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A two party system for birthdays? Sign us up! In this episode, Rhett & Link talk about the two different birthday parties Link has – the friends and the dads – as well as give some reviews for the recent films they've seen. Plus, they react to a woman who doesn't realize she's colorblind, as well as create their leading man personas. Leave us a voicemail and be featured on the show at 1-888-EARPOD-1! Get 10 free meals and a free item for life for new customers at https://hellofresh.com/ear10fm To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oh, Rhett… In this episode, Rhett & Link talk about a recent wedding they went to wear Rhett has an unhappy accident, the two go over the things people from North Carolina and South Carolina disagree on, and they go head to head in an intuition challenge to see if they are truly on the same wavelength. Leave us a voicemail at 1-888-EARPOD-1! Setup a Chime checking account in just two minutes at https://www.chime.com/ear Get 50% a lifetime membership at https://rosettastone.com/ear To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We can all afford to be humbled sometimes, but four times in one weekend? In this episode, Rhett talks about his trip back to North Carolina where he had a literal handful of humbling experiences, including a wild plane ride. Plus, Link recounts his romantic getaway for his 25th wedding anniversary in Big Sur, where he has quite the massage experience. Leave us a voicemail at 1-888-EARPOD-1! Get a $75 sponsored job credit at https://indeed.com/ears To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Preview: Colleague Gene Marks introduces the Google Gemini translator that can be contained in earpods. More later. AUGUST 1958
00:00:00 - Bevezetés00:00:16 - Kreatív konyhai dolgok00:03:17 - AI receptek00:06:54 - Jó érzést kiváltó tartalmak00:11:07 - AR szemüveg telefon és okosóra helyett?00:14:45 - Ékszer EarPods-ból00:19:49 - Ha másnak jól áll, nekem is jól fog?00:20:45 - Új dolgok kipróbálása és csalódás00:25:28 - Választások és tapasztalatok00:30:12 - Nincs feltétlen igazság00:37:14 - Tapasztalni kell00:47:09 - Elektronikai termékek szervizelése00:48:53 - “Semmiről beszélni” stratégia00:50:31 - Más jobban tudja00:52:06 - Pisti, mint áldozat?00:53:46 - Döntések számok alapján00:57:58 - Befejezés
Today, we are diving into a topic close to home for many of us - the connection between mental health and the training continuum. Earpods: https://amzn.to/42FAqWf Support Karate For Mental Health CIC Support when you shop via Easy Funding https://shorturl.at/8wYJZ Grab a t-shirt! https://kfmhcic.creator-spring.com/ Don't forget to grab your Karate Journal to document your journey: Karate Journal Link: https://amzn.to/3l9spmt If you found value in this episode or enjoyed it, please consider sharing it with your friends on social media. And if it didn't resonate with you, feel free to pass it along to your enemies – perhaps they'll find it enlightening! Support the show at no extra cost to you by shopping on Amazon through my affiliate link, where I receive a small commission on your purchases. It's a win-win! Find the link below. Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3qqfuhy Les Bubka's Shop: https://lesshop.ammhub.com About Les Bubka: Author, Karate coach, entrepreneur, and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Les promotes inclusive Karate with a focus on the mental health aspects of training. Teaching nationally and internationally. Let's connect: info@lesbubka.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adrian Weckler, Technology Editor, Irish Independent and Sandra Cummings, Diagnostic Audiologist at Beacon Audiology Hearing and Balance located in the Beacon Medical Campus
Como la quedada de enero es bastante extensa, la hemos dividido en dos partes. En esta primera parte encontrarás estas secciones: preguntas: Consejos sobre auriculares Bluetooth tipo Openear y similares. Pregunta sobre el retorno de VoiceOver al usar auriculares EarPods con conector TRRS en Mac. Auriculares videoconferencia USB de la marca Epos/Sennheiser PC-8 Duda sobre introducción de escritura táctil en iPhone. Dudas sobre adquisición de ordenador para inteligencia artificial. Temas: Experiencias de uso de inteligencia artificial de descripción de imágenes mediante video en vivo. Enlaces externos: Web para probar Google Ai Studio Live / Gemini. Enlace a Google Studio Ai App ChatGPT para iPhone. Enlace a App Store de la app ChatGPT App NordVPN para iPhone. Enlace a App Store de NordVPN- Web del podcast Gafotas, cegatos y sus aparatos Podcast. Web de Gafotas, cegatos y sus aparatos Podcast Auriculares EPOS/ Sennheiser PC-8 en Amazon. Enlace a Amazon de EPOS/Sennheiser PC-8 Auriculares Bluetooth de oreja abierta BlitzMax. Enlace a Amazon de los auriculares BlitzMax Auriculares bluetooth Hendari de oreja abierta. El enlace a Amazon de los auriculares Hendari
Facilitator: Brad Topics: Reading different things with Zoom links in contacts; Using zoom links in shortcuts; Yearly subscriptions to Apple Music benefits?; Guesters for using copy/paste commands with VoiceOver; What is a container?; Using Guesters with dictations; Not seeing saved emails in folders; Setting up multiple mail accounts; Anyone used ChatGPT+ with AI? Adjusting Guester speaking rate in quick settings; Issues with continuous ding's while listing to news stations; Setting up Sono Speakers on Apple TV; How to cut and paste text to a new email; If phone is lost in lake or river, can I find it with Find My app; Difference between Transparency Mode and Cancelation Mode on Earpods; iBUG Bytes: Brad: Changes in IMessages with IOS 18 Messaging apps.
Vuelve el podcast, volvemos los de siempre ha hablar de Apple, 3 temas. Toca hablar de lo ultimo publicado por NVIDIA y lo lejos que está Apple en la carrera de la Inteligencia Artificial. También sobre la jugarreta que nos hizo Tim Cook a España, Anunció que el finde semana pasado todos podrían acceder a Apple TV + de manera gratuita, aunque tenías que añadir tu tarjeta de crédito pero bueno, el problema vino cuando los usuarios en redes comenzaron a quejarse que no podían usarlo con esa promoción así que luego se publicó que España quedaba fuera de ese “Regalo” de Apple, pues pasaremos a debatir, Y un tema que seguro muchos no estén de cuerdo conmigo pero que lo intentaré comentar si me dejan, el regreso a los cables. Ahora solo disfrutar del primer episodio del año 2025. //Enlaces https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/6/24337530/nvidia-ces-digits-super-computer-ai https://www.infobae.com/espana/cultura/2025/01/05/apple-tv-no-era-gratis-en-espana-este-fin-de-semana-cronica-de-un-bulo-comunicativo/ //Donde encontrarnos Canal Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/ApplelianosApplelianos/featured Grupo Telegram (enlace de invitación) https://t.me/+U9If86lsuY00MGU0 Correo electrónico applelianos@gmail.com Canal Telegram Episodios https://t.me/ApplelianosFLAC Mi Shop Amazon https://amzn.to/30sYcbB Twitter https://twitter.com/ApplelianosPod ( (https://twitter.com/ApplelianosPod)https://twitter.com/ApplelianosPod ) Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/applelianos-podcast/id993909563 Ivoox https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-applelianos-podcast_sq_f1170563_1.html ( (https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-applelianos-podcast_sq_f1170563_1.html ) https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-applelianos-podcast_sq_f1170563_1.html
Facilitator: Greg Topics: ICloud storage on new phone; Turning off EarPods without case; Dealing with volume while on zoom; Live imaging through ChatGPT+? Learning Apple VoiceOver; Using SpeakABoo app; Email categories list; Drag and drop apps now working; Using Ring doorbell with phone; Differences with Gmail or phone mail app; Setting up email acct on Outlook; Using WIFI private relay; Checking battery level in lock screen; Causes for battery heating up; How much charging is too much; Restarting phone; Turning on chimes; Facebook not recognizing photos; Posting something to a group on Facebook; New features with AI: Image playground. iBUG Bytes: Checking Battery settings demo, What might drain it faster. Meta Ray-Ban glasses discussion
The Black Lincoln Collective Comedy Podcast: Episode #84 on PopCulturePros (or #169 if you're counting candles on the cake)Title: A Birthday for ChristmasThe halls are decked, the trees are up (five of them, if you're Fred), and the frozen screens are in full effect—welcome to the Christmas chaos that is The Black Lincoln Collective Podcast! Broadcasting live from our sprawling, high-end (in our minds) EC Studios across South Carolina, this episode is packed with holiday magic, festive scams, and just the right amount of absurdity.First up, Fred goes full Santa's Workshop with five Christmas trees—because apparently, moderation is for other people. Meanwhile, Allan's screen freezes at the perfect moment, proving once again that technology is the ultimate holiday trickster.But it's not all tinsel and eggnog—there's intrigue in the air. The crew investigates a questionable charity situation, featuring a sweet old lady collecting donations… or is she?? Fred, our in-house (self-proclaimed) scam expert, breaks down the latest charity cons, so you can keep your holiday spirit and your wallet intact.Then, in a shocking turn of events, Parker has feelings. Yes, you read that right. Thanks to a heart-wrenching EarPods commercial, Parker spirals into an existential crisis, forcing Fred and Allan to analyze the emotional impact of corporate holiday manipulation. (Spoiler: it works.)And because nothing says “Christmas” like free money, we're rolling out The BLC Change Challenge! We've hidden spare change on sidewalks worldwide (or maybe just in our neighborhoods), and if you find it, tweet about it! Join the movement, spread the joy, and embrace the excitement of loose change—because who needs Bitcoin when you've got nickels?So, grab your cocoa, plug in all the Christmas lights, and tune in to Episode #84. It's festive. It's ridiculous. And just like Parker's emotions, it only happens once a year.
Welcome to the 169th episode of the Black Lincoln Collective Podcast, where we explore the exciting festivities and joyful chaos of the Christmas season. Broadcasting live from our luxurious EC Studios spread across South Carolina, join us as we delve into the quirky world of holiday traditions. From Fred's five Christmas trees to Alan's hilarious frozen screen antics, we uncover the enchantment and surprises that this season brings. Along the way, we uncover the truth behind a potential scam involving a kind-hearted elderly lady collecting donations, while Fred shares his insights on the latest charity scams. Additionally, Parker stumbles upon an emotionally captivating EarPods commercial that tugs at his heartstrings, prompting a thought-provoking discussion among Fred, Alan, and Parker. To spread the holiday spirit, we are thrilled to announce the Black Lincoln Collective's largest-scale promotion ever: a fun-filled scavenger hunt for spare change hidden on sidewalks worldwide. Join the BLC Change Challenge by finding the hidden change, tweeting about it, and sharing the joy with others. Tune in to this episode filled with holiday cheer, laughter, and a sprinkle of mystery. #blcpodcast #podcastingforthepeople #funny #podcast #greenvillesc #scpodcast #yeahthatgreenville Listen at: https://blc.world/ Tweet the Show: https://twitter.com/blcworld Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blcpodcast/ Check us out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blcpodcast/ Buy Fred and Allan Beer: https://www.patreon.com/blcworld
The Question of the Week: Are Bluetooth headphones, or EarPods, a cyber security risk? The Big Stories: ChatGPT has a tool to prevent cheating , OpenAI will not release it SCOTUS overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, how that affects Big Tech
The Cleveland Gaming Classic invades your EarPods, car speakers and smart phones with a brand new adventure: podcasting! Join your hosts Tom Jenkins, Cory Enriquez and this week's guest, Dan Lallo, on the inaugural episode of the Cleveland Gaming Podcasts. What will this show entail, you wonder? Well, a whole lot of gaming, tangents galore and learning why we think Tom feels like Frogger. ___________________Come be a nerd with us at the Cleveland Gaming Classic 2024, September 20th-22nd at the I-X Center in Cleveland, OH. Find out more about the show at gamecleveland.com. _____________________Follow us on Facebook:Cleveland Gaming ClassicFollow us on Instagram:ClevelandgamingclassicFollow us on TikTok:gamecleveland__________________ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us a Text Message.TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.flyover.liveClay ClarkWEBSITE: www.timetofreeamerica.comPODCAST: www.thrivetimeshow.comTo Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To ▶ https://flyovergold.com Or Call 720-605-3900 For Tickets to a ReAwaken America Event - text the word FLYOVER to 918-851-0102-------------------------------------------
Yal already know was up & we got Papi Flay in here
Yal already know was up & we got JERSEYYYYYYY in here
Yal already know was up & we got GEORGIA in here…….YA FEEL ME
Yal already know was up & we got Connecticut in here
Awwwwwww shuxxxxxxxx we got Colorado in here
Yal already know was up & we got Florida in here
Awwwwwww shuxxxxxx we got @Splashgodsworld in here and he's Liberian with Minneapolis with a lil Dallas
Yal already know was up & we got Chicago in here
AYYYYYYY WE GOT DETROIT IN HERE!!!!!!!! THE WEST SIDE!!!!!!!!!!If you ain't doin shit you ain't sittin in The Diva Den with Thee HipHop Oprah @Osodiva!@Chainz_ ghettoseed he had to let me in because he really kept it 110!!!!You know I asked him where that name came from.Sometimes I gotta jump right into that Mt Rushmore yal, did yal HEAR HIM?!?!! Yal gotta make sure you follow him on everything @Chainz_ghettoseedMake sure you follow Thee HipHop Oprah everywhere @OSODIVA SEARCH #TheDivaDen everywhere and make sure them EarPods is charged up!#TheDivaDen
Yal already know was up! If ain't doin shit you not sittin in The Diva Den with Thee HipHop Oprah @Osodiva!BUT THIS 1 HERE!!!!!!!!!!!JERSEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY @Jerzey_julz is in here and he givin all BOSS TALK!! His life story really was deep yal gotta tap in!Regardless of where he was he kept Jersey in his heart and you hear it in this interview rightchea!!!!!!His 4 on his Mt Rushmore had me like OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!Yal gotta make sure you follow him on everything @Jerzey_julz bro been had the entertaining story but it's more than that!!!!!!! This was a great talk yal enjoy ya self!!!!Make sure you follow Thee HipHop Oprah everywhere @OSODIVA SEARCH #TheDivaDen everywhere and make sure them EarPods is charged up!#TheDivaDen
Yal already know was up! Keep sittin on ya hands and you ain't sittin in The Diva Den with Thee HipHop Oprah Osodiva!We had to bring @Kingspill_ in here because he even said it……….He ain't never tried to fit in and he most certainly kept it 110! The generational differences bring different vibes when it comes to music and he let us know what made him even tap in!His music is passionate and he lettin us know in his music! His 4 on his Mt Rushmore is A1!Yal gotta make sure you follow him on everything @Kingspill_Make sure you follow Thee HipHop Oprah everywhere @OSODIVA SEARCH #TheDivaDen everywhere and make sure them EarPods is charged up!#TheDivaDen
What happens when you blend the minds of Adriana Rangel and Marcus Mokros, hosts of the popular Serious Sellers Podcast Spanish and German shows, with the world of Amazon and its ever-evolving marketplace? As it turns out, a captivating concoction of strategies, trends, and real-life success stories. From the transition from UPC codes to QR codes to new monthly networking calls for Spanish and German-speaking audiences to an imminent event in Germany - we dissect it all with our esteemed guests. We talk about special highlights featuring their recent guests. Buckle up as we take a ride through the ups and downs of outdoor sports sales on Amazon with two seasoned sellers. One recounts their thrilling journey from a booming 2020 to a challenging 2021, all leading to a triumphant comeback in 2023. Hear their plans for product expansion and driving website traffic, and learn from their experiences. From across the pond, our European seller shares his wisdom on improving product images, revealing two crucial photography tips. We also touch on the advent of a novel 3D rendering service, eliminating the need for physical product delivery to a photography studio. All this while emphasizing the critical role technology plays in growing an Amazon business. Did you ever wonder how selling on Amazon varies across different European countries? We've got you covered as we compare and contrast Amazon sales in the top five European countries: the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. We navigate through the VAT-related intricacies in these nations and how Amazon aids in VAT declarations. Find inspiration in the story of a successful Spanish seller who has grown her Amazon business with a unique approach - collaborating with artisans in Spain and Mexico through Amazon Handmade. We also chat about avoiding burnout while scaling up your Amazon business, ensuring a healthy work-life balance. Wrapping up the episode, we shine the spotlight on two entrepreneurs who've built flourishing podcast communities and Amazon businesses. This journey is filled with challenges, triumphs, plans for the future, and valuable advice for budding entrepreneurs. So tune in for an episode filled with information, inspiration, and innovation. In episode 517 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Adriana, and Marcus discuss: 00:00 - Tips and Strategies From SSP Spanish and German Hosts 01:19 - Celebrating Podcast Milestones and New Networking Calls 06:33 - Insights From Amazon 08:28 - Trends in Outdoor Sports Sales 14:42 - Using AI Tools for Content Creation 18:19 - Build Brand With Technology and VA's 20:50 - VAT and Selling Strategies on Amazon 24:11 - Artisan Networks in Spain and Mexico 29:19 - Uniqueness and Innovation in Saturated Niches 31:50 - Tips for Balancing Work and Relaxation 36:06 - Amazon's AI Strategy for Product Listings 37:55 - Celebrating Podcast and Amazon Success ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got the host of our Spanish and German podcast back and they've got lots of tips and strategies from themselves and their guests on a wide variety of topics, such as Amazon, image creation, KDP, amazon handmade European marketplaces and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hey guys. Heads up, Kevin King is the new host of the AM/PM Podcast, so if you love Amazon strategy, make sure to subscribe to it. Whatever you're listening to this podcast on, take a listen to AM slash PM podcast just by searching for it on that platform. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got a couple of our host from different parts of the world here today. We've got Adriana from Mexico and Marcus, who is in Europe right now. Welcome back to the show, guys. Adriana: Hi Bradley, thank you for having us. Bradley Sutton: It's really great to have you both here. This is now. We just celebrated two full years of Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol Serious Sellers Podcast of Deutsch, and the numbers have been going up, you know, record months this year. It's really great to see what you guys have created just from zero, like literally zero, and now you've got podcasts that are listened to by thousands of people out there. We have YouTube now, you know, for the podcast. So, guys, make sure, if you speak German or Spanish, you need to be listening to Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol or Alph Deutsch. You can search for either of that on whatever you're listening to this on, even on YouTube now. Now we're doing full videos so you can get kind of like a better vibe of it as well. So guys, this is this is really cool. And just one more thing that's new We'll go ahead and promote it right now is that you guys are now hosting in Spanish and German like monthly networking calls, zoom calls, for Spanish and German speaking community. So, Adriana, tell us about yours like, like when we just had the first one on December 6, but is it always like on the 6th, or is it going to be like the second Tuesday of each month, or how is yours going to work and how can people sign up for it? Adriana: Yes, of course we're meeting the first Wednesday of every month, so I'm not sure what that is for January, but of course that's going to change for February as well. So basically, the first Wednesday of every month at 6pm, Mexico City time and people can sign up. They just need to visit our link, h10.me/llamadaconadriana and that's it. You can, and that way you will get the reminders and the link to join us in a live call networking call every Wednesday. Bradley Sutton: All right Now, Marcus, you too are just had your first ever German call in December, but starting in January. When is it going to be? And also, what is the link for it? Marcus: Yeah, we want to keep it simple. It's the first Monday of the month, 12 o'clock, and the link is h10.me/elite-de. Bradley Sutton: All right, h10.me/elite-de for German speakers. And when you say 12pm, that's 12pm Germany time, 12pm German time. Correct, speaking of Germany. Guys, I'm going to be in Germany. I'm not sure if anybody out there is going to be in in town, but I'm going to be out there on January 27th in Berlin. I'm going to be speaking at an event and also I will be hosting an elite workshop. So if you guys are interested in going for the event I'm speaking at h10.me/germany. So h10. h10.me/germany. All right, enough of the kind of like logistics here. I think, hopefully, if you're a Spanish or German speaking person, you got enough information there to take advantage of these. Everything we just mentioned is free resources for the community. But you know, you guys, let's start off with. What I like to do is because I don't. You know, I obviously can't speak German, so I can't listen to the episodes and understand what's going on. So I'm going to first start with you, marcus. What are some notable guests you've had in the year that really had like some really cool strategies or really cool story that you can relate to us? Marcus: Yeah, really some really awesome guests and it's hard to make any kind of selection. But one recent one was from GS1, the company who is doing the UPC codes, and the employee. He told me that they are preparing a big change. They want to go in the next couple of next years from barcodes to QR codes and they call it as a 3D code, and that will be more than just a number to identify your product. That will have like access for you to, for marketing, for example, the customer. Obviously, obviously the shop can scan the QR code, see the price, but the customer can scan it as well and you can put your promotions in it or, for example, like giveaways, anything, and he says it will even support promotions day by day. You can have one promotion set on a Monday, something different on a weekend, or like if there's like a bad batch should produced, you can add it into that QR code and the cashier will know I shouldn't sell that. So there will be a lot of functions and features coming and I mean that's where that will be a big task. They will have to change all systems in all shops worldwide. That will be something very interesting for marketing. Bradley Sutton: Huh, interesting, yeah, I mean because you know the traditional barcodes is kind of like what the world's been used to for so long, but the move to QR and having extra information, that'll definitely be interesting. Alright, going to Adriana now, the first kind of story that comes from your mind, or Stragia, or something that's one of your guests in the last year talked about. Adriana: Yeah, well, one of the highlights is that we had Amazon join us on a call or on an episode for the podcast, maybe a couple of weeks ago, maybe two or three weeks ago and that was great because we had the opportunity to ask them stuff such as you know, what's up with seller support, how can we best go about getting an issue fixed and, let's say, something happens to your listing, your listing is down, or an FBA shipment, or you know, these things we deal with as a sellers on a weekly basis, right, and so that was a big one. I was very excited to have them on a call because, you know, it's our opportunity to get answers right, instead of, you know, searching in forums or asking other people. It came directly from them and they gave us really interesting tips for how to go about certain issues and also they shared with us really interesting well insights, of course, but also resources on how we can learn more about the platform, etc. Right, and I think that this is very valuable because it comes directly from the how do you say, the horse's mouth? Or, yeah, I guess, directly from Amazon. So that was a lot of fun. That was two weeks ago and, as I said, for me, the main takeaway that I got from them was basically how to work the seller support system to get them to answer and fix our issue, as opposed to getting you know, like the template response that we sometimes get when they don't understand. What is it that we need help with? Bradley Sutton: I'm curious how are your own Amazon businesses going? Like, are you, do you think you're going to be up this year than before, or how things been going for you? Adriana: So for me, 2023 has been a good year, actually compared to 2022. 2022 was weird. I sell in the outdoors sports category, so 2020 was amazing because, of course, at least the second half of 2020, because, of course, everyone wants to be out of the house and in some place. You know that was outdoors, not indoors at a restaurant or at a mall. So it was. It was a great year sales wise, 2021 as well. 2022. It had, yeah, I experienced a deep, I would say, because everyone was, you know, out and back in the clubs and the restaurants and the concerts and all of that. So people just forgot about outdoor sports. And then 2023 came back strong. Of course, I did focus a lot on my ranking and, yeah, basically, like optimizing my listing and all of that, my images especially. I was like you know what, like if I up my conversion rate, then everything else will fall into place in a way, you know, like my ads and all of that. I do my own PPC, but I'm like you know what, as long as the conversion goes up, then I can send as much traffic as I want via ads and it should convert right, Like it should turn into sales. So 2023 was great and I'm hoping for a good 2024. I want to expand my product line and I also want to work on getting more traffic to my website and, yeah, basically growing that channel too. Bradley Sutton: Now going back to Marcus, what about for your Amazon businesses, your communities? What's some trends that you've seen this year like, especially since your community and you are mainly selling in Europe? Like are things in? Is there inflation in Europe? Is things getting harder? Is competition getting more? What's going on in the European Amazon market? Marcus: It's an interesting question because, like over the years, I always got that kind of question is it still worth it? Should you still start Amazon? But that somehow that dried out. Everybody knows that Amazon is big and I mean like yeah, like the whole world is in a tough time, I guess, right now. But as I see it, like Amazon sellers, they are doing good, they're doing well. Bradley Sutton: On the strategy side. You know like one of your specialties and you have people in your community who are specialists about this is like photography and things like that what do you see as kind of like working? Now, what's some tips you can give the audience about, like how they can really make sure their image deck and or videos are really better than the competition? Marcus: Yeah, actually I have two photography related tips and first one is from JP. He was a guest in the podcast. He's quite young guy but like living the dream, traveling to through Bali, Thailand and doing Amazon FBA. He's like selling a lot and he also started a photography business. But he has a totally different approach. He doesn't need your product. You're providing photos from your smartphone. You get a tutorial. You have to send him six photos from every site and here's a team who does a 3D rendering of that product and, um, that way he's at a price point that's just a fraction that you expect for a product photography. And, yeah, his team will do a 3D model of your product that looks like totally photo realistic and they will put it into a lifestyle photos, put it into Infographics and send you the whole products as a product shots that you expect, but without touching your products. And I mean one. Marcus: One thing is interest. It's interesting for people who sell, who just start out, or sell products that have like two thousand five thousand dollars of revenue, but also people who don't have time, because imagine your product is being produced in China right now and you don't have a master sample right now and as soon as the first product is finished in China, you can ask your manufacturer Do these photos for me with your smartphone, send it over. He does your product shots and the moment your delivery arrives in your local warehouse, you already have your listing completed. By the way, that website is JPD Dash advertising dot com. Bradley Sutton: And yeah, that's what I think I remember. You know, I again I remember. I don't, you know, I don't speak German, but I remember that episode because I look at the videos just just like see how they look. And he looked like a, like, a Like, almost like a, like a tick tock celebrity or something like crazy, crazy hair right, yeah, okay there. There we go cool. So that, yeah, that's interesting because Just recently, amazon announced that there's no longer going to be the three hundred and sixty degree Images that have been for a while. Like, if you look at the project X coffin shelf, it has it like we didn't we didn't put it there, amazon just did it themselves. It's being replaced with a 3D image that I think you can you can still like, turn around and then they were saying that all they need they're making some kind of app where you can actually take the images with your phone, and then the Amazon app, I'm assuming, or something, yeah, and then submit it. So that's interesting. You know Concept, because you know, like, I'm still using, like, traditional photography studios and that's. You know, logistically, you know you have to send the product there and then they you know they have to shoot it. So have you seen images that? Or have you seen listings that actually came from this model where they just take the pictures and they do it 3D and it looks realistic, or what's your experience with looking at? Marcus: Yeah, I mean, I saw it on his listings he sells thirty thousand units a month, and he's just using his service, of course. How many units thirty thousand a month is selling? Europe, US, Japan? Bradley Sutton: Wow, it's quite, quite busy cool all right, so that's a good one. Let's go back to a either a strategy or some kind of cool story from your experience. Adriana: Yes, going back to technology, per per Marcus comments I feel like many people, many sellers, that want to Be able to grow without having to invest all of their money into, you know, launching a ton of SK use or Paying people to to write blog posts for them or kindle books for them, etc. I am seeing how many people that come on the podcast. They say how they Work with either either they do and themselves, basically they they use to create content. They are using this To, such as me, journey, etc. Ai tools basically to help them create content, to help them generate user generating content, etc. Right, and so I chatted with Casspin. She was episode 90, actually episode 100 a couple weeks ago and she was telling me how she will. Adriana: First of all, the way she Gets ideas on how to expand her product line. She goes to her competitors stores and she's like, okay, let me see what else they're selling, right, and they some. And she sometimes finds ideas that way for complimentary or supplementary products to grow her product line and she says that it's actually very easy to launch this new SK use because, of course, you already has the Relationship with the manufacturer and it's a matter of basically just sending other products that can be, that can actually, you know, sell on their own or become kids, right, or become a brand new SK you and she was telling me how she even launches act With every SK you that she, or with every main product that she launches on their her brand. And so, of course, she, she can do this very easily because she can either get a BA to write it for her that that content for the Kindle book, or she can do it be a chat GPT, which I think it's like you know, this is something we couldn't do maybe a year ago, right, and that way, she, of course, she adds a thank you card inside of the store and then you know, for them to get the free Kindle book, because it's, I feel like people see a Kindle book Like a more valuable, I would say, gift as opposed, as you know, like just like a regular, regular PDF. And so you know she tells them that they will, that she will give them that Kindle book, access to the Kindle book, for free. Adriana: And then she gets that email and then, of course, through email marketing, basically she sends a coupon For, you know, 10% off, 20% off, so they shop the product via her Shopify page, basically right, and that's how she starts creating her email list. And then, of course, she has when, when people visit her site, her Shopify site, they see that she has, you know, six or eight SK use, right, and so people, I feel like six or eight SK use, it's a good enough quantity to you know, for people to see like, oh, you know, this is a legit brand, right, like this is not a brand that you know, only has one product and that's it. And she says that it's like a fairly easy and it doesn't exhaust her, basically her resources to launch up, you know, like a complete brand off of one product. Really, you know she finds the main product and then she gets ideas on what else to add, what other SK use to add and, of course, grow her Shopify brand. Adriana: Get that images from either me, journey or, you know, get different variations of the content, charge EPT for the, for the text, for the Kindle, or, if you want to, I mean you can create the first draft with charge EPT and then have a VA. Basically, look, you know, do some editing on on on her part, and that's about it, and I was like, okay, I mean that sounds like like something we can all do. Even I feel like when I have some guests in the podcast, I tried to find Useful information for sellers that are starting out and that maybe they have a full time job right and they don't have, you know, eight or 10 hours a day to put into this business. Or, and maybe they don't have a ton of you know money to put into the business. So, finding ways to basically leverage technology and leverage you know help from VA's etc. To to build a brand and, you know, have a brand in a matter of maybe six months. Bradley Sutton: Okay, she doing this in English or Spanish English, in the US market English, okay, all right, cool, marcus in. Let me give you a couple scenarios here. Talking about Amazon Europe, under what scenario would you suggest somebody in or outside of Europe to, or would you suggest that they only launch in one marketplace to start like, hey, you know, go ahead and start in UK, or go ahead and start in Germany? Or would you always recommend you know, you should go ahead and take advantage of the Amazon Europe network and at least start in a few marketplaces? Is there a scenario where you would suggest one or the other, or it's all one or all the other? Marcus: I mean, like it's up to you If you're from the US, you could start in UK and you already can reuse your listing, your PPC campaigns, because it's the same language. Germany is the biggest market. That would be also a great test if your product works in Europe and if it works in Germany, you could go to the smaller markets. I mean, france is still a quite big, italy and Spain as well, and then it gets a lot smaller. But yeah, that could be a good strategy to start in one of the bigger countries to test your product and then go all Europe. Bradley Sutton: Okay Now, as far as those smaller ones go, like are there any that you think is going to one day become, you know, better than the others? Because I think the core five is the UK, germany, Italy, france and Spain, and then like there's a big gap, you know, between all of the new ones Like I forgot, like Netherlands and Poland and a bunch of others. Like are there any of those lower ones that you think are better than the other? Or they're all kind of just like equally low? Marcus: Yeah, I mean, it's a question of the population and I guess, like the Scandinavian countries are also very interesting. But yeah, you already named the top countries for the moment. Bradley Sutton: Okay. So now I'm just curious about like VAT and things like that. So let you know, there's obviously not an Amazon in every country, so I'm assuming that, or you correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm living in Austria, am I ordering from Amazon Germany? Or what website am I using if I'm just living in that country trying to buy something? Marcus: Yeah, actually, austria shares the website with Germany. You order from the German website. Bradley Sutton: And then. So in that case, like I know, like with for VAT, do I have to have VAT in every country? I'm selling things in from day one, or it's only until I hit, like a certain kind or amount of revenue in that country. Is it by country or by marketplace? But and what I mean by that is all right, well, there is no marketplace in Austria, so does that mean I never have to have a VAT for Austria? Or or how even does this work, because I've never sold it? Marcus: over. That's a good question, and that's where it gets a bit complicated. So Austria shares the website with Germany, but there are warehouses in Austria and as soon as you got your products in the warehouse in that country, then you have to register for a VAT number in every single country that you have your products in and regardless how much you sell. Yes, and Amazon has has has a program for that, where they help you with that VAT declarations. Bradley Sutton: Back to Adriana another story or strategy that you can share with us. Adriana: I interviewed Noemi from Spain I know there's a big, big community in in Spain that basically they, they do Amazon full time and she was telling me how actually she works with another two partners I have one of her partners here at the podcast too and she was telling me how she is growing her Amazon business through Amazon handmade. And I was like, oh interesting, because I mean, yeah, I mean I guess we usually we focus on, you know the regular Amazon program to launch you know products. And she was telling me how she works with people, people that artisans I wait, yeah, that's the correct term, right, artisans, is that a term in English? Bradley Sutton: Yeah, I mean, that's English, but it's too fancy for my language. But I know what that means. Adriana: Yes, she basically so. She likes doing, you know, handmade stuff for herself too. But she started basically connecting with artisans in Spain, apparently and I didn't know this I mean, I've traveled to Spain for, for vacations, but I haven't, you know, spent much time there. But she was telling me that there's a big, big network of artisans in Spain and of course, as she was saying this, I was like, oh my God, I mean I'm from Mexico and of course, there are a ton of artisans here in Mexico, like a ton, ton, ton, especially cities such as, like, of course, Mexico City, Guadalajara, etc. And she was telling me how she has scaled this, because that thing I guess the first thing that comes to mind to us Amazon sellers were like, yeah, but how are we going to scale this, this business? And she's managing I mean she's, she's managing to scale her business because she, of course she doesn't do or like work on this product herself, of course, right, Like she has a network of artisans. Adriana: And I was, I was thinking, as she was telling this to me, I was like yeah, that's true. I mean I see, when I travel to the US, how much more expensive, or like highly priced, these products that we manufacture in Mexico are selling in the US, right? Only because they're like unique and they are and they are just like more attractive than you know like the regular products. And I was like, oh, wow, this is interesting. Like I guess I always knew that there was that option over there, but I just didn't see how we could scale that. But it makes sense. I mean, if you just work with artisans and you already know, you know like you start and of course one artisan connects you with another artisan and that's the way it goes and she's I mean, she sells a lot of, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of units of different SKUs and you know the price point. Adriana: That's at least where my mind went right. I was like you have no competition really, because if it's something very unique, then of course you can play with your pricing strategies, but usually you won't be concerned with you know someone else, that competitor, lowering their prices or you know going 30% off. You know of the sales price, etc. So I was like that's interesting. I mean, even you don't have to be selling a ton of units a day to be making good money, because if you have 40% margins or 50% margins or even more, because I've seen in, you know in the US at the retail shops how they sell Mexican or yeah, artisan you know this type of products and they sell and I'm like what the hell like, do people buy these products at this price? And I know how much they go for in Mexico. So I was like, oh, this is very interesting. And so I thought that was a very interesting. I think that was episode 98 with Noemi. She's based in Spain and yeah, I mean, Spain has a big next to us. Bradley Sutton: Is she doing all of this in Spain, or is she doing this in Amazon USA? Adriana: No, amazon. No, she's doing it in Spain and I think she expanded already to Europe. Basically, you know how they have that. Bradley Sutton: I didn't even know there was Amazon, handmade in Europe, in Spain and other. Okay, interesting yeah. It's like oh interesting because definitely a way to make it the key, that of that you mentioned, there is the no competition. You know, like, like. This is a very unique product. It's not a cookie cutter, you know, by definition. So I like that Back to Marcus. One last story or strategy from you. Marcus: Yeah. One last story that's from Michael. He doesn't sell on Amazon. He runs an Amazon agency called me to you, but he's like the Amazon detective. He's every day on the website looking what is Amazon testing right now? What, what did they change right now? What do other sellers miss? And he's like he comes with the craziest things. And one thing he told me, like would you start to sell a drinking bottle on Amazon? I mean that's like super competitive, me probably not, yeah, and I mean everything is the same. You just fill water in it and that's it. So it's difficult to stand out and there's a company they found a way to differentiate themselves. It's called Arup and they have a small cartridge on top and you can get it in all kinds of flavor, like sherry, melon, whatever. And when you drink your water you still drink 100% water, but you breathe the sherry flavor. So your mind is drinking like sherry juice, but you're still drinking 100% water. But the thing is he pointed out that they just sell the bottle and the cartridges. But if you have, like, all your different flavors and you want to change them during the week, what do you do with your cartridges? So you need like airtight, sealed box for it and people are searching for that. You can see it in Cerebro but they don't sell it. They just concentrate on their bottle. So every Amazon seller should find like an imagine like Apple are selling just their iPhone and you can sell chargers and cases, like I bet there's like in every niche there's something, yeah, and it's a big innovation and the company is just focusing on the product. So, yeah, that was a really awesome takeaway to look for. Bradley Sutton: Two things there. Number one is never think that a niche is 100% saturated, because there's always, like, a fresh idea you could bring. And then number two you don't always have to be the one that has that idea, you know, let somebody else come up with the idea. But then how can you take advantage of that? Like, is there a unique storage or a unique accessory that's needed? Marcus: Maybe even a coffin shelf to store your cartridges. Bradley Sutton: Hey, there you go. Hey, coffin shelf to store your water bottle cartridges. I'll get on that Okay An episode. I'll give you guys, or everybody here, a preview of a coming episode. I'm launching some new project X products and one of them is a bat shaped bathroom mat or rug and that potentially might make a coffin one as well. But you know, the possibilities are endless and that's one of the ways that you could also get into saturated niche is take a saturated niche like bath mats you know like they're going for like $10, you know who knows how they're even making margin on it. But then do you bring in a unique material like make a bamboo one, or make a coffin shaped one, or a bat shaped one for like spooky. So you can almost take any niche on Amazon that's saturated and just come in with a unique idea or unique design or unique material and now all of a sudden it's not saturated because you're the only one who has that. All right. So I'm going to ask for your final strategies, your 30 second or 60 second tips. How can they find you guys on the interwebs? They know how to find your, your, your Helium 10 podcast, but both of you have, you know, audiences and communities out there. Marcus, how can they find your communities on the internet? Marcus: You can look on YouTube for Amazon FBA by Marcos and everything else is linked inside the videos. Adriana: For me, my YouTube channel is Adriana Rangel Vende. Just like that, adriana Rangel Vende, and yeah, in there, there you can find everything else that I have going on, and I have a free like 90 minute like masterclass. I would call it because I go from product research to like keyword research, to what kind of keywords you need to put in your listing, et cetera. So, yeah, I would. For people that maybe need some free resources to kind of like figure out how this works, I would advise you check out that video. Adriana Rangel Vende in YouTube. Bradley Sutton: All right, adriana. Like, do you have any last, maybe 30 second tip or parting words of wisdom for the audience out there? Adriana: Yes, well, you know, one topic that I've seen guests come with and share with us in the podcast has been basically focusing, you know, at the first. You know, when we start our business in Amazon, we usually focus on launching products right, and launching new variations, and doing your PPC and ranking and all of all of these activities that we have to, of course, take care of. But one topic that has been coming up very often in the in our episodes here at the podcast is that we at some point, especially maybe like two years into the business, we need to focus on growing our team, right, because if not, we'll get burnt out at some point, right, like I know that happened to me and now I'm working, I already have a VA and, of course, I already have a designer that helps me, of course, with my you know, my products, my listings and also for my thumbnails for my YouTube channel. Like, he helps me for a ton of things, and I feel like that is the way. You know, that marks a big difference between someone that is making, of course, a few thousand dollars a month in Amazon and, you know, the seller that is doing several dozen thousand dollars in Amazon a month. Adriana: Right, because you cannot do it all by yourself, and also so you keep your motivation right, because at some point, whatever it is that you are doing repeatedly and that you're doing for 10 hours a day or 12 hours a day, after 18 months or 24 months you're burnt out. As much as I mean you can love it, but still you know your body gives out. So that is something that I would like people to start thinking about. Maybe this is your first year in Amazon and that's fine, but maybe start listening to you know these episodes where people such as Rolando and I know you had Rolando Rosas in the podcast because he speaks English too you know Juan David as well talked about this, rod as well talked about this, and I think it's just like very important to start planning this before it's like, before we're like burnt out and it's too late, right, and that way we get we can scale faster and just like with less effort. Bradley Sutton: What's your Adriana, what's your hobby or what you do to take your mind off of work? You take off your mind off your Amazon business, to you know. Relax like what do you do for fun. Adriana: Yeah, well, before I got into this whole Amazon business world, I was in the art business. So I of course like to, you know, business museums and you know, if I can business museums with friends and all that that you know, the better, of course. But I try to yes, to, even if it's like at nighttime, right, like I try to consume content that it's not, or like even listen to podcasts that are not like business related. I basically try to put you know if it's after 8pm, even though, even if there's like this really good podcast episode, I'll watch it tomorrow at 6pm or whatever when I take a break from work. But I try to put like hard limits because I just do it. I mean, I just do it for the business, right, like I remember I saw this at the other day that says that says something about your performance of tomorrow basically depends on your recovery tonight. Right, you know something in that frame of words and so I think it's just very important because we talk about, we go on YouTube and we saw, we see everything about. Yeah, you know you can scale to blah, blah, blah and you can be making all this money, but you have to be feeling okay, right, you know, your body has to be healthy and your mind has to be healthy as well. So that is something to we cannot ignore, that, even if that doesn't sound like you know, like the sexy tip, I feel like that's as important, or even more. To grow a business, scale it to as big as as you want, really. Bradley Sutton: Now, I like killing two birds with one stone. So my advice to you if you wanted to do that, go to the museum while listening to the podcast in your headphones, and then now you can kill two birds with one stone, all right. So, marcus, what about you? One last 30 or 60 seconds strategy or tip for our audience. Marcus: Yeah, one tip I learned that will make a lot of changes. Amazon recently announced that they will look for title images that are not meeting the terms of service and they will use AI to change that. They will download your image, remove everything that doesn't belong there in their opinion and upload it again, and that is something you don't want. You don't want an AI to touch your title image. Yeah, and Michael from AMZboost, a product photographer, he told me, just use your picture, space number nine. Nobody looks there. Put a title image there that will meet the terms of service and because what Amazon is doing first, they will scan your product photos and check if there is something that is compliant to the terms of service and they will put it to spot number one as your title image. And if they don't find something, they will change it in their terms. So that's an awesome hack. Bradley Sutton: Wow, I never heard of that one. That's a really good one, All right, cool. And then same question to you also is you know, like me, that sometimes we can get and Adriana, we can get burnt out and if we put too much emphasis on work. So what are your hobbies, what are you doing to take yourself out of work when you need to relax? Marcus: Yeah, my hobbies are working out. I've got my home gym in the basement and that's also a good place to listen to something. Or I go for a walk at the beach with my yeah EarPods in and listen to a podcast. That's where I get new content. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome, all right, well, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Wish you the most of success. You guys have had already a lot of great success. It's going to be really cool to see the next milestone for you guys, I would say is like hitting that 10,000 downloads per month. I never thought that would ever happen, but the numbers that you guys are doing are getting close to that, so it's probably within the realm of possibility. But I wish you the most of success with your podcast communities and also your Amazon businesses, and we'll see you next year.
We talk about doing nice things, sensitivity to graphic and explicit music, and tuning out the outside world with our earbuds. or is it EarPods? AirPods? enjoy! Recorded at the Rose City Sound Studio Hosted by: @nataliiestephanie & @rickieleemota. Produced and Edited by @Raymond_andrew_ Opening Song: Hoy by Luis Mota Watch a live stream recording every Friday at 7PM PST. on Twitch! Twitch.tv/onthisfrequency This Episode can be watched on YouTube! https://yhttps://youtu.be/Exol2I8o_wc Stay connected with us on Twitter and Instagram: @onthisfrequency For sponsorship inquiries email us at onthisfrequency@gmail.com support the team at: buymeacoffee.com/onthisfrequency
I denne episoden har vi Emil Berntsen fra BMI på besøk. Vi får høre om hvordan han kapret hjertet til Nora backstage da han puttet chilinøtter i ørene og latet som det var EarPods. Noen har tisset i sengen til Nora. Emil står overfor valget mellom Lars Monsen og lapp, og vi diskuterer også rulleski, før vi avslutningsvis improviserer alle barna vitser. Har du spørsmål, tanker eller forslag til gjester/temaer - kan det sendes til Nora på Instagram
Un suceso casi catastrófico acabó con un nuevo producto de Apple en mi colección, aunque mucho menos costoso que los más recientes: los EarPods USB-C. Loop Infinito es un podcast de Applesfera, presentado por Javier Lacort y editado por Alberto de la Torre. Contacta con el autor en Twitter (@jlacort) o por correo (lacort@xataka.com). Gracias por escuchar este podcast.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, many Americans are trying to return to the U.S. Jessica Nagar Zindani, a mother of three who lives in Israel, joins "CBS Mornings" from her bomb shelter to share her experience seeking U.S. help as she tries to safely leave Israel with her three children.Sen. Cory Booker told "CBS Mornings" on Friday that $6 billion in Iranian oil assets that were freed up as part of last month's U.S.-Iran prisoner swap are "frozen." Booker serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and was in Jerusalem when Hamas launched its large-scale attack on Israel.Earpods are so great, yet so tiny and easy to misplace. This is a story of how persistence and tenacity pays off for a CBS News producer, and sparks a new friendship with a puppy and a winemaker.Since Warby Parker was founded in 2010, the company has distributed over 15 million pairs of glasses through its "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program. Company co-founders Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa join "CBS Mornings" to talk the new milestone and their vision for the company's future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This episode is part of the Feel Good 5 challenge that I am holding with women in the program. Part of the program was moms submitting questions and me answering them on a live walk outside! It was a lot of fun! It is unedited and raw and my EarPod even falls out! We cover feeling motivated, low energy, parenting, mom guilt, midlife next steps, social media and more! If you enjoyed this format let me know! Connect with me @allisonmarketti on Instagram and for more check out my website www.allisonmarketti.com
Voici l'épisode 459 de "la quotidienne iWeek" en ce lundi 18 septembre 2023 ! Abonnez-vous : c'est gratuit ! iOS 17 est arrivé. Présentation : Benjamin VINCENT (@benjaminvincent) + François Le Truédic (@fanchy56). Production : OUATCH Audio. Tags : commandes expédiées ! ; de 599 à 199€ pour la même réparation ; moins cher que la chiffonnette et compatible lossless audio ! ; iOS, iPadOS, tvOS 17 et watchOS 10 attendus à 19h, heure française ; Ted Lasso dans l'espace… d'Apple. Bonne découverte de "la quotidienne iWeek" si vous nous écoutez pour la première fois, parlez de nous autour de vous, retweetez-nous (@iweeknews), bonne journée, bonne écoute et à demain ! Benjamin VINCENT et la team #iweekLQI PS1 : rejoignez la communauté iWeek sur patreon.com/iweek et bénéficiez de bonus exclusifs ! PS2 : retrouvez-nous aussi pour "iWeek (la semaine Apple)", notre podcast hebdo, chaque milieu de semaine. PS3 : L'épisode 153 d'iWeek (la semaine Apple) avec le débrief intégral de la keynote est disponible gratuitement.
This week: we're reacting and deep-diving into everything Apple announced at this week's Wonderlust event, including iPhone 15 Pro and Max, Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Series 9, AirPods Pro 2 and more! This episode supported by Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Cult of Mac's watch store is full of beautiful straps that cost way less than Apple's. See the full curated collection at Store.Cultofmac.com CultCloth will keep your Mac Studio, Studio Display, iPhone 15 Pro, guitars, glasses and lenses sparkling clean! For a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a two free CarryCloths with any order $20+ at CultCloth.co. iPhone Life Tip of the Day Newsletter Ad Read for BackBeat Media URL: https://www.iphonelife.com/dailytips This week's stories GRIFFIN: iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max pack new features, but only 1 higher price tag Predictions that both iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max would see price increases turned out to be partly true. iPhone 15 Pro remains at $999, like like iPhone 14 Pro. But iPhone 15 Max, with its major camera upgrades, goes up from to $1,099 to $1,199. LEWIS: Apple Watch Series 9 gets big power boost and new double tap gesture Apple Watch Series 9 brings a faster S9 chip that the company says will boost performance, make Siri more usable, and enable an entirely new “double tap” gesture. Erfon: Apple Watch Ultra 2 is here with a brighter display, faster S9 SiP The front is dominated by a 1.92-inch LTPO OLED panel that now gets brighter than before. It can now reach a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, an increase of 1,000 nits from the first-gen Ultra. LEWIS: Enter to win a carbon fiber case and band for Apple Watch [Cult of Mac giveaway] Erfon: iPhone 15 adds Dynamic Island and 48MP camera, dumps Lightning port Gets some features trickled down from last year's iPhone 14 Pro GRIFFIN: Apple updates AirPods Pro 2 and EarPods with USB-C Small tweaks to the AirPods Pro 2 include USB C, an improved IP54 rating for improved dust resistance and lossless audio if you pair the earbuds to an Apple Vision Pro (which Apple confirmed is shipping early next year). Lewis: iPhone 15's USB-C Port Can Charge Your Apple Watch and AirPods You'll need an appropriate cable to charge with an iPhone, such as a USB-C to USB-C cable for the new AirPods Pro 2 USB-C Charging Case, or a USB-C Apple Watch charging puck (which will probably come in the box with those products) Erfon: All iPhone 15 Models Support DisplayPort for Up to 4K HDR Video Output The new iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max all support DisplayPort for up to 4K HDR video mirroring and video output to an external display or TV, according to Apple's tech specs for the devices. Erfon: Apple's new FineWoven material for watch bands and iPhone cases makes leather obsolete To make its products more eco-friendly, Apple introduced a new material it calls “FineWoven” today. This material, which Apple says has a “suedelike” feel, will replace the company's existing leather accessories for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Erfon: iCloud+ storage capacities expand to 12TB Previously, the storage options were 50GB, 200GB and 2TB. The monthly cost for these is $0.99, $2.99 and $10.99, respectively. GRIFFIN: “Wonderlust” prediction results
The Fat One closes out the week with a coupon report, some Big Brother talk, an EarPods update and some Olive nattering. Happy National Hamburger Day.
The Fat One is back with a recap of his day which included watching the TV machine, a gas report and an update on the EarPods in the technology segment. Happy National Sour Candy Day.
As always plenty going on in the world of golf to talk about, and this week Nick O'Hern is at Cathedral, and Mark Allen at PGA & Golf Australia HQ.We kick the show off chatting about Keegan Bradley, Marko doesn't like him and decides to list everything he dislikes about Keegan….he doesn't miss! Marko does accept that he is an excellent golfer however, and Nick reckons he is one of the best ball-strikers around, but agrees that he is hard to watch, and reckons Cantlay and Bradley are uninspiring to watch.Nick talks about TPC Hartford, and responds to comments from Rory McIlroy that technology has overtaken the course, and tells a funny story about one of the times he played there. He always enjoyed the course. Marko asks Nick about the TPC courses generally and how they're built, because they look great fun.Nick talks about how good Scheffler was at the weekend, and says he has to win a major this season.Mark and Nick discuss the medical exemption that Zac Blair was given, and Mark says his performance was one of the best he's seen this year. Nick talks about the time he was granted a medical exemption after a knee reco.Mark is rapt that Min Woo Lee is being given such attention, getting the EarPods, the Netflix focus, he loves it. Nick runs through some of the Aussie results from the weekend. Some cracking performances in a low scoring week.Mark has found another addition to the best female swings - and he reckons this one is brilliant. Nick runs through some notable results from the women from the weekend, and Marko wants to hear from you if you have something to ‘brag' about, maybe you have just hit under 80 for the first time, perhaps you have a young one coming through who's had a great performance. Let us know on the socials and we'll shout it out.Plenty of feedback this week, including some great questions from you that Nick and Mark discuss. Keep it coming.Great Top 5 from Nick, he gives his Top 5 courses he'd love to see the women play at, followed by Marks masterclass on the importance of having a ‘deliberate' backswing when trying to get distance on your drive.Talk Birdie To Me, new episodes weekly wherever you get your podcasts.If you've got a friend who is into golf, we'd love you to share the podcast with them, and rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Anne & Gillian continue their discussion on Boss Equipment Necessities, providing even more valuable insights on what essential audio equipment you need in your booth. They discuss the importance of selecting studio headphones that offer both comfort and accuracy. They also delve into the convenience and limitations of USB microphones, as well as providing a comparison of costs and quality of audio interfaces. Additionally, they share tips on where to get tech support and test gear in person. You definitely don't want to miss this conversation... It's time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone, welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza, and I'm excited to bring back to the show today creative freelancer, audio engineer, musician Gillian Pelkonen for another episode in our BOSS audio series. Gillian: Hello (laughs). Anne: Hey, Gillian. Gillian: How's it going? Anne: It's going great. So we've had some really intense conversations about our home studios. First of all, talking about where to locate your home studio in your home, where good place is, a little bit about sound absorption. Then we had a really cool, interesting episode, I think, on all the equipment that people don't think about that's required to run our voiceover business. Now we're gonna talk about all the obvious ones that I think people always, they love to talk about these, and -- Gillian: This is the exciting stuff. Anne: I think the other stuff is exciting. I think actually people don't get excited enough about the other kind of technologies. So -- Gillian: I mean, (laughs), we know you're gonna marry the internet. Anne: Yes. Gillian: I have a spiritual connection to unboxing Apple products. Anne: Yes, there you go. Gillian: But the air quotes exciting stuff that everyone loves to harp on. Yes. Anne: I dare say that I have a spiritual connection to my headphones, (laughs) to my headphones, and, and I know that people are always asking me, what are your headphones that you wear? Because I love wearing colorful headphones because it's part of my brand. And I actually have like all different colors of headphones right here with me. Gillian: Wow. Anne: I've got a lovely deeper blue here. Gillian: You guys, if you're not watching, go to YouTube right now and you gotta see this. Anne: Then we've got the royal blue here, which I love, and then of course I've got black. I actually have an alternate pair of the red ones and okay. So I think, can we talk about headphones (laughs)? Gilliann: Yeah. I mean, let's start. Anne: I've already started. Gillian: So we talked computer, you have your computer, you have your internet connection, you have your isolated space, and it's soundproofed to whatever fits your budget and what you need right now to be isolated. Anne: And your internet connection and website. Gillian: Oh yes. Anne: Right? Gillian: Yes. Oh, and website. Yes. Anne: And website. Gillian: That is definitely important. Headphones. So important because you can't, you can't be playing out loud while you're recording (laughs). Anne: Now here's the thing, there's reasons why we wear headphones. Okay? So what are the primary reasons you wear headphones, Gillian? Gillian: Well, just in my everyday life, there's the convenience of being able to listen to whatever I want and to be able to hear that. But for recording, when you're recording voice, if you are playing out loud what you are recording, you will get feedback. And I don't think you will on the scale of a small computer, but there are a few studios that I've worked in, and when I was very new and prone to making mistakes -- obviously continue to make mistakes and learn from them — but when we had big speakers and we were recording in the same room, you definitely get a nice ear cleaning with that high pitch feedback. Because having an open source, you're DAW, armed and ready to record, and that -- it just creates a loop of sound, if you think about it, what's going into the mic, coming outta the speaker, into the mic, outta the speaker, and that just ruins it. Anne: So well, okay. So there's a big debate in the voiceover world about, do you need headphones while recording? Because there's a lot of people that say you do not. It helps you to sound more natural. Okay? And of course you don't wanna have your speakers on either or your monitors. Gillian: Oh yeah. That's what I'm thinking of. But this is interesting. Anne: Yeah. So do you have your headphones on while you're recording? Because a lot of times, it's distracting listening to yourself, what you sound like in your headphones. So for me, okay — some people adopt the whole, I'm not gonna wear my headphones at all because it makes me sound more natural. I'm not listening to what I sound like in my ears. Some people do one ear on, one ear off to help that as well while they're recording. And some people wear them. Now I, years ago, started wearing them because I had a lot of sound outside of my studio. And I needed to be able to put my headphones on to hear if it was going to come through in the recording. And some things like my naked ears couldn't hear like the vibration of the truck that was a mile away coming down the road, and somehow vibrationally it came up through my studio. And the jackhammer that was maybe not right outside my door, but down the road because they were constructing new homes. So for a long time I got used to wearing my headphones just to make sure I could step in the studio to make sure that I couldn't hear those sounds coming through my microphone. And then I just continued to wear them. Now I've done both, take them off when I'm recording or keep them on. A lot of times, if you think of it this way, (laughs), and this is not a popular opinion, I will have my headphones on while I'm recording because I feel that whatever you hear in your headphones is just you amplified. And if you are an accomplished actor that can act like you, without paying attention to what you sound like in your headphones, you can wear headphones. And for me it's something that, it's kind of on a day-to-day basis. I'll probably wear my headphones more often than not, just because I've been doing this for a very long time, and all I do every day when I coach is tell people not to listen to what they sound like and to just be themselves. And so I wear my headphones. Plus I do a ton of editing, I do a ton of coaching, and so I need to, and I don't have monitors, number one for the very technical reason is honestly I just don't have space. I don't have space to put a nice pair of monitors on my desk. So I wear my headphones when I edit. And so headphones to me have to be comfortable. And they have to be studio headphones of course. And that should be a given. Anybody, any BOSSes out there that are just starting in the industry, make sure they're studio headphones, and they're not any other type of headphones that's gonna add more base or more treble or that adds prettiness to it. You just need studio headphones so you can hear the raw output. Gillian: Yeah, it's definitely an interesting conversation. I think my advice is gonna be the same as always. My advice is just try 'em all and see what works. I personally, when I am singing, I do one ear on, one ear off, mostly for pitch, because how you sound in your head, it's all relative and different. I think that there are some things to be concerned about. Obviously if there is extraneous noise coming on your recording, you wanna be aware of that. But if you're connecting to a client, really if there's an engineer on the session, they should catch that. Like, that's my job when I'm working with talent. Another issue, sometimes I hear the movement of headphones, but I've never really asked talents what they're doing. And maybe it's putting them on and off, but there are a lot of moments functionally during a session when a director is gonna wanna get your attention. And so if you're just rocking without headphones, that's something to just consider. Anne: Yeah. You'll have to hear them. And you just said something, I don't mean to interrupt, but you just said something that made me think the physical sound of your headphones. Believe it or not, if like -- these headphones, the exterior is, there's some plastic components here. As they get older, believe it or not, if I move my head, because we're very physical as voice actors behind on the mic, as I move my head, they make noise. And that noise comes in through my recording. And I, I remember for the longest time there was this tiny little click, and I was like, I don't have a mouth click. Where's that coming from? It was coming from my headphones. And so for me, I found a way to, I actually had bought a new pair of headphones so that they didn't -- they weren't really squeaking, but they were making plasticy noises. And I know that's not a technical term, but it's a noise where like if I do this (clacking nails on headphones) -- Gillian: Yeah. Anne: — you can hear that. It wouldn't be that loud, but it would be something similar to that. And so -- Gillian: Interesting. Anne: Yeah. For those of you guys listening to that, I was simply just squeezing the headphone earpiece with the headpiece together -- Gillian: To get that plasticy -- Anne: To get that plasticy sound. Gillian: — noise sound. Well, there's another thing that I've noticed with headphones that's important to note -- just this is more function than which headphones to get. But, and it could be 'cause people are taking them off. But a lot of times I'll be working with the talent's audio from a session we just did, and through their recording I can hear everyone else talking. And this doesn't really happen during the recording, but I can hear myself slating things not recorded. So I don't know, if you're taking your headphones off and you're putting them down, you gotta think about, okay, if someone starts talking or if there's other noises, those are gonna get directly into the mic. Or if your headphones are too loud, there's gonna be too much bleed. So just things to think about when we're talking about headphones. Anne: Two good points. I wanna actually go back on that, right? If you put your headphones down and obviously you're not hearing (laughs) other things, right, other noises can come through them. And also you mentioned bleed. Bleed is important because right now I'm really, really close to my microphone. And depending on the volume that you have your headphones turned up to, and I'm a little older so I might need a little higher volume. And so sometimes you have to be careful that the sound coming through your headphones doesn't bleed back through your mic. And for that reason I have closed headphones. And that's why I recommend closed headphones for most voice actors, if that's the case. If you're gonna be sitting out just doing editing all the time, I don't think they need to be closed backed. If you're just gonna use 'emfor editing. Gillian: If you're watching us, I have open back headphones. But I just got these recently, these are like the Sennheisers, I think the HD 600s. That's what I thought. And I have these mostly for mixing and I I listen through them 'cause they're really comfortable. But my closed headphones, I also have AudioTechnicas. They were my first headphones, like pro headphones; they're amazing. The pair that I had was under a $100. I've had 'em for years. They're amazing. So whoever is saying that you need really expensive headphones for amazing sound, you don't. There's lower models that are great and then you can upgrade. There's a whole range of AudioTechnicas that get more precise or, or just have different features that you can invest in if you wanna spend more. But there should be no barrier to getting, I think they're $70 or something like that, which -- Anne: Well, I'll have to tell you about mine that have the color. because people are always asking me. And I do have, I do have a studio gear page off of AnneGanguzza.com and as well as the VO BOSS page studio gear that I recommend. And by the way, I don't put anything on this page that I don't use or have not owned. And I will say that I love AudioTechnica headphones as well. And of course before this turns into an AudioTechnica podcast -- which it's amazing, there's lots of great headphones out there. The one thing that I love about AudioTechnicas is for me they're super comfortable. I literally wear my headphones when I'm on coaching days and I'm coaching eight hours at a shot. I have them on my head eight hours. Because again, like I said, I don't have monitors in my room and plus my husband works upstairs, and so I wanna be able to keep things at a minimum. And so they have to be super comfortable. I have to be able to hear the talent, right, to be able to direct them. So for me, they are amazing. They're a little more than $100 because of the color, the special additions they are the MX 50s and in whatever color -- I don't believe they make the red anymore, but if you're lucky you can find them somewhere, somewhere out there. There'll be an extra pair that somebody has that's still new in the package. I've bought three pairs of red 'cause red is discontinued. My royal blue has been discontinued. Every year they come out with a new color. And so every year I find it necessary to buy another color just because I'm on the camera a lot and I love -- and they make me happy. Right? If you're gonna have on your head for a long time, they should make you happy. Gillian: And comfortable, most important. Anne: Yeah, and they should be comfortable. Gillian: -- don't need a headache. Anne: — be accurate as well. Right? So for that reason, the AudioTechnics are my faves, and I do own a pair of Paradynamics. I've owned the Sony, oh gosh, I think it was the 7507s, I believe. And the one thing that I didn't love about the Sonys, although I love the sound, was the actual cable that connects was a twisted cable. And what happened is they never traveled well. They became entangled within themselves. And if you've ever had a coiled wire get tangled in itself, and you try to pull it apart, it's horrible. It just gets twisted onto itself. And so I love the AudioTechnicas 'cause they always have the straight cable that you can use and it doesn't get twisty. And that may seem like a very silly reason to love the AudioTechnicas, but that's one of many reasons why I love that. But it's a viable reason because the twisty turn coiled cables, they're not fun to get them untangled when they get tangled, especially when you travel with them and you're trying to wrap them around -- Gillian: No. Anne: — the headphones. Gillian: Definitely not. And something to think about when we're talking, all of these things are essentials. And I'll just tell a brief, brief story, but the other day I was doing a session with a voice talent, and we were having all of these issues. I still don't know -- I was on the session, but I wasn't the head engineer of it. So I don't know exactly what happened. But we think that between when we were testing with the talent to when we pulled the client in, their headphones broke because they magically could not hear us. Anne: Oh wow. Gillian: And you need to have an extra pair because you can't be on a session without having an extra pair of headphones. It's super — and I'm sure we'll say, and I know, Anne, you've said before in the past, you need backups of your backups. But definitely even if you have your splurge pair and you have a less expensive pair just to use in case of an emergency, there could be a chance that you're on a session, and in the middle it breaks, and you can't continue the session without the pair of headphones. So just don't forget about having some, a little insurance on your sound. Anne: Yeah. And you know that, it's interesting that you mentioned that, and I talk about headphones so much because when I'm connecting with students through ipDTL -- and this would be just like me, I would be the studio and they would be connecting through Source Connect or ipDTL — you have to have headphones to avoid that feedback. when you're connecting via those methods. And simply earbuds are not the best because sometimes they don't fit your ear properly. There's bleedthrough and honestly closed back headphones are probably the best for any kind of studio session you're going to have. And I just say yes, I totally agree with you, Gillian, about the backup. Because I have had people who like all of a sudden they're like, oh, I can't hear you. And I'll be like, do you have another pair of headphones? And at that point if you even have a backup like set of EarPods works but in a pinch. But really have an extra set of headphones in case that happens. Because the last thing you want is for you to lose connectivity with your client to be able to hear what they're saying and to do your job. I mean it is part of your job. So have a backup, and honestly most headphones are not expensive. I, I'm going to tell you the AudioTechnicnas, even these, the new versions that they come out with are about 160 some-odd-dollars. The navy blue ones I just bought were like $169. So they're not tremendously expensive at all. And I know you can get some fabulous head phones for less than $100 for $99. I think that's what my Sonys were that I bought. So well worth the investment. So in terms of headphones, make sure that they're studio headphones. Make sure -- I like to say close back if you're gonna be using them for any kind of recording at all 'cause you don't want the bleedthrough. If you're gonna sit there and edit all day, yeah, maybe open back or others will work fine for you. Make sure they're comfortable for your head. And especially if you wear glasses 'cause you don't want them to push in on the glasses and then have the glasses give you a headache. That's the last thing. Gillian: Yeah. Anne: All right. Gillian: Okay. Should we lightning round a little bit the rest of some of the other things that we might need? Anne: Yes. Gillian: Because I know, I know what I'm thinking. Anne: Microphone. Gillian: Microphone. Yes. And we'll do a whole episode on microphones about the different types and and what kind you might need. I personally always say large diaphragm condensers for voice actors. There are amazing -- you know, everyone knows the TLM 103 that's upwards of $1000. There's also amazing mics that if you're a beginner, and you're not ready to invest that much money, that will not sound exactly the same but will be a large diaphragm condenser mic and will do the job, will make you sound great. Anne: Absolutely. I used an NT1, a Rode NT1 for at least six years of my career full-time before I bought a 416. Actually I bought the TLM 103 and then I bought a 416 as well. So now I have both of those in my studio. But guess what? Also sitting on my desk here, I have a USB AudioTechnica AT 2020, and that works for some of my other connections. Believe it or not, that works for my Clubhouse connections because my Club Deck software doesn't like my audio interface so I have to use a USB mic and it makes me sound a whole lot better. And so those USB mics, they come in handy for lots of applications. Maybe not for your professional recording but for other applications that help enhance the sound of your voice. Gillian: Yeah. And here's the -- I'm not going to say that people shouldn't use USB mics. I mean the audio engineer and me, always, I love an interface and a mic just because. It's so funny, I wrote a whole blog post on this so if you're interested you can go read my blog about the core differences between like the functionality of what a USB mic or like a USB and interface does, and the pros and cons of both, 'cause there's pros and cons of both. When you have the interface, there's more things to know, there's more things that can go wrong. There's just — Anne: One more thing in the chain Gillian: — sensitivity. Yeah, exactly. But if you are interested and you want a USB mic, there's definitely options that will make you sound as good as you need to sound to start out. And I don't wanna get on here and say that you can't book a job or get started in voiceover using a USB mic, because there's so many uses for it. And once you upgrade, if you choose to upgrade to an interfacing mic, then you have that other option to use for things like, like -- Anne: Any mic. Gillian: Yeah. Anne: That's what I love about. I think really if you've got, I say for any voice talent in a pinch if you have to, you can use a USB, if you've got a good recording environment, in a pinch, but it's not recommended. I would say even if you're traveling, I've tried it all. I do have, I've got a great Tula mic, which is a USB mic and it's amazing. So if I have a good space, you know, my little Tula can hook up USB, and I can get a decent audition. I wouldn't necessarily use it for any type of work that you wanna send to your client, broadcast type work, but in a pinch, like absolutely. But for every day kind of voiceover I recommend condenser with an audio interface. And again, you don't have to have the $1000 mic. There's lots of great mics and there's so many discussion rooms and forums on what mic should I get? But I also have recommendations that I think work. It really depends on your voice and your comfort level, and work with a vendor that you can send it back if you don't love it. Gillian: So important that you can either -- I mean I know in big cities -- I'm not entirely sure ‘cause I haven't done this in a while, but I know I'm in Guitar Center, I went there all the time growing up to play the instruments, and I know that they have a mic room where you can try stuff. I know that -- I'm pretty sure it'd B and H in New York City, you can try mics there, but I love Sweetwater. You can chat with agents there, you can talk to them. I'm pretty sure they have a great return policy because if you get the mic and you're investing all this money and you don't love it for your voice, even though everyone on the forums is saying it's top VO mic, don't keep it. Find something that makes you sound great because no one in the end is gonna know what mic you're using. They're just gonna know how you sound. Anne: Well, exactly. And I also think though it's worth mentioning that if you get a mic and you want an assessment of what you sound like, Gillian, my goodness, like what you do all the time, the sound assessments, right? Gillian: Yes. Anne: Gillian can absolutely give you an assessment of how your voice sounds with that particular mic in your environment. I think there's a lot of things at play here. It's your environment and also the mic, and there will be a difference. So for me, I can say, you know what, I like the way this mic makes me sound, but I haven't recorded a file with it and sent it to somebody. Because again, sometimes if you're just starting, it's very difficult. You don't necessarily have an ear yet. Sending it to someone like Gillian is very important, who is, you know, this is what Gillian does; she's an audio engineer. She listens to sounds all the time and every day so she can make an accurate assessment and also tell you if this suits your voice or this doesn't suit your voice. And I really believe that you also have to be happy with it. And don't forget, there's some people who mistakenly think that, well, I can use this mic and then I can process my voice to make it sound even better. And in reality as a voice actor, that's not what we wanna do. I mean, we simply wanna be able to give the cleanest recording that we can, and maybe our mic should, like what sorts of things should mics do for our voice? You know what I mean? They shouldn't change our voice, but they should enhance our voice. Gillian: Yeah, they should -- I think I said this in the first episode we did together, but microphones are microscopes picking up your voice. And so every mic has a different capsule in it. It has a different way of processing, whether you're using dynamic mic or ribbon mic, all the different types of mics, they all react differently to sound. And so some people love singing on ribbon mics because it's quieter, it's more sensitive. I have a super cardioid condenser microphone that I, I love using on my voice and I tried the U87, all these other things. So it's really about, and this is a difficult answer because it's like you need to find what works for you because the mic that makes Anne sound great might not make me sound great. And all the processing in the world — obviously you can EQ it and change it a little bit, but really it's like finding a pair of jeans. Like you gotta find one that fits you and makes you look and feel your best. Maybe not look but jean analogy sound like you. Anne: Yeah. Gillian: You know? Anne: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I don't think that there's any mic that will make you sound better than you. I mean your whole goal is really to make you sound the best that you can sound. And there's lots of mics -- and again, you could have a really like inexpensive mic in a great environment and sound amazing. You can also have a very expensive mic in a poor environment and sound horrible. I remember back in the day before I really had secured my environment sounding as best as it could, I purchased a shotgun mic, and it wasn't a 416, but I purchased one of the knockoffs and I actually hated it. I hated the way it made my voice sound. But I found that once I got the 416 and I had my environment, I love the way it sounds now. And it's really interesting because before I was like, well I held off getting a -- it's why I got the TLM 103. And for me now I realize for my voice, the TLM 103 is a little bit of a brighter sound. And the 416 will pick up a little more of the bass sound, and that's typically true for most voices. But again, until you try it, you're not gonna really know, and it really has to be up to you. And again I think sending sound audio files to engineers who have the ear, who this is what they do, like Gillian, is really worth an investment to get the overall assessment on yes, this mic is good for you. Or also it will help you to determine if maybe (laughs) like how many times, I think we talked about this, Gillian, somebody might have had the installation of their mic backwards, and they were speaking into the back of the mic versus the front of the mic. Gillian: Yeah. Anne: A lot of times people don't sidedress their mic, right? They're speaking right into it. So there's a lot of plosive. So there's a lot of things that, Gillian, you can help talent to assess with their sound. And most people think it might be a mic problem, it may not be a mic problem. Gillian: Yeah. Sometimes it's really simple stuff. Your room sounds really loud because your gain is up too high and you're not close enough to the mic. So it's picking up everything. Or it's on omni when it should be on cardioid, or you're facing the wrong way. There's so many things that someone listening could hear if you have a trained ear. Before we go, I know we have to go very soon, but don't forget your pop filter for your plosives. Anne: Ah yes. Gillian: So important. Anne: Oh my gosh. Gillian: I know you have like the pop filter shield sort of thing. That's what it looks like. Looks like you have, if you're using an interfacing mic, you need an XLR cable to connect the two. So important 'cause how are you gonna get from mic to interface from point to the other? So you get your mic, you get your interface, you don't have an XLR cable, you can't work. A mic stand. So important. What are you gonna do do without a mic stand? (laughs) You can't hold it. Anne: Well, exactly. You really can't. And I think that again, more equipment besides your mic stand, I actually prefer --and this is just me, I always tell my students for me and my studio, I like the boom arms that can be mounted on the wall. Because a mic stand to me, I can't tell you how many times I've heard talent like trip over the tripod-like feet. Gillian: Oh my gosh. Lemme show you my cute little stand. Anne: With their mic. Yeah. Gillian: I have this like, everyone watching, this like cute little baby stand that I just put on my desk. I think that those are really smart, the ones that clip right on. This little guy just sits on my desk and I can take 'em wherever. Anne: Okay. Well, that's if you're sitting at a desk. But if you're standing and you have one of those tripod-like standing mic stands… Gillian: They're hard to maneuver. Yeah. Anne: They're hard. They're hard to fit in a lot of studios. I used to trip over mine all the time, so I basically have boom arms that I mount on the wall in my studio. They save a lot of space at my feet when you don't have a ton of space. And also, like you said, you can't hold it. And then we do need to mention the most important thing from the mic, right, that goes into your audio interface, your audio interfaces, and then everybody has questions. What's the best audio interface? Now I have been through the gamut of audio interfaces, but the main job of your audio interface is to translate the analog signal that comes from your microphone into a digital signal before it goes into the computer. Correct, Gillian? Gillian: That's what it does. And typically it does both. It does the analog to digital conversion and then most audio interfaces have a headphone jack. So really we monitor off our computers, but you can monitor off of there where it goes digital right back to analog for you to listen to. Anne: Oh right. Absolutely. I wasn't even thinking of that. You're right, because that's where my headphones are plugged in all the time. I started, gosh, I started with the Personas. And I'm trying to remember, I think I probably at one time had a Scarlet Focusrite, which I don't love those interfaces -- and I know we had a conversation in one of our podcasts about interfaces. I then, when I bought my studio here, I have a Mackey because I was intending to be able to do talk back to people in this booth to rent this booth. And ended up having a technical issue with that, which I sent it, it got fixed, it was under warranty that is now my backup interface. And then I purchased an Apollo. And my Apollo, I have a mostly love relationship with my Apollo because of the plug-ins that work with it, which I absolutely love. But however, when we talked in our last episode about computer and keeping your computer up to date, well the (laughs) latest version of Mac OS is not up to date with the latest version of the Apollo. So you just have to make sure that you are aware of what's happening. The one that I recommend in terms of like a really great price, and I think works for the majority of people is the Steinberg UR22. And that is like about a hundred and — I wanna say $170. And I had one that I used for years, and it was just a workhorse and I love it. And that does all of the conversion, versus Gillian, if I'm correct, in saying with a USB mic, the conversion happens at the base of the microphone, right? So converting analog to digital. So there's a chip there that's doing that conversion. Gillian: The biggest difference between the two is that when you use an interface, the mic just gets to be a mic, but within the USB mic it's all happening. And usually you'll see a little headphone jack too. It does A to D and then D back to A conversion. Anne: Yeah. Gillian: You pay less and you get everything is gonna be slightly lower quality because you're paying for -- Anne: You gotta fit into a tiny, little -- Gillian: — a microphone — all of the conversion, all of those things in one small device versus, you know, separating them out. So that's kind of where don't use USB mic comes from just because you can get higher quality with the separate. Anne: You have so many more choices. Right? Because you can have a Focusrite or a Steinberg or an Apollo. Gillian: You get to mix and match. Anne: And you can have whatever microphone you want (laughs) connecting up to it. Gillian: The other thing that I love about that is that there's room to upgrade. So let's say you wanna splurge on a really expensive mic and you're, just, you know, oh, I wanna start with this interface. Or vice versa. You wanna splurge on an Apollo for $1000, but you wanna use a $200 microphone and then say I'm gonna wait a couple years and then upgrade. Personally I've used Apollos, I've used UAD. I kind of struggle with the software issue even though I've used the plugins. They're awesome. I like Focusrite stuff. I like the Scarlets. I think it's great. I think voice actors really only need one input, possibly two. If you wanna have two mics set up just to switch between, you know, a shotgun and a large diaphragm condenser, if you want 'em at the same time. I like Apogee as well. The Apogee Solo and the Duet, those are great too. Those work really well. So those are my faves. Anne: I'll just disagree with you on the Scarlet only because I've just had a lot of voice talent that have had bad luck, and I think mostly it's -- and I myself have thrown away two of them. And I think mostly a few years back, I think they used a bad chip set. I'm not sure what it was. Or they created these bundles where you got headphones, microphone, and interface all in the same package. And I think they used lower quality parts. And what would happen is voice actors would find, all of a sudden they'd get some sort of a noise or hissing, and nobody knew what it was, and it ended up being the interface. So for me that just kind of, I tossed that one to the side and said, I'm not gonna recommend that one anymore. But Scarlet, typically Focusrite had an impeccable reputation there for a while until I ran into bad luck with it past few years. I think if you buy a bundled package, (laughs) meaning from a manufacturer or something, especially at Costco, as much as I love Costco, right, there are packages made, packages that are made for Costco. Sometimes they use cheaper parts in those, and sometimes you'll find that the quality won't last as long. Sometimes though you'll buy stuff at Costco, not necessary technical equipment, but you'll find things at Costco that's better (laughs) than you would find at other stores. But that's just my personal experience. Gillian: I see. I've never had any bad experiences with Focusrite. I've used the larger hardware as well, the professional studio models of stuff. And those sound amazing. I think I've had a lot of friends and myself who've used the Scarlet interfaces and haven't had issues. So, that's my experience. And it's so funny, I've been wondering why people don't recommend bundles because I wouldn't buy audio gear from Costco (laughs). But there's a few places, like Sweetwater is my favorite place to buy gear. Anne: Yeah, but they'll bundle individual pieces together. Now, I'm talking about manufacturers that create whole bundled sets of things together. Gillian: Well, Sweetwater is awesome. And B and H, they also have some great bundles. And with Sweetwater specifically, if there's a bundle you like, but there's a piece of gear you don't like, you can reach out to them personally and swap it around and get a discount from sort of buying in bulk. And they have some pre-made stuff so that if someone was trying to set up their home studio, didn't know where to start, it gives you a little place to get started. Anne: And one thing I will say before we go, one thing that I love about Sweetwater is you get tech support. Oh my God, that is like unheard of these days. Like if you don't know, if you're having a problem installing the interface, you can call them up and get help. And that to me is invaluable. Gillian: They're amazing, Anne: They're wonderful to work with. So. Gillian: Yeah. Very knowledgeable. I love Sweetwater. It's my favorite place to put my money. I have a few friends that work there as well, and all of their employees are highly trained and they know -- Anne: Very educated -- Gillian: — about the gear. It's like a prerequisite to work there. Anne: Wow. We could go on forever, but, uh… Gillian: We could. Anne: Good stuff, Gillian, thank you so much. Gillian: Thank you. And for anybody who is interested to get your audio assessed by me, I know we did a few episodes about it, but if you missed them, you can just head to my website, GillwiththeG.com. It'll, I'll be linked down here and I have some audio assessments. I have a little free course on, on setting up your home studio and a few blog posts or a bunch of blog posts just talking about different audio things if you're interested in learning more. Anne: Awesome guys. Gillian: So hungry for knowledge, (laughs). Anne: And Gillian is a BOSS. Otherwise, she wouldn't be on the BOSS — she wouldn't be, she wouldn't be on the BOSS podcast. Anyways guys, here's a chance to use your voice to make an immediate difference in our world and give back to the communities that give to you. Visit 100Voiceswhocare.org to commit. You guys -- oh, and a big shout-out, before I forget, to ipDTL, who is our sponsor. You too can connect and network like BOSSes. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week and we'll see you next week. Bye. Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voBOSS.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.
Today we are talking all about ERP Scripting with Shala Nicely. Welcome back, everybody. We are on Week 2 of the Imaginals and Script Series. This week, we have the amazing Shala Nicely on the show. She's been on before. She's one of my closest friends and I'm so honored to have her on. For those of you who are listening to this and haven't listened to any of the previous episodes, I do encourage you to go back to last week's episode because that is where we introduce the incredible Krista Reed and she talks about how to use scripts and imaginals. I give a more detailed intro to what we're here talking about if this is new for you. This will be a little bit of a steep learning curve if you're new to exposure and response prevention. Let me just quickly explain. I myself, I'm an ERP-trained therapist, I am an OCD Specialist, and a part of the treatment of OCD and OCD-related disorders involve exposing yourself to your fear and then practicing response prevention, which is reducing any of the safety behaviors or compulsions you do in effort to reduce or remove whatever discomfort or uncertainty that you feel. Now, often when we go to expose ourselves to certain things, we can't because they're not something we can face on a daily basis or they're often very creative things in our mind. This is where imaginals and scripts can come in and can be incredibly helpful. If you want a more detailed understanding of the steps that we take regarding ERP, you can go to CBTSchool.com, which is where we have all our online courses. There is a course called ERP School that will really do a lot of the back work in you really understanding today's session. You don't have to have taken the course to get the benefits of today's session because a lot of you I know already have had ERP or are in ERP as we speak, or your clinicians learning about ERP and I love that you're here. Honestly, it brings me so much joy. But that is there for you if you're completely lost on what's going on today, and that will help fill you in on the gold standard treatment for OCD and the evidence-based treatment for OCD and OCD-related disorders. That being said, let's get on with the good stuff. We have the amazing Shala Nicely. I am so honored again to have you on. You are going to love how applicable and useful her skills and tools are. Let's just get straight over to Shala. Kimberley: Welcome, Shala. I am so happy to have you back. I know we have a pretty direct agenda today to talk about imaginals versus scripting in your way in which you do it. I'd love to hear a little bit about, first, do you call it imaginals or do you call it scripting? Can you give me an example or a definition of what you consider them to be? SHALA'S STORY OF ERP SCRIPTING Shala: Sure. Well, thank you very much for having me on. Love to be here as always. I'll go back to how I learned about exposure when I first became a therapist. I learned about exposure being two different things. It was either in vivo exposure, so in life. Meaning, you go out and do the thing that your OCD is afraid of that you want to do, or it was imaginals where you imagine doing the thing that you want to do that your OCD is afraid to do. Research shows us that the in vivo is more effective, but sometimes imaginals is necessary because you can't go do the thing for whatever reason. But I don't think about it like that anymore. That's how I learned it, but it's not how I practice it. To help describe what I do, I'll take you back to when I had untreated OCD or when I was just learning how to do ERP for myself because I think that would help it make sense what I do. When I was doing ERP, I would obviously go out and do all the things that I wanted to do and my OCD didn't want me to do. What I found was that I could do those things, but my OCD was still in my head, getting me to have a conversation about what we were doing in my mind. I might go pick up a discarded Coke can on the side of the road because it's “contaminated,” and I would then go either put it in the trash, which would be another exposure because that would be not recycling. There are layers of exposures here. But my OCD could be in my head going, “Well, I don't think that one is contaminated. It doesn't look all that contaminated because it's pretty clean and this looks like a clean area so I'm sure it's not contaminated. What do you think, Shala?” “Oh, I agree with you.” “Well, we threw it away, but I bet you, these people, they're going to get wherever we threw it. They're actually going to sort it out and it's going to get recycled anyway.” There was this carnival in my head of information about what was going on. I determined what I was doing because I was doing the exposure, but I wasn't really getting all that much better. I was getting somewhat better but not all that much better. What I realized I was doing is that I'm having these conversations in my head, which are compulsive. In my recovery journey, what I was doing was I was going to a lot of trainings, I was reading a ton of books, and I talk about this in Is Fred in the Refrigerator?, my memoir, because this was a pretty pivotal moment for me when I read Dr. Jonathan Grayson's book, Freedom from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I know you're having him on this series as well. I read his book and he talks so much in there about writing scripts to deal with the OCD—writing scripts about what might happen, the worst-case scenario, living with uncertainty, and all that kind of stuff. That really resonated with me and I thought, “Aha, this is what I need to be doing. I need to be doing ERP scripting instead of having that conversation in my head with the OCD. Because when I'm doing exposure and I'm having a conversation with OCD in my head, I'm doing exposure and partial response prevention. I am preventing the physical response, but I'm not at all preventing the mental response, and this was slowing down my recovery.” The way I like to think of imaginals—you think about imagine like imagination—is that the way I do imaginal exposures, which I just call ERP scripting, is that I'm dealing with OCD's imagination. People with OCD are exceptionally creative. If you're listening to this and you think, “Well, not me,” for proof, all you have to do is look at what your OCD comes up with and look how creative it is. You guys share the same brain, therefore, you are creative too. All that creativity. When you have untreated OCD, it goes into coming up with these monstrous scenarios of how you're harming others or harming yourself. You're not ever going to be able to handle this anxiety or uncertainty or icky feeling or whatever, and it builds these scary stories that get us stuck. WHAT IS ERP SCRIPTING? What I'm trying to do with imaginal exposure or scripting is I'm trying to deal with OCD's imagination because in the example I gave, I was picking up the Coke can and my OCD was using its imagination to try to reassure me all the ways this Coke can was going to be okay or all the ways this Coke can was going to eventually get recycled. I needed to deal with that. Really, the way I do ERP Scripting for myself and for my clients is I'm helping people deal with OCD's imagination in a non-compulsive way. For me, it is not a choice of in vivo or imaginal; it is in vivo with imaginal, almost always, because most people that I see anyway are doing what I did. They are doing physical compulsions or avoidance and they're up in their head having a conversation with their OCD about it. I'm almost always doing in vivo and imaginals together because I'm having people approach the thing that they want to do that OCD doesn't want them to do, and I'm having them do scripts. The Coke can may or may not be contaminated. The fact that it's sitting here and it looks pretty clean may or may not mean that it's got invisible germs on it. I don't know. The Coke can may or may not get recycled, it may or may not end up in recycling, but somehow contaminate the whole recycling thing that has to throw all that other recycling away because it touched it. I'm trying to use my imagination to make it even worse for the OCD so that we're really facing these fears. That's how I conceptualize imaginal exposure. It's not an AND/OR it's an AND for me. Some people don't need it and if they don't need it, fine. But I find it's very helpful to make sure that people are doing full response prevention in that they're permitting both the physical and the mental compulsive response. DOES EVERYONE NEED ERP SCRIPTING? Kimberley: Does everyone need ERP scripting? When you say some people don't need it, what would the presentation of those people be? Shala: That for whatever reason, they are good at not having the conversation with OCD in their heads. This is the minority of people anyway that I work with. Most people are pretty good at having compulsive conversations with OCD because the longer you have untreated OCD, the more you end up taking your physical compulsions and pulling them inward and making the mental compulsion so that you can survive. If you can't really do all that physical checking at your office because people are going to see you, you do mental checking. That's certainly what I did. People become good at doing this stuff in their head and it becomes second nature. It can be going on. I talk about this a lot in Fred, I could do compulsions while I was doing anything else because I could do them in my head. Most people are doing that and most people have been doing that for long enough by the time they see somebody like me that if I just say, “Well, stop doing that,” I mean I'm never going to see them again. They're not going to come back because they can't stop doing that. That's the whole reason they called me. I'm giving them something else to do instead. It's a competing response to the mental compulsions because they don't know how to stop that. They're not aware of what they're doing, they don't know how to stop the process, so I'm giving them something to do instead of that until they build the mental muscles to be able to recognize OCD trying to get them to have a conversation and just not answer that question in their head. But it takes a long time to develop that skill. It took me a long time anyway. Some people, for whatever reason though, are good at that. If they don't need to do the scripting, great. I think that's wonderful. They don't have to do it. The strongest response you can ever have to OCD is to ignore it completely, both physically and mentally. If you can truly ignore it in your head, you don't even need to do the scripting. It's a stronger response to just do what you want to do that upsets OCD and just go on with your day. HOW TO DO ERP SCRIPTING? Kimberley: Amazing. So How do you do ERP Scripting? If you're not one of those people and OCD loves to come up with creative ideas of all the things, what would be your approach? You talked about imaginals versus scripting. Can you play out and show us how you do it? Shala: I mean, I guess imaginals in the traditional way that it is defined versus scripting. The way I would do it is we would design the client and I would design whatever their first exposure is going to be. Let's say that it would be touching doorknobs. They're going to be in their location and I'm going to be in my location. They're going to be wherever we've decided they're going to touch the doorknobs. Maybe it's to the outside of their house, for instance. I'm there on video with them and we have them touch the doorknob. And then I asked them, “Well, what is OCD saying about that?” “Well, OCD says that I need to go wash my hands.” I will say, “Well, are you going to go do that?” “No.” I'm like, “Well, let's tell OCD that.” “Okay, OCD, I'm not going to wash my hands.” “Now what's OCD saying?” “Well, OCD is saying that I'm contaminated.” “Well, let's say I may or may not be contaminated.” So far, we've got, “I'm not washing my hands and I may or may not be contaminated.” Okay, now I'll ask them their anxiety level. When they say, “Gosh, I'm at a four,” I'll say, “Is that good?” They'll often say, “No, I wish it were zero.” I'll be like, “I'm sorry, what? What did you say? You want your anxiety to be zero? I must have misheard that. Is four good?” Finally, they understand, “Oh, well, four is not good because we could be higher.” “What would be better than four?” “Anything above a four.” I'm working with them on that. We might start to throw some things in the script. I want to be anxious because this is how I beat my OCD, so bring it on. I'll ask again, “What's your OCD saying?” “Well, it's saying that I'm going to get some terrible disease.” “Well, you may not get a terrible disease.” I'm questioning back and forth the client as we're working on this, until we've got enough of a dialogue about what's going on in their head that we can then create a script. A script might look something like, “Well, I may or may not be contaminated. I may or may not get a dread disease, but I'm not washing my hands and I'm going to do this because I want my life back. It makes me anxious and I may or may not get a dread disease.” And then we'll focus in on what's bothering OCD most. Maybe it's, at the beginning, the dread disease. “Well, I may or may not get a drug disease. I may or may not get a dread disease. I may or may not get a dread disease. I may or may not get a dread disease.” We might sing it, we say it over and over and over and over and over again, and look for what the reaction from the OCD is. If the OCD is still upset, then we still go after that. If it starts moving, “Well, what's OCD saying now?” “Well, OCD is saying now that if I get a dread disease, then I won't be able to do this thing that I have coming up that I really want to do.” “Well, okay, I may or may not get a dread disease and I may or may not miss this important event as a result.” We add that in. We do that and do that and do that and do that for whatever the period is that we've decided is going to be our exposure period. And then we stop and then we talk about it. What did we learn? What was that like and what did you learn? Really focusing on how we did more than we thought we could do. We withstood more anxiety than we thought we could withstand. What did we learn about what the OCD is doing? I'm not so concerned about what the anxiety is doing. I mean, I want it to go up. That's my concern. I'm not all that concerned about whether it comes down or not. I do want it to go up. We talk about what we learned about the anxiety that gosh, you can push it up enough and you can handle a lot more than you thought you did. That would be our exposure. And then we would plan homework and then they would do that daily, hopefully. I have forms on my website that people can then send me their daily experience doing these exposures and I send them feedback on it, and that's what we're working on. We're working on doing the thing that OCD doesn't want you to do that you want to do, and then working on getting better and better at addressing all of the mental gymnastics in your head. Now, if somebody touches the doorknob and they're like, “Okay, I can do this,” and then their anxiety comes up and comes back down and they can do it without saying anything, great, go touch doorknobs. You don't need to do scripting. Often, I don't know if somebody needs to do that until we start working on it. If they don't need to do the scripting, great. We don't do the scripting. Makes things easier. But often people do need to. That's generally how I do it. Obviously, lots of variations on that based on what the client is experiencing. Kimberley: This is all thing, you're not writing it down. Again, when you go back to our original training, for me, it was a worksheet and you print it out, you'd fill out the prompts. Are you doing any of this written or is this a counter to the mental compulsions in your head? Shala: None of this is written. The only time I would write it out is after that first session. When you're really anxious, your prefrontal cortex isn't working all that well, so you may have trouble remembering what we did, remembering the specific things that we said, or pulling it up for yourself. When you're doing your exposure, you're so anxious. I might type out some of what we said, the main things, send it to the clients, and have that. But really to me, scripting is an interactive exercise and I want my clients to be listening to what the OCD is saying for the sole purpose of knowing what we're going to say. Because when we start doing exposure, what we're often trying to do is keep pace with the OCD because it's got a little imagination engine running and it's going to go crazy with all the things that it's going to come up with. We're trying to stay on that level and make sure we're meeting all its imagination with our own imagination. As we get better and better at this, then I'm teaching people how to one-up the OCD and how to get better than the OCD as it goes along. But it's a dynamic process. I don't have people read scripts because the script that we wrote was for what was going on whenever we wrote the script. Different things might be going on this time. What we're trying to do is listen to the OCD in a different way. I don't want people listening to it in a compulsive way. I want people listening to it in a, “I've got to understand my foe here and what my foe is upset about so I can use it against it.” That's what we're doing. There might be key things, little pieces we write down, but I'm not having people write and read it over and over. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not what I do. Everybody has a different way to approach this. This is just my way. Kimberley: Right. I was thinking as you were talking, in ERP School, I talk about the game of one-up and I actually do that game with clients before I do any scripting or imaginals or exposures too. They tell me what their fear is, I try and make it worse. And then I ask them to make it even worse, then I make it even worse, because I'm trying to model to them like, we're going here. We're going to go all the way and even beyond. If we can get ahead of OCD and get even more creative, that's better. Let's play it back and forward. You talked about touching a doorknob and all of the catastrophic things that can happen there. What about if someone were to say their thoughts are about harming somebody and they have this feeling of like, I've been trained, society has trained me not to have thoughts about harming people or sexual thoughts and so forth? There's this societal OCD stigmatizing like we don't think those things. We should be practicing not thinking those things. What would you give as advice to somebody in that situation? Shala: I would talk a lot about the science about our thoughts, that the more that you try to push a thought away, the more it's going to be there. Because every time you push a thought away, your brain puts a post-it note on it that says, “Ooh, she pushed this thought away. This must be dangerous. Therefore, I need to bring it up again to make sure we solve it.” Because humans' competitive advantage—we don't have fur, we don't have fangs, we don't have claws, we don't run very fast—our competitive advantage is problem-solving. The way we stay alive is for cave people looking out onto savannah and we can see that there are berries here, there, and yawn. But that one berry patch over there, gosh, you saw something waving in the grass by it and you're like, “I'm going to notice that and I'm going to remember that because that was different, but I also don't want to go over there.” Your brain is going to remember that like, “Hmm, there was something about that berry patch over there. Grass waving could be a tiger. We need to remember that. Remember that thing, we're not going to go over there.” We're interacting with thoughts in that way because that's what kept us alive. When we get an intrusive thought nowadays and we go, “Ooh, that was a bad thought. I don't know. I should stay away from that,” our brain is like, “Oh, post a note on that one. That one is like the scary tiger thought. We're going to bring that up again just to make sure.” Every time we try to push a thought away, we're going to make it come back. We talk a lot about that. We talk a lot about society's norms are whatever they are, but a lot of society's norms are great in principle, not that awesome in practice. We don't have any control over what we think about. The TV is filled with sex and gore, and violence. Of course, you're thinking those things. You can't get away from those images. I think society has very paradoxically conflicting rules about this stuff. Don't think about it but also watch our TV show about it. I would talk about that to try to help people recognize that these standards and rules that we put on ourselves as humans are often unrealistic and shame-inducing and to help people recognize that everybody has these thoughts. We have 40, 60, 80,000 thoughts a day. I got that number at some conference somewhere years ago. We don't have control over those. I would really help them understand the process of what's going on in their brain to destigmatize it by helping them understand really thoughts are chemical, neuronal, whatever impulses in our brain. We don't have a lot of control over that and we need to deal with them in a way that our brain understands and recognizes. We need to have those thoughts be present and have a different reaction to those thoughts so your brain eventually takes the post-it note off of them and just lets them cycle through like all the other thoughts because it recognizes it's not dangerous. HOW FAR CAN YOU GO IN ER SCRIPTING? Kimberley: Right. I agree. But how far can you go in ERP Scripting? Let's push a little harder then. This just happened recently actually. I was doing a session with a client and he was having some sexual pedophilia OCD obsessions playing up, “I'll do this to this person,” as you were doing like I may or may not statements and so forth. And then we played with the idea of doing one up. I actually went to use some very graphic words and his face dropped. It wasn't a drop of shock in terms of like, “Oh my gosh, Kimberley used that naughty word.” It was more of like, “Oh, you are in my brain, you know what I'm thinking.” And then I had to slow down and ask him, “Are there any thoughts you actually aren't admitting to having?” Because I could see he was going at 80% of where OCD took him, but he was really holding back with the really graphic, very sexual words—words that societally we may actually encourage our children and our men and women not to say. Do you encourage them to be using the graphic language that their OCD is coming up with? Shala: Absolutely. I'm personally a big swearer. That's another thing I talk about in-- Kimberley: Potty mouth. Shala: I'll ask clients, “What's your favorite swear word? Let's throw swear words in here.” I want to use the language that their OCD is using. If I can tell that's the language their OCD is using, well, let's use that language. Let's not be afraid of it. The other thing I do before I start ERP with anyone is I go through what I consider the three risks of ERP so they understand that what happens during our experience together is normal. I explain that it's likely we're going to make their anxiety worse in the weeks following exposure because we're taking away the compulsions bit by bit, and the compulsions are artificially holding back the anxiety. I explained that their OCD is not going to roll over because they're doing ERP therapy now. Nobody's OCD is going to go, “Oh gosh, Shala is in ERP. I think I'll just leave her alone now.” No, the OCD is going to ratchet it up. You're not doing what you're supposed to do, you're not doing your compulsions, so let's make things scarier. Let's make things more compelling. Let me be louder. Your OCD can get quite a bit worse once you start doing ERP because it's trying to get you back in line. When somebody is in an exposure session and their OCD is actually going places, they never even expected them to go, and I'll say that's what we're talking about, “That's just the OCD getting worse, that's what we wanted. This is what we knew was going to happen.” We're going to use that against the OCD to help normalize it. Then I also explain to people that people with OCD don't like negative emotions more than your average bear, and we tend to press all the negative emotions down under the anxiety. When you start letting the anxiety out and not doing compulsions, then you can also get a lot more emotions than you're used to experiencing so that people recognize if they cry during the exposures, if it's a lot scarier than they thought, if they have regret or guilt or other feelings, that's just a normal part of it. I explain all that. When things inevitably go places where the client isn't anticipating they're going to go like in a first exposure, then they feel this is just part of the process. I think it makes it so that it's easier to go those graphic places because you're like, “Yeah, we expected OCD to go the graphic place because it's mad at you.” Kimberley: It normalizes it, doesn't it? Shala: Yeah. Then we go to the graphic place too. I tell clients that specifically because this is a game and I really want them to understand this is what your opponent is likely to do so that they feel empowered so we can go there too and trying some to take the shame out of it. When you said the graphic word and your client had a look on their face and it was because how did you even know that was in my head, because you were validating that it's okay to have this thought because you knew it was going to be there. I think that's a really important part of exposure too. HOW LONG DO YOU USE ERP SCRIPTING FOR? Kimberley: So, how long do you do ERP Scripting for? Let's say they're doing this in your session or they're at home doing their assigned homework. Let's say they do it for a certain amount of time and then they have to get back to work or they're going to do something. But those voices, the OCD comes back with a vengeance. What would you have them do after that period of time? Would they continue with this action or is there a transition action or activity you would have them do? Shala: That's a great question. It depends a lot on really the stage of therapy that somebody is in and what is available to them based on what they're going to be doing. Oftentimes, what I will ask people to do is to try to do the exposure for long enough that you've done enough response prevention that you can then leave the exposure environment and not be up in your head compulsively ruminating. Because if you were doing exposure for 20 minutes, you've done a great job, but then you leave that exposure and you are at a high enough anxiety level where it feels compelling. Now you have to fix the problem in your head even though you just did this great exposure. Then we're just going to undo the work you just did. I try to help people plan as much as they can to not get themselves in a situation where they're going to end up compulsively ruminating or doing other compulsions after they finish. But obviously, we can't be perfect. Life happens. I think some of the ways you can deal with that, if you know it's going to happen, sometimes they'll ask people to make recordings on their phone and they just put in their earpieces or their earbuds or whatever and they can just listen to a script while they're doing whatever they're doing. Nobody has to know what they're doing because so many people walk around with EarPods in their ears all the time anyway. That's one way to deal with it. Another way to deal with it is to try to do the murmuring out in your head as best as you can. That's really hard because they're likely to just get mixed up with compulsive thoughts. You can try to focus your attention as much as you possibly can on what you're doing. That's going to be the strongest response. It's hard for people though when they get started to do that. But if you can do that, I think that's fine, and I think just being compassionate with yourself. “Okay, so I am now sitting here doing some rituals in my head. I'm doing the best I can.” If you're not in a situation where you can fully implement response prevention in your head because you're in a meeting and you got to do other stuff and you've got this compulsive stuff running in the background, just do the best you can. And then when you're at a place where you can do some scripting, some more exposure to get yourself back on top of the OCD, then do that. But be really compassionate. I try to stress this to all my clients. We are not trying to do ERP perfectly because if you try to do it perfectly, you're doing ERP in an OCD way, which isn't going to work. Just be kind to yourself and recognize this is hard and nobody is going to do it perfectly. If you end up in a situation where you end up doing some compulsions afterwards, well, that's good information for us. We'll try to do it differently or better next time, but don't beat yourself up. Kimberley: It's funny you brought that up because I was just about to ask you that question. Often clients will do their scripting or their imaginal and then they have an obsession, “What if I keep doing compulsions and it's not good to do compulsions?” Would you do scripting for that? Shala: Oh yeah. I may or may not do more compulsions than I used to be doing. I may or may not get really worse doing this. I may or may not have double the OCD that I had when I started seeing trauma. This may or may not become so bad that they have to create a hospital just to help me all by myself. We try to just create stuff to deal with that. But also, I'm injecting one up in the OCD, I'm injecting some humor, how outlandish can we make these things? I try to have “fun” with it. Now I say “fun” in quotes because I know it's not necessarily fun when you're trying to do this, but we're trying to make this content that OCD is turning into a scary story. We're trying to make it into a weapon to use against the OCD and to make this into a game as much as we can. Kimberley: I love it. I'm so grateful for you coming on. Is there anything that you want the listeners to know as a final piece for this work that you're doing? Shala: Sure. I think that there are so many different ways to do exposure therapy. This is the way that I do it. It's not the only way, it's not necessarily the right way; it's just the way I do it and it's changed over the years. If we were to record this podcast in five years or 10 years, I probably will be doing something slightly different. If your therapist is doing something differently or you're doing something differently, it's totally fine. I think that finding ERP in a way that works for you, like finding how it works for you and what works best for you is the most important thing. It's not going to be the same for everybody. Everybody has a slightly different approach and that's okay. One thing that people with OCD can get stuck on, and I know this because I have OCD too, is we can be black and white and say there's one right way. Well, she does it this way and he does it that way and this is wrong and this is right. No, if you're doing ERP, there are all sorts of ways to do it, so don't let your OCD get into the, “Well, I don't think you're doing this right because you're not doing this, that, or the other.” Just work with your therapist to find out what works best for you. If what I've described works well for you, great. And if it doesn't, you don't have to do it. These are just ideas. Being really kind and being really open to figuring out what works best for you and being very kind to yourself I think is most important. Kimberley: Amazing. Tell us where people can get more information about you. Tell us about your book. I know you've been on the podcast before, but tell us where they can get hold of you. Shala: Sure. They can get a hold of me on my website, ShalaNicely.com. I have a newsletter I send out once a month that they can sign up for called Shoulders Back! Tips & Resources for Taming OCD. In it, I feature blogs that I write or podcast episodes, other things that I'm doing. It's all free where I'm talking about tips and resources for taming OCD. I have two books: Everyday Mindfulness for OCD that I co-wrote with Jon Hershfield and Is Fred in the Refrigerator? Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life, which is my memoir. It is written somewhat like a suspense novel because as all of you know who have OCD, living with untreated OCD is a bit like living in a suspense novel. My OCD is actually a character in the book. It is the villain, so to speak. The whole book is about me trying to understand exactly what is this villain I'm working against. Then once I figure out what it is, well, how am I going to beat it? And then how am I going to live with it long term? Because it's not like you're going to kill the villain in this book. The OCD is going to be there. How do I learn to live in a world of uncertainty and be happy anyway, which is something that I stole from Jon Grayson years ago. I stole a lot from him. That's what the book is about. Kimberley: It's a beautiful book and it's so inspiring. It's a handbook as much as it is a memoir, so I'm so grateful that you wrote it. It's such a great resource for people with OCD and for family members I think who don't really get what it's like to be in the head of someone with OCD. A lot of my client's family members said how it was actually the first time it clicked for them of like, “Oh, I get it now. That's what they're going through.” I just wanted to share that. Thank you so much for being on the show. I'm so grateful to have you on again. Shala: Thank you so much for having me. It was fun.
Contact your hostcharles_martin@appleinsider.comLinks from the showMusic changed forever with Apple's iTunes Music Store 20 years agoApple is producing USB-C EarPods for the iPhone 15New malware targeting macOS users is being sold on TelegramApple's long-rumored all-glass tactile keyboard may be real sooner rather than laterMedtronic gets FDA approval for new iPhone & Apple Watch connected diabetic therapy systemSubscribe to the AppleInsider podcast on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Pocket Casts Spotify Subscribe to the HomeKit Insider podcast on:• Apple Podcasts• Overcast• Pocket Casts• Spotify
Tailosive Tech Streamed: April 27th, 2023
Part 2/2 Rob is back to talk with Chad about everything fitness! This is a strong conversation that weaves in and out of breathing techniques, lean muscle tissue, balance, core, and why people struggle to work out on a consistent basis. Rob is growing the SSS Brand into something very special and we have a lot more with him coming soon! Now, put your headphones on or your EarPods in, and get to working out! This episode is brought to you by Sierra Strength and Speed, The Provider, Traeger Grills, The Nashville Palace, Banded Brands, American Almond Beef, 4Wheel Parts, and OAKLEY Eyewear!
Part 1/2 Rob is back to talk with Chad about everything fitness! This is a strong conversation that weaves in and out of breathing techniques, lean muscle tissue, balance, core, and why people struggle to work out on a consistent basis. Rob is growing the SSS Brand into something very special and we have a lot more with him coming soon! Now, put your headphones on or your EarPods in, and get to working out! This episode is brought to you by Sierra Strength and Speed, The Provider, Traeger Grills, The Nashville Palace, Banded Brands, American Almond Beef, 4Wheel Parts, and OAKLEY Eyewear!
Did you know you could get paid to listen to cheese? In this episode, Rhett and Link think about different jobs they might do if they weren't on the Internet – but since they have what people could classify as an odd job themselves, they venture down a rabbit hole of other odd career paths – and they definitely save the best job for last. If you or anyone you know has one of these jobs, leave a voicemail at 1-888-EARPOD-1! See for yourself why Chime is so loved at chime.com/ear To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is prioritizing creativity on your list again for 2023? or is it just me
"I hope all this tech talk not drying up the coochies." Welcome back to another installment of the pod. This week, we're getting into our tech talk. Apple, Samsung, Sony. You name it, we talked about it. Phones, Earpods, tvs, etc.. ComicCon Pod - We discuss all of the shows, direction of Marvel, and why DC struggles to get the same support. Sports report - We have our resident Baltimore Ravens Reporter, Kelvin in the building to discuss the affairs of the Baltimore Ravens, and what's going on with their offense. And Much More! Follow us on IG: @thenourishmentpodcast Email: thenourishmentpodcast@gmail.com Peace and Blessings
Our brains tell us some pretty bogus lies and today I'm addressing one of the biggest lies that keeps women stuck. It steals our joy, our growth & the money we want to make. It kept me spinning for years so I'm passionate about helping you address it in your brain so that you can shift it and start creating results ASAP! So, grab your EarPods. This episode is short but POTENT! Let's go! The 0-$5K Program Details are HEREDon't forget to have a peek at the Success Guarantee** Join the 0-$5K Pop-Up Facebook Group for December HERE
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