Podcasts about carve

Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Check out the full episode: https://greatness.lnk.to/1452DM Zane Lowe, the renowned music curator and radio host, shares his journey of carving a unique path to success. Lowe dives deep into the challenges and triumphs of forging his own way in the competitive music industry. He emphasizes the importance of staying true to oneself and not being swayed by the conventional norms. Lowe's insights are not just about music but also about life, highlighting the power of passion, dedication, and self-belief in achieving one's dreams. Sign up for the Greatness newsletter! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jesus Followers Must Carve Out Quiet Times to Listen for the Holy Spirit Who Speaks to Us in His “still small voice” MESSAGE SUMMARY: God will speak to you, but you must learn to listen for Him. Learning to listen for and to God requires focused and "in-tune" listening in combination with a filter for all the in-life clutter that your lifestyles and culture create. As Paul tells us in Romans 10:17, followers of Jesus must listen and hear the Word from the Lord: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.". You are going all the time with stimuli from many different sources – how can God speak or be heard, in a still small voice, through all your noise? To hear and listen for God, "lengthy times in silence and solitude" with the Lord are needed. Times of quiet prayer with God permits the noise and clutter get taken away. Again, in Psalm 141:1, the Psalmist admonishes us to call upon the Lord and to listen for God's Word: “LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!".   TODAY'S PRAYER: Abba Father, I admit that I am often afraid and embarrassed to openly tell you all that is going on inside me — even though I know you know it all anyway. Teach me what boldness in prayer looks like as I draw near your throne of grace. In Jesus' name, amen.  Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Loneliness. Rather, I will abide in the Lord's Presence. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Exodus 19:5; Daniel 9:9-14; John 10:2-16; Psalms 106a:1-12 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Our Realities Speak to Our Real Priorities”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

In this week's episode, we share nine tips and tricks to help indie authors manage their files. Since I now have 174 novels, file management has become important! This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store: JULYSKULL The coupon code is valid through July 27, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this summer, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 311 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is July 10th, 2026. Today we are discussing file management tips for indie authors. Before we get into that, we'll have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is JULYSKULL. As always, the coupon code and the links to the appropriate pages in my Payhip store will be available in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code is valid through July the 27th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook for this summer, we have got you covered. Now let's have an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. As I mentioned last week, Blade of Thieves is now out. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, Bookshop.org, and my own Payhip store. It is selling well and people seem to be enjoying it, so thank you all for that. Now that Blade of Thieves is out, my next main project is Cloak of Frost, which will be the 15th book in the Cloak Mage urban fantasy series. As of this recording, I am 52,000 words into it. I'm thinking the rough draft will be about 100,000 words. So if all goes well, I hope to have the book out in August. My secondary project is Blade of Visions, the sequel to Blade of Thieves, and I am 4,000 words into that. Once Cloak of Frost is finished, Blade of Visions will become my new main project. In audiobook news, recording is done for Dragon-Mage, the sixth book in the Rivah series, and that will be excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward. I just have to proof/listen to that and then we can submit it to QA and then it should be showing up on the audiobook stories in a few weeks. Recording has started on Cloak of Worlds, which will be [recorded by] Hollis McCarthy, and Blade of Thieves, which will be [recorded by] Brad Wills. So look for more news and updates about that in the coming weeks. So that is where I'm at with current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. 00:02:16 Main Topic of the Week: File Organization for Writers So let's move on to our main topic this week, file organization tips for writers. One of the inspirations for this episode was an episode of the sitcom Community, which is quite funny. In the episode, the college is making a movie based on a legal loophole because they have some archival footage of a suddenly popular actor. One of the characters, Jeff, becomes concerned that people aren't treating the movie as seriously as they would deserve. So he steals the laptop with the movie and sets out to edit it himself. However, Jeff doesn't know anything about editing a movie, so he watches a YouTube tutorial about how to edit videos. The first lesson is "Step 1: How to properly organize your files." Jeff rages that no, he just wants to learn how to edit movies. While realizing that proper file organization is vital in the age of digital video editing, maintaining a good file structure isn't quite as rigid for authors and writers as it would be for video editors. However, even though many people consider file structure to be old-fashioned or pointless in the age of Google Docs and AI, in my years working in IT, I found that people wasted many hours trying to find files unnecessarily. For example, I always flinch a little bit when I see someone whose desktop is just a wall of misplaced icons and thousands of documents stacked upon each other. I used to do tech support for someone who had the most amazing gift for the most unhelpful and un-useful file names, often with misspelled words. He would get very frustrated and angry that he couldn't find anything because he hadn't labeled files properly with good file names. Better file structures and file naming conventions would have saved them all that stress and time. It's not wise to have all your files stacked up on your desktop and hope for the best. As you grow as a writer, files suddenly become much more complicated than one single draft in a word processing file. There needs to be organization for audiobook files, cover art, marketing materials, research, and much more. Blade of Thieves was my 174th book. So if you think about it, that means I have 174 separate book files on my computer. Many of them have audiobooks. They all have cover art. The audiobooks have cover art, to say nothing of the hundreds of short stories I've written and all of that needs to be organized properly so I can find it when I need it to. So today we're going to talk about setting up and organizing file structures for your writing work. First of all, what do I mean by file structures? In traditional computing, files like Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are organized in folders. How you navigate through the folder structure on your computer or server to find the files is called a path. Much like with a real path on a hiking trail, you want the path to find a file in a folder to be as clear from junk and confusion as possible. Good file and folder naming is like setting up signs on that hiking trail to help you find the way. Setting up your folders and files correctly makes them easier to use, find, and share with others. So let's go through some tips on how to properly organize your writing files and save yourself much stress and hassle of trying to find things. #1: Make a plan before you begin. Instead of borrowing someone else's file structure, take some time to think about how you use your writing files every day. Do you have a lot of project files for each book like book research, cover ideas, mood boards, and so on? Do you do most of your writing collaboratively? Think about your working style, the amount of files you have, and what kind of files you have that need organizing. It helps to plan for flexibility and growth in the future as the amount of files you have grows. For example, if someone currently runs only ads on Amazon but wants to add other companies like Facebook or BookBub, it'd be messier to add files from those projects if everything in their advertising folder was all Amazon documents with no sub-folder for Amazon. Making an Amazon sub-folder right away in your advertising folder prevents confusion as you start to add other companies into your advertising strategy. What you design should be realistic and as simple to use as possible. Are you someone who makes grand and complicated plans, but then sees them fall by the wayside after a couple of weeks? Many people are. Good organization is something where it's easy to let the perfect be the enemy of the possible. If you design overly complicated file and folder structures and naming conventions that you can't remember without a 20-page guide, you're not very likely to keep up with it. It's better to make something simple that it's easy to remember. Carve out the time to do this with your full attention instead of trying to do it in bits and pieces on the fly. It may take anywhere from an hour to days, depending on how many writing files you have. At the very least, set up the initial folders in one chunk of time so the organization is in place before you start moving files around. #2: Clean up before you start organizing. Get rid of duplicate and obsolete files before starting to organize other files. It will save time and make the process easier. #3: File structure is supported by good naming. Versions and drafts should be numbered to find the most recent one. Be specific. "Second draft" or "Volume one" without a book title isn't helpful if there are multiple books with that name across multiple folders. If you are using dates, be sure to include day, month, and year because in 10 years, "March ads" is not going to make much sense without the context of a year. Be consistent in how you order month, date, and year in a file because being inconsistent with it could make for mixed up dates. #4: Version control. "Rough draft THIS ONE" is not a good name to indicate that this is the latest draft and never use "final" as part of a draft or project name until it's well and truly done. On both Windows, Mac, and Linux, you get 256 characters for file names and it's a good idea to use them to be as descriptive as possible in your file names. #5: Be consistent. Don't make a folder called "Fix These File Names Later" because guess what? That date won't come. In the meantime, you'll probably get annoyed trying to find one of those files that don't have a correct name. If you're struggling with remembering to use your folder and file names, either make yourself a one-page reminder guide or take it as a sign that you might have made your structure and naming conventions too complicated. Remember that simpler is always better. #6: Document it. As with so many areas of life, proper documentation will help you remember something in the future. Write out how your folders are going to be structured, what style and formatting you will use to name the folders and files, and give yourselves some examples to jog your memory. If you're sharing the files and folders with others, make sure to share documentation with them and go over the system with them. That will save much time later since you won't have to spend so much time explaining to people where to find things in your file structure. #7: Decluttering isn't just for your college t-shirts. Schedule a regular time monthly or quarterly to declutter and fix anything in your file structure that isn't working or isn't consistent or correct. Much like organizing a drawer of shirts, things will only stay in order if you keep up with putting in and taking things out using your system. #8: It should fix, not create problems. Your first attempt at file organization may not work once you've added more files or tried it out for a while. Reflect on what is causing problems, what you would like your system to be able to do, and what you dislike about your current system. Train others who will use it. For example, differences in month/[day]/year naming conventions between countries can lead to incorrect dates if it isn't clear what date style is being used. Abbreviations should be standard to prevent confusion. For example, United States state abbreviations could follow the US Postal Service Conventions instead of writing your own abbreviations. MN would be Minnesota instead of M-I-N-N or M-I-N-N-E-S. (Though this can cause a confusion if you're not accustomed to them since, for example, in the postal codes, people often get Missouri and Minnesota mixed up.) Tip #9: Sharing isn't always caring. You can set up password protection on folders and files you don't want to share with others, especially if you're in a shared storage space. Read-only access is a way to share documents with others without worrying about them changing the files. For example, I have read-only access set for my book files so that someone working on my series bibles can download them without editing or changing the files themselves. So instead of having to make extra folders and files that are safe for someone to use without changing, I just set read-only access to those files [for that user]. Now let's take a look at some pros and cons of some typical structures. I'm going to provide examples of three possible folder structures you could use for writing and give you some of the pros and cons for each. #1: Organizing by date. In this system, the year is the first file and more specific files like quarters and months are sub-folders. This system might work best if you write based on challenges or projects such as National Novel Writing Month where each year is its own project. If you're taking writing courses, organizing by date and then by semester or course also would make sense for many people. For many writers, however, this could be a difficult way to organize because then you have to remember what year each book was written and many books are written across several years or months. If you're sharing the files with others, then you have to give them information on the history of each book project so they know which folder dates to look at, which creates extra work and most likely confusion. Like for example, off the top of my head, I could tell you that Ghost in the Forge is the sixth book in the Ghost series. However, I couldn't remember what year or month it was written in. I think it would be 2012, maybe February of 2012, but I would not be able to confirm that without looking it up, which would mean trying to find the file for Ghost in the Forge if I needed it would be a bit of a challenge. #2: Organizing by book. In this system, each book has its own folder and then other aspects like drafts, marketing materials, research, and covers are subfolders. If you don't have a large volume of books and don't have many writing adjacent activity files like research and advertising and don't share files with others, often this is a pretty straightforward way to organize your writing files. #3: Organizing by project type. In this system, the type of project is the main subfolder and sub-folders such as the books, marketing materials, covers, and series bibles would be in folders instead of being organized by individual books. For example, there would be a folder for marketing images. Instagram would be a sub-folder, and then there would be sub-folders in that folder for specific images and ads or individual books. If you have a lot of marketing images, that can be easier than trying to remember what image was for a certain book. This file organization system is more complex than just organizing by book and could be hard to keep up without some dedication. It might be unnecessarily complex for someone who only has a handful of books and only a small amount of files. As your writing adjacent activities like marketing and social media grow, it can be easier to organize this way than just by individual books. It's also much easier to share folders in a granular way using this method. For example, if you hire an assistant to help with social media posts, you can give them access to the social media marketing folders without having to give them access to the folders that have the book files and drafts in them. Now, what do I do for my own file organization system? Now, my system has partly been thought out and partly developed organically over the 15 years I've been doing this. And I found for me, since I've written so many books and series, that the best organizational principle is to run by series. My rough drafts are not super organized because once I am done with the book, I tend not to look back at the rough draft files. So usually my rough drafts are sitting in individual folders for the series like Frostborn, Dragontiarna, Blades of Ruin, and so forth. I am much more organized in the final drafts. Each individual series has its own folder and within the series, each individual book has its own folder as well. To help with keeping things in order, I usually number the folders. So for example, in Blades of Ruin, the first folder within it would be 01 Blade of Flames, then 02 Blade of Shadows, 03 Blade of Storms, and so forth. Within the individual book folders, I have the final files in ePub and PDF form for the books along with the cover images for both ebook, audiobook, and paperback. However, as I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I don't have just the book files. I also have audiobook files, advertising files, and a very large photo library from a combination of stock photos, 3D renders, and photographs I have specifically taken over the years for the purpose of using for ebook covers and advertising materials. For advertising images and materials, like I said, I found the best organizing principle for me is by series. So I generally tend to just organize them by series. So Frostborn, Sevenfold Sword, Dragontiarna, and the Andomhaim books generally have just one folder of advertising images since I can use the advertising image for both Frostborn: the Gray Knight and Sevenfold Sword: Champion. For my audiobooks, I keep those on a separate drive because they eat up a lot of space. But then I just have them organized out by book and series, which is pretty easy when I need to find something. For my stock photos, I do have those pretty well organized and again, in a separate drive, which I back up separately. I divide out the images by type. So I have a folder for castles, a folder for medieval or ancient cities, a folder for modern cities, a folder for fireballs and so forth. And so if I'm making a book cover image and I think, hmm, I want a sword, I can go into the swords folder and look at appropriate pictures of swords until I find one that would work for the project. How this [has] changed over time is I've had to become a bit more organized with the files because I started using Vellum, which generates a separate file of its own. So then I had to make sure that those were organized into proper files. I used to keep all my stock photos in just one big folder that quickly became unmanageable. So I once took two days to properly organize these stock photos. Just keeping all the rough drafts in one big folder for the series has worked pretty well for me because once I am done with the rough draft and have turned into the final draft, I just ignore the rough draft file and any changes that need to be made are obviously made to the final draft file. I also used to keep all the cover images in one folder for some reason and that was a bad idea. So then I started keeping the specific cover image in the folder with the specific book and that has worked out well. Would this be something I would recommend to someone just starting out? I think so. You can obviously get more complicated with this and my file structure is pretty simple overall, but it works for me. I can find anything I need to pretty quickly. In fact, my folder structure is deep enough I find sometimes that I get halfway down the folder structure and forget what I am looking for before I find it, which is a separate problem from folder organization. But I've stuck to this pretty consistently over the last 15 years and it's worked well for me. So I think I could recommend this to someone starting out. I'd have a folder for your rough drafts and then a folder with separate folders within it for your final drafts. Conclusion File organization is not glamorous, but as any records manager at a US government agency can tell you, it is extremely important for finding, organizing, and preserving what you create. Searching for files is not a writing adjacent activity that you want to take up your time and you definitely don't want the stress of losing something that you worked on for a long time by naming and storing it incorrectly. Finally, I want to close out with a reminder that however you set up your writing files and organizing them, they absolutely need to be backed up on a regular basis. I would recommend using a combination of cloud and local backups since they reinforce each other. If heaven forbid your house explodes and you lose your local backups, you still have your cloud backups. And if your cloud provider goes down or gets hacked or something, you still have your local backups. So no matter how you organize your files or how well organized they are, you definitely want to back them up on a very regular basis. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all of the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and we'll see you all next week.  

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carve your watermelons and light the beach bonfires, because the studio is officially celebrating Summerween! This week on The Filmlosophers, the Titanic Trio—Hosts Eddie and Spencer, alongside Intern Manager/Managing Intern Amy—are taking a well-deserved break from the silver screen to venture into the eerie depths of the streaming world. An "Espooky" Stop-Motion Masterpiece Trading sunshine for shadows, the crew embraces their "espooky" side to review the incredible Mexican stop-motion animated series on Netflix, Soy Frankelda (I Am Frankelda). Eddie, Spencer, and Amy pull back the veil to shine a spotlight on the breathtaking, macabre visuals painstakingly crafted by the brilliant Ambriz Brothers, Arturo and Roy. The team gushes over the meticulous artistry and undeniable beauty of stop-motion, discussing why this rarely utilized medium serves as the absolute perfect vessel for such hauntingly beautiful and atmospheric tales. The Philosophy of Fear and Fiction Once the appreciation for the animation is laid out, the conversation takes a deeply philosophical turn. The team tackles the heavy, thematic questions beating at the dark heart of Frankelda's world. Immersed in a universe of gnomes, sirens, and lingering fears, the trio engages in a fascinating debate surrounding the true nature of storytelling itself. They weigh the film's ultimate arguments, exploring one massive, lingering question: do our stories inherently shape who we are, or do we inevitably become the stories we tell? Grab your spooky summer snacks and prepare to face your fears—it's time to open the book on Frankelda! Now Streaming on Netflix!

In the first episode of the Summer School series, Phil challenges professionals to adopt the mindset that separates top performers from the rest: thinking like a CEO. Regardless of your title, you're running a business within a business, and success depends on leading it with intention. In this episode, Phil outlines seven essential questions every advisor, entrepreneur, and business leader should answer to define their mission, identify their ideal clients, market their value, and build a sustainable business that creates lasting impact. If you're ready to stop drifting and start designing the future of your practice, class is officially in session. Resources: Please send Comments, Questions, and Feedback to: mojo@cannonfinancial.com Please send First Friday Feedback Submissions to: mojo@cannonfinancial.com   Transcription: Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, Executive Chairman of Canon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push, and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining. Good Monday morning, Canada Nation. It is Phil here with episode 755 of Monday Morning Mojo. Throughout the month of July, we're headed back to school. Not the kind of school with desk, textbooks, and final exams. We're talking about the kind of learning that can transform careers, elevate businesses, and ultimately change lives. I'm calling this the Monday Morning Mojo Summer School. And each week in the month of July, we're going to tackle a different lesson that every exceptional business leader, be them a wealth management professional or entrepreneur, should master. Today's lesson is simple, but it may be the most important one of the entire series. You are the CEO of your business. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Phil, I'm not a CEO. I work for a bank. I work for a trust company. I'm part of a family office. I manage advisory relationships. I counsel clients. Now, all of that is true. But regardless of your title, every one of us operates a business within a business. Now, the elite professionals understand this. The average professionals ignore it. Elite performers think like owners, and owners think like CEOs. So let's head into today's summer school lesson. CEOs are responsible for the business thesis. Now, every successful company begins with a simple question. Why does this business exist? That's the business thesis. What problems are we solving? Who are we serving? Why should someone choose us? Look at any great company and you'll find a very clear thesis behind it. The same should be true for you. If I ask you right now, what is your professional business thesis? Could you answer in a simple one-sentence explanation? Not your firm's mission statement, not a generic value proposition, your thesis. For example, I help closely help business owners transition wealth and leadership successfully across generations. Or I help affluent families reduce complexity and increase confidence in every aspect of their financial lives. That is a thesis. Now, many professionals spend years working hard without ever defining exactly what business they're in. CEOs can't and don't make that mistake. Before they build a company, they define the mission. Before you build your business, you should define yours. Lesson 2, what type of business will you build? Once you've established your thesis, the next question is simple. What type of business are you trying to create? Now, many professionals drift throughout their careers, accepting whatever opportunities arrive. CEOs intentionally do not drift. They design. Do you want a highly specialized advisory practice? Do you want a multi-generational family office business? Do you want to become the leading advisors to entrepreneurs in your market? Do you want a smaller number of relationships or a larger number of smaller relationships? There is no right answer. That's the beauty of this business. But the value is in your clarity. The future you're building today is being shaped by the decisions you're making right now. Every client you accept, every niche you pursue, every referral source you cultivate, every hour you spend, all of it is either helping build your intended business or helping build someone else's vision. CEOs don't leave that to chance. Neither should you. Lesson 3, who are your target clients? One of the greatest mistakes professionals in any business makes is trying to serve everyone. When you try to be relevant to everyone, you become memorable to no one. The most successful businesses in the world know exactly who they serve. You should too. Who is your ideal client? What is the type of client that has issues and has challenges in their lives that cause them to search for someone with your expertise? What opportunities excite your ideal client? What obstacles frustrate them? What stages of life are they navigating? What decisions are weighing on them? The more clearly you define your audience, the easier it becomes to create value. The advisor who specializes in business owners thinks differently than the advisor who specializes in retirees. The family office professional serving ultra-high-net-worth families faces different challenges than the private banker focused on emerging wealth. Specificity creates relevance. Relevance creates trust. Trust creates multiple opportunities. Lesson #4, what services do your ideal clients need? Now here's a critical distinction. Don't, and I mean never, start with your services. Start with your clients. Too many professionals lead with what they want to sell. CEOs focus on what clients need to buy. What keeps your ideal clients awake at 2 A.m.? Is it succession planning, asset protection? tax complexity, family dynamics, charitable planning, a business transition, wealth transfer, risk management. Your value grows when you become a solution to meaningful problems. The deeper your understanding of client needs, the more indispensable you become. Remember this, clients don't buy products and services. They are buying outcomes. They are buying confidence. They are buying clarity. They are buying peace of mind. Lesson 5, how will you market your value? To be brutally honest, many talented professionals struggle here. Not because they're incapable. Rather, they've convinced themselves that marketing is someone else's job. CEOs know better. Marketing is not advertising. Marketing is helping people understand the value you create. It's your visibility. It's your reputation. It's your voice. It's your willingness to educate and engage. Today's marketplace rewards expertise that can be found, that can be searched for, that is digital and identifiable. Write articles. Host education events, create content, speak at industry gatherings, build relationships in your community, share your insights generously. When people consistently associate your name with expertise, opportunities begin to find you. Marketing is not about self-promotion, it's about value promotion. Lesson #6, what's your go-to-market strategy? Great ideas are useless without execution. Again, every CEO knows this. That's why they develop a go-to-market strategy. How will opportunities become relationships? How will relationships become clients? How will clients become advocates? What's your process? What referral sources are you cultivating? What centers of influence are important to your growth? How frequently are you engaging your community of practice? How intentional are you being? Growth rarely, if ever, happens, certainly on a sustainable business by simple chance or accident. Great businesses execute a deliberate plan. Great professionals do the same. Lesson #7, how will you service clients once they arrive? Perhaps the greatest CEO lesson of all time. Acquiring clients is important. Keeping clients is essential. What happens after someone chooses to work with you? Do they receive a deliberate onboarding process? Do they communicate proactively? Do you create clear service expectations? Exceptional service creates loyalty. Loyalty creates retention. Retention fosters referrals. And of course, referrals help accelerate growth. And then suddenly, one day, you realize you've built something sustainable instead of something dependent solely upon constant prospecting. The best businesses in the world don't just attract clients. They create advocates. Your practice should do the same. As we wrap up today's summer school lesson, I want to leave you with a challenge this week. Carve out 30 uninterrupted minutes. Grab a notebook, silence your phone, and answer these seven questions. Number one, what is my business thesis? Number 2, what type of business am I building? Number 3, who are my ideal clients? Number 4, what problems do they need solved? Number 5, how will I market my value? Number 6, what is my go-to-market strategy? And #7, what is my client servicing model? Because whether you've realized it or not, you're already the CEO of your own business. The only remaining question is, are you running it intentionally? Ladies and gentlemen, summer school is officially in session, and until next week, class is dismissed. Monday Morning Mojo is a production of Cannon Financial Institute. Executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brewer. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan, reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week, and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.  

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Russ Roenick, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Transom Capital, about building a differentiated middle-market investment strategy around carve-outs, special situations and operational complexity.Russ explains how launching Transom shortly before the global financial crisis shaped the firm's highly hands-on approach. He outlines how Transom identifies businesses with strong underlying industry potential but significant operational challenges, then applies a disciplined value-creation model to improve performance.The discussion covers Transom's six core operational transformations: salesforce effectiveness, new product innovation, digital transformation, supply-chain improvement, cost reduction, and talent and culture.Russ also shares how the firm structures its operations team, why former portfolio-company CEOs and CFOs can become highly effective operating partners, and how Transom is deploying AI across back-office and commercial functions.Key TakeawaysWhy operational and situational complexity can create attractive entry points.How Transom approaches carve-outs as an opportunity rather than simply additional risk.The importance of building repeatable operational capabilities instead of attempting every possible transformation.Why operating teams should be involved from underwriting through execution.How supply-chain improvements have generated substantial gross-margin expansion.Where AI is currently delivering value across accounts payable, receivables, customer service, forecasting and sales.Why portfolio companies need internal AI champions to drive adoption.How leaders can stay informed without overpowering portfolio-company management teams.Timestamps00:00 Introduction to Russ Roenick and Transom Capital00:30 Moving from McKinsey into Private Equity01:26 Transom's value-oriented investment strategy01:55 Distressed investing versus operational value investing03:16 Using operational and situational complexity04:14 Carve-outs, lender situations and tail-end funds05:14 Launching Transom during the global financial crisis07:04 The importance of adapting while maintaining investment discipline08:29 Why Transom specialised in carve-outs and special situations10:58 Why many firms view carve-outs as excessive risk12:54 Transom's six operational transformation strategies13:23 Salesforce transformation14:17 New product innovation14:45 Digital transformation and AI implementation15:15 Supply-chain and gross-margin improvement16:13 Cost reduction, talent and culture17:37 Structuring the portfolio operations team18:05 Recruiting former portfolio-company CEOs and CFOs19:59 Transom's approach to AI adoption20:57 Applying AI across back-office functions21:49 Creating internal AI champions22:48 Common AI use cases across the portfolio24:10 How Russ stays informed25:31 Leadership, decision-making and knowing when to step back25:57 How to contact RussRaw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.

Investor, entrepreneur and Co-founder of TEN13 Steve Baxter joins James Willis to discuss the Albanese governments backflip on changes to the capital gains tax discount for startups. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labor's retreat from tax changes, itself a broken election promise, draws praise from some small businesses now carved out.

Well, it's a fitting theme for this playlist, given how long it's been since we dropped a new episode. But this one is well worth the wait. It's literally... about TIME. Or at least, all the best songs with "time" in the title. We'll hear from Huey Lewis & the News, REO Speedwagon, Sublime, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Billy Joel, Styx, Owl City, Cyndi Lauper, and so many more bangers. Carve out a chunk of time for this one, you won't regret it.

Labor's retreat from tax changes, itself a broken election promise, draws praise from some small businesses now carved out.

Labor's retreat from tax changes, itself a broken election promise, draws praise from some small businesses now carved out.

Jeremy Cordeaux takes a fired-up call from Mike O'Reilly, a former Advertiser journalist and community-engagement veteran, who unloads on Anthony Albanese's tax backflip — rebranded as a "carve-out" — and what he calls a new world record for political spin. The conversation widens into a blistering account of union power in Australia: the faceless men of the old ALP, the CFMEU, the painters and dockers who posted black hands to enemies, and the Whyalla shipyards that vanished after decades of standover tactics. Mike shares first-hand stories from the docks — Chris Corrigan's "ghost" pay packets at Patrick Stevedoring, a $1,000 cash shakedown on the Melbourne wharf to lift a yacht — and the scrapping of the building-industry watchdog. It's raw talkback at its best, finishing on a warm note about Foodland, grandbabies, and the "legends card." Recorded live from Jeremy's dining room table for The Court of Public Opinion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday Headlines: Australia’s migration numbers revealed Ships begin moving through the Strait of Hormuz Gina Rinehart gifts Pauline Hanson a 'beautiful big fat orange bulldozer' Labor unveils CGT carve-outs as inquiry hands down report All eyes on Seattle for Socceroos vs USA Deep Dive:Australia has been rocked by another shark attack this week, with a Sydney mum losing an arm after being mauled by a suspected Great White. It’s prompted yet another debate about how to keep people safe at our beaches, but calls have grown louder this time around for a shark cull to be brought in to lower populations and protect swimmers. But it’s not as simple as that, says Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist with Humane World for Animals. In this episode of The Briefing, he sits down with Sacha Barbour Gatt to explain shark culls, their flaws, and what could work better. Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @thebriefingpodInstagram: @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @TheBriefingPodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government announces capital gains tax changes for small business... a Vodafone outage affects millions of Australians... and, at the World Cup, England and Ghana kick off their campaigns with wins

The P-M insists his Government hasn't backflipped on its tax reforms -- despite unveiling a range of carve-outs. Migration has fallen to it's lowest levels since the pandemic. And Sabrina Carpenter is granted restraining order against alleged stalker.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The P-M insists his Government hasn't backflipped on its tax reforms -- despite unveiling a range of carve-outs. Migration has fallen to it's lowest levels since the pandemic. And Sabrina Carpenter is granted restraining order against alleged stalker.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three nine-year-old boys in a Massachusetts port town go looking for the schoolyard ghost called Skeleton Jack and instead find a tree that should not exist — black and leafless, cold enough to seem to drink the life out of the air — a tree one of them is dared to carve his name into, while something he can't see breathes in the dark just behind him.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/BlackTreeFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: "The Abandoned Drive-In Theater" — A newcomer to North Carolina, biking past the ruins of a drive-in theater that's been dead for decades, hears an engine roar and turns to see a film flickering across the filthy, torn screen — then finds every speaker smashed and every wire long since severed, with no way the movie could have been playing at all. *** "He Showed Up To Work After His Funeral" — Six days before Christmas, a security guard helps lower his coworker Jake into the ground after a fatal heart attack — and two mornings later, arriving alone at the snowed-in, empty worksite, he finds Jake's car already parked in the lot. *** "The Black Tree in the Woods" — In a Massachusetts port town haunted by the schoolyard legend of a flayed pirate ghost, three nine-year-old boys push deep into a forbidden forest and find a short, withered tree that grows no leaves and seems to drink the life out of the air — and when one of them is dared to carve his name into its strangely soft bark, something he cannot see begins breathing in his ear.CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:02:17.025 = The Abandoned Drive-In Theater00:07:35.119 = He Showed Up To Work After His Funeral ***00:17:39.759 = The Black Tree In The Woods ***00:58:35.975 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“The Abandoned Drive-In Theater” by January Nelson, from Thought Catalog: https://tinyurl.com/ybwbdgev“He Showed Up To Work After His Funeral” by Thomas J. Sotvedt: https://tinyurl.com/yckfue5w“The Black Tree In The Woods” submitted anonymously to Thought Catalog: https://tinyurl.com/y7rocj8v(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: June 10, 2020

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recorded live at our SAP Customer Council in Berlin, this episode features Markus Oertelt, from SAP, and Dalibor Manojlovic, Head of Assembly, and Sandro Götz, Head of Operations and Supply Chain at KWC in Switzerland. KWC manufactures faucets for kitchens and baths and has navigated multiple ownership changes and carve-outs in recent years, culminating in a move to SAP Cloud ERP. In this conversation, they share takeaways from the council, why warehouse management and production planning are priority areas for automation, and how peer discussions on warehouse versus inventory management shaped their approach. This is a new episode in our Customer Council Berlin Series. Follow and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an update. On Spotify, join the conversation using the episode's Q&A and Poll; on Apple Podcasts, a quick rating or review helps others discover the show. Have a question, topic suggestion, or want to connect with the team? Write to us at insides4@sap.com — we read every message.

Buy-side carve-outs can create significant value for acquiring companies, but they can also present complex challenges. In this episode, we’re joined by Kameron Kordestani, Anna Mattson, and Rui Silva to discuss how leaders—particularly CFOs, integration managers, and CHROs—must balance financial structuring, operational planning, and people management to ensure a value-creating transition. Related insights How buyers can successfully navigate integrating a carve-out The power of goodbye: How carve-outs can unleash value Solving the carve-out conundrumSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Connect with Michael: https://michaelkoulianos.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelkoulianos/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelKoulianos1/Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCBKurdZlFEMaLdwxSYMRNAwI'll be honest — I almost didn't record this episode the way I did. Because it required me to sit across from one of my closest friends and one of the most gifted men I know when it comes to the presence of God, and admit that I've been struggling. Struggling to feel connected. Struggling to cultivate that place with the Holy Spirit that I know I'm supposed to have — especially after walking through five weeks of watching my mother-in-law die of cancer. That's not an easy thing to say as a pastor. But I said it anyway. And what Michael gave me back was one of the most practically powerful and spiritually deep conversations I've ever had on this podcast.Michael Koulianos leads Jesus Image, a church and global movement, and there is genuinely no one I know who flows in the presence of God the way he does. In this episode, he walks us through his personal morning prayer routine — two hours, early, consistent for 20 years — and breaks down exactly what it looks like: silence, Bible reading from Genesis to Revelation looking for Jesus the whole way, worship, and a prayer list he's been building for years with names being crossed off one by one. But more than the mechanics, he talks about what it means to feel God's presence not as an emotional high but as a continual awareness. And he talks about mourning — why giving yourself permission to grieve is actually the door that opens to the Holy Spirit's comfort.We also get into the real cost of leading a movement, the false sense of responsibility that burns leaders out, what God is actually doing on the earth right now, and why the cross isn't just the starting point of the Christian life — it's the whole shape of it. If you're a man who's been running on empty spiritually, or you've been grinding so hard you've lost the thread of why you started, this episode will recalibrate you. Carve out the time to watch the whole thing. It's worth every minute.Chapters:00:00 – Welcome: Jason Gets Honest07:15 – Little Ezra, Grief, and Why Mourning Opens the Door14:31 – Sensing vs. Feeling21:46 – Inside Michael's Morning Routine29:01 – Prayer Lists, John Eldridge, and Hearing God's Promises36:16 – How to Find Jesus in Every Page of Scripture 43:32 – The Hardest Part of Leading a Movement50:47 – Burnout, Boundaries, His Church Doubling While Michael Couldn't Speak58:02 – What God Is Doing on Earth Right Now1:05:17 – Living on His Mission, the Cross-Shaped Life & Closing PrayerCONNECT WITH BRAVECOJoin Our Free Community for Men (ladies, sign up your man): https://www.braveco.orgFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/braveco.menInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/braveco.men/Shop: https://shop.braveco.org/ABOUT BRAVECO: We live in a time where men are hunting for the truth and looking for the codebook to manhood. At BraveCo, we are on a mission to heal the narrative of masculinity across a generation; fighting the good fight together because every man should feel confident and capable of facing his pain, loving deeply, and leading a life that impacts the world around him.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of 50 Shades of Green hosts Adam Lake and Katie Lanagren interview Jennifer Hinton, co‑founder of Carve Designs, about building a performance swimwear brand rooted in sustainability. Jennifer explains how Carve developed recycled‑bottle and natural‑blend fabrics (including coconut‑infused blends), the challenges of recyclable swim materials, and the company's shift from local manufacturing to certified partner factories. They discuss logistics and carbon reductions, the importance of supply‑chain visits and ethical factory choices, and ambitious plans to create fashion recycling loop. Jennifer also shares her observations of changing seasons from an outdoor‑athlete perspective, and how policies such as California's textile producer responsibility legislation is starting to push the industry toward end‑of‑life solutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In dieser deutschsprachigen Episode von Inside SAP S/4HANA Cloud tauchen wir in die spannende Reise von RealCore Industry & Materials ein. Erfahren Sie, wie das Unternehmen seine Geschäftslandschaft durch eine schnelle Implementierung von SAP Cloud ERP nach einem bedeutenden Carve-out transformiert hat. Lernen Sie direkt von Kevin Hurnik und Stephanie Heesen, wie sie organisatorische Herausforderungen gemeistert haben. Ob Sie sich für Geschäftsstrategie oder IT-Integration interessieren – diese Erfolgsgeschichte bietet wertvolle Einblicke für Ihr nächstes Cloud-ERP-Projekt. Welches Thema sollen wir als Nächstes behandeln? Senden Sie uns gerne eine E-Mail an insides4@sap.com

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• Alabama passed its gerrymandered map during an active tornado warning — sirens blaring while lawmakers carved up Black voting districts.• Tennessee and Alabama wasted zero time after the Supreme Court ruling — voting rights took a direct hit.• Iran's ceasefire is over — oil prices are spiking and the global response is tense.• Trump says America is fine — millions of people are asking if that's actually true.• Labor organizer Chris Smalls was arrested at the Met Gala — the contrast between labor struggles and elite parties couldn't be sharper.• An Israeli court in Ashkelon extended the detention of foreign activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila until May 10, 2026 — raising international human rights concerns.

The Sunday Continuous Call Team goes through The Carve Up for this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nurses Report on America Out Loud with Ashley Caputo, RN, FMP – This episode of The Nurses Report explores how Pharmacy Benefit Managers shape access to medications, often leading to delays and denials. It examines carve-outs, ERISA limits, and real patient impacts while highlighting the growing need for transparency, advocacy, and patient-centered decision-making in today's healthcare system...

The Nurses Report on America Out Loud with Ashley Caputo, RN, FMP – This episode of The Nurses Report explores how Pharmacy Benefit Managers shape access to medications, often leading to delays and denials. It examines carve-outs, ERISA limits, and real patient impacts while highlighting the growing need for transparency, advocacy, and patient-centered decision-making in today's healthcare system...

Master the Microsoft co-sell evolution today. Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this deep-dive panel discussion, industry experts Erin Figer, Erika Irby, and Reis Barrie celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Microsoft Co-Sell program by dissecting its evolution from its 2016 inception to today's data-driven, outcome-focused landscape. The group explores the critical shift from transactional sales to modern, frictionless co-sell motions, emphasizing the importance of signals, intentionality, and building credibility with Microsoft field teams. Whether you are navigating the complexities of the marketplace, struggling with reseller enablement, or looking to integrate AI into your sales process, this conversation offers actionable insights to align your organization's go-to-market strategy with Microsoft's evolving priorities and achieve results. https://youtu.be/KV1MGSoyWbQ Key Takeaways Effective co-selling has shifted from autonomous, fragmented motions to a highly collaborative, data-driven approach essential for modern cloud GTM strategies. Credibility is the currency of partnership; without trust from vendors and customers, technical go-to-market motions will fail to produce long-term outcomes. The “REO” (Reseller Enablement Offering) model is an operational unlock for ISVs to go global and sell local without the friction of multi-party private offers. Integrating AI into CRM systems is vital for identifying total addressable market (TAM) signals and maintaining sales velocity. “Don’t automate a bad process” remains the cardinal rule; technology should be used to refine existing, successful motions, not to propagate inefficient ones. The human element—community, in-person events, and empathy—is a necessary differentiator in an increasingly digital, automated B2B landscape. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Microsoft Azure, Co-sell evolution, Hyperscaler strategy, SMB partner investment, Cloud Marketplace, Veeam GTM, Partner Center alignment, Channel enablement, REO, Cloud consumption, ISV scaling, Go-to-market optimization, Partner-led growth, Azure consumption, Channel friction reduction, Outcome-driven sales, Microsoft ecosystem, Revenue acceleration, Partner alignment. Transcript Erin Figer Panel For Cut Out [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: So when we, so, uh, this all started ’cause I was trying to figure out what was next when I left Microsoft and I had this woman who was doing work, actually starting the co-selling process when we first started doing co-selling. And she was working with one of our partners and she was working with my team when I was at Microsoft. [00:00:17] And then I said, this lady knows a lot about this stuff. So I reached out, I left Microsoft, I said, I think we can help each other. Like, I think we’re gonna, I got these companies that I spoke at Microsoft’s conference. They’re like, can you come help us out? And we teamed up. And, uh, we’ve been friends and doing fun stuff ever since. [00:00:34] And she’s spoken at just about every event in some capacity or another, whether it was on stage or a workshop. Aaron Feiger. And then, uh, I, I found, I also, through Aaron, I met this other gentleman who had another company and he was doing amazing work with ISVs or SDCs, uh, Reese Barry from Carve. And then, uh, when I think we started up the event, I mean, Erica Irby came to one of our first events and spoke on stage. [00:00:58] I was like, yeah, this. The person knows what she’s doing. So I’ve asked the three of them to come up and kind of round out and end the day, but all three of ’em have a tremendous, uh, background in this whole process of co-selling go to market strategies. And I thought you, you can, I’m just giving it over to the three of you. [00:01:17] Erin Figer: I we don’t need [00:01:18] Vince Menzione: a, you don’t needer you don’t need a clicker and you, you know what you’re all gonna be talking about. But these are some really smart people about how to partner with Microsoft. So, yeah. No, thank you for having us. [00:01:27] Erin Figer: Um, hello. Hello. I think this is on. All right. So actually we’re gonna do an exercise. [00:01:32] Um, I want everyone to close their eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. All right. I want you to think back to January of 2016. What were you doing? Where were you in your career? What company were you working for? What was going on in your Microsoft partnership in January of 2016? Okay, Erica, what was happening for you? [00:01:59] Erika Irby: So, uh, is this on? Sorry, I cannot tell. Um, I was at Veeam for the first time. We had just launched our first, uh, endpoint backup, uh, product in April of the previous year because nobody knew what cloud was yet, and people were scared. So we had to launch that product. And we had a relationship with Microsoft in a sense that about 20% of our business sat on Hyper V. [00:02:25] That equated to about, I think like around 90 ish million dollars, which at the time was incredible for us. But to Microsoft was, you know, like, who are you guys again? And, um, we begged and begged to have any type of communication with them. Events. Funding nothing. We did not know what Azure consumption was. [00:02:43] We didn’t have any of that information. And if somebody would’ve told me at that time that nine years later we would sign a five year contract with them and have multiple products dedicated to Microsoft, I would’ve been like, y’all are bananas. [00:02:58] Erin Figer: Reese, what were you doing in January of 2016? [00:03:00] Reis Barrie: Uh, let’s see, Jan, 2016, I was moving from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington, uh, sight unseen with no place to stay. [00:03:10] Uh, to take a job at a place called Microsoft or Consulting Gig, a place called Microsoft. Um, kicking off some of the cool motions that we’re, uh, we’re gonna talk about today, I think. [00:03:20] Erin Figer: Does anybody know the significance of January, 2016 in the audience? Any takers? It was the launch of Cosell officially for Microsoft. [00:03:31] Congratulations. We’re celebrating 10 years of officially. Problematizing how you connect with the Microsoft sales organization in a programmatic at scale way. And try to build meaningful relationships. And I have been helping partners since the inception of Microsoft’s Cosell program. Um, I was on the partner side, Reese was on the inside. [00:03:59] You were at a partner. So we have all seen the evolution of Cosell across all three hyperscalers launching, you know, their co-sell initiatives. So I just wanted to take a moment to recognize. I didn’t know how many people realized that it’s been 10 years, it’s 10 year anniversary. I think it’s a big milestone. [00:04:15] Huge. So. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we, you know, when they launched it, I went, I was consulting for a startup outta Boston and we were trying to get Microsoft’s attention, competitor to fame, and I went to the business development guy and said, uh, do you, did you just see this program that Microsoft launched? I think we should include this in our branding strategy and we should use co-sell as a way to get our brand out to Microsoft and be able to tell our story of who we are and what we’re doing and that we’re in their accounts and they don’t even know it. [00:04:55] ’cause we’re the startup out of Boston who switched over from AWS to Microsoft. And we did, and I put every single opportunity in the system I could for the first six months, which was the last six months of their fiscal year. We go to partner of the, we go to, what was it called? Them WPCI think at the time. [00:05:13] Mm-hmm. Uh, in Vegas. And Nasuni won wins like all four wards worldwide. US Education, healthcare Partner of the year because I put 117 deals in the system and then it seeded Na Sunni’s Marketing for the next two years. ’cause Microsoft gave them tons of money and attention and we were off to the races. [00:05:35] Right. And then it was, can you repeat that? And we went and repeated it with Red Hat and Rubrik and Nintex and Quest and. I don’t know, lots more. But it was, it’s been fun journey co-selling. And it’s interesting to see now, um, how we continue 10 years later to evolve co-sell. And so Erica, what were some of the takeaways you had today listening to the conversation about how co-sell, how you’re modernizing and co-sell is changing inside your organization, especially now being a boomerang. [00:06:08] Erika Irby: Yeah, well we call it a Veeam ring ’cause everything a veer ring, everything has to start with with Veeam. Well, one thing I was gonna comment on, I think I’m sitting here thinking how wild is it that back in the day we actually had to define that co-sell was an action that, that, you know, partners and vendors needed to take or, and different vendors and alliances. [00:06:25] I mean, now we can’t even imagine going to market without, you know, that, that attach. But at the time, we were just very autonomous and everybody sold their own product and it, it took like this actual motion, um, to get us working together. But now look at us. I mean, this community is incredible. And we can also see this by, and even when AGU was mentioning earlier, all the bosses he had in his room, I mean. [00:06:47] How many people like know each other. I mean, this is like part of that, that ecosystem. But today, um, a couple of things I took away, and by the way, we want a lot of interactions, so we’re going to kind of throw it back out at you guys. But for me, um, outcomes came up repeatedly that was mentioned multiple times about outcomes. [00:07:04] Um, speed with intentionality. I think that was super critical. We have to go to market. There has to be a sense of urgency, but if we’re not intentional, it’s like, what are we doing? It’s just like a big mess. Um, and then credibility. And this is something I think is super important, regardless of, um, all of our emotions, all of our go to market, all of the, the things that we do, if we are not credible or not building trust with our vendors, our, our co-partners, our customers, we will never be successful. [00:07:35] Um, so those are the three main things that I took away from, from everybody talking today. And I, I thought, I mean, to me personally, I thought those were pretty powerful. [00:07:42] Yeah. [00:07:42] Erika Irby: So we’d love to hear. [00:07:43] Erin Figer: Yeah. And I know Reese, you have been doing a lot around outcomes and changing kind of the cosal, um, intention. [00:07:54] Reis Barrie: Yeah. The, uh, the, just thinking back to today, like that was like such a, it was really a, a big key theme of today. Like everyone talked about, whether it’s pivot of, of sales, partnership, um, even when you’re talking about AI and some of the, the, uh. POC discussions. So the live like type of stuff, everything was centered around that narrative. [00:08:17] And so, um, and it’s the same with, it’s the same with partnerships. It’s the same with your co-sell motion, same with your benefits utilization, um, and the way you’re utilizing partnerships. And so that’s, that’s a huge, huge component of, um, what I also took away from today. Um, and then somebody, I think it was Mark who said it that I’m gonna, I’m gonna steal this because the, the whole, um. [00:08:40] Near and dear to my heart of like, don’t, don’t scale automate ai, A-I-F-I-A bad process. Like as someone who deals with like, for the most part, bad processes, like day in and day out, um, and trying to refine them and improve them. Like, that’s one of the first things that we, uh, that we talk to partners about when it comes to their partnership and, and the processes they have in place. [00:09:03] So those are like two really big, just takeaways from [00:09:06] Erin Figer: Yeah. Nice. So we’re here to learn from each other, right? Like this is an ultimate partner community of learning from each other. So I’d really love to hear from the audience, like what are some of the things you’re doing in your cloud? Go to market approach and co-selling that you’re trying out. [00:09:23] Either you tried it, you failed fast, you learned from that, that you can share those lessons learned or like what’s working and how are you changing to be more outcome driven in your cloud go to market, uh, approach. Any takers in wanting to experience share? Great. Give that man a mic. [00:09:50] Audience Member: The SMB investments. Um, these, these new, I don’t know what they are. I partner accelerators, PBAs, uh, there’s kind of something going on in the SMB space where it just seems like they’re coming outta the woodwork to come help. On deals. I’ve never seen Microsoft really embrace the customer that they, the way they have in SMB in the cos sells. [00:10:10] I’m not sure if anybody else is seen that, but seems to be working. It’s two things. One, you at Data 60 [00:10:22] America. [00:10:54] I think, I think part of the rarity there is that. Typically you wouldn’t get a seller attached, right? They’re unmanaged that they’re kind of in the nobody cares category, but, [00:11:06] um. So Microsoft made a huge investment in the distribution space saying we’re gonna lean on distribution to help enable our 165,000 indirect resellers that we have as a business. And part of that enablement goes back to field sales alignment. So there’s these roles, ca roles called um, partner Solutions Sellers, PS. [00:11:30] And so they’re aligned by, um, solutions architecture, if you will, for Microsoft. So, or cloud solution area, whatever the new term, modern work, uh, or, uh, AI work, AI workforce, um, data and ai. And so they are there to help support your deal. So it’s, it’s a huge investment and one that I would just can say continue to advocate for it if you’re seeing success with it, because I mean, we’re heading into FY 27 planning for Microsoft. [00:11:58] So. Like there, there could be role changes. So I would say if it, if it’s helpful, like make sure you’re talking positively about it. [00:12:05] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Just to, to your point, like I, I’d say like, um, in the last six to 12 months, like that’s been a, a thing that’s like we’ve to go back and like, I mean we manage a portfolio of a couple dozen, dozen partners at this point, and so we’ve had to go back and rewrite some of our playbooks, reeducate some of. [00:12:26] Uh, some of the partnership folks that we use because, um, historically you kind of get into this like void of, you’re in partner center, you’re picking, you know, account alignment and it’s not managed. And so it’s like, okay, I expect to do nothing with this deal on the Microsoft side from a co-sell standpoint. [00:12:42] Um, but that’s kind of, that’s changed quite a bit, um, in the last six months where, um, it’s not like a, it’s hard to create, it’s hard to create processes and dependence around it ’cause it’s not like a guarantee that you’ll get, you get engagement, but. Uh, you see more eng engagement, more on more and more deals. [00:12:58] Um, and so we’ve had to go back and work with some of our partners to rewrite some of our, uh, deal sharing playbooks to account for, uh, things like that, which is, it’s super cool to see, frankly, um, to see engagement on these, like predominantly. [00:13:12] Erin Figer: So in that motion. So first off, for the folks that are on the other side of this black curtain by the food station, if you guys could please stop the conversation. [00:13:19] It’s really hard to pay attention to what’s going on in this room. Um. Thank you. Thank [00:13:25] Erika Irby: you for saying that. [00:13:26] Erin Figer: That was a great, that was a great, that’s a great point. And what I wanna talk about next is like in order to kind of continue to evolve the playbooks and they’re changing and people are changing, and priorities are changing, what are some of the signals that you guys are using internally in your organization, whether you’re building or buying, um, but would love to learn from all of you. [00:13:46] What kind of signals are you looking at to help you continue to like co-innovate, co-sell, co-market? Um, in your go-to market strategies? [00:13:58] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:13:58] Erin Figer: please. Um, [00:14:00] Audience Member: well, I’m, I’m, we’re building everything from scratch right now because we’re brand is integration. [00:14:39] Like having our, our engineer be able to interact with product [00:14:43] Erin Figer: engineer. [00:14:50] I’m gonna pick on trend ’cause I had just spent last week with them and Sanjay, I think like what you guys are building internally, um, using signals, building it into an AI agent. To help you understand your tam, you wanna share a little bit. [00:15:06] Audience Member: Happy to, and I’ll disclose. The first thing I did was hire Aaron Feiger to run my co-sell operations, uh, for the, for the second time. [00:15:12] It’s [00:15:13] Erin Figer: nice to be a GDI again [00:15:14] Audience Member: for the second, so well planted. Um, but honestly, like I can’t have an environment where I fail my sellers, like this process has to be frictionless in co-sell and marketplace operations. Or I lose trust in my own house, let alone in my channel and in my customer base. So. Uh, building that strong foundation is like job number one. [00:15:34] I’ve been, I spent a decade at Trend. I’m back, uh, five weeks on the job now. Um, but I’d say we’ve built a multi hundred million dollar cloud marketplace business thinking highly transactional. And what we’re trying to pivot to is a highly dated driven approach where we can look at any cloud in any region around the world, figure out roughly how many accounts they have. [00:15:57] Figure out what those customers are spending and things that we can protect from a cybersecurity standpoint, knowing that four or 5% of that total spend will be spent on cybersecurity, doing an overlap of where I have existing customers in that drawing a tam, overlapping that with my incumbent partners to get the Venn diagram of like, where’s my sweet spot to move this forward? [00:16:18] And then where’s my blast radius? So when I sit down with a guy leading France, or a person leading healthcare. I can have a really specific opportunity about how to leverage my cloud partnerships to accelerate deals and expand growth in a very surgical, data-driven, propensity driven way. And it like totally changes the conversation. [00:16:40] And the other thing we’ve done because you get a lot of pushback and when you’re working with Microsoft, uh, I was chatting with a few folks today, like if you’re in cybersecurity, it’s not easy. They got a 25 billion ish dollars cybersecurity business. So you gotta find your swim lanes. And the dialogue I have now internally with my sellers is a major League baseball analogy, which is, if you play major league baseball and if you hit the ball 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this little thing called the Hall of Fame, right? [00:17:07] If you bat 300, if you’re in sales and Microsoft, or Amazon or whoever helps you, 30% of the time, you’re gonna go to this thing called President’s Club. That’s the difference between sitting at home in Ohio and sitting with your beach. You know, your, your toes in the sand. So it’s, we’re really trying to change. [00:17:25] Uh, one of the first things I ask my team is, what’s our brand promise to our sales leaders and our sales team? And if you don’t know that answer, you got a fricking problem. So you gotta get that. What’s your Brene Brown would call it? What’s your North Star? What are your values? Whatcha are you gonna deliver? [00:17:38] Right? So you gotta get that right and then you gotta be relentless in making it frictionless. And then you gotta hire Aaron Fier to run your co-sell. [00:17:46] Erin Figer: Okay? Okay. And so, I mean, I think like that’s a trend that I’m seeing across the partners that I’ve been working with is how they’re using data and doing more data driven, um, decision making and getting to their TAM faster so that as they start to then look at this pathway of, okay, now I’m trying to go to market, what. [00:18:11] Programs does Microsoft have or my other partners have that I can use to move me down that path faster. But getting that tam and feeling more confident about it, like, this is the group, this is the subgroup that I’m gonna start with until I see something that says, oh, I need to deviate and do something different. [00:18:30] Um, so I’m definitely seeing that trend. Like what are you seeing, uh, what are you guys doing at Vem? [00:18:35] Erika Irby: Um, so a couple different things. So like you were saying, we, we do leverage, um, AI more, uh, recently for New Deal Reg, um, automation. And we lit, literally just launched it this week. So this is the week that it’s exciting until the, someone tries to use it for the first time and then for. [00:18:52] Um, so I can’t wait to see my emails later, but, um, it, it’s, we’re seeing like that, that that movement, which is, uh, definitely good for that. We have a task force internally for marketing, so trying to figure out how we’re gonna, um, you know, leverage that, uh, um, internally. And I think that Veeam, you know, they, they have been on the forefront of technology for, for a while. [00:19:12] You know, they were the first with the. Virtual backup and, you know, all these things, you know, really trying to be ahead of the thing, ahead of the game. But, um, one thing I, I, I love how many people brought up the intentionality and the mindfulness because I think sometimes we can easily. Put out a whole bunch of tools. [00:19:28] I love that you called out the point about the bad processes, um, because it actually, I think, can just create more confusion, more of a mess, and that, um, really mindfulness will be so much more beneficial, you know, down the road for your partners, for your customers, for everybody that has to, you know, do that interaction business with you. [00:19:47] I did wanna call out that I thought it was lovely that you had a positive comment about Microsoft. I dunno if I, [00:19:53] Audience Member: yeah, [00:19:53] Erika Irby: I like rarely hear that. So like, awesome. I hope that does get back to Microsoft. I hope that they do, um, continue that. I’m sure their SMB is quite a bit bigger than maybe others, but that is a massive install base for, for Veeam as well. [00:20:07] And even though we’re driving and trying to push into the enterprise, protecting that install base is just absolutely critical for success. [00:20:15] Erin Figer: What about you race? [00:20:17] Reis Barrie: So if I’m looking at like signals, I, I think. Uh, I’ll focus on too, I think you mentioned, uh, the, the cycles of change at Microsoft. Like it used to be an annual thing and now it’s like a, then it was a half base thing, and then it was a, now it’s a quarterly thing basically. [00:20:30] Um, but there’s also like, there’s, there’s big signals and small signals, and so annually we still get like that, like the, the, the guiding direction so that we can align. How we talk about ourselves, how we talk about our partnership, how, how we enable our sellers and whatnot. And then we got a lot of programmatic shifts from a, from a quarter to quarter standpoint. [00:20:50] Um, and so focusing on the, like these, um, these signals so we can align our, our messaging and our frameworks to align with, with, with our partnership, um, is, is one thing that’s, you know, super, super important to keep, keep tabs on. Um, and the second one, I’ll, I’ll give, you’ll. Mention is more on the cus sorry, uh, customer side, but like the seller enablement. [00:21:15] And so how is your, on the marketplace side, how, how are your sellers talking to your customers about marketplace? Um, are they, are they bringing up earlier in the, in the qualifying discussions of how does the customer prefer to buy? Um, are there fire drills with two weeks to go, um, till the, till the deal closes and now the customer wants to go marketplace and, and no one knows how to do it? [00:21:37] Um, seen that way too many times. Um, and so, but how, how, like studying kind of the, uh, maturity of our sales org to see well, like where, where, where is our, our, where are our sellers competent to have this marketplace discussion? Um, because I often relate, like, this is kinda a silly analogy, but I, I, simple stuff works really, really well with me. [00:22:00] But I like, have you ever been to a farmer’s market and you’re like nervous to buy something? ’cause you don’t know if they take credit card. [00:22:07] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:22:07] Reis Barrie: And so like to me, I’m like, okay, well, like it’s the same thing with Marketplace to me. And so like, it’s, it’s the same concept of you want your customer to be able to buy, they want the way that they would like to buy. [00:22:19] Um, and you want the person that they’re interacting with to be able to, um, facilitate that, that transaction in, in a way that feels frictionless. Yeah. Right. Uh, and so that’s a lot. Like, those are the kind of, the really two deep signals, um, that we, we look at a lot. [00:22:37] Erika Irby: I wanna make a comment on the marketplace. [00:22:38] So I don’t know if anybody else is experiencing this, you know, Veeam being an ISV, we have a really strong traditional, traditional channel motion. So, to your point about how sellers are, are managing the marketplace, to be totally honest, we struggle on, um, that, because right now it feels like a deal that goes to the marketplace is taken away from a reseller, and that reseller loses out then on that upfront margin and. [00:23:06] Um, there’s not a clean path necessarily for, you know, just because the, the deal happened there. They really, they still need to maintain that because they’re the one pri providing the services. And somebody had brought up earlier that, um, A SMB customer will never be successful without a partner. And I, I totally agree with that, but it’s like that part is missing. [00:23:26] So we almost need like a mindset change. In the channel where the marketplace is just a route to market and how the customer receives the product. It shouldn’t totally matter because at the end of the day, the, they still have to provide the services. It’s like, I could go to Home Depot and purchase a bunch of pipe for my house, but can I install it a thousand percent? [00:23:49] No. I would destroy my house. I used to have to have a plumber. So I think there’s, we could help our channel by changing that mindset, and at the same time, we, we need the marketplace owners to, to provide the benefits so that it is still very attractive for those traditional. Partners to, to push their customers there or else I, I think we’re just gonna constantly have that strife. [00:24:11] Erin Figer: Yeah. Does anyone in the audience, has anyone in the audience activated REO with Microsoft? You have? Yeah. So how’s it, like, how’s it going? Yeah, there’s Bump. Yeah. [00:24:32] Audience Member: How that shifts making people more effective in their roles individually. So we’re early stage of it, but it’s, it’s been a good experience. [00:24:42] Erin Figer: Has it helped to kind of unlock some of that friction with the resellers and continuing to include them to get to the s and b customers? [00:24:49] Audience Member: Yeah, I think the, the challenge that we’re working through right now is, you know, Erica may have said it, but it’s. [00:24:56] It’s not just the, the view of the marketplace taking people out of the equation, it’s how do we use the marketplace for, for co-innovation to keep people in it. So if, if, if it’s gonna take three to five of, of us in this room to deliver that spectrum to innovation for the customer. Um, how do we use the marketplace as a force multiplier of bringing that together and making that transaction easy? [00:25:21] Yeah. If, if our consumers are more and more influenced by Instagram and TikTok Shop Now buttons, like my husband’s texting me about my stuff that showed up today, [00:25:31] Erika Irby: which is none of his business. [00:25:32] Audience Member: None of your business. That’s right. Just put it [00:25:36] Erika Irby: in my room. Thank you. [00:25:37] Audience Member: If people are, people as consumers in the, in the u, us consumer based economy is driving more and more people through like that social experience of purchasing, that is an area where I do think Microsoft could help us and we could help ourselves in marketing how that, how we leverage it to be a force multiplier versus another omnichannel. [00:25:58] Well, [00:25:58] Erin Figer: so on that note, how many of you have put a button on your website? Click to buy? Yeah, [00:26:02] Audience Member: that’s, that’s where I’m at with our marketing team. [00:26:04] Erin Figer: Right? [00:26:04] Audience Member: Yeah. That’s, I think, the next evolution for us in the, in the REO piece. [00:26:08] Erin Figer: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:10] Audience Member: I, I don’t want it on our website. I want to, I want it on my Instagram, my LinkedIn, my TikTok reels. [00:26:15] That’s, we’re going to, sir, it’s coming next week at our sales kickoff. Yeah. [00:26:21] Erin Figer: Nice, nice. Anybody else? Uh, activated. REO [00:26:28] besides the, you know, RE speed wagon? Uh, it’s the Microsoft Reseller Enablement. Um, offering, so like you activate your resellers to just take your listing and be able to do a private offer so that you don’t have to do multi-party private offers anymore. Your resellers can just take the listing and sell it directly, and they don’t have to wait for you to send them the offer. [00:26:52] Then they have to go do, so it takes out some of the steps and that friction in the process streamlines it and it allows them to like. Add on and do their own pricing. And then the reseller, however you have your arrangement with that reseller, continues to pay you in the back end for, um, selling that through the marketplace. [00:27:11] Erika Irby: I think I’m going to have you come and do a webinar for our Veeam partners to, to help them with that, because to your point, I don’t, I don’t think it’s as prevalent yet. It’s, it hasn’t really caught on. [00:27:21] Erin Figer: Yeah. It’s been really an unlock of, I had a large, um, ISV that I helped. We implemented REO internally, so they have 34 marketplace offerings and they have this initiative. [00:27:36] They wanted to go global, sell local, and so they launched five more publishing accounts and they came to me and said, we need to replicate our catalog five times 34. And I was like, oh God, please, no. And luckily like two months later, Microsoft, like GAed, uh, REO, and I was like, here’s your answer. We’re not going to do that. [00:27:58] We’re going to enable each of your publishing accounts to be resellers of your quote unquote gold standard publishing account, and that we actually implemented REO as an internal mechanism for them to issue their own publishing accounts, to resell private offers in local currencies. Um, and that was really an operational unlock for them. [00:28:25] All right. Anybody you wanna ask a question to the audience? [00:28:29] Audience Member: Okay. I’ll just keep going. [00:28:32] Erin Figer: Um, all right. So what are some other, um, signals or ways that you guys are evolving the way you’re co-selling? Um, does anybody else have some experience shares that they want to, to share with the audience? We’ve got, we’re using data, uh, we’re using some ai, we’re helping us get to our audience faster. [00:28:51] I really loved work span, um, building in an AI tool inside your CRM system, um, so that you can get some of those signals. Any other signals that you guys are using, uh, to change the way you’re co-selling? [00:29:07] It’s quiet on [00:29:07] Reis Barrie: Maybe, maybe I’ll share one, but Yeah. Yeah. So, um, just when it comes to, like, for us, account alignment to me is like one of the most important things and consistently doing, uh, you know, account planning and account alignment against Microsoft their accounts. Um, now it’s a bit interesting ’cause you can include some s and b stuff in there. [00:29:27] Um, but also, uh, Jason you mentioned up there, the. Uh, marketplace rewards, having the propensity mapping. And so looking at not only from an account alignment, um, what Microsoft accounts are, we, um, you know, areas are we most penetrated in, but also of those accounts, which ones are already buying on marketplace. [00:29:47] Uh, maybe have a commitment to Microsoft in, in some way to help us just further, uh, further target and focus on, you know, if we have 500 opportunities that we’re trying to, um. I’m trying to work through, um, to Sanjay’s point, like what’s, what’s the 30% that I’m gonna get my batting average on? Um, and so that constant account alignment to us is like a, is a huge, huge signal, um, for us to focus on. [00:30:14] Um, and then you can even take it a layer deeper to identify, okay, well if I’m looking like, do I have density within Nina had the, the ou up here on the screen. So do I have densities with density within like specific. Uh, verticals or regions, um, or segments that I should maybe if I just focused on that one segment or one vertical, um, you know, then all of a sudden I, I’m super successful having an executive sponsorship in that, uh, in that ou, something like that. [00:30:44] Um, and, but that, that’s all starting with, um, the foundations of that being that consistent account alignment and leveraging some of the, some of the propensity stuff that Microsoft is, is providing. [00:30:56] Erin Figer: And then making sure you’re like bringing it back into your CRM and storing it so that you can continue to use that information ongoing. [00:31:03] And we’re trying to figure out how to embed more and more. [00:31:37] And are you integrating like. Microsoft and other partners into that data as well. It’s like, this is a great partner. Incorporate them at this point in the journey. Yeah, we um. [00:31:50] When [00:31:50] Audience Member: you’re in the process with, with Microsoft, we haven’t opened it up externally, so that’s our crawl, walk, run is we’re, we’re trying this out internally. Let’s see if we can work the bugs out, get the agents working, and then how do we now go to our MSP community and offer this up as an agent they can use within their sales team. [00:32:08] And on the end of. We’re still working in the middle, but front end profiling, it’s helping a ton, um, and giving us a lot of good intel that the sellers are driving through the agent on the back end. It’s, it’s giving us not, um, just propensity data, but what’s resonating. So if we launched 12 products this year and we trained sellers on. [00:32:28] What’s hitting, where’s my pipeline velocity coming from? Where’s my close rate coming from? So that every month when we have our sales town hall, it’s like, here’s the top three sales motions that are actually driving pipeline and fast to cash close rates. [00:32:42] Erin Figer: And I gotta imagine that helps you get to your differentiators. [00:32:45] Audience Member: Oh [00:32:45] Erin Figer: yeah. And refining your superpower story. [00:32:48] Audience Member: That’s right. That’s. Yeah, because it’s for, for our sales team. I mean, we were talking about it earlier, it’s all about simplification. There’s so many options, so much noise. It’s like, just go focus on these three things and this is where you’re gonna deliver impact and outcomes to your customer. [00:33:01] And if we’re doing that, we’re all winning. [00:33:03] Erika Irby: Yeah. I, I, um, just recently, this is why one of the coolest things that Veeam has done, we just launched this tool called, um, expansion iq, and it’s part of our command, the expand motion this year where we’re really. Upselling and cross-selling our, um, install base. [00:33:17] This tool takes all the partners individual propensity data, puts it against four solution plays that we think are the main plays, and then provides them, this is what you could be earning if you took this motion. And then from a marketing perspective, we provide them. And to do this, here’s your campaign. [00:33:37] Here’s your this, here’s your that. Step one, send this email. Like very, very, you know, just, uh, planned out. And I loved what Nina said earlier today when she shared that, um, org chart. Essentially with all the different, um, industry focuses we are driving. One of our go to market actions is a Microsoft healthcare campaign. [00:33:56] That is like very, very specific, but it’s helping our partners in that manner. Could they go to their own database and pull their own and do all this stuff? Of course. But for our sellers to go blink and then give them a report and be like, here it is. It makes it so much more relevant. And then the steps just, they just hand that to their marketing org and then they’re just off and running. [00:34:18] Going back into your team to say, Hey, we rolled out these 12 things, only three landing. You gotta go back to the drawing on the other side. Or We need more money for these three. Yeah, but let’s figure what’s not with customer [00:34:38] to record the. [00:34:47] Audience Member: A better, faster, uh, listening post for, uh, can I talk really loud? Um, it’s, it’s, it’s helped turning on a listening post for our engineering, our marketing, our service delivery organization that would’ve taken months or quarters to get spun up in an executive board meeting or something. Right now they get it real time every week. [00:35:09] Okay. [00:35:09] Erin Figer: So what I’m hearing, like the theme here is to really like. Understand your sales process. Also, your co-sell sales process that runs in parallel with that. And how do you continue to serve up the right data at the right time to help your people take the right next action to continue to drive those outcomes that you’re looking for, but then also using data to circle it back, to say what’s working, what’s not working, to continue to refine that whole motion. [00:35:43] Um, so if you’re not doing that, I think that’s a big aha moment and takeaway, uh, from today’s session or from here today is like, okay, am I really identifying all the opportunities in my process to involve data to help my people continue to drive outcomes? [00:36:04] Audience Member: You [00:36:04] Erin Figer: have a, [00:36:05] Audience Member: you have your head in up back there, Gary. [00:36:06] Yeah. I, I couldn’t tell if, uh, you were prompting me when you asked that question and I, I didn’t want to, you know, do a shameless plug for cloud, but I think everybody [00:36:15] Erin Figer: should shamelessly plug, plug away. [00:36:16] Audience Member: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, you brought up a mitt and, uh, the co-sell thing, but it, it does relate to what Reese had said about, um, you know, the being at the farmer’s market and. [00:36:26] Not sure what, you know, can I use a credit card or not? And I think that, um, or [00:36:30] Erin Figer: can I use Apple Pay? I still ask. I’m like, do you, do you accept Apple Pay? [00:36:32] Audience Member: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it’s like, I think, uh, a lot of times you don’t understand the seller in that situation is not sure how to handle that conversation. So, and there’s not a lot of information about their, about that. [00:36:44] Like how to, when it comes to a seller talking about marketplace and asking about the commit. Because the commit obviously is one of the main drivers, right? 900 billion out there. And committed spend across all the hyperscalers. So how to actually bring that up with a customer and what if they don’t know, right? [00:37:05] So there’s a whole process that, you know, they, they need to be taught this. But the first thing that’s also come up multiple times is activating them also means how to engage them. So an approach there of how to engage your salespeople is critical because if salespeople aren’t in it, they’re nothing’s happening. [00:37:23] You’re not gonna do well with marketplace. And on the co-sell part, it’s kinda the same thing. The typical thing, and I remember talking to Aldo Desal about this at another Ultimate Partner event, but uh, you bring your salespeople into a call, like you set up a call with, with Microsoft and the seller comes in unprepared. [00:37:42] Typically they’re not sure what to say and it’s a little bit intimidating. How, how, how do I, you know, what do you do in this situation? Like, so you start talking about product ’cause that’s what you know, and it’s the last thing you want to do. You, you want to understand what they care about, like em stage and, and, uh, what’s your consumption story and what kind of MRR impact you’re gonna have. [00:38:03] So it’s, these things are just unusual topics for the salespeople to be prepared, uh, to talk about. But it’s critical if your salespeople are gonna be enabled that they can do that. So I think from a co-selling standpoint, that’s just what I want to mention. And by the way, we offered a tool that does that. [00:38:20] Erin Figer: Nice. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, I mean, I don’t know about you. Reese Cloud Atlas. Every time we helped an ISV with their cosell motion, we would say, okay, we’re ready to go share cos sells and drive introductions. Have you done your sales enablement? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve enabled the sellers we have, and then we launch like the first batch of cos sells and then they immediately come back. [00:38:43] Stop, stop, stop. Don’t share any more deals, like we’re causing too much confusion. Uh, we didn’t do our sales enablement. Wow. Grace, [00:38:52] Reis Barrie: I mean, sound [00:38:53] Erin Figer: familiar? [00:38:53] Reis Barrie: It sounds very familiar. It sounds too familiar. Uh, P-T-S-D-A little bit there, but the, uh, sorry, [00:38:58] Erika Irby: but that’s why you guys have jobs. [00:39:00] Reis Barrie: Yes. Go on. It’s, it’s, um, but this, you know, I, I always come back to the, the concept of like, if we showed up to a Microsoft co-sell call the way we do to a customer call, like, oh. [00:39:14] Erin Figer: It, [00:39:14] Reis Barrie: it would, it would be night and day difference of the value you’d get outta your Microsoft partnership and co-sell. That’s all. It’s [00:39:20] Erin Figer: Well, [00:39:20] Reis Barrie: but I think people [00:39:21] Erin Figer: forget Microsoft is your customer too. [00:39:23] Reis Barrie: Yeah. [00:39:23] Erin Figer: They’re your partner, but you have to sell to before you can sell with and through. So you first gotta like master the sell to. [00:39:30] Reis Barrie: Yeah, a hundred percent. So there, there’s there like, and then to your point, [00:39:34] Erin Figer: it’s still true. 10 years later, people, it’s still true. Back to the fundamentals, right? [00:39:39] Reis Barrie: Yeah. It’s, [00:39:40] Erin Figer: yes. Go for it. [00:39:44] Audience Member: The, um, Microsoft being customer, right? So, and I love what you said about sem uh, alignment. So we actually made it a point, um, in our co-sell process, we have a validation checkpoint with Microsoft. If we build a co-sell packages, um, we are an si We’re not primarily ISV, but I think that’s shifting as well gradually. [00:40:10] And ESI kind of becoming a little bit of ISV. Um, so why it’s important, I think like Ree said, like you come up, you show up to co-sell call and you just pitch your services or say, well, let’s do account planning with this and that. Right? But what if it doesn’t work in the field? So that validation became critical for us, and I can tell you that now we have success stories that are actually proven based on that multifaceted feedback, uh, as to it’s one thing to build it. [00:40:46] Yeah. But is it useful for seller, for Microsoft sellers actually in the field? Can they actually position it and help clients to be more successful? Because that’s the ultimate goal. So that validation became, uh, an important checkpoint for us, uh, to make those packages repeatable and successful for customers at the end of the day. [00:41:06] So when we talk about signals, you absolutely right. It’s not just customer signals like we use ZoomInfo, we use all this data points, et cetera, but it’s also signals from the field because while Microsoft is a huge organization, they’re also very dynamic. On very regular basis, a lot of things changed. So taking those signals into account, uh, has created that, what we call like, more of a holistic approach for us, uh, to make it more meaningful. [00:41:33] So [00:41:34] Erin Figer: I like it. And you made it sticky by making it like a required point in the sales process? Absolutely. That everyone stops. Take a moment. [00:41:41] Audience Member: Yeah. [00:41:41] Erin Figer: And make sure that we’re all on the same page. [00:41:43] Audience Member: Yeah. And I think for us as si it’s even more critical. Like I, I, I think there is a lot more to happen in marketplace as, as, as much as we talk about it, but being in si I, we still kind of figure it out, like how Mark marketplace actually becomes a place of transaction for a size. [00:42:01] Yeah. So that’s why, you know, we’re passionate about packages and it’s not just a matter of publishing it and say, oh, it’s co-sell ready? Then what? Yeah. Right. So yeah, so, so that’s why that, that checkpoint is very important for us. So [00:42:16] Erin Figer: definitely, definitely. I think you ladies over here in the corner had some, some hands up, Michelle and, and the other Michelle, Michelle Squared. [00:42:26] Audience Member: Thank you. Michelle Squared. I like it. Um, so. I’ve been a little quiet because I wanna just give my background. So I’m a global VP of channels and alliances and, um, I think it’s a bit of this, uh, the movement, right? So I love your farmer’s market analogy so much. I’m gonna steal that. Thank you. But the reason is because you don’t know unless you’re gonna meet your partners where you are or meet your customers where they are in that journey. [00:42:53] So the first time that they’re selling whatever their goods or wares are, and somebody says, do you take Apple Pay? That’s a clue. And then when you hear it over and over again, you realize there’s a correlation that there’s a need in the market. So in In my life, all roads read to Romes, right? Reseller and VARs, OEM, alliances, MSPs, MSPs, ISVs System integrators. [00:43:17] And as a partner leader, you wouldn’t necessarily think marketplace is first because you feel like you’re going around your partners. But am I meeting my partners where they are in their journey and choosing to procure the way they want to procure? And I think that’s the notion that I have a lot of learning from this team and everyone in this room to understand how do we in a company. [00:43:38] Prescribe the right solution to, to meet our partners in that journey. And I’ll use, kind of circling back to the MSP space, PAX eight, one of Microsoft’s largest partners created a marketplace dedicated to MSPs. And while I was the global Channel chief of SonicWall, a lot of partners said to me, I like you. [00:43:56] I like your products, I like your firewall, but unless you’re on the park, PAX eight Marketplace, I’m not gonna buy from you because they make my life frictionless. And easier to do business with. And I think that’s the motion that every vendor in this room needs to understand is, are we truly meeting our partners where they are? [00:44:14] PS I work for Carrero DDoS Solutions and come to talk to me about that. Thank you. [00:44:18] Erika Irby: Well, and a Guo owes you some money for that commercial right there. [00:44:30] Audience Member: From, we’re actually community first. Um, as an MSP, even though we’re national, like we really focus in on community local touch. Um. Like you said, um, um, Southern seldom me in a southern way. Like that’s what we focus on. I’m your [00:44:45] Erin Figer: huckleberry. [00:44:46] Audience Member: I love that. Exactly. Um, and we’re seeing a ton of success with actual in-person events now. [00:44:53] Like the majority of our business is come in, leads are coming from that right now. And even though, like I, I truly believe in digital first motions, we need to be on Instagram and have that self-serve motion as the next generation comes up in our. Buying and transitioning to their kids or whatever that looks like. [00:45:14] Like we have to remember that there’s also a trend of tactile in person people first coming with it. And so like we, I, I feel like there, there has to be that motion engaged and I would love to hear your thoughts around how are vendors thinking about engaging in that community driven approach, not just the platform itself. [00:45:37] Erika Irby: Yeah, I, I personally also, this is hilarious ’cause we’re like best friends, so we can talk about this later, but, um, from a Veeam perspective, Michelle, um, we are seeing a resurgence in like these thought leadership type of events. And I think there’s, this is, this is sort of related, but just to, this is kind of how I think about this. [00:45:57] Um, Barnes and Noble’s business has like gone through the roof lately, and they are, they’re actually like opening more stores, which is bananas because at one point they were like going outta business because nobody wanted to go and like, touch a book or talk to somebody. But that is changing, thank God. [00:46:11] Right? That is like changing and people are actually like becoming more social because they’re missing this. Um, my kids’ generation refers to places like Barnes and Nobles as the third place. Like this magical place that exists where you can talk to a real human that’s not on your phone. Like it’s, it’s amazing. [00:46:28] But anyways, we’re, I think we’re starting to see this in marketing. We used to like pump everything out digitally, but after a while people get that form and they’re like, I am not putting my dang information in this form. And then your ability to capture that lead completely dissipates. All it is, is, is now an impression, which is. [00:46:47] Fairly worthless. You can have millions of them and nothing happens. So we are definitely investing more into, um, uh, live events, but also with the live streaming because then people can, they’re still watching it live. They still have to register for it. They knew they couldn’t make it. So I think that there’s definitely that digital aspect that’s super helpful. [00:47:05] But a purely digital, you will never make that connection. [00:47:10] Erin Figer: Yeah, I mean, I think. Unfortunately, COVID made us, you know, all do things digitally. But now that we’re past that, getting back to that multifaceted approach, I think if we think about what’s going on in the B2C world, lots of communities within communities, there’s whole company’s getting created, like women are bringing women together to do craft circles. [00:47:37] And literally. Okay. But like I did that digitally. That was pretty awesome. I was like three years. That shameless plug. No, I, no. But like then now there’s like companies that are actually like renting space, bringing people together, like crafting and while they’re doing the activity, um, if anyone’s ever done therapy, a therapist will say. [00:48:01] You know, if you wanna get your kids talking, get them coloring, like distract them and they will start to open up. And so you distract people with an activity and they start to open up. And what they really are, thrive, like what they really need is in this digital world where we’re getting so much information, we still need. [00:48:22] The next layer of filter to help us vet out and validate and confirm like our thinking or like our suspicions on things like, am I in the right going down the right path? Is this the right direction? So there’s still a human element that needs to be involved in that buyer journey, and you’re seeing that with these little micro communities inside communities. [00:48:45] Um, and so I’ve. I mean, I love micro communities inside of bigger communities. I’ve started two of them, three of them. So I, it definitely, like, we need still that in person, uh, interaction and I love seeing it coming back in our space. [00:49:04] Erika Irby: I, I was just thinking about ear, the, the previous panel and the, the topic came up about who can assist partners as they transition from that direct to CSP motion. [00:49:15] And I mean, yes, it, I think Microsoft plays a role there, but I think it would behoove Microsoft to invest in these communities and they would enable that change. Yeah, [00:49:26] Erin Figer: yeah, yeah. There is a person inside of Microsoft who has that remit, but she’s like one person, one person trying to do that. I was like, wow. [00:49:36] Okay. Grace, what are you seeing amongst your partners and also your perspective with working with Microsoft? [00:49:42] Reis Barrie: Yeah, yeah. Um. There’s a really good, uh, the frontier study, the work like door work study that they did, um, which talks really heavily about just like in this, you know, post 20, you know, 2020 culture, how like the amount of busyness has just increased in an insane amount and how a, a really strong use case for AI is to buybacks from that time essentially, um, for us to, you know, return back to a, a normal state and I think social creatures, right? [00:50:10] And so, um, in this. I run a fully remote company, which is like a blessing and also like really interesting to try to create a really strong culture within people that are, you know, 13 times zones apart times. Um, and so it’s uh, it’s a really interesting thing and coming together and, um, into an in-person space or a place here or a place where you can actually talk to your customers, talk to, um. [00:50:39] Step away from that, like that busy day to day where like, I, I can’t even fit a 15 minute break in to grab lunch. You know, days like how much, supposed to find 15 minutes to just have a, a casual conversation and these types of events, which I’m sure Vince is cheering back there that we’re talking about this right now. [00:50:57] But the, uh, but these type of events, they let you decompress from that day and they let you kind of just have these really important conversations that, you know, bring us back to just being humans To me. [00:51:10] Erin Figer: And being human and co-selling with each other. And on that note, we’re 44 seconds over. Yeah, we’ll give it back to Vince, [00:51:18] Reis Barrie: but we were plugging Vince’s events, so I think we’re okay. [00:51:21] Vince Menzione: We One more question. We have one more question from, sorry. Oh yeah. [00:51:23] Reis Barrie: It’s [00:51:23] Audience Member: maybe more a, a shared just as we’re talking [00:51:25] Vince Menzione: by the clip, right. [00:51:27] Audience Member: And to compliment everything that you guys have been talking about around co-sell and. Getting ready in line with Microsoft to speak to the customer and speaking. So the signals that we’re going after are on the actual conversations that are happening in the conversation. [00:51:41] So aside from all the planning, which I agree on, we’re building agents to hear what’s going on on the calls with Microsoft, on the calls with customer, and grab those actual signals. Are we answering the questions in the right way? What types of questions are coming back to us that we weren’t able to answer. [00:51:58] Maybe we forgot some information that we planned on and thought about can we signal and provide that feedback to the user, the seller, or whatnot on the call. And so as we’re doing this, ’cause we’re in the communication space, so we have some self-interest here ’cause that’s sort of the future of our business. [00:52:12] But it’s a really interesting opportunity for us to grab these signals to improve how we’re selling with our customers, how our partners are selling with our customers, with Microsoft. It’s just an interesting way with everything that’s going on full circle, we’re trying to complete that sort of sales journey with AI and, and grab those signals and keep getting better all the time. [00:52:32] Erin Figer: Yeah, I love that. And I think it’s like the ongoing balance of people, process and technology and how do you continue to keep the human in the loop? It, as we continue to introduce and evolve AI and use of data in our companies is like continuing to be mindful about the human in the loop. Um, part of that journey. [00:52:54] So thank you all. [00:52:55] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Great conversation. [00:52:56] Erin Figer: Thanks for all the audience engagement. We appreciate it. [00:52:59] Vince Menzione: Co-selling the house, co-selling the house. [00:53:02] Audience Member: Thank you, Vince. [00:53:02] Vince Menzione: Thank you. And I remember that January, 2016. Yes.

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If you didn't know this already, this podcast is truly a week-by-week sharing of my own reading and writing life, what I'm learning and how I'm growing in my own restorative practice. I talk about the books I'm actually reading, the things I'm actually writing and the ways I'm furthering my own knowledge in this little niche that I love so much. This week is no exception.I stumbled upon a key piece of research that could be the one thing standing in your way of a reading and writing life that is interesting and passes the time to a restorative reading and writing practice that actually calms your nervous system and makes you feel better.As a quick review, there are a few key steps to a restorative reading and writing practice that alchemizes the healing power of them both:* Carve out a block of time and create soothing conditions to read and write.* Choose the book or passage that you need right now in this season of life.* Read with an open mind and heart.* Write about the nudges you feel in your body and mind.* Take inspired action from the page to make life better. As is with many things, the first step can be the hardest part: finding the time and creating the optimal conditions for your own reading and writing. But honestly, if we do, such beautiful changes can happen in your mind, body and life, especially when we layer our reading and writing practices with soothing signals from our senses. Why?Well, I used to think it was because those sensory signals provided a soothing message to our nervous systems that we could calm down and sink into our practice, elevating our reading and writing experience. And that is still true. But I know know it is much, much more than that. The sensory layers we add to our practice actually signal SAFETY to our bodies.Let me explain, courtesy of my learning from Brett Larkin in HEALING WITH SOMATIC YOGA, a book from my RELEASE book apothecary this month:Our bodies do not speak in words. That's why, even though we truly want to, we can't tell it to stop worrying and to stop overthinking and to stop ruminating and have it easily respond. It simply cannot listen to us in the language we are using. Why? Because it speaks a different language: the language of movement, sensation, breath, sound and touch. When we speak in THAT language and give our body messages at the somatic and sensory level, our bodies can finally listen. That's why paying close attention to the sensory elements in our restorative reading and writing practice is critical.Armed with this new information, I think it's the perfect time to take a sensory audit of our current restorative practice and give it a bit of a refresh for the Spring season. To begin, take an honest look at your current reading and writing practices:* What signals of safety are you currently providing your system during your reading and writing time?* How do they align to the season of the calendar we are in to take advantage of Mother Nature's rhythms? Take a minute and list some ideas for your own personal practice and then borrow some from my own brainstorming below:Sight: Spring invites us to notice nature and the world around us.* Take your practice outside or read and writing with a visible view of the outdoor world. * Add a plant or flower to your reading and writing space.* Choose books, notebooks and bookish bling with Spring-like colors.Hearing: Spring invites us to listen to sounds of renewal and growth. * Read outside and listen to the birdsong or play nature-infused audio tracks while reading and writing. * Press play on a nature-themed ASMR room on YouTube.Smell: Spring invites us to embrace the scents of the blooming season. * Diffuse fruity and floral flavors in your essential oil diffuser.* Light a citrus, floral or minty candle while reading and writing. Taste: Spring invites us to explore personal flavors of joy and presence.* Choose a beverage or snack that feels like comfort and presence for you, even if not aligned to the Spring flavor profile.* Experiment with Spring flavor drinks, like flowery herbal teas or LMNT (my favorite is citrus and lemonade!).Touch: Spring invites us to ground ourselves in the physical world. * Read with your bare feet touching the grass for additional grounding. * Read with a natural stone to rub for presence.These are just a few of the ideas I'm trying in my own personal practice and I'd love to know your recommendations, too. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and let's build a restorative Spring reading and writing practice together!Here are the other episodes mentioned in the podcast:E218: Why a Personal Curriculum Isn't a Book Apothecary & Why That MattersE202: Create a Restorative Reading & Writing AltarLet's Work Together!I love to connect with others around our shared love of reading and writing.Here are some ways we can work together to create a life you love where restorative reading and writing is at the center of it all:

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Send us Fan MailIn Part Two of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan unpack the complex realities shaping the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage. From the lessons learned in the VBID demonstration to the growing momentum behind “carve-in” models, this episode explores the tension between cost, quality, and patient experience—and what it will take to align all three.  At the center of the discussion is a critical question: how do we design a system that truly rewards high-quality care while eliminating inefficiencies and poor outcomes?The conversation dives into emerging models like concurrent care “bridge pathways,” which challenge the traditional binary transition into hospice and offer a more patient-centered approach to serious illness care. It also tackles the impact of private equity, consolidation, and payer incentives—raising important considerations about accountability, network design, and the sustainability of mission-driven providers.  For leaders navigating an evolving healthcare landscape, this episode provides both clarity and challenge on what comes next.  Key TakeawaysThe VBID demonstration revealed both promise and limitations—strong outcomes are possible, but only with better network control and quality alignment.  “Concurrent care bridges” may offer a more realistic and compassionate transition into hospice, improving patient experience and outcomes.  Financial incentives must shift toward total cost of care, not fragmented payment models, to truly drive better patient outcomes.  Consolidation is likely, but high-quality providers—regardless of size—can still thrive if value and outcomes are prioritized.  Payer accountability and earlier palliative care engagement are key to reducing costs while improving care quality.  Guest:Robin Heffernan, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, EmpassionHost:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS and author of The Anatomy Of LeadershipThe Anatomy of Leadership podcast explores the art and science of leadership through candid, insightful conversations with thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers from a variety of industries. Hosted by Chris Comeaux, each episode dives into the mindsets, habits, and strategies that empower leaders to thrive in complex, fast-changing environments. With topics ranging from organizational culture and emotional intelligence to navigating disruption and inspiring teams, the show blends real-world stories with practical takeaways. The goal is simple yet ambitious: to equip leaders at every level with the tools, perspectives, and inspiration they need to lead with vision, empathy, and impact.https://www.teleioscn.org/anatomy-of-leadership

In Part Two of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan unpack the complex realities shaping the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage. From the lessons learned in the VBID demonstration to the growing momentum behind “carve-in” models, this episode explores the tension between cost, quality, and patient experience—and what it will take to align all three.  At the center of the discussion is a critical question: how do we design a system that truly rewards high-quality care while eliminating inefficiencies and poor outcomes?The conversation dives into emerging models like concurrent care “bridge pathways,” which challenge the traditional binary transition into hospice and offer a more patient-centered approach to serious illness care. It also tackles the impact of private equity, consolidation, and payer incentives—raising important considerations about accountability, network design, and the sustainability of mission-driven providers.  For leaders navigating an evolving healthcare landscape, this episode provides both clarity and challenge on what comes next.  Key TakeawaysThe VBID demonstration revealed both promise and limitations—strong outcomes are possible, but only with better network control and quality alignment.  “Concurrent care bridges” may offer a more realistic and compassionate transition into hospice, improving patient experience and outcomes.  Financial incentives must shift toward total cost of care, not fragmented payment models, to truly drive better patient outcomes.  Consolidation is likely, but high-quality providers—regardless of size—can still thrive if value and outcomes are prioritized.  Payer accountability and earlier palliative care engagement are key to reducing costs while improving care quality.  Guest:Robin Heffernan, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, EmpassionHost:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS and author of The Anatomy Of LeadershipTeleios Collaborative Network   /   https://www.teleioscn.org/tcntalkspodcast

FREE Two Day Event: The Farm Marketing Fix - June 2026 Sign Up HERE You didn't build a bad farm. You built a trap — and you did it the only way you knew how. Most farmers start out with a real dream: freedom, purpose, something meaningful. But somewhere between the equipment breakdowns, the cash flow stress, and the 16-hour days, that dream gets buried. And the harder you work, the more stuck you feel. In this first episode of the brand-new 3-part series From Burnout to Balance: Creating a Business You Love, Charlotte Smith gets honest about why so many hardworking farmers end up burned out — and what it actually takes to get out. In this episode you'll learn the three types of burnout hitting farmers at the same time and why addressing just one keeps you spinning, the hidden cost of burnout that's quietly draining your profit (and it's probably not what you think), why most farmers are actually running a job — not a business — and what that distinction is costing you every single day, and the "Only I Can Do This" exercise you can do this week to start breaking the cycle. This episode is 27 minutes. Carve out the time. It's worth it. Click HERE and Let's Meet! Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.

This week we re-examine our favorite strategy for making the transition into retirement, the "Carve Out." When transitioning into retirement, the safe asset bucket or "Carve Out" is often touted as the ultimate psychological safety net. But how much cash is actually enough to weather a prolonged market downturn without selling equities at a loss?In this episode, we revisit the mechanics of the retirement carve out. Is 5 years the magic number? Whether you are five years out or already enjoying your golden years, we explore the strategies needed to ensure your liquidity matches your needs.Send us Fan MailSend your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

Send us Fan MailIn Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan explore the evolving intersection of private equity, artificial intelligence, and end-of-life care—raising critical questions about accountability, quality, and the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage. As the healthcare system shifts toward value-based models, the discussion challenges long-held assumptions about whether hospice should remain “carved out” or be fully integrated into payer responsibility.Robin offers a systems-level perspective, arguing that aligning financial accountability across the entire patient journey—including end-of-life care—could drive better outcomes, reduce fragmentation, and elevate hospice quality. At the same time, Chris voices the concerns shared by many hospice leaders: issues of trust, the deeply human nature of end-of-life decisions, and the risk of reducing care to cost-containment mechanisms.Together, they unpack the real tension facing healthcare leaders today—how to preserve the holistic, compassionate ethos of hospice while navigating economic realities, emerging AI capabilities, and increasing private equity influence. This episode invites listeners to think critically about what must change—and what must be protected—as the future of serious illness care takes shape.  Key TakeawaysAlignment drives accountability: Integrating hospice into Medicare Advantage could incentivize payers to prioritize quality outcomes across the full continuum of care—not just upstream services.Quality vs. access tension: Without strong network design, “carve-in” models risk perpetuating low-quality providers rather than elevating high-performing hospice organizations.The economics are shifting: Value-based and capitated models may ultimately reward high-quality hospice providers more than traditional fee-for-service structures.AI will expand early intervention: Predictive analytics and lower-cost engagement tools could identify patients earlier and broaden access to palliative care conversations.Trust remains the central challenge: End-of-life care is fundamentally different—patients and families must trust that decisions are guided by care, not cost.If this conversation challenged your thinking, don't stop here. Share this episode with a colleague, reflect on how these shifts impact your organization, and join the dialogue shaping the future of end-of-life care. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming episodes that continue to explore leadership, innovation, and purpose in healthcare.Guest: Robin Heffernan, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, Empassion Host:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS, Author of The Anatomy of LeadershipThe Anatomy of Leadership podcast explores the art and science of leadership through candid, insightful conversations with thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers from a variety of industries. Hosted by Chris Comeaux, each episode dives into the mindsets, habits, and strategies that empower leaders to thrive in complex, fast-changing environments. With topics ranging from organizational culture and emotional intelligence to navigating disruption and inspiring teams, the show blends real-world stories with practical takeaways. The goal is simple yet ambitious: to equip leaders at every level with the tools, perspectives, and inspiration they need to lead with vision, empathy, and impact.https://www.teleioscn.org/anatomy-of-leadership

In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan explore the evolving intersection of private equity, artificial intelligence, and end-of-life care—raising critical questions about accountability, quality, and the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage. As the healthcare system shifts toward value-based models, the discussion challenges long-held assumptions about whether hospice should remain “carved out” or be fully integrated into payer responsibility.Robin offers a systems-level perspective, arguing that aligning financial accountability across the entire patient journey—including end-of-life care—could drive better outcomes, reduce fragmentation, and elevate hospice quality. At the same time, Chris voices the concerns shared by many hospice leaders: issues of trust, the deeply human nature of end-of-life decisions, and the risk of reducing care to cost-containment mechanisms.Together, they unpack the real tension facing healthcare leaders today—how to preserve the holistic, compassionate ethos of hospice while navigating economic realities, emerging AI capabilities, and increasing private equity influence. This episode invites listeners to think critically about what must change—and what must be protected—as the future of serious illness care takes shape.  Key TakeawaysAlignment drives accountability: Integrating hospice into Medicare Advantage could incentivize payers to prioritize quality outcomes across the full continuum of care—not just upstream services.Quality vs. access tension: Without strong network design, “carve-in” models risk perpetuating low-quality providers rather than elevating high-performing hospice organizations.The economics are shifting: Value-based and capitated models may ultimately reward high-quality hospice providers more than traditional fee-for-service structures.AI will expand early intervention: Predictive analytics and lower-cost engagement tools could identify patients earlier and broaden access to palliative care conversations.Trust remains the central challenge: End-of-life care is fundamentally different—patients and families must trust that decisions are guided by care, not cost.If this conversation challenged your thinking, don't stop here. Share this episode with a colleague, reflect on how these shifts impact your organization, and join the dialogue shaping the future of end-of-life care. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming episodes that continue to explore leadership, innovation, and purpose in healthcare.Guest: Robin Heffernan, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, Empassion Host:Chris Comeaux, President / CEO of TELEIOS, Author of The Anatomy of LeadershipTeleios Collaborative Network   /   https://www.teleioscn.org/tcntalkspodcast

Experiencing the hope of Easter doesn’t have to be limited to one Sunday a year. Psalm 112:4 reminds us that light breaks through darkness for those who walk with God—and that truth can shape how we begin every single day. Just as the sunrise brings warmth, clarity, and renewed energy, a Christ-centered morning can ground our hearts in peace and purpose. This devotional reframes the idea of a “sunrise service” as a daily rhythm rather than a yearly event. Even in busy, chaotic, or exhausting seasons of life, we are invited to intentionally create space for God each morning. When we choose to start our day focused on Him, we position our hearts to experience His presence, reflect His character, and carry His hope into everything we do. Highlights Easter hope isn’t seasonal—it’s available to anchor us every day Light and warmth from the sunrise reflect the spiritual renewal found in Christ Our mornings set the tone for our mindset, peace, and spiritual focus Even a few intentional minutes with God can shift the entire direction of your day Choosing God over chaos requires discipline but leads to greater stability and peace Creating structured morning rhythms can reduce stress and open space for spiritual growth Gratitude and reflection in the morning help cultivate a Christ-centered perspective Living in daily resurrection hope allows us to reflect God’s light to others This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.org TrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. https://trinitycredit.org Full Transcript Below: How to Have a Sunrise Service Every Sunday Morning By: Peyton Garland Bible Reading:“Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous.” - Psalm 112:4 (NLT) My mood is greatly impacted by the weather, much to my chagrin. In Eastern Tennessee, with the Appalachians spanning my backyard, we see bouts of heavy rain in the winter. Of course, for all our farmers, this is quite the blessing, and it certainly benefits our neighbors’ cattle. But for me, it’s just week after week of mental gloominess (and feeling stuck inside with a toddler who would nap much better if he could run and play and soak up Vitamin D). Easter arrives when the weather is often playing tug-of-war between winter and spring, unsure which will take precedence for the holiday. Thus, it’s hard to know if your Easter dress should actually be a dress, or if a pair of pants will make life much warmer and more comfortable. Regardless of Easter’s final forecast, it’s only normal for us to crave the light and warmth of the sun. Nature makes this clear: the sun not only affects the neurotransmitters that regulate our mood but also our heart rate. Light and warmth stabilize us from the inside out, and is this not the perfect physiological representation of an Easter sunrise service? It’s mankind’s eager anticipation for the first rays of light that whisper, “You’ll see a bit clearer in just a moment. Better things are coming. Hope is here.” Easter, regardless of the day’s weather report, is our blessed hope, the spiritual truth that we can celebrate year-round to keep us tethered to our faith. It’s available for all the highs and lows, all the storms, and the uncontrollable chaos that undoubtedly rears an ugly head in this fallen world. And if we are intentional, spiritually desperate enough, we can experience this sunrise service filled with hope and joy each day of our lives. I’m certainly no expert in accessing this beautiful, glorious gift each morning, especially eight months pregnant with a toddler who doesn’t sleep through the night. I often wake up starving, grumbly, and in desperate need of a chiropractor. But even when the mornings start hectic or heavy, we have a choice: We can use our desperation for God’s goodness to force five minutes of quiet for Him to settle our hearts and homes, or we can surrender to the never-ending demands of a loud, noisy world that cares little about how stable our souls are once we’ve clocked out for the day and gone home. God gives good gifts to His children, most notably salvation through His Son’s death and resurrection, but the choice to access those gifts rests with us. If we want hope, no matter how gloomy, mundane, or hard life is, we must pursue it, choose it, share it with others, and praise God that His mercies are as faithful as the morning sunrise. Intersecting Faith & Life: Consider your morning routine. Is it consistently chaos as everyone grabs a breakfast bar to go and forgets a gym bag, homework, or a shoe or two? If your days always start in a state of stress, create a schedule specifically for your morning routine. Perhaps you need to wake up thirty minutes earlier, or the kids need to pack lunches and set out clothes the night before. Sit down with your entire family to discuss ways to make the mornings smoother so everyone can begin each day with a healthier head and heart space. Carve out space so your morning has dedicated time to practice gratitude to God for a new day of mercy and grace. As a believer and as an adult in your house, it is your spiritual responsibility to set a positive, hope-filled, Christ-focused tone for the family. As Scripture says, the hope and light we long for are byproducts of godliness, of our willingness to get uncomfortable and change our schedules, and even our perceptions, so we are in a position to practice generosity, compassion, and righteousness. (Let’s be honest, when we begin our days in chaos, without the peace and hope of Christ’s resurrection, our souls aren’t positioned to practice, let alone consider, these godly principles.) Consider this as more than a mandate. Let this be an honor as you overhaul your morning routine to have an Easter sunrise service in your home, for your family, each day. Further Reading: 25 Easter Scriptures to Celebrate the Resurrection: He IS Risen! 5 Habits to Help Start Your Day with Jesus Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Chrissy Cox, VP & Head of Corporate Development, Booz Allen Hamilton ​​Booz Allen Hamilton didn't build one of the most active acquisition programs in federal tech by waiting for banker inbounds. They built it by showing up years before anyone else. Chrissy Cox has built Booz Allen's corporate development function from scratch and done it twice. Her team was named Deal Team of the Year by the Association for Corporate Growth, and under her leadership, roughly 80% of their acquisitions come from companies they already have a relationship with. That's not luck, it's a system. In this episode, she breaks down exactly how that system works — from pipeline development to cultural diligence to integration ownership — and what most corp dev teams get wrong before they ever get to LOI. What You'll Learn in This Episode How to build a proprietary pipeline that makes you the preferred buyer before a process starts The specific cultural fit questions Chrissy asks — and the one answer that ended a deal on the spot Why she tells founder-led sellers to hire their own banker, even on proprietary deals How to navigate a carve-out when scope is impossible to fully define upfront When spinning out a business beats building it internally The three mistakes that derail most corp dev functions before they find their footing This episode is sponsored by M&A Science Intelligence Hub If you're trying  to move from cold outreach to genuine relationship-building with targets, the Intelligence Hub has the Partner-First Acquisition Evaluation Playbook — a practitioner-built framework for structuring pre-acquisition partnerships, evaluating targets through the lens of existing relationships, and moving from partner to acquirer with conviction. Become an M&A Scientist at www.mascience.com/membership  _____________________ ‍This episode is also sponsored by DealRoom‍ The best M&A teams close deals faster...not because they work harder, but because they have better systems. DealRoom helps you manage your entire deal lifecycle from target identification through close. No more hunting for documents or wondering what's blocking progress. Request a Demo today: https://hubs.ly/Q03ZMvQX0 ____________________ Episode Chapters  [00:00:00] Intro [00:04:20] Chrissy Cox's path into M&A [00:05:04] Building Booz Allen's corp dev function [00:10:32] How Booz Allen builds a proprietary deal pipeline [00:15:08] The partner-first approach to acquisitions [00:20:31] When founders should consider selling [00:23:49] Why culture can kill a great deal [00:29:40] Carve-out lessons from the PAR Government deal [00:33:24] Why founders should hire bankers [00:43:43] Integration: protect the secret sauce [00:48:01] The biggest mistakes in corporate development [00:49:33] The craziest thing about M&A

Right now the world's attention is focused on Iran, which is under siege by the US and Israel.But many in America think the real threat to Amercia -- economically and geostrategically -- is a different country, perhaps one the war in Iran is designed to weaken = China.Many viewers of this channel have been asking for a deep dive on China -- its capabilities, its motivations and its likely future actions.Well today we're delivering on that. I have the good fortune to welcome to the program Peter Alexander, Founder & CEO of Z-Ben Advisors, a leading provider of market intelligence and strategic advice on every facet of China's asset management industry.#china #geopolitics #monroedoctrine _____________________________________________ Thoughtful Money LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor Promoter.We produce educational content geared for the individual investor. It's important to note that this content is NOT investment advice, individual or otherwise, nor should be construed as such.We recommend that most investors, especially if inexperienced, should consider benefiting from the direction and guidance of a qualified financial advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or state securities regulators who can develop & implement a personalized financial plan based on a customer's unique goals, needs & risk tolerance.IMPORTANT NOTE: There are risks associated with investing in securities.Investing in stocks, bonds, exchange traded funds, mutual funds, money market funds, and other types of securities involve risk of loss. Loss of principal is possible. Some high risk investments may use leverage, which will accentuate gains & losses. Foreign investing involves special risks, including a greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods.A security's or a firm's past investment performance is not a guarantee or predictor of future investment performance.Thoughtful Money and the Thoughtful Money logo are trademarks of Thoughtful Money LLC.Copyright © 2026 Thoughtful Money LLC. All rights reserved.