POPULARITY
Categories
We are back in the early 90s, when the mullets were epic and the covers were sumptuous. Come on back to July 1992 with us as we explore the ads & features of the 100th issue of Romantic Times Magazine!This issue contains some FASCINATING retrospective looks at romance, cover art, and more, and I think it is one of the primary sources cited for some of the more common stories I've heard about romance.Were you a Borders, B. Dalton, or Waldenbooks reader, or another bookshop entirely?Don't forget – you can watch this episode on YouTube with the visuals on screen, or look for the visual aids at SBTB!We also mentioned:The sandals from Keen I mentioned in the outro.Lucynka's posts on SBTB about pulp romanceMarysville Public Library: Nora Roberts Go Fish (Facebook video)Lake Villa District Library: Nora Roberts Challenge (Tiktok video) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There are so many ways to fix breakfast. But what makes a restaurant's breakfast special, special?Columbus has some serious chef talent, and a food and travel writer is spotlighting that talent.Hardships can be a part of any life, but doing something with them and turning it into something positive can be difficult, but this is what one woman did.Math is difficult for many students. It can be very challenging to learn new math skills and kids often become overwhelmed and discouraged by its challenges, but one teacher decided to fix this problem.Guests:Nick Dekker, food and travel writer, Breakfast with NickDureti "Mimi" Tadesse, CEO and founder, Cawwaaqee Guuttatta Women's EmpowermentCaroline Farkas, certified teacher and educational content creator/founder, Doodles and Digits
From 08/25 Hour 3: The Washington Commanders training camp and preseason has been a roller coaster of highs and lows thus far. Dan Quinn had some interesting comments about Washington's journey over the last few weeks, and The Sports Junkies broke it all down.
Rich & Ken with Ted Johnson | Tuesday 8/25/2026
Stay informed on current events, visit www.NaturalNews.com - Upcoming Genetic Survival Course (0:10) - Beef Import Controversy and Impact (6:16) - Sodium Ion Battery Breakthroughs (20:31) - Intellectual Property and Monopoly Power (31:54) - Patent Fraud and Institutional Misconduct (44:13) - AI Creation and Copyright Challenges (50:43) - Pathogen Governance and Accountability Concerns (65:47) Watch more independent videos at http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport ▶️ Support our mission by shopping at the Health Ranger Store - https://www.healthrangerstore.com ▶️ Check out exclusive deals and special offers at https://rangerdeals.com ▶️ Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed: https://www.naturalnews.com/Readerregistration.html Watch more exclusive videos here:
WIth college football kicking off next Saturday, Mitch Harper and Nate Slack share the storylines they find most intruiging and which teams they're looking forward to watching this season outside of BYU.
The best masters runners today aren't slowing down. They're getting faster. I'm not here to tell you the world's fastest 70-year-old is going to beat the world's fastest 30-year-old. But today's masters runners are fitter and faster than ever before. So how is that possible? Have elite older runners found the running fountain of youth? Let's find out. Today, we're exploring how you can get fitter and faster, no matter what your age. You'll learn: The traditional signs of aging How to slow down the slow down,and A few factors you might not even be considering that affect your speed If you're a runner over 40, or you plan to be someday, this episode is for you. Get the Readiness Reset for free right now. It's a 7-minute audio that combines guided visualization with cognitive conditioning, designed to train the exact response you need when running gets hard at theplantedrunner.com/reset, Welcome to the Planted Runner. I'm Coach Claire Bartholic and my mission is to help you improve your running, your mindset, and your life with science-backed training and plant-based nutrition. If you need more help, you can order my book The Planted Runner: Running Your Best With Plant-Based Nutrition wherever you get books or request a copy from your local library. Don't forget to stay tuned all the way to the end of the episode for another Mental Strength Minute. Fortify your mind in 60 seconds or less. LINKS: If you'd like help directly from me, you can check out my freebies, personal coaching, and sign up for my PR Team at https://www.theplantedrunner.com/link. For my recommendations of at-home equipment and other running products I recommend, check out my curated list on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/theplantedrunner LIQUID IV: Just one stick of Liquid IV + 16 oz. of water hydrates better than water alone. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to https://www.liquid-iv.com/ and use code PLANTED at checkout. RECENT REVIEWS: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Claire is the best podcast host! Coach Claire makes her topics relatable and easy to understand. Keep up the great work! BHZ” RunForLong ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Thank you! As a plant based marathoner, this podcast has provided me with invaluable information related to training and nutrition. Thank you, Coach Claire for your insight and wisdom! Highly recommend if your plant and/or running- curious! HDeGveganrunner ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Great, to the point, podcast Thanks for all the great information! I just listened to the pod on speedwork and loved the info! Would have liked more discussion about the purpose/importance of the recovery portion of interval speedwork. So much conflicting info out there. Would love to hear more! TheGingerTre Music Credits: Music from Uppbeat
Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com
Sports are a great equalizer: no one can cheat determination, teamwork and practice.The Final Third Foundation's mission is to give all kids an equal playing field (or pitch) both literally and figuratively.Access to clean water can often be taken for granted. The clean water problem is oceanic, but Design Outreach is making waves to solve it.Some people believe that art is for the select few, and that in order for art to be good, it must be highbrow. Pam Kravetz has made it her career goal as an artist and art educator to bring people together through art.These topics are all part of this week's edition of Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Ben Levey, founder and director, The Final Third FoundationDr. Greg Bixler, co-founder/CEO, Design OutreachPam Kravetz, artist/educator/board member of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center
Rebecca Davis joins John Maytham each week to reflect on just how strange the news can be. From the most important to the very strange, John and Rebecca offer their view of what is happening in our world that makes it at times infuriating, at times inspirational but always fascinating. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We're less than two weeks from college football and we have a BIG mid-week show. A new report shares college football's most expensive rosters - who made the cut... and as importantly, who didn't? Plus, both Kentucky coach Mark Pope and UNC's Michael Malone gave FASCINATING interviews on Tuesday and we learned a ton from each Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We have a history lesson with Lyndon B. Johnson and his summer pants, Colleen and Holly went to Catzen Coffee in Saint Paul and it's a delightful haven for cat and coffee lovers, and the filmmaker of "One Night Only" shares why Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren't interested in sex on screen. Jason takes Jenny Jones's biscuit recipe to task, Madonna leads this year's MTV VMA nominations and Jack Lowden might be the frontrunner for James Bond, AITA: For asking my friend to pay me back for dinner? And we have a beef with Minnesota's most popular soda is Diet Mountain Dew and we're kinda shocked!SCREEN QUEENS: Colleen is all about the new "A Different World" and Oasis documentary trailers, and Paramount explains the death of a "Dexter" spin-off. Plus, "Lanterns" and "Double Lives of Suburban Wives." Plus, we discuss the latest episode of "The Oprah Podcast" about generational differences. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
https://youtu.be/jPTlkjF8M-c Tanner Taddeo, CEO and Co-Founder of Stable Sea, is driven by a mission to bring Wall Street-grade financial services to Main Street while embodying the principle Stay Put in Your Convictions. By combining blockchain technology, stablecoins, tokenized capital markets, and AI advisory services, Tanner helps businesses access investment opportunities, put idle cash to work, and move money globally with greater speed, transparency, and capital efficiency. In this conversation, Tanner introduces The Lionel Messi Startup Framework—Develop a High-Level Thesis, Talk With and Learn From the Market, Run 30-Day A/B Tests, Iterate Your Offering, and Stay Resolute With Your Convictions. He explains why founders should observe patiently, validate their ideas with customers, and act decisively when market opportunities emerge. Tanner also discusses balancing long-term conviction with continuous experimentation, unlocking 24/7 liquidity through tokenized capital markets, reducing friction in cross-border payments, and finding urgent “morphine” problems that customers cannot afford to leave unsolved. — Stay Put in Your Convictions with Tanner Taddeo Hello everyone. Steve Preda here, and my guest today is Tanner Taddeo, the CEO and Co-Founder at Stable Sea, an autonomous treasury management platform that helps finance teams and global businesses access capital market products and move money around the globe to 40 currencies with the cheapest FX rates. Tanner, welcome to the show. Steve, thanks for having me. Excited for the conversation today. It’s very interesting that this is how you position your business because most businesses in your industry, as I see them, position themselves with low transaction fees, but really their money is made on the FX. So if you do preferential FX rates or cheap FX rates, that can be a very transparent way of getting business. So I don’t know if that connects to your personal why, but I’d love to learn about your personal why and how you manifest it in your business. Yeah, definitely. At Stable Sea, we’re very mission-driven in terms of everything that we do. The team itself comes from Block, which was formerly known as Square. Yeah. And everyone on the team has been focused on building products for the real economy, for consumer use cases, for business use cases, et cetera, over the course of everyone’s career. And so when we started at Stable Sea, our primary thesis was, with blockchain, with stablecoins, with some of the tokenized capital markets products like money market funds, bonds, equities, et cetera, that are coming on-chain, how can you really take Wall Street-grade financial services and provision them out to Main Street for businesses that need them the most? And so the why for Stable Sea, for myself, for the team, is really around helping businesses drive greater capital efficiency in their operations. And we service businesses in the real economy that typically make widgets or some sort of physical hardware devices, and they need to send them around the world. We help them because we give them access to different types of capital markets products, so money markets and private credit and fixed-income products, et cetera. And then we help them move their money around the globe a little bit more efficiently than they could with either their state bank or their credit union or some third-party cross-border payments provider. Because our firm thesis has always been, if you and I ran Coca-Cola or a large organization, we would have the best-in-class transaction banks helping us put our idle capital to work at every point in time during the day. If you and I ran a steel manufacturing company in Missouri, you typically have a checking account and QuickBooks, and that’s about it. And so for us, it was always about helping businesses grow, save more money, and then operate more efficiently with some of the new technologies that are out there today.Share on X So that means, presumably, that what you focus on is more about the investment side of the business rather than crypto and blockchain, and helping people access financial products through the blockchain. Help me understand a little bit what you do and how it is different from what people can get from banks? Yeah. So everything that we do, all the technology that we build and provision, is on-chain. So all of the capital markets products are tokenized. So tokenized bonds, tokenized equities, tokenized fixed income, tokenized money markets. All of the payment services and settlement services that we offer are through the use of stablecoins, and we can send that around the globe, settle it instantly, and then have low FX rates off the back of that. And then we have some of our AI advisory services. But from a broad paintbrush perspective, at Stable Sea, you’ve got three products that hang off of our platform. You’ve got capital markets, you’ve got global settlement, and you’ve got advisory services. And then with all of that, we share a common architecture, and that architecture is built across many different blockchains. And then we utilize stablecoins and we utilize RWA tokens, or real-world asset tokens, to provision those use cases. So everything that we do is stablecoin-native, but we don’t lead with that from a messaging perspective. And the reason we don’t lead with that from a messaging perspective is that if you and I ran a bakery here in Brooklyn, New York, and we had a point-of-sale terminal that just got offered RTP access from the Fed for instant settlement, the bakery owner doesn’t really care about the technology underneath it. They just care, “Do I trust it? Is it going to get me my money quicker, and is it going to be cheaper than my current alternative?” How it happens, not very many people care unless you’re in the industry and you’re a builder, product manager, et cetera, and you want to nerd out on the actual mechanical nature of how the product works. But for us, it’s always been leading with the narrative of, what is the value proposition and how can we drive greater value to the businesses? So that’s how we lead. But to your point on what the difference is, with any new technological paradigm that occurs, rarely is it so disruptive in nature that folks can’t recognize it. Everything that happens in terms of the innovation paradigm is typically you stand on the shoulders of giants and you make things incrementally better. And so for us, what we do with capital markets is, the first value proposition is that many businesses in the United States just don’t have access to a diverse array of capital markets products. So the first thing that we have done is just provision access, which is an innovation in and of itself because in the traditional markets, if you want to access a money market fund or a fixed-income product, you typically have high hurdle rates, meaning that as a business, you need to invest at least $10 million at the asset manager in question. You need to hold that there so then you can get access to all these products. With us, you don’t. There’s only a $1 minimum to clear, so I think most folks can handle a $1 minimum. And then secondly, as things go on-chain, the value proposition there is that you have 24/7, 365 liquidity and tradability. And so what that means is that, just from a money market fund perspective, the interest accrues daily and it pays out daily. So you get this interest that is dripped into your account daily as opposed to waiting for a month. You also have the ability—so let’s say that you and I run this bakery in Brooklyn. Let’s say that we close our business on Friday, and we’ve got $100,000 sitting in our checking account, and we’re closed on Saturday, Sunday because it’s the July 4th holiday. So we know $100,000 is just going to be sitting in our checking account Saturday, Sunday, not being put to work. With Stable Sea, you can put that to work in a tokenized money market fund because it operates 24/7, 365. So what we see is businesses now that close their books on Friday can just do an auto-sweep into a money market fund, generate yield Saturday, Sunday, get back to U.S. dollars for their open of business. And again, it’s one of those things where it might not sound like the most revolutionary concept in the world, but if you can help businesses, especially in the mid-market, lower mid-market, operate a little bit more efficiently, I mean, saving an additional $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year is a big value-add to them in the real economy, right? If you’re a large Fortune 100 company, you probably don’t care, or it’s not as valuable. But for us, the companies that run on us, these small increments, standing on the shoulders of giants, a small derivation in innovation is actually really valuable for the end user.Share on X Well, I think it is because, looking at the inverse of it, I used to be in banking, and I know that one of the biggest moneymakers for banks is float. Yeah. So it’s basically the money that doesn’t earn interest, which they have access to just because they cash the check a day later or make the wire two days instead of one day. And essentially, what you’re doing is you’re taking this money from the bank and you’re giving it to the company that actually should have it in the first place, right? Yep. Then the question is, how are the banks going to survive if you take away their bread? Yeah. That is the debate that’s happening right now. I think if you’re one of your G-SIBs, your major banks, you’re going to be okay. So the top 25 banks in the U.S. are going to be just fine, and they make money in tons of different ways, and you’re not going to disrupt that trust ultimately. In the long tail is where I worry because a lot of credit unions and a lot of state banks, they just don’t offer—they’re smaller banks, right? So they’re not managing—they don’t have a ton of money by virtue of assets under management. So with the deposits that they receive, they need to turn around and recycle that because it’s fractional depository lending, meaning that if I have a checking account, I put 10 grand into it, the bank is then turning around with that 10 grand, making money on it somehow. And you have to think, how does the bank actually make money on that? Well, they typically make it through debt facilities, so mortgages, auto loans, student loans, cards, et cetera. They’re putting it to work in high-margin financial products back into the economy. They’re not taking that and then buying some money market fund from an asset manager where they make 10 basis points and provisioning that out to the businesses, right? There, I think that we’re seeing a lot of companies move off. They’re taking their money from their checking account, moving it to Stable Sea because we can put it in these capital markets products. I think that overall, that’s a net positive for the business because the business now has a higher degree of operating capital on hand that they can make money with. But by the same token, if the state banks and the credit unions don’t wake up and respond to this, their depository base will be, if not fully eroded, tarnished and diminished. And what that means for local community health, I’m not sure because banks do play a very important role, especially credit unions and local banks. You know your local community the best, and so you lend back into that community with the deposits that you receive from that community. So there’s a cyclicality to it which has some poetry in it. And so it’s not apparently clear to me that some of this stuff is going to be a net positive. But at the same time, living in one of the most capitalistic countries and markets in the world, there’s a clear demand for this, and if the banks aren’t going to wake up and serve it, we’ll be there to help businesses do what’s best for them. Yeah. It’s the invisible hand, right? You increase the efficiency, which will force the banks to also increase their efficiency. And yeah, the smaller banks might have to be more innovative. But they are more nimble, so maybe there are other ways that they can serve the community. So I’d like to switch gears here and talk a little bit about frameworks. So this is a podcast of frameworks, and 350 episodes in, I’m always looking for some kind of a framework, shortcut, a mental model that you have come across or developed yourself that helps you make more sense of the world around you, get something done. It can be explained in three to five steps, something like that, which the listeners might get some ideas out of and be able to improve their businesses. So what comes to mind for you? Yeah, two things. I’ll start with a high-level analogy and then go a little deeper. It’s the World Cup right now, so I don’t know if you or any of your listeners are following the World Cup. But if you watch Messi play, his playing style is a great analogy for startups. And whether that be a startup externally where you raise venture capital, or even just intrapreneurship if you’re inside of a big company and you’re on an innovation team, et cetera. From the outside, it looks like startups are always building things and they’re always moving fast, et cetera. But in reality, if you watch Messi play, Messi really doesn’t move that much on the pitch. He just sits around, he observes, he watches, and then when a hole opens up and some opportunity opens up, he breaks for it, and then he goes and executes. But he spends the vast majority of time just sitting there, tinkering, observing, watching. And then if you’re watching him, you’re like, “He’s not working that hard. He’s just sitting around.” And then he goes and executes. But he’s always observing, he’s always watching, and there’s a real learning in that. I feel like Silicon Valley, as it relates to startups, there’s this pressure that you always have to be building, you always have to be shipping, you always have to be constantly grinding. I think that wisdom is actually counterintuitive because you want to have a thesis in the market, and then you want to be able to test that thesis quickly. So in some respects, you do want to be shipping all the time. But you don’t want to be working for the sake of work. You want to have a thesis in the market. You want to be building towards that thesis that will happen in the next six months, 12 months, two years. And then you always want to be learning and talking to the market because when that hole does open up, you’ll have the right product at the right time to go and execute on. So I think that's something that we have learned: being patient and staying resolute in your conviction that what you're building is right.Share on X And it can’t just be a gut feeling. It has to be validated by the market. So we do a bunch of A/B tests every 30 days where we have an idea about a feature or a product or a direction we want to take it. And the thing is, if you can’t get five CEOs on the phone in 30 days to validate if a product is going to be interesting or not, then that’s a signal in and of itself, right? So for anything that we do, we always have a thesis on the market, and then we spend 30 days testing it. And at the end of those 30 days, we get some feedback. The reason why we do these A/B tests, just to drill down into one level further, is that the idea of a startup or a product that you have in your head, it’s a living entity. It’s always evolving on the basis of who you talk to, what your team is thinking, what you’re reading in the market, et cetera. And then you’re trying to take that living concept and plug it into a market. But the market itself is also living, right? You’ve got regulations, you’ve got different macroeconomic cycles, you’ve got companies that have budget, don’t have budget, people getting laid off in different organizations. The market itself is living and evolving. So you have this idea that is living and evolving, and you have a market that is living and evolving, and you need those two things to stick together. And so for us, we’re always wedded to this concept that product at time A is not going to be product at time Z. You need to constantly be doing A/B tests to figure out what that right fit is. And then when you have that fit, you need to double down on it and grow it into a line of business. But you also need to recognize that there are very few businesses in this world that have been around for more than 200 years, if at all. So whatever your original product idea is, or whatever the feature that gave you product-market fit is today, you have to consciously be aware that, “Hey, that’s not going to be the thing that gets us to IPO in five years’ time.” So you can’t be lulled into this false sense of security. You always have to be waiting, observing, testing, experimenting, growing, and then if you see opportunity, you strike. Yeah, this is fascinating. Especially now, things are moving very fast with AI creating capabilities all the time for people to test products or to create capabilities that then get disrupted in a couple of months. So it’s interesting that you say that you have to stay resolute in your conviction. So there is a tension there. You build a thesis and you stay resolute, but then you’re testing and the market might tell you not to be resolute. And then you also told me that companies don’t live forever. So how do you resolve this tension of being stable with your thesis and not letting your conviction be upended, but also being nimble in the changing market dynamics and everything to respond to? So how do you manage the tension? Yeah, it’s a good question. There has to be a high-level thesis, right? So for us at Stable Sea, it is as simple as: In 10 years from now, will more finance teams and businesses be on-chain or off-chain than today? And so our high-level conviction is, in 10 years’ time, more businesses will be running their treasury stack on-chain. So that’s our conviction. We know, come hell or high water, that is going to be where the puck is going to be in the future, and we’re going to skate to that future. So if you start with this high-level conviction that more companies are coming on-chain, that is what we’re building for. Now, how they come on-chain is a matter of debate, which is where the A/B test comes in, right? We originally thought it was going to be for payments. So we built all the stablecoin infrastructure to do global payments in 40 different markets. Turned out to be not the case, actually. And then we started tinkering as we saw the data coming in and were like, “Okay, some companies are using stablecoins for payments, but there’s a bunch of inefficiencies. That world’s still going to take two or three years to wake up. Where is the wedge in the market today?” And so when we started experimenting with capital markets products, we found that there was this massive opportunity that businesses just didn’t have access to a diverse array of yield-bearing strategies, and they wanted that. And so that was where we were like, okay, let’s get businesses into the on-chain economy through capital markets. And then what we’re finding is, as folks come onto the platform, everyone uses us today for capital markets, and then 20, 30% of our companies say, “Actually, I do have a cross-border payment need, and I already hold money with you. Can you facilitate that payment or that settlement to Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, et cetera?” So for us, when I say you need to stay resolute in your conviction, our why is always: We want to take Wall Street-grade financial services and provision them out to Main Street.Share on X The conviction behind that is that you can do that through on-chain technology. And then in 10 years from now, more businesses will be on-chain than off-chain. How we get to that future in 10 years, who knows, right? And that’s where the fun of the startup is. You’re always testing. And so for us, we’ve waxed and waned on different product strategies, primarily because the market has changed. And as people start to educate themselves on what the value props are, you see where folks find value, and then you build to that value. And in theory, in three, five, seven years, we should be living in a world where more companies are operating on-chain, and then they might use that full product suite. But out of the gate, it’s kind of like, where is that value, that wedge? You charge as hard as you can into that wedge, and then you continue to expand your product set over time. All with that high-level conviction of, in 10 years from now, we believe that more businesses will be on-chain than off-chain. So basically, you want to find the point where you can penetrate that market opportunity, and then it’s a land-and-expand kind of thing. And then you expand from there as the market opportunities evolve over time. But you already have a customer, you’re already building trust with them, and now they’re going to be more disposed to buying from you. Yeah, that’s right. And I think it’s interesting from a mental place being a startup because you’re forced to think so short-term because you just need to generate revenue, get to the next capital round, et cetera. So you’re always building for the moment. But what we try to do at Stable Sea is we try to think as if we were already a Vanguard and a large company, to the extent that we have the luxury of planning for 10 years. If you think about it in that regard, it takes a lot of the day-to-day anxiety away. It’s a little bit like, if you listen to Warren Buffett, any time that there’s volatility in the market, he’s like, “Well, it doesn’t really bother me because I’m investing for 50 years.” So, is it up 20%, down 20%? Who cares? In 50 years, it’s going to be up 200%, so that’s all I’m worried about, right? And there’s a real luxury when you come and think about it that way. So that’s why I think if you’re founding anything, or if you’re starting something inside of a company as an intrapreneur, you need to have a strong conviction on where the market’s headed in five or 10 years, and then you need to test towards that future. But that also makes the day-to-day operations of the business a little bit more palatable. So often, you can get caught up in this whipsaw of, “Big Company A launched this product. Regulation came down, wiped out this company. This competitor raised a Series C, and they have way more money in the bank than we do.” And so you can get caught up in all this minutiae, but it doesn’t really matter if you sit back and you say, “I know that I’m going to find a way to make this business exist for the next 10 years.” In 10 years’ time, what does the future look like? Do I feel strongly that that’s going to be the case? Cool. I’m going to build towards that future. And then whatever the headwinds are in the interim, they’re just short-term temporal problems that kind of come and go along. Yeah. I mean, I totally agree with you. And interestingly, 20 years ago, or 25 years ago, I didn’t feel like I had enough time to think that long term. But now that I’m older, I actually am more patient to have the long view, which is very counterintuitive. And Dan Sullivan, who is a coach and the founder of Strategic Coach, he is now, I think, north of 80, and he has this thesis that even at his age, he has a 25-year plan, and that allows him to actually create more value. So that’s fascinating. So switching gears here, what drives growth in your business right now? Yeah. So we govern the business with an assets under management model. So we have USDC, we’ve got money market funds, we’ve got fixed-income products, we’ve got Bitcoin on platform. So we just look at overarching platform balance. And so that’s the primary, very simple heuristic for how we define success: Is that thing growing month over month, quarter over quarter? That’s how we define growth and measure our growth. But again, the value prop in terms of what drives that, why do companies actually sign up to Stable Sea? Primarily because they just don’t have access. Almost every business that we have talked to so far, and honestly every business that I’ve interacted with, has idle cash sitting in a checking account someplace. Full stop. And that idle cash could sit there for the weekend, i.e., two days, or it could sit for a quarter. If you’re gearing up for quarterly bonuses in Q1, you will escrow a million, $2 million in Q4 so you can pay out in Q1. Not just the U.S. economy, but every economy, there’s just cash sitting around at a bank, and it’s being underutilized. And so for us, when we go and finally chat to businesses in the mid-market, lower mid-market, even SMBs, we have a customer on platform that invests $2,500 every week. It almost looks like a checking account, or almost looks like retail behavior in some ways. But they do it because they say, “Hey, I don’t make a lot of money with my business, but if I can eke an additional two, three grand at the end of the year, that’s valuable to me.” And there’s a real poetry to that because they’ve never had access to it. They’ve always wanted it. But banks, large and small, won’t go build for the long tail of the economy. And so finally, we show up and we say, “Hey, here’s your menu of investment options. Here’s the risk profiles. Here’s how you should think of it. Based on the seasonality of your business, we can get you into the right products.” There’s real utility there, and that’s what kind of drives the value proposition and the growth of the business and the business’s assets under management overall. So you’re looking for opportunities where you can be additive to customers, where there’s a situation where maybe there’s a gap in the market or there’s friction that they are experiencing with investing their money, and you can be the wedge in that situation and offer them a 3X better solution. Yeah. Correct. Correct. And again, our tagline internally is, “Keep your bank, upgrade your capital.” Because we really don’t want to compete with the checking account. Where you run payroll, where your invoices land if someone pays you, your day-to-day spend, keep your banking relationships because it’s very difficult to usurp that. And also, we don’t want to get into that. That puts us squarely in this neobank realm where you’ve got great companies like Mercury and Rho and Ramp and Brex and a thousand other companies there. We don’t really want to go compete with that. We’re more of, if you had the privilege of working with some of the largest transaction banks in the world, that’s what we’re trying to be and essentially provision those services out to the real economy, which is typically access to capital markets, access to global foreign exchange for payments and settlement, and then advisory services, tax reporting, et cetera. Almost like a democratized private banking service. Yeah. Yeah. All of us at Stable Sea, we’re trying really hard to steer away from the banking narrative, but yes, in the future, if you take that 10-year perspective, yeah, we will most likely be a private banking solution, a democratized version of that. Yeah. Fascinating. So what’s one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out right now in your business? Yeah, it’s a great question. I mean, the one thing that we’re actively trying to figure out is two things, really. One is, so we build directly into ERP systems like QuickBooks or NetSuite or Oracle or SAP, and we have advisory services. So we take a lot of that data, we build our own model weights on top of it, and then we offer that out to our customers so that they can essentially query their own transaction data and use it for different services. Now, we’ve got strong signal on the first value proposition for that, but I’m curious mostly for owner-operators in the real economy: What are their biggest back-office pain points? And that’s something that we’re trying to figure out because we hear a lot, “Yes, we don’t have access to savings products.” Okay, we can solve that today. “Yes, cross-border payments are frustrating, slow, and expensive.” Yes, we solve that today. So we’re looking for that third pillar. One of our VCs always talks to us about morphine versus vitamins, where it’s kind of a crude analogy, but if you go to the hospital and you’re in dire pain, you don’t want to be sold vitamins. You want some morphine, and that’s what you’re going there for, right? And when you’re in a startup and you create products, you’re really looking for that morphine of, people just cannot live without this product. And then you can sell all the value-added services around it, which are essentially the vitamins. And so for us, we’ve found two morphine-like products where there’s a real pain point for accessing capital markets. Primarily, there is no ability to access that today. And then second, cross-border payments: slow, difficult, expensive, opaque, all the things. Solved that. So the third one that we’re trying to figure out now is: How do we A/B test quickly enough to figure out—we have a treasure trove of data building into ERP systems—what is the highest signal-to-noise product that we can build using a diverse data set to help owners operate their back office a little more efficiently? So you say highest signal-to-noise. Is it the ratio of signal to noise? So what is the product value which you can detect as being a need in the market? Is this what you mean by that? Yeah, yeah. It’s like, what is that one pain point that is so resolute that people are like, “I would do anything to have this thing solved”? There’s all these value-adds like cash flow reporting and automating some of your tax stuff at the end of the year, which are all nice-to-haves. We’re curious. We’re trying to figure out what it is that folks will say, “I’ve got all this data in my ERP system. I would love to know one, two, three things and have A, B, C automated so my back office can run a little bit more efficiently and my accountant doesn’t have to ask me every quarter-end, ‘Where is X, Y, and Z statement?'” Yeah. I mean, I’ve got some ideas, but I’m sure that you’ve already thought about most of it, so I’m not going to share them. So if someone is listening to this who is a small business or medium-sized business, and they’ve got some cash just sitting around, or they’d like to invest, but they don’t have big enough balances or the transaction costs are prohibitive for their size of investment, whatever the reason, but they are curious about exploring how to have access to better FX rates, more investment products, where can they learn more, and how can they connect with you? Of course. Well, connect with me on LinkedIn, Tanner Taddeo, pretty easy to find. And then the platform is stablesea.com. So, free to sign up, no cost whatsoever. Also, no cost to use the platform at all. So feel free to sign up right online, and then, yeah, typically it takes us two days to run through the KYB document requests, and then you’re up and running. So, pretty simple. Stablesea.com, free to sign up and start putting your capital to work. Awesome. We try and make it as seamless as possible. So I’m just wondering, the name of the company, is it something to do with stablecoin? Is it a sea of opportunities for stablecoin? It was stablecoin for sure. So we started with the word “stable” and then “sea” because we wanted to provide a sea of liquidity. Both for FX, because we do B2B settlements, which are typically large transactions, low volume. You’re not doing twenty $10 million transactions a day. You’re typically doing one $10 million transaction a week or every other week. But you need a deep pool of liquidity to service that. And then also, from a capital markets perspective, we wanted to be able to provide a sea of liquidity there for different investment options that companies could access based on the seasonality of their cash flow or the risk tolerance that they have as a business. So stable meets sea, so Stable Sea. Okay. Well, if you want to keep your bank but upgrade your capital, then reach out to Tanner Taddeo, the CEO and Co-Founder of Stable Sea. He’ll get you more investment opportunities that maybe you have not had access to. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts. Do not miss any episode with exciting entrepreneurs like Tanner. So thanks, Tanner, for coming, and thank you for listening. Thank you, Steve. Important Links: Tanner's LinkedIn Tanner's website
Jennie Nash hosts a #amwriting podcast BookLab with guest Kathleen Barber, author of Truth Be Told and newly released Sisterhood Above All (co-written with Amayah Shaienne), and discusses Barber's range across thrillers and romance, her character-first approach, and how RushTok inspired an authentic sorority-rush thriller featuring Madison, Shay, and Ava as tensions escalate and someone dies. They define RushTok as viral TikTok coverage of University of Alabama sorority recruitment and note its broad international fascination. In the BookLab, they evaluate three first-page submissions by asking “Would we turn the page?” They praise Heather's Trust Me for strong voice, vivid Austin setting, and an intriguing problem hook, with minor notes about genre context. They decline Odeon Omega due to unearned logistics and too much dialogue despite an intriguing title/advert. They find Empty Spaces compellingly written but confusing from too many names and unclear stakes, suggesting more interiority and clarity.#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Connect with KathleenVisit Kathleen's website to find her books and more: https://www.kathleenbarber.comTranscriptJennie: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the #amwriting podcast, the place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life, love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most. This is a book lab session where we answer the most important question about your first pages.Would we pick up the book? Would we turn the page? Today, I have a really special guest with me. I have Kathleen Barber here, who is so many things. She's the author of Truth Be Told, which was adapted as a series on Apple TV, Follow Me, Both Things Are True, and just brand new, like it came out four days ago, Sisterhood Above All, with, I'm gonna try her name, Amaya Chen?How do you-Barbara: Yeah. Uh, um, yeah. That's, that's very close. I think it's Amaya Chen.Jennie: Okay. Yeah. Uh, so we're gonna hear about that in a minute. Um, I haven't, I haven't cracked it open yet, but I'm so [00:01:00] excited for it. Um, Kathleen's also an Author Accelerator certified book coach and a former attorney, and she lives in Washington, DC with her family.So welcome, Kathleen.Barbara: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.Jennie: So I watched your unboxing the other day. It was so fun, and I didn't realize that we had scheduled this right on top of, like the actual- Oh ... launch of your book.Barbara: No, that, that's okay. It's, it's great. Um, it gives me something to think about that's not just, like, spiraling.Like, is anybody gonna read my book? Is anybody gonna like it? Um, so it gives me something else to focus on.Jennie: Well, it's so interesting you say that because I think of you as this really seasoned pro and, you know, it's been really interesting for me to watch your career because you've written some really different kinds of books.You did a ... Well, your first book was obviously a big thriller and a huge success, and at one point, you pivoted to romance, and now you're doing ... Well, I, I saw that book list [00:02:00] called Sisterhood Above All, a soapy thriller Yes. Yes ... which is such a great description, and you did it with a collaborator. So you just seem interested in story to me.Barbara: I, I am. Yeah. I'm always very ... I always start a story with the characters. Um, and so then their story kind of spirals out from there. Um, yeah, so I, my last book that came out before this one was, was a rom-com. Um, and I was really nervous when I started writing it. I was like, “How am I going to write this when I've been writing suspense and thrillers before?”And it turns out that, like, at the heart of it, stories are stories, and people are people, and, you know, in a romance, happy things happen. In a thriller, bad things happen, but things still happen.Jennie: Amazing. So give us the overview of the brand new book, ‘cause it's, it's really juicy.Barbara: Yeah. Yeah, so I'm really excited about it.Um, Sisterhood Above All is a thriller set during sorority rush, and so it follows three different [00:03:00] women who are involved there. There's Madison, who is the president of what's she perceives as to be the coolest sorority on campus, so she's kind of the gatekeeper, and there's Shay, who is the president of a rival sorority and trying to shake, shake up the Greek institutions, and then there's Ava, who is a potential new member.She's going through rush. She's desperate to join Madison's sorority, um, and she might be a little too desperate. Uh, so you know, it's a thriller. Bad things happen. Somebody dies, um, you know, and things kind of spiral out, spiral out of control.Jennie: But tell us about the collaboration, ‘cause it's- Yeah ... so interesting how that came about and how it went and-Barbara: Yeah.You know, it was, it was a lot of fun. Um, I, like many writers, write alone, and I had never really considered collaborating with anybody before, um, but- But when I was kind of talking about this, I, I'd been pitching my agent a sorority themed thriller for a while. [00:04:00] Um, and at one point when, when Rush Talk was getting really big a couple summers ago, she was like, “This is the moment.This, you should write this book, but I think that in order to make it feel more authentic, we should bring in somebody who's living this in this moment.” Um, so one of her colleagues found Amaya, who, um, was up until very, very recently an active member of a sorority at the University of Alabama, and brought us together.And Amaya and I got along right away, and we both had kind of the same vision for what we wanted the book to be, and so collaborating with her was, was a lot of fun in a way that I had been nervous that it wouldn't be. But it was, it was a really good time, and I'm really, really proud of the book.Jennie: So for those who don't know or weren't following, can you tell us what Rush Talk-Barbara: YeahwasJennie: or isBarbara: or- Yeah ... shall be? Yes, yes, yes. So, um, so if you're gonna join a sorority, um, you go through, you go through recruitment and which is very slangily [00:05:00] called rush. Um, and so on TikTok a few years ago, um, people started sharing about their experiences during sorority rush, but specifically, uh, during sorority rush at the University of Alabama.Um, and it really took on a life of its own, like people were watching it like it was, you know, a television program. Uh, they made a documentary about it, which, you know, I'll, I will let you make your own conclusions about the documentary. Um, but people just got really, really into it, and people... And it was kind of appealing to people who had gone through sorority rush at some point, were thinking about going through a sorority rush, or who were just invested in, you know, watching people have these kind of outlandish experiences and, and share them.So, um, itJennie: was a lot of fun. My understanding was that it got very, very popular in other countries?Barbara: I- it's definitely... [00:06:00] Yeah. You know, um- So sorority, some, some sororities are international. Not, not all of them are. Um, but by and large, when they say international, they mean that there are chapters in Canada, not that, like, there are chapters in, you know, like Europe or, or other countries.And so it just, it's something that is so unique and so, like, uniquely about, like, this type of college experience that I think it's been really interesting to people in lots of different places.Jennie: Yeah, yeah. Fascinating. So obviously the book has been out, like, mere hours here. But, um, how does it feel? Are you, are you- It's excitingyou said you were excited and proud and- SoBarbara: exciting. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm really, really proud of the book. I love it. I mean, I know everybody, like, loves their own books, but I do. I truly, like, love this book, and I just really hope that the readers do too.Jennie: You know, it's not true that everybody loves their book.I, I was dying to have somebody on the podcast who will never come on the podcast. But I- Yeah ... I heard a story about somebody who [00:07:00] got a seven-figure deal for a book that they really didn't actually love, and then- Oh, no ... they, they wrote it. It came out, and then when they had to co- come time to do the publicity, they just dreaded it.They, it was like a, just they did it for the money. They got the money, and then didn't, didn't wanna talk about it, like felt sort of ashamed about it. And I was like, “Oh, please, come talk about that.” But of course they, they won't. So...Barbara: That's wild. Isn't that wild? That's wild. Yeah. I just, I just can't even imagine how that would feel.Um, I mean...Jennie: I know. Well, I, uh, the cover of this, um, of this new book, Sisterhood Above All, is- is really cool too. So we will link to it in the show notes, and everyone can go read it and check it out, and, um, Kathleen's other books, I've read them all, and you have such range and, um, like I said, [00:08:00] interesting stories.So with that, let's get to our, our Book Lab entries. We just always wanna start by thanking those who submitted. It's not easy to do this, to put your stuff out there with no context and no ability to talk back or anything and have random s- people on the internet, you know, talk about your stuff. So really appreciate the, the risk-taking of doing that, and we do this in order to help us all get better and, and learn, you know, what works and, and, um, for your own self or your own writing, what, what you want it to be.So what we're gonna do, as always, is I'm gonna read the entry, and then we're gonna ask ourselves, would we turn the page? So, um, the first entry is Fiction and it is, uh, author's name is [00:09:00] Heather and the name of the work is Trust Me. So here we goI can't tell you whether it's the Johnny Cash mural, clusters of candles nestled into every corner of the long stone bar, or the smoky scent of Palo Santo that tucks Austin into my head the first night. Maybe it's the unexpected jazz trio on a Tuesday in a town built for blues, country, and rock, or it could be the two cowboys deep in conversation at a table in the back of the bar.I'll later, I'll later learn that making a hot Austin guy a cowboy because of his hat, faded jeans, and scuffed boots is the same as labing- labeling a frat bro in a hoodie and sweats an athlete. It's just how they dress. I can tell you I like the looks of Austin men a hell of a lot better, especially that wide silver belt buckle that dresses up the whole package in a bow.It's going [00:10:00] on nine PM when I arrive at Whistlers in East Austin, and the bartender hands, hands me a peach-colored mezcal craft cocktail. Fresh juice, pungent herbs, and the smoky sister to tequila are the perfect salve after what's transpired since my flight landed from New York two hours earlier. I follow the snake tattoo on his foreha- forearm as the bartender shakes another cocktail for the couple next to me.Damn, he's hot, too. The crowd starts to pick up, and I signal Snake Tattoo for another before I lose his attention for good. The warm agave liquor spreads through my bones, and I start to relax. Maybe this isn't the disaster I think it is. Maybe I can actually pull it off. I glance around at the mostly twenty and thirty-something crowd angling for spots at the bar.The women wear short dresses and long hair. The men, well, those jeans are something, along with their finely cut biceps and well-placed tattoos. Can't help but glance over at those cowboys again and get a warm smile in [00:11:00] return. Easy, girl. Back to business. I have a problem, and this second mezcal is going to help me solve it.All right. What do you think? What was your first impression?Barbara: I really enjoyed that. I would definitely turn the page there. I, I feel like there was, like, a really strong sense of, sense of place, and I, in particular, I really enjoyed the, the first line, not only because it gives us that sense of place, but it, because it also then tells us something about the narrator and how she perceives the world around her in that first line.Jennie: Yeah, and, and there's a good m- a, a good question at hand here, which is what's she doing here?Barbara: Mm-hmm.Jennie: She's come from New York. We get that. It's a little unclear how, how old she is, ‘cause she's referencing other people's ages, but not her own, so we, we don't really know what's happening or what, what's, what's about.[00:12:00] Um, I mean, I thought the writ-Barbara: Well, IJennie: agree. Yeah. I thought the writing was great. It sort of tripped along-Barbara: Mm ...Jennie: um, nicely. IBarbara: like at the end where... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step on you. No,Jennie: no, go. Yeah. I like atBarbara: the end, I like at the end where, um, she says she has a problem, and the second mezcal is gonna help her solve it.I thought that was really interesting, ‘cause I, it piqued my interest, made me wanna know what the problem is, but it's also kind of funny. Like, the mezcal's probably not gonna help you solve your problem, but it's like...Jennie: Yeah. No, it's so true. I was longing for a little bit more of a sense of what's happening here.I mean, this could be any kind of story at this point. It could be she could be a spy. She could be an assassin. She could be trying to get a guy back. Like, we, there's really no sense of what the story's gonna be. I always like that on the first page. What about you?Barbara: Yeah. I, I agree with you. I, it, it could, it could go in any direction.I kind of [00:13:00] sense from the tone that it's, you know, it's going to be something, uh- Well, I guess I don't know. You know, honestly. Now, now that I'm looking at it again and thinking about it, um, you're right, it could be... The, the problem that she has could be a thriller problem, or it could be a romantic problem, since she's kind of made, made comments about the different men.I think that was a hint to me that it might be a romantic problem that she's having, but I actually don't know.Jennie: Yeah. The, the- obviously she's clocking all the hot guys in this bar, which tells us something, either about her or what she's up to. We don't know. Um, but yeah, it's, um, really good detail, like the, you mentioned that first line, and I liked the line about her sh- the self-awareness about, you know, she calls him a cowboy and then she says, you know, sort of like, “Oh, right, that's not really fair.”Mm-hmm. “We don't know.” [00:14:00] You know, that, I thought that was, made me think- Yeah ... this character's gonna know themselves.Barbara: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I agree with that. I, I also really enjoyed the kind of specificity that she uses in the descriptions, like when she talks about, you know, the, the cocktail that she's drinking, and the tattoo on the bartender's arm.Like, I just felt like those details really made the story come alive for me. So that, like, even if I didn't exactly know where we were going, I could, I could picture where we were.Jennie: Yeah. Yeah. That's really well said. Well, we like this. I think I would, I would turn the page.Barbara: I would, I would too, yeah. Mm-hmm.Jennie: We would turn the page. Um, I mean, the only notes I think for me would be, I mean, it's always so tricky, because if we were picking this book up, the title, Trust Me, doesn't really tell us anything, but the cover would.Outro: Mm-hmm.Jennie: The vibe of the cover would. We'd have a little more context for where we were and [00:15:00] what this was about, and that would probably help with the issue that, that I have, which is, well, what kind of book is this?We don't know. Um, and you know, now that I'm thinking of it, we don't even know whe- where we are in time. Um, I'm, I'm assuming modern day, but I don't know why I assumed that. It, maybe it's not. So maybe just a tiny bit more of a sense of- Uh, context for the reader. Mm-hmm. But that's my only note. L- do you have any notes?Barbara: Yeah. You know, I honestly don't think that I, I have any additional notes. I mean, I, I really enjoyed this selection, and I would definitely keep reading here.Jennie: Well, Heather, that's high praise, soBarbara: Yeah, I, I usually have ideas. I usually have notes but I don't.Jennie: Yeah, that's, uh, that's g- a good one for us to start with, and very fun, I hope, for you to hear that from Kathleen.All right, let's [00:16:00] go to our, our next one. This is fiction. It's called Odeon Omega, um, and the author is ... Well, the, the, um, it's coming across as, um, Sound Smith, but who knows what that is? So, um, Odeon Omega, they will know who they are, for sure. All right, here we go. “The grand O-O opening continues all month long at your new entertainment destination, the one and only, first of its kind on this or any other coast, the all-new, all-excitement Odeon Omega.‘Gah!' Emmy shrieked from the bathroom. ‘You can turn the TV volume down now, Seth. We're done.' Seth was still lying in bed, his naked body mostly covered with Emmy's cream-colored, satiny soft sheets. He chuckled while reaching for the remote. ‘I wasn't the one who turned it up.' ‘I know that. I have to [00:17:00] turn the TV way up like that, though.It's the only way to drown out the neighbors. The walls in this place are so damn thin, and they're always banging on them, disturbing me when I'm trying to have sex.' ‘Those b******s,' Seth chuckled. ‘I'm saying, I like ... I'm saying, like, what am I supposed to do? Not f**k? Hey, that is so not an option,' Seth p- Seth pressed the mute button, then went back to lying on his back, his hands behind his head.Another noise startled him, this one coming from Emmy's phone. A toneless version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun blared from Emmy's clutch purse. ‘Turn that off, too,' Emmy shouted from the bathroom. ‘That's my mother's ringtone. I don't feel like talking to her right now.' Seth rolled over to the nightstand and opened her clutch and found the button to silence Emmy's phone.He lingered on the image of Emmy's mother. ‘Wow, Emmy, you and your mom could pass for sisters, easy.' ‘Ew, don't tell me that,' Emmy said. ‘Tell her that, but not me. Bet you're already imagining yourself in a threesome with her and me, [00:18:00] aren't you?' ‘Huh, what's that?' Seth was distracted by Emmy's driver's license in the clutch's interior pocket.He slid it out of the pocket and read what he assumed was Emmy's birth name. ‘Myrtle? What? Your re- your real name is Myrtle?' Emmy stepped out of the bathroom, still naked from their lovemaking, with a sky blue-colored towel clenched between her legs.”That's a vibe.Barbara: It is. It is, yeah. I mean, opening, uh, opening in the aftermath of sex is a, is a bold choice. I'll be honest, I don't feel like I have very much context for what's happening here. Um, it seems like Emmy and Seth don't know each other veryJennie: well. I got that sense, too. I got that sense, too, and that the sex that she has this system for turning up the TV has been for other people.Barbara: Mm-hmm. [00:19:00] Yeah. On, on that note, though, I did kind of have, uh, a fundamental disbelief about the setup that was giving me a stumbling block when I was reading this, just because it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me that she would turn up the television to distract herself from the neighbors, when I would think that that would be more distracting or, you know, just use music or...And I didn't really understand why she would be explaining it to him after the fact instead of in the moment. Um, that felt like it was perhaps just put there for the reader,Jennie: so that we could be distracted. Yeah, it was a little explainy, a little... Yeah, like a, um, we use that term info dump, and an info dump doesn't have to be a whole scene.It can just be a line like that where I, I didn't buy it either that she would actually say that to him now. Mm-hmm. If... He probably would've said, “Why are you turning the TV on?”Barbara: Right.Jennie: Earlier.Barbara: Yeah. Yeah, [00:20:00] yeah, and it seemed like that would be the conversation that would have before we got to this moment. So that was something that, that I struggled with a bit.Jennie: I also didn't believe, it felt like, uh, unearned that he's pulling this license out of her purse. I could see, I could see that he might have seen something on her phone if he's turning her phone off. But-Barbara: Mm-hmm ...Jennie: to, to actually then see... I kept, like I was trying to think through the logistics. Like, okay, see one of those little slidey things inside a purse, but you can't see- Mmthe driver's license. Like, why would he reach in and pull it out? It felt like the author wanted us to get to this moment where- Mm-hmm ... Seth got this information.Barbara: Mm-hmm. Yeah.Jennie: It, yeah, it felt unearned to me.Barbara: Yeah. I, I agree, especially because it doesn't seem like Seth knows her very well, obviously. Then for him to be [00:21:00] digging around in her clutch purse felt- Untrue to the situation, um, unless something else was going on that we don't hear about.Jennie: Yeah, yeah. Um, this... When I said, like, “Well, this is a vibe,” this character has a, a tone or a style or sense about, like a sort of swagger about- Mm-hmm ... her that interests me. Um, I happen to be in the middle... I'm behind everybody else, but I'm in the middle of reading Yesteryear. Oh. Have you read-Barbara: Oh. Yes, yes.Jennie: Don't tell me what ha- I, I- Don't tell me ...Barbara: I w- I won't. I was also late to it, and everybody was trying to tell me about it, and I was just constantly walking around going, “No spoilers, no spoilers.” Yeah.Jennie: But the, that character has, has such a brashness- Mm-hmm ... of point of view and opinion in both, um, both parts of the story there, and there's something about this character that rem- reminds me of that.[00:22:00] There's like a, I don't know, um, a, just a brashness. S- And I, I've been enjoying that protagonist- Mm-hmm ... the Yesteryear protagonist, just ‘cause it's unusual. I've read a tiny bit, and I know people are saying, “Oh, she is so unlikable,” but there's just something of a character that's so owning their, um-Barbara: Mm-hmmJennie: way, and this woman's ownership of, of her sexuality, I guess, I, I thought was- Hmm ... interesting.Barbara: Yeah. No, I, I, I know what you mean, and I, I, I am intrigued by her as a character because, I mean, again, here she, she seems to have kind of an interesting setup in a, an apartment building that has thin walls, um, has this system of turning up her television, um, but not with Seth before.So, you know, it seems like she's had several partners back to this, this space. Um, but she seems very, very confident and, like you said, kind of swaggery [00:23:00] with him. Um, so yeah, I, I am intrigued to know more about, like, who she is and what makes her that way. Um...Jennie: Yeah. Uh, for me, probably not enough to turn the page.Um-Barbara: Not for, not for me either. I-Jennie: Yeah. And, and I have to say that the thing that intrigues me the most about this whole thing is that the title of this book is Odeon Omega, and that's the random, um- I think that's the random show on TVBarbara: Yeah,Jennie: the- Am I ma- am IBarbara: making that up? No, no, no, that, that, that's the first line.It's, um, it sounds like it's maybe like a commercial. I was kind of envisioning it from the way that it was spelled out as, you know, kind of like, uh, oh, the way that like a, a carnival or like a car salesman is like, “The grand o- o- opening.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that's kind of how I was envisioning it.Um, so I, I didn't, I did enjoy s- seeing that right up front, um, [00:24:00] but I wanted more context to understand what it was, because without that, I, I don't know what that line means. Um-Jennie: And that just the author's choice, like, okay, the TV's on f- for a random reason- Mm-hmm ... or for her systematic sex reason, and, and she's hearing this show opening, and then that's the title of the book.Like, something about this, I, I thought of it as a, yeah, like a carnival or a show or something- Mm-hmm ... a theme park, um, that there's g- that's gonna become central to the story. It's kind of an interesting way of putting that in in, and presumably- Mm ... it will come back, um- Yeah ... in an important way. But I, I was intrigued by that most of all, actually.Barbara: Yeah. No, same, especially because that's the moment that Emmy says, “Turn the volume down.” So I was, uh, so it made it seem, to me at least, that there was something about that particular advertisement that she [00:25:00] was reacting to, and I wanted to know what that was.Jennie: Well, that's a really great point, and I think if we were to give this writer some guidance- Um, it might be to make more of that.Mm. If the character reacts more to that. Like, in, you know, that she can't hear it or that it's upsets her in a particular way, or she gives us some information or context about that so that we, I don't know, I guess we need to be more grounded in, in what's happening.Barbara: Yeah. And I also just feel like that would give us a little bit more s- because it, that's right there in the title, so it's obviously gonna be important to the story.And so like that would give us a little bit of curiosity about what it is and would propel us to try and understand why she's reacting the way that she is. Um-Jennie: Yeah. And just from a technical [00:26:00] standpoint, I'm looking at this entry, it's almost all dialogue.Barbara: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Which I think is hard on a, an opening page.Uh, don't you? I think-Barbara: I, I do. I, I would really have liked to see a little bit more interiority from Emmy here to kind of, I don't know, understand how she feels, not only about that advertisement, but about, about Seth. Like, did she li- does she like Seth, or is he just like a guy, you know? Um, I just wanted to know a little bit more about how she, who I'm presuming is the protagonist, is experiencing this scene.Jennie: Yeah. Um, yeah, there was even a moment when I thought, “Is she selling sex?” Mm-hmm. Is, is that... Is she a sex worker? Um, you know- True ... so too many questions about what's, what's happening here, which I think could be solved by, um, balancing out the dialogue, um, w- with some other information. [00:27:00] Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, I mean, I'm, um, I'm hoping that this character gets a story that we want, we want to read ‘cause I'm intrigued.Barbara: Yeah. Same. Same.Jennie: Yeah. All right. We have one more that we're going to, um, read. Do you wanna read this one? From your little, “Oh, oh, oh,” opening- ... I was like, “Oh, maybe you're a good narrator. I'm not.”Barbara: Sure. Sure. I'll, I'll read it. Um, so this one is called Empty Spaces. Um, it's fiction. I'm not entirely certain who the author is, unless I'm missing that in the spreadsheet.It looks like perhaps it starts with a T. Um, but here, here is the submission. “April 1st, 1995. ‘Please, please, please,' Corey sputtered, gripping the black receiver with both hands while the operator relayed her [00:28:00] request. ‘Person-to-person call for Tess. Will you accept the charges?' ‘No, she's asleep.' Corey knew her mother was at the beige phone on the kitchen wall a thousand miles away.Then her father's voice in the background. ‘Honey, let the girl talk to her dau-...' And dial tone. Corey slammed the receiver back into its cradle. ‘What the f**k?' She missed. Her knuckles scraped the chrome holder, and she unleashed her fury on the edge of the black payphone. ‘F**k, f**k, f*****g f****r.' The rain that had been collecting in the roo- in the rim of the payphone box was shaken loose by her tantrum and cascaded down inside the collar of her flay- flight jacket.Well, Charlie's flight jacket. ‘Skipper,' came Top's quiet baritone from behind her. ‘We're ready to roll.' ‘Thanks, Top.' Corey accepted the styrofoam cup of coffee he handed her, then sloshed her way to the lead truck, Arlo trotting at her heels. She hoisted herself up into the passenger side of the rig. Arlo curled up beside her and dug his head into her lap.Why did her mother have to be such a [00:29:00] little b***h? And on this night. Was it too much to expect her to remember that it was Charlie's birthday? No, Maria remembered. She was the one who kept a file of birthday cards, organized by month and paper clipped to envelopes, neatly stamped and addressed to the recipient.But nobody sends a birthday card to a dead person.” After a few minutes, Top started his status report. “Got word from the 24-hour man. The lot they gave us was too small and underwater. He put up a fuss and got us moved to the football field at the high school.” Corey took a sip. “It'll be nice to have a dry lot.Daisy's got that one nail that looks a little soft.” She fiddled with the radio, settling on a country station, what else was there, and yawned. “Where are we headed tonight?” And that is it.Jennie: Wow, well, author T., uh, Wood, what a treat to have Kathleen Barber read your, read your stuff like that. Gee, you, you sounded amazing.You sounded like you'd written that. That was so cool. Do you- I, uh- ... narrate your own books?Barbara: I, I do not, but I have [00:30:00] small children, and I read aloud every night.Jennie: Do you do the voices?Barbara: Oh, yes, I definitely do the voices.Jennie: Do you do all of them, like, in aBarbara: very- I do all of them.Jennie: You do?Barbara: Yeah, yeah. My, my kids were really into the Wings of Fire series, so I've read all of those books, and there are many, many dragons, and they all have different voices, and if I do not remember the different voice, my children will be like, “Mommy, that's not what Peril sounds like,” and then I'll have to remember and try again,Jennie: so.Take notes? Do you have, do you have a guide? Do you just remember? Um,Barbara: no, I just, I just try and remember.Jennie: Oh,Barbara: my. I should take notes, but I'm not that organized. I just go off.Jennie: That, that's amazing. That's amazing. Um, just while we're talking about it, is there audio already for the new book, for, uh, Sisterhood Above All?Barbara: There, there is. There is, yeah. Um, I recently got, uh, got a peek at it, and I am very, very excited. We have a different [00:31:00] narrator for each of the POV characters, and they are all fantastic. Super excited.Jennie: Amazing. All right, so back to this, back to this work. Um, I thought this was great. Uh, did you, did you, how did you feel reading it?Barbara: I, I, I enjoyed reading it. Um, when, when I was, when I was reading it the first time, I, I found myself getting stopped a few times because I felt like there were a lot of names, and I was confused. Um, you know, it's, it's in- I don't feel like an author needs to spell out for me who every single character is on the first page at all.Um, it just felt like in a small amount of time, there were a lot of names that I felt like I was trying to keep track of, and that was a bit confusing for me. Slowed me down a little bit.Jennie: I agree with that. Actually, the first time that I read it And [00:32:00] admittedly, I was scanning these really fast the first time I read it, but there, there's something to that, how things hit your head.But I thought that, um, I thought Daisy was a horse because I was like the one nail that looks a little soft, like is who, what- Yeah ... where would that matter that we need to be on grass? And, and, and then I was like, “Wait, who even is Daisy?” So I got stuck on that- Yeah ... for sure. And, um, and then the, um, there's a nickname that I think the main...I think Corey, the, the other character calls her Skipper, so I was confused by that. Right. So it, yeah. Yeah. Are those some of the things that you mean?Barbara: Yeah. The, those was... And I was also just a little confused when I first started reading that it starts out with person to person call for Tess, and then we're talking about her mother.And I, I thought at first that her mother was [00:33:00] named Tess, and that, and that the operator was trying to reach her, and that her mother was simply not, simply not wanting to talk even though she was by the phone. But then later on I realized that her mother is actually named Maria, and that Tess must be somebody else.Um, I think Corey's daughter, but I didn't, I didn't catch that on first reading. I had to read it again to be able to understand that.Jennie: Yeah. So there, there is a lot going on for sure. When I said that I thought it was great, I- I'm, I'm hoping that this character's some kind of trucker just because that's cool, and, um, it, it seemed like we have some tension both in whatever's happening around...You know, like, they have a 24-hour man. They're... Uh, so there's something afoot. Like, there's a pr- a project or something afoot that feels like it's not gonna go well or something's gonna [00:34:00] happen there. Um, and I also, you know, now we have the thing with the, well, we learn I think it's the mom. But, um, th- there- Yeahwere enough elements of intrigue, like, what's, what's going on here, what's gonna happen, that I... And I thought it was well-written.Barbara: Yeah. No, and I, one of the things that I really enjoyed was the way, the, the descriptions of what the, what the scenery looks like with the, with like the weather. So like there's, there's the rain, um, there's another line about how when they're like getting into the truck that like the lot is underwater, so I'm kind of like envisioning...I actually don't know what time of day it is, but for some reason I'm envisioning it being a little bit darker, but that might just be because of, of the rain that's happening. Maybe that's what's making me think that it's, it's a little bit darker outside, but I'm like envisioning the, the rain, and they're getting into the rig.But I, I didn't get that she was a truck driver. I, I, I think maybe... But I, but I, [00:35:00] I don't know. I don't know. I thought that maybe she was some sort of- Some sort of, like, news person. But I don't... ‘Cause I don't actually, I don't actually know what a 24-hour man is, so I think that might have... Okay. Yeah. No, I don't know.I was just like... So I, so I didn't know. Um, but I was, I was curious to know... Yeah. I was gonna say, I was curious to know why she was making this call to her mother at this moment, and why she was so desperate for her mother to answer the phone at this moment. Um, so yeah, th- those were, those are questions that I had.Jennie: Usually, back in the day, which this was, um, will you accept the charges was something you did when you had no money.Barbara: Mm-hmm.Jennie: You know, you would call home or wherever and, ‘cause you didn't have money to make a call, so the operator would place the call and ask the [00:36:00] person to accept the charges. Mm-hmm. And normally you would do that with somebody who knows you have, you're having a problem, or, you know.So, like, this is a very particular moment that led me to believe that she didn't, she didn't even have money for a call. So- Mm-hmm ... I don't know why I placed her as a trucker. Like, she climbed into the- Oh, okay ... the rig. She s- she sloshed her way to the lead truck. She's fiddling with the radio station. Like, what, where we headed?Yeah. Like, we're just on a job. I totally made her a truckerBarbara: and I- Yeah. No, no, no. I, well, I think maybe the reason I thought maybe she wasn't was because there were all these other... Because, like, Top is there, and the, it's, it's a lead truck, and she's, she's getting into the passenger side. And there's also a, a, a dog, I assume.I assume Arlo's a dog. I suppose it could be some other sort of animal that's, that's with her, but I, I assume Arlo's a dog. Um- Well,Jennie: so this is actually a really great [00:37:00] conversation for anybody listening, and particularly for this author. You can see that if you confuse your reader They're gonna spend their time with these kinds of questions.Like, is the mother Tess or is it Corey? Is this woman a trucker or not? Is... You know, and those are not the kind of questions you want to be leaving your reader with. Those are-Barbara: Yeah ...Jennie: um, I don't know w- how we would describe them, almost logistics. They're,Barbara: they're more like de- yeah, yeah, exactly. ‘Cause I mean, they're, I, I, I enjoy getting a good question at the start of reading something, you know?Like, you know, I mean, for example, it's, it's really interesting that Corey made what seems to be a collect call, and they didn't just not answer it. They answered it, and then hung up on her, which feels, like, very purposeful. And so, like, I'm very, I'm very curious about that relationship. I'm curious about the fact that, that Charlie is, is dead, um, and [00:38:00] who Charlie is to the, to the narrator.These are things that, like, have piqued my curiosity, and I would like to learn more about, um, would inspire me to read more, to learn more about those things. Uh, but then those other things that we were talking about, like, well, like, who is this? W- what kind of animal is Daisy? Like, what are, where are they actually going?Like, what, what is, what is the goal here? What, what is the deal about the, the lot and the, and the football field? The, w- what are we gonna do here? Those are questions that, that slowed me down, and made me less likely to want to keep reading.Jennie: Yeah. I loved that line, “But nobody sends a birthday card to a dead person.”Barbara: Yeah.Jennie: And I, I'm thinking- Really poignant ... that that's the center of this story, you know, s- who, who was Charlie? I think you said that. Mm-hmm. Was-Barbara: Mm-hmm.Jennie: And ‘cause she's got the jacket.Barbara: Yeah.Jennie: She's got Charlie's jacket, so- That, that'sBarbara: true, and sh- and she's wearing it, I think. [00:39:00]Jennie: Yeah, and, and so- I mean, I suppose Charlie could be a child if this person is older.Barbara: Yeah.Jennie: Like, you know, um, but y- I ... So I had this weird reaction to this, which is I thought it was fun, and maybe that was you reading it. I thought, I thought the writing was great, but I wouldn't turn the page. I'd be frustrated. You know, if, if there was another book or another story that was, um, didn't make me work so hard- Mmto figure out where I was or what was happening, I would choose that over this. So it's a weird combination for me of great job, but it's a no for me.Barbara: Yeah,Jennie: that- What about you?Barbara: That's, that's how I felt. There, there were a lot of elements here that I think are, that are intriguing and that if presented slightly differently would make me want to turn the page.But as, as it is right now, I, I would not. [00:40:00]Jennie: I agree with that. I think it feels close. Mm-hmm. Um, so how could we give this person some direction for, um- Yeah ... well, you talked about all the names, and I don't think the solution is ID all these names.Barbara: Right.Jennie: Mm-hmm. That's gonna be clunky. Or ID all these people. Um-Barbara: Yeah.I, I think for, for me personally, what I think would help was if we were to get a bit more of a peek inside the nar- inside Corey's head, so we could understand from her perspective why it's important that she's making this call, like, what the goal is with the truck. Um, if we just saw it a little bit more from her view and got to know a little bit more of the information that she already holds in her head, I think that would go a long way to making the story feel more accessible to the reader.Jennie: That's really well said, and [00:41:00] hopefully that helps the writer for your next pass to, to think about. But I- there's something, there's something good I think here going on. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I have the same, um, comment that I had earlier. I, I wanna know what kind of story I'm in, and I'm s- and I'm not sure. We were talking about sorting out these relationships and what's happening with the field and the truck and then the weather and all that, but again, is thisThere's no sense of what kind of story this is going to be. And, um, I, I always want a little more. And, and the title is Empty Spaces, which doesn't help, um- Yeah ... point us to that. I hear that. So just a little more, um, of a sense of what world are we? What, what problem do we have? What world are we in? Um, you know, and even just that last bit where the character turns the radio station on and yawns, “Where are we headed [00:42:00] tonight?”It- there's, there's not an urgency of It's, s- nobody's running from anything. There's no- Right ... threat, uh,except for the mom who won't answer the call.Barbara: Yeah, yeah.Jennie: Yeah. Um, so a little, a little more of a sense of what's at stake. Um, I know, we always are asking so much on a first page, but- I know ...Barbara: uh. I know, but e- you know, it's, there are so many things to read, you know, from, like agents, editors, readers, all have so many things to choose from, and so it's just so important to nail that first page, you know?Jennie: How many times do you rewrite your first pages?Barbara: Oh my gosh, so many times. So many times. Yeah. Yeah, well, um, ‘cause usually I write the first page, and then I write the rest of the book, and then I'm like, “Oh, like, the rest of the book does something different. I need to go back and, like, make this first page...”Also, I do, I often do the thing that I think a lot of writers do, which is, [00:43:00] once you've written a little bit further, you realize that, like, you've started at the wrong spot. Um, I mean, the, one of, one of the things that helps me when I, when I think to do it is to use one of the exercises that's in, that's in your work, where you, where you start what, you, you write the beginning and the ending before you even start anything.Um, and I, I, when I remember to do that the right way, that really, definitely helps me. Um, but I don't always remember to do that, and so I have, like, partway in, and then I'm like, “Wait, no, the first page.” So,Jennie: it's- Well, that, yeah, that's a, um, a step in the blueprint for a book book. Um, it's a good one, for sure.Uh, well, thank you so much for joining me for, for this, Kathleen, and congratulations on the new book. Um, for everyone listening, go check out, you can find everything at KathleenBarber.com. And, um, you can find Sisterhood Above All, which is brand new and just out and sounds like so much [00:44:00] fun. I, it's on my TBR, TBR.Yay. I just can't read, I just can't read thrillers at night. I get too scared. So,Barbara: um-Jennie: That'sBarbara: fair. That's fair ...Jennie: I, I have to wait till I'm, like, on a plane or, um, you know, somewhere where I'm reading during the day. Yeah. Is this one, is this one l- scary scary?Barbara: I mean, it's, it's not, like, scary scary. It's, it's not, like, uh- It's, it's not like there's someone who's out there to kill you for reasons that you cannot control.You know what I mean? Like, it's like- Yeah, yeah ... it would be scary to the people inside the book, but it should not be scary to you. ButJennie: I understand how- Well, we don't need to reas- We don't need to reassure me because people love these, love these- Yeah ... and, uh, what a fun, fun setting and setup for- Thank youa thriller. It's, it's exciting. Thanks. So can't wait to see how, how the world receives it. And- Mm ... um, I always hate to say this to somebody whose book just came out, but can't wait to see what you do next. [00:45:00]Barbara: Don't worry, I'm already writingJennie: stuff. Oh, yeah. Do you, ooh, do you wanna, do you wanna tell or no?Barbara: I, I do not, just ‘cause I get really superstitious about it, but, um, but I have something that I'm working on that I'm excited about, so you know, we'll see how it goes.Jennie: I love it. Well, thank you for joining us for Book Life, Jennifer.Barbara: Thanks for having me. That was a lot of fun.Jennie: For our listeners, let's get back to work and finish what matters most.Outro: The hashtag amwriting podcast is produced by Andrew Perilla. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output because everyone deserves to be paid for their [00:46:00] work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
Did you know: Today's dentists are waiting five years longer to buy a practice than they were a generation ago? Kiera is joined by Brian Hanks of Dental Buyer Advocates to talk about delayed ownership traps and why the future of private practice is an encouraging one (Brian shares numerous data points to back that up). They also touch on overcoming fears and all the information out there that makes everyone seem more prepared for business ownership than they actually are, and how to go about buying a practice while asking the right questions. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team Listeners, this is Kiera, and today is an awesome day. I am so excited to be podcasting with one of my favorite humans. He and I have spoken across the country together. We go to different things, we share clients together. I have Brian Hanks, the owner of Dental Dental Buyer Advocates. And today we're gonna talk about like delayed ownership trap because I think so many people get stuck into this of should I buy, should I not buy? And Brian and I are just here to have a fun rift. So, Brian, welcome to the show today. How are you? Brian Hanks (00:28) So nice to be back, Kiera. You're one of my favorite people too. Thank you for having me. Kiera (00:32) Of course. I'm excited, Brian. It's a good time. It's been a hot minute since we podcasted together. So it's time, it's time to talk about this. Because when we were chatting about episodes, you were saying that dentists are now waiting like five years longer to buy a practice than they were a generation ago, which is fascinating to me because I've been on this like whole hot to trap of like, do people buy? Are DSOs taking over? Like, is there still money to be made in private practice? Like literally my chiropractor and I were talking about this the other day because she's like, My dentist told me that they were like not able to make any money. And I was like, well, they sh just give them my card. Like private practice to me is still one of the best businesses and industries, even if you have to buy a top dollar right now. and so just like super fascinating to talk about like delaying that purchasing, why people do it. But Brian, I've jumped right in and pretended like everybody knows who you are. Brian, give us a little intro of like who you are, how you got into Dental Buyer Advocates, what your background is, and then like let's talk about to delay or not delay buying a practice. Brian Hanks (01:29) Sure. Yeah, I one of my favorite stories. I'm an ex-Wall Street guy, so I'm a reformed Wall Streeter. And my father-in-law is a dentist. And I would watch these Wall Street people come in and like sell a very aggressive investments. And when they went bust, they would turn around and sell the crappy investments to dentists who at the time my was my father in law. Active practice, he lived in the Seattle area. And anyway, I went to go work for a dental CPA in the Dallas area. I went to work for another one. So I'm I've lived in the accounting world, Kiera. And when I was in that world, I got younger dentists who were in the pro they were the associates and they were asking accounting questions and tax questions and you know financial planning questions. And inevitably they would come back to dental practice ownership. Like, how do I do this? How much do I pay? Is Kiera (02:13) Yeah. Brian Hanks (02:13) is this a good deal? And so I went looking for the book. I was like, well, where's the book? I was on Amazon, I was other places. There was no book. And I thought, all right, well, let me try writing this book. Famous Last Words, by the way, it's way harder than you assume. But the book is called. Very creatively, How To Buy A Dental Practice. And that helped me start my own business. And that's Kiera (02:30) I like it. Brian Hanks (02:33) what I do. I I only help buyers of dental practices. And, you know, Kiera, my business is good, your business is good. Dentist business, we can talk about why the future of private practice is very bright. I can give you some stats and Kiera (02:46) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (02:46) statistics. But one of the interesting, the most interesting facts for me is Health Policy Institute has data that shows that. Dentists get into ownership, like they they end up in ownership. Okay, so I'll give you like they've broken it down by like graduation rates. So like the the Kiera (03:07) And what I Brian Hanks (03:08) dental school grads from 1990 and then 1995, and everybody between 95 and 2000, so and so forth. So they have these like vintages of graduates. And Kiera (03:16) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (03:17) very reliably, they're showing that nine out of ten dentists, of which you know there's 203,000 in the US, nine out of ten end up in ownership. At some point in their career. But like you said, Kiera (03:27) Fascinating. Brian Hanks (03:28) they're waiting longer to do it. And I think that's what we're going to talk about. Kiera (03:32) Yeah. Which like again, I think people are scared. So many students I worked at Midwestern and they're like, Kiera, should I buy? Should I go associate? And I was like, listen, you're just delaying the inevitable so like get in there and get it done. Now, I like always throw an asterisk on that. Like if you're not good at your hand skills, like yeah, go go associate for a hot minute. like if you aren't confident with your speed and with case acceptance and like presenting, that's gonna be but I'll tell you there is nothing more thrilling than throwing yourself into a business that you have to produce for. You learn case acceptance really freaking fast. Like, ask me how I know. We surely did that. Like I took a student, we took our first practice from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months. Like she was a she was a power producer. Do I have an office right now that just bought a practice less than a year ago? We're already on track for two and a half million. Yes. Like there are a lot of success stories from that small town. It's not like they were just given the keys to the kingdom. Like they've had to work for it, they've had to build things. They don't have full schedules. But I just, I don't know. I'm the same way and I I don't know. I'm I'm at a space of but do what makes you happy. Like, do not go Brian Hanks (04:37) Yeah. Kiera (04:38) own a practice and make less than being an associate. That's like a hard line for me too. I'm like, 'cause if you're gonna like not be a good business owner, keep associating. But I Brian Hanks (04:43) No. Yeah. Kiera (04:46) agree, I feel like the trajectory of dentists is always to purchase. Like they want their own stamp, they want their name on the building. I will also highly recommend don't put your name on the building. Like that's really fun and not scalable. Ask me again how I know that. Like Cura's dental consulting was real fun till it wasn't. Like the things you the things you evolve on, but truly I I'm excited to hear why you think people are delaying, what that's costing them. Brian, I love that you always come with a bunch of stats and facts. And I love that you named your book, like How To Buy A Dental Practice. That's what people want to know. so it sometimes simple is no, that is the best. Brian Hanks (05:13) I know. I just yeah. I'm not the best at marketing, right? So yeah, like we we call Kiera when we need marketing advice. So okay. Kiera (05:24) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (05:24) So Kiera, here are some more stats for you. Kiera (05:28) Okay, ready? Brian Hanks (05:29) the average owner, dentist, makes $151,000 than the average more than the average associate. Okay, 151. Now that's Kiera (05:37) I was like, hold on, 151 is bad. That's more than if you're being an associate. You're gonna make 151,000 more. Okay. Brian Hanks (05:43) Yep. Yeah. And think about why that is. Yep. That's obviously the you're taking on the risk. You're taking on the the pain and suffering of being an owner, right? So there's some compensation involved in Kiera (05:51) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (05:52) that. Those are two medians, right? And there is a bell curve around both of those numbers. So is it possible Kiera (05:57) Course. Brian Hanks (05:58) to make less as an associate? Yes. Yeah. Is it possible to make a hell Kiera (06:01) Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Brian Hanks (06:02) of a lot more than $151,000 more than an associate? Absolutely, yes, right. So there's there's room on both end of the ends of those those bell curves. but think about So here's why I one of the data points why I think private practice ownership and dentistry is still it's bright and it's getting brighter. Is you think about the average associate you talk to, Kiera, the average associate I talk to when we're standing around a cocktail party or at mid mid the you know, wherever, some conference, Yankee, Midwestern. Kiera (06:30) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (06:31) And I will tell you the average associate that I talk to isn't saying, gosh, Brian, you know what? I love my boss. I love the DSO I'm working for. I love my hours. I love the insurances we take, the assistant they force me to use, I love her, right? It's the future of private practice dentistry is bright because dentists are people. And people generally like Kiera (06:52) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (06:52) a little bit of control over their career if they can get it. And dentists absolutely can get it. So that's one of the data points that Kiera (06:55) Yeah. Brian Hanks (06:58) I love. Now, are dentists scared to get into ownership? And do higher on average student loan balances scare them marginally more than they did 10 years ago, 20 years ago? For sure. Yep, absolutely. Here's the mistake Kiera (07:11) Absolutely. Brian Hanks (07:11) they make. So I'll give the associates listening or the students or whoever it is that's maybe telling you, Kiera, or telling me, or they're telling their, you know, the the person next to them on the treadmill at the gym while they're listening to this, like, sure, Brian, easy for you to say, but I don't feel ready. Right? I haven't taken all of Care's courses. Kiera (07:30) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (07:31) I haven't, I don't know how you know, I'm not the pro at treatment planning. My hands beat because you I I want to take this implant course first, right? You come up, your brain comes up with all these excuses of why you don't feel ready. And I'm not gonna dismiss your feelings. I think your Kiera (07:45) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (07:46) feelings are valid. You should listen to them, but don't here here's another thing to consider in addition to your feelings. Is you know how there were like a hundred people in your dental school class, probably ish, right? And 10 of whom you would never let near your teeth. Like you watch them go through all four years of dental school and you're like, Okay, of those 10 over there, like they're never getting, they're never giving me a shot. They're never in that nothing, right? Kiera (08:10) Yep. Brian Hanks (08:10) Because I guarantee you, nine out of ten of those dentists, they already own their practice. They're not bankrupt. They're making more money than you, Kiera (08:16) Yeah. Brian Hanks (08:17) and they are killing it. Meanwhile, you're scared to run a practice. And those, if Kiera (08:22) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (08:22) those jokers can figure it out, you can figure it out. Kiera (08:26) Totally. Well, and I think also on there like, Brian, let's be real. Is anybody ready to be a business owner? Like I wasn't, I'm sure you weren't. Brian Hanks (08:31) Nope. Nope. Kiera (08:33) I think are people ready to be parents? The answer is no. Like nobody feels ready for that. Were you ready when you went into dental school? The answer's no. I think that there's this imposter syndrome that hits us all that we think, like, give me a little more time and I'm gonna get ready. Give me a little more time. And I will say that like the brass taxes, you jump into owning a business and you figure it out. Now, should you listen to some podcasts? Should you do some things? Like for sure. But like how many consultants and coaches are there that literally are gonna like grab your hand, walk you through, and make sure you don't make the mistakes? Like how many people like yourself are gonna walk you through buying the practice to where it's an actually great practice? I I think that I think there's more help today. Now, do I think there's a lot of noise and a lot of people that might be like posturing out there saying that they know what they're doing? Yes. So make sure you like vet them a little bit before you go and jump on a bandwagon of somebody, like someone who's been there, done that, done that successfully multiple times is who I'd bet on. But like We are in such a day and age where there is so much information out there. You need to be a great clinician. We're gonna teach you how to be a great business owner. And as long as you're comfortable realizing that you've got to learn that side of it, that's to me, like if you're a good producer and you're a good human, like go for it. There's dentistry is so fun owning and practice because the sky is the limit. And ultimately there is no cap on what you're able to do, what you're able to produce, how you're able to do it. And I think that there are very few careers out there, very few job opportunities that really are the sky's limit. Now, remember how I told you about that dentist who bought their own practice. They're now doing like two fifty this year, whatever they're he was making five hundred thousand as an associate. And so this Brian Hanks (10:06) Yeah. Hi Bart. Kiera (10:08) is one where like people be like, Well, gosh, like, you know, he went from five hundred thousand and now he's at a two point, I think he's gonna end around two to two point four this year. But like he had a great associateship. And so I think There is still this just like uncanny, unnatural desire that you want to just own, you want to build. And I think dentistry is also if I look at like banks, they lend to dental practices, like almost guaranteed, like they have a they're pretty lucrative with like just shelling money out to your dental practice. And I'm like, if banks are willing to back, you've got to also see that your dental practice, like you have the greatest opportunity of not failing. of any business venture you're going to do. Why is private equity coming in strong? Because they know dental practices are almost bulletproof of an investment to have. So when I look at all those reasons, I agree with you, Brian. People don't feel like they're ready, but I'm like, you're never gonna feel ready. But you have so many things stacking in your favor to help you be successful. Brian Hanks (11:03) At the beginning of that, I I don't I don't want people to miss that. If they missed the wisdom that Kiera just shared at the beginning of that, as she said, yeah, you use parenting. I think you use business ownership as some advice. Like I I just want to repeat what you said because it's so important. Dentistry is not like, I don't know, Kiera, scuba diving, right? If you go get scuba certified, you like practice in the pool. And then they like make you, you know, they learn, you know, you you learn taking the regulator out of your mouth and putting it back in and all that. And I imagine like dentists think ownership, like there's gonna be some course I can take that's gonna prepare me for ownership kinda like scuba certification. That's like you gotta help me come up with Kiera (11:38) Yeah. Brian Hanks (11:39) a better example, but it's not it's not true. It's like parenting, Kiera (11:42) I got you. Brian Hanks (11:42) it's like marriage. It's like I don't know, business ownership, whatever it is. Like the the thing that prepares you for it is just doing it. Just just try it out. Kiera (11:50) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (11:50) Yep. Kiera (11:51) Well, and I think Brian, to that point, like the analogy is I think people think business ownership is a skill that can be learned in a one, two, three step versus like marriage, relationships, child, like being parents, business ownership. It's an evolution of soul and it's a it's a creating of who you are. It is not a skill. Like there are skill points to it, like learning to read a p PL, learning how what profitability is. But business ownership in and of itself, I had a friend she's like, Kiera, you have to have kids. Like it will strip you down to your core and it will like show things to you that you've never had. And I said, Have you ever been a business owner? Cause I'll tell you that I'm pretty confident. I've got a lot of that stripping over here that's like breaking me down to my utter like most. But I think we think business ownership and running a practice, I'm not here to say that there's not like tactical pieces and we've broken it down. Like our team actually just went through this something. I'm like, there's really like 10 things that you need as systems that are really gonna make or break it. And you gotta know a couple of like core foundations and you got to know your numbers. Like beyond that, that's kind of your checklist. But to your point of like scuba diving or cooking or whatever, it's not this like checklist skill that you're going to have. And so I think, like you said, you're gonna look for this course. But I'm like, the course is life, the course is doing it, the course is going through it. And I think you've got to have the confidence of are you confident in you that no matter what comes your way, you're gonna be able to figure it out. And if so, business ownership is there for you. And I would give more confidence to you than you give yourself. I've watched a lot of students. I worked at Midwestern. To your point of those 10 students, there was probably like 50 of them. Sorry, Midwestern grads, I was not letting any of you touch my mouth. Like genuinely, you needed a few years to practice and I'm not your practicey. But like I think I think you're more equipped than you give yourself credit for. Just like you're more equipped for life than you give yourself credit for. And I think business ownership is the same. Brian Hanks (13:31) So Kiera, let's break down some of those numbers. by the way, better analogy for business ownership is like health. Do you remember the first time by the way? if you're listening to this, it's pretty obvious if you're watching, but if you're listening, Kiera's in a lot better shape than me. But if if Kiera, I don't know if you had this moment. I I did when I was like 21, 22, that I realized at the I was at the gym, I was like lifting some weights, and I realized, I'll never be done with this. Like you're never done with health. So I think business ownership is a lot like. Kiera (13:59) I do remember my moment of that. Mine was Brian Hanks (14:01) Yeah. Kiera (14:03) not at the gym, Brian. Mine was actually in Bali, like a little flex there. I remember because Brian Hanks (14:07) There you go. Kiera (14:07) I was like having a lot of like knee and hip pain. And I was like, okay, I just have to like work out and then eventually this is gonna get better. And I remember I was walking down to the pool overlooking the ocean. I was like, I'm never gonna be done. Like this is my forever. Like I'm not like I used to just work out to be like skinny and fit. And now I'm like, no, you gotta do this so you don't freaking hurt and you can actually walk and get out of bed. Like it's never gonna end. And I sat there and read a book, quite depressed. And then I was like, okay, like this is what it you're right. It's it's a constant evolution of soul. You're never done parenting, you're never done in a relationship. Like you don't hit this, like, check the box, we've got a golden thing. It is a forever perpetual. But I also think that that's what drives dentists to go into that because they are of this obsession of wanting to be the best of the best. You want to get a better prep. You want to get a better crown crop. You go to CE, you're CE junkies out there. Like, this is just another level of obsession. Of a space that's going to evolve you as a human and it's gonna allow you to grow. So yeah, thanks. That was that was a great that was a great analogy, Brian. Good good call on that one. Brian Hanks (15:02) Yeah. Yeah, the the the negative of the health analogy is that you're never done, but the positive is you can break it down. Like you can learn how to do certain lifts a little better. You can learn how to macro track. You can learn diet and exercise. Kiera (15:14) So you're right, Brian. Like that was a solid call out on the health analogy. Like this is what people are obsessed about, but they want to have that evolution of soul. They want to like I think that that's why dentists are drawn to ownership, but I think they're just afraid. But I'm like, we're also afraid to work out. We're afraid to have kids. We're afraid like, so don't let fear hold you back. I think it's just a like, I don't know. It doesn't be like Nike, just do it, guys. Like that sounds like terrible business advice on my side. Brian Hanks (15:37) Well just do it and but remember remember how good you weren't at at all the clinical stuff that you're really Kiera (15:44) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (15:44) good at now, right? So dentists, the the superpower that most dentists have is that attention to detail, like the obsession over the details and and the the minutiae. And and as a patient, like I gotta go to filling next week, and as a patient, I want my sister thinking about all of the all of the little details, right? and Kiera (16:04) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (16:04) that superpower is real. And I want the density like lean into it. If you're listening to this and that evolution of soul that that Kiera's talking about, part of that evolution for you is just remembering that that superpower that you have comes like there's another side to that coin. It comes with a downside. And the downside is the overthinking when you're not. You know you're not that good at a thing. And if you know you're not that good at finding a dental practice to buy, analyzing a dental practice to buy, actually buying that practice, applying for a loan, like talking to lawyers, all those things, your brain is gonna start to spin a little bit. And j but but but here's the good news: your brain spun a thousand times already. Remember that first time they opened up the little mannequin to like practice, like prepping a crown or something, and you were like, How do I even do this? Right. Kiera (16:49) Dexter, their little type it on. Brian Hanks (16:51) Yeah, like seriously, like you figure this out. You like and if the dentists that I deal with they're the smartest people on the planet, they're awesome. And and so if you can figure that stuff out, Kiera (17:02) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (17:02) my gosh, like first of all, hire somebody else like you to just be amazing for you in all the areas that you aren't amazing, and just remember that it doesn't this isn't rocket science. yeah, so you can figure this stuff out. Kiera (17:14) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (17:14) But okay, so speaking of minutia, speaking of details, I gave you the hundred and fifty one thousand dollar number. Okay, here I did some math. I'm an accountant. I I know I know spreadsheets. Kiera (17:22) Yeah. Brian Hanks (17:24) I know how to do like compound interest and some those things. Here's what I did is I just is I said, what's the cost? Okay, if dentists aren't feeling ready, they want to feel like they have their student loans under control, which is smart, right? I'm a financial planner. Yeah, don't get yourself over your skis in debt. That's great. But like, how much is it gonna cost if you're the statistic? Right. And the statistic is you're you, listener, right now, if you're not a practice owner, are waiting five years longer to own a practice. How much does that five years cost you? Right. And if you do the math, and I did the math at like a 38-year-old dentist versus a 33-year-old dentist. And I assumed that they actually retired at age, both retired at age 60. Okay. So like different lengths of associate part of your career and owner part of your career. with compound interest, assuming 7% and some of those other variables that I put in there, it was a $1.14 million difference between those two numbers. So don't forget that while you're busy like taking care of your student loans so you can feel ready to buy a practice, it's costing you an enormous amount of money. And Kiera, I would just add, and I'm curious if you can think of any others, I would say the compound. the compound effect that I'm talking about is not just money, although money is a big part of it. I think the compound effect applies to other things. Like how many more times and at bats would you have for treatment planning, for managing that difficult assistant, teaching someone how to answer the phones better, hiring, firing. Like there's a compound effect on all of those behavioral things too and and it's gonna cost you some money. So any thoughts on that? Kiera (19:04) Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's a I I was fascinated. I'm so glad that you went into the 1.1 because we had talked about that pre-show and I was just very fascinated of like, my gosh, like that's so much for people. That's so many things. Like there's a financial dollar amount, which I love because I think dentists really do. Like that's an easy one for me to be like, gosh, like me delaying this decision can cost me that much. But I think like there's also you still have to go through the growth of learning to run a business. So not only is there a financial delay, but there's also the growth of you getting good at running a business and having it profitable and being able to make this thing run longer. And then you have more opportunities like I think about yourself. And the longer you're able to build this practice and like maybe do multiple like there's to me that's like such a it's fascinating. And I think I think the the call to today is there are some people that definitely are meant to be owners and there's some that aren't. but I think if you have that itch, that scratch, I would really ask yourself, like, what truly are you waiting for? And when are you going to know that you're actually ready? Like you're never going to feel ready to have a child. You're like, I need to get these ducks in a row. Well, those ducks get in a row and then you got seven more ducks that come behind that you're like, I need get those in a row. So to me it'd be if I'm really wanting to buy a practice, what things do I need to have? Cl schedule a call with Brian. Like, I think Brian, this is why we put you on the podcast. I think you're fantastic. You don't put people into weird zones. you're very much like If that dentist is producing and you don't do those skills and you don't do those type of procedures, don't buy that practice. Like you're not, you're gonna be broke. You're very, very pro making sure people feel confident and that they're able to buy it. And I think it's like buying a home. I remember when I first like went and talked to somebody about buying a home, I had no freaking clue and I wish I would have known more. But like until you start having the conversations, I think it can feel more daunting than it actually is. Then from there, like listen to the podcast, start listening to there's our podcast, there's other podcasts out there, start reading up on how to buy a practice. But I think to me, there is like two parts to it. One is finding the right practice. Like what you buy, and I say like eyes wide open when you're looking in, and then rosy glasses as soon as you sign on that dotted line, and you're gonna see a lot and you're just gonna deal with it. From there, make sure you got somebody really solid in your corner. Like our practices, as soon as they buy, we take them on. I try to get them two to three months before they close. I wanna make sure we're getting things in. If you don't close on time or things happen, no problem. We're gonna pause you, get your practice in place. Like it's happened twice in hundreds of offices we've helped. But then, like from there, just have somebody in your corner, somebody who's gonna help you grow in your first year. Most practices are seeing like a 10 to 30% increase in their first year. So if I'm buying a one million dollar practice, that's a hundred to three hundred thousand dollar uptick just by having somebody in the corner. That's very conservative. A million dollar practice, like we are usually growing those exponentially. But like you don't have to stress and freak out. Hey, I'm pinned. Brian Hanks (21:45) Yep. By the way, I I d pin put a pin, put a pin, Kiera. You you gotta you gotta underline that. Yeah. That's like underline that, underline it. Like keep going, keep going. I I'm throwing you off. I'm interrupting you, but like I will tell you the Kiera (21:59) Yeah. Brian Hanks (21:59) average buyer I talk to on the phone is so scared of patient attrition. They're like, Kiera, like I'm gonna have 10%, 20%. What if 50% of the patients don't show up? Listen, that's a real fear. By the way, I want you to have that Kiera (22:10) Right. Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (22:12) fear when you're like doing the margin on my crown, right? Like again, it's your superpower dentist, Kiera (22:16) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (22:17) but like my stats show exactly the same thing, Kiera is saying I have data to support what Kiera is saying that the average Kiera (22:22) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (22:24) dentist doesn't they have a negative attrition, which is just two negatives, right? So it's a positive. They the average buyer has more enthusiasm, they've got some more energy, they're gonna update the website, they're gonna maybe get rid of. That one employee that everybody kind of knew probably s needed to go. And suddenly the practice is just gonna it's gonna take off. Ten to thirty percent. That's yeah, right in line with what I'm seeing. That's awesome. So sorry, I I'm interrupting you, keep going. Kiera (22:47) Mm-hmm. And I think, no, y you are always this is a conversation. It's not like a dictation. So we're like this is real life rift here. I just think people like when you look at it, I think you're more capable than you think you are. I know that you can get the skills, you can figure it out. Like you said, I'm always like, okay, play the what ifs, lose 50% of your patients. Great. Well, we're gonna take those 50%. And there's ways you can actually grow a practice without even needing to have more new patients. So we're gonna maximize all those, we're gonna optimize them. You're going to pull in more people. Like it is one of those things that I'm like, I have yet to have a practice go bankrupt. So knock on wood, like you can be my first challenge accepted. Like I feel very confident that I'm not like, unless you completely botch it and you go into malpractice, like we're probably gonna be just fine. So odds of it happening, so minimal. Are you gonna be a little stressed out? Yeah. Like, welcome to business ownership, but you're also looking for growth, and that's why you're being called to this moment. Like It will not go away. That itch will not go away until you scratch it. And scratching it, and I love that you said like they're waiting five years and that's a $1.1 million minimum. There's so many other pieces to it. So I think I think a lot of dentists like to have facts. I think a lot of dentists like to have that decision make logical sense. And then we back it up with emotional reasons. And I think it's a wise way to make decisions. But I I would just say if you're even remotely curious, like start going down the path. I know when I was going to buy a house. I needed to go find out, like, I don't know about lenders, I didn't know about interest rates. I did and until you get into it, just like you wanted to be a dentist, but until you got into it and you started working on that type it on and you learned about dropping the box and like waxing it up and working on Dexter and then taking x-rays, like you didn't know it. And I think most of the time the fear comes from the lack of knowing. I will also say, and I've seen this a lot, Brian, a lot of dentists feel like because I'm a doctor and I'm a dentist, if I buy a practice, I should know how to run a practice. And Brian Hanks (24:38) And Kiera (24:38) I just want to like Scratch that out. I want to tell you that that's not true. But I know a lot of you come in feeling like but Kiera, I'm a dentist, or Brad, I'm a dentist, like I'm a doctor, like people expect me to know this. And I want to say you think people expect you to know that, but the reality is you don't. You just need to be scrappy enough to figure it out. No one's expecting you to know anything. Honestly, you probably know way more than you think you do already. But I I want to just cut that because I know a lot of you have perfectionism like fear of being exposed that you're not that great. Except that you don't know how to run a business just like you didn't know how to prep a crown, but you learned that and you're gonna learn how to do a business and you're gonna do it exponentially well because you are so detail oriented and you're gonna hire a great team around you, hire great coaches around you that you're literally like it's impossible for you to fail. And so I think Brian, like kudos on it, kudos on the stats, any other thoughts that you have around people and like how do they get to the nitty-gritty of actually going through Brian Hanks (25:26) Let's get some yeah. I'll hit I'll hit you with more stats. Yeah. Kiera (25:31) that. Brian Hanks (25:32) Some more facts for dentists. You and you mentioned the failure rate. What is the actual failure rate in dentistry? It's it's 0.14% of dentists go bankrupt. Okay. And it's always, always, always one Kiera (25:43) Incredible. Brian Hanks (25:43) of three things. It's drugs, divorce, and then jail. You know, some kind of felony that doesn't have anything to do with practice. so you stay away from those Kiera (25:51) Yep. Brian Hanks (25:52) three things and you're guaranteed not to go bankrupt. And it so what do dentists actually need to buy practice? We've done a good job of pumping people up, given the rah-rah speech. What do you actually need? You need five things, okay? and I almost guarantee you, unless you're in dental school right now, listening to this, you have the five right now. All right. almost guaranteed. and I'll go from hardest to easiest, Kiera. Okay. Hardest for people to get is you need 50k Kiera (26:18) Okay. Brian Hanks (26:19) cash. You need some cash. 50k is your magic number. Has to be liquid. It's gotta be in a checking Kiera (26:24) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (26:24) savings money market account. Can't be in an IRA or home equity or something like that. but you need that money to show the bank that you're responsible. And by the way, you don't actually hand that money over to the bank. You keep it. Yeah, the bank just wants to see that you have some money to see that you're responsible. Kiera (26:39) Mm. Brian Hanks (26:40) And if you know COVID shuts us down again, can you still pay the bank the bank back a few months? All right. So most people have that. Kiera (26:46) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (26:47) They've got fifty K or access to fifty K. That's like a side thing we could talk about. Kiera (26:51) Totally. Brian Hanks (26:52) Yep. Kiera (26:52) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (26:53) you need production history. You got to be able to do about 80% of the production of what a seller could do. So million-dollar GP practice, let's say 250 of that Kiera is hygiene, means the doctor was doing 750k a year in production. that means you as an associate need to do about 600 a year Kiera (27:12) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (27:12) to buy a million-dollar practice. Okay. Most associates listening, you know, public health, military, there are some special exceptions where we need to learn how to count. procedures and things Kiera (27:22) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (27:23) like that. But most associates, they can do 600 to buy a million dollar practice. Okay, the 80%. most dentists don't have any problem with numbers threes and four, number three and four. Number three is you got to have a credit score over 680. It's pretty low. And it's a green light, red light. 681 credit score gets you the same interest rate as an 820. And and then you need a clean credit history is number four. And so no bankruptcies, no short sales, or a really good story. Behind a bankruptcy or short sale. And then you need one year of experience out of dental school or a residency program. GPR, AEGD, specialty program, whatever it is. If you're in a residency program, you could buy a practice the day you get out of your residency. So that's it. And so technically, Kiera, you need number six. Number six is you need a practice to buy. And I'll be I'll be really blunt with people, that's the Kiera (28:17) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (28:17) hardest step. Finding a good practice to buy is the hardest thing because everybody Kiera (28:21) I agree. Brian Hanks (28:22) wants to look for the practice in their pajamas. They think it's like buying a house. Like I'm gonna go on the MLS and I'm gonna look Kiera (28:28) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (28:28) for a dental practice. There is no such thing as the DLS, there's no dental listing service. And so if you're in your pajamas looking for a practice to buy, it's Kiera (28:34) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (28:36) not there. Sometimes it is, which is why people do it, but it's almost certainly not there, especially in the city you want to live right now. and so we'll have a podcast episode about how to Find a practice well. But the sh here's the short version is you go talk to dentists. Build a network of dentists that know like and trust you. That's the Six things and and most associates have And so attitude, like don't let us stop you, don't be scared. Like we did the like pump you up version of the speech. And here's the facts to back that up, is it's not actually that hard. Like with those six things, banks will not only give you a hundred percent of the purchase price, they'll give you a hundred percent of the purchase price, and then they'll hand you another seventy-five K in cash just to make sure you don't run out of money on the first day. Sometimes it's a hundred K. I've seen d banks give two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Kiera (29:21) Mm-hmm. Brian Hanks (29:21) before they even walk through the doors with you know the key in hand as an owner. So it's awesome. If if you're thinking about ownership and nine out of ten dentists are at some point in their career, it's it's really not it's not it's simple. It's not necessarily easy, but it's simple. Kiera (29:41) Yeah. And Brian, even on the I've been talking to the Bank of America guys, and they were like, we even give like thirty to forty thousand to a new startup practice for consulting fees in addition to our working capital because Brian Hanks (29:52) Yeah. Kiera (29:53) we know that it's also going to help grow them. So there's so many pieces, and I think you've just listed off like really, I agree, like finding the practice and like sending out the postcards, getting to know the network, finding the dentist, like the practice that actually works for you, finding a seller that wants to sell for the price that you want. I agree with you 100%. That is the hardest part. But I think Brian, you did an incredible job of breaking this down from the like, okay, you're probably gonna do it. Nine out of ten is do buy that. What are the exact steps that I need to take for this? And then I agree with you. Like, absolutely a follow-up podcast on like how to actually find a practice. But Brian, I'm curious if people are interested, like they want to start connecting and like this is what you do. And I know you guys are really generous with your time. How do people connect in with you to like even start the process? Like, again, I feel like curiosity. Is the best place to be. Like let's just ask the questions. Let's figure it out. So Brian, how do people get connected in with you? Brian Hanks (30:41) Pop over to Amazon, type in How To Buy A Dental Practice. That's the book. if you want, by the way, if you want a cheaper copy, you can go to the website. The website is DentalBuyerAdvocates.com. I'm happy to ship it to you like as a publisher copy, no strings attached. but yeah, just pop over to Amazon, DentalBuyerAdvocates.com. Care if people want to email me directly. I always offer this. And it's so fascinating to me how few people actually take me up on it. I would be more than happy to have a half an hour conversation with whoever you are, free of charge. Send me an email, Brian@BrianHanks.com. It's B-R-I-A-N and Hanks like Tom Hanks. So yeah, that's how you get a hold of me. Kiera (31:20) Amazing. Well, Brian, thank you for breaking this down and for all of you listening. I hope that today was just a really insightful podcast for you. I hope it gave you the facts to back it up. I hope it gave you the emotional piece. I hope it gave you kind of the like step by step by step of how to get there. I'm so grateful for Brian being here. Everybody connect in with him. And for all of you listening, thank you for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.
Are you as obsessed as I am about how we are being manipulated by social media, ads, propaganda, politics, and what's real and what's not? Well, you're in luck! I've got ad sleuth Emily Rask from the hit show Lies We Bought podcast on to break it down for us! This is a fun and fascinating exploration into the sinister truth of advertising. Notable timestamps: 03:05 What Lies We Bought actually is 10:29 The Kellogg brothers and the breakfast myth 11:38 Listerine invented a disease called halitosis 15:18 Growing up Mormon in Utah 22:33 The LDS Church's $30 billion SEC settlement 31:20 Why she turns down supplement company sponsors 38:03 Lie or Legit: rapid-fire mythbusting 42:35 Edward Bernays, the father of propaganda Guest links: Emily Rask's Lies We Bought: https://www.lieswebought.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@liesweboughtpodcast Patreon: patreon.com/c/lieswebought IG: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ Allison's links: Instagram: https://instagram.com/allison__hare LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/allisonhare Free Podcast Clarity Call: https://allisonhare.com/freecall No Country for Mothers screening, Atlanta, Aug 24: https://allisonhare.com/mothers Be sure to rate, review, and follow this podcast on your player and also, connect with me IRL for more goodness and life-changing stuff.Schedule a FREE podcast clarity call with me - Your future audience is out there. Talk to them!Sign up for the free weekly emailAllisonHare.comFollow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.DOWNLOAD the free podcast equipment guide- No guesswork, no google rabbit holes, start recording todayReb3l Dance Fitness - Try it at home! Free month with this link.Feedback and Contact:: allison@allisonhare.com
Since he was just a boy at Hilliard Davidson High School, comedian Fumi Abe used his jokes to ease the alienation of being one of the only Asians in his class.Years later, his comedy took him to Stephen Cobert, James Corden and Jimmy Fallon. Now, he's coming back home to Columbus for his tour.After spending a month in Russia as a teenager, Emelia Sheeley decided she wanted to pursue a career of international service.For almost 10 years, she has been involved with the Riverview International Center, assisting new Americans in the Riverview Drive neighborhood with their basic needs.We'll meet the executive director of PBJ Connections, an organization providing professional behavioral health therapy for families through several forms of counseling, including horses.The discussions are all part of this week's Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Fumi Abe, comedianEmelia Sheeley, executive director, Riverview International CenterHolly Jedlicka, executive director, PBJ Connections, Inc.
Michael Whiting and Nathan Schmook discuss all the latest footy news on AFL Daily. Chris Fagan goes past Leigh Matthews this weekend as the Lions most-coached games. The football story of Fages is now the stuff of folklore given the journey the club has been on since he began his coaching career a decade ago. The Dockers are welcoming the Crows to the Optus Stadium cauldron on Friday night with the expectation the ladder leaders respond after their loss to the Demons. Subscribe to AFL Daily wherever you get your podcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Since he was just a boy at Hilliard Davidson High School, comedian Fumi Abe used his jokes to ease the alienation of being one of the only Asians in his class.Years later, his comedy took him to Stephen Cobert, James Corden and Jimmy Fallon. Now, he's coming back home to Columbus for his tour.After spending a month in Russia as a teenager, Emelia Sheeley decided she wanted to pursue a career of international service.For almost 10 years, she has been involved with the Riverview International Center, assisting new Americans in the Riverview Drive neighborhood with their basic needs.We'll meet the executive director of PBJ Connections, an organization providing professional behavioral health therapy for families through several forms of counseling, including horses.The discussions are all part of this week's Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Fumi Abe, comedianEmelia Sheeley, executive director, Riverview International CenterHolly Jedlicka, executive director, PBJ Connections, Inc.
https://youtu.be/eUqMjIq3r2U Brian Hong, Founder of Infintech Designs, Flowbots.ai, and BigEasyData.ai, is driven to Build AI Revenue Engines that create freedom by helping businesses generate more leads, sales, and revenue while increasing the productivity of their teams. By combining SEO, AI automation, business intelligence, and human expertise, Brian helps companies improve their marketing, systemize their operations, and enhance their people with AI rather than simply replacing them. In this conversation, Brian introduces his Team Building Framework—Attract and Assess A-Players, Productize and Systemize, Hire People Who Can Follow Instructions, and Enhance with AI Capabilities. He explains how placing people in roles where they can thrive creates stronger teams, why clear processes and blueprints make it easier to scale, and how AI can enhance employees by increasing their productivity instead of replacing them. Brian also discusses how SEO is evolving with ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, why businesses need to build brand authority and entity breadth, and how business intelligence can identify the specific areas where AI can create the greatest revenue impact. — Build AI Revenue Engines with Brian Hong Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast, and today my guest is Brian Hong, the founder of Infintech Designs, Flowbots.ai, and BigEasyData.ai. These are New Orleans-based companies, including a digital marketing agency, focused on building more leads, more sales, and more exposure online with strategic SEO and digital marketing strategies. Brian, welcome to the show. Thanks. Thanks for having me. So you have quite a portfolio. I also read on your LinkedIn page that you invest in other companies, and then you support them as well. So it sounds like you have a lot of irons in the fire. But before we get into all that, my question to you is, what is your personal “Why,” and how are you manifesting it in your business, or businesses? Why do I work so hard? Why do I want to build all these companies? To me, money creates freedom. I’m trying to bank as many freedom points as I can to live life on my own terms, and to do and have experiences with the people I love. That’s my “Why.” Wow. How does that manifest in your businesses? That’s a good question. I'm building AI automation to get my time leverage, to create duplication, so I can 10x the productivity of my employees. Not hire more people, but keep my A-players.Share on X Because if I have an A-team, or can cultivate an A-team, then I think I can bank more freedom points at a more efficient and scalable process. Don’t hire more people. Hire people intentionally, and 10x their productivity. That would be a domino effect to align with gaining more freedom points. So what’s the maximum number of freedom points? Is it like a 100-point scale? What does it look like to have 100 freedom points? It’s working because I want to, not because I have to. Because I love working. It’s living life on my own terms and focusing my time on things that I want to do. For instance, I have a house cleaner. I don’t want to clean the house. My time is better spent doing something else that I passionately want or love to do. Unless I loved cleaning houses. That’s fine. Maybe that’s therapeutic for some people. But it allows me to live life on my own terms. Money is the key that unlocks those opportunities to live life on my terms.Share on X How do you maximize your freedom points? What does it look like when your freedom points are maxed out? Then I’m working because I want to, not because I have to. I still want to work. I still want to build. I love building things. I’m not the type of guy who wants to go to the beach, sit on the beach, and do nothing all day. I might do that for an hour. I’ve got to be doing something. I have to be building. It’s just the way I’m programmed. Maybe I don’t want to work as much as I do now, but I can’t imagine a life doing nothing. To me, that doesn’t serve a purpose. Yeah. I like building. I love contributing. I love being a part of the equation of success. It's just fun to me. I get gratification out of it. I like creating jobs.Share on X I like creating communities. I like meeting people. It’s interesting to me. It fills my bucket. That bucket is filled to then, I mean, try and give me freedom points to then go spend some personal time creating experiences with the people I love, mainly my wife and my child. That’s amazing. Okay, let me take a step back. You have multiple companies. You have Infintech Designs. You have a couple of AI companies as well. How does that portfolio work? I essentially do this. I have a construction company as well, TurnKey Renovators, a GC for residential. I have a couple of e-commerce companies. Really, I’m doing the same thing over and over. Earlier in my life, I used to wait tables. My takeaway from that experience, from working at Applebee’s to fine dining, is: How many different dishes can you make with the same ingredients? With my knowledge, my resources, and my skills, how many different things can I do with them? This is my version of it. All those companies, by the way, I’ve never stroked a check. I pretty much say, “Give me half your company, and I’ll help you grow it.” I’ve never cut a check because I give them what they really want, which is the outcome they want to achieve with that money. They want the money to help grow their company. What if I just help you grow your company? So I ask for an equal seat at the table, and in exchange, I’ll install what I know and go grow it. I’m essentially doing that over and over. My time is spent on high-level decisions, systems, processes, automation, and marketing. Yeah. Love it. You know, I always wondered about marketing agencies. If they really know how to grow sales, why are they not doing it for themselves, and why are they offering it to others? It sounds like you are drinking your own Kool-Aid, and you are using your own product. Yeah. Definitely. We practice what we preach. I see some companies doing that because there’s also an abundance mindset. If I can do it for me, and I can do it for someone else, let me just create another revenue stream and do it for both of us. Okay. That makes sense. This podcast is all about frameworks. I wonder, what is a framework that you have created or discovered that helps you be effective in what you do, and that you could share with the audience so they might also find a way to leverage it in their business? I guess it depends on many things. From team building, it may be doing a DiSC Assessment and Kolbe tests to make sure we place each person in a situation where they thrive. Sometimes when things aren’t working, maybe the owner, the manager, or the person needs to look in the mirror and say, “This is my fault, not the employee’s fault.” “I didn’t set them up for success.” “I’m trying to stick a round peg into a square hole.” “I’m trying to put them in a position that they may not thrive in, and they’re not programmed to naturally do.” So we’ll sometimes do these assessments, whether it’s a personality clash or a personality type, and make sure we place them in a role where they’ll thrive. So that could be a framework. Setting the employee up for success. Once we do have an employee, the better the plan, the better the outcome. So try to productize and systemize everything we do. If we have a blueprint people need to follow, then I can spend more of my time not finding specific talent and skills, but finding people who can follow instructions. Because if we have the blueprint, and this is what you need to do, then I can get a lower-wage worker who doesn’t have a specialized skill. That specialized skill will be developed because I’m handing you the blueprint of what you need to execute. So that’s the three-step framework. Set employees up for success by delegating tasks that fit their personality. Then productize and systemize. Then find people who can implement. To what extent does that work in the AI age? Are these people who just execute tasks according to instructions still solving the problems, or is that no longer working because of the fast pace of change? It depends on what the activity is, but generally, and more often, it’s human enhancement, not human replacement. So instead of saying, “Let’s just say I have a web developer, and I get more business, so I need to hire a second web developer, web designer, programmer, then a third one, then a fourth one.” The new version today is: keep the one you have, and instead of hiring another human, 10x their productivity with an AI-driven solution. Allow them to do more with less. Allow them to duplicate their activities so they focus on their revenue-generating activities, on the decisions and activities that AI cannot do, as of yet. That’s how we turn an A-player into an A-plus player. That’s how we turn a B-player into an A-player. That prevents me from having to hire people I don’t want working for me, which are C-players. Isn’t there a risk that when you have too few players, even if they are A-plus, there’s too much dependence on a single person? Well, I mean, we’ll hire more than one. I have a seven-person leadership team. I have two main managers. I have a department head and then an associate, so there’s always some level of duplication. Then you have an AI layer in between that. So between all of that, yes, if someone gets struck by lightning or someone is sick, the ship needs to keep sailing. We can’t shut down the business. Love it. What is driving growth in your business? Relationships. SEO. Ranking in LLMs. Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT. I’d say those are the main pillars that are creating opportunities. I also own a conference, rockstarsconference.com. We’re entering our 15th year. That’s network value, positioning of expertise, and relationship building. Things that AI cannot replicate. Human connections. Then I also do SEO for myself, right? Our last handful of leads that came in through Flowbot.ai. This one particularly stands out. There was this roofing company that sent me an email. We actually talked on the phone. He really blew up my ego and talked about how great I was. I thought he was a referral. I’m like, “Man, why does this person think I’m so great? It’s really odd.” I said, “Can I ask how you heard about me?” He’s like, “Oh, I spent the last two hours talking to Gemini because I discovered you through Google AI Overviews, and it just told me you’re great.” So I’m like, we’re entering a new world. That is a referral. It’s not from someone I know who spoke highly about me. It’s through a language model. Gemini said I was great, so this person believed I was great. That’s amazing. That’s very cool. So you have these four pillars. I love it. Relationships, SEO, GEO—or whatever AI referrals you want to call it—and the conference. Would you bucket the conference into the same category as relationships, or is that more of a proactive way of creating a community beyond personal relationships? Is it the same thing? It checks a lot of boxes. A few of my business partners were born out of that conference. New opportunities and getting clients were born out of that. Knowledge gain. Knowledge transfer that I gained to go implement. So it checks all the boxes. I’m gaining knowledge. I’m gaining relationships. I’m gaining partners. I’m gaining new systems. New processes. I’m gaining sparks, catalysts, and kind of tracks to go down and explore. So it kind of checks a lot of boxes. Yeah. Love it. So the SEO and GEO piece, is it something that is static, or is it dynamically changing all the time? Dynamically changing. It’s SEO 3.0, right? SEO is dead. It’s dead if you’re doing SEO the old way. Getting ranked in ChatGPT, the LLMs, and Google AI Overviews. Let’s just say it’s everything you do with SEO, plus more now because you have ChatGPT citations. You have sources that these LLMs frequently query. Then, in the world of SEO—the search engine Google—you have broad core updates. Broad core updates. Updates to the algorithm. That’s pretty much what it means. They also occur within LLMs. So it’s pretty much do SEO, plus more. What is the plus more? If I had to distill it, it’s get brand mentions and actually become a brand. Do podcast interviews like this. Get press releases. Get write-ups. Be on SoundCloud. Do social media. Post on LinkedIn. Get write-ups in news and media publications. Appear in Google News. Have a website that has dynamic content. Create your topical map. The list keeps on going. Build your brand. That’s the SEO of today. That will put you in a position to get mentioned in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Yeah. That’s fascinating. I’m just thinking about my business. We had a website that actually got some referrals from AI. We even got some clients last year. Then we split the website into two websites, and things dried up. It was kind of an interesting situation. We still had the same amount of content, but we moved it to a different domain, and it did not register the same way. Do you see that often? Yeah. You want Google and LLMs, at the most basic level, to have a better understanding of who you are, what you do, where you do it, and the services you offer through having something called breadth of entities. Entities are the nouns of the internet. Entities are a signal. A language. All Wikipedia pages are entities, but not all entities have Wikipedia pages. They’re the nouns of the internet. It’s a layer of clarity for search engines, algorithms, and LLMs to understand who you are, what you do, and where you do it. It’s not the only signal, but at a foundational layer, that should be implemented. So what we’re talking about is creating content. What does that mean? Create content on your website. Don’t create content for the sake of creating content because anybody can create content with AI. Create intentional content that satisfies the user and aligns with certain algorithmic components, such as Google's E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust.Share on X Everything we’re talking about is SEO. You want optimized content. You want pages. The first 150 to 200 words are important. The last 150 to 200 words are important. Add tables. Add bullet points. Make sure your content is clear. Position yourself with authority. Have links pointing to it. Interlink it. These are all SEO kinds of activities. So SEO is alive and well, but there are new layers you need to add on top of that to create optimal positioning in Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Yeah. I saw one of your videos on your LinkedIn page where you actually explained what is the wrong way to do SEO and the right way to do it. I think you had your alter ego disputing with you. Yeah. That was pretty funny. So that sounds like a lot of work. Can you delegate that to AI agents to do this kind of stuff? Yes and no. It’s not like I just click a button and step away. It takes a human-in-the-loop system, and that’s what we’ve developed. So yes, I don’t need as many humans, but I still need humans. So you said that in one of these companies you have 100 AI agents working on SEO, creating SEO impact for your clients. What is it that the AI agents can do, and what is it that you still need the human to do? The AIs collect information, rapidly digest it, find patterns, perform pattern analysis, do research, and create content briefs. But there needs to be thought leadership. AI is very directional. It’s, “Go do this,” but we need a human to point it in the right direction. We need to create guardrails. We need to create a source of truth. It needs to know where to look for the right information. It needs direction on what to do with this information. How should I digest it? How should I format it? How should I break up the heading tags? It needs that element where it can go do it, but the human is part of that last-mile conversion. So maybe the AI does zero to 80, and maybe the human does the 80 to 100. Yeah. That’s very interesting. So what’s one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business? How to automate everything. Everything is a complete agentic workflow that is proactive, not reactive. Where I have a board of advisors every day looking at how they can serve me.Share on X Identifying the patterns in my life that I need to stop doing and they can do. Developing skills, if they don’t have them, to go execute that. Having a feedback loop to constantly improve. This has become superintelligence. Agentic work, which is kind of here. That’s what maybe some people have heard about: OpenClaw. Then you have something called a Hermes agent. These things are here, but they need to be trained. They need to be fed the right information and given the right guardrails. But it has begun, and I’m trying to go down that journey. Isn’t that overwhelming to think of all these details, managing these agents, and making sure they’re not going rogue or getting confused by what every one of them is doing? It’s overwhelmingly exciting, but not overwhelmingly bad, because this is the worst it’s going to be, and it’s mind-blowingly good. It’s overwhelming because it’s so amazing and so awesome. It’s garbage in, garbage out. I am the architect trying to create the blueprint on how to control these agents. To me, that’s incredibly exciting and incredibly amazing. To be a part of this time in history, it’s like that feeling when I dropped out of college and this thing called the internet was born in 2000. I knew the world wasn’t going to be the same again. That same feeling came again in 2022 when I heard about ChatGPT. I created my first AI company in 2023. I said the world isn’t going to be the same again. I have the same feeling I had in 2000, but times 100. So to me, it’s overwhelming, but overwhelmingly exciting. Yeah. So what does one do if they want to get, okay, let’s say it’s me. I use ChatGPT actively, but I’m not building AI agents. What would you recommend that I do? How do I even get started? What is your pain point? Is it communication? Is it writing emails? Is it reporting? It kind of depends, right? You can customize it based on your pain points. Where are you spending your time, and where should you be spending your time? Yeah. That’s a good question. I think the first question is, what should I even use it for? I can give you some ideas. A handful of things I use it for, but not limited to. I can give you use cases that we do for other people. So to construction company, inbound and outbound calls. We never miss a phone call. We answer every single one. We qualify the lead. We seamlessly connect to a CRM. We know if it’s a new customer or an existing customer. If it’s an existing customer, we can look at their history. We can now have an intentional conversation through voice. I can clone that. I can qualify them. I can book the appointment. I can put it on the salesperson’s calendar. I can receive a text message. I can read the message. I can set the salesperson up for success. I can then pull their address. I can then pull their demographics. I know their net income. I know their affinities, their interests, their hobbies. I know whether their house has a pool. I know the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. I know their credit score. I know their disposable income. My layer of intention is going to be very different if I have all of this data to interact with that person, either through a voice agent, an AI agent through SMS, through email, through voice, or I can pass that information to the salesperson so they know what they’re walking into. They know the opportunity. So we have lead scoring. We have prioritization. That's one thing we could do: taking over your appointment setting and lead qualification.Share on X Then we can create reporting. Then we can create trend forecasting. We can turn your business into a mathematical equation. We know 10 leads equals 3 appointments, equals 2 shows, equals 1 person who shows up, average ticket $10,000. We know that formula. Then we say, “Well, we need to feed it more.” The math equation is 10 equals $10,000. Whatever that math equation is, that’s the position I want to be in. I want to make data-driven decisions. So AI is an accelerator to achieve that. What’s at the top of the funnel? Is it advertising? Yeah. It could be Facebook Ads. Google Ads. SEO. It kind of depends. Do you want expensive and fast, or do you want cheap and slow? Expensive and fast. When I say expensive, I mean cost per acquisition and cost per visibility. That’s going to be Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn, TikTok—anything where you’re buying media. That’s going to be expensive because you have to pay on a per-click basis or a per-impression basis. The cheap and slow is going to be something like SEO. Do the work now to feel the impact later. It’s signal building. You don’t have to pay on a per-click basis. You don’t have to pay on a per-impression basis. But you have to build signals. Those signals cost money. You have to do the work, but it’s not going to happen overnight. You do the work now to feel it later. It’s an investment. So ideally, you do both. You take a blended cost per acquisition because your SEO channels almost 99% of the time are going to have the lowest cost per acquisition. But speed is going to come from Facebook Ads and Google Ads. So you take the best of both worlds with a blended cost per acquisition. Is the formula the same for business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies, or is it different? Yeah. The algorithm doesn’t change. The algorithm is the algorithm. The messaging is different, but it’s the same across the board. The concepts are the same. There are some things, like in medical. Google specifically has something called YMYL—Your Money or Your Life. That’s going to be finance businesses, payday loans, and medical. Those things have a high impact on your life. So they may have a little more scrutiny, and it might be harder to build trust and validation because of the category you’re in. In that aspect, yeah, the formula is a little bit different. But the activities you engage in are the same. You need to build content. You need to build your brand. You need to build links. You need to optimize your website. You need to create on social media. It’s all the same. Yeah. Fascinating. So who is the ideal client that you would like to respond to this podcast? Man, I get asked that, and I’m having more difficulty because I have a lot of companies in my portfolio, right? I have, as of now, about seven companies. I’d say companies that want to automate. Why do you want to automate? The first step of that is maybe building intelligence—business intelligence. You can’t improve what you can’t measure. What if we build a system where maybe you take two steps back to take 10 steps forward? The two steps back is building business intelligence through AI-driven systems to have segmentation and attribution on exactly what’s happening. How many leads are you getting? Where are they coming from? What is your workflow? Create the math equation. Now we have a measurement. We have a benchmark. Now we can build custom AI agents to say, “This is what we need to focus on first.” So we have our foundational layer, our source of truth. Maybe that’s a good first step, so you’re not doing a spray and pray. You can say, “Now I know what I need to do. Now I know where my problems are.” Let’s remove the emotion of, “I think.” It now becomes, “I know this is a problem.” Now let’s zoom in and say, “Well, how do we solve this problem?” Are leads the problem? Or is it connecting to the leads? Is it showing up to the appointment? Is it closing the deal? Are we closing deals, but the average ticket is low? If we close one deal, is it upselling to a second deal? What is the one-year value? Lifetime value? First transaction value? If we don’t know that, then how do we create a math equation of success? How do we know what bucket we need to feed? How do we know where the problem is or isn’t? If we do know where it is, then we can say, “Let’s build a second AI agent.” How do we augment and enhance maybe lead-to-connection rate? Let’s build an SMS agent. A voice agent. An outbound agent. Let’s build nurture and upsell. Let’s follow up in perpetuity, forever. Let’s tackle that first because we have clear, data-driven insights showing this is a problem. I would say people who want clarity on where their problem is, or maybe they know where their problems are. Then that could be a starting point. So it’s hard for me to answer because I’ve got my hands in so many different buckets. I’m top of funnel. I’m middle of funnel. I’m bottom of the funnel. I’m top of funnel. Introduction. Brand. Product or service. Google Ads. Facebook Ads. SEO. GEO. I’m middle of funnel. Turning visitors into customers. That’s follow-up AI systems. That’s operational efficiencies. That’s touchpoints. That’s nurturing. I’m bottom of funnel. I’m business intelligence. Segmentation. Attribution. I can help with all stages. I just need to talk to businesses. Businesses that want to grow and generate more revenue. That’s my audience. Love it. Love it. So if you have a business that wants to grow and generate more revenue, then make sure you check out Brian Hong on LinkedIn. Where else should people go if they want to learn about your companies? Yeah. I’ve got Brian Hong Digital on Instagram. I’m trying to build my own personal brand. I’m about to relaunch some videos again. I’ve been busy with another acquisition of another marketing agency. I’d say check out the socials or send me an email through Flowbots.ai or InfinTech Design. Okay. Sounds good. So check out Brian. I mean, that’s pretty amazing. The complexity that you’re managing. Not just the number of companies. The number of investee companies you’re in. The products you’re building. The conferences. It’s kind of mind-boggling how you’re managing that complexity. But I guess you have a couple hundred AI agents at your service. If you’d like to learn more and explore Brian’s products, go to his LinkedIn page. Then you can connect to his different companies from there. If you enjoyed this conversation, make sure you stay tuned because every week I bring a couple of amazing entrepreneurs like Brian who will open your eyes to the opportunities ahead of you. So thanks, Brian, for sharing your knowledge and insights. Thanks for listening. Thanks, Steve. Appreciate it. Important Links: Brian's LinkedIn Brian's website
Caffeinators, you know we love to talk about education and all kinds of different educational models and ideas. For this episode, we were put in touch with Clair Sauer (HUGE thanks to Tasha McNerny for the rec!) and it kind of blew our minds. She is currently finishing up her SECOND Master's Degree in in Education, and she is in a program that teaches Doctors how to teach Doctors, and is the first veterinary technician to be accepted into that program. We cover everything from teaching abroad in Japan to being in a program with human doctors that are learning how to teach future human doctors. This discussion was FASCINATING. Don't miss it! Follow her on IG @vettechteacher Our Links: Check out our sponsor https://betterhelp.com/vettechcafe for 10% off your first month of therapy Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vettechcafe Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vettechcafepodcast Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vet-tech-cafe Like and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMDTKdfOaqSW0Mv3Uoi33qg Our website: https://www.vettechcafe.com/ Vet Tech Cafe Merch: https://www.vettechcafe.com/merch If you would like to help us cover our podcast expenses, we'd appreciate any support you give through Patreon. We do this podcast and our YouTube channel content to support the veterinary technicians out there and do not expect anything in return! We thank you for all you do.
Fun & informative conversations about fitness, health & bodybuilding. Presented by: Optimize U(www.optimizeucenters.com) Broadcasting from the Nooga Dentistry Studiowww.noogadentistry.com Brought to you by:Chatt MortgageTexas RoadhouseNutrition World www.chattanoogafitnessdownload.comProduction of: Whitfield Media Group
PJ gets a taster of some of the secrets from Brian Fenton of the Everyman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andy and Randy talk about the Braves winning streak going to 8 games with some good offense and good pitching and the upcoming weekend series against the New York Yankees.
The hospitality industry has gone through countless changes in recent years, and the local restaurant and taproom, Wolf's Ridge Brewing has certainly not been immune to them.We'll learn more about how the father-and-son duo behind it all have evolved the business over the last 13 years.After caring for her first dog, Trooper Casie Goldstein decided dogs need a place where they can be cared for that pet parents can also trust. She founded two pet-centered businesses all for the love of dogs!When 18-year-old Brooke Gates visited Liberia for the first time two years ago, she visited a school where a young student asked her for help with tuition.Now, a rising sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, she has helped more than 50 K-12 students pay their tuition through the Brooke Gates Foundation.We're talking with all of them on this edition of Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Bob and Alan Szuter, owners, Wolf's Ridge BrewingCasie Goldstein, founder, The Wag and All Paws RetreatBrooke Gates, CEO, The Brooke Gates Foundation
Hour 3: Is Mike Tomlin a Hall of Famer? There is a fascinating conspiracy theory surrounding the 49ers right now. And Joe and Bob hate horror movies.
Insidethedraw's Kevin Lawler gives us a peak behind the curtain.
The hospitality industry has gone through countless changes in recent years, and the local restaurant and taproom, Wolf's Ridge Brewing has certainly not been immune to them.We'll learn more about how the father-and-son duo behind it all have evolved the business over the last 13 years.After caring for her first dog, Trooper Casie Goldstein decided dogs need a place where they can be cared for that pet parents can also trust. She founded two pet-centered businesses all for the love of dogs!When 18-year-old Brooke Gates visited Liberia for the first time two years ago, she visited a school where a young student asked her for help with tuition.Now, a rising sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, she has helped more than 50 K-12 students pay their tuition through the Brooke Gates Foundation.We're talking with all of them on this edition of Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Bob and Alan Szuter, owners, Wolf's Ridge BrewingCasie Goldstein, founder, The Wag and All Paws RetreatBrooke Gates, CEO, The Brooke Gates Foundation
Chuck Todd breaks down a primary night that scrambled the Senate map, starting in Michigan where Abdul El-Sayed edged Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly 20,000 votes — overcoming a nearly 8-to-1 spending disadvantage in what became the most expensive Senate primary in American history. He argues the narrow margin was actually the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed, and while Michigan is now a harder general election for Democrats against Mike Rogers, El-Sayed can absolutely win it. The most fascinating data point buried in the results: El-Sayed carried Grand Rapids and Kent County, a place that was solidly Republican for decades, evidence that there's a growing white progressive vote reshaping the Midwest. He pushes back on the sloppy way analysts label party factions, preferring "movement" versus "governing" factions to the usual progressive-moderate shorthand, notes that electability is always situational, and cautions that money makes races competitive without guaranteeing wins. He flags that Wisconsin is now the next big test, where nobody should assume Francesca Hong runs away with it. He also spotlights results that flew under the radar: pastor Adam Hamilton beat ten other Democrats to become nominee Republicans will struggle to caricature against Roger Marshall, meaning Kansas joins Iowa as a genuine pickup opportunity in a cycle where Trump's tariffs have wrecked agricultural states. Republicans, meanwhile, leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed on day one, which Chuck suspects could badly boomerang. He argues the GOP would love to be rid of Max Miller, whose personal issues could drag down Bernie Moreno, though even replacing him may cost the GOP three to five points — and closes on the surreal spectacle of a president losing an increasingly global war while obsessing over his reflecting pool: Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing publicly and another in court, Trump says she "choked" when really she choked on reality, and Chuck’s read is that Trump wanted a headline more than a case, may be lashing out precisely because he's lost control of everything else, is desperate to get out of Iran, and might find that handing over the Strait is the least humiliating option left — all while his grip on his own voters keeps weakening. Finally Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 most vulnerable Democratic seats… and couldn’t make it to 5. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:45 Review of Tuesday’s primary results 05:30 Michigan now harder for Dems in general, but El-Sayed can win 06:30 Wisconsin primary will be next big test of divide in Democratic party 08:45 Almost losing was the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed 09:30 Republicans don’t have many senate pickup opportunities 11:30 El-Sayed’s winning margin will be less than 20k votes13:00 El-Sayed won the race in Grand Rapids 14:15 Kent county was solidly Republican for decades 16:30 The moderate/Gerald Ford Republicans aren’t voting for the GOP 17:30 There’s a growing white, progressive vote 19:45 In 2016 many people voted for Bernie out of protest for Clinton 20:30 Fascinating that Grand Rapids became a progressive stronghold 23:00 Analysts have a hard time characterizing factions inside parties 23:45 Prefer the label of “movement” vs. “governing” factions 24:45 Electability depends on the state and the situation 25:15 Money makes races more competitive, doesn’t guarantee victory 27:30 Progressives will need a crowded primary in 2028 to win 29:15 Don’t assume Francesca Hong will run away in Dem primary in WI 31:45 Big questions loom over Wisconsin primary 33:15 Some big results in Kansas flew under the radar 34:45 Founders didn’t want judges to be elected & subject to voters 35:15 Kansas rejected elections for state Supreme Court 36:30 On day one, Republicans leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed 37:00 The Islamophobia could boomerang on Republicans 37:45 Dems keep putting more senate seats in play, Kansas is now one 38:15 Adam Hamilton is pastor of huge church in Kansas 39:00 Hamilton has been a bridge builder, and beat 10 other Dems 39:45 Republicans will have a hard time making a caricature of Hamilton 40:30 Hamilton will have an unusual constituency going into the race 41:30 Roger Marshall has never had a stress test in a general election 43:00 Trump’s tariffs have caused huge problems in agriculture states 44:30 Iowa and Kansas are real pickup chances for Democrats 46:00 Missouri voters sent a message on the issue of taxes 46:45 Trump has long wanted to scrap income taxes 47:30 Voters reject a high sales tax replacing income tax 49:00 Tax credits for the KC Chiefs stadium was a political loser 49:30 Voters don’t like subsidizing rich people 50:00 More stories of Republican men behaving badly 50:15 Republicans would love to get rid of Max Miller 50:45 Trump always sides with the accused over the women 51:30 Max Miller has serious personal issues 52:45 Miller could have hurt Bernie Moreno politically 53:45 Multiple disgraced former members of congress in same race in Florida 55:00 Even if Miller is replaced, the party could face a 3-5 point penalty 55:45 Iran war is going sideways & Trump is worried about Reflecting Pool 56:30 Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing in public & another in court 57:15 Trump says she “choked”... she choked on reality 58:00 Trump doesn’t care the facts didn’t meet the case, wanted a headline 58:30 Maybe he’s angry because he’s lost control of everything else, like Iran 59:30 Trump is desperate to get out of the war 1:00:30 Chance of the war going global is uncomfortably high 1:01:30 Trump handing over the Strait might be least humiliating option 1:02:00 Reflecting pool may be the thing Trump feels he has control over 1:02:45 Trump’s grip on his voters has weakened 1:08:00 ToddCast Top 5 Vulnerable Democratic Held Seats 1:10:45 #1 Kansas governor 1:12:15 #2 Michigan senate 1:14:00 #3 Oregon governor 1:15:15 #4 Wisconsin governor 1:16:45 #5 None - There aren’t that many vulnerable Dem seats 1:19:45 Ask Chuck 1:20:00 Is presidential health the only thing an administration can hide? 1:23:30 Thoughts on the World Cup & sportsmanship displayed? 1:25:00 Thoughts on the Fauci hearings? 1:32:00 Do bipartisan letters to the White House actually work? 1:34:30 Has politics discouraged a better investigation into the Butler shooting? 1:38:45 Does growing physical separation between public & leaders heighten their bubble?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chuck Todd breaks down a primary night that scrambled the Senate map, starting in Michigan where Abdul El-Sayed edged Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly 20,000 votes — overcoming a nearly 8-to-1 spending disadvantage in what became the most expensive Senate primary in American history. He argues the narrow margin was actually the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed, and while Michigan is now a harder general election for Democrats against Mike Rogers, El-Sayed can absolutely win it. The most fascinating data point buried in the results: El-Sayed carried Grand Rapids and Kent County, a place that was solidly Republican for decades, evidence that there's a growing white progressive vote reshaping the Midwest. He pushes back on the sloppy way analysts label party factions, preferring "movement" versus "governing" factions to the usual progressive-moderate shorthand, notes that electability is always situational, and cautions that money makes races competitive without guaranteeing wins. He flags that Wisconsin is now the next big test, where nobody should assume Francesca Hong runs away with it. He also spotlights results that flew under the radar: pastor Adam Hamilton beat ten other Democrats to become nominee Republicans will struggle to caricature against Roger Marshall, meaning Kansas joins Iowa as a genuine pickup opportunity in a cycle where Trump's tariffs have wrecked agricultural states. Republicans, meanwhile, leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed on day one, which Chuck suspects could badly boomerang. He argues the GOP would love to be rid of Max Miller, whose personal issues could drag down Bernie Moreno, though even replacing him may cost the GOP three to five points — and closes on the surreal spectacle of a president losing an increasingly global war while obsessing over his reflecting pool: Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing publicly and another in court, Trump says she "choked" when really she choked on reality, and Chuck’s read is that Trump wanted a headline more than a case, may be lashing out precisely because he's lost control of everything else, is desperate to get out of Iran, and might find that handing over the Strait is the least humiliating option left — all while his grip on his own voters keeps weakening. Then, writer-director Michael Russell Gunn joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss The Brink of War, his feature debut about the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, hitting theaters August 14th with Jeff Daniels as Reagan, Jared Harris as Gorbachev, and J.K. Simmons as George Shultz. The film's origin story is its own remarkable piece of history: Gunn interviewed Shultz before his death in 2021, and Shultz handed him the declassified summit transcripts that became the script — the first scene between Reagan and Gorbachev is verbatim from that record. Gunn's argument for why this story matters right now is simple and pointed: these were two men with every reason to hate each other who sat in a room and tried to build a better world, at a moment when Americans have gotten very good at yelling and very bad at talking. He walks Chuck through what most people get wrong about Reykjavík — that Gorbachev was far younger than memory suggests, with no personal recollection of World War II (he brought the last WWII-era Soviet general with him to Iceland), that adversaries are always more politically divided internally than we perceive from the outside, and that the summit is simultaneously remembered as a triumph and a failure because a deal to eliminate every nuclear weapon on earth collapsed over a single word. Gunn notes that Americans instinctively read everything through game theory — winners and losers — while the Soviets understood the talks as one point on a longer arc, which is why Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare the whole thing a success. The conversation also works as a genuinely useful look inside how difficult political history gets made in Hollywood. Gunn explains that he assembled the actors and script first and only then went to a studio, that Simmons was hunting for a real challenge and nailed Shultz's accent on the first take, and that Daniels prepared by looping an hour of Reagan interviews through his headphones while biking around Chelsea, Michigan. He talks about the nervousness surrounding the idea of putting the two leaders alone in a room, the enormous goodwill Reagan carried into Reykjavík, and the fact that the whole world genuinely waited on that weekend with bated breath. Gunn is candid about the projects that didn't happen (he wanted to make a film about the Nunn-Lugar amendment and couldn't get it off the ground), the tradeoffs between film and limited series as formats, and why audiences have proven far hungrier for true history than the industry assumes. He and Chuck close on career advice — how Gunn broke in, why you have to "prove it" before anyone green-lights your dream project, and his observation that the things you don't get can end up mattering just as much as the things you do. And for anyone tempted to write off Reykjavík as a failure: the summit paved the way for the INF Treaty a year later, and the world's nuclear arsenals have since come down roughly 90%. Finally Chuck presents his ToddCast Top 5 most vulnerable Democratic seats… and couldn’t make it to 5. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB at https://FANDUEL.COM. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (980) 734-3985 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/chuck /*Paid Partnership Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:45 Review of Tuesday’s primary results 05:30 Michigan now harder for Dems in general, but El-Sayed can win 06:30 Wisconsin primary will be next big test of divide in Democratic party 08:45 Almost losing was the best thing that could have happened to El-Sayed 09:30 Republicans don’t have many senate pickup opportunities 11:30 El-Sayed’s winning margin will be less than 20k votes13:00 El-Sayed won the race in Grand Rapids 14:15 Kent county was solidly Republican for decades 16:30 The moderate/Gerald Ford Republicans aren’t voting for the GOP 17:30 There’s a growing white, progressive vote 19:45 In 2016 many people voted for Bernie out of protest for Clinton 20:30 Fascinating that Grand Rapids became a progressive stronghold 23:00 Analysts have a hard time characterizing factions inside parties 23:45 Prefer the label of “movement” vs. “governing” factions 24:45 Electability depends on the state and the situation 25:15 Money makes races more competitive, doesn’t guarantee victory 27:30 Progressives will need a crowded primary in 2028 to win 29:15 Don’t assume Francesca Hong will run away in Dem primary in WI 31:45 Big questions loom over Wisconsin primary 33:15 Some big results in Kansas flew under the radar 34:45 Founders didn’t want judges to be elected & subject to voters 35:15 Kansas rejected elections for state Supreme Court 36:30 On day one, Republicans leaned into Islamophobia against El-Sayed 37:00 The Islamophobia could boomerang on Republicans 37:45 Dems keep putting more senate seats in play, Kansas is now one 38:15 Adam Hamilton is pastor of huge church in Kansas 39:00 Hamilton has been a bridge builder, and beat 10 other Dems 39:45 Republicans will have a hard time making a caricature of Hamilton 40:30 Hamilton will have an unusual constituency going into the race 41:30 Roger Marshall has never had a stress test in a general election 43:00 Trump’s tariffs have caused huge problems in agriculture states 44:30 Iowa and Kansas are real pickup chances for Democrats 46:00 Missouri voters sent a message on the issue of taxes 46:45 Trump has long wanted to scrap income taxes 47:30 Voters reject a high sales tax replacing income tax 49:00 Tax credits for the KC Chiefs stadium was a political loser 49:30 Voters don’t like subsidizing rich people 50:00 More stories of Republican men behaving badly 50:15 Republicans would love to get rid of Max Miller 50:45 Trump always sides with the accused over the women 51:30 Max Miller has serious personal issues 52:45 Miller could have hurt Bernie Moreno politically 53:45 Multiple disgraced former members of congress in same race in Florida 55:00 Even if Miller is replaced, the party could face a 3-5 point penalty 55:45 Iran war is going sideways & Trump is worried about Reflecting Pool 56:30 Jeanine Pirro thought she could say one thing in public & another in court 57:15 Trump says she “choked”... she choked on reality 58:00 Trump doesn’t care the facts didn’t meet the case, wanted a headline 58:30 Maybe he’s angry because he’s lost control of everything else, like Iran 59:30 Trump is desperate to get out of the war 1:00:30 Chance of the war going global is uncomfortably high 1:01:30 Trump handing over the Strait might be least humiliating option 1:02:00 Reflecting pool may be the thing Trump feels he has control over 1:02:45 Trump’s grip on his voters has weakened 1:10:00 Michael Russell Gunn (The Brink of War) joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:12:30 How much time should elapse before telling a historical story? 1:14:45 How strong was Gorbachev viewed at the time of the summits? 1:15:30 We were saved by junior people/officers during the Cold War 1:16:00 We came very close to nuclear armageddon 1:17:30 Gorbachev is remembered as older than he actually was 1:18:30 Gorbachev didn’t have any memory of World War 2 1:19:30 Gorbachev brought last WW2 era general to Reykjavik 1:21:15 Adversaries are more politically divided than we perceive them 1:22:00 Reykjavik is considered both a success and a failure 1:22:30 There was a deal to get rid of every nuke, one word tanked it 1:23:00 Gorbachev rushed to a press conference to declare conference “great” 1:23:45 Reagan and Gorbachev built a relationship and some trust 1:24:15 This was one of the greatest diplomatic achievements in history 1:25:00 Americans view everything in a game theory context, winners & losers 1:25:30 Soviets viewed talks as one point in an arc 1:26:00 Transcripts of the meeting helped in creating the movie 1:28:00 Wanted to create a movie about the Nunn-Lugar amendment, but couldn’t 1:29:30 Visual of Reagan sitting across from Gorbachev was powerful 1:30:45 First scene between Reagan and Gorbachev was verbatim from transcript 1:32:30 There was something profound about their willingness to engage 1:34:15 There was nervousness about having them alone in a room 1:35:45 Reagan carried immense goodwill from Americans into Reykjavik 1:37:45 The whole world was waiting/watching the summit with bated breath 1:38:30 How close were we to getting rid of nuclear weapons? 1:39:30 We did end up reducing nuclear arsenals by 90% 1:40:00 How did Jeff Daniels prepare to play Reagan? 1:41:45 Difficulty getting mainstream actors to participate in political history? 1:42:30 How’d you pull off getting a difficult topic approved and made? 1:43:15 Got the actors and script first, then went to the studio 1:44:00 JK Simmons was looking for a real challenge 1:45:15 George Shultz is an unsung hero of American history 1:46:00 JK Simmons nailed Shultz's accent on the first take 1:47:45 You’re given more breadth in film, but not more time to produce it 1:50:30 What is the better format to tell a story? Movie, limited series etc. 1:53:00 Audiences have proven to be hungry for true history stories 1:55:15 What’s your dream project? 1:56:30 Need to “prove it” in order to get your dream project approved 1:59:15 Career advice? How did you break in and succeed in the business? 2:00:45 Things you don’t get can be just as important as what you do get 2:02:00 ToddCast Top 5 Vulnerable Democratic Held Seats 2:04:45 #1 Kansas governor 2:06:15 #2 Michigan senate 2:08:00 #3 Oregon governor 2:09:15 #4 Wisconsin governor 2:10:45 #5 None - There aren’t that many vulnerable Dem seats 2:13:45 Ask Chuck 2:14:00 Is presidential health the only thing an administration can hide? 2:17:30 Thoughts on the World Cup & sportsmanship displayed? 2:19:00 Thoughts on the Fauci hearings? 2:26:00 Do bipartisan letters to the White House actually work? 2:28:30 Has politics discouraged a better investigation into the Butler shooting? 2:32:45 Does growing physical separation between public & leaders heighten their bubble?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
080526 Melissa and Kate Discuss The Left Right Narrative What We Agree On and What We Don't Fascinating by Kate Dalley
Theodore Roosevelt National Park — it's one of those national parks that doesn't quite get the recognition it deserves. But today, we're fixing that! As the show title suggests, we're taking you around the churned-up, colorful labyrinth of buttes in the quiet North Dakota prairie to share some of our favorite fun facts about Theodore Roosevelt National Park. In this episode, we cover: Why Theodore Roosevelt National Park was the only unit ever designated a "National Memorial Park" The real story behind how the teddy bear got its name (yes, it has everything to do with Teddy Roosevelt!) How glaciers, ancient volcanoes, and the Little Missouri River spent 65 million years carving North Dakota's Badlands The devastating winter of 1886 that wiped out Roosevelt's cattle herd and changed the direction of his life Why Roosevelt called this land "the romance of my life" and how it helped him grieve and heal The last-minute "Midnight Forests" scramble that protected 16 million acres of land before Congress could stop him Just how much land Roosevelt protected by the end of his presidency Your task for today: In the episode, we talked about the full list of lands Roosevelt protected through executive action. See if a forest, monument, or refuge near you made the cut, and tell us about it over on the @DirtInMyShoes Facebook or Instagram page! Don't miss the full show notes packed with all the links we mentioned so you can plan your adventures like a pro: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/5-fascinating-fun-facts-about-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/ Planning Your Own Theodore Roosevelt National Park Adventure? 8 Things You Can't Miss On Your First Visit to Theodore Roosevelt: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/8-things-cant-miss-first-visit-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/ Episode 149: Exploring Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Best Tips + Activites: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/exploring-theodore-roosevelt-national-park-best-tips-activities/ Master Reservation List: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/list/ National Parks Checklist: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/national-parks-checklist/ Trip Packing List: https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/pack/
Welcome back to Morgan Hasn't Seen with Jeannine Brice & Morgan Robinson!!A spotlight on one of the most beloved actresses of her generation, across a variety of genres this month as Jeannine helps Morgan to check off a few more movies of SANDRA BULLOCK!Starting the series off this week with an early career rom-com; a particularly bizarre, occasionally problematic, yet surprisingly charming movie. Sandra is alongside Tate Donovan as two nerdy scientists who experiment with a love potion in LOVE POTION NO. 9 (1992)!Fascinating to watch in a post Obsession (2026) world too!Our YouTube Channel for all our regular videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvACMX8jX1qQ5ClrGW53vowDonate: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ItsAWonderful1Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItsAWonderful1IT'S A WONDERFUL PODCAST STORE: https://www.teepublic.com/user/g9designSub to the feed and download now on all major podcast platforms and be sure to rate, review and SHARE AROUND!!Keep up with us on (X) Twitter:Podcast: https://twitter.com/ItsAWonderful1Morgan: https://twitter.com/Th3PurpleDonJeannine: https://twitter.com/JeannineDaBean_Keep being wonderful!!
Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode, focused on "duos" - with Dakota Meyer and Rob O'Neill, and Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Episode 818 - Dani Vee and Ashleigh Barton - 89 Questions for After ⭐️ Dear book lovers, I loved chatting to Ashleigh about this brand new middle grade novel. We delve into the big questions, chat about what we are curious about, the writing process of writing what was a challenging book and how to market children's books (coming from someone who used to work in book publicity!) We chat about:
Brilliant leaders turn problems into possibilities and adversity into results.Where victims surrender their power in difficult times, real leaders hold their ground and turn challenges into stepping stones. According to the Harvard Business Review, reframing problems as opportunities increases creative solutions by up to 45%. Fascinating right?The finest leaders use tough seasons as crucibles for growth, understanding that storms reveal strength, sharpen resilience, and clarify what truly matters.I love the Mexican proverb that says: “They tried to bury us; they didn't know we were seeds.” My latest book “The Wealth Money Can't Buy” is full of fresh ideas and original tools that I'm absolutely certain will cause quantum leaps in your positivity, productivity, wellness, and happiness. You can order it now by clicking here.FOLLOW ROBIN SHARMA:InstagramFacebookYouTube
Dwayne was a very fun guest. His biography of Lee Marvin was widely acclaimed, and deservedly so. We yakked about Lee's troubled life, his alcoholism, and his career. Lee was such an interesting guy. Join me to learn all about him. Dwayne also gives me some great tidbits on his interviewees. LOVED his story's about James Doohan AKA " Beam Me Up' Scotty from Star Trek. They had a lot of drinkiepoos and James told him his feeling about William Shatner. Let's just say, he didnt like the guy. Thanks so much to Dwayne for joining me. Most of all thanks to all that listen. I appreciate it more then you know. Grace You can find Dwaynes books anywhere books are sold. His author page on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dwayne-Epstein/author/B00A4EDS1A?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1785526011&sr=8-2&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=e6c22826-90d4-411b-a3b4-a17af19b07a0 You can listen wherever podcasts are played You can Contact me at truestoriesoftinseltown@gmail.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-stories-of-tinseltown/id136374488 https://open.spotify.com/show/6iTSF8pIrVTbZ8QqNidVUy? You can also listen on google play, YouTube, Amazon, I heart radio and anywhere podcasts are played. You can also IM me on my TSOTT Facebook page. I sometimes don't go on for a while, but will try be better at checking messages and posting. Best to email me.. You can also Contact me at truestoriesoftinseltown@gmail.com www.facebook.com/truestoriesoftinseltown
Before going viral, Tara DeFrancisco already had a list of talents she's known for. She is a comedian, performer, actor as well as an educator and adjunct professor.Now, she's best known for her social media accounts where she posts humorous and inspirational content.A Columbus-based poet planned a visit to Iceland, but she wasn't expecting it to turn into one of her most successful exhibitions: A Journey of Iceland — From Darkness to Light.The piece includes poetry of her time in Iceland, as well as music and visual elements by an Icelandic artist she met on her trip.The CEO and co-founder of the Women of Color Retail Alliance was just recognized as a member of Columbus Monthly's 2026 class of Inspiring Women.The organization is working to diversify retail jobs and elevate women of color within those roles through training and support networks.We're talking to all three on this week's edition of Fascinating Ohio.Guests:Tara DeFrancisco, comedy performer and social media influenceErin Boggs, poet, Journey of Iceland: From Darkness to LightKimberly Lee Minor, CEO/co-founder, Women of Color Retail Alliance
Rappaport To The Rescue on Pet Life Radio (PetLifeRadio.com)
Griffin Dunne has had one of the most diverse careers and comes from one of the most prominent literary families, steeped in Hollywood history. He discusses it all, including breaking news on his newest Netflix gig! Plus, we'll catch up with our cat correspondent Deborah Cribbs, founder of the Give Them Ten movement.EPISODE NOTES: A Fascinating Conversation with Actor, Producer, Director and Author, Griffin DunneBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rappaport-to-the-rescue-on-pet-life-radio-petliferadio-com--6667849/support.
Different > better.Especially in an industry that loves to rank, chart, compare, and benchmark errrthing. Because when everyone is trying to prove they're better, everyone starts sounding pretty much the same.In this Encore episode, Stacy is bringing back one of her favorite conversations about what it actually takes to stand out.She's covering: Why leaning into what makes you different means going to the edges and getting radicalWhy 80% of executives think their company is differentiated, while only 10% of customers agreeHow to create a category of one What differentiation is, and what it absolutely is notWhy you must be brave enough to attract and repel This is Billion Dollar Backstory: Encore, because some conversations are just too good not to bring back. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn't be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus
Rock Talk Studio: Reviewing Rock 'n' Roll Books and Documentaries
Rock n roll books usually follow a predictable path, but these five books go somewhere completely different. Today's show explores some of rock's most unusual reads, featuring Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Wolf, a forgotten Beatle, a CIA-recruited hair-metal drummer, and one author's deeply personal journey through the music and life of Joni Mitchell.Support the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com
Andy and Randy talk about Big Ten Media Days and some of the more interesting discussions coming from the conference ahead of the season.
Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode, with acting legend Goldie Hawn, and "The Wolf of Wall Street" inspiration Jordan Belfort. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Today's show kicks off with the guys saying that this Red Sox run is indeed the "Tracy Turnaround" and wonder how much of any issue Gabe Jacas will be. Greg then asks who has the physical advantage between him and Scheim when it comes to The Match this Friday. Scheim starts off the leads with telling everyone Nick Sirianni has been using ChatGPT to speak to his team. Wiggy says he uses ChatGPT over some other forms of information consumption.
In this week's episode, Madigan shares a variety of some fascinating former First Ladies. Learn about their strange pets, habits, and interests including astrology and the occult. Do you have a topic that you want the show to take on? Email: neighborhoodfeminist@gmail.com Instagram: @angryneighborhoodfeminist Sources: https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/holy-cow-history-17622148.php https://www.grunge.com/94458/first-ladies-actually-really-weird-people/ https://www.quora.com/Who-has-been-the-weirdest-first-lady-in-American-history https://ghostsofdc.org/2026/05/08/madame-marcia-astrologer-white-house-florence-harding/ https://nypost.com/article/ronald-reagans-wife-nancy-astrologer-joan-quigley/ https://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/john-quincy-adams-silkworms/ https://ghostsofdc.org/2026/05/08/madame-marcia-astrologer-white-house-florence-harding/ https://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/blog/emily-spinach-snake/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's Mafia Sunday - and Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode, with Michael Franzese and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode, with a health and wellness focus featuring former FDA head Dr. Marty Makary, and Dr. Mark Hyman of Function Health. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode, featuring military heroes on this July 4th America 250 weekend - with John McPhee and Jason Redman. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Megyn Kelly brings you two of the most fascinating interviews from the Megyn Kelly Show archives in this Sunday "Double Feature" episode - with Amanda Knox and Jon-Benet's father John Ramsey. Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.