Podcasts about cips

As a property manager, have you ever worked with foreign investors? If not, what is stopping you? Is it because you don't know another language or because you don't know where to find foreign investors? What if there were a service that handled that piece for you? In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with the founder of HomeAbroad and Ziffy to talk about how property managers can connect with investors living outside of the United States.  You'll Learn [01:49] Building a Platform that Helps Foreign Investors Find Properties  [08:21] Helping Investors in the U.S. Find Investment Properties  [14:46] How HomeAbroad and Ziffy Can Benefit Property Managers  [25:23] Using Real Estate Investing and Property Management to Move to the U.S.  Quotables “No one wants to be a landlord… They're looking for a good way to maximize return on their investment or return on their cash.” “If you are a smart investor, if you are running this as a business, right, you got to have property management.” “You can't build a portfolio of a hundred properties by managing each property yourself.” “You grow together. It's a small industry, you know, we got to help each other and we grow as a business together.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript [00:00:00] Client finds the property through a platform. We do the mortgage financing, so we will introduce the property manager at the right time and say, "Hey, by the way, you can find the right property manager to help you manage this property, so, we'll kind of introduce you in the right point in that journey to make sure that you have a high conversion as well.  [00:00:20] All right, I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses, helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations, and build and replace teams. We are like Bar Rescue for property managers. We have rebranded over 300 businesses and we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. [00:01:06] And if you are wanting help with any of that stuff, then reach out to us at DoorGrow. So we believe at DoorGrow that good property managers can change the world, and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. [00:01:28] We want to transform the industry, eliminate the bs, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win.  [00:01:38] Now let's get into the show. All right, so my guest today, I am hanging out with Amresh Singh, welcome to the DoorGrow Show.  [00:01:46] Thanks, Jason. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.  [00:01:49] It's good to have you. So I would love to get into your background so people understand, like who are they listening to or viewing on this, and tell us a little bit about your journey into entrepreneurism and how you kind of got started and that will lead us into your business. [00:02:04] Awesome. So my background has been at the intersection of mortgages and technology. I used to work for a leading international bank before I started HomeAbroad. And originally I'm from India, so I moved to the US 10 years back, working for this big bank who moved me from India to the US to work closer to the headquarters over here. [00:02:25] I managed their international customer acquisition. And you know, in that journey, you know, I realized that two things that we have. Or I should say two really fascinating things about the US real estate market, which is, you know, 30 year fixed state mortgages, which we, in the US you know, we tend to ignore and we take it for granted. [00:02:45] It does not exist in most places around the world. It's a superpower, 30 year fixed state mortgages. Right? Yeah. Plus combine that with, you know, higher rental leads in the US market. You know, you're really looking at a true wealth building too. Right? So that realization coming from, you know, an international market into the US market, seeing the superpower of the, you know, how real estate in the US can really help you build generational wealth. You know, gave me the idea to start HomeAbroad, you know, which was a company that was focused on global investors investing in USD asset market, right? You know, and taking the advantages of, you know, some of these superpowers, I will speak later in your podcast. [00:03:24] Right? But that's how the journey started. And then, you know, as part of that journey, we realized, you know, some similar gaps exist in the domestic market as well that led to formation of Ziffy, which I'll talk about as well as we progress in the podcast. So that's kind of in nutshell, my know, my entrepreneur journey, my background, so.  [00:03:40] Very cool. I've noticed, you know, every now and then I get clients that they've got some special connection to an international market. You know, I've got a client from Israel and he's able to pull in Israeli investors and they're wanting to get into the US market, and he helps them handle all of that. [00:03:56] I had a client that same thing with China you know, and other different foreign countries, you know, and so that's a competitive advantage that each of these property management business owners have, but it's not one that every property manager can just create because they don't know a different language. [00:04:14] They don't have a network or connections overseas, and so that could be a challenge. But I see how that could be a competitive advantage for building up your own portfolio if you could access international investors. And I didn't really realize that, but I just grew up in this bubble of the US but 30 year fixed rate mortgages sounds so normal. You know? Yes. So, okay. So cool. So, so tell us a little bit about what you've got going on.  [00:04:40] Yeah, so, you know, as I mentioned, you know, we operate two brands. HomeAbroad is where we started, right? And that's a shop, that's a PropTech and FinTech shop that's focused on helping global investors invest in the US real estate market. [00:04:52] Right? If you think about, you know, real estate, right? It's kind of, you know, wealth building tool or is a mode of, you know, building generational wealth around the world. People invest in real estate for stability, right? For, you know, that that ease of mind, okay my investment is going to grow, right? [00:05:08] But you know, in most places around the world when you're investing in real estate, you're not doing that with leverage. You know, you are buying that in cash and you are, you know, mode for return on that investment is really banking on the capital appreciation on that property, right? What changes in the US market is because of 30 year fixed rate mortgages, there's no payment shock. [00:05:28] The rate is fixed for the term of the loan. That's 30 years. Since it's amortized for a 30 year period, your monthly payments are lower, right? Rental liens are higher. So what ends up happening in the US market is rent covers mortgage in majority of the scenario. [00:05:44] Yeah. It cash flows day one. Absolutely right. And that is something. So think about it, right? So you are generating cash flow from day one with leverage. I'll repeat that with leverage, right? So 20-25% of your money is able to help you buy a hundred percent of the property with cash flow or passive income from day one. [00:06:05] It just does not happen in most places around the world. Now imagine this: you explain this to someone who has no idea about the US state market, right? And then you tell them, Hey, not only you know the value prop, but as a company HomeAbroad, we are going to give you mortgage financing with no US state history. [00:06:25] Right. And we are going to underwrite you not based on your personal income or assets from your home country. We are going to look at the property's income, right? And we're going to underwrite based on that, right? Suddenly someone who has no affiliation with the US, you know, market or financial market is able to invest or buy US real estate for the obvious benefits I mentioned, right? [00:06:49] Cash flow with leverage, but also you're putting your money in the largest economy in the world. USD is still the reserve currency, right? So you're shielding yourself from currency risk that's might exist in your home country, right? And suddenly when you explain this to a global investor, it's an aha moment for them, right? [00:07:04] Because this is something that does not exist in their home market. You know, they want to, you know, kind of diversify their assets and dip into what US has to offer this kind of opening American dream to the world. Yeah. Without them having to live or work in the US. You can live and work in your home country and dip into what America or American dream has to offer, you know, while you sit in your home country. Right. And that's kind of what was a game changing phenomena for us. Great traction, great, you know, reserves. But what we saw, Jason, you know, these people were coming in and we're like, okay, great. I want to invest in USA asset market. But I don't know where to invest. [00:07:40] Right. I don't know the US market, I don't know which city to invest in. Right. And my team, you know, we found ourselves going onto Zillow doing investment analysis and coming back to them and saying, "okay, this is a good place to invest." And then we said, "okay, wait a minute. Let's just build a tech platform, and that's what led the evolution of Ziffy, which is kind of, you know, Zillow for investment properties, ziffy.ai, where you know, as an investor you can kind of just say, okay, this is my investment objective. [00:08:05] I want to generate X dollar cash flow every month. I want to generate Y percent in rental. I want to find all the rent properties. And the algorithm mines everything that is listed on MLS right now from an investment perspective gives you detailed investment analysis and helps you take the data driven recommendation. [00:08:21] And then we realized only 8% of Americans own investment properties. If it's such a good thing that global investors want to put their money in the USA market, why Americans are not building generational wealth by investing in real estate. Right? Because people don't want to be a landlord, right? [00:08:37] Right. But once you put this data in front of them, suddenly the perspective changes. And that's what we are right now. We are launching ziffy.ai where it's going to be the Zillow for investment properties to really help more Americans buy and invest in US real estate.  [00:08:50] Okay, great. And what's that tool called? [00:08:52] It's Ziffy, Z-I-F-F-Y, dot A-I.  [00:08:56] ziffy.ai. Okay. And you mentioned the big other z name Zillow, you're like, you're trying to take their lunch, I guess. Right? We'll see how...  [00:09:06] not really. Thing about it, zillow is focused on primary market, right? Yeah. It's a much bigger market. Right. And, you know, investment, of course, 16% of the transactions are investment properties. [00:09:17] Right. But having said that, it's a huge market and there's lot of, you know, scope for growth because a lot of Americans still, you know, what they don't know about is there are specialized loan products that exist, you know, that can underwrite based on the rental income of the property. [00:09:32] So if I have a mortgage, I have a car loan, I think, okay, there's no way I can buy investment property. No one's going to give me a loan. I'm going to walk in my local bank or my local branch, and they're going to say, "okay, Jason, you know, what's your current mortgage? What's your car loan? Oh, you don't qualify based on your debt to income ratio." [00:09:49] They don't know that this specialized loan product called DSCR loan, which is debt service coverage ratio loan, where I'm qualifying you for the mortgage based on the rental income of that property versus your personal income. Right. So suddenly now you can build portfolio of hundred of investment properties because each property qualifies based on its own merit. [00:10:11] You buy one investment property, right? Rent covers mortgage from day one generates you cash flow. You wait three, four years, you gain equity in the property, do a cash out refinance, take that money to put down payment on other property. That property is cash positive from day one and the cycle repeats. [00:10:27] So if you're a smart investor can really help that first investment property, help you build a portfolio of investment property over 10 to 15 year period and build that generational wealth for you and your family. And people just don't know about it. And that's what we're trying to democratize.  [00:10:41] All right. [00:10:41] I love the idea. You know, we've leveraged a DSCR loan and it's nice because you don't have to give them all your personal info. You know, it doesn't matter how much debt you already have leveraged with properties you already have. So the rates are a little bit higher. [00:10:55] Right. But if you're able to cash flow it effectively, then I guess it doesn't matter.  [00:11:01] It doesn't matter. But also, I'll tell you, Jason, it's not that much higher either. No. If you think about an investment property loan from Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae conventional loans the rates are going to be higher than what you're going to pay for a 30 year fix it mortgage for a primary home. [00:11:14] Right. If you compare an investment property loan from an, from the jcs versus a DSCR loan, the rate difference you're talking about is 0.25%, or, you know, like, so it's not, it's very competitive.  [00:11:28] So. A lot of the people listening run property management companies. They've got a pool of investors. [00:11:33] These are their clients. How do they leverage  [00:11:37] HomeAbroad or Ziffy? That's a great question. Right? So we are also opening a marketplace for property managers, right? Because think about these foreign clients that are coming over to us, right? Think about domestic clients, right? A lot of these clients, you know, no one wants to be a landlord, as I mentioned earlier, right? [00:11:52] They're looking for a good way to maximize return on their investment or return on their cash. Right. And they don't want to take the day-to-day hassle of being a landlord. Right. Right. That's where property management comes in. Right. And if you are a smart investor, if you are running this as a business, right, you got to have property management. That's what we tell our clients. You can't build a portfolio of a hundred properties by managing each property yourself. You got to get property management in, right? Yeah. And what we are doing is we are trying to, you know, open up a marketplace where, you know, foreign investors, of course, they have no idea about whom to work at in the US so they can connect to property managers in the US through a platform. [00:12:31] Right. But in addition. If you're a property manager and if you have clients who are looking for next investment and so forth, you can white label our Ziffy platform for your clients. Right, okay. To give them as your own tool. And if they come back to us, you know, for a mortgage, we give you a referral fee. [00:12:50] You know X, we give up to 40 to 50 basis point on the loan amount as their referral fee. So that could be not only you're servicing your clients, you're giving them tools to help them find their next investment, which by the way, you will end up managing as well. But you're also increasing your value prop by helping your client find the next investment and adding additional revenue stream to your overall portfolio, right? [00:13:12] So it's a win-win situation for everyone.  [00:13:15] So becomes absolutely profit center. Okay, so. And they can white label Ziffy. What about is the Ziffy and HomeAbroad databases, are these linked? Like, are these properties, because you know, I think a lot of property managers listening are like, "how can I get access to these foreign investors because I don't have that capability?" [00:13:32] They're linked. It's just the branding, right? Because for foreign investors, you know, we go with the brand name HomeAbroad, okay? And for domestic, of course, you know, HomeAbroad will not resonate with the US based customers, right? So that's where Ziffy comes in. And we are kind of actually actively going through a rebranding exercise where HomeAbroad will become powered by ziffy.ai. [00:13:52] You know, so at the end of the day, Ziffy is the overall umbrella brand, right? Ziffy.ai is our AI powered investment property search platform and HomeAbroad is the portion of Ziffy that's focused exclusively on foreign investors. But if you're part of our network, you get access to both clients, you get access to foreign investors, you get access to local investors. [00:14:13] Okay, perfect. So it sounds like property managers, if they're listed in this marketplace, it sounds like 1. You might be feeding them some free business from. Absolutely. HomeAbroad brand. Yep. They wouldn't be able to access otherwise. And they're able to support boots on the ground helping with the property locally. [00:14:32] Yep.  [00:14:33] And then they can also leverage Ziffy and do a white label thing for their existing clients and help get them and facilitate getting them into more property.  [00:14:41] Absolutely. Yep.  [00:14:42] Awesome. Okay, cool. Yeah that's very cool. So how does a property manager get into this marketplace?  [00:14:49] What are your qualifications? [00:14:51] So we of course, want to make sure that our clients are taken care of, you know, so we do initial vetting, just to understand, you know, you have the I would say capabilities and infrastructure to help service our clients. So everyone has a good positive experience, right? And then once we kind of have that initial meeting to vet you out, you will become part of our network. [00:15:10] We'll sign a good partnership agreement. You'll be part of the network and then, you know, you'll be listed prominently. If the customer is looking in that particular area, you know, you'll be listed prominently within that ecosystem. Now, good news is we are vertically integrated shop, right? [00:15:24] So client finds the property through a platform. We do the mortgage financing, right? And you know, we know exactly when the customer, you know, is closing that transaction, right? So we will introduce the property manager at the right time. There's no point introducing a property manager right when they're starting their journey to find an investment property, right? [00:15:42] But as soon as they close on that transaction, we'll introduce the property manager. We will expose our, you know, marketplace to them and say, "Hey, by the way, you can find the right property manager to help you manage this property from our vacant property management, based in say, Phoenix, Arizona, or say, you know, Dallas, Texas, like wherever the client is, you know, closing that transaction. [00:16:03] Right. So, we'll kind of introduce you in the right you know, point in that journey to make sure that, you know, you have a high conversion as well.  [00:16:11] So how do you, at Ziffy and HomeAbroad, how do you determine which markets you want to be in and focus on?  [00:16:21] So the cool thing, Jason, you know, like as the customer decides for us, right? [00:16:24] We are operating in 43 states, right out of 50 states in the US right now, right there are of course hot markets, right? But you know, we let our algorithm, because now, it's data, right? We know the data. We know what's the expected rent, which is our for algorithm to calculate the expected rent across every plus property listed on the MLS right now for sale. What's your monthly mortgage payment is going to be? We are the mortgage shop. So we know what the monthly mortgage payment is going to be. Yeah. Rent minus mortgage is your cashflow. Right? So you can basically punch in those numbers and you say, okay, I want to generate $500 in cashflow every month. [00:16:59] Show me properties in entire us. Show me properties in Midwest us. Show me properties in California. Show me properties in Texas. Right? Whatever is your appetite, right? But you can kind of, you know, find that right investment property with right investment objective, you know, and I would say market agnostic. [00:17:16] Right? Yeah. Find that property and then say, okay, yeah, this makes sense, this doesn't make sense. And what we are adding to our AI layer. You can ask AI question, show me population growth trend in this area in the last five years. Show me rent you know, growth in this area in the last five years. [00:17:30] Show me you know, is this a landlord friendly state? You know, like our AI will help you basically California, evaluate that property.  [00:17:36] So basically, California's out. Florida and Texas are in, or?  [00:17:40] Yep. Yep. And that's what we see. That's what we see. You know, Florida and Texas are two hot markets. Yeah. [00:17:45] Midwest is really picking up, you know, because the property prices are lower, taxes are lower, rents are higher, right? So Midwest US is the new hot market from a rental standpoint Okay. Is what we are seeing a lot of fixed and player opportunities as well. But Florida and Texas continue to be two hot states, you know, from a rental property standpoint. [00:18:03] Got it. Okay. Now, these people that are, you know that they're global investors. They're around, you know, around the world. They're watching the news, they're seeing all this stuff that's going on in the us. I don't know what their perception is, but when they're watching all this, I'm sure that factors into their decision making in which states they want to be in. [00:18:23] Absolutely a hundred percent.  [00:18:25] So they're like, it does, I don't want to be in California. They look like they're crazy there and they're watching the news and they're seeing these, you know, sanctuary cities with homeless people everywhere. And then they're like looking at like areas where it's more conservative and there's like more freedom and more options. [00:18:41] Then they're like, maybe, maybe there. So perception, I would imagine affects where they're choosing to invest as well.  [00:18:49] Yeah, it totally does. Right? And what we tell our clients, you know, you got to think of real estate as a long-term investment game, right? For example, you know, the rhetoric around current administration, right? [00:19:00] From global investor standpoint, you know, like, do I really want to put my money in the US at this point? You know, what happens if like X happens? Y happens, right? And what we tell our investor, right? The basics why US, you know, is a good market for real estate investment has not changed, will not change, right? [00:19:15] It's going to be still remain a good market for US estate investment. The question is, where do you invest, right? And what are your objectives, right? You want to invest in a landlord friendly state, right? You want to invest in, in states with, you know, job growth, population growth, right? And you want to invest in state you know, in a market where you're getting good ROI on your cash investor, right? [00:19:36] And that's a function of, you know, appreciation and function of cash flow, right? That you're generating. Right. So until you have those data points figured out, right, you know, in long term it's going to be a viable investment. Right. And you're going to make money, right? Is what we tell our investors, right? [00:19:51] And when we explain them from that perspective, from that lens, you know, I have not seen someone that has said, okay, USDS investment is off my list. Right? Is something that just still motivates and drives them.  [00:20:04] Very cool. All right. I like it. And the best property managers, they're DoorGrow clients, like we help them figure out how to actually do a good job. [00:20:10] Most property managers suck in most markets. This is... absolutely, yeah. The admission of property managers, they're like, I get a room of property managers. I'm like, how many of you believe all your competitors suck or most of them do? And everyone's hands go up. And everybody that comes to me and says, "Hey, I'm thinking of starting a property management business." [00:20:27] I say, cool. And they tell me their story. It's they have investment properties and they tried property managers and most of them were terrible and they decided to finally start a good company. And so there's this issue. So yeah, maybe we should get all the DoorGrow clients getting into your marketplace. [00:20:43] So  [00:20:43] A hundred percent, you know. Let's talk about that a hundred percent.  [00:20:46] Alright, cool. Have you heard a Blanket, have you heard of these guys? Not really. So I think I should connect you to Lior over at Blanket. They've got a really cool platform as well, and I think there's some synergy. [00:20:59] They're basically like a retention platform. Okay. For property managers. They were one of our sponsors at DoorGrow live. And they've created a platform that allows their clients to see all of... they're basically a white label portal for all their clients to have their portfolios. And it allows them to keep the properties in their portfolio by helping them find and access other owners when that owner wants to sell. [00:21:25] Awesome. Okay. I think there'd be some awesome synergy between these two tools. Yeah. And I'm always making connections. You guys don't see this, those that are watching the podcast behind the scenes, I'm always trying to connect different vendors to each other when I see some synergy. So, but I think that might be a cool connection. [00:21:40] So, because I think what you're doing would work really nicely with that and it'd be a really cool synergistic thing. So we'll just get HomeAbroad, Ziffy, Blanket, DoorGrow, and then some other vendors, we'll just start stacking, we'll create Voltron. Yep. This ultimate, you know, superpower to help.  [00:21:57] This very exciting. [00:21:58] Hey you grow together. You know, that's how I've always believed. You know, you grow together. It's a small industry, you know, we got to help each other and we grow as a business together.  [00:22:06] Yeah, absolutely. So, well, I like what you're doing. What's the easiest way for a property manager to reach out? [00:22:14] Which of the websites should they go to? How do they start getting vetted so they can get into this marketplace? And is this like a free thing because they're providing value or do they pay to become part of the marketplace or how does that work?  [00:22:27] It's a free thing, right? They will be listed on a platform for free. [00:22:31] So it's a two way street, as I mentioned here, right? So we are going to pay a referral fee to our property manager partners, when they refer clients over to us, we're going to give them free tools to help facilitate that process and vice versa. You know, we'll collect a referral fee if our existing client signs up with them as well. [00:22:47] You know, it's a revenue stream for us too.  [00:22:48] So if let's say I have one of those clients that has, a bunch of connections in a particular country like Israel or China or something like this, would there be an advantage to them to leveraging HomeAbroad to facilitate that rather than having to figure out all this work themselves? [00:23:05] Absolutely. Absolutely. Because we are, as I said, you know, we are one stop shop, right? So say for example, you have an Israeli client that is just thinking about investing in US real estate, right? So what we do, we start. From setting up the LLC, right? If you are US based, you know, setting up an LLC, receiving an EIN is pretty easy, straightforward process, right? [00:23:23] If you're a foreign national who has doesn't have an SSN or an IT number, just getting an EIN number from a IRS, you know, you're talking about faxing, you're talking about mailing, you're talking about six months, six to eight weeks to get, you know, your number in mail. Now, you know, we kind of have developed that expertise in this segment so we can get an EIN and with an analysis set for a foreign national not living in the US within a week. Right. Wow. We can help them open a US bank account while they're in their home country. Right. Of course, you know, we'll need the US Bank account as part of the mortgage process, but also they will need a US bank account to manage their property, right. [00:23:58] When they invest in the US market, right? We can, of course, financing for Foreign National, which is our bread and butter, right? So we help them with 75% LTV or 75% leverage to purchase an investment property in the US. So they only need to put 25% down payment on that investment property, as I mentioned, we don't look for any US history. [00:24:18] We don't look for trade lines or create history from their home country as well. It's a pretty straightforward process for foreign nationals. You know, all we are looking for is, you know, they have enough assets to close, which is 25% down payment plus closing costs. Right? And if the appraisal comes in right where we want it to be, right. [00:24:36] So whether they meet the ratio or the DSCR ratio where rent covers mortgage, right? Even if it does not, we have a sub ratio DSCR program for them. So one way or the other. You know, we'll be able to do the loan just based on the property's income versus considering their personal income or assets in their home country. [00:24:52] Right? So we covered them right from helping setting up an LLC you know, opening US bank account mortgage financing, connecting them with a local realtor, which is not just any realtor, but a realtor with CIPS, which is certified International Property Specialty Designation by now. Right. So they have gone through specialized training to work with foreign national, global investors, right? [00:25:13] And then property management connections, you know, through a marketplace, right? So we are kind of one stop shop for everything that foreign national would need to do to invest in the US real estate.  [00:25:23] Interesting. So here's another random idea that comes up. And I don't know if this even relates, maybe this is just completely out of left field, but occasionally I get clients that they've come from a foreign country to the US. [00:25:36] And in order to, you know, to immigrate and to become integrated in the US, they have to start a business. And so they will buy a franchise sometimes, which usually in this industry, buying a property major franchise, I'm pretty outspoken about that. I think it's generally a bad idea. I get a lot of franchisees coming to me that have struggled like, you know, a gal that came, bought into a franchise, she's already invested $100k into this and the franchise gave her poor strategy and she only has one unit under management and she's $100k in and over half a year in invested into this. And she's like, you know, concerned and freaking out. I've got another client, he's immigrated from the uk. [00:26:16] He's built a property management business. They both built their business in Florida, by the way. Nice. So the land of freedom and humidity. So is there some sort of advantage for some of these people that are overseas also? They're like, "you know what? I like the idea of investing in, you know, the US but I want to be in the US." [00:26:37] Is there a way that they could build a business leveraging this and could that be something that is facilitated as well?  [00:26:45] Yeah, that's a great question, Jason. You know, and something like a lot of, you know, foreign clients ask us, right? So I'll give you a two part answer to this question, right? [00:26:52] One, if you are part of E3D countries, right? So US has a E3D, you know, with I think UK, Japan you know, Australia, Canada, and the few other countries on that list, right? Yeah. So if you're part of one of these countries where the, where you have a E3D you know, with the US you get a visa called E2 Visa. [00:27:12] E2 Visa, where, you know, where you can start a business in the us, get that visa to come manage the business. And a lot of our clients in from these countries would start up LLC to manage two to three properties. Show that okay, they're managing a real estate business. Right. To kind of get that E2 visa, right? [00:27:29] And so it's a great way for them to not only build you know, a profitable business in the US right? And kind of benefit from the US estate investment, but then also, you know, try get a residency visa, you know, based on this business. Property management kind of falls under the same aspect as well. [00:27:46] Okay? Then other countries which are not part of the E3D, where you have something called an EV5 Visa, which is you know, which were one of the key differences is that you have to show that you generate 10 employments and invested at least around a million dollars in the US to generate those employments. [00:28:03] Now that is where, you know, it becomes a little bit trickier, right? Because you know, you have to show that you brought that money in, you putting that money in real estate qualifies. Right. But the the important aspect is creation of 10 jobs. You have to show that you've created 10 jobs through that investment, you know, for that purposes. [00:28:21] If you buy, you know, like 10 properties or buy a multifamily unit and you know, you have a property management around it that employs 10 people to take care of it, technically it qualifies. Right. You can also you know, buy a hotel, you know, buy 2 commercial property that employs, you know, 10 people to kind of, you know, to qualify on the, that, that visa rule. [00:28:44] Right? But again, you know, you're talking about a million dollar investment. You know, from your end, you know, which is not, you know, applicable for everyone, right? Yeah. So there are a couple of ways, right? But for E2 Visa, you know, it becomes really easy, right? Because that job requirement criteria is not there. [00:28:59] You have to show that it's a functional business. It's an active business, which could be a real estate business, right? And it becomes, the qualification becomes a little bit easier on from that perspective.  [00:29:09] Got it. Okay. Interesting. If you run into these people, we should totally be homies and... [00:29:15] absolutely. [00:29:15] If you run these people one of the things we're really brilliant at DoorGrow is helping people avoid all the mistakes they make when they get their business started. We help them clean. We're like bar rescue for property managers, as I said in the intro. And for startups, we're ideal. [00:29:29] We help them avoid all the pitfalls of the franchises. We help them come up with their own brand, their own website. We help them build out their hiring process. We help them make sure they get good people, like we help optimize the business and get the right systems and installed. And so we really are like the ultimate franchise alternative. [00:29:46] And I've just gotten tired of seeing the franchises hurting people. And so my mission. Is to get people to sign up with DoorGrow instead of going to these franchises and set ourselves up as a franchise alternative because we can help them get going with a lot less cash involved and a lot more help. [00:30:05] And and then we can help them give them real strategies for growing their portfolios. And it sounds like this might be a really nice addition to any of my client's strategies for growth is to leverage HomeAbroad because they would love to have people that are hands off. Yeah. In another country trusting you to just take care of stuff that, that's a easy, no-brainer type of client they would love to have. [00:30:25] Yeah, absolutely. Jason, and we should talk after this podcast. We'll talk, you know, this. I think there's a lot of synergies.  [00:30:31] Okay. Very cool. So, well, what else should property managers or investors listen to the show know about HomeAbroad or Ziffy that we haven't covered? Or what questions do people tend to ask that they're concerned about? [00:30:45] Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things, you know, that we also advise our clients, right? You know, it's not about, you know, property management eating into my cash flow, right? Because that's something that we see, you know, people concerned about, or people you know, like want to kind of, you know, want to do it by themselves because they want to make sure they maximize their cash flow, right? [00:31:05] But what we tell our clients, you know, at the end of the day, you got to think of it as a business, right? And what's your net return and how do you value your time? Right. What's the hourly rate that you assign to yourself, right? And what would else you'd be doing if you're not managing five properties on your own? [00:31:21] Right? That's an opportunity cost, right? So think about this more from an opportunity cost standpoint versus, you know, okay, it's eating into my cashflow because that opportunity cost can help you buy five more properties, right? That can, you know, overall amplify your return on your cash invested versus nickel and diming, you know, the money that you're trying to save, right? [00:31:42] And you know, when we kind of, you know, talk to them about your, their ROI return cash, we want them to kind of consider this as an expense that goes into it. Because at the end of the day, even though we are not the property management providers, right, we partner with your clients, so to speak, Jason, right? [00:31:58] We are trying to do what's in best interest of that client in order to build that real estate investment portfolio. Right. So that's something that, you know, just want to reiterate to you, to the listeners of your podcast. Right. Why partner with us? You know, because that's something that we inherently, you know, advise our clients, you know, and we position property management as one of the pillars, they need to really succeed to build a successful real estate investment portfolio. [00:32:22] So you kind of insulate, because I know there's some property managers listening and they're like, man, some of these foreign investors are such cheapos. They're like so cheap and they complain about everything and they're really difficult. You kind of insulate them from that. Yep. With your organization and you know, and property management really, yeah. It is a no brainer. I mean, there's a lot of properties that a lot of these investors on their own probably wouldn't even accurately raise rent. And so if they didn't raise rent over the last two to three years, for example, they're probably 10% below market rate anyway. And so if the property manager just kept rent where it actually is in the marketplace, the property management basically is free. [00:33:01] Yeah, it pays for itself. Hundred percent. It's a no brainer. And so, yeah, I think the biggest mistake investors can make period, if you're an investor listening to the show, is to not use a property manager, a good one. Because there are bad ones. But if you can find a good one, that is the biggest game changer because it takes all the work off your plate and you make just as much money. [00:33:22] Absolutely. And another thing for your listeners, Jason, right. You'd be surprised how few people know about the specialized loan products for DSCA investor, right? So if your client is with you managing one property and is thinking in my head, oh, I already have a mortgage in my primary, I have another investment property here. [00:33:38] No way in the world I can buy another investment property. It's an education gap. It's a knowledge gap, right? Yeah. So they can help educate and that's where like and HomeAbroad comes in. because we will educate them on your behalf. You know, you retain the relationship, you retain your brand, right? We'll white label it, but like not only show them properties that will give them their next cashflow investment. [00:33:58] But also educating them, okay, for this loan to qualify, I don't need to see your debt to income ratio. I'm going to qualify based on that property's income. And you know, the only upfront cost is an appraisal cost, right? But us being the mortgage shop, you know, vetting that, okay, this property gives you cash flow, or from a conservative standpoint, it's good for you at the end of the day because you know, you won't invest if the property is not cashflow policy from day one, right? [00:34:24] So something that people don't know, you know, and there's a gap there.  [00:34:27] Yeah, we've had some lenders on talking about DSCR loans in the past, and yeah, a lot of people just aren't aware of it as an option. Yeah. So property managers, if they can have a partner like yourself to, you know, educate them on these alternate sources of funding and methods of getting cash to invest in real estate. [00:34:46] Yeah, it's going to open up the door. Not only that, but I like the idea of those because it kind of creates this veil of protection. So it's not an asset in your name if there ever is a liability with the rental property. Absolutely. They don't even know who the owner is. It's an entity and there's kind of a shield there of protection. [00:35:05] And so there's some additional advantages to going that route as well.  [00:35:09] So, absolutely. And like majority of our clients request the title in an LLC. What's the reason that you just mentioned you always need to have that, you know, protection around you in a litigation rich country, so. [00:35:21] Got it. Cool.  [00:35:22] Well, hey, I think this is a really awesome idea Amresh. It's great to have you on the DoorGrow Show. Any parting words or how can people get in touch and how can they find out more?  [00:35:32] Sure. You know, so if you're a property management company, you can get them in touch with us at partner@homeabroadinc.com or partner@ziffy.ai. [00:35:42] You know, my personal email address is amresh.singh@homeabroadinc.com. You can shoot me an email as well. Website is HomeAbroadinc.com for HomeAbroad and Ziffy.ai for our Ziffy brand. Okay.  [00:35:56] Awesome. Alright, thanks so much for coming to the show. So those of you listening, if you've ever felt stuck or stagnant, you want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. [00:36:07] Also, be sure to join our free community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. We reject 60 to 70% of the people that apply to join that group. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. Until next time, remember, the slowest path to growth is to do it all alone, so let's grow together. [00:36:30] Bye everyone.

In our second episode of the CIPS Futures podcast mini-series brought to you by the CIPS ANZ team, we talk to Jane Wagner and Samir El-Sabagh, both procurement professionals from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Aged Care. As a former CIPS Leader of the Year, Jane explains what procurement can learn from the finance profession in following a maturity path to develop capability and ensure that the value of highly qualified procurement and contract management professionals is recognised in strategic roles.  And we get under the skin of how professional qualifications translate to being better at your job. Samir shares his journey to becoming CIPS qualified, why it's opened new doors in his career and offers candid examples of how he's delivered improved outcomes for the Australian public sector as a direct result of embarking on a learning pathway.  Further reading: About the Australian Public Service Commission's Procurement and Contract Management Profession CIPS ANZ regional hub Make CIPS your career companion - become a member Have you seen the new and improved CIPS Professional Register? The directory shares the professional status of procurement and supply chain practitioners around the world, and you can now personalise your profile with specialisms and expertise. Check out your listing on the Professional Register

“The Caribbean has done its part.” Daisy Joseph Andall discusses political pressure on Caribbean CBI programs, calls for a narrative shift.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here.

Den grønne industri er hårdt presset, men hvordan ser forretningen ud bag tallene? Niels Lunde taler med journalist Cecilie Veile, og forsøger at blive klogere på de nye regnskaber fra Vestas og Ørsted. De to taler også om Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) som Niels Lunde opfatter som en sort boks. Hvad er CIPs konkurrencefordel? Gæst: Cecilie Veile, journalist på Børsen med speciale i energiindustrien. 01.45: Vestas. 12.36: Ørsted. 26.48: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. 36.45: Niels' opsamling.   I optagelsen omtales tre interview: Med Henrik Andersen, topchef i Vestas. https://borsen.dk/nyheder/perspektiv/aktien-halveret-pa-et-ar-nu-deler-vestas-topchef-sit-syn-pa-fremtiden Med Rasmus Errboe, topchef i Ørsted. https://borsen.dk/nyheder/virksomheder/ny-orsted-topchef-efter-krisear-vi-satte-barren-for-hojt Med Christian Skakkebæk, medstifter af CIP. https://borsen.dk/nyheder/perspektiv/medstifter-giver-sjaeldent-indblik-i-kapitalforvalters-milliardsucces Producer: Peter-Emil Witt. Få Niels Lundes nyhedsbrev: Tilmelding på borsen.dk/nyhedsbreve.

Rich and Ed do much pondering of all sorts of unintended consequences in the latest episode of Nicaragua's favourite business-based podcast - including the impact of tariffs on everything; pensioner job shares; Rachel Reeve's CV; even beavers and bees.We've also got lots of stats on just how well PSN is doing; news about Europe's continuing love affair with Russian gas; and....yes....news from CIPS...who are so hot they're on fire (not literally).All this and an extended "Ask Rich & Ed" where you will find answers to these tricky questions (which now have bullet points because they are so professional):Is everything negotiable - even death and taxes?What strategy should everyone else in the world use to deal with President Trump and his love of tariffs?How to get the best deal on a holiday (well, summer's coming in the Northern hemisphere!).How to negotiate with new and used car salespeople....and how best to get your kitchen refurbished...Yes, Rich and Ed are now offering consumer advice and it's still all as cheap as crisps. And don't forget - you can buy a lovely "Procurement Says No" T-shirt at all the best Ebay platforms.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

On this episode, Ben Farrell MBE, discusses his journey from a 23-year military career to becoming the CEO of CIPS. He shares insights on leadership, the importance of emotional intelligence, and the challenges and opportunities in the procurement profession. Ben emphasises the need for CIPS to evolve and better represent procurement professionals globally, while also highlighting the importance of creating a supportive environment for career development in procurement. They explore the challenges and opportunities facing procurement professionals today, particularly in the context of global supply chains and the integration of AI. Additionally, the conversation touches on Ben's involvement with the Invictus Games Foundation.Some of the key moments during this podcast include:Ben Farrell joined CIPS to drive change in procurement.Human emotion plays a crucial role in leadership effectiveness.Transitioning from military to civilian life can be challenging but rewarding.CIPS has the potential to be a global leader in procurement.Ben aims to make CIPS more inclusive and relevant to all stages of a procurement career.The future of procurement requires adapting to changing global dynamics. Marketing the procurement profession is crucial for attracting new talent.Procurement must shift from a process-oriented mindset to a strategic one.Global supply chains require resilience and adaptability in the face of disruptions.The Invictus Games Foundation supports the recovery of wounded servicemen and women.Talent in procurement is about finding the right fit for individuals.Continuous improvement is essential for professional bodies to remain relevant.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Ben Farrell01:15 Early Career and Military Background04:37 Leadership Lessons from the Army08:00 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life12:17 Experiences at John Lewis15:33 Becoming CEO of CIPS18:40 Global Perspectives on Procurement20:17 Challenges and Opportunities for CIPS25:26 Marketing the Procurement Profession30:11 The Future of Procurement34:22 Navigating Challenges in Procurement38:50 Global Supply Chains43:01 Invictus Games Foundation45:58 Defining Talent in Procurement

"This is VUCA on steroids." The Trump administration's constantly-changing US tariffs are wreaking havoc on the markets – and on procurement professionals' planning. To find out what it means and how you can mitigate the risks, we speak to CIPS global economist, Dr John Glen. Could the turmoil forge fresh connections between the UK and EU post Brexit? Will we see opportunities in emerging markets in Africa and South America? John explains the fundamentals of tariffs and answers your burning questions in this special edition of the podcast. Further reading: Join the discussion thread on the CIPS Community platform Dr John Glen's analysis of the CIPS Pulse Q1 2025 results Watch Dr John Glen speaking to international media outlets about supply chain disruptions CBS article: "Walmart, Target CEOs privately warned Trump tariffs could lead to empty shelves soon" CIPS resources and events: CIPS Global State of Procurement & Supply  CIPS Futures Conference - London, 1 July

This week, HAR Global Advisory Group Chair Jane Byrd shared how REALTORS can tap into international opportunities right from Houston. We discussed the Global Information Exchange, the Global Business Network, and how getting involved can grow your business and expand your reach!   Online Marketing Fundamentals: 3-Hour Workshop Sign up for the CIPS here. Mexico Webinar HAR Global Day - https://www.har.com/education/class_detail/51506 Global Information Exchange - www.har.com/global Global Business Network- bit.ly/HARGlobalBN   Sign up for Free Industry News Subscriptions for HAR Members here-   https://www.harconnect.com/free-industry-news-subscriptions-for-har-members/   Are you an HAR MLS Platinum Subscriber? Join our Facebook Group! Click to join. Sign Up for your free Real Estate News Subscription here. Sign up for your free Inman Select Subscription here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube , and LinkedIn.

21 Apr 2025. The UAE saw just over 1% growth in new employment in Q1, according to Cooper Fitch. So has the busy start to the year really translated into jobs? We break it down with their latest report. Plus, we’re joined in our pop-up studio by Arjun Sarkar, Vice-President of our hosts Dubai CommerCity. And the RTA signs an MoU with Baidu’s Apollo Go - we speak to Khaled Al Awadhi about autonomous taxis hitting Dubai roads in 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of OMAG All Access, hosts William Sheppard and Randy Jacox are joined by Tonya White, Water Funding Program Specialist at Garver, to discuss the importance of water and wastewater system master plans and capital improvement plans (CIPs) for Oklahoma municipalities. Tonya shares practical steps for getting started, how master planning supports funding efforts, and why internal collaboration is key to moving infrastructure projects forward. Whether your city is new to planning or simply needs to revisit existing strategies, this conversation provides valuable insights into aligning your needs with available funding opportunities. Don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with other municipal leaders. For more resources and support, visit www.omag.org or connect with us on Facebook. Have a podcast idea? Email us at allaccess@omag.org. 

CIPS CEO Ben Farrell reflects on his first 100 days in the role. After connecting with the global CIPS community across the world, Ben unveils his exciting vision for the future of CIPS and the wider profession. His message: today's procurement and supply professionals are tomorrow's business leaders.   Plus, hear Ben's thoughts on the transformational impact AI is having on procurement; the role CIPS must play in amplifying global best practice; and leadership lessons from his time serving in the British army and leading John Lewis' pandemic response. Further reading: Ben Farrell shares his insights from conversations with CIPS members in the Asia Pacific region The CIPS Foundation Watch: CEO Ben Farrell shares his vision for CIPS  

Rich and Ed said they'd never do politics but have a load of political news about the possible impact of US tariffs and looming recession (d'oh); a lack of news on the UK Public Procurement Act (which we'll take as good news); dull news about UK National Procurement Policy Statement; and finally some news from CIPS (yippee).And we have a special guest star from Zip - who we've been stalking for over a year and finally got to meet at ProcureCon in Vegas - Joe Piazza - who explains intake and orchestration, the lowest common denominator and how to make it easy to buy stuff!Plus a load of questions for Ask Rich & Ed - including what to do when you interview a candidate who is clearly better than you; whether rebates are ever a good thing; what to do if your procurement department is being taken over; the old centralisation vs decentralisation thing again; and what exactly is the span of responsibility for procurement folk?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

This episode of Expansion dives into Celestia's latest improvement proposals with Dean Eigenmann and Marko Baricevic. We discuss their proposals on locking staking rewards and decreasing Celestia's inflation rate, which aim to improve tokenomics and long-term network sustainability. The conversation expands into broader debates on proof-of-stake incentives, inflation models, and Celestia's relationship with Ethereum. Enjoy! Resources CIP-29: Decrease Inflation and Adjust Disinflation: https://github.com/celestiaorg/CIPs/blob/main/cips/cip-29.md CIP-30: Prevent Auto-Claiming of Staking Rewards: https://github.com/celestiaorg/CIPs/blob/main/cips/cip-30.md CIP-31: Treat Rewards as part of the Lockup Account: https://github.com/celestiaorg/CIPs/blob/main/cips/cip-31.md – L2s and L3s are history. Supra Containers give you dedicated, customizable AppSpace on Supra's Layer-1 to rescue you from the costs, complexities, and fragmentation of L2s and L3s.  Containers help you build with better customization and control than appchains at a fraction of the cost. Use your own token as the gas token, create local fee markets with custom gas amounts or just go gasless, and scale on demand whenever you need to. Supra Containers are secured by Supra's L1 nodes and get access to Supra's 500k TPS throughput, sub-second consensus latency, and all their built-in services like oracle price feeds and onchain randomness without any overhead. Supra is also MultiVM compatible so you can easily deploy your EVM, Move, and SVM smart contracts here. Get all the freedom, control, and tools you need to build super dApps and bring the world onchain. To learn more, visit www.supra.com/blockworks – Ledger, the global leader in digital asset security, proudly sponsors Bell Curve! As Ledger celebrates 10 years of securing 20% of global crypto, it remains the top choice for securing your assets. Buy a LEDGER™ device now, and build confidently, knowing your BTC, ETH, SOL, and more are safe. Buy now on https://shop.ledger.com/?r=1da180a5de00. – Join us at DAS NYC 2025!  Use code EXPANSION10 for a 10% discount: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-new-york - - Follow Dean: https://x.com/DeanEigenmann Follow Marko: https://x.com/MarkoBaricevic_ Follow Mike: https://x.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Expansion: https://x.com/ExpansionPod_ Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3QLwfTs Subscribe on Apple: http://apple.co/4bGKYYM Subscribe on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/3Vaubq1 Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (04:49) Celestia's Relationship to Cosmos (09:28) Changing Celestia's Economics and Incentives (13:03) Supra Pre-Roll (13:30) Ledger Pre-Roll (13:47) Locking Staking Rewards (16:45) What is the Ideal Stake Rate? (24:49) Lowering Celestia's Inflation Rate (33:30) The Inflation Debate (42:27) Supra Mid-Roll (43:11) Ledger Mid-Roll (43:47) Should Celestia Focus on Generating Fees? (50:47) Is the L1 Premium Dead? (01:00:33) Celestia's Relationship With Ethereum - - Disclaimer Expansion was kickstarted by a grant from the Celestia Foundation. Nothing said on Expansion is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Michael, Nick, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Rich and Ed continue to be bamboozled by intake to procure and orchestration - so much so that they've found more guest stars to try to explain it all.    And this time....well....We speak to Michael (never Mike) Shields from Tropic and Sean Warren from Opstream.  Michael tells us how a procurement person turns sales person (Prosalesment) to further the cause of intelligent spend management, and Sean suggests R2D2 was soooo much better than C3PO as an agent of AI.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

Rich and Ed are in their final day at ProcureCon Las Vegas - and have now put everything on red and lost it all.   But luckily we ran in Subu Rao from Discover Dollar who not only gave a great explanation of how AI can help procurement find those missing dollars, but he also subbed us 10 bucks to put on black.And we talk to Cheron Lessmeister from CIPS Americas who is tasked with developing the CIPS offering for the American market - from Canada through the US, the Caribbean and right down to Chile and Argentina!    And it turns out that all British Procurement people have NOT had personal training from the Royal Family, despite their MCIPS Chartered status. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

Rich and Ed literally woke up in Vegas to the excitement of ProcureCon West Indirect!    In the first of three sort-of-mini episodes, they get to grips with agentic AI and Orchestration Schmorchestration...we have no idea what this means, but luckily our guests Mike Pierson from Tonkean and Niyata Chhaya from Hyperbots do!!So listen up and learn.     Are you going to put the dollars on red or black????Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

The real estate cycle doesn't always follow typical patterns. You may experience a surge or a dip in business at the times you least expect. It's unclear whether the upcoming spring homebuying season will be busy or a bust. Are you prepared for whatever comes? Host Marki Lemons Ryhal talks to Chicago real estate leaders Kat Barry and Lateefa Neal about managing the unpredictability of the market and sticking to your individual formula for success. Meet the Guests... Kat Barry, CIPS, is a broker and leader of the Modern Living team at Compass in Chicago. She specializes in residential and mixed-use real estate, and she has been featured on multiple HGTV shows, including “House Hunters.” Barry was named one of REALTOR® Magazine's “30 Under 30” in 2009. Lateefa Neal is the founder and managing broker of NTS Realty Group in Chicago. She appeared in the fourth season of NAR's docuseries, “First-Time Buyer,” which follows agents who are REALTORS® as they help consumers navigate complex transactions to purchase their first home.

To celebrate International Women's Day 2025, we hear from two inspiring female procurement leaders. Lauren Feery, group procurement director of global packaging company DS Smith, shares why curiosity and speaking up are valuable tools in your career arsenal. Plus, you might have more in common with David Bowie than you think… Executive coach, CIPS trustee and ex-procurement and sustainability leader Juliet Sotnick reveals the common signs of imposter syndrome and offers five ways to overcome it. Additional links and further reading: International Women's Day CIPS Global voices: Inspirational women in procurement and supply

Rich and Ed have an assortment of exciting news - including Procurecon in Las Vegas, "Procurement Says No" Merch (available in all of the colours and sizes almost) and our new spin-off podcast "Ask Rich & Ed" (available on all good pod places).Plus a survey from the Cheetah Research Institute all about the uptake of AI in procurement - it's happening - slowly; priorities for Supply Chain leaders in '25 from CAPS; and a whole range of tech vendors splurging with webinars!     We do love a webinar.This is a short but perfectly formed mini episode - so you've plenty of time to listen to it - down load it now! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

Rich and Ed discover all there is to know about hosting your very own Procurement Event - with special guest stars Frank Musero and Michael Dunlap of ProcureCon; which only happens to be one of the biggest organisers of global procurement events!We ask Frank and Mike - what is ProcureCon all about; how many events do they hold; how long these things take to organise; how do they deal with terrible speakers and drop outs; what's in it for sponsors; and most importantly, what's in it for you, dear listener; and whether Taylor Swift or Guns 'n' Roses are playing ?   And how crazy does it get when things go wrong (and right!).Plus we've got news about Trump's tariffs from Columbia and Ericsson (who managed to predict this at least 2 years ago); no news as usual from CIPS (and a plan to fix it)...and a whole new world of agentic AI which is coming soon.   All this and DeepSeek - or is that SkyNet - and setting fire to the sky (again).And where exactly is Eswatini and where else has the world's top Procurement podcast been downloaded this month?Wherever you are, you know what to do - click the link!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

Your favorite procurement podcast is hosted by Alex Jennings on the Alchemie Network's livestream event.Ed and Rich muse on what we should expect in the world of procurement in 2025, as well as also looking back at what we said this time last year.   Were we right about near shoring, the continuing focus on risk and cost reduction, the slow march of AI, procurement tech continuing to lag, and a lack of available talent beginning to hit recruitment??? And what are our predictions for 2025 – more AI, more tech, more risk, war, flood, famine, recession and tariffs - and that's just the positive stuff. What would Nostradamus think??   Perhaps, a new mysterious leader will come from the sea and form an aquatic empire. Oh, and a massive asteroid is going to come close to hitting the Earth.  Yep.We also talk about ProcureCon, PSN merch and some amazing thought leadership coming soon.And you can even see video of us recording this one on the Alchemie Network - join up, it's as cheap as crisps...https://www.alchemienetwork.com/spaces/13204286/contentBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

En keyifli anlarınızı daha eğlenceli hale getirmek için Eker Dip&Cips yanınızda. Eker Dip&Cips ile #Dibinekadarlezzethakkında Eker Dip&Cips ürünleri hakkında detaylı bilgi için: ⁠Tıklayın⁠ * Instagram: @ortamlardasatilacakbilgi Twitter: @OrtamlardaB * Reklam ve İş birlikleri için: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ortamlardasatilacakbilgi@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Farkındalık Defteri:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podcastbpt.com/ortamlarda-satilacak-bilgi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ * Bu bölüm "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eker " hakkında reklam içerir

You've heard the saying, “Fail to plan—plan to fail.” Because so much of your success depends on how you spend your time, you need a plan for managing it wisely. But how do you craft a time management plan, including both your professional and personal time, in a way that works for you? Host Marki Lemons Ryhal learns from real estate pros Vanessa Franz Barnes and Natalie Davis how they took control of their schedules.  Meet the Guests...  Vanessa Franz Barnes, CIPS, SRES, is a broker-associate with Keller Williams Realty in Celebration, Fla. With more than two decades in the business, Vanessa, along with her husband and business partner Jaime, has sold over $375 million in real estate, building a thriving multimillion-dollar business.   Natalie Davis, ABR, CRS, is a real estate agent from Denver who serves as NAR's 2025 REALTOR® Party fundraising liaison.  She was named the 2023 REALTOR® of the Year by the South Metro Denver REALTORS® Association, among many other industry awards.

  Episode Title: Evidence-Based Regenerative Pain Medicine with Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, MD CIPS Host: David Rosenblum   Guest: Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, MD CIPS Episode Overview: In this insightful episode of the PainExam Podcast, Dr. David Rosenblum sits down with Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, a distinguished expert in pain medicine who is well known for his research, educational endeavors and expertise in Regenerative Pain Medicine and Ultrasound-Guided interventions. Together, they delve into the evolving landscape of regenerative pain medicine, focusing on evidence-based practices and the standardization of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) quality.    Key Topics Discussed:  - Evidence-Based Regenerative Pain Medicine: An exploration of current research and practices that inform effective pain management strategies. - PRP Quality and Standardization: Discussion on the importance of PRP quality in treatment outcomes and the need for standardized protocols. - Ultrasound-Guided Spine Interventions: Insights into the benefits and techniques of ultrasound guidance in performing spinal interventions, including a conversation on avoiding cervical epidurals. - Access to Pain Care: A comparative analysis of the differences in access to pain care across Portugal, Spain, the USA, and Canada, highlighting challenges and opportunities in each region. - Pain Expo Dubai: An overview of the upcoming Pain Expo in Dubai, where both Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos will be presenting, sharing their expertise with a global audience. Guest Biography:   Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos is an Interventional Pain Medicine Specialist and Clinical Scientist with a career spanning Portugal, the United States, Canada, and Spain. He began his journey at the University of Lisbon, earning his Medical Degree in 2014, followed by a five-year residency program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, which he completed in 2020. His fascination with Interventional Pain Medicine led him to the Department of Pain Medicine at Mayo Clinic, where he served as an Invited Clinical Research Scholar in 2018 and 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Friedrich Hurdle. At Mayo Clinic, he contributed to refining ultrasound-guided techniques for chronic spinal pain. Dr. Ferreira dos Santos further advanced his expertise with a Clinical Fellowship in Chronic Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto in 2022, training under esteemed mentors such as Dr. Anuj Bhatia, Dr. Paul Tumber, and Dr. Philip Peng. In this role, he was instrumental in advancing education on ultrasound-guided techniques nationally and internationally, which deepened his clinical skills and passion for mentorship. Currently based in Barcelona, Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos serves as the Senior Specialist and Responsible Clinical Lead for the Education and Training Excellence Center in Pain Medicine at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. He is also the Director of the Clinical Fellowship Program in Interventional Pain Medicine. Throughout his career, he has lectured at international conferences in over 25 countries and authored more than 35 peer-reviewed Q1 articles. His contributions have earned him several accolades, including the 2018 Grant for Young Clinical Researcher of the Year in Pain Medicine from the Grünenthal Foundation, the 2020 Gofeld Academic Scholarship Award, and the 2022 Nikolai Bogduk Young Investigator Grant. His journey across four countries has shaped his approach to clinical care, research, and mentorship, fueling his mission to improve pain management globally.  Listen to the Episode:   Tune in to gain valuable insights from Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos and learn more about the future of pain medicine. Available on all major podcast platforms.  Links and Resources:  - NRAP Academy - Follow Dr. David Rosenblum on X and LinkedIn - Follow Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos on LinkedIn  Join the Conversation:  We encourage our listeners to reach out with their thoughts and questions! Use the hashtag #PainExamPodcast on social media to engage with us. S ubscribe and Review:  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners!  Next Episode Preview:    Stay tuned for our next episode, where we will continue to explore the latest advancements in pain management and treatment options.

  Episode Title: Evidence-Based Regenerative Pain Medicine with Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, MD CIPS Host: David Rosenblum   Guest: Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, MD CIPS Episode Overview: In this insightful episode of the PainExam Podcast, Dr. David Rosenblum sits down with Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos, a distinguished expert in pain medicine who is well known for his research, educational endeavors and expertise in Regenerative Pain Medicine and Ultrasound-Guided interventions. Together, they delve into the evolving landscape of regenerative pain medicine, focusing on evidence-based practices and the standardization of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) quality.    Key Topics Discussed:  - Evidence-Based Regenerative Pain Medicine: An exploration of current research and practices that inform effective pain management strategies. - PRP Quality and Standardization: Discussion on the importance of PRP quality in treatment outcomes and the need for standardized protocols. - Ultrasound-Guided Spine Interventions: Insights into the benefits and techniques of ultrasound guidance in performing spinal interventions, including a conversation on avoiding cervical epidurals. - Access to Pain Care: A comparative analysis of the differences in access to pain care across Portugal, Spain, the USA, and Canada, highlighting challenges and opportunities in each region. - Pain Expo Dubai: An overview of the upcoming Pain Expo in Dubai, where both Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos will be presenting, sharing their expertise with a global audience. Guest Biography:   Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos is an Interventional Pain Medicine Specialist and Clinical Scientist with a career spanning Portugal, the United States, Canada, and Spain. He began his journey at the University of Lisbon, earning his Medical Degree in 2014, followed by a five-year residency program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, which he completed in 2020. His fascination with Interventional Pain Medicine led him to the Department of Pain Medicine at Mayo Clinic, where he served as an Invited Clinical Research Scholar in 2018 and 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Friedrich Hurdle. At Mayo Clinic, he contributed to refining ultrasound-guided techniques for chronic spinal pain. Dr. Ferreira dos Santos further advanced his expertise with a Clinical Fellowship in Chronic Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto in 2022, training under esteemed mentors such as Dr. Anuj Bhatia, Dr. Paul Tumber, and Dr. Philip Peng. In this role, he was instrumental in advancing education on ultrasound-guided techniques nationally and internationally, which deepened his clinical skills and passion for mentorship. Currently based in Barcelona, Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos serves as the Senior Specialist and Responsible Clinical Lead for the Education and Training Excellence Center in Pain Medicine at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. He is also the Director of the Clinical Fellowship Program in Interventional Pain Medicine. Throughout his career, he has lectured at international conferences in over 25 countries and authored more than 35 peer-reviewed Q1 articles. His contributions have earned him several accolades, including the 2018 Grant for Young Clinical Researcher of the Year in Pain Medicine from the Grünenthal Foundation, the 2020 Gofeld Academic Scholarship Award, and the 2022 Nikolai Bogduk Young Investigator Grant. His journey across four countries has shaped his approach to clinical care, research, and mentorship, fueling his mission to improve pain management globally.  Listen to the Episode:   Tune in to gain valuable insights from Dr. Ferreira Dos Santos and learn more about the future of pain medicine. Available on all major podcast platforms.  Links and Resources:  - NRAP Academy - Follow Dr. David Rosenblum on X and LinkedIn - Follow Dr. Guilherme Ferreira Dos Santos on LinkedIn  Join the Conversation:  We encourage our listeners to reach out with their thoughts and questions! Use the hashtag #PainExamPodcast on social media to engage with us. S ubscribe and Review:  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners!  Next Episode Preview:    Stay tuned for our next episode, where we will continue to explore the latest advancements in pain management and treatment options.

In this episode, Kath dives into the power of CIPs (Company Internal Podcasts)—a private podcast created for internal staff and teams. She explores how businesses with diverse workforces, including remote, hybrid, part-time staff, and those on leave, can use an internal podcast to communicate vital updates effectively, build a stronger company culture, and ensure no one feels left out.Kath explains how a CEO or leader can create a single monthly podcast to update, motivate, and engage their team with tone and clarity that email simply can't deliver. She highlights scenarios like addressing sensitive topics such as cutbacks while maintaining a positive and collaborative tone. Additionally, she shares ideas for weekly episodes featuring team stories, HR updates, or onboarding resources to foster inclusivity and build team understanding.The episode underscores how CIPs can enhance mental health, wellbeing, and communication by creating a shared experience for all staff, regardless of their location or role. Kath wraps up by inviting listeners to reach out if they'd like help creating or training their team to launch their own SIPs.Key Takeaway: Company internal podcasts are a powerful tool for effective communication, employee engagement, and building a cohesive workplace culture.Send us a textSupport the showProduced by https://voiceitpodcastagency.co.uk

Rich and Ed bring you Christmas cheer with their 12 Days of Procurement - as they count the days and suggest things you should be doing - like sorting 12 unpaid invoices, approving 10 requistions, unsticking 9 contracts stuck in legal, reading 6 Linked-In lists, defining 3 definitions of ESG and a releasing  tender on Christmas eve...you get the picture.  Listen to find out the whole 12 days!   And will Ed uncover what exactly the Apostles' Creed is all about? Plus news from VW and L'Oreal on batteries and decarbonisation, more news on our collabs with ProcureCon and Alchemie and we celebrate new listeners in the Czech Republic, Lesotho, Armenia, Papua New Guinea and, er, Russia.And shocking news that AI will wipe out 80% of Procurement people.  Possibly. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/procurement-says-no--5886102/support.

In this episode, Reese Tisdale is joined by Bluefield's Senior Research Director Eric Bindler to break down the essential role of Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) in guiding water utility infrastructure investments. As part of an annual Bluefield tradition, our analysis of nearly 800 CIPs across the U.S. and Canada reveals insights into how water utilities are planning US$345 billion in capital investments through 2032. Eric answers seven key questions, covering everything from the basics of what CIPs are to why they are crucial for utilities. The discussion also highlights: Why CIPs Matter: These plans provide a structured approach for long-term infrastructure projects, ensuring utilities can prioritize spending and address public health, regulatory compliance, and climate resilience. How Bluefield Does It: Eric explains Bluefield's research methodology, which involves analyzing thousands of line-item data across water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities, capturing nearly 45,000 individual projects categorized into 48 distinct categories. Investment Insights: The US$345 billion includes a mix of critical projects—46% for water, 44% for wastewater, and 9% for stormwater infrastructure. Notable project types include pipe networks, water treatment plants, cybersecurity, and PFAS mitigation. These CIPs translate utility capital needs into market opportunities for technology and equipment vendors as well as engineers and construction firms. Bluefield has detailed CIP data to help clients navigate market opportunities and make informed decisions. If you enjoy listening to The Future of Water Podcast, please tell a friend or colleague, and if you haven't already, please click to follow this podcast wherever you listen. If you'd like to be informed of water market news, trends, perspectives and analysis from Bluefield Research, subscribe to Waterline, our weekly newsletter published each Wednesday. Related Research & Analysis: U.S. & Canada Municipal Utility Capital Improvement Plans: Water, Wastewater, & Stormwater Budget Outlook, 2024–2032

Dive deep into the whirlwind world of homeowners insurance in the second part of our conversation with Florida's #1 real estate insurance expert, Cyndee Haydon, CRS, CIPS, PMN. Discover the hidden factors driving up your premiums, the secrets behind getting the best coverage, and the real impact of new regulations on your home's value. Plus, don't miss an unexpected twist at the end that will leave you rethinking everything you know about insurance.     Key takeaways to listen for Factors that lead to rising home insurance costs The significance of having adequate replacement value coverage for your property How insurance companies' strategies impact the availability and cost of policies Impact of regulatory changes on homeowners' ability to secure mortgages and insurance. Practical tips for homeowners and REALTORS® on reviewing and updating home insurance policies     Resources mentioned in this episode My Safe Florida Home National Association of REALTORS® Insurance Information Institute     About Cyndee Haydon, CRS, CIPS, PMN Cyndee is a Broker Associate Future Home Realty ©. She is a top REALTOR® in Tampa Bay, specializing in short-term rentals, relocations, and probate sales. Known for her tech-savvy and concierge approach, she simplifies complex tech tools for clients. As Chair of the National Association of REALTOR® Insurance Committee, she's a national advocate and trainer on insurance issues. An accomplished author, she offers invaluable guidance for probate sellers.     Connect with Cyndee LinkedIn: Cyndee Haydon, CRS PMN, CIPS Instagram: @cyndeehaydon Facebook: Cyndee Haydon | Cyndee for FR Email: cyndeehaydon@gmail.com Number: (727) 710-8035     Connect with Leigh Please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app at https://pod.link/1153262163, and never miss a beat from Leigh by visiting https://leighbrown.com. DM Leigh Brown on Instagram @ LeighThomasBrown.     Sponsors "You Ask. Leigh Answers." Your Affordable Coaching Program Hey there, real estate pros! Are you ready for some more Leigh Brown wisdom in your life? Then don't miss out on my brand-new program, "You Ask. Leigh Answers." It's your exclusive gateway to the insights and advice you need to supercharge your real estate business. With "You Ask. Leigh Answers." you get Direct Access to Leigh Brown, directly! Expert Coaching, Community Connection, and Extensive Resources. Whether listening to this on the go or watching at home, sign up today at Answers.RealEstate and take your business to the next level. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!  

Your home is your greatest investment. But is it truly protected? Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Florida's top real estate insurance expert, Cyndee Haydon, CRS, CIPS, PMN. Learn how to safeguard your home from unexpected disasters, avoid costly insurance pitfalls, and ensure you have the best coverage possible through Cyndee's battle-tested wisdom, captivating stories, and practical tips. Don't miss this episode packed with invaluable insights and actionable advice just for you!     Key takeaways to listen for How does a risk rating of 2.0 impact flood insurance policies and homeowner responsibilities What is the 50% rule, and how does it affect home repairs and maintenance decisions? The implications of climate financial risk on mortgage affordability and homeownership Real-life insurance challenges and the tough realities of rebuilding in the 2024 real estate market A REALTORS® role in community integration and how they impact newcomers' sense of community and belonging     Resources mentioned in this episode Risk Factor Risk Rating 2.0 Methodology and Data Sources Understanding FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 System for Flood Insurance | Bankrate Community Rating System | FEMA.gov Insurance     About Cyndee Haydon, CRS, CIPS, PMN Cyndee is a Broker Associate Future Home Realty ©. She is a top REALTOR® in Tampa Bay, specializing in short-term rentals, relocations, and probate sales. Known for her tech-savvy and concierge approach, she simplifies complex tech tools for clients. As Chair of the National Association of REALTOR® Insurance Committee, she's a national advocate and trainer on insurance issues. An accomplished author, she offers invaluable guidance for probate sellers.     Connect with Cyndee LinkedIn: Cyndee Haydon, CRS PMN, CIPS Instagram: @cyndeehaydon Facebook: Cyndee Haydon | Cyndee for FR Email: cyndeehaydon@gmail.com Number: (727) 710-8035     Connect with Leigh Please subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app at https://pod.link/1153262163, and never miss a beat from Leigh by visiting https://leighbrown.com. DM Leigh Brown on Instagram @ LeighThomasBrown.     Sponsors "You Ask. Leigh Answers." Your Affordable Coaching Program Hey there, real estate pros! Are you ready for some more Leigh Brown wisdom in your life? Then don't miss out on my brand-new program, "You Ask. Leigh Answers." It's your exclusive gateway to the insights and advice you need to supercharge your real estate business. With "You Ask. Leigh Answers." you get Direct Access to Leigh Brown, directly! Expert Coaching, Community Connection, and Extensive Resources. Whether listening to this on the go or watching at home, sign up today at Answers.RealEstate and take your business to the next level. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!  

In this episode of "The Brand Called You", Andrew Palmer, the President of CIPS Ontario, the Canadian Information Processing Society shares his insights on the evolving IT landscape, the importance of building legacies, and his vision for the future of the sector. With extensive experience in IT, including specialities in cybersecurity, compliance, and data governance, Andrew is a passionate advocate for ethical practices and professional development in the technology industry. About Andrew Palmer Andrew Palmer serves as the President of CIPS Ontario Society (Ontario Provincial Body). He is also on the Board of Directors of the Toronto Alumni Chapter. Andrew is a highly qualified, results-oriented Expert with broad and diversified experience in Blockchain, Financial Institutions, Information Technology, and Public Sector.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tbcy/support

We've scoured the investment migration industry this week. These are the top breaking news stories you may have missed:

This week join Jen and guest John Mayfield. John shares with Jen how crucial it is to keep the fundamentals, the basics in the real estate world. Listen to hear more about it! ____________________ Join the Mortgage Lending Mastery Community Today: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIz6-AkN3rMajV8OHfbJ_zw?view_as=subscriber       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenDuPlessis22   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenduplessis/      Website: www.JenDuPlessis.com    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenduplessis/    LinkedTree: https://linktr.ee/jenduplessis Interested in joining the Marketer's Cruise? Go to https://marketerscruise.com/ make sure you scroll down and find my name as your referral when booking. Book a Strategy Call with Jen TODAY: www.ChatwithJen.com _________________________ About John Mayfield John Mayfield received his real estate license in 1978 at the age of 18. John has been a practicing broker since 1981 and has owned and operated as many as three offices in Southeast Missouri during his real estate career. John has taught pre and post license real estate courses since 1988. John has earned the ABR®, ABRM, CRB, CIPS, e-PRO®, GRI, RENE, (Real Estate Negotiation Expert) Military and SRS designations throughout his real estate tenure. John is also a 2015 Graduate from REALTOR® University's Master of Real Estate Program, and recipient of the Capstone Award for his thesis paper. John has earned both REALTOR-Associate and REALTOR of the Year from his local board and received the 2014 Richard A. Mendenhall Leadership award from Missouri REALTORS and the REBI Hall of Leaders Award in San Francisco, CA at the NAR Conference. In 2020, John received the prestigious DREI (Distinguished Real Estate Instructor) from the Real Estate Educators Association. John has spoken to thousands of real estate professionals in over 25 countries throughout his speaking career. He is the author of eight books and creator of the “5- Minutes Series for Real Estate Agents,” Cengage Learning, with over 25,000 copies sold. He is the co-author of “21 Mistakes Real Estate Brokers Make and How to Avoid Them,” Acclaim Press with Corky Hyatt. John is also active on a local, state and national level for the REALTORS® Association, and served as the 2010 President of the CRB Council of Real Estate Brokers and Managers. John is Liaison for the National Association of REALTORS® to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria and the Missouri REALTORS President. John has two children, Alex and Anne, and he and his wife Kerry live in Farmington, Missouri, where John owns and operates a virtual real estate firm, an online real estate school, Global Real Estate School, and speaks full-time around the U.S. and internationally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our summary of the top stories in investment migration this week:

Dominica doubles the CIP donation threshold while maintaining the real estate investment pricing but adjusts its related fees.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here.

Welcome to the Financial Freedom and Wealth Trailblazers Podcast! In this episode, we'll discuss the journey that many real estate professionals dream of but few dare to take: transitioning from a successful real estate agent to a thriving real estate business course creator. John Mayfield received his real estate license in 1978 at the age of 18. John has been a practicing broker since 1981 and has owned and operated as many as three offices in Southeast Missouri during his real estate career. John has taught pre and post-license real estate courses since 1988. John has earned the ABR®, ABRM, CRB, CIPS, e-PRO®, GRI, RENE (Real Estate Negotiation Expert) Military, and SRS designations throughout his real estate tenure.  John is a licensed broker in Missouri, Indiana, and Florida. John is also a 1983 Graduate of Southeast Missouri State University for undergraduate studies in business and a 2015 REALTOR® University Master of Real Estate Program graduate.  John's professors awarded him the Capstone Award for his thesis paper from REALTOR® University.   John has earned both REALTOR-Associate and REALTOR of the Year from his local board and received the 2014 Richard A. Mendenhall Leadership Award from Missouri REALTORS and the REBI Hall of Leaders Award in San Francisco, CA, at the NAR Conference.  In 2020, John received the prestigious DREI (Distinguished Real Estate Instructor) from the Real Estate Educators Association. John was also elected by the DREI membership to the DREI Board in 2023 for a three-year term. John has spoken to thousands of real estate professionals in over 25 countries throughout his speaking career.  He is the author of eight books and creator of the “5-Minutes Series for Real Estate Agents,” Cengage Learning, with thousands of copies sold. He also co-authors “21 Mistakes Real Estate Brokers Make and How to Avoid Them,” Acclaim Press with Corky Hyatt.   During his Global career, John has been elected President of the World Council of Brokers (FIABCI Organization) twice and received the association's prestigious Medal of Honor Award twice for his continued service.  He continues to work with FIABCI to this day and remains active and close to many of his colleagues worldwide. This year, 2024, John was asked by ThinkProp, a Dubai and Abu Dhabi-based real estate training institute that offers diverse courses and partnerships with the government and is certified by the DMT in Abu Dhabi as an instructor, to help train their real estate brokers. Connect with John here: https://www.facebook.com/john.mayfield https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndmayfield/ https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalRealEstateSchool https://www.instagram.com/realestatetechguy/ https://x.com/johnmayfield Grab the freebie here:https://businesstechguy.lpages.co/start-a-new-career/ =================================== If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends. Thanks for watching the Financial Freedom and Wealth Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com. Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers.  Request to join here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators QUICK LINKS:  APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-application GET MORE CLIENTS: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/client-acquisition-accelerator-pdf DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/ JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators

"Virtual Reality in Pain Management & Rehabilitation: An Update" Dr. Sadiq Bhayani, MBBS, FRCA, FFPMRCA, EDRA, CIPS, FIPP, Dr. Amit Verma, MD, EDPM, FIPP, Dr. Himanshu Chauhan, MD, EDPM, DESIAC, and Dr. Jaya Batra, MD, EDPM, DESIAC. From ASRA Pain Medicine News, February 2024. See original article at www.asra.com/feb24news for figures and references. This material is copyrighted. Support the Show.

Our summary of the news this week.

The CBI countries have agreed to a price floor and to make "underselling" practically unfeasible. But one country is conspicuously opting out.

Our summary of the news this week.

We're back with our second episode of the month to talk about connecting with people so that you will have clients throughout 2024. We call it filling your pipeline. Many of us focus on getting business. If we can spend time connecting with people with purpose, there generally will be a more steady flow of clients throughout the year. Did you apply anything you've learned from the first episode already? We would love to hear what worked for you! Our email address is in the show notes.   In this episode, we will look at the difference between online leads and live leads and a few marketing tips. February's guest is Janet Judd. She's a 2022 REBAC Hall of Fame recipient, Missouri Real Estate Commissioner, former President of the Missouri Association of REALTORS®, and she has won a number of awards in the business. She is going to give you real actionable tips to help you fill your buyer pipeline for 2024. [3:08] Excellent content on your site makes the difference. Janet gives some great recommendations.    [4:37] Janet hangs on to hits because they picked her. Respond promptly when they contact you. Janet suggests you host virtual tours and webinars on your site. [7:08] Janet pays the website professionals for content, SEO, and marketing of her site.    [10:25] Janet advertises in a neighborhood magazine to 55,000 homes a month. That's generated a few calls that she puts in her pipeline to send a monthly postcard.    [16:47] When her leads start responding more conversationally to her texts or emails, Janet knows it's time to set up a phone call with them to slowly but surely reel them in.   [18:46] Make sure you have testimonials on your website. Ask your clients for a testimonial right at the closing.    [20:29] Janet is a worker bee. She volunteers and works hard. Active listening is one of Janet's superpowers. If you can do that, it makes all the difference.   [22:13] Janet carries a wire-bound index card file in her purse to record notes about new contacts. For Janet, Top Producer is her “second brain.” Find your “second brain” that creates a flow.   [31:30] Be a resource. It creates credibility, trust, and an emotional connection. People decide with their emotions. The educational approach is her focus, now.   [33:50] I'm going to encourage our listeners to go back and listen to Part 1 of this conversation if they haven't already where Janet talks about her system of keeping up with leads and clients.   [34:55] Some states allow incentives or inducements, some do not. Check your state law before offering one.   [36:08] Some agents hold R.S.V.P.-only open houses as a security issue and let only one person come in at a time. Don't share your personal information online.   [38:08] Janet's last word: “You need consistent, excellent service to your existing clients. That's what's going to keep you in the business. … Whatever you do, autograph it with excellence.    [39:11] My favorite takeaway from Part 2 was the reminder that everything we do to improve our visibility will cost us time or money. What was your favorite tip from the 2nd episode? If you missed the first episode about great ways to connect with people in real-time, head back and hear Janet's tips to get started.   [40:25] We're going to be having several months of episodes focusing on tools to help you communicate more clearly, set excellent expectations, and create great experiences. What classes are you planning to take to improve your business? Go to Learning.realtor to find lots of live, virtual, and online classes. Join us in March for more ways to improve your business model and to think a little bit differently. Thanks for joining us! Make some calls, tighten up your system, go out there, and sell some houses! Tweetables:   “You also want to have a call to action on your website so that they know what to do. For me is just ‘Call JJ.' Call Janet Judd.” — Janet Judd   “I truly believe the old ways are coming back again. So print media could be coming back. So I started doing that.” — Janet Judd   “It has to be ‘Janet-proof.' That means I can't break it, it's easy to learn, it's intuitive, I can get to it on my phone, and get that information that I need, right away … before I call them, and get all those notes.” — Janet Judd   “If I can get them on a phone call, I can usually get them.” — Janet Judd   Guest Links: Jane Judd on LinkedIn NARRPR.com REALTOR® Property Resource   Slydial American Greetings digital cards Top Producer® NAR Library Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential, by Tiago Forte   NAR Resource Links NAR.realtor/technologyABR® SRS   Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR. Use the coupon code PODCAST to obtain 15% off the price of any microcourse!   crdpodcast@nar.realtor Crdpodcast.REALTOR Learning.REALTOR — for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates CRD.REALTOR — List of all courses offered   Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® Monica@MonicaNeubauer.com MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com   Monica's Facebook Page: Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram: Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks   Guest Bio Janet Judd Former Police Officer. First female hired by a 55-man department in St. Louis County — in the early '80s. First female elected Class President at the St. Louis Police Academy. That's why I teach the updated and revamped NAR REALTOR® Safety Course via Zoom and in-person. 2022 Chair of NAR's Safety Advisory Council. Presented Safety Topic at the August 2021 Leadership Summit. First Hispanic to be elected President of Missouri REALTORS® and St. Louis REALTORS®. Missouri Real Estate Commissioner. 2023 Triple Play Instructor. 6000+ attendees from New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania. NAR Appointee to the elite Professional Standards Advisory Council. Janet Judd, CRS, CIPS, GRI, ABR, SRES, AHWD, RENE RE/MAX Results Broker-Associate 2021 President Missouri REALTORS® 2016 Salesperson of the Year Missouri REALTORS® 2015 President St. Louis Association of REALTORS® Hall of Fame Member Realtors® Political Action Committee RE/MAX International Hall of Fame St. Louis Magazine 15-year Five-Star Award Recipient For Client Customer Service www.JanetJudd.com

In this week's episode, Anna (https://twitter.com/annarrose) and Guillermo (https://twitter.com/GuilleAngeris) chat with Yaz Khoury (https://twitter.com/Yazanator) and Ismail Khoffi (https://twitter.com/KreuzUQuer) from Celestia (https://twitter.com/celestiaorg). They share how the team prepared for the launch of the Celestia mainnet and what has been happening at Celestia since. They revisit the topic of DA (Data Availability) and explore how rollups and dApp developers can already use the Celestia DA layer. The group discusses Blobstream, which brings the benefits of Celestia to Ethereum and helps to scale the network, as well as community building, the modular thesis and much more. Here's some additional links for this episode: Episode 151: John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problem (https://zeroknowledge.fm/151-2/) Episode 208: Digging into Data Availability with Ismail Khoffi from Celestia (https://zeroknowledge.fm/208-2/) Episode 268: A Rollup-Centric Future & Sovereign Chains with Mustafa Al-Bassam (https://zeroknowledge.fm/268-2/) Ismail Khoffi of Celestia (Sovereign Radio) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5nAI-jXAgk&list=PLdI4HWwFLH1dtT31R8snlR5omQg81L_hO&index=4) Celestia Improvement Proposal GitHub (https://github.com/celestiaorg/CIPs/blob/main/cips/cip-1.md) Introducing the Celestia Improvement Proposal Process (https://blog.celestia.org/introducing-the-celestia-improvement-proposal-process/) Introduction to Arbitrum rollups with Celestia as DA (https://docs.celestia.org/developers/arbitrum-integration) Introducing Blobstream: streaming modular DA to Ethereum (https://blog.celestia.org/introducing-blobstream/) Raspberry Pi Foundation (https://www.raspberrypi.org/) Succinct Network (https://succinct.xyz/) Episode 308: Avail's Approach to DA with Prabal Banerjee (https://zeroknowledge.fm/308-2/) Episode 217: Information Theory & Blockchain with Sreeram Kannan (https://zeroknowledge.fm/217-2/) Cosmos Hub (https://hub.cosmos.network/) Modular Summit Website (https://modularsummit.dev/) Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website (https://www.zksummit.com/) to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece. Aleo (http://aleo.org/) is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup. As Aleo is gearing up for their mainnet launch in Q1, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey. Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/ (http://aleo.org/) If you like what we do: * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree (https://linktr.ee/zeroknowledge) * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter (https://zeroknowledge.substack.com) * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) * Join us on Telegram (https://zeroknowledge.fm/telegram) * Catch us on YouTube (https://zeroknowledge.fm/)

How is your business growing and flowing right now? I hope you have a pipeline full of clients who are looking right now or planning to buy or sell in the next few months. We know, though, that hope is not a strategy. We need better tools than just hope to get our buyer pipelines filled. We know that a whole lot is happening in the real estate industry right now. We will be having several months of focusing on tools you can use to communicate more clearly, to set better expectations, and to create great experiences for you and your clients. February's guest is Janet Judd. She's a 2022 REBAC Hall of Fame recipient, Missouri Real Estate Commissioner, former President of the Missouri Association of REALTORS®, and she has won a number of awards in the business. She is going to give you real actionable tips to help you fill your buyer pipeline for 2024. As a reminder, this a two-part episode, with the second part coming later this month.    [3:17] Janet is a solo agent in Missouri who has been selling real estate full-time for 38 years. She loves what she does and has a servant's heart for volunteering.  [5:42] You are the product when you're meeting clients. They need to know that you're engaging. You need to be credible and communicate to them the value of doing business with you.  [11:08] Janet discusses an app that let's you call someone's voicemail when you can't chat.  [14:15] For Janet, a pipeline means knowing she will be able to have a buyer close on a property. [15:00] Janet takes the most motivated ones out to show properties. She leads them along the pipeline with frequent contacts and suggestions.  [16:04] Janet has buyers in the pipeline for months. She keeps all her contacts in the loop so they don't run off with someone else. She gets them under a Buyer Agency Agreement as soon as she can.  [21:05] When buyers know what they want, it's easier to define and find it. Then you have to hold their hand and make sure they stay patient while you do your job.  [22:00] Janet discusses the CRM she uses. She also keeps a file folder for every contact in the pipeline with notes. She goes through all the folders each day, making contacts as appropriate.  [27:10] Sometimes you lose an opportunity. Ask people who may be a year from buying how often they want you to contact them. Janet discusses how to motivate them. [29:34] Janet invites people to sign a Buyer Agency Agreement at the first meeting. She writes the agreement for a year. It's a two-way commitment. Don't disappear from view. [33:15] Janet's last word: “I really just want you to understand the fact that you're the product. Help them make that emotional decision to work with you and be excited about the opportunity to work with them and help a dream come true — the American Dream come true.” [34:02] We will be continuing with great education to help you work more clearly and more intentionally with buyers. Join us every two weeks for new episodes and review the past episodes if you need help with specific topics. Thanks for joining us! Go out there, improve your system, and sell some property!   Tweetables: “I've been selling real estate full-time for 38 years. I don't have a team. I'm a solo agent and I still love what I do and definitely have a servant's heart for volunteering.” — Janet Judd “Being a buyer's agent, you've got to dance the way they want you to dance. It's on their schedule. When they call, you've got to pop up!” — Janet Judd “Help buyers to make that emotional decision to work with you; be excited about the opportunity to work with them and help a dream come true — the American Dream come true.” — Janet Judd   Guest Links: Janet Judd on LinkedIn NARRPR.com REALTOR® Property Resource Slydial American Greetings digital cards Top Producer® NAR Library NAR Resource Links NAR.realtor/technologyABR® SRS   Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR. Use the coupon code PODCAST to obtain 15% off the price of any microcourse! crdpodcast@nar.realtor Crdpodcast.REALTOR Learning.REALTOR — for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates CRD.REALTOR — List of all courses offered Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® Monica@MonicaNeubauer.com MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page: Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram: Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Guest Bio Janet Judd Former Police Officer. First female hired by a 55-man department in St. Louis County — in the early '80s. First female elected Class President at the St. Louis Police Academy. That's why I teach the updated and revamped NAR REALTOR® Safety Course via Zoom and in-person. 2022 Chair of NAR's Safety Advisory Council. Presented Safety Topic at the August 2021 Leadership Summit. First Hispanic to be elected President of Missouri REALTORS® and St. Louis REALTORS®. Missouri Real Estate Commissioner. 2023 Triple Play Instructor. 6000+ attendees from New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania. NAR Appointee to the elite Professional Standards Advisory Council. Janet Judd, CRS, CIPS, GRI, ABR, SRES, AHWD, RENE RE/MAX Results Broker-Associate 2021 President Missouri REALTORS® 2016 Salesperson of the Year Missouri REALTORS® 2015 President St. Louis Association of REALTORS® Hall of Fame Member Realtors® Political Action Committee RE/MAX International Hall of Fame St. Louis Magazine 15-year Five-Star Award Recipient For Client Customer Service www.JanetJudd.com

We're delighted that Ex-Irish Grand Slam champion and Leinster legend Dan Leavy has taken some time away from his busy 'Silly Season' schedule to join us on the podcast today. Dan was forced to retire at the age of 27 after suffering a horrific knee injury and nowadays runs a very successful Whiskey company. Today he opens up about the crazy highs and lows of his career, from partying in Bilbao after winning the champions cup & getting loose in Dublin all night after winning the Six Nations grand slam to the demons and pain he battled for 3 years after suffering his injury. Plus we hear some hilarious tales about; Archie's lost money clip in The Ned, some embarrassing Christmas party stories, why you should (or should not) target the 'lips and nips' and some other ridiculous tales from Silly Season. ----------------------- LIMITED EDITION - LASH BEAR T - SHIRTS FOR SALE THIS CHRISTMAS - THE PERFECT XMAS PRESENT https://www.stashcompany.co.uk/products/lash-bear GET 8 FREE BEERS & SNACKS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE - https://www.beer52.com/rigbiz BUY SAMURAI CLAPHAM FALCONS STASH NOW! https://www.samurai-sports.com/collections/clapham-falcons?_pos=1&_psq=clapham+falcons&_ss=e&_v=1.0 CHANGE YOUR LIFE AROUND WITH ATHLETIC GREENS - GET A FREE 1 YEAR SUPPLY OF VITAMIN D AND 5 FREE AG TRAVEL PACKS BY CLICKING HERE - drinkAG1.com/rigbiz

This episode's guest is John LeTourneau. Our topic is real estate investing. The Center for REALTOR® Development has a course that teaches this: Real Estate Investing: Building Wealth: Representing Investors and Becoming One Yourself. There is so much opportunity for you, our listeners, in this area. John is just opening the door of what's possible. Let's find out more.   [2:42] John became a broker and a REALTOR® in 2005.   [4:11] John started in residential but preferred B2B, so he worked as a non-REALTOR® commercial broker for several years at a large commercial firm. John shares a prospecting story.   [6:50] John does volunteer work for his local, state, and national associations and public speaking and education in the U.S. and internationally. Every hour he gives comes back 10 or 20 times in satisfaction, wisdom, and knowledge.    [10:23] In commercial real estate, you are a product specialist and territorial generalist, or a territorial specialist and product generalist. John's license allows these transactions: listing property, buying property, working with landlords, and working with tenants.   [11:22] John wants to reach the person who can spin off all four activities: a real estate investor. John can build a team and an income stream with that person.   [12:11] John's specialty is helping people build multi-generational wealth through investment real estate. Through his connections, he can tap into local market resources around the country and find local knowledge.   [12:44] The IRS has a passive loss rule for full-time real estate professionals. Full-time real estate professionals can lose money on real estate. John describes additional tax advantages only for full-time real estate professionals.   [17:52] Your day-to-day brokerage activity will rarely be enough for you to retire. Start building sources of passive income. Figure out what it costs you to live every day and every year. That's your freedom number!   [20:14] John believes that real estate, with its market advantages, in concert with a diversified portfolio of other things, is a phenomenal way to hit your freedom number.    [24:04] John's real estate investment advice. In most cases, single-family homes are among the worst investments you can make. You have a lot of risk buttoned up in one tenant in your expensive property.    [31:33] John explains straight-line depreciation. When your rental cash flow surpasses the depreciation, it is a good time to sell. If the home is expensive, you can see if it qualifies for accelerated depreciation or cost segregation. [36:41] Article 11 says you should not offer specialized services unless you have the skill set to do it. Refer it out or partner up with someone with that skill. Don't put your commission ahead of your client.   [39:03] John shares some NAR statistics about the time and cost of a residential real estate transaction in the United States.    [39:26] Getting a lead and making a referral of it in about 30 minutes and getting a referral percentage, is the best hourly rate you can make anywhere in the world.   [40:41] John describes a cycle of investments starting with residential, into industrial, then long-term net leases.   [43:14] The generational shift of wealth is where we as real estate professionals can consult in a great way.   [49:43] To get into commercial, coming from residential, the top-fourth of your database is in top positions in their businesses to give you referrals.   [50:27] John reviews the demographics of residential real estate agents contrasted with commercial real estate brokers.    [53:30] Spending time in commercial will limit the time you spend in residential, so your residential income will decrease before you see income from commercial real estate. If you partner with a local mentor, you can get business quickly.   [55:50] Invest early, invest often. Don't be the broker who dies broke. Please take advantage of all the things you have and invest in real estate. Build multi-generational wealth. The world's in front of you!   Tweetables:   “In commercial, you're either going to be a product specialist and a territorial generalist, …. or you're going to be a territorial specialist and a product generalist.” — John LeTourneau   “What does my license allow me to do? My license allows me to represent four basic transactions: listing property, buying property, working with landlords, or working with tenants. So, there are four primary ways to monetize my license.” — John LeTourneau   “The number one indicator of success in commercial real estate is your ability and willingness to prospect consistently with people you don't know.” — John LeTourneau   “Invest early, invest often. Don't be the broker who dies broke. Please take advantage of all the things you have and invest in real estate. … Build multi-generational wealth.” — John LeTourneau   Guest Links: John LeTourneau on LinkedIn Book recommendation: The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel   NAR Resource Links NAR.realtor/technologyReal Estate Investing (REI) CRD Episode 057: Financial Planners, Insurance, and REALTORS® with Rich Arzaga CCIM IREM   Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR. Use the coupon code PODCAST to obtain 15% off the price of any microcourse!   CRD@NAR.REALTOR Crdpodcast.REALTOR Learning.REALTOR — for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates CRD.REALTOR — List of all courses offered Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® Monica@MonicaNeubauer.com MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com   Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks   Guest Bio John LeTourneau is currently the KW Commercial Managing Director for the E to P Group of 9 offices in the Chicago area. In his role, John oversees the strategy implementation and daily operations of the KW Commercial brand, with a special focus on mid-market commercial properties in the Chicago region.   During his career, John has represented landlords, tenants, investors, owner-users, and sellers in all aspects of commercial real estate; and looks to use this experience to leverage the KW Commercial platform. Mr. LeTourneau's accomplishments include:   ● Member of the Board of Directors, Illinois REALTORS® ● Immediate Past President, Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® ● Member of the Board of Directors, Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® ● Member of the Commercial and Government Affairs Committees at Mainstreet ● Member of the Illinois REALTORS® Commercial/Industrial, Leadership Development, and Public Policy    Working Group ● Member of the National Association of REALTORS® Commercial Real Committee ● Overseas Member of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers (IPAV),    Dublin, Ireland ● Illinois Consulate Liaison to the Republic of Ireland ● Illinois State Legislative Contact for Senator John Curran ● Approved Continuing Education Instructor in Illinois ● Approved Instructor for NAR and REBAC ● Carries the CIPS, e-PRO, ABR, CRS, SRS, PSA, RENE, C2EX, AHWD, and GRI       Designations/Certifications

Khalid Cannon didn't have the most direct route to the world of Ivy League athletics, but he certainly made the most of his opportunity. Growing up on a chicken farm in Alabama, his father was incarcerated when he was just a toddler, a development that led him to sports as a youth as an outlet for the challenges his family naturally faced. Not only did he excel athletically in baseball, football and other sports, he excelled academically as well. So much so that when it came time to consider playing football in college, he caught the eye of coaches at Yale and eventually played offensive line for the Bulldogs while pursuing degrees in chemistry and geology. After graduation, his career included a stint at a gold mining corporation until a conversation with a fellow former Yale football player turned him on to a fledgling nonprofit called Put Me In! The mission of Put Me In! is to be a support to the more than 5 million kids who are estimated to have a parent who is incarcerated. CIPS, or children of incarcerated parents, are a group that doesn't get much attention in the world of sports-related travel. But Put Me In! exists to give those kids scholarships to cover the costs of sports equipment, league fees and travel to tournaments. The organization has started small but is rapidly expanding, bringing on Cannon recently as its first full-time employee in the role of president and chief program officer. As you'll hear in this conversation with SportsTravel Executive Editor and Publisher Jason Gewirtz, they've found perhaps the perfect person for the role. As the issue of equity in youth sports continues to rise to importance, Put Me In! is a terrific example of how some groups are looking to level the playing field.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taking a different approach on this episode, Reese Tisdale flies solo and shares some perspectives from recent analysis presented to clients by Bluefield Research's team of water experts. Three areas of discussion in this episode: Utility Capital Improvement Plans: Bluefield's team of water experts has dedicated significant time and resources to supporting companies with bottom-up data collection and analysis of the capital improvement plans (CIPs) of 763 large and mid-sized water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities across the U.S. and Canada. Third Party O&M: Private participation in water & wastewater takes many forms, from system ownership and concessions to third-party operations & maintenance (O&M) contracts. Enabled by lower barriers to entry across a fragmented addressable market, third-party O&M providers represent the bulk of private participation in the U.S. Oldcastle Cements Digital Water Strategy via Partnerships and M&A: On 1 August 2023, Oldcastle Infrastructure and FIDO Tech announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the U.S. market entry of FIDO's artificial intelligence (AI)- powered leak detection software. This partnership is the latest in a series of recent maneuvers by Oldcastle to gain a foothold in the digital water solutions market. If you enjoy listening to The Future of Water Podcast, please tell a friend or colleague, and if you haven't already, please click to follow this podcast wherever you listen. If you'd like to be informed of water market news, trends, perspectives and analysis from Bluefield Research, subscribe to Waterline, our weekly newsletter published each Wednesday. Related Research & Analysis U.S. & Canada Municipal Utility Capital Improvement Plans, 2023–2031 Third-Party O&M for U.S. Water & Wastewater Utilities Oldcastle Cements Digital Water Strategy via Partnerships and M&A

Today's Flash Back Friday Episode is from Episode #357, which originally aired on November 15, 2021. Michael Cobb is a real estate expert and international developer. After success in the computer industry, Michael formed ECI Development in 1996. This residential resort development company builds communities in Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, and Mexico. Tropical neighborhoods include homes, condominiums, golf courses, and hotels in beach, agricultural, and mountain locations. Michael serves on the board of several multinational companies, charitable foundations, holds a CIPS certification, is a past International Director for NAR, and heads the International Referral Network (IRN) for Realtors. Michael and his wife, Carol, lived as expats, raising two daughters overseas, from 2002 through 2016.   Quote: “We started a mortgage company to provide financing to North Americans.. and that business ultimately grew into a bank, but we are still largely a mortgage company.” “Understanding that thin slicing of the marketplace is really important but also [is] understanding your goals and objectives.” “To me, the biggest form of asset protection is diversification, and not just in terms of asset classes.”   Highlights: 02:00 - Michael tells listeners more about life with his family in Nicaragua, culture shock, and raising children outside of him and his wife's native country. 07:24  - Michael discusses his shift from the technology industry into the real estate world and how ECI Development came to be. 12:54 - Michael tells us the reasons why his company doesn't have many competitors. 15:23 - Michael lists some reasons why Central American real estate is so appealing. 28:50  - Michael talks about asset protection when owning real estate in Central America. 34:21 -  Michael touches on ECI's current real estate developments. 40:23 - Michael describes the process of someone touring properties.   Guest Website: https://www.ecidevelopment.com/   Recommended Resources:  Accredited Investors, you're invited to Join the Cashflow Investor Club to learn how you can partner with Kevin Bupp on current and upcoming opportunities to create passive cash flow and build wealth. Join the Club! If you're a high net worth investor with capital to deploy in the next 12 months and you want to build passive income and wealth with a trusted partner, go to InvestWithKB.com for opportunities to invest in real estate projects alongside Kevin and his team.  Looking for the ultimate guide to passive investing? Grab a copy of my latest book, The Cash Flow Investor at KevinBupp.com.  Tap into a wealth of free information on Commercial Real Estate Investing by listening to past podcast episodes at KevinBupp.com/Podcast. Learn more about Kevin's investment company and opportunities for Lifetime Cashflow at sunrisecapitalinvestors.com.

Everyone is adapting to the technology they need, in their work and life. We want you to have the best tools that will benefit you and your clients. In this episode, Ali Whitley discusses working with our mature clients. The Seniors Real Estate Specialist Designation (SRES®) is an amazing class that the Center for REALTOR® Development offers. This class discusses things you need to know. We discuss the technicalities of senior living, reverse mortgages, estates, taxes, and more. We also discuss helping our mature clients get established in communities and be connected in the ways that help them best. Thanks for joining us!   [2:22] Ali is an educator and loves all things education. She is happy to be the chair of the Emerging Business and Technology Forum for NAR this year. [4:56] A person of the same age could have a very different lifestyle than another person. It depends on your activity and health and your ability to be active. [8:16] Ali talks with clients about their interests. She finds out their activity level and the things they like to do. [9:07] Art museums, libraries, and different types of opportunities in your community may have senior or 50-plus programs. When you get plugged into something, you find more to do. Do pre-work and find links for your clients to find their way. [10:39] If we have things available for someone and we can start to identify it for them, their interests and their ability to meet people is going to “explode,” so they'll be able to be connected in their communities. [10:59] The Seniors Real Estate Specialist designation covers three generations: Gen X, Boomers, and the Silent Generation. These generations have different characteristics. They are very diverse in technology. [11:59] As real estate professionals, we help clients across any technology abilities, know where they are, and meet them there, encouraging them to use technology in their transactions and their lives. [12:20] Stereotypes are helpful for some conversations but don't ever over-assume things. Ali sees different generations using technology differently. [13:36] Video chats and social media are useful for people to keep that connection and feel that they're in the know with their community and their family. [15:18] Ali sees older people using video doorbells to keep an eye on who's coming up on their porch and when they're getting deliveries and having visitors. They're using health trackers and video medical appointments. [16:52] When Monica's parents find something that satisfies a need that they have determined, like their Ring doorbell, they are thrilled to have the technology. But they still don't want “all of that technology.” [20:15] We need to talk with our clients and learn their communication preferences. [20:40] Our young clients don't want to talk on the phone but our older clients want to talk on the phone and see us in person. This is a relationship-building business. We need to build the relationship in a way that the client is comfortable. [26:19] There are all sorts of opportunities to use technology to make connections but face-to-face or voice-to-voice are important for people to feel connected. [26:39] Ali is the chair of the Emerging Business and Technology Forum that works with the REACH program. The REACH program comes out of Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of REALTORS®. [28:08] NAR chooses both REACH commercial and residential companies for technology that may be utilized in homes or businesses. Ali recommends some digital technology clients can use.  [32:40] Ali suggests looking at the REACH program and Second Century Ventures to see all the REACH programs and classes. [34:58] The Seniors Real Estate Specialist is one of many excellent offerings and you can find out more at Learning.REALTOR.   Tweetables:   “A person of the same age could be in a very different lifestyle than another person. It really depends on your activity level, your health level; how you really feel about yourself, and your ability to have activity.” — Ali Whitley   “Maybe someone had a real interest in something particular and their job took them in a different direction. Now, as they're retiring, they can start to take those classes that they thought that they would enjoy.” — Ali Whitley   “As REALTORS®, we need to help clients across any technology abilities and we need to know where they are and meet them there and see if we can help to encourage new technology within their transactions.” — Ali Whitley   “They can see your smiling face on the video or they get to meet you in person and they get a feel for who you are, and then later, if … you're sending a text, or you're sending something through email, now they can put your face to it.” — Ali Whitley   Guest Links:   Ali Whitley, REALTOR® ABR, CIPS, CRS, GRI, SRES, SRS, AHWD, e-PRO, PSA, RENE, RSPS, SFR, C2EX Endorsed RE/MAX Crossroads Aliwhitley.com Prisid.io REACH Second Century Ventures REACH Program Companies nar.realtor/newsroom/second-century-ventures-announces-14-companies-for-2023-reach-scale-up-program   NAR Resource LinksSeniors Real Estate Specialist® (SRES®) NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience   Additional Links:   Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR. Use the coupon code PODCAST to obtain 15% off the price of any microcourse!   CRD@NAR.REALTOR Crdpodcast.REALTOR Learning.REALTOR — for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates CRD.REALTOR — List of all courses offered   Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® Monica@MonicaNeubauer.com MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com   Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks   Guest Bio   Ali Whitley Ali Whitley is an active Residential Real Estate Agent and Director of Education at RE/MAX Crossroads. In addition to guiding buyer and seller clients through successful transactions, Ali is passionate about professional development and education. A skilled negotiator and experienced REALTOR® for over 26 years, she shares this expertise and empowers fellow agents as an educator and mentor, and as an instructor of Designations and Certifications. 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The U.S. dollar's status as the global reserve currency is diminishing, which reduces the power that U.S. leaders have over the global economic system. In this episode, hear highlights from recent Congressional testimony during which financial elites examine the current status of the global financial system and what Congress is being told to do to address perceived threats to it (and to their own power). Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! View the show notes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd276-the-demise-of-dollar-dominance Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD269: NDAA 2023/Plan Ecuador CD230: Pacific Deterrence Initiative CD195: Yemen CD187: Combating China CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? International Monetary Fund “IMF Financial Activities List 2023.” Updated June 21, 2023. International Monetary Fund. “Weekly Report on Key Financial Statistics.” June 9, 2023. International Monetary Fund. “IMF Lending.” Updated December 2022. International Monetary Fund. Argentina “Argentina: Letter of Intent, Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies, and Technical Memorandum of Understanding” October 17, 2018. International Monetary Fund. “Argentina Policy Memorandum.” January 11, 1999. International Monetary Fund. Ecuador “Ecuador—Supplementary Letter of Intent.” March 13, 2003. International Monetary Fund. Smaller Banks within the World Trade System International Finance Corporation China “Members and Observers.” World Trade Organization. “ China and the WTO.” World Trade Organization. “From ‘China Shock' to deglobalisation shock: China's WTO accession and US economic engagement 20 years on.” Stephen Kirchner. January 24, 2022. United States Studies Centre. “The China Reckoning: How Beijing Defied American Expectations.” Kurt M. Campbell and Ely Ratner. February 13, 2018. Foreign Affairs. The World Bank “Who can borrow from the World Bank?” December 10, 2020. Bretton Woods Observer. “Domination of the United States on the World Bank.” Eric Toussaint. April 2, 2020. Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt. “Why Is the World Bank Still Lending to China?” Yukon Huang. January 15, 2020. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Congressional Stock Trade Tracking Quiver Quantitative Unusual Whales US Abuse of Sanctions “The Other Counteroffensive to Save Ukraine.” Lawrence Summers et. al. June 15, 2023. Foreign Affairs. Allies Pivoting “Europe must resist pressure to become ‘America's followers,' says Macron.” Jamil Anderlini and Clea Caulcutt. April 9, 2023. Politico. “US State Dept backs latest raft of Saudi, UAE, Jordan arms sales.” February 2, 2022. Al Jazeera. Witnesses Mark Rosen on Linkedin Daniel F. Runde on Linkedin “Membership Roster.” Accessed June 24, 2023. Council on Foreign Relations. Tyler Goodspeed on Linkedin Carla Norrlof - “Board of Directors.” Atlantic Council. Daniel McDowell bio Marshall Billingslea on Linkedin Audio Sources Dollar Dominance: Preserving the U.S. Dollar's Status as the Global Reserve Currency June 7, 2023 House Financial Services Committee Watch on YouTube Witnesses: Dr. Tyler Goodspeed, Kleinheinz Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University Dr. Michael Faulkender, Dean's Professor of Finance, Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland Dr. Daniel McDowell, Associate Professor, Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University Marshall Billingslea, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Dr. Carla Norrlöf, Senior Fellow, The Atlantic Council and Professor, University of Toronto Clips 34:05 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: In 2022, as the Ranking Member highlighted, 88% of all foreign exchange transactions by value involved the United States Dollar, a figure that has been roughly constant since 1989, which is testament to the substantial path dependence in international currency usage due to large positive network externalities. As the Ranking Member also highlighted, 59% of all official foreign exchange reserves were held in US dollars, which is down from a figure of 71.5% in 2001. By comparison 31% of all foreign exchange transactions by value involve the Euro, which is the second most commonly transacted currency, which accounted for 20% of official foreign exchange reserves. 34:50 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: The fact that 90% of all foreign exchange transactions continue to involve the United States dollar, and that global central banks continue to hold almost 60% of their foreign exchange reserves in US dollars confers net economic benefits on the United States economy. First, foreign demand for reserves of US dollars raises demand for dollar denominated securities, in particular United States Treasury's. This effectively lowers the cost of borrowing for US households, US companies, and federal, state and local governments. It also means that on average, the United States earns more on its investments in foreign assets than we have to pay on foreign investments in the United States, which allows the United States to import more goods and services than we export. Second, foreign demand for large reserves of US dollars and dollar denominated assets raises the value of the dollar and a stronger dollar benefits us consumers and businesses that are net importers of goods and services from abroad. Third, large reserve holdings of US currency abroad in effect constitutes an interest free loan to the United States worth about $10 to $20 billion per year. Fourth, the denomination of the majority of international transactions in US dollars likely modestly lowers the exchange rate risks faced by US companies. Fifth, the given the volume of foreign US dollar holdings and dollar denominated debt, monetary policy actions by foreign central banks generally have a smaller impact on financial conditions in the United States than actions by the United States Central Bank have on financial conditions in other countries. 36:40 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: However, the benefits of the US dollar's global reserve status are not without costs. The lower interest rates in the United States benefit US borrowers, especially the federal government. They also lower returns to US savers. In addition, though a stronger dollar benefits US consumers and businesses that net import goods and services from abroad, it does also disadvantage US firms that export goods and services abroad as well as firms that compete against imported goods and services. Furthermore, the perception of the US dollar as a safe haven asset means that demand for the dollar tends to increase in response to adverse macroeconomic events that are global in nature. As a result, the competitiveness of US exporters and US firms that compete against imported goods and services are likely to face an increased competitive disadvantage at times of elevated global macroeconomic stress. 37:35 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: However, despite these costs, studies generally find that the economic benefits of the dollar's prominent global status outweigh the costs, providing a modest net benefit to the United States economy. This does not include the substantial benefit to which the chairman referred of the United States dollar's centrality in global transactions, allowing the United States to utilize financial sanction tools when appropriate in support of national security objectives. 44:50 Dr. Daniel McDowell: With little more than the stroke of the President's pen or through an Act of Congress, the US government can use financial sanctions to impose enormous economic costs on targeted foreign actors, be they individuals, firms, or state institutions, by freezing their dollar assets or cutting them off from access to the banks through which those dollars flow. The consequences for individual targets, known as specially designated nationals or SDNs, are severe, significantly impairing targets capacity to participate in international trade, investment, debt repayment, and depriving them of access to their wealth. Over the last two decades, the United States has used the tool of financial sanctions with increasing frequency. For example, in the year 2000, just four foreign governments were directly targeted under a US Treasury Country Program overseen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Today that number is greater than 20, and if we include penalties from secondary sanctions the list gets even longer. The more that the United States has reached for financial sanctions, the more it has made adversaries and foreign capitals aware of the strategic vulnerability that stems from dependence on the dollar. Some governments have responded by implementing anti-dollar policies measures that are designed to reduce an economy's reliance on the US currency for investment in cross-border transactions. But these measures sometimes fail to achieve their goals. Others have produced modest levels of de-dollarization. Notable examples here include Russian steps to cut its dollar reserves and reduce the use of the dollar and trade settlement in the years leading up to its full scale invasion of Ukraine, or China's ongoing efforts to build its own international payments network based on the Yuan, efforts that have taken on a new sense of urgency as Beijing has become more aware of its own strategic vulnerabilities from Dollar dependence. 47:05 Dr. Daniel McDowell: The United States should reconsider the use of so-called symbolic financial sanctions. That is, if the main objective of a tranche of sanctions is to signal to the world or to a domestic audience that Washington disapproves of a foreign government's policy choices, other measures that can send a similar signal but do not politicize the dollar system ought to be considered first. Second, the use of financial sanctions against issuers of potential rival currencies in particular, China and its Yuan should face a higher bar of scrutiny. Even a small targeted sanctions program provides information to our adversaries about their vulnerabilities, and gives them time to prepare for a future event when a broad US sanctions program may be called upon as part of a major security crisis, when such measures will be most needed. Finally, whenever possible, US financial sanctions should be coordinated with our allies in Europe and Asia, who should feel as if they are key stakeholders in the dollar system and not vassals to it. Such coordinated efforts will prevent our friends from seeking to conduct business with U.S. adversaries outside of the dollar system and send a message to the whole world that moving activities into secondary currencies, like the Euro or the Yen, is not a safe haven. 48:35 Marshall Billingslea: I'll say at the outset that I agree with you and others that to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the dollar's demise have been greatly exaggerated. That said, we need to remind ourselves that in the 16th century the Spanish silver dollar was the dominant currency, in the 17th century it was Dutch florins, in the 18th century it was the pound sterling. The link between a nation's currency and its role as the relatively dominant political actor on the world stage is pretty clear. And that is why people like Lula from Brazil, Putin and Xi all aspire to undercut the role of the dollar as the global reserve currency. 50:00 Marshall Billingslea: If we look at what Russia did in the run-up to its further invasion of Ukraine, they began dumping ownership of treasury bonds in 2018. In that year, they plummeted from $96 billion and holdings down to $15 billion and they also started buying large amounts of gold. China is now, as the Ranking Member has observed, embarking on its own its own gold buying spree. I haven't seen the data for May, but April marked the sixth straight month of Chinese expansion in its gold holdings, and I'm not sure I believe the official figures. We have to recall that China is the dominant gold mining player around the world and half of those gold mining companies are state-owned. So the actual size of China's war chest when it comes to gold reserves may be far higher. In fact, I suspect inevitably far higher than official numbers suggest. Last year China also started dumping its treasuries. 2022 marked the largest or second largest decrease on record, with a drop of about $174 billion, and China stood at the lowest level since 2010. In terms of its holdings, though, this past March they did reverse course. This bears close watching because a sell-off may be a strong indicator of planned aggression. 51:20 Marshall Billingslea: The sheer size of the Chinese economy dwarfs what we've been contending with in the form of Iran, Russia, and so on. And one of the first things that the Biden administration did in the wake of Russia's attack was start sanctioning Russian banks and de-SWIFTing them. That's one thing when you're going after an economy smaller than the size of Texas; it's quite another when you consider that out of the 100 largest banks in the world, China has 20, and all four of the top four are Chinese banks. And that is why many within the Treasury contended when I was there, and they will contend to this day, that these Chinese banks are simply too big to sanction. I don't agree that we can allow that to stand but I do believe we have to start taking very swift action to put us in a situation where we could take punitive measures on these banks if necessary. 54:10 Dr. Carla Norrlöf: I will note that the Dollar's dominance is not quite as strong amongst private actors and private markets as it is with governments. In private transactions, it averages about 45% of the world's total. That includes FX transactions, but also things like issuance of international debt, securities, and cross-border banking. 54:55 Dr. Carla Norrlöf: The Chinese Yuan poses no immediate threat to dollar dominance. It accounts for roughly 3% of overall reserves. So far China has been successful in promoting the Yuan with its trade partners, but the Yuan is scarcely used by countries outside trade with China. China is a potential long term challenger due to its active pursuit of trade and investment relationships. If the Yuan is increasingly used by third countries, it will pose a greater threat to the dollar. 55:30 Dr. Carla Norrlöf: And in addition to these external threats, there is also a domestic threat. Flirting with the possibility of a voluntary default puts dollar dominance at risk. What should the US do to maintain dominance, to curb the domestic threat? Congress should consider creating an alternative mechanism for resolving political differences on government spending and its consequences. 56:00 Dr. Carla Norrlöf: To rein in external threats the United States should, whenever possible, implement multilateral sanctions in support of broadly endorsed goals to shore up the liberal international order. This is likely to limit dollar backlash. 59:40 Marshall Billingslea: The thing I do worry -- I come back to this fact that they've been buying a lot of gold -- that one of the things that they could do, which would be very concerning, if they wind up having larger reserves of gold than we believe, is they could start issuing Yuan or gold denominated, gold-backed Yuan contracts and that would further their ambition for introducing the Yuan onto the world stage. 1:05:00 Marshall Billingslea: China considers the actual composition of its foreign exchange reserves to be a state secret. So they don't publish and they they view it as a criminal offense to try to obtain that information in terms of the balance of how much is gold, how much Dollar or Euro denominated. But the numbers I've seen suggest that still at this moment, about 50% to 60% of their Foreign Exchange reserves are still in Dollars or Euros, which means that they are at high risk of sanctions; we can affect them. The problem is that that war chest that they've built up is enormous. It's more than $3 trillion that they have in Foreign Exchange reserves. Compare that with what Russia had at the onset of its assault, which was around $680 billion, of which we managed to freeze overseas half of it, but Russia is still keeping its economy going despite the Biden administration sanctions. So imagine how they're going to be able to continue with that sizable war kitty in Beijing if they do decide to go after the Taiwanese. 1:09:00 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: Short term I think the risk is that we continue to see diversification away from the dollar, PRC continuing to push other countries to use trade inverse invoicing and Renminbi, that they continue to promote the offshore Renminbi market, that they continue to promote or force bilateral clearing. Longer term, I think the bigger risk is that foreign investors no longer perceive the United States federal government debt to be as safe and risk free as it is today perceived. 1:41:20 Dr. Daniel McDowell: The demonstration of US control over the actual flow of dollars, of communication, absolutely provides information to adversaries to prepare for events where they may face similar circumstances. And so I think what we're seeing is China, we're seeing Russia, we're seeing other countries try to create alternative payments networks. Russia has its own SPFS payment messaging system. It's quite small. It was launched in 2014, not coincidentally, after the initial round of sanctions targeting Russia. In terms of CIPS, China's cross border payments network, Belarus announced it was having banks join immediately following the 2022 sanctions. So what I'm saying is there's a pattern between when the United States mobilizes control over the pipes and the messaging of cross-border payments and adversaries looking for alternatives. It doesn't mean they're using them, but they're getting plugged into the system as at least sort of a rainy day option in the event of a future targeting. 1:45:35 Dr. Daniel McDowell: I look at China not just as a typical country, because I think they're an alternative service provider. Most countries fall into alternative service users; they're looking for an alternative to the dollar. China, you could perhaps put Europe in this as well, are the only two sort of economic BLOCs capable, I think, of constructing an attractive enough cross-border payments network that could attract those alternative service users that are looking for that network. And so that's why I think again, with China, there should be a higher bar of scrutiny. 2:02:20 Dr. Tyler Goodspeed: As deficits mount and as the debt burden rises above 100%, I think the Congressional Budget Office has it ending the budget window at about 119% of our economy, then we will probably observe an acceleration of diversification away from the dollar as a hedge. Again, I don't see another single currency displacing the dollar as the major international currency or as the major reserve currency, but continued diversification. International Financial Institutions in an Era of Great Power Competition May 25, 2023 House Financial Services Committee Watch on YouTube Witnesses: Jesse M. Schreger, Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School Mark Rosen, Partner, Advection Growth Capital and former Acting Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Daniel F. Runde, Senior Vice President, Center for Strategic & International Studies(CSIS) Rich Powell, Chief Executive Officer, ClearPath & ClearPath Action Daouda Sembene, Distinguished Nonresident Fellow, CGD and CEO, AfriCatalyst Clips 39:55 Mark Rosen: The IMF is the global lender of last resort to countries that are in economic distress. IMF borrowers usually have a balance of payments problem, are running out of foreign exchange reserves, and so cannot meet their obligations. The IMF negotiates a set of economic policies with the borrower in government to alleviate the crisis, and, conditional on the government implementing the agreed policies, provides a loan in tranches, normally over a three year period. 41:00 Mark Rosen: The biggest challenge the IMF faces today is China which, as we've heard, has lent vast sums to emerging market and low income countries in a non-transparent and irresponsible manner. Many IMF members are now struggling to repay China. 42:05 Mark Rosen: The United States is the largest shareholder in the IMF and has veto power over certain key decisions and it's critical that the US continues to maintain its ownership of more than 15% which enables it to have this veto power. 42:20 Mark Rosen: China for some time, has been pressing for an increased quota share at the IMF. However, given its irresponsible lending, and then willingness to provide debt relief to developing countries, this is not the time to reward China with increased ownership at the Fund. Two other issues I'd like to focus on are anti-corruption and the catalytic role of the private sector in the work of the IMF. Corruption is a severe problem for many emerging market countries, which do not have strong institutions that can confront and root out corruption. The IMF is certainly doing a much better job than it did historically on anti-corruption, but I believe it's critical that it continues to make anti corruption laws and policies front and center in the conditions of its lending programs, as well as a focus of its technical assistance. Only by reducing corruption will many of these countries be able to attract the vast amount of private sector investment which is potentially available and remains the ultimate key to reducing poverty. Establishing a rule of law, including laws to protect private property is key to unlocking this investment. And it should be a focus of the IMF and World Bank to encourage these countries to improve the rule of law and to fight corruption. If they do that, emerging market countries can attract private capital and grow rapidly as many countries that have followed that path have already done so successfully. 44:45 Daniel Runde: Multilateral development banks, MDBs, under US and Western leadership are one way that we can respond with something. The United States built and strengthened the MDB system. MDBs provide money, advice, data and convening power to help developing countries solve problems. If the US exerts its influence over these institutions, they are forced multipliers of a US-led global system. If we disregard our leadership role, then other actors, including China, can exert influence over them. The World Bank Group is a series of institutions: it lends money to national governments, it has a private sector arm, and has an insurance arm. There are a series of other regional development bank's including the InterAmerican Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank -- Taiwan is a member of the Asian Development Bank -- the African Development Bank and the EBRD, the European Bank for Reconstruction Development Bank, focused mainly on countries that used to be behind the Iron Curtain. The United States has been instrumental in creating the majority of these institutions and remains the largest, or one of the largest, shareholders of every afformentioned MDB. Since the founding of these institutions, the US has used its shareholding power to shape the policies and activities of MDBs in indirect support of American foreign policy. 47:10 Daniel Runde: What role does China play in the MDBs? They're a shareholder. China continues to borrow from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. That is crazy. That needs to stop. China is a shareholder. Also, Chinese firms can bid on MDB projects. China wins a lot of in terms of dollar value, a lot of the dollar value of World Bank contracts. Something to take a look at. 47:35 Daniel Runde: How does the Belt and Road figure into the MDBs? You all have heard of the Belt and Road. Infrastructure is now a strategic issue. China's Belt and Road Initiative is a combination of construction and financing projects for roads, airports, and energy around the world. Unfortunately for us, BRI is an ambitious project that speaks to the hopes of China's friends and potential friends. To counter the BRI, the US needs a positive alternative that says more than, "Don't work with China." Right? That's not a strategy. We've got to have an alternative. 1:12:50 Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY): How do we end China's eligibility to borrow from the World Bank? Daniel Runde: The Asian Development Bank has said they're going to end their eligibility by 2025. We should absolutely hold them to that. There is a temptation for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to continue to loan for a couple of reasons. One is they say, "Well, this is a window into how we can understand China better." There's lots of other ways to understand China better. And or this is a way for us to -- for a bunch of lending reasons that they do it. You all have the power of the purse, you have an ability, I think you should have blunted conversations with the administration about this. I suspect it's an open door, but it's going to require, I think, some pushing from Congress. I would encourage this committee to push the administration on ending lending to China. 1:14:30 Jesse Schreger: So fundamentally right now, the Renminbi is not yet positioned to compete with the US dollar for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the reason that the dollar plays the role it does in the international financial system is it provides the global safe asset. You're confident, except for the upcoming debt ceiling, that you will always be paid back if you own US dollars. That's fundamentally what you know. When you contemplate investing in China and holding Chinese Renminbi as reserves, you're not necessarily sure that you're gonna be able to turn that piece of paper into the goods and services that you need or intervening in FX markets. 1:21:15 Jesse Schreger: First and foremost, what China is trying to do is essentially convince countries around the world that the Renminbi is an alternative asset to invoice your trade and to invest in. And so on the investment side, they've been working very hard to actually allow in foreign capital, encouraging foreign central banks to hold Renminbi denominated bonds as their reserves. And on the trade side, they're encouraging firms to invoice, basically price their goods, in Renminbi. There's a few areas in which they've had challenges there. So first, we actually don't know who are holding most of these Renminbi denominated assets. What you can see is after the US sanctioned Russia back in 2014, it was the Russian Central Bank that effectively announced they were moving out of US dollar denominated assets and into Renminbi, so they did that publicly. And so China has effectively been trying to attract foreign capital of that form and a lot of the reasons for that is that China finds itself vulnerable in the dollar-based financial system. And so what I would say the fundamental area in which the United States can assure the dominance of the dollar is making everyone understand that US Treasuries are the world's safe asset that there is no state of the world in which the United States can or will default. 2:03:25 Jesse Schreger: I think the real way in which people start being able to issue and borrow in Renminbi is when people start thinking in terms of the goods that they need to buy and consume are in Renminbi. Fundamentally, most countries around the world, if they issue a bond in Renminbi, the calculation they have to do is then "okay, I'm going to take my renminbi and convert it into US dollars to buy the thing in which I need." And so while actions in the US financial system are certainly going to affect other countries decisions to borrow in Renminbi, the kind of underlying challenges in Chinese financial markets and fundamentally the lack of goods priced and sold in Renminbi are going to continue to hold back kind of a growth of this market for a while. And in particular, the fact that many countries are reluctant to try to raise money inside of China's liquid onshore capital markets for, effectively, fear of capital controls. If you've raised renminbi in China, you can't get that out and to your projects the way you can if you raise money in the US in dollars. 2:14:55 Daniel Runde: The business model of the World Bank is they lend money to richer countries with a pretty good credit rating and then they cross subsidize that by lending to poor countries with a poor credit rating. My view is, China can finance its own development, we should stop this practice. I think the Asian Development Bank has sort of gotten the memo, but the World Bank has not fully gotten the memo and they'll give you kind of World Bank-y answers to this sort of thing. We got to stop it. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA): Mr. Runde, I could not agree with you more. And you highlighted earlier, you know, by 2025, China should graduate from this program. I'd offer that 25 is two years too late. We can start funneling them off that now. Daniel Runde: I agree, sir. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA): I think you're in the right spot. Thank you. Music Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Editing Pro Podcast Solutions Production Assistance Clare Kuntz Balcer Cover photo Eric Prouzet on Unsplash