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In this episode of The Immigration Lawyer's Toolbox® Podcast, host John Q. Khosravi, Esq. sits down with returning guest Ruby Powers, immigration attorney and founder of the Ruby Powers Strategy Group, for a deep dive into practice management, marketing, and business growth for immigration law firms. Ruby shares actionable insights on building a sustainable and profitable practice, from streamlining operations and maximizing marketing impact to leveraging conferences, seminars, and retreats for professional development.

Are you dealing with a narcissist who twists the truth, manipulates your words, and makes YOU look like the liar?

Being a great lawyer isn't enough. If you want consistent growth, predictable revenue, and freedom from the daily grind, you need to shift from lawyer to CEO.Sam Mollaei and Steve Fretzin expose the biggest mistakes law firm owners make and reveal how to attract high-quality clients without burnout. Discover the power of peer advisory groups, strategic partnerships, and automation that lets you build a firm that works for you—not the other way around.FREE Training for Law Firm OwnersOn Wednesday, August 20th at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, join attorney and My Legal Academy founder Sam Mollaei, Esq. for a live training where he reveals the exact Facebook Ads system his six law firms use to sign 1,300+ clients every month.In this exclusive session, you'll learn:Which practice areas see the best ROI from Facebook AdsWhy Facebook Ads can outperform Google Ads for client acquisitionHow our AI-Powered Campaign Builder can launch winning ads in minutesSeats are limited — reserve yours here:https://link.mylegalacademy.com/facebook-ads-for-lawyers-webinar-3Key Takeaways from Sam and Steve:1. The Biggest Growth Mistake: Ignoring the Business of LawLaw firm owners often focus solely on practicing law, neglecting essential business skills like marketing, systems, and financial strategy, which stunts growth.2. Consistently Attracting High-Quality Clients Without BurnoutLawyers who implement structured referral systems, client retention strategies, and strategic partnerships can create a steady flow of ideal clients with minimal effort.3. From Lawyer to CEO: The Mindset Shift That Changes EverythingTo grow successfully, lawyers must transition from being service providers to business owners by prioritizing planning, processes, and performance improvement.4. How Peer Advisory Groups Accelerate Business DevelopmentJoining structured peer groups provides accountability, proven strategies, and fresh perspectives that help lawyers scale faster and avoid costly mistakes.5. Automation & Technology: The Hidden Superpower of Scalable FirmsBy leveraging automation, AI, and digital systems for scheduling and client management, law firms can eliminate inefficiencies and scale without unnecessary overhead. "In our show, we always focus on the future and early adoption, kind of leaning into all those early adoption strategies to take advantage of it, being aggressive on it as much as possible until the market catches up." — Sam Mollaei"There's a table standing right in front of the lawyer, piled with money up to the ceiling, yet they're walking around it pretty much all day. And it's mainly because, again, they don't have a system, a process, or something they can feel comfortable executing." — Steve FretzinGet in touch with Steve Fretzin:Website:

In this milestone episode of The Immigration Lawyer's Toolbox® Podcast, host John Q. Khosravi, Esq. sits down with the legendary Dan Kowalski—longtime immigration attorney, editor, and publisher—to reflect on a remarkable career dedicated to advancing immigration law. Recently retired from active practice, Dan shares stories from decades of representing clients in every area of immigration law, as well as his pivotal role in legal publishing through Bender's Immigration Bulletin. From groundbreaking cases to shaping the way immigration law is taught and shared, Dan's journey offers invaluable lessons for attorneys at every stage of their careers. Together, John and Dan explore how the field has evolved, the critical role of keeping the law current and accessible, and why building a legacy of knowledge-sharing is essential for the profession's future.

In the world of real estate, creative financing like "subject to" deals can be a game-changer. But are you aware of the risks and legal complexities that come with it?In this episode, Attorney Bishoy Habib joins Russ and Joey to explore the world of "subject to" real estate deals, a powerful strategy for investors looking to take over existing mortgages without paying the full price upfront. He breaks down the potential legal pitfalls, including the do-on-sale clause and the risks of lenders calling the loan due. You'll also learn crucial tips to protect yourself, from due diligence periods to utilizing land trusts and the key documents needed for a successful transaction. Whether you're an investor or a seller, understanding these aspects could make all the difference in your next deal. Are you ready to dive deeper into creative financing? Don't miss out on our full episode where we demystify the process and guide you through the legal steps to success.Top three things you will learn: -The basics of subject-to transactions-The risks involved, and the importance of protecting yourself legally-The legal paperwork you need to prepare and how a land trust can provide protectionAbout Our Guest:Bishoy M. Habib, Esq. is a legal expert in real estate, business closings (i.e. buying and selling dental practices), financing (loans, refinancings, seller financing, etc.), corporate and entity formation, employment agreements, and general business transactions. He specializes in representing dentists and physicians, and has closed thousands of transactions of all types and sizes over the course of his career.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not constitute financial advice. Always consult a licensed professional for financial decisions.This episode is sponsored by a podcast show partner. We may receive compensation if you use links or services mentioned in this episode.The hosts may have a financial interest in the programs or services mentioned in this episode.Connect with Attorney Bishoy Habib:-Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/attorneybishoy/

Meet Joe Sanok Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is […] The post Ketamine, AI, and Brain Health: What Practitioners Need to Know with Dustin Robinson, Esq. CPA | POP 1244 appeared first on How to Start, Grow, and Scale a Private Practice | Practice of the Practice.

They thrive on control… until you say THIS. Discover the exact phrases that leave narcissists speechless and put YOU back in power. Discover 5 lethal responses narcissists can't handle and learn exactly how to shut down their manipulation, gaslighting, and twisted words. In this episode, top attorney and negotiation expert Rebecca Zung reveals the exact phrases and strategies you can use to regain control, protect your boundaries, and stop a narcissist in their tracks—without getting dragged into drama. Whether you're dealing with a narcissist at home, at work, or in court, these responses will help you stay calm, confident, and in control.

Title: Travel Like a Billionaire: The 90% Off Secret to a First-Class Lifestyle with Eli Facenda In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares insights on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses his nomadic lifestyle, the entrepreneurial journey that led him to travel hacking, and the importance of understanding the value of different points systems. Eli emphasizes the need for a structured approach to travel, focusing on maximizing points, optimizing travel upgrades, and effectively using credit cards to enhance travel experiences. The discussion also touches on the significance of having a clear strategy for business owners and how to navigate the complexities of travel rewards. In this conversation, Eli Facenda shares his expertise on maximizing travel experiences through strategic use of points and credit cards. He discusses the importance of community in travel planning, innovative solutions for entrepreneurs, and his personal journey in the travel industry. Eli emphasizes the significance of experiential wealth and actionable steps listeners can take to enhance their travel experiences. Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://youtu.be/c7QqSscsajc Bullet Point Highlights: Seth and Eli kick off with casual banter about van life, audio gear, and the nomad lifestyle. Eli shares his background going from broke entrepreneur to travel-hacking expert. He explains how he got obsessed with using points after a free trip to Thailand changed his mindset. Eli now helps entrepreneurs take $20K–$50K luxury trips for 90% off using credit card points. His 3-part system includes maximizing points, optimizing travel perks, and redeeming for bucket-list trips. He gives a real-world example of booking a $20K ANA business class flight to Japan for just $12. Seth dives into a real-life org structure and Eli explains how points flow to the guarantor, not the LLC. Best practice: 2–3 business cards and 2–3 personal cards tailored to your biggest spend categories. Eli introduces his new “DreamTrip Alert System” that delivers full trip itineraries at massive discounts. In the Million Dollar Monday segment, Eli shares how he made, lost, and remade his first million. His next million will come from scalable digital products and a wider reach through content and community. What makes Eli top 1%: He walks the walk, traveling the world and running a business around it. His #1 tip: Pick your dream trip, put it on the calendar, and commit, then let the how figure itself out. Transcript: Eli Facenda (00:00.059) What's up, Seth?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:01.43) Yo, what's going on, brother?   Eli Facenda (00:03.237) How we doing, man? How we doing?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:05.141) Excellent man, what's happening?   Eli Facenda (00:06.893) Not much. you, how's the audio coming through here?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:11.032) Sounds good, sounds good.   Eli Facenda (00:12.547) it clean? Okay, because I'm, it's basically we're in the middle of a Nomad trip here, so I normally have like a, like a shirt mic like you have, but on the road I haven't had, so I haven't had to test this yet, but I figured the DJI's are pretty solid, so I wanna make sure it's actually coming through decent.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:16.962) Okay.   Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:26.732) Nice. Yeah, no, it sounds good. Sounds good, man.   Eli Facenda (00:29.425) Okay, cool, awesome. Awesome Dave, we'll get to connect with you.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:33.802) Yeah, brother definitely, so I don't butcher it. How do you pronounce your last name? Facenda, okay, cool. Cool Awesome, man. Yeah, we've we've crossed paths on social media. I think or maybe our va's have crossed paths who knows   Eli Facenda (00:39.077) for sender. Yep, yep.   Eli Facenda (00:47.663) Yeah, think that was where, yeah, think we were initially connecting, yeah, totally. Instagram, I think, was the place. Yeah. Because you're out in California, right? Nice, I'm in West Palm right now. And I mean, normally based in Austin, but we're in the middle of a like, six to eight month nomad adventure. And so we are, we're on the road here, and we go to Europe in a few weeks for like the next several months.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:53.42) Yeah, nice, nice, where you at right now? Yep, San Diego.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:10.446) Sweet dude.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:17.166) That's awesome dude, awesome, awesome. Love it man, that's a long time. So we did last May we did, man it's been like a year, geez. We did like 30, 33 days in a van trip. So we took our van up through Wyoming into Montana and into Canada. That was a long time for us, but 68 months. Right, yeah.   Eli Facenda (01:18.117) Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, man.   Eli Facenda (01:33.455) Nice.   Eli Facenda (01:37.465) sick. Yeah, well vans are intense too. You know, I haven't done van life but my fiance, she did that before and it was like a lot for her. But yeah, so totally depends on the way you're traveling as well. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.266) Yeah.   Nice, nice. Cool, man. Just give you a quick rundown. our audience, my audience is typically, so it used to be passive investors, right? So it used to be the passive income attorney podcast. I think when we might've tried to schedule before and that was for investors. So accredited investors trying to get them to invest in my commercial real estate deals, that sort of thing. But now I've rebranded to raising the bar, which is more geared towards active investors and entrepreneurs and folks like that. So still,   Eli Facenda (02:10.619) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:19.982) Still, I'm sure your clients, wealthy folks that are starting businesses, that have businesses, that are raising capital for real estate or private equity or other types of businesses, that sort of thing. And then we'll do about, we'll do it a little on the shorter side. So we'll do about 30 minute interview, probably at the longest. And then we'll kind of just close that out. And then I do two little smaller sections that I break down into like little five minute episodes. One is a million dollar.   Eli Facenda (02:25.403) Totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:49.622) Monday I put that in the notes and it's basically just like real quick, like how you made your first million dollars, how you made your last million, how you plan on making your next million. then, yeah, and then the last one is the top 1%. Basically just kind of what separates you and makes you the top 1 % in what you do.   Eli Facenda (02:59.675) Cool. Yeah, I love it. It's great.   Eli Facenda (03:08.699) Okay, beautiful. And then as far as, is there any place you want me to point people that is connected to you or do you care if you're asking about that? I don't have any hard call to action kind of pitch thing, but it's more just like.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:19.916) No, man, whatever, it's up to you, man, whatever you want to do, whatever you, whatever call it action you want to use, if want to send it to your website or social media, whatever you want to do,   Eli Facenda (03:26.577) Cause you know what we do have, I can do this. We have a pretty cool playbook that's normally 150 bucks and I'm happy to give it to your listeners for free. So I could give them a code, just say what would be the best code for that?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:37.175) Okay, awesome.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:43.429) Um, just raise would probably be good. use that a lot for like call to action, like DME raise. So you could use a raise.   Eli Facenda (03:46.161) Cool. All right, so yeah, so I'll just say go to the website and just DM or just put in the code RAYS and you'll get it for free. But it's like a whole playbook on how to maximize points for trips. I've act like legitimately I've had someone buy it and within 48 hours he texted me a screenshot. was like, dude, I just saved 20 grand on a trip from your ebook. And I was like, wow, okay, it works. So it's good. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:57.07) Sweet.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:09.366) Nice, Cool. All right, man, well, we're already recording, so I'll just jump right in, and then if I need to add anything to the beginning, I'll do that later. And cool, man, yeah, we'll just jump right in.   Eli Facenda (04:14.129) Sweet. You're welcome.   Eli Facenda (04:20.27) Awesome.   Eli Facenda (04:24.913) Let's do it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:27.444) Eli, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Eli Facenda (04:30.181) Thank you man, excited to be here and I we're going coast to coast today so this will be good.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:34.382) Absolutely, man. So we chatted beforehand, but I think you're tuning in on a road trip right now. So you're living proof of what you do, right?   Eli Facenda (04:44.065) Yeah, totally. are, well this part's kind of like a road trip. We're in West Palm Beach right now, but this is basically leg number two out of, we'll end up being probably an eight month nomadic adventure with me and my fiance and our little puppy. And so we're in West Palm Beach right now in Florida. We head to Europe in less than a month and we'll be bouncing around different parts of Europe for about four months roughly before we decide where we're gonna go next, which we're not exactly sure.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:58.904) Nice.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (05:12.28) That's awesome, man. Are you using all your hacks and secrets and travel tips that you put out there?   Eli Facenda (05:18.449) Absolutely, yeah, 100%. I mean, we just got back from a crazy trip to Japan. This was really cool. I run an entrepreneur mastermind. So we integrated our own trip around Japan around this mastermind event. So I had 53 people come out for like eight days. We went snowboarding in the mountains in Niseko in the Northern Park. And then we went down to Tokyo for the cherry blossoms. But for myself personally, to get there and back and do a lot of the hotels, we used points. We saved over 50 grand just on that portion of the trip. We then...   know, flew down to West Palm on points and then going over to Europe and a lot of the stays over there will also be leveraging the point strategies that I help clients use and then I talk about on social media and the stuff that we'll dive into today. But yeah, I like to be living proof of it because it's pretty awesome. It's something that's really impacted my life. I love doing it. And when I do it, I get to share it too. So has like a multiple benefit for everybody.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:06.648) That's awesome, man. I'm excited, dude. I'm excited to dig in here, because it's just for my own personal benefit and education, because I'm super stoked about this stuff, and I travel a lot with my fiance, or my fiance, my wife, and it's something I'm personally interested in as well. We've had past conversations too, so it's great to have you on, man. So just to start off, man, if somebody, you meet somebody in the street, they ask you what you do, how do you explain that?   in a sentence, right? Like without going into some crazy like tangent about all the awesome things that you do. Like what, how do you answer that question?   Eli Facenda (06:36.453) Yeah.   Eli Facenda (06:41.329) Sure, sure, Yeah, it really does depend on the situation, but I oftentimes will ask a couple questions because it makes it easier for people to understand. So usually it's like, do you have any big dream bucket list trip you've ever wanted to take? And they'll be like, oh yeah, Greece. I'm like, well, what we do is we help you get to Greece in business or first class, stay in five star hotels, have the trip of your dreams at about 90 % off. So that's kind of the tagline is take the trip of your dreams for about 90 % off.   I'll get into the whole point side of things, but some people don't know what points are, or some are really well studied in that world. So I just leave with the trip because that's usually what people want. They want to have the experience where it's you and your wife flying first class, sipping champagne on the way to Paris to go see the Eiffel Tower and the points and the credit cards. That's really the mechanism. That's how we make the experience happen. But at end of the day, what we want is the amazing memories, the beautiful experience, all that stuff. So I leave with the trip when I talk about it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:37.848) That's awesome, man. Yeah, I mean, you're literally selling the dream, right? Like in marketing, you sell the dream or hit on a pain point. Like you are like the quintessential selling the dream. Like that's what everybody thinks about. So.   Eli Facenda (07:42.969) Yeah, exactly.   Yeah, Right. Well, it's funny because, you know, in marketing, they'll say like, sell the destination, not the vehicle, right? They'll be like, sell the outcome, not how you get there. And so we do that in our marketing. But then when you think about it, when people are taking a trip, what we are helping them do is make the vehicle to get to the destination part of the destination. Because really, when you travel well, and you do it in style, the flight becomes a part of the trip that you're excited for.   I can't wait to see the the drinks and the champagne and the food they're gonna have and how awesome the seat is and the movie selection, how big's the screen. At least for people that love to travel, it becomes a fascination of the trip, not just getting there. So that's a big difference maker when people start to go on these flights, and this is what a lot of our clients will say, and for me, it goes from flying economy to like, I'm counting down the hours to get off this freaking plane.   to like, we do another lap around the city? Cause like, I'd love to just hang out here longer, right? And like the flight attendants treat you really well. So yeah, it's a whole experience.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:49.314) That's awesome, man. Yeah, that's great. Was there a trip that you went on personally where you just kind of thought, man, I can turn this into a business, right? Like you're just enjoying it so much that you just were like, like the light bulb went off or how did this business spawn?   Eli Facenda (09:04.515) Yeah, there wasn't one trip that I made the connection between like, trip is awesome, let me start a business. But there was one trip that gave me the light bulb of, my God, I am obsessed with this, I need to learn everything I can. There was zero intention or thought about business that when it first started. And that'll take you back about 10 years. So was around 22 years old and I'm just coming out of college. And basically I'm in my mom's basement and I remember this really...   like heavy feeling because I went to a good university near New York City and all my friends went to Wall Street and they were making like six figures plus right out of school. And I had this like entrepreneurial bug. I was like, that's not for me. I don't want to sit in an office. I don't care if I can make a lot of money. I want to like play life on my terms, even if it means I'm making less. So at this point I have friends that are making tons of money, know, lots of disposable income and I'm making like 20 grand a year. I'm working four side jobs. I was trying to build a company. I remember getting this text.   And my stomach just dropped, because I was like, shit, I'm going to miss out on this incredible experience. was friends inviting me to go to Thailand. And I was like, if I don't figure out a better strategy of either how to make more money or figure something out, I'm not going be able to go on this trip. And I was like, damn, this is going to be just a life of missing out on experiences. Is that what it means to follow my dreams with entrepreneurship? It's like, I have to forego everything that my other friends are doing. And so was like, let me think about this differently. And I had a mentor that told me, you don't need more money, you need a better strategy. And he was talking about growing a business.   But for me, I was like, oh wait, there's this credit card point thing. What if I could figure that out? So I ended up piecing it together. I got a trip to Thailand for free. I had this amazing experience with some of my best friends. It's like still, you know, 13 friends in Thailand at age like 22, 23. Memories you don't get back. So was really grateful to have that. And then I came back from that trip and I got another flight a few, probably a year later to Europe in business class where it was a $6,000 ticket that I paid $6 for. Now after that one,   I came off that flight and I was like, I will read every blog, I will watch every YouTube video, I will learn everything about this because it meant I could travel the world and have this incredible lifestyle without having to go take a corporate job. So was like, I get to have my entrepreneurial dream and the travel I want without any trade-offs and I was like, this is amazing. So that was my first time I got hooked. It took me years of researching and reading blogs and websites and doing stuff for myself before I even had the thought of helping anyone else. I just became obsessed with it on my own.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:27.086) I love that you recognize you had the entrepreneurial bug early on, right? Before you got drugged down into the corporate ladder and then you got the golden handcuffs, we like to call it, and that sort of thing where it gets much, much harder to escape that gravity. I know for myself, it took a really long time. ended up going to, I went to med school, then I got my MBA, and then I went to law school, and then I worked in a big law firm, and it just took me all this time to figure out like, I don't want this.   Eli Facenda (11:38.405) Yeah.   Eli Facenda (11:49.201) Mm.   Eli Facenda (11:56.763) Right, well the social pressure alone of like everyone year round is going one way, it takes a lot of guts for you to zig when everyone else is zagging, like it's not easy to do. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:57.015) And I think it's.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:06.648) For sure, for sure. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough, right? And especially when you see your friends making six figures right out of college, you're like, man, I could do that right now if I wanted to do it, but I don't want that. So it takes guts to be able to go out there and do your own thing.   Eli Facenda (12:21.873) Totally. And I think everyone has their own version of that still. There's even vert flavors of that today that are still existing for me where it's like, everyone's kinda going this way, but when I really get quiet and listen to myself, I'm like, yeah, you could do that, but you actually, what your soul or your heart really wants is to go over here. And so I've always just tried to listen to that more because I think about one of my North stars is, at the end of my life, I'm 80, 90 years old, I do the rocking chair test and look back, it's like,   What regret would I rather not have when I'm 90? I'd always rather be like I bet on myself than like I took the sure, you know, the well-paid path, which is the old cliche, but I think it's really true.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:01.004) Totally, I love that North Star, man. Have you ever asked ChatGBT to give you advice as your 80 or 90 year old self on your deathbed? It's great. Yeah. I love it, man. I love it. Yeah, it's great. It you great insight. You start reading, you're like, this is good.   Eli Facenda (13:07.409) Yeah, yeah, I actually created a custom GPT and it's my future me that coaches current me. yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.   Right. Exactly. Yeah, totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (13:21.326) Awesome man, well let's get back kind of on the business of travel, right? So somebody comes to you, they do that introduction that we talked about, you get in a deeper conversation, they're super interested in it, they wanna learn more about these travel hacks and strategies, like where do they start? Where do you point them?   Eli Facenda (13:42.447) Yeah, so in terms of the process, I like to chunk it into three main buckets.   And it's important to have context around this game because if you don't, it just starts to feel like there's so many moving pieces and who has time for that and it's too confusing and then it becomes overwhelming and overwhelm just basically leads to an action. And then that is the person who's like, well, I just don't wanna do that, I'll just take a cash back card or I'll just stick to my Delta card, right? And so when you have the right context, you can start to understand the highest leverage moves to make and then you know really how to get the result you want with the least amount of effort. So that's what we focus on and specifically like I've worked with   probably over a thousand business owners now. And with business owners, investors and entrepreneurs, it's a different, the points game takes on a different context, right? Because usually the constraint we have to solve for is time and complexity. And if you work a nine to five, you know, after five o'clock, you've got hours for your night. But entrepreneurs, it's like every hour is kind of an asset that you can use. So it's a little bit different. So the three buckets are, the first one is to maximize the points that you earn. So this happens from getting the right cards and the right expenses.   because all of these different points are like currency, so you wanna earn the right type of points and then you wanna maximize the amount of them by getting the right cards and the right expenses. So that's the first piece and that's really, really key, because nothing else happens if you don't get that right. The second bucket is gonna be to upgrade and optimize your travel. So you've got domestic trips for a conference, are you getting TSA pre-check and clear, are you getting the best lounges, are you getting first class upgrades and free bags and hotel suite upgrades and free breakfast at the hotels and free wifi. Really it's just like,   There's all these opportunities available for people that are traveling domestically for work, for family events, you know, your kind of ordinary traveling might have. And what we want to do is we just want to enhance the quality of all of that and reduce all the headaches and annoyances by maximizing benefits on cards and status perks and all the kind of like little tactics that you can play. So that's the second thing that just makes your travel more comfortable. And then the third bucket, which is really the most important in terms of impact in your life and the most meaningful piece is to take your dream bucket list trips for 70 to 90 % off.   Eli Facenda (15:45.775) And so that's where you're gonna take the points you've accumulated. You're gonna use some strategies that I can break down here around transferring these points from the banks to the airlines and hotels, and you're gonna get these dream trips for literally a fraction of what they should cost if you're paying cash, or compared to if you were using your points through a site like Amex Travel or Capital & Travel or Chase Travel. Okay, so that's a mouthful, but those are the three. So maximize your points, get the best possible upgrades, and then take your dream trips for 90 % off.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:13.934) Yeah, dive into one of those little those connecting strategies there that you mentioned.   Eli Facenda (16:19.183) Yeah. Yeah. So I'll talk first about the cards. That's the order. This is the first mistake that most business owners and individuals are making is they're just getting random cards. They're like, well, I live in Dallas. Let me get the American card or live in Atlanta. So I'll get the Delta card or, whatever it may be. Or live in San Diego and I fly domestic. So I'll just get the Southwest card. Well, they don't realize is that again, these points, these points like currencies. And so if I told you, Hey, do you want 150 Mexican pesos or 150 us dollars for your couch that you're selling on Facebook marketplace?   you're obviously gonna take the US dollars, right? Because the currency is much higher. But with points, people don't realize that. So they might be racking up Hilton points or Delta miles or other points and miles that just aren't as valuable as other ones out there. And then they burn through them quick or they don't go as far. And they end up just basically sitting there being like, I feel like I should be getting more. This is the common thing I hear. I feel like this should be taking me further, but like it's not doing much. And so what we wanna focus on is bank points that are transferable. So certain banks,   have this ability to convert the points to the airline hotel loyalty programs. And what happens is the banks have a different way of pricing than the airlines do. And certain airlines and certain hotels have really good what we call sweet spots or opportunities for you to get the best possible deals. Okay, so when you earn these effective points, which the top ones I recommend are generally Amex, Chase, and Capital One, and there's a new program built actually is out where you can put your rent on a card with no fees and earn points, it's really cool. But when you get those right,   And then you look through your expenses and you say, what do I spend the most on? Is it groceries and dining and the personal side? Cool. There's a card like the Amex Gold that is specifically really good for those types of expenses. Then you look at your business. What do I spend a lot on? Is it ads and software and taking clients out for dinners? Great. The Amex Business Gold earns four points per dollar on those categories, but maybe it's you're spending a lot on flights for company travel, or maybe you have inventory you're buying, or you're paying a lot of contractors, or you have a lot of payroll. You want to assess where you're spending the most money.   and make sure you have the optimal card lined up for that type of expense. So I'll pause there, but that's kind of the first bucket. The other one is on using the points effectively, which I can talk about too, is pretty powerful. But that first one is really the linchpin. Because if you have a bunch of Delta miles and you want to go to Europe, I'll give an example actually one more before I kind of pause. There was an example recently I saw of a client and they wanted to go to Europe and we're looking at different options. This was from JFK to Amsterdam. If you have Delta miles,   Eli Facenda (18:43.547) The ticket for Delta One, this big awesome Delta Suite, was 320,000 miles. That's what Delta was charging to go from JFK to Amsterdam. It's really expensive amount of miles. But the same exact flight, like same flight number, same aircraft, everything, if you booked it through Virgin Atlantic, it was 50,000 miles. One seventh of the amount almost. It's really, really big difference. And so here's the kicker, right? If you have a Delta card, you only earn Delta miles, so you have to pay the 320,000.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:46.765) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:02.124) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (19:12.497) but if you had an Amex card that earned Amex points, so like the Amex gold or business gold, you could actually convert those points into Virgin to book the Delta flight because Virgin and Delta are partners, and you'd pay 50,000 points instead of 320,000. So this is the part where like, for people that kind of get this, they're like, whoa, and the other people are like, what did you just say? So I get it can be, it can be tricky for some people that are just getting to grasp it, but I want to make sure to lay out the whole game so people can understand really what's possible for them.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:34.764) Yeah   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:42.329) Totally, totally. Yeah, it's just, mean, I'm sure people out there listening, it's both, right? Some people know these things exist, but they don't know the extent of it. And you're opening up their minds regardless, right? Like all the possibilities. I think most people are just like, sure, I need to find a great car that has a welcome offer of some sort. That's usually what people look at. And then they just try to pick, perhaps they take it a step further and they're looking to see like what they spend money on the most and they'll...   Eli Facenda (19:54.139) Tour then.   Eli Facenda (20:04.443) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (20:11.128) calibrate that card to that. But you're taking it step further because you know, it's kind of just opening yourself up to knowing all the possibilities, right? All these different connections, where to spend the points, where you can earn the points, those sorts of things. How thick is your wallet, man? Do you have, is your wallet like this and it's got 25 cards in it or what?   Eli Facenda (20:19.419) Totally.   Right. Yeah.   Eli Facenda (20:28.123) Haha   Yeah. Yeah.   Well, caveat this first by saying when we work with clients and we might do recommendations for people, I always recommend if you have a business, two to three personal cards and two to three business cards. That is a simple way to set this up. That's only four to six cards across both things. That's enough where you're really gonna get some serious ROI, but it's not so much that's really complicated. Some people are kind of curmudgeoned about it, like I only want one card. And I'm like, that's fine. There's no right or wrong in this. It's really preferential, but you should just know if you do that, you're gonna be leaving for most business owners that spend at least a few thousand a month.   that's gonna cost you tens of thousands of dollars of free trips a year. So I'm like, is your simplicity of having one card worth that much? If it is, great, but maybe having a second or third card doesn't add that much complexity. But if you get an extra $30,000 a year trip out of it, probably worth it, right? So that's the first thing. But to answer your actual question, so I have an entire thing called the Credit Man purse. It's like this portfolio binder, and it's just stacked with cards. I mean, I have over 40 credit cards, but I've been doing this for a long time, right? And there's like, here's the thing also with credit.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:28.28) Hahaha   Eli Facenda (21:34.041) A big question, a lot of investors, specifically people that are doing real estate or business owners, really want to their credit clean and we're huge advocates of actually not just keeping your credit score the same but improving it over time. And when you get business cards, they don't show up on your personal credit report. Okay, the vast majority. The inquiry will, but the actual card won't. And some banks, you can actually get multiple cards with no additional inquiries. So like when we do a custom card plan for someone or when we're just recommending it, we're always saying like, make sure to look at which banks you already have relationships with.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:48.142) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (22:02.373) which ones you can get a soft pull from, the order matters of these card applications. But at end of the day, you just want a couple of specific cards that are really gonna be custom built for you, and you don't have to go crazy with it. If you get excited and you're like passionate about it, you can get 10, 15, 20 cards over the course of several years, and if you do it right underneath your businesses, it's not gonna drop your personal credit score. Your personal credit score will actually go up over time.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:26.314) Mm-hmm. That's a good hack, man. I'll get I'm put you on a spot a little bit. I'm gonna explain like what what I see a lot of the people that are probably listen to this show have in place structured wise like organizational structure and it's kind of similar to mine. Mine's probably a lot more complicated, but just to keep it simple, you know, there might be a parent company, right? Like this overhead parent company that owns everything. So let's let's call it parent company, right? And then below the parent company, the parent company owns, let's say a management company.   This management company probably manages funds, manages properties, manages equity for investors, that sort of thing. And then they also might have these other businesses, right? Like it just depends on the person. Like for instance, I own gyms and some other, my law firm, things like that. So they might have these own individual operating companies that owns a gym or owns another business or does these other things. you know.   Eli Facenda (22:55.889) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:20.066) Based on that structure, so you've got a parent company, you've got a, let's call it an equity management or fund management or property management company, and then you've got kind of this other operating business. How would you structure, what credit cards I guess would you kind of recommend? Not necessarily specific ones, but like, do they need one for all three or, yeah, how would you think about that?   Eli Facenda (23:27.301) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (23:36.593) Yeah, yeah, but how would you think about that? Yeah, totally. I mean, it's a super common question. Like this is exactly the kind of clientele that we work with all the time where they're like, are you sure this is gonna work for me? I have four rental properties, two companies, one holding company. I have an investment thing. I have this thing over here. It's like, yeah, it all works. So simple is the key. So it's always a spectrum too. Like some people are, again, really minimalist with like what they want. we always, like when we're doing this for a client, we custom build it. But.   The real recommendation there is we wanna, again, assess which of these companies are actually generating the highest amount of spend. And those are the ones we wanna start with first in terms of cards and really optimizing. Now, if you have a bunch of different companies and they all have a bunch of spend, the first key thing to know is that the points will go to the business owner, the person who personally guaranteed the card, not to the business. So there's no business points account. It's underneath your name, even if it's underneath the LLC.   So the points go to you. So if you have like six different companies and you have like three Chase cards and three Amex cards, all of those three Chase cards and all of those three Amex cards are gonna basically funnel up to your account, okay? So that keeps it simple in terms of how you can think about accruing these points. They're not gonna be scattered everywhere where you can't use them. So that's good to know. Same with the airlines, right? doesn't matter if it's an airline or a bank card. So that's the first thing. For these management companies, usually lot of them don't have much spend.   So what we'll tend to do is just get one card that is like a catch-all card. And so this would be a card that we want to have earn around 1.5 to two points per dollar spent. Because what we've done is we've taken the floor of what you're gonna earn on your everyday spend and we just increase it by 50 to 100%. Okay, so like let's say a parent company is used for some client meetings and some basic legal and admin stuff and it's like 1,500 bucks a month just to do upkeep and normal stuff like that.   and it's not a crazy amount of different categories to spend. You're not running ads, you don't have that much software, there's not really a lot travel happening with it. But if that's the case, then what we wanna do is get a card, maybe like the Chase Inc. Unlimited, which earns 1.5x on everything, and we'll say, look, we're gonna keep this simple. That holding company doesn't have a lot of points earning power, so let's make sure we get a card on it just to earn, but we don't wanna like go crazy and get a bunch of cards and try to maximize every dollar. But this company that owns four different gyms and spends...   Eli Facenda (25:52.369) 50K a month on equipment and advertising and payroll and all this stuff, that's the company where we wanna look to get maybe two or three cards that are specifically aligned with that business to spend because that is where you as an entrepreneur, as an owner, are gonna be generating the most return. It's gonna be from that one entity. So I hope that breaks it down in a way that makes sense, but this is also where, again, having your cards across two to three main banks will keep it relatively simple because even if you have four different entities, if it's under one Amex login, that makes it nice and easy too.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:22.53) Totally, totally. Awesome, man. I knew you could handle that. Easy, easy peasy. Cool, man. Let's go to number two, right? Using the points effectively. You kind of touched on a little bit of that strategy, but let's jump into that.   Eli Facenda (26:26.682) Easy basic.   Eli Facenda (26:32.709) Yeah, yeah, so the second thing was optimizing the upgrades and all that. I'll cover that one really quick. If you're going through the airport and you don't have TSA PreCheck and clear and lounge access, you're missing out on some really easy perks that will just make your life way more enjoyable. So that's the first thing. There's a lot you can do with hotel upgrades and status. So like when I travel and go to Miami tonight for a conference, I have status at Hyatt. I'm staying at Hyatt for two of the nights down here.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (26:39.628) Okay.   Eli Facenda (27:02.225) I probably would get upgraded to a suite that's worth like thousand to 1500 bucks a night because I know how to use the suite and I certificate, it's my globalist status, I know how to message the hotel the right way. So there's some strategies there where if you do that, whenever you're traveling, you just get a much better experience. You get early check-in, late check-out, the free suite upgrade, much more spacious room. A lot of times they have lounges at the property like when we were in Tokyo, a bunch of us stayed at the Grand Hyatt there. They had a beautiful lounge overlooking the city. They had breakfast every morning.   They had drinks all day. They had a great lounge area. We actually had a mastermind session in there and they like a 15 person breakout room for us to go to. It cost us $0 to use it. They had afternoon drinks and stuff like that. So these are just the things that make your travel much better. So small tweaks that over time just again, make it a much more enjoyable experience. But that bucket on how you use your points, this is one of the most critical pieces. And I've already kind of alluded to it with that Delta One example, but   I'll share another one. So on the way to Japan, right, we flew ANA business class. This is all Nippon. It's one of the premier airlines in the world for international business class travel. They actually have a seat called The Room because it's so spacious and big, your own big sliding door. They have like an omakase menu. You've got ramen, champagne. It's like really, really good. Amazing sake and green tea and all this good stuff.   It was like an incredible way to fly and you know, it's an 11 hour flight and I didn't sleep a wink because I was just eating the whole time. But here's the deal, right? So that flight for my fiance and I, it would have been $20,000 for the two of us. It's 10,000 a piece. Okay, San Francisco to Tokyo. We're going in peak season, mind you. So I have three options to book that flight. I pay cash for it, which you know, I do decent in business, but I'm not dropping 20 grand on flights.   just to get to Japan, like that's out, that's way out of my bucket of what I would ever want to do. The second option, I go to the bank site. Okay, so again, if you have AMEX points, a lot of people have AMEX cards, like the platinum or the gold card, and this is a good start, but when you go to the bank site, each point is worth one penny. Okay, this is the baseline value of a point. So what happens is if you go to AMEX travel, they'll say, okay, this flight would cost, let's call it 20 grand. So 20 grand times one cent for each point equals 2 million points.   Eli Facenda (29:20.977) So my second option would have been to go to Amex's site and pay two million points, which I don't even have. Okay, so I'm like, that wouldn't have even worked, but that's what most people are doing at use points. They're going directly to the bank site and they're booking using Amex travel and they're getting absolutely screwed. Okay. There's kind of, and then there's a third option, which is to go through the airline site. So there's like three A and three B. Three A would be like, again, you only have Delta miles and you're kind of screwed going just to Delta. I don't recommend that. But the last option is what we did.   which is where we had Amex points and Chase points, and I looked at my different options and I said, okay, what are the best partner airlines I can book through to get to Japan? Well, it turns out, ANA is a part of the Star Alliance, okay? United is also part of that alliance. Chase and United have a partnership where I could convert my Chase points into United miles. When I looked that up, I ended up finding the deal and there's ways you have to kind of search this and track it, but that same flight that would have cost me two million points,   through Amex or Chase travel directly cost me 220,000 points to transfer from Chase to United. And I paid $12 out of Okay, so $20,000 flight, I paid 12 bucks. But how did I do it? I had the right points first. I had enough of them because I had the right cards and the right expenses. I knew how to search for this flight. And then I was able to transfer these points from Chase into the airline. So the hardest part of this entire process   Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:30.402) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (30:49.413) is figuring out the points transfers and which partners are the right ones for certain airlines. That gets very nuanced and complicated. It's kind of like, you know, if you were talking to a CPA and someone's trying to explain how like the Augusta rule works, whatever, and like the CPA pulls up like the tax code and is like unveiling this long list of tax jargon. The average person is just like, what, just like tell me how to do it, right? That's kind of the same thing here. There's a lot of different like angles and transfer partners and bonuses and.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:12.43) Right.   Eli Facenda (31:17.689) alliances and partnerships and it gets kind of complicated but that's how it works.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:22.434) Totally, totally. So let's talk about that. how do you help people keep track of that or learn that or execute, I guess, on these strategies?   Eli Facenda (31:32.241) Sure, yeah, so for us, our company really has two main levels to it. So we have a community-based level where it's like you're just getting the fast track, you're getting help from experts. So I'm really good at this, but I'm more of an entrepreneur than a points nerd. So as I built this, initially I was the one on the phone with all the clients, walking everyone through it, and then I built a team. So I found basically some of the other points nerds in the world that I was mind blown by. I knew them from social media and just seeing their stuff, and I was like, that person has their stuff. So I brought them onto the team.   And so our clients will interact with both me and them inside of our community, but it's not just points. We're also providing really cool travel experiences. So for example, I posted this, but I'm going kiteboarding in Egypt in June on this epic like entrepreneur kiteboard trip where it's 40 entrepreneurs going to learn how to kiteboard together and masterminding on one. And so I'm attending, I sent it out to our clients and I said, Hey, if you want to come on this, our team will help you plan the flights out there on your point so you can get business class on the way out.   So I like to, because ultimately I wanna help people, my mission is to help people create more experiential wealth in their life. There's financial wealth, and a lot of people accumulate dollars, but they're not turning it into experiences. So I'm like, let's create more experiential wealth, and the points are the way to justify it. So we have that community level where you get access to our team, there's calls you can jump on, ways we help you plan trips, and then we have the done for you services, where we basically just handle it for you. That's more like, think of like a travel agency on points for entrepreneurs.   That's more of what that is. And in there we'll do the custom card planning and map out what cards you need based off of what your specific spends are and stuff like that. So we do some pretty deep intake. And we kind of are almost like a travel agent. It's a little bit different in some ways, but that's basically the two levels in how we help people.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:12.29) Great, man. I love how you build in the experience, right? Like that's part of it. Like that's what you're teaching anyway. So it's like, it's not like, hey, join this, join this group and then we'll talk about all these things. You're actually doing it. You're actually inviting them to execute on what you're teaching so that they can see it in motion and then they can continue to do it and experience life at a different level.   Eli Facenda (33:32.497) Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, like, I really love it too. like, I'm like, everyone that works with us is really, usually a pretty cool person. Like, if you're an entrepreneur and you have the guts to build your own business, and then you wanna travel the world, like by nature of that, you're already probably a pretty cool person. Like the majority of people that are doing that, I think well-traveled people are some of the most interesting people. If you want the best stories in life, like, someone who's traveled the world is gonna have some stories for you. And so when you combine those two, it's like, these are people I wanna hang out with anyways. So like, I'm going on a trip to Egypt. I'm like, come with, like.   Whoever in the community wants to come, let's have a party, let's go do it. So it's great thing.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:04.994) That's great. Awesome, man. How are you raising the bar in your life and your business right now? Like what are you doing to build your business further, building off of some of the things that you're offering right now? Where are you taking it to the next level?   Eli Facenda (34:18.833) Yeah, so we have a new project we're rolling out inside of our community, which I'm really excited about, which is even just in our lower tier membership, and it's called our DreamTrip Alert System. So what this is, is when people come in, this has never been done before in the world of points and miles or travel at all. So we're the first to do this, which I'm really excited about. So let's say you were to sign up. You're gonna come in and give us your DreamTrip destinations, the seasons or windows that you could go, the points you have, your home airport, all this stuff.   and our team is going through and we're not just finding you like a flight, because there are different alerts out there that'll be like, hey, we found a flight. And it's like, cool, one way from LA to London, but like, what am I gonna do when I'm there? Where am gonna stay? How am getting back? Right, it's like part of the puzzle, but it leaves a lot on you to figure out. And for our clients, most business owners and entrepreneurs, investors, they're too busy to piece all that together. So they're like, well, cool, that doesn't really help me. So we decided to do, we said, what if we...   just basically sent people like a mystery subscription box of their dream trips. And so when you come in and you fill that out, we gather it. And then a couple times a month, we're gonna send out alerts where it's like a 30, 40 or $50,000 type trip, somewhere incredible in the world. We're talking Greek islands, Amalfi Coast, Japan, New Zealand, African safaris, Maldives, Bora Bora, places like that, business and first class flights, five star hotels, four pennies on the dollar. So these are like, we get $40,000 trips where people will end up paying a thousand bucks, 1500 bucks, two grand out of pocket.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:25.389) Mm-hmm.   Eli Facenda (35:44.337) And so we're gonna send the entire trip to you. So it's like the flights, the hotels, the entire step-by-step booking, the recommendations on the ground, the entire experience. And so we're sending those out so people come in, they tell us when, where, like the things they wanna do, and then they're just gonna get these alerts where it's like every month they're gonna be like, you you're sitting there with your wife, hey babe, you wanna go to Bora Bora in like June? It's gonna cost us like 800 bucks and it would be a $30,000 trip. It's like that's what I want. That's what I wanna create. So that's us raising the bar in the industry and in our business.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.35) you   Eli Facenda (36:13.615) I'm very excited, it's brand new for us, so I'm just pumped to see that continue to roll out, because it's, for me the mission is to help people live with experiential wealth in the form of travel. And so, usually there's some barriers that get in the way. There's time, there's planning, and then there's cost. And what we're trying to do is eliminate as many of those barriers as we can to make it just easier to say yes to the trip.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:34.252) Yeah, man, sign me up, dude. Sign me up. I feel like you've got to get both significant others on your list, right? So they both see it and whoever's like the person is like, we've got to do this, you hit both of them and then they convince the other one to do it.   Eli Facenda (36:36.625) All right.   Eli Facenda (36:49.477) Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. There's usually one. There's usually like sometimes it's the husband's on the call and he's like, dude, I don't know where we ever travel. Like I'm gonna pay for this, my wife's gonna do everything or it's the opposite where the guy's like, you know, she just shows up and I tell her where we're going. And so like that's my relationship. I'll be like, you know, it's my industry, my passion. I'm like, we're going here and then here. And she's like, tell me where to be. And she just has no idea where we are and she just loves it. And I'm like, I like planning. So, you know, but it's different for everybody.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.736) Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:17.144) For sure, for sure, man. All right, brother, this has been incredible. Tell our audience where they can find out more about you, where they can get involved with all the things, all the incredible things that they've heard on this show. Throw it out there,   Eli Facenda (37:28.859) Totally. Yeah, a couple of main places. So the first thing I'll share is that we have what I call the CEO Points Playbook. This is something I custom built. Took me a long time, and this was not a Chad TBT prompt. Like, I really built this on my own. And it is like a 30 to 40 page playbook that any business owner or entrepreneur can use to really maximize their travel experiences, get better bucket list trips, figure out the right cards for them. And it's normally 150 bucks, but if you go to freedomtravelsystems.com   forward slash playbook and you put in the code RAYS, you're gonna get it for free. Okay, so anyone listening, it is free for you. And so that's gonna be freedomtravelsystems.com forward slash playbook and then use the code RAYS, maybe we can put it in the show notes. And so that'll be the first thing. Second place is if you're like just want done for you services, just take off that forward slash and go to freedomtravelsystems.com. can talk to myself and one of the team members. And the last place, I hang out on Instagram and post a lot there, that's where we connected.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:14.049) Absolutely.   Eli Facenda (38:27.595) And that's where I'm sharing the most like behind the scenes and as I'm booking this stuff, as I'm planning it, as I'm showing like what our clients are doing, you get to see more of the visuals and the fun and come along for the ride. And so I love engaging on Instagram as well.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:40.27) Great. Thanks Eli. I really appreciate you coming on the show,   Eli Facenda (38:43.973) Thanks Seth, appreciate you having me on.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:45.806) All right, brother, talk soon.   All right, sweet dude. Nice. Yeah, right around 30 minutes. Let's see. Yeah, we'll just jump into these last few questions here.   Eli Facenda (38:51.748) Awesome.   Eli Facenda (38:55.205) Perfect.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:03.862) Welcome to Million Dollar Monday with Eli Fisenda. Let's just jump right in. Hey brother. Yeah, how did you make your first million?   Eli Facenda (39:09.243) Let's do it.   Eli Facenda (39:13.499) So I actually made my first million in a tour company. Now I made the first million, I didn't get to keep the first million, but what we were doing, we were running sports trips all over the world. This is actually part of how I fell in love with the travel industry and the work that I now do with points. And ultimately what we were doing, we were creating these international tour packages for youth sports teams and families to go on these international tours. think of like a 14 year old baseball team in your, you're in San Diego. We'd like do a selection of kids.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:19.694) Sure.   Eli Facenda (39:41.329) from that area and the families would come and they would go to Japan or Italy or wherever and travel for 10 days, experience the culture, have an educational tour and also play the local teams. So we did that in a variety of sports, ice hockey and baseball and lacrosse and all these different sports. And we were growing a lot and then that was ramping right until COVID and that just decimated the entire business. we took us about two years to get to a million and then we started to double almost every year for a few years and that was like.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:02.432) Mm.   Eli Facenda (40:09.399) Really, really tough break at COVID, but that was the first million.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:11.63) COVID man. Nobody saw that coming. mean.   Eli Facenda (40:13.881) No, definitely, you know, group, large, large group sports international travel was like the worst potential. Like you can't go overseas and you definitely can't do it with 60 people. So was, was a brutal industry to be in.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:25.506) Right? Yeah, there were certain sectors that just, I mean, there was nothing you could do. We opened up our first gym actually two weeks before COVID hit in 2020. we had our, us like two years to open and then our grand opening. And then we had a bunch of free clients in those first two weeks. And then they ended up being free clients for about a year because we couldn't charge them. Cause we couldn't get them back in the gym. We're doing online workouts and all that kind of stuff is insane.   Eli Facenda (40:36.817) Ugh.   Eli Facenda (40:47.696) Wow.   Eli Facenda (40:53.337) And that's like where the true entrepreneurial muscles are definitely strengthened in times like that though. mean, like the people that bounce back and figure it out, like you just have a new sense of confidence of like, you know, I can handle anything.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:54.22) But hey, we adapt,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:06.764) Yeah, man. I mean, you pivot, right? Like I actually ended up launching my first podcast during during COVID because I was stuck inside and it was like, all right, let's let's do this. Let's get on Zoom and interview people and all that kind of stuff, man. So that leads us right to the next question. And how do you make your last million? How do you make that transition?   Eli Facenda (41:12.859) Cool.   Nice. Cool. I'll it.   Eli Facenda (41:24.143) Yeah, so the last million that I made was in the current business that I have. so essentially what we've been doing there for about four years now is helping entrepreneurs maximize their travel on credit card points. So helping them get their dream bucket list trips, these 30, 40, $50,000 trips all over the world for about 90 % off by leveraging credit card points. And we've traditionally had some pretty high ticket services. I mean, not crazy expensive, but like, you five, 10, 15 K and that range has been the main main service. And so,   We cracked our first million about two years in, so that was 2020, 2024 actually was the first year we made a million there.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:00.526) Awesome man, awesome. How about your next million? Where are you scaling to?   Eli Facenda (42:04.305) Yeah, so the next million I wanna make is the same business. love what I do, I really enjoy it. And what I wanna do is do it in a more community oriented and lower ticket way. So I wanna have bigger reach, more digital products, more of the community, more affiliate services and stuff like that. And I'm really excited about kind of cracking the code on that, because we've done it decently with the higher ticket stuff, more agency level, service level stuff, which is great. And we're still cranking on that, we're gonna keep growing it. But I really wanna see what we can do with...   So the lower ticket stuff, creating awesome stuff on YouTube that leads to different channels and distributions there. So that's the next million and same business, just different type of money.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:41.57) I love it man, yeah, that's kind of opposite of how some people approach it, right? You usually start with a lower ticket and then you have to build up that base before anybody will give you, you know, higher, pay for that higher ticket product, but you're kind of working backwards because you want to help more people.   Eli Facenda (42:56.677) Totally, exactly, yeah, and there's a limit. mean, what we do in the high ticket is incredible, but it really is a specialized skill. Like you think about like a bookkeeper or an accounting firm or something, like there's like a million bookkeepers. There's like 50 people that know points and travel to the level that I need them to know it to really serve clients with the highest level. So there's a real limit on the ability to scale that. And so it's also just like, we wanna be able to do really quality work for less people, but then serve more people with the other stuff too.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:25.368) Totally, totally.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (43:29.518) Cool, let's jump into the next one dude and we'll wrap up. Eli, you're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do. I don't even know if there's that many people out there that do what you do at all, period. So clearly in the top 0.0001%, what is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?   Eli Facenda (43:49.701) I think it's our ability to actually live what we preach. This is something where, you know, there are other fantastic people that talk about credit card points, but very few of them are actually business owners, like that's who we serve, and very few of them are actually traveling in the way that they're trying to help people travel. So we've done both. I've built multiple businesses, so I understand the psychology and the relatability of how you wanna think about travel and points and the various stresses in your life, the limitations on time and complexity. And I also,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:06.062) Hmm.   Eli Facenda (44:20.636) What just happened?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:22.998) I'm not sure. We can splice it together, but let's see. Lost the video.   Eli Facenda (44:26.748) Let me see here. Did my camera die or something?   Bizarre. second.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:36.076) Yeah, weird. Never had that happen.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:42.038) Not a big deal, we can splice it together, but let's see if we can get your camera working again.   Eli Facenda (44:46.992) Don't see my camera get help. Is the audio coming through okay? Did it switch over there to my MacBook from the other one? Or it sounds the same.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:51.564) Yeah, I can hear the audio.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (44:57.806) I don't know. All I see is like a car. It's like I don't know. It's a card with a symbol on it I wonder what that is that riverside or is that your symbol? I can't be your symbol   Eli Facenda (45:06.556) weird. Get help.   Eli Facenda (45:12.006) Let me see.   trying to check this out.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:19.458) We can also just finish it with audio.   Eli Facenda (45:23.556) Is it, Dude, I don't know what's going on. Sorry about that. I've never seen...   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:28.654) no worries, dude. We can just finish it with audio anyways.   Eli Facenda (45:31.63) New recording track created the participants have been recorded.   Issue device struggling to record. High load on your device. Try closing all other apps. Give me one second. I don't have any apps open. That's really weird.   Eli Facenda (45:53.126) Yeah, I don't know man. I apologize. I Okay, well yeah   Seth Bradley, Esq. (45:57.219) you're good, We'll just finish an audio and then I'll pull up for the video. I'll just black screen to a logo or something. So all good. I don't exactly know where you're at. If you want to start that sentence over.   Eli Facenda (46:04.048) Okay, cool.   Eli Facenda (46:07.866) Yeah, I'll just, I'll say, I'll just start. So yeah, so not only have we really walked the walk with actually living what we preach, but we also understand that psychology of what it's like to be a business owner, your limitations on time and complexity and all that stuff. And because we're talking about travel, people also want to know like what's actually in store for me in this destination. I've been to 50 countries now and my business partner has been to almost 100.   We have other team members who are all over 30, 40, 50 countries. So we've been to a lot of the destinations around the world that we're advising people to go to. So we know the ins and outs, best places to stay, hidden gems, top restaurants, stuff like that, that really add another layer of personalization and true experience into the service. So I think those are the things that really make us most credible in this space.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (46:57.506) Dude, it's so important, right? Like there's so many, you know, there's so much content out there now. There's gurus and coaches and mentors, whatever you want to call them. Like the ones that are truly valuable and that people should pay attention to are the ones that are actually practicing what they preach, right? The ones that aren't just selling you education or aren't just selling you a product. Like they're actually, they've done what they're selling and they continue to   enjoy or do what they're selling.   Eli Facenda (47:28.635) 100%, yeah, if you're a living embodiment of what you do, it makes it that much easier to communicate it and sell it because you just are the thing you're selling.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (47:38.764) Yeah, absolutely. What's one thing someone listening could do today to get 1 % closer to their dream life?   Eli Facenda (47:45.089) One thing that would be the easiest is to spend 30 minutes, go on Instagram, go on your favorite social media site, go on some travel blog site, look for your dream destination, then pull up your calendar and put a time on the calendar where you're committing to go. One of my favorite quotes is from Tim Ferriss, I forget the exact quote, but basically the idea is that if you don't schedule your fun first, it won't happen.   because your business and your life will take up as much space as you allow it to. So most people find that I'll take the trip when it's convenient. I'll take the trip when I have more time. That time is never coming until you make it a priority. So the one thing they can do to get closer to their dream life is to just make a more bold commitment to putting the time on the calendar and be like, I am going and make some sort of investment, whether you're telling someone, whether you're putting some money down, whether you're learn the point stuff, that's gonna be the biggest leverage you can make.   to make sure that you actually follow through on taking these trips and then you'll find how to get there on points if you need to from there.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (48:50.766) 100 % man, gotta put it, people, entrepreneurs, people like us, we work in all the time, you've gotta put it, put it in your schedule. You've gotta block it out, commit to it.   Eli Facenda (48:59.821) Absolutely, 100%.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (49:04.554) Alright dude, I think we got it wrapped up, man.   Eli Facenda (49:05.743) Beautiful. Awesome, Dan. Well, this was super fun and I apologize agai

We're diving headfirst into the chaos that is parental leave in the United States — and debunking the absurd notion that being a mom somehow makes you any less dedicated or productive at work. Here today to help us navigate the murky waters of parental leave is Daphne Delvaux, Esq, also known as The Mamattorney — a legal badass who's made it her mission to fight pregnancy and postpartum discrimination and help women understand their rights at work. She's the founder of Delvaux Law, the only firm in the country dedicated exclusively to women's rights in the workplace. In this episode, Daphne breaks down what the law actually says, what your employer hopes you don't know, and how to protect yourself — legally, financially, and emotionally — when you're expecting (or recovering, or parenting, or just trying to stay employed while having a uterus). We cover: What to do if your HR department can't (or won't) help How to prep for maternity leave without sacrificing your career Legal protections you already have but probably haven't been told about The gender double standard of parental expectations at work Why we need to stop treating parenthood like a liability Because here's the truth: being a parent isn't the problem. The systems that punish you for it are. And if we're going to ask women to work like men, then it's time men start parenting like women. Connect with Daphne:  Website: https://www.themamattorney.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/themamattorney/?hl=en Related Podcast Episodes: Wages For Housework with Emily Callici | 325 The Good Mother Myth with Nancy Reddy | 274 Two Can Win (Helping Two-Career Families Move From Chaos To Connection) with Tiffany Sauder | 243 Share the Love: If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

Steve Palmer here - I'm joined by our resident law student, Troy Hendrickson, who's here to bring a fresh perspective and some real-life questions from the trenches.Today, Troy brings up a hot topic that's been making waves among his fellow clerks and across legal social media: Can courts stop ICE agents from making arrests inside the courtroom? We look into real cases—including one where a judge faced criminal charges for attempting to help a defendant evade ICE—and discuss candidly the legal and ethical limits for lawyers and judges when it comes to federal agents and immigration enforcement.We'll cover important concepts like the supremacy of federal law, what attorneys can and can't do when it comes to clients facing arrest, and where the line is between standing up for your beliefs and risking your career. Whether you're a law student, a practicing attorney, or just curious about the realities behind courtroom doors, you'll find plenty to chew on in this episode.Key Moments00:00 Judge Aids Defendant's Escape05:19 "Unpleasant Ethical Duties in Law"08:27 Legal Ethics: No Crime Assistance12:20 Arguing Both Sides Skillfully13:06 Mastering Argument: Embrace All SidesHere are my top 3 takeaways:Ethics over Emotion: As attorneys, our personal views can't trump ethical and legal obligations. Even if you disagree with the government's actions, taking active measures to help clients evade arrest (like sneaking them out the back) can cross into obstruction of justice—and carry real consequences.Know Where the Line Is: There's a critical difference between informing a client of a warrant and helping them hide or avoid law enforcement. Advising is part of the job; aiding in evasion is not.Federal vs. State Authority: The courtroom is a public forum, and ICE—as federal agents—cannot easily be banned from the space by local judges. The Supremacy Clause puts federal law above state, meaning local attempts to keep ICE out could backfire.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences...

The Limitations of AI in Legal Document Review: "You can't just rely on the AI because AI isn't perfect. They don't see things that, they don't see that other dimensional focus that you want if you're going to prepare an actual defense to a case." - Steve PalmerI'm giving you my take on one of the hottest topics in the legal world right now: artificial intelligence. More and more companies are using AI for things like contract drafting, document review, and legal research—and I'm here to share my own experiences with these tools in my practice, along with some thoughts on where this technology is headed.I'll walk you through how I use AI to manage massive piles of discovery, transcribe hours of police bodycam footage, and even help with legal research and drafting arguments. I'll also talk candidly about where AI falls short, why there's no substitute for actual legal judgment, and the dangers of putting too much trust in technology. You'll hear my take on how AI might drive down the cost of legal services and change the way law firms are structured—whether you're part of a huge corporate outfit or running a solo shop like mine.Here are my top 3 takeaways for legal professionals considering AI:AI boosts efficiency, especially with document review.Lawyers and firms can now use AI to quickly summarize large volumes of legal documents, discovery materials, and even transcribe hours of police footage, saving valuable hours that used to be spent manually reviewing files.Human oversight remains critical.While AI can draft memos and briefs or conduct legal research, Steve warns that these outputs can still include mistakes or misinterpret case law. Final review by an experienced attorney is a must to ensure accuracy and avoid professional pitfalls.AI can cut costs for lawyers and clients.By reducing repetitive tasks, AI may lower the need for excessive billable hours or extra associates. This means leaner firms and potential savings passed on to clients, especially for routine work like contracts and memos.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage

George G. Misko, Esq. is a Partner at Keller and Heckman LLP in Washington D.C. He counsels domestic and foreign clients on food and drug matters and advises clients on regulatory requirements relating to chemical substances specific to food contact, plastics, and food products in the U.S. and other jurisdictions, including Canada, the EU, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region. George also has experience in counseling on environmental concerns, including pesticide regulation, right-to-know laws, and toxic substance control regulations. He represents trade associations and is legal counsel to the Global Silicones Council. Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, George was Senior Regulatory Counsel for the Chemical Specialty Manufacturers Association (now known as the Household and Commercial Products Association), where he counseled on a broad range of environmental and health and safety issues. George is a frequent contributor to trade publications, including Food Safety Magazine, and he is frequently invited to speak at conferences on food contact and chemical control laws. In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with George [41:42] about: The potential regulatory implications for the food industry of the Trump Administration's focus on food packaging chemicals and food contact materials, as outlined in the May 2025 “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Report How new policies or laws on food packaging and food contact materials could impact food safety assurance and packaging innovation The existence and quality of evidence supporting the MAHA Report's claims about the negative health effects of certain food additives and preservatives How food companies can address the Trump Administration's concerns about preservatives, sweeteners, and other additives without compromising food safety and quality The MAHA Report's call for federal reform of the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) provision and what it means for food chemicals and ingredients regulation Ways in which GRAS reform could be implemented and how it would affect food companies Cases where GRAS could still be a useful tool for food companies and regulators. News and Resources News Reagan-Udall Foundation's ‘Roadmap to Produce Safety' Encourages Private Sector-Led Collaboration [10:21] Survey: Confidence in U.S. Food Safety Hits Record Low, Foodborne Pathogens Are Top Concern [17:12] Half of Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreaks Caused by Overhead Irrigation Water, Study Finds [29:51] Senate Confirms Dr. Susan Monarez as CDC Director [37:46] USDA-FSIS Names Trey Forsyth as Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety [38:22] FDA, USDA Issue Joint RFI to Address the Risks of Ultra-Processed Foods [38:54] Resources Food Safety Leadership in the Business of Food Safety, Second Edition in Paperback “The Views of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Food and Food Packaging Safety” by George G. Misko, Esq. for Food Safety Magazine August/September 2025 “Diamantas and Choiniere: FDA Focuses on Produce Safety, MAHA, Culture, and More,” Food Safety Matters Podcast MAHA Report Sets Stage for Overhaul of Food Chemicals, Environmental Contaminants, and Childhood Nutrition We Want to Hear from You! Please send us your questions and suggestions to podcast@food-safety.com

Susan Guthrie welcomes accredited financial counselor and CDFA® Leah Hadley to explore the changing financial landscape of divorce in today's unpredictable economy. From rising healthcare costs to a volatile housing market and shifting tax laws, the economic realities of 2025 are reshaping how couples need to approach divorce settlements. Leah shares how thoughtful financial planning, strategic modeling, and expert guidance can help protect your long-term stability, especially if you're divorcing later in life. If you're navigating divorce in this climate, this episode offers timely, essential insights to help you negotiate smarter and move forward with confidence. You'll hear: The truth about healthcare costs and how subsidy cuts may affect you How to plan for (and afford) health insurance post-divorce How housing market trends are shifting common divorce strategies Tips for reducing stress and avoiding costly financial mistakes The top mistake people divorcing after 50 make and how to avoid it More About Our Special Guest, Leah Hadley, AFC®, CDFA®, MAFF® As the Founder of Intentional Divorce Solutions (formerly known as Great Lakes Divorce Financial Solutions) and Intentional Wealth Partners. Leah Hadley is committed to guiding clients to financial independence through thoughtful and strategic planning. An influential voice in the financial community, Leah is a sought-after speaker and expert in overcoming financial setbacks and navigating the financial complexities of divorce. She's a frequent guest on podcasts and has contributed her insights to numerous books and online platforms. Leah is also the author of "When It's Just Not Working: A Practical Divorce Guide for Stay-At-Home Moms." At the heart of her practice, Leah finds genuine satisfaction in empowering her clients to achieve their most heartfelt financial goals.  In her leisure time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending quality time with her husband, three children, and three dogs.   Websites: Intentional Divorce Insights Podcast https://www.greatlakesdfs.com/podcasts/intentional-divorce-insights FREE WEBINAR: If you're over 50 and contemplating divorce, don't miss Leah's free upcoming webinar: Divorce After 50: Protecting Your Retirement and Securing Your Future. https://www.greatlakesdfs.com/divorce-after-50   https://www.greatlakesdfs.com https://www.watchherthrive.co Social Media:  http://instagram.com/watchherthrive https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahhadley Also referenced in this episode: Divorcing in 2025: The High Cost of Uncertainty on Divorce Take the Most of Your Listening Experience: If this episode resonates with you, be sure to: Subscribe to Divorce & Beyond so you never miss an episode. Share this episode with friends or loved ones who need hope and healing. Leave a 5-star review to help us reach even more listeners. Follow Us Online: Divorce & Beyond:  https://divorceandbeyondpod.com, IG: @divorceandbeyond MEET OUR CREATOR AND HOST: SUSAN GUTHRIE®, ESQ., the creator and host of The Divorce and Beyond® Podcast, has been nationally recognized as one of the top family law and divorce mediation attorneys in the country for more than 35 years.  Susan is the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution and is a sought-after keynote speaker, business and practice consultant, coach and trainer. You can find out more about Susan and her services here: https://susaneguthrie.com Divorce & Beyond is a Top 1% Overall and Top 100 Self-Help podcast designed to help you with all you need to know to navigate your divorce journey and most importantly, to thrive in your beautiful beyond!   ***************************************************************************** SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: HELLO FRESH HelloFresh is now a proud sponsor of Divorce & Beyond! If you've been thinking about cutting back on grocery bills, avoiding food waste, or just getting dinner on the table without the stress — this is your moment, because right now, HelloFresh is offering one free item in every box — for life! That's right — every single box you order includes a free item, forever. And just to give you a taste of what that looks like... I got pineapple upside-down cakes in my first order! I originally discovered HelloFresh during the pandemic and fell in love with learning new recipes and expanding our dinner routine. I let it go for a while — hey, I live in Chicago with world-class restaurants on every corner — but with today's rising costs, HelloFresh is back on my table, and I'm so glad it is. So if you're ready to save time, money, and dinner — go to divorceandbeyond.com/hellofresh and sign up today to grab that free item for life. ***************** YUMIYU Jewelry YUMIYU Jewelry is Susan's favorite source for meaningful, handcrafted jewelry designed to empower women and celebrate individuality. Each piece is made with care, using high-quality materials like real gold and vermeil, and is water-resistant, non-tarnish, and hypoallergenic. During difficult times, like divorce, wearing a symbol of hope or protection—such as a hamsa or an evil eye—can be a comforting reminder to keep the faith and stay strong. As a special gift to my listeners, YUMIYU Jewelry is offering 20% off your purchase! Use the code "BEYOND" at checkout to claim your discount. Explore their stunning collection at yumiyujewelry.com and find your perfect piece today! Link: https://divorcebeyond.com/YUMIYU  Code: “BEYOND” for 20% off! ***************************************************************************** SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE! If you would like to sponsor the show and reach our large community of those going through and healing from divorce, please reach out to us at  divorceandbeyondpod@gmail.com for pricing and details!!! ***************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER:  THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE.  YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTICULAR ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

We're kicking off a brand-new series on The Immigration Lawyer's Toolbox® Podcast dedicated to the tools, strategies, and tech that are reshaping immigration law. In this episode, John Q. Khosravi, Esq. is joined by Roman Zelichenko, J.D. — entrepreneur, immigration attorney, and founder of LaborLess and GMI Rocket — for a deep dive into: ✅ Game-changing tech for streamlining case management and compliance ✅ How to leverage LinkedIn to market your practice and position yourself as an industry leader ✅ The role of creative marketing in building trust and attracting clients ✅ Balancing professional growth with personal passion projects   This is the start of a regular conversation series where we bring you practical insights and forward-thinking ideas from leaders in immigration law and technology. If you want to future-proof your practice and stay ahead of the curve, you won't want to miss this.

In this follow-up episode, I'm digging deeper into the behind-the-scenes realities of how judges get involved in plea deals—something that came up after a listener asked about the high-profile Kohberger case. Drawing from my own experience in the courtroom, I break down what actually happens when the defense and prosecutor work out a resolution, and just how much the judge usually knows ahead of time. I also talk about the key differences between state and federal courts, sharing some candid stories where things didn't exactly go according to plan—sometimes it really feels like the “wild wild west.” If you've ever wondered how plea discussions unfold, what role judges play, or how I prepare clients for the unknown, this episode will give you honest, practical insight. Here are 3 key takeaways:Judges Aren't Always Part of Plea Negotiations: Contrary to popular belief, the judge's main role is to approve or reject a plea, not craft the agreement. In some jurisdictions, judges may offer input, while in others, it's a strict closed-door policy, and the outcome remains uncertain until sentencing.Every Jurisdiction is Different: There's a stark difference between federal and state courts. Some state judges might preview potential sentences with counsel, while in other courts, lawyers are left guessing until the very end.Always Prepare for the Unexpected: Even with a “recommended” sentence agreed upon by both sides, the judge is not required to follow it. As Steve Palmer shared, lawyers must always prepare clients for every possible outcome.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Call 614-859-2119 and leave us a voicemail. Steve will answer your question on the next podcast!Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high-publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor (June 27, 2025) it is critical for school districts to understand their ongoing legal obligations related to addressing gender identity and sexual orientation. In this episode, listeners will learn about key aspects of the Mahmoud decision and how that decision impacts parental rights related to religious expression and opting their children out of certain classroom lessons in grades K-5. The episode also includes a review of ongoing obligations under New Jersey state law, including the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, and existing requirements related to curriculum, instruction, ensuring access to diverse and inclusive materials, promoting a safe and affirming school environment and addressing bias-related acts.Host: David Nash, Esq., Director of Legal Education and National Outreach, Foundation for Educational Administration Guests: Mx. Louis Noha Manziano, Supervisor of English Language Arts & Social Studies, Grades 6-12, Metuchen School District; Lori Burns, Ed.D., Director of Early Childhood P-3 Robbinsville School District

In Episode 397, host John Q. Khosravi, Esq. reunites with Kevin A. Gregg, host of the Immigration Review podcast, for their monthly dive into federal litigation. They explore trends, key case takeaways, strategic tips for navigating federal courts, and how litigation is shifting alongside USCIS practices. Key topics: Emerging patterns in federal litigation Key takeaways from recent cases Strategic considerations for attorneys navigating federal courts The evolving relationship between litigation and USCIS trends Show notes: Roman Zelichenko Tennis Retreat Tune in to the podcast here:  YouTube | Podcast | iTunes For Lawyers Only: Master the EB-1A petition—plus get a bonus O-1 visa workshop. JOIN NOW! - Get the Toolbox Magazine here! - Join our community (Lawyers Only):  - Get Started in Immigration Law! The Marriage/Family-Based Green Card course is for you 

In this episode, I share the unexpectedly awesome journey of discovering one of my favorite artists—Ziggy Alberts. From a surprise concert in NYC to a solo cabana in Miami Beach, I recount the shows, the memories, and how this Aussie busker became the Noah Kahan of my playlist. Plus, stories from the Sea.Hear.Now Festival, venue mix-ups, and why I might just follow Ziggy to Madrid.If you've ever loved a musician no one else seems to know, this one's for you.More information and tickets at:  www.BocaRatonWrestling.comBoca Raton Championship Wrestling, because we are better than you, and you know it!!!!Matthew Mania is running wild at: www.MatthewMania.comCheck out our other Podcasts: www.MatthewMania.com/PodcastsShop Matthew Mania:   www.ProWrestlingTees.com/matthewmaniaBrought to you by:Matthew H. Maschler, Esq.Real Estate BrokerSignature Real Estate Finder, LLCwww.RealEstateFinder.comAsk about joining the Signature team! Learn more about the Signature Real Estate Companies and why you should join South Florida's real estate industry leaders, Ranked #1 in Boca Raton, #25 in Florida and #336 in the Nation.www.SignatureRecruiter.comOffices in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Coral Springs / Parkland, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Palm Beach, Orlando and throughout Florida.Help Israel Now! All support goes Straight to Israel's Soldierswww.yasharlachayal.orgLearn how to support our efforts to provide housing in Haitihttp://www.frank-mckinney.com/caring-house-project

Send Dr. Li a text here. Please leave your email address if you would like a reply, thanks.In this heartfelt episode of the Make Time for Success podcast, Dr. Christine Li welcomes back the vibrant Natasha Nurse, Managing Director at MRM Education, for a candid conversation on self-discovery, late-in-life neurodivergent diagnosis, and embracing authenticity. Natasha shares her personal journey with ADHD and autism, the transformative impact of understanding her neurodivergence, and how this has shaped her life as a leader, parent, and advocate. The episode also explores how workplaces and educational settings can better support neurodivergent individuals, and Natasha's work in creating equitable, impactful spaces for learning and growth. If you're interested in stories of resilience, embracing your true self, and challenging societal norms, this episode is not to be missed!Timestamps:[00:02:00] – [00:03:42]: Reunion and setup for Natasha's neurodivergence journey.[00:03:42] – [00:07:43]: Natasha's diagnosis story and early experiences.[00:07:43] – [00:09:51]: Discussing authenticity and the emotional side of autism.[00:09:51] – [00:12:02]: Finding community with other neurodivergent people.[00:12:02] – [00:15:46]: Workplace challenges and embracing neurodivergence at work.[00:15:46] – [00:20:44]: The Black woman's experience and the importance of supportive spaces.[00:20:44] – [00:24:16]: Self-esteem, reframing neurodivergence as a superpower.[00:24:16] – [00:27:14]: Overview of MRM Education and its mission.To sign up for the Waitlist for the Simply Productive Program, go to https://maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/SPFor more information on the Make Time for Success podcast, visit: https://www.maketimeforsuccesspodcast.comGain Access to Dr. Christine Li's Free Resource Library -- 12 downloadable tools and templates to help you bypass the impulse to procrastinate: https://procrastinationcoach.mykajabi.com/freelibraryTo work with Dr. Li on a weekly basis in her coaching and accountability program, register for The Success Lab here: https://www.procrastinationcoach.com/labConnect with Us!Dr. Christine LiWebsite: https://www.procrastinationcoach.comFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/procrastinationcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/procrastinationcoach/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@procrastinationcoachThe Success Lab: https://maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/lab                        Simply Productive: https://maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/SPNatasha Nurse, Esq.Learn more about MRM Education: https://www.mrmeducation.com/Podcast: https://www.swellcast.com/MRMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrmeducationFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrmeducateLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mrm-edu

In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Stephen Seckler discuss:How lawyers can better align their personalities with business developmentNavigating career transitions within the legal professionHow meaningful networking creates long-term career momentumLeveraging authenticity and consistency to build a professional brand Key Takeaways:Lawyers who struggle with traditional selling can ease into business development by focusing on small, genuine actions like reconnecting with familiar contacts and writing about subjects they care about.Clarifying which types of clients, cases, and activities energize or drain you is an essential first step before deciding where and how to focus your marketing efforts.The most productive networking conversations happen when lawyers ask clear, focused questions, such as “What's a good introduction for you?”—and balance listening with intentional follow-up.Professionals can avoid wasting time in aimless meetings by preparing a loose agenda beforehand, staying focused on mutual goals, and knowing what specific outcome they want to achieve by the end of each interaction. "You don't have to have an entrepreneurial mindset to act with entrepreneurial intent." —  Stephen Seckler Unlock the secrets of rainmaking success—join Steve Fretzin and four powerhouse legal experts for Be That Lawyer LIVE on August 27; reserve your spot now at fretzin.com/events. Ready to go from good to GOAT in your legal marketing game? Don't miss PIMCON—where the brightest minds in professional services gather to share what really works. Lock in your spot now: https://www.pimcon.org/ Thank you to our Sponsor!Legalverse Media: https://legalversemedia.com/ Ready to grow your law practice without selling or chasing? Book your free 30-minute strategy session now—let's make this your breakout year: https://fretzin.com/ About Stephen Seckler: Stephen E. Seckler, Esq., is the President of Seckler Attorney Coaching and an award-winning coach who has spent over 25 years helping lawyers nationwide achieve greater career satisfaction. He works with attorneys at all stages—from those pursuing partnership to others exploring career changes or leadership roles—through programs like The Next Stage. Steve brings deep experience in legal education and recruiting, and he collaborates with both individual lawyers and legal leaders. He hosts the Counsel to Counsel Podcast, contributes to multiple ABA publications, and regularly speaks at bar associations and on legal podcasts. His book Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur was published by the ABA in 2025. A member of the Mindfulness in Law Society and ProVisors, Steve has been recognized as a top coach by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and enjoys squash, parody, behavioral economics, and singing with a rock choir.Connect with Stephen Seckler:  Website: http://www.seckler.com/Book: Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur: https://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Lawyer-Act-Entrepreneur/dp/1639056025Show: Counsel to Counsel Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counsel-to-counsel-career-advice-for-lawyers/id1344814079LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenseckler/Connect with Steve Fretzin:LinkedIn: Steve FretzinTwitter: @stevefretzinInstagram: @fretzinsteveFacebook: Fretzin, Inc.Website: Fretzin.comEmail: Steve@Fretzin.comBook: Legal Business Development Isn't Rocket Science and more!YouTube: Steve FretzinCall Steve directly at 847-602-6911 Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Season 5, Episode 189Hey Thrive Tribe! This episode is a MUST-listen because we're diving into something we all need but rarely talk about—Estate Planning 101! I'm joined by the incredible Clarette C. Farmer, Esq., an estate planning attorney who's breaking it ALL down in a way that actually makes sense. No confusing legal jargon—just straight-up facts about why estate planning isn't just for the wealthy and how YOU can start protecting your assets, your legacy, and your loved ones TODAY.Thriver Nuggets: 10 steps to take RIGHT NOW to kickstart your estate planning journey. PSA: If you haven't grabbed your tickets for the Courage Couture Gala, what are you waiting for?! They're almost SOLD OUT, and trust me, you don't want to miss this empowering, elegant night of impact and celebration. Get your ticket before they're GONE! Link to get your ticket: https://www.leahmforney.com/event-details/courage-couture-gala-2025Tune in, take notes, and let's make sure we're securing our future like the bosses we are. Clarette Contact Info: Website: www.clarettecfarmer.com Social Media: @clarettecfarmer

Be careful what you pray for…. The weekly Torah portion includes far more depth than what appears in a quick review of its passages. Each week in Beyond the Letter of the Law, Harry Rothenberg, Esq. (Rothenberg Law Firm LLP, https://injurylawyer.com) provides interesting insights and take-away lessons from the Torah portion and the Jewish holidays. Subscribe to enjoy his unique blend of analysis, passion, and humor. A Project Of Ohr.Edu Questions? Comments? We'd Love To Hear From You: Podcasts@Ohr.Edu https://podcasts.ohr.edu/

During the Bonus Addition to Ep. 61 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. welcomes Attorney Bishoy Habib of Tampa, FL based Levacy Legal to discuss: Why does growth by acquisition fit into the growth model for Levacy legal?   As Bishoy explains, an established Senior Attorney-led firm that has a Book of Business, a staff in place, and has subject matter knowledge and expertise, “adds a ton of value [on] day one.”   Bishoy also explains the value of Senior Attorney sellers and their key employee lawyers continuing to practice following a law firm acquisition.   As Bishoy states, “The goal when we acquire . . . is never to let anybody go . . . We want to keep what's going on in tact and make it more efficient, make it better, and bring it into [a] new era . . . .”

Episode 396 of the Immigration Lawyers Toolbox Podcast features a special interview with Gianfranco De Girolamo, Esq., an accomplished immigration attorney and law firm strategist. In this episode, we explore law firm growth, AI in immigration practice, and business strategies for attorneys:

This week, we're talking about one of the toughest real-life dilemmas facing new lawyers—something law school rarely prepares you for: navigating client wishes versus ethical boundaries.We take you behind the scenes of everyday law practice. From handling clients who want to take highly risky (sometimes, downright hopeless) legal steps to the tough decisions attorneys must make about which fights to pick… it's an eye-opening look at the messy, often unglamorous side of legal work.Key Discussion Highlights:What happens when a client wants to withdraw a guilty plea—even if it's a terrible idea? Steve and Troy talk through how lawyers handle these requests, why it's rarely as straightforward as clients hope, and what the law actually allows.Ethical boundaries vs. making a living: How do attorneys decide whether to take on a case they believe is a lost cause? Hear about the fine line between providing hope, doing your ethical duty, and avoiding the trap of just “taking the money.”Lessons law school skips: Steve reflects on why ethics in real life is far more complex than textbook scenarios, and shares how he balances legal rules, his conscience, and his clients' desperation for help.Should lawyers ever take futile cases just because a client insists—especially if someone else will? The discussion gets honest (and a little bit philosophical) about client autonomy, justice, and where a lawyer should draw the line.Listener Challenge:Have you faced a similar dilemma—in law or another field? Would you “fix the stairs” if the client is willing to pay, even if it's not in their best interest? We want to know!Reply to this email or leave your thoughts via our socials or at lawyertalkpodcast.com.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Connect with us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | LawyerTalkPodcast.comMentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

On this episode of the SeventySix Capital Sports Leadership Show - College Sports Edition, Wayne Kimmel and Co-Host Ken Shropshire interviewed Sports Agent and Founder of SANIL and AthleticDirectorU, Jason Belzer. Belzer discusses the transformative changes in college athletics, particularly focusing on the impact of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rights, the evolving role of athletic directors, and the influence of private equity in the sports ecosystem. He emphasizes the need for transparency and education for young athletes navigating this new landscape, as well as the potential for collective bargaining to reshape the industry. Belzer also highlights the importance of community and unity in college sports, as institutions adapt to the rapidly changing environment.Belzer, Esq. is co-founder and CEO of Student Athlete NIL (SANIL), an agency of record that specializes in assisting brands, universities and student-athletes navigate the new era of name, image and likeness. SANIL manages more than 45 NIL collectives at universities across the country and hosts the annual NIL Summit at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.Belzer is also founder and President of GAME, Inc., an agency that specializes in the career management and marketing of coaches and the creation of collegiate sporting events. The firm represents more than 30 head Division I men's and women's basketball coaches and has negotiated more than $100 million in contracts to date.He is also co-founder of AthleticDirectorU, a transformative digital media and professional development platform for college athletic administrators and coaches. ADU is the No. 1 read original content publication in the college sports industry.Belzer graduated from Rutgers University, earning degrees in Sport Management and Political Science. He went on to receive his MBA from the University of Illinois and a JD from Rutgers University School of Law and is a licensed attorney in New York and New Jersey.Ken Shropshire:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-shropshire-wharton/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennethshropshire/Jason Belzer:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbelzer/X: https://x.com/JasonBelzerChapters:00:00 The Evolution of College Athletics09:19 Navigating NIL and Athlete Representation17:50 The Impact of Direct Payments on College Sports24:26 The Future of Private Equity in College Sports32:10 The Role of Athletic Directors in Modern Sports

Today on Tax Tuesday, Anderson Advisors Barley Bowler, CPA, and Eliot Thomas, Esq., focus on capital gains, cryptocurrency, stock trading structures, and real estate strategies. They explain how capital losses are deducted and the $3,000 annual limit that hasn't been adjusted for inflation since the 1950s. You'll hear about Bitcoin's tax treatment as a personal asset with favorable capital gains rates but note the lack of wash sale rule protections. They demonstrate how a trading partnership with a C corporation can provide significant tax advantages through accountable plan reimbursements. The episode extensively covers real estate topics including the distinction between repairs and capital improvements, the inability to deduct lost rent from deadbeat tenants, and home office deductions for primary residences. They explain 1031 exchanges in detail and explore strategies for managing large capital gains from personal residence sales, including converting to rental properties and the Section 121 exclusion benefits. Submit your tax question to taxtuesday@andersonadvisors.com Highlights/Topics: "I have a large capital loss. How are capital losses deducted? When should I consider taking a tax write off by closing the position, unrealized versus realized gains?" - Capital losses offset gains first, then $3,000 annually against ordinary income. "My wife and I are considering investing in Bitcoin. What are the tax advantages or disadvantages of doing so investing crypto for crypto for that type of investment?" - Bitcoin treated as capital asset with favorable rates, no wash sale rules. "I do a lot of stock buying and selling. Is it tax efficient to set up a business entity?" - Trading partnerships with C corporations provide excellent accountable plan reimbursement opportunities. "Can you explain what differentiates whether a real estate rental deduction would be categorized as a maintenance repair deduction versus a capital expense deduction? And provide examples. Please explain how these are treated differently from a tax perspective as well." - Repairs maintain property condition; capital improvements add value, extend life, or change use. "Can I deduct lost rent from a deadbeat tenant?" - No deduction available; you simply don't report income you never received. "I've heard you talk about renovations major to rental property and tax advantages, but what about for my primary residence? I need to finish the basement. Upgrade the house. This is also the address of my C corp business is registered to, and I operate a home office out of it. When I complete taxes next year, is there anything specific that I can take advantage of due to this large expense?" - Primary residence improvements add to basis; home office allows business-related deductions. "Can I do a 1031 exchange on real property?" - Yes, but not on primary residences or inventory properties like flips. "I bought a rental property in California in 2019 for 700,000 as replacement property from a 1031 exchange. 400,000 was from the sale of rental property in Seattle, Washington. 300,000 from my savings. I took a loan, also a 600,000 for expansion, uh, in repairs in January of 25. How much of the money I invested from my personal savings, the 300,000, can I get back without having to pay tax? I listed my rental property for 935,000." - Any cash taken from 1031 exchange creates taxable boot; consider real estate professional strategies. "I'm selling my personal residence next year. We currently have an anticipated capital gain of a million. I'll be paying taxes on 500,000 of the capital gain above the capital gain exclusion for married filing joint. What tax strategy would you suggest that I may plan to use in order to mitigate paying federal taxes against the 500K capital gains? Could I do a 1031 exchange or of a personal residence? Can we convert the personal residence to a rental and then sell it in one to two years?" - Use Section 121 exclusion first, consider converting to rental within five-year window for 1031. Resources: Schedule Your Free Consultation https://andersonadvisors.com/strategy-session Tax and Asset Protection Events https://andersonadvisors.com/ss/?utm_source=5-reasons-restructure-sole-proprietorships&utm_medium=podcast Anderson Advisors https://andersonadvisors.com/ Toby Mathis YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TobyMathis Toby Mathis TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@tobymathisesq

One of the most important—and often overlooked—aspects of the criminal justice process: how to choose the right appellate lawyer. Over the years, especially as I've shifted my practice even more toward appellate work since COVID, I've seen firsthand how critical it is to have someone by your side who knows the ins and outs of appeals, post-conviction rights, and all the potential pitfalls along the appellate ladder.Just hiring any lawyer for your appeal isn't enough. I'll walk you through the so-called “appellate ladder,” and explain how missing a single step—like forgetting to object at trial or failing to properly raise federal issues—can shut you out of federal court review down the line. I've run into these issues myself while representing clients in federal habeas corpus cases, which is why I'm passionate about making sure you know what to look for and what questions to ask when interviewing appellate lawyers.I'll also give you real-world advice: what to ask your lawyer, why it's crucial to plan several moves ahead, and how failing to build your case the right way from the start can leave you without options when it matters most.If you're facing an appeal, or just want to better understand this complex process, you'll find this episode essential. And as always, if you have any questions or want me to cover a specific topic about appeals—federal, state, or otherwise—head over to LawyerTalkPodcast.com and let me know!Here are three key takeaways for anyone considering appellate counsel:Look for True Appellate ExperienceNot all lawyers are familiar with the unique nuances and pitfalls of the appellate process. You need someone who understands the “appellate ladder” and what it takes to preserve issues at every stage.Ask about Federal IssuesYour appellate lawyer must know how to frame your objections as federal constitutional issues—not just state law issues—if you ever want your case considered in federal court (habeas corpus). Missing this step can completely close the door on federal review.Always Be Thinking Several Moves AheadAppeals are like chess. The best lawyers anticipate possible outcomes at every step and ensure all arguments are preserved for future appeals—even if those seem remote.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in...

In recent months, a number of new legal theories and tools have been proposed – some prominently used – in civil rights cases, many involving anti-Semitism in higher education. What legal mechanisms are available against universities, whether in governmental enforcement actions or private party lawsuits? Is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 being used in new ways? What about other approaches, such as government contract rules, the Ku Klux Klan Act, RICO, or the use of the tax code and immigration law? The panel will consider a range of possibilities as well as constitutional and statutory limitations.Featuring:Dr. Mark Goldfeder, Esq., CEO and Director, National Jewish Advocacy CenterMarc Greendorfer, Co-Founder and President, Zachor Legal InstituteRobert Shibley, Special Counsel, Campus Advocacy, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)Marc Stern, Chief Legal Officer, American Jewish Committee(Moderator) Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder and Chairman, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law

I'm tackling a question from Lucy about what's really going on with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's infamous associate.There's a lot of mystery and speculation swirling around this case—from plea deals and pending appeals to the mechanics of Congressional subpoenas and whether Maxwell might actually decide to spill what she knows. I'll walk you through the legal nitty-gritty: how prosecutors strike deals with defendants, the real deal behind “queen for a day” letters and proffer agreements, and the reasons why someone in Maxwell's shoes would or wouldn't talk.I'll break down what protections defendants actually get, how the government handles cooperation and sentences, and what it would really take to get new info out of Maxwell at this stage. If you've wondered how these high-profile deals get made, or what power Congress actually has when it comes to compelling testimony, you won't want to miss this inside look.Moments00:00 Maxwell's Legal Battle and Subpoena03:53 "Proffer Letter Concept Explained"09:14 Government Deals and Maxwell's Legal Options11:00 Maxwell's Potential Deal and TruthHere are 3 key takeaways that shed light on the complexities of these headline-making cases:"Queen for a Day" Proffers: Defendants sometimes receive a "proffer letter," which allows them to share information with prosecutors without those statements being used directly against them. But this isn't immunity—prosecutors can use any leads gained to pursue additional evidence.Why Maxwell Might (or Might Not) Cooperate: Despite public pressure, there are still real legal risks for Maxwell in talking, especially while appeals are pending. Unless she's offered meaningful incentives (like a sentencing reduction) or immunity, there's little reason for her to share details—especially in a public forum like a Congressional hearing.Evaluating Truthfulness in Deals: Even if a defendant agrees to cooperate, prosecutors must vet the information. Deals hinge on truthful, verifiable accounts—anything less could void potential leniency.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Call 614-859-2119 and leave us a voicemail. Steve will answer your question on the next podcast!Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high-publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping

As the Artificial Intelligence revolution continues to transform all aspects of our society, school districts need to understand their evolving legal obligations. In this episode, listeners will learn about new federal and New Jersey laws addressing deepfake technology, including new civil and criminal penalties, and new tools for working with social media platforms to remove harmful content. The episode also includes a discussion of key legal considerations as school districts develop their policies and protocols around the use of AI. Finally, participants will see a first hand demonstration of how AI can assist in presenting complex information in new and exciting ways, including through the use of simulated podcast episodes that allow for real time interaction and deep exploration.Host: David Nash, Esq., Director of Legal Education and National Outreach, Foundation for Educational AdministrationGuest: Michael Gaskell, Principal, East Brunswick Public Schools

In Ep. 61 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following: Why the Rewards Outweigh the Risks for Growth by Acquisition   As Poock explains, “When it comes to Growing Law Firms that are considering growth by acquisition, it's really six rewards that we're going to talk about versus three risks.   The 6 rewards are as follows:   (1) Instant client growth by succeeding to a well-established Book of Business filled with clients & referral sources.   (2) Adding knowledgeable & experienced lawyers and para-staff.   (3) Low risk earnout payments as consideration to the owner(s) of a selling law firm (percentage of revenues paid during a fixed period of time).   (4) Opportunities to convert decades of Subject Matter Knowledge to digital content for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.   (5) Succeed to a legacy phone number(s).   (6) Benefit from established websites & additional digital value (egs. SEO rankings, 5-Star Google Reviews, 3 Pack results & more).   The 3 risks are as follows:   (1) Potentially overpaying a Seller if the clients from a selling law firm's Book of Business do not retain the acquiring firm.   (2) Not having enough lawyers & para-staff to provide legal services to the clients of a selling law firm   (3) The costs of adding overhead associated with growth by acquisition (egs. salaries, benefits, additional rent, etc.)   Poock addresses those risks as follows:   By often structuring law firm sales as earnouts, purchasers minimize their risk by aligning the consideration paid in a law firm acquisition with collections derived from a selling law firm's Book of Business during a negotiated period of time.   Key employee lawyers and para-staff at a Senior Attorney-led Firm present great opportunities for new hires for acquiring law firms because of the key employees' experience, plus their trusted relationships with the clients of a selling law firm.   In terms of adding overhead costs, Growing Law Firms recognize that any increase in overhead attributable acquiring a Senior Attorney-led firm will become offset by adding hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sometimes, millions of dollars, in new revenues.   In conclusion, Poock states, “The rewards absolutely outweigh the risks when it comes to growth by acquisition for Growing Law Firms.”

Del Bigtree returns to call out the AAP after it declares war on religious exemptions. ICAN is doubling down in its fight, and we need you. Jefferey Jaxen investigates the rising push for Universal Basic Income and Central Bank Digital Currencies — and what it means for your freedom. And, major health institutions are doubling down: the AAP is now targeting religious exemptions in a dramatic new push. Finally, Dr. Fabrizio Mancini joins the show to share the most powerful step in our health revolution: awakening the body's innate ability to heal.Guests: Aaron Siri, Esq., Dr. Fabrizio ManciniBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

On this episode, host Adam Russo welcomes Scott Bennett, Esq., Executive Vice President, Provider Relations, The Phia Group. Adam and Scott discuss how and how fast AI is changing healthcare for payers, providers, and patients. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio”.

Join us today to talk about Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut. Music by Sir Brandon Layne, Esq. Find us on IG: @betweentwoworldspodcast@confessionsofamallratpodcast@michelle_fett@ih8_prettyh8machine

It all started with a need to organize a sandwich, an iPad, and some earbuds on a flight — and spiraled into a full-on designer bag obsession. In this episode, Matthew shares his evolution from using supermarket plastic bags and department store totes to discovering Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and the Pharrell-designed Speedy. Along the way, he questions gendered fashion norms, finds unexpected functionality in luxury design, and embraces the power of having the perfect carry-on. Whether you call it a handbag, pocketbook, or man bag — this one's for the curious, the stylish, and mostly the practical traveler. More information and tickets at:  www.BocaRatonWrestling.comBoca Raton Championship Wrestling, because we are better than you, and you know it!!!!Matthew Mania is running wild at: www.MatthewMania.comCheck out our other Podcasts: www.MatthewMania.com/PodcastsShop Matthew Mania:   www.ProWrestlingTees.com/matthewmaniaBrought to you by:Matthew H. Maschler, Esq.Real Estate BrokerSignature Real Estate Finder, LLCwww.RealEstateFinder.comAsk about joining the Signature team! Learn more about the Signature Real Estate Companies and why you should join South Florida's real estate industry leaders, Ranked #1 in Boca Raton, #25 in Florida and #336 in the Nation.www.SignatureRecruiter.comOffices in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Coral Springs / Parkland, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Palm Beach, Orlando and throughout Florida.Help Israel Now! All support goes Straight to Israel's Soldierswww.yasharlachayal.orgLearn how to support our efforts to provide housing in Haitihttp://www.frank-mckinney.com/caring-house-project

Title: How to Make Millions with Vending Machines with Mike Hoffman Summary: In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman delve into the world of vending machines as a business opportunity. Mike shares his journey from a Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur in the vending industry, highlighting the evolution of vending technology and the potential for passive income. They discuss the importance of location, understanding demographics, and the scalability of vending routes. Mike emphasizes the need for upfront work and learning before delegating tasks, while also addressing the misconceptions surrounding passive income in the vending business. In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship, particularly in the vending machine business. They explore the importance of capital raising, the journey of self-discovery, influences that shape business decisions, and the definition of success. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of flexibility, discipline, and focus in achieving entrepreneurial goals, while also touching on financial milestones and the attributes that distinguish successful entrepreneurs. Links to Watch and Subscribe:   Bullet Point Highlights: Mike's journey from a classic Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur. The evolution of vending machines from traditional to smart technology. Understanding the importance of location in the vending business. The analogy of baseball levels to describe starting in vending. Scaling up from single A to big leagues in vending routes. The significance of demographics in product selection for vending machines. The potential for passive income with proper systems in place. The need for upfront work before achieving passivity in business. Vending is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it requires dedication. The future opportunities in the vending industry are expanding rapidly. Raising capital can dilute ownership but may be necessary for rapid growth. Self-discovery often leads to unexpected career paths. Influences in business can come from personal experiences rather than just mentors. Success is often defined by the ability to prioritize family and flexibility. Entrepreneurs work harder than in traditional jobs but gain flexibility. Discipline is crucial for saying no to distractions. Successful entrepreneurs often focus on niche markets. High foot traffic locations are ideal for vending machines. AI is transforming business operations and efficiency. Networking and connections can lead to valuable opportunities. Transcript: Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:04.898) Mike, what's going on buddy? Doing great brother, doing great. How about you?   Mike (00:06.748) Don't worry,   Mike (00:11.664) Good, I'm a little flustered. I usually have my mic set up over here, but I guess we just moved and it's not here today. I guess, yeah, new office and it's been a whole hot mess.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:19.822) New office or what?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:27.862) Nice man, nice. I see you got the whiteboard cranking back there. Love to see that.   Mike (00:33.114) Always. I love your background. That's sweet.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:38.03) Thanks man, yeah, I'm on camera all the time so I like I need to just build this out instead of using like a green screen so Made the investment made it happen   Mike (00:44.86) Totally.   Yeah, absolutely.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:49.442) Have we met in person or not? I don't know if we've met at a Wealth Without Wall Street event or I couldn't tell. Okay. No, I did not go to Nashville last year.   Mike (00:58.478) I don't think so. don't think you're... Were you in Nashville last year?   Mike (01:04.634) No, okay. No, I don't think we've met in person. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:08.256) Okay, all good, man. All good. Well, cool. I'll just go over the format real quick. We'll do kind of a shorter recording. We're do like 30 minutes, something like in that range. And then we'll just kind of like break. And then I'll, want to record a couple of other quick segments where I call it Million Dollar Monday. I'm kind of asking you about how you made your first, last and next million. And then 1 % closer, which would just be kind of what separates you, what makes you the   top 1 % in your particular vertical. So we'll just kind of record those separately. Those will be real short, like five minutes or so.   Mike (01:44.924) Okay, yeah, I'll follow your lead. All good.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.15) Cool. Cool. Let's see. I think I already have this auto recording. So we're already recording. So I'll just jump right in.   Mike (01:55.377) Okay.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:57.782) Welcome to Raise the Bar Radio, hosted by yours truly Seth Bradley. We today we've got Mr. Passive, Mike Hoffman. Mike, welcome to the show.   Mike (02:08.189) Thank you for having me fired up to be here.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:10.855) Absolutely man, really happy to have you on. I know it's been a little bit of a trek here to get our schedules lined up, but really stoked to have you on today, man. I see you said you moved into a new office. You've got the whiteboard cranking, so love to see it.   Mike (02:25.372) yeah, whiteboards are the only place I can get my thoughts down.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:29.399) Yeah, man, it makes a difference when you actually write something rather than type it or even on a mirror board where you're doing it online. just there's something about physically writing something down.   Mike (02:41.328) You know, I'm glad you said that because yesterday I flipped to Seattle for a quick work trip and I didn't have wifi and I literally had three pages of just, I, was so like the clarity of some of these kinds of bigger visions I have now from just being able to write for an hour on a flight was, I was like, man, I gotta do this more often.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:00.363) Yeah, for sure. The key though is once you write it down, it just doesn't go into the trash or into a black hole somewhere where you never see it again. So that's kind of the disadvantage there. If you have it on your computer and you're taking notes or you have it on a mirror board, at least it's there to reference all the time. If you write it down on paper, sometimes, I've got my Raze Masters book right here for notes, but it's like, it might go into the abyss and I'll never look at it again. So you gotta be careful about that.   Mike (03:27.184) Yeah, yeah, I need to check out the Miro boards. I've heard a lot of good things about them.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:31.467) Yeah, yeah. Awesome, Mike. Well, listen, for our audience who doesn't know anything about you, maybe just tell them, you know, tell them a little bit about your background. Tell them about your your main business and we can take it from there.   Mike (03:43.354) Yeah. So I think for those that don't know about me, I'm a classic Midwest farm boy started with a classic, you know, showing cattle at the county fair and all of that and had a lemonade stand growing up. And then my first job was actually at McDonald's, you know, thinking about the whole success of that business model. But when I was coaching and, out of college, I got my first rental and I was like, wow, this is crazy. making money without.   really much time involved. and then with my work in Silicon Valley, know, Seth, was classic Silicon Valley, you know, cutthroat job that, startup life and traveling three weeks out of the month. And I was on, I was in airports all the time. And was like, these vending machines I would run into at airports were just so archaic. And so I went down this path of like unattended retail and kind of the future of, of that. And that's really where I just see a huge opportunity right now.   And so it's kind of what led me into all these different income streams that I'm passionate about.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:49.431) That's awesome, man. Well, let's dive into that a little bit deeper. me about these income streams. It centers around vending machines, right? But I'm sure there's a lot more to it. I'm sure there's a lot of different entry points for people. Maybe just kind of give us a general synopsis to start out.   Mike (05:06.78) Yeah, so I think the big thing with, you know, if we're talking vending specifically as an income stream, you know, most people think of vending as the traditional machines where you enter in a code, you put your card on the machine and then a motor spirals down a Snickers bar or a soda and you go into the chute and grab it.   Nowadays, there's these smart machines that literally you just unlock the door, or even if you go into, land in the Vegas airport right at the bottom of the escalator where it says, welcome to Las Vegas, there's a 7-Eleven with gates and AI cameras, and there's no employees in the 7-Eleven. And it just tracks whatever you grab and to exit the gate, you have to pay for it. So like, there's just this huge market now where we just installed it in urgent care.   less than two months ago and we can do over the counter meds in that machine because it doesn't have to fit into a motor. It's just shelf space. You identify with the planogram with the AI cameras like, okay, Dayquil in this slot or Salad in this slot and then whatever they grab, gets charged to the person that pulls it from it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:15.469) That's interesting, man. Yeah, I mean, my initial thought too, was just like the traditional old vending machine where you're getting a candy bar or a cola out of there. But yeah, nowadays, now that you mentioned that, you see this more and more every single day where you've got these scanners, you've got kind of self-checkout, that sort of thing. So that's kind of, that expands that world and really opens it up to the future, right? Like it just really, that's what we're trying to get to, or at least we think we wanna get there, where we're kind of removing humans and...   kind of working with technologies and things like that.   Mike (06:49.488) Yeah, and I think, you know, removing the whole human thing. mean, those machines still got to get stocked and you know, there's not robots running around doing that. But I just come back to, I was a Marriott guy when I was on the road all the time and I'd go to these grab and goes at a Marriott and grab a, the end of the night, I'd grab like a little wine or an ice cream sandwich. And I literally had to go wait in line at the check-in desk behind three people checking in just to tell them, Hey, put these on.   room charge and I was like if I had a checkout kiosk in that grab-and-go I could have just removed all the friction for this customer experience.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:27.772) Right, 100%. Yeah, I mean, there's a place and time for it and there's more and more applications for it that just pop up every single day and you can kind of spot that in your life as you're just kind of moving through, whether you're checking into your hotel or whatever you're doing.   Mike (07:41.456) Yeah, yeah. So that's just kind of what excites me today.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:45.973) Yeah, yeah, so when a stranger asks you what you do just in the street, what do you tell them? Because I have a hard time answering that question sometimes too, but I'd love to hear what your answer is.   Mike (07:56.804) Yeah, I would just say it depends on the day. You know, what do you do or what's your, you know, it's like at the golf course when you get paired up with a stranger and they're like, tell me about what you do for your career. And I just say, I'm a classic entrepreneur. And then I'm like, well, what do you do? And it's like, well, tell me about the day. You know, what fire are you putting out? Like today we just got the go ahead for five more urgent cares for our local route. But then, you know, we have a community of operators across the country that we help really build.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:57.933) haha   Ha ha ha.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:09.879) Yeah. Yeah.   Mike (08:25.616) Vending empires and so we had a group call this morning. So literally, there's a lot of just, you know, it's classic entrepreneurial life. You never know what the day's script is gonna be.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:36.161) Yeah, for sure. And you focus a lot on not only on your own business, but also teaching others, right? Teaching others how to kind of break into this business.   Mike (08:45.402) Yeah, that's my passion, Seth. When I got into my first investment out of college was a $70,000 rental, you know, putting 20 % down or 14K and using an emergency fund. like my background in going to college was as a coach. like I knew I wanted to kind of take that mindset of like coaching people, you know, teach them how to fish. I don't want to catch all the fish myself. It's just not fulfilling that way. So that's really where my passion is.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (09:15.373) Gotcha, gotcha. tell me about like, tell me about step one. I mean, how does somebody break into this business? Obviously your own personal business is probably very advanced. There's probably a lot more sophisticated investing strategies at this point and you've got different layers to it. But somebody just kind of starting out that said, hey, this sounds pretty interesting. This vending machine business sounds like it can be passive. How do you recommend that they get started?   Mike (09:40.57) Yeah, so I'm always, I view like the whole vending scale as similar to Major League Baseball. You got your single A all the way up to the big leagues. And if you're just starting out, I always recommend like find a location where you can put a machine and just learn the process. Like to me, that's single A analogy. you know, that always starts with, people want to jump right to like, well, what type of machines do you recommend?   products, how do you price products? And the first question I'll always ask Seth is, well, what location is this machine going in? And they're like, well, I don't know yet. I was just going to buy one and put it in my garage to start. And it's like, no, you need to have the location first. So understanding that, is it a pet hospital? Is it an apartment? Is it a gym? Where is the foot traffic? And then you can cater to what's the best machine for that type of location.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:36.887) Got it, got it. Now is this a kind of a rent, you rent the space to place the machine with that particular business or wherever you're gonna place it or how does that all come together?   Mike (10:47.644) not typically, some people are kind of more advanced, like apartment complexes are used to the revenue share model. So they're going to ask for a piece of the pie for sure, for you to put the machine in their lobby. but like, you know, when we're talking urgent carers or even pet hospitals are viewing it as an amenity. And so we probably have, I don't even know how many machines now 75 now, and we, you know, less than half of those actually,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:50.423) Okay.   Mike (11:15.1) us rent or ask for a revenue share to have them in there. So I never leave lead with that, but we'll do it if we need to get the location.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:23.989) Interesting gotcha. So it's really a value add for wherever you're gonna place it and that's how most people or I guess most businesses would look at that and then you're able to capture that that space   Mike (11:27.366) Mm-hmm.   Mike (11:34.236) Yeah, absolutely. So, um, a great case study is we have a 25 employee roughing business here in Oregon. And you might think like, only 25 employees. It's not going to make that much money. Well, we do $1,200 a month. And the cool thing about this, Seth, is the CEO of this roughing company literally did napkin math on how much it costs for his employees to drive to the gas station during their 20 minute break. And then   How much they're paying for an energy drink at the gas station and then how much gas they're using with the roofing like the work trucks to get to and from the gas station So he's like I want to bring a smart machine into our warehouse Set the prices as half off so that four dollar monster only costs his rofers two dollars and then we invoice him the the business owner every month for the other 50 % and so he actually   Calculated as a cost savings not asking for money to rent the space   Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:35.597) Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. That makes sense. That makes sense. I love the baseball analogy with the single A, double A, triple A, even into the big leagues here. know, a lot of the folks that listen to this are already kind of, you know, in the big leagues or maybe think about some capital behind them. Like how would they be able to jump right in, maybe skip single or double A or would they, or do you even suggest that? Do you suggest that they start, you know, small just to learn and then maybe invest some more capital into it to expand or can they jump right to the big leagues?   Mike (12:48.891) Yeah.   Yeah.   Mike (13:03.966) I think they can jump right to the big leagues. this is, I'm glad you brought this up because just listening to some of your episodes from the past, there's no doubt that you have people that could buy a route like a off biz buy sell today. And I think this is a prime opportunity. it's very similar to flipping a house. you, you know, there's a route in Chicago, I think it was for $1.1 million, you know, whatever negotiating terms or seller financing or, or what have you, got a lot of, your, your   audience that is experts in that. But the cool thing about these routes is they have the old school machines that have the motors and that are limited to, this type of machine, you can only fit a 12 ounce cannon. Well, guess what? The minute you buy that route, you swap out that machine with one of these micro markets or smart machines. Now you just went from selling a 12 ounce soda for $1.25 to now a 16 ounce monster for $4.50.   Well, you just bought that location based on its current revenue numbers and by swapping out that machine, you're going to two or three acts your revenue just at that location. And so it's truly just like a value play, a value upgrade, like flipping the house of, okay, there's a lot of deals right now of these routes being sold by baby boomers where it's like, they got the old school Pepsi machine. Doesn't have a credit card reader on it. They can't track inventory remotely via their cell phones. So   They're not keeping it stocked. Like all those types of things can really play in your favor as a buyer that just wants to get to the big leagues right away.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:37.651) I love that. When you say buy a route, what are you really buying? Tell me about the contractual agreement behind that. What are you really buying there?   Mike (14:47.184) You're just buying the locations and the equipment associated with it. So like this Chicago route, it's like, we have machines in 75 properties all across the Chicago suburbs. And they could be medical clinics. could be apartments. could be employee break rooms at businesses, but that's when you start diving into those locations. It's like, I have a snack machine and a soda machine here. Well, you swap that out with a micro market that now instead of.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:49.279) Okay. Okay.   Mike (15:13.626) that machine that'll only hold a small bag of Doritos that you charge two bucks, well now you get the movie size theater bags that you can really put in there in a micro market. Like naturally just that valuation of that route based on those 75 machines current revenue, I mean you're gonna be able to two or three X your revenue right by just swapping out those machines.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (15:35.959) Wow, yeah, I love that analogy with real estate, right? It's just like a value add. It's like, how can I bring in more income from what already exists? Well, I need to upgrade or I need to put in some capital improvements, whatever you want to call it. Here's the vending machine upgrades or a different kind of system in there. And you get more income. And obviously that business in itself is going to be worth more in a higher multiple.   Mike (15:58.396) Absolutely. mean, a great example of this is we had a machine in an apartment complex and it was your traditional machine with the motors and you have to enter in the code. Well, we could only put in four 12 ounce drinks and then chips. Well, we swapped that out with a micro market. Well, now that micro market, we literally put in bags of Tide Pods for laundry, like these big bags of Tide Pods. We'll sell those like hotcakes for 15 bucks. And our old machine,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:25.281) Yeah, let's say those aren't cheap.   Mike (16:27.246) Yeah, our old machine Seth, it would take us to get to 15 bucks, we'd have to sell eight Snickers. That's one transaction.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:33.547) Right, right. Yeah, yeah. How do you do an analysis kind of based on like what you think is gonna sell there, right? Like you're replacing, let's say a Dorito machine with Tide Pods, you know? So you have to individually go to each location and figure out what will work, what will sell.   Mike (16:47.738) Yeah.   Mike (16:51.834) It's all about demographic. Absolutely. So, you know, we have, we have, we have a micro market and a manufacturing plant that's, it's a pumpkin farm and there's a ton of Hispanic workers. So we do a lot of like spicy foods, a lot of spicy chips. do, we do a ton of, mean, the sugar or sorry, the glass bottle cokes. They do, they love their pastries.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:53.431) Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:06.349) Yeah.   Mike (17:15.868) So we just doubled down on the demographics. So yesterday I was filming at one of our micro markets that's in a gym and they crushed the Fairlife protein shakes, like the more modern protein shakes, but they won't touch muscle milk. So we're literally taking out one row of muscle milk just to add an extra row of Fairlife shakes. So you're constantly just catering to the demographics and what's selling.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:40.632) Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. I mean, this is literally just like real estate, right? Like you go and you find a good market. You're talking about demographics, right? Find the market, see what they want, see how much you can upgrade, how you can upgrade. If it's an apartment, it's a unit. If it's here, it's the product that you're selling and the type of machine, or maybe it's a mini market. A lot of things to kind of tie your understanding to here.   Mike (17:45.926) Yeah.   Mike (18:05.904) Yeah, absolutely.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:07.615) Yeah, awesome, man. Awesome, Where are you at in your business? Like what, you know, what are the big leagues looking like right now? You know, what are you doing to expand your business, raising the bar in your business?   Mike (18:18.692) Yeah, I'm going after that's a really good question. I'm going after kind of these newer markets and we're kind of past that point of like, okay, let's pilot in this location. For example, that urgent care, we didn't know if it was going to be a good location two months ago when we installed. Well now it's already crushing it. Well, there's six other urgent cares in town and we just got to go ahead on five of those six. So like for me, it's doubling down on our current proof points of where.   okay, we know that manufacturing plant, the pumpkin farm does really well. So let's start getting intros to all their, manufacturers of the products they need to grow pumpkin. know, like we're just doubling down on scaling because now we have the operational blueprint to really just kind of to go after it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:03.917) Gotcha, gotcha. Tell me about how passive this can really be, right? So I used to have, before we switched over to the new brand, Raise the Bar podcast, it was the Passive Income Attorney podcast, right? I was really focused on passive investments, focused on bringing in passive investors into my real estate deals, things like that. And I think that word passive gets thrown around quite a bit, right? And sometimes it's abused because people get into things that are not truly passive.   Mike (19:18.427) Yeah.   Mike (19:28.784) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:33.517) What's your take on that as it relates to the vending business?   Mike (19:38.49) Yeah, so I think as far as with the vending business, there's clearly upfront leg work that needs to be done, whether that's finding locations or any of those things. So I have a route that is here in Oregon, and then we bought a route last year in Illinois and have scaled that route. I spend 30 minutes a week on each route now. that these urgent cares and stuff, like we have an operator that's running the whole route.   Here's the problem, Seth. It's like people are so scared to build systems to ultimately systemize things or they're too cheap to hire help. And I'm the opposite. like, you know, kind of like Dan Martell's buy back your time. Like I have like a leverage calculator and like I constantly think about is this worth my time? Cause as you know, you're busier than me. Like it's so limited.   for me, my routes, I would consider them passive, like one hour a week is, is nothing in my mind. But as far as like, you know, I'm, I'm also a passive investor on, we're building a, an oil loop station in Florida and I sent my money a year ago to, to my, active investor and I haven't talked to him since. Like that's actually truly probably passive now, you know, I'm not doing anything, but there's, there's different levels to that. And I'm a huge believer like.   don't delegate something until you know what you're delegating. So people that want to start with the vending routes, sure, if you want to buy a route that already has an operator, that's one thing. but these, if you're starting a vending route for your kid or for your stay at home wife or whatever, as a side hustle, like get in the weeds and install that first machine. So when you hire help to take over the route, you know what you're delegating.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:09.773) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:27.021) Yeah, that's key. That's key. And you you described just like any other business, right? I think that's kind of where people get themselves into trouble. That sometimes they get sold the dream that is truly passive. And eventually it can be. I mean, you're talking about an hour a week. To me, that's pretty damn passive, right? But you know, upfront, you you've got to learn the business. You've got to know what you're getting yourself into. Like you said, you've got to learn before you delegate so that you know what you're delegating.   There is going to be some upfront work and then as you're able to kind of delegate and learn Then you can make it more and more passive as you go   Mike (22:00.88) Yeah, I mean, it's no different than what's the same when people tell you that they're busy. I mean, you're just not a priority. Like that's a fact. you're not. People say it's the same thing when people come to me and they're like, I'm so busy. It's like, okay, well let me, let me see your schedule. Where are you spending your time? You know, it's like when people are like, I can't lose weight. Okay, well let me see your food log. What did you eat yesterday? Did you have ice cream? Like this is like the same kind of thing. That's where passive I think has been really abused.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:16.097) Yeah. Yep.   Mike (22:29.638) To me, the bigger issue is like, vending is not get rich quick. And so like, if you're expecting to leave your nine to five tomorrow and vending is going to make up for that in one day, like that's not going to   Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:41.089) Right, Makes sense. Speaking of passive, do you raise capital or do you have any kind of a fund or have you put together a fund for something like this?   Mike (22:51.48) We haven't put together a fun, we're definitely buying routes is definitely becoming more and more intriguing. And I know there's some PE players starting to get into the vending game, but it's something we've been definitely considering and on our radar of do we want to.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:58.541) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:10.231) Gotcha. Cool. I mean, you brought in money partners for some of those routes yet, or is that still something you're exploring too?   Mike (23:18.168) No, I think it's just something we're thinking about. mean, what do you recommend?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:21.089) Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'd recommend I mean, it depends, right? Like I'm I'm scared to turn you by trade, but I don't like to say you should always raise capital no matter what. Right. Like you've been able to scale your business as you have and grown it to where it is without bringing outside capital. It sounds which is great because you own 100 percent or with whatever business partners you might have. You know, when you start raising capital, you're giving a large chunk of that piece away, not necessarily your whole company. But if you're buying   you know, a set of routes or that sort of thing. You you're gonna give a big piece away to those past investors if you're starting a fund or even if it's up. Even a single asset syndication here for one of these, you know, these routes, you could put it together that way. You know, it's just something to consider. But a lot of times when people are looking to scale fast, right, if they wanna grow exponentially, you've gotta use other people's money to get there or hit the lottery.   Mike (24:08.294) Mm.   Mike (24:15.856) Absolutely, no, agree. That's spot-on and I actually before you know the Silicon Valley company That I was part of we had a we went through probably series a B C D C ground   Let's just say we weren't very fiscally responsible. So I come from the, you know, it's like the ex-girlfriend example. I don't want to just start taking everyone's money.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (24:42.413) Yeah, yeah, that tends to happen with some startups, right? Like before you get funding, you're super frugal because it's your money and every single dollar counts. And you're like, I don't want to pay, you if it's software, you don't want to pay the software engineers. I'm going to out, you know, put it, you know, hire Indian engineers, that sort of thing. And then once you get a few million bucks that you raised in that seed round, then it just goes and you're like, whoa, wait a minute, let's hire 20 people. You know, it's you got to be careful about that.   Mike (25:05.606) Yeah   Yeah, yeah, that's a great, great take on it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:11.245) Yeah, it's, yeah. It's a question I love to ask and I think it's about time for that. So, in a parallel universe, tell me about a different version of you. So a different but likely version, right? Like, for example, for me, I went to med school for a year and a half and then I dropped out and I ended up becoming an attorney. So that was like a big turning point, right? So I could have easily at some point just said screw it and became a doctor and that would have been a totally different route than I'm going down right now.   What's an example of something like that for you?   Mike (25:42.524) Wait, are you being serious about that? I took the MCAT too. I got into med school and then I, yeah, I was pretty mad in school. And then the more I learned about exercise science, I was like, organic chemistry is not fun.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:44.321) Yeah, totally.   yeah? There you go.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:57.39) It is not fun. I did not love that. I majored in exercise physiology and then I ended up switching to biology because it was just a little bit of an easier route to get my degree and go into med school and I went for a year and a half and then I dropped out because I absolutely hated it. I knew I didn't want to do it. I was just more attracted to business and that sort of thing.   Mike (26:16.346) Yeah, that's crazy. That's awesome. parallel universe. I, that's a really good question. I don't know. I, kinda, I have two kids under three and the other side of me wishes I would have traveled more.   you know, I mean, we'll get there hopefully when they get out of high school and someday. But right now I just think there's so many different cultural things and ways to skin the cat. And it's just fascinating to learn some of those things.   Mike (26:55.352) yourself in those cultures.   go to different cultures and really like understand how they did things for a time, a period of time to really just learn their thinking.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:07.777) Yeah, I love that man. I had a similar experience of what you're describing. I didn't travel abroad really other than like, you know, Canada and Mexico until I studied abroad in Barcelona during law school and I got to stay there for a couple of months. So you actually had some time. It wasn't like you're just visiting for a week or a weekend or anything like that. You got to kind of live there right for a couple of months and it just totally changed my, you know, my outlook on life and just the way that you see things like I feel like we're in the US and we just think   Mike (27:19.627) Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:37.76) US is number one and there's only one way to do things the way that we do things that kind of attitude. And then when you go to Western Europe and you see that culture and you drive or get on a train, it's like an hour away and you're in a totally different culture and they're doing it a certain way as well and it's working. You just see that other people are doing things differently and still being successful at it, still having a thriving culture and it's just awesome to see.   Mike (28:03.312) Yeah, absolutely.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (28:06.251) Yeah. Tell me about some major influences in your life. What turned you or got you into that, the vending business? It's not one of those typical things. mean, I know you're in the education business, so you're kind of really spreading the word about this type of business. But I would say when you started, there might not have been a mastermind or educational courses around this. mean, how did you kind of get drawn into that? Were there any particular people or influences that brought you in?   Mike (28:29.308) you   Mike (28:36.188) Yeah. So the, biggest influence for me to get into vending, uh, wasn't actually a person. It was actually, was, um, I had landed, I was coming back from the Pentagon from a trip back to the Bay for the startup we were talking about. And I was in the Denver airport and 11 PM, you know, our flight was delayed. And then they're like, Hey, you have to stay in the airport tonight. The pilot went over their hours for the day, blah, blah, blah. So I went to a vending machine and I remember buying a bottle of water.   I think it costs like at the time three bucks or something. I knew that bottle of water cost 20 cents at Costco. And I was like, there is someone that's at home with their kids right now making money off me and they're not even at this mission. Like the machine is doing the work. So I had like an aha moment of like, what are my true priorities in life? And like, why am I chasing this cutthroat startup from.   Palo Alto and trying to make it when reality was my priorities are freedom to spend more time with my family. So that's really kind of what led me into this path of starting a vending machine side hustle to keep our lifestyle as we had kids. We wanted to have a nanny and we wanted to be able to still go on dates and things like that as a couple with my wife. So that's really kind of my family and just like...   having the freedom to do things. Like that's what I'm really passionate about.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (29:59.084) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, building on that, and you may have already answered that, but what does success look like for you?   Mike (30:01.766) next   Mike (30:06.268) an empty calendar.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:08.621) Good luck with that. Good luck with that.   Mike (30:11.516) Oh man, I was gonna say, how do we crack that code? No, yeah. No, but I think success to me is doing things like picking up my daughter at three and even being able to say no to the things that aren't gonna get you to where you need, like the discipline piece of this too.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:15.708) man.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:33.995) Yeah, yeah, mean, you know, for me, it's kind of similar, right? It's not going to be able to empty that calendar. Not yet, at least maybe here in the future. But for now, it's pretty filled. But it is it's flexible, right? Like us as entrepreneurs, you know, we probably work more than we ever worked when we were in our W-2s. But at the same time, it's you know, we're working in our own business for ourselves, for our families. And we have the   Flexibility, a lot of people will say the freedom, right? But we have the flexibility to move things around. And if you want to pick your kids up at school at three, or you do want to take a weekend off, or something comes up in your schedule, you have the flexibility to do that. Whereas if you're kind of slaving away at the nine to five, you can't really do it.   Mike (31:04.486) Yeah. Yeah.   Mike (31:20.198) Yeah, that's spot on. mean, I just wrote that down, but flexibility is, cause you're right. When you started becoming an entrepreneur, this is what I tell people all the time when they want to get a venting around is like running your own business. You are going to work harder than you do for your boss currently at your W-2. Like you have to do payroll. You have to do, like you gotta like make sure there's money to actually do pay, you know, like all those things that you just don't even think about when you have a W-2. It's like, today's   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:39.543) Yeah   Mike (31:48.89) You know, this Friday I get paid. Well, when you run a business, mean, that money's got to come from somewhere.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:51.905) Yeah   Right, yeah, 100%, man, 100%. All right, Mike, we're gonna wrap it up. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Tell the listeners where they can find out more about you.   Mike (32:05.286) Yeah, so thanks for having me. This has been great. I have free content all over the place. can find me on the classic Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, but I also have vendingpreneurs.com is where we help people that are more interested in actually the vending stuff. But I've been really trying to double down on YouTube lately because there's just a lot of content and you can't get it off a one minute reel.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:32.417) Love it, man. All right, Mike, appreciate it. Thanks for coming on the show.   Mike (32:35.91) Thanks for having me.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:37.227) Hi brother. Alright man, got a couple more questions for you. We do like a quick, kind of do the full podcast episode and then I'll just do kind of a quick episode that'll follow up on a Monday and then another one on a Friday. Cool.   Mike (32:55.814) See you.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:59.693) We out here.   Welcome to Million Dollar Mondays, how to make, keep, and scale a million dollars. Mike is a super successful entrepreneur in the vending machine business and beyond. Tell us, how did you make your first million dollars?   Mike (33:20.922) Yeah, Seth. It was probably actually through real estate and just getting a little bit kind of lucky with timing with COVID and short-term rentals and some of that. But yeah, that's probably how I got the first million.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:25.229) Mm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:37.079) Gotcha, cool. Yeah, real estate usually plays a role in the everybody's strategy down the line, whether they're in that primary business or not, whether they start out there or they end up there, real estate usually plays a part. How'd you make your last million?   Mike (33:53.956) Yeah, that's a good question because it's completely different than real estate, but it's actually been vending machines. So that's been kind of fun. just, you you talk about product market fit whenever you're an entrepreneur with a business. And that was just kind of the perfect storm right now of traditional vending really kind of being outdated. And we found a product market fit with it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:57.57) Right. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:16.215) Gotcha. Cool. that was from, was this maybe mostly attributed to kind of buying those routes, those larger routes?   Mike (34:23.32) Exactly. Yeah. Buying old school routes and really kind of flipping them like a house with modern micro markets charging, with different products and what would fit in a vending machine, like more of the unorthodox, you know, toilet paper and tide pods and things that wouldn't fit in a traditional vending machine. I mean, we'll sell $35 bottles of shampoo in these micro markets. So just kind of, go and add it in a different way.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:49.857) Yeah, and then with the aging population, there's gotta be more and more of these things popping up. So there should be more opportunity for people to get involved or for people like yourself to just snag everything, right?   Mike (35:01.102) Yeah, I think there's no chance I could snag everything, not even just in this town alone that I'm currently in. I mean, machines are getting cheaper, the technology is getting way better with AI. And nowadays, it's not what fits in a vending machine motor. It's okay, what's shelf space? if it's a bottle of shampoo or a glass Coke, it doesn't matter because it's not just getting thrown down the chute of a traditional machine.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:05.387) Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:27.521) Makes sense, makes sense. Last, how are you planning on making your next million dollars?   Mike (35:34.3) I think probably with AI, we're doing a lot of interesting stuff with helping people scale their, their vending routes. that is applicable to any, small business. And so I'm really intrigued. Just every time I go down a rabbit hole with some new AI tool, I feel like there's another better one that just came right behind it. So I just think it's kind of that time where you can really get ahead by just learning.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.209) Yeah, totally makes sense. mean people that are not paying attention to AI whether it's simply using chat GPT instead of Google search are getting left behind quickly because it's just advancing so fast. I can't even imagine what this world's gonna look like five years from now the way that things are moving.   Mike (36:23.132) It's crazy. Three years ago when I was working for a tech company selling software into the government, I would have to work with three secretaries to schedule a meeting with the general to sell their software. Now my EA is literally an AI bot and everyone that's scheduling time on my calendar, they don't even know they're talking to a non-human, which is pretty   Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:43.479) Yeah, 100%. We're gonna, I predicted within five years, everybody's gonna have a humanoid robot in their home with AI instilled and they're gonna be doing physical things for us at our homes. Yeah. Yep. Yep. 100%. Awesome, All right, moving on to the next one.   Mike (36:50.181) Yeah!   Mike (36:57.917) I hope so. I hope they can go to Costco get all our groceries do our do our laundry The dishes   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.501) You're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do, Mike. What is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field?   Mike (37:19.056) Ooh, that's a good question, Seth. I think it's just discipline, know, discipline and focus. One of the hardest things is being able to say no with the things that don't align. And when I was growing up, I had a quote that has really stuck with me. That's like, it's better to be respected than liked. And I think that really resonates. Like naturally as a human, you want to be liked and help people, but the 1 % are really good at saying no.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:47.649) Yeah, I love that man. That's a great answer. Kind of building on that, what do you think the number one attribute is that makes a successful entrepreneur?   Mike (37:57.468) probably focus. Yeah. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:59.212) Yeah, focus. Yep. The one thing, right? The one thing.   Mike (38:04.186) Yep. That's why you come back to like the most successful entrepreneurs. They always niche down and they niche down because they just, got hyper-focused. Like this is kind of why for me, you know, I started this passive Mr. Passive on social media before I even got into Vendi. Well, now everyone's like, well, how passive is Vendi? And well, it's like, what's really interesting is I was posting all these different, what I thought passive income streams in the time, but everyone, 95 % of the questions I got about   Airbnbs are all my different investments was about bending. So I just niche down on, on bending and I just looked back on that and I was like, it really forced me to focus.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:43.263) Awesome, awesome. What's one thing someone could do today to get 1 % closer to success in the vending machine business if they are really interested in learning more?   Mike (38:53.892) tap into your connections and find a location that has high foot traffic, whether that's a friend that works at an urgent care, a sister that lives at an apartment. You know, you take your kid to that gymnastics studio that has a ton of foot traffic between 4 PM and 8 PM. Like all those locations are prime locations to put one of these modern smart machines in. so, tapping into your connections, well, you know,   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:24.567) Love that man. Awesome. All right, Mike, I appreciate it, brother. We'll to meet in person sometime,   Mike (39:30.574) I would love to. Where are you based, Seth?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:31.789) I'm in San Diego, where you at?   Mike (39:34.78) I am in Eugene. Yeah, Oregon. I'll come down your way though.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:37.39) Cool We're planning on doing yeah, we're planning on doing so me and my wife we have a Sprinter van and Last May we did we did going back to the flexibility piece, right? We did 32 days in the van up through Wyoming Montana and then into like Into Canada and they're like Banff and Jasper and all the way up to Jasper and then we circled back on the west coast Through Vancouver and then down back to San Diego Yeah   Mike (40:05.52) What?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:06.829) Pretty wild, pretty awesome. And the reason I brought that up is this year we're gonna do shorter trip. We're probably gonna do two, maybe three weeks at the most, but we're gonna do kind of the Pacific Northwest. So Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver and all those parks and stuff up there.   Mike (40:17.254) Yeah.   Mike (40:21.744) Yeah, you definitely have a, have you been to Bend before? Bend is like my, that whole area, Central Oregon is, and even Idaho, like all those kind of, yeah. That's awesome. Please let me know when you're up this way. I mean, I'll come meet you wherever. That'd be amazing. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:24.641) Yeah, yeah I have.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:38.861) Sure man grab a coffee or beer. I appreciate it. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah all right brother great to meet you and I will send the information on when this is gonna get released and give you you materials and all that stuff so we can collaborate on social media   Mike (40:51.964) Okay. Okay. Yeah. Is a lot of your audience, like passive investors?   Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:58.593) So most of that, so now I'm rebranding. I rebranded because I'm gonna be speaking more towards like active entrepreneurs, Active entrepreneurs, people raising capital, that sort of thing. Whereas before it was based on passive investors and people really focused on attorneys. So I'm an attorney and I was raising capital from attorneys for my real estate deals. Now I'm really more into selling shovels. I'm scaling my law firm. I'm chief legal officer for Tribest, which is, we've got a fund to fund.   Mike (41:20.262) Mm-hmm.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:28.085) legal product there as well. So we're really trying to bring in active, active entrepreneurs and people raising capital.   Mike (41:29.777) Yeah.   Mike (41:36.572) Okay, because I got that, I was just thinking through when we talking about that oil development project, that could be a good, the guy that runs that fund could be a good interview for you. Just thinking through your audience, because he's always looking for investors into his fund and like these oil lubs are just crushing it.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:49.901) Cool. Yeah.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:58.464) Yeah, cool. Who is it? Just, I don't know if I know him or not.   Mike (42:02.183) Um, Robert Durkey, he's out of Florida. has, his problem is he's sitting on a gold mine that has no, like he's old school, doesn't know social media, any of that. So that's why I think he'd be perfect for you. Cause I think you could help him and he could definitely help you with some kickback. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully we meet soon. Okay. See you Seth. Bye.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:05.645) I don't think I know. I don't think I know.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:13.889) Yeah. Gotcha.   Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:20.705) Cool, okay, sounds good man. Yeah, I appreciate the introduction.   Yeah, all right brother. Talk soon. See ya. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Mike Hoffman's Links: https://www.instagram.com/mikehoffmannofficial/ https://x.com/mrpassive_?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedhoffmann/ https://www.tiktok.com/@mr.passive

In this episode of, “Your Voice. Your Health”, we take a closer look at step therapy but this time through a financial lens. I sat down with Monica Bryant, Esq., Chief Mission Officer of Triage Cancer, to talk about how step therapy can create unexpected financial obstacles—from rising co-pays and delayed treatment to challenges with insurance coverage and staying employed during treatment in  your health plans, navigating appeals, and accessing financial aid. She also shares practical tips for choosing insurance plans, minimizing out-of-pocket costs, and using tools like Triage Cancer's new health insurance comparison calculator to make informed, cost-conscious decisions. If you or a loved one is facing treatment delays or financial stress related to step therapy, this episode offers clear, actionable guidance to help you take control. Special thanks to Amgen and Daiichi-Sankyo for making this episode possible.  

Steve Palmer sits down with Troy Hendrickson, our resident law student, for a deep dive into what law school doesn't always teach you—this time, focusing on the mysterious world of grand juries. They break down what a grand jury is, the differences between grand and trial (petit) juries, and why the standard of proof is much lower at the indictment stage than at trial.Steve and Troy use the recent Epstein case as a jumping-off point, discussing the secrecy surrounding grand jury proceedings, why those records are generally kept under wraps, and who gets to peek behind the curtain (hint: it's a very short list). They unpack the legal and historical reasons for keeping grand jury information confidential, the ongoing court battles about whether transcripts should be released for so-called 'public interest' reasons, and the potential for the Supreme Court to settle this debate once and for all.Plus, the conversation veers into attorney-client privilege, conspiracy theories about the Epstein case, and how high-profile cases influence the direction of legal rules. And, as always, they share their thoughts on what law school could do better—hint: more real-life cases, less rote memorization.Moments00:00 Probable Cause and Legal Standards03:19 Grand Jury Process Explained06:44 Memory Lapses in Consent Cases12:47 Judge Denies Release of Transcripts15:44 National Injunctions and Judicial Authority19:11 SCOTUS on Judicial Authority Limits21:35 Epstein's Suicide Theories Discussed25:48 Nixon, Pentagon Papers, Legal Precedents28:12 Beyond Law School DiscussionsHere are three key takeaways:Grand Jury Process Is Often Misunderstood: Many people—even in law school—mistake the role of a grand jury. Unlike the trial jury (“petit jury”), the grand jury's only job is to decide if there's enough evidence (probable cause) to indict, not to convict. Defense attorneys are usually kept in the dark and rarely present evidence or have the right to transcripts.Grand Jury Testimony Is Highly Confidential: The secrecy rules are strict—defense can only access transcripts upon showing a “particularized need.” The rationale goes back to witness safety, protection of ongoing investigations, and safeguarding victim identities—concerns that remain deeply relevant today.Legal Precedents Shape Access—Not Public Interest: While there's massive public interest around cases like Epstein, courts have repeatedly ruled that historical or public curiosity is not enough to override the secrecy of grand jury proceedings. Real reform, if any, must come from Congress, not the courts.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm,...

"And first and foremost, we look for objections. So if the trial lawyer, if the defense lawyer says, object, this evidence shouldn't come in, or object, I want this evidence to come in and you're not letting me do it." - Steve PalmerI'm pulling back the curtain on how I approach analyzing trial transcripts during the criminal appeals process. I'll walk you through my method for preparing an appeal—from my first pass through those massive transcripts, to zeroing in on key objections, carefully reviewing the jury instructions, and finding the connective threads that could make or break a case. I'll share why I always read the closing arguments first, what I'm really searching for as I flag important moments, and how all these details come together when building strong assignments of error. Whether you're a fellow legal professional or just curious about what happens behind the scenes of an appeal, I think you'll find this episode packed with insights. And as always, if you have questions about the appellate process or want me to cover a specific topic, reach out at LawyerTalkPodcast.com. Here are my top 3 takeaways:Start with the End in Mind: Glenn always jumps to the closing arguments first. This helps him identify what both sides thought was most important, setting the stage for a focused, thorough read-through.Look Beyond the Obvious: Spotting objections is important, but so is reading between the lines. Sometimes, critical appellate issues crop up in jury instructions or voir dire, places many skip over.Find the Thread: Building a strong appeal is about connecting dots—assignments of error, evidentiary mistakes, and even courtroom themes need to be woven into a compelling narrative that judges can follow.Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

In this episode of the Immigration Lawyers Toolbox® Podcast, host John Khosravi, Esq. sits down with Joseph Barnett (WR Immigration) to discuss: ✅ FAM updates on Communist Party membership—and how they impact visa eligibility, adjustment of status, and even denaturalization cases. ✅ The evolution of EB-5 immigration post-Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). ✅ Visa Bulletin volatility and insights from Charlie Oppenheim. ✅ Tips for handling complex source of funds cases for Chinese, Indian, and Iranian clients.   This is essential listening for immigration lawyers navigating today's high-risk environment.   Check out his post on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joey-barnett-5b486915_10-things-to-know-about-communist-party-membership-activity-7342990401907134464-0Bar?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAGTPbQBNpryylGTgz75BHDARBYRRF5XFxA  

What should you do if you feel like your attorney isn't really on your side? I get calls like this more often than you'd think, and let me tell you—it's not as straightforward as just hiring someone new. I'll walk you through the realities of “firing” your lawyer, the ethical boundaries I have to consider when talking to someone who's already represented, and why communication breakdowns trigger most problems between clients and attorneys. I'll share stories from my own experience, offer advice on how to approach these tough conversations, and explain what happens if you're thinking of switching lawyers—especially if your case is moving fast toward trial. If you've ever felt left out by your lawyer or just want to understand how these situations are handled behind the scenes, you're in the right place. Key Takeaways:Communication is Everything: Most issues between attorneys and clients stem from miscommunication or a lack of updates. Before considering a switch, have a candid conversation with your current lawyer.Don't Wait Until the Last Minute: If you decide to change attorneys, do it well before important deadlines (like a trial date). Last-minute changes can put your case—and the new lawyer—in a challenging position.Follow Proper Steps: Formally terminate your current lawyer before contacting a new one. This avoids ethical complications and ensures a smoother transition.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Call 614-859-2119 and leave us a voicemail. Steve will answer your question on the next podcast!Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high-publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2025 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At Law Mentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Elena Sallitto, Esq. as guest to the show.   About Elena Sallitto, Esq.:   Elena is one of the leading authorities on elder and disability planning law in Maryland. She is at the forefront of expert representation, teaching, and legislative reform. She works alongside the Alzheimer's Association, the Maryland Chapter of AARP, aging life care specialists who coordinate home health, universities, and many other experts and advocates in her field.   About Stavely & Sallitto Elder Law:   Stavely & Sallitto Elder Law was founded with a singular mission: to empower individuals and families in navigating life's legal complexities with confidence and peace of mind. With seasoned attorneys who blend professional acumen with genuine empathy, Elena leads her firm in focusing on a range of practice areas tailored to meet the specialized needs of her clients and community.   At the heart of her practice is a deep understanding of the challenges faced by seniors, the disabled, and their loved ones as they navigate issues such as Medicaid & Asset Protection, Long Term Care Planning, Estate Planning, Estate Administration & Probate, Special Needs Planning, and Guardianship.   Elena's firm is uniquely rooted in a commitment to client-centered care. She empowers her team to foster meaningful relationships built on trust, respect, and understanding.   Connect with Elena Sallitto, Esq. & Stavely and Sallitto Elder Law: Official Website:  https://www.stavelysallittoelderlaw.com/