Podcasts about Excel

All frontier AI models are reportedly delayed. ⏳New reports show that frontier models there were supposed to be released this month like GPT-5.6 and Gemini 3.5 Pro have been delayed as a result of the ongoing Anthropic vs. U.S. Government dispute. So while we may have to wait a few more weeks for SOTA AI models, we DID get a ton of new AI features and model updates that are available now. Tune in as we dish the 7 new AI features that can change your workflow today. Claude Tag, Gemini Home, Copilot Excel Skills and 7 other AI Features Available Today you Should Be Using — An Everyday AI Chat with Jordan WilsonNewsletter: Sign up for our free daily newsletterMore on this Episode: Episode PageToday's Episode on LinkedIn: Thoughts on this? Join the convo on LinkedIn and connect with other AI leaders.Upcoming Episodes: Check out the upcoming Everyday AI Livestream lineupWebsite: YourEverydayAI.comEmail The Show: info@youreverydayai.comConnect with Jordan on LinkedInTopics Covered in This Episode:GPT 5.5 Instant Model Upgrade DetailsGoogle Finance AI Portfolio Tracker LaunchGemini-Powered Google Smart Speaker ReleaseClaude Tag Collaboration in Slack ExplainedCanva Grow 2.0 Automated Marketing PlatformGemini in Chrome Select from Screen FeatureMicrosoft Copilot Skills Automation in ExcelTimestamps:00:00 Upcoming AI Model Releases Delayed05:44 Switching between AI models07:15 AI-powered portfolio analysis tools12:51 Setting tasks with voice commands15:20 Introducing Claude team plan17:55 Discussing Anthropic's new feature21:50 Canva's New Feature at Cannes25:11 New Chrome Feature Overview28:45 Using Copilot skills in Excel31:33 Show schedule and subscribingKeywords: GPT 5.5 Instant, OpenAI, AI model update, conversational AI, large language models, Gemini 3.5 Pro, Google AI, Anthropic, Claude Tag, Slack integration, Claude Enterprise, Claude Team Plan, Claude Slack app, multiplayer AI in Slack, channel manager AI, proactive AI assistant, Google Finance app, portfolio tracking, AI research tool, finance AI, Android AI apps, iOS AI rollout, AI-powered key moments, smart speakers, Gemini for Home Assistant, Google smart speaker, natural language conversations, Siri, Alexa Plus, bidirectional voice mode, Google Calendar integration, AI home assistant, Canva Grow 2.0, performance marketing AI, ad automation, campaign optimization AI, Magic Layers integration, LinkedIn ads, TikTok ads, Meta ads, Gemini in Chrome, select from screen, computer use capabilities, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Chrome AI features, Microsoft Copilot, Excel AI, Copilot skills, reusable Copilot workflows, finance skills in Excel, business intelligence AI, custom Excel skills, markdown skills for AISend Everyday AI and Jordan a text message. (We can't reply back unless you leave contact info) Start Here ▶️Not sure where to start when it comes to AI? Start with our Start Here Series. You can listen to the first drop -- Episode 691 -- or get free access to our Inner Cricle community and all episodes: StartHereSeries.com Also, here's a link to the entire series on a Spotify playlist. 

For more than 25 years, Rata de dos patas has been one of Mexico's most recognisable - and unusual - songs. A relentless string of insults, it was made famous by the singer Paquita la del Barrio. Composer Manuel Eduardo Toscano recalls the moment in 2000 that convinced him the song was right for Paquita, and reveals how it almost never saw the light of day. He speaks to Helen Ledwick about the song's true inspiration and how it went on to become a huge hit.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Paquita la del Barrio. Credit: John Medina/WireImage/Getty Images)

In July 1916, Britain led an Allied offensive against German positions on the Western Front near the Somme river in France. The British army suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day. By the end of the battle in November, one million men had been killed or wounded. The Somme became synonymous with the horrors of war. We hear BBC archive recordings of veterans who fought in one of the bloodiest battles in history.This programme, first broadcast in 2016, was presented by Alex Last.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: British troops go forward in 'No Man's Land', August 1916. Credit: IWM/Getty Images)

In "The Dark Data Trap: Unlocking Logistics Documents with Tungsten Automation's Patrick Van Hull" Joe Lynch and Patrick Van Hull, Supply Chain Industry Consultant at Tungsten Automation, discuss how intelligent document processing eliminates manual data traps to drive logistics efficiency and cost savings. About Patrick Van Hull Patrick Van Hull, widely recognized as the Supply Chain Storyteller, helps organizations transform complexity into clarity. A multi-time "Top 25 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Supply Chain" and Supply Chain Pro-to-Know, he focuses on supply chain digitalization and capability development, showing how operational details can drive resilience and performance across the value chain. Patrick's career spans more than two decades, with leadership and advisory roles at Apple, Dell, Rio Tinto, and CVS Health, Gartner, Deloitte, and SCM World, he became known for bridging practitioner expertise with executive-level insights to turn data and technology into impactful strategies and programs. Most recently, he has focused on helping enterprises use AI-powered intelligence to strengthen resilience and anticipate disruption. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and lectures on supply chain strategy at the University of Arkansas Walton School of Business. About Tungsten Automation Tungsten Automation, formerly Kofax, is the global leader in AI-powered document and workflow automation solutions, boasting a 40-year trusted legacy and a team of 2,200 employees across 40 countries, serving over 25,000 global customers. Our commitment to innovation and customer success has earned us industry recognition, including being named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Intelligent Document Processing. Tungsten has also been recognized by other key analysts in areas such as Intelligent Automation and Process Orchestration. We are trusted to help businesses achieve unprecedented efficiencies and reduce costs through document and workflow automation, allowing them to scale and future-proof their business. Key Takeaways: The Dark Data Trap: Unlocking Logistics Documents In "The Dark Data Trap: Unlocking Logistics Documents with Tungsten Automation's Patrick Van Hull" Joe Lynch and Patrick Van Hull, Supply Chain Industry Consultant at Tungsten Automation, discuss how intelligent document processing eliminates manual data traps to drive logistics efficiency and cost savings. Tungsten Automation Profile: Formerly Kofax, Tungsten is a global leader in AI-powered Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and advanced workflow automation. Backed by a 40-year legacy, 2,200 employees, and 25,000+ global customers, the company was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for IDP. Their cloud-based platform sits cleanly over multiple, fragmented ERP and TMS networks to pull and push data seamlessly. Escaping the "Dark Data Trap": Moving a single international ocean container can require upwards of 30 separate documents. Because traditional TMS and ERP platforms can't read unstructured data (like dense PDFs, faxes, or Excel spreadsheets), this critical info becomes trapped "dark data." Tungsten uses IDP to automatically ingest, classify, and extract line-item data from over 40 different logistics document types, turning paper trails into structured, digital assets. Slashing AP Errors & Driving Revenue: Manual touchpoints in freight invoicing lead to constant billing discrepancies and human errors. Through automated multi-way matching, reconciliation, and automated exception handling, Tungsten drives "zero-touch" processing for order management and invoices. In one case study, acting as an automated "quality check" against contracted rates helped a major freight shipper capture an incremental $20 million in annual revenue. Preventing Customs and Shipment Delays: When data errors or missing documents hit customs or a port, shipments grind to a halt, triggering costly penalties, demurrage fees, and port congestion. Tungsten automates data extraction and email ingestion for customs clearance, validating regulatory documentation and compliance checks before shipments ever hit major bottlenecks. Accelerating Carrier and Supplier Onboarding: Traditional onboarding forces procurement teams into a weeks-long "paper chase" of manual risk assessments and compliance reviews. Tungsten uses automated self-service portals paired with automated risk assessments—such as using the platform to instantly verify the legitimacy of bank and credit statements—condensing onboarding timelines from weeks down to a matter of days. Bridging the Gap Between AI Hype and Reality: AI cannot solve supply chain issues without clean, unified data. Patrick notes that trying to run raw, messy documents entirely through an unguided Large Language Model (LLM) can cause the AI to run wild, exhausting months' worth of token allocations in a single week. Tungsten effectively solves this by embedding AI directly into workflows, blending traditional rules-based automation (RPA) for standard patterns with Generative and Agentic AI to manage highly complex exceptions. Elevating the Human Experience: Eliminating rudimentary data entry is ultimately a personal win for the workforce. Moving away from "swivel chair activity" and manual data chasing reduces friction and human error. By shifting repetitive tasks to automated workflows, logistics employees are freed up to use human ingenuity, focus on creative problem-solving, and ultimately enjoy more meaningful, higher-value work. Learn More About The Dark Data Trap: Unlocking Logistics Documents Patrick Van Hull | Linkedin Tungsten Automation | Linkedin Tungsten Automation Tungsten's Summits The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

In 1981, Australia launched a fight against skin cancer with help from a yellow cartoon seagull and a catchy jingle. The Slip Slop Slap campaign was created by an advertising team of Philip Adams, Peter Best and Alex Stitt. The three men gave their services for free to help the Cancer Council Victoria charity spread the message.Soon, Australians began to slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat in response to a warning by Sid the Seagull.Today, the campaign is widely credited in helping change attitudes to sun protection. Professor David Hill, former head of the charity, talks to Jane Wilkinson about how it happened.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Sid the seagull, 1981. Credit: Cancer Council Victoria)

In June 2016, voters in the UK were asked whether they wanted to remain in the European Union or leave. It was a decision that would divide the country and reshape relations with its closest neighbours.As the result emerged overnight, Rory Montgomery was one of the officials responsible for preparing Ireland's response.The former diplomat remembers watching the night unfold from Dublin and tells Helen Ledwick why it mattered so much for Ireland.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: European Union and Union flags flying together. Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It's 10 years since a Hong Kong bookseller who was detained for selling material critical of China's leaders, was released and went public.In 2015, Lam Wing-Kee and four other men who published and sold books went missing. The case of the booksellers raised international concerns that Hong Kong's judicial independence and freedom of speech were being eroded. Protests followed. On 21 June 2016, Mr Lam was released after eight months in detention on the Chinese mainland and he returned to Hong Kong. He tells Josephine McDermott that he took the decision to hold a press conference because “If I didn't speak out, Hong Kong's freedoms of speech and press would suffer in silence”.Lam Wing-Kee left Hong Kong in 2019 fearing new extradition rules. In Taiwan, he reopened Causeway Bay bookstore.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Lam Wing-kee at a rally after his release. Credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images)

https://youtu.be/b_G8krkwKv8 Ganesh Krishnan, CEO of AiHello, is helping Amazon sellers automate advertising, improve profitability, and scale their businesses using AI. Driven by a mission to give entrepreneurs more freedom and enable them to build businesses around products they love, Ganesh shares how AI can eliminate repetitive work while allowing business owners to focus on strategy, innovation, and growth. In this conversation, Ganesh introduces The AiHello Ads Framework: Tap into the Wisdom of Crowds, Find the Right Keywords, Bid at the Right Level, Dynamically Adjust Bids, and Rinse and Repeat. He explains how AI can leverage historical marketplace data to identify profitable keywords, optimize bids automatically, and continuously improve campaign performance. Ganesh also discusses the dangers of AI hallucinations, why Amazon's incentives differ from sellers' incentives, how AI has transformed his own company's operations, and his vision for building zero-hallucination AI systems capable of advancing toward artificial superintelligence. — Build AI Superintelligence with Ganesh Krishnan  Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here, and welcome Ganesh Krishnan, the CEO of AiHello, an Amazon Ads automation company helping you grow your revenues, reduce work hours spent on ads management, and decrease your ad costs. Welcome to the show, Ganesh.  Thank you, Steve. Nice to meet you  Well, it’s great to have you here, and let’s jump right in. And my first question is, what is your personal ‘Why,’ and how are you manifesting it in AiHello?  So it started off with my thesis that we all need to do good towards the planet. A long time ago, I started having my own natural things, selling chemical-free, ecological, sustainable, good-for-the-planet, good-for-your-wallet, good-for-your-health items, and I would sell organic items. And eventually, what I realized was that it was taking a lot of my time marketing, managing it, changing the bids, doing everything. I started working more and more on AI because I’ve worked in AI commercially. I worked in AI in my industry. That was my job. So I said, “Why not use, apply that to my own startup, to my own industry for selling organic things?” And once I started selling it, some of my friends reached out and said, “Can we use your AI for our own businesses?” And I said, “Sure, why not?”  And then I started opening it up. And then one person came through and said, “Okay, let’s release it to the general public, see how it goes.” And then as we started earning money, I realized that I don’t need to do a job. I can have this startup, and I can help different people have their own lifestyle. You could have your own lifestyle. You could sell your own stuff that you like, e-commerce, usually on Amazon, and then we help you have your lifestyle. So this is my personal ‘Why’, is we need more equality. We need more people doing stuff they love rather than doing stuff they hate to do, and they hate to wake up and go to work. So do what you love. We are here to empower you.  Wow, that’s amazing. So you are empowering people to start their own e-commerce businesses on Amazon, and you help them with AI tools to get up to speed and compete with the big boys.  That is correct.  Yeah. I love it. So on your LinkedIn profile, you mentioned that you are, I don’t know what the word was that you used, but something to do with superintelligence, AI superintelligence. So what is it that you are doing, and what is your vision of how AI superintelligence can be tapped into?  It’s a very long topic. But to start off with, we used the old form of AI, which is a lot of regression, a lot of statistics, a lot of big data learning, and a lot of neural networks, if you felt fancy. And then LLMs became a huge thing. And we launched AiHello probably six or seven years ago. LLMs became a big thing two or three years ago. And it was pretty fancy. It was very good. It made life easy for us. But we cannot use it within AiHello to give it to clients, primarily because LLMs start hallucinating once you go past a certain context. The problem with hallucination is that it exponentially becomes larger and larger. Because if the previous thesis is wrong, if your previous hypothesis is wrong, then it builds on top of it, and it builds the wrong things.  Hallucination exponentially becomes worse. And when it comes to finance, when it comes to ads, and when you’re working with sensitive data, this can be catastrophic. So you cannot use these large language models for finance, for situations where you need precise data, and especially when you have lots of context. It’s going to lose the context of the first part. Just because you mentioned something at the start of the conversation doesn’t mean it’s not important. It is critical. As humans, we understand what is the most critical part of a conversation, and then we keep that in mind. But LLMs, because of context limitations, just keep on going and start hallucinating.  So a few months ago, we came up with the idea that we could use something like a large language model, but not based on the transformer model. And we could base it on data so that there is almost zero hallucination. So instead of building weights, we build it based on data. And we launched this. We don’t use it on AiHello, but we decided to use it on an email service because we have a lot of emails. We process a lot of emails for clients. We process a lot of emails for specialists. So we could use the zero-hallucination approach within emails, and if it is successful, then we can put it into AiHello.  And we can, of course, release it as an API as well. So this is going to set the basis of artificial superintelligence because what is stopping us right now from reaching or breaching that wall of artificial superintelligence is this hallucination. And of course, there is also logic. LLMs are pretty stup*d. They don’t understand. You can teach them, they learn, but they do not question what you teach them. They always take it on blind faith.  Yeah. Wow. That is genius. I love it. You are going to un-hallucinate AI. And if it stops hallucinating, essentially it becomes a lot more powerful and scalable. AI becomes scalable, or this whole process becomes scalable. That’s fascinating. So your ‘Why’, your mission, is to empower all these people to run their businesses. Do you have a framework for this that you could describe in three to five steps? How do you get someone up and running with their own business on an e-commerce platform? Or do you have any other framework that you could share with the audience? Something simple that they may be able to benefit from? One of the caveats of using AI is that it needs a lot of data. So if you’re just starting out with your e-commerce business, you need to put more of your human intelligence, more of your gut instinct, more of your thoughts, and more of your emotions into building it out. And once you have built up enough data, then you can put it into AiHello and start automating it. So what I would say, if you’re starting an e-commerce business, is hire a specialist who can help you launch off the ground.  Do a bit of the hypothesis work, do a bit of the analysis, and then come to AiHello and start automating it. You can only start automating once you have a good idea of how things work for you. And finding how things work for you is something you need to do on your own. It’s like you can’t start running, or you can’t start driving a car, until you learn how to crawl and until you learn how to walk.  Okay. So basically, it’s the age-old innovation thing that you have to innovate something on your own, and then you can scale it with AI. That is correct.  Yeah. So let’s say I came up with some kind of formula, concept, or product that is currently not being promoted, and I believe it would work. Or maybe I’ve already tested it and I want to scale it. I want to get on Amazon and sell it there. What can you do for me? What are the steps for me to be successful with AiHello’s help? So the first thing when you select a product, is: what are the keywords for it? What keywords do you use for that product? The second would be: what are the bids for that product? For each keyword, what is the right bid to put up? And then you have other things like budgeting. Do you change the bid depending on the time of day? Do you change the bid in total? Those are the things that you need to keep adjusting continuously.  With AiHello, we automatically harvest the right keywords for your product. We change the bid. We optimize the bid. We also do dayparting, where you can change the bid depending on the time of day. So there are different things that you can use AI for. You could certainly do all of it manually, but it’ll probably take you days or weeks to do what AI can do in a couple of minutes.  So a couple of minutes. But doesn’t the AI also need traffic data to be able to define things?  Yeah. So one of the other things about AiHello is that, because we have the wisdom of crowds, if you come up with a keyword, we know exactly how that keyword is going to perform. As you say, you have the wisdom of crowds. Can you extrapolate what you’ve experienced with other products and other customers onto a new product that doesn’t yet have a lot of traffic? Is this what you mean by the wisdom of crowds? Or what do you mean by the wisdom of crowds?  Let me give you an example. Let’s assume you want to sell coffee, and you go to our platform and say, “This is my product. It’s coffee. Help me sell it.” So what we do is, we know this is coffee. What are the keywords around it that are going to help sell it? Because we’ve sold other coffee products, we know that organic coffee sells well. We know coffee in the morning sells well. Black coffee sells well. Caffeine sells well.  And we also know, based on the previous performance of other keywords, what a good bid is for each keyword. If you don’t know the keywords, then of course you have to spend time researching them. And if you don’t know the bids, then you have to spend time researching what bid to put in. But we do all the research for you, and you put it in. And the second part, the bigger part, is that if the bid doesn’t work out, if you’re not selling, then we increase the bid automatically. If you are losing money, then we decrease the bid automatically. So that bid optimization is a critical part of AiHello.  Yeah. We use Amazon ads to promote my books. And yes, it takes a lot of skill to find the keywords, eliminate the negative keywords, adjust the bids, have the right bids, and avoid overspending or underspending. But Amazon also does much of the machine learning. So what is it that Amazon does, and what is it that you have to do? And why doesn’t Amazon do what you have to do?  The most critical piece of information to keep in mind is that your aims and objectives are the opposite of Amazon’s aims and objectives. Amazon’s aim is to make money, and your job is to make money. You don’t care if Amazon makes money or not, and Amazon doesn’t care if you make money or not. So when you put up a bid, when you run ads, Amazon will maximize that ad spend, whatever it is. In some ways, it’s like a casino.  You go to a casino, and the job of the casino is to win money from you, and your job is to win money from the casino. Ads have become a lot like gambling nowadays. You throw money into it. You expect to make money. Ninety percent of people lose money, and they give up. And Amazon always finds fresh sellers to move on. You cannot depend on Amazon because Amazon is not on your side.  Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, I always thought that on some platforms it was really difficult to make money with ads. Facebook, I think, is so competitive that it’s probably very difficult to make money. I know a lot of people who have spent a lot of money on Facebook, but I don’t know very many who have figured out a formula that continues to work. Okay. So you’ve helped someone find their keywords, the right bids, and how to adjust those bids. But what we’ve found is that at some point, ads die, and then we have to switch things up. It actually happens quite frequently that you have to create new campaigns and new ads. So what’s the dynamic there? How do you optimize so that you’re not still supporting ads that don’t work anymore, and you switch at the right point?  So when we say ads, it’s not technically the campaigns. A campaign is just a container for all of your ads. You have products inside it, and you have keywords inside it. So a campaign is made up of products and keywords. And the question is, when you say ads die, did the keywords die? Then you need to add new keywords, right? You always have to keep adding new keywords and testing new keywords. It’s a continuous job of trying to find the right keywords for your book or your product, and then optimizing the bids constantly to make sure that you’re profitable.  You have to make sure that your ads don’t die because of a lack of fresh keywords. And of course, there’s always a limit to the number of keywords you can add because each product has a limited number of keywords that people are searching for. Maybe there’s a long-tail keyword that’s going to make money, but there’s not enough search volume. Or maybe there’s a high-volume search keyword, but it’s not profitable for you. So you have to figure out what the right strategy is for you. Eventually, if your product is good, you’ll make money. If your product is not good, you won’t make money. That’s the bottom line. With ads, you quickly find out if your product…  So essentially, it’s a cyclical thing. So you find the keywords, you figure out the right bids, you adjust the bids, and then you have to find new keywords and keep doing this.  Yeah.  So why do keywords go stale? Do people not search for certain things anymore?  There could be multiple reasons for it. One reason is that a competitor has come in and taken your search volume. And you have to know: are you losing search volume? Are you gaining search volume? Has your search volume dropped off? The second reason is that people are not searching for that keyword anymore. Is it out of fashion? The third is: are you underbidding? Is the bid too low? Again, you would know by the number of impressions. Have the impressions dropped off?  If the impressions have dropped off, is it because of a competitor? If it’s not because of a competitor, are people searching less? Are your bids too low? If the search volume is the same, are people clicking less? Why are they clicking less? Is it your images? Is it your product? Is your product no longer in fashion? I mean, I don’t know. Maybe a few months ago, fidget spinners were really in fashion, and nowadays no one uses them. So those things go out of fashion.  Yeah. The spinners, I remember. They’ve been out of fashion for a while.  Yeah.  Yeah, that’s fascinating. So it’s a never-ending cycle of innovation and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. So let me ask you this: What drives growth in your business?  Most of the growth is… There are different ways to put it. Four years ago, we used to create a lot of blogs. We used to create lots of content. We used to create lots of YouTube videos. And then ChatGPT came along. If you ask kids now, “Do you Google that?” They don’t know what Google is. They really don’t know what Google is. And that’s not a cliché. It’s surprising. They’ll be like, “What Google?” Everything goes through ChatGPT.  So for us, growth went from Google to ChatGPT. And we didn’t spend enough time optimizing for LLMs on our site. So what drove growth before was blogs and YouTube. And what drives growth now is large language models like ChatGPT and Claude. People just ask ChatGPT, “What do I do about this on Amazon?” It recommends solutions, and then we go through them.  So how do you leverage large language models or AI applications?  This was one of the biggest boosts to our company. We managed to set the processes right. We managed to create the templates. We managed to bring structure to our company. Development work has become ten times faster. The turnaround is ten times faster. We’re able to release features quickly. We’re able to find bugs in our existing code quickly. There are a lot of things going on. If I were to say that our company is no longer the same company it was even a year ago, that would not be an exaggeration. It would be the truth. What we were a year ago is not at all what we are right now.  So in what way did you change? Is it coding that accelerated and changed everything? I mean, in what other ways did you change as a company?  So the code is all done with AI first. Our developers use AI. They put in the prompt, they check the results. There is a second developer who checks whether everything is okay and whether everything is done. And then finally there’s QA, and then we push it to staging. We used to do roughly one-month or forty-five-day sprints. Now we do weekly sprints. So it has gone four times faster. The biggest hurdle for us was managing clients and how we manage them. We never had any structure.  So we talked a lot with ChatGPT. We talked a lot about what the right way was to bring structure and accountability into the system. We managed to set up all the software required for accountability. It helped us fix those issues. It created structure. It created accountability for all the people, and then we implemented that. Finally, the last one, which was the most debatable, is that we require a lot of content. We require a lot of graphics. We require a lot of videos for clients on Amazon. I actually went to buy something on Amazon a few days back, and what was puzzling was that when I zoomed in on the images, you could see they were AI-generated because they all had these silly AI mistakes—spelling mistakes, random words.  So almost everything on Amazon right now, all the images, are kind of AI-generated. It’s hard to blame them. We ourselves use AI for a lot of the images. We make sure we don’t have the silly mistakes, but we do use AI as well. So the turnaround time for graphics is faster because of AI as well. Though some clients do complain that they don’t like AI-generated assets. And if a person looks a bit too AI-generated, they just reject it outright. So that is the most debatable part of it. But overall, our company is called AiHello. It’s AiHello. And if we don’t say hello to AI, then we’re not AiHello.  Yeah. Love it. I love the head and the one arm.  Yes.  The hello, and that’s it.  Yeah.  So what is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business right now? We are a remote-first company, and I’m struggling to bring about accountability among all the team members. We do have a good number of employees. Ninety percent of our employees are good. Ten percent still have accountability issues. And for me, that is a bit of a hurdle. It is a bit of a challenge to push those people who are dragging their feet about AI. Yeah. Because they are not comfortable with AI. They want to do what they are good at and don’t want to do something new.  There is also a bit of hesitation that they might lose their jobs because of AI, although we’re not planning to let go of anyone. Rather, we are hiring more people because we’re able to grow faster. There is an old saying that companies won’t go extinct because of AI, but companies that don’t use AI will go extinct because of AI. Because we are using AI a lot, there is a chance for us to scale, for us to expand significantly. And I want to tap into this advantage and grow. I want to hire more people, and I want to grow. I don’t want to let people go.  So this is a very good opportunity. You hear about Coinbase letting people go. You hear about Facebook letting people go because of AI. And I think those are all nonsensical excuses. Those companies are not growing very well, and they are blaming AI for letting people go, which I think is absolutely nonsensical. There is a very good opportunity for people to grow and for companies to grow using AI and increase their hiring. If you’re letting people go because of AI, it’s just a nonsensical excuse.  So what do you think is the mental hang-up for people? What prevents better AI adoption or faster AI adoption? A long time ago, when computers were being introduced into many industries, I remember there were huge protests because people thought computers would take away jobs. And it did happen. People did lose jobs because of computers. There were many people pushing papers who lost their jobs. And a lot of people refused to learn about computers because they said, “This is nonsensical. I can do it better by hand.” Can you imagine telling people right now that it’s better to do things by hand than to use a computer?  I mean, if you want to do calculations, please don’t use Excel or Google Sheets. Use a pen and paper and tell me you can do it better. It would be absurd to think that way. But at that time, people really did have the mentality that it was better to do things by hand than with Excel. Now, the AI revolution is probably a thousand or a million times bigger than that. And you can drag your feet. There will always be people who drag their feet and say, “I can do it better. AI is just nonsensical.” And sure, some of that is true. But the overwhelming majority of tasks are going to be done extremely well with AI.  And it’s not just large language models. It’s everything. Regression analysis, data analytics, big data analytics, forecasting, calculations. I’m not even talking about transformer models. I’m talking about everything related to AI. So much can be automated and done by AI that if you’re not involved with it, you’ll get left behind, just like the people who didn’t use computers. Do you feel like people have to be highly educated to be able to use AI? Or can people with less formal education benefit from it as well?  I don’t think it has anything to do with education. I think the learning curve for AI is smaller than the learning curve for computers. If you’re already using computers, you can just install a command-line interface and have things running. Actually, you can go to ChatGPT and ask some questions, and you can build something. But if you want to build serious applications, you can use a command-line interface and build them out. I think the learning curve is probably just a couple of hours to become proficient with these tools. I’m thinking more about this: As AI tools develop and take many of the routine, repeatable tasks off our shoulders, doesn’t that mean we will spend more of our time on high-level thinking and orchestration? And won’t that require some kind of mental ability to do that? It requires you to understand context, understand the implications of things, and be able to connect the dots. So that’s what I mean. The people who can really use AI tools have this higher level of awareness and thinking. They can combine ideas and create new things. But are there AI tools that people with less advanced analytical skills can also use? Absolutely. And you’re 100% right. You’re 101% right. This is what I’ve been advocating for a very long time. Don’t spend your time doing mundane, repetitive daily activities that can be automated. Let AI handle them. You should focus on the things AI cannot do right now, which is human-level intelligence: Strategizing. Planning. Working on the bigger-picture tasks. So you’re 100% right, and that’s the direction we should be moving in. And this brings me back to the point I made earlier: You should do what you love. The things you don’t love, the repetitive tasks, should be done by AI.  Yeah. Love it. So what is your vision, ultimately, for AiHello?  So my vision for AiHello goes beyond AiHello. We have something called HalZero, which is the engine we want to put behind AiHello. It’s a zero-hallucination LLM. And we are working toward making it happen. We plan to release an API for it soon. If it does happen, then we would probably have a model that can take in data and answer general-knowledge questions with zero hallucination. And we’re building it based on how the human brain works. The human brain is not one-dimensional. ChatGPT is one-dimensional. Transformer models are one-dimensional.  You give them data, they run it through the transformer model—the encoder and decoder—and then they give you an answer. But the human brain is built in layers. What we call the lizard brain sits at the base, and as you go higher, things become more and more complex. So the brain is information and action, and everything is filtered through it. Then we act on the filtered result. Machine learning models right now do not have these kinds of filters. They have something similar, which is called chain of thought, but that’s really thinking out loud. This kind of reasoning should exist within the latent space of the machine learning model. It should be built into the model itself.  I’ll give you an example. If you had been taught all your life that the sun is green, and tomorrow you woke up in Virginia, went outside, and saw that the sun was yellow, you’d say: “Oh my God, I’ve been lied to all my life. The sun isn’t green.” You would question what you had been taught based on a single observation. But if a machine had been trained for years that the sun is green, and then it saw that the sun was yellow, it might conclude: “The sun is wrong today because I’ve been taught that the sun is green.” The real test of intelligence is this: Can it question its training data? And the answer is no. It won’t, because it has been trained on that data. It has been trained on those tokens.  Yeah. So that’s AI superintelligence? The ability to question the training data?  That is correct. Yeah. So we build it based on connections. How strong is this connection? How many people have stated this fact? What is my own observation? Which observation is stronger? There is always conflict. In the human brain, there is always a conflict between what people say and what we think. Then our logical brain chooses what is usually the best answer. That is how we have a collective consciousness. We also have a personal consciousness. We always have to decide which one is best.  Love it. Well, that’s great. So if you’re running a business and you need to sell a product, and you want to figure out how to be successful on Amazon, how to leverage your ads, and how not to overspend, where should you go? How can people get in touch with you, Ganesh, and your team? And what’s the first step for listeners?  You can send me an email at ganesh@aihello.com. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m always available, and I’m happy to have a chat with you.  All right. So if you’re listening out there and you’re in e-commerce, or you want to get into e-commerce, and you don’t know how to leverage all the tools that are out there, don’t forget: Amazon is in the business of making money, not necessarily making your business profitable. So you can use AiHello to help you. Reach out to Ganesh on LinkedIn and get your team involved. And if you enjoyed listening to this episode, make sure you check back every week because I have successful entrepreneurs sharing their ideas—or at least some of the good ones—with you. So thanks, Ganesh, for coming.  Thank you, Steve.  And thank you for listening. Important Links: Ganesh's LinkedIn Ganesh's website Ganesh's email: ganesh@aihello.com

Angela Clark - Mubarak is a senior digital and eCommerce executive with 30 years of experience building and transforming digital businesses at some of the world's most recognized consumer brands — including Patagonia, Levi Strauss, eBay, elf Cosmetics, Williams-Sonoma, True Religion, and Eddie Bauer.  Most recently VP of Digital at Patagonia, Angela now leads Eclipse Advisory Group, a consultancy focused on helping PE-backed brands, legacy retailers, and DTC startups unlock digital growth. She serves on the board of the California State Park Foundation, is an incoming Fellow at the Graham School at the University of Chicago, sits on the Total Retail Advisory Board, and has been recognized as a Direct 60 Honoree and CommerceNext 2024 Leader to Watch. She is based in LA, where is an avid cycler and dog mom to Maximus and Chloe and super auntie to her 12 yr nephew Evan. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro [02:31] Adapting old strategies to new mediums  [07:33] Sponsor: Klaviyo [09:39] Measuring success beyond simple revenue [14:23] Sponsor: Intelligems [16:24] Resisting trends that mismatch your brand [19:14] Sponsor: Electric Eye [20:19] Investing resources where they matter most [24:25] Moving away from the promotional drug [29:27] Callouts [29:37] Defining your target market sweet spot  Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Retail Legacy Meets Digital Disruption eclipsemedia365.com/ Follow Angela Clark - Mubarak linkedin.com/in/angclrk/ Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest   Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Joining the conversation today is no stranger to the Excel Network. Dave Bennet has raised more money for churches than most of us will earn in a lifetime. In today's podcast, Dave shares the life-altering moment when his doctor spoke two words, cancer and malignant. Initially feeling abandoned by God, Dave tells JD how he saw purpose through the challenge and how it has changed his life. Listen to his story today, and you will be encouraged.Originally Posted June 1, 2023Send us Fan MailWe want to help you find your next steps in ministry.Connect here with EXCEL. 

On the Road to Macstock, Allison Sheridan previews her session that features a hands-on spreadsheet workshop comparing Excel, Numbers, and Google Sheets. She explains practical skills like fill-down, fill-right, and possibly pivot tables, while stressing that the goal is not exhaustive training but confidence-building. Our conversation also touches on Copilot i relation to Excel, vibe coding, and why Macstock feels like coming home. Today's MacVoices is supported by TV+ Talk, our MacVoices series with Charlotte Henry focused on Apple TV+. From shows and other content to the business side there's always something to learn about apple's streaming service. Find it at the Categories listings on the web site or go directly to macvoices.com/category/tvplustalk Show Notes: Chapters: 00:00 Opening and Road to MacStock introduction 00:35 Chuck welcomes Allison Sheridan 01:07 Why MacStock feels like going home 01:37 The welcoming culture for first-time attendees 02:31 Previewing Allison's presentation topic 03:16 A hands-on spreadsheet workshop 03:51 Comparing Excel, Numbers, and Google Sheets 04:25 Fill down, fill right, and practical spreadsheet basics 05:18 Pivot tables as a possible bonus topic 06:02 Finding usable demo data sets 07:42 Why pivot tables can be less intimidating than they seem 08:20 Excel versus Numbers and spreadsheet preferences 08:46 Where Copilot fits into spreadsheet work 10:30 Why this is not an AI presentation 11:01 Practical spreadsheet skills for mixed-experience audiences 12:30 Why covering all three major spreadsheet apps matters 13:14 Who will benefit most from the session 13:54 What attendees should bring 14:54 Chuck guesses Allison's topic 15:21 Vibe coding as an addictive new productivity tool 16:13 The dopamine hit of building apps with AI 17:04 How vibe coding enthusiasm spreads 17:38 Being polite to AI tools 18:11 Allison's MacStock discount code 19:12 Encouraging attendees to join the Crystal Lake event 19:36 Closing thoughts with Allison Sheridan 20:01 Closing credits and support information Links: Macstock Conference http://macstockconference.com Allison's Discount Code: podfeet  Guests: Allison Sheridan started podcasting in May of 2005, just 7 months after podcasting was invented. At 20 years, her flagship show, the NosillaCast Podcast, became the longest-running Apple-centric podcast. In the NosillaCast, she focuses on reviewing tech products with an EVER so slight Apple bias, while weaving accessibility throughout her content. She also co-hosts the Programming By Stealth podcast, where Bart Busschots teaches the audience to program through an audio podcast (with Bart's tutorial shownotes). Bart and Allison also hosted the podcast Taming the Terminal, which is a 40+ episode guide to the macOS Terminal, which you can also get as an ebook through Apple Books. She has a tech conversation show called Chit Chat Across the Pond, which currently comes out at least once a month with Adam Engst of TidBITS as her most frequent guest. She's a founding speaker at Macstock Conference every year outside of Chicago, and a frequent guest on the Daily Tech News Show and Clockwise podcasts. She is also a video screencast tutor for the subscription service ScreenCastsONLINE. She and her husband, Steve, produce video interviews from trade shows such as CES and CSUN's Assistive Tech conference. She's an avid exerciser, walking around 7 miles a day, and enjoys time with their dog Kepler, and two cats Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper. Yes, their pets are all named after scientists! Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon      http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:      http://macvoices.com      Twitter:      http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner      http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:      https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:      https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:      https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes      Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

The countdown to 600 is on, and Sean and Todd go back to basics — just the two of them, the old formula, and a deep dive that turns into one of the most thoughtful conversations the show has had in a while.It starts with real life — sod cutters, Red River gumbo, sewer maintenance gone slightly wrong, and severe weather that hit Manitoba hard. Then Sean reveals something genuinely impressive: he pulled the entire back catalogue of the show into a spreadsheet, tagged every episode by segment type, and even built a working spin wheel inside Excel for the Wheel of Topics segment.From there the episode turns into a proper Eddie Van Halen tribute deep dive — comparing how various artists have honored Eddie since his passing, debating whether emulating a legend's style is more respectful than finding your own voice, and landing on a clear ranking by the end.This episode covers:Home improvement chaos — sod cutters, Red River gumbo, and building a shed in tight quartersSewer maintenance gone slightly sideways and an inventive defense system involving Saran Wrap and kitty litterSevere Manitoba weather — tornado warnings, hail, and flooding memories from years pastThe big data project — Sean catalogued nearly a decade of episodes into a spreadsheet, tagged every segment type, and built a custom spin wheel for the Wheel of Topics in ExcelA full tribute song breakdown comparing how different artists have honored Eddie Van Halen since his passing, including tracks inspired by his playing style and a tribute by his former Van Halen bandmate David Lee RothA real debate about authenticity in music — whether trying to emulate a legend's exact style serves them better than simply being inspired by them and creating something originalA side-by-side comparison of two very different tribute approaches, one channeling the spirit of the music and one trying to replicate technique directlyReflections on the Rush farewell concert footage, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, drummer Anika Nilles stepping into Neil Peart's role, and the emotional weight of watching a band's legacy carry forwardA recommendation of a deeply researched music biography that reframes how the band's early influences shaped their soundA preview of new original music coming for episode 600, including a tribute piece dedicated to longtime patron and podcaster Kevin BrownPass or Go and Versus segments return — Incorrect Headlines saved for the 600th episodePatron shoutouts and the full breakdown of all four Patreon tiers, including the new $75 tier from The Trailer Behind the Metal ShoppeFind us everywhere: @seangeekpodcastWebsite: seanmcginty.caSupport the show: patreon.com/seangeekpodcast

Matt Faircloth talks to Patrick Carino about his journey from a real estate-oriented childhood to a role at CBRE and now leading a tech revolution in CRE is a masterclass in combining industry expertise with cutting-edge software. He shares how DealNav started as a passion project to replace clunky Excel systems, then evolved into a map-based relationship management tool that helps investors visualize deals geographically, nurture key relationships, and act faster than ever before. Patrick Carino Co-Founder of DealNav Based in: New York City Metropolitan Area Where to find them: https://x.com/PatCarino https://deal-nav.com/ Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit https://malabarhillcapital.com/ for more info. Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1975, a mysterious outbreak of illness struck children in the United States, triggering a medical breakthrough. Prof Allen Steere uncovered a bacterial infection which was spread by blood‑sucking ticks. It was formally identified for the first time and would go on to be named Lyme disease, after the town where it first emerged. He speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about what led to the discovery. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Prof Allen Steere in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2013. Credit: Yoon S. Byun/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal (in its article “Everyone in Trump's Cabinet Is Eating Sauerkraut”) reported without irony that “JD Vance, RFK Jr. and other officials swear by a diet of grass-fed meat and fermented foods.”   What better time for Erin to resume her multi-part series on “Fermented Fun” with an episode exploring everyone's favorite fermented baked goods: sourdough bread and all its many close cousins (sourdough pizza, sourdough pancakes, sourdough crackers, sourdough Dutch babies ... the list goes on ...)?   In this episode, the Ladies share their past and present experience with their “pet” sourdough starters and explore a few of the many uses for this versatile and nigh-on-miraculous ingredient.   Referenced in this episode:  Amish Friendship Bread Recipe, Starter Recipe & Gifting Printable  The Friendship Bread Project: Can Baking Promote Unity In A Divided World? (NPR) Erin's Sourdough Pizza Dough Calculator - Download the Excel sheet here Erin's Dutch Baby Pancake Recipe - Download the Word Recipe here Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram! Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at lutheranladies@kfuo.org.

Send us Fan MailAfter the largest IPO in history (SpaceX, ticker SPCX, priced at $135), only about 5% of the company — roughly $83 billion — is actually free to trade. Insiders are locked up, the banks that underwrote the deal can't lend shares to short sellers, and index funds are being forced to buy as SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 and the Russel. In this episode of The Wall Street Skinny, Jen and Kristen, both former Morgan Stanley investment bankers, break down how the IPO was engineered — and the question every SpaceX investor should be asking: what happens when all that locked-up stock can finally sell?First, we cover what is normal in an IPO so you can see what isn't. We cover price talk vs. the $135 take-it-or-leave-it pricing, the green shoe, perpetual futures, and the fast-track Nasdaq-100 inclusion pulling in billions of passive buying. We lay out the risks, meaning the the wall of supply coming. Unlike the standard 180-day lockup, SpaceX is staggering its release: the first ~$240-500+ billion of stock unlocks after the first earnings report around September, with more tranches every few weeks after that — over $1 trillion freely tradeable by December, on the way to a ~$2 trillion overhang once Elon Musk's one-year lockup rolls off.  But we also lay out why the passive buying actually helps dampen that supply PLUS why many institutional investors are NOT bearish on the stock despite the insane valuation.If you want to learn MORE from us, check out our Investment Banking & Private Equity Fundamentals course where we go deep into accounting, Excel and Financial modeling, valuation (DCF, comps etc.), M&A analysis and LBO analysis. https://thewallstreetskinny.com/investment-banking-private-equity-fundamentals/If you're just here to have fun, subscribe for more high finance explained through the lens of pop culture, markets, and your favorite shows.Shop our Self Paced Courses:Investment Banking & Private Equity Fundamentals HEREFixed Income Sales & Trading HERESubscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@thewallstreetskinny

On 26 February 1974, geologist Dr Jim Bowler discovered a 42,000-year-old skeleton in New South Wales, Australia.The remains were nicknamed Mungo Man, as they were found in Lake Mungo.The discovery rewrote Australia's history, it proved Aboriginal Australians had occupied the continent for tens of thousands of years.Rachel Naylor speaks to Dr Bowler about Mungo Man's original cremation with ochre and his secret reburial in 2022. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: A Mutthi Mutthi Elder welcomes Mungo Man back to country during a smoking ceremony in 2017 in Balranald, Australia. Credit: Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images)

The nonverbal habits that make you look confident, composed, and authentic before you even speak.How you carry yourself can shape how others perceive your confidence, credibility, and authenticity—often before you say a word. In this Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Matt Abrahams shares practical, research-backed techniques for strengthening your presence through body language, posture, gestures, and eye contact. Learn how to stand and sit with confidence, move with purpose, use your hands effectively, and avoid common nonverbal habits that can distract from your message. Whether you're presenting to an audience, leading a meeting, or navigating everyday conversations, these simple strategies can help you communicate with greater composure and impact. Episode Reference Links:Ep.12 It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: How To Communica…Ep.137 When Words Aren't Enough: How to Excel at Nonverbal Communication  Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.ioEpisode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (01:59) - Be Big, Balanced, and Still (02:53) - The Right Speaking Stance (03:38) - Moving with Purpose (04:29) - Presence While Seated (05:15) - What to Do with Your Hands (06:00) - Gesturing Beyond Your Shoulders (08:29) - Effective Eye Contact (09:14) - Thinking While Speaking (09:59) - Bringing It All Together (10:46) - Practice Through Recording (11:32) - Conclusion ********Thank you to our sponsors.  These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost.Strawberry.me. Get 50% off your first coaching session today at Strawberry.me/smart

Tim Lidman lives in Denver, CO. He has had an unconventional path to being a Tech CEO. In fact, He moved from London to Sweden when he was 18... to try to be a heavy metal rock star, trying to make it big as a drummer. To earn extra income, he got into tech sales - which went really well. Eventually, he worked with WebEx (around the time it got bought by Cisco), for Success Factors (when they got bought by SAP), and then eventually, doing his own startup (which eventually got bought by Accenture). Outside of his professional life, he is married with 2 girls. From his music years, he extracts skills that drove his success to date, which is the ability to product development and execution down the same way you do music.In the days of his first startup, Tim's solution was used by consulting firms to power client engagement. Post exit, while overseeing things at Accenture, he noticed that the whole industry was powered by Microsoft files (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, etc.) - IE, driven manually. He started to wonder if he could codify the consulting process, to remove the manual burden.This is the creation story of Clyde.SponsorsUnblockedTECH DomainsMezmoBraingrid.aiLinkshttps://meetclyde.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/timlidman/Our Sponsors:* Check out Cash App and use my code CASHAPP10 for a great deal: https://click.cash.app/ui6m/mt82fpxl #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Cash App Green, overdraft coverage, borrow, cash back offers and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.* Check out Plaud AI and use my code CODESTORY for a great deal: https://plaud.aiAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What does it actually take to diagnose REDs, and what happens after? If you've ever wondered what's going on behind the scenes when a sports medicine physician suspects REDs, this episode is your inside look. Host Heather Caplan, RDN, sits down with Dr. Rosa Pasculli, a non-operative sports medicine physician based in Atlanta, to walk through the full medical picture: how REDs gets diagnosed, what labs actually matter and why, and what treatment looks like in practice. It's a masterclass in multidisciplinary care, and a reminder of just how important it is to have a physician on your team who knows how to ask the right questions. Dr. Pasculli is a former competitive dancer turned sports medicine physician with a particular clinical interest in bone stress injuries and REDs. She is the head team physician for Emory University, overseeing 450+ varsity athletes, and serves as a consulting physician for the Atlanta Ballet, the Georgia Ballet, and the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders. She also sees runners, weekend warriors, and masters athletes, including, as she mentions in this episode, an 80-year-old woman doing an Ironman. 07:59- How Rosa got into sports medicine and the female athlete space 12:44- What she's seeing in the clinic: awareness of REDs and where education still falls short 14:47- REDs as a diagnosis of exclusion: what that means and why it takes a team 15:51- Lab work 101: CBC, CMP, ferritin, thyroid, and what Rosa is actually looking for 21:48- DEXA scans: who needs one and when, including the Female Athlete Triad Coalition's updated guidelines 24:22- Medical management of REDs: risk stratification, the REDs CAT2 tool, and keeping athletes in sport where possible 25:26- When it becomes dangerous: bradycardia, orthostatic changes, and the malnourished heart 28:34- Setting expectations with patients and parents around timeline and testing frequency 30:31- The Emory Women's Sports Medicine program and the cross-institutional community behind it Resources mentioned: IOC RED-S CAT2 Tool (2023)- free Excel-based risk stratification tool for clinicians Female Athlete Triad Coalition- updated DEXA scan guidelines for adolescent and adult athletes Emory Women's Sport and Wellness Conference- Saturday, August 15th, in-person and virtual; registration opening soon Connect with Dr. Pasculli through the Lane 9 Directory at lane9project.org/directory Connect + get support: Are you an athlete? Find a sports dietitian, DPT, therapist, or coach who understands athletes at lane9project.org/directory. Are you a clinician or coach? If this conversation resonated with you professionally, Lane 9 Membership was built for you. Join a community of dietitians, DPTs, psychologists, sports medicine providers, and coaches who are doing this work, and get listed in the Lane 9 Directory so athletes can find you. Future clinicians and coaches are welcome too. Follow us on Instagram and get in touch anytime!  

In June 1987, hundreds of women walked towards a ceasefire line that had divided Cyprus since 1974. The island was split after a coup backed by Greece and a subsequent Turkish military intervention, which left thousands displaced on both sides. Many of the women were Greek Cypriots who had fled their homes in the north during the conflict. They hoped their peace walk would draw international attention to the island's division, as they wanted to return to the homes they had lost more than a decade earlier. The group held white flags and banners with their slogan ‘We Come In Peace' in Greek, Turkish and English. Some media coverage at the time described the protest as potentially provocative and warned it could escalate tensions. Niki Katsaouni, one of the leading figures of the movement, speaks to Elena Angelides. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Women Walk Home march. Credit: University of Cyprus Library)

You started the year off strong, you set all your goals for how you wanted to do your bookkeeping this year, and just like that, it's June, and now is the time for you to do a mid-year bookkeeping and financial checkup to see how your small business is doing.  Time flies by so quickly, and before you know it, we will be flipping the calendar to the month of December.  Today, we are doing a checkup to make sure you have stayed on track with your small business bookkeeping.  Now is the time to make sure you are doing everything you can to stay up to date, and if you find that you have slipped a little, this episode will help you get back on track quickly and make sure you are able to stay up to date going forward so that you can ensure you have a smooth transition at year end.  This halfway point is also a great time to assess how your business is doing.  Are you meeting your sales goals? Is your income higher or lower than what you were projecting? And what should you do if you are seeing numbers you didn't expect?  I'll also help you focus on which reports you should be looking at, whether you are using a computerized system like QuickBooks or keeping track of your business finances manually or in a Google or Excel spreadsheet.  It is extremely important to keep a pulse on how your business is doing throughout the year, whether you are just starting your small business, you're a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, virtual online bookkeeper, or virtual assistant, so listen in and make sure your business is on track to reach all your goals by doing a mid-year financial checkup… Join us in a community built specifically for accountants and high-stress professionals.  You'll receive support, accountability, and a community that understands what you're going through. We focus on stress reduction, increasing productivity, time management, goal achievement, health, happiness, and desired lifestyle:  https://www.financialadventure.com/community Schedule your Complimentary Stress Audit And Clarity Session, where we'll work together to create a clear and focused plan and overcome the obstacles that stand in your way so that you can move forward and immediately start enjoying your life with less stress, increased productivity, and more time to spend doing what you love with the people you care about: https://www.financialadventure.com/work-with-me Accountants, CPAs, Bookkeepers, Tax Preparers & Financial Professionals, sign up here to get updates on upcoming opportunities & grab the Audit Of Your Well-Being & Balance Guide here: https://www.financialadventure.com/accountant Ready to set up your business?  I have a program to help you get your business set up so that you can start making money.  Sign up for this program here: https://www.financialadventure.com/start Are you ready to try coaching?  Schedule an Introductory Coaching Session today.  You'll have the opportunity to see how you like coaching with an Introductory Coaching Session: https://www.financialadventure.com/intro Join us in the Mastering Your Small Business Finances PROFIT LAB if you are ready to take control of your business finances and create the profitable business you are striving for.  Are you ready to generate revenues and increase the profit in your business: https://www.financialadventure.com/profit If You Are Ready To Choose, Start Or Grow Your Side Hustle, Get Your Free Checklist And Assessment Here: https://www.financialadventure.com/sidehustle Grab Your FREE guide:  5 Essential Strategies For Stress-Free Bookkeeping: https://www.financialadventure.com/5essentials Your FREE Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business Starter Guide & Success Path Is Waiting For You: https://www.financialadventure.com/starterguide Join Our Facebook Community:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenbusinessownersultimatediybookkeepingboutique The Strategic Bookkeeping Academy, including Bookkeeping Basics, is open for registration!  You can learn more and sign up here: https://www.financialadventure.com/sba Looking for a payroll solution for your business?  You can get an exclusive 15% discount on your payroll services when you sign up here: https://www.financialadventure.com/adp QuickBooks Online - Save 30% Your First 6 Months: https://www.financialadventure.com/quickbooks Sign up for a virtual coffee chat to see if starting a Bookkeeping Business is right for you: https://www.financialadventure.com/discovery Show Notes:  https://www.financialadventure.com This podcast is sponsored by Financial Adventure, LLC ~ visit https://www.financialadventure.com for additional information and free resources.

Matthieu Burin a une intuition au démarrage de Hemea : "quand tu as besoin de faire des travaux de rénovation, c'est un enfer. Tu sais pas à qui t'adresser, tu sais pas combien ça coûte, et tu as l'impression que tu vas te faire avoir."10 ans plus tard, Hemea est devenue une marketplace de travaux qui a réalisé plus de 5000 chantiers, levé 15M€ et structuré un réseau national de courtiers en architecture et rénovation.Ingénieur de formation, passé par les grands projets du BTP et un court passage en cabinet de conseil, Matthieu lance Hemea en septembre 2015 avec 473€ de RSA et une conviction simple : digitaliser un secteur que personne dans l'écosystème startup ne voulait toucher.Ce qui suit, c'est 10 ans de construction patiente.Dans cet épisode de La Galère, Matthieu revient sans filtre sur l'envers du décor d'une marketplace dans un marché à 70 milliards où personne ne fait confiance à personne : un premier MVP bricolé sur Typeform et Excel, une liste de 97 problèmes clients établie sur un tableau blanc, une décision radicale sur la gestion du cash, et un pivot stratégique en pleine restructuration du marché VC en 2023.

Dokumente bearbeiten und Tabellen erstellen geht auch ohne Word und Excel. Ob privat, in Firmen oder Behörden – bei Letzteren ist es auch eine politische Entscheidung.

Half a century ago, an event took place that shook the apartheid regime in South Africa to its foundations - the Soweto Uprising.It began with a demonstration by schoolchildren against being taught in Afrikaans.The government met the protesters with brutal force, and the ensuing violence shocked the world.In 2010, Alan Johnston spoke to one of those former schoolgirls, Bongi Mhkabela, about that pivotal moment.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Protesting pupils use the Regina Mundi Church as a refuge during the student uprising in Soweto. Credit: Getty Images)

In this special episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Sarah Severson, Sr. Manager of Compensation at Medline, live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX, for a practical conversation on how compensation is evolving inside fast-growing, complex organizations. The conversation explores what happens when family-owned and high-growth companies scale faster than their compensation structures, why job architecture becomes a critical foundation for everything downstream, and how M&A, global expansion, and Workday implementations expose the need for common language, cleaner data, and stronger governance.   Pete, Julie, and Sarah talk the practical side of AI in compensation, from using Copilot for Excel and manager communications to experimenting with AI-assisted job grading and market cleanup. Sarah offers a grounded practitioner view on where AI can accelerate work, where human judgment still matters, and why compensation teams must balance innovation with governance, transparency, and manager enablement.   Plus, a candid look at the realities of modernizing compensation in a growing enterprise, and why the future of comp is not just about better data, but better decisions, better communication, and stronger alignment across the business. Connect with Sarah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-severson-6498ba1b/ Connect with the show: LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0 X: @HRPayroll2_0  X: @PeteTiliakos  X: @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0  WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20  Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward!  G-P ‘Globalization Partners': https://www.globalization-partners.com/  OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90 Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain' and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

En este episodio Tito Neira conversa con Alejandro Correa Bahnsen (VP de Data & AI en GBM, PhD en Machine Learning, ex-Rappi y ex-Kavak) sobre por qué la mayoría de las empresas que "adoptan IA" no van a ver ningún resultado. Comprar la tecnología no es transformar: si no cambias tus procesos, en dos años vas a decir que "la IA no funcionó". Hablan de por qué los RAGs fallan en producción, qué son los EVALS (el tema del que nadie habla), por qué los Jupyter Notebooks son el nuevo Excel, y cómo el rol de Data/AI pasó de área de soporte a dueño de los KPIs del negocio.00:00 Intro y quién es Alejandro Correa02:39 Por qué los RAGs no funcionan en la práctica05:06 Cuándo sí usar RAG vs SQL06:45 Agentes: drag-and-drop vs agents as code11:18 EVALS: el tema del que nadie habla15:05 ¿Cuándo confiar en sacar la IA a producción?17:26 ¿Vale la pena cambiar de modelo cada semana?22:27 Los notebooks son el nuevo Excel27:07 Por qué dejó Python por TypeScript29:45 El rol de Data/AI: de soporte a dueño del negocio35:01 Predicción a 2 años: comprar IA no es transformar38:18 Cierre✩ CURSOS DISPONIBLES

In 1993, separatist forces took Sukhumi, the capital of the former Soviet territory of Abkhazia. As Georgian authorities lost control of the region, more than 200,000 people were forced to flee. Many had no choice but to cross the Caucasus Mountains on foot, and hundreds are believed to have died along the way.Georgian writer Guram Odisharia speaks to Stefania Gozzer about his harrowing escape from Abkhazia and the heartbreaking scenes he witnessed - experiences he later captured in his book The Pass of the Persecuted.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Georgians flee from Abkhazia on foot in 1993. Credit: Jon Jones/Sygma via Getty Images)

A single dollar on a honeymoon turned into a fight neither of them forgot and it revealed something most couples learn the hard way: marriage problems are rarely about the sombrero. We are joined by Adam and Carissa King from the Dear Young Married Couple podcast and upcoming book, and we get honest about what it looks like to love each other while still clashing over expectations, respect, and communication.We talk through their faith stories, including how early church life shaped them and how hard questions pushed Adam toward apologetics and a more grounded confidence in Jesus. That same posture of curiosity shows up in their marriage work today: you can be faithful and still need tools, coaching, and wise voices around you. They share why couples often avoid help because they fear looking weak, especially in ministry, and why breaking that stigma can change a family line.If you care about Christian marriage, marriage coaching, healthy leadership, and building a relationship that lasts, this conversation will give you language and next steps. Subscribe, share this with a couple who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the tool you want to try this week.Dear Young Married Couple WebsiteSend us Fan MailWe want to help you find your next steps in ministry.Connect here with EXCEL. 

Join Todd Rogers, Co-founder and CEO of Moddy AI, for a paradigm-shifting exploration into the true nature of the artificial intelligence boom. For the past decade, building a production-ready predictive sports modeling business required millions of dollars in capital, an elite army of data scientists, and bespoke backend architectures—culminating in complex tools that only other data scientists could decipher. In this episode, Todd maps out how advanced LLMs and automated engineering workflows have completely rewritten this equation, moving past basic software optimization to open up entirely new categories of consumer and business software that were previously impossible to build.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan survived after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade close to his summer palace. The king remained unharmed, but his driver was wounded. It wasn't the king's first near-miss. Before being crowned, Hussein survived another attempt when his grandfather, King Abdullah, was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman in 1951. Hussein was saved when a medal deflected a stray bullet. And there were other attempts. One would-be assassin used nose drops poisoned with acid. Another time, a cook was given poison to put in the king's food. Many of the attempts were because of his pro-Western stance and his efforts to control Palestinian guerrillas. Jane Wilkinson has been through the BBC archives to find out more about the ‘survivor king', who tells his story in his own words.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: King Hussein, 1970. Credit: Fred Ihrt/LightRocket via Getty Images)

About Jennifer Buchholz: The rapidly changing tech landscape won't slow down to allow you to absorb information. Right now, we're seeing explosive growth and innovation almost daily.Just when you have something figured out... It changes.Teams can become buried in an avalanche of information, coming from who-knows-what-source (or the telephone game, let's be honest). They lose valuable time trying to figure out tech on their own, they make unforced errors when they don't know what they don't know, and they can (GASP) lose the organization money when overwhelm slows them down.That's where I come in.As a Microsoft Office Trainer and Adoption Consultant, my greatest joy is watching an employee stop feeling intimidated and overwhelmed by the programming that's supposed to be serving them. I believe that transformational technical training takes translation. I'm the translator.Instead of putting your people through hours of exhausting training that's impossible to absorb because it doesn't relate to their needs, I'm the “engaging geek” who makes learning fun and relevant to their job.By engaging your people in hour-long training groups, followed by study halls and practice sessions, I show them how to apply the technology to the specific issues they are having on the job, rather than to some abstract set of problems.I work with large corporations, small to midsize businesses, and non-profits. The people who typically reach out to me are MSPs, human resource managers, learning and development managers, and decision makers around sales teams, finance, IT and marketing. They've already invested in the tech. The software is locked and loaded, and without training, it's going nowhere.I have over 20 years of training experience onsite and online. I've worked with over 500 companies since creating Excel and Flourish in 2012. I've worked with organizations as large as 45,000 and as small as 4. I see people leave my training sessions having gained three things:• Increased confidence in using the technology they've been given• More curiosity and excitement about what's possible• Greater creativity – how they can use programs independently and to their advantage, for example, by adding their own automationsIf you're looking for information on training, reach out via email to jennifer@excelandflourish, support@excelandflourish or DM via LinkedIn.Don't forget to take our LinkedIn Scorecard here:https://www.thetimetogrow.com/ecs-scorecard

In 1897, Paul Shishkoff was 10 years old and living with his family in rural Russia.It was there he met the great Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov, who was resting after the end of Moscow's theatre season. During the long, hot summer, Paul became friends with Chekhov - accompanying him on rambles and fishing expeditions.In 1938, Paul spoke to the BBC about their friendship and how his family became the inspiration for one of Chekhov's most famous works - Three Sisters.BBC archivist Tariq Hussain, who discovered the incredible recording, tells the story. Produced by Jacqueline Paine.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Anton Chekhov in his garden in Yalta, 1902. Credit: Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by John Plake, Chief Innovation Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the State of the Bible research at the American Bible Society. With decades of experience as a pastor, missionary, professor, and researcher, John brings a unique perspective on how people are actually engaging with Scripture and what we should do about it. The “movable middle” is growing. // One of the most significant insights from recent research is the rise of what John calls the “movable middle”—millions of people who are open to the Bible but not yet engaged with it. This group has grown by approximately nine million people in recent years. They are curious, interested, and even positive toward Scripture, but they lack the tools, confidence, or guidance to engage it meaningfully. This represents a massive opportunity for churches willing to step in and help. People want a guide. // Through focus groups and research, John discovered that many people in the movable middle feel intimidated by the Bible. They struggle with language, context, and navigation. But perhaps most striking is they want help. Contrary to what some leaders might assume, they are not rejecting the church as a guide. In fact, many say, “If we can't trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good is it?” This creates a clear invitation for churches to step into a more relational, guiding role in discipleship. A surprising discipleship gap. // One of the most sobering findings is that nearly half of weekly church attenders are not regularly engaging Scripture on their own. While churches invest heavily in preaching and programming, many people are not developing personal habits of Bible engagement. John suggests that churches often focus on delivering content rather than equipping people to engage Scripture themselves. The result is a gap between what happens on Sunday and what happens in everyday life. From teaching to equipping. // If churches want to close that gap, they must shift from being primarily content providers to equipping environments. This means helping people develop the skills, habits, and confidence to read and apply Scripture on their own. It also requires understanding the real barriers people face, like time constraints, confusion, or lack of community support, and addressing those barriers with practical solutions. A new tool for churches. // To help leaders take action, the American Bible Society has developed the “Next Step for Church” assessment. This free tool allows churches to measure spiritual health, Bible engagement, and key leadership behaviors within their congregation. Within a few weeks, leaders receive a detailed, data-driven report highlighting strengths, challenges, and suggested next steps. Data that leads to discipleship. // John emphasizes that data is not an end in itself; it's a tool for better shepherding. By listening to their congregation at scale, leaders can identify patterns, confirm instincts, and prioritize what matters most. The assessment surfaces both what's working and where growth is needed, giving churches a clear path forward. It also connects individuals to personalized Scripture engagement resources, helping them take their next step spiritually. Why Scripture engagement matters most. // Nothing has a greater impact on spiritual growth than a person's relationship with the Bible. In fact, Scripture engagement accounts for a significant portion of overall spiritual health. When people consistently engage with God's Word, transformation follows—affecting beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. Signs of hope for the future. // Despite broader cultural challenges, John sees encouraging trends, especially among younger generations. Millennials and Gen Z show increasing openness to Scripture, even if they are still exploring. While overall trends may appear flat, meaningful change is happening beneath the surface. For churches willing to engage this moment, there is real opportunity for impact. To explore the research further or access the free church assessment, visit church.nextstep.bible and begin discovering how your church can better equip people to engage Scripture every day. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Do you feel like your church’s or school's facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs? Well, the team over at Risepointe can help! As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to help move YOUR mission forward. Check them out at risepointe.com and while you’re there, schedule a FREE call to explore possibilities for your needs, vision and future…Risepointe believes that God still uses spaces…and they're here to help. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. I am so glad that you have decided to tune in today. This is one of those episodes that there’s a great resource in it that going to want to make sure you engage with. There’s super helpful content. Plus it’s about an area that I know so many of us are thinking about, we’re wondering about, we’re asking questions about. Rich Birch — So super excited to have John Plake with us today. He is the chief innovator ah innovation officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible Research Series, which comes from the American Bible Society. And they’re on a mission to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford so that all may experience its life-changing message. ABS has really a whole bunch of different tools and approaches, and we’re excited kind of expose a little bit more about that today. John has been in ministry over 30 years. We’ll just call it over 30 years. And it served as a pastor, missionary, professor, researcher. John, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.John Plake — Thanks so much for having me today. It’s great to be with you.Rich Birch — Why don’t you fill in the picture a little bit? Tell us a little bit about your background. You know, what brings you to your current work?John Plake — Yeah. Closer to 40 years now. Rich Birch — Nice. Yeah, yeah. That’s great.John Plake — It’s a little uncomfortable to talk about that.Rich Birch — That’s great.John Plake — Yeah. You know, I start out like a lot of people in ministry. I grew up in a home that ministry was central. Actually, both my grandfathers were ministers. My father was a minister. Ministry is kind of the family business in a way, but I really did sense a direction from God when I was about 15 years old to to pursue full-time ministry.John Plake — There was some detail around that. Ended up going to Bible college and and then started what turned out to be about nine years of full-time pastoral service. And I hadn’t been in that for very long before I realized that everything I learned in Bible College was preparing me to serve a generation that no longer existed in a culture that was gone. John Plake — And I thought, my goodness, I know God’s word pretty well. And mean, I’m a lifelong learner of God’s word. I love the Bible. And yet, didn’t really know culture very well. And I didn’t develop those tools until just years and years of practice, some missionary service, wonderful teachers at at Wheaton College and graduate school and and just a lifelong journey of learning.John Plake — So at American Bible Society, when I got here, the State of the Bible, program or this research project was already underway. And we’d been helped out by the Barna Group, which does some wonderful foundational work. And eventually it just kind of grew up and it got to a place where we had an internal team that was running it ourselves, now in collaboration with the National Opinion Research Council or NORC at the University of Chicago. We just do, I think, what is the largest ongoing study of Americans’ relationship with the Bible and faith and the church. And we get to talk about it all the time. Rich Birch — Yeah, I love it.John Plake — So, I mean, this is the best job in the world.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. It’s it’s great research, something that I think should be on the kind of list of things that we need to be paying attention to. It’s been a gift to the church for so long and something that we should continue to to pay attention through. Now, let’s talk about you specifically. You spent three plus decades. I didn’t want to say almost 40. You know, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that. I could say that, you know, a couple years ago, I clicked across one of those numbers with a zero on the end as my birthday. And ever since then, I’m a little sensitive about the the age thing. Rich Birch — So anyways, As a ministry, missionary professor, researcher, you’ve done a lot. How does wearing all of those hats, what do you what does that bring to you as you come to the data? How does that impact you as you think about really the state of the Bible research?John Plake — Yeah, you know, I think research can be dull. You know, it can sound like it’s all about writing questions or it’s all statistics and numbers. But for me, the research is all about the people. Rich Birch — So true.John Plake — It’s all about the people in our communities and in our churches that we’re trying to understand better so we can serve them well with the gospel. I, for years, I’ve used the analogy that that being in gospel ministry is like being a human bridge across a river. I grew up not very far from the Mississippi River in the St. Louis area, and there was a big 100-year flood when I was early on in ministry. And I mean, none of the bridges worked anymore. You couldn’t get from one side to the other.John Plake — And I thought, you know, that’s a tragedy that I encountered sometimes in ministry where maybe I was deeply rooted in one bank of the river, the text, but I wasn’t necessarily deeply rooted in the other bank of the river, which was the context.John Plake — And it’s this lived experience of the people that I was I was serving. And that I wanted to serve in my community, but I needed to understand them better. So I wasn’t just spouting you know Aristotelian logic to them. Or I wasn’t just coming at them with the pat answers that I’d learned. Like I’d never heard anybody in my life walk into my office and say, Pastor John, you got to tell me, what can you describe hamartiology to me from. You know like I had to learn that in school, but that’s not what people struggle with. Rich Birch — That’s so true. Yeah. John Plake — They had totally different questions and I needed to love them and honor them enough to understand their questions and answer them responsibly and reliably from the pages of scripture.Rich Birch — Yeah, love it. Okay, well, we’re going to dig into a little bit of just a couple of the findings just to kind of, we’re trying to whet your appetite, friends, to take steps towards this. So the 2025 data showed, and we’ve seen this, a real bump in Bible engagement, particularly among millennials and men. If I’m reading it correctly, though, we saw 2026, a shift happen, maybe back down. And so what’s going on? Actually, I heard another sociologist in a kind of a related field that was about church attendance talked about the dead cat bounce, that it was like, you know, which I thought, oh, that’s a, but there’s a similarity going on here. Pull this, this finding apart. Help us understand this.John Plake — Yeah, apologies to cat lovers out there.Rich Birch — Yes, exactly.John Plake — We were we were hoping, you know, I think we were really hoping. We looked at 2025. We saw that men in particular were leaning into the Bible in ways we hadn’t seen recently. Millennials doing the same thing. There there were some interesting numbers in 2025. And so when the 2026 numbers came to my desk in late January, I thought, I hope we’re extending I hope it’s going to be a trend. But it wasn’t. It was a blip.John Plake — And there’s more to it, though, than just the fact that scripture engagement didn’t go up. It also didn’t go down. And the level of people in America who are Bible disengaged, meaning they never pick up the Bible on purpose at all, that actually didn’t go up either. What grew was this kind of curious explorer group in the middle that we call the movable middle. And over the last two years, it’s grown by 9 million American adults. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And so what we do see is there’s there’s openness to the Bible. There’s experimentation with the Bible. But people are jumping in and they’re trying it and they’re not being able to get hold of it. And I think that’s largely because of us.John Plake — Because Bible people who are around them aren’t saying, please come do this with me. Let me help you. Let me honor you enough to to respect your questions, to ask what you’re dealing with, and help you explore those issues through the pages of Scripture.Rich Birch — I love that movable middle, man, that feels like the kind of group we want to connect with and reach out to in our community. Any other, when you, when you’ve been thinking about this movable middle, what are some other kind of characteristics of those people or other things that, you know, are kind of telltale signs of this group as we’re thinking about them as it, as it pertains to Bible engagement?John Plake — Yeah, they’re an amazing group, and we’re going talking more about them all year, but they are probably my favorite subject in America. There are 74 million American adults that are in the movable middle.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — 74 million of our neighbors who are like…Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — …and here’s what they tend to say: They love the Bible. They think it’s a great idea. But if you handed them a Bible, they don’t know how to find what they’re looking for. They don’t know how to navigate it. They get confused by the language in in Scripture.John Plake — I remember doing a a focus group with a bunch of people in the movable middle. I was in Chicago. it was an area I was really familiar with. I used to pastor in that area. And we got them talking about their experience with the Bible. And we said, hey, does anything ever stop you or kind of you know make you check out because you’re struggling with what’s going on? John Plake — And one young lady at the table said, yeah, you know the language of the Bible is really really hard for me to understand. It’s it’s a really old book. It uses expressions I don’t understand. And a gentleman sitting across the table from her just kind of chuckled and said, yeah, what the hell’s a mustard seed? And everybody laughed.John Plake — I was behind the glass and I just about fell out of my chair because they didn’t teach me to talk like that in a Assemblies of God seminary.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake —Things like that, you know, that’s just not the way we roll.Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. Yes.John Plake — But it was so authentic and he wasn’t being mean.Rich Birch — No.John Plake — He was just saying, boy, I don’t I don’t get it. And then they said, you know, we really want a guide. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And so we pushed on that a little bit. At the time, there were some clergy abuse scandals that actually there were billboards up in Chicago about clergy abuse scandals that all of us lamented. And so we’re like, OK, listen, do you trust the church to be your guide? Because ee saw these billboards, you know, and it’s your city. And so what what do you think?John Plake — And they said, well, of course we do. I mean, it’s terrible when people in the church abuse their position and abuse others. And that’s not what they’re supposed to do. But if we can’t trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good are they, really? And so, yes, we’re looking to you, church, to help us connect more deeply with the Bible, understand what it meant to the original hearers and readers and how we apply it to our lives today.Rich Birch — Okay, that’s yeah, that’s really cool. I look forward to hearing more about the movable middle in this coming year. Another thing that jumped out to me, which I feel like, man, I’ve seen this in my church. This is like you you named a group that I see, but it’s surprising, at least it’s surprising on its face. So nearly half of weekly church attenders, weekly church attenders, which is, that’s like really engaged, you know, are not regularly engaging, engaging scripture on their own.Rich Birch — Man, what, so what should we do about that? That’s an interesting, how does, how should that impact our discipleship strategy? What are you encouraging us to be thinking about? And these people that are with us all the time, but they’re not engaged with scripture.John Plake — Well, I think the first thing to do is to just recognize it. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You know, a lot of pastors that I’ve talked to, when we talk about scripture engagement, they tell me things like this: Everything we do is scripture engagement. I spend my whole week preparing a scriptural message. I’m, you know, we’re preparing small group curriculum and Sunday school curriculum and all of this stuff. It’s all about the, everything we do is about the Bible. John Plake — Well, okay. But I had a I had a young youth pastor come to me not that long ago and he said, John, look, you were me once a few years ago. If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently?John Plake — And the answer is I would do everything differently, than the way I ought to do it. Because what, in my tradition, there was a lot of emphasis on the preaching event, and I put a lot of effort into those communication events, but what I didn’t put as much effort into is empowering people in my church to do what I was doing, which was dig into scripture, understand it for themselves, giving them the tools to do that.John Plake — And then in May, we’re going to be releasing a chapter, just in a few few days now, we’re going to be releasing a chapter all about parents. And one of the startling things is the time pressure that moms are under. I mean, it’s incredible. And so we need to understand where they’re coming from and where they have barriers, but also have some compassion on them and help to support them when they’re really facing struggles. Like they don’t have enough time. They don’t have the resources or the community coming around them to help them to engage God’s word ah more fulsomely, more transformatively.John Plake — We know how to do this stuff, but we’re not connecting the dots to everybody that’s coming to hear us talk every…Rich Birch — That’s good. That’s good. I know I’ve in my seat as an XP, um you know, I’ve overseen a lot of what we do on the programming side and what we do on the weekends. And I’ve, you know, it’s like, that i don’t think I’ve ever said this publicly. It’s like the kind of behind the scenes conversation. I’ve sometimes wondered, I’ve said, you know, like, what we do on the weekend to try to make the Bible understandable is so completely different than Tuesday morning in someone’s life. Rich Birch — Like, we pull out all the stops to make it interesting. We get like world class communicators, incredible graphics, you know, emotional music, all of this to try to… But then the question is, okay, so now on Tuesday morning when you’re tired and you haven’t had your coffee yet and you’re just about to go read scripture, man, like that feels like a long ways away. There’s like a gap there that I sometimes wonder maybe we’re making it worse. You know. Maybe we’re making it harder. I said that. You didn’t say that. Rich Birch — So maybe there’s pastors that are listening here and they read this kind of report. They read this kind of finding and they’re like, hey, that’s interesting. But like, how what do I do in my church specifically? So you know we want we don’t want to just leave people with a tough stat.Rich Birch — I think we see that in our church. There’s people in our church that are here all the time. They’re not that engaged. But you’ve actually developed a new tool or ABS has developed a new tool to help us think through that. Why don’t you walk us through it? Tell us a little bit about it. How’s it work? Talk us how it can help us.John Plake — Yeah, so recently we developed two tools that kind of work together. One of them you can find on the internet at nextstep.bible. And it’s just for anybody who’s like, hey, I’m on a spiritual journey. I’m kind of stuck. I don’t really know what to do next. Maybe you’re just getting started exploring what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you’re Jesus’ little brother or sister. Wherever you are in that journey, there’s always a next step for us.John Plake — And so what we’ve done is analyzed along about a million spiritual life surveys. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And from this huge quantity of data, we’ve learned that people are at different places in that journey. They’re at different points on the map. And we want to make sure that they’re equipped to have the right thing at the right time. I think currently there are 21,000 scripture engagement resources available there.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — They’re absolutely free. They’re in English, Spanish, and French. So go check it out, nextstep.bible.John Plake — But if you’re a pastor or you’re a church leader, you’re probably wondering, well, what’s going on in my church, right? So I see all the national data, but I think our tendency is to say, well, we’re the exception, right?Rich Birch — So true. Well, that’s not our people. John Plake — I know I know everybody else is struggling, but we’re doing okay.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake — And and so it’s good to check our assumptions a little bit. They used to say a really sad statistic that 10 o’clock on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America, which makes me sad. What makes me sad also is that 12 o’clock noon in America is the most dishonest hour in America. That’s the hour when pastors tend to start greeting their people after the church service closes and they hear all these comments: oh, Pastor, that was the best sermon I’ve ever heard. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t. All right, let’s face it.John Plake — There’s somebody out there who preaches better than you do and better than I do. They’re available on YouTube. People don’t need you to be the best Bible teacher in the world. They need you to be the best pastor for them. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And the tools that are all about focusing on their relationship with the Bible, their holistic spiritual formation, and our leadership behaviors. And so for that, we built the Next Step for Church Assessment.John Plake — It’s actually standing on the foundation or built on the engine block, if you want a different metaphor, of the old reveal research that the Willow Creek Association had come out with. It’s no longer available. And we were able to acquire all of their historical learnings, but also add in things like human flourishing and e-pastoral leadership behaviors that lead to churches really being missionally effective and strong. Excellent stuff on Bible engagement and spiritual formation. John Plake — So the the big challenge we had, I was talking with Dr. Ed Stetzer about this because he was at LifeWay Research when the Transformational Church Assessment was being built. And it was always hard because analyzing this kind of data required a lot of human intervention. It’s very expensive to do. It’s very complicated to deliver. And even a small cost can be a barrier for churches that have strained budgets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a church of, you know, 2,500 25,000 or 250. There’s always more places to put your money than there are dollars that are available to do it.John Plake — And so at American Bible Society, we said, you know what, as a gift to the church, because we love the church, we need to make it completely free. And so you can go to church.nextstep.bible and you could sign up today. Literally, we’re recording this on a on a Thursday. You could go there today and by Sunday, you could be launching your survey. Two weeks later, you’d automatically have results in your own online dashboard. You’d get key highlights emailed to you. There’s a place for custom questions. There’s just all kinds of really, really rich information.Rich Birch — So good.John Plake — And it it doesn’t take the place of the kind of learning that you have as a pastor. You learn deeply in relationship with others. You’re observing what’s going on. You have a team that’s around you. But what it does is it provides this valid, reliable sift and sort function. It’s based on well, I don’t know even know how many, well over 3000 churches, well over half a million survey responses went into building this and making it a tool that that is a good benchmark for you to say, you know what, if we want to move from where we are today to where God is calling us, here are the things we need to focus on.Rich Birch — It’s so good. And friends, I want to encourage you to to go there. Just church.nextstep.bible. I know many of us have a heart for saying, listen, we want to measure more than just nickels and noses. The number of people that show up and revenue that comes in. And this a great way to kind of inject at something that’s at the core of what we’re supposed to be doing as a church. So why don’t we just give a little bit more detail?Rich Birch — What is it? You know, what’s it actually measuring? How is it? You know, how could it be helpful? How how could it kind of dovetail with some of the things we’re already tracking? Maybe give us, you know, what kind of insights are we going to gain from this if we if we put our people through this?John Plake — Yeah, maybe it’s worthwhile to just back up and say it’s based on a congregational assessment. So really this kind of work is all about just listening to your congregation at scale. So if you have 25 people coming to church, you can probably have this conversation with them if you know how to ask the right questions. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You can go to the website. You’re like, what’s in the survey? There’s a button you can click. You can read the whole survey. It’s fine. We’re not going to try and surprise you with anything. But really simple stuff. How’s your relationship with Jesus? How often are you interacting with Scripture? What difference is that making in your life? We ask the standard Harvard human flourishing questions. We ask about um how the pastoral team or the senior pastor, him or herself, is doing at actually modeling Christlike leadership for you. Rich Birch — It’s so good.John Plake — And all of that reporting then gets brought into a database. It’s all anonymous. So individuals don’t, they don’t have to tell you who they are. They can’t tell you who they are other than by characteristics. And you’re going to get this really good, robust picture of what’s going on at the church. John Plake — Now, what does it take for somebody to do that? It takes about 20 minutes of their time, and time is expensive, right? People always have too much to do. So in return for that investment, at the end of their survey experience, they will have already told us everything we need to know to match them to great resources at nextstep.bible.John Plake — And with their permission, not without it, they can click a button, pass that data over to the individual nextstep.bible platform. They can create an account and right away, they’re going to be finding things like YouVersion Bible reading plans that are just for them.John Plake — If you’ve got people in your church and they’re outliers, they’re they’re way more spiritually advanced than everybody else, or they’re just getting started and everybody else is way ahead of them, these kinds of tools create bespoke pathways for them so they know what to do next. All the while, the church leadership can sit back and say, okay, here’s our results. And as a team, now what do we need to do to serve the whole congregation well?Rich Birch — I love this. You know, this is what incredible tool that you’ve put together here for our churches to wrestle through and to, you know, not only help us as a church as we’re thinking about these issues, but then help individuals in our church. What what would be some of the ways that churches might use the data that’s generated to impact what we’re doing in our programming? How how could we use this to improve what we’re doing?John Plake — Sure. There are really three things we want everybody to do. First, just discover what’s going on. Just just check your assumptions at the door and and say, okay, what do the data tell us about what’s going on in our church life and in our people’s lives? That’s the first thing.John Plake — Second thing is it’s going to surface for you the top three things that you’re doing great. And it’s going to give them to you in the report. And you need to throw a party. Like there are people who make these things happen for you. No pastor is doing this all by themselves. And so plan a party, celebrate what’s going well.John Plake — The third thing it’s going to do is it’s going to give you suggestions about, okay, here’s where your congregation is today. It won’t surprise you, but it might inform you. I’ve never seen a pastor look at the report and go, ah you guys got it wrong. Rich Birch — Sure, right.John Plake — Usually they they see the report and they go, yeah, okay, yeah, you got me.Rich Birch — Yeah. Confirmed some hunches I’ve had. Yeah. Yeah.John Plake — Right? But we don’t we don’t have time. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the expertise to be able to sit down and and kind of scientifically walk through this process. So we do that for you. We deliver the report. And then we’re going to give you two key action items that we think churches like yours in a similar place have done that have helped move them toward spiritual health and missional effectiveness.John Plake — And that’s really what it’s all about. We want your congregation to be spiritually healthy. We want your your church as a whole to be missionally effective. And when that happens, often there’s numerical growth. Often there’s financial growth. But there’s certainly more missional impact that’s coming through your congregation and its work.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. So if I’m like a church of a thousand people, let’s say, and just round number to picking out of the sky, how how what kind of percentage of my congregation would I need to take this to give me a reasonable, you know, statistical, you know, feeling good about the data for it? What what kind of number um should I be thinking about?John Plake — Well, the first thing is we’ve built in a tool that will tell you how to get to a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. Rich Birch — Love it.John Plake — And that does vary depending on the adult attendance that you have. So let’s say you’ve a thousand adults. And by adults, I mean anybody in high school or older can probably take this survey. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — And you can cut the data like by gender or by age. All of that live filtering is in the online platform. Rich Birch — Oh, that’s so good.John Plake — So if you’re the you’re the youth pastor and you’re like, well, wait, tell me about the young people that took the survey. You can just look right at them and compare them to the rest of the congregation, which I bet will be enlightening. But nevertheless, how many do you need if you’re a church of 1,000, it’s about 275.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — If it’s a smaller church than that, then you’re still going to need a pretty significant percentage. So if I roll that all the way down to a church of 100, you need 80.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — And if you roll that up to a church of 5,000, well, you don’t need that many more than 275.Rich Birch — Interesting.John Plake — So you’re going to report that out to you. It’s very, very doable. And, you know, I’ve pastored at large churches and I pastored a small church. And I’ll tell you, when I pastored a church of under 100, I could have gotten a census of the people, like everybody, to do a survey like this. They would have been glad to tell me these things. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — And it’s not that I couldn’t have had a conversation one-on-one with most of the adults in the congregation. It was something different in that case. I actually didn’t know what to ask. I used to run into this when I was a campus pastor at a Christian university. And I would have young people walk into my office and I was like, I know I should be able to help them, but the challenge they’re facing is different than anything I’m familiar with. I don’t have any analog for this in my personal experience. And so this sort of takes the mystery away. We don’t ask fluffy questions. We ask research proven questions that are going to give you the information you really need so you can take action.Rich Birch — That’s amazing. That’s think this is such a great tool for people. I can see how, you know, it’d be so helpful for folks that are listening in to, you know, might be be able to plug in grab this experience for their people, help their church, help the folks that are attending. That’s, that’s incredible.Rich Birch — So, you know, you’ve picked an interesting vocation to be connected with the American Bible Society. And because, you know, this is such a critical and important part of developing people’s relationship, obviously, with Jesus; its core to all of it. And we have seen a long historical downward trend, and you’re pushing against that, which is amazing. But what gives you hope in the middle of all of that? What would it when you look at the church around you know, the country, where do you see flashes of just good things going on that are like, you know, when it comes to the relationship with scripture that even, you know, even when we see maybe the overall numbers are not as great as we want them to be, what are some kind of flashes of hope we should, that we could encourage folks with today?John Plake — Well, I’d like to maybe point to just three things that leap to mind. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — The first of them is I never talk to anybody in the church who says the Bible is a bad idea. Rich Birch — Sure.John Plake — Everybody likes the Bible. We’re all trying to figure out how to communicate its message better, to understand it more deeply. It’s transforming our lives, and we want to be able to share it with others. John Plake — And that’s great because, number two, there’s nothing that makes a bigger difference in somebody’s spiritual life than their relationship with the Bible. I mean, absolutely nothing. And I’m saying this as a researcher. I’ve tested it. I can’t find anything that makes a bigger difference. John Plake — In fact, when we looked at Christian college and university students, 60% of their overall spiritual health across lots of domains—beliefs, practice, putting faith into action, loving God, loving others, all these things, 60% of the variance in their spiritual health is solely accounted for by their relationship with the Bible.John Plake — So if we can help people have a dynamic relationship with scripture, we win. That’s all there is to it. It’s just that simple. And so that is really encouraging.John Plake — And then the third thing, ah the third thing is how I say this nicely? I'm I’m from Gen X and so to my Baby Boomer friends, I’m sorry, but you guys don’t have the influence that you once did.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s true.John Plake — And that’s a good thing because there’s new openness among Millennials, and Gen Z and even younger Gen X um that we just don’t see among Baby Boomers. It’s like Baby Boomers made up their minds in the 60s and early 70s and said, this is what I believe and I’m not changing. And they haven’t. John Plake — That’s not to say that someone who’s a Baby Boomer can’t have a a spiritual experience and transformational experience. It does happen. But on the population level, like when we looked at the Bay Area of San Francisco, if you look at the scripture engagement, church engagement, love God, love others data in the Bay Area, it looks like what you’d expect, until you strip out the Baby Boomers. And then suddenly it looks better than every place else in America.John Plake — You’re like, what’s going on? Well, looks like all the unreconstructed hippies that moved to the Bay Area are actually holding a lid on the population numbers. And when you remove that and you go, oh, wait a minute, let me look under the headline and say what’s happening. There’s more going on than is easy to see. And I think this happens in big national trends.John Plake — Oh, is Scripture engagement up or down? Is you know church attendance up or down? Whats what’s going… big national trends. Yeah, okay, those are helpful, and we want those to change. But what’s changing first is below the fold. Things in Gen Z, things among Millennials, things in young men, those things are starting to change, and I think those are the first glimmerings that God is at work in a new way in America, and I can’t wait to see it.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s that’s a great word. And that lines up with what we’re seeing, even just experientially talking to churches across the country. You know we’re so we’re seeing there is something going on with younger generations, which is great to see. I was I was born in 1974, the lowest birth rate year of the 20th century. I am classic Gen X. Like you know I am like statistic I’m the statistical average Gen X and has spent a lot of my time trying to hand stuff from the Boomers to the Millennials. And, yeah, there’s lots of encouraging news there, particularly with the younger generations. Rich Birch — I also want to speak to on the the work I’ve done in the church growth stuff that I’ve done and coaching I’ve done with churches, one of the things that’s just undeniable is churches that have a high view of scripture, that is, they’re trying to get people engaged with scripture. They they talk about it like it’s actually true. How do we say don’t know what’s the best way to talk about that? Those are the churches that are prevailing, and that actually works out statistically. You see that time and again. Talk to us about that dynamic, which is kind of co-related to the things we’re talking about today. From your perspective in the stats and all that, how how have you seen that work out as you’ve looked at churches across the country?John Plake — Yeah, I think you’re exactly right. The churches that are the healthiest in America, that are growing, that where where people are spiritually healthy, have a really dynamic relationship with Scripture. And it kind of it cuts across tradition. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — There are some traditional things going on. I was listening to Justin Brierley and his surprising Rebirth of Belief in God podcast, and it was from last season, and he he had someone on, he was interviewing, and what she was saying was there are the parts of the church that seem to be thriving are kind of the, the the older, the ancientness traditions, whether it’s Catholic or Orthodox, that what she called somewhat irreverently, the smells and bells side of of the church.Rich Birch — Sure, sure.John Plake — And on the other side, kind of my end of the swimming pool, I’m, from the Assemblies of God, so the Pentecostal and Charismatic side. And she said, what’s going on is that both ends of that spectrum are totalizing. John Plake — They’re saying, you know what, the the Bible places certain expectations and demands on people. Christ places certain expectations and demands on people. And these parts of the church aren’t sort of shy about talking about that from a biblical perspective. She said, what’s what’s dying is that part in the middle where we’ve reduced church to a PowerPoint and you know an Excel spreadsheet. And she said, that part of the church seems to be dying and no one’s coming to the funeral. Rich Birch — That’s good. John Plake — And I thought, you know okay, right?Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, that’s good.John Plake — So if we revitalize our relationship with God through scripture, there’s a next step for every church. It doesn’t matter what, you know whether you’re mainline or evangelical or, you know, Pentecostal or Orthodox or whatever it is, but but reviving our relationship with God through Scripture is really where it’s at.Rich Birch — That’s so good. i Yeah, I call that middle group the just because it rhymes doesn’t mean it’s true group. You know, like the, you know, were just like, it’s all my thoughts. No one wants to come and find us. They want to find God ultimately. Well, I don’t want to pick any fights with anybody that’s listening in, but I really appreciate today’s conversation, John. This has been great. So we want to send people to church.nextstep.bible.Rich Birch — The the promise of in two weeks, your church could have a comprehensive report on spiritual health, on where your church is, spiritual health is at, that’s a huge promise. And so again, this is go to church.nextstep.bible. Any kind of final words as we wrap up today’s episode?John Plake — You know, you might be familiar with Cally Parkinson. Cally was the co-author of all of the Reveal books, every single one of them. She was head of communications for the Willow Creek Association when they were running this. She’s probably had more conversations with pastors and church leaders about survey results like this than anybody I know, maybe than anybody alive. And Cally likes this so much. She said, John, I want to have a personal consultation with the first hundred churches that go through this.John Plake — And so if you want to be in that group, she’s going to offer to spend an hour with you and just walk through your results and help explain it. There are videos throughout the platform that will explain it as well. And you can’t beat talking to Cally. She loves pastors. She says you’re the salt of the earth. And she just really wants to serve you because the work that you do to save people is just so valuable to her. So anyway, just wanted to offer that. And I know you’d probably love to meet Cally.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, appreciate you being here today. Thanks for the great work you do at the American Bible Society. John, appreciate you being on today. Thank you.John Plake — Thank you.

Recorded live before a full audience at Sauna Days 2025, this special episode of Sauna Talk brings together four authors, educators, and lifelong students of human experience for a conversation that moves well beyond sauna itself. Joining me are Garrett Conover, author of Sauna Magic; Jesse Coomer, author and educator in breathwork and cold exposure; Harvey Martin, author of Breathe, Focus, Excel and Without Words; and myself, Glenn Auerbach, author of Sauna Build from Start to Finish. Together, we explore the experiences, obsessions, and questions that led each of us to write books and dedicate years of our lives to sharing what we've learned. Our discussion ranges from sauna culture, cold plunging, breathwork, athletics, coaching, and creativity to broader questions about wellness, personal growth, and what it means to live an examined life. We talk about the tension between science and intuition, the limits of protocols and optimization, and why authentic experiences often teach us more than information alone. Along the way, we reflect on how writing changes the writer, how teaching changes the teacher, and how books become snapshots of who we were at a particular moment in our own journeys. The conversation is candid, thoughtful, and at times deeply personal. Rather than presenting ourselves as experts with all the answers, we share stories of uncertainty, evolution, mistakes, and discovery. Whether discussing sauna, breath, cold exposure, nervous system regulation, or the search for meaning and connection in modern life, a common theme emerges: the most valuable lessons often come not from information, but from direct experience. If you've ever wondered why practices like sauna, breathwork, cold immersion, and time in nature can have such a profound impact on how we feel, think, and connect with ourselves and others, you'll find plenty to reflect on in this conversation. Recorded in the Great Lake Room at Sauna Days 2025, this is a live authors panel about writing, learning, teaching, and the lifelong pursuit of awareness, presence, and authentic human connection.

In the summer of 1937, some of the 20th Century's most famous artists, writers and photographers were holidaying in the south of France. They included artist Pablo Picasso, photographer Lee Miller, poet Paul Éluard and the painter Man Ray.The group were part of the Surrealist movement – a style of art inspired by dreams and hidden thoughts that can look strange and bizarre - and one of their most recent converts was artist Eileen Agar. Through a 1985 BBC interview with Eileen, digital archivist Jonathan Charlton tells the story of that summer in an episode produced by Jane Wilkinson.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Roland Penrose, Ady Fidelin, Picasso and Dora Maar, Cote d'Azur, France 1937. Credit: Lee Miller Archives)

In this episode of The Building Bigger Lives Podcast, Michael and Kathryn discuss the role of a trainer in leadership, expanding on a previous podcast episode about the four roles of leaders. They explore the mindset, skill set, and tool set needed for effective training, emphasizing the importance of designing systems and frameworks, using visual aids like PowerPoint and Excel, and adapting to online training platforms. Kathryn shared examples from her teaching experience, including the use of interactive activities and chat functions to enhance learning. The conversation highlights the need for trainers to be comfortable learning new teaching methods, using appropriate tools, and seeking feedback to continuously improve their effectiveness. Building Bigger Lives Podcast https://www.instagram.com/buildingbiggerlives Contact Coach Michael Regan- www.facebook.com/CoachMichaelRegan www.instagram.com/coachmichaelregan/ www.linkedin.com/in/mregan/ Contact Kathryn Pedersen- http://www.instagram.com/steamboatmortgage

Why does trust become even more important in a world shaped by AI?In episode 270 of At The Table, Patrick Lencioni, Cody Thompson, and Matthew Lencioni discuss how much the workplace has changed across generations, from voicemail lights and computer labs to AI and virtual work. While the tools, speed, and structure of work have changed dramatically, they argue that trust, teamwork, clarity, and healthy culture have not changed at all. As technology becomes more accessible and commoditized, the episode argues that organizational health may be a greater competitive advantage than ever.Topics explored in this episode: (00:00) Technology Changes, But Leadership Doesn'tPat introduces the idea that the fundamentals of great relationships, teams, families, and organizations have not changed, even as technology has transformed work.Pat and Cody preview the episode's core question: how much has work changed, and how much have leadership and organizational health stayed the same?(03:32) Remembering the Pre-Digital WorkplacePat describes starting work in 1987 with no email, no internet, no cell phones, and only a corded desk phone with a voicemail light.The conversation explores how slower communication, physical meetings, paper reports, and travel-heavy work shaped the way companies operated.(07:15) The Shift Into Computers, Email, and AICody reflects on his own early work experience with computer labs, Excel spreadsheets, landlines, and in-person college admissions fairs.Pat and Cody discuss how quickly technology has accelerated, especially as AI now allows people to do work that once required specialized technical knowledge.(11:21) Why Organizational Health Matters More NowPat explains that dysfunction used to spread more slowly, but today, technology can magnify unhealthy behavior more quickly.The conversation turns to culture, trust, leadership, and teamwork as increasingly important differentiators in a world where products and information are easier to copy.(16:06) The Future Hunger for Human ConnectionCody and Pat discuss how trust, nonverbal communication, healthy conflict, and interpersonal connection remain essential even in a virtual and technology-driven workplace.Matthew Lencioni joins the conversation to share his perspective on work, generational differences, and why in-person connection still matters.This episode of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni is brought to you by The Table Group: https://www.tablegroup.com. We teach leaders how to make work more effective and less dysfunctional. We also help their employees be more fulfilled and less miserable. Register for “Why Your Spouse Acts That Way” here: workinggenius.com/marriageSubscribe for more content from Patrick Lencioni @PatrickLencioniOfficialStay Connected with Patrick LencioniLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealthInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/patricklencioniofficialTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patricklencioniofficialX: https://x.com/patricklencioniStay Connected with Cody ThompsonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-thompson-a5918850.At The Table with Patrick LencioniApple: https://apple.co/4hJKKSLSpotify: https://spoti.fi/4l1aop0YouTube: https://bit.ly/At-The-Table-Be sure to check out our other podcast, The Working Genius Podcast with Patrick Lencioni, on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/4iNz6Yn), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3raC053GF5mtkq6Y1klpRU), and YouTube (https://bit.ly/Working-Genius-YouTube). Let us know your feedback via podcast@tablegroup.com. This episode was produced by Story On Media: https://www.storyon.co.

In 1978, Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the greatest cellists in history, was stripped of his Soviet citizenship for engaging in 'unpatriotic activity'. Rostropovich's fallout with the Soviet leadership was precipitated by his decision to let the dissident writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, stay in his house. Joe Schultz tells his story using BBC archive.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Rostropovich in 1965. Credit: Erich Auerbach via Getty Images)

Keith talks with data-driven investor Neal Bawa, the "mad scientist of multifamily," about why apartment values have dropped 20%–30% while single-family prices have stayed resilient.  They break down how interest rate shocks, the homeowner lock-in effect, and a wave of new multifamily supply are reshaping returns for today's investors.  Keith and Neal also dissect the build-to-rent model—who it really serves, how apartment oversupply is pressuring its rents, and why pending legislation could upend the space.  Neal closes with a specific, data-backed timeline for when multifamily rents and values may finally turn the corner, giving listeners a concrete roadmap instead of vague market guesses. Resources: Grocapitus Website - https://www.grocapitus.com Multifamily U's Free eBook: Location Magic - https://multifamilyu.com/lp/location-magic-ebook/ Multifamily U's Investor Club – https://multifamilyu.com/club Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/609 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:00   Keith, welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. The single-family real estate market is steady, but with apartment building values down 20 to 30% since 2022 when will the multifamily Armageddon end? We ask our qualified guest, and how will slowing birth rates in immigration affect real estate? And more today on Get Rich Education. You know, Mid South Home Buyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider. I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties, it's an executive coach for nine years now, their CEO, Terry Kerr, and his COO, Pat Nix, have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, and professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one on one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to Daniel Thomas hind.com H I N D, that's Daniel Thomas hind.com and sign up before Spotsville Flock homes helps multifamily owners exit the operator grind, whether it's your six plex or a 50 unit apartment, through a 721 exchange. This defers your capital gains tax. It's a strategy long used by institutions. Now you can swap tenants and toilets for passive income and zero management. Request your initial valuations. See if your property qualifies at flockhomes.com/gre That's F L O C K homes dot com slash G R E.   Neal Bawa  2:13   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  2:29   Welcome to GRE from Valencia, Spain to Valencia, California, and across 188 nations worldwide. America's favorite shaved mammal on a microphone is back with you for another wealth building week. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to Get Rich Education. The world's biggest problems are the world's biggest businesses. That's not a coincidence, and that's why we discuss housing here. And there's been a chronic shortage of affordable housing last month at a commencement speech, Harrison Ford, yes, the guy that played both Han Solo and Indiana Jones, talked about how a fulfilling life has both passion and purpose. Passion is what gets you out of bed in the morning, purpose is what helps you sleep at night, you and I. We can bring this mindset to our lifestyle, to the business we do, and to our investing. Treating tenants well is what helps real estate investors sleep well at night. While we're doing well, we can be doing good too. Multifamily syndicators keep failing, going out of business, and losing all of their investors' money due to mortgage rate resets. It just keeps happening. What this really means, that these groups that pooled together investor money to buy apartment buildings, largely that were set up in 2022 and earlier keep blowing up almost fully due to the fact that interest rates reset higher. Some of them had a fixed rate for five years. Well, rates spiked four years ago, and that's why a lot of them have yet to blow up, and these apartments have lost so much value that no one will refinance them, you know. Even if that apartment operator increased the net operating income over the years, even if rents went up, it doesn't matter. So, you still haven't heard the last of it. Do you remember a couple years ago, when a lot of people in the apartment space, they were saying just stay alive till 25 and that nonsense, like if you keep your head above water until 2025 oh well, then rates are certainly going to fall, and everyone's going to be okay. Well, 2025 is long gone.    Keith Weinhold  5:01   Mortgage rates haven't fallen in any significant way, so that survive until 25 thing or whatever mantra derivative people used that was a farce, like I've said on the show here for years. You cannot predict interest rates, so I didn't make the call that they were going to go up or down at all, because you can't predict them, but so many people said, oh, rates will fall substantially by now, no way, you just can't make that assumption, you've got to take history over hunches, and all of that, a lot of those multifamily deals 100% depended. depended on refinancing at favorable rates, and that's exactly why they failed. A surefire way to look foolish is to predict interest rates. We'll talk more about the multifamily Armageddon with today's guest. I also want to get into what's called the 21st century road to housing act, because that became one of the most hotly debated housing policy provisions this year. And what this is, is a Senate bill, and it would require certain large institutional investors that develop these bills to rent single family communities. It would force them to sell those homes to individual buyers within seven years. So, in other words, what a big firm could do is build a neighborhood of rental homes, lease them for up to seven years, but they couldn't hold on to them any longer than that. They couldn't hold them indefinitely as rentals, this bill is not aimed at you, the individual investor. It is aimed at big institutions, and what I mean by that is that's generally defined as owning 350 or more homes. That's what we're talking about here. Small landlords and mom and pop investors are not the target, it targets corporate portfolios, and this means groups whose names you've probably heard of, like Blackstone, First Key Homes, Progress Residential, and Invitation Homes. They are some of the heavyweights that the government is looking to clamp down on, so whenever you hear someone talk about big Wall Street landlords, that is who they're talking about. Now, some groups are pretty worried about the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, like the NHB, that's the National Association of Home Builders, and a lot of multifamily groups are concerned, and why is that? Well, the effect is it could dramatically reduce new housing production.   Keith Weinhold  7:44   See, a big institution like First Key Homes or Blackstone, they wouldn't want to even get into this business anymore. They wouldn't want to build big build to rent communities anymore if they have to sell them all within seven years. See, they want to buy and hold for the long term, kind of like what you and I are doing, because you and I know that owning a group of selective buy and hold single family rentals is a really profitable place to be, but so if they don't want to build, then that creates a reduction in supply, which could make prices go up, and then obviously hurt those trying to afford their own home. Well, that would defeat the purpose of this whole thing. I mean, my gosh, this always seems to happen when government gets involved. So, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act could limit supply, which is the exact opposite of its intent to get first-time home buyers into their first home, and if this passes, it does have bipartisan support. This lower supply, then yes, indeed puts upward pressure on prices. Just amazing. So then it could actually go on to help the everyday mom and pop investor, like you and I, that already owns property, the individual at last check, though they're looking to pass a version that still restricts some of these giant institutions from getting into build to rents, but yet it does not have that seven year sale requirement. What's really important to remember here is that Washington, they're looking to stifle big Wall Street players from the rental market, which could reduce supply. They're not targeting individual investors. The context that's important is that these groups, they own 10s of 1000s of homes, they don't own hundreds of 1000s, and they don't own a million, so it's a really small percentage of the housing market, whatever direction policy breaks, then the headlines that it creates are just greater in magnitude than the effect on the market is. It's an important frame of reference here. Let's meet this week's guest. This week we're welcoming back a guest that we haven't heard from in a year or two in real estate circles. He is popularly known as the mad scientist of multifamily. He's quite an in-demand speaker. He has a $500 million multifamily portfolio that he essentially shares with over 1300 investors. He's sharp, a good educator, and a straight shooter. That's why he's here. It's a warm welcome back to Neal Bawa.   Neal Bawa  10:32   Thanks for having me on the show again. It's delightful to be here, and so many interesting things to talk about in the world these days.   Keith Weinhold  10:38   There really are.. I don't know if we can get it all in, Bawa is spelled B A W A. Neal, I want to get to your future housing market outlook later. How you think the future looks, including when multi families quasi Armageddon might end. But first, you're known as a data driven real estate guy. Tell us about that, and how being data driven makes you profitable.   Neal Bawa  11:03   I see concern, and I'll tell you why. The single family and multifamily market have been atrociously incredibly divergent since the first quarter of 2022 They have not tracked yet each other at all, even though if you look at the last 50 years, they tend to track each other. So you know, 2008 was a Armageddon for single family, Armageddon for multifamily, and they both sort of came up in 2012 2013 and then they had a really good time until Covid.   Keith Weinhold  11:30   Yeah,   Neal Bawa  11:31   but the second quarter of 2022 is when Fed started raising rates, and since then we've sort of slid - multifamily has gone down in terms of pricing between 20 and 30% depending upon the metro, you know, and depending upon whether it's new construction, new construction assets have gone down more than 30% and existing assets that are filled up have gone down by 20 to 30% depending upon the metro. So, metros that have a large amount of supply, closer to 30% decline in value, the metros that have less supply probably closer to 20% decline in value, right.   Keith Weinhold  12:03   Demand demand has been pretty resilient. It's more of a supply story.   Neal Bawa  12:06   It's a huge supply story, right. So, if you look at, you know, occupancy, essentially what's happened is there was so much supply that came in that really people started on those projects in 2022 maybe they didn't start a construction until 2023 they didn't finish construction until 2025 so they started leasing up in 2025 They had to give offer concessions two months, sometimes three months free, and so that pushed down the rents in 2025. And they're not done, because you typically can't rent an apartment in six months. If it's brand new, it's going to take you about 18 months to rent it, and sometimes 24 months, and so it's affected our rents in 2025 it's affecting our rents in 2026. Now it's unlikely to affect it in 2027 but we'll go there, you know, at a later stage. But at the moment, we, what we've seen is negative rent growth in the United States for multifamily for the last 12 to 15 months, and what I think is going to be negative rent growth in Q of this year and Q2 of this year, so Q1 was negative, Q2, which we are in now, is likely to be negative or flat now. Single family, on the other hand, has gone in a different direction, which has been very difficult to understand, and I believe it's taken me a while to really understand this, but I think I've finally figured it out. Single family prices are not down since 2022 which makes no sense at all, because the average mortgage in the United States today is almost double, almost double, not quite double, but almost double of what it was in at the beginning of 2022 when interest rates were about 3.3 3.4% Right now we're sitting around, you know, six and a half percent interest rates, so not quite doubled interest rates, but they've obviously gone up a fair bit, and as a result, your average, you know, mortgage has almost doubled, but home prices haven't dropped, which makes no sense if you really think about it, because home prices are a factor of demand, and they're also a factor of people's ability to pay, so if all of a sudden within four years you're paying, the mortgage is doubled, then less people are going to be able to buy, but it stayed up, the market has stayed up, and the biggest reason it stayed up is because of what is known as the lock-in effect. So, the US market typically has a million new homes every year, and there's more than a million existing homes that are transacted, right? So, it's an open market, it's a perfect competition market, but it hasn't been perfect competition for the last four years, because so many people locked in ridiculously low interest rates.    Neal Bawa  14:28   Perfect example, in 2021 and 2022 I have a 15 year mortgage at 1.75% If I sell my house back to myself, my mortgage quadruples, quadruples, right, because it goes from 1.75% to six and a half percent, so I can't even imagine even think about leaving my home, right, because it's just such a perfect loan. Most people don't have anywhere near 1.75% but there's lots of people with more mortgages in the 3% three and a half percent, and 4% range that basically can't go anywhere, and because those homes are not coming into the market. The last three years the market has had this unusual not enough supply factor, and that's been keeping prices up. That is ending. That is ending, because what we've been tracking is the percentage of homes in the United States that have low mortgages. Low is simply defined as anything under four and a half percent, and that percentage is going down each quarter, because you know divorces happen, deaths happen, you know people move for jobs, and so every time that happens, that locked in rate goes away, because you sell your home and move on, and so for a while that lock in effect was predominant, it was controlling everything, but as time has gone on, interest rates were higher in 2324 2526 For also almost four years have passed since the rate started going up. So each quarter the percentage of homes in the US that have these low interest rates has slowly moved down, and we're almost back to a normal timeframe.   Neal Bawa  15:53   And this is causing the single family market to not have a conniption, but we're starting to see a balancing of the market, where it's not just a buyer's market anymore, in some places it's actually seller's market, some places it's a buyer's market. So we're now starting to see home prices drop in number of markets in the United States. I can't say that they've dropped in super majors, but we're seeing a flattening out effect of home prices in most metros in the US, and there should be a flattening effect. Just to be blunt, I mean, obviously I own a bunch of single-family homes, so I just wanted them to keep going up for selfish reasons. But if you think about it, we had huge home price growth in like 30 plus percent in number of years, 2021 22 and even 23 and during those years, salaries only went up by two to 3% a year. In one year, they went up by 4% and rents also went up like crazy. There was a 2021 was 15% rent growth year. So, at some point, there had to be an adjustment, and we are in that period of adjustment where single family prices are basically flat on a national basis. Yes, going up in the San Francisco Bay Area because of AI, and going up in a couple other technology-heavy metros because of AI, but otherwise fairly flat, and I don't expect that to change for the next year. So, my forecast is next 12 to 18 months, home prices in the US are going to be flat on a nominal basis, they're going to be down on an inflation-adjusted basis, but you know, because of the Iran, more inflation's three and a half percent, so home prices should go up three and a half percent. So, if they stay where they are, well, they're really dropping three and a half percent.   Keith Weinhold  17:29   Yeah, before this year began, I released our forecast, it was for 2% nominal home price appreciation in the one to four unit space for the US this year, and I still like how that looks. There's so much to unpack with what you just talked about. In my view, there's nothing unusual at all that when mortgage rates rose sharply a few years ago, that home prices rose as well. Why? Because actually, that's what usually happens, which is counterintuitive to most people. In all of our lifetimes, residential real estate prices have only fallen significantly one time, that was around 2008 due to a number of unusual circumstances. The only thing that's a bit different this time is, of course, how fast rates increased in 2022 and 2023 and people wondering if residential real estate prices could still keep up, and they certainly have, but yeah, you brought up this dichotomy, this bifurcation about how the apartment market and the one to four unit space kind of separated from each other in 2022 or 2023 That's what's so interesting.   Neal Bawa  18:36   I do want to point out a couple things, though, and I don't want to be a Pollyanna here and talk about negative stuff, but I think that there's big difference between 2008 and that timeframe and where we are today, and that difference is, and it has multiple parts. Not all of your audience is aware of this. Until about 2012 the United States had very reasonable birth rates. You know, we were one of those countries that had avoided the debacle that Japan, Korea, China, and a number of other countries are seeing South Korea being the absolute worst, where basically they were producing one baby per generation, where you need about 2.2 babies just to kind of keep your population where it is, right, and the US was unusually high in that, and that we were still above that threshold, which meant that our population would continue to grow and not fall. Now, there was two reasons our population was growing: One, we had more than 2.2 babies per household, and second, we had a very significant amount of legal and a very significant amount of illegal or undocumented immigration. Right, so we had both of those pipelines today. All three of those have flipped, so the United States now basically looks like Korea or China or Japan in that every household is producing about one and a half babies, which means that our population growth, which hasn't stopped yet, because it takes a while for these things to catch. Up is likely to stop, like it's, and at some point decline again. Luckily, we're not there yet. The US is a fairly young population, unlike Japan, which is one of the oldest populations in the world. So, it'll, we'll still continue to see population growth, but there is no doubt. And you can ask Chat GPT, right? How has population growth in the United States slowed over the last 20 years.    Neal Bawa  19:22   Make me a graph, and it will make you a very nice graph, and you'll very clearly see there's a slowdown in population growth. The second part is both documented and undocumented immigration. It's my estimate that since this administration took over, somewhere between half 1,000,001 million people have left the United States. Now it's very difficult to get an actual number, as you can imagine. A number of these people were undocumented, so we didn't really know how many there were to begin with. And a number of them, when they left, they also left by an undocumented rate, that you know, path. So we've lost a bunch of those people, and also the people that have stayed in the country, we've lost a number of them in the workforce. Here's a perfect anecdote, Keith. About 33% of the construction workforce in the United States was undocumented, one in three. In Texas, as much as 40%   Keith Weinhold  19:45   Yeah, that's huge.   Neal Bawa  19:45   It's very significant. Number of those people don't show up for work anymore. I don't think they've left the US, at least I don't think so. But they don't show up for work anymore, because that's how they get caught, right. So, what we've seen is that the construction workforce in the United States has become been decimated over the last 12 months, and the impact is much greater in the second half of 2025 than the first half. Why? Because even though they wanted to do ICE enforcement, they just simply didn't have enough agents, enough facilities, enough judges. When the second half of last year, they sort of started catching up on that, hiring more agents, getting more facilities, getting more judges, and so we started to see a real challenge there. I have properties in 10 markets in the US, and what I can say is about seven of those markets, mostly Southern markets, I am beginning to see dropping occupancy related to this phenomenon. I'm seeing a reduction, and so markets like Georgia and Texas, Florida are more hit than my northern markets like Idaho. I haven't seen any impact at all, but these southern markets, multiple properties, multiple metros, I'm seeing this - people, mostly of Spanish, Mexican origin, not renewing leases. I don't know what they're doing. I don't know if they're sleeping in their cars. I don't know if they're basically just, you know, staying with mom or staying with, you know, some other family. But I'm seeing a very, very big pullback in my leases tied to this, and occupancy is dropping in those markets that are heavily Hispanic. And so I'm seeing the impact of that on landlords, but I also know that there's an impact on the US at all, and overall demand on rentals, whether it's single family or multifamily. This is a significant impact, because I don't think that the Republicans are going to make a U-turn on this. I don't want to get political, but you know, stating the obvious.   Keith Weinhold  19:45   Yes, United States had its biggest birth year in 2007 when there were more than 4 million babies born. The average age of the first time homebuyer today is 40 years old. If that holds true, that peak would take place in 2047 And then, yes, to your point about changes in immigration, yes, it sounds like a potentially a reduction in demand with what you're talking about, with some vacancies, and also maybe a reduction in supply when you have fewer construction workers to build these places as well, we're talking about building properties. Neal, I want to talk to you about the build to rent space. Somewhat is build to rent better than traditional real estate? I think that's what we really want to know. And for those that don't know, build to rent means when you construct a property where from day one that construction project is built for a tenant, not an owner occupant. I see a lot of pros and cons there. Can you talk to us about the trade-offs between build to rent and traditional real estate?   Neal Bawa  19:52   Yeah, if you think about it, it's a really terrible word, built to rent, because if you think about the word built to rent should be apartments, right, but actually doesn't mean apartments, right? So, built to rent actually means single family or town homes that were built to rent out, right? And then you're like, why don't they just said built to rent apartments and town homes? Well, you know, was too long an acronym, and we suck at acronyms anyway. But BTR, or built to rent, is essentially building single family or town homes, but specifically building them to rent, and it doesn't include any apartments at all, right? And the reason why the BTR market was growing in the last five or six years is that roughly 18 million American families can no longer afford to buy starter single family homes, you know, and by starter I mean, small old single-family homes. That's how Americans usually started, you know, in their 20s and 30s. They would buy these homes, some of them, but they would fix up, and then they over time, in their 30s, late 30s and 40s and 50s, they would upgrade, and then at starting the 50s, it would flatten out, and then the 60s, they would start to downgrade, right? That's been a typical thing that's happened in America for 56 5070, years. Well, that is, cannot happen anymore. And it broke in 2022 until 2022 It was a normal cycle beyond 2022 because interest rates almost doubled, and the mortgages almost doubled, but the incomes only increased by 10 to 20% There became this orphaned generation of Americans, roughly 18 million families, that simply cannot afford to buy that starter home, and they are now forever renters. They don't know it. They think that they're going to catch up at some point, but five minutes with an Excel spreadsheet, I could prove it to them that they're not going to catch up.    Neal Bawa  25:35   Maybe one in 100 families would see a very large increase in income, and that would result in them catching up, but for the most part, as a group, these 18 million families, they're forever enters as a group that didn't exist before 2021 right. It's entirely because of this outrageous increase in mortgages, while not seeing a drop in home prices, that led to this, and so those orphan families, they actually earn pretty well, so these are families that make 70, 80, $90,000 in mid markets. They make over $100,000 if they're living on the coasts or in expensive markets, and they still can't buy that, you know, starter home. And so they don't want to live in apartments. I have lots of apartments, old ones, new ones, and I want these people to live there, but they don't want to live there, and so they've been looking for an option, and that option has been developers like me building communities of 200 300 townhomes or single family homes with a small little yard, and then basically from day one, instead of selling them, renting them out, and then once you're done renting out the whole community with 200 tenants, then you sell that to an apartment company. You know, there's lots of apartment companies in the US that have 100,000 units. Well, they want to buy these because the turnover is lower. So, what happens is most of these town homes and single-family homes for rent. Families come in, and they typically rent for three to five years before they move, whereas in on my apartments I lose 40% of my tenants each year. So, if I have 200 tenants, I lose 80 of them every year, and I have to basically go back, clean up those units, deal with the vacancy. But when I have townhome communities like my Idaho Falls townhome community. I lose a tenant at roughly every four years, and so, as you can imagine, profitability goes up when turnover goes down, right?   Neal Bawa  27:31   Because you don't have that cost of turnover and vacancy, and so eventually those large landlords that are holding 100,000 units figured out, I like this, what Neal Bawa is doing, he's building these 200 townhomes, I want to buy these from him when they're rented. I don't want to build them, I don't want to lease them up, I just want to buy them when they're stabilized. And so BTR became that name for that marketplace where developers would build townhomes and single families, rent them out, and then sell them to institutional, and it was some—   Keith Weinhold  27:56   People think of fabulous institutionalization of the starter home.   Neal Bawa  28:00   And in many ways it is, because what happened is, for a while, these institutional players, like Blackstone and BlackRock, they were like, we are just going to go out and buy 50,000 single-family homes, and that's going to be the institutionalized. Well, that worked really well if you bought in 2008 2009 2010 2011 because you got them bought them at a discount, but when they started buying them in 2015, 16, 17, 18 at ever higher prices, they didn't make any money. So the vast majority of these public funds that were created to buy large amounts of single family have failed if they've purchased anything in the last seven or eight years. If they bought before that, they made huge amounts of money. Family homes are so expensive that basically buying them for rental did not make sense, so these companies have now pivoted to saying we'll only buy communities that have 100 or 200 or 300 of these homes, because then we get the benefits of having centralized leasing, centralized property management, centralized maintenance, and I don't have homes spread all over the metro, they're all in one place, and I can make more profit from that. In theory, that's been good, and you might think that I'm bullish on BTR, but I'm actually today bearish on BTR for one single reason. About seven months ago, Republicans started talking about a bill - I don't know what the name of the bill is, but what this bill does is it forces builds to rent developers like me within seven years of building the property to sell all of the homes in that property to single family tenants, not to Blackstone, not to Blackrock, but to single family tenants. Hasn't passed yet, but it passed the Senate with an 8910 vote, which means that both Democrats and Republicans wanted to vote for this. If it passes the House, and because Donald Trump himself is very heavily opposed to it, he's made it very clear he doesn't like this. He's a developer, obviously. It hasn't passed the House yet, but if it passes the house, that will destroy the build to rent market. No one will ever build build to rent, because the worst possible thing is I build this, and within seven years I have to actually sell it to individual buyers. If I do that, my banks are going to hate me and not give me loans to build BTR anymore. Obviously, there's going to be some grandfathering to the communities that I'm building now, or maybe even build the ones that I'm building in 2027 maybe grandfathered. It usually is, because you know, Congress never does anything retroactively, and they give you a year or two, but if it passes, it's doomsday for BTR. I hope it doesn't happen, but that's the way it's looking, because it's bipartisan. Bipartisan bills are more likely to pass   Keith Weinhold  30:40   Now for the mom and pop investor, the individual investor build to rents have obvious appeal due to your point about the lower turnover, lower maintenance costs on a new build, lower insurance costs often on a new build, and then there's the tenant appeal to a new build as well, but of course there is that investor downside. I think a lot of investors are aware of their thin initial cash flow that they're going to have on build to rent, but you know, Neal, another downside with build to rent, I think a lot of investors don't look at is, hey, just how many of these things are they building? Are they building 500 of them? Do I have some overbuild risk if I buy into this community that could suppress occupancy and rents for a while.   Neal Bawa  31:21   What we've seen is that when Built to Rent started out in 2017-2018 it was its own asset class. It wasn't competing with apartments, it wasn't competing with single family rentals, it was just its own thing. However, in the last two or three years, as more and more apartments flooded the marketplace, we had a glut. It moved away from that. It basically started getting affected, and the rent started falling, just like any other portion of the market. You know, think of it as three portions of market. There's the built to rent, which I described, you know, brand new single family homes, town homes per rent. There's the apartments, both brand new and existing, and there's the single family rentals, right, which there are millions of. What we are seeing now is it's become one market, right? All of them are affecting each other, and the apartments, which have a huge amount of glut, there's a massive amount of new apartments that have come in in the last two years, are really pushing the rents down for single family, they're pushing that rents down for BTR. So, at this point, what I would say to people that have this concern, Keith, is simply look at incoming apartment supply, because if you're in a marketplace, and I'll give you examples of really good markets that are crushed right now. If you're in a market that has a lot of incoming supply, whether you buy a single family rental, a quadplex, a 50 plex that's an apartment, or 100 unit BTR, you're going to suffer for rent growth if you have a lot of incoming supply in 2026 and that is across the board in every market in the US. Huntsville, Alabama is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting markets in the US for 5 year, 10 year growth, right?    Neal Bawa  32:54   If I had to say you don't need a loan, it's just your own cash, no investors, where would you put money in? It would be at the top of my list, not at the very top. Idaho Falls is definitely the number one market in the US in my list, but Huntsville is up there. But right now, do you know what rent growth in Huntsville is? Minus 2% negative 2% Why? Because there's 6000 units coming into a market that's, you know, 1/5 or 1/10 the size of Phoenix, right. It's 1/10 the size of Dallas, but it has half the units of Dallas or Phoenix coming in, and so rent growth is negative there. So, what I would say is today absolutely everyone that is an investor should understand that we live in the magic world of AI, and you should be talking with Chat GPT about incoming supply for any market that you're interested in, and using that to make your decisions, because all of these markets merged, BTR, new apartments, old apartments, single family, everything has emerged in the last 24 months, where they're all affecting each other, and if there's too much supply of any one kind, it's affecting all of the other markets, and that's the message that I have. And none of this is like you have to go buy a $25,000 software like Costar today. Chat GPT is your costar.   Keith Weinhold  34:11   You're listening to Get Rich Education. We're talking with the mad scientist of multifamily, Neal Bawa, where we come back, including what he thinks about recovery for the beleaguered multifamily market. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. 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What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed, but with a track record of consistent on-time investor payouts, they built real credibility. Go to freedomfamilyinvestments.com to book a clarity call, or text family 268 66 That's Family 266 866    Speaker 1  36:00   This is the star of the A E Show, The Real Estate Commission. Todd Rollette. Listen to Get Rich Education with my friend Keith Weinhold, and don't quit your daydream.   Keith Weinhold  36:20   Welcome back to Get Rised Education. We're talking with Neal Bawa, a really sharp multifamily syndicator who's also highly data driven. And Neal, tell us more about the beleaguered multifamily market that had those aforementioned problems really cropping up in 2022 and we had a lot of supply and spiking rates. What does it look like for the path to recovery for the US multifamily market?   Neal Bawa  36:45   Luckily, demand is strong, and even though occupancies have dropped, typically the multifamily market, the large multifamily market in the US, tends to be between 95 and 96% occupied. Okay, and right now we're on 93% so that all that incoming supply means that about 7% of our apartments in the US are empty at the moment, we're trying to fill them, and we are seeing that occupancy drop, not across just new apartments that are leasing up, but also drop in class B and class C. We've also seen a huge increase in concessions, so I studied this quite obsessively, and I can tell you that 2026 in some markets is the recovery year, but not across the board in the United States, and the reason for that is sentiment. Once renters get used to huge amounts of concessions, it's like a drug, it takes a little while before you wean those renters off of those drugs, and so there's that hit right now. Every renter program,   Keith Weinhold  37:44   Everyone wants their freebie for good.    Neal Bawa  37:46   Yeah, exactly. It's like, hey, what, you're not giving me two months free? Hey, what, you're not even offering me one month free? It takes a while for that expectation to happen, because there's such a huge amount of concessions in the US. So, to me, there are a few markets, usually the smaller markets or very fast growing markets, where there's a recovery in 2026 but otherwise 2027 The first half of 2027 is recovery. The second half of 2027 is fast rent growth in a lot of markets. Why? Because remember, interest rates have been high since 2023 A lot of projects were started in 2022 went into construction in 23 came to market in 25 and 26 Lease ups are happening in 25 and 26 By early mid 27 these are all leased up, right? The second half of 2027 there isn't a lot of delivery in any of these big markets, because to deliver in the second half of 27 you would have started construction in that second half of 2025 and I counted those permits market by market. There's just not a lot, because by that time everyone knew that projects were not getting funded, everyone knew that interest rates were high, so there wasn't a lot of supply of new starts in the apartment market in the second half of 25 so there's not going to be a lot of delivery in the second half of 27 and all of the existing stuff would have been leased by then. So 2026 is one of those years where we could still see more concessions in the second half of 2026 I still see rent growth for apartments to be flat. You mentioned single family might be a little bit higher. It tends to be a little bit higher than apartments in terms of rent growth, but I think flat rent growth for 2026 is what I'm projecting. I'm projecting small rent growth in the first half of 2027 for most markets, and then I'm projecting robust rent growth, call it 3% or greater on an annualized basis, in the second half of 2027 and I'm projecting that most markets in the US that are not seeing a population drop, so count out places like Detroit are going to see a very aggressive rent growth, four or 5% rent growth, that's aggressive in our world, in 2028 28 and 29 are shaping up to be. Supply deficit years, years where supply is well under demand.   Keith Weinhold  40:05   It's pretty easy to project completions when you just go ahead and look at starts, and really, what you're counting is the story of absorption.   Neal Bawa  40:14   Yep, and what's nice about apartments is you can actually build a single family home in about nine months, right, but you can't build apartments in less than 24 months. There's just so much permitting issues, there's so many delivery issues, fire code issues, and so we have a crystal ball on the multifamily side that we are now getting better at using. I don't think the industry was very good at this in 2022 but now we're really all obsessed with how many permits does my metro have, and how many permits does my state, and how many permits does the US have? And everyone that I know in the industry that's data driven knows that there's a massive glut now, maybe a little bit of a glutton that remaining portion of 2026 equilibrium in 27 and a huge, huge supply deficit in 28 and 29 So everything that I'm doing is based on this, and this crystal ball actually works because of that two year gap between shovels in the ground and delivery,   Keith Weinhold  41:10   and it sounds like you've recommended Chat GPT as a go-to source for investors to look into these things, that happens to be my favorite one as well, and you are well, maybe it's a bit too much to say, but it almost feels like to me pioneering with the way that you use AI. In fact, I know before our show today you were running some other things in the background that made me wonder, hey, am I talking to the real Neil or the clone Neil? I know I've got the real Neil here, but why don't you tell us about how you're using AI to make data-driven decisions in real estate?   Neal Bawa  41:40   Sure, so the first thing is that we've completed our journey with the low hanging fruit of AI. Every single person in our company is fully trained on how to use Chat GPT. Most of our research-related processes are automated. For example, 100% of our investor updates are now written by Chat GPT. What we do is we go into our property manager meetings on Mondays or Tuesdays sit down with them, beat them up, and the transcript is then taken by our team in the Philippines. They take that transcript and put it into a pre-trained Chat GPT string, it's called a custom GPT, and the string took a while to train, but now that it's trained, all it needs is a transcript. We just copy paste it in, we don't give it any instructions, and it outputs a really wonderful investor update, right. And so our updates for our investors are 99% written by AI. Of course, we'll go in and add our comments at the end of the process. So we've automated investor updates, rent comps, so you know if we are underwriting a new property today, what we do is we simply go into a Google file and copy paste the address and hit enter roughly once a minute. A software, which is written by AI - we're not coders, but the software knows how to write code - it checks the file, if it sees a new address, it goes in there, grabs the address, and then it basically goes to apartments.com rent.com realtor.com and all of these places, and checks the rents for this particular property in two mile radius. It eliminates all the ones that don't match, like you don't want to match the rents of a 1970 or 80s built property with a brand new 25 built property. Those are not comps, it's not comparable. So it basically is very careful, it keeps a radius range of two miles, and also basically is a property of the same kind, you know, like it never matches up a three story property with a 10 story property. Those don't match, one of them obviously is more of a central business district or downtown sort of thing, and so it basically grabs all of those rent comps and then puts them into a file and posts in a Slack channel. Usually it takes it about 1213 minutes to do that, and so whoever put that address in about 12 minutes later goes into the Slack channel and says, "Hmm, these are all my rent comps, right? And boom, now you're basically, you have all these ready rent comps. So, what we've done is, we've automated a significant portion of what we are doing with both our property managers and inside the company with acquisitions and things like that, we're also scraping massive amounts of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, which we just couldn't deal with that data before, and building very beautiful, very interactive dashboards. We don't use Chat GPT for that. We find for dashboarding a tool called Claude, which is by a company called Anthropic, is much better, so we have currently over 150 interactive dashboards that Claude has created that update in real time and give us access to data. If anything, I find that we are in this incredible time where decision making has become much easier, as long as you spend time with these tools. So, in our company we have an absolute mandate that no one has broken for the last year. One year per day, people must program, and by programming we mean issuing common language instructions to tools and build dashboards and build software that automates our work. Have we laid off anyone because of this? I mean that. Be the next obvious question. The answer is no, because it's made it easier for us to serve a much larger audience, so it's easier to grow your company. We just are not hiring anyone, and we haven't hired anybody for the last 18 months, so we have a hiring freeze, but at the same time all of our people are employed because they're they're now much more valuable. So everyone in our company is now a programmer, and even though that sounds weird, it's completely true.   Neal Bawa  45:24   Every single person in our company writes code, and they write code by talking with Cloud Code or talking with Chat GPT, and then Chat GPT, of course, does the actual code writing, but people have become very, very good at answering questions and saying, "I want a dashboard like this, turn these radio buttons into drop boxes, and give me the last month, and last three months, and last 12 months, and do this, and do that, and connect this, and I also want to host this on a server, but I want to make sure that only I can see it. I need a password added. Imagine 1000 of these conversations happening in our company every day. Yeah, that's interesting. And what you just described   Keith Weinhold  46:00   there at Gro Capitas is somewhat of a microcosm for what's happening in the broader economy, where we've been in this low high or low fire environment for quite a while. Well, Neal, as we're winding down here, we recently had a new Fed chair come in. It seems incomprehensible to me that there could possibly be any rate cuts. I don't know how we could responsibly make a rate cut with all these inflationary layers. We had the pandemic, and then terrorists, and then the Iran war, and the energy shocks, and all these bottled up supply chains. What are your thoughts with regard to the Fed?   Neal Bawa  46:29   I still think that we'll get one rate cut, and that rate cut will be based on political pressure. So, for the first time ever, I have seen the Fed break into factions, so if you look at the latest Fed meeting, which happened, you know, there was dissent, there were two clear factions, so the Fed is becoming less data driven and more faction driven, and I think that one of the factions, which obviously wants rate cuts to go down, is going to triumph at some point later in the year, but until we get past the incredible increase in inflation because of the Iran war, I don't think that faction is going to win. Right, there's three or four people in that faction, that's not enough votes to get past the others. So I'm predicting no rate cuts until Q4 of this year. If the Fed was entirely logical, there should still not be a rate card in Q4, but I think it'll happen because there's political pressure.   Keith Weinhold  47:25   The preservation of independence is key. Neil Bhawa, this has been great, and a lot of people learn from you. You're a brilliant educator, as well as what you're doing in the multifamily space, and a lot of other places. So, if someone wants to connect with you, learn more about what you do. What's the best way for them to do that?   Neal Bawa  47:43   So we built a website called Multi Family University. It's completely free. There is no subscription. There's no upsell. We do not have an educational product, but what we do is each year we have 8-12 webinars that we create with their extraordinarily good looking thanks to the use of AI. Yay, and we share them with an audience, and usually between 5000 and 1000 people attend our webinars each year, of which roughly 1% become investors with us. The rest, the remaining 99% just continue to get free access to data, and we cover every imaginable real estate topic: Single family, multifamily, industrial hotels, self storage, Airbnb, and even controversial topics outside of real estate, like climate change or impact of climate change and impact of AI. So you know, multifamily university is the best place you can go to, multifamily you.com/club It's a free club, and it's free forever.   Keith Weinhold  48:42   Neal, it's been valuable to our audience. Thanks so much for coming back out of the show.   Neal Bawa  48:46   Thanks for having me.   Keith Weinhold  48:53   Oh, a terrific, wide-ranging chat with Neal. There, yes, this interesting 2022 divergence between single family and multifamily, the slowing birth rate, and how that won't really catch up with real estate in a big way for perhaps 20 plus more years. How single family rentals beat multifamily on the basis of tenant retention, and a lot more that we covered there, and he's got a good data driven timeline for apartments being back in favor by 2027 and 2028 After the interview, Neil and I chatted some more off Mike, and he would like to come back on the show next year. We're probably going to have him, because we have a lot more to talk about at that time. We can see if the multifamily market is really healing. Also, did you pick up on this? I wonder why, for his own home he would get a 15 year mortgage at 1.75% interest, so I'll have to ask him about that. That's surely a fantastic interest rate, but a 15 year loan rather than a 30 year that maybe he could have gotten at two and a half percent at the time. Well, 15 year probably. Is not the best use of capital, because it increases your equity position rapidly. When instead, those dollars could have been out in the market earning an actual return somewhere else. But he's a smart guy, he must have an answer. We can talk about that at that time. We've got a lot of terrific shows coming up here on the GRE podcast, specific learning episodes, where it's just me teaching you, as well as new guests and returning guests too. Until next week, I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Speaker 2  50:35   Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.    Speaker 2  51:03   The preceding program was brought to you by Your Home for Wealth Building, getricheducation.com.  

On 13 June 1964, Nelson Mandela, who later became South Africa's president, was taken to the maximum security prison on Robben Island off the coast of South Africa.Mandela had led the military wing of the African National Congress party which was banned by the apartheid government.He was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent 18 years on the island before being transferred to prison on the mainland.He was freed on 11 February 1990 after serving 27 years behind bars.Jen Dale uses BBC archive to tell this period of Mandela's life.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Picture: Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island, Credit: Getty/Dave Hogan)

Ever wondered how an electrical engineer ends up as the CFO of a major company in Brazil? Join us for a candid conversation with Rafael Pinho, Co-Founder and CFO at TD Pine Advisors, as he shares his unconventional career journey from engineering to investment banking, and onward to leading large finance teams. Rafael opens up about learning on the job, the challenges of managing through crisis, and how to truly transform accounting data into strategic business decisions. Packed with real-life stories—from wrangling 14 tangled business models in Excel to turning around a high-pressure finance team with nothing but Red Bull and grit—this episode offers powerful lessons on leadership, delegation, and developing a forward-thinking mindset. Rafael also reveals how he now uses his experience to guide small and medium businesses through critical transitions, and leaves us with simple, actionable advice for making a strategic impact no matter your role. If you're looking to think bigger about your career, your team, or your business, don't miss this engaging episode with Rafael Pinho.

On 10 March 1994, Italian author Andrea Camilleri's The Shape of Water was published.It features Inspector Montalbano in the fictional Sicilian town of Vigàta.The novel is widely credited with helping start a new wave of Italian noir.It is the first book in a series that has had worldwide sales of 25 million and has been translated into 120 languages.Jen Dale uses BBC Archive to tell the story of how the fictional detective was created.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Picture: Italian writer Andrea Camilleri. Credit: Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images)

One month before the bloodshed in Beijing, a 10km line of protestors snaked through the city. For over a decade China had been opening up to global trade and there was promise that, with greater economic freedoms, democratic rights might be within reach too. In an emotional testimony, student organiser Wu'er Kaixi explains why he thought protest and demonstrations were encouraging leaders towards a more progressive China. On 4 May 1989, with huge numbers in the streets it was a moment when many dared to believe the fight for democracy could be won. But, as Wu'er Kaixi tells Tom Bonnett, it was a brief high point. A month later, tanks and soldiers descended on the streets and sent a bloody message - protest would not be tolerated. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Student protests in Beijing in May 1989. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1963, a giant Scotsman sculpture appeared outside the Scotty Motel in Adelaide, in South Australia. A banana, a koala, and even a potato soon followed, paving the way for the country's beloved Big Things - one of Australia's quirkiest cultural phenomena. Paul Kelly was the artist behind both the Big Scotsman and the equally iconic Big Lobster. He and his daughter, Christobel Kelly, tell Stefania Gozzer how each sculpture came to life.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: The Big Scotsman. Credit: Paul Kelly's archive)

Before we dive into the grim reality of the Russian collapse, a quick note on the channel art. I've been listening to your feedback regarding our AI thumbnails. The community poll was an absolute dead heat at 52% vs 48%, so we had to find a middle ground. We are shifting the visual baseline to a highly stylized, character-free 2D Anime aesthetic. It removes the uncanny valley, avoids the public figure issues, and gives us a distinct, unified look. It might not be a perfect solution for everyone, but it's a solid half-step compromise to keep the show looking sharp while we focus on the actual journalism. Let me know what you think in the comments.Now, onto the nightmare.In Episode 2.34, we document a state legally canceling its own existence. While the Western media panics over fake Excel spreadsheets, the Russian reality is terminal. We break down the 10% macro-drop in petroleum products and the glorious return of Soviet-style 20-liter gas ration cards in occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian Armed Forces aren't just holding the line; they have turned the R280 logistics highway into a mechanical graveyard using advanced drone swarms.But the real fatal damage is happening in the rear. We cover Finance Minister Siluanov's desperate 16-trillion-ruble sequester of the civilian economy, the mafia-style raid on Wildberries, and the absolute absurdity of Putin's own regional proxy having a daughter who is actively funding the Ukrainian military from Georgia. And the ultimate punchline? Russian oligarchs are now buying heavy anti-aircraft weapons to build their own PMCs. They aren't preparing for NATO; they are arming up for the post-Putin Civil War.The Empire of Clones is burning. Welcome to the GonzoLab.[SUPPORT THE SHOW & THE RESISTANCE]Car4Ukraine "Summer Sunshine" Campaign: Head over to https://car4ukraine.com and donate to my specific campaign. If you do, you will receive an exclusive, limited-run "Three Brothers" (Old Riga) steel badge minted specifically for listeners of this show. Let's put some trucks on the road!

In 1996, Ireland launched its first television channel broadcasting exclusively in the Irish language. Teilifís na Gaeilge, later renamed TG4, went on air on Halloween night. It aimed to appeal to both native and non-native speakers. The launch followed decades of campaigning for more Irish-language broadcasting in the country. Sinéad Ní Ghuidhir was the first presenter to speak on the new station. She speaks to Lorcan Clancy about the excitement of opening night.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Broadcast from Teilifís na Gaeilge (TG4). Credit: TG4)

In the 1950s, Dutch journalist Willem Sassen recorded hours of interview with the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann about his involvement in the Holocaust, before his capture in Argentina by Israeli agents.Willem's daughter Saskia Sassen tells Louise Hidalgo about the tapes, her memories of their secret visitor and the night the Israelis snatched Eichmann off the streets of Buenos Aires. This programme was first broadcast in 2015.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann during his trial. Credit: GPO via Getty Images)

Today on The Gist, its Funny You Should Mention with comedian Janet McNamara discusses her YouTube special Not Smart Enough, opening up about her viral 2010 American Idol audition, navigating corporate accounting with dyslexia and ADD via advanced Excel automation, and her multiple clinical evaluations for autism. Also, a breakdown of why modern office social niceties fail neurodivergent workers, exploring the evolutionary shift from paper ledger bookkeeping to computerized workflows, and why the imminent rise of automation makes creative stand-up comedy a safer career harbor than corporate finance. Produced by Corey Wara Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig Do you have questions or comments, or just want to say hello? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at https://www.mikepesca.com/⁠ For ad-free content or to become a Pesca Plus subscriber, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ For Mike's daily takes on Substack, subscribe to The Gist List https://mikepesca.substack.com/ Follow us on Social Media:⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pescagist/ X https://x.com/pescami TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@pescagist To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠sales@amplitudemediapartners.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.