们将视角从「门店前台」推进到「后端战场」，探索碎片化的美国餐饮供应链系统。 本期的嘉宾黄文冰曾经是一位 Fintech 创业者，后来转型为亚餐连锁经营者，现在已经在美国掌管了 7 个餐饮品牌、53 家连锁门店。节目中，他与我们分享了美国高度碎片化的供应链生态，以及他将「中国经验+本地打法」应用到美国市场的真实故事。 本期人物 丁教 Diane，「声动活泼」联合创始人、「科技早知道」主播 周玖洲 Aaron， 十年中金、华夏基金等顶级投资机构工作经验，「不止金钱」主播 黄文冰，前 Fintech founder，后来回到餐饮业参与餐饮投资，品牌运营扩张，和供应链收并购。现有 Portfolio 7个品牌，50多家门店，flowbetter.io 创始人 主要话题 [01:32] 从 Fintech 到开餐厅：像做房地产基金一样做餐饮 [06:45] 疫情期间「闭眼赚钱」？靠 Catering团餐盘活成本，选对赛道和客户 [10:17] 大城市不是破局点，「农村包围城市」在北美更可行 [14:17] 停留在纸单时代的美国餐饮，疫情后才开始用 Apple Pay [22:50] 供应商极度碎片化：开一家门店要联系 6 个供货商 [34:16] 标准化与中央厨房：降低对人的依赖，是连锁的前提 [39:35] 供应链爆发前夜：美国餐饮是 2008 年之前的中国吗？ [48:17] 从冷链仓储到系统软件，「绝味鸭脖」的供应链打法能否在美国复制？ [52:27] 今天的餐饮出海，需要 Being globally，而不是 Copy from China 幕后制作 监制：Yaxian 后期：迪卡 运营：George 设计：饭团 商业合作 声动活泼商业化小队，点击链接可直达声动商务会客厅 (https://sourl.cn/9h28kj)，也可发送邮件至 business@shengfm.cn 联系我们。

Musicians should start doing MLMs, selling fans merch in bulk for them to sell to each other. Plus, Jack White got his first cell phone. Now is the time to send your catfish DMs and ask for his Apple Pay. Fortune Kit on Patreon: www.patreon.com/fortunekit

Deborah Simpier is Co-Founder and CEO of Althea (https://althea.net), a decentralized infrastructure platform revolutionizing internet access through blockchain-based, community-driven networks. Deborah shares her journey from advocating for net neutrality and running a rural IT business to co-founding DePIN network, Althea, a company pioneering multi-stakeholder networks with innovative products like KeyLTE and Liquid Infrastructure. She discusses Althea's milestones, including deploying networks in rural Oregon, powering connectivity in the Arctic Circle, and enabling the first ApplePay transaction on CBRS spectrum. Deborah dives into how Althea's price-aware routing protocol and blockchain-based payment system empower communities to build affordable, resilient internet infrastructure, challenging legacy telecom models. She also shares her vision for a decentralized future where blockchain and 5G converge to democratize connectivity, foster equitable digital access worldwide, and usher the convergence of DeFi, DePIN, and real-world utility pushing forward the vision of democratized, autonomous infrastructure.

Luca Netz, founder of Pudgy Penguins, opens up about surviving crypto's most brutal crashes and building one of the industry's biggest ecosystems.From being down 90% to launching one of crypto's largest airdrop to 6 million wallets, Luca shares the emotional reality of building billion-dollar projects under extreme pressure. The conversation also covers Ethereum Foundation's surprising cultural shift toward builders, Abstract bockchain's competition with Coinbase Base, and why NFTs will make a massive comeback with stablecoin adoption.__________________________________PARTNERS

Which member of the show got extremely embarassed when they went to go and pay for their food only to realize that they didn't accept Apple Pay? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Which member of the show got extremely embarassed when they went to go and pay for their food only to realize that they didn't accept Apple Pay?

Summer phone season kicks off with Samsung's latest launch. Jake, Vee, and Allison talk about Samsung's new lineup of foldables, including the very thin new Z Fold 7 and Allison's disdain for the Z Flip 7 FE. Vee has impressions of Samsung's new Galaxy Watch 8 lineup and its squircle-y new redesign. Then, it's time to talk Big Tech shakeups. Apple's COO is leaving, Zuckerberg is buying himself an AI dream team, X's CEO is out — and its chatbot Grok is on a rampage. Finally, big things are in store for the Lightning Round… which shall henceforth be known as the THUNDER ROUND. Lots to talk about, including Lorde's CD problems, Apple's Liquid Glass changes, and HBO Max finally becoming HBO Max again. Further reading: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025: Everything announced at the July event Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on: Samsung finally made the foldables we've been asking for  Samsung cuts price of its foldables with the Z Flip 7 FE Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series hands-on: squircle squad Samsung seems to have leaked its own trifold phone design Samsung says its trifold phone should launch ‘this year' Samsung snuck a trifold tease into (January) Unpacked One of Tim Cook's possible successors is leaving Apple Sabih Khan Apple's design team will report to Tim Cook A close look at who could succeed Tim Cook Mark Zuckerberg announces his AI ‘superintelligence' super-group Meta is paying $14 billion to catch up in the AI race Meta's ‘superintelligence' hiring spree adds an AI leader from Apple Pay packages of up to $300 million over four years Meta is trying to win the AI race with money — but not everyone can be bought X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years X's CEO is out after failing at basically everything she claimed she wanted Threads is catching up to X on mobile X has a new head of product Elon Musk's xAI buys Elon Musk's X for $33 billion on paper xAI updated Grok to be more ‘politically incorrect' Grok stops posting text after flood of antisemitism and Hitler praise “In other posts it referred to itself as “MechaHitler”. Musk makes grand promises about Grok 4 in the wake of a Nazi chatbot meltdown Adobe's new camera app is making me rethink phone photography Ikea's latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth Ikea ditches Zigbee for Thread going all in on Matter smart homes Perplexity launches Comet web browser OpenAI's next big launch could be an AI web browser E Ink is turning the laptop touchpad into an e-reader for AI apps Lorde's new CD is so transparent that stereos can't even read it I tried playing Lorde's new CD Appeals court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel' rule Nothing's ‘first true flagship' phone plays it a little safe Adding calendar events with a screenshot is AI at its finest The government's Apple antitrust lawsuit is still on Apple just added more frost to its Liquid Glass design Apple's second-generation Vision Pro might launch this year Nvidia briefly became the first $4 trillion company on Wednesday The makers of Cameo just launched... a birthday-tracking app? Nintendo is ending its cost-saving Switch game vouchers HBO Max is officially HBO Max again Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special 50th episode of Tiny Pulpit Talks, Rev. Beth Dana and Rev. T. J. Fitzgerald take a moment to reflect on how this podcast began - born out of a desire to show a more intimate look at the church's values and mission beyond what you might see in the Sanctuary on Sundays. Together, they share stories from the early days of the podcast, how it's evolved, and what might be next. Most importantly, they want to hear from you! What has this series meant to you? What would you like to see in future episodes?

The June jobs number looks stronger than it really is I want to be clear; I wouldn't say this was a bad report, but the headline number that showed an addition of 147,000 jobs in the month of June doesn't show the full picture. The number did come in well above the estimate for 110,000 jobs and it follows upward revisions in the months of April and May that have totaled 16,000 jobs, but the concerning part I saw was government accounted for 73,000 new jobs in the month of June. This did not come from the federal government as that actually saw a decline of 7,000 jobs, but rather it was state and local governments which added a combined 80,000 jobs in the month, most of which came from education. The speculation is that this had something to do with seasonal adjustments and that obviously gains of that magnitude will not continue moving forward. Other areas that were strong included healthcare and social assistance, which was up 58,600, leisure and hospitality, which was up 20,000, and construction, which was up 15,000. Many of the other areas in the report were quite muted and manufacturing and professional and business services actually saw a decline of 7,000 jobs each in the month. There was good news on the unemployment rate as it ticked down to 4.1%, which was the lowest level since February and came in below the expectation for 4.3%. Unfortunately, this largely came due to the decline in the labor force participation rate, which dropped to 62.3%. This was the lowest level since late 2022. The problem here is the working age population continues to shrink, while the retirement population continues to grow. In fact the prime working age participation rate was recently near a record high of 83%. A potential problem to future job growth is the fact that we are running low on workers in their prime. This report largely erased any chance of a Fed rate cut in July, but I would say there was more positive news on the inflation front as average hourly earnings saw a manageable year over year increase of 3.7%. As I said, this wasn't a bad report and in fact I would say it continues to show that the labor market is in a good spot for the most part, but it definitely wasn't an overly strong report in my opinion.   Job openings remain strong The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as the JOLTs report, showed job openings rose 374,000 in the month of May to 7.769 million. This easily topped the estimate of 7.3 million and it also comes during a month where layoffs declined 188,000 to 1.601 million. While this is positive for the economy and shows the labor market remains resilient, it does hurt the chances of a July cut from the Federal Reserve. Fed chair Powell during a panel said, ““In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.” With the labor market staying strong and many Fed members likely waiting for more data on how tariffs are impacting inflation, I would be surprised to see a cut in July. Although there have been a couple members saying a cut in July is possible, I still believe it would come as a surprise as many other members have expressed their desire to remain patient. I can see the case for a July cut, but I believe it is more likely we will see one in a couple months at the next meeting in September, if inflation remains in check.   Why did Apple produce the new movie F1? Apple is obviously known for the iPhone, the iPad and the Mac, but a top producer of mega hit movies, not so much. Since 2019 they have tried to produce big hit movies like Killers of the Flower Moon in 2023 that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro, but the world box office receipts were only $159 million. Another hit movie they tried for that ended up as their top movie in 2023 was Napoleon with $221 million in box office receipts. So why did Apple agree to spend almost $250 million more to produce F1, which stars Brad Pitt? No one seems to understand. Brad Pitt will be paid $20 million for this movie and will get a cut of the films revenue if it's a hit. It does have some chance for success since it was directed by Joe Kosinski and produced by Jerry Buckheimer, who were successful with Top Gun Maverick as that movie grossed $1.5billion in 2022. This past weekend F1 was the top box office hit with $55.6 million, but it appears to be struggling with the mass audience as most viewers were older men like myself who love cars and racing. I have not seen the movie yet but would like to soon. Apple seems to struggle in this space as it is spending billions of dollars annually but continues to lose on the development of hit movies. Apple TV+ only has roughly 27,000,000 subscribers and is known for subscribers canceling their subscription after watching a particular show or movie. Netflix has a 2% cancellation rate while Apple's is 6% in any given month. It's also interesting to note that the big movie production house Warner Brothers is responsible for distributing F1 and will receive a percentage of box office revenue that increases as ticket sales rise. There is some concern that in less than two weeks, Warner Brothers will be releasing their hit movie Superman and that could override the promotion of F1. If you want to see the movie F1 and you have Apple Pay you can get a discount on the tickets, which is something Apple has never done before. I won't make any judgments on the movie till I see it myself, but I don't see this boosting the lagging stock price of Apple and I do not understand why they're in the movie business.   Don't be fooled by ultra-high-income ETF's I wouldn't think I would have to warn people that if you're being offered a yield of 100% or more on a fund, the risk has to be extremely high and there is probably a good chance for loss. However, with that said this year alone $6.4 billion of new money has been placed into these high-risk funds that I assume are unsuspecting buyers who don't really understand how these funds work. Regulatory filings show that at least 95% of these ETFs are held by individual investors or small financial advisors. The way they generate this high income is by trading options contracts on a single stock. It is misleading how they come up with those ultra-high yields of 100% plus as they take the ETF's payout from option trading in the most recent month then multiply it by 12 and divide it by the fund's net asset value. As an example, we can go back to November 2022 when a fund called the YieldMax TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF (TSLY) sold options on Tesla stock and promoted the yield was 62.8%. The fund has now dropped down to under $9 a share, roughly a 80% drop in the fund. This is somewhat surprising to most since during that timeframe Tesla stock is up around 70%. Sometimes people think just because there's income or a nice yield that the fund is safer, but investors should remember that in most cases, the higher the yield the higher the risk.   Financial Planning: Pension lump sum vs monthly income? When deciding between taking a pension benefit as a lump sum or monthly payments, it's helpful to compare the guaranteed income stream to the return you'd need on the lump sum to generate the same income yourself. Monthly payments offer steady, reliable income for life, essentially acting like a personal pension annuity, but most pensions do not include inflation adjustments, meaning the purchasing power of those payments may decline over time. Additionally, choosing a joint life annuity to continue payments to a surviving spouse will offer a lower monthly amount compared to a single life annuity. Since Social Security income drops when the first spouse passes, a joint annuity is usually more appropriate than a single life annuity to help maintain household income for the surviving spouse. In contrast, rolling over the lump sum into a retirement account gives you full control and the potential for growth. It also provides flexibility to structure income in a tax-efficient way allowing you to manage taxable distributions around other income sources, perform Roth conversions, or plan for inheritances and legacy goals. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, it is helpful to calculate the internal rate of return (IRR) you'd need to earn on the lump sum to replicate the monthly pension payments over your expected lifetime. For example, if your lump sum is $500,000 and your pension offers $3,000/month for life, you'd need to earn a little over 5% on the lump sum to match that income.  Keep in mind, the lump sum is also an income source and this return calculation can help clarify whether the guaranteed income or potential flexibility and growth better align with your overall financial plan.   Companies Discussed: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS), Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD), Centene Corporation (CNC) & Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM)  

Welcome to Multiverse News, Your source for Information about all your favorite fictional universesIt's been debated and anticipated…but Matt Reeves finally confirmed via Instagram on June 27 that he and co-writer Mattson Tomlin have completed their script for The Batman Part II. Variety reports that the film is scheduled to release on October 1, 2027, which - if true - will mean this sequel comes out more than five years after the first film. Both James Gunn and Reeves have been repeatedly asked about the state of the film, with Gunn recently rebuking online pressure for Reeves and remarking that a script is expected in June and - ta da, the Dark Knight arrived on time!One half of the big decisions needed to move the James Bond franchise forward has been made. Dune director Denis Villneuve will usher in the next 007 for Amazon MGM as the mega corp looks to refresh and restart the classic spy film franchise. David Heyman and Amy Pascal, who have already been announced as producers, will be joined by Tonya Lapointe who will serve as an executive producer alongside the director. Villneuve referred to Bond as “sacred territory” for him as a filmmaker.This week audiences said “YES” to original films, with the Brad Pitt-led F1 speeding to number one at the box office with a $144 million global takeover. Apple, who released the film, integrated it into their retail stores - with surprise appearances by Pitt and CEO Tim Cook - offered reduced tickets using ApplePay, and offered a deeper dive on Apple Maps of the Grand Prix race tracks, as well as other unique marketing opportunities. M3GAN 2.0 got a road rash, opening to just $10.2 million, and How to Train Your Dragon stayed strong at number two bringing in a three week domestic total of $200 million.Amazon MGM Studios has released the full trailer for Project Hail Mary, the upcoming film adaptation of the 2021 science fiction novel from The Martian author, Andy Weir. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the movie stars Ryan Gosling as a sixth-grade science teacher sent into space to save Earth. It is scheduled to hit theaters on March 20, 2026.Disney has announced a sequel to its live action Lilo and Stitch film. The news comes as the film approaches the $1 billion dollar mark at the global box office.Edgar Wright's latest film The Running Man released a trailer today. The movie is adapted from a Stephen King novel and stars Glen Powell, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin, William H. Macey, and others in a dystopian game show style action flick.Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent has joined the cast of Legendary Entertainment's feature adaptation of the video game Street Fighter. Jackson will play Balrog, a disgraced boxer who is also the bodyguard of the villain. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he is deep into training for the part and will be doing his own stunts. David Dastmalchian has also been cast to play baddie M. Bison.Sources tell Deadline that The Social Network director Aaron Sorkin has been set to direct The Social Network Part II for Sony Pictures. Insiders say that while it's being called part two, it's not a straight sequel but rather a follow-up to the original movie.WandaVision and Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer is replacing Moira Walley-Beckett as showrunner for the Fourth Wing series adaptation at Amazon MGM Studios. Schaeffer signed an overall deal with the studio. The series is produced by Michael B. Jordan's company, Outlier Society.Over the weekend at car festival Fuel Fest, Vin Diesel spoke to a crowd of fans and confirmed a tentative release window for the next installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise for April of 2027. He also mentioned that he wants to reunite his character with Paul Walker's character Brian O'Conner. Since Walker passed away in 2013, he would have to be digitally inserted into the film.FX announced today that The Bear has been renewed for a fifth season.

Spring cleaning in the summer? Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard roll up their sleeves to tackle both physical and digital device maintenance, sharing expert tips for getting your Apple gear spotless inside and out. Physical iPhone cleaning - Apple's official recommendations for safe disinfecting using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes and Clorox wipes, while avoiding bleach and hydrogen peroxide that can damage device coatings Specialized cleaning tools - iFixit's Precision Cleaning Kit featuring tiny brushes, foam-tipped swabs, and contact cleaner for getting into speaker grills and ports Digital decluttering - MacPaw's app CleanMyPhone uses AI to find duplicate photos, similar shots, and organize camera rolls while supporting Ukrainian developers Mass app deletion strategy - Using Apple Configurator to quickly remove unused apps in bulk, with Rosemary demonstrating how she went from 827 apps to a more manageable number AirPods deep cleaning - Apple's specific instructions for cleaning earwax buildup using micellar water and distilled water to break down waxes without damaging the mesh speakers Case and accessory maintenance - Importance of removing iPhone cases regularly to clean both the device and case interior, plus organizing charging cables in labeled mesh bags Cable management and recycling - Tips for checking cable condition, proper storage solutions, and donating old chargers to homeless shelters for those still using older devices News Control Center transparency - Apple reduced the transparency to minimize distractions while maintaining the glass aesthetic Safari interface tweaks - Tab bar repositioned to the bottom for better usability after user feedback App Store accessibility section - New feature allowing developers to specify supported accessibility features on product pages Enhanced Wallet tracking - Siri can now scan emails for package tracking from any merchant, not just Apple Pay purchases Call transcription updates - Feature renamed to "save call transcripts" with clearer notifications that all participants will be informed before recording begins Feedback VoiceOver PDF accessibility - Johnny, a blind user, seeks alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for filling PDF forms, highlighting ongoing accessibility issues with major software companies and poorly designed PDF forms Shortcuts Corner HomeKit automation limitations - Bjorn's question about combining multiple triggers (window open/close) into single automations reveals fundamental HomeKit restrictions that require separate automations for each trigger Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv. Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Spring cleaning in the summer? Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard roll up their sleeves to tackle both physical and digital device maintenance, sharing expert tips for getting your Apple gear spotless inside and out. Physical iPhone cleaning - Apple's official recommendations for safe disinfecting using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes and Clorox wipes, while avoiding bleach and hydrogen peroxide that can damage device coatings Specialized cleaning tools - iFixit's Precision Cleaning Kit featuring tiny brushes, foam-tipped swabs, and contact cleaner for getting into speaker grills and ports Digital decluttering - MacPaw's app CleanMyPhone uses AI to find duplicate photos, similar shots, and organize camera rolls while supporting Ukrainian developers Mass app deletion strategy - Using Apple Configurator to quickly remove unused apps in bulk, with Rosemary demonstrating how she went from 827 apps to a more manageable number AirPods deep cleaning - Apple's specific instructions for cleaning earwax buildup using micellar water and distilled water to break down waxes without damaging the mesh speakers Case and accessory maintenance - Importance of removing iPhone cases regularly to clean both the device and case interior, plus organizing charging cables in labeled mesh bags Cable management and recycling - Tips for checking cable condition, proper storage solutions, and donating old chargers to homeless shelters for those still using older devices News Control Center transparency - Apple reduced the transparency to minimize distractions while maintaining the glass aesthetic Safari interface tweaks - Tab bar repositioned to the bottom for better usability after user feedback App Store accessibility section - New feature allowing developers to specify supported accessibility features on product pages Enhanced Wallet tracking - Siri can now scan emails for package tracking from any merchant, not just Apple Pay purchases Call transcription updates - Feature renamed to "save call transcripts" with clearer notifications that all participants will be informed before recording begins Feedback VoiceOver PDF accessibility - Johnny, a blind user, seeks alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for filling PDF forms, highlighting ongoing accessibility issues with major software companies and poorly designed PDF forms Shortcuts Corner HomeKit automation limitations - Bjorn's question about combining multiple triggers (window open/close) into single automations reveals fundamental HomeKit restrictions that require separate automations for each trigger Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv. Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Spring cleaning in the summer? Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard roll up their sleeves to tackle both physical and digital device maintenance, sharing expert tips for getting your Apple gear spotless inside and out. Physical iPhone cleaning - Apple's official recommendations for safe disinfecting using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes and Clorox wipes, while avoiding bleach and hydrogen peroxide that can damage device coatings Specialized cleaning tools - iFixit's Precision Cleaning Kit featuring tiny brushes, foam-tipped swabs, and contact cleaner for getting into speaker grills and ports Digital decluttering - MacPaw's app CleanMyPhone uses AI to find duplicate photos, similar shots, and organize camera rolls while supporting Ukrainian developers Mass app deletion strategy - Using Apple Configurator to quickly remove unused apps in bulk, with Rosemary demonstrating how she went from 827 apps to a more manageable number AirPods deep cleaning - Apple's specific instructions for cleaning earwax buildup using micellar water and distilled water to break down waxes without damaging the mesh speakers Case and accessory maintenance - Importance of removing iPhone cases regularly to clean both the device and case interior, plus organizing charging cables in labeled mesh bags Cable management and recycling - Tips for checking cable condition, proper storage solutions, and donating old chargers to homeless shelters for those still using older devices News Control Center transparency - Apple reduced the transparency to minimize distractions while maintaining the glass aesthetic Safari interface tweaks - Tab bar repositioned to the bottom for better usability after user feedback App Store accessibility section - New feature allowing developers to specify supported accessibility features on product pages Enhanced Wallet tracking - Siri can now scan emails for package tracking from any merchant, not just Apple Pay purchases Call transcription updates - Feature renamed to "save call transcripts" with clearer notifications that all participants will be informed before recording begins Feedback VoiceOver PDF accessibility - Johnny, a blind user, seeks alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for filling PDF forms, highlighting ongoing accessibility issues with major software companies and poorly designed PDF forms Shortcuts Corner HomeKit automation limitations - Bjorn's question about combining multiple triggers (window open/close) into single automations reveals fundamental HomeKit restrictions that require separate automations for each trigger Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv. Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Spring cleaning in the summer? Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard roll up their sleeves to tackle both physical and digital device maintenance, sharing expert tips for getting your Apple gear spotless inside and out. Physical iPhone cleaning - Apple's official recommendations for safe disinfecting using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes and Clorox wipes, while avoiding bleach and hydrogen peroxide that can damage device coatings Specialized cleaning tools - iFixit's Precision Cleaning Kit featuring tiny brushes, foam-tipped swabs, and contact cleaner for getting into speaker grills and ports Digital decluttering - MacPaw's app CleanMyPhone uses AI to find duplicate photos, similar shots, and organize camera rolls while supporting Ukrainian developers Mass app deletion strategy - Using Apple Configurator to quickly remove unused apps in bulk, with Rosemary demonstrating how she went from 827 apps to a more manageable number AirPods deep cleaning - Apple's specific instructions for cleaning earwax buildup using micellar water and distilled water to break down waxes without damaging the mesh speakers Case and accessory maintenance - Importance of removing iPhone cases regularly to clean both the device and case interior, plus organizing charging cables in labeled mesh bags Cable management and recycling - Tips for checking cable condition, proper storage solutions, and donating old chargers to homeless shelters for those still using older devices News Control Center transparency - Apple reduced the transparency to minimize distractions while maintaining the glass aesthetic Safari interface tweaks - Tab bar repositioned to the bottom for better usability after user feedback App Store accessibility section - New feature allowing developers to specify supported accessibility features on product pages Enhanced Wallet tracking - Siri can now scan emails for package tracking from any merchant, not just Apple Pay purchases Call transcription updates - Feature renamed to "save call transcripts" with clearer notifications that all participants will be informed before recording begins Feedback VoiceOver PDF accessibility - Johnny, a blind user, seeks alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for filling PDF forms, highlighting ongoing accessibility issues with major software companies and poorly designed PDF forms Shortcuts Corner HomeKit automation limitations - Bjorn's question about combining multiple triggers (window open/close) into single automations reveals fundamental HomeKit restrictions that require separate automations for each trigger Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv. Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Tiny Pulpit Talks, Rev. T.J. FitzGerald and Rev. Beth Dana dive into the theological roots and modern-day relevance of Universalism within Unitarian Universalism.

BOSSes Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere, your "real bosses" and co-hosts, connect to dive deep into the critical world of online security and scam prevention for voiceover professionals. They unpack Tom's recent harrowing experience with an AI voice cloning scam, offering a candid look into the crucial insights needed to navigate digital threats and build a truly secure business in today's landscape. Listeners will discover the essential role of vigilance and proactive measures in protecting their assets, gain an understanding of emerging scam tactics, and appreciate the power of community in safeguarding their careers. Anne and Tom also discuss practical pathways for secure transactions and the evolving nature of digital defense.   00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne from VO BOSS here.  00:04 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And it's George the Tech. We're excited to tell you about the VO BOSS. Vip membership, now with even more benefits.  00:10 - Anne (Host) So not only do you get access to exclusive workshops and industry insights, but with our VIP plus tech tier, you'll enjoy specialized tech support from none other than George himself.  00:22 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) You got it. I'll help you tackle all those tricky tech issues so you can focus on what you do best Voice acting. It's tech support tailored for voiceover professionals like you.  00:32 - Anne (Host) Join us guys at VO BOSS and let's make your voiceover career soar. Visit voboss.com slash VIP-membership to sign up today.  00:45 - Speaker 3 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Hey, hey, everyone, welcome to the VO BOSS Podcast.  01:04 - Anne (Host) I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza. Hey, hey everyone, welcome to the VO BOSS Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with my real boss, Tom Deere. I had to think about that, Tom. We've been together so long. I was like what is our subtitle here? We are real bosses.  01:20 - Tom (Host) Yeah, we're real bosses. Thanks for having me back, Anne.  01:23 - Anne (Host) How are you doing, Tom, my real boss? Co-host.  01:26 - Tom (Host) All things considered, I'm doing okay, I had a weird experience recently which it seems like a lot of voice actors are experiencing. I got an email from someone expressing interest in wanting to cast me for a voiceover project. Oh yes, I looked at it and it was this long-form project, something like 9,000 and change words. And I looked at it and I'm like and you know I was reading the ins and outs of it and I'm like, huh, like my spider sense was tingling a little bit, but I'm looking at, I'm like this one is worth replying to and getting some information about.  02:00 So there was a little bit of back and forth about it.  02:03 - Anne (Host) So you did reply, and then there was.  02:05 - Tom (Host) There was more conversation.  02:06 - Anne (Host) Yeah, there was more conversation, which is what I always do when I'm trying to find out more information about a job to make sure it's legit.  02:12 - Tom (Host) Right Now, around the same time, maybe a couple of days after that, someone posted on a Facebook group hey, I got this email. It was saying this and this Did anyone else get it? Does it seem legit? And it looked like it was the same email that I had gotten, so I was following that it turns out.  02:28 It was posted by our friend, bridget Real, who is the co-founder of VA for VO, the virtual assistant site that helps voice actors, and we talked about it a little bit and we're both like, yeah, we're going to keep digging a little bit and see what's going on. And then her business partner, lynn, also got the email and I was getting ready to accept it just to see what would happen. And that morning I got a message from her saying hey, did you accept this project? Yet I'm like no, why? And she said because both of us accepted the project. We both got cast for the same exact project. We both got the same exact script. They sent me the script.  03:00 So then I did this. I went to Gemini, google Gemini, which is my AI bot of choice, and I did the prompts. I said you are an expert at detecting scams. Please analyze this script and let me know if you think that this script could be used to harvest a voice actor's voice to clone it. A voice actor's voice to clone it. And it did its analysis and I've got like the 2.5 advanced. So it takes a little time. And it wrote back oh, yes, it does. And here are all the reasons why this, this, this, this, this, this and this. And then I sent that information to Bridget and Lynn and they're like we knew it. We knew it. So then she created a wonderful post on LinkedIn talking about it. And then I wrote a blog with all the information and, like what happened, it was the most read blog I've had in like three years or something like that.  03:52 Yeah, it was crazy.  03:53 - Anne (Host) What's so interesting is it could have been a legit job, like for payment. You would have done it, they would have paid you for it, but they would have used your voice as an AI voice.  04:05 And so therefore, legally right in the end. Right, if you found out later on they could say, oh no, no, no, we paid you. I mean, it was a job that we paid you for and there was no extenuating circumstances or contracts to be signed which, by the way, I'm going to bring up Nava and the AI writer For all your jobs. You should be attaching that AI writer so that your voice is not going to be used as an AI voice, for sure, for sure.  04:37 - Tom (Host) So, to let everybody know, the website was GigLumin G-I-G-L-U-M-I-N. And if you do a Google search of GigLumin and this is what Bridget had figured out is that the website was only a month or two old. And there's these scam websites that you can enter the URL of a website in and it can tell you how likely that's a scam. It checked every red flag, every box, every single box.  04:56 - Anne (Host) So, yes, vo people, bosses, beware, right. So beware of emails. And you know, it's funny because it's lately, just because of the whole AI thing. Anytime I get an email with a job from someone that I don't know, right, that is just out of the blue, that I didn't audition for, where they have large amounts of words, the hairs on the back of my neck kind of stand up and I immediately, immediately check into it. And I think this really warrants a discussion, bosses, because it's very timely that you want to make sure that these jobs are legitimate. So the more research you can do. And I love, Tom Dheere, how you used AI to fight AI Again.  05:37 We had our previous episode on tools that we use. I mean, we are utilizing it as a tool to help us in our day-to-day jobs, and so I think, being aware of possible scams out there, we absolutely have to be, and I'll tell you if it's somebody that I've never heard of and they don't have a signature file. I've gotten to the point where I don't even like and it's not like from a company.com. I don't even literally take it seriously anymore. I don't know about you, Tom, what do you think?  06:05 - Tom (Host) Yes, I'm equally skeptical these days but, I, really like what you said about when you receive the email, check to see if there is a signature at the Tom of it with the company logo, website and contact information. That is one of many red flags and I don't know how much you've noticed lately, Anne, but since I would say about early April, there has been an explosion of scam attempts going on in the voiceover industry. We've had the overpayment scam. That's been going on for at least 10 or 15 years.  06:37 - Anne (Host) Gosh, at least, and bosses. If you haven't heard about it, Tom, let's talk about the overpayment scam for just a minute. Yeah, yeah, Okay so what happens is it's very common.  06:45 - Tom (Host) It's very common. It's been going on for a really long time. So basically they email you and say hey, we've got a project for you, da-da-da-da-da-da. The classic one was the game show host voiceover.  06:55 - Anne (Host) It has since evolved.  06:56 - Tom (Host) And basically they say that we've booked a studio in the area nearby. We're going to get paid or pay for the studio and then send us back the difference and something like that. And it's never a gig.  07:12 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) All they're trying to do is get you to cash that check and send them money, which is fraudulent, by the way.  07:18 - Anne (Host) And, by the way, I've gotten to the point where, if I have a new client, the only way they can really pay me is electronically.  07:25 And I figure, if you don't have electronic means to pay me immediately before the job and it's even in my terms and I've done this for years, Tom, I always have payment in full prior to job start is appreciated and other options available upon request.  07:39 But if it's a new client, I'll take that out because I must have that money in my bank account before I will even consider finishing that job or sending a file. And I'll tell you what, Tom for all of my career it's worked for me Because if people are serious about hiring you, they know that you're a professional, they know that you're going to get the job done. Of course they have to put their faith in you. But in reality and I'll even say because you're a new client I require payment up front electronically. And here are the ways that you can pay me. And so I'll send them, like a QuickBooks invoice, or I'll give them a PayPal account or however that works, and I expect that money in the account and I wait for that money and I make sure that I have the money and then I'll proceed with the job.  08:21 - Tom (Host) That's a really good idea. There's nothing wrong with even asking for 50% or 25% or just some percentage of it. The fact that they're actually going to fork over money with no expectation of an overpayment or getting it back or disputing the payment or anything like that.  08:37 Once it clears, you know that they're serious. And there's a bunch of like. I use Wave apps, for example. That's a great way to do it and I'm pretty sure they can do a partial payment. Or you can just make one invoice just for the deposit and then issue another invoice for the balance If they're a legitimate client that actually has money that they're planning on paying you with, they would have no problem with paying at least a portion of it up front.  08:59 - Anne (Host) Yeah, a lot of my clients nowadays the larger clients that used to like work off of purchase orders, and then it would be like 90 days after the job has been submitted. We'd have to wait for that check, they'd have to generate the PO and everything. You'd sign contracts like vendor contracts and that sort of thing, which I've done a lot, and so if they've got a contract for you to sign, that's vendor, nda, that sort of thing, and you know the company. It's like a well-known company. They're on the web. They've been on the web for years. I mean you can pretty much trust in that where I'll do the job and then I'll get paid. If I've worked with them before, I know that's typically how larger companies work and so that's when I'll accept a check. But even now most of those companies they're going to electronic deposit, like ACH they call it.  09:42 ACH, yeah, so it's direct deposit to your bank and most of the companies I know will do that and that's a form of payment that I trust and that would be a client that I would trust. So if it's a larger company that I know they exist on the web and they talk about, well, you're going to have to do the job first and then we'll be able to pay you once the purchase order is created, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you sign these contracts. I feel fairly good about that and I don't have to think, oh, this is a scam. But whenever I get an email without an actual signature file that comes from an address that isn't companycom, right, if it's a Gmail or a Yahoo or whatever, even a Microsoft what is the free Microsoft one?  10:20 Hotmail, hotmail, yeah, even if it's Microsoftcom, I feel like there's some sort of free sort of Microsoft. You know what I mean Like email that says that I just don't trust it and I'll immediately. The first thing I'll do is look for a website and when I get to the website I'll look for a phone number and then I'll actually try to call that phone number. What are the steps that you take, Tom, to ensure that your job is legit?  10:41 - Tom (Host) Everything that you just said. I also, by the way, I do love the ACH direct deposit because there's no fee. When PayPal, there is a fee, or wire transfer. That's really nice. Here's one thing that I've been doing lately is, if I get a we'll call it a solicitation, for lack of a better term from a company saying hey, and it'll most often be we found you on Google, we found you on Voice123 or some other front-facing thing. You know what's an interesting thing to do? Go look for them on LinkedIn.  11:11 Look for them on LinkedIn. Look for the company and look for the individual and see if you have any mutual connections. I mean, it could be anybody, whether it's a voice actor or somebody in some other profession, and you can reach out on LinkedIn and say, hey, I got an email from this company and you have a connection with them on LinkedIn. What's your experience with them? And that could give you some really quick insight. Sometimes it's just like, oh, I've been working with them for years, or it's oh, they're a huge scam. I forgot to disconnect with them. Run, run, run. Or I'd sent a rando invite, or they sent a rando invite and I don't have any information for you. But it could increase your chance of vetting them a little bit better. Another thing is that I keep an eye out, for is if they ask me to send them a W-9, the more likely that they are legitimate.  12:00 Yeah, yeah, absolutely, which I find interesting because if they were a real, true scam artist, they would want that W-9, because now they would have your social security number and now they can steal your identity too.  12:11 - Anne (Host) Well, oh my gosh, Tom, and that's scary actually, but that's why you don't put your social security number. You put your EIN number, because you're a company right, and you don't have to give up your EIN number, which is, by the way, one thing. I'm glad you mentioned that like we should all be having an EIN number. I'm glad you mentioned that, like we should all be having an EIN number.  12:30 - Tom (Host) Yes, it's very, very simple to get. It takes very, very little time. So it's a very easy get. I just reminded myself and we just talked about identity theft is that I almost had my identity stolen yesterday.  12:43 - Anne (Host) Whoa, that's scary. Yes.  12:45 - Tom (Host) How do you?  12:46 - Anne (Host) know like what happened.  12:51 - Tom (Host) Okay, so it was about a little after 10 am yesterday is when things started happening, so within a few minutes of each other, I got an email from Credit Karma, norton which, because I have my Norton 360 antivirus software package, I pay a subscription through that and Experian. For those of you who don't know, there are three major credit bureaus there's Experian, there's TransUnion and there's Equifax. I have a free account with Experian and I have a free account with Credit Karma. All three of them, within a few minutes of each other, messaged me and said that there was a hard inquiry.  13:30 - Anne (Host) Yeah.  13:30 - Tom (Host) So what that means is if you are applying for a loan, a mortgage, a credit card or something like that, the company that you're applying to will do a credit check. So they will check your credit and see if you are a safe credit risk to make the loan or to get the credit card, for this was a hard inquiry. If you get enough hard inquiries on your credit, your credit will go down.  13:55 - Anne (Host) Yeah, absolutely. I know that because I'm a stickler about my credit.  13:59 - Tom (Host) Me too. My credit rating, oh my gosh. If mine isn't at least 800, something I freak out, oh my gosh.  14:04 - Anne (Host) Yeah, no, mine has to be like almost close to perfect, and when it goes down like two points, I'm like wait why? Why did that happen? Right? And it's just because you put a charge on it for a few hundred dollars, and then you pay it off next week and then everything's fine, so that's normal.  14:18 - Tom (Host) So all three of them told me at roughly the same time that there was a hard inquiry. So I clicked on all the emails and all three of them said that somebody was applying for a Discover credit card, I think in Salt Lake City, and someone was applying for a Capital One credit card in Delaware, and I was in New York City neither applying for a Discover credit card or a Capital One credit card. I certainly wasn't in Salt Lake City or Delaware at the same exact time.  14:49 - Anne (Host) You know, what's so interesting, Tom, is that, like I don't know, a few months ago I don't know if there was a discussion circulating or maybe I got an email but somebody said, and like I should have done this years ago, I mean you can freeze your account so that if you don't open up a credit card every other day which I'm certainly not right Because again, it affects my credit rating and I'm anal about that and so I'm like well, I don't need to apply for any other credit cards, so you can go and freeze that, so that you can actually reduce the risk of somebody trying to open up credit cards or identity theft.  15:19 So and it's super simple to do it, as I said, everybody should have that free account. You should log in, you should check your credit scores regularly I think they allow you once a month, I think even my credit cards. My American Express will tell me oh, your FICO score has changed, right, so they're monitoring it too, and so literally, I get lots of notifications when that rating goes up and down. But I know that I've reduced my chances of identity theft, which is a very scary thing, by freezing those accounts and it's very simple to unfreeze. So, if you know you want to apply for a credit card. You just got to go and unfreeze it for a certain amount of time so you can apply for it and then freeze it back up again. So that way it reduces the risk.  15:57 - Tom (Host) And all those emails that I got, all those notifications did give me the option to do that. I was also able to say this because it, literally, when Norton 360 popped up and it took me to their website, it literally said is this you and you can check yes or no? And I wrote no and then the whole screen turned red saying okay, we know this is a problem, we will look into it.  16:17 It did it with all those and then I called Capital One Bank. It took me a few people. It had to get escalated a couple of times to the credit card fraud department.  16:25 - Anne (Host) Well, don't you say, they give you a special number, right?  16:27 - Tom (Host) They say call this number if it's not you, or you can call this number. I just called the general number because all that was on the notification, I think, was the Capital One in Salt Lake City or something like that. So I called directly and said please state your problem. I'm like I think I'm getting my identity stolen. And then it got up there and then they manually rejected the credit card application at least for the Capital One.  16:50 And then this morning I got another Credit Karma email saying that there was a check on my Equifax report not the Experian one and I looked at the date of it. It also said yesterday. So that means Credit Karma had my back twice and Experian had my back and Norton had my back twice. Right, right, and Experian had my back and Norton had my back and everybody bosses. This is the takeaway. Creditkarmacom is free, having an account with Experian is free, it doesn't cost you a nickel.  17:18 - Anne (Host) All of them TransUnion, they're all free TransUnion, Equifax, they're all free.  17:23 Exactly and you can check your scores and, like I said, a lot of banks and a lot of credit cards are actually adding that on as like a value add kind of service, but you don't have to pay anything for it. I think there's a lot of it going on, Tom, which is kind of scary. We got to be careful about scammers, that's for sure. And anytime, even in your email, right, if you get like again, if I find something that doesn't have a signature and then they have an attachment like PayPal has been well-known scams where you get like oh, you've got a PayPal invoice, right, and you have to pay this amount and it looks legit. I mean, they've got like the PayPal logo. I've gotten quite a few of those over the last six months.  18:01 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And.  18:01 - Anne (Host) I just ignore anything. Just remember that most financial institutions will never email you for information and they'll never text you necessarily for that information either, and you should also, Tom. We should have a big discussion on having multi-factor authentication.  18:19 - Tom (Host) Yes.  18:19 - Anne (Host) This is extremely important.  18:21 - Tom (Host) It's annoying as hell or two-factor, two-factor authentication For every account that you have, especially the financial ones, you should have two-factor authentication, which means either they send you a text message and you just click on the link and you're good to go, or it sends you an email and it'll usually give you a passcode of some sort and then you go to the website. When you're trying to log on, you enter that passcode and then it'll let you do it, and most of them are only good. Some of them are only good for 30 days. Sometimes you can check a box saying this is my private computer. It's okay for a certain amount of time, or they make you do it every single time, which isn't the worst thing in the world. Yes, it's annoying.  18:55 - Anne (Host) You know what I just thought about. It is annoying but it keeps you safe. It's funny how much like value you put in that number, that phone number, in this phone which, by the way, I just got a new phone but in this number for the two-factor authentication, right Like text me at this number. So think of the power that these phone companies have right, and that is scary. I mean it used to be a thing where I always thought like the large scale communication companies were a little bit of a monopoly, depending on the area that you're in. I mean, when I lived in the East Coast it was always Verizon right, verizon everything, verizon this, verizon that. Out here it's a couple of different companies but still, if you think about it, I mean I'm glad to have the two-factor authentication and it's super convenient on the phone.  19:39 But, it's interesting to know that you wouldn't want the hackers to get smart right and then start really infiltrating the phone, you know, and impersonating a phone number.  19:50 - Tom (Host) There's a couple of things about that is that, when it comes to authentication, when you're logging on your phone, I've got it set up where I just use my thumbprint for a lot of it.  19:59 - Anne (Host) I love that, or Face ID yeah the Face ID is a great one.  20:05 - Tom (Host) There's also a thing for a lot of the websites where I have a personal PIN that has nothing to do with the PIN or the password to access the site itself. If I am using my phone to log in somewhere, I can enter a four-digit PIN that's different from everything else, so it also increases the chance of having a secure whatever. Also, just as a rule, I don't do anything financial on my phone, with the exception of like Venmo Well, I have mobile banking If I'm like sending money if, like me, and the guys are having pizza, you know what I mean.  20:31 - Anne (Host) I have mobile banking and I do have Apple Pay.  20:35 - Tom (Host) Well, I have GPay too.  20:36 - Anne (Host) Yeah, so.  20:36 - Tom (Host) I'm a Google guy but like I will unless to my bank accounts online or Wave app or Wise or PayPal on the phone, unless I absolutely have to.  20:49 - Anne (Host) Interesting. I go to them quite a bit. Actually, you're probably fine because of all the precautions that you're taking, but I'm just a little extra neurotic about it. Oh, it's constantly got multi-factor authentication, but I get that. I totally get that. Wow, yeah, being careful, and you know what.  21:02 What's interesting is, back in the day and I'm going to date myself when I was working at the school and we had text-based email okay, and text-based email, I could have something and it was all based on like the Unix systems and so like hacking into a text-based, like I don't know how to say this, but hacking into a system like that, like a Unix system, and reading your email with text-based, you didn't always have like the conditions of people attaching things that could be viral, loading a virus on your computer. So I was always proud to say that I used text-based email and I used something called a PGP signature, which was a digital signature at the time, which meant that when I sent mail out, my PGP signature, it would actually negotiate and verify with the person that I would send it to so that it could be a verified digital signature. That indeed, yes, this mail did come from me, and I think that Norton probably has something like that now right. Is that with your email or no?  21:59 - Tom (Host) Yeah, it has all kinds of functions.  22:01 And it works on my desktop and it works on my laptop and it works on my phone. The most important function that it has is when I'm not home and I'm on my phone or my laptop or my tablet is the VPN when you can turn it on to make sure that if you're using Wi-Fi at a cafe or something like that, that it's secure, because apparently there are people who just like sitting around at a Panera or a Starbucks with their laptop and just waiting for someone to have an insecure Wi-Fi connection and they can just steal their life right there through their own laptop.  22:31 - Anne (Host) Well, it's funny how this conversation has turned into a big security conversation, starting off with scamming. Which guys you got to be aware? It's one of the reasons why, for all of my years and because of my years working in technology, I like wired connections. I mean Wi-Fi. I mean it's a wonderful technology and it's convenient as anything. However, it's not as secure as a wired connection, because a wired connection is basically, you know, your digital numbers flowing back and forth along a wire, versus all this information out in the air where, if somebody is sitting outside of my home, they can possibly hack into my wireless network and then they can run some sort of a tracer to see and to actually get my passwords, which is something that you don't really want that to happen. So you should really be cautious, guys, and I think it's always a good idea that, if you are working from home, if you have the opportunity to have a wired connection to your router, I think that that's better rather than using Wi-Fi. Number one it's more stable, right, it's faster and it's also more secure.  23:32 - Tom (Host) I agree. If you have a desktop at home and you are doing any kind of recording or you're doing basically anything, you should have an ethernet connection. That yellow wire with the big old phone jack that plugs right into the back of your computer and plugs into your Wi-Fi router.  23:47 - Anne (Host) And it sounds old school, but it's still the most secure method of data transfer.  23:51 - Tom (Host) Without question so if you are recording from home. If you're doing whatever from home, you have a desktop ethernet. If you have a laptop, I are recording from home. If you're doing whatever from home, you have a desktop Ethernet. If you have a laptop, I think the newer laptops don't even have an Ethernet connection. I have to think about my laptop and whether I even have one anymore, and here's the simple reason.  24:06 - Anne (Host) Think about it. It's a wire, guys. It's a wire. It's not like data floating around in the air which people can listen to. Somehow the frequency of the data traveling in the air right? Wi-fi works on frequencies when your data is traveling via a wire like a physical cable, unless somebody like I don't even know, unless they tap into that wire, right, somehow.  24:26 I don't know how they do that, and we're talking about your wire in your house going from your computer to your router. Right, that's as secure as it gets, right, unless somebody's coming into your house and hacking into the wire and tapping into it.  24:38 - Tom (Host) You've got some foreign embassy bugging your home.  24:41 - Anne (Host) Yeah, yeah, doing some fancy work, you're not going to have to worry about your data being transferred. So if you're working on the internet right, at least the data that's transferring from your house to your router is absolutely secure. And then it's up to your internet provider right on the router, to their routers, to make sure that things are encrypted, things are secure and for the most part I mean that's been handled right. I mean there are hackers out there that they can hack into networks. They can hack into things like that, but you want to be as safe as you possibly can, so wired is best.  25:14 - Tom (Host) Yes, it's fascinating. We talk about hard security and soft security, yes, that's hard security, that's hard security.  25:20 - Anne (Host) So, if we go back to talking about the scams that are floating around these days, one thing I wanted to mention is I think one of the best applications for groups, facebook groups and social media groups and discussion groups is for that thing, so that you and Bridget were talking to one another about this job that you both got, and then it's really wonderful that we can come together as a community and protect each other right and say, hey, look, watch out for the scam. So it is one of the best advantages, I would say, of being a part of the social media groups in that way. Otherwise, we've talked about how it's hard to sometimes they're toxic, sometimes it's really hard to be on social media. But I would say one of the best reasons to be on social media, in those groups and in those forums, would be because of the protection that you're getting of us banding together and saying, hey, watch out, this is a scam.  26:09 - Tom (Host) Absolutely, it's one of the most important things. Community is more than just about you know rah rah and whoop whoop and you know we support you and feel better if you're feeling down, but like just actual education, along with inspiration and commiseration can literally save your identity Absolutely.  26:27 - Anne (Host) Wow, what a great conversation, Tom. So bosses out there, be aware of scams. Be cautious. Research, research. Take a look at those signatures when you get emails coming in, when you get something that's asking for lots of words and a good price and it seems too good to be true, guess what it might be. So make sure that you're communicating with the community as well, checking those jobs out and attach that AI rider to every one of your jobs. Now, it's simple. It's there at NAVA and it's free. You can attach that rider to every job. If you have a new client, make sure you're very careful with the payment options. You know we spoke about that. I always make sure I get money up front, or partial money up front, first to make sure that it's a legit client. What else did I miss, Tom, in this recap?  27:14 - Tom (Host) Hardware and software VPNs.  27:16 - Anne (Host) EINs yes.  27:19 - Tom (Host) Oh yeah, VPNs, EINs, Two-factor authentication.  27:20 - Anne (Host) I love it. Yeah, Make sure you guys are implementing all of that to keep yourself safe and secure. So great topic, Tom. I like geeking out like this.  27:30 - Tom (Host) Yeah, it's fun and helpful.  27:31 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I'm going to give a great big shout out to my sponsor, IPDTL. You too can connect and network like real bosses. Find out more at IPDTL.com. Guys have an amazing week and we'll see you next week.  27:52 - Speaker 3 (Announcement) Bye. Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host, Anne Ganguzza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution, with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via IPDTL.   

This episode dives into the energetic and emotional rite of passage that occurs when a person transitions from human to symbol, from visible to iconic — and the shadow terrain of the projection field they must cross to do so. Jess shares a personal metaphor of a broken phone and Apple Pay to explain how ease in manifestation is simply perception. From there, she maps how collapsing the projection field (using David Beckham as an archetype) is a spiritual initiation into immunity, icon status, and collective healing — especially for those with a destiny to carry the codes of exquisiteness.You don't need to change the reality — only see what was already there.Manifestation feels like ease only after the energetic barrier is crossed.Quantum leaps = “That was so easy” moments, only possible through perspective shifts.The projection field is an energetic phenomenon that activates when you're becoming symbolic — when you hold too much light for the collective to bear.It's not just criticism — it's unconscious collective wounding being projected at you.Every person destined for icon status must move through a gladiatorial phase: public shaming, internal self-doubt, sabotage.Example: David Beckham's red card moment became a bloodletting ritual for a nation needing someone to blame. He survived it through discipline, values, and his team.If you pull back here, you lose access to the full meaning of your life.To work with Jess, reach out at jess@goinward.co.ukInstagram: www.instagram.com/goinwardwww.goinward.co.uk

In this special episode of Tiny Pulpit Talks, Rev. T. J. FitzGerald reflects on the deep significance of Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom rooted in Texas soil, and the legacy of Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” whose tireless advocacy made June 19th a federally recognized holiday. Join us as we explore: The history of Juneteenth and its importance for all Americans Why this day holds special meaning for Texans and Unitarian Universalists How Opal Lee's work embodies the UU values of justice, equity, and compassion

In this episode recorded live from Transact 360, Dustin gets insights from Patrick Beirne who serves as Senior Director of Student Financial Services at Wayne State University. In this rare sit-down with a real-life bursar (finally!), Pat offers a front-line view of how digital transformation is changing the way institutions bill and collect payments—and why it matters more than ever.From phasing out cash to embracing Apple Pay, Pat shares practical insight into building a student-centric (and parent-friendly) payment experience. Plus, he breaks down how integrations, centralization, and modernization are more than IT buzzwords—they're make-or-break moves in the race to remain relevant and responsive in higher ed.Guest Name: Patrick Beirne, Senior Director, Bursar & Student Financial Services, Wayne State UniversityGuest Social: LinkedInGuest Bio: Patrick Beirne has worked in Student Financial Services for 16 years across three university campuses, the last six as the Senior Director; Bursar & Student Financial Services at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.  Patrick has extensive experience utilizing multiple Enterprise Resource Platforms and Integrated Payments solutions.   Patrick is a student centric, retention focused leader, and is most proud of the collaborative partnerships made across campus that have paved the way to creatively recruit, retain, serve, and graduate university students.  Patrick fosters an organizational vision that strives to “retain every student” and “collect every dollar”.  In addition to this student retention and A/R recovery focus, Patrick focuses on data-driven analysis and decision making and the consistent evolution of business process enhancement and efficiency. - - - -Connect With Our Host:Dustin Ramsdellhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinramsdell/About The Enrollify Podcast Network:The Higher Ed Geek is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too!Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.Attend the 2025 Engage Summit! The Engage Summit is the premier conference for forward-thinking leaders and practitioners dedicated to exploring the transformative power of AI in education. Explore the strategies and tools to step into the next generation of student engagement, supercharged by AI. You'll leave ready to deliver the most personalized digital engagement experience every step of the way.Register now to secure your spot in Charlotte, NC, on June 24-25, 2025! Early bird registration ends February 1st -- https://engage.element451.com/register

In this episode of Welcome to Cloudlandia, Dan and I talk about how much AI is reshaping everyday life. I share how new tools like Google's Flow V3 are making it easier than ever to create video content, while Dan explores how AI could tackle complexity—like managing city traffic or enhancing productivity—when it's applied intentionally. We also look at how people are adapting to the massive increase in content creation. I ran some numbers: Americans spend around 450 minutes per day on screens, but YouTube alone sees 500 hours of content uploaded every minute. So while AI makes it easier to create, attention remains limited—and we're all competing for it. Another theme is “agency.” We discuss how autonomous vehicles, digital payments, and convenience tools reduce friction, but can also make people feel like they're giving up control. Dan points out that even if the technology works, not everyone wants to let go of driving, or of how they interact with money. Lastly, we reflect on what it really means for tools to be “democratized.” I talk about Hailey Bieber's billion-dollar skincare brand and the importance of vision, capability, and reach. The tools might be available to everyone, but outcomes still depend on how you use them. We end with thoughts on tangibility and meaning in a world that's becoming more digital by the day. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In this episode, we delve into Canada's evolving identity, sparked by significant events such as the King's visit and U.S. tariffs, which have prompted provinces to reevaluate internal trade barriers. Dan explores the challenges and comparisons between Canada and the U.S., particularly in areas like cannabis legalization and its broader implications on issues such as prison reform. We discuss the health concerns surrounding the rise of vaping, particularly its impact on youth, and how it is becoming a focal point in societal discussions. We navigate the transformative role of energy innovation and artificial intelligence, examining their impact on industries and economic power, particularly in the context of U.S. energy consumption. Dean shares personal experiences to illustrate AI's capabilities in reshaping information consumption, emphasizing technology as a powerful change agent. The intersection of technology and consumer behavior is dissected, with a focus on convenience trends, including the selective demand for electric vehicles and limousine services in luxurious locales. We conclude with a humorous anecdote about students using tape-recorded lectures, reflecting on the broader implications of convenience and technology in education. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean: Mr Sullivan. Dan: How are things in Florida Hot? Dean: Hot, it's hot. Dan: It's hot. Dean: They're heated up. Dan: It's normal. Dean: Yeah, no, this is like it's unusual. It went from perfect to summer, All just overnight. I'm looking forward to coming to. I'm looking forward to coming to Toronto, to coming to. I'm looking forward to coming to Toronto Two weeks right, Two weeks here. Dan: Friday. I'm actually uh, You're going to spend a week. Dean: Yeah, I'm in. Dan: Chicago. I'm in Chicago next week. Dean: Yeah, I'm in. So I'm. Yeah, I'm coming for three weeks. Dan: You're holding court. You're holding court. Dean: I'm holding court every which way I arrive on Friday, the 6th, and I leave on the 29th, so there. So you are going to be in Chicago next Saturday. Dan: Next Saturday you're in Chicago, yeah, until the Friday and then back home and we'll have our. Whether it's table 9 or not, it's going to be table 9. Let's just call it table 1, because it'll be at restaurant one. Dean: That's exactly right. Dan: It'll probably be nice to maybe even sit outside, which is a very good restaurant. Yes, on the patio. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Well, canada is going through profound changes. Dean: That's what I hear, so prepare me. I'm already prepared that I will be ordering Canadians with breakfast instead of Americanos. Dan: They've already conditioned me for that. I've been here 54 years in Toronto 54 years and over 54 years I've never gotten a good answer about what a Canadian is. Dean: Okay. Dan: Okay, except that we're not Americans. We're not Americans. And to prove it, and to prove it, they brought the King of England over to tell them Okay, ah that's funny. Dean: I didn't see anything about that. Is that just that yeah? Dan: we came over. They have a thing called the throne speech. When parliament resumes after an election, it's called the throne speech. Dean: Okay, just a reminder. Dan: Yeah, and so just to tell you that we're an independent, completely independent country, we got the King of England to come over and talk to his subjects. Dean: And. Dan: I guess that's what caused the division in the first place, wasn't it? Dean: was the King of. Dan: England. So nothing's changed in 236 years. It's all been. You know the royalty. They brought the royalty over to put some muscle into the Canadian identity, anyway. But there is a profound change and I don't know if you knew this, but there's tremendous trade barriers between the provinces in Canada. Dean: Yeah, it's funny how Canada has really always sort of been more divisive kind of thing, with the West and the Maritimes and Quebec and Ontario. Dan: But they have trade barriers. Like they're separate countries, they have trade barriers and Trump's pressure putting tariff on has caused all the provinces to start talking to each other. Maybe we ought to get rid of all the trade barriers between the provinces it's just that pressure from the south that is causing them to do that, and they would never do this voluntarily. Yeah, but it's putting such pressure on the canadian economy, in the economy of the individual provinces, that they're now having to sit down and actually maybe we shouldn't have barriers between you know and the. US has never had this. You know the US straight from the beginning was a trade free country. You know the states don't have trade barriers. Dean: Right right. Dan: I mean they have laws that have not been entirely in sync with each other, for example, alcohol, you know, Some of the states were dry, and so it wasn't that we won't allow you to compete with our alcohol. We don't have any alcohol and we won't allow you to bring your alcohol in Fireworks. You couldn't have fireworks. Some states you could have Citizens could buy fireworks. I remember Ohio. You could never buy fireworks but you had to go to Michigan to buy them. Dean: Is cannabis now nationally legal in Canada? Dan: What's that fireworks? Dean: No cannabis. Dan: Fireworks, no, just the opposite. Cannabis, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's national, and that's another thing. The US, generally, when there's a contentious subject, they don't. Well, they did do it. They did it with Roe versus Wade, and then, of course, roe versus Wade got reversed. The way that American tradition is one state does it, then another state does it, and that gets to a point where it's like 50% of the states are doing, and then it elevates itself to a national level where the Congress and the Supreme Court they start, you know. Dean: Florida. Florida just rejected it again. Every time it's on the ballot it gets rejected in Florida. Dan: What's that? Dean: Cannabis. Oh yeah, it's a state issue. Yeah. Dan: Yeah, and I don't think it's ever going to be national, because there's enough bad news about cannabis that probably they won't go for it. I mean the impact. Dean: Well, think about all the people that they would have to release from prison that are in prison right now for cannabis violations. You know it's interesting. That's one of the things that has been the discussion here. Dan: You know is you can't legalize it, and then all of a sudden yeah. They'd have to get a whole new workforce for the license plates Right. Dean: Well, the robot. Dan: Yeah, robots. Dean: Well, the robots, the robots. Dan: The robots can smoke the cannabis, yeah, yeah, but it's. I don't see it ever being national in the US, because there's as much argument there is for it, there's as much argument that there is against it. And you know, especially with young people, especially with you know it's a gateway drug. They know that if someone in their teens starts smoking cannabis, they'll go on to higher-grade drugs. Dean: That's interesting. Dan: That's pretty well established Actually smoking is the first. Tobacco, first then cannabis. The big issue down here now is vaping. Dean: Vaping. Dan: I've never quite understood. What is it exactly? I see that we have some stories here yeah, what is vaping? Dean: what is vaping? It's just like a chemical you know way of getting nicotine, you know and it's pure chemicals that people are sucking into their lungs. It's crazy no smoke no smoke. It's because in most cases you know you can vape in places that would be otherwise smoke free. This is just vapor, you know, so it's not intrusive, you know? Dan: what's funny is, I haven't tell you how up to tells you how up to date I am right I'm getting my news about vaping from dean jackson. Yeah, that tells you how up to date I am right. Oh yeah, I'm getting my news about vaping from. Dean: Dean Jackson. Yeah, exactly. Dan: That tells you how out of touch I am. Dean: That's right, I stay in touch with what the kids are doing. Dan, I'll tell you. I keep you up to date. Dan: That's so funny. Kids, yeah, how much less than 80 does childhood start? Dean: I don't know I'm hanging in there. I just turned 40, 19. So let's see Keep that. We'll keep it going, keep it alive. Dan: Yeah. Dean: So it's been an interesting week. Now we're coming up on like 10 days of the new VO3, the Google Flow video processing that we talked about last week, and it's just getting. You know, there's more and more like everybody's tripping over themselves to show all the capability that it has. You know, I had an interesting conversation with Eben Pagan I was talking about because this new capability I mean certainly it's at the stage now what Peter Diamandis would say that you know, the execution of video has really been democratized. Now the cost is nearing zero in terms of, you know, the ability to just use prompts to create realistic things, and every time I show these videos they just keep getting better and better in terms of the news desk and the man on the street type of things and all the dramatic, the dramatizations there's really like it's gonna be very difficult. It's already difficult. It's going to be impossible to tell the difference between real and virtual, but my thought is that this is going to lead to more and more content being created, and I did the latest numbers For the same amount of attention that is exactly it, dan. I looked at the thing, so I looked it up. Well, certainly, our attention capacity has remained and will remain constant at. If we had 100 of somebody's available attention, we would have a maximum of a thousand minutes of their attention available every day, but on average, americans spend 400 to 450 minutes a day consuming content on a screen. So that's what the real availability is. And I asked Charlotte about the current rate of uploading to YouTube, and right now there are 500 hours per minute loaded to YouTube every single minute of the day. 500 hours per minute, it's getting crowded minute getting, it's getting crowded and that is piled on top of over 1 billion available hours of content that's currently on youtube, because you can access any of it, right and so just? Dan: that you can't even. Dean: You can't even sit down no, and I thought know, the thing is that the content that's being created for that it's novelty right now. That's driving and everybody's watching it going holy cow. Can you believe this? Oh man, we're never going to be able to tell. That's the conversation. It's like a peak level interest in it right now and it's pretty amazing. But I just finished the second season of Severance on Netflix which is a great show. And I read that the budget for that show is $20 million per episode. So they spend $200 million creating that content, that season, for you to watch, and so you're competing for that 450 minutes of available attention with the greatest minds in Hollywood, you know, in the world, you know creating this mega it's not Hollywood. Dan: It's not Hollywood, no Right, I mean Actually a lot of. I bet. If you put Hollywood against London, England, London would win in terms of yeah, you're probably right. Interesting content, I bet. Yeah, I bet the skills of British people just in the geographic area of London outcompetes Hollywood. Dean: Yeah, but it's really kind of interesting to me that I don't know to what end this creation Well, there is no end. Dan: Yeah, surprise, there's no end. You thought you were getting close to the end. Dean: Nope, nope. Dan: No, I was thinking about that because I was preparing myself for my weekly call with Dean. And I said you really bright technology guy. And he said that it's called the bottomless. Well, and he said actually. He said do you know what most of the energy in the world is used for? This is a really interesting question. It caught me by surprise. That's why I'm asking you the question. Dean: I don't know. Dan: Most of the energy in the world is used to refine even higher intensity energy. Oh everything that's where most of the energy in the world is used is to actually take energy from a raw stage and put it into power. He says it's not energy we're getting. You know, when we switch on light, it's power we're getting. He says power is the game not energy. Dean: Energy is just a raw material. Dan: It's the constant human ingenuity of taking raw energy and making it into eventually like a laser, which is one of the most intense, dense, focused forms of energy. Is a laser? I noticed the Israelis three days ago for the first time shot down a rocket coming from not a rocket, a drone that was coming in from I don't know, the Houd know, one of those raggedy bunches over there, and they were comparing the cost that, basically that if they send a rocket to knock down a rocket it's about $50,000 minimum a shot. You know if they shoot one of the rockets, it's $50,000. But the laser is $10, basically $10. Dean: Oh, my goodness Wow yeah. Dan: And you know it just prices you know, and everything else, but what they don't take into account is just the incredible amount of money it takes to create the laser. Yeah right, right, right you know, and he said that the way progress is made in the world, he says, is basically by wasting enormous amounts of energy, what you would consider waste. And he says, the more energy we waste, the more power we get. And it's an interesting set of thoughts that he can he said? by far. The united states waste the most energy in the world, far beyond anyone else. We just waste enormous energy. But we also have an economy that's powered by the highest forms of energy. So he says that's the game, and he says the whole notion of conserving energy. He says why would you conserve energy? You want to waste energy. He says the more energy you waste, the more you find new ways to focus energy. Anyway maybe AI is actually a form of energy. It's not actually. You know, I mean everybody's just from this latest breakthrough that you spoke about last week and you're speaking about this week. Maybe it isn't what anyone is doing with this new thing. It's just that a new capability has been created, and whether anybody gets any value out of it doesn't really matter. It's a brand new thing. So there's probably some people who are really going to utilize this and are going to make a bundle of money, but I bet 99% of the humans are using that, are doing that for their own you know, their own entertainment. It's going to have actually a economic impact. It's not going to. Dean: That's my point. Dan: That's what I was saying about the thing about the what I was saying about the thing about the, what it's another way of. It's another way of keeping, another way of keeping humans from being a danger to their fellow human beings you know, he's been down the basement now for a week. He hasn't come back up, there's a harmless human. Yeah, yeah. I was you know, but if you think about AI as not a form of communication. It's a form of energy. It's a form of power yeah, and everybody's competing for the latest use of it. Dean: Yes. Dan: But like for example, I've never gone beyond perplexity, I've never Right, right. You know, like people say oh, you should use Grok and I said, no, no, I'm getting a lot of value, but I'm creating these really great articles. I have a discussion group. Every quarter we have about a dozen coach clients that get together and for 23 years we've been sending in articles and now this last issue, which just went out I think it goes out tomorrow you know, it's got about 40 articles in it and former mine and their perplexity searches to you and yeah, and. I'm just looking for the reaction because you know I had a prompt and then the I put it into perplexity and I got back. I always use ten things. You know ten things is my prompt. Ten things about why Americans really like gas-powered, gas-powered cars and why they always will. That's, that was my prompt and it came back. You know 10 really great things. And then I took each of the answers and it's a numbered, sort of a numbered paragraph and I said now break this out into three subheads that get further supporting evidence to it automatically. So I got 30 and you know, and I do some style changes, you know to yeah, make the language part. Thing you know it's about six pages. It's about six pages when you put it into word wow, I put it into work. I put it into word and then do a pdf you know, pdf and I send it out. But they're really interesting articles. You know I said but if you look at the sources, there are probably one of the articles has 30 different sources. You know that it's found. You know, when you ask the question, it goes out and finds 30 different articles. Dean: Pulls an idea about it. Dan: So I'm just checking this out to see if people find this kind of article better than just one person has an opinion and they're writing an article. Dean: Here. Dan: I just asked a question and I got back a ton of information. You know I said so, but that's where I am with perplexity. After using it for a year you know I'm using it for a year I've got to the point where I can write a really good article that other people find interesting. Dean: Oh, I would love to see that. Dan: I mean that's I'll interesting. Oh yeah, I would love to see that. I mean that's. Yeah, I'll send them out this afternoon. I'll send them out to you. Dean: Okay. Dan: They're interesting. Dean: Yeah, huh. Well, that's and I think that's certainly a great thing Like I assist, but it's like a single use, Like I'm interested in a single use. Dan: And I get better at it, it gets better and I get better, you know. And yeah, so that, and my sense is that what AI is a year from now is what you were a year ago. Dean: I'm saying more about that. Dan: Well, whatever you were good at last year, at this time you're probably a lot better at it next year because you have the use of ai oh exactly I'm amazed. Dean: You know like I. I'm like your charlotte experiment. Dan: You're a lot better with charlotte now than when you first started with charlotte. Dean: Yeah, and she's a lot better a lot better, charlotte's a lot better. Yeah, I had a conversation with her yesterday because I got another entry for the VCR files where Justin Bieber's wife, hailey Bieber, just sold her skincare line for a billion dollars and she started it in 2023. So from yeah, from nothing, she built up this skincare line, started with a vision I want to do a skincare line partnered with a capability, and her 55 million Instagram followers were the reach to launch this into the stratosphere. I just think that's so. I think that's pretty amazing. You know that it took Elizabeth Arden, who was a she may be Canadian actually cosmetic, almost 40 years to get to a billion dollars in Different dollars, different dollars in value than you know. Here comes Hailey Bieber in two and a half years. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, this is but that's the power of reach as a multiplier. I mean it's really you got access to. You know, instant access, zero friction for things to spread now. Yeah. Dan: Yeah, I mean the big thing that you know. I want to go back to your comment about democratization. It's only democratic in the sense that it doesn't cost very much. Dean: That's what I mean. Yeah, it's available to everybody. Dan: But that isn't to me. That's not the question is do you have any capability whatsoever? It's not that. The question is do you have any capability whatsoever? I mean, you know that tells me that if the person who waits next to the liquor store to open every he got enough money from panhandling the day before to get liquor, he can now use the new Google thing that's open to him. I mean, if he gets a computer or he's got a buddy who's got a computer, he can do it. But he has absolutely no capability, he has absolutely no vision, he has absolutely no reach to do it. So I think it's the combination of VCR that's not democratized. Actually it's less democratized. It's less democratized. It's either the same barriers to democratization as it was before or it's still really expensive. It's not the vision, not the capability, it's not the reach, it's the combination of the three, and my sense is very few people can pull that like this. Yeah well, while she was doing it, 99,000 other people weren't doing that. Dean: That's exactly right. Yeah, yeah. Dan: That's really that distinction. My sense is, the VTR is not democratized whatsoever. Dean: I really am seeing that distinction between capability and ability. Yeah, seeing that distinction between capability and ability. Dan: That's every the capabilities are what are being democratized, but not the ability. Dean: Ability, yeah, ability is always more than pianists yeah, and that's the thing ability, will, is and will remain a meritocracy thing that you can earn, you can earn, and concentrated effort in developing your abilities, focusing on your unique abilities that's really what the magic is. Dan: Yeah yeah, yeah, as'm going like. My sense is that you know where we're probably going to be seeing tremendous gains over, let's say, the next 10 years. Is that a lot of complexity? Issues are, for example, the traffic system in Toronto is just bizarre. The traffic system in New York City and Manhattan makes a lot of sense, and I'll give you an example. There's probably not a road or a street in Toronto where you can go more than three intersections without having to stop. Dean: Ok, but in. Dan: New York City on Sixth Avenue, because I know Sixth Avenue, which goes north, I've been in a cab that went 60 blocks without stopping for a red light. Wow, Because they have the lights coordinated and if you go at a certain speed you are you'll never hit a red light. Ok, yeah, so why can't Toronto do that? I mean, why can't Toronto do that? Because they're not smart enough. They're not smart enough. Whoever does the traffic system in Toronto isn't smart enough. My sense is that probably if you had AI at every intersection in the city and they were talking to each other, you would have a constant variation of when the lights go red and green and traffic would probably be instantly 30 or 40 percent better. How interesting. And that's where I see you're gonna. You're gonna have big complexity issues. You know big complexity there are. There are lots of complexity issues. I mean, you know people said well, you know, a Tesla is much, much better than a. You know the gasoline car and. I said well, not, you know, a Tesla is much, much better than you know a gasoline car. And I said well, not when you're driving in Toronto. You can't go any faster in a Tesla than you can go, than traffic goes you know it's not going any, so you know it's not. You're not getting any real. You know a real superior. It's not 10 times better superior. Dean: It's not 10 times better. I don't know, Dan. I'll tell you. You guys activated the full self-drive? Dan: No, because it's illegal. No, it's illegal. It's illegal in Canada. Dean: Let me just tell you my experience. Yesterday I was meeting somebody at the Tampa Edition Hotel right downtown and there's sort of coming into Tampa. There's lots of like complexity in off ramps and juncture you know they call it malfunction junction where all of these highways kind of converge and it's kind of difficult to, even if you know what you're doing to make all of these things. Well, I pulled out of my garage yesterday and I said navigate to the Tampa edition. And then bloop, bloop, it came up. I pushed the button, the car left my driveway, went out of my neighborhood through the gate, all the turns, all the things merged onto the highway, merged off and pulled me right into the front entrance of the Tampa Edition and I did not touch the steering wheel the entire time. Dan: I did the same thing on Friday with Wayne, exactly. Dean: I've been saying that to people forever, Dan. I said, you know, Dan Sullivan's had full self-drive, autonomous driving since 1998. You know, yeah, yeah, boy, yeah, and you know You're always two steps ahead, but that you know. Dan: Well, no, I totally understand the value of having to do that. Yeah, it's just that it's available. It's available in another form as well. Dean: Yes, yeah, yeah, the outcome is available. Right, that's the thing. Dan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I enjoy chatting with him. You know like. Dean: I enjoy chatting. Dan: He's you know he. You know he. He's got lots of questions about. You know current affairs. He's got. He's got things to you know what's going about in London? It's the cab drivers. I would never take a limousine in London because cab drivers have their own app now. The black cab drivers have their own app and plus they have the knowledge of the city and everything. But if you're getting close to an election, if you just take about 10 cab drives and you talk to them, what's it looking like? They're pretty accurate. They're pretty accurate. Because they're listening constantly to what people are talking about when they're in the taxi cabs and they can get adrift. They get a feel about it. Yeah, I mean, I like being around people. So being alone with myself in a car, it doesn't, you know, it's not really part of my, it's not really part of my style anyway, but it makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. Probably the world is safer if certain people aren't driving oh, I think that's going to be true. Dean: You know as it's funny. You know now that. So elon is about to launch their robo taxi in Austin, texas this month, and you know now whenever a. Tesla Google right Google. Yeah, I think it is, you're right. Dan: Yeah. Dean: So yeah, whenever a Tesla on autopilot, you know, has an accident or it steers into something or it has a malfunction of some way or some outlier event kind of happens, it's national news. You know, it's always that thing and you know you said that about the safety. I kind of do believe that it's going to get to a point where the robots are safer than humans driving the car and but the path to get there is going to have to not like as soon as if there ever was a fatality in a robo taxi will be a. That'll be big news. Yeah, well, there was one in phoenix with waymo there was a fatality. Dan: I didn't know that yeah, I was actually a pedestrian. She was crossing the street and it was very shaded and the Waymo didn't pick up on the change of light and didn't see her. She was killed. She was killed, yeah well you know, it's like flying cars. You know, the capability of a flying car has been with us since 1947. There's been cars that actually work, but you know, usually you know, I mean we all are in cars far more of our life than we're in the air, but your notion of an accident being an accident. I've only been in one in my life. It was a rear end when I was maybe about 10 years old, and that was the only time that I've ever been in an accident. And you know, and it happened real fast is one of the things that's the thing is how fast it happens. And spun our car around and you know we ended up in a ditch and nobody was hurt and you know that was my only one. So my assessment of the odds of being in an accident are gauged on that. I've been in hundreds of thousands of car rides that seems like that and I had one thing. So my chances of you know, and it was okay, it was okay. If you have an accident at a thousand feet above the earth, it's not okay, it's not okay, and that's the problem, it's not okay, it's not okay, yeah, this is, and that's the problem. That's the problem. That's the real problem. It's an emotional thing that you know it's death If you have an accident you know, it's death. Yeah, and I think that makes the difference just emotionally and psychologically, that this it might be a weird thing one out of a thousand, one out of a thousand, one out of a million you know, chance that I could get killed. When it's a hundred percent, it has a different impact. Yeah, well, I was thinking that when, or the power goes out, the power goes out. Yeah, I mean, I've flown in that jet. You know there's that jet that has the parachute. Do you know the? Jet yes, yeah, and I've flown in the jets I've flown in the cirrus, I think yeah anyway, it's a very nice jet and it's very quiet and it's you know, it's very speedy and everything else. But if something happens to the pilot, you as a passenger can hit a button and air traffic control takes over, or you can pull a lever and it pulls out the cargo chute. Everything like that, and I think that they're heading in the right direction with that. Dean: Yes. Dan: I think it's called VeriJet is the name of it, but they're very nice and they're very roomy. They're very roomy. I flew from Boston to New York and I flew from San Francisco to San Diego. Dean: Yes. Dan: I've been in it twice. They're very nice. Dean: Yeah, Nice jets. Maybe you that'd be nice to go from Toronto to Chicago. Dan: Well, they have them now, but it only makes sense if you have four people and they don't have much cargoes. They don't have much space. You're treating it like a taxi really. Dean: Yes, yeah, true, I was going to say about the self-driving, like the autonomous robo taxis or cars that are out driving around, that if it starts getting at large scale, I think it's only going to be fair to show a comparison tally of if somebody dies because of a robo taxi or a self-driving car that the day or week or year to date tally of. You know one person died in a autonomous car accident this week and you know however many 3,000, 2,000 people died in human-driven cars this week. I think, to put that in context, is going to have to be a valuable thing, you know. Dan: Yeah, yeah, I mean. The other thing that a lot of people you know and it's a completely separate issue is that you're being asked to give up agency. Yes that's the thing. Dean: You hit it on the head. Dan: And I think that's the bigger issue. I think you know a lot of people. You know I'm not one of them, so I have to take it from other people saying they love driving and they love being in control of the car. They love being in control and you're being asked because if you are in an accident, then there's a liability issue. Is it you, is it the car, is it the car maker? Is it you know what? Who's? It's a very complicated liability issue that happens, you know happens, you know, and it's really. Dean: You know. What's funny, dan, is if you and I were having this conversation 122 years ago, we'd be talking about well, you know, I really like the horse being in control of the horses here, these horseless carriages, I don't know that's. You know who needs to go 30 miles per hour? That's that. That sounds dangerous, you know. But I love that picture that Peter used to show at the Abundance 360. That showed that Manhattan intersection in 1908. And then in 1913, you know, in that five year period from horses to no horses, I think we're pretty close to that transition from 2025 to 2030, you know. Dan: Yeah, it'll be interesting because you know the thing that I'm finding more and more and it's really reinforced with this book. I'm reading the Bottomless Well, and this is a 20-year-old book, you know and everything, but all cars are now electric cars. In other words, the replacement of mechanical parts inside cars with electronics has been nonstop, and actually I found the Toyota story the most interesting one. Toyota decided to stop making electric cars. Did you know that? Dean: Oh, I just saw a Prius, but is that not electric? No, it's a hybrid. Dan: They have both, and for me it makes total sense that you would have two fuels rather than one fuel. Dean: Right. Dan: Yeah, and there's just so much problems with you know the electric generation of getting the. I mean, for example, it tells you what happened under the Biden administration that they were going to put in I don't know 100,000 charging stations. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And it was 12. They got 12 built Wow, 12. They got 12 built Wow. And the reason is because there's not a demand for it. First of all it's a very select group of people who are buying these things. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And a lot of it has to do with where, for example, in California, I think the majority of them come out of a certain number of postal zones. Dean: Oh, really yeah Like. Dan: Hollywood would have a lot of them Like Hollywood would have a lot of them, beverly Hills would have a lot of them, but others wouldn't have any at all because there's no charging stations unless you have one at home. But the other thing is just the sheer amount of energy you have to use to make a Tesla is way more than the energy that's required to make a gas car. Gas cars are much cheaper to make. Dean: So there's some economics there. Dan: But the other thing is this thing of agency living in a technological world. More and more technology is taking over and you're not in control. And I think there's a point where people say, okay, I've given up enough agency, I'm not going to give up anymore. And I think you're fighting that when you're trying to get that across. I mean, I know Joe is wild about this, you know about Joe Polish, about self-driving and everything like that, but I don't know when I would ever do it. Dean: Well, especially because it's not a problem you need solved. You've solved the problem since 1998. You've got you've you know one of the things, Dan, when you and I first started having lunches together or getting together like that, I remember very vividly the first time that we did that, we went to Marche. In the yeah, downtown Hockey Hall of Fame is yeah, exactly yeah. We went to Marche and we sat there. We were there for you know, two hours or so and then when we left, we walked out, we went out the side door and there was your car, like two paces outside of the exit of the building. Your car was there waiting for you and you just got in and off you go. And I always thought, you know, that was like way ahead of. Even your Tesla can't do that, you know, I just thought that was fun thing, but you've been doing that 25 years you know just wherever you are, it's knows where to get you. You walk out and there it is, and that's this is before Uber was ever a thing for, before any of it you know, yeah, yeah, well, it's just, you know, I think we're on exactly the same path. Dan: It's just something that I don't want to think about. Dean: Right. Dan: I just don't want to have all the where did I park? And you know, and the whole thing. And the cars are always completely, you know, clean. Dean: They're completely you know clean they're, you know they're fully fueled up all the insurance has been paid for that they check them out. Dan: I think they have to check them out every couple weeks. They have to go into their yeah, their garage and make sure everything's tuned up. Dean: They have to pass yeah, most people think that would be a, that's an extravagance or something you know if you think about that, but do you know approximately how much you spend per month for rides or whatever your service is for that? Just to compare it to having a luxury car, of course I have no idea to having a luxury car? Dan: Of course, I have no idea, Of course. Dean: I love that Of course you don't. That's even better. Dan: Right, I know it's about half the cost of having a second car. Dean: Right, exactly. Dan: It's so, it's pretty. You know, that's pretty easy, it doesn't use up any space, I mean. Dean: Right. Dan: Yeah, yeah and yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an interesting. Dean: I like simple and I like you know, I I just like having a simple life and I don't like that friction freedom, friction freedom, yeah yeah, yeah and but our limousine company is really great and it's called Bennington and they are affiliated with 300 other limousine companies around the world. Dan: They're in a network, and so when we're going to Chicago, for example, the affiliate picks us up at the airport. When we go to Dallas, the affiliate picks us up at the airport. The only thing we do differently when we go to London, for example, is that the hotel Firmdale Hotel, they get the cab and they pick us up and they pay everything ahead of time. It goes on our bill. But it's just nice that we're in a worldwide network where it's the same way. If I were going to Tokyo, it would be the Tokyo right. Dean: So yeah, that's. That's really good thing in in Buenos. Dan: Aires. Yeah, yeah, it's the way, it's the of, no, it's the four seasons, of course it all actually does it. Yeah, so it's the hotels, so that's it. But it's interesting stuff what it is. But the democratize. I think that the I mean the definition of capitalism is producing for the masses. You know, that's basically the difference between other systems and capitalism, the difference between other systems and capitalism. Capitalism is getting always getting the cost down, so the greatest proportion of people can you utilize the thing that you're doing? You? know, yeah, and I think it's democratizing in that effect. But it all depends upon what you're looking for. It all depends upon what kind of life you want to have. You know, and there's no democracy with that Some people just know what they want more than other people know what they want. Yeah right, exactly. Dean: Yeah, I think that we're. You know, I keep remembering about that article that I read, you know, probably 2016 about the tyranny of convenience. You know that's certainly an underestimated driver, that we are always moving in the direction of convenience, which is in the same vein as that friction freedom. I've noticed now that other friction freedom. I've noticed now that other. I just look at even the micro things of like Apple Pay on my phone. You know, just having the phone as your, you know, gateway to everything, you just click and do it, it's just comes, it's just handled, you know. Know you don't have any sense of connection to what things cost or the transaction of it. The transaction itself is really effortless float your phone over over the thing, I got cash all over the place. Yeah, exactly I know, like a little, like a squirrel, I got little ATMs all over the house. Yeah, exactly. Dan: I got shoeboxes with cash. I've got winter coats with cash I mean Babsoe Cup. She says you got any cash? I said yes, just stay here, because I don't want you to see where I'm going. What do you want? Yeah, yeah. And I find a lot of entrepreneurs I think more than other folks have this thing about cash, because you can remember a day way back in the past where you didn't have enough money for lunch. You know. Dean: Yeah. Dan: I always, I'm always flush with cash, yeah. Dean: Every time I go to the airport. Dan: You know the airport in toronto or where I'm landing. I always go and I get. You know, I get a lot of cash I just like currency. Dean: Yeah, I love the. The funny thing is the. What was I thinking about? Dan: you were talking about. Dean: Oh, I had a friend who had he used to have a file like file folders or file cabinets sort of thing. But he had a file like when file folders or file cabinets were a thing, but he had a file called cash and he would just have cash in the cash folder, yeah, yeah, or nobody would ever think to look for it. You know, filed under cash there's a thousand dollars right there. Dan: Yeah. We had a changeover a year ago with housekeepers? Dean: Yeah, we had a changeover a year ago with housekeepers, so previous housekeeper we had for years and years. Dan: She retired and we got a new one and she's really great. But there was a period where the credit card that our previous. We had to change credit cards because she makes a lot of purchases during the week. And then Babs said, Dan, do you have any cash for mary? And I said, sure, wait right here. And I said I brought him. I had five hundred dollars. And she said I said well, that'd be good. And she said where do you have five hundred dollars. I said not for you to know mary, you can ask, but you cannot find that's funny, I think there's something to that, dan. Dean: I remember, even as a kid I used to. To me it was something to have these stacks of $1 bills. You had $40 as a 10-year-old. That's a big stack. You were a push, oh yeah, and I used to have an envelope that I would put it in and I had a secret. I just had a secret hiding place for the money. Yeah, yeah, so funny. I remember one time I got my mom worked at a bank and I had her, you know, bring me. I gave my money and had her bring like brand new $1 bills. You know, like the things. And I saw this little. I saw a thing in a book where you could make what like a little check book with one dollar bill. So I took a little cardboard for the base thing, same, cut it out, same size as the dollar bills, and then took a glue stick and many layers on the end of the thing so that they would stick together. But I had this little checkbook of $1 bills and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Dan: It's tangible, yeah, yeah. Dean: It's like agency. Dan: I think we like tangibility too. I think that's the value that we hold on to, and you can push things where they disappear. You know, digital things sort of disappear. And it's not tangible. So I think a lot of people get in the money problem because the money they're spending is not tangible money. You know, and I think there's we're. You know we're sensory creatures and there's a point where you've disconnected people so much from tangible things that they lose its meaning after a while. I'll send you one of my articles, but it's on how universities are in tremendous trouble right now. Trump going after Harvard is just, it's just the sign of the times. It's not a particular, it's actually we don't even know what Harvard is for anymore. They're so far removed from tangible everyday life. We don't even know. So you can have the president of the United States just cutting off all their and so somebody says oh, I didn't even know they got funding. You know, I didn't even know they got funding. You know, I didn't even know the government gave harvard money and there's no problem now because they've lost touch. They it's hard for them to prove why they should get any tax money and they've gotten so disconnected in their theoretical worlds from the way people live. It's a. It's an interesting thing. There's a tangibility border. If you cross too far over the tangibility border, I heard a comedian. Dean: Jimmy Carr was on Joe Rogan's podcast and he was saying you know, the joke is that the students are using AI to do their homework. The tutors, the teachers, are using AI to grade the homework and in three years the AI will get the job. Dan: Teaching other AIs? Yeah, exactly. Dean: Yeah, well, I mean you can go too far in a particular direction. Yeah, that's where it's headed. Dan: That's exactly right, yeah, yeah, apparently Henry Kissinger taught at Harvard and you know he was on the faculty but he was busy, so in some of his classes he just put a tape recording of him, you know, and he had a really boring voice. It was this German monotonic voice you know and everything like that. And so he would just put a teaching assistant would come and turn on the tape recorder. Dean: And then he asked one day. Dan: He was. He was just in the building and he walked in and there were as a class of 40. And he walked in and there was one tape recorder in the front of the room and there were 40 tape recorders on the 40 desk. He was oh no, yeah, they were just recording his recording. That's funny, yeah, and they would have shown up. I mean, they would have had standing room only if it was him. Dean: Yeah, right, right, right. Dan: So it's lost tangibility and it doesn't have any meaning after a while. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, Okay, got to jump. Dean: Okay, so next week are we on yeah, chicago. Dan: Yeah, we are an hour. Dean: Okay, perfect. Dan: It'll be an hour, the same hour for you, but a different hour for me. Dean: Perfect, I will see you then. Okay, thanks, dan, bye.

In this episode of Tiny Pulpit Talks, Rev. T. J. FitzGerald and Rev. Beth Dana sit down for a timely and practical conversation about how Unitarian Universalists can prepare to show up at protests with courage, compassion, and responsibility. Many of us feel the urgent call to take to the street - for racial justice, climate action, reproductive freedom, immigrant rights, and more. But before we show up, we need to slow down and prepare. Protest isn't just about presence, it's about being ready: physically, emotionally, spiritually, and legally. They cover: ✅ Practical safety tips for being in the streets ✅ How to center and uplift marginalized voices ✅ Spiritual grounding and self-care in high-intensity spaces ✅ What to bring (and what to leave at home) ✅ Legal preparedness: knowing your rights, staying safe, and accessing support if needed ✅ Meaningful ways to show solidarity, even if you're not marching Whether this is your first protest or your fiftieth, this episode offers grounding, guidance, and encouragement for faithful public witness. Listen now and let your values lead you to action.

Since we published our previous episode, Sony not only announced it was having a State of Play event, but that event has already happened. Thus, we have much to discuss throughout this lengthy episode, an unexpected surprise for the PlayStation faithful. In short, the most recent State of Play was a great showcase of nearly 30 upcoming PlayStation 5 games, with some PS4 and PSVR2 mixed in there, too. And -- for those that care -- more than a half-dozen of the games are PS5 console exclusive, nipping that entire argument in the bud. In the realm of Sony second party, we've learned about a Marvel-themed fighting game from Arc System Works called Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, while Tecmo Koei's Team Ninja is hard at work on Nioh 3. Elsewhere, we were given the first glimpse at IO Interactive's long-in-development James Bond game called First Light, a brand-new Lumines offering from the creators of Tetris Effect, the return of Capcom's seemingly-beleaguered Pragmata, something fresh from Grasshopper Manufacture called Romeo Is A Dead Man, a late-September release date for Silent Hill F, our first look at the sequel to Iga's Bloodstained, and -- yes indeed! -- confirmation of Final Fantasy Tactics coming to PlayStation in just a few months in the form of The Ivalice Chronicles. "No games?" Maybe if you don't like or play video games, perhaps. Other news this week includes our first look at Witcher 4 via a controversial UE5 tech demo, rumors of a native PS5 port for Red Dead Redemption 2, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! Should 'game length' be considered a spoiler? How do we feel about pinball video games? Do we ever mess with the PSN's 'activity cards' while playing? Is Dustin poised to elope with Brad?Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps:  0:00:00 - Intro0:26:17 - Habroxia Special Edition0:36:59 - Too much to play0:42:31 - Look or talk like Jar Jar?0:44:49 - This week's “situation”0:51:21 - MLMs0:57:49 - State of Play overall thoughts1:10:07 - Lumines Arise1:14:44 - Pragmata1:21:10 - Romeo Is a Dead Man1:28:46 - Silent Hill F1:34:33 - Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement1:40:12 - Digimon Story Time Stranger1:45:17 - Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles1:57:37 - Babysteps2:02:06 - Herogami2:04:37 - Everybody's Golf Hot Shots2:10:32 - Ninja Gaiden Ragebound2:14:08 - Cairn2:17:55 - Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection2:25:34 - Playstation Fight Stick (Project Defiant)2:35:44 - Metal Gear Solid Delta2:37:48 - Nioh 32:43:17 - Thief VR2:47:48 - Tides of Tomorrow2:50:49 - Astrobot update2:57:47 - Sea of Remnants3:00:46 - Sword of the Sea3:04:57 - FBC: Firebreak3:08:39 - Deus Ex on PS Plus Premium3:11:43 - Twisted Metal 3 and 4 on PS Plus Premium3:14:22 - Resident Evil 2 and 3 on PS Plus Premium3:16:07 - 007 First Light3:27:37 - Ghost of Yotei3:28:48 - Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls3:39:11 - Apple Pay on PS53:39:43 - Witcher 4 UE5 tech demo3:48:01 - People Can Fly cancels two games3:49:22 - Red Dead Redemption 2 PS5 port3:51:06 - MindsEye executives leave3:54:56 - Shift Up's Project Spirits3:58:54 - MediEvil and Tenacious D's canceled movie4:04:17 - Elden Ring Nightrein's success and PSN charts4:09:43 - What Are We Playing (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Borderlands 2, Dead Island 2)4:25:37 - Is game length a spoiler?4:28:47 - Pinball video games4:33:54 - PlayStation activity cards4:37:54 - AI making games4:42:40 - New console reviews4:48:02 - Fixing inverted controls for a kid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay.

Charlie is still giving JLR a ride to work. A mother in Kansas is suing multiple porn sites after her underage son was able to access their pages. Duji blames Rover for not having a commercial spot done. Controversy over Caitlin Clark fouling Angel Reese. Phoenix Suns CEO is accused of having an affair with a basketball player. Rover is freaked out by people not wearing socks with their shoes and Charlie ruined all of his shoes. During a House hearing Nancy Mace shares a nude photo of herself as she claims she was recorded without consent. Half of the New Orleans inmates who escaped have been caught. Would JLR have helped the inmates escape? Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. Adding your driver's license to your phone wallet.

Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charlie is still giving JLR a ride to work. A mother in Kansas is suing multiple porn sites after her underage son was able to access their pages. Duji blames Rover for not having a commercial spot done. Controversy over Caitlin Clark fouling Angel Reese. Phoenix Suns CEO is accused of having an affair with a basketball player. Rover is freaked out by people not wearing socks with their shoes and Charlie ruined all of his shoes. During a House hearing Nancy Mace shares a nude photo of herself as she claims she was recorded without consent. Half of the New Orleans inmates who escaped have been caught. Would JLR have helped the inmates escape? Would you visit your old home to check it out? A teenager in Australia pulled a prank on a man in Kmart. Rover swears by using Apple Pay. Adding your driver's license to your phone wallet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congratulations Graduates! Rizz has some great advice for you.James of 2 Rivers Comic Con stopped by and gave us donuts.The top 10 worst-paying college majors revealed — with median salaries as low as $40K.‘Apple Pay Prank': Why TikTokers are using sound effects to wind up strangers.‘Dangerous and embarrassing' teens are pretending to rob you with ‘Apple Pay' prank: ‘Way too far.'See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It is so tempting. The gas pump clicks off indicating that your tank is full but there is that urge to squeeze out a few more drops. Should you? This episode begins by explaining what happens when you do that. ⁠https://cluballiance.aaa.com/the-extra-mile/advice/car/seo-should-you-really-top-off-your-gas-tank⁠ Apple is a huge company worth $3 trillion. It makes money from products (iPhone, computers, smart watch etc.) and services (App store, Apple Pay etc.). Most Apple products are made and assembled in China and the impact Apple has made in China is astonishing and a story you must hear. Here to tell it is Patrick McGee. He was the Financial Times's principal Apple reporter from 2019 to 2023. Previously, he was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and is now the author of the book ⁠Apple In China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company (https://amzn.to/4cXXwfC).⁠ We love to laugh. We seek it out. We go to comedy clubs and watch funny movies in order to laugh. Why do we do that? What is it about laughter that makes us feel so good? What makes something or someone funny? Joining me for an interesting discussion about this is Jesse David Fox, Senior Editor and comedy critic at Vulture. He also hosts a podcast called ⁠Good One (https://www.vulture.com/good-one)⁠ and he is author of the book, ⁠Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture―and the Magic That Makes It Work (https://amzn.to/4iIRnW5).⁠ All cancer is scary but pancreatic is particularly horrible because it often goes undetected until it is too late – and because no one really knows what causes it. Interestingly, there does seem to be a link between pancreatic cancer and sunlight. Listen as I explain. ⁠https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150430082151.htm⁠ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! CARAWAY: Get 10% off your next purchase, at ⁠https://Carawayhome.com/SYSK⁠ or use code SYSK at checkout. Caraway. Non-Toxic cookware made modern. MINT MOBILE: Ditch overpriced wireless and get 3 months of premium wireless service from Mint Mobile for 15 bucks a month at ⁠https://MintMobile.com/something⁠ ! FACTOR: Eat smart with Factor! Get 50% off at ⁠⁠⁠https://FactorMeals.com/something50off⁠⁠⁠ TIMELINE: Get 10% off your order of Mitopure!  Go to ⁠⁠⁠https://Timeline.com/SOMETHING⁠⁠⁠ INDEED: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at ⁠⁠⁠https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING⁠⁠⁠ right now! QUINCE: Elevate your shopping with Quince! Go to ⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you just get a surprise tax form you weren't expecting? Are your Venmo, PayPal, or even salon software tips suddenly under the IRS microscope?  If you are a stylist or a salon owner that uses Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay, Cash app, Tippy etc. and this has happened, then this episode is one you need to listen to.  Today, I discuss the 1099-K form that a lot of stylists were not expecting when it came time to do their taxes, along with the new laws that have come into effect, which I don't believe was widely reported. More importantly, we'll discuss how to prepare NOW to avoid a financial shock come tax season. If you are ready to get ahead of the curve and ensure your hard-earned money stays where it belongs, then today's show has the information you need to navigate this evolving landscape and protect your business! With Grow My Clientele Calculator, you'll get instant clarity on how many new clients you'll need to hit your 2025 financial goals! Enter just four numbers, and this tool will show you exactly how many new guests you need monthly and yearly to reach your target income. No guesswork or complicated math required, and you can get it now at www.thrivingstylist.com/growmyclientele/!   Do you have a question for me that you'd like answered in a future episode like this one? A great way to do that is to head over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review with your question. I'm looking forward to answering your question on a future episode on the podcast!  If you're not already following us, @thethrivingstylist, what are you waiting for? This is where I share pro tips every single week, along with winning strategies, testimonials, and amazing breakthroughs from my audience. You're not going to want to miss out on this. Learn more at: https://thrivingstylist.com/podcast/