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We are thrilled to welcome Ray Booth back to the podcast! Ray is an acclaimed interior designer, a partner at the award-winning firm McALPINE, and the author of the beautiful new book, The Expressive Home. Ray sits down with Caroline, Taryn, and Liz to discuss how his background in architecture shapes every interior decision he makes. He shares why he views drapery as "punctuation," the optical illusion of black window mullions, and why he believes "editing is the key to happiness." Quick Decorating Takeaways: Drapery is Punctuation: Ray uses drapery not just for windows, but as "commas" in a room—creating pauses, dividing large spaces, and softening the acoustics to create intimacy in an otherwise "hard" architectural box. The "Eyeliner" Effect: When painting window mullions (the strips between glass panes), Ray prefers dark colors (black or bronze) over white. Dark mullions act like eyeliner—they frame the view and disappear to let the eye focus on the landscape, whereas white mullions stop the eye right at the glass. Hang Lighting for Humans, Not Ceilings: In rooms with double-height ceilings, resist the urge to hang chandeliers too high. Ray suggests hanging them lower—within the "human scale"—so they feel touchable and help ground people in a cavernous space. What You'll Hear on This Episode: 00:00 Welcome & Introduction 01:30 Ray's architectural background and his "biased" approach to interiors 04:00 How to choose materials based on your personal story 10:00 Why Ray uses drapery as "punctuation" and acoustic softening 16:00 Building a neutral palette: Using contrast to create harmony 21:00 Window Mullions: Why dark paint makes the view clearer 25:00 The Art of Editing: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" 28:00 Ray's take on AI in design (featuring a nod to Steve & Brooke Giannetti) 34:00 Human Scale: How to make grand rooms feel intimate 40:00 Lighting tips for high ceilings 44:00 The "Deconstructed Sectional": How to improve flow around large furniture 48:00 Closing notes & where to find Ray Also Mentioned: The Expressive Home by Ray Booth (New Book) Evocative Interiors by Ray Booth (Previous Book) McALPINE | Website Ray Booth Design | Instagram Steve & Brooke Giannetti Shop Ballard Designs Please send in your questions so we can answer them on our next episode! And of course, subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can always check back here to see new episodes, but if you subscribe, it'll automatically download to your phone. Happy Decorating! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jason Belford spent 20 years in the U.S. Army, and he gave nearly 17 years to the war in Afghanistan as an infantryman, sniper, platoon sergeant and Army Ranger. He went on 12 deployments to the country and to Iraq as a member of 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and the 10th Mountain Divisions. Jason has been not only a guest on this podcast multiple times, but he has also been a cohost on this show, having helped cohost shows for about a year many years ago. He and Robert have stayed in touch, but recently bumped into one another at the airport in Pittsburgh. They hugged and talked. They instantly knew that another episode was needed. While cohosting years back, Jason had openly talked about how he attempted to take his own life and had hoped that it would help others. He shared the story of how his friend Dave helped him during that time of need. Years later, in 2022, the world was crumbling around him. A number of different events created the perfect storm. Dark clouds. Robert was checking up on him and he was told that Jason was going to be out of the net for a while. He was going to get some help. Jason shares on this episode the events that led up to that moment and what he did after to receive help. He shares his spiritual journey and his story will leave you speechless. We couldn't be more happier to see Jason back in studio with us at Mentors4mil. He's been an inspiration for so many while he was in uniform and since he's left service. He continues to deal with his demons daily. He has accepted the fact that it will take daily work to fight what he calls "the war inside me". Jason's book, 'The War Inside Me' will be out soon. _________ Please leave us a review on Apple/Spotify Podcasts: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mentors-for-military-podcast/id1072421783 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3w4RiZBxBS8EDy6cuOlbUl #drones #AI #artificialintelligence #mentors4mil #mentorsformilitary Mentors4mil Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Mentors4mil Patreon Support: https://www.patreon.com/join/Mentors4mil Opening music, "Sad Slow Orchestra" is by Ribhav Agrawal on Pixabay Intro music "Long Way Down" by Silence & Light is used with permission. Show Disclaimer: https://mentorsformilitary.com/disclaimer/
As conversations about banning phones and curbing screen use grow louder, parents are left asking an honest question: Is technology the problem, or are we? In this episode of Facing the Dark, Wayne Stender and Dr. Kathy Koch explore new legislative efforts around screen limits and use them as a springboard for a much more personal conversation about parenting and formation. Dr. Kathy reframes the issue with clarity and grace: technology itself isn't the enemy, but when it becomes the primary way kids (and adults) cope with boredom or anxiety, something essential is lost. Parents are challenged to look inward first, recognizing that kids will struggle to give up screens if adults aren't willing to do the same. The episode explores why screens often become a refuge for anxious hearts, and why removing them without replacing them leaves kids unprepared to process life well. Rather than advocating for extremes, the conversation centers on coexisting wisely with technology. Parents are encouraged to build alternative rhythms that include quiet, prayer, creativity, play, conversation, and service, so screens aren't the default solution to every uncomfortable moment. Dr. Kathy also offers a clear, realistic vision for a family tech policy: visible alternatives, no devices in bedrooms, strong boundaries, character based decisions, and parents who are confident enough to say no without guilt. Grounded in Jesus' teaching about the Sabbath in Mark 2, the episode reminds families that limits are not punishments; they are gifts. Just as rest was designed to restore humanity, wise tech boundaries protect attention and relationships. When children learn that they are valued apart from constant stimulation or connection, they gain freedom rather than restriction. This episode equips parents to lead with humility and courage, helping technology return to its rightful place as a tool, not a ruler.
Recorded 2026-02-03 08:35:08
Some dates in history collect oddities the way a junk drawer collects batteries and old keys — you open it up and wonder how all of this ended up in the same place. FEBRUARY 2ND is one of those. We've got soldiers looking up at an impossible sky, archaeologists crawling into a forgotten tomb full of mummies, a castaway whose stubbornness saved his life, a secret society that terrorized an island for decades, and a beloved rodent whose job performance would get anyone else fired. As usual, this is going to be a WEIRD and DARK morning.WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.EPISODE PAGE: https://WeirdDarkness.com/MWD20260202#WeirdDarkness #MorningWD #DarrenMarlar #MarlarInTheMorning #MWD #ThisDayInHistory #February2 #GroundhogDay #PunxsutawneyPhil #DarkHistory #TrueHistory #WarsOfTheRoses #RobinsonCrusoe #EgyptianMummies #BorisKarloff #ChiloeWarlocks #Invunche #GhostShip #Paranormal #HistoryPodcast
In this episode of Facing the Dark, Wayne Stender and Dr. Kathy Koch unpack a surprising trend from a recent CDC report: many traditional adolescent risk behaviors are declining, but anxiety and fear are rising. While this may sound like good news on the surface, the conversation asks a deeper question: What happens when kids don't take the kinds of risks that help them grow? Dr. Kathy clarifies that this isn't about encouraging dangerous behavior, but about restoring appropriate, guided risk, the kind that builds confidence, competence, humility, and resilience. From trying out for a team to walking to the library alone, kids need chances to stretch, stumble, succeed, and recover. When parents remove every risk in the name of safety, children may internalize fear rather than strength. The episode also speaks directly to parents' hearts. Letting kids struggle is hard. Watching disappointment hurts. But our response in those moments, whether we frame the experience as growth or regret, shapes how children understand themselves. When kids know they are supported and not defined by outcomes, they grow into adults who believe they can handle life. Grounded in Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25, this conversation reframes risk taking as stewardship rather than recklessness. Avoiding all risk doesn't preserve potential; it buries it. Parents are encouraged to know their individual child well and offer a longer leash when the stakes are manageable. In doing so, they help their kids develop the courage and resilience they'll need for the darker, harder moments that inevitably come later in life.
Recorded 2026-02-02 03:01:53
Recorded 2026-02-02 14:57:08
Subscribe to Greg Fitzsimmons: https://bit.ly/subGregFitz Josh is the new Karen, a man gets intimate with his vacuum cleaner and Bill Belichick gets snubbed. From brutally honest stories about bombing on stage and the mental toll of stand-up comedy, to wild confessions about bad parenting, cheating exes, petty revenge, and Florida-level insanity, this episode spirals fast and never lets up.The guys rip through everything: pepper-sprayed protesters, Golden Globe pay-to-play politics, Jackie Robinson and sports history, the worst waiter in America, toxic tipping culture, relationship revenge psychology, and why ignoring your ex might be the most devastating move of all. Fitz drops legendary roast stories, unhinged analogies, and brutally funny takes on fame, failure, and modern culture.Dark, hilarious, uncomfortable, smart, and wildly unpredictable. If you love raw comedy podcasts where comedians say the quiet part out loud, this is one of the most chaotic Sunday Papers episodes yet. SPONSORS & SUPPORT THE SHOW Kalshi – The Largest Prediction Market in the U.S.Trade real-world events like elections, sports, weather, and pop culture outcomes.Get $10 to start trading when you sign up using the link below.https://kalshi.com/papers Fabric by Gerber Life – Term Life Insurance Made Simple Protect your family with affordable term life insurance in minutes. No health exam required.https://www.meetfabric.com/papers Quo – The Smarter Business Phone SystemNever miss a call, text, or customer again. Shared numbers, AI summaries, and team messaging in one app. Get 20% off your first six months.https://quo.com/papers Hosted by Greg Fitzsimmons & Mike GibbonsTopics include: stand-up bombing, cancel culture, parenting disasters, cheating revenge, Florida chaos, sports history, and absurd news breakdowns Follow Greg Fitzsimmons: Facebook: https://facebook.com/FitzdogRadio Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregfitzsimmons Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregfitzshow Official Website: http://gregfitzsimmons.com Tour Dates: https://bit.ly/GregFitzTour Merch: https://bit.ly/GregFitzMerch “Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons” Book: https://amzn.to/2Z2bB82 “Life on Stage” Comedy Special: https://bit.ly/GregFitzSpecial Listen to Greg Fitzsimmons: Fitzdog Radio: https://bit.ly/FitzdogRadio Sunday Papers: http://bit.ly/SundayPapersPod Childish: http://childishpod.com Watch more Greg Fitzsimmons: Latest Uploads: https://bit.ly/latestGregFitz Fitzdog Radio: https://bit.ly/radioGregFitz Sunday Papers: https://bit.ly/sundayGregFitz Stand Up Comedy: https://bit.ly/comedyGregFitz Popular Videos: https://bit.ly/popGregFitz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a textWelcome to another week of the highs and the lows, the good and the bad, and the Nerd and the Murd.This week on Nerdery and Murdery, Zig explores the darker side of music with a deep dive into gothy-ish, doom-metally, darkwave-inspired sounds. From brooding atmospheres to heavy emotional weight, we talk about what defines these genres, why they resonate with so many listeners, and how darkness in music can be just as expressive as light.Then in the Murdery segment, Geoffrey covers the chilling story of Mary Ann Cotton, one of history's earliest and most disturbing serial poisoners. It is a case rooted in deception, tragedy, and the slow unraveling of a horrifying pattern, told with care and historical context.Moody music. Dark history. One unforgettable episode.Support the show
Recorded 2026-02-01 23:01:43
Recorded 2026-02-01 22:05:45
Recorded 2026-02-01 19:59:32
Recorded 2026-02-01 17:43:52
Recorded 2026-02-01 13:05:53
Reptilian subjugation, Walkman contraband, and Spunge… Oh lawd, it's about to get pretty dark! Join these ‘90s kids for another Midnight Society gathering where nothing is as it seems. From boarding school horrors to binaural beats, they'll unpack the psychological reasoning behind one of Are You Afraid of the Dark?'s most conspiracy-laden tales. It might seem coldblooded, but as usual, there are more layers to crack into than one might eggspect. Email us at thatsprettydarkpodcast@gmail.com Give to our Patreon for extra content: patreon.com/tpdpodcast Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @thatsprettydarkpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! PART TWOAs a child, Bob Cranmer felt an unexplainable pull toward a massive, unsettling house on Brownsville Road outside Pittsburgh. It wasn't curiosity—it was fixation. Years later, that same house became his family's home, turning a lifelong obsession into a waking nightmare.What began as minor disturbances quickly escalated into violent, terrifying activity. Objects moved with intent. Dark presences filled the halls. The house seemed aware of its occupants—and hostile toward them. As the phenomena intensified, the focus shifted toward Bob's young son, making it clear this was more than a haunting. Something darker had taken hold.Bob shares the true events that inspired his book, The Demon of Brownsville Road. He details the house's disturbing history, the emotional toll on his family, and the moment he realized they were facing demonic forces. When traditional explanations failed, Bob turned to faith, ultimately involving the Catholic Church in a desperate effort to protect his home and family.This is not a story of restless spirits—it's a chilling account of obsession, attachment, and a presence that never intended to remain hidden.#TheGraveTalks #BobCranmer #DemonOfBrownsvilleRoad #TrueHaunting #DemonicHaunting #ParanormalPodcast #HauntedHouse #TrueGhostStory #Exorcism #RealParanormal #DarkHistoryLove real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
This week on the Radio Labyrinth Podcast, we kick things off with a special guest—comedian, actor, writer, and director Steve Byrne, who joins us ahead of his Atlanta shows at Punchline Comedy Club.Steve talks about the most memorable (and chaotic) shows he's played in Atlanta, what's next for him behind the camera, and whether he's still plotting the eventual demise of Tony Scar from Kill Tony. We also give love to his films Always Amazing and The Opening Act, and dig into what draws him to telling stories beyond the stand-up stage.After that, we check in on life post S'nope 2026—surviving days trapped inside with a toddler, mild generator-related injuries, and watching Superman through the very loud, very concerned commentary of a small child (“Is Super Dog OK??”). We also touch on what we are and definitely are not watching right now, including thoughts on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and a firm pass on becoming Trek-olytes.Cold weather, comedy road stories, filmmaking, and just enough chaos—another week deep inside the Labyrinth.
Recorded 2026-01-31 04:11:03
Recorded 2026-01-31 13:04:12
Recorded 2026-01-31 16:04:37
Recorded 2026-01-31 17:32:22
Recorded 2026-01-31 00:06:35
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE!As a child, Bob Cranmer felt an unexplainable pull toward a massive, unsettling house on Brownsville Road outside Pittsburgh. It wasn't curiosity—it was fixation. Years later, that same house became his family's home, turning a lifelong obsession into a waking nightmare.What began as minor disturbances quickly escalated into violent, terrifying activity. Objects moved with intent. Dark presences filled the halls. The house seemed aware of its occupants—and hostile toward them. As the phenomena intensified, the focus shifted toward Bob's young son, making it clear this was more than a haunting. Something darker had taken hold.Bob shares the true events that inspired his book, The Demon of Brownsville Road. He details the house's disturbing history, the emotional toll on his family, and the moment he realized they were facing demonic forces. When traditional explanations failed, Bob turned to faith, ultimately involving the Catholic Church in a desperate effort to protect his home and family.This is not a story of restless spirits—it's a chilling account of obsession, attachment, and a presence that never intended to remain hidden.#TheGraveTalks #BobCranmer #DemonOfBrownsvilleRoad #TrueHaunting #DemonicHaunting #ParanormalPodcast #HauntedHouse #TrueGhostStory #Exorcism #RealParanormal #DarkHistory Love real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
In this episode of Facing the Dark, Wayne Stender and Dr. Kathy Koch respond to a heartbreaking moment from American Idol, where a song written in memory of a young girl lost to suicide brings renewed attention to bullying, social media pressure, anxiety, and teen mental health. While the story is tender and sobering, the conversation moves carefully toward clarity rather than fear. Dr. Kathy helps parents distinguish between being anxious, a normal human experience, and clinical anxiety, which often develops when kids don't have the relationships or support to process worry well. Not every anxious child is on a path toward depression, but every child needs guidance in learning how to name and work through hard emotions. Parents are encouraged to stay observant without catastrophizing and engaged without hovering. The episode also addresses the reality that much of modern culture, especially social media, is designed to intensify comparison and emotional overload. Rather than blaming kids for struggling, parents are invited to come alongside them with truth, data, compassion, and hope, reminding them that what they're feeling is understandable and that they are not alone. Rooted in Psalm 42, this conversation reframes anxiety as an invitation to connection rather than a diagnosis to fear. When kids are allowed to express worry without shame and are guided toward resilience, faith, and support, anxious moments don't have to become anxious identities. This episode offers parents reassurance and practical encouragement to be a steady, hopeful presence in an anxious age.
You can enjoy exclusive and intense erotic audio by grabbing your copy of the Sensual Awakenings App on the Apple Store,or downloading the very unofficial and unapproved Android version from WyldeInBed.com Immerse yourself in a world where every whisper ignites desire and every soft touch unveils hidden passions. *An ASMR Fusion Erotic Experience* invites you to explore the intoxicating blend of erotic ASMR and sensual storytelling, weaving a narrative that transcends mere words.In this standalone tale of forbidden desire, experience the thrill of enemies becoming lovers, as the sultry whispers of ASMR elevate their encounters to new heights. With each tantalizing chapter, the boundaries of BDSM and dark romance are pushed, revealing a profound connection that neither can resist.Join me on a journey filled with erotic drama and tantalizing tension, where every sound, every sigh, and every stolen moment will leave you breathless. Are you ready to surrender to a new level of pleasure? Step into a world where your fantasies come alive—one whisper at a time.
Recorded 2026-01-30 04:00:37
Recorded 2026-01-30 16:02:02
Recorded 2026-01-30 17:02:52
Recorded 2026-01-30 19:16:43
Recorded 2026-01-30 14:59:30
In this episode Pemberton hosts a pancake breakfast.Cast- Reza- LenaThe Magnificent Figaro- Danny DelucaGamemaster- Jared WitkofskyAl Key- Chris FrenchPerberton- Andrew Collins-AndersonKevin- Morgan JustTony 'The Toe' Tito- Chris ThielFeaturing music by Pressure Highway, Jordan Fickel, Danny Deluca and Motoshi Kosako This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
What should parents do when public figures stir strong reactions, confusion, anger, fear, or frustration? In this episode of Facing the Dark, Wayne Stender and Dr. Kathy Koch explore a real world case from England where a teacher faced disciplinary action after showing political footage to older teens. Rather than taking a political stance, the conversation turns to a deeper parenting question: should teenagers be introduced to people and ideas that feel troubling or controversial? Dr. Kathy explains why shielding kids from difficult figures doesn't build maturity, but guided exposure does. Together, they unpack how discernment is formed through conversation, curiosity, humility, and relationship, not avoidance. Parents are encouraged to acknowledge what their kids already see, name emotional reactions honestly, and walk with them through anxiety or confusion when it arises. The episode also highlights the importance of parents modeling learning, sharing the books and thinkers that shape their own views, and explaining how they evaluate what's worth listening to. Grounded in Daniel 1, this conversation reminds families that God often forms wisdom not by isolation, but by engagement paired with conviction. When teens are given scaffolding instead of silence, they grow confident in their ability to think critically and live faithfully in a complex world.
Retirement isn't just a financial equation—it's an identity shift. In this recap, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell reflect on the conversation with wealth advisor and researcher Gregg Lunceford, who challenges the traditional retirement model by focusing on identity, purpose, and emotional readiness. They explore why longer lifespans have reshaped retirement entirely and why high performers often struggle most when their job no longer defines them. Whether listeners are 25 or 65, this conversation reframes what freedom after work can truly look like. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How increased longevity has made traditional pension models obsolete.The reality of the 20-year life bonus after your career ends.Why high achievers struggle to uncover a non-work identity.How intentional communities support mental and emotional well-being.The importance of creating a shared retirement vision as a couple.Episode References/Links:Agency Mini - https://prfit.biz/miniContrology Pilates Conference in Poland - https://xxll.co/polandContrology Pilates Conference in Brussels - https://xxll.co/brusselsPOT in London - https://xxll.co/potSpring Training: How To Get Overhead - https://opc.me/eventsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsThe Seeing Eye - https://seeingeye.orgMesirow Wealth Management - https://www.mesirow.comGregg Lunceford on LinkedIn - https://beitpod.com/greggluncefordExit From Work - https://a.co/d/fR25gH2 If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:01 He was talking about football players, and he was talking about people who have, you know, high performance people who make a shitload of money, and then they retire and they, he said, they burn through a lot of money trying to figure out who they are.Lesley Logan 0:17 Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Brad Crowell 1:01 Take it away. Lesley Logan 1:03 Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the trailblazing, trail, trailblazing. Brad Crowell 1:12 Wanna try that again?Lesley Logan 1:16 Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, don't laugh at me. I don't want to start again. Brad Crowell 1:22 No. The Welcome back was perfect. It was amazing. Lesley Logan 1:25 Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the trailblazing convo I have with Gregg Lunceford in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, you fucked up. It's so good. Brad Crowell 1:41 It's a great interview. Lesley Logan 1:42 He's a great educator. He blew my mind.Brad Crowell 1:46 So inspirational. Lesley Logan 1:47 Yeah.Brad Crowell 1:48 You actually, literally said my internal dialog out loud to him towards the end of the interview, because you were like, yeah, after listening to you, I'm so excited for this next chapter of my life. And I was like me too. It was amazing.Lesley Logan 2:06 I know, I know, I, your parents need to listen to this stat. Brad Crowell 2:10 Yeah, he's a badass. Lesley Logan 2:11 So anyways, they won't even be out, and they're making decisions right now, maybe we have to get them an episode early. Okay, so you can come back and listen to it later. You can finish this and you can listen to that one, or I gotta finish the script. You can listen to this one, or you can listen to that one first, whichever you want to do. But just you gotta listen.Brad Crowell 2:28 You did not have to finish the script. You can just let it go. Lesley Logan 2:32 I could also just close the loop on that. Brad Crowell 2:35 That was the only loop that you know. Lesley Logan 2:37 Well, you know what, Sir. Brad Crowell 2:40 Today is January 29th.Lesley Logan 2:42 It's just after my birthday. You can still wish me a happy birthday. It's the anniversary to celebrate Seeing Eye Guide Dogs. So the Seeing Eye Guide Dog Anniversary is an appreciation for all the dogs who act as their owners' eyes and ears. The devotion and taught abilities of these particular canines keep them safe and enable them to operate as a fully functional persons. The day is meant to recognize a school that educates them. Seeing eye dogs go through extensive training to be able to, say, safely traverse the environment and all of its hazards for their person. That's why they're so worthy of this recognition. Okay, so I don't have a seeing eye dog. Obviously, we don't know anyone who in our life who has a seeing eye dog, but I have watched the dog who could tell a girl was about to have a seizure before she had it, and then opened the fridge and pulled out her medicine and gave it to her while she was having this like seizure. Brad Crowell 3:37 That's crazy. Lesley Logan 3:38 Crazy. And I have met people with dogs who can sense if they're about to have, like, an insulin situation, because they have some, like, a type of insulin diabetes where, like, it can change really drastically. I have definitely seen people with seeing eye dogs, and I'm so impressed. And so really, the rest of the days sucked. And this is the best one of all the choices. Brad Crowell 4:00 I like this one, though. Lesley Logan 4:01 I really like this one, because here's the deal. Brad Crowell 4:03 So the organization is actually called The Seeing Eye. Lesley Logan 4:06 Oh. Brad Crowell 4:07 Yeah. And I, I'm just realizing that as well. Lesley Logan 4:10 Okay, well, they got up, they didn't pay for the sponsorship, because they're doing great work out there for people who need it. Brad Crowell 4:14 It's a guide dog school. Lesley Logan 4:16 And I am just kind of obsessed with this. And so if this inspired you in any way you should go donate money to your local no kill animal shelter, because while those dogs won't be a seeing eye dog or a service dog, they certainly need your help. This is really or you could donate to your seeing eye dog school if they need the money like you never know. You might your life could change. You might need a dog that's a service animal. So I just was, you know, anything to help raise money and thoughts about, please don't buy a puppy. Go get go adopt an animal. They have puppies too. Brad Crowell 4:48 You know what is amazing. I'm reading about the school, and I think that my elementary school teacher went to the school, because when we were in school, she somehow lost her vision, and I remember she.Lesley Logan 5:07 You were taught by someone who couldn't see?Brad Crowell 5:10 No, when I was taught by her, she could. But then, like in a year or two later, when I was like, in fourth or fifth grade, we we found out that she lost her vision, and I remember her going to Braille school. And I'm pretty sure she went to seeing eye dog school. Lesley Logan 5:25 That's so cool. Brad Crowell 5:26 Because think about it, if you're like, you know, 5060, years old, and you've never worked with a dog before like that, how would you even know how?Lesley Logan 5:34 Yeah, no, you have to get trained. Okay? But now this opens up a whole thing. So then she couldn't do the thing that she loved to do. She couldn't teach anymore. Brad Crowell 5:41 I'm pretty sure she retired. Lesley Logan 5:43 Oh, that's such a. So wait, this sucks. If you're blind, what are your jobs? You could be a phone sex operator.Brad Crowell 5:52 Yes, you could be a phone sex operator. That's not what I was gonna go, but yeah, you could do that, but.Lesley Logan 5:56 But you can make a lot of money doing this. You could do you could be a 900 psychic.Brad Crowell 6:01 You could be a 900 psychic, or you could just talk on the phone, too.Lesley Logan 6:05 Yeah, yeah. With technology today, I think they probably have more options, but I just realized, like, that would suck, like, all of a sudden she can't teach anymore. What if she couldn't even retire?Brad Crowell 6:15 No, it's, it's very traumatic, you know? I mean, we have a close friend of ours whose husband was, he has a, like a degenerative disease that didn't strike until he was in his, you know, midlife.Lesley Logan 6:31 We do? Brad Crowell 6:32 We do. Lesley Logan 6:33 Oh, is it blind, is he going blind? Brad Crowell 6:35 No, but, but the idea of being able, of being an abled body and then all of a sudden, everything that was quote, unquote normal for you is no longer an option. And that scares, that scares me.Lesley Logan 6:49 Scares the hell out of me. But, okay, Dark tangent, dark comedy tangent. Okay, I think it was the French, it was a European commercial. Do you remember this thing? It came through at my Instagram, and this, like, got this woman and this guy, like, wake up on a couch. They like, had, you know, obviously had sex last night, and like, they woke on the couch, and he's like, no, I gotta go. She's like, you could stay. And then, like, he is, like, getting up, and he like, puts himself in his wheelchair. And then this guy opens up the door to the apartment, and he's like, what's going on here? And so clearly, the woman was cheating on her partner, and the whole thing was like, what, like, you know, just maybe think before you park in someone else's spot, or like using the bathroom, or like using the handicap parking and using the handicapped bathroom, and it I died laughing. I cried laughing because, like, what a great way to get people to go. Oh, I'm fucking using that restroom, or I've never parked in those spots because in LA, one of my girlfriends was just parked there to take a phone call and she got a ticket. Don't do it, guys, they don't care if you don't leave the car. Don't do it. It's for someone else. It is someone else's spot. But just made me laugh. I know this is all about seeing eye dogs, and I thought it was a great advertisement for not being a dickhead.Brad Crowell 8:08 Well, what a fun turn this took. Lesley Logan 8:10 Okay. Well, everyone, look, you, your life could change in an instant. So if there is a charity in your area that is helping people get service animals into the hands of people that need it, this is their I'm sponsoring an ad for them. Go give them some money. Give them some time. Brad Crowell 8:27 Participate. Lesley Logan 8:27 Yeah, you never know. Maybe you could become a really good trainer for one of these dogs. You don't know. You know, they people in prison are training some of these dogs so there's great work going out there. So everyone needs a hobby. This could be yours. Brad Crowell 8:39 I love it. Lesley Logan 8:40 All right, you guys, we are home. Brad Crowell 8:43 Yeah, we are, we are. Lesley Logan 8:44 I know where we are in the world. We are home. Brad Crowell 8:47 We are officially home. And last week was Lesley's birthday. Lesley Logan 8:52 Was fabulous. Brad Crowell 8:52 It was fabuloso.Lesley Logan 8:53 It was so fun. I think it's my new theme every year. I don't know. I'll probably change it next time. I'm an Aquarius, who knows, whatever. But it was great. 43 it's looking good, and we're getting ready for Agency Mini, which is next month. Lesley Logan 9:06 Yes, February. Agency Mini, in fact, it's a good chance it's on early bird right now, to be honest. Brad Crowell 9:11 Could be, could be, yeah. Lesley Logan 9:13 Yeah, possible. prfit.biz/mini is where you're gonna go. It's for Pilates instructors or studio owners who work for themselves or want to work for themselves.Brad Crowell 9:21 Yeah, that's profit without the O dot biz slash mini, prfit.biz/mini.Lesley Logan 9:26 And we are getting ready. Brad has never been to Poland. Brad Crowell 9:30 First time. Lesley Logan 9:31 And we have never been to Brussels. And we'll be with Karen Frischmann. And then we're gonna do a second honeymoon, because why not? And then we're going to be in London. So if you want to see us in Europe, it's the only time in 2026 we're going to be in Europe. xxll.co/poland gets you the Poland information xxll.co/brussels gets you Brussels information, and xxll.co/pot will take you to the London information and. Brad Crowell 10:00 Yeah, come hang out. It'd be so fun to meet in person. Lesley Logan 10:02 Oh my gosh. It'd be so fun. And as of right now, our 2027 calendar does not have anything in it, and it may stay that way. We don't know yet. I don't know. So if you want to see us in Europe, this is it.Brad Crowell 10:16 Sounds good to me. I was gonna say maybe Greece, but we're not sure.Lesley Logan 10:19 We're waiting. We're still at the moment of this recording, which is November of 2025 we think we have an invitation to Greece, and we're just waiting for the dates.Brad Crowell 10:30 We shall see. Anyway, in May, for all of those who aren't in Europe, join us virtually, we're going to do another spring training event with onlinepilatesclasses.com. If you were with us last year, two years ago, we did a summer, summer camp. Last year, we did a spring training we loved the spring training vibes, so we're doing that one again. We're going to do that event again, but the topic is going to be totally different. We're going to do how to get overhead. So it's going to include all of those kinds of exercises where you're upside down and, you know, breaking it down for you, making it feel a little more accessible and safe and all those kinds of things. To get on the wait list for that and get the more information as it as we start releasing it, go to opc.me/events, opc.me/events, and you'll be able to stay in the loop. Oh yeah. Brad Crowell 11:18 So today, we had a question, except we're going to change up our question. Normally, we, we get, we get tons and tons of questions. If they're a business question, we usually answer them in our coaching group, Agency. It's from Profitable Pilates, our coaching group, and but this time, what we thought we would do is just ask a few of the questions so you can kind of see if any of these are resonating with you, and see you know, like, how do we tackle, like, how is it that we support the studio owners and teachers that are inside of Agency? So for, for example, we have, we have a recent one that just got submitted. It said, hey, how much notice should I give that client give my clients about my rate increase?Lesley Logan 12:02 No more than 30 days. You can go as low as three days, but no more than 30 days. I've had Mini people do two weeks. It really kind of depends on, you know, if you're doing a $2 rate increase, you can do that next week. You know, it's not a big deal. Doing a $25 rate increase per session. You might want to give them 30 days notice. But we actually also have a course that tells you exactly how to raise those rates and how to actually how to give the people the notice you're going to give so you don't get you're going to have people who have no filter, and they don't realize what they're saying out loud to you can feel personal. It's not, but yeah, but yeah, that's what I would say.Brad Crowell 12:38 I mean. We've got a lot of different tools to support specifically, like, how much should you be raising rates and why? Why are we doing it this way, instead of it just being a random number out there. So if you're ever wondering, like, am I charging enough? That's why people join Agency, we get to dig into these questions with you. Kind of break down some numbers, think about it, logically, all that kind of stuff. Another question for you is, I'm thinking of changing my currently, I sell packages. I'm thinking to change to an auto renew subscription. So instead of selling a 10 pack, you get 10 classes a month or something. I'm assuming that's what it is. Lesley Logan 13:15 Yeah. I don't mind if it's a limited Okay. Brad Crowell 13:17 Yeah but how do I do this without being too wordy? How do I communicate the change to my clients?Lesley Logan 13:21 You're gonna have to have a contract. First and foremost, you, this is a auto renew, and the FCC, I believe, put some stuff in place recently. Look, it could have changed. Brad Crowell 13:32 They took it away. Lesley Logan 13:33 They might have taken it away. Brad Crowell 13:34 Click to click to cancel, or it's already it's already trashed. Yeah, they did. Lesley Logan 13:38 Fuck those people. Anyways, okay, so guess what? No one's fucking regulating. You can do what you want, but reviews still stand. And so if you would like to what I always believe is go back to your values. We have a course on your values. But I have, I have, if this was an office hours call, I could ask a couple of follow up questions about the person, because I have some reasons for not doing an auto renew. Meaning, if you are a solo teacher, I'm going to say no auto renew for you. What happens if you get sick? What about your vacations? There are ways to set packages up so they almost feel like an auto renew, but you actually don't owe people anything if you get sick or if you go on vacation, if you do an auto renew, you actually owe them whatever the contract states.Brad Crowell 14:16 Right, because, what if you're out of town for two weeks and they're like, well, I didn't get my 10 classes, what do we do then?Lesley Logan 14:21 And then they were out they were out of town the other two weeks. And then you also have to figure out with your scheduling tool, can it handle this? Can it handle this feature you want to change it to? If it does handle it, how easily is it to stop it and start it? Some people want to have 90-day contracts on these auto renews and then a 30-day notice. These are all things you have to talk about with a lawyer, but we can actually talk about that together in Agency, our office hours or coaching call to really make sure what's going to work best for you. And then, and then, if you are a studio with multiple teachers, what are the breaks you want to have? And then, why are you doing this? So the other question like, how do you communicate it? It kind of depends on what your values are and what the benefit are that you're trying to say, for example, if you're trying to say that our auto renew is great ease and consistency, plus our number one priority, which is community, then you would actually make it really easy for people to be on auto renew and really hard to be on a package, right? Because packages are more convenient for the person who owns a package, because they can decide when and if they want to use it and auto renew, they have to use it. And then what you need to understand about auto renews is it's another way of saying membership and once you have memberships, you have churn, and you will actually, you might be surprised how much churn you have with auto renews versus people with packages. Because I don't love to be on auto renews with places, because I travel so much, so I might not choose a place that forced me on auto renew or charges me more to be on a package. Now I might not be your client, so it doesn't matter. I don't want to scare you, but these are the things you have to think about. And where, in Agency, we actually coach you on it, because we don't do templates. What works for Brad's studio for auto renews is not going to work for Katie's or Georgia's, right? Like, we have to actually look at like, how many people are on the team? What is the goal of the studio? What are you what are the services under that? Because don't, don't get me started when I see I have to have a membership for mat and I have to have membership for a reformer, and I get mad about that.Brad Crowell 16:18 Now, that's too many options. People don't know what to do. Lesley Logan 16:20 And then they have to think about it. Brad Crowell 16:21 Well then, they just do nothing.Lesley Logan 16:22 Yeah, and so you just have to know, like, yes, it looks like that's how businesses are making money right now with all these auto renews. I'm telling you right now that bubble is popping. We are watching class-based studios lose clients who are middle class a lot faster than you think. And so there's reasons to explore what the options are. What's your purpose for running this change? Like, what? How is this easier for you? Do you think it's to have predictable income? What's in it for them? And then that's how we sell it to them? We have to sell it to them on how it's in it for them, they don't give a fuck about what's in it for you. I mean, they don't not give a fuck but they don't.Brad Crowell 16:57 You're right, like, really, that's not their concern, and it shouldn't be, right? No, so well anyway. So this is the kind of conversations that we get to have over at, in Agency, our fitness business coaching. So whether you're doing yoga or pilates or, I mean, we've had people in there who are we've had a chiropractor in there. We've had a doula in there. We've had bar boxing, whatever. So obviously the majority of our audience is Pilates. So that's primarily what we're discussing over there. But in the service-based industry, we we love doing this. We've been doing it for eight years now. So yeah, if you're interested in more information about that, just reach out to us or go to profitablepilates.com, and you can find out about the coaching over there, but. Lesley Logan 17:37 Join Mini. Do the Mini thing. Brad Crowell 17:38 Oh, join Agency Mini, yeah, go to prfit.biz/mini prfit.biz/mini.Lesley Logan 17:45 If you can sign up right now, it's $25 if it's on early bird, it's $65 if it's not, oh my God, for three days of coaching, change your life. Brad Crowell 17:52 Yeah. 100%. I love it. Well, thanks for joining us down that. If you have a question for the pod or question for Lesley or me, just text us, 310-905-5534, or submit a question at beitpod.com/questions and you can leave us both a win where we'll we'll probably weave that into our Fuck Yeah Friday episodes or you can submit a question, which we can do on our Thursdays. So stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into this amazing convo that Lesley had with Gregg Lunceford. Brad Crowell 18:21 Okay, let's talk about Gregg Lunceford. Gregg Lunceford spent more than three decades in financial services as a wealth advisor at Mesirow in Chicago. I'm sure I'm saying that wrong. He said it twice, and I was I wasn't sure. But anyway, alongside his advisory work, he's an academic researcher whose PhD studies at Case Western Reserve University, focused on the social, emotional and financial realities of today's retirement transition. And this was so interesting to me, y'all.Lesley Logan 18:50 Fascinating, fascinating. So.Brad Crowell 18:53 His curiosity about why even high, highly successful professionals hesitate to retire led him to explore how identity, purpose and well being shape this stage of our lives. And he's like part historian too, right? So he's also the author of Exit From Work, and he writes about his journey and insights into retirement. So, but I, I really enjoyed him breaking down just the different stages of our lives. And also, like, he's comparing generations. Lesley Logan 19:24 Oh, yeah. Brad Crowell 19:25 And like, how they got to where they are, and like, retirement package stuff that is not even an option for us. Lesley Logan 19:32 Let's just talk about, like, let's get more specific what the episode is about, just in case I haven't heard it. So we were talking about retirement attitude, in a sense, like in that, you know, the way my grandparents retired. I to this day, I'm shocked they retired. I didn't know they had money to retire. They didn't look like they saved anything, but like they're, you know, one, one side saved everything. It came out of the Depression. The other side could have been their children. So very different life. They're very young, and so they, like I, I have one set of grandparents who were retired when I was born, and I had another set of grandparents that worked the whole for a while when I was alive, right? And then they all had a pension, and then they just and then they just retired and got paid to be not working, right?Brad Crowell 20:18 What I think, what I think is amazing is Gregg's analysis, and I'm sure this is well documented now, but, but his analysis of life expectancy shot everything in the foot. Lesley Logan 20:30 Right. Brad Crowell 20:30 He said our grandparents' generation, and to some extent, maybe our parents' generation, the pension game, the reality is that people weren't living to be 70, 80, 90 years old. They were only living 60, 70, years and so if you're working until you're 55 and then they have to pay you out for a decade more before you're done, then. Lesley Logan 20:55 It's not that much money. Brad Crowell 20:55 Wasn't that big of a deal but when you're living till you're 80, all of a sudden the companies were like, this is a massive burden for us. We can't, we can't do this. And so then what? The retirement age got older, the pension packages started getting slimmer, all that kind of stuff. So like, when we look at our grandparents and they had just like, you said, how was it possible that they could even retire? It didn't make any sense.Lesley Logan 21:17 They always they had actually had money to give when they died. I was like, what? They had, they had money? So, so the thing that was really fun with Gregg is that, like he, you know, we got into this more deeply in the episode. It's worth listening to. But like during the 2008 recession, companies were trying to just fire everybody. And so they were trying to go, here's the money. All I do is take this amazing package, and people weren't doing it, and it's because it was emotional, like it wasn't just knowing the number, which is like, what the ads would say. It was like, who am I if I'm not doing this? And like, you know some, I worry about, like, like, your parents have worked, your dad's worked for a company for 40 something years. Brad Crowell 22:02 41 or 42 years, yeah. Lesley Logan 22:04 Well, you're 43. So, so and so he's gonna retire, right? And it's like, does he know what to do? Does he know what he's gonna do? Brad Crowell 22:13 It's so funny because, and also, he probably could have retired. No, no, he they could have, I think financially, they could have retired a while back. But again, I think you're right on the money. It's not, it's actually an identity, right. It's a it's the way that you see. It's how you define who you are.Lesley Logan 22:32 Well, and he's so, so, so Gregg, our genius that we interviewed, he said, you we now have a 20 year life bonus, where you get to define who and what you want to be, because you have your first 20 years getting 20-ish years getting educated. Then you have 20 something, well, Andrew advocates 40 something years that you're working, but then you probably have another 20 plus years to be anything you want. Brad Crowell 22:58 Yeah, because he was talking about the bucket list where people are, like, I'm old and decrepit, but I want to go see Niagara Falls, right? And basically, now today, because the quality of life is so much better, you're still active and able to do life normally, you know, well into your 70s and maybe even 80s, until you're willing to slow down so at that point. But like, so, so then your bucket list is a bit different, because, like, okay, you can probably travel, travel, travel, travel for five or 10 years. I mean, my grandparents did this. They bought a they bought an RV, yeah, and for a decade, they drove around the United States, for a decade, but they eventually got bored of it, and then they came home and they still lived for another 20 years, you know? So it's like, okay, so the bucket list thing, if that, if, if people aren't looking at the end of life as like, I gotta finally have a good time. Now, what Gregg is saying is, like, you could flip this on its head entirely.Lesley Logan 23:55 Yeah. Well, he, he emphasized that today's retirees have more personal freedom than previous generations. And you're probably like, Lesley, why are we talking about retiring? We're still going to be it until we see it. Because be it till you see it changes. It changes all the time. And also, if you are not considering what you want to do on the other side of whatever it is you're doing, I don't care how much you love it. I fucking love what I do, and I dream of exiting stage left all the time. And it's not because.Brad Crowell 24:19 She, this is what I hear around our house. I can't wait to be the person that people go who is she again and and she's like, something to do with Pilates, I don't know.Lesley Logan 24:31 Yeah, like, so there's a line in Notting Hill where Julia Roberts' character says, like, she, she says it in like, not a, not the nicest way about herself, but like, people are gonna look at her, like, as this person who was once famous for a while. And I see it as, like, a complete amazing thing where it's just like, someday it'll be like that, oh, that's that person who she was kind of known in her industry for a little bit, and it's like, yeah, she's not like, I like, I was once famous for a little bit in a small part of the world, and now I can move like, because why not? It doesn't mean I don't love what I do. And by the way, like, please don't freak out. No one freak out. Your memberships are fine. I'm not going anywhere. You got to tell people this, Brad, you got to make sure they know. We are currently creating two other things right now so no one I'm not going anywhere, but I do constantly think about I want to be able to retire when I have my faculties, to travel the world, to go to Antarctica, to do different things, I don't want to be in my 70s going, okay, now I'm hanging my hat up. No, I want to know who you and I are on the other side of working together like I there's these other things. And so I wanted to have Gregg on because when he told me what he did, I was like, fuck yeah. It doesn't matter how old you are listening to this, you can take some time to think about what is the freedom I want to have in this extra bonus of life I get. Your grandparents didn't get it. None of mine did. They all died young so. Brad Crowell 25:58 Yeah, the the I think it's, I think it's, I think it's just really interesting to look at the the shift of things, right? There's so many factors that that made the Baby Boomer, Boomer generation, like, pretty epic.Lesley Logan 26:12 Man, they don't know how good a ride they had. Brad Crowell 26:14 Yeah, and the wealth that they were able to build without, like, realizing it, and all that stuff has, that whole flow has shifted completely, you know, and so it's interesting, though, because life expectancy is longer, and I just, I just love that. So I think that really shifts into what I what I loved about he was talking about, he said something that I found intriguing. He was talking about football players, and he was talking about people who have high performance people, or make a shitload of money, and then they retire, and they, he said, they burn through a lot of money trying to figure out who they are.Lesley Logan 26:54 Yeah, this blew my mind too, because it's like, oh, hold on you. You have the money, but you don't know what you're gonna do with it yet.Brad Crowell 27:01 Well, or it's not. Lesley Logan 27:03 Or who you are with it. Brad Crowell 27:04 That's what I was gonna say. It's not even, it's not even what they're gonna do with it yet. It's they're trying to find themselves because they've been defining themselves.Lesley Logan 27:12 They weren't listening to this podcast. Every single person tells people to get to know who they are. Brad Crowell 27:16 Yeah, but they've been defining themselves by their job for 40 years. So then what happens when you're no longer able to define yourself? I know what this is like, because when I moved to Los Angeles, I was there to do music, and after two years, only two years of being there, so I'm like, 25 right? I am die hard into this band. We are doing everything and anything we can to make this band go and then the singer of the band is like, I'm going to grad school. And he quit. And he was like, my partner in this band. And I was like, what the hell man? Like, why did I come all the way out to Los Angeles to do this. What, to do what? What am I gonna do?Lesley Logan 27:55 Because you're gonna meet me. But that's okay. You didn't know that yet. Brad Crowell 27:58 No, I did not know that yet. It was down the road. So, so I was really I was depressed, I was angry, I was confused. I didn't really know how to I didn't know what I was going to go do. I still knew I wanted to do music, but I but what ended up happening was I really got into motorcycles, like really got into motorcycles, and that became kind of how I defined myself. It was how I I changed the way I dressed. I literally rode a motorcycle every day. I joined a motorcycle club. I would ride all over Southern California, you know. And so suddenly that became my identity. And it wasn't until I was networking and met some more people in music that I began to shift back into the music kind of things. But like, yeah, for sure, I can understand how people would be like, well, I used to be blah, blah, blah, whatever, and now I'm no longer so what am I?Lesley Logan 28:46 It's so easy to blow through money to figure out who you are. There's people who join Pilates training programs at 60 because they're like, oh, I think I want to do this, but it's like, eight grand, right? Well, what if you don't? Then people feel like, oh, I just wasted all that money. And then they do something they don't want to do with it, or, or they just keep trying out different things. And like, now they've got this now. They bought a kayak, then they bought the ski doo, and then they bought the boat, and they're trying to be retired first. And so, yeah, I think so, I think it's really easy because they don't know who they are. And that's Gregg's whole thing. They you have to know who you want to be.Brad Crowell 29:19 Yeah, he said many people who spent life meeting obligations are now suddenly confronted with, who do I actually want to be? Right? Who do I actually want to be? And he said, if you go into that blindly, you start chasing quick hits to replace the accolades of a job. You know, the team mentality, the psychological part of success, when you achieve a goal, you know, and basically it can feel very scattered. And he said, so what we should be doing is preparing what he calls a retirement identity. A retirement identity. And he said, instead of trying to figure it out when you get there, what if you started processing that now? And I thought, man, that's really interesting, because that's always been a question for me. You know, like, I asked your dad one time, what's it like to be retired? And he goes, I don't know. man, I've been retired since my 50s.Lesley Logan 30:16 Yeah. He's been retired for a long time. So, like, we're gonna live in Mexico and become tequila smallies. I've already figured this out. Brad Crowell 30:22 I love it. I love everything about that. I think that's brilliant, but, but also, he said there was other he said there was other options too. What did he call it the barista? Oh, no, no, that was the last week barista retired, where she was talking about, you know, getting a part time job. She called it barista retired. I think? Lesley Logan 30:41 Oh, I think so, but I. Brad Crowell 30:43 You know, like, and that's what your dad's doing now. And why is he doing that now? Because he doesn't want to sit around and watch a television all day. He wants to get up and be active. Lesley Logan 30:50 Yeah, there's, there's great. There's, he's a, he's a, he's a crossing guard now, he fucking loves that.Brad Crowell 30:57 Gregg was talking about, like he works with these clients who are looking towards retirement, and he helps them sculpt these packages, which are really clever, right? Because it shifts your focus of purpose in the job. If your job has been to manage a team of 50 people, now you might be training your replacement person for a year or two before you shift into part time. And you just do it, because you can do it from wherever you need to be and whatever. You know, lots of options.Lesley Logan 31:24 I am obsessed I'm obsessed with this whole thing because, like, everyone wants to know, like, how much money do you need to live off of? Like, that we even our lovely wealth people were like, how much money do you want to live off of when you retire? And we were like, we don't want to worry about money. That was our answer. Because I want to live in an Airstream sipping tequila. And, you know, coming back home here when the weather is good, and then, I don't know, we have a house in Cambodia, there's a I want to see the world. So we had that, but we no one was like, what is your retirement persona? Brad Crowell 31:54 Yeah, how do you, how do you imagine spending your time participating in the world, you know, as a retired person? Lesley Logan 32:02 I mean exactly. Brad Crowell 32:03 Is your goal to watch every movie in the last blockbuster? Maybe you shouldn't do that.Lesley Logan 32:09 We might have to talk about having different lives. Visit you. Brad Crowell 32:17 Actually, it's funny that you say that. He said, a lot of couples don't talk about this, and they see, I, you know, they see themselves retiring in different ways. It's not something that they've actually discussed. Interesting.Lesley Logan 32:28 Well, and you know what? Maybe I have to if there's an expert listening who does graduated marriages, I would love to have you on because that's what they're called. They're called graduated marriages, where you love the person you're married to. You don't want to cheat on them. You don't want to be married to someone else, but you would like to have some people just do a separate room. Some people have a separate house, like they live in a different place because they want to live over there. Clearly, that doesn't work for us, because I would get lost, but. Brad Crowell 32:57 Fascinating. Lesley Logan 32:58 It's fascinating, you know, like, I mean, you know, there's this one podcast I listened to, and she is been working. She still has her company. She's working. She works like a dog. She's got a really successful podcast, and she wants to travel with that podcast, and her current successful company is something that she can travel with, and her husband can't, and she's like, I love you, and you can visit me. I want to live for this many months in this state. I've never lived there. I want to live there. I want to feel what it's like. And so she got an apartment, and he is visiting her every other weekend. That's cool. And, you know what, maybe it spices things up. I'm not saying that, but that's the thing. But like, I do think that if you're in a relationship and you haven't thought about retirement together, may this be your assignment, you should contact Gregg and or.Brad Crowell 33:42 Or have a conversation with your partner. Lesley Logan 33:43 And if you're solo, yeah, yeah. And if you're solo, then if you haven't thought about this, you should, because otherwise you're just focusing on dollars. And that's where I think people get obsessed about what the stock market is doing, because you're not actually thinking of how it affects the person you want to be. And you get a little weird about it. And we have an episode with Wealth with Tess coming back on when it comes to, like, the stock and our numbers and all that stuff, and this uncertain time. But I just think that this is a way cooler.Brad Crowell 34:08 You're totally, you're totally right, because it does just become about like this, like, mad, mad. Like, focus on stashing cash, kind of the markets or whatever.Lesley Logan 34:18 Well, and there's much fear around that. And then it's like, but then who are you right? Like, I'm just obsessed. Brad Crowell 34:22 Exactly that doesn't actually address anything that Gregg is talking about here with your retirement identity. Lesley Logan 34:28 I can tell you right now.Brad Crowell 34:29 Your retirement identity is not a bank account number.Lesley Logan 34:31 He is the only person talking about this. I haven't heard anyone else talk about this. I haven't had anyone else to talk about this. And I am like, this is the stand still, like, number one retirement episode we'll ever have like I'm saying here today.Brad Crowell 34:43 Yeah, it's great. It's awesome. Well, love it. Stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into some Be It Action Items that we got from Gregg Lunceford. Brad Crowell 34:55 All right, so finally, welcome back. Let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Mr. Gregg Lunceford. Lesley Logan 35:07 You go first. Brad Crowell 35:10 All right. He said in the planning process of your ideal self, this retirement identity that we've been talking about, he said, what you also have to learn how to do is to replace kinship with friendships, kinship with friendships, which I think is kind of cool. He said today we don't have kinship the way we once did, because families are smaller and they are spread out, right? And also we're not necessarily going into the office to have. Lesley Logan 35:39 Oh, we talked about the Golden Girls. Brad Crowell 35:40 Yeah, you did. Lesley Logan 35:41 Okay,so. Brad Crowell 35:42 Talked about the Golden Girls.Lesley Logan 35:42 Yeah, Sue, just so, you know, Brad, we're on a compound already with Steven Sue and I and a few other people. We're taking applications.Brad Crowell 35:49 We're taking applications. Yeah. So what's really funny, though, is he brought up the Golden Girls and we've talked about this for like, years.Lesley Logan 35:58 Yeah, and I was, like, a wealth manager co signed the idea, I'm in.Brad Crowell 36:04 So he said retirees, retirees must create for themselves on their own, a living setup that supports financial stability and mental well being, and that's where the Golden Girls concept comes in. So it has to include intentional socialization and finding things that create psychological success. So here's an example. He said. It's called an ABRC. It's an academically based retirement community. Or there's another one called a URC, which is a university based retirement community. And basically what he's saying is, if you worked in a field for a really long time, and you connect with other people who worked in the same or similar field, you will have a lot of things to talk about that are the same. Then you'll be able to have those conversations. So that's where the academically based retirement community comes in. Versus a university based retirement community would probably be like, Hey, we're all from the same alma mater, Alma Mater. I may be a year or two before you or after you, whatever.Lesley Logan 36:59 So here's my criteria for ours. Ours is going to be people. Everyone has to who, after Sue Steven, you and I. Everyone has to tell us what young person in their life who is strong on Strapping, who can help move heavy things, because you and Steven aren't going to like, stop doing projects. So we're gonna need help there. And then we just need, we need people who have children to, you know, to help take care of it, because we don't have any. We're not bringing that to this. We're bringing the project management to the community. But we don't have, we're facilitating. We don't have the young person, right? So, so, so sue and Steven have a three nieces on their side. So that's good.Brad Crowell 37:40 Okay, okay, okay. So we, I think we have a couple on our side too.Lesley Logan 37:44 We have, we are, I am the favorite aunt to our only niece, so there's that. But you know what? She might we need extra, just in case. We need to have extras. You gotta have, like, it's like having retirement. You gotta have backup. Brad Crowell 37:57 I remember my grandfather, who recently passed away. He was 94 I think, when he passed away, he moved out of his house at like, 88 or 87 years old into a retirement community. And he did it in, like a snap whim moment, because one of his longest friends for 50 years was like, hey, I just got an apartment at this place down the road. You should come, you should join us there. And he was like, absolutely, hell yeah, literally, called our whole family was like, I'm moving. And everyone's like, what? You're 87 what are you talking about? Lesley Logan 38:34 No, we're gonna find a mid century motel.Brad Crowell 38:36 But the, well, the goal for him here was community. Right? Where he went had, it was a it was like one of those communities that had live on your own, but they're still around, get partial help, and then eventually get full help. So it had three different facilities in one place. And so he moved into that I can do everything by myself, part of the community, and would walk down the hall and go play pool every night with the guys you know. And he did this for many, many years. And the belonging, that communal element that changed the game for him, because he was sitting alone in a house before, and he was like, this sucks. I gotta, I gotta get out of here.Lesley Logan 39:12 Well, I like our compound idea. It's a little culty, but not too much. And I only want the people that we want to be around on this. Like, I like what your grandfather did for himself, it's eally great. But there's also, like, a bunch of people involved that I didn't like, you don't get to choose them. So this is. Brad Crowell 39:30 But he found, like, love late in life too. You know, so there's that.Lesley Logan 39:33 He lived his best life. It's fine. I'm saying it's not ours. And that leads into my Be It Action Item that I'm talking about, which is, like, it's critical that this is a shared vision, yeah, so you gotta create a vision, the shared vision. I understand that I'm telling Brad about this vision a lot. Don't worry. I know what he likes.Brad Crowell 39:49 No, I'm very on board. I love me some tequila. So sign me up. Lesley Logan 39:53 I just think we have our great friends. We have a bunch of DINCs in our life off, but we get all the DINCs together, dual income, no children, all the DINCs together, we can have a cool kick ass compound with, first of all, just the just the red light therapy alone, we're like, already golden, so I'm just so in on this. But okay, so back to what Gregg said to do. Gregg said, create a vision. It's critical that it becomes a shared vision. And he actually said that research shows approximately 40% of couples do not even discuss retirement savings, which is bad, like whole no wonder so many divorces happen. People just don't talk about shit. Like, what is happening? Gonna start talking about your goals. Engage a professional like Gregg, to help you see how you can align your financial wherewithal with those visions. Probably Gregg, because he's the only person who studied this. He's the only, everyone else just wants to know what your fucking number is. He cares about what you want to do. And then, he said you have he wants you to think differently. He wants you to think about being your best self at this stage, not being someone whose society just says it's just time for you to leave. He wants you to, like, really think about who your best self is and take ownership of that, because you're kind of a badass, like people don't realize, like you have so much knowledge that is acquired from the time that you've spent so own that. And he said, in his words, you have more value to offer a lot of people than you think. And I think that that's true. There's like, so many different ways you can prepare, like you can be a big brother or a friend or a, you know, a leader of some kind in some capacity, with all this knowledge you have, you could, you can, you can, you can support people around you who need it. So there's just so much more live 20 bonus years. Plus, you know the way things are going, we'll see how we'll see how this ages by February, considering they're trying to get rid of nursing degrees and stuff like that in July. So we'll see. But I'm just saying there's a lot you can do. And I just really want people, I want people to have all the information. I don't. I don't like that some people have to work until they're 80, or because they either because they need the money or because they don't know what to do other than that, like that makes me sad, both of those. So hopefully this helps you. I'm Lesley Logan. Lesley Logan 41:57 And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 41:58 Thanks so much for listening. How are you going to retire? We want to retire? We want to know what that vision What's your retirement persona? Tell Gregg. Tell the Be It Pod, and until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 42:07 Bye for now. Lesley Logan 42:08 That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 42:51 It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 42:56 It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 43:00 Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 43:07 Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 43:11 Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recorded 2026-01-29 02:00:56
Recorded 2026-01-29 20:08:56
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Recorded 2026-01-29 15:48:05
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Send us a textIn this episode of the Cops and Writers Podcast, retired Milwaukee Police Sergeant Patrick O'Donnell reads Chapter 12, Pistol Packing Grandma Moses, from his upcoming book:Police Stories: The Rookie Years - True Crime, Chaos, & My Life as a Big City CopWhile still a rookie cop "warhorsing" (filling in for other officers), Patrick partners with DJ, a 6'5", 300-pound gentle giant and former Chicago Bears. What starts as a routine 911 hang-up call and a tree branch banging on a roof turns into one of the most terrifying moments of Patrick's early career.All stories are real. Names and locations have been changed where necessary.
This week's episode is, as threatened, us attempting a commentary. Specifically, a commentary on the 1977 'Leap in the Dark' episode called 'The Fetch' which claims to dramatise the Emilie Sagee story we covered last week.Does it do the tale justice? And how many famous faces can we spot in it?If you wanted to watch along with us then the full episode of 'The Fetch' can be found (or watched without our juvenile interrupting) at the following link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhYofF6GJWc______An exclusive extended, ad-free VIDEO version of this episode with 15 minutes of bonus extra chat about all manner of things including the works of Stephen King (mostly 'It') plus loads more can be found over at our Patreon!Extended episodes drop over there usually 3-7 days early and with zero ads so if you enjoy Mystery on the Rocks then please consider heading over there to support us, where there is already a huge backlog of exclusive extras such as extended episodes, bonus episodes, minisodes, outtakes, cocktail recipes and more!Hosted by Masud Milas, Chris Stokes, and Sooz Kempner Mystery on the Rocks is a high concept comedy and true crime/unexplained phenomena podcast set in a fictional mystery-solving bar with real cocktails!. The focus of the show is to attempt to crack a real, unsolved mystery from history – true crime and bizarre occurrences, all with a whodunnit or WTF happened question hanging over them. The format's malleable though and occasionally we deep-dive into a One Hit Wonder or play a game we invented called VHGuess...You can follow us on Bluesky, X and Instagram too! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Puberty can feel overwhelming for kids and parents alike. In this episode of Facing the Dark, Wayne Stender and Dr. Kathy Koch explore new research on pubertal self efficacy and why confidence, not avoidance, is key to helping kids navigate this critical season. Drawing from findings in the Journal of Adolescence, they discuss how teens who understand what's happening in their bodies and emotions experience less anxiety and depression. Dr. Kathy explains self efficacy as the belief that "I can handle what's being asked of me," and shows parents how this confidence is built through contribution, clear instruction, patience, and ongoing conversation. Together, they unpack why puberty is such a significant identity shaping moment and why kids don't need mystery or silence, but guidance and reassurance. Grounded in Luke 2 and Jesus' own growth into maturity, this episode equips parents to replace fear with formation, helping kids experience puberty not as something to endure alone, but as a God designed process they are capable of walking through well.
How does an audiobook narrator know how to pronounce everything? Do they have editors? How many books can they do a year? What differentiates the live voice from AI — and how do they get paid (vs. how should they get paid)? And why are so many beloved books read by Julia Whelan? WELP, FRIENDS, GOOD NEWS, WE GOT JULIA WHELAN TO COME ANSWER ALL THESE QUESTIONS. This is a conversation about mechanics and production flows and vocal health... but it's also a conversation about how we conceive of and compensate artistic labor. This one's gonna stick with you — it's certainly stuck with me. AND GREAT NEWS: WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thank you for making the switch with us — the podcast in particular is much more at home here!Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best sellers Trial Pack or the NEW plant-based trial packCozy up with your pup this season! Go to ollie.com/culture and use code culture to get 60% off your first boxTake your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use promo code CULTURESTUDY today for 10% off your first orderOneSkin is making it even easier to stay consistent with your skincare routine with 15% off when you use code CULTURE at oneskin.co/CULTUREShow Notes:Follow Julia Whelan on Instagram here and find out more about Audiobrary hereAn interview with Julia about the Audiobrary modelThe episode of romance podcast Fated Mates featuring Julia Julia Whelan named Spotify's Top Audiobook Narrator for 2026To give you a sense of how many books Julia has narrated, you can see 432 of them listed over at Audible (she's narrated more than 500) We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS Dark academia-- the trends, the themes, the popularity, whatever you wantHow to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!) Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it's literally the name of the segmentAs always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week's discussion: What did you learn about audiobook production from this ep — and how are you going to think differently about audiobooks moving forward?
Recorded 2026-01-28 08:28:08
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Otis Jiry's Scary Stories Told in the Dark: A Horror Anthology Series
In this episode of Scary Stories Told in the Dark, familiar pleasures become dangerous invitations—and the line between reward and punishment quietly dissolves. What begins as routine drifts into something far more unsettling, where reassurance masks intent and kindness hides its teeth. This is a story about offers that come too easily, about places that feel safe until they aren't, and about the terrible cost of noticing what you were never meant to see. To watch the podcast on YouTube: http://bit.ly/ChillingEntertainmentYT Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link! http://bit.ly/ScaryStoriesPodcast If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: http://bit.ly/ScaryStoriesPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices