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Today's recap episode revisit Lesley's conversation with Sarah Rhoads, founder of Commbi Shoes. They explore Sarah's journey from a thriving photography career to becoming an innovative footwear entrepreneur, the intentional choices behind her reinvention, and how she learned to chase fear instead of letting it chase her. This recap digs into the role of curiosity, alignment, and persistence in turning a personal problem into a purpose-driven product.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co .And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe.In this episode you will learn about:Redefining fear as a signal for growth instead of a stop sign.Why trust and self-belief is crucial when building a business.The importance of protecting your autonomy to avoid burnout.Why specific regular habits are a form of prioritizing self-care.Episode References/Links:Online Pilates Classes - https://onlinepilatesclasses.comUK Mullet Tour - https://opc.me/ukP.O.T. Chicago 2025 - https://pilates.com/pilates-on-tour-chicagolandCambodia October 2025 Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comFemGevity - https://beitpod.com/femgevityWeighted Vest - Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsCommbi Website - https://www.commbi.co (Use code: BEIT10 for 10% off!)Ep 547 - Dr. Jennifer Perez - https://beitpod.com/gaithappensIf you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/ Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  If you're normally saying no to 80% of opportunities, maybe say yes to, like, 35% and just like, start to get warmed up by that muscle and have some fun with it, because it does lead to everything. Brad Crowell 0:10  Everything Leads to everything. Lesley Logan 0:13  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:56  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the trailblazing convo, can I say that one more time? Dig into the trailbr. Brad Crowell 1:05  Wow. Maybe you can't.Lesley Logan 1:08  I might not be able to wave it in. Dig into the trailblazing convo I had with Sarah Rhoads in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that episode, you should. You'll also hear me fuck up her the name of her business right after she told me exactly how not to say it. And I just want to apologize, Sarah, you told me, I heard you. I was like, yeah, don't call it that, and then called it that. And I just want to say, like, I it wasn't intentional. Anyways, we'll get into Sarah Rhoads and her amazingness in just a second. Lesley Logan 1:38  But Today is August 21st 2025 and it's Internet Self-Care Day. Brad Crowell 1:42  Yes, it is. Lesley Logan 1:42  So after this, probably get off the internet, is what it's going to say. But listen to this first. Internet Self-Care Day is celebrated each year on August 21st. This holiday is dedicated to using the internet to, oh, actually, it's different than I thought. Brad Crowell 1:56  Yes, it is. Lesley Logan 1:56  Using the internet to find resources that can help you take care of yourself. Many of us are so preoccupied with taking care of others, whether at work or at home, that we forget to take care of ourselves. Not these Be It Pod listeners, right? Self-Care is described as caring for oneself through practices that promote. I just love how they use that word to define the word. They do it all the time. Self-care is described as caring for oneself through practices that promote health and active management of illness when it strikes. There are many ways to regularly practice self-care through food choices, exercise, sleep and dental care. For example, dental care, yeah, that's a form of self-care. Also going to get your annual visits are a form of self-care. I say drinking enough water is a form of self-care, like self-care can be free.Brad Crowell 2:42   I think the doctor's office visit thing is a big deal, you know, like. Lesley Logan 2:46  Because it's so hard to get the appointment. It's so easy to ignore them. It's taken four people to get me a doctor's appointment.Brad Crowell 2:53  Yeah, it's a, it's like a, it's a rabbit hole, right? And that's, that's half the problem is, like, you always have to start with your GP and then your GPS refer you to these other places and lalalalala whatever. But the point is that that, like, it's, it's, um, you know, it's a multiple step. It's such a multi-step process, and there's so much time between that. Like, it just feels like one of the things, you're like, I'll get to it eventually. Lesley Logan 3:15  Yeah. And then eventually you're like, oh, shit, it's been, like, a few years on. Brad Crowell 3:16  Yeah, it's been years. Lesley Logan 3:16  But if you do The Artist's Way, one of an artist states could be actually, like, making your doctor's appointments because they're so hard to do. They're not normal, right, just, like, to do. Anyways, if you are in the U.S. and you're trying to navigate your way through this shithole of a healthcare system, I see you, I hear you. Everyone gets to pick a cause in this world, and if that's gonna be yours, like, I will champion it with you. I'll highlight on your side. Like, I'm a big fan of dog rescues, but, like, I got a girlfriend who's we have a friend whose husband just had a random stroke. He's fucking our age. And she's stuck in another state, and she can't get, her insurance will cover the helicopter from Detroit to Denver, and she can't get Kaiser to just sign this one piece of paper. So they're stuck in a hospital for now, we're going on seven days waiting for someone to sign the piece of paper, and she's like, what do you have to do? I'm like, local news. That's we have to do, unfortunately, GoFundMe and local news. So anyways, self-care is going to your doctor's appointments. Take care of yourself. Also take care of yourself, because clearly, medical systems can't take care of you. So you got to care for yourself today. Brad Crowell 4:19  You know, they're, they're, yes, they're, they can't take care of you, and there's, they're not going to be reliable in the near future either, so. Lesley Logan 4:19  But if you hear an ad from FemGevity, I really do like them, and they are a great go-between, because they are the they actually answer my questions and they.Brad Crowell 4:33  But that's the irony. We're talking about a third party company, not the healthcare system. Lesley Logan 4:39  Right, right, right, right. Brad Crowell 4:40  And they better have their shit together. And yes, they do, and good for them for that. But also, what the fuck that it takes this to have that.Lesley Logan 4:48  Yeah, no, I have, I had to go pay on somehow on top of what I already paid for to get the help. But you know what? It's cheaper than being sick. So here, and also, like it has helped me. They've helped with my hormone therapy. They helped with my sleep. They helped with my digestion. So that's an act of self-care. So anyways, that got became a healthcare self-care day. But we'll, we'll move on. Lesley Logan 5:07  Today, we are back from our tour, and we are getting ready to go to the U.K. Brad Crowell 5:13  Oh, wait, there's one more self-care I wanted to talk about. Lesley Logan 5:15  Oh, what? Brad Crowell 5:16  OPC. Lesley Logan 5:17  Oh, OPC is absolutely a great way to. Brad Crowell 5:19  You could use the internet to take class and get you movement in on onlinepilatesclasses.com. Lesley Logan 5:24  I just want to give OPC a shout out in amazing way. So, in today's world where everyone's trying to sell you on some gimmick bullshit of what Pilates is, Pilates arms, and how you have to look a certain way, fuck that at OPC, we will never sell you on weight loss. We will never tell you that you have to get that Pilates will make your bio look a certain way, but we will make you strong as fuck and make sure you have the longevity for the life you want to live. You will have so much support. If you only take five minutes of a class, we will still cheer you on and championship you. If you miss a week, you're like, oh my god, I missed it. We were like, That's okay. You're here today. Like you have unconditional constant support of people, a bunch of women and a few good men, constantly supporting you, no matter what you look like, where you're at in your practice, how old you are, what you can do. Brad Crowell 6:07  A community is great. Lesley Logan 6:09  It's freaking awesome. And I am pissed off this week over recording this. It's obviously a different week than you're listening to it, but if you were on my Instagram, I'm so pissed off at the way people think they can talk about women's bodies and what a body is supposed to look like, and Pilate Arms and the New York fucking Times did a whole episode on Pilates arms, episode, article and the opinion page on Pilates arms. Brad Crowell 6:31  Did they really? Lesley Logan 6:31  And, yes, they did. And then, because I can't read, it's behind a paywall and I'm too pissed to give him money, they tried to attribute it to political beliefs. Let me explain you right now. There's no such thing as Pilates arm so there's no way in hell, Pilates can be a right or left situation, but if you have arms, you can do Pilates. Congratulations. Pilates arms. Correlation is not causation, like people try to use Jennifer Aniston as like, oh, Jennifer Aniston's arms is because of Pilates. No. Jennifer Aniston's arms are because she's Jennifer Aniston, who happens to do Pilates. You like anyways, so at OPC, we'll never sell you on that ship, because that they're lying to you. We are honest people about Pilates being here for your longevity, for the health of it, for the self-care of it. So anyway, okay, I'll get off.Brad Crowell 6:32  Especially the self-care of it. So love that. Lesley Logan 7:05  Get off my high horse. Brad Crowell 7:19  September is coming and we're going to be in the U.K. We're very excited to be coming back. It's been two years since we've been there. We're going to be in two locations, we're going to be in Leeds, we're going to be in Essex. So if that is near you, or if you know anyone who's in the area, even if they have to drive a couple of hours, we're flying halfway across the world to be there. We'd love to meet them.Lesley Logan 7:39  We're actually driving all the way to Essex. Brad Crowell 7:42  We, we are, we are driving. We're driving all the way up to Scotland and all the way back down to Essex.Lesley Logan 7:48  Yes and we don't even drive on that side of the road. So you can get on a train.Brad Crowell 7:53  We'll be driving for more than 20 hours in the U.K.Lesley Logan 7:55  You can fly from Europe to see us. Okay?Brad Crowell 7:59  I agree. Lesley Logan 7:59  No excuses. Brad Crowell 8:00  Go to opc.me/uk opc.me/uk and then in October, we're going to be at Pilates On Tour in Chicago, in Burr Ridge. Lesley Logan 8:11  Burr Ridge. It's in Chicago Land, specifically, Brad. And do you know what's really funny is, people are like there's no such thing as Chicago Land. But then Rachel Maddow goes, I love Chicago because it has this thing called Chicago Land. And I was like, it's a thing. We'll be in Burr Ridge. It's the sexiest part of Chicago. You know it. Anyways, last week, so, last week, when we recorded this, so a month ago, more than a month ago, it was 75% sold out. So don't wait to get your tickets. Like, you can get a day pass. You can get a weekend pass. Brad Crowell 8:38  I mean, there might only be those left. Lesley Logan 8:40  Yeah. So the day pass, I'm teaching the Joe's Gyms. We're gonna have a booth. Yeah, it's also our 10th year wedding anniversary, so come celebrate with us. Brad Crowell 8:48  Oh, actually, literally, that weekend. Lesley Logan 8:49  Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the first, first time we'll get on a plane while the time changes, and we miss it all together. So, so check it out. Just Google POT Chicago, and the link is way too long. They didn't give us a short one. Then we're going to be in Cambodia, and you can join us go to crowsnestretreats.com. I mean, you can literally sign up even as close to two weeks before the retreat, because it's Cambodia.Brad Crowell 8:49  Or if you're coming from Singapore or Australia, it's really easy, you know, yeah, we'd love to come have you. Come join us at crowsnestretreats.com.Lesley Logan 9:18  Also October, because my team just thinks I'll just work every day. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. There's days off, don't worry. There's days off. We are going on making a Singapore event happen, because it's very rare that we have a layover during the daytime. So we have a layover during the daytime, and so we can do an event at Singapore. So reach out to us about that. And then our winter tour is going to be in December. It's going to be humongous and we'll announce this in the fall. Brad Crowell 9:43  Yes, it is, this one's going to be even bigger than last year, and I'm already we're already planning it right now, in the summer, we're already planning it. We're going to be opening the doors to all that stuff in October, so. Lesley Logan 9:57  While we're, while we're off around the world, you can be signing up for that winter tour, so make sure you watch out for that. Okay, before we get into Sarah Rhoads, we have a question to answer. Brad Crowell 10:08  We sure did. Yeah, this is from a friend, Hilary Billings. She DM-ed you and said hey, do you like your weight vest? Needing to get one but I can't figure out what size or configuration would make most sense for me. I also don't want to look ridiculous, but I think I might just have to get over that.Lesley Logan 10:23  Yeah, so I do have a link to, here's the deal, it's not a, it's not a sexy company. You're gonna have to buy it on Amazon. But I have the link to the one I like, so.Brad Crowell 10:32  We'll put that in the show notes. Lesley Logan 10:33  Check the show notes. Okay, I think. Brad Crowell 10:36  Why do you like the one that one? What is it about it that makes it, I know we've gone through a couple.Lesley Logan 10:41  Yeah, so we're going back to the one I like, because the one that I have, I don't, I don't like the one that I have currently, and that's what I told her, so I like the one I had before, but I traded with Sue, because her husband bought her a 20-pound vest. She's not 100 pounds, guys. So, so here's the information about a weighted vest. You want one that's around 10% maybe 15% of your body weight, okay, so that's what you want. And there's a company that is called, like, Omorpho, and I'm trying to get. Brad Crowell 11:10  Is this the one that you shared with her? Lesley Logan 11:12  I tried to note I didn't share that with her. I try, I have an affiliate to that, and I don't like the vests are sexy and they're useless. It is two pounds or four pounds for women, and then six or eight pounds for men, what? And they're $300 so don't buy that one until I tell you to which is when they I said oh, I'll promote your vest when you have a weighted vest that actually makes sense with science. So it's beautiful, sexy, not ridiculous-looking, a waste of $300 and it doesn't even do what you need to do. So the vest that I like honestly, between the weight that you're getting, it's like between $30 and $60 it's not expensive. Where I think people have to be considerate is if they have chest abundance, if you have chest abundance, you might want to look at the one that I currently have, which I couldn't find online, but I'll tell you what it looks like. It has bungee cords on the sides. I think it's a men's one. It has bungee cords on the side so it works and it's longer. So if you have boobs, because the bungee cords can be loosened, and because it's longer, it can go across the boobs, yes. The one that we'll put in the link to the show notes, is the one I like. I can't, I can't attest to the chest abundance, because I don't have it. But why I like it is, it's actually short, more like a crop, and so it's not going all in on my lower back. I didn't, I don't like that, because my lower back then sweats. It's, it is the weight feels more distributed around my whole body. This one that I have just feels like it's very much on my shoulders. But maybe it's because I don't have boobs. Maybe if I had boobs. Brad Crowell 12:43  No, I think it's also that it's too heavy. Lesley Logan 12:44  It's also mine's too heavy. It's 20 pounds, and I really should be on a 16 pound weighted vest. So, Brad, congratulations, you have a vest, and that's exactly what you wanted. Brad Crowell 12:53  It's more than 10% of my body weight, so. Lesley Logan 12:56  20 pounds, it is. It's like, yeah, it is, unfortunately. I don't know who's gonna get it, but, but I'm new with a 16 pound one, I would say, like most people, should start with that 12 to 15 pound, if that's 10% if you're like, oh, that sounds really heavy. 15 pounds, start with a 10 to 12. You can all they'll last forever. Just give them to a friend who wants to start it like it just make, create an exchange, like a book club, you know. But check the show notes. I really like wearing mine on morning walks, because here's the deal, my dog walks now that I have a whoop man, that shows me how literally useless a dog walk is on your health. Like, of course, it's lovely. It's nice you're outside. Brad Crowell 13:35  But you are getting steps so there's movement actually. Lesley Logan 13:36  And you're getting steps. It's so great for that second heart, but it is doing zero on the strain that you can put on your body. And so adding the weight vest kind of intensifies the walk by about 15% so if you are looking for adding that intensity, maybe you're a really busy person, it's really good. Apparently, there is some science around how it's really good if you are perimenopausal, menopausal, and increasing bone density, strength, like that, all those things, I can't tell you, but Dr. Mclaire has done a post about it. And then there's a guy, something Easter, Adam or David Easter, he's in a whole post about it. So if you're really curious, take a look at those things. But I just personally like it because it really challenged me to sit up really tall. I can't. Brad Crowell 14:03  It kind of forces you to you can't be leaning over when you got a weighted vest on. You can't be slouching. You feel it. Lesley Logan 14:23  You should wear a weighted vest while it's pod, maybe I won't move all around the place, driving Brad crazy.Brad Crowell 14:27  I don't believe it. All right. Well, if you have a question, you could text us at 310-905-5534, or if you don't want to text, you can just go to beitpod.com/questions and you could submit either a win or your question. Lesley Logan 14:41  And we want your wins. Brad Crowell 14:42  We do want your wins because of our Friday episode, share something that you're really proud of yourself for, you know, like, it's, don't worry, it's not bragging.Lesley Logan 14:50  If you're like, I can't do it, then share a friend's win, and then you'll crack the seal, and then you can share your own,Brad Crowell 14:55  Yeah, let's go, let's go. Pull out your phone right now. Go to beitpod.com/questions. Lesley Logan 14:55  Your win can literally be that you took a walk this morning. Brad Crowell 14:59  Yeah, I want to see, I want to see some wins next week.Lesley Logan 15:05  If you've ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed, it's like, and then you go for the walk, like, the win is that you didn't let that keep you from, like, making the day a better day, just saying.Brad Crowell 15:15  You got this. All right, stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to dig into this amazing convo you have with Sarah Rhoads about some really cool shoes that she's been making. Brad Crowell 15:24  Okay, welcome back. Let's talk about Sarah Rhoads. Sarah is a photographer-turned-entrepreneur and the founder of Commbi Footwear. After a successful career shooting for top brands like Keds and building a creative campaign, building creative campaigns with her husband, she made a bold pivot into footwear design to solve a problem she's personally faced. Together, she and her husband developed a modular supported shoe system. Even taught himself AutoCAD to help to prototype their designs, and we're gonna talk more about it because they're fun. But Sarah is actually a mom of three and a firm believer in curiosity and alignment. Her story is a master class in vision, grit and reinvention, and it was a really fun conversation. Yeah, she's very bubbly. Lesley Logan 16:11  I just like her. She's also adorbs. I hope to meet her in person. So these shoes came on my radar. And I like, you know, if you listen to this pod long enough, you know, like, I love to be cookied. I just think it's the greatest thing. Because, like, sometimes you want something but you don't know you like that. You don't want to buy it right now, and sometimes you wanted to see it a few times to see, like, do I really want this? Like, do I miss it? So anyways, I'd interviewed the Gait Happens people, and they, like, slammed on our Birkenstocks, and it was like, a B minus. Brad Crowell 16:34  It wasn't a slam. Lesley Logan 16:35  Well, it was a B minus. Brad. Brad Crowell 16:38  I listened to that episode, she said, she said. Lesley Logan 16:43  B minus. Brad Crowell 16:43  She said they're not, they're not the best, they're not the worst. It was a B, in the B.Lesley Logan 16:48  But also, it was a B minus. Brad Crowell 16:49  She said that the problem with them was that they're too stiff, they really help with forming your foot, but then, like, there's never any give, so it's training your foot not to actually work. Lesley Logan 16:59  Right So they actually are not doing the things that they say they're gonna do. So then I saw Commbi, and I saw these girls doing these ads, like how they wear them and how they use them, I was like, wow, that's really cool. I think this could solve the world's problems on, like, the footwear thing. And also they're much cuter, right? They're like, not so they're much sexier. Brad Crowell 17:16  But what makes, why Commbi? What is Commbi about Commbi?Lesley Logan 17:16  But then I so, anyways, so then I ordered a pair. Okay, so order a pair during the winter, ordered some sandals, ordered the pair, and then I took a picture with them. And I, oh, I actually, I asked a question. I said, oh, when are the shearlings gonna come back? And the owner, Sarah, DM-ed me right away. Hi. This is the owner. We're out of stock on those right now. But like, here, I'll get back to you da-da. And I was like, whoa. She does her DMs like, I do my DMs. I like this person as a person, right like, now, now I'm past the company. Now I'm into the person. Then I got the shoes, took a picture in Palm Springs, and she's like, oh my gosh. She started chatting back and forth. And then I was like, looking at her story, and I'm like, I want her on the Be It Pod, because, like, if this isn't a be it till you see it story, like, I don't know what is, right, like, she's not a shoe person, she's not podiatrist, she's a photographer, and she, like, created a shoe. So now, what is what is it? I mean.Brad Crowell 18:13  Why is it called Commbi? Who? What? That's a weird name for the shoe, unless you understand what the shoe can do. Lesley Logan 18:19  So speak so to answer, why was I asking about shearling? Because you can take the sh, you know how, like, Uggs have that, like, shearling bed, and then you wear it a few times, and then it gets matted and nasty. Well, her shoe, you can take that shearling bed out, and you could put a terry cloth bed in. You could put. Brad Crowell 18:36  It's the bed of the shoe. Lesley Logan 18:36  The bed of the shoe. Brad Crowell 18:36  The bed, the sole of the shoe splits in two, and the bottom of shoe stays, and then the sole itself, the inside of the shoe can come off.Lesley Logan 18:47  If you, like, there's, there's definitely something in the 80s fashion that, like, this is absolutely something we've done, like, it's like a mix and match, it's a combination, right? Like, the mix and you can mix and match the beds of the of the shoe. And now I have like, five beds, and I mix and match them all the time. In fact, the last DM we have because I had a fly to Stockton for like 17 hours. And for flight, I wore the terry cloth because, you know, like, sometimes you're hot, sometimes you're cold. So I wore the terry cloth took the beds out, threw them in my purse. I only had an overnight bag because I was wearing the same outfit twice. Put the red the red leather beds in look dressy for the dinner party. Went back to my hotel, put the red leather up, put it in my purse, put the terry cloth on, flew home and nice and comfort like a slipper. So anyways, like I'm just obsessed, and she's so cool. So let's talk about her, because it's not an ad for her shoe. We make no money on them. Brad Crowell 19:39  That's true. Lesley Logan 19:40  She said, when my curiosity really is piqued and I feel scared and terrified, I usually know that as a thing I need to go after, and I resonate with that so much like we resist, like what we resist will persist, and like you have to kind of go through the fear to get to where you want to go. And she highlighted the hardest part of her pivot was getting over her self-limiting beliefs. I mean, like, can you imagine, like, being a photographer, a very established photographer, like fucking Taylor Swift, guys, Keds, all this stuff, and she's like, I'm gonna do my own shoe. And like, products are so hard. Product business is so hard.Brad Crowell 20:17  She said she flew to China to meet with her the manufacturing company, and there was a problem with the design, and so she bought a one-way ticket because she said I'm not coming back until we've figured out the solution. Lesley Logan 20:33  Yeah, yeah. So, because the and.Brad Crowell 20:36  By the way, most shoes are made in China. That's where all the factories are for this kind of stuff, same with socks.Lesley Logan 20:48  Everything is made there, so. Except for our flashcards apparently,Brad Crowell 20:48  Well, we could. We have the choice. Lesley Logan 20:48  We have the choice. Brad Crowell 20:46  We do have a company in Florida for those. But. Lesley Logan 20:48  Yeah, there are, like, some clothing brands that we've had Ripley Rader on, and there's some other ones that they can make their clothes in the US. However, you need to understand that there's not a single zipper made in the United States.Brad Crowell 20:58  Right. So, like, parts of it are still being imported. And like, yeah.Lesley Logan 21:02  Yeah. But, but she, I want to just keep going. Like she just the perseverance and like, she put a quote on her iPhone lock screen that says what if you have what it takes? And I really love this. I like, need it somewhere I can see it all the time. What if you have what it takes? And so I think, like, what she kind of obsesses about is like, I'm deeply curious about what the edges of my ability, what am I capable of? Brad Crowell 21:25  What are the edges? Lesley Logan 21:26  What are the edges? And to find that out, I have to go to the edge of my fear and look over it. And I think like to to for you first all to be it till we see it, it's going to require us to face our fear and look at it and believe we have what it takes. Because you gotta dress for who you wanna be, you gotta act for who you wanna be, you gotta make decisions for who you wanna be, even though you're not there yet.Brad Crowell 21:48  I bet you that. So, so I relate to this in the sense of, like, being on stage, and you know, when you're on stage as a big group, you can hide. When you're on stage and you're the front, at the front, it, you can't hide. And or if you're the only person you know, and I bet you that most Pilates teachers who have done a group class the first few times were really intimidating, right? Where you have to be up in front of a bunch of people speaking, right? And at first that was probably like, something that that was a little bit scary, but over time, you start to get through it right. And that, I think that's the kind of fear that she was talking about that like, you know, one thing that I really loved, that she said was, everything is working out for my greater good. Everything is working out for us, right? She and her husband, they say this daily to themselves, especially when challenges show up. This is like their their mantra, and they they genuinely believe that this helps to shift the focus away from the challenges that are impacting their businesses, which always happen, always. Challenges just seem to come by, right? So, but when you're focusing on the positive, that's one of the things that we that we challenge all of our members inside of Agency as well. Hey, when you're going to ask a question about a problem you have before you do that, you have to celebrate a win or to tell something that you're grateful for, right? And the reason is the same here. When you focus that everything is working out for us, everything is working out for my greater good, when you focus on those things, you're more apt to see those things when you when you say to yourself, everything is shit. I hate it all, you're just going to see all the things that are shit. You hate it all. We talked about this before. I can't remember what episode, but it was like, count the number. Like, if you say, if you look at something blue, and you say, blue, right? You look at blue and look at red.Lesley Logan 23:26  Oh, that's actually an episode that's coming out. It's Brad Bizjack. I don't think he we talked about that. Brad Crowell 23:31  No, no, yeah, but you and I talked about it before. And, like, all of a sudden, you know, you start to see all the things that are red, or all the things that are blue, because you've focused on them. So it's the same exact idea here. And I just, I love that. I think it's great, you know. And she said that, you know, the other thing with, with being an entrepreneur, she said, sometimes you tackle something and it doesn't, it seems like a dud. Oh, I started this whole conversation with these people about this thing, and then nothing ever came to it, or, you know, whatever, whatever. And, like, you know, it seems like, where do I put my time and all the things? And she said, hey, everything leads to everything. Everything leads to everything, right? So being part of an entrepreneur is being someone who has an appetite for adventure, being, you know, being willing to explore. She said, there's no trail, no map, you're just kind of in the woods with the machete, right? And it's you're out there trying to figure it all out. And every time you make a new connection, you know, you might not have any like, reciprocation from that action today, but there will, you know, like, eventually things can are connected. It comes back. Lesley Logan 24:30  Also, like sometimes, like just having a conversation that hits a dead end, allows you to get more comfortable with an idea that you might have had fear around. And then when you have it with a different person, you have a whole different perspective, because you it's not the first time you're voicing it. I always tell some of our Agency members, I was like, I taught a woman, she took a first time session with me during a time that a client was on vacation, so I didn't normally have that time. The client's only on vacation for one week, but she she came in for a first time session, and none of my other times worked out for her. And so I actually had to refer her to a friend. But do you want to know something? Love me so much. She sent me a ton of clients. Everything is everything. So she didn't, and why didn't she send to my friend who she took one, I don't know, but she sent me them. And the point is, like, don't go oh, I'm not gonna teach that person. I'm not gonna take that because, like, I'm only available this one time. It's like, just go have the conversation. You can always be like, that was really cool. Here's this other person, like, I'm someone who, like, sometimes sets to hermit. I get a little overwhelmed. So I totally understand if you're like, I don't want to go do that, but like, you have to say it's to all of the things. But try it. Try just going like, you know, if you normally say no to 80% of opportunities, maybe, maybe say yes to like, 35% and just like start to get warmed up with that muscle and have some fun with it, because it does lead to everything.Brad Crowell 25:46  Everything leads to everything. All right. Well, stick around. We'll be right back, because we got more gold coming down from Sarah Rhoads, in the Be It Action Items. We'll be right back. Brad Crowell 25:56  All right, welcome back. Let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Sarah Rhoads? She said stick with it. Stick it out, right? And you two are having this really fun conversations about, you know, the overnight success of the actor and like, having lived in Los Angeles, we are very aware that, like, it's a slow, long road to it's very, very rare that someone is like an overnight success in the real sense of that.Lesley Logan 26:30  There's a really cool book that's that I just heard about where this, I forget the name won't come to me, but he literally, like the little like the tagline is, like, my 20 years to overnight success.Brad Crowell 26:40  Right, exactly. Yeah. I mean, that's the joke, right? That's the running joke. And you were talking about behind the scenes, right? The building phase. It's truly one of the hardest phases, because no one can actually see what you're doing. And she said that they just launched their company last, end of last year, but they've been working on it for three, right? And she said.Lesley Logan 26:58  Oh, yeah. I mean, like, I saw the ads. I'm like, oh, my God, they're a huge company. She's DM-ing me and her husband emails customer support, so. Brad Crowell 27:06  They're both working. They answer everything, right? She said, it's really hard to do the work, the building phase work, and because, because no one around you can see the vision or the or the results of where it's going to be, where it's gonna go, and you have it in your head, right? And sometimes it's hard to convince other people that this is gonna be the thing. It's gonna be amazing, but, you know it will be, and that's, that's the thing. You have to trust yourself, right? She said, really good things are on the other side of the building phase of when you're able to finally open the doors, get, you know, launch your product, or introduce your book, or whatever it might be, like, the amount of prep time it takes to do it right, you know, you have to be able to believe in yourself and so.Lesley Logan 27:52  Yeah, I mean, I think the key thing, and I was like, oh, do you trust yourself? Like, do you? So she said, knowing deep in your soul that everything's working out for you, and knowing that anyone can do anything, what a be it, like, anyone can do anything. So why can't you do the thing you want to do? Because anyone can do anything. And she emphasized the importance of protecting autonomy pretty fiercely to avoid burnout. I'm gonna just say fiercely. Protect your autonomy fiercely. One of the reasons I see people burn out is they don't protect their autonomy. They they are afraid of losing a client or of pissing off a friend, so they just say yes to all these things, and their schedule is not their own. Their schedule is being formed by other people's schedules. And it's like the whole idea, like, if you don't have goals, someone else has goals for you. If you don't protect your autonomy, someone else will make sure your schedule is theirs. It's how it's gonna go. Brad Crowell 28:38  It's true. Lesley Logan 28:42  She prioritizes self-care through specific regular habits. She's also part of an amazing book club, and she makes time for it, and I think that is so cool. She hikes and gets outside nature three days a week. She stays connected to make things that make her feel alive, not just what makes money. And she advised trusting yourself and believing yourself. So with that, trust keeps coming up. You guys, let me just remind you three children, and they're not older. When I asked her, I'm pretty sure they were, like, under 10. So like, young.Brad Crowell 29:10  The kids, yeah, I think the oldest, I'm pretty sure, actually, now I don't remember. But yeah, they're not old.Lesley Logan 29:15  I don't think not a single one of them can drive themselves anywhere. So here's what my point being like this is a mom and a business owner who works with her husband, and if she can protect her autonomy fiercely, you can do it. You can do it. Yes, it's hard. Yes, people are gonna get pissed off because you're changing the boundaries on them. You're changing the rules they will get over it because you're gonna be a funner person to be around. That's just what I think. Sarah Rhoads, you are amazing. I love you so much. I hope we can be friends.Brad Crowell 29:48  Me too.Lesley Logan 29:48  I hope she's, what if she's listening? Well, anyways, I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 29:54  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 29:55  Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. Go check her out, and if anything, let her be an inspiration to what you can do. You can change your career anytime, because you're curious and you believe in yourself, and Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 30:08  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 30:10  Oh, we didn't tell. Brad Crowell 30:11  Oh, we got a secret for y'all. Lesley Logan 30:14  We have a secret. Brad Crowell 30:15  Yeah, we got a surprise. Lesley Logan 30:16  I don't know how. Don't let them go too way soon. You guys, Commbi has given us a secret discount code for you. BEIT10. Brad Crowell 30:25  BEIT10. Lesley Logan 30:26  Yeah, get 10% off your shoes. And if you're like, what? Yeah, no, she just gave it to me, and I love it. I've used it. I have four pairs already. Don't worry, I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna wear them all this weekend in L.A. They're so comfortable. I'm quite (inaudible).Brad Crowell 30:40  Clearly she said that they they are even making them for men. Lesley Logan 30:43  They have men's shoes. I showed them to you. Yes, I know we gotta, we gotta work them out, babe. Brad Crowell 30:46  We gotta work them out. Lesley Logan 30:48  We gotta get you switched over. Yeah, there's men's collection. Brad Crowell 30:52  They're pretty cool. Lesley Logan 30:53  They're really cool. Brad Crowell 30:54  Yeah, they look good. Lesley Logan 30:55  I, really obsessed. I literally wear them all the time. I don't even put, I like, I used to be a tennis shoes person always. Now I'm like, slipping on my Commbis to go outside to get the mail, because, holy fuck, the sidewalk is hot, so I gotta put them on. And I just love them. And my toe spacers from Gait Happens fit on my toes while I'm wearing my Commbis, which is essential. That's a couple plugs All right. Now you can go, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 31:20  See you next time, y'all.Lesley Logan 31:22  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 32:04  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 32:09  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 32:14  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 32:21  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 32:24  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Lesley Logan 32:37  Oh, it's, where's my phone? It's on Instagram. Brad Crowell 32:40  It's on the gram the Instagram.Lesley Logan 32:52  All right, I'm here. Brad Crowell 32:53  You're here. Lesley Logan 32:53  Can we go? Brad Crowell 32:54  Can just sit how you're gonna sit. Okay, you gonna sit over there, or you gonna sit on the other side? Where are you gonna sit? This isn't a merry go round. Lesley Logan 33:08  I'm gonna sit right here. We need a couch. Brad Crowell 33:11  I'm gonna adjust the sofa. This is the sofa. I've adjusted the sofa. Here we go. We do need a couch. That'd be fun. I'd love to change up our setup.Lesley Logan 33:22  I know I want to go to Joy Bird. I want one of their cute couches.Brad Crowell 33:26  I'd love to get, like, a wide shot and a. Joy Bird, what? Lesley Logan 33:31  Oh, look up Joy bird's couches, amazing.Brad Crowell 33:34  Well, we'll get there, but I want to actually, like make the lounge vibe. That'd be cool. Lesley Logan 33:38  Yeah, this is not the vibe anymore. Brad Crowell 33:40  Yeah, I'm in on change. All right, cool. Here we go.Lesley Logan 33:44  We could do wallpaper instead of this.Brad Crowell 33:48  We could, but I think we should actually have like, different backgrounds so that you could have one for Profitable Pilates, one for this, one for that.Lesley Logan 33:56  What if we did walls? What if this is the Be It wall that was the Profitable Pilates wall? Brad Crowell 33:56  And we just like, rotate, like. Lesley Logan 33:56  Yeah, we just rotate the chairs. Brad Crowell 34:12  Like the whole floor, like. Lesley Logan 34:14  Yeah, oh, they could just, like, press a button.Lesley Logan 34:22  No bad ideas on a brainstorm. Brad Crowell 34:24  She can't help herself. Literally cannot help herself. Lesley Logan 34:29  I'm ready. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sarah Rhoads went from photographing celebrities to reinventing her life at 40 as the founder of Commbi Shoes, a modular, podiatrist-backed footwear brand rooted in beauty, function, and sustainability. In this inspiring conversation, Lesley Logan talks with Sarah about entrepreneurial grit, radical reinvention, and building purpose-driven products with your family by your side. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why Sarah left a successful career at 40 to start Commbi Shoes.How to find courage and push past fear when reinventing your career.The power of building a brand rooted in function, beauty, and sustainability.What it's really like behind the scenes when building a business with your spouse. Sarah's approach to entrepreneurial challenges and problem solving.Why it's important to protect your autonomy to prevent burnout. Episode References/Links:Commbi Website - https://www.commbi.co (Use code: BEIT10 for 10% off!)Commbi Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/commbi_officialSarah Rhoads' Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahrhoadsEp. 547 with Dr. Jennifer Perez - https://beitpod.com/gaithappensGuest Bio:Sarah Rhoads is the fearless founder of Commbi, a groundbreaking footwear brand born from courage, curiosity, and a refusal to settle for “good enough.” Once a sought-after fashion photographer for major global brands, Sarah boldly reinvented her career to design the shoes she—and countless women—had always dreamed of wearing. With zero experience in footwear manufacturing, she turned fear into fuel, spending years creating a patented, interchangeable design that delivers both comfort and elegance. A wife, mother of three, and unstoppable innovator, Sarah's journey is proof that anyone can chase a wild idea, break past self-doubt, and create something extraordinary that changes lives one step at a time. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/ Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Sarah Rhoads 0:00  The biggest thing that was the hardest for me is getting over my self-limiting beliefs in the beginning, like that was step one for me, when I started to sort of say, no, like, this feels insane that I want to do this, but like I want to do this, and my curiosity is pulling me, and when my curiosity really is piqued, and I feel scared and terrified. I usually know that that is the thing I need to go after.Lesley Logan 0:30  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 1:13  Hello. Hi, Be It babe. Welcome welcome to the podcast. Oh, my God, this is so fun, because you're about to hear two women who've never met but totally love each other already. Just connect and share stories. And our guest today is Sarah Rhoads of Commbi shoes. And like one of the things I love about this podcast is I get to meet some really insanely amazing people and also, like, hopefully start wonderful relationships. At any rate, I really was excited to share her story with you, because I do think it's what you need right now. You need to hear a story about someone who's not a shoe manufacturer making the most amazing shoes. You need to hear about a woman who had a very, very successful career pivot to doing something she's never done before. And you need to hear that, you know, you can do all these things while being a wife and a mother and be authentic to yourself and do the things that let you up. So I'm super excited for this episode, so I'm gonna let you get right into it. Thank you, Sarah Rhoads for being here, and here she is. Lesley Logan 2:08  Okay, Be It babe. I'm gonna tell you right now that like today's guest and I aren't best friends yet, but I hope in the future, we are because I already love her so much. I've been following her for a while. I will say, probably our first guest that I, like, got me by an ad so but, but our audience knows that I'm someone who's like, I'm gonna click on that ad. I love being cookied. I love when ads follow me around and remind me of the things that I want to have. And so today's guest is the founder of Commbi shoes, and it's Sarah Rhoads. Oh my gosh, hello, welcome to the Be It pod. Can you tell everyone like who you are and what you rock at, just in case they haven't, they didn't find you through Instagram like me.Sarah Rhoads 2:49  Well, first off, I'm so happy to be here, Lesley, and thanks so much for having me. You just have such a great energy. And I love other women that are doing great stuff. So I am a photographer turned entrepreneur. And as Lesley said, I own Commbi, which is a shoe company. I'm a founder of it that basically I created the dream shoes that I myself couldn't find, and I went and created them. I've never made shoes before. This is all just like if you told me 10 years ago, this is what I'd be doing now, I would have surprised myself. So I did a complete life pivot in, I'm 40 this year, and I basically went from a really successful career as a lifestyle fashion photographer shooting for Fortune 100 brands to doing Commbi, which is now I make shoes.Lesley Logan 3:41  I am obsessed. And like, I really like, I feel like, you know, like I got stalked by your gorgeous shoes. And I just was like, it was winter time, and I was like, I don't need those yet. I was on tour, and I was like, we'll just like it. We'll just like it. And then it was like, the seventh one. I was like, okay, I'll just buy them now, so they're at home when I get home and I DM-ed you about a question about because, okay, you guys, we're gonna get into her shoes in a second. I'm gonna get to our journey. But I just want to say, the shoes, why I was obsessed with them, is like, oh, I could just take the insole out and change it so I have, because I'm someone who needs to have a lot of shoes. Like my mother, she probably, I was, probably not a nice compliment, but she was like, you're like, like the woman from the Philippines who has a million shoes. And I was like, yeah, I do. I love shoes. I have no blank T-shirts, guys. I only have shoes and sweatshirts. But I, so I was upset. And you yourself, DM-ed me back. And I was like, another founder who reads her own DMs, I'm already so now I'm like, well, now I'm following and I'm gonna stalk you a little bit.Sarah Rhoads 4:41   I'm all about the, I like, love interacting with people, (inaudible) building is like, what I'm all about. And I created these shoes as much for myself as I did for others and to help people. And I was like, so I really like to, like, talk like, I still, Chris, Chris handles all, my husband and co-founder, Chris handles all of the customer service emails. I handle all of the DMs, all the socials so, yeah, we're like, in it.Lesley Logan 5:12  Yeah, no, I feel you. Like, I we have an amazing customer service team too, but like, I do read all my DMs. People are like, oh, it's you. And I'm like, yeah, like, how will I know what to create, if I don't talk to you. Before we go into why your shoes are so amazing, even more though, you are a successful lifestyle photographer, like, there was no need to change anything except for that, you wanted amazing shoes for yourself. How? How do you, like, I know lots of our listeners are like, but how do you make a pivot like that because it's not like, you're like, oh, I'm going to be a photographer, and then I'm going to, like, you know, make a camera, something that you're familiar with. You're like, no, I'm going to make a shoe. And as someone who also makes products, like, you don't know, thank goodness you don't know what you don't know when you get into it, because otherwise you wouldn't. But like, how did you make that pivot?Sarah Rhoads 5:56  So, I think, you know, to start a little bit back, my husband and I met when we were 18 in college, and we have been working on creative endeavors together, like since we met. And so, you know, in some kind of entrepreneurial fashion, you know, basically what started as creative services through photography. I mean, we've shot Taylor Swift for Keds, like all these brands, and really, I think alignment is a really important thing to me, and I'm very I always feel like I'm very attuned to when I feel like I'm not on the right path. And there started to become a point I have three kids that are eight, six and three, and there started to become a point where I was just feeling not as creatively invigorated by these things I was working on in advertising. I will always be a storyteller, because it's just who I am. I love photography. However, it started to just feel like this isn't as fulfilling to me and my purpose and my calling at this stage in my life as I need it to be. So there was that, coupled with I was a dancer and I had foot issues, and being on set, I would be shooting people for 12 hours a day on my feet. I'm not a tennis shoe girlie. I do not wear heels. I have, like, sort of some foot issues. So I had tried every shoe in the game. I had tried Danskos, Birkenstocks, the Vince mules, like, if it was, like, stylish and, you know, Net-a-Porter, like, styles that I like, they had zero support. If it was like, you know, orthoticy, biotic, all this kind of stuff. It was grandma looking and so, like, I had resorted to putting insoles into my mules and my clogs and my slides on set, and my husband was like, this looks so bad, Sarah, because, like my little like insole would be flopping around. It's awful, because I wear, like, open back shoes. We live in California. That's like, my lifestyle. And so basically, we set out, like, this was, like three years ago now, to sort of say, well, let's get a 3D printer. My husband taught himself AutoCAD, and we started inventing, essentially, like, how could we take a like, allow people the opportunity to completely like, first off, create a supportive shoe. So we worked with podiatrists to create a shoe that's number one, fits the need that I needed, which was supportive, and then design it in styles that I myself wear, but then allow people to modulate it like based on the season or their preference. So for example, I hated how my Uggs, the shearling would go flat after a season, and I'd have to throw away this beautiful mule that I was like, this feels so wasteful to me. What if I could just, like, switch out that element and then keep the whole shoe like, it feels more sustainable. It feels more like practical, I'm a practical lady, and so that is how we came to basically file for our patent after we've did several thousands of iterations on like, how could we make this work where you can modulate just the footbed and allow people to be creative, allow people to be in the driver's seat of what they want, provide something that's more sustainable in a way. And so thus became like, well, okay, I guess we're inventing a new way to do shoes and.Lesley Logan 9:22  You, I mean, like, literally, like, that's why I don't have any of the shoe. Like, I had bought the shearling Birkenstock. So I was like, oh, those are so cute. It's like, four years ago I needed some house slippers in the summer, you know, we, our house is tile, everyone. So if you, if you walk around tile with bare feet, you just get ugly feet. So I was like, oh, I'll have these, like, shearling. No, within a summer, it's like, rub down and it's ugly. And now I have this shoe that is perfectly fine. It has not been worn enough. And then also, did you okay? Get this. So, I interviewed one of the founders of Gait Happens, G-A-I-T Gait Happens on this podcast. It hasn't released yet, but you gotta check it out. And I said, oh, my husband wears, like, Birkenstocks. This is the only shoe he wears. And she goes, I give it a b minus.Sarah Rhoads 9:23  Same. And that, I hate, I don't, I'm not here to diss. Lesley Logan 10:11  Right. We're not, you're not dissing. I'll bring up their name.Sarah Rhoads 10:14  Yes, but I am sure to say for not, not for everybody. Like, I thought, work is like, hard. It's like, I didn't like that it took such a break-in period. So I was like, why don't I create a supportive shoe that has a memory foam that doesn't have the break-in period of a Birkenstock? Like, why not try something different? So, yeah. Lesley Logan 10:32  Okay, so, I'm sure people caught on so, you're 40. You have three kids under 10. You're my you're like, a superhero. How like, and you and your family made this transition together? Like, there are so many questions I have there, which is, like, to switch financially, your whole thing over, and then to be present for children. But also, like, not burn yourself out. Can you tell us the process you went through?Sarah Rhoads 11:02  Yeah, okay, so and I'm still going through it, to be totally honest with you, I feel like a pivot, the biggest thing that was the hardest for me is getting over my self-limiting beliefs in the beginning, like that was step one for me, when I started to sort of say no, like, this feels insane that I want to do this, but like, I want to do this, and my curiosity is pulling me. And when my curiosity really is peaked and I feel scared and terrified, I usually know that that is the thing I need to go after. That's sort of my recipe for, like, I know that's on my path of alignment, and I kept feeling that. And so I really had to do a lot of work to break down my self-limiting beliefs, number one, to even step into this space of like I can do this, you know, and so much so I had, you know, this, this on my home screen of my iPhone, I had like, a thing that said, what if you have what it takes. You know, it's still on there, actually, what if you have what it takes? Because I had so many moments of like, this is insane, no one's going to understand you, Sarah, like, why would you do, like people are going to be like, what are you doing? Like, and all those self-doubt, things, that (inaudible) imposter syndrome we all deal with when we pivot, or we're even thinking about pivoting. And I just started to, like reframe that for myself, to be like, no, I am deeply curious about what are the edges of my ability. Like, what am I capable of? And like to find that out, I have to go to the edge of my fear and look over the the edge of it. And entrepreneurship, so much in this journey for me has so much been, as much as it's been an external one, it's more of an internal one for myself, of like, can I do this, and do I have what it takes? And I, I do, like, I think all people can do all things genuinely. And, you know, it started there, and then, you know, of course, my husband and I, as co-founders, had to really come together of like, okay, can we utilize our previous skill set, which we've done our 10,000 hours plus on mastering, is there a way to parlay that also to be a strength in this new world? And there is, like we just shot our Commbi campaign for all of the new material, like we utilize our skill sets that we have used in our previous We Are The Rhoads studio all the time, like all of our network of models and you know, all of that is used in this new business, which is so cool. And I think like trusting that and knowing, like, hey, I didn't know how to really make a product that I learned got on a plane, and you can learn anything if you're curious enough and willing to be, like, moldable, I think anything is possible. And so that's kind of, we launched August last year, and we've had.Lesley Logan 14:06  I had no idea. I had no idea. I had no idea. That's insane. Okay, so it's not even a year old yet.Sarah Rhoads 14:13  No, we're going on our first year and, like, I mean, we've been working on this behind the scenes for like, three years, so it feels a lot older to us, but it's also, you know, we're a new company, a new business, and every day is learning. And as an entrepreneur, as you know, every day is learning. And for me, the meaning of life is to learn, to grow and to expand. And so for me, this is checking all those boxes every single day. When I wake up, I learn new things everyday. So you know what I mean?Lesley Logan 14:43  I do. Everyday I'm like, okay, like, well, and also, what happens is, like, you still you, unless you take time to reflect, you don't realize, like, the things you learned a year ago, you're actually now an expert at, and you're slaying but there's just a new, new thing. You did it now, and with everything that goes on all the time. You're kind of like, okay, okay, so how do I, how do I take what I believe in and exist in this area because this area has changed now, but I want to exist like this here. And so you are, you, it's a, it, you know what? It's a lot if they say, like, if you want to learn about yourself, become an entrepreneur, because you really learn about yourself.Sarah Rhoads 15:19  It's true. It's true. And I'm, like, deeply curious about, like, okay, what are the depths of my ability and, like, my capacity, I, you know? And, yeah, you learn it. You're scared every day. You know that, that's for me what I'm like, retraining my brain right now, the work I'm doing, is to learn that this is what it is. This is normal. Problem solving problems is, is that is what it is to be a founder. That is what it is to be an entrepreneur. You grow out of a system, you expand into something else, like, oh, we're having to expand warehouses right now because we grew out of this. It's like, at first, I was like, oh, oh no. Is something wrong? It's like, no, that is, that is, that is what it is. It's figuring things out and you know, like, that's what entrepreneurship is, is creative problem-solving a lot of it, so.Lesley Logan 16:11  Yeah, well, congrats on outgrowing your first warehouse, or maybe it's your second already. But I, I want to highlight let you like, like, what we know as Commbi, like, what we've seen is almost a year old, but that you guys have been working behind the scenes for three years. And I think that that's the thing that like, no matter how many times I hear it, I have to share it because, because we are like, oh my God, look at the successful brand here. Look at what they're doing. And it's like, you didn't see the three to four years of sweat, tears, wonder, fear, lots of money invested. Like, you you actually are seeing the like, there is no such thing as an overnight success. Like, we know this, you and I live like you still live in L.A. but I lived in like, we know that no one is an overnight movie star, that was like a decade of auditions and like little roles in the background and all these different things. And then they filmed this thing two years ago, and they've just been waiting for us to all see it. So, you know, I think it's like we have to be reminded of that, because if you have an idea that you are going for and you're feeling frustrated because it's been a year, it's been three to four years before the rest of us, like, before, and then also, like, do you just heard me say it like, took like, seven times for me to go, yeah, I think, you know, like, the world is like, taking its time to site, making decisions on what it wants to do with your product. And so it's not personal. It's just like, that's how long things take.Sarah Rhoads 17:35  Yeah, and I would say, like, I would encourage anybody who's like, in that phase of, like, building behind the scenes, I feel like that's, it's truly one of the hardest phases, because no one can see what you're doing, and you have to have this, like, self-determined belief in yourself and what you're doing. And that takes, it's really hard to do that work, but like, stick with it. Like, stick it out, because I feel like really good things are always on the other side of that, like that curiosity and that sort of determination, but it's really hard to do that, that type that space, that's the building phase, where no one can see what you're doing, and you're just like, I'm creating this thing. I hope people will like it. I hope people will like be (inaudible), like it will help their life and and then when you get to launch and you see like it does, and you hear from customers being like, oh my gosh, I love this. I love your shoes. They're like, exactly what I want. Like, it's like, oh, I didn't just create the shoes for me. I created them for, you know, other people too. Lesley Logan 18:43  Yeah, well, I mean, like, just to give you a compliment to your face, since, like, because you need it. Another one, I'm sure, as a business, I'm always, like, give me all the compliments on my things. You like, I am almost a size 10 foot, and so, like, slides were never awesome because my heels would somehow hit the ground. No one wants their you know what I mean? And then, like, and then I have a wide toe box, but a narrow heel, and it's just always been an issue. So I was a tennis shoe girly, because, like, that's it. That's the only shoes that would stay on my feet and keep and so, but I am like, oh, these shoes. I feel like, I feel luxurious in I feel like they're, you know, these are not just like, like when I put my Birkenstocks on, yes, I still, I have some pairs. Like, I'm like, I'm like, okay, this is a laid back, this is.Sarah Rhoads 19:28  I'm like a granola girly. (inaudible) to offer something that was like, right? Lesley Logan 19:35  But I don't want to be a granola girly every day. Like, I want to be a girl. Like, that's, I am a girly girl. But people like, I love like, I just did a photo shoot that I haven't put some of the pictures up yet, but like, it's, I'm obsessed. We're rebranding the podcast, and I got this green emerald green, like Wizard of Oz green fur coat.Sarah Rhoads 19:59  That is like your color, girl. Lesley Logan 20:01  It's so good. It's so good. And I'm like, and like, I'm like, this, and then I put it, we did a whole fashion shoot at the Plaza Hotel because they have all the light bulbs on I'm just like, obsessed, oh, it was amazing. I'll have to show you when we're done. It's fucking phenomenal. Anyways, but like, I was like, I want a casual shoe that makes me feel girly. So like, congratulations, you nailed it, and I can't wait to see what comes out. Also, since you live in L.A., do you know Ripley? Because the two of you should be best friends if you're not, Ripley Rader, do you know her? Okay, your shoes, here's my vision. Not and no one asked, I think you, I think you and Ripley should do a collab together. Your shoes with her clothes, insane. And you're both photographers. You guys. Sarah Rhoads 20:41  Ripley is her brand? Lesley Logan 20:42  Ripley Radar. Yeah, the perfect pant also, yes. Sarah Rhoads 20:45  You gotta introduce us. Lesley Logan 20:46  I'm gonna introduce you guys, because in my perfect world, like, you got, like, her lines with your shoes, like, fabulous. And then, because you're both photographers and you're both in L.A. like, this should this is just a magical match. I'm just gonna make it happen. I met her through the podcast. They approached me, and I was like, is this the woman whose pants keep following me around my Instagram? Yeah, I want to interview her, and now I have a bunch of her clothes, and I wear them with your shoes, and I love it. Lesley Logan 21:13  So, okay, I want to go, like, the things, what are the things you do when you're like, feeling it? Because I think, I think that the thing that makes more, that makes an entrepreneur move faster, because we all are going to fill obstacles. We are problem-solving everyday, but like, the quicker you get to, like, overcoming the fear of failure and noticing your ish, like, the quicker you can move through it. Like, how do you move through that fear or the obstacles, like, what are the tools you use? Do you have a mantra? Do you have music like, what do you do? Sarah Rhoads 21:45  Man, I feel like there's a couple things I, it's not like a formal mantra, but something I say every single day is, everything is working out for my better good, like, a greater good, everything is working out for us, like Chris and I this morning, literally, like he made me a coffee, and despite, like, there's a lot going on in the world right now, tariffs impact our business. Like we could sit there and, like, sort of focus on that, but we just said to each other, like, everything's working out for us. Like everything is working out for us. And I really it's not sort of BS, like, I really genuinely believe that when you look at my life, when I look at like the now that I have some wisdom of life, I'm like, oh, like everything is genuinely working out for us. And I also believe that everything leads to everything, as silly as that sounds, I have this, this other female founder that I love, and I'll always like, Sheena of Kosas. She's a badass, and she has been kind enough like I shot her very first campaign when she had one lipstick, like, years and years ago. And she's helped me on my journey as a founder of a product, and she is the one who told me she's like, everything leads to everything. And just trusting that has been a really powerful mantra for me, just in terms of, like, knowing that even if there's a setback, guess what, everything leads to everything, like or this relationship, it might feel like just a dead end call, guess what? Like, those things down the road lead to other things they really do. And so, like, I feel like part of being an entrepreneur is being someone who has an appetite for adventure. Because, like, the way that I sort of akin it to is like you're in the woods with a machete, like a hatchet going through the woods. There's no trail, there's no trail heads, there are no maps. And you're going through the woods with a machete trying to forge a path up this mountain, and you see these, like beautiful people, or rivers along the way that are like, oh, good water. And then there's like, a little light over there, and that little light ends up being a person that's like, you know what? Like a Sheena, or these, like someone that's like, hey, you should meet Ripley. Like, who knows what that leads to, whatever it is. And they're like, you know what, hey, there you should you should go over that way and talk to this person. You start going on that path with your machete, and then before you know it, you have a manufacturing partner that's fantastic. And you are, you have a great like, product that you're like, working on making better. And anyway, I just, I feel like that for me, keeping that mentality of being an adventurer has been, like, really paramount to trusting the process, even when you have setbacks, even when you're in the woods with your machete and you don't see the way forward. Just like, you know what? I have to trust that it's all part of the plan. Lesley Logan 24:46  Yeah, it is so true. It's so true. Like, as you were saying, like I was just like thinking, like, all the different things that happened, so, before we hit record, I live in Las Vegas, right? We were talking about it. The reason we own a home. Is because the world shut down, not because, like, we, like planned and put it out. Oh, we have a life plan together. We're gonna do this. You guys, Brad and I would have lived in that 500 square foot apartment forever. We would have bought a vacation home and still live in that apartment, if we could have kept traveling. Because you don't realize how small it is when you're not there. So like, but we, we're here in this beautiful, like, the house of my dreams, because even when things happen outside your control, like, everything is working out for you if you believe it, if you're not believing that, like you, you don't see the opportunities and you don't see the connections and the introductions as as a light of like, oh, look over here. You're seeing it as, like, another thing that is, like, keeping you, or just another busy thing you don't you, you know. Like, I really do think that, like, when you believe that things will work out you are actually, you'll actually see the opportunities as evidence of that.Sarah Rhoads 25:56  Absolutely, and I feel like that's exactly what you're pointing to. It's like, I feel like in our busy culture of like, everything's about efficiency and like, oh, our task list, I never want to turn people into tasks like, ever. And so for me, it's like, if we can keep the spirit of like, this is all about, like, life is about how we can grow from each other and how we can learn from each other. Like, I just try to keep that spirit about every interaction, knowing I can learn something from everybody and and, yeah, I I love what you're saying. Like, not turning things, all these things into to do lists, turning them into opportunities in your mind. You know, I think it's really powerful, so it's helped me, but, yeah. Lesley Logan 26:42  Thank you for sharing that. I, okay. You're a mom, you're a wife, you're a business owner, you're you. You are so many things. How do you prioritize you in all of this? Because it can be so easy. Like, like, we love our people. We don't want to be to-do lists like, almost like, like, I work with a lot of Pilates instructors, and they, like, love their clients so much that they don't take care of the things that continue to make them light up anymore, and it bends on the burnout road, right? So, like, how do you make sure that you're still you in all of this?Sarah Rhoads 27:13  Yeah, that's a really good question. Like, burnout is a very real, you know, thing, as you know, we're always like, right, flying real close to the sun there on burnout. If I'm being honest, when you're building a business, building a company, it's especially through, like, the holiday season, like Chris and I were like, okay, we gotta, like, we gotta step back a little bit from this. It's all like, just it, you know. And I feel like, for me, how do I stay me my, I protect my autonomy pretty fiercely. Like, I just feel like, it's just who I am. I love to read. So I like, am in this amazing book club that I like, make time for. Like, it's something totally extracurricular. But these women inspire me. They're incredible. I love hearing other people's perspectives. I am all about nature and hiking, like, I go out and I be in nature, like three days a week. Like, those are the things that for me, keep me from burnout. Is like doing a few things every week that I love, you know, that are outside of like, what makes me money? You know? What can I be doing to better my business? It's being in touch with the things that make Sarah, me, feel alive, and then knowing like, that'll make me a better mom, a better founder, a better creative, all those things that I need to be, you know. So, yeah. Lesley Logan 27:13  Thank you for sharing that. I think I love that you're in a book club that you make time for. Like, I think it's so like, I we have a lot of people like, how do you make friends as an adult? I'm like, you have to just go do things and hope and, like, if you don't like it, go do something else. Like, it's okay and, you know, it is hard, like, it's hard to there's always a reason. I mean, you like, I just wanted you to all replay that. Remember, she is a founder of a new company. She works with her husband, and she has three kids under 10, and she has, she has things she does for herself every week. Like, I love that so much. I really, I really, really do. Okay. What are you most excited about right now?Sarah Rhoads 29:08  I am so excited about my new line that is coming out in three weeks. Oh my gosh. I'm gonna give you like, a little sneak peek. Lesley Logan 29:15  Stop right now. I need them already. Stop right now. I need them already.Sarah Rhoads 29:18  So, like, I, again, part of like, listening to customers and like is, it's part of us handling customer service is like, I want to know, like, what do people want to see more?Lesley Logan 29:28  Bright colors. I want hot pink. I want that red. Sarah Rhoads 29:31  Yeah, but I'm listening so people wanted real Nappa leathers. My first was vegan. Now I've got, I'll still offer vegan option for those ladies who want that or men who want that. But I also have some amazing, like, supple, like, it's like, lamb skin leathers that are just so chic and look so good.Lesley Logan 29:55  You guys, if you're not already watching the Be It Pod on YouTube, you need to now and also by the time this is out, they're out. So go get them.Sarah Rhoads 30:01  And then I have some just cool styles that are all adjustable. So I have, like, back straps and like some things that, like people wanted for walking around Europe, things like that, like, there's back straps adjustable sort of plays. I'm just so excited about this line. I also improved the product immensely. I took, got on a plane to Asia when I started to hear a couple things, like, I had enough time with my own product to be like, I want to take the weight out of the shoes a little bit. And so I worked with my engineering team. People told me, you can't do it, you can't do it. Blah, blah, blah, for these reasons. I sat there and I, like, didn't book a return flight until this was solved. And basically, we came up with a unique compound for our shoes that allows the interchangeability to all work. And it just just like super I'm just super excited about this line. I feel really proud of it. It's designed with really nice textiles, and I have a really good supplier I'm really excited about. So anyway, all of it, the designs are pretty fire, and I'm excited, but that's what I'm excited about. Lesley Logan 31:04  I am so I like, she held up a red. I was like, because I just, I love an accent. I love.Sarah Rhoads 31:09  (inaudible) I'm about to pre-release these, because I've had so many people asking.Lesley Logan 31:14  Okay, well, I'm gonna get that link before. Brad is going, Brad is rolling his eyes while he's listening to this. I'm sure. When he listens later, he's asleep right now, but he'll, he'll listen to this on a replay moving for prep. And I know, I know the exact points where he's just going, oh my God, my wife. (inaudible) We will do it yes, and then we'll do the couple photo for you. We'll do whatever you want. Sarah Rhoads 31:42  Oh my God. I love it. We'll make it happen. Lesley Logan 31:42  And then when we come to L.A., we're gonna have to come see you because, like, of course, we'll have to have dinner, because it's, it's not all the time that you meet couples who work together and and are cool and they work together well, there's.Sarah Rhoads 31:55  Lesley, I have so many questions for you about that. So, yes, a dinner is in our future. Lesley Logan 32:00  Yes, oh, I mean, we've been working together. So he, he flirted with me by building me a website. You guys, we were dating, and he was, like, your new website. And I, like, you know, as a Pilates instructor, and I thought I was one of the first Pilates instructors, like, who have their own website. Like I got out of Pilates training, and I had a website ready to go. And, like, no people have been teaching 10 years to have website. So I thought I was a slain and then I met him. I'd been teaching for like, seven years. He's like, so you have to have an like, this is old. You need a new website. And I'm like, why it's working just fine. So he built me a new one. And then, and then, as I was building my companies, which, you know, bad thing, guys don't build the same three things at the same time, because if they work out, you have three, and it's a lot. So anyways, he started, like, working with me, doing things behind the scenes. And finally, I was just like, can you just like, can you just work with me all the time? And so he's been full time since 2019 which has been really, really cool and really fun, and also allowed me to, like, not be the CEO of my company, because I'm not as I don't know about you, I don't I'm not a CEO. Sarah Rhoads 33:01  I'm a co-CEO. But Chris does ops, tech, all of things that like, are the behind the scenes. I'm community building, creative, getting, (inaudible) you're dynamic. We can like, have a whole podcast about working as a team with your significant.Lesley Logan 33:18  I know, we'll have to have you back, and we'll have to, like, do a co well, the four of us can talk. Sarah Rhoads 33:22  With all of us? Lesley Logan 33:23  Yes, because it's like, you have to, well, it's also just recognizing your strengths. Like, this is what I'm really good at. I'm really good at the community. I'm really good at the vision. I'm really good at like, seeing the big picture and like, how, like, it's gonna relate down the thing. And a meeting on how this system is gonna work is like, I wanna know, but I don't want to be in the. Sarah Rhoads 33:42  100% girl, we're the same. This is (inaudible) people. I'm like, thank God for them, because truly, it's not my wheelhouse, you know. Lesley Logan 33:54  Yeah. Oh, we, so we make Pilates flashcards. And on our winter tour, we went, we were like, near the place at the warehouse that prints our flashcards and and fulfills everything it's (inaudible) house. And So Brad, like, we're gonna go see how this is made. And I was like, I don't, I don't really, actually, I'm not lit up by this. Like, you know, like, I, he's. Sarah Rhoads 33:54  Find your strength (inaudible). Lesley Logan 34:15  Yeah. Oh, and he is like, looking at everything. He's like, look at this. And it goes in here first, and they go this first. And I was just like, this is, oh, I don't know how someone envisioned this actually, like the guy who envisioned the systems that print flashcards and boxes the whole thing. I was like, that person's amazing.Sarah Rhoads 34:35  Thank God for that guy. Lesley Logan 34:36  Yeah, yeah. Thank goodness, because I don't have to be the person who does it. Anyways. Okay, I could talk to you forever, but we're gonna take a brief break and then find out how people can find you, follow you and get your amazing shoes. Lesley Logan 34:47  All right, Sarah, where do you hang out? What socials are we sharing? Where can they pre-order these amazing shoes, or just order them because they'll be out by now?Sarah Rhoads 34:55  Oh, I love it. Okay, so Commbi C-O-M-M-B-I dot co and then you can get on our mailing list. That'll be how you find out new, hot pre-releases coming at you. And then our Instagram handle is @Commbi_official. So yeah, that's that's us.Lesley Logan 35:15  Wonderful. You've given so many great tips, but I can't get enough of you. So bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps our listeners can take to be it till they see it, what do you have for us? Sarah Rhoads 35:25  I think, knowing deep in your soul that everything's working out for you, and knowing that anyone can do anything, and trusting yourself and believing in yourself, that's that's the biggest thing that I would say.Lesley Logan 35:40  I love those. I think you've said a few things that'll be on Post-Its in my office for a little bit, and I'll just think of you. Oh my gosh, Sarah, thank you for being you. Thank you for creating Commbi shoes, like and also for being I think people listening, we all need like inspirations, like people we can look at and go, okay, she did it and so I can, like, you know, we just need these reminders. So thank you for doing that. And it's really cool that your kids get to see you and your husband create something amazing as well together. So just a hats off to you, and I'll be, I'll be ordering more shoes. So just know I'm stalking you.Sarah Rhoads 36:19  I gotta hook you up and your listeners up with a little discount code so we can talk about that. Lesley Logan 36:24  Yeah, we'll do that, you guys. It'll be, we'll make sure we send it out with this episode. Thank you. Thank you for being you. Lesley Logan 36:24  All right, loves. How are you going to use these tips in your life? We want to know. Tag Commbi official. Tag the Be It Pod, share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it, and until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 36:39  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 37:22  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 37:27  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 37:31  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 37:38  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 37:41  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dan Whitcombe, Manager of Product Management for AutoCAD Desktop Products at Autodesk, is here to discuss the current landscape and future trajectory of AutoCAD. We tackle the misconception that AutoCAD is becoming obsolete in the wake of more industry-specific tools like Revit and Civil 3D, and explain how AutoCAD will continue adapting to serve both traditional and modern workflows in engineering and design. 

Bret Taylor's legendary career includes being CTO of Meta, co-CEO of Salesforce, chairman of the board at OpenAI (yes, during that drama), co-creating both Google Maps and the Like button, and founding three companies. Today he's the founder and CEO of Sierra, an AI agent company transforming customer service. He's one of the few people I've met who's been wildly successful at every level—from engineer to C-suite executive to founder—and across almost every discipline, including PM, engineer, CTO, COO, CPO, CEO, and board member.In this conversation, you'll learn:1. The brutal product review that nearly ended his Google career—and how that failure led to creating Google Maps2. The question Sheryl Sandberg taught him to ask every morning (“What's the most impactful thing I can do today?”) that transformed how he approached every role3. The three AI market segments that matter4. Why AI agents will replace SaaS products5. His framework for knowing whose advice to actually listen to—and how that came in handy during the OpenAI board drama6. The counterintuitive go-to-market strategy most AI startups get wrong7. Sierra's outcome-based pricing model that's transforming how enterprise software is sold (and why every SaaS company should adopt it)8. What he's teaching his kids about AI that every parent should know—Brought to you by:CodeRabbit—Cut code review time and bugs in half. Instantly: https://coderabbit.link/lennyBasecamp—The famously straightforward project management system from 37signals: https://www.basecamp.com/lennyVanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Where to find Bret Taylor:• X: https://x.com/btaylor• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Bret Taylor(04:10) Bret's early career and first major mistake(08:24) The birth of Google Maps(11:57) Lessons from FriendFeed and the importance of honest feedback(31:30) The future of coding and AI's role(45:26) Preparing the next generation for an AI-driven world(48:46) AI in education(52:05) Business strategies in the AI market(01:04:38) Outcome-based pricing in AI(01:09:15) Productivity gains and AI(01:17:35) Go-to-market strategies for AI products(01:21:49) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Marissa Mayer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissamayer/• “Lazy Sunday”—SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRhTeaa_B98• Quip: https://quip.com/• Sierra: https://sierra.ai/• FriendFeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FriendFeed• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/• Jim Norris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/halfspin/• Paul Buchheit on X: https://x.com/paultoo• Sanjeev Singh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjeev-singh-20a1b72/• Barack Obama: https://www.obamalibrary.gov/obamas/president-barack-obama• Oprah Winfrey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey• Ashton Kutcher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Kutcher• PayPal Mafia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama• Warren Buffett on X: https://x.com/warrenbuffett• Unix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix• Fortran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortran• C: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)• Python: https://www.python.org/• Perl: https://www.perl.org/• Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/• Eleven Labs: https://elevenlabs.io/• The exact AI playbook (using MCPs, custom GPTs, Granola) that saved ElevenLabs $100k+ and helps them ship daily | Luke Harries (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ai-marketing-stack• Confluent: https://www.confluent.io/• Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/• Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com• Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff• Larry Summers's website: https://larrysummers.com/• AutoCAD: https://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/overview• Revit: https://www.autodesk.com/products/revit/• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Pricing your AI product: Lessons from 400+ companies and 50 unicorns | Madhavan Ramanujam: https://lenny.substack.com/p/pricing-and-scaling-your-ai-product-madhavan-ramanujam• Cursor: https://cursor.com/• CodeX: https://openai.com/codex/• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• DirecTV: https://www.directv.com/• SiriusXM: https://www.siriusxm.com/• Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com/• Akai: https://www.akaipro.com/• Chubbies Shorts: https://www.chubbiesshorts.com/• Weight Watchers: https://www.weightwatchers.com/• CLEAR: https://www.clearme.com/• Stripe: https://stripe.com/• Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein• Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/• ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com/• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/• Jobs to be done: https://jobs-to-be-done.com/jobs-to-be-done-a-framework-for-customer-needs-c883cbf61c90• The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta• Inception: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/• Alan Kay's quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alan_kay_100831• Jobs at Sierra: https://sierra.ai/careers—Recommended books:• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612• Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage: https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/0465062881—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

In January, 2022 today's guest, Mike Paciello, made his first appearance on Unstoppable Mindset in Episode 19. It is not often that most of us have the opportunity and honor to meet a real trendsetter and pioneer much less for a second time. However, today, we get to spend more time with Mike, and we get to talk about not only the concepts around web accessibility, but we also discuss the whole concept of inclusion and how much progress we have made much less how much more work needs to be done.   Mike Paciello has been a fixture in the assistive technology world for some thirty years. I have known of him for most of that time, but our paths never crossed until September of 2021 when we worked together to help create some meetings and sessions around the topic of website accessibility in Washington D.C.   As you will hear, Mike began his career as a technical writer for Digital Equipment Corporation, an early leader in the computer manufacturing industry. I won't tell you Mike's story here. What I will say is that although Mike is fully sighted and thus does not use much of the technology blind and low vision persons use, he really gets it. He fully understands what Inclusion is all about and he has worked and continues to work to promote inclusion and access for all throughout the world. As Mike and I discuss, making technology more inclusive will not only help persons with disabilities be more involved in society, but people will discover that much of the technology we use can make everyone's life better. We talk about a lot of the technologies being used today to make websites more inclusive including the use of AI and how AI can and does enhance inclusion efforts.   It is no accident that this episode is being released now. This episode is being released on July 25 to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act which was signed on July 26, 1990. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADA!   After you experience our podcast with Mike, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to email me at michaelhi@accessibe.com to tell me of your observations. Thanks.     About the Guest:   Mike Paciello is the Chief Accessibility Officer at AudioEye, Inc., a digital accessibility company. Prior to joining AudioEye, Mike founded WebABLE/WebABLE.TV, which delivers news about the disability and accessibility technology market. Mike authored the first book on web accessibility and usability, “Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities” and, in 1997, Mr. Paciello received recognition from President Bill Clinton for his work in the creation of World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). He has served as an advisor to the US Access Board and other federal agencies since 1992.   Mike has served as an international leader, technologist, and authority in emerging technology, accessibility, usability, and electronic publishing. Mike is the former Founder of The Paciello Group (TPG), a world-renowned software accessibility consultancy acquired in 2017 by Vispero. Ways to connect with Mike:   mpaciello@webable.com Michael.paciello@audioeye.com Mikepaciello@gmail.com     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion diversity and the unexpected meet. Normally, our guests deal with the unexpected, which is anything that doesn't have to do with inclusion or diversity. Today, however, we get to sort of deal with both. We have a guest who actually was a guest on our podcast before he was in show 19 that goes all the way back to January of 2022, his name is Mike Paciello. He's been very involved in the whole internet and accessibility movement and so on for more than 30 years, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun chatting about what's going on in the world of accessibility and the Internet and and, you know, and but we won't probably get into whether God is a man or a woman, but that's okay, God is actually both, so we don't have to worry about that. But anyway, Mike, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Mike Paciello ** 02:21 Yeah, Hey, Mike, thanks a lot. I can't believe has it really been already since today, six years since the last time I came on this? No, three, 320, 22 Oh, 2022, I for whatever I 2019 Okay, three years sounds a little bit more realistic, but still, it's been a long time. Thank you for having me. It's, it's, it's great to be here. And obviously, as you know, a lot of things have changed in my life since then. But, yeah, very   Michael Hingson ** 02:46 cool. Well, you were in show number 19. And I'm not sure what number this is going to be, but it's going to be above 360 so it's been a while. Amazing, amazing, unstoppable, unstoppable. That's it. We got to keep it going. And Mike and I have been involved in a few things together, in, in later, in, I guess it was in 20 when we do the M enabling Summit, that was 2021 wasn't it? Yeah, I think it was, I think it was the year before we did the podcast, yeah, podcast, 2021 right? So we were in DC, and we both worked because there was a group that wanted to completely condemn the kinds of technologies that accessibe and other companies use. Some people call it overlays. I'm not sure that that's totally accurate today, but we we worked to get them to not do what they originally intended to do, but rather to explore it in a little bit more detail, which I think was a lot more reasonable to do. So we've, we've had some fun over the years, and we see each other every so often, and here we are again today. So yeah, I'm glad you're here. Well, tell us a little about well, and I guess what we'll do is do some stuff that we did in 2022 tell us about kind of the early Mike, growing up and all that and what eventually got you into dealing with all this business of web accessibility and such. Yeah, thank you.   Mike Paciello ** 04:08 You know, I've tried to short this, shorten this story 100 times. Oh, don't worry. See if I get let's see if I can keep it succinct and and for the folks out there who understand verbosity and it's in its finest way for screen reader users, I'll try not to be verbose. I already am being   Michael Hingson ** 04:28 intermediate levels fine.   Mike Paciello ** 04:30 I came into this entire field as a technical writer trying to solve a problem that I kind of stumbled into doing some volunteer work for the debt the company that I then then worked for, a Digital Equipment Corporation, a software company, DEC software hardware company, back then, right back in the early 80s. And as a technical writer, I started learning at that time what was called Gen code. Eventually that morphed in. To what Goldfarb, Charles Goldfarb at IBM, called SGML, or standard, Generalized Markup Language, and that really became the predecessor, really gave birth to what we see on the web today, to HTML and the web markup languages. That's what they were, except back then, they were markup languages for print publications. So we're myself and a lot of colleagues and friends, people probably here, I'm sure, at bare minimum, recognized named George Kercher. George and I really paired together, worked together, ended up creating an international steer with a group of other colleagues and friends called the icad 22 which is 22 stands for the amount of elements in that markup language. And it became the adopted standard accessibility standard for the American Association of Publishers, and they published that became official. Eventually it morphed into what we today call, you know, accessible web development. It was the first instance by that was integrated into the HTML specification, I think officially, was HTML 3.1 3.2 somewhere in there when it was formally adopted and then announced in 1997 and at the World Wide Web Conference. That's really where my activity in the web began. So I was working at DEC, but I was doing a lot of volunteer work at MIT, which is where the W 3c was located at that particular time. And Tim Bursley, who a lot of people i Sir, I'm sure, know, the inventor of the web, led the effort at that time, and a few other folks that I work with, and.da Jim Miller, a few other folks. And we were, well, I wasn't specifically approached. Tim was approached by Vice President Gore and eventually President Clinton at that time to see if we could come up with some sort of technical standard for accessibility. And Tim asked if I'd like to work on it myself. Danielle, Jim, a few others, we did, and we came up that first initial specification and launched it as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative, which we created in 1997 from there, my career just took off. I went off did a couple of small companies that I launched, you know, my namesake company, the Paciello Group, or TPG, now called TPG IGI, yeah, yeah, which was acquired by vector capital, or this bureau back in 2017 so it's hard to believe that's already almost 10 years ago. No, yeah. And I've been walking in, working in the software, web accessibility field, usability field, writing fields, you know, for some pretty close to 45 years. It's 2025 40 years, I mean, and I started around 1984 I think it was 8384 when all this first   Michael Hingson ** 07:59 started. Wow, so clearly, you've been doing it for a while and understand a lot of the history of it. So how overall has the whole concept of web accessibility changed over the years, not only from a from a coding standpoint, but how do you think it's really changed when it comes to being addressed by the public and companies and so on.   Mike Paciello ** 08:26 That's a great question. I'd certainly like to be more proactive and more positive about it, but, but let me be fair, if you compare today and where web accessibility resides, you know, in the in the business value proposition, so to speak, and list the priorities of companies and corporations. You know, fortune 1000 fortune 5000 call whatever you whatever you want. Accessibility. Is there people? You could say section five way you could say the Web Accessibility Initiative, WCAG, compliance, and by and large, particularly technology driven, digital economy driven businesses, they know what it is. They don't know how to do it. Very rarely do they know how to do it. And even the ones that know how to do it don't really do it very well. So it kind of comes down to the 8020, rule, right? You're a business. Whatever kind of business you are, you're probably in more online presence than ever before, and so a lot of your digital properties will come under you know the laws that mandate usability and accessibility for people with disabilities today that having been said and more and more people know about it than ever before, certainly from the time that I started back in the you know, again, in the early, mid 80s, to where we are today. It's night and day. But in terms of prioritization, I don't know. I think what happens quite often is business value proposition. Decisions get in the way. Priorities get in the way of what a business in, what its core business are, what they're trying to accomplish, who they're trying to sell, sell to. They still view the disability market, never mind the blind and low vision, you know, market alone as a niche market. So they don't make the kind of investors that I, I believe that they could, you know, there's certainly, there are great companies like like Microsoft and and Google, Amazon, Apple, you know, a lot of these companies, you know, have done some Yeoman work at that level, but it's nowhere near where it should be. It just absolutely isn't. And so from that standpoint, in where I envision things, when I started this career was when I was in my 20 somethings, and now I'm over now I'm over 60. Well over 60. Yeah, I expected a lot more in, you know, in an internet age, much, much more.   Michael Hingson ** 11:00 Yeah, yeah. Well, it's it's really strange that so much has happened and yet so much hasn't happened. And I agree with you, there's been a lot of visibility for the concept of accessibility and inclusion and making the the internet a better place, but it is so unfortunate that most people don't know how to how to do anything with it. Schools aren't really teaching it. And more important than even teaching the coding, from from my perspective, looking at it more philosophically, what we don't tend to see are people really recognizing the value of disabilities, and the value that the market that people with disabilities bring to the to the world is significant. I mean, the Center for Disease Control talks about the fact that they're like up to 25% of all Americans have some sort of disability. Now I take a different approach. Actually. I don't know whether you've read my article on it, but I believe everyone on the in the in the world has a disability, and the reality is, most people are light dependent, but that's as much a disability as blindness. Except that since 1878 when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. We have focused nothing short of trying to do everything we can to improve light on demand for the last 147 years. And so the disability is mostly covered up, but it's still there.   Mike Paciello ** 12:37 You know, yeah, and I did read that article, and I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I personally think, and I actually have my own blog coming out, and probably later this month might be early, early July, where I talk about the fact that accessibility okay and technology really has been all along. And I love the fact that you call, you know, you identified the, you know, the late 1800s there, when Edison did the the light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell came up with, you know, the telephone. All of those adventures were coming about. But accessibility to people with disabilities, regardless of what their disability is, has always been a catalyst for innovation. That was actually supposed to be the last one I was going to make tonight. Now it's my first point because, because I think it is exactly as you said, Mike, I think that people are not aware. And when I say people, I mean the entire human population, I don't think that we are aware of the history of how, how, because of, I'm not sure if this is the best word, but accommodating users, accommodating people with disabilities, in whatever way, the science that goes behind that design architectural to the point of development and release, oftentimes, things that were done behalf of people with disabilities, or for People with disabilities, resulted in a fundamental, how's this for? For an interesting term, a fundamental alteration right to any other you know, common, and I apologize for the tech, tech, tech language, user interface, right, right? Anything that we interact with has been enhanced because of accessibility, because of people saying, hey, if we made this grip a little bit larger or stickier, we'll call it so I can hold on to it or softer for a person that's got fine motor dexterity disabilities, right? Or if we made a, you know, a web browser, which, of course, we have such that a blind individual, a low vision individual, can adjust the size of this, of the images and the fonts and things like that on a web page, they could do that unknown. Well, these things now. As we well know, help individuals without disabilities. Well, I'm not much, right, and I, again, I'm not speaking as a person beyond your characterization that, hey, look, we are all imperfect. We all have disabilities. And that is, that is absolutely true. But beyond that, I wear glasses. That's it. I do have a little hearing loss too. But you know, I'm finding myself more and more, for example, increasing the size of text. In fact, my note, yes, I increase them to, I don't know they're like, 18 point, just so that it's easier to see. But that is a common thing for every human being, just like you said.   Michael Hingson ** 15:36 Well, the reality is that so many tools that we use today come about. And came about because of people with disabilities. Peggy Chung Curtis Chung's wife, known as the blind history lady, and one of the stories that she told on her first visit to unstoppable mindset, which, by the way, is episode number five. I remember that Peggy tells the story of the invention of the typewriter, which was invented for a blind countist, because she wanted to be able to communicate with her lover without her husband knowing about it, and she didn't want to dictate things and so on. She wanted to be able to create a document and seal it, and that way it could be delivered to the lever directly. And the typewriter was the result of   Mike Paciello ** 16:20 that? I didn't know that. I will definitely go back. I just wrote it down. I wrote down a note that was episode number five, yeah, before with Curtis a couple of times, but obviously a good friend of ours, yeah, but I yeah, that's, that's, that's awesome.   Michael Hingson ** 16:37 Well, and look at, I'll tell you one of the things that really surprises me. So Apple was going to get sued because they weren't making any of their products accessible. And before the lawsuit was filed, they came along and they said, we'll fix it. And they did make and it all started to a degree with iTunes U but also was the iPhone and the iPod and so on. But they they, they did the work. Mostly. They embedded a screen reader called Voiceover in all of their operating systems. They did make iTunes you available. What really surprises me, though is that I don't tend to see perhaps some things that they could do to make voiceover more attractive to drivers so they don't have to look at the screen when a phone call comes in or whatever. And that they could be doing some things with VoiceOver to make it more usable for sighted people in a lot of instances. And I just don't, I don't see any emphasis on that, which is really surprising to me.   Mike Paciello ** 17:38 Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, there are a lot of use cases there that you go for. I think Mark Rico would certainly agree with you in terms of autonomous driving for the blind, right? Sure that too. But yeah, I definitely agree and, and I know the guy that the architect voiceover and develop voiceover for Apple and, boy, why can I think of his last name? I know his first name. First name is Mike. Is with Be My Eyes now and in doing things at that level. But I will just say one thing, not to correct you, but Apple had been in the accessibility business long before voice over Alan Brightman and Gary mulcher were instrumental towards convincing, you know, jobs of the importance of accessibility to people with disabilities,   Michael Hingson ** 18:31 right? But they weren't doing anything to make products accessible for blind people who needed screen readers until that lawsuit came along. Was   Mike Paciello ** 18:40 before screen readers? Yeah, that was before,   Michael Hingson ** 18:43 but they did it. Yeah. The only thing I wish Apple would do in that regard, that they haven't done yet, is Apple has mandates and requirements if you're going to put an app in the App Store. And I don't know whether it's quite still true, but it used to be that if your app had a desktop or it looked like a Windows desktop, they wouldn't accept it in the app store. And one of the things that surprises me is that they don't require that app developers make sure that their products are usable with with VoiceOver. And the reality is that's a it doesn't need to be a really significantly moving target. For example, let's say you have an app that is dealing with displaying star charts or maps. I can't see the map. I understand that, but at least voiceover ought to give me the ability to control what goes on the screen, so that I can have somebody describe it, and I don't have to spend 15 or 20 minutes describing my thought process, but rather, I can just move things around on the screen to get to where we need to go. And I wish Apple would do a little bit more in that regard.   Mike Paciello ** 19:52 Yeah, I think that's a great a great thought and a great challenge, if, between me and you. Yeah, I think it goes back to what I said before, even though we both see how accessibility or accommodating users with disabilities has led to some of the most incredible innovations. I mean, the Department of Defense, for years, would integrate people with disabilities in their user testing, they could better help, you know, military soldiers, things like that, assimilate situations where there was no hearing, there was they were immobile, they couldn't see all, you know, all of these things that were natural. You know, user environments or personas for people with disabilities. So they led to these kind of, you know, incredible innovations, I would tell you, Mike, I think you know this, it's because the business value proposition dictates otherwise.   Michael Hingson ** 20:55 Yeah, and, well, I guess I would change that slightly and say that people think that the business proposition does but it may very well be that they would find that there's a lot more value in doing it if they would really open up their minds to looking at it differently. It's   Mike Paciello ** 21:10 kind of, it's kind of like, it's tough. It's kind of like, if I could use this illustration, so to speak, for those who may not be religiously inclined, but you know, it's, it's like prophecy. Most people, you don't know whether or not prophecy is valid until years beyond, you know, years after. And then you could look back at time and say, See, it was all along. These things, you know, resulted in a, me, a major paradigm shift in the way that we do or don't do things. And I think that's exactly what you're saying. You know, if, if people would really look at the potential of what technologies like, you know, a voice over or, as you know, a good friend of mine said, Look, we it should be screen readers. It should be voice IO interfaces, right? That every human can use and interact with regardless. That's what we're really talking about. There's   Michael Hingson ** 22:10 a big discussion going on some of the lists now about the meta, Ray Ban, glasses, and some of the things that it doesn't do or that they don't do well, that they should like. It's really difficult to get the meta glasses to read completely a full page. I think there are ways that people have now found to get it to do that, but there are things like that that it that that don't happen. And again, I think it gets back to what you're saying is the attitude is, well, most people aren't going to need that. Well, the reality is, how do you know and how do you know what they'll need until you offer options. So one of my favorite stories is when I worked for Kurzweil a long time ago, some people called one day and they wanted to come and see a new talking computer terminal that that Ray and I and others developed, and they came up, and it turns out, they were with one of those initial organizations out of Langley, Virginia, the CIA. And what they wanted to do was to use the map the the terminal connected to their computers to allow them to move pointers on a map and not have to watch the map or the all of the map while they were doing it, but rather, the computer would verbalize where the pointer was, and then they could they could move it around and pin a spot without having to actually look at the screen, because the way their machine was designed, it was difficult to do that. You know, the reality is that most of the technologies that we need and that we use and can use could be used by so much, so many more people, if people would just really look at it and think about it, but, but you're right, they don't.   Mike Paciello ** 24:04 You know, it's, of course, raise a raise another good friend of mine. We both having in common. I work with him. I been down his office a few, more than few times, although his Boston office, anyway, I think he's, I'm not sure he's in Newton. He's in Newton. Yeah. Is he still in Newton? Okay. But anyway, it reminded me of something that happened in a similar vein, and that was several years ago. I was at a fast forward forward conference, future forward conference, and a company, EMC, who absorbed by Dell, I think, right, yes, where they all are. So there I was surprised that when that happened. But hey, yeah, yeah, I was surprised that compact bought depth, so that's okay, yeah, right. That HP bought count, right? That whole thing happened. But um, their chief science, chief scientist, I think he was a their CSO chief scientist, Doc. Came up and made this presentation. And basically the presentation was using voice recognition. They had been hired by the NSA. So it was a NSA right to use voice recognition in a way where they would recognize voices and then record those voices into it, out the output the transcript of that right text, text files, and feed them back to, you know, the NSA agents, right? So here's the funny part of that story goes up i i waited he gave his presentation. This is amazing technology, and what could it was like, 99% accurate in terms of not just recognizing American, English speaking people, but a number of different other languages, in dialects. And the guy who gave the presentation, I actually knew, because he had been a dec for many years. So in the Q and A Part I raised by hand. I got up there. He didn't recognize it a few years had gone by. And I said, you know, this is amazing technology. We could really use this in the field that I work in. And he said, Well, how's that? And I said, you know, voice recognition and outputting text would allow us to do now this is probably 2008 2009 somewhere in that area, would allow us to do real time, automated transcription for the Deaf, Captioning. And he looks at me and he he says, Do I know you? This is through a live audience. I said. I said, Yeah, Mark is it was. Mark said, So Mike gas yellow. He said, you're the only guy in town that I know that could turn a advanced, emerging technology into something for people with disabilities. I can't believe it. So that was, that was, but there was kind of the opposite. It was a technology they were focused on making this, you know, this technology available for, you know, government, obviously covert reasons that if they were using it and applying it in a good way for people with disabilities, man, we'd have been much faster, much further along or even today, right? I mean, it's being done, still not as good, not as good as that, as I saw. But that just goes to show you what, what commercial and government funding can do when it's applied properly?   Michael Hingson ** 27:41 Well, Dragon, naturally speaking, has certainly come a long way since the original Dragon Dictate. But there's still errors, there's still things, but it does get better, but I hear exactly what you're saying, and the reality is that we don't tend to think in broad enough strokes for a lot of the things that we do, which is so unfortunate,   Mike Paciello ** 28:03 yeah? I mean, I've had an old saying that I've walked around for a long time. I should have, I should make a baseball cap, whether something or T shirt. And it simply was, think accessibility, yeah, period. If, if, if we, organizations, people, designers, developers, architects, usability, people, QA, people. If everybody in the, you know, in the development life cycle was thinking about accessibility, or accessibility was integrated, when we say accessibility, we're talking about again, for users with disabilities, if that became part of, if not the functional catalyst, for technology. Man, we'd have been a lot further along in the quote, unquote value chains than we are today.   Michael Hingson ** 28:46 One of the big things at least, that Apple did do was they built voiceover into their operating system, so anybody who buys any Apple device today automatically has redundancy here, but access to accessibility, right? Which, which is really the way it ought to be. No offense to vispero and jaws, because they're they're able to fill the gap. But still, if Microsoft had truly devoted the time that they should have to narrate her at the beginning. We might see a different kind of an architecture today.   Mike Paciello ** 29:26 You know, I so I want to, by the way, the person that invented that wrote that code is Mike shabanik. That's his name I was thinking about. So Mike, if you're listening to this guy, just hi from two others. And if he's not, he should be, yeah, yeah, exactly right from two other mics. But so let me ask you this question, because I legitimately can't remember this, and have had a number of discussions with Mike about this. So VoiceOver is native to the US, right?   Michael Hingson ** 29:56 But no, well, no to to the to the to the. Products, but not just the US. No,   Mike Paciello ** 30:02 no, I said, OS, yes, it's native to OS, yeah, right. It's native that way, right? But doesn't it still use an off screen model for producing or, you know, translate the transformation of, you know, on screen to voice.   Michael Hingson ** 30:27 I'm not sure that's totally true. Go a little bit deeper into that for me.   Mike Paciello ** 30:34 Well, I mean, so NVDA and jaws use this off screen model, right, which is functionally, they grab, will they grab some content, or whatever it is, push it to this, you know, little black box, do all those translations, you know, do all the transformation, and then push it back so it's renderable to a screen reader. Okay, so that's this off screen model that is transparent to the users, although now you know you can get into it and and tweak it and work with it right, right? I recall when Mike was working on the original design of of nary, excuse me, a voiceover, and he had called me, and I said, Are you going to continue with the notion of an off screen model? And he said, Yeah, we are. And I said, Well, when you can build something that's more like what TV Raman has built into Emacs, and it works integral to the actual OS, purely native. Call me because then I'm interested in, but now that was, you know, 1520, years ago, right? I mean, how long has voiceover been around,   Michael Hingson ** 31:51 since 2007   Mike Paciello ** 31:54 right? So, yeah, 20 years ago, right? Just shy of 20 years, 18 years. So I don't know. I honestly don't know. I'm   Michael Hingson ** 32:02 not totally sure, but I believe that it is, but I can, you know, we'll have to, we'll have to look into that.   Mike Paciello ** 32:08 If anyone in the audience is out there looking at you, get to us before we find out. Let us we'll find out at the NFB   Michael Hingson ** 32:12 convention, because they're going to be a number of Apple people there. We can certainly ask, there   Mike Paciello ** 32:17 you go. That's right, for sure. James Craig is bound to be there. I can ask him and talk to him about that for sure. Yep, so anyway,   Michael Hingson ** 32:23 but I think, I think it's a very it's a valid point. And you know, the the issue is that, again, if done right and app developers are doing things right there, there needs to, there ought to be a way that every app has some level of accessibility that makes it more available. And the reality is, people, other than blind people use some of these technologies as well. So we're talking about voice input. You know, quadriplegics, for example, who can't operate a keyboard will use or a mouse can use, like a puff and zip stick to and and Dragon to interact with a computer and are successful at doing it. The reality is, there's a whole lot more opportunities out there than people think. Don't   Mike Paciello ** 33:11 I agree with that. I'm shaking my head up and down Mike and I'm telling you, there is, I mean, voice recognition alone. I can remember having a conversation with Tony vitality, one of the CO inventors of the deck talk. And that goes all the way back into the, you know, into the early 90s, about voice recognition and linguistics and what you know, and I know Kurzweil did a lot of working with Terry right on voice utterances and things like that. Yeah, yeah. There's, there's a wide open window of opportunity there for study and research that could easily be improved. And as you said, and this is the point, it doesn't just improve the lives of the blind or low vision. It improves the lives of a number of different types of Persona, disability persona types, but it would certainly create a pathway, a very wide path, for individuals, users without disabilities, in a number of different life scenarios.   Michael Hingson ** 34:10 Yeah, and it's amazing how little sometimes that's done. I had the pleasure a few years ago of driving a Tesla down Interstate 15 out here in California. Glad I wasn't there. You bigot, you know, the co pilot system worked. Yeah, you know, I just kept my hands on the wheel so I didn't very much, right? Not have any accidents. Back off now it worked out really well, but, but here's what's really interesting in that same vehicle, and it's something that that I find all too often is is the case if I were a passenger sitting in the front seat, there's so much that I as a passenger don't have access to that other passenger. Do radios now are mostly touchscreen right, which means and they don't build in the features that would make the touchscreen system, which they could do, accessible. The Tesla vehicle is incredibly inaccessible. And there's for a guy who's so innovative, there's no reason for that to be that way. And again, I submit that if they truly make the product so a blind person could use it. Think of how much more a sighted person who doesn't have to take their eyes off the road could use the same technologies.   Mike Paciello ** 35:35 You know, Mike, again, you and I are on the same page. I mean, imagine these guys are supposed to be creative and imaginative and forward thinking, right? Could you? Can you imagine a better tagline than something along the lines of Tesla, so user friendly that a blind person can drive it? Yeah? I mean this is, have you heard or seen, you know, metaphorically speaking, or that's okay, a an advertisement or PR done by any, any company, because they're all, all the way across the board, that hasn't featured what it can do to enhance lives of people with disabilities. Where it wasn't a hit. I mean, literally, it was, yeah, you see these commercials played over and over to Apple, Microsoft, Emma, I see McDonald's, Walmart. I mean, I could just name, name the one after another. Really, really outstanding. Salesforce has done it. Just incredible. They would do it, yeah. I mean, there is there any more human centric message than saying, Look what we've built and designed we're releasing to the masses and everyone, anyone, regardless of ability, can use it. Yeah, that, to me, is that's, I agree that's a good route, right for marketing and PR, good,   Michael Hingson ** 37:03 yeah. And yet they don't, you know, I see commercials like about one of the one of the eye injections, or whatever Bobby is, Mo or whatever it is. And at the beginning, the woman says, I think I'm losing sight of the world around me. You know that's all about, right? It's eyesight and nothing else. And I appreciate, I'm all for people keeping their eyesight and doing what's necessary. But unfortunately, all too often, we do that at the detriment of of other people, which is so unfortunate.   Mike Paciello ** 37:39 Yeah, you know again, not to, not to get off the subject, but one of my favorite books is rethinking competitive advantage, by Ram Sharon. I don't know if you know know him, but the guy is one of my heroes in terms of just vision and Business and Technology. And in this, this book, he wrote this a couple of years ago. He said this one this is his first rule of competition in the digital age. The number one rule was simply this, a personalized consumer experience, key to exponential growth. That's exactly you and I are talking about personally. I want to see interfaces adapt to users, rather than what we have today, which is users having to adapt to the interface.   Michael Hingson ** 38:32 Yeah, and it would make so much sense to do so. I hope somebody out there is listening and will maybe take some of this to heart, because if they do it right, they can have a huge market in no time at all, just because they show they care. You know, Nielsen Company did a survey back in 2016 where they looked at a variety of companies and consumers and so on. And if I recall the numbers right, they decided that people with disabilities are 35% more likely to continue to work with and shop, for example, at companies that really do what they can to make their websites and access to their products accessible, as opposed to not. And that's that's telling. It's so very telling. But we don't see people talking about that nearly like we should   Mike Paciello ** 39:20 you talk about a business value proposition. There is bullet proof that where you are leaving money on the table, yep, and a lot of it, yeah, exactly. We're not talking about 1000s or hundreds of 1000s. We're talking about billions and trillions, in some instances, not an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination, very, very simple math. I had this conversation a couple years ago with the CEO of Pearson. At that time, he's retired, but, you know, I told him, if you spent $1 for every person that it was in the world with. Disability, you're, you're, you're talking about 1/4 of the population, right? It's simple math, simple math,   Michael Hingson ** 40:08 but people still won't do it. I mean, we taught you to mention section 508, before with the whole issue of web access, how much of the government has really made their websites accessible, even though it's the law?   Mike Paciello ** 40:19 Yeah, three years, three or four years ago, they did a study, and they found out that the good that every federal agency, most of the federal agencies, were not even keeping up thinking with reporting of the status, of where they were, and yet that was written right into the five way law. They were mandated to do it, and they still did do   Michael Hingson ** 40:37 it. We haven't, you know, the whole Americans with Disabilities Act. Finally, the Department of Justice said that the internet is a place of business, but still, it's not written in the law. And of course, we only see about 3% of all websites that tend to have any level of access. And there's no reason for that. It's not that magical. And again, I go back to what do we do to get schools and those who teach people how to code to understand the value of putting in accessibility right from the outset?   Mike Paciello ** 41:10 Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. I think this is what Kate sanka is trying to do with with Teach access. In fact, you know, again, my company, TPG was one of the founding companies have teach access back again, 10 years ago, when it first started. But that's where it starts. I mean, they're, they're pretty much focused on post secondary, university education, but I could tell you on a personal level, I was speaking at my kids grade school, elementary school, because they were already using laptops and computers back then it starts. Then you've got to build a mindset. You've got to build it we you've heard about the accessibility, maturity models coming out of the W, 3c, and in I, double AP. What that speaks to fundamentally, is building a culture within your corporate organization that is think accessibility as a think accessibility mindset, that it is woven into the fiber of every business line, in every technology, software development life cycle, all of the contributors at that level, from A to Z. But if you don't build it into the culture, it's not going to happen. So I would love to see a lot more being done at that level. But yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a hero. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 42:34 we're, we're left out of the conversation so much. Yeah, yeah, totally. So you, you sold TPG, and you then formed, or you had web able and then able Docs.   Mike Paciello ** 42:48 So what web able came out was a carve out, one of two carve outs that I had from when I sold TPG. The other was open access technologies, which which eventually was sold to another accessibility company primarily focused on making documentation accessible to meet the WCAG and other standards requirements and web able I carved out. It's been a kind of a hobby of mine now, for since I sold TPG, I'm still working on the back end, ironically, from the get go, so we're talking, you know, again, eight years ago, I had built machine learning and AI into it. From then back then, I did so that what it does is it very simply, goes out and collects 1000s and 1000s of articles as it relates to technology, people with disabilities, and then cleans them up and post them to web able.com I've got a lot more playing for it, but that's in a nutshell. That's what it does. And I don't we do some we do some QA review to make sure that the cleanup in terms of accessibility and the articles are are properly formatted and are accessible. We use the web aim API, but yeah, works like magic. Works like clockwork, and that's got aI uses IBM Watson AI built into it. Yeah, enable docs was abledocs was, how should I say this in a nice way, abledocs was a slight excursion off of my main route. It can work out. I wish it had. It had a lot of potential, much like open access technologies, but they both suffered from owners who really, really not including myself, who just didn't have good vision and in lack humility,   Michael Hingson ** 44:43 yeah. How's that? There you go. Well, so not to go political or anything, but AI in general is interesting, and I know that there have been a lot of debates over the last few years about artificial. Intelligence and helping to make websites accessible. There are several companies like AudioEye, user way, accessibe and so on that to one degree or another, use AI. What? What? So in general, what do you think about AI and how it's going to help deal with or not, the whole issue of disabilities and web access,   Mike Paciello ** 45:22 yeah, and we're going to set aside Neil Jacobs thoughts on how he sees it in the future, right? Although I have to tell you, he gave me some things to think about, so we'll just set that to to the side. So I think what AI offers today is something that I thought right away when it started to see the, you know, the accessibes, the user ways, the audio, eyes, and all the other companies kind of delving into it, I always saw potential to how's this remediate a fundamental problem or challenge, let's not call it a problem, a challenge that we were otherwise seeing in the professional services side of that equation around web accessibility, right? So you get experts who use validation tools and other tools, who know about code. Could go in and they know and they use usability, they use user testing, and they go in and they can tell you what you need to do to make your digital properties right, usable and accessible. People with disabilities, all well and good. That's great. And believe me, I had some of the best people, if not the best people in the world, work for me at one time. However, there are a couple of things it could not do in it's never going to do. Number one, first and foremost, from my perspective, it can't scale. It cannot scale. You can do some things at, you know, in a large way. For example, if, if a company is using some sort of, you know, CMS content management system in which their entire sites, you know, all their sites, all their digital properties, you know, are woven into templates, and those templates are remediated. So that cuts down a little bit on the work. But if you go into companies now, it's not like they're limited to two or three templates. Now they've got, you know, department upon department upon department, everybody's got a different template. So even those are becoming very vos, very verbose and very plentiful. So accessibility as a manual effort doesn't really scale well. And if it does, even if it could, it's not fast enough, right? So that's what AI does, AI, coupled with automation, speeds up that process and delivers a much wider enterprise level solution. Now again, AI automation is not, is not a whole, is not a holistic science. You know, it's not a silver bullet. David Marathi likes to use the term, what is he? He likes the gold standard. Well, from his perspective, and by the way, David Marathi is CEO of audio. Eye is a combination of automation AI in expert analysis, along with the use of the integration of user testing and by user testing, it's not just personas, but it's also compatibility with the assistive technologies that people with disabilities use. Now, when you do that, you've got something that you could pattern after a standard software development life cycle, environment in which you integrate all of these things. So if you got a tool, you integrate it there. If you've got, you know, a digital accessibility platform which does all this automation, AI, right, which, again, this is the this is a forester foresters take on the the the daps, as they calls it. And not really crazy about that, but that's what they are. Digital Accessibility platforms. It allows us to scale and scale at costs that are much lower, at speeds that are much faster, and it's just a matter of like any QA, you've got to check your work, and you've got it, you can't count on that automation being absolute. We know for a fact that right now, at best, we're going to be able to get 35 to 40% accuracy, some claim, larger different areas. I'm still not convinced of that, but the fact of the matter is, it's like anything else. Technology gets better as it goes, and we'll see improvements over time periods.   Michael Hingson ** 49:49 So here's here's my thought, yeah, let's say you use AI in one of the products that's out there. And I. You go to a website and you include it, and it reasonably well makes the website 50% more usable and accessible than it was before. I'm just, I just threw out that number. I know it's random. Go ahead, Yep, yeah, but let's say it does that. The reality is that means that it's 50% that the web developers, the web coders, don't have to do because something else is dealing with it. But unfortunately, their mentality is not to want to deal with that because they also fear it. But, you know, I remember back in the mid 1980s I started a company because I went off and tried to find a job and couldn't find one. So I started a company with a couple of other people, where we sold early PC based CAD systems to architects, right? And we had AutoCAD versus CAD. Another one called point line, which was a three dimensional system using a y cap solid modeling board that took up two slots in your PC. So it didn't work with all PCs because we didn't have enough slots. But anyway, right, right, right. But anyway, when I brought architects in and we talked about what it did and we showed them, many of them said, I'll never use that. And I said, why? Well, it does work, and that's not the question. But the issue is, we charge by the time, and so we take months to sometimes create designs and projects, right? And so we can't lose that revenue. I said, you're looking at it all wrong. Think about it this way, somebody gives you a job, you come back and you put it in the CAD system. You go through all the iterations it takes, let's just say, two weeks. Then you call your customer in. You use point line, and you can do a three dimensional walk through and fly through. You can even let them look out the window and see what there is and all that they want to make changes. They tell you the changes. You go off and you make the changes. And two weeks later, now it's a month, you give them their finished product, all the designs, all the plots and all that, all done, and you charge them exactly the same price you were going to charge them before. Now you're not charging for your time, you're charging for your expertise, right? And I think that same model still holds true that the technology, I think most people will agree that it is not perfect, but there are a lot of things that it can do. Because the reality is, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, are all things that can be defined with computer code, whether it necessarily does it all well with AI or not, is another story. But if it does it to a decent fraction, it makes all the difference in terms of what you're able to do and how quickly you can do   Mike Paciello ** 52:52 it. Yeah, I can argue with that at all. I think any time that we can make our jobs a little bit easier so that we can focus where we should be focused. In this case, as you said, the expertise side of it, right to fix those complicated scenarios or situations that require a hands on surgical like Right? Expertise, you can do that now. You've got more hours more time because it's been saved. The only thing I would say, Mike, about what, what you just said, is that there with that, with that mindset, okay, comes responsibility. Oh, yeah, in this is where I think in everybody that knows anything about this environment, you and I have an intimate understanding of this. The whole overlay discussion is the biggest problem with what happened was less about the technology and more about what claims are being made. Yeah, the technology could do which you could not do in, in some cases, could never do, or would never, would never do, well, right? So if you create, and I would submit this is true in as a fundamental principle, if you create a technology of any kind, you must, in truth, inform your clients of of what it can and cannot do so they understand the absolute value to them, because the last thing you want, because, again, we live in a, unfortunately, a very litigious world. Right soon as there's   Michael Hingson ** 54:49 a mistake couldn't happen,   Mike Paciello ** 54:51 they'll go right after you. So now you know, and again, I don't I'm not necessarily just blaming the ambulance chasers of the world. World. I was talking to an NFP lawyer today. He referred to them in a different name, and I can't remember well, I never heard the expression before, but that's what he meant, right? Yeah, it's the salesman and the product managers and the marketing people themselves, who are were not themselves, to your point, properly trained, properly educated, right? It can't be done, what clearly could not be said, what should or should not be said, right? And then you got lawyers writing things all over the place. So, yeah, yeah. So, so I look people knew when I made the decision to come to audio eye that it was a make or break scenario for me, or at least that's what they thought in my mindset. It always, has always been, that I see incredible possibilities as you do or technology, it just has to be handled responsibly.   Michael Hingson ** 55:56 Do you think that the companies are getting better and smarter about what they portray about their products than they than they were three and four and five years ago.   Mike Paciello ** 56:08 Okay, look, I sat in and chaired a meeting with the NFB on this whole thing. And without a doubt, they're getting smarter. But it took not just a stick, you know, but, but these large lawsuits to get them to change their thinking, to see, you know, where they where they were wrong, and, yeah, things are much better. There's still some issues out there. I both know it that's going to happen, that happens in every industry,   Michael Hingson ** 56:42 but there are improvements. It is getting better, and people are getting smarter, and that's where an organization like the NFB really does need to become more involved than in a sense, they are. They took some pretty drastic steps with some of the companies, and I think that they cut off their nose, despite their face as well, and that didn't help. So I think there are things that need to be done all the way around, but I do see that progress is being made too. I totally   Mike Paciello ** 57:11 agree, and in fact, I'm working with them right now. We're going to start working on the California Accessibility Act again. I'm really looking forward to working with the NFB, the DRC and Imperato over there and his team in the disability rights consortium, consortium with disability rights. What DRC coalition, coalition in in California. I can't wait to do that. We tried last year. We got stopped short. It got tabled, but I feel very good about where we're going this year. So that's, that's my that's, that is my focus right now. And I'm glad I'm going to be able to work with the NFB to be able to do that. Yeah, well, I, I really do hope that it passes. We've seen other states. We've seen some states pass some good legislation, and hopefully we will continue to see some of that go on. Yeah, Colorado has done a great job. Colorado sent a great job. I think they've done it. I really like what's being done with the EAA, even though it's in Europe, and some of the things that are going there, Susanna, Lauren and I had some great discussions. I think she is has been a leader of a Yeoman effort at that level. So we'll see. Let's, let's, I mean, there's still time out here. I guess I really would like to retire,   Michael Hingson ** 58:28 but I know the feeling well, but I can't afford to yet, so I'll just keep speaking and all that well, Mike, this has been wonderful. I really appreciate you taking an hour and coming on, and at least neither of us is putting up with any kind of snow right now, but later in the year we'll see more of that.   Mike Paciello ** 58:45 Yeah, well, maybe you will. We don't get snow down. I have. We've gotten maybe 25 flakes in North Carolina since I've been here.   Michael Hingson ** 58:53 Yeah, you don't get a lot of snow. We don't hear we don't really get it here, around us, up in the mountains, the ski resorts get it, but I'm out in a valley, so we don't, yeah,   Mike Paciello ** 59:02 yeah, no. I love it. I love this is golfing weather.   Michael Hingson ** 59:05 There you go. If people want to reach out to you, how do they do that?   Mike Paciello ** 59:11 There's a couple of ways. Certainly get in touch with me at AudioEye. It's michael.paciello@audioeye.com   Michael Hingson ** 59:17 B, A, C, I, E, L, L, O,   Mike Paciello ** 59:18 that's correct. Thank you for that. You could send me personal email at Mike paciello@gmail.com and or you can send me email at web able. It's m passielo at web able.com, any one of those ways. And please feel free you get on all the social networks. So feel free to link, connect to me. Anyway, I try to respond. I don't think there's anyone I I've not responded to one form or another.   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 Yeah, I'm I'm the same way. If I get an email, I want to respond to it. Yeah, well, thanks again for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. We really appreciate it. Love to hear your thoughts about this episode. Please feel free to email. Me, you can get me the email address I generally use is Michael h i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, or you can go to our podcast page, which is Michael hingson.com/podcast, and there's a contact form there. But love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts, and most of all, please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening. We value your ratings and your reviews a whole lot, so we really appreciate you doing that. And if any of you, and Mike, including you, can think of other people that you think ought to be guests on the podcast, we are always looking for more people, so fill us up, help us find more folks. And we would appreciate that a great deal. So again, Mike, thanks very much. This has been a lot of fun, and we'll have to do it again.   Mike Paciello ** 1:00:44 Thanks for the invitation. Mike, I really appreciate it. Don't forget to add 10 Nakata to your list,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:49 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Risorse Gratuite:CORSO GRATIS REVIT- BIM: https://tinyurl.com/2pafj768CORSO GRATIS AUTOCAD: https://tinyurl.com/ybf32zb6CORSO GRATIS RENDERING: https://tinyurl.com/fxfmpmfjACCATASTA QUIZ - SCOPRI CHE ACCATASTATORE SEI: https://tinyurl.com/mrwtj2jnBIM QUIZ - SCOPRI CHE BIM SEI: https://tinyurl.com/49smpbwjPILLOLE DI CANTIERE: https://tinyurl.com/2yjvxreuPILLOLE DI COMPUTO METRICO: https://tinyurl.com/mu7hxcudPILLOLE DI DOCFA: https://tinyurl.com/5649zs8uPILLOLE DI PRATICHE EDILIZIE: https://tinyurl.com/5n8hx2mnLe 8 REGOLE D'ORO PER FARE UN BUON RENDER: https://tinyurl.com/4r2afnpvPRENOTA UNA CONSULENZA TELEFONICA GRATUITA: https://tinyurl.com/mr2tjhpr==========================================================Per seguire ADARA Architettura:YOUTUBE: Iscriviti e attiva la campanella https://tinyurl.com/2h3kz7aaWEBSITE: https://tinyurl.com/2bffswthBLOG: https://tinyurl.com/37jhws78PAGINA FB: https://tinyurl.com/43c2y6jkGRUPPO SEGRETO FB "Progettazione Competitiva": https://tinyurl.com/5x2vv8au==========================================================Podcast:SPOTIFY: https://tinyurl.com/3eejwdj4APPLE PODCAST: https://tinyurl.com/tju78jmyANCHOR: https://tinyurl.com/yd9pru8s==========================================================#AdaraArchitetturaCentroAutodesk #Università 

Tech Talk with Steve Thomson and Doug Swinhart returns after a weeks long Twins induced hiatus! Topics include: Forced AI integration in your email inbox Listener calls on Autocad and recovering a lost WiFi password Proton password manager Where to go to get a laptop/desktop worked on What Doug recommends for antivirus software

00:00 From Technician to Entrepreneur02:20 Dakota's Background & Apprenticeship Path04:34 Motivation to Start a Business06:30 Identifying a Niche in the Fire Industry08:39 Learning Design and Troubleshooting09:35 Teaching Himself FireCAD + Early Wins14:33 Balancing Install, Design & Multiple Projects18:02 Favorite Systems & What Works Best21:05 The Problem with Proprietary Equipment22:26 Customer-First, No-Contract Philosophy28:28 Work-Life Balance & Being a Present Dad30:44 Technology and Business Efficiency32:35 Dakota's Passion for Golfing33:11 NFPA Involvement & Final Words

Olá sejam bem vindo ao nosso quadro de entrevistas do Podcast da Mineração.Neste programa, entrevistamos Leopoldo Tôrres, gerente de desenvolvimento técnico da SSAB. Especialista de mercado experiente com histórico comprovado de trabalho na indústria de engenharia mecânica ou industrial. Hábil em AutoCAD, Melhoria de Produtividade, Estratégia de Marketing e Engenharia Industrial altamente focada em Tecnologia de Soldagem. Forte profissional de vendas com Especialista em Tecnologia/Técnico em Engenharia de Soldagem pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais. Conversamos sobre o que é o Aço Hardox e como ele se diferencia de outros tipos de aço no mercado, Existem exemplos de equipamentos ou estruturas específicos na mineração que se beneficiam diretamente do uso e muito maisCriação de Arte: Raul Cadena / Phablo KauãPatrocinadores Oficiais do Podcast da Mineração:ÍGNEA Geologia & Meio Ambiente - https://www.igneabr.com.br/ - @igneabrRevo Geoscience - https://revogeoscience.com/Mentoria - Roberta Azevedo - https://robertacavalcante.com.br/inscreva-se/ - @robertac.azevedo Apoio:SSABÉ com orgulho que anunciamos o lançamento da loja oficial do Podcast da Mineração! https://reserva.ink/podcastdamineracaoConfiram essa e outras entrevistas no canal e Lembrem-se: "Mineração pode não ser o futuro mas não existe futuro sem a mineração"#mineração #tecnologia #technology #podcastdamineração #podcast #inovação #engenheirodeminas #engenhariademinas #futuro #inovação #innovations #innovations #aço #rardox #ligadeaço #produtividade #ssab

It's a special Mother's Day edition of AwesomeCast! Host Michael Sorg is joined by his mom, Cathy—better known as Mom Sorg—for a heartfelt, humorous, and insightful conversation spanning decades of tech, theme parks, drafting, accessibility, and family stories. From tales of riding the Turtle at Kennywood to helping design parts of Epcot's Spaceship Earth, Mom Sorg shares her pioneering journey as a female drafter and AutoCAD specialist in the 1970s and ‘80s. The duo also explore how Cathy's work inspired Sorg's lifelong tech passion and reflect on accessibility in theme parks and the evolution of educational inclusion. Plus, the Chachi Says Video Game Minute brings hot headlines, from GTA 6's record-breaking trailer to surprising job interview trends involving gaming.

It's a special Mother's Day edition of AwesomeCast! Host Michael Sorg is joined by his mom, Cathy—better known as Mom Sorg—for a heartfelt, humorous, and insightful conversation spanning decades of tech, theme parks, drafting, accessibility, and family stories. From tales of riding the Turtle at Kennywood to helping design parts of Epcot's Spaceship Earth, Mom Sorg shares her pioneering journey as a female drafter and AutoCAD specialist in the 1970s and ‘80s. The duo also explore how Cathy's work inspired Sorg's lifelong tech passion and reflect on accessibility in theme parks and the evolution of educational inclusion. Plus, the Chachi Says Video Game Minute brings hot headlines, from GTA 6's record-breaking trailer to surprising job interview trends involving gaming.

Bentornati su Snap!È ora di parlare dell'imbarazzo architettonico in Apple ma anche di che lavoro si fa davvero, ricordando il punto a cui siamo arrivati con i contenuti del format che non ti aspetti di due architetti che vanno in giro in bici e si raccontano cose (aka Escape).Dopo aver visto Windows 11 su iPad Air, passiamo alle novità presentate da Autodesk per Autocad 2026 e Revit 2026.Buon ascolto!—>

Host Drew Slocum sits down with August and Tony Conte of FireCAD to discuss the recent acquisition by Inspect Point and what it means for the future of the industry. Hear directly from August about his incredible 60-year journey in fire alarm and how FireCAD was born out of a need for better, faster design tools. Tony dives into how FireCAD is revolutionizing fire alarm system design, saving companies valuable time and money by eliminating manual errors and inefficiencies. Discover their vision for connecting design and inspection workflows, creating a seamless experience from start to finish. If you're in fire protection, you won't want to miss this conversation about innovation, collaboration, and the future of the industry!

Facebookhttps://www.realdecorshop.com/tiktokInstagramhttps://www.theartstandard.coBuilt Different: Empowering Gift Journal for Young Boys Paperback – by Ashley ChanteBioAshley Chante' is more than a musician—she's an experience. With a soul-stirring voicereminiscent of legendary divas yet uniquely her own, Ashley weaves melodies that speakdeeply to the human spirit. From an early age, her powerful voice and poignant songwritinghave been the hallmarks of her artistry, captivating audiences and forging genuine emotionalconnections.Ashley is embarking on an exciting new chapter as she collaborates with Harvey Marie Records.Fans eagerly await the unveiling of her freshman project, with releases strategically planned forthis summer and an enchanting follow-up slated for the Christmas season. While details remainunder wraps as part of an immersive branding strategy, one thing is sure: listeners cananticipate music that resonates profoundly, echoing Ashley's thoughtful reflections and vibrantcreativity.Ashley has been an entrepreneur since 2019, running her own manufacturing online business incustom home decor. As another creative outlet, she uses AutoCAD to design one-of-a-kindpieces that bring cultural richness and personal expression into everyday spaces. HerAfrocentric designs have caught the attention of tastemakers who value handcrafted work withsoul and intention.She is also releasing printed guided journals for young children—tools designed to support themthrough growing pains while nurturing emotional well-being. Inspired by the dynamics of herown blended family, Ashley created these journals to help young boys and girls explore theirfeelings and build a healthy sense of self. With more book publications on the way, shecontinues to expand her impact through both word and design.Beyond her projects, Ashley always looks deeper than the surface in every situation and facet oflife. She is stimulated by meaningful, deep connections and spiritual encounters, and she livesby strong values of self-worth. Her life philosophy centers on emotional health, clearboundaries, and mental well-being, which she shares authentically with her growing audience.Stay connected with Ashley Chante' to journey through music, mindfulness, and the meaningfuldialogues that inspire her art.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/creator-to-creators-with-meosha-bean--4460322/support.

Send us a textIn this episode of The Business of Beautiful Spaces, I sit down with Ronniesha Armstead, founder and CEO of Vetted By Design, to tackle one of the most common questions in the design industry: How do you know when it's time to hire help? If you're feeling overwhelmed with admin work, spending more time managing orders than designing, or simply questioning if you need support—this episode is for you. We discuss how outsourcing tasks like accounting, renderings, AutoCAD drawings, and procurement can free up your time and boost profitability. Ronniesha shares how Vetted By Design simplifies the hiring process by connecting interior designers with pre-vetted professionals, making it easier than ever to get the help you need. Tune in to learn how a virtual design assistant could be the first step in scaling your business!Website: https://vetted-bydesign.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vettedbydesign/Be sure to follow along on Instagram @thebusinessofbeautifulspaces + @thorntondesign to stay up to date on what we're talking about next week. If you love our podcast, please, please, please leave us a review. If you have any questions or topic ideas OR you wish to be a guest email us thebusinessofbeautifulspaces@gmail.com or find us on instagram @thebusinessofbeautifulspacesLaura Thornton is the principle designer of Thornton Design Inc, located in Kleinburg, ON. Since founding the company in 1999, Laura has been committed to creating a new kind of interior design experience for her clients. Thornton Design is an experienced team of creative talents, focused on curating beautiful residential and commercial spaces in the Toronto, Ontario area and beyond. Now sharing all the years of experience with other interior designers to create a world of collaboration and less competition. The Business of Beautiful Spaces I @thebusinessofbeautifulspacesThornton Design I @thorntondesign

Demand for AV integration services is becoming more complex and widespread, making it increasingly difficult for integrators to scale operations without sacrificing profitability. According to AVIXA's 2024 Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis, the Pro AV market is projected to reach $422 billion by 2029, intensifying the need for flexible, scalable support. Amid these pressures, service innovations like LinkLab are helping AV integrators stay competitive while navigating labor shortages, regional growth, and evolving client expectations.So, how can integrators, especially small to mid-sized ones, expand regionally, improve operational efficiency, and take on new work without overextending their internal teams?In this episode of Pro AV Today, host Ben Thomas, sits down with Cory Allen, VP of Services at Exertis Almo, to explore how the launch of LinkLab is reshaping the way integrators approach service delivery, project scaling, and workforce development across the AV industry.Key Points from the Conversation:Strategic Rebrand with Purpose: LinkLab isn't just a new name for Exertis Almo's professional services; it reflects a clearer mission to support AV integrators with targeted, scalable solutions.Regional and National Reach: The service enables integrators to pursue business in new markets even nationwide, without the need to hire local staff or turn away opportunities due to resource constraints.Empowering New Talent: LinkLab supports industry growth by offering CTS-certified AutoCAD training, helping to upskill both newcomers and experienced technicians within the AV community.Cory Allen is a seasoned AV industry leader with over 15 years of experience in sales, services, and operations, currently serving as Vice President of Services at Exertis Almo. He has advanced through roles ranging from Territory Manager to Director and now VP, consistently driving strategic growth, operational excellence, and team development across the Pro AV sector. Allen was recognized as a Commercial Integrator 40 Under 40 honoree in 2022, underscoring his impact and leadership in the industry.

As I pondered the topic for this week's kitchen table episode, the same thing kept coming to mind. An important question I'd like to ask you: What's the bravest thing you've ever done? When I first thought about that question several things immediately came to mind. Quitting my job as an architectural draftsman and buying a flower shop with my sister-in-law with neither of us having had any background in floral arranging. Buying a computer and learning AutoCAD so I could freelance drawing house plans while working from home--after we lost money in the floral business and had to sell it. And going to a writer's conference all alone and barely knowing a soul there. These decisions all took considerable courage, and they had a huge impact on my life. But as I dug deeper, I realized the better answer to that question. Not only because it changed the trajectory of my life, but it also changed me, my marriage and my family. Watch The Bravest Thing I've Ever Done with Carol Roper on YouTube Go to CarolRoper.org/podcast for show notes Prayer to accept Christ: “Lord, I know I am a sinner. I ask for your forgiveness today. I believe you sent your perfect, sinless son, Jesus, to die on the cross and be raised again to save me from my sins. I know that no one comes to you except through faith in your Son, Jesus Christ. I invite you into my heart and life to forgive me of my sins and save my soul. I turn over my life to you as both my Lord and my Savior. I want to have a relationship with you and find abundant life in Christ. In Jesus name. Amen” Listen to The Importance of Friendships--Still Going Strong After 30 Years with Julie Bagwell and Frieda Younts Link to sign up for my email list and receive my baked spaghetti recipe    

In this episode, I cover the latest in AI news, the removal of a recent Windows 11 upgrade block for AutoCAD customers, an incredible polymorphic extension exploit in Chrome plus more! Reference Links: https://www.rorymon.com/blog/onedrive-to-prompt-users-patch-tuesday-news-remote-desktop-app-being-retired-soon/

We have 2 special guests joining us today – Ramesh Sridharan, Director of AEC Building & Infrastructure at Autodesk, and Michael Davidson, Product Manager for BIM/CAD Integrations at ESRI. We'll be discussing the blending of design and GIS data and processes, and how Autodesk and ESRI are leading that charge. We'll specifically focus on the tools you can use to integrate GIS data while actively working on DWG design files in tools like Civil 3D and AutoCAD.

Kristina Young is a 31-year-old Interior Designer and the proud owner of RG Home Designs, based in South Florida. A graduate of the Interior Design Institute, Kristina opened her design company in 2020, and in 2021, after becoming a single mother, she transformed her passion into a thriving business. Kristina has always been drawn to design, starting at the age of six when she used AutoCAD to create houses for fun on her dad's computer. From constantly redecorating her room with new themes, her love for design has been lifelong. Now, as a mother, Kristina is dedicated to creating healthy, sustainable homes for families, focusing on using safe materials that ensure the well-being of children. Her mission is to design homes that families can cherish for generations, combining functionality, beauty, and safety in every space. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are talking about all things Lafayette, what's going on, and what we want to see in Lafayette in the future. https://www.baileymelancon.com — Find this and past episodes at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-tea-podcast/support — The Tea Podcast is proudly sponsored by Chase Group Construction, and The Music Academy of Acadiana The Tea Podcast Studio is sponsored in-part by Mire.Group CPAs: https://facebook.com/miregroupcpa?mibextid=LQQJ4d

How do aging infrastructure and access to clean water relate? The two are more intertwined than you might think. Join Todd and guest Kenneth Driscol as they discuss the need for investment in public infrastructure, how access to water may look by the year 2050, and how sustainable AI solutions may come into play. Kenneth L. Driscol is a Sr. Civil Application Engineer at Applied Software, GRAITEC Group. He has a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. He is skilled in AutoCAD, Revit, Autodesk Software, Drainage, and Modeling. He is a strong engineering professional with a Civil Engineering/ Construction Technology focused in Transportation and Highway Engineering from The University of Akron. TODD TAKES Addressing Aging Infrastructure Proactively: Aging infrastructure isn't something we can afford to ignore or push aside. It's not an "out of sight, out of mind" problem—it's a challenge we need to face head-on. By taking a proactive approach, we can ensure our systems stay safe, efficient, and built to last. Getting the Most Out of Your Data: When it comes to data, start by asking yourself: what do I want to learn? Once you're clear on your goals, you can map out the right questions and create a framework for managing your data. With good governance and a little help from AI, those insights become game-changers. Feelings Aren't Facts: “Feelings aren't facts.” That one really hits home, doesn't it? It's so human to believe our emotions are the ultimate truth, but staying grounded in reality is what leads to smart decisions and better outcomes.   Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating and/or review and follow up our social accounts. Bridging the Gap Website Bridging the Gap LinkedIn Bridging the Gap Instagram Bridging the Gap YouTube Todd's LinkedIn   Thank you to our sponsors! Applied Software Applied Software LinkedIn   Other Relevant Links: Kenneth's LinkedIn Applied Software, GRAITEC Group

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Marc Minor, CEO & Co-Founder of Higharc, a home building cloud platform that's raised over $80 Million in funding. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Building a CAD System for Home Builders: Higharc's platform is designed to revolutionize homebuilding by enabling builders to design homes in 3D, estimate materials, and generate blueprints—all from one system, reducing inefficiencies and modernizing a traditionally outdated industry. Origin Story Rooted in Personal Frustration: Marc's personal struggles while building his own home exposed the inefficiencies in the industry, leading him to apply his background in 3D printing and digital manufacturing to homebuilding, creating a platform that brings data-driven insights into the construction process. A Unique Co-Founding Team: Marc didn't know his co-founders before launching Higharc. Instead, he recruited top experts from fields like CAD systems, architecture, and video gaming, building a strong and diverse team to tackle the complex challenges of homebuilding software. Creating the Home Building Cloud Category: Higharc aims to roll up various point solutions used in homebuilding into a comprehensive platform, replacing outdated systems like AutoCAD and transforming the fragmented industry with a vertical SaaS approach. Go-to-Market Strategy Centered on Customer Trust: Higharc's GTM strategy focuses on building deep trust with customers through successful implementations and long-term support. This creates organic demand rather than relying on top-down sales or marketing blitzes. ABM and Personalization in Marketing: Higharc's marketing team uses an aggressive account-based marketing approach, personalizing landing pages and software demonstrations for individual prospects, providing them with a hands-on experience of how Higharc can solve their specific business problems.   //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.  www.GlobalTalent.co

BIM Heroes Podcast Episode 12: State of Photo Progress Documentation In this episode, host Cody Whitelock explores advancements in photo progress documentation using 360-degree photos, drones, and BIM technologies. He is joined by Charlie Solan, Chief Operating Officer at Evercam, and Osama Bonner, Head of the 3D Department, who share their expertise in integrating these tools into the construction workflow. Current State and Challenges of Photo Documentation The conversation starts with an overview of the current landscape of 360 photo and drone usage. Charlie and Osama emphasize how the ease of capturing data has improved significantly with smaller, more accessible devices, lowering the barrier to entry for non-specialists. However, they note challenges like hardware durability and the need for light availability during image capture. The speakers compare static photos, 360-degree videos, and Lidar-enhanced scans. 360 cameras are praised for providing comprehensive visual data with a single walkthrough. Drones offer a bird's-eye view, capturing site-wide imagery efficiently from multiple angles. Lidar systems add depth information, making 3D modeling and photogrammetry possible, but at a higher cost. Impact on Site Inspections and Collaboration Charlie and Osama highlight how photo documentation tools reduce the need for frequent on-site inspections. Engineers and inspectors can now review images remotely, enhancing collaboration and cutting down on travel time and costs. This also enables specialists to focus on key issues without physically being present at the construction site. Building Workflows Around Digital Tools The episode underscores how construction workflows are evolving to integrate these technologies. Just as AutoCAD and BIM changed the industry, photo progress documentation is becoming a core part of modern construction management. Osama explains how these tools serve as a central hub for inspections, site monitoring, and data sharing, reducing the reliance on multiple site visits and enhancing efficiency. Future Potential of 360 Photo and Drone Technology Charlie discusses the future potential of these technologies, noting that as hardware continues to shrink and become more user-friendly, even smartphones could serve as key documentation tools. The speakers also reinforce stress the importance of capturing more data than is immediately needed, as the ability to revisit detailed site records will enhance project management over time. Listen to the BIM Heroes Podcast on: Spotify: http://evr.cm/spotify Apple: http://evr.cm/apple YouTube: http://evr.cm/youtube

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Why is history important? - History is very good at preventing humanity from making the same mistakes. - How would you explain the history of pi? - Do we know why Brahmagupta came up with the rules for arithmetic and algebra with zero and negative quantities? His book does appear to be a discontinuous jump in understanding. - Do you know if there was any physical reason that the Greek "elements" were associated with particular geometric shapes? - The Pi Day thing is great; I think I might get a shirt. - To what extent did your own path/work intersect the heydays of Bell Labs and notable people therefrom? - Did you ever use an Amiga computer? - With mobile devices we are basically going back to terminals. - ​​I used to have a Silicon Graphics Indigo 2 sitting on my desk for AutoCAD and 3D modeling. Those were great machines and fun times! - Speaking of McCarthy and those days, do you think that sticking to s-expressions as opposed to m-expressions and Wolfram Language-style ones impeded Lisp's adoption historically?

Ashish Arora, Head of Engineering & Machine Learning, Product Analytics at Autodesk, shares how personalized AI-powered experiences and real-time data can drive product adoption, featuring insights into Autodesk's transformation journey, leveraging machine learning, and delivering actionable recommendations to millions of users.Topics Include:Real-time data description and examplesLeveraging AWS for real time and generative AI servicesAutodesk's journey leveraging AWS to transform architecture and deliver personalized insightsOverview of Autodesk and product portfolioUtilizing data gathered for customersPersonalized data-driven insights for customers on Autocad and other productsDescriptive insights: providing usage data for customersPrescriptive insights: Making recommendations to customers based on their workflowsPredictive insights: Using ML to recommend products and featuresAutodesk processes 100+ billion events across all products, delivered 350+ million insights to customers, served to 3.5 million customersExample walkthrough – RachaelArchitecture of Autodesk data and insight processLeveraging LLMs – Sagemaker and BedrockBringing it altogetherSession wrap upParticipants:Ashish Arora – Head of Engineering & ML, Product Analytics - AutodeskBrian Slater – Principal Solutions Architect – Amazon Web Services

IntroductionOur guest today is Noah Pritchett. Noah is a field engineer who shares a homeschool background with Tyler. He ended up getting his GED and meeting a chick at Chick Fil A. They also both had to be corralled by a dad into their work in construction. Then it just clicked. His first job in field-engineering world was as a helper. Then the engineer he was helping was called away to another job. The rest is construction history. All of his training took place on the job.The Hyundai plantPart of the reason Eddie invited Noah to the show was because Noah had a hand in the gargantuan Hyundai plant near Savannah, Georgia. Noah shares that this particular project was just go-go-go. He was laying out something new every 15 minutes, working with contact points that were up to 4,000 feet apart. He recognized that he needed some help, and he gave his helper a tossed-in-the-deep-end experience similar to his own.  Now everything seems small to him–except the son he had to leave at home when he left for the long stretches of work. Tyler points out that not many people understand about this travel component and how it affects workers and their families. Eddie points out that the pay is what draws people in. Noah agrees. The pay and the per diems enable people to really rake it in.Great Wolf LodgeEddie isn't necessarily excited about everything he might see at indoor water parks, but the structures impress him. Noah shares that it was on his first Great Wolf project that he realized he was truly the responsible party for the layout of this thing.It was on this job that Noah realized it's not always best to use the robots. Layout out lazy-river curves sometimes requires an old-school tape. It was truly tedious–no laziness involved. Tyler asks about the reference points for this kind of project. Tyler tees Noah up to dish on the frustrations that come with lackluster drawings. He said there are still times he feels dumb asking the questions, but when there's a wall hanging out in the middle of nowhere, you have to ask. Eddie recalls the first time he witnessed his dad notice that an engineer had screwed up, despite the fact that Eddie thought engineers were too smart to do that sort of thing. On every job, Tyler sWhat we missTyler asks Noah about the most common mess-ups, and Noah goes for the elevator. He said he checks those out right away and immediately sends the drawings back if they're off. He recounts the communication challenges and the emphasis of pictures over words. Eddie talks about the virtual certainty that there'll be complications and confusion on multi-rise buildings. Throw in some operable partitions way up there? There's going to be confusion. The worst drawings Noah gets? Multi-family dwellings. Eddie shares his thoughts on why that's the case. They often have surprisingly elaborate systems. AutoCAD and finding helpTyler asks Noah to share about his experience with AutoCAD. Noah explains that when the workflow puts design work in the hands of people earlier in the process, he sees greater quality. Eddie asks and Noah answers about integration of layout points in his models. Noah shares how integration of these elements have provided him with the opportunity to do some experimenting.Noah shares about a job near Savannah where he was hoping to be impressive but ran quickly into screwy drawings. He thought the complications that resulted from this would lead to him getting targeted by some other members of the crew. Luckily the situation took a turn that directed blame away from him. Many communication problems, Noah points out, can be avoided by being sure that you introduce yourself to as many people as possible. Simply meeting you gives them a level of confidence that you wouldn't do stupid stuff.Eddie asks Noah to share about the challenges of finding good help. It's really hard, he says. He thinks the industry just needs to find people and train them. Megaphone Message Noah directs his megaphone message to young guys: Don't stop learning. Be curious and inquisitive.Find Noah on LinkedIn Check out the partners that make our show possible.Find Us Online: BrosPodcast.com - LinkedIn - Youtube - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok - Eddie's LinkedIn - Tyler's LinkedInIf you enjoy the podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us! Thanks for listening

It's that time again - Welcome back to yet another episode of the WGI Unleashed Podcast! Join us for episode 85 as we sit down with Chris Stermer, WGI's Senior Utility Coordinator Manager in Tampa, Florida - From his early days in Pompano Beach, FL, to his long-standing dedication to service, Chris's journey has been nothing short of inspiring. Exploring a Life of Service and Leadership Although he was born in Norfolk, VA, Chris' early childhood was spent in Pompano Beach, FL, growing up in a time before the bustling I-95 corridor in South Florida was even constructed. His passion for service was ignited early in life, leading him to join the Navy at just 17 years old in the year 1979. Chris spent an impressive 27 years in active service, most of which took place on the flight deck of aircraft carriers as a jet engine mechanic. His Navy career took him around the globe, with Cairo, Egypt standing out as his favorite destination. During his time in service, Chris also seized the opportunity to further his education through a scholarship program - standing as a testament to his lifelong commitment to learning. A Transition to Civilian Life After retiring from the Navy, Chris quickly transitioned to civilian life as a defense contractor, where he specialized in “In-Flight Refueling," and ultimately became a subject matter expert as he earned the trust of his superiors and all those around him. It was in this role that he honed his skills in AutoCAD, a tool that would become invaluable in his subsequent career. His technical prowess and dedication to his craft led him to a position with a gas company in Port St. Lucie, where he learned to draw utilities, a skill that set the stage for his future role in utility coordination here at WGI. A History of Recognition and Humility Throughout his tenured career, Chris's expertise and dedication have certainly not gone unnoticed. In 2020, he was honored with the John J. Farkas Award for Outstanding Utility Coordination, a prestigious accolade bestowed upon him by his peers, and standing as a true highlight of his career - And despite his many successes, Chris has made it a point to remain humble, attributing his knowledge to the “school of hard knocks.” Beyond the Office Chris and his wife, now empty nesters, share their home with Gizmo, a Yorkie/Chihuahua mix who Chris calls "A Bundle of Energy." - And beyond the office, Chris finds his life deeply rooted in spirituality, service, and motorcycles, otherwise known as the three pillars that guide him. For over 20 years, he has been actively involved in a prison ministry program, participating in an organization that brings motorcyclists to prisons to hold church services and deliver testimony to inmates. This work is a profound part of who Chris is, and he credits it as one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life. And when he's not busy sharing his expertise in utility coordination or involved in ministry, you can find Chris playing taps on his bugle, a testament to his time in the service, or cruising around town! But that's not all - In this episode, Chris also shares some intriguing anecdotes from his life, such as: Did he really circumnavigate the globe in 1986? Has he really been to all 50 states? And did he once joyride in a helicopter dressed as Santa? So, don't wait a moment longer - Grab those headphones and crank up the volume because it's time to get unleashed. Plus, don't forget to tune in next time as we unravel more captivating tales and insights on the WGI Unleashed Podcast. Until then, stay inspired and keep unleashing your potential! Visit your favorite podcast app now and subscribe to WGI Unleashed to receive alerts every time a new episode drops. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.  

  Richard Harpham has more than 20 years of experience launching products into international markets for both start-up ventures and enterprise organizations. Currently he is a co-founder of Skema, Inc.    Richard has experienced most of the highs and lows of bringing disruptive technology to developers, designers and contractors. He was an early hire at the start-up, Revit Technology Corp, and then after Revit was acquired by Autodesk, spent nine years helping to bring it and a ‘new' concept of BIM to the U.S. market.    At the same time, he also led global marketing for AutoCAD and all Autodesk AEC products. More recently, at Katerra, he led software strategy to support transformational changes in how buildings are designed, engineered, and delivered.   Show Highlights   Skema founded to address challenges in design for constructability. Focus on modular, repeatable elements in building design. Tips to design with constructability in mind early in the process. Emphasis customer implementation and value experience over sales and marketing AI in Architecture and Construction applications are mostly narrow and specific. Skema uses machine learning and AI for design assistance and understanding visual aspects of previous designs. AI needed as a design assistant, not a replacement for human architects. Importance of asking the right questions about AI technology.   “Let's have the machine look after the things that aren't the inspirational and differentiated part of design, so that you can put more time into thinking about the quality and things that you bring as a designer that truly make the difference to the owner, the client, the occupier, and probably help you win more work and make more money in the process when you deliver the designs.” -Richard Harpham     Show Resource and Information Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community!   If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2024 GBES

New York is about more than highways and traffic. The city is filled with resilience, community, sustainability, and more elements that support a healthy built environment. How will architecture impact the future of New York's communities Welcome to the third season of Architecture 5 10 20! I'm your host, Guy Geier, Managing Partner of FXCollaborative Architects in New York. My guests for this podcast are pioneers and visionaries shaping the future of the built environment across various disciplines. Join me in exploring their remarkable journeys, discovering how they reach their current heights, and envisioning what lies ahead in the next 5, 10, and 20 years. Join me today as I have a conversation with my friend Tom Scarangello, Thornton Tomasetti's managing principal and senior advisor and an industry thought leader in innovation and technology. With over four decades at the forefront of innovation in structural engineering, Tom brings a wealth of experience and a visionary perspective on the industry's evolution. We dive deep into Tom's journey with Thornton Tomasetti, from its humble beginnings to becoming a global leader in proactive innovation, with Tom reflecting on pivotal moments such as the firm's response to the 2008 economic downturn and the strategic merger with Wide Langer in 2015. This discussion provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Thornton Tomasetti leveraged intellectual property and embraced technology to redefine industry standards! Tom also shares his thoughts on the shift from reactive to proactive innovation, the impact of building information modeling, and the exciting developments in AI. We explore how AI is accelerating design processes and reshaping the future of structural engineering, and Tom highlights the importance of maintaining a balance between technological advancements and foundational engineering principles, ensuring that innovation enhances rather than overshadows core expertise. This episode is truly a fascinating exploration of how technology is transforming the built environment and what lies ahead for the industry. Listen to hear Tom's insights on navigating these changes and the role of curiosity and open-source data in driving progress! Time stamps: [01:40] - After 40 years, Tom has seen his firm evolve from small to global leaders in innovation. [04:54] - Tom drove diversity and innovation, investing in untapped IP and creating initiatives. [06:39] - Tom's industry lagged in innovation, relying on outdated methods, despite advances like AutoCAD. [09:01] - Transitioning to smart models and BIM has accelerated Tom's industry's innovation and digitization. [11:07] - Hear how Tom improved project delivery by experimenting with XSteel and embracing new technology. [13:45] - Tom explains how entering data directly into Tekla improved efficiency and control over some aspects of connections. [15:39] - Tom's company developed Construe to enable effective use of data across different modeling platforms. [16:58] - Experience helps engineers make quick, informed decisions, enhancing value and creativity in design! [19:06] - Tom argues that AI can enhance efficiency in design, focusing on creative solutions rather than physics problems. [21:36] - Human oversight is still crucial; AI can't replace responsibility for ensuring safety and compliance! [24:38] - Tom points out how early versions of ChatGPT impressed him, with its capabilities having rapidly advanced in less than two years. [26:37] - Tom discusses the book Co Intelligence by Ethan Malik. [29:40] - It's important to embrace new tools; resisting change could ultimately limit career longevity and impact. [31:04] - AI tools generate multiple design solutions quickly, allowing focus on choosing the best one. [33:03] - Learn how urban redevelopment reconnects communities and should be advocated despite lingering challenges. [35:42] - Urban redevelopment projects reconnect communities, and Tom expresses eagerness to volunteer for such initiatives in the Bronx. [38:43] - Architects, engineers, and contractors are collaborating more effectively, driven by technology to address challenges. [41:42] - Tom feels that having conversations like this podcast helps improve the industry and shows that others share the goal of solving problems collaboratively. [42:15] - Tom's enthusiasm for technology and AI in the AEC industry highlights the need for curiosity and creativity to address challenges. Links / Resources:Guy Geier Instagram | Twitter Thornton Tomasetti LinkedIn Ethan Mollick - Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI

Phil Darwen, the mastermind behind the Instagram sensation "A Designer's Mind" with 1.4 million followers, delves into his unique journey as a building designer. Specializing in home design and renovation, Phil brings an exceptional flair for interior styling that has made him a significant figure in the design world.Phil's career blossomed under the mentorship of renowned designer Paul Clout, where he transitioned from hand-drawn sketches to AutoCAD, showcasing his adaptability and commitment. His design philosophy centers on the critical importance of light, ventilation, and storage, addressing modern challenges of smaller plot sizes. Ensuring proper breathability, light penetration, and ample storage in homes enhances comfort and well-being.Highlighting environmental influences, Phil discusses designing homes that breathe naturally, minimizing the need for air conditioning, especially in subtropical climates. Emphasizing human-centered architecture, he stresses the emotional impact of engaging with spaces at ground level, advocating for designs that elevate societal vibrancy.Phil's Instagram journey, from a personal profile to a design-focused platform, reflects his dedication to sharing innovative ideas and fostering a community seeking inspiration. By integrating unexpected and historically rich images, Phil reminds us to view design from different perspectives, enriching the engagement and thoughtfulness of his content. His personal legacy project encapsulates his professional growth, underscoring functionality, materiality, and emotional connection in architecture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode of Architectette we welcome a dynamic duo! Aya Shlachter and Jing Lauengco are two outstanding women who connected over their mutual tenacity for entrepreneurship, design, and storytelling. Both women are business owners, entrepreneurs, and podcasters.  Aya Shlachter is the CEO and founder of MGS Global Group, a company that accelerates growth for architecture and design firms worldwide by providing architectural support and staffing services internationally. Her team provides Revit, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, and 3D Visualization services to architects and interior designers. Aya is a keynote speaker and the host of the Architect My Business Podcast – a business growth podcast for architects. Jing Lauengco is an award-winning Brand and Business Strategist and Producer and Host of NEXT THING WITH JING, a podcast exploring next chapters in the new now. Jing teaches modern entrepreneurs how to connect, convert, and engage using signature storytelling and brand building to drive growth. We talk about:  - How Aya and Jing came to be friends and collaborators through their local entrepreneur community and how it has impacted their personal and professional lives. - We talk about the challenges, uncertainties, and pivots of being serial founders and how each woman has built their own architecture and design industry businesses and have grown through each success, failure, or experiment. - The power of storytelling: how understanding your story and being able to convey it to others can enrich your ability to connect, market, and grow. - We also talk about their experiences as podcast hosts: favorite topics, guests, rebranding, and community building. Links: Aya on LinkedIn MGS Global Group Architect My Life Podcast Aya on Instagram Jing on LinkedIn Consulting- Jing Inc Other Brown Girl Next Thing with Jing Podcast Jing on Instagram Architectette Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.architectette.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with the pod on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Instagram (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@architectette⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), and TikTok (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@architectette⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) Exclusive Content on our Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.architectette.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AlexGrohl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/architectette/support

This is the first episode of BIMrras in English. We've dusted off our rusty skills in the language of Shakespeare to bring Jeremy Tammik to the episode, known worldwide as The Building Coder, to talk about Revit, open source, APIs, etc. and, of course, about building with code! Welcome to the first episode of BIMrras in English. And no, we didn't decide to torture English speakers with our wonderful regional accent. We simply decided to switch to Shakespeare's language because in this episode we have Jeremy Tammik. Also known as The building coder, Jeremy is Consulting Analyst at Autodesk, has been a cornerstone of the company since 1988. His journey began as a technology evangelist, spreading the gospel of AutoCAD development across continents. After a stint away working on HVAC applications, Jeremy returned to Autodesk in 2005, and ever since, he's been deeply embedded in the Autodesk Developer Network, specializing in the Revit API. Therefore, this episode is about coding and construction. A field, that of programming, which Autodesk opened up by making the Revit API accessible, and which has highlighted the capabilities and potential of programming in BIM methodology. And there is no one better than Jeremy Tammik to talk about it. Welcome to episode 157 of BIMrras!

In this episode, we're joined by Arjan Timmerman, a distinguished IT architect and analyst whose career has flourished over 25 years across the European tech landscape.Arjan recounts his early days, from his first summer job dealing with tulip bulbs to his “real” job involving AutoCAD drawings, which led him to pioneer a computer backup system for storing these designs. This marked the beginning of his technological journey, navigating through the eras of floppy disks and evolving storage capacities.We delve into the transformation of TECHunplugged from an event-centric venture to a content powerhouse and now a respected analyst firm, priding itself on delivering nuanced, EU-centric analysis in a multilingual format.Tune in to this engaging episode with Arjan Timmerman, as we navigate the intersections of IT innovation, team synergy, and the personal growth that shapes a fulfilling career.-Everybody has a voice and should have a voice, you know something that another doesn't know - if you tell both stories you can find the better path… Being honest about your skills and what you can do helps, and gets easier.-Links:LinkedInBlog--Thanks for being an imposter - a part of the Imposter Syndrome Network (ISN)! We'd love it if you connected with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-imposter-syndrome-network-podcast Make it a great day.

In this episode, Mike Honious, President and CEO at GEODIS Americas, joins Host Brian Glick, CEO of Chain.io, to discuss: The state of the international supply chain Opportunities to grow during a supply chain recession How technology has changed the way supply chain teams work Approaching supply chain problems from an engineering mindset Leadership, culture, and communication in a global organization Creating a workplace culture that fosters collaboration and flexibilityAs President and CEO of GEODIS' Americas region, Mike oversees the management and growth of its multiple business units across North and South America, including contract logistics, transportation management, freight forwarding, engineering and technology, IT, ProVenture, and Material Handling Resources. Mike has served several roles over his nearly 20-year tenure at GEODIS and was most recently named President and CEO of the Americas in 2020. Today, Mike leads the region's more than 17,000 teammates across eight countries to continue offering a better way to deliver for its customers.Connect with MikeConnect with BrianFollow Chain.io on LinkedIn

So here we are ... Episode 150, and I am a little surprised that I made it this far into this Life of an Architect experiment, but due to the support and interest we have received over the last 6 years, we find ourselves as what I believe to be a fairly significant milestone. When it came time to pick today's subject matter, there was really on one topic that was up for consideration … Welcome to EP 150: Drawing Stuff! [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player] [hoops name="top1"] Today we are going to be talking about "drawing stuff", and if you are wondering what that really means, you are in the right place because that's what Andrew and I are going to try and figure out. There are all sorts of examples and references in today's post so this is a good post to earmark for future reference (if you're into that sort of thing). Life of an Architect and Drawing Stuff jump to 01:00 When I say “drawing stuff” to you, what comes to mind? Do you think there is some relevance to the fact that the question is framed because I said “drawing” and not “drafting”? I will confess that there is a difference for some, but not for me. I make drawings. I can draft them, I can sketch them, I can get on a computer and use software like Revit (well, I can't use Revit), AutoCAD, or whatever your drafting software of choice might be. Drawing stuff can mean anything and in any software - I am just referring to visual communication and how we think and talk through ideas. I'd like to say that I don't think there is a wrong way to draw stuff - but we all know that's not true. Sketching, drafting, 3dmodeling, rendering, I've talked about all of it at one time or another but there are some particular moments that stand out for me ... Notable Blog Posts for "Drawing Stuff"  08:47 http://lifeofanarchitect.com/do-architects-draw-too-much/ It wasn't that long ago that I could produce construction drawings for a 6-figure residential project in little more than a dozen sheets of drawings. The last one I worked on was quite a bit more as the architectural set having around 45 sheets to it. That is a 400% increase within the last 20-years. Once I add in the structural drawings, grading and drainage drawings, as well as the dedicated HVAC drawings, we will approach 60+ sheets in this set. What is going on? What is the reason for all the increased drawings? Is it the complexity of the projects? Maybe it's because architects anticipate a contentious relationship with contractors? Maybe it's the overly-specific design intentions that architects are wanting in our projects and we know that we can't expect the contractor to read our minds?!? This entire post was a bit of a rant because things are starting to feel as if some residential contractors are punishing those of us that produce drawings that tell them how we want things done - that this makes us appear difficult and fussy when the exact opposite is the goal. http://lifeofanarchitect.com/design-process-redlines/ I might not always be a nice person and I like to complain as much as the next person but if there is one trait someone who visits this site with any regularity knows, I do like to be helpful. During the design process, this typically manifests itself as “redlines”.  For those of you that may not be familiar, redlines are typically created when architects make editorial notes on a set of drawings to convey changes that are needed to be made. This process typically occurs during the construction drawings phase, but I find that they are more helpful for how I like to work during the design development phase of the projects. Let's take a look at some redlines I recently made (just click the picture about to be taken to a magical redline wonderland ...). http://lifeofanarchitect.com/sketching-is-hard/ I suppose the point of this "Sketching is Hard" post is that sketching is hard for most people – it's hard for me – and it's okay if you ...

So here we are ... Episode 150, and I am a little surprised that I made it this far into this Life of an Architect experiment, but due to the support and interest we have received over the last 6 years, we find ourselves as what I believe to be a fairly significant milestone. When it came time to pick today's subject matter, there was really on one topic that was up for consideration … Welcome to EP 150: Drawing Stuff! [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player] googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1562005974350-0'); }); Today we are going to be talking about "drawing stuff", and if you are wondering what that really means, you are in the right place because that's what Andrew and I are going to try and figure out. There are all sorts of examples and references in today's post so this is a good post to earmark for future reference (if you're into that sort of thing). Life of an Architect and Drawing Stuff jump to 01:00 When I say “drawing stuff” to you, what comes to mind? Do you think there is some relevance to the fact that the question is framed because I said “drawing” and not “drafting”? I will confess that there is a difference for some, but not for me. I make drawings. I can draft them, I can sketch them, I can get on a computer and use software like Revit (well, I can't use Revit), AutoCAD, or whatever your drafting software of choice might be. Drawing stuff can mean anything and in any software - I am just referring to visual communication and how we think and talk through ideas. I'd like to say that I don't think there is a wrong way to draw stuff - but we all know that's not true. Sketching, drafting, 3dmodeling, rendering, I've talked about all of it at one time or another but there are some particular moments that stand out for me ... Notable Blog Posts for "Drawing Stuff"  08:47 https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/do-architects-draw-too-much/ It wasn't that long ago that I could produce construction drawings for a 6-figure residential project in little more than a dozen sheets of drawings. The last one I worked on was quite a bit more as the architectural set having around 45 sheets to it. That is a 400% increase within the last 20-years. Once I add in the structural drawings, grading and drainage drawings, as well as the dedicated HVAC drawings, we will approach 60+ sheets in this set. What is going on? What is the reason for all the increased drawings? Is it the complexity of the projects? Maybe it's because architects anticipate a contentious relationship with contractors? Maybe it's the overly-specific design intentions that architects are wanting in our projects and we know that we can't expect the contractor to read our minds?!? This entire post was a bit of a rant because things are starting to feel as if some residential contractors are punishing those of us that produce drawings that tell them how we want things done - that this makes us appear difficult and fussy when the exact opposite is the goal. https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/design-process-redlines/ I might not always be a nice person and I like to complain as much as the next person but if there is one trait someone who visits this site with any regularity knows, I do like to be helpful. During the design process, this typically manifests itself as “redlines”.  For those of you that may not be familiar, redlines are typically created when architects make editorial notes on a set of drawings to convey changes that are needed to be made. This process typically occurs during the construction drawings phase, but I find that they are more helpful for how I like to work during the design development phase of the projects. Let's take a look at some redlines I recently made (just click the picture about to be taken to a magical redline wonderland ...). https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/sketching-is-hard/

What's the best process of leveraging your software to its fullest potential? How do stakeholder communication and project transformations fit in? In this episode, delve into Adrian Mangan's Advance Steel-centric YouTube channel, the impacts he's observed since its launch, and his ultimate goal in sharing knowledge about both Advance Steel and its counterpart, GRAITEC PowerPack.  Adrian Mangan began his career in Ireland in carpentry field with experience in AutoCAD from college. He has worked as an Ironworker in New York City for the past fourteen years, ten of which he has also been a Foreman. He is now looking to learn and pursue a career in Steel Detailing, 3D Modeling, and BIM. Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating and/or review and follow up our social accounts. Bridging the Gap Website Bridging the Gap LinkedIn Bridging the Gap Instagram Bridging the Gap YouTube Todd's LinkedIn   Thank you to our sponsors! Applied Software Applied Software LinkedIn   Other Relevant Links: Adrian's LinkedIn Adrian Mangan on YouTube

Can you leverage misspelled keywords to boost your Etsy sales? It turns out, yes you can!In this episode, we chat with Mesha, an Etsy seller who has increased her shop's visibility by utilizing commonly misspelled keywords. Mesha shares her unique strategy that has propelled her sales. Her story begins with creating hand-drawn art for her twin daughters, who wanted school supplies that reflected their identities. This personal project evolved as Mesha integrated her professional AutoCAD skills and AI technology to develop and market digital products.Mesha also explores the importance of identifying a niche that not only resonates on a personal level but also fulfills a market need. She highlights how tools like Everbee are instrumental in optimizing her Etsy listings and understanding market trends, further enhancing her business's success.------------Where to find MeshaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/Cocoa_TwinsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CocoaTwinsOnYTFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/CocoaTwinsEtsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CocoaTwinsWebsite: http://www.cocoatwins.com------------EVERBEE WEBSITE: https://everbee.io/ EVERBEE BLOG: https://everbee.io/etsy-seller-blog/ EVERBEE YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@helloeverbee EVERBEE TIKTOK: tiktok.com/@everbee.io?lang=enEVERBEE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/everbee.io/ JOIN OUR COMMUNITY: https://www.facebook.com/groups/416630082921388 

Ever wondered why you should sign your work?  Well, in this, our 150th episode, we have chat about it. But before that, a quick catchup with Charlie Kaufman of Click Group at The Photography Show - head to https://www.clickliveexpo.co.uk/ to see details of one of the most exciting events in years! There is also news of the PMI Smoke Genie / Smoke Ninja competition - a fantastic opportunity to get creative and win some hefty prizes.  I'll share the link for this as soon as I have it. If you're interested in any of our workshops or masterclasses, you can find them at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/    Enjoy (and sign your work!)   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript [00:00:00] OK there are one or two fruity words in this episode. If you're offended by swearing then I do apologise! [00:00:05] So I'm here at the photography show up in the NEC in Birmingham, have just bumped in to one of the big characters in the industry. So tell me a little bit about who you are. So, Charlie Kaufman, Honorary Fellow of the Societies, uh, been in the business for 35 years, professional, and I've run the Click Group for 30 years. [00:00:27] Started in 1994. And you've got several other letters after your name. I thought it was KFA, but you said it was No, it wasn't KFA. FKA, as my mum always says, fucking know all, uh, excuse my language, but no, a fellow of the societies, I was the youngest, uh, BIPP licensorship and MPA, uh, licentiate when I was just 17 years old, so two years into the industry, I'm also the CEO of Click Backdrops and Click Live, a new expo launching at Stoney Park, Coventry, this June. Tell me why you've come to the photography show. So it's all about brand awareness. Clip Backdrops, uh, exhibits at all of the major trade shows in the, in the world. [00:01:04] We do about 100, 000 miles with my partner in crime, Gary Hill. He's got more letters after his name than the alphabet, and Gary and I love doing the trade shows because it gets our British made, award winning product in the hands of creative photographers, so they can see the difference of why they're investing in a quality product. [00:01:23] Why do you love this photography industry of ours so much? I love it because it's changing. I love being in an industry where we make money from giving people creative memories for people, creating art. I love the fact that being the owner of a company, I'm in control and I can pivot in a heartbeat in which direction I want to take my company. [00:01:44] And that's one of the problems that a lot of British photographers don't do is pivot enough and change quickly enough. But being a small company, we're very quick at changing. We can actually have an idea to marketplace sometimes within a week. [00:01:57] And if there's one thing you could change about the photography industry that we know so well, what would it be? [00:02:03] Well, I'm going to hone in on the British photography industry, and what we need to change is we need to get British photographers getting more educated. Uh, as Big Dog Damien once said, the better, the easiest way to make more money as a photographer is to be a better photographer. I completely agree with that. Visiting ten U. S. expos a year, these expos sometimes start at 7am and these photographers are in classes and learning till midnight every single day. And that's one of the reasons that my team and I have launched Click Live, a brand new, uh, educational expo launching Stony Park, Coventry this June, where we've brought in the biggest educators from around the world. I mean, we've got Lindsay Adler, we've got Chris Knight, but we've also got other educators that have never even taught before in Europe, like Kimberly Smith, one of the world's best digital artists. So we want to give British photographers and European photographers, the opportunity to learn, hone in their craft and get better. Because the better you are, the more money you should make out of photography. It's as simple as that. [00:03:04] Brilliant. And I have to say, it's an honour and a privilege to be a very small part of that operation. I'm very... [00:03:09] ...an important part of that. Not a small part, an important Don't sell yourself short, Paul. You're an important part as we launch Clickmasters, a digital and print competition. And the nice thing about our print competition? Our educators at the show are not allowed to enter. So they're there to mentor and help and, and train, but they can't enter this year's competition. [00:03:33] Excellent. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm beyond excited about it. [00:03:36] Thanks for talking to me, Charlie. See you I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:03:43] Can you believe it? 150. Episodes honestly. I never really thought about it when I set this thing going about six years ago and here we are. 150 episodes later. I thought, I think I thought it would just be somewhere where I could get things off my chest -a sort of passive therapist, I suppose, and let's face it, we all need one of those mine, well, mine, just happens to be a microphone. [00:04:29] Since then I've muttered about, oh, so many things, have interviewed all sorts of people and received well, many and varied emails. I've also been told I do have a face for radio, and that even happened again, today. [00:04:46] But I'll take those little wins when people tell me they find the podcast either interesting or at the very least, something that passes time on a journey. Anyway, that interview was with the wonderful Charlie Koufman, who not only is the owner of Click Backdrops, which are brilliant and British. I will put the link in the show notes, but it's also the inspiration behind the upcoming Click Live convention, Which you will all be hearing about. In the coming months and I cannot wait to see you there. [00:05:16] So here we are, it's April. And how are you? Did you have a good weekend? I hope you did. Sarah and I went down to Plymouth in Devon, Southern England. As well more almost as far south as you can get. In the UK with Harriet, our daughter and had a wonderful weekend with my in-laws. [00:05:36] We drank a little beer. We ate a little chocolate, actually, we ate a lot of chocolates. We bought some Devon fudge and we painted some pottery. Yep. You heard that right. We went pottery painting. It was Sarah's idea. She wanted to do something that was a little different, maybe a little creative pass a couple of hours. [00:05:55] The weather wasn't predictable. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It was just well crazy. And so we headed inside to do a little pottery painting. And apart from a very slight mismatch in how things were explained to us,- it turns out, I guess I've got a face that looks like a primary school child, as the explanations were to put it mildly a little basic, but I guess in the end, the heart and soul were very much where they should be. [00:06:26] And we had a blast. [00:06:29] Well, at least we did, as long as we dab-dab-dabbed, and we didn't wipe-wipe-wipe because if we were caught wipe-wipe-wiping There would be ter-ouble. We would be shown the error of our ways and instructed to get back to that dab-dab-dabbing. Anyway, it turns out I'm pretty good at dab-dab-dabbidy-dab-dabbing. [00:06:48] And I spent nearly two hours, literally dubbing black glaze onto a pot, on which I could then paint a wintery woods, kinda scene. [00:06:58] Harriet and Sarah. Well, they're a little more subtle with their craft with gentle blues and teals, little tiny flowers and spots of detail. Subtle understated, gloriously sophisticated. While mine was anything but that, but Hey, I need a new pen pot. As I have knocked my tin mug off the desk, yet again, today. And I really do need something that is seriously heavy, preferably black and well, it'd be nice if it was something that was a little unique. I'll get no points for subtlety, but I'll get plenty for the drama. [00:07:32] And since it's been a long, long bank holiday weekend, there isn't too much to report on the diary of a working pro front, at least not in terms of shoots because we took the weekend away, took the time off. And so we haven't been shooting that much. [00:07:48] We have had a couple of portrait sessions Hearing Dogs, just Hearing Dogs, brilliant, fun as always. And a one-to-one workshop here at our studio. And I love. Workshops. And I love this one in particular. A guy called Dave came down. And we spent the day creating, I think, well, I think. I think some magic, two of my clients now for models, we always use our clients. We don't usually use professional models because at the end of the day training photographers with models sets the sets an expectation that it's always going to be that easy. [00:08:24] And of course it's never that easy. So Charlene and Katie came in as our models for the day. And while they may not be professional models , they are both just splendidly, photogenic, and more importantly, incredible people to spend time, laughing with working with and playing with light around. [00:08:42] And I love, I do genuinely love these one to ones. Because they are entirely bespoke, they're entirely creative. We have the time to sit and answer any questions. We can explore ideas and let, well, let the client just guide us, which is exactly what we did. And the images that we finished up with well, everything I ever set out to do. Had such a blast. Dave was brilliant and I hope he went away with the same amount of energy that I've come away with. Just that idea that tomorrow, well tomorrow, we're going to create some magic. And as low, we haven't shot that much in the studio this week, well, next week is a whole different story. And there is going to be well busy, but while we haven't shot much this week, there is still a ton going on. [00:09:32] Today in particular had my kitlist through from Elinchrom, which is really exciting. I'm still sort of working out what we really need, but it looks like we have it almost nailed down. The big decision is around the Elinchrom Threes. Now I've sorted out the Fives, we're going to get four of those and they will be almost permanently in studio I think. But the Threes are really quite exciting though. There, there are about 250 Watt seconds, so about half that just a little over half that of the fives. But I think they'll be massively useful when I'm out on location. They are big enough to do some serious work and small enough that I can pop them in a bag and have them with me. [00:10:15] So. [00:10:15] I'll let you know, as soon as that kicks in, I'm sure there will be videos, a little bits and pieces going on and I can't wait to do it. [00:10:21] Another email that came in this morning. And it's one. I reacted to really quickly. Practical Magic and Innovations emailed in. Now you'll probably know them is P M I. And they're the guys who make the incredible Smoke Ninja and Smoke Genie smoke machines. The fog machines they've been in touch. And wanted us to help them get the word out about a competition they're running and I'll put the links to the competition in the show notes again. But basically it's an international competition, a photographic competition, but it must feature the use of either the Smoke Ninja. Oh, the Smoke Genie. [00:10:59] Now I'm already a fan, of course of the Smoke Ninja is the one that I bought as part of the Kickstarter agreement, so I'm already a big fan and I've spoken about this on the podcast before. I love the thing, I think it's genius. It should be called the Smoke Genius, but it's great. And I know one or two of you have already bought one of these based on my recommendation. It's great fun to play with. [00:11:21] It's not that expensive. The fog that it gives out is hugely controllable and incredibly photogenic. So given there's a few of you with these things, of course, I have agreed, to put the word out about the competition. Once again, show notes will be the place to go, but I'm going to even, I'm going to enter it this time. [00:11:38] You have to create some images and also show some behind the scenes. I'm guessing it's a great opportunity, for them to get both the finished pictures and pictures of their Smoke Genie or Smoked Ninja in use price is pretty big. There's about $10,000 of them and some big names involved. So why not head to them? [00:11:57] I'll put the link up why not head to them and have a look? [00:12:00] Not only that, but I got an email this morning. From data color, who've shipped some kit for me to review. That'll come up in some future episodes, our to use the Datacolor photo Checkr, which is brilliant. [00:12:12] It's part of our workflow anyway, but they're going to send me the updated version as well as the cube, which looks like to me, I haven't used this thing yet. I'll let you know once I actually use it properly, but it looks to me like it allows for backlight to be measured to white balance of backlight to be measured as well. Which looks like good, fun. Because we use a lot of mixed lighting. But not only that they are going to send me the video checker as well. Which allows us to color calibrate as part of our video workflow. [00:12:39] Now I'm not big in video yet, but we are having to learn how to do it, and one of the things that constantly frustrates me is I can't seem to get the colors, as I want them a lot of homework to do. I need to understand video color spaces air slog, and the like, but I'll have the video color checker from Datacolor in the toolkit, and that hopefully will be a small part of the puzzle. I've not only understanding but controlling it. The color. These, I think these products will appear properly in a future podcast once I've had a chance to play with them and understand, I understand quite what I'm talking about. Cause I'm not a video guy. I need to go and ask some video guys about the best way of using it. A quick update on ACDSee, just again, a reminder. I am not paid by any of these people ACDSee sent me a license to have a play with and I've kept my word. [00:13:32] I've used it. I still use it. I love it. I absolutely love it. I guess I'm not paid, but they have given me a license for. I think the license for the Apple. For the Mac, that is about 60, 70, quid. The speed of ACDSee is absolutely blistering and I love working with it. Haven't quite worked out how to get the very best out of it. [00:13:50] As it turns out 300,000 images with the facial recognition turned on, maybe pushing the upper limits of our network and my machine. But I still love having it there alongside everything else I do in Lightroom. It's so quick. It's so handy. I love the way it just works or interacts in with the file system, which means I can always have, I've always got access to files, to drag and drop, throw them up onto Facebook, throw them up onto Instagram, put them into designs. [00:14:18] It's just really useful. It's the kind of software you feel almost. Should be built into the operating system, but isn't, it's just so natural to use. Absolutely love it again. As I get my head around that I'll give you more, more updates. [00:14:31] Right. So where are we? Let's have a think about my thought for today. Now this one. Is about signing your work or singeing your work. As it was the first three times I wrote it down, signing, not singeing. [00:14:47] Don't singe your work. That is no good to anybody signing your work. I heard someone say a while ago this couple of years ago. That signing your work is pretentious. [00:15:00] And all I can say is what utter, utter, bullshit. [00:15:06] Sorry. I'm sorry. I know, I know. I shouldn't be emphatic in such a way. Everyone's got their own way of doing things and each to their own. But just occasionally something pops up that is purely, and simply, bullshit. This is one of them. [00:15:24] Sign your work. [00:15:26] If I could write a song called cite your work. It sounded a bit like Sunscreen. Maybe I should figure that out. Sign your work. [00:15:34] My dad taught me many years ago. That you should sign everything. Now my Dad was a wise guy is so many ways an idiot. It's so many others, but a wonderful human being. And this was one where I think he was absolutely right. He said, sign it. And when I said, why well he said, firstly, well, why not? But he also said you do it because you never quite know who might see it, in the future. Isn't that the truth. [00:16:03] So I was working at British Steel, in my early twenties as a work placement, my dad was working there. As well, he ran all of the competing and I got a work placement in their design office. And as part of that, they asked me to create some huge 3d visuals of the galvanizing plants that shot and steelworks British steel. [00:16:24] And there's this, they have these coatings lines where they take a coil of steel and they'd run it through the line and coat it with either a plastic coat or some paint coat, but the line I was really interested in coated it. With zinc. It was the hot dip galvanizing line. And this line was around about three quarters of a mile long. [00:16:43] It was huge. [00:16:45] And they wanted me to create some 3d drawings of it. Now this is going back before we would simply have done all of it in 3d CAD and rendered it. They wanted 3d drawings. But they were then going to go off to an airbrusher to go into British Steel's brochures. So my job was to create the line work, the art, the sort of the technical drawing work. [00:17:08] But the best way of doing that was is it happened to create a 3d model of it. But back then, we're talking about really early versions of AutoCAD and the output of AutoCAD. Wasn't very controllable and it certainly didn't create appealing visuals. What it did do though, is give me these huge, A0 printouts that I could then place a piece of tracing paper over the top and much the same way as a comic artist inks in over the pencil. From the original illustrator I then inked it. And that created these really beautiful. [00:17:40] I thought they were beautiful anyway - these really beautiful. Inked drawings of these vast lines that could be annotated and airbrushed by a graphic design team. And I signed them. And I signed him just in case somebody else saw them. Somebody did, and I got more work from it. I've got a lot of plaudits for my work as well, all because they saw my signature and asked who Paul was. [00:18:07] Now it doesn't work for everybody, I guess. But here at the studio we sign every frame and every album that goes out, it's got our brand on it. That signature. Is our brand just like Apple or Jaguar or Pepsi, Tiffany, Nikon or even the guys I worked with a little bit more regularly, like Elinchrom, or even PMI who've emailed today. It's their logo and that represents their brand. [00:18:38] Now, if you're putting work out there without your logo or your signature on it, not only are you missing an important opportunity, an important opportunity that might just lead to more work might just lead to a brand recognition, like we've built . But I also think you're quietly saying you're not really proud of what you do. The signature we put on our work says I am proud of it. Really proud of it. Every time. Every time we create something here. We ask ourselves the question. Are we happy to put the Paul Wilkinson photography signature -my signature. On it. And if the answer to that is not clear. [00:19:21] Cut. Yes, of course. Then that piece of work never goes near a client. Ever. The brand custodian side of our business is all about that signature and being proud. To put it on our work, being proud to say, yep, I've seen that. But at work. I think that warrants a signature and I'm very happy for other people to see it too. [00:19:42] Now is that pretentious? Well, I suppose you could argue it is, but I don't think it is. I think what it's saying is I'm really proud of what we've done. I'm really proud of the effort we've put into it. And I don't think that's pretentious. Pretentions come from almost the opposite from trying to be something you're not, that's not what your signature is, your signature or your logo represent you and they represent your values and they represent your brand. They're everything you stand by and you stand for. Now, if you think your logo screams pretentions, then, well, maybe you need to adjust quite what you believe in and what your brand stands for, but from where I'm sat. I think you should sign every single bit of your work. [00:20:32] Anyway, I'll get down off my soap box. Sorry about that just sometimes, you know, just sometimes there are things I think we have to just get off our chest. And when it comes to your signature sign, your work, people sign your work. [00:20:45] Don't listen to what anybody else says. Get that signature on there. You never know who might be watching. Anyway. 150 episodes. One or two of you have listened to all of them. One or two of you have listened to all of them in the past 60 days. I did have an email from someone this week. And it said they've been working their way through them at a rate of a little over two episodes a day. And they are 50 something days in and heading towards catching up. [00:21:15] I think that's absolutely, hilarious. Flattering and lovely, but well, slightly hilarious. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to the end of this particular episode. I hope as always there's something of use or if nothing else. It's got you to work in your car and you can now switch the radio off and go face the day knowing there are other people out there feeling and thinking the same things as you. Uh, if you'd like to hear more of these episodes, please do subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcasts. [00:21:49] Please hit that subscribe button. And then every time I hit publish, you get to hear it, which I think is a marvelous thing. Please do also. If you would like to leave us a review. And a five-star rating somewhere, wherever it is. You consume your podcasts, please. Do we love it when you do? And of course it helps get the word out there. [00:22:07] It helps get the podcast out there. It helps make some of this stuff possible. Also if you have any questions, please do email paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, that's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk If you're interested in our workshops or indeed one of our, one to one masterclasses, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section of the website. [00:22:33] Alternatively, just stick paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops into your Google-y Browsery thing and you will find us. [00:22:41] And if you fancy more content, that's all about the joy, the brands, the business, the creativity, of portrait photography, then why not head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, which is not only a vast resource of portrait photography stuff, but is also the spiritual home of this 'ere podcast. [00:23:01] But whatever else. whatever else. Until next time. Be kind to yourself. and stick yer signature on things. Take care. [00:23:14]

Marcus O'Brien is joined by long-time colleagues Stephen Hooper, Vice President of Design and Manufacturing, and Derrek Cooper, Vice President of Data and Process Management, to talk about their vision for the Fusion industry cloud.In this episode you'll learn about how the Autodesk Design and Make Platform is leading the way for the convergence of technologies that support design and simulation processes with production and manufacturing processes. By creating an information architecture that unlocks the value of granular design data, Autodesk is enabling partners like CloudNC, Makersite, and Cadence to develop tools that continue to revolutionize the product design and manufacturing industries.And this wouldn't be an AutoCAD Podcast episode without diving behind the scenes at Autodesk. Hear about the many ways the AutoCAD and Fusion teams collaborate to enhance your workflows with innovative automations that leverage Autodesk AI and help you focus on creating impactful designs.

When new competition pops up, you gotta be ready to pivot in a fresh and sparkly direction. You're adapting fast, staying relevant and realigning your content strategy to outshine competitors. Especially if you plan to stick around for nearly 80 years like Mattel, you're bound to see new brands enter the market. And sure, Bratz and L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls are cute and trendy. But they didn't just release a record-breaking movie with an all-star cast that won the first ever Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement. But for Mattel, the Barbie movie was a big pivot. So in this episode, we're helping you prepare to pivot and take on the competition with marketing lessons from Mattel and Barbie, the movie. And we're doing it all with the help of special guest Kylee Swenson, Director of Content Development and Owned Media at Autodesk. Together, we discuss being ready to pivot, the importance of inclusivity, and expanding your addressable market. So reminisce about your childhood weird Barbie as we get into this episode of Remarkable.About our guest, Kylee SwensonKylee Swenson is Director of Content Development & Owned Media at Autodesk. She leads a global team of writers, editors, designers, illustrators and video producers creating content in multiple languages for the Webby Award–winning publication, Design & Make with Autodesk (https://www.autodesk.com/design-make) for the global design-and-make technology company, Autodesk (Autodesk.com).Her editorial vision is fueled by the awe-inspiring things people create with innovation and technology, from building resilient infrastructure that mitigates the impacts of climate change to designing 3D-printed skull implants that save lives.Prior to joining Autodesk in 2012, she was a music journalist and magazine editor at publications where she interviewed artists such as Björk, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Robert Smith (The Cure), and Del the Funky Homosapien (Hieroglyphics). She's also the author of The Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums; was once nominated for a Grammy as a collaborator with the group, Nortec Collective; and is a former Governor for the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy.About AutodeskAutodesk is a global leader in software for architects, builders, engineers, designers, manufacturers, 3D artists, and production teams. From greener buildings to smarter products to more mesmerizing blockbusters, Autodesk software helps their customers to design and make a better world for all. Over 100 million people use Autodesk software like AutoCAD, Revit, Maya, 3ds Max, Fusion 360, SketchBook, and more to unlock their creativity and solve important design, business and environmental challenges. Their software runs on both personal computers and mobile devices and taps the infinite computing power of the cloud to help teams around the world collaborate, design, simulate and fabricate their ideas in 3D. They are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and have more than 10,000 employees worldwide.About BarbieBarbie is a live action movie based on the Mattel toy. It was released this year, and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It's about Barbie — who lives in an idealized, plastic world — having an existential crisis, which manifests as her feet going flat, getting cellulite and bad breath. And so she goes to see weird Barbie, played by Kate McKinnon, who tells her she has to find the girl who plays with her in the real world so that she can be cured. Director Greta Gerwig said with the movie, she “wanted to give people –- and girls — but people the sense of you're okay and you have value, just as you are. It is not something you earn or you need to achieve. Symbols like Barbie are an important way to reflect back the enough-ness of just being a girl, being a woman, being a person. And that's what I wanted to explore in this movie, because Barbie's for so long has been a symbol of the thing you could never be.”It's become the highest grossing movie of the year with over $1.4 billion globally, making Greta Gerwig the most successful solo female director ever. There's speculation that stock for Mattel may rise by up to 25% because of the movie. What B2B Companies Can Learn From Barbie:Be ready to pivot. Kylee says, “Companies can't wait to be disrupted by other companies. And CEOs like Ynon Kreiz need to be able to see around corners, so to speak.” So when Bratz and L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls became popular, Mattel decided to capitalize on their intellectual property to make the live action Barbie movie.Be inclusive. Barbie, the movie, has Barbies of all skin tones, shapes, sizes, abilities, professions, etc. And of course we can't forget weird Barbie. Kylee says inclusivity is an important value at Autodesk as a global company. She says, “We have something called the culture code and every year people are evaluated not just on what they do, but how they do it. And they're evaluated on inclusivity as a value. So, part of this code is looking at ways to check our biases. To learn to work with people from all walks of life. I have somebody on my team who's in Tokyo, somebody in Munich, somebody in Detroit. We've got people all over the world, so that culture code is very important to the company.” That inclusivity in the makeup of your company will be reflected in your content, and resonate with more people.Expand your addressable market. Kylee says, “The Barbie movie doesn't just appeal to young girls and mothers. I was really surprised that grandfathers, dads, boys, non binary people [like it]. It's really meant to be universal for everyone.” Because the movie is about existence, it appeals to everyone. So create content that speaks to the human instead of to the customer.Quotes*“We can't outgrow this notion that we are the AutoCAD company if we can't become more of a known brand that people can equate with a broad set of capabilities across architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and media entertainment. We're a B2B company. We're probably not going to become a household name like Barbie, but we definitely have a lot of room to grow, and that's something that we always have to be mindful of.” - Kylee Swenson*“What do we feel the audiences want to read about? We have to think about customers and prospects and what they care about. We also have to think about what Autodesk is. You know, what are our business goals? Connecting those things together is really, really important. But at the same time, you can't sacrifice quality, you can't sacrifice the journalistic integrity that we've been betting on for so many years.” - Kylee SwensonTime Stamps[0:55] Meet Kylee Swenson, Director of Content Development & Owned Media at Autodesk[3:22] Learn more about Design and Make with Autodesk, formerly known as Redshift[5:29] Why are we talking about Barbie?[7:32] What's Barbie, the movie, about?[10:58] Why is Barbie remarkable?[11:34] What are the marketing lessons in Barbie, the movie?[18:21] How does Kylee think about and address the different customer personas at Autodesk?[21:48] How does Kylee prove the ROI of content?[33:37] What is Kylee working on now that she's excited about?[36:43] What advice would she give someone entering her position for the first time?LinksWatch BarbieConnect with Kylee on LinkedInLearn more about AutodeskCheck out Design and Make with AutodeskAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

Bonus Episode: Autodesk AIHow is AI reshaping the way architects design, collaborate, and innovate?On this bonus episode of Practice Disrupted, we sit down with Amy Bunszel, the Executive Vice President of Architecture, Engineering and Construction Design Solutions at Autodesk, and Ryan McNulty, Principal of MBH Architects, to dive into the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it relates to architectural practice — including The Phoenix, one of Ryan's recent projects recently showcased at AU 2023.First, Amy describes the positive impact of AI and how the technology can help the built world — and its customers — improve the sustainability of projects. She explains the role Autodesk AI plays in delivering more innovative projects to clients in a way that will transform both the industry and individual practice. AI can help with three things: automation, augmentation, and vast data analysis. The sustainability challenges in the world are also accelerating the need for change. The built environment is responsible for 42% of annual global CO2 emissions. Now is the time to leverage all the great technology we can to drive towards some of these important goals. - Amy BunszelFrom there, Ryan illustrates why and how AI can be useful for architecture from a project standpoint. He shares how AI helps to diminish architectural administrative tasks and focus on architectural decisions — one example being The Phoenix, a West Oakland affordable housing project created in collaboration with Autodesk. We also learn Ryan and Amy's future plans for integrating AI into different projects and tools in support of the changing profession. To wrap up the episode, Ryan and Amy provide tips for architecture students integrating AI into their practice and share their individual aspirations for how AI can positively impact and shape their environments. Tune in next week for an episode about employee wellness and organizational culture in design firms.Guests:Amy Bunszel, EVP AEC Design at Autodesk manages product strategy and execution for Autodesk's 3D design portfolio including the Autodesk Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, AutoCAD family, Autodesk Revit, and more.  With more than 20 years' of experience innovating software products across the architecture, engineering, and construction, manufacturing and media and entertainment industries, Amy inspires innovative strategy while driving large-scale agile software development around the globe. Amy combines her roots as a start-up co-founder with deep product management knowledge and large-scale product execution expertise to build high performing teams focused on delivering value to their customers.  Ryan McNulty, Principal MBH Architects has an innate ability to unify project stakeholders to create successful projects with meaning and respect to local context. Ryan is known for his keen thirty-thousand-foot view of projects while closely managing every detail. This holistic design approach informs the decision-making process and allows effective communication at every stage, making him an asset to MBH's broad array of project types — from workspace and labs, to multi-family and hospitality projects. Ryan brings deep experience with complex structures, managing client goals, community hearings, and stakeholder coordination. He is currently principal-in-charge of a a large commercial project in Los Angeles, as well as a confidential residential development in New York City.

A Change in Plans: The Journey from Building a Practice to Serving PractitionersAya Shlachter is the CEO and owner of MGS Global Group, a female-minority-owned business that supports architecture and design firms. Her team provides Revit, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, and 3D visualization services to architects and interior designers.Aya holds a Master's degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University and a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Additionally, her interest in the hospitality industry led her to further her education through Harvard University's Hospitality Design and Planning professional development program.Aya is an international speaker and hosts the "Architect My Life" podcast, where she spotlights women business owners in the creative fields.In addition to her professional pursuits, Aya is a wife and mother of two. She also enjoys travelling, cooking, and spending time outdoors.This week at EntreArchitect Podcast, A Change in Plans: The Journey from Building a Practice to Serving Practitioners with Aya Shlachter. Connect with Aya at MGS Global Group, check out their Youtube, or follow her on LinkedIn.Please visit Our Platform SponsorsGo to https://betterhelp.com/architect for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help. Thank you to our sponsor BetterHelp for supporting our community of small firm entrepreneur architects.ARCAT.com is much more than a product catalog, with CAD, BIM, and specifications created in collaboration with manufacturers. ARCAT.com also offers LEED data, continuing education resources, newsletters, and the Detailed podcast. Visit https://ARCAT.com to learn more.Visit our Platform Sponsors today and thank them for supporting YOU... The EntreArchitect Community of small firm architects.

The interior design industry is moving towards photorealistic imagery that puts age-old processes like AutoCAD and SketchUp to shame. This week, I discuss with Fernando Duque why hiring a business like Duke Renders is a game-changer for your interior design business. To try out Duke Render's services use this link and save 25% on your first design. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/angela-belt5/support

You may have met this week's podcast guest Stacie Suedkamp, the owner, artist, and cookie engineer behind the South Dakota luxury cookie company, Fig Tales. But how well do you know her? Tune in to Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens S2 E5 to learn:1. What's the one word Stacie doesn't allow people to use?2. How is Stacie using high-tech engineering tools like a 3D printer and AutoCAD?3. Why does Stacie use emulsion instead of extract?4. What's the one question Stacie asks each of her clients? You'll hear all about the interesting jobs she's had like selling mini doughnut machines and a Catholic youth minister, and what she sold to help pay for college, to her time owning the Bean & Vine coffee shop in Flandreau to finally starting her dream cookie business. She teaches and entertains during her cookie classes, engineers and bakes cookies for special occasions like birthday parties, weddings, hockey tournaments and funerals, fills corporate orders, and she's even made cookies for the Sanford International PGA Tour.  And it wouldn't be Stacie without a sprinkling of her family and faith. Stacie shares expert sugar cookie making tips and a chocolate fudge bundt cake recipe from her seventh-grade science teacher, Mrs. Chandler. Get the recipe for Mrs. Chandler's Chocolate Fudge cake, links and photos from this episode on Randomsweets.com. #ourSweetMidwestLife Instagram: @potatoesandmittens Instagram: @randomsweets Facebook: Random Sweets Email: staci@randomsweets.com Connect with Stacie: Website: Figtales.com Instagram: @figtales TickTok: @figtales Facebook: Fig Tales Email: figtales@gmail.com Stacie's Newsletter for Cookie Tips Stacie's segments on KELOLAND Living  Meet the Creative Stacie Suedkamp, 605 Magazine article from 2022 #foodpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potatoesandmittens/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/potatoesandmittens/support

Crying: Are people getting too emotional over nostalgic/new IPs? Where is the line? A new movie trailer? A sad pet video? A dad seeing colors for the first time!? Moon Part 2: We revisit the India rover moon landing and delve back into the theories around space travel and leaving low Earth orbit. Strike Force Five: The Late Night hosts have entered the podcastsphere! Let's check in on their new podcast that has been launched to support their staffs during the strike. LET'S JUST TALK!, BOOGIE NIGHTS!, DON CHEADLE!, STORMY!, MONSOON SEASON!, HHN OPENING NIGHT!, THE LAST OF US!, STRANGER THINGS!, CRYING!, EMOTIONAL!, DETAIL!, NEIL DRUCKMANN!, NOSTALGIA!, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDYS!, NINJA TURTLES!, MICROPLASTICS!, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE!, TIKTOK DOG!, SPIKEY MICHAEL!, THEDODO!, GRUMPY DAD!, CHARITY!, ORPHANS!, SCRUBS!, BRENDAN FRASER!, DR COX!, WHO'S READY FOR FALL!?, ORLANDO!, PATREON!, IRELAND!, TAX HAVEN!, INDIA'S MOON LANDING!, ROVER!, LOW EARTH ORBIT!, SHUTTLE!, VIDEO!, REACTION!, N64!, UNMANNED!, SLOT REGIONS!, PARTICLES!, 3D ANIMATION!, AUTOCAD!, MOON COPE!, INDIA'S FLAG!, SLUT ERA!, SPACE ISN'T REAL!, OLDBOY!, HALLWAY FIGHT!, SEND MOON!, SEND BOB!, PERVERTS!, HORNY!, CULTURE!, REPRESSED!, FORCE FIELD!, FOLEY GUY!, SOUND EFFECTS!, POLICE ACADEMY!, CADDYSHACK!, GOPHER!, BILL MURRAY!, MURDER SUICIDE!, INCANTATION!, DAILY SHOW!, STRIKE FORCE FIVE!, LATE NIGHT HOSTS!, PODCAST!, STEPHEN COLBERT!, JIMMY KIMMEL!, JIMMY FALLON!, JOHN OLIVER!, SETH MEYERS!, QUALITY!, ZOOM RECORDING!, BORING!, AMBER RUFFIN!, CARSON DALY!, ANIMANIACS!, AVENGERS!, LITERARY REFERENCE!, STONE FACED!, LEAVE!, PODESTA!, SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW!, CONCERNED!, STOPPING THE SHOW!, MEMORY HOLED!, 2 BEERS DEEP!, 9 BEERS DEEP!, SPIN A YARN!  You can find the videos from this episode at our Discord RIGHT HERE!

For Ellen Finkelstein, making it is about giving back. When you give, you receive. Through email marketing and blogging, she established authority and built trust… ultimately selling her courses to a loyal following that she cultivated over the years.

What are some ways for BIM to positively affect the electrical engineering industry? How do we get more people on board with BIM adoption across the trades? Join host Todd and guest David Robison as they discuss the long-term benefits of BIM workflows, the electrical engineering issues that BIM and 3D workflows may not yet address, and more. David Robison is a co-founder and President of Design Master Software, a company that helps electrical engineers design buildings in Revit. He has over 25 years of experience developing electrical BIM software, first in AutoCAD and now in Revit.

WebAssembly is a low-level binary format for the web that is compiled from other languages to offer maximized performance and is meant to augment the places where JavaScript isn't sufficient. High Performance applications like AutoCAD, Figma and Photoshop are now leveraging the capabilities of WebAssembly to provide native experiences on the web. Matt Butcher is The post WebAssembly with Matt Butcher appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.