Podcasts about Fix

Professional tax evader, undocumented motorist, life-saving drug smuggler.#crypto #DanTaxationIsTheftBehrman #notax All Episodes can be found at www.thecryptopodcast.org Join my PodFather Podcasting SKOOL Grouphttps://www.skool.com/podfather/about All about Roy / Brain Gym & Virtual Assistants athttps://roycoughlan.com/ Brain Fitness SKOOL Group https://www.skool.com/brainfitness/about  Who is Dan Behrman If you want a guest who can blow up assumptions—about money, law, government, finance, and personal freedom—Dan Behrman brings the receipts.For more than two decades, Dan “Taxation Is Theft” Behrman has made a career out of exposing systems designed to keep people compliant, confused, and financially trapped. He's one of the few people in America who can say—credibly—that he hasn't paid income tax in over 10 years and hasn't held a driver's license in nearly 20… with zero legal consequences. Not because he's hiding, but because he understands the law better than the institutions enforcing it.Dan has beaten government agencies at their own game—from the IRS to the FEC—forcing them to back down when they overstep. He's also taken on major corporations and won. His work isn't theory. It's real-world rebellion backed by deep knowledge of how financial, legal, and political systems actually function—not how we're told they function.What we Discussed: 0:00 Intro and what happened my back02:24 How he realised the Goverment tax was fraud04:40 Fighting Traffic Tickets07:00 The System is designed to trick you of your rights10:00 De-Registering Your Car12:45 Getting a Fake Drivers Lisence14:35 Taking the Car because of No Insurance16:42 Your name is all Caps18:50 Locked out of his Crypto account without a Driving Lisence21:45 Trumps Tariffs War29:30 Insurance is a Gamble and Scam34:50 Insure Yourself to protect yourself36:00 Health Insurance was more expensive for the person covered37:45 Insurance company refusing to pay38:35 A Crypto Currency to Fix the Corrupt money system40:45 Monero is posing a theat to the system42:40 Bitcoin is Inflationary44:30 Finding better ways to get Crytpo Adoption46:35 Merc froze my Crypto account48:05 Anti Money laundering is about taxes52:30 Sending a Tax form to the IRS can be used against you55:25 The IRS would need to explain the tax code58:45 Not charging Sales Tax1:04:30 Once you pay tax the government does what they want1:06:55 You can get your taxes back within 1 year. How to Contact Dan Behrman https://taxationistheft.info/https://x.com/danfortexashttps://www.youtube.com/taxationisthefthttps://www.instagram.com/danbehrman/https://www.tiktok.com/@danbehrmanAll about Roy / Brain Gym & Virtual Assistants at ⁠https://roycoughlan.com/⁠  

Democrats have gone full mask off in Virginia. From bills that make it illegal to investigate fraud to letting violent criminals out of prison early, we've compiled a full list of everything they're doing. Most of this is going to shock you, but almost all of it could end up being their blueprint for power if they win in 2026 and 2028.SPONSOR: 1613 ConferenceJoin me at the 1613 Men's Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 17-18, 2026. Come be in community with men from all over the country for this powerful, life-giving opportunity. And, bring your sons too!Get more information and your tickets at: 1613MensConference.com-----GET YOUR MERCH HERE: https://shop.nickjfreitas.com/BECOME A MEMBER OF THE IC: https://NickJFreitas.comInstagram: www.instagram.com/nickjfreitas/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickFreitasVATwitter: https://twitter.com/NickJFreitasYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NickjfreitasTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nickfreitas3.000:00:00 Democrats Are Speed Running California in Virginia00:02:50 Every Insane Democrat Bill So Far00:04:22 Democrats Campaign One Way and Govern Another00:07:20 Making Fraud Legal in Virginia00:13:26 Taxpayer Funding Trans Surgeries00:23:53 Lower Penalties for Robbery00:27:16 Banning Hand Counted Ballots00:31:05 Somali Daycare Fraud is Coming to Virginia00:34:35 Explicit Discrimination against White Men in Government Contracting00:41:46 1613 Men's Conference00:43:17 What Else Are Democrats Doing?00:50:48 The War on Gun Rights00:59:30 We're at a Crossroads01:06:55 A Generational Strategy to Fix the State01:12:29 The Church is Our Only Hope

If you're trying to figure out how to stop tinnitus — that persistent ringing in your ears that interferes with sleep and focus — this episode is for you. Tinnitus affects over 10% of the U.S. population and is often misunderstood as a minor issue, when it can actually be an early warning sign of hearing loss, deeper nervous system imbalances, dementia as well as kidney and cardiovascular problems.My guest, Dr. Ben Thompson, AuD, is an audiologist and founder of Treble Health, a telehealth company specializing in tinnitus and hearing loss care. With a strong background in evidence-based therapies and a passion for education, Dr. Ben shares what really causes tinnitus, how it connects to brain health, and the proven strategies that can help you finally find relief.⭐️Mentioned in This Episode:- See all the references

Twenty years of gym ownership will teach you things no course ever could.Chris Cooper's gym, Catalyst, recently turned 20, and today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain's founder is sharing 22 lessons he's learned over the last two decades as a fitness entrepreneur. Chris reveals the early mistakes that nearly cost him everything and the systems that finally gave him stability and freedom. He also explains how mentorship and self-improvement helped him acquire critical skills and avoid expensive missteps.You'll find out why coaching skills rarely determine long-term gym success and what actually separates gym owners who survive from those who eventually burn out.Among Coop's top lessons: Fix yourself before fixing the business, consistency matters more than intensity, and gym owners aren't selling workouts—they're selling hope.Tune in for two decades of hard-won wisdom that could save you years of pain and tens of thousands of dollars.LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call1:04 - Pre-2005 to 200927:15 - 2010 to 201344:06 - 2014 to 201759:13 - 2018 to 20211:11:45 - 2022 to 2025

Joyce Vance hosts #SistersInLaw to explain the Insurrection Act in light of Trump's threat to invoke it, examining historical precedent, how the act differs from the powers granted under similar laws, the necessary conditions for its use, and ways to peacefully resist.  Then, the #Sisters review the validity of the administration's announcement of a criminal investigation targeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell for alleged false statements during a Senate hearing, and put it in the context of the wider war on independent agencies.  They also investigate the merits of the FBI's search of a WaPo journalist's home and sound the alarm over the erosion of press freedoms.   Start 2026 with style!  Get the brand new ReSIStance T-Shirt, Mini Tote, and other #SistersInLaw gear at politicon.com/merch! Additional #SistersInLaw ProjectsCheck out Jill's Politicon YouTube Show: Just The FactsCheck out Kim's Newsletter: The GavelJoyce's new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable, is now available, and for a limited time, you have the exclusive opportunity to order a signed copy here. Pre-order Barb's new book, The Fix. Her first book, Attack From Within, is now in paperback. Add the #Sisters & your other favorite Politicon podcast hosts on BlueskyGet your #SistersInLaw MERCH at politicon.com/merchWEBSITE & TRANSCRIPTEmail: SISTERSINLAW@POLITICON.COM or Thread to @sistersInLaw.podcastGet text updates from #SistersInLaw and Politicon. From the #SistersRobert Hubbell: Addressing Misconceptions About The Insurrection ActFrom JillSupport This Week's SponsorsWild Grain: Get $30 off your first box and free croissants for life when you start your subscription to delicious quick-bake artisanal pastries, pasta, and bread at wildgrain.com/sisters with promo code: SISTERSHoneyLove:Save 20% Off HoneyLove by going to honeylove.com/SISTERS! #honeylovepodSmalls: Smalls New Year's Special -  get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping, when you head to Smalls.com/SISTERSDeleteMe:Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/SISTERS and use promocode SISTERS at checkout.HexClad:Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at hexclad.com/SISTERS! #hexcladpartnerGet More From The #SistersInLawJoyce Vance: Bluesky | Twitter | University of Alabama Law | Civil Discourse Substack | MSNBC | Author of “Giving Up Is Unforgiveable”Jill Wine-Banks: Bluesky | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth & Justice Against A Criminal President | Just The Facts YouTubeKimberly Atkins Stohr: Bluesky | Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR | The Gavel Newsletter | Justice By Design PodcastBarb McQuade: barbaramcquade.com | Bluesky | Twitter | University of Michigan Law | Just Security | MSNBC | Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America

In part 4 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series, I'm joined by Shaun Sorensen, CEO and Co-Founder of Kenect. We dig into why the biggest untapped profit pool in dealerships isn't sales—it's service—and how AI agents are moving from “assistive tools” to full-on employees. Shaun breaks down inbound vs. outbound AI, the real risks dealers fear, and how data-driven personalization is already driving nine-figure service revenue results. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Merchant Advocate - Merchant Advocate saves businesses money on credit card fees WITHOUT switching processors. Find out how they can help your dealership with a FREE analysis. Click on @ http://merchantadvocate.com/cdg for more. 2. Ikon Technologies - Ikon Technologies delivers a connected vehicle program for dealers that maximizes Customer Lifetime Value by driving sales efficiency and securing non-cancellable PVR on your front end while delivering an average of 50 additional customer-pay ROs every single month for your service bays. At NADA 2026 in Las Vegas, visit Stand 1763 West to see the benefits for yourself and take your chance to roll the dice to win a Rolls Royce (terms and conditions apply; no purchase necessary). Plus, as an exclusive offer for listeners, mention “Car Dealership Guy” when you sign up at NADA to have your entire initial installation fee waived—book your demo today @ http://ikontechnologies.com/CDG 3. Kenect - The platform auto dealers are using to gather reviews, generate leads, and improve their online reputation, all powered by AI. – http://www.kenect.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership's social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics: 01:06 Why did Shaun shift from dealer to innovator? 02:10 What is the biggest AI challenge in dealerships? 03:24 How is service AI revolutionizing dealerships? 04:57 What has been AI's biggest impact so far? 08:00 What was the hardest part of AI adoption? 12:55 What are the broader AI trends to watch? 13:15 What is a key question from the group? 20:00 How can dealers start with AI today? 26:43 What are Shaun's final thoughts and personal insights? Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This is why selling Digital Products can be difficult in 2025...In today's video, we break down the ways that Digital Etsy sellers lose sales by making some common mistakes! Fix your Etsy shop with these Digital Products tips!

Wendy Snyder fills in for Lou Manfredini this week. Wendy is joined alongside Mega Pro Jeremy, CEO of Access Elevators Frank Wasilewski, Lindholm Roofing’s Assistant Manager Mike Huston and Owner of Baethke Plumbing John Baethke to help answer listener’s home improvement questions.

It regulates 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and its commissioner has an aggressive agenda — faster drug approvals, healthier food, cures for diabetes and cancer. How much can he deliver? (Part two of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”) SOURCES:Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. RESOURCES:"Clinical Trials Affected by Research Grant Terminations at the National Institutes of Health," by Vishal Patel, Michael Liu, and Anupam Jena (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2025)."What the evidence tells us about Tylenol, leucovorin, and autism," by Matthew Herper (STAT, 2025)."I Run the F.D.A. Pharma Ads Are Hurting Americans." by Marty Makary (New York Times, 2025).Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health, by Marty Makary (2024). EXTRAS:"Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025)."How to Fix the Hot Mess of U.S. Healthcare," by Freakonomics Radio (2021)."Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis," by Freakonomics Radio (2016). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Condemnation can quietly weigh down even the most faithful believers, especially when perfectionism and performance replace grace. Romans 8:1 offers freeing truth: for those in Christ Jesus, condemnation no longer exists because Jesus already carried the full weight of sin and shame on the cross. Highlights Perfectionism often disguises itself as faith but leads to exhaustion and emptiness. Guilt and shame push us away from God, while grace draws us closer. Self-condemnation is a burden Jesus never intended believers to carry. Romans 8:1 declares complete freedom from condemnation for those in Christ. Jesus paid the full debt for sin—nothing more is required from us. Our identity is found in Christ’s finished work, not our performance. Grace is a gift to rest in, not something to strive to maintain. Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: Carrying the Unnecessary Weight of Condemnation By: Emily Rose Massey Bible Reading: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV). For many years, I was driven by perfectionism and the feeling that I had to work successfully or perform well in life to be loved by other people… and to be loved by God. On the outside, I looked like I had it all together- high honors throughout school, hyper-involvement in extracurricular activities, serving in any ministry I was asked to be involved in, star of the high school plays and musicals, head cheerleader, first chair clarinet player in the band, and the list goes on and on. But on the inside, I was so empty and constantly searching for true fulfillment. I knew God was there for me, but somehow, I thought I could be perfect in my own strength on my walk with Him. Because we are human, we fail time and time again. We make a mess of things more often than not. Guilt and shame can often push us further away from God, instead of closer. For so long as a Christian, I was allowing self-condemnation to take root in my heart, and it weighed me down as I walked around carrying all of the baggage of my past sins and failures, thinking that I had to continue to strive to keep God’s forgiveness. Thankfully, today, I no longer live burdened by a work-based mentality. I find my identity in the finished work of Christ, and I want to encourage you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you should too. Grace is a gift that cannot be earned, and you do not have to strive to keep it either. In Romans 8:1, the Bible tells us that we do not have to carry condemnation in our lives when we’re truly in Christ. If you are a born-again believer, condemnation does not exist because the punishment for our failures and sins does not exist. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV). This means that when we embrace and believe what Jesus did for us on the cross, as He took the punishment for our sin that we deserved, our lives are now hidden in Christ. When we come to God with a heart full of repentance, resting in this glorious, finished work of the cross, we can stand before the throne of God without any shame because Jesus bore all of it for us. The debt we owed has been paid in full- we are free from all bondage. Intersecting Life & Faith: Jesus took all of your sin and your shame upon Himself and cast it as far as the east is from the west, friend. Do you struggle with thoughts of shame from your past? Fix your eyes on the finished work of the cross. Christ bore the weight of your sin; you no longer have to live with the weight of your failures. You can come boldly to the throne of grace, beloved, because it is grace that did the work for you. You can rest assured that God sees you as blameless and perfect because you are in Christ. There is no reason to carry that heavy burden of condemnation upon your shoulders… surrender it to Christ today. Let’s pray that you learn to no longer walk around carrying the weight of your past and stop striving for perfection. Remember, Jesus is blameless and perfect for you… lean upon Him. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this episode, Dr. Tony Ebel tackles one of the most common questions in his 20 years of practice: what to do about enlarged adenoids, tonsils, and chronic ear infections. He reveals the hidden root cause that most doctors overlook—the "plumbing problem" caused by subluxation and lack of movement in the neurospinal system. Dr. Tony explains why movement is essential for drainage and provides a balanced decision-making framework for parents, including when natural care is enough and when surgical intervention may be necessary as a last resort.----Links & ResourcesNEI supersystem episode [Apple/Spotify]Deep Dive Episode on PANDAS/PANS [Apple/Spotify]-----Key Topics & Timestamps05:00 The Hidden Root Cause: The Plumbing Problem07:00 Why Antibiotics & Ear Tubes Don't Fix the Root Issue10:00 Movement is Life: The Key to Drainage14:00 The Role of Diet, Inflammation & Mucus Production17:00 The Balanced Approach: Natural First, Medical as Last Resort18:00 Principle #24: The Limitations of Matter22:00 Age Matters: Younger Kids Have More Neuroplasticity'27:00 The Decision-Making Framework: Exhaust Natural Options First-- Follow us on Socials: Instagram: @pxdocs Facebook: Dr. Tony Ebel & The PX Docs Network Youtube: The PX Docs For more information, visit PXDocs.com to read informative articles about the power of Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care. Find a PX Doc Office near me: PX DOCS DirectoryTo watch Dr. Tony's 30 min Perfect Storm Webinar: Click Here

Lou Manfredini joins Jon Hansen, filling in for Lisa Dent, for Lou's To Do List, sponsored by Perma-Seal. Lou answers any questions you have about projects on your to-do lists.

In dieser Episode von selbst&frei teilt Leon Sandhowe, besser bekannt als Mr. Unreal, seine ungeschminkte Wahrheit über den Aufbau eines der erfolgreichsten Immobilien-Channels im deutschsprachigen Raum. Von null auf über 500.000 Abonnenten in nur drei Jahren – mit Videos, die regelmäßig mehr Aufrufe generieren als er Follower hat. Leon erklärt, wie er vom Steuerfachangestellten direkt in die Social-Media-Welt gesprungen ist, ohne Plan, aber mit absolutem Commitment. Er spricht offen über die Realität hinter den Kulissen: 120.000 bis 150.000 Kilometer im Jahr, 80 Städte, 100 Immobilien – und das alles mit einem kleinen Team, das mehr Familie als Firma ist. Besonders wertvoll: Seine ehrliche Reflexion über 2025 als das härteste Jahr. Während die ersten beiden Jahre alles viral ging, musste er sich dieses Jahr komplett neu erfinden. Run-Reels, POV-Videos, Vlogs – Leon testete fünf neue Formate, drei blieben hängen. Er erklärt, warum Abonnentenzahlen heute weniger wichtig sind als früher und wie er es schafft, pro Video durchschnittlich 500.000 bis 1 Million Aufrufe zu generieren. Seine Strategie: Nicht nur hochladen, sondern interessante Stories erzählen, die funktionieren – egal ob mit 75.000 Euro Kaufpreis oder Millionen-Immobilien. Leon spricht offen über sein Business-Modell: Von Honoraren pro Video über Provisionen bis hin zu sechsstelligen Deals, bei denen er heute noch Geld hinterherjagt. Die wichtigste Erkenntnis: "Probier dich aus, sei nicht zu schüchtern und vertrau auf dein Bauchgefühl." Leon erklärt, warum er jeden Morgen mit Bock aufsteht, obwohl er kaum Zeit für Familie hätte. Warum er sein erstes Fix & Flip-Projekt für unter 400.000 Euro verkaufen wird – und wie er durch Barter-Deals mit Küchen-Herstellern die Renovierungskosten auf 30.000 bis 40.000 Euro drückte. Er teilt seine härteste Lektion: "Umso mehr du mit der Lupe auf eine Person draufhältst, umso mehr verliert man den Heldenstatus." Deswegen hält er bewusst Distanz – aber genau das macht ihn authentisch. Ein radikales Plädoyer für Content, der Spaß macht, authentisch ist und einfach funktioniert – ohne Schablone, ohne Hokuspokus, nur mit Ausdauer und dem richtigen Riecher zur richtigen Zeit. Kapitel: (00:00:00) Intro: Von 0 auf 500K Abonnenten in 3 Jahren (00:05:30) Das Content-Modell: Wie Mr. Unreal Immobilien vermarktet (00:15:45) Die harte Realität: 80 Städte, 150.000 km pro Jahr (00:27:00) Social Media Strategie: Was ein virales Video wirklich ausmacht (00:34:30) Jahr 3: Die größte Herausforderung und Neuerfindung (00:45:00) Fix & Flip: Vom ersten Immobilienprojekt zur Skalierung (00:57:00) Die Business-Perspektive: Neue Einkommenskanäle und Skalierung (01:11:30) WTF-Momente: Nackte Eigentümer und Bedrohungen (01:12:51) Die wichtigste Lektion: Etwas finden, das dich erfüllt (01:17:30) Outro: Learnings und Ausblick auf 2026 selbst&frei wird im Auftrag von Vivid Money produziert – dem Geschäftskonto für Unternehmer.

In this week's Flagship Flashback episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast from five years ago (1-14-2021), PWTorch editor Wade Keller was joined by Todd Martin from the PWTorch VIP podcast “The Fix.” They discuss a wide range of topics beginning with Drew McIntyre announcing his COVID diagnosis, Chris Jericho and Nick Jackson also announce they had COVID, Shinsuke Nakamura in Smackdown's Gauntlet, and reviews of Raw, NXT, Smackdown, Dynamite, plus the latest from NJPW. Then an in-depth review of a new book pro wrestling at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles (“Legends and Icons: A History of Olympic Auditorium and Southern California Professional Wrestling”).Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-podcast--3076978/support.

In part 3 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series we break down why call handling is still broken, and how a new generation of agentic AI is changing the equation. Today, Sam sits down with Chris Murphy, General Manager of Volkswagen of Oakland and Monik Pamecha, CEO of Toma. We explore how forward-thinking dealers are reallocating human talent away from low-value phone work and back into high-impact, in-store customer interactions. The conversation also tackles a harder truth: as AI becomes a true operational layer, GMs are now managing AI agents the same way they manage people—training them, auditing performance, and holding them accountable. This episode is brought to you by: Toma - Toma builds AI agents that protect dealership revenue, retention, and reputation by automating communications and workflows with safeguards that protect the customer experience. If you're evaluating AI at NADA, see what thoughtful deployment actually looks like by pre-booking your demo at: http://toma.com/nada-2026 Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership's social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics: 02:41 What is the biggest challenge in call handling? 04:54 Why transition service advisors to AI? 08:17 How to implement Toma AI? 14:03 How does AI enhance the customer experience? 24:34 How does voice AI improve customer interaction? 27:11 What was the biggest AI integration challenge? 36:59 How can dealerships use AI for outbound communication? 41:11 What is the future of AI in dealerships? Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Why B2B Lead Qualification Fails and How to Fix It  Traffic is cheap, but qualified B2B sales conversions are not. Too many CMOs in the B2B space are watching brilliant creative go to waste at the top of the marketing funnel because what's passing through as a “qualified lead” often isn't really qualified. How can B2B marketers identify where the real lead qualification bottleneck is? Why is rethinking how MQLs are defined, scored, and routed one the most strategic fixes a CMO can make to improve pipeline performance? That's why we're talking to Gabe Lullo (CEO, Alleyoop), who shared some insights around why B2B lead qualification fails and how to fix it at the top of the funnel. During our discussion, Gabe challenged the common misconception that poor lead quality is the issue when sales aren't closing. Instead, he emphasized the importance of a clearly-defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), a strong product-market fit, and a well-mapped B2B sales journey. Gabe also stressed the need for A/B testing, identifying and resolving funnel bottlenecks, and using data-driven decision-making to improve lead conversion rates. He underscored the value of nurturing leads and cautioned B2B marketers against dismissing traditional marketing channels without rigorous testing. https://youtu.be/KXVmywNsfP0 Topics discussed in episode: [02:36] Why top-of-funnel lead qualification breaks down in B2B. [16:37] How to define and operationalize your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). [12:17] When MQLs hurt more than they help, and how to fix them. [26:14] How A/B testing and data-driven decisions improve lead conversion. [27:53] Why lead nurturing is critical to long sales cycles. [34:05] When to test (not abandon) traditional B2B marketing channels. Companies and links mentioned: Gabe Lullo on LinkedIn  Alleyoop  ZoomInfo  Salesloft  Adobe  Transcript SPEAKERS Gabe Lullo, Christian Klepp Gabe Lullo  00:00 So we’re doing top of funnel activities, and then we’re sending leads over. The sales team takes them, and then what we find, a lot, we hear this all the time, is leads aren’t closing. And what’s interesting is that it was never a lead problem. It was more of a, you know, seller problem. I don’t mean to put blame on it, but companies come to us saying, hey, my sellers are saying we don’t have enough leads, we don’t have better leads, we don’t have good leads, and they’re the ones complaining about the lead. So they come to us to fix the lead problem. We fix the lead problem, but it doesn’t fix the revenue problem. It’s still not closing. So what is it? Christian Klepp  00:30 Traffic is cheap, but conversion is not too many CMOs (Chief Marketing Officer) are watching brilliant, creative go to waste at the top of the funnel, because what’s passing through as qualified just isn’t so how can you identify where the real bottleneck is, and why is rethinking how MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) are defined and scored the single most strategic fix? A CMO can make welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers on the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Gabe Lullo, who will be answering these questions. He’s the CEO of Alleyoop, a sales development agency working with industry giants such as ZoomInfo, Salesloft and Adobe. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B Marketers Mission is, and off we go. Mr. Gabe Lullo, welcome to the show, sir. Gabe Lullo  01:17 Christian. Thank you so much. First off, I’m a huge fan of yours, so is my team, and we just appreciate all that you do for the industry. And I’m so excited to be here. Thanks for the invite. Christian Klepp  01:28 Wow, wow. Thank you. Thank you so much. Right off the gate with the praise, thank you, sir. Gabe Lullo  01:33 Well, you deserve it, man, you’re the best. What do you do. I love it. I love your show, and I love being a part of that. Christian Klepp  01:38 I appreciate that. I appreciate that. You know, we really had an awesome, like, pre-interview conversation. I’m gonna say, like, you know, talking about coming up to Toronto and Buffalo and what have you. And I’m really looking forward to this conversation, Gabe, because, man, you know, what? As much as some Marketers probably don’t want to hear this. It’s an, I think this is an absolutely necessary conversation to have. Right this topic that we’re going to talk about, and I will not keep the audience in suspense for too long. I’m just going to jump into the first question, if you don’t mind. Gabe Lullo  02:09 Yeah, no problem. Let’s get right into it. Christian Klepp  02:11 All right, so Gabe, you’re on a mission to provide the ultimate assist to your clients by setting them up for success. So for this conversation, let’s zero in on the following topic of how B2B Marketers can fix qualification at the top. So here comes the first question in our previous conversation. You talked about many marketing funnels being a leaky bucket. Can you please explain what you meant by that? Gabe Lullo  02:36 Yeah, I think companies right now are going to market in a very hodgepodge type of way, you know, ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), you know, we throw that terminal around a lot, and, you know, people think they know what it is, or feel like they have it drilled down, or feel like it’s completely locked, locked in. And then clients invite us in, and we realize it’s not the case, and it’s not just what the ideal client profile is, which, of course, is quintessential to going to market, and it’s really the first step to qualification, isn’t it, right? But on the other side of it, it is, you know, is there a product market fit? Is there a pricing that needs to be aligned? What’s the competitive landscape look like? So when we’re having live conversations, our sellers are making, you know, 11 million cold calls a year. That’s front of the line conversations, right? And we can hear, understand, and truly, you know, debrief with what each call is sounding like, so we can then narrow in what those qualifications should be. You know, a lot of you know, let’s say VPs of sales come into the sales development side of the house or the marketing side of the house, and they apply sales training methodologies to top of funnel qualifications, and it really gets broken as well. So there’s a lot to unpack, but I’ll give you an example. You know, band for instance, but you know budget authority needed timing. Like, is that really the right qualification at the top of the funnel, or does that really, you know, evolve the seller and the demo and the discovery call at that moment in time. So really understanding who’s in charge of that top of funnel and what their experience is also as a part of it, in my opinion. Christian Klepp  04:13 Absolutely, absolutely and you’re absolutely right. There’s so much to unpack here, but I have to ask just from your experience, and I know you have a lot, it seems like it’s just, there’s so many moving parts in this ecosystem, and a lot of like, well, what causes the leaky funnel? I’m gonna say is a lot of the things that you just mentioned, right? It’s a lack of understanding of who the actual ICP is. It’s probably also, especially the bigger the the organization gets sorry to everyone out there, but the lack of ownership and accountability, the lack of an actual strategy, like, where’s this all gonna go? Right? Gabe Lullo  04:54 Oh, it’s interesting. Yeah, I find this to be our except we so we’re doing top of the funnel activities, and we’re sending leads over, the sales team takes them, and then what we find, a lot, we hear this all the time, is leads aren’t closing. And what’s interesting is that it was never a lead problem. It was more of a seller problem. Now I don’t mean to put blame on it, but companies come to us saying, hey, my sellers are saying we don’t have enough leads, we don’t have better leads, we don’t have good leads, and they’re the ones complaining about the lead so they come to us to fix the lead problem. We fix the lead problem, but it doesn’t fix the revenue problem. It’s still not closing. So what is it? It’s the entire channel, right? It’s the entire sales journey, and we have to make sure that all of those things are working like an engine, right? All the cylinders are working at the same time in the same motion, to truly know what the problem may be. So that that’s really exposed a lot when we step in and start doing top of funnel activities, Christian Klepp  05:55 Absolutely, absolutely. And that segues into the next question, which I feel you’ve already answered to a certain extent. But where do you feel the true bottleneck lies, and that may be dependent on the company, right? Because each company maybe has a different set of challenges. And most importantly, okay, where does the bottleneck lie? And how do how can B2B Marketing teams help address the bottleneck and not be part of the bottleneck? Gabe Lullo  06:21 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s an eight step approach to sales. That’s what we call your sales journey, right? You have, obviously, you know, list building, and then we have, of course, outreach, we have qualification, we have discovery call, we have demo, we have, you know, closing or negotiating. We have client success. I mean, that’s the basic funnel, if you will. So is our, I should say, all of those things operating at the best of its ability. And what is broken, and it’s, it’s the old, you know, Henry Ford approach the assembly line. You know, there’s an assembly line and building a car, and there’s an assembly line in sales. And you have to know those steps, firstly, two, you have to know if those steps are working correctly, and figure out where that bottleneck is, and then, you know, take those blockers away so that those cars are flowing in and the production line doesn’t stop and we’re, you know, executing on the results that we need to serve our clients. Christian Klepp  07:16 100% agree. But now I’m gonna throw in another like wild card question, and I know you can handle it, right? When companies like yours come in to help organizations, right, there are times, even from my own experience, where the internal teams look at you and go, What are those guys doing here? Right? Like, is my job on the line. So they feel, they feel threatened, right by by somebody coming in and providing an external perspective. So I guess the question is, how do you deal with that kind of push back to help fix this leaky marketing funnel? Gabe Lullo  07:57 Yeah, it’s very important, right? Because a lot of companies come, you know, come in like us, and say, You know what, we’re going to come in here and try to solve the problem, or rip and replace or threaten the job. And it’s interesting, our point of contact, usually is the person who may be, you know, being fired because of our success. Well, we don’t want to approach it that way. So we set clear expectations that, hey, listen, we’re not here to rip and replace we are here to work as a parallel to what you’re existing doing, so we can A/B test and share best practices and be collective in those results. A lot of companies who have existing teams in place usually put us in scenarios where we’re bringing something new to market, or we’re reaching out to a market that is you know, you know, a new product line or a new segment, and we’re bringing that in. We do, however, see about a 20 to 30% increase in existing production when an outside partner comes in, because, again, we are sharing best practices. We’re all working together, but there is some pressure on the line when they see it. You know, another great player on the team playing ball. However, we did put a mechanism in place that really helps alleviate the fear, if you will, of that rip and replace scenario. Very unique thing to us, only a handful of companies I know about, of hundreds and if not thousands, that do what we do, do this. And here’s what it is, a lot of companies want to hire everything within and bring everything in house, in the sales development side within, because they graduate those people into account executives or closers or higher level performers or managers, so that graduation of career placement is there if you do it in house. So what we say is, you know what? You can have that great feeling of growing and building your team in house with us too. So all of our reps (representatives) who come work here, and all of our clients who enroll with us know that they can hire our reps and and bring them into their payroll and into their in house team with our help. So that’s a really good way of curving the fear, because they know, hey, this person who’s executing this outbound activity could be our next closer, and we can hire them to not take again, to not take away from what their current teams are doing, but to add to and grow that existing team they have. Christian Klepp  10:14 Absolutely, absolutely, and you know where I’m going with this, right? Because, like, you know, far too often, especially the higher ups that are not involved in the day to day, that are looking at this from the, I call it the Mount Olympus perspective, right, looking down at the land of the living, right? Like, why are you bringing in an external partner? Isn’t that your job to fix it? Right? But there are benefits to your point of, like, bringing in somebody that’s external, that’s not privy to, perhaps, some of the bias, some of the, certainly, the, certainly the organizational like dynamics and politics, which may, may be more detrimental than useful, right? Gabe Lullo  10:50 Yeah. I mean, we do punchy contracts, right? We have a six month minimum engagement. But so when we do that, you know, we’re saying, Hey, listen, we’re, we’re going to work with you for six months. We’re going to give it everything we got. And if it’s something you want to bring in-house from our team, great. If it’s you want to continue, great, or if you’ve learned a lot and you’re able to duplicate our efforts, also great too. So again, we’re not going in there saying, Oh, this is our world. Now. Get out of the way. Good luck, you know, and giving pink slips to people, it’s about really, again, how can we help? How can we assist? How can we hit this number? It’s not getting hit. There has to be reasons why. And let’s figure those numbers out, and let’s figure out the reasons why. And then, and then we move on, you know. So there’s short contracts, and then there’s very, very long contracts, you know, ZoomInfo has been a client off and on for the last decade. We’re doing a program right now where they just launched a lot of cool things, and we’re helping them so companies like that, size and stature, still come to outside help when necessary, when the timing is right and the fit is right. Christian Klepp  11:55 Amazing. Amazing. All right. Next question. So why do you believe rethinking how MQLs are defined and scored as the most strategic fix that a CMO can make, and what are some of these other key pitfalls that Marketers should avoid, and what should they be doing instead? I mean, let’s, let’s keep the conversation constructive here, right? Gabe Lullo  12:17 So defining and scoring MQLs is by far one of the first things, if not the most important thing, to start with, right? Because that is, again, the start of that assembly line. You know, garbage in, garbage out. And so if we’re not actually understanding why those MQLs are, the MQLs that we are saying they are, and what those triggering events are causing them to be considered. MQLs could truly dictate whether or not we’re receiving garbage into the funnel versus excellence and extraordinary leads and MQLs into the funnel. So again, it’s going back to that ICP, like we discussed earlier. It’s determining, okay, are these worthy and does it make sense to continue this, lead this MQL down the funnel, and will it produce results? Should it even be in the system at all? So knowing that up front, like I said earlier, it’s like the raw material. You know, if you have really bad raw material that you’re using to build your cars, you know, no matter how great it comes out at the other end, it’s not going to be a quality vehicle. So it’s that, it’s the raw material that we need to make sure that’s first and foremost, because it’s the start of the entire process. Christian Klepp  13:29 Yeah, yeah, no, that’s for sure. Because, you know, how many times have you heard that, right? Like the marketing team says, well, we’ve, we’ve got, we’ve generated the MQLs, we’ve passed them on to the sales team now, so we’re good, yeah, but that’s not where it stops, right? Like, so especially if the MQLs are, like, not qualified, right? Gabe Lullo  13:48 No, I couldn’t agree with you more. And again, having sales and marketing work synergistically in that determination is paramount. You know, so many companies, and it’s the old adage, and I think it’s almost a cliche now, because it’s been said so many times that you know, sales is throwing spears over the fence to marketing, and marketing is throwing another spear back to them, and they’re fighting back and forth over this wall. The deal is, you got to break down the wall and start having conversations. And again, sellers have to give feedback on why we’re seeing this to not be the right fit, and Marketers have to be curious and asking what those things may be happening on those conversations, so they can go find the MQLs that that is worthy. Christian Klepp  14:30 Absolutely, absolutely. And on that topic, what are some of these other pitfalls that marketers should be looking out for, and what should they be doing instead? Gabe Lullo  14:39 Yeah, I think what right now is that you have to really understand your channels. You know, a lot of Marketers right now are doubling down on things that may not be producing the results that they have been expecting. Maybe a year from now, two years from now, every company is different, every ICP is different, and every industry is different. I’ll give you an example. You know, if you’re reaching out to sellers and you know, red. Heads of revenue, you have to have a totally different approach than if you’re reaching out to VPs of technology and cyber security. Now that may sound basic, but if you were coming from a company and you’re in your head of marketing, and you’re coming from a company where your ICP and your persona is all tech based companies, or all tech based personas, and you go into a new industry or a new company, and you come with that lens. It’s not the right approach. You know, sellers like to pick up the phone. They think they’re customers. They use the phone all day long. They pick up the phone all the time. Maybe that’s the right channel, right? CTOs (Chief Technology Officers), CIOs (Chief Information Officers), CSOs (Chief Security Officers), they are not usually picking up the phone. Maybe they’re their channels significantly different, and so you have to realize, understand what your persona is, so you can do marketing activities towards that total addressable market that resonate and hit home and get their attention. And it could be just as much as where they live in regards to where, where do they associate with, what, what channel are they living on? Are they people that pick up the phone? Are they ones that live on LinkedIn? Are they ones that go to Instagram? Are they ones that go to conferences? Where is your audience? And know that first and then go talk to them? Christian Klepp  16:10 That’s definitely a great insight. You know it. I know it. The problem is that there’s so many teams out there that skip this part, right? Like that, like that. That detailed breakdown you just gave us about the different let’s call them like, the different personas, the different behaviors, the different channels, like, Why do you think a lot of teams out there skip this part? Is it because of the the time crunch, the pressure to deliver immediately is all of the above? Gabe Lullo  16:37 Yeah, I think, you know, there’s a lot of boardrooms out there. They come out with this unique product, and then with all they do is they do is they look at the TAM, what’s the total addressable market? But that’s like saying, I want to go catch a tuna fish. But you know, let’s just look at the entire ocean. Like, okay, we have to be more specific. Where do the tuna fish actually swim? Where part of Do they like warm water? Do they like the coast? Are they more towards New Zealand, or are they up towards the Massachusetts? So you have to know where your school of fish are. If you want to go fishing, you can’t just look at the entire ocean as the market. And I think narrowing it down to understand patterns and where people are so you can go talk to them is the right approach, versus this spray and pray mentality that I feel marketing has been living in for many, many years, and now it’s becoming more self evident because of AI, right? Because AI can tell us a lot of these things. AI can do a lot of analysis and research, and it’s giving us insights that we’ve never been able to really see before because of the speed and quickness of it. And so I think we are getting to a point, and I’m hopeful that we are more specific with our total addressable markets in new companies specifically that may not have the experience or the capacity like they used to. And I think it’s exciting. Christian Klepp  16:37 Oh Gabe, you just open the door to another question there. Man. Gabe Lullo  16:37 Like, start with an A. Christian Klepp  16:37 Yeah, it starts with an A. But, like, you know, since you brought it up, I’ve got to ask AI, right? Gabe Lullo  16:37 Yeah. Christian Klepp  16:37 And in terms of, like, helping to fix a leaky marketing funnel, how do you from your experience and your perspective, how do you think AI is helpful, and how is it harmful? Gabe Lullo  17:23 Sure. I mean double edged sword, right? We love AI. We accept it. We know it’s here. We’re not scared of it. We’re not running away from it, but we’re also not ripping and replacing things too abruptly with with the implementation of it, either. For instance, I’ll give you real examples. Are we telling AI to go make cold calls? Well, no, it’s illegal, technically. Secondly, are we using it, though, on the flip side, to train our reps on how to effectively handle great questions and objections through an AI sparring partner? Yeah, we are, and it’s amazing at it. So we actually have our reps when they’re brand new and onboarding or launching into a new campaign. We program the robot, the AI right to be able to have conversations in real life time with our reps, to literally spar with them. And it’s like practice. It’s a sparring partner before they go live onto a campaign, and it prepares them immensely before the live show, before they’re before they’re active, right on the campaign. So this is one way we’re doing it. Other ways, obviously email, messaging, obviously personalization, obviously research, you know, pre-call research, account research, determining who’s picking up the phone when they pick up the phone, how many times does it take to call them? You know, time zones? What’s the best time to call them? And it’s crazy what it could do, but it’s really, really helpful. But it’s not a crutch. It’s an assistant, and that’s how we’re approaching it. It’s not replacing human to human communication. If it was. Maybe you and I would just have our AI avatars do this podcast right instead of we’ll be on a beach somewhere, maybe we’ll be there in the future. I’m not predicting it, but I will say there’s a huge, significant role it plays right now, but it is not a role that’s, in my opinion, supposed to replace everything. It can replace a lot, but not everything. Christian Klepp  20:20 Absolutely. I mean, it certainly requires a lot of like, human intervention, right? And it’s and it’s constantly learning, and it’s learning quickly, which I think is to its benefit, to its detriment. And I think that’s, that’s your point as well. There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s AI generated that just looks off, starting with videos even, even like in I don’t know if you’ve dabbled with Google notebook, right? It can, it can take all that content and turn it into an audio file. And it’s scary. How real it sounds. Gabe Lullo  20:54 It is pretty scary. And I have seen tools like that. I love there’s one right now, where it’s actually tracking not even what someone is saying, but how they’re saying it. So tonality, right is a huge piece of communication, as we know, and so it’s literally listening to calls and sales calls, and not just again, we’ve seen it before, like, you know, Gong and others, where it’s telling, hey, maybe say this. Don’t say that, but it’s also giving that score of how they’re delivering that message, which, in my world, is huge because, you know, I could read a script, or I can, you know, have an amazing performance, and that’s how we approach, you know, the way we communicate on a phone call. So that is why we’re so excited. Because there’s new tools coming out all the time that are really, really impactful, for sure. Christian Klepp  21:42 Absolutely, absolutely. So you’ve touched on this a little bit like in the past couple of minutes, but explain how market research and strategy help to develop a solid marketing funnel, not a leaky one. Gabe Lullo  21:55 Yeah. I mean, I think it’s your playbook, right? You know, you have to have a built out playbook, and it’s your guide. And it’s not just important to go to market with a playbook, but it’s also going to market to scale, right? You know, once you get it to work, the ever everything after that is, how do we duplicate and how do we scale? So the playbook is that design is the architecture behind your strategy. So when we do start pouring fuel on the fire and we’re adding people, we’re adding leads, we’re adding workflows, we’re adding everything outside of that, we still go back to the playbook. It’s like the Constitution, right? Everything based off that in our country. I know we’re in different ones, but my point is is, is you have a framework, right, that we go off of and that playbook is so vital to our importance of market research gives us a great understanding of where that playbook is built and how it’s designed and how it’s architected, and that’s how we that’s how we do it here. Christian Klepp  22:55 And even how the playbook can be iterated, right? Because let’s not forget that it’s not written in stone. Gabe Lullo  23:01 Evolving. Yeah, absolutely. I do want to warn people, though, evolve with time. Be patient, right? You know, marketing, sales, development, it’s not a light switch. Yeah, I always say it’s like boiling water, right? So a watch pot technically does boil. It’s just painful to watch. So, but the point is, is that you have to give it enough time to see if that playbook is yielding results. What you don’t want to do is change the play, you know, too many times in the middle of the game, because then you look confused and confused. People do nothing, right? So, yes, is it evolving? Does it pivot? Does it grow? Do you do you change things up, of course. But also you want to do it in a tactful timeline to make sure that it is truly a working playbook or not. Christian Klepp  23:47 Absolutely, absolutely. And you brought something up, and I have to ask this, this next question, it’s… We know, from a marketing point of view, that rolling out these initiatives and seeing the results takes time, yeah, but we’ve had, I’ve certainly had this experience in B2B, that there are people, again, at the top, that don’t have oversight into the day to day, and probably also don’t understand quite how the process works, that don’t have that patience, right, that are telling you, like, hurry up and deliver like, we want results right now. So what do you say to those, I guess the people that are doubting that this initiative needs more time than they think it does. Gabe Lullo  24:30 Yeah. I mean, I think looking at benchmarks and case studies and past results is very important, like I said, Back to the boiling of water. You can show a thermometer as well, like you can see, is it working well? You can put a thermometer in a boiling pot of water and watch the temperature go up, right? And it gives you a clear indication and forecast, if you will, that you’re going to achieve boiling point eventually. It’s not just again, you put the water in and then. And you all of a sudden, measure boiling. You have to measure along the way, and that’s we want to do. So what the ways we do it specifically is, if we’re working on a campaign that is almost a look alike campaign to another company, maybe it’s in the same industry, same ICP, you know, same your size, same scope, we can look at that historical result and say, Hey, by the way, if we do these, these, these and these, you’re going to we’re going to expect boiling point at this time based on a company that’s very similar to yours. Now, is it identical? No, maybe that company has really bad sellers we talked about. Maybe that company doesn’t really care about content and they’re just missing the boat there. Maybe they have a crappy website, like, I don’t, there’s different levers that could, you know, alter the recipe, but we can absolutely make highly educated guesses, as opposed to just trying to wing it or give false expectations. Christian Klepp  25:54 Yeah, yeah, no, that’s absolutely right, all right. I mean, you’ve given us a lot of, like, recommendations, a lot of actionable tips. So walk us through, and I know it varies from company to company and case by case, but walk us through the process of how you actually fix a leaky marketing funnel. Like, what are the steps? What are those key components that absolutely have to be in that process? Gabe Lullo  26:14 Yeah, you have to, you know, inspect what you expect. You have to understand what your messaging is, and you have to A/B test it all the time. I A/B test everything, whether it’s data vendors, whether it’s email messaging, whether it’s LinkedIn content, what you have, obviously mechanisms, depending on what tech you’re working with, what vendors you’re working with, or your history or historical results are to give you grades and scores and A/B testing everything. So if you have, you know campaigns that are running that are successful, you should be able to know how to measure that. That’s what’s so important. So you have to have inspect, inspection tools in place across everything you’re doing on those campaigns to tell you, Hey, this is broken, this is leaky. This isn’t working. Or on the flip side, this is crushing right now. This is totally resonating right now, and we’re loving these, seeing these numbers, and then pour fuel on that fire and focus on that and remove the other ones, and still A/B test, because you always want to keep getting better. So A/B test everything, define the leaks, and then try to fix those leaks as fast as possible. Christian Klepp  27:23 Fantastic, fantastic. And because we’re talking about marketing funnels, I mean, like, I can’t help myself but ask you, okay, but what about metrics? Because that’s something that people want to see, right? But I’m not talking about like, let’s, let’s come up with this like, laundry list of like metrics, and you go down this deep rabbit hole. Like, what are the metrics that you would say, or you would advise B2B Marketers to look at to say, like, okay, we’re trying to fix the leaky marketing funnel here, and these metrics will help you to indicate that there is progress. Gabe Lullo  27:53 Yeah. I mean, it’s harder now than ever before to metric things out, and it’s because of tech that’s kind of getting in the way. You know, for instance, in an email campaign, there’s been some rules and regulations in the last recent years that prevents us from seeing whether or not there’s clicks and opens that are happening on email campaigns. I’ve actually removed many of those triggers completely away from our campaigns, because it’s preventing deliverability, and it’s preventing our ability to keep domains healthy. So there are a lot of moving parts right now that’s happening because of these AI filtration tools. I just heard Google just released that it’s going to now put disclaimers and emails saying that this was written by AI. And so there’s it’s ever involving so depending on I guess when your listeners are hearing this, it may be completely different in a year, but I will tell you that there are definitely things that we need to metric and we need to have KPIs for. But I think the priority of what we used to measure two, three years ago, is significantly different than what we measure today, because of those rules and regulations. So if we’re talking about emails, I want to know what we’re sending, who we’re sending it to, who obviously is responding. What are those responses look like? Is it turning to an actual lead? Are we turning on warm leads, or are we just looking at set meetings? You know, it’s interesting, right? There is only about 2 to 3% of the market ever wants to truly buy, and they’re in buying mode, and I think a lot of companies are just looking for those people, and about 20% of the market is actually interested in buying and we turn that entire segment off. It’s about 10 times more people. But if we can warm the nurture them correctly, and message them correctly, that’s where the rubber meets the road, and that’s where your gold is. I like to analogize everything. So, yeah, when you have a green apple, right? What do you do with the green apple? You put it on the window sill, and then the sun on the windowsill warms it up. Now, that doesn’t mean you just throw out the apple. That means you have a lot of opportunity. You just have. To nurture, and you be patient. And you have to know that timing is everything in business. So if you’re just looking for the red apples, you’re only gonna get 3% if you’re looking for green apples that turn into red apples, now you’re getting 25% so focus on the 25, be patient. Fix those leaky buckets, of course. A/B test, and then then you measure. Christian Klepp  30:20 Yeah or you get yourself an apple orchard. You mentioned one keyword there, nurture, right? I think that’s the one that’ll I see a lot of, like people in sales and even in marketing, right? They just don’t take that time to nurture those leads. They close in. I keep saying they close in for the kill too fast, right? Gabe Lullo  30:44 Yeah. I mean, go back to that food analogy, that the fruit analogy, again. Christian Klepp  30:49 Sure. Gabe Lullo  30:49 I’m on a roll with that. Christian Klepp  30:50 Please. Gabe Lullo  30:50 It’s the low hanging fruit cliche, right? Christian Klepp  30:52 Yes. Gabe Lullo  30:52 Everyone focuses on the low hanging fruit. They’re not focusing on what else is part of that harvest. They’re not focusing on the nurturing. They’re not focused on watering. They’re not focusing on circling back, following up, checking in, providing value in those checks. Not just say, Hey, I’m following up, no, provide value in those seconds, right? And that’s again, that’s where you see excellence happen, you know? And there’s a lot of young, and I don’t mean to be age, but like tenure, people that are experienced, that are in these experience roles right now, and I feel that they’re just trying to get that quick answer and that quick response. And we’re in this like dopamine, like, you know, hit like social media environment right now. Not to go off topic, but I think people are not again, they’re in this microwave society, and they don’t understand the value of nurturing. And if you do and you treat that part seriously, wow, it usually is a windfall at that time. Christian Klepp  31:47 Absolutely, absolutely. It’s an art, a skill, a craft, isn’t it? Right? All of you love, okay, my friend, we come to the point in the conversation where we’re talking about actionable tips, and Gabe, you’ve given us plenty, all right, but just think of this kind of like a recap. If there was somebody listening to this conversation that you and I are having, and you want them to walk away with three to five things that they that they can take action on right now, when it comes to fixing a leaky marketing funnel, what would they be? Gabe Lullo  32:17 Well, I think the best thing is you have to really decide if you have the right people in place, right, and are they? And it doesn’t mean that they are the ones that are going to bring it home. It doesn’t mean that they’re they don’t need support and training and love, like, do they have the commitment? Do they have good experience? Are they willing to roll up their sleeves and get get a little dirty, and if you feel like you have a great team in place of people that are ready to get to work and solve some problems. I think that is literally step one. Step two is, do we have the messaging in the mark, in the ICP nailed down? We really need to know that, because, again, there’s no point of building a campaign if you don’t know who you’re sending it to. And then, thirdly, you really have to make sure that you’re willing to A/B test. It’s hard enough to build a campaign, but it’s much more difficult to build two or three campaigns. Run three campaigns, right as opposed to one, and score each of them to determine what’s working, what’s effective, and what’s not, and then you pivot based on those results. So I think finding a great team is basic and fundamental. Finding a great ice or determining a great ICP is before you build the messaging and then measure the message across multiple campaigns, and then you should be on your way Christian Klepp  33:29 And test, test, test, everything, right? Gabe Lullo  33:34 Yes, it’s great. It could be working. It’s exciting, but maybe there’s a significantly more effective way of doing it, even though it’s still working, and let the data make those decisions for you and drive everything based off data driven decisions, and that’s how you should be operating. Christian Klepp  33:51 Absolutely, absolutely. All right. Here comes the soapbox question, a status quo in your area of expertise that you passionately disagree with and why? Gabe Lullo  34:05 Yeah, I think the big thing right now, and I have to just kind of talk about my space, because you said in my industries, like, there’s a lot of, you know, people out there soapboxing, to be exact, on things that are dead or not. And I will tell you that, you know, cold calling is dead, emailing is dead. You know, LinkedIn is dead, or all of these things and and when you peel back the onion, you notice that those individuals who are saying that users are trying to sell a book or something, and nothing against selling books, but it sounds like there’s a personal agenda and not actual operational intelligence that is dictating what they’re saying. So to your point about testing everything, don’t assume something is not going to work just because someone said it on the internet. Test it and then decide if it’s going to work. And it may surprise you in a big, big way. Christian Klepp  34:56 I truly believe that, man, I truly believe that. I mean to your point. About, like, email being dead. I mean, I did close one client who was a guest on the show, and it took me a year to close, but I closed it through email. Gabe Lullo  35:09 Yeah. Christian Klepp  35:11 Right. And it’s to your point, it’s sending, sending that person articles that were relevant to that person’s industry and saying, like, Hey, I read this the other day, what are your thoughts on this? And here’s my take. What do you think? Gabe Lullo  35:24 That is the best way to do an email, right? You know, we do a lot of content and on social media, we do a lot of podcasting, posts on LinkedIn, but that’s all great, but where the rubber meets the road is you take that post and you send it in an email or a direct message and say, Hey, listen. This made me think of our last conversation, and I really liked the way that this person mentioned this. Do you think you know that there is, is the timing right here to reopen this conversation, and you feel like the problem is still existing in your world, and love to see if we can solve it for you, that type of content, that type of message, that type of verbiage at the right time in a nurture campaign like we discussed, close one business, right? That’s how it works. Christian Klepp  36:08 Absolutely, absolutely okay. Here comes the bonus question, and for those of you that are listening to the audio version, Gabe’s got two guitars right behind him, so I’m just gonna go on a hunch here that he likes playing guitar, right? So the question is, if you had the opportunity to, like, go on a tour with your favorite guitarist/musician, who would it be, and where would you go? Gabe Lullo  36:36 Wow, I love this question. I do play the guitar. I’m a bet big avid music player. Love Rock as well, but all genres, I will say, in real life, we just actually my family, my wife and daughter and I went to go see Oasis reunion tour, which was in Toronto, actually, out of all places. Christian Klepp  36:53 That’s right, you mentioned it. Gabe Lullo  36:54 Yeah, we went to see that. It was epic. Obviously, the brothers have been apart for many years. A lot of drama there. But yeah, you know, I’m old enough to remember their original songs, so it was cool to reminisce and introduce my daughter to that music, which was pretty cool. We’re gonna go see Paul McCartney in a few weeks. He’s on tour now and never seen him or I’m a big fan of The Beatles, and I think that would be really exciting to tour with him, obviously. And I think those are definitely both of those right there kind of sum up the type of music that I resonate with. Christian Klepp  37:26 Amazing, amazing. I just remember, like, this is, this is a couple of years ago. I think he’s already passed away, but Compay Segundo. Gabe Lullo  37:33 Oh yeah. Christian Klepp  37:34 Buena Vista Social Club. And the guy was in his 90s, and they were, they had a concert, and they they brought him up in stage in his wheelchair, helped him get up, get out of that wheelchair, and they gave him that guitar, and off he went, Man, like, Gabe Lullo  37:48 Yeah, yeah, that’s amazing, man, that’s amazing. Christian Klepp  37:53 Gabe, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you so much for coming on and for sharing your experience and expertise with the listeners. So please quick intro to yourself and how folks out there can get in touch with you. Gabe Lullo  38:03 Yeah, LinkedIn is the best way to connect with me directly. I post twice a day, every day. We’re very bullish with our content. There’s a lot of free material there. We have a newsletter, so please take a look at that, and if you like what you see, and he heard today, you know, reach out, and I’ll definitely be responsive. And you know, anyone who is looking or struggling with the after-sales motion, which are after marketing motion, that sales development function, that’s where we play, and we’d love to look at what you’re looking for and see how we can help. Christian Klepp  38:33 Sounds good. Gabe, once again, thank you so much for your time. Take care, stay safe and talk to you soon. Gabe Lullo  38:38 Thanks, Christian. Christian Klepp  38:39 All right. Bye for now.

“Fix it, change it, stop it, solve it” is a phrase I use often in my coaching. When you say it out loud, it captures that feeling we have as parents when our kids behave in a way that leaves us feeling overwhelmed, angry or worried. In this episode,you'll learn:How to view your kid's big feelings as an opportunity instead of a threatThe question to ask yourself as you move your child through their dayHow to validate feelings in the midst of out-of-bounds behavior5 ways to help your kid manage their big feelings What I hope you take away from this episode is it's actually good for kids to feel upset and have you be okay with their feelings. You do not need to fix your kid's feelings. You only need to acknowledge them.----------------------------------------"Fix it, change it, stop it, solve it" is an emotional and physical response to what our kids are doing, and our brain jumps in and tries to fix, change, stop or solve the situation. Your Kid's Big FeelingsThe most common time I see parents experience this reaction is during a Big Feeling Cycle. When your kid has big feelings, they might express them in ways that are overwhelming to you. The tendency is often to try to shut down their behavior. But because that behavior is a reaction to how they're feeling, we end up shutting down their feelings, too.The problem with jumping in to fix/change/stop/solve is that you miss an opportunity to connect with your kids and to help them connect with themselves and learn how to process their own negative emotion. What “Fix it, change it, stop it, solve it” Looks LikeHere are some things I see parents do when they don't like the way their child is expressing their emotion. Minimizing. When our kids are upset, we want to say, “Oh honey, it's not that big of a deal. It'll work out.” This sounds like a nice thing to say, but your child is left feeling like you don't understand. It feels like a really big deal to them. We want to validate the emotion and acknowledge the intensity of their feelings instead of minimizing it. Comparing. This looks like, “This sort of thing happens all the time,” or, “Other kids don't complain about this,” or “This wasn't a big deal to your brother.” It happens when you think their feelings aren't warranted or justified. We're trying to get them to think and feel differently but, again, we're doing it by shutting down their feelings. Ignoring. There might be times when you need to take a break to calm yourself before dealing with a situation. Ignoring is different. This is another way of shutting your kid down, and it makes them feel unheard, unfelt, unseen and unvaluable. Your child might think, “Mom only wants to talk to me when I'm happy.”Talking about their feelings is how they'll learn to deal with them. Weaponizing gratitude. Gratitude is an incredible emotion. I love it. Weaponizing gratitude is when we use it to bypass negative emotion. You cannot get rid of sadness by thinking grateful thoughts. We have to feel the sadness (or anger or worry) and acknowledge it before we allow the brain to find another perspective. Indulging. Sometimes, you might try to change the circumstance to make your kid feel better. Maybe you tell them they can skip practice or promise to go get ice cream afterwards. Instead of letting them feel upset, indulging tries to give them a positive feeling so they forget about the uncomfortable feeling. Logic-ing. This looks like...

Hour 3 of Jeremy and Joe included... The Fix! The guys picked NFL and CFB playoff games against the spread Overreacting to NFL overreactions Should the Astros trade Paredes to Boston? PLUS, the Junkie of the Day!

Brandon Elliott is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and credit expert whose journey is a powerful testament to perseverance, faith, and resilience. After surviving a life-altering explosion that burned 40% of his body and facing house arrest, Brandon chose a new path—one rooted in purpose and growth. Starting from the bottom, he worked multiple jobs while educating himself relentlessly through books, podcasts, seminars, and hands-on experience. In 2015, Brandon purchased his first rental property, and within a year he scaled to 10 income-producing properties—allowing him to quit his jobs and achieve financial freedom. Credit was the tool that made it possible. Today, Brandon is the founder of Credit Counsel Elite, a community-driven education platform helping others leverage credit to access six figures in funding, build wealth, and create generational freedom. His story has earned recognition, including being featured in Yahoo Finance's Top 100. During the show we discuss: The personal turning point that led from rock bottom to building Credit Counsel Elite Why credit—not cash—is one of the fastest and most overlooked paths to wealth creation How Credit Counsel Elite differs from traditional credit repair companies A breakdown of the 4-step system: Educate, Fix, Build, and Leverage How fixing credit errors and building strong profiles improves approval odds for high-limit, low-interest funding How members access six figures in funding at 0% interest through strategic credit stacking Why education, systems, and community are essential for creating generational wealth Resources: https://creditcounselelite.com/ https://cceevents.live/Bootcamp 

Lou Manfredini, A.K.A. Mr. Fix-It is back with valuable advice for homeowners, special guests, information on new products, and more!

Why Are Water Testing Methods Dangerously Outdated - And What's the Fix?Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io

Data centers are still the headline, but the real pinch points are power and real estate. Emily Flippen is joined by Motley Fool analysts Anders Bylund and Dan Caplinger to map the data center buildout, the risks of “overbuild,” and where investors can look for exposure without paying bubble prices. Companies discussed: MSFT, AMZN, NEE, GOOGL, HPE, AAON, STRL, DLR, FIX, EME, AMT, EQIX, IRM, STN, SBGSY Host: Emily Flippen, Dan Caplinger, Anders Bylund Producer: Anand Chokkavelu Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We're committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What We Learned Without a Game In the offseason life comes at you fast. The Detroit Lions are sitting on a 9-8 season and a clear mandate. Fix the roster. Get better. Get back to the postseason in 2026. The belief remains that Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have earned the benefit of the doubt after four straight winning years. The NFL does not wait. Results matter now. Grey underscores the league's ruthless pace. Look around at Pete Carroll, Jonathan Gannon, Brian Daboll, Raheem Morris, Brian Callahan, Kevin Stefanski, Mike McDonald, and John Harbaugh. Tenures shift. Reputations shift. If the Lions miss the mark this offseason, the heat rises. Campbell and Holmes get the one-year reprieve to steer this roster. If the step forward does not happen, that seat gets hot in a hurry. Extra Time and the Staff Fix Exiting early stings, but the calendar helps. No playoff prep means time and attention can move to the coaching staff. The recent past showed how that can slip. John Morton arrived and then exited. Now the Lions need an offensive coordinator, with other staff decisions on deck. January without game plans opens hours for interviews, evaluation, and structure. This is where detail matters. Identify the offensive identity. Match it with the next play caller. Build the room the right way. The roster has talent. The Lions must align scheme and staff to it. The extra weeks should sharpen choices and shorten mistakes. That is the kind of edge this organization needs to reclaim momentum in the NFL. Across Lake Michigan: Ben's Bears Change the Math Ben might be a problem. He is winning playoff games with the Chicago Bears. He is teaching a young roster how to close even when the stat sheet says otherwise. Turnovers keep showing up. Point differential keeps getting defied. The Packers went down in flames, followed by that overdone WrestleMania handshake. It was funny. It was also a warning. There is a reality check built in. The Bears still have the NFC West gauntlet ahead. A sophomore slump can happen. Luck on turnovers can flip. But for a first season with a young quarterback who needed psychological repair, this is real progress. It changes the neighborhood. The Lions cannot count on drift in the division to help. They have to set the pace. Draft Wish List, Early and Different The draft talk has started. The show teased an early wish list. It is different than most, and it is early by design. The Lions need targeted pieces, not noise. The approach reflects the offseason theme. Clear eyes. Tight priorities. No wasted motion. Detroit has the time right now. Use it, and 2026 remains in play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRExA5Bann4 #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #nfl #dancampbell #bradholmes #offensivecoordinator #johnmorton #hotseat #postseasonin2026 #chicagobears #turnovers #pointdifferential #nfcwest #greenbaypackers #mikemcdonald #johnharbaugh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm joined by Andrew Spitzer, COO of Spitzer Autoworld. Spitzer breaks down how his fourth-generation family business doubled its footprint to 26 rooftops while maintaining radical showroom etiquette. He reveals why he bans AirPods on the floor, how a chance encounter with Henry Ford shaped the group's legacy, and the specific ways they use AI to scale high-touch customer service. We also explore the group's "Elite 8" meritocracy and why service retention is now the primary driver of their long-term growth strategy. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Merchant Advocate - Merchant Advocate saves businesses money on credit card fees WITHOUT switching processors. Find out how they can help your dealership with a FREE analysis. Click on @ http://merchantadvocate.com/cdg for more. 2. Impel - Meet the AI Operating System built for a new era of automotive retailing. From CRM to service bay, from website to DMS, it unifies and orchestrates every part of your dealership operations—and your customer lifecycle. Visit @ http://impel.ai and and discover how Impel AI turns routine interactions into VIP experiences. 3. Nomad Content Studio - Most dealers still fumble social—posting dry inventory pics or handing it off without a plan. Meanwhile, the store down the street is racking up millions of views and selling / buying cars using video. That's where Nomad Content Studio comes in. We train your own videographer, direct what to shoot, and handle strategy, to posting, to feedback. Want in with the team behind George Saliba, EV Auto, and top auto groups? Book a call @ ⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership's social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics: 00:39 What is modern showroom etiquette and technology? 03:12 What is the history of Spitzer Auto World? 06:40 What are Spitzer Auto World's core marketing and branding strategies? 08:21 How does Spitzer Auto World engage via social media? 13:23 What drives Spitzer Auto World's acquisition and growth strategy? 19:46 How do cultural touches enhance customer experience? 27:32 How does a centralized BDC and meritocracy work? 30:07 How is AI used in sales and service? 36:26 What is Spitzer Auto World's service retention and VIP program? Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

  Building a design business doesn't happen by accident. In this episode, Melissa Fields shares what it really looked like behind the scenes — undercharging, no process, imposter syndrome, and learning the hard way that being busy doesn't equal being profitable. From $100 consults to hiring her first employee and stepping fully into the CEO role, this conversation is honest, grounding, and incredibly encouraging for any designer in the "figuring it out" phase. IN THIS EPISODE: How Melissa transitioned from a 20-year military career into interior design Why she started in home staging — and how she knew it wasn't the right fit The reality of building a portfolio when you don't have clients or capital How imposter syndrome shows up through undercharging and overworking Why "being busy" doesn't always mean being profitable The importance of developing a clear process and pricing structure What finally pushed Melissa to invest in business coaching How confidence grows when your skills, systems, and self-trust align This conversation is for designers who know they're talented but feel stuck — overwhelmed, underpaid, and unsure of how to turn their passion into a sustainable business. Melissa's story is such a powerful reminder that confidence doesn't come before action — it's built through it. If you've ever questioned your worth, your pricing, or whether you "belong" in this industry, this episode will meet you right where you are.   Melissa Fields is the CEO and Principal Designer of Shades of Gray Design Studio, a boutique interior design firm in San Antonio, Texas. After a 20-year career as an officer in the United States Air Force, Melissa followed her passion for design and built a thriving studio known for its elevated client experience, meticulous attention to detail, and deeply personalized approach to whole-home transformations.   Today, Melissa specializes in designing modern, livable, luxury spaces for established homeowners and empty-nesters who want to invest in high-quality, long-term design. Her unique combination of leadership, discipline, and creativity has allowed her to scale her business intentionally while maintaining a high-end, service-driven process.   Melissa is passionate about empowering other designers—whether they're just starting out or well established—to embrace their strengths, trust their creative instincts, and build businesses that reflect their own values. She believes great design changes how people live, and that a strong, well-run design business is just as important as a beautiful final reveal.   Fix the Leaks: The Hidden Places Your Business Is Quietly Losing Time & Money https://www.addevent.com/event/qjrn64tbm77l   How to Price Your Design Services with Confidence https://thedesignbakehouse.com/pricing-workshop   RESOURCES:   INTERIOR DESIGN BUSINESS BAKERY - Our year-long mentorship and coaching program: https://thedesignbakehouse.com/interior-design-business-bakery   SIMPLIFY YOUR MARKETING, SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE. All-in-one software that organizes sales, marketing, and business services all in one convenient location. https://mysidemark.com/   MARKETING MEMBERSHIP - Join our hands on marketing & visibility program, no contract, only $59/month. https://thedesignbakehouse.com/lead-lab   Stay in touch with Michelle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedesignbakehouse/   Join our Free Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/idbizlaunchpad    Get clarity on your next best step today! https://www.designedforthecreativemind.com/reviewguide   Have ideas or suggestions or want to be considered as a guest on the show? Contact me! https://www.DesignedForTheCreativeMind.com/contact

If you've ever felt like your team is running on duct tape and good intentions, you're not alone. In this Building Better Developers interview, Michael Toguchi (Chief Strategy Officer at eResources) makes a simple point that changes how you approach growth: process before tools. Before you buy another platform, automate another workflow, or roll out a new system, you need clarity on how the work actually gets done—and who it's meant to serve. You can't tool your way out of chaos. The real fix starts upstream—before the migration, before the CRM, before the next sprint. It starts with people, leadership, and making the work visible enough to improve it. Process before tools isn't a slogan—it's the difference between scaling sustainably and scaling stress. If you want, I can also tighten the second sentence to include the phrase again without sounding repetitive, but this version should clear the Yoast check immediately. About Michael Toguchi Michael Toguchi is the Chief Strategy Officer at eResources, where he helps lead a platform that manages complex workflows for scholarships, grants, admissions, and accessibility services. With 25+ years supporting universities, nonprofits, and foundations through digital transformation, Michael focuses on making systems simpler, sustainable, and human-centered—so teams can scale without burnout and spend more time on mission-driven work. Process Before Tools: Why "Survival Mode" Becomes the Default Michael describes a pattern that mission-driven organizations (and plenty of startups) fall into: survival mode. Everyone is moving fast, reacting to urgent needs, and doing what it takes to keep the wheels turning. The downside is that the process gets postponed indefinitely. The team says things like: "We'll document it later." "We'll clean it up after this deadline." "We just need something that works." And it does work… until it doesn't. When the organization grows, the cracks grow with it: inconsistent outcomes, tribal knowledge, bottlenecks, and the quiet creep of burnout. Process Before Tools: Start Small, Make It Digestible One of the strongest points Michael makes is that meaningful change rarely comes from a dramatic, top-down overhaul. The most sustainable improvements begin with small, digestible steps. Instead of trying to "fix everything," identify a single pain point the team feels every week: A handoff that always breaks A recurring rework loop A reporting task that eats hours A workflow that depends on one person's memory Then improve that one piece, measure it, and repeat. Sustainable change isn't a magic wand. It's a series of small wins that teams can actually absorb. Process Before Tools: You Need Leadership Alignment (Not Just Agreement) A lot of teams confuse "buy-in" with "approval." Leadership might approve a new system or initiative, but that's not the same as aligning on why it matters, what success looks like, and what tradeoffs are acceptable. Michael emphasizes clarity: What problem are we solving? Who owns the workflow? What will we stop doing to make room for the change? How will we know it's working? Without alignment, the organization drifts into mixed expectations—some people expect speed, others expect compliance, others expect perfect reporting. The result is frustration on all sides. Process Before Tools: Win With People, Not Platforms Michael's most practical warning is also the simplest: don't make it about tools. Tools can amplify a good process, but they can't create it. If you automate a messy workflow, you don't get a better workflow—you get a faster mess. The winning strategy is human-first: build champions inside the team communicate the vision in plain language reduce fear by making the change incremental keep feedback loops tight When teams feel heard, they participate. When they participate, the workflow becomes real. And once the workflow is real, the tool decision becomes obvious. Tools don't transform organizations—people do. Process Before Tools: A Practical Takeaway You Can Use This Week Here's a simple way to apply Part 1 immediately: Pick one workflow everyone complains about. Write down the steps as they happen today (no judgment). Identify one "failure point" (handoff, duplicate entry, unclear ownership). Fix only that this week. Tell the team what changed and why. That's how you move from survival mode to sustainable growth—without waiting for a budget cycle or a platform replacement. Closing Thoughts This interview is a reminder that building better systems is really about building better teams. Before you chase the next tool, tighten the workflow. Before you automate, clarify. Before you scale, align. In Part 2, we'll go deeper into workflow transparency, tool sprawl, measurable efficiency, and what happens when AI compresses time and challenges the way we price work. Stay Connected: Join the Developreneur Community We invite you to join our community and share your coding journey with us. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting, there's always room to learn and grow together. Contact us at info@develpreneur.com with your questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes. Together, let's continue exploring the exciting world of software development. Additional Resources Individuals and Interactions Over Processes And Tools The Science Of Processes – Interview With Samuel Drauschak Automating Your Processes Building Better Foundations Podcast Videos – With Bonus Content

Start Healing Your Attachment Style With Personalized Courses Taught by Thais Gibson. Free for 7 Days (Enough Time to Complete a Full Course). Limited-time Offer: https://attachment.personaldevelopmentschool.com/dream-life?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=7-day-trial&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=pod-01-12-26&el=podcast When a fearful avoidant shuts down, it can feel final, like the door is completely closed. But there are specific moments when a fearful avoidant becomes open to repair, reconnection, and real change. And understanding what actually moves the needle can save you from chasing, over-functioning, or abandoning yourself in the process.

If you live with migraines, overwhelm often becomes part of the pain. Not just the headaches, but the constant pressure to do more.  Change your diet. Fix your hormones. Heal your gut. Balance your nervous system. And somehow do it all while you're already exhausted.  In this episode, I'm  answering one of the most common  and most honest questions women ask: "If I can only do ONE thing right now to help my migraines, what should it be?" This conversation is for the woman who doesn't have the energy for a perfect plan. The woman who isn't lazy or failing - just depleted. And who needs relief that feels supportive without adding overwhelm to her already-full plate. I'm breaking down why there is no single "magic first step" for migraines, how chronic inflammation shows up differently for every woman, and what actually helps you move forward when your body feels like it's working against you. This episode is a reminder that healing starts with doing one right thing for your body. In This Episode, You'll Hear: Why there is no universal "first step" for migraine relief How chronic inflammation drives migraines - and why it looks different for every woman The six migraine inducers and why your unique combination matters Why Google searches, supplements, and generic advice often fail long-term Simple, nervous-system-soothing steps that help calm inflammation when you're exhausted How small relief can create the momentum your body needs Why guessing keeps you stuck - and how data-based guidance changes everything Resources & Links

Lou Manfredini joins Jon Hansen, filling in for Lisa Dent, for Lou's To Do List, sponsored by Perma-Seal. Lou answers any questions you have about projects on your to-do lists.

The great Mr. Fix-It, Lou Manfredini, joins John Williams to tell us the projects we need to be working on this week. Lou, once again, explains what you need to know about recycling single use batteries. Lou also says there is still some household cleanup that you can take advantage of before it gets really cold again. Listen […]

Dealing with Depression: Finding Hope and Victory in the God of All Comfort    Depression is a profound heaviness of soul that the Scriptures describe with raw honesty. The Bible does not employ our modern clinical term, but it portrays the experience vividly: the spirit overwhelmed, the heart cast down, the bones troubled, the soul in despair, even the wish that life would end. Yet the same Word that records this darkness repeatedly declares that God draws near to the brokenhearted, that He is the lifter of the head, that His comfort abounds in affliction, and that joy comes in the morning. Throughout Scripture we see God's choicest servants pass through seasons of deep discouragement. Their stories are recorded not to magnify their weakness but to display God's faithfulness in the lowest places. By examining these lives, and by listening carefully to the voice of God in His Word, we discover divine principles for enduring and overcoming depression from a thoroughly biblical standpoint. I. Elijah: Despair After Victory The prophet Elijah stands as one of the clearest examples. In 1 Kings 18 he experienced one of the greatest public triumphs in redemptive history—fire falling from heaven on Mount Carmel, the prophets of Baal defeated, the people confessing that the Lord is God, and rain ending a three-and-a-half-year drought. Yet in chapter 19, a single threat from Jezebel sends him fleeing in fear and exhaustion. Hear the Word of the Lord in 1 Kings 19:3-4 (KJV): “And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Elijah, the man who had just called down fire, now prays for death. He feels his labor has been in vain, that he is no better than his fathers, that everything is “enough.” This is the language of depression: exhaustion, hopelessness, isolation, and suicidal ideation. But observe God's tender response. Verses 5-8: “And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” God does not begin with rebuke. He begins with physical care—sleep, food, water—twice. The angel acknowledges the reality of Elijah's limitation: “the journey is too great for thee.” God remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). When Elijah reaches Horeb, he repeats his complaint in verses 9-10: “And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Depression distorts perspective. Elijah believes he is utterly alone. God gently corrects him in verse 18: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” Then God gives Elijah new work and a successor. God meets Elijah in his depression with physical provision, truthful perspective, renewed purpose, and the quiet whisper of His presence (verses 11-13). II. Job: Prolonged Suffering and Overwhelming Grief Few stories portray sustained depression more graphically than Job's. A righteous man suddenly stripped of wealth, children, and health, Job sits in ashes, scraping his sores, wishing he had never been born. Job 3:1-3, 11-13, 20-26 (KJV): “After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived… Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest… Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble cometh.” Job's anguish is physical, emotional, and spiritual. He cannot eat without sighing; anxiety and dread consume him. His friends' misguided counsel only deepens the wound. Yet through forty-two chapters God allows Job to pour out every complaint. God does not silence him. Finally, in chapters 38–41, the Lord speaks—not with easy answers, but with a revelation of His sovereign wisdom and power. Job's response in 42:5-6: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Seeing God afresh brings repentance, humility, and eventual restoration. Job's depression lifts not when circumstances immediately improve, but when he encounters the majesty and goodness of God in a deeper way. III. David: The Psalms of the Cast-Down Soul No biblical figure gives us more transparent language for depression than David. The Psalms are filled with his cries from the depths. Psalm 42:1-11 (KJV): “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Notice David's pattern: honest lament (“my tears have been my meat,” “all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me”), self-exhortation (“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? … hope thou in God”), remembrance of God's past faithfulness, and confident expectation of future praise. Psalm 43 continues the same theme, ending with the identical refrain. Psalm 77 shows Asaph following the same path—remembering God's mighty deeds until hope revives. Psalm 88 is perhaps the darkest psalm, ending without explicit resolution on earth, yet still addressed to “LORD God of my salvation.” Even unresolved sorrow is brought to God. IV. Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet Jeremiah's ministry spanned decades of rejection and judgment upon Judah. He is called “the weeping prophet” for good reason. Lamentations 3:1-20 (selected verses, KJV): “I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light… He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer… He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood… And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.” Jeremiah feels God has become his enemy, that prayer is blocked, that hope has perished. Yet in the very center of Lamentations comes one of the most hope-filled passages in Scripture, verses 21-26: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” Jeremiah preaches to himself the truth of God's character. Remembering God's steadfast love and faithfulness becomes the turning point. V. Other Examples: Moses, Hannah, Jonah, Paul Moses, burdened with leading a complaining people, cries in Numbers 11:11-15 (KJV): “And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? … I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.” God responds by sharing the burden with seventy elders and providing meat—practical help and companionship. Hannah, barren and provoked, is “in bitterness of soul” (1 Samuel 1:10). She pours out her soul before the Lord, and though her circumstances do not change immediately, “her countenance was no more sad” (1:18) after entrusting her grief to God. Jonah, angry at God's mercy to Nineveh, prays in Jonah 4:3 (KJV): “Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” God patiently teaches him through a plant, a worm, and a wind. Even the apostle Paul knew despair. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (KJV): “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” Paul's despair drove him deeper into dependence upon the God who raises the dead. VI. The Lord Jesus: Sorrow Without Sin Our Savior Himself entered into sorrow. In Gethsemane, Matthew 26:38 (KJV): “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” He sweat as it were great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Yet He submitted: “not my will, but thine, be done.” Hebrews 5:7 speaks of His “strong crying and tears.” Christ identifies with our weakness and intercedes for us as One touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). VII. God's Promises of Comfort and Deliverance The Scriptures abound with assurances: Psalm 34:17-19 (KJV): “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” Isaiah 41:10 (KJV): “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (KJV): “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Psalm 30:5 (KJV): “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” VIII. How Believers Today Can Deal with Depression and Gain Victory from a Biblical Standpoint The examples and promises above yield clear, scriptural pathways for fighting depression today: Bring every feeling honestly before God. The Psalms model unfiltered lament. Do not hide your despair; pour it out. God invites it and can handle it. Preach truth to yourself. Like David and Jeremiah, recall God's character, past faithfulness, and unchanging promises. Speak Scripture aloud when feelings contradict truth. Care for the body God gave you. Elijah's story reminds us that exhaustion, hunger, and isolation exacerbate depression. Sleep, nourishment, exercise, and medical care when needed are acts of stewardship, not lack of faith. Seek godly community. Elijah felt alone, but was not. Isolation feeds depression; fellowship counters it. Confess faults, bear burdens, receive prayer (James 5:16; Galatians 6:2). Fix your eyes on Christ. He endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). Our light affliction works an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). The gospel assures us that nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:38-39). Wait upon the Lord with hope. Seasons of darkness do not last forever. “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Victory is not always immediate deliverance from the feeling of depression, but it is certain triumph through union with Christ. Even if the night lingers, the Morning Star has risen in our hearts (2 Peter 1:19). One day He will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Until then, we walk by faith, anchored in the God who has never forsaken His own. The same God who sustained Elijah under the juniper tree, lifted Job from the ash heap, turned David's mourning into dancing, and carried Jeremiah through the furnace is your God. He is faithful. Hope in Him, and you shall yet praise Him, who is the health of your countenance and your God.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr hosts #SistersInLaw to mourn the killing of Renée Good by an ICE agent, weigh its legal implications, explain the jurisdictional challenges playing out between the state of Minnesota and the federal government, and share the ways they find hope amid tragedy.  Then, the #Sisters discuss the legality of the Trump administration's takeover of Venezuela and kidnapping of its President, looking at the future of their oil industry, charges against Maduro in NY, and what it all means for international law and foreign relations.  They also review the legal arguments in the upcoming SCOTUS case centered on transgender athletes and the decision's implications.Start 2026 with style!  Get the brand new ReSIStance T-Shirt, Mini Tote, and other #SistersInLaw gear at politicon.com/merch! Additional #SistersInLaw ProjectsCheck out Jill's Politicon YouTube Show: Just The FactsCheck out Kim's Newsletter: The GavelJoyce's new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable, is now available, and for a limited time, you have the exclusive opportunity to order a signed copy here. Pre-order Barb's new book, The Fix. Her first book, Attack From Within, is now in paperback. Add the #Sisters & your other favorite Politicon podcast hosts on BlueskyGet your #SistersInLaw MERCH at politicon.com/merchWEBSITE & TRANSCRIPTEmail: SISTERSINLAW@POLITICON.COM or Thread to @sistersInLaw.podcastGet text updates from #SistersInLaw and Politicon. From the #SistersOn Joyce's Substack - Jack Smith's Video Testimony & TranscriptChief Justice Roberts' Year-End ReportSupport This Week's SponsorsQuince:Upgrade your winter wardrobe and get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns when you go to quince.com/sisters. Now available in Canada!Factor Meals:Enjoy quick and delicious meals from FactorMeals.com/sil50off and use code sil50off to get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 Year.Osea Malibu: Get 10% off your first order of clean beauty products from OSEA Malibu when you go to oseamalibu.com and use promo code: SISTERS10Blueland:For 15% off your order of green cleaning products, go to blueland.com/sistersHelix:Find your perfect mattress with Helix's incredible Best of Web New Year Sale, exclusive to listeners of the show!  Get 27% off sitewide at helixsleep.com/sisters!Get More From The #SistersInLawJoyce Vance: Bluesky | Twitter | University of Alabama Law | Civil Discourse Substack | MSNBC | Author of “Giving Up Is Unforgiveable”Jill Wine-Banks: Bluesky | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth & Justice Against A Criminal President | Just The Facts YouTubeKimberly Atkins Stohr: Bluesky | Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR | The Gavel Newsletter | Justice By Design PodcastBarb McQuade: barbaramcquade.com | Bluesky | Twitter | University of Michigan Law | Just Security | MSNBC | Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America

This week's New to Lou Too feature is the BakerScraper by NexTrend! A 5-in-1 flexible kitchen tool that works as a scraper, spatula, baker’s knife, ruler, and herb stripper! For more info, visit the YouTube HouseSmarts Channel.

Hour 2 of Jeremy and Joe included... What Houston sports related issue are you willing to sacrifice for a Texans Super Bowl run? Mailbag Monday...on a Friday, all of your questions answered! The Fix! The guys pick games against the spread for the college football and NFL playoffs

We all want to stay sharp, and forestall the cognitive effects of aging. But do brain supplements actually work? Are they safe? And why doesn't the F.D.A. even know what's in them? (Part one of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”) SOURCES:Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.Peter Attia, physician, author, and host of The Peter Attia Drive.Pieter Cohen, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance. RESOURCES:"Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead," by Paris Martineau (Consumer Reports, 2025)."Accuracy of Labeling of Galantamine Generic Drugs and Dietary Supplements," by Pieter Cohen, Bram Jacobs, Koenraad Van Hoorde, and Céline Vanhee (JAMA, 2024).Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health, by Marty Makary (2024).Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, by Petter Attia (2023)."Revealing the hidden dangers of dietary supplements," by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel (Science, 2015). EXTRAS:"China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers." by Freakonomics Radio (2025)."How to Fix the Hot Mess of U.S. Healthcare," by Freakonomics Radio (2021). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode Summary This week on Live Like the World is Dying, we have a re-air of the first episode of Live Like the World is Dying, an interview with Kitty Stryker about Anarchist Prepping. Kitty Stryker can be found on twitter at @kittystryker and at http://kittystryker.com/ Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter at @magpiekilljoy and at http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/ Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness and Blue Sky @tangledwilderness.bsky.social You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness Transcript The following transcript was provided by a comrade who wants to help us make this show more accessible: S01E01 Kitty Stryker on Anarchist Prepping Live Like The World Is Dying #0:00:00.0# (Introductory music) #0:00:15.1# Margaret Killjoy: Hello and welcome to Live Like The World Is Dying; a podcast that explores life when it feels like the end times. I say "when it feels like the end times", and I'm gonna get into this more throughout various episodes of the podcast, because of course, the world is always ending. It's always changing the status quo. Always shakes and changes, collapses, rebuilds, all of these things. So sometimes people roll their eyes when you talk about the world ending. And sometimes that makes sense, the world has ended in a lot of different ways. But... It sure feels like the world is ending right now to me and to... Maybe to you and maybe it will, maybe it won't. Obviously what it means for the world to end is a subjective thing. But it's a... It's a stress factor to say the least, on a lot of people's lives right now. Thinking about climate change and thinking about the... The rise of global fascism. So this is a podcast that's gonna explore... Well, how we can live while we feel like the world is dying. For myself and for this podcast I've found that I focus on four different priorities. I focus on living like the world is going to end and that I might not survive, living like the world is going to end and I can try to survive, living like we can prevent the end of the world, and of course, living like maybe the world isn't ending after all. So basically hedonism, prepping, revolution, and not burning all your bridges because... Who knows, the status quo might linger on after all. With this podcast I'm probably going to focus on the middle two of these priorities. I'm gonna focus on prepping and revolution. And I'm going to do that because... Well, I've always sort of wanted there to be more information and more... More going on about anarchist and leftist prepping. Because most of the prepping world is of course steeped in... Not just like right-wing politics, but also right-wing values and individualistic values and of course as an anarchist I believe in the balance between the individual and the community and because of that I don't believe in individualistic survival. I don't believe that the bunker mentality, which we're going to talk a lot of shit on in this podcast over the next couple episodes, is appropriate to most... To most threat models. So I'll be your host, but for the most part I'm going to interview people who know a lot more about a lot of this stuff than me. As for me, I am a prepper I suppose on some level. I keep a small stockpile food. Dried food in 5 gallon buckets in case there's an interruption in... Well, food supplies. I make sure I know where water filtration is. I also keep a to-go bag and... At my house. And I keep another one in my car that's much smaller. Neither of these are a particularly elaborate. They're... They're fairly simple things I put together. And that's... That's more for my own mental welfare than it is like any immediate expectation of crisis. And I also... I live off grid. Which is not something that I'm gonna specifically advocate that anyone else do. I actually live off grid because it just sort of meets my needs here and now in terms of how I like to live. I live about half an hour away from a small city in a cabin I built myself in the woods because I like doing that. I like living that way. I'm an anarchist and that's going to certainly bleed over into the content of this show. I believe in a world without course of hierarchies like the state or capitalism or white supremacy or heteronormativity or... Or any of the intersecting oppressions and hierarchies that rule the world that shouldn't. And so of course, a lot of my... I tell you this because I want you to know my biases because I want you to come to your own conclusions. I have a bias against state and federal aid. I tend to find it to be wildly inefficient. I'm far more interested in creating a society based on mutual aid. And so... And I find agency to be wildly important. I find it very important for us to encourage each other to have agency and so I'm interested in disaster relief or crisis preparation or whatever, that maximizes individual agency, that maximize community agency and... Yeah, that's what's interesting to me so that's what I'm going to be focusing on more. This first episode, our guest is Kitty Stryker who I can let introduce herself. Thanks so much for listening. #0:05:01.9# (Musical transition) #0:05:06.5# Margaret: So today our guest is Kitty Stryker. Well actually, do you want to introduce yourself with your name and pronouns and kind of any political or organizational affiliation you feel like shouting out. #0:05:21.4# Kitty Stryker: Sure. I'm Kitty Stryker, I use she/her pronouns. I'm a... I identify myself as a leftist doomsday prepper. But I'm more of a like... Emergency prepper, street medic. I work with Struggle Of Circus, which is a of bunches of leftists and other sort of radical political groups and a bunch of juggalos coming together to help out at protests and usually do medic related stuff but also be kind of a meat wall around marginalized communities. I identify as an anarchist and... Yeah, I guess I just found it really interesting that when I was looking for communities of leftist to talk to about prepping, there wasn't anything there. #0:06:15.5# Margaret: Yeah that was... I think we ended up kind of finding each other through a similar... I don't actually remember how we first ended up talking about it. Maybe you do. But we've been, for anyone who's listening, Kitty and I have been talking vaguely about how we needed to do something about this... This lack of... #0:06:34.2# Kitty: Lack of information, yeah. #0:06:35.9# Margaret: Yeah. Because so much of the information that's out there about prepping is not really applicable, well, to anyone realistically. But certainly not necessarily applicable to people whose ideology isn't "fuck you, I've got mine", you know? So... #0:06:53.5# Kitty: Right and I think... And it could be actively hostile in forums and stuff. Like places that you wanna go to ask for information and ask for advice become really hostile when people are talking about how much they want to kill antifa or of like... "I can't wait til the race war". It's not really a very comfortable place to ask questions about fortifications. #0:07:19.5# Margaret: Yeah. That makes sense. So why don't we start by kind of talking about the general conception of preparedness and kind of what is leftist or anarchist prepping or preparedness. As... At least as you can conceive it. #0:07:37.7# Kitty: Sure, well, so for me I grew up with parents who are sort of like... Suburban homesteader types, with a mixture of prepping. But are also hoarders so while they have everything you would need in an apocalypse you also wouldn't necessarily be able to find it. So I kinda grew up with the hoarding tendency that they think comes with a lot of prepping. You wanna have lots of things that seemed very important. But also this desire to try to make it organized and make it easily accessible. I realized fairly quickly that while I'm more of a stay-in-place kind of prepper and sort of emergency preparedness person, I also will potentially need to be able to put what I need a backpack and carry it with me. At least for a mile or two depending on the emergency and if I have so much stuff that I can't practically do that without a car, it's not really going to be that useful. I live in earthquake country so I just have to anticipate the roads are going to be kind of a mess. So that was sort of where I came from, was this not very political, camping and also very pagan, getting in touch with earth kind of thing. Like my parents beehives that drives all of their neighbors off the wall. They hate it. #0:09:12.7# Margaret: That's interesting. I've only a couple times been around this, yeah, suburban homesteading idea where you have access to a little bit of land. Not necessarily so much privacy, not so much... Place where you can keep your bees. #0:09:24.5# Kitty: Nope, no privacy. Everyone in my neighborhood is like, "That's the witch house. You can tell because there's thirteen sacred trees in the front lawn. And her dad goes outside and scythes the lawn." #0:09:38.1# Margaret: Wow. #0:09:39.7# Kitty: I don't think he's actually even done that in years so I think it's just an overgrown tangle at this point. #0:09:45.9# Margaret: Well that's even more fun. #0:09:46.7# Kitty: But we have like... We have a pond in there. There's a little herb garden, a veggie garden. We have a crow feeder. It's... It's elaborate. #0:09:56.8# Margaret: I'm imagining this on like a quarter acre, half acre. Is that..? #0:10:00.5# Kitty: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. With manicured lawns right next to us on either side. #0:10:08.5# Margaret: Well, that's a... #0:10:09.1# Kitty: Really... That's where I was raised. I think that explains a lot. #0:10:13.7# Margaret: Okay. It's an interesting metaphor for being the one person who's... You know, either prepping or being a hoarder. #0:10:22.4# Kitty: I've been the one person for a while. Yeah. But I think that that's in such staunch contrast to doomsday preppers which is what most people think of when they think of prepping. They think of like, "Oh, that's those rednecks in the middle of the really rural areas with their bunker and their nine million guns and their giant water containers." And they're, you know, being completely convinced that there's going to a nuclear war or there's going to be... I don't know. What are some of the other disasters that they're always prepared for? Well, I mean like, definitely race wars. Definitely one of the things. #0:11:09.1# Margaret: Yeah, I mean and that's kind of the... I feel like that's the tell between whether you're talking to a racist prepper or a... Well, obviously if someone's talking about a race war they're clearly racist. But... You know, there's a tell of whether or not they're obsessed with like the... The boogaloo or if they're obsessed with... You know, the possibility of invasion or... System collapse in general. #0:11:32.3# Kitty: Right, right. And like what system collapse looks like. Like what are they actually afraid of, I think is very telling. A lot of times you'll see people say, "Oh, I'm afraid that people are going to come and murder my family for my resources because my resources are so awesome that everyone for miles around is going want to come and murder me." Which, first of all, if that was true I would not be saying it on the internet. That just seems like a bad idea. That's... My boyfriend and I watch doomsday preppers and talk about how we would raid their bunkers because they show us everything. And that just seems very shortsighted, if that is indeed what you are worried about. #0:12:22.2# Margaret: Right, as compared to just kind of showing off and being excited about... Like kind of nerding out about gear... #0:12:27.6# Kitty: I think it's like... Yeah, it's like nerding out and they think it's more of a threat than it is. I don't know. I think... I think it speaks to a desire for conflict that I don't personally have. I don't want to have to use my apartment complex to snipe people. I just don't want to do that. I just wanna be able to grow a garden using a discarded... Shoe organizer from the broken down Ross down the street. That's my type of prepping, rather than preparing for endless violence. #0:13:10.4# Margaret: Yeah, there's kind of a... I feel like one of the main myths or concepts that I'm trying to get across with this podcast... Not a myth I'm trying to get across this, prove that something is a myth, is the bunker mentality is the "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, that is so common in prepping circles and it's... It's really off-putting because... I mean, even... Even from a pure self-interest point of view it just seems so dumb. So you hole up with your five closest friends in the middle of the woods during the apocalypse, and that's like all fine and good until your appendix bursts and you forget that you're not a surgeon and that your brother isn't a surgeon, you know? And... #0:13:56.0# Kitty: Well you just need more useful friends. #0:13:57.9# Margaret: Well, sure but... #0:13:58.7# Kitty: That's what I did. #0:13:59.2# Margaret: But what if you are the surgeon, right? And then your appendix bursts. #0:14:02.4# Kitty: Well, yeah. Then... Yeah. Then... Then... Well, then you just die. I mean, that's the thing. I think that they... They're so afraid of violence coming from other people that they don't... A, think of the violence that could happen amongst themselves which is kind of inevitable if you're locked in a bunker together. And there's... Especially if there's power dynamics in place and stress, then I feel like there's gonna be some abusive dynamics that come out of that. So if you're not prepared for that, it doesn't really matter how good your resources are. And there's... So that's just even within your unit, and then never mind if you're then expanding out to like... Do you know how to do literally everything in the world? Because you're probably going to help. It's the same as the idea about currency. Everyone's so keen on like... Oh yeah, make sure that you have currency. Make sure you silver buried in your yard. Like... What are you going to do with that, really? Like... I mean... It's cool, I guess. But unless you're going to use that as a brick... I don't understand. #0:15:12.3# Margaret: Well I guess it gets into... In some ways, I think the apocalypse... People who think too much about the apocalypse, whether on they're on the left or on the right, or just bored centrists or moderates or whatever, I think that people are thinking about and imagining clean slates and imagining about how they would like to act and what kind of societies they would like to create, what kind of dynamics they'd like to create. So it's really easy for someone who, say of a libertarian mindset, to be like "Well, of course gold is what matters because we're all going to trade resources. There's definitely going to be market economics after the apocalypse because we're going to institute market... Economics. And then maybe like... Those of us that are like, "Wow, the market's a dumb thing and isn't really particularly interesting to me at all." Like, yeah I have a really hard time imagining that I'm going to be doing much... Even bartering after the apocalypse. Like, I'm... I'm either like rolling with people and sharing shit or I'm keeping shit to myself but like... I'm not gonna be like, "Well, these three bullets are worth that tourniquet," or whatever, you know? At least that's my conception of it. That's when... When I like to imagine the end of the world, which is not actually something I like imagining anymore, but I'm imagining something that is closer to the ideological interest that I have. Which is maybe a fault of mine, maybe that's a blind spot of mine. #0:16:39.5# Kitty: Well, I don't think that's... I don't think it's necessarily a fault. I mean, like one thing that I think when... You know, I have a group friends that we talk about this stuff a lot amongst ourselves. Especially because we're within bicycling distance from each other, so we're sort of like, "Okay, if there is an emergency, we're pretty sure that we could get to each other." But we all have... Slightly different ideas of what we would like to see happen which means we also have a different... Like different ideals and different areas of expertise. And I think that that is actually super helpful. I don't know that I would want to be in a group that everybody thinks the same way, as long as you think cooperatively versus competitively. And for me that's what's important. I don't really care how we get to cooperative instead of competitive, but that's what I want. #0:17:33.5# Margaret: Yeah, that makes sense. So, look, I want to talk more about... Okay, one of the things I really like about prepping in general is that it can be very practical. It's not, it's... Obviously a lot of it is not practical at all. But like... But to take this conversation practically for a minute... Like, what you do... Not necessarily... Both in terms of things that you keep around, but also what are your plans? You talked about bicycling to meet up with your friends. What is... What kind of preparedness do you personally practice? #0:18:05.4# Kitty: So my boyfriend and I talk a lot about what our plans are. Pretty much every three months or so. And we're mostly... And ust to give some context, we're mostly prepping for an earthquake, for a big earthquake, because that's the most likely thing to happen here. I guess there's some possibilities that will end up having a bunch of neo-nazis coming and terrorizing us but I think they've gotten tired of Berkeley and have moved to Portland instead so... We're probably fine for now. So we talk a little bit about what are the risks that are current, what are the resources that are currently around? Maybe... We've been talking about creating a map, like actually getting a map and write, marking down important things that we might want to know where they are when you don't have Google Maps for example. So stuff like that is really important. Like the sort of... Preparing... For immediate needs and also for where you are going to be able to get resources. What area is around that could conceivably be turned into a garden if need be. Which we're actually lucky, we have a park really close by. And we also make a point to know our neighbors. Both our housed and houseless neighbors. So having good relationships with them is really helpful and like giving them ideas of how to be prepared so that we're not overwhelming ourselves trying to take care of them as well as ourselves. So you're trying to match up add the younger folks with older folks or able-bodied folks with people with disabilities so that way there's... It's easier for people to mobilize and so that we know who in our area is going to need help. So that's some of the community planning stuff that's not even focused on my group of hyper-focused friends but just making my environment less chaotic. And so that's sort of like... And again, like a garden, it takes some pruning and some cultivating and a little bit of upkeep but I feel reasonably confident that my neighbors are going to be able to handle themselves. Which is my first big concern because then I can start worrying about things like, what do I personally actually need? One thing that is kind of difficult, I live in an apartment and we don't have a huge amount of space. So I can't have buckets and buckets of freeze-dried food. We do tend to have a lot of canned food, we do tend to have a lot of nuts and dried fruit and stuff like that around so that helps a little bit. It makes it easier for us to find stuff in rubble that we can eat. We also have a... A dresser that we put our prepper stuff in and it's sorted with medic supplies in the first two drawers because that's sort of my specialty... That's my area focus. And then we have sort of more general supplies, so that's where we have LifeStraws and we have bandanas and we have masks for filtering out smoke or disease. We have lots and lots of gloves, we have... Water filtering tablets, we have a bunch different kinds of fire starters. So we sort of put together a compendium of things that we felt would be useful. And then what's probably the least practical thing is my... In the main living room I have a hatchet, I have a walking stick, I have my camping stuff. So it's not all condensed in one place but I have... I do have a spare tent at my partner's house and I have a medic bag. A fully packed medic go-bag that I take to protests in the trunk of my car. So that way I can... I have one medic bag in the house, I have one in the car, and I usually have one at my partner's house. Sometimes I have one at my local bar too but that's the one that usually get used if I go to a protest 'cause that's near downtown. But just having pockets stuff... And then I have a storage unit downtown as well. So I figured it might be more difficult to get into my storage unit but at least it's underground and that would be not a bad place to have some stuff that I don't need immediately but might want down the line, yeah. So... But it's sort of a pack rat... Pack ratty, squirrel type prepping. Of burying little caches... #0:23:27.8# Margaret: I'm impressed because you're... Yeah, you're managing to successfully do in an urban environment what... Well... Something I associate more with the rural environments of... You know, one of the things that I was realizing... #0:23:41.1# Kitty: It's harder. It's harder, but it's only harder if you care about being the only person who can get to it. And I don't really care so much about that. I just wanna have access to it. I'm... Because, for me, I'm someone who... I saw a guy on a scooter get hit by car. I was so glad I had that medic kit on me so that I could actually help him out. And immediately help him out. I'm so glad I had that expertise. So... And actually that's one thing that I also have is a first aid book because, again, I don't know how to do everything. But if I have a book, I can probably figure out how to do most things safely. So... #0:24:26.7# Margaret: What's the book? #0:24:29.4# Kitty: It's an old field manual medic guide, I forget what era. But I prefer to try to go for stuff that's military because... Or serious environmental wilderness strategy guides because then they're not focused on you having access to a full hospital. It's not ideal conditions. Sometimes first aid advice is like, "Oh well just call an ambulance" and it's like well that's not really practical in the sort of situations I'm preparing for so I prefer to look at older stuff. And then take newer knowledge and pack that on top. But knowing how to do some of these things when you don't have electricity, a lot of modern medicine depends on electricity, depends on you having access to different kinds of medications and solutions that might not have. So I think it's kind of... I don't... Until I have to do it in practice I don't know how useful it actually will be. But I'm interested in learning how have people prevented disease... In wartime, in... A forest in the middle of nowhere versus what you you would get trained necessarily if you're getting CPR training for your work. #0:26:08.8# Margaret: Have you taken the wilderness first responder course or anything like that? #0:26:12.4# Kitty: I want to so badly. I'm hoping that I can save up for it or have somebody gift it to me. But that is on my list of, oh my god I would... That be so dreamy. But... I really... I just also am just also am obsessed with medical stuff. I guess that's... That's one thing I would really recommend for people curious about prepping. I would say while it is nice to be able to have information about a bunch of different areas, find the thing that you're really interested and nerd out on that. One of my friends is really, really into finding plants and urban foraging. So that's her area of expertise. It's like, oh, she can tell you every plant you can eat within two miles of your house. And that would be really useful, it's not necessarily something that my brain can hold onto... As easily as medicine stuff. My partner is really good with weapons and... Building shelters. It's not really my area so it's nice to have somebody who can teach me just enough but also has a lot more expertise. #0:27:29.4# Margaret: Yeah, that's something that I... I think about a lot in terms of even just the world I wanna live in. I'm really excited about the idea where we... Instead of having a generalism versus specialization kind of argument, it's another bullshit false dichotomy, probably we should all as much as we can generalize as broadly as we can and then pick the things that stand out to us to specialize in. Like, I don't need to know how to do surgery but I should probably know first... Literal first aid. Like first response... Like there have been a number times in my life where I've... I'm incredibly squeamish, I hate medical things, I hate thinking about it the way that like... Like someone showed me how to use a tourniquet and... You know, I disassociated in order to learn. Because the concept of thinking about like... Arterial bleeding doesn't work for me. But I know that I need to know how to do that so I learn pretty much by disassociating and then kind of when things happen I like disassociate again and then deal with it. #0:28:34.6# Kitty: Yeah, I mean there's some practicality to that. When I was doing medical work at protests I really underestimated how traumatized I was until months later... When I was like, "Wow, I just didn't have feelings for a while." It's a lot and I'm... I love... See, I'm not squeamish at all about that stuff but I'm impatient so like building structures is not my thing. It's like, I could learn how to do it but I don't even put up the tent when I go camping if I can avoid it. So... Knowing that I have a good solid group of people around me who are really excited to do that stuff allows us to do the thing we're excited about but also in case something happens to that person, we know how to do it we just don't like it. #0:29:26.1# Margaret: Yeah. Or at least have a... Can do a rougher version of it, you know? Can do a... I had a... I was just talking to a friend about all of this. I actually don't remember if it's... I'm recordings these interviews out of order from how they're going to play. So I was talking to a friend of mine who's a... A medical professional and he was talking about how in a crisis situation if you have two people, maybe what you want is a nurse and a world class generalist, you know? As like the two people that you need. #0:29:58.8# Kitty: Pretty much. I think having a medic... Like I think everyone should have basic medical training, just basic shit, because that way anybody can do an emergency... Like, okay, "I can put gauze on this and stop the bleeding." That's what I need from people. And every time I go to a protest, people are asking what they could do to help and I'm like, "Just do that. Just do that, only." And help people with sprained ankles and keep them hydrated. 'Cause if you can do all of that then I can focus on stitching someone's head together. That's what I need to be able to be focused on because I'm not the squeamish one. So... Yeah, I think that helps a lot. Also coming up with things for you to do, that gets ignored a lot on prepper forums. At least the ones I've been on. They talk a lot about like, you know, "Okay, you've gotta have all of this foraging skills and you gotta have shelter building and you gotta have all these supplies in order to make all of this stuff," but there are no downtime options. And you're gonna have downtime sometimes. Like you're gonna get sick eventually, if nothing else. So make sure you have stuff to keep your mind busy during those times. 'Cause watching "Alone" for example, I don't know if you've ever seen that one but they put these people by themselves in the middle of the... Was it Canadian wilderness I think for at least the first couple of seasons? And they have to do everything from scratch. They have some supplies on them and a good supply list. But they have to pick like... 1 of 10 items, or 10 different items out of a list of like... pre-approved 50 different things they can have. So have to do a lot of stuff by themselves. And almost every single time the thing that gets to them is just a lack of food and boredom. And if they can keep themselves busy, somehow, like making music or making art or building... Like adding decorations to their shelter, then the fact that they're hungry doesn't bother them so much. But if they don't have anything like that, they're not creative in any way, then the fact that they're hungry literally gnaws away at their brain. So I just think that's a really interesting aspect... Like thinking a lot about mental health in an emergency scenario because I think that gets ignored with a lot of right-wing prepping forums and stuff like that. #0:32:53.6# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah I wonder what... I feel like there's just the deck of card, is what's written about in all the things. #0:33:03.3# Kitty: Yeah, it's always recommended. Always have a deck of cards. #0:33:05.8# Margaret: Which is like... You can tell that they wrote that in the 50's or whatever, you know? #0:33:10.1# Kitty: Right, in that... Part of it's gonna be like, "Oh, like for gambling in order to entertain yourself if... Gambling with the no money that you have. I don't know. It's just... I would much prefer to have... I don't know, Codenames or something. Endless replayability. #0:33:31.2# Margaret: Yeah, I feel like there's a... #0:33:32.1# Kitty: I mean, but... #0:33:32.8# Margaret: Go ahead. #0:33:32.8# Kitty: Let's be honest, I'd be playing Dungeons & Dragons. In my tracker tent as an actual ranger. Playing Dungeons & Dragons. #0:33:45.2# Margaret: You wouldn't play... What's the opposite of it? The dragons play, they play... Humans and Houses? #0:33:51.3# Kitty: Oh, yeah, maybe that too. I don't know, mix them up. Mix them together. #0:33:56.3# Margaret: You'd have roleplaying about what would you do if apartments still existed or whatever? #0:34:00.4# Kitty: Yeah. #0:34:02.7# Margaret: I think that... #0:34:03.3# Kitty: I mean, I guess I don't... I'm not that scared of that. It would be uncomfortable and I'd probably hate it a lot. I'm a house cat. But, you know, I'm not that worried about it either. And I think part of it is because I just made being prepared, knowing where my go-bag is at all times just part of my day-to-day existence. So it's just muscle memory at this point. #0:34:32.8# Margaret: Yeah. Earlier in our pre-conversation, when we talked about what we might talk about, one of the things you brought up is the ableism that exists in a lot of prepping conversations and I was wondering if you wanted to talk more about that. #0:34:46.0# Kitty: Yeah, so I noticed that a lot of discussions on what your go-plan is involves being able to walk long distances. Presumably because they figure walking a long enough distance would get you to area of wilderness, that they feel would be more suitable. I... That is really impractical for a large number of people. People with small children are going to struggle with that. Elderly people are going to struggle with that. People with disabilities are going to struggle with that. Some people with disabilities aren't going to be able to do that. It won't even be just a struggle, it's just impossible. So I think the... We need more diverse resources and we need to talk seriously about how to make this accessible for people who aren't in their... Super hyper fit, in their 30's, ready to charge over a mountain. And in the bay area you could you could walk for eight hours and I don't know that you would find a bit of wilderness... So I don't think that's necessarily the most practical option for all people. #0:36:08.7# Margaret: it's funny to me that all this stuff about going to the wilderness because I live in... Not the wilderness but I very rurally. I live in a house that I built at the end of a... Beyond the end of a gravel road like every stupid stick of my fucking cabin I had to carry up a hill on my back. I actually started building it with a chronic injury and then managed to... Physical therapy my way... This isn't a... Statement about ableism, just the weird stupid shit of building this fucking cabin I live in. #0:36:40.6# Kitty: But looks really cool. #0:36:43.0# Margaret: But there's... Thanks, yeah, no I'm really proud of it and it's funny because actually it's a brilliant place to live during civilization. But if there were some kind of crisis, I would probably get my to-go bag or my car presumably but let's pretend like that's not an option for whatever reason, and I would walk to the city. Because the city is where people are and that is where we can keep each other safe. I think people have this conception of... That people are a danger and that's true, people are dangerous, right? But the wilderness is really fucking dangerous too. And... #0:37:23.7# Kitty: People really underestimate how dangerous the wilderness is. They underestimate how cold it is. The cold will kill you, the wet will kill you. #0:37:34.4# Margaret: Yeah and so getting to... I don't know for certain, it would really depend on the threat, but I would presumably go to a place of higher population so that we collectively can figure out what the fuck to do. And maybe the fact that I have access to certain resources by living on land can become useful to people. And that would be my hope. I could easily imagine a situation where you have, as part of your prepping, you would have... The rural... With rural living access to space. You don't necessarily have access to anything else but you often have access to space and... So you can store tractors and you can store strange devices... Like devices that have very odd and specialized purposes for building or something like that. But then again, the thing I'm slowly learning is that cities have all of those things too. It's just that not necessarily each individual is going to own them. Because not everyone lives on a farm. #0:38:36.4# Kitty: Right. The city owns it or the government owns it. But yeah, there's plenty of parking lots. #0:38:42.5# Margaret: Yeah, that's true. #0:38:45.8# Kitty: So... Yeah. I mean, like... Oh, god. I'm trying to remember what the name of the show was. So I... I watch a lot of prepping and wilderness survival based shows. Somewhat to remind myself that nature is dangerous and also because I find them very amusing. And there was one that was... It wasn't entirely clear if it was a reality show or if it was scripted or both. Pretty sure it was both, but they were in LA. And I forget what they had decided ... The LA one I don't think it was a disease. They had a different calamity happen each season. And in the first season they had a good variety of people. They had several mechanics, they had a couple of nurses and doctors. They had martial arts teachers. So they had a good cross-section of people. And they did decently well surviving in a big warehouse in LA and came up with some incredibly inventive weapons and things. I remember they created a flame thrower out of bits of an old car which was stunning to watch. But then the second season they were in New Orleans, in some of the areas that have been devastated by Katrina. And they had underestimated how swampy it was and how hard it was going to be to get food and how there were tons of snakes and alligators that we're going to kill you. And also that one had a disease element so every once in a while someone would get claimed by a contagious disease and they would just start disappearing. But the thing that really got to them I think is that they didn't have a very diverse group of people. They had a lot of schoolteachers and artists and that's great, that's important stuff, but if they don't have any trade skills as well, they're gonna drop like flies. So it's really important to take your creative energies and learn how to do something that can embrace that but also has a living purpose. #0:41:12.1# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah, as a generalist I think about that where most of my skills are graphic design and audio which is great when you want to start a podcast, if you have been doing electronic music for twenty years or whatever, you know? But I think I've really consciously been working on developing my skills that are not only on a computer, you know? For kind of this purpose. #0:41:39.1# Kitty: Well, hey. Electronic music and audio says to me, making ham radios. Practical and useful. There's always something there, it's just like finding what those things are. Though I will say this, the first season in the warehouse in LA they had a big issue with masculinity. #0:42:04.7# Margaret: I only watched the second season. #0:42:05.4# Kitty: Everybody was... #0:42:06.9# Margaret: I watched the one where they all... #0:42:07.5# Kitty: The first one is great. It's like all these male mechanics shouting at each other about how to fix something better and then this female mechanic just goes and does it. #0:42:16.8# Margaret: Yeah, that sounds like a perfect metaphor. #0:42:19.1# Kitty: And then they when they all brag about how proud that they came up with this idea and she just rolls her eyes and you're just like, "Yup, that's how it would be pretty much." And that said to me a lot about mediation. Knowing how to mediate, knowing your own triggers. Like knowing your own mental health stuff so that you can then navigate other people's mental health stuff. That's also super important. And easy for anybody to do. #0:42:44.9# Margaret: Yeah, yeah I think knowing different organization models. Like I think knowledge and facilitation is a really important skill. I think people basically pick whichever organizational model seems to be practical when the existing larger structure goes away. And I've been in spaces where we haven't been sure how we're going to organize ourselves and I'm surrounded by a bunch of non-anarchists and then I'm like, "Well here's this model where we're all equals but we still actually figure things out." And it just works as compared to I'm pretty sure if someone had been like, "Here's the model, I'm pretty much in charge." And maybe it'll be like some veneer of democracy where he'll be like, and I'm just going to use 'he' for this imaginary patriarch... #0:43:28.5# Kitty: I wonder why. #0:43:29.7# Margaret: He'll be like, "I'm in charge and the we can have a little vote about that if we wanna prove that I'm in charge," you know? And everyone will be like, "Well, he's the one who is offering to get shit done." And what... Of course what people fail to realize is that's like... We get shit done, collectively. Whether it's collectively we do it and someone is taking the credit by being up top, you know? Or whether we do it... So that's one of the things that I think about with prepping. How to... And I think that's maybe one of the things that right-wing preppers are afraid of is they're like... They don't have... The only people skills that they know is this hierarchical system. Well, I guess there's plenty of leftists who also only seem to know hierarchical systems. But... #0:44:13.2# Kitty: I mean it's a pretty... It's a pretty common system. That's why... That's why I kind of enjoy the, everybody gets to be an expert in their own thing so that nobody is super... Nobody can be too pleased with themselves. Keeps everybody humble, I think. #0:44:34.3# Margaret: Yeah. So the one other main question that I... Or thing that I kinda wanna hash out with you for this which is probably gonna be the first episode, everyone who's listening will know whether or not it's the first episode. It will be very embarrassing if this is the seventeenth episode, but... Maybe talk about different threat models. That's... How we we determine what we need, of course, is dependent on what we think is likely to happen and as there's no one-size-fits all. And so you say the primary threat model that you're working with is a natural disaster. Do you want to talk about that or do you want to talk about other threat models or... #0:45:12.8# Kitty: Sure. Well, I think... Okay, a great example is the things that I want for a earthquake is not necessarily what I would want in a tsunami, right? Those are very different natural disasters. As somebody who grew up in hurricane country-ish, you know, it was just really really wet. And having a dust mask would not have helped me in any way. But I would be at much more risk of getting trench foot so that would be like, waterpreoof boots would be way more important. So some of it's knowing your environment and being aware of what your environmental concerns ar. Like living in a city, asbestos is a big fundamental concern. So having dust masks is really important. I feel like I read once that most deaths aren't... In an earthquake, come from inhaling the debris. And that... That causes some of the worst injuries because there's just all of this dust everywhere and... I know that was definitely true with the fires. A lot of people have... Still have some... Some still have breathing problems now from the various fires that were going on in Northern California. So knowing what you need to be concerned about. Like with earthquakes, knowing that the roads might not be super useful to drive on. So having alternative plans for that knowing where your bike paths are. Knowing... If you have a wheelchair for example, maybe thinking of a way to add some tread on your wheelchair might be a practical option. I have a beach cruiser. It's not a racing bike by any means but it's heavy and it's easy to find the parts. And it's really easy to fix myself, that's why I chose that. So thinking about what you can actually do, I think is helpful in figuring out your... Your strategy. I know that I don't know enough about my car to be able to completely dismantle it. However, I do know somebody who does know enough about my car to do that. So I can bike to him and then have him do that. So coming up with those kind of like, "Okay, if this then this, if this then this" strategies helps me at least, I have a very ADHD brain. It helps me have a... A process to go through. Now in California, earthquakes are a big concern especially in this area but fire is also a big concern. And the way I would prepare for a fire versus an earthquake, I would be more concerned about my paperwork disappearing in a fire than an earthquake. Though to be completely honest I'm not that fussed about my paperwork in general. I don't think getting rid of paperwork is the worst plan. But that's not what the government wants to hear from me. So I have... I have some paperwork in a folder that's easy to access if I need to grab something go because my apartment is burning but I wouldn't be as... I wouldn't care much about that if it was an earthquake because in my consideration there would will be enough of a drastic interruption in services for an earthquake that I don't think that that would be an immediate need. #0:49:16.3# Margaret: Yeah and you wouldn't certainly be the only one who has lost their paperwork. 
#0:49:20.4# Kitty: Right, exactly. Exactly. And again, I think that we use paperwork as a penalty for so many people that... Maybe mucking up that system a little bit is a convenient little thing I can do on the side. So I... Yeah, I guess... And all of that is completely separate from thinking of having invaders come and try to take my apartment away from me or something. That... I usually strategise for that by thinking about what my plan are if the cops get even more out of control. #0:50:02.9# Margaret: Right. Like fascist takeovers is on my... On my threat model list, you know? #0:50:08.9# Kitty: Yeah, yeah, totally. And you know... The cops have been pretty shitty around here for quite a while, so... You know, it's been a slowly increasing... Plan. But I mean... For me, I'm not interested in trying to shoot my way through the cops. I have no problem with people who that is their plan, I think it's great that there are people who are inclined that way, but I'm gonna go full rogue. I'm sneaky. I'm going to go to the sewers. I'm not as... I'm not as interested in that kind of direct conflict. So my model for that... Or like my managements for that would be really, really different from natural disasters. And I kind of feel like that are all the things that might actually happen. I mean, I guess a meteor could hit but... Eh. The prepping I do for every other disaster would be fine for that probably. Or I'd be dead. And wouldn't care. So... How about you? What are your... What's your threat model? #0:51:23.0# Margaret: So I live on a floodplain. It's not supposed to be a floodplain but global warming has made it a floodplain. And the mountains... When I first moved to the mountains, I grew up in the foothills, and when I moved into the mountains it... It kind of blew my mind that flooding is a problem because in my mind I'm like, "Well, everything is high up" and actually flooding is at least as much of a problem in... Well, the flooding is a problem in a lot different places, you know hurricanes cause floods, but flash floods in the mountains are very real especially in an era of mountaintop removal mining. which is not immediate thing immediately around me but it certainly affects places within a couple hours of where I live in Appalachia. But, you know, storms... Like the weather patterns are just changing dramatically and by living in rurally I'm not as defended against that in some ways because there's not a large crew of people working to try and figure out how to make sure that the little place that I live is... Is safe. And so we have to do it to whatever... Because you're not supposed to mess with of waterways, we have to do it through the state and all that, but in the meantime our land floods. And so... It flooded a couple days ago and I had to go out and try and prevent it from getting worse through whatever means. And... And I actually had this moment, you're talking about paperwork, I started walking into this flood with my wallet in my pocket. And then eventually realized that that was a bad idea. My wallet does not need to be in my pocket. I'm not going to get asked for my papers or need to purchase anything while I'm walking into this flood and... And so it's a... So natural disaster is like the top... Climate change affecting everything is my top threat model where I live. But fascist takeover is on there and fascist takeover... Is a really different set of problems. #0:53:42.9# Kitty: Yeah. And it's different kind of... #0:53:43.8# Margaret: And a lot of it still comes down to knowing your neighbors. #0:53:46.1# Kitty: It's a different set of prepping as well. It's a totally different set skills. #0:53:50.8# Margaret: Yeah. And I mean there's... And one of the things I was thinking about is... The thing I was really... That I realized, a lot of my... I've spent a lot of my life living outdoors. I was a traveling anarchist living out of a backpack, and I was a forest defender and was a squatter and I lived in a van, and now I live in a cabin. Almost half my life I've lived out... Off grid, essentially. And I was thinking how when in February I'm waist and sometimes chest deep in water, I was thinking how glad I am that just kind of by default prefer certain types of practical clothes. It's funny 'cause I... Most of the time... I built my house wearing a dress. But when I'm like, "Okay it's rainy," and I put my puffy vest and my waders, my muck boots, and wool socks. And I wasn't nearly as concerned about hypothermia, which is a major problem in floods especially in February, just because I wasn't wearing much cotton. And it's funny like because I never think about my outdoors skills. Like how to start a fire with tinder and flint and steel and all that. That's not... I don't really see a version of the world where I'm living in the woods alone and hunting squirrels and whatever the fuck, you know? But there are gonna be moments where I might be like... Needing to not get hypothermia while I'm trying to clear up a dam that's forming or whatever. #0:55:26.9# Kitty: Yeah, yeah. Two pairs of wool socks should be on everyone's list in their go bag for sure. #0:55:34.3# Margaret: Yeah, I keep a second vest... #0:55:35.7# Kitty: And the more wool clothing you have the better. #0:55:39.4# Margaret: But what's funny is than I was thinking that through when you're talking about fires, I was thinking about California, I was like... Well, actually the same clothes that are really good in flood and maybe a tsunami are not good in fire. You don't want to wear synthetic in a fire situation. So... But over all... #0:56:00.1# Kitty: But you actually do wanna wear cotton. #0:56:02.6# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah... #0:56:05.0# Kitty: I remember I used to... I used to blacksmith with my dad and he would be like, "What are you wearing? That's really impractical for this." I'm like, "It's fine. It's cotton, it'll just roll right off. You can't catch fire in cotton." He was like, "That's not really true... But it's more true, I guess." #0:56:22.2# Margaret: It's better than polyester. #0:56:24.0# Kitty: Yes, certainly, yes. #0:56:25.3# Margaret: It's not going to melt into your skin. #0:56:27.9# Kitty: I have melted through so many skirts with some prep butts for sure. And I'm sort of learning at this point that that's... That's a concern. But yeah, I mean that's definitely an area of my prepping that I need to be better about. Is just having practical clothes. I don't have that much in the way of practical clothes that can fold up really small and actually keep me warm or keep me cool. #0:56:59.3# Margaret: Yeah. But sometimes people over... Overestimate the importance of this. I've definitely gone hiking in maxi skirts all time. And every time I go hiking with someone new in a maxi skirt they're like, "Margaret, do you wanna wear that?" And I'm like, "Are you fucking kidding me, I've been hiking in these skirts for the past fifteen years I know what the fuck I'm doing." Yeah, they might get caught and rip on things but whatever, you know? So there's a... There's a... I'm suddenly defensive about like, "Oh no, you don't need practical clothes." I don't know, maybe... Maybe we all need practical clothes. But maybe sometimes... #0:57:31.7# Kitty: You definitely need socks and I would recommend more than one pair of underwear. Probably cotton just for... #0:57:38.9# Margaret: But that's, yeah... #0:57:39.2# Kitty: Keeping your genitals fresh. But other then that... You can figure it out. I mean... But also clothes are not exactly in short supply either. There's a lot of trash fashion that we can pad up to make something acceptable. #0:58:01.8# Margaret: Well, in a lot of disaster areas people gather clothes to bring there and all the people there are like, "Why did you bring us fucking clothes. Bring us fucking clean water. What you doing?" #0:58:12.6# Kitty: Well they're bringing clothes because you can't burn them in India or China anymore, right? So it's like, "Oh, we'll give it to poor people." #0:58:22.1# Margaret: That way we get to feel better and clean out our closet, yeah #0:58:25.7# Kitty: Yup. I mean it's just... I guess that's another... That another threat, is just being buried under stuff. Just trash. Just being slowly buried alive under trash. #0:58:39.4# Margaret: Well that's the... That's the status quo problem, right? There's... If the world doesn't end and it keeps going the way it goes that's also kind of horrible. #0:58:49.7# Kitty: Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess actually another threat model that I think a lot about is disease. Disease is definitely a big concern. We... I live in a city where everyone is on top each other. So... A disease can spread incredibly quickly. I remembered there was a person who went to Berkeley Bowl who had the measles or something and they just quarantined Berkeley bowl. And I was like, "I'm not leaving the house for two weeks, just in case, who knows?" And that's even with having a vaccine. It's just... Knowing that when the electricity fails a lot of things like vaccines are going to become a lot more difficult, if not impossible... #0:59:43.0# Margaret: To acquire or whatever? #0:59:45.1# Kitty: And then... And then it's... Yeah, to acquire, keep them cold. To refrigerate medications, that's not going to be possible. So figuring out that is also something I try to be somewhat aware of. Having alternatives to medication, having alternatives to street drugs also. So knowing about... Knowing how to use Narcan. Knowing a little about... I don't even know how to pronounce that, I've only seen it read... Kratom? #1:00:23.5# Margaret: Kratom I think. #1:00:25.6# Kitty: Yeah, so that has been used by a bunch of my friends when they've been withdrawing from opiates. So having stuff that could work as an alternate... I've always packed some pot in my medic bag even though I don't smoke pot. Because it's so useful for so many different things... That it's worth just having it in there. And that's something that could be a real problem. A bunch of people withdrawing at once... Is a huge problem. A bunch of people getting sick at once is a huge problem. So having alternatives for that stuff is something that I'm looking a lot more into. #1:01:13.4# Margaret: Yeah, that's interesting that... I haven't thought about that. #1:01:16.3# Kitty: And that's what... #1:01:16.3# Margaret: The... Specifically withdrawing. #1:01:18.6# Kitty: That's just really something right-wing people don't think about that. I've noticed this. They're afraid of... Sorry, I forget the actual terminology, again ADHD brain, and I tend to call things... Like I called bars alcohol restaurants, that's just... How my brain works. But there's some doomsday thing that a lot of people are hype on... #1:01:39.4# Margaret: Coronavirus? #1:01:41.8# Kitty: About... No, no, no. I wish it was that, that would make much sense but no. They're just being racist and frantic about that while not thinking about the flu which kills a lot more people. But anyway... No. It's the... It's like a solar flare is going to knock out all of our electricity? #1:02:02.9# Margaret: Oh, 'cause then it'll EMP us or whatever? #1:02:05.4# Kitty: That's the one, yes. There's so many of them who are so focused on that but then they don't think about disease at all. And that just blows my mind because disease is way more likely. #1:02:19.9# Margaret: Yeah, people are bad at threat modeling. #1:02:21.0# Kitty: Within our lifetime we've seen multiple plagues. #1:02:25.0# Margaret: Yeah. I mean it's... #1:02:27.7# Kitty: It's just really surprising. #1:02:29.7# Margaret: I think some of it is about... I mean most of it's that people are bad at threat modeling. But I think some of it is like people... Enjoy certain types of threats. Like preparing for certain types of threats more than others. And also probably enjoy preparing like... For something that makes them feel like they have more agency instead of less agency, you know? If you're someone who... All of your skills are about non-electric things you can be really excited about the power grid going down. But I don't know. #1:03:02.8# Kitty: But I mean... That is... That is another area to think about when it comes to ableism, for example. A lot of diabetics aren't going to be able to get access to their medication. So figuring out how do you deal with that. And I don't think there... I don't know that I have answer to that, I don't know that anybody does. While that's for certain something that I would want to... Know more about. #1:03:28.0# Margaret: I think that's why we have to not... It's why the end of the world is bad. Like disaster is actually a really bad thing. Like people clearly get kind of hooked on it, right, because they suddenly have agency in their lives and they... You know, and... Everything I've ever read or talk to people about, like suicide goes down, like psychotic breaks go down, things like that during crisis. And it's... But it's still, at the end of the day, something that if we can avert it we should. And that's actually why... As much as climate change is going to affect things, there are going to be disasters, there's going to be interruptions in our society, if there's ways we can find to make sure that that doesn't kill so many people or ruin so many lives... Even if it ruins economic systems, maybe, you know... And of course as an anarchist I say this, maybe the solution is to ruin the existing economic system. Although ideally by transferring it over to a system that... You know... So that we still have access to the... The things we need in the meantime. Which is actually, it gets... I'm almost done with this rant. The whole... There's a threat that the whole like... There's a Durruti quote where during the Spanish Civil War... Someone asks him, "Well, what about all the destruction of this revolution?" And he's like, "Well, we're workers, we're not afraid of ruins. Why would we be afraid of ruins, we're the ones who built this city, we can build again." And I think about... Often people are like, well, and this is a tangent 'cause now I'm talking about anarchist society, people are like, "In an anarchist society, how would you have antibiotics?" I'd be like "Well, I don't know, how do we fucking have them now? We'll do that. Or maybe a different way, I don't know." And there's still people in the apocalypse, right? There's still a ton of people in disaster and we all know how to do stuff. And so even if like the electrical grid dies, that doesn't mean there's no power. It doesn't mean there's no hospital, even, you know? There's... Like even... We can... Fix these things and do these things and some of those are already prepared for that. #1:05:43.8# Kitty: Yeah. And I mean... And I think... I guess I would say that while it's good to be prepared, I also think it's important not to psyche yourself out. I think it's important to... Not get too excited about it. Because the fact is a lot of people, a lot of black and brown people especially, disabled people especially, will die. In any kind of disaster that you would want to prep for. That's just... That's how we structured our society and that is going to happen. So I think that that is something to be aware of before getting too thrilled about... The end of the world, right? So that you're kinda saying some really fucked up stuff at the same time. And frankly I don't know that I would survive a disaster like that. But I do know that I don't think I could do it by myself. I do think I could do it with community. And I think that that's why I'm so focus on community and mutual aid. I read A Paradise Built In Hell and it's this really interesting book that looks at different disasters and kind of has that... Isn't it interesting how a disaster happens and people come together and help each other even when everything has gone shit. And how... I think this was kinda the intention of the author of this book but she does seem to point out a lot... Isn't it also interesting how often the government steps in and tells them to stop doing that? So no, that is not okay. And will actually murder people to prevent them from helping each other. And I think that... That's something I'd consider as sort of a secondary threat model is... The government trying to prevent people from actually doing okay without them. It's like an ultimate abusive relationship. And figuring out how to deal with that... When you're being funneled into resources that are not ready to handle them. Yeah, so I mean, you know, it's a lot. #1:08:25.9# Margaret: Well this is a... This is a really good... This is going to be the first episode and... So I think we've covered a lot of... Thanks for helping me kind of... Almost like set up what this show will hopefully drill down more about and yeah, thanks so much for... Talking to me about all this stuff today. #1:08:46.8# Kitty: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm glad we could kind of work out... Sort of, here's all of the issues for... Here's a selection of all of the issues. But wait, there's more. #1:08:58.8# Margaret: Yeah, no, exactly. #1:08:59.1# Kitty: I'm looking forward to seeing the series. It should be pretty cool. #1:09:03.7# Margaret: Cool. Alright, well... Thank you so much. #1:09:06.5# Kitty: Thank you. #1:09:08.0# (Musical transition) #1:09:11.7# Margaret: Thanks for listening to the first ever episode of Live Like The World Is Dying. If you enjoyed the podcast, please tell your friends. Tell iTunes, tell Apple podcasts, tell whatever platform you get your podcasts on that you liked the podcast by subscribing, by reviewing it, by rating it and all of those things. It actually makes a huge difference and I think it'll especially a huge difference for the first couple episodes of a podcast. If you'd like to see this podcast continue, you can support me on Patreon. I... I make most of my living through my Patreon which allows me to spend my time creating content and I'm wildly, wildly grateful that that's something that I get to do with my life. In particular, I would like to thank Chris and Nora and Hoss the dog, Willow, Kirk, Natalie, and Sam. Y'all really make this possible and I can't thank you enough. Alright, thanks so much. And join us next time. #1:10:10.0# (Outroductory music) This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-69f62d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Live Like the World is Dying.

Detroit Lions Podcast: Ragnow retirement and the O-line reckoning High Bar, Hard Truths The Detroit Lions walked into this NFL season with Super Bowl talk and a sky-high bar set by a 15-2 run the year before. The expectation was simple. When games tightened, they would flip the switch and bury teams. That switch never clicked. The Detroit Lions Podcast crew gathered for a season-ending roundtable and traced the arc from hype to hard lessons. The story centered on an offense that lost its core and never rediscovered rhythm. Drives stalled. Third downs piled up. The run game sputtered. Defensive injuries compounded the strain. The offense, once the engine, could not carry the load. The panel's verdict was blunt. This team was not as good as many thought, and the gap revealed itself week after week. The Frank Ragnow Pivot The season turned when Frank Ragnow retired. That single move gutted the middle of the offensive line and forced a cascade of fixes that never stuck. A rookie guard stepped in on one side and, effectively, a rookie guard on the other. Taylor Decker battled through at left tackle. Penei Sewell carried as much as a right tackle can carry. The line could not clear lanes with consistency. It could not protect the structure of the offense on schedule. In the NFL, that is the most punishing failure. The consequences touched everything. Running the football lost bite. Third down kept getting longer. The offense chased instead of dictated. What last year's group masked, this year's group magnified. The Lions did not have an adequate answer once the center spot changed overnight. Offseason Questions Along the Line Every key question points back to the trenches. Who is the left tackle going to be? Who is the center going to be? Do the Lions move a guard to center and then replace that guard? Those choices will define the first steps toward 2025 and beyond. The conversation stretches to the skill group as well. What happens with David Montgomery? What does recovery look like for Sam Laporta, with a herniated disc raising real concern? Reset the line, and the rest can recalibrate. Fail to solve the core, and the same problems return. That was the consensus thread throughout the roundtable. 2025 and 2026 Outlook The room looked forward, and the tone was measured. There was even a note that 2026 feels better than 2025 right now. That tracks with the scale of the rebuild needed up front. The Detroit Lions must restore the center position, stabilize guard, and decide on left tackle. Do that, and the identity that once made them dangerous returns. The Detroit Lions Podcast closed on a simple truth. Fix the offensive line, and the offense regains its engine. Miss, and we are back here again talking about what might have been. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #frankragnallretired #offensiveline #lefttackle #center #rookieguard #taylordecker #penasewell #samlaporta #herniateddisc #davidmontgomery #thirddown #runningthefootball #injuriesonthedefense Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the richest founders don't run trendy companies. They run dirty ones. The kind of work you'd never brag about at a dinner party, but that quietly throws off real money because it's hard, risky, and most people won't do it.      This Built to Sell Radio episode follows Shenar Wood, who built an underground power business by taking on personal risk, earning trust job by job, and eventually selling when he hit a ceiling that had nothing to do with demand, you discover how to:    Recognize the hidden ceiling that has nothing to do with demand and everything to do with your balance sheet  Stop confusing "more revenue" with "more value" when margin and risk aren't improving  Build a reputation flywheel where customers feed you better work because they trust how you operate  Separate assets from value so you don't overestimate what a buyer will pay for "stuff"  Fix the financial story before a buyer forces an expensive cleanup under pressure  Negotiate earn-out terms so the buyer can't hit your results by moving costs onto your books  Decide when it's smarter to sell now than grind for years just to add a rounding error to valuation 

January is usually all about fresh starts ...new goals, new offers, new energy. But what if this season is asking you to slow down instead?In Episode 79 of The Wedpreneur Podcast, Leigh Rivero introduces a simple but powerful framework for navigating change in your business: Keep. Cut. Fix. Drawing from personal experience with motherhood and reduced capacity, this episode is a reminder that sustainability doesn't come from doing more; it comes from doing what actually fits.If your priorities have shifted, this episode will help you decide what to carry forward without burning it all down.

If you've tried every cream, diet, or supplement for your chronic skin issues but still struggle with relentless rashes, itching, or flares, you're not alone. In this episode, you'll discover why the problem may not be your skin at all — but deeper issues lurking under the surface.From understanding the concept of Root Cause Mismatch and why NOTHING seems to work for you, we'll unpack real client case studies to show how drastically different the underlying triggers can be, even with the same diagnosis. Tune in to learn how to figure out what's going wrong under the surface so you can finally shift your healing journey in the right direction.⭐️Mentioned in This Episode:- Register for the FREE Fix My Skin Workshop Series

Send us a textThis video breaks down how to set up your Amazon ad campaigns effectively, focusing specifically on Amazon parentage strategies. We discuss whether to advertise all child variations or just the top priority ASIN to optimize your Amazon product listing. Learn essential Amazon PPC tips and improve your overall Amazon advertising campaign performance.Fix your Amazon ads by booking a call that helps you structure campaigns for maximum search visibility: https://bit.ly/4jMZtxu#AmazonPPC #AmazonAdvertising #EcommerceTips #VariationTargeting #ppcstrategy --------------------------------------------------------------------------Want free resources? Dowload our Free Amazon guides here:Amazon SEO Toolkit 2026: https://bit.ly/4oC2ClTQ4 Selling Playbook: https://bit.ly/46Wqkm32025 Ecommerce Holiday Playbook: https://bit.ly/4hbygovAmazon PPC Guide 2025: https://bit.ly/4lF0OYXAmazon Crisis Kit: https://bit.ly/4maWHn0TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Should You Advertise All Variations00:19 - Understanding Child ASINs in a Parent Listing01:01 - Why Targeting Relevancy Matters01:24 - Example Using Sunflower Seeds Campaign02:11 - Using High Relevancy Keywords02:49 - Taking Over Search With Multiple Variations03:49 - Segmenting Ads By Specific Keywords04:09 - When to Use Variation Specific Campaigns05:01 - How to Avoid Showing Irrelevant Variations06:06 - Build Control With Variation Focused Campaigns________________________________Follow us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28605816/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpopemag/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myamazonguys/Twitter: https://twitter.com/myamazonguySubscribe to the My Amazon Guy podcast:My Amazon Guy podcast: https://podcast.myamazonguy.comApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-amazon-guy/id1501974229Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4A5ASHGGfr6s4wWNQIqyVwSupport the show

You validated the idea. You built the page. Maybe you're even getting traffic. And yet… the conversions don't match the effort. In Part 2 of our interview with Samir ElKamouny, we shift from "prove the concept" to conversion rate optimization—the discipline of diagnosing what's actually limiting growth and improving the parts of your funnel that matter most. This isn't about chasing shiny marketing tactics. It's about execution: the kind that turns a funnel from "pretty good" into "predictable." About Samir ElKamouny Samir ElKamouny is an entrepreneur and marketing expert who believes execution is everything—an early lesson inspired by his father's legacy of big ideas. He has helped scale businesses by pairing strategic action with a commitment to impact, guided by values such as Freedom, Happiness, Health, Family, and Spirituality. In this episode, that philosophy becomes funnel execution: identify the bottleneck, prioritize the 80/20, and optimize what's already working. Conversion Rate Optimization Starts With One Question: Where's the Constraint? Many teams skip straight to A/B testing headlines or tweaking button colors. Samir takes a more surgical approach. Before you optimize anything, you need to know what kind of problem you have: Do you have a traffic problem? Or do you have a conversion problem? Because those are different fixes. If you're not getting enough visitors, obsessing over landing page micro-changes won't move the needle. But if you are getting traffic and still not getting demos, leads, or signups—then you've got a conversion bottleneck, and conversion rate optimization is exactly the right tool. Bottleneck First Traffic problem = distribution. Demo problem = messaging, offer, trust, friction, or flow. Diagnose the constraint before you "optimize." Use the 80/20 Rule to Avoid Busywork Samir's funnel advice lines up with how great engineers debug systems: don't touch everything—find the one thing causing most of the pain. That's the 80/20 rule applied to marketing and funnels: A small number of pages create most conversions. A small number of objections block most sales. A small number of steps create most drop-off. When you apply conversion rate optimization well, you're not "improving your funnel" in general. You're improving the one point that's limiting everything downstream. A practical example: if you're generating leads but no one books calls, the issue probably isn't your top-of-funnel content. It's the handoff—your booking experience, your follow-up, or the clarity of what the call is for. The "Two-Second Clarity Test" for Positioning Samir emphasizes something that's brutally simple—and incredibly effective: When someone lands on your page, they should understand what you do in about two seconds. Not "kind of." Not "after reading three paragraphs." Two seconds. That clarity acts like a conversion multiplier. If visitors are confused, they don't scroll. They don't click. They bounce. And no amount of A/B testing can fix a page that doesn't communicate the offer. Two-Second Clarity Test: Can a first-time visitor instantly answer: What is this? Who is it for? What outcome do I get? If not, start there. Don't Test What Nobody Sees One of the most actionable parts of Part 2 is Samir's reminder to test based on attention, not opinions. Teams often test sections that aren't getting seen or clicked because they "feel important." But if users never reach that section—or don't interact with it—optimizing it is wasted effort. Instead, focus on experiments where user engagement is highest: above the fold the primary CTA area pricing/packages booking forms the first "proof" section (testimonials, logos, outcomes) That's how you make conversion rate optimization practical: test the parts of the page that actually get traffic, eyeballs, and clicks. A Simple Conversion Rate Optimization Framework You Can Use This Week Here's a clean execution loop you can run without overcomplicating it: Pick one conversion goal (demo booked, lead submitted, trial started). Locate the biggest drop-off (analytics + recordings + basic funnel tracking). Form one hypothesis ("People don't trust us yet," "Offer is unclear," "Form is too long"). Make one meaningful change (not five at once). Measure the result and keep only what improves the goal. That's it. Clear goal. One bottleneck. One change. Real measurement. Closing Thoughts: Optimize the Constraint, Not Your Ego The best part of Samir's approach is that it respects reality. It avoids "marketing theater" and focuses on execution that produces outcomes. If you want conversion rate optimization to work, don't start with cleverness. Start with constraints: Where are people dropping off? What do they not understand? What stops them from taking the next step? Fix that one thing, and the whole system improves. Stay Connected: Join the Developreneur Community We invite you to join our community and share your coding journey with us. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting, there's always room to learn and grow together. Contact us at info@develpreneur.com with your questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes. Together, let's continue exploring the exciting world of software development. Additional Resources Business Tune-Up Checklist: How to Refresh, Refocus, and Reignite Mid-Year How to Succeed with Digital Marketing for Small Businesses Close Deals With LinkedIn Building Better Foundations Podcast Videos – With Bonus Content

If you’re in a challenging season—or walking alongside someone who is—this conversation will meet you right where you are. In this hopeful and honest episode, I sit down with Dr. Clay Jones and Jeannie Jones to talk about their new book, How Does God Use Suffering for Our Good? Living With Hope While Making Sense of Life. Together, they share the real-life pain that shaped this message (cancer, miscarriages, foster care, and ongoing health challenges), and the seven anchoring truths they repeat to each other when suffering feels overwhelming. This episode is full of steady, biblical comfort—without clichés—and it will help you reframe suffering through the lens of eternity, hope, and God’s character. If you're hurting, this episode is your lifeline.. Don't miss it! And remember, I'd love to connect more on Instagram, where you'll find me at @donnaajones. And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode! Xo, Donna Listen in to learn more : [0:04:22] Personal suffering story [0:07:35] The 7 truths they repeat during suffering: [0:11:42] Truth journals (remembering God’s redemption): [0:16:32] “You don’t know what tomorrow will bring”: [0:17:22] Fix your focus (looking at Jesus): [0:23:36]Why suffering produces endurance → character → hope (Romans 5): [0:26:43] Eternity changes the scale of everything Donna’s Resources: Order a copy of my latest book - Healthy Conflict, Peaceful Life: A Biblical Guide to Communicating Thoughts, Feelings, and Opinions with Grace, Truth, and Zero Regret. It is available anywhere books are sold– here is the link on Amazon. If you need a helpful resource for someone exploring faith and Christianity or simply want to strengthen your own knowledge, you’ll want a copy of my book, Seek: A Woman’s Guide to Meeting God. It’s a must for seekers, new believers, and those who want to deepen their confidence in their faith. Connect with Clay and Jeannie YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWymIngKlc1CtKBZ4aMLCHQ Website - https://clayjones.net/ Purchase the book -https://www.harvesthousepublishers.com/books/how-does-god-use-suffering-for-our-good-9780736992237/?srsltid=AfmBOoqAUBs3q3Pf-0zQ_Xc3Y0z8NYWvM2TFRFPGxOQtrfUZaxtIrxIT Connect with Donna Instagram: @donnaajones Website: www.donnajones.org Donna’s speaking schedule: https://donnajones.org/events/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Think you care too much about other people's feelings? Think again. In this bold kickoff to 2026, Dr. Aziz pulls back the curtain on the real reason “nice people” overextend themselves, struggle to say no, and feel constantly responsible for everyone's emotions. Spoiler alert: it's not because they care too much—it's because they're trying to stay safe. Deep down, many people-pleasing behaviors are driven by fear, guilt, and the unconscious belief that your worth hinges on making others happy. In this eye-opening episode, you'll learn: Why over-functioning and “caring” often mask codependency The hidden emotional cost of being overly responsible How niceness traps you in an outdated identity that's not really you The essential difference between real care and fear-based appeasement Why it's time to update your inner operating system—not just tweak your habits If you've ever said yes when you wanted to say no, answered texts out of anxiety, or felt guilty for simply protecting your time and energy, this episode will speak to your soul. And it will challenge you to finally liberate yourself from the nice person identity and step into the bold, authentic leader you were meant to be. Dr. Aziz also shares a powerful invitation to make 2026 the year you fully upgrade your life—starting with your confidence. Tune in, commit, and get ready to reclaim your freedom. -------------------------------------------- Why “caring” can be fear in disguise—and how to break free from the Nice Cage Most people start the new year thinking about goals: relationships, health, career, money, confidence. But underneath all of that, there's a deeper goal. Liberation. Liberation from the old identity. Liberation from the old operating system. Liberation from social anxiety, people-pleasing, self-doubt… and the nice cage that keeps you small. And today I want to challenge one of the biggest beliefs that keeps “nice” people trapped: Nice people don't actually care too much. That might sound surprising—because nice people often feel like they care more than everyone else. They feel guilty if someone's upset. They say yes when they want to say no. They carry other people's emotions like they're responsible for them. And they tell themselves: “I care about them, so I can't disappoint them.” “If I say no, it means I don't care.” “If they're struggling, who am I to refuse?” “A good person should help.” But here's what I want you to see: When it feels like you care too much… it often isn't caring at all. It's something else masquerading as care. The Nice Cage: When “being good” becomes self-erasure Niceness can feel like virtue. It can feel like love. It can feel like generosity. It can feel like being a “good person.” But a lot of the time, niceness is actually a strategy—an unconscious survival strategy—to stay safe. Because underneath niceness is a fear that sounds like: “If I upset people, I'll be rejected.” “If I disappoint them, I'll be abandoned.” “If they're angry with me, I'm not safe.” “If I don't keep them happy… I'm bad.” So niceness becomes a cage: you keep trying to be acceptable, agreeable, harmless. And the cost? You don't live your life. You live a managed version of yourself. The big misunderstanding: “Caring” vs. fear Nice people don't actually care too much. They often have something else running the show: 1) Codependence Codependence is basically: “I'm okay if you're okay. And if you're not okay… I'm not okay.” So if someone is happy, you relax. If someone is disappointed, irritated, stressed, or hurt—you go into emergency mode. Your hair is on fire. “What do you need?” “How do I fix this?” “How do I make it right?” And it feels like caring. But really, it's fear. 2) Over-responsibility This is the core belief behind niceness: “I am responsible for your emotional state.” Not that you're responsible to feed someone like a baby— but you feel responsible for whether they're upset. So you avoid saying no. You avoid being direct. You avoid expressing your truth. You override your own needs. Because if they're upset… you feel like you've done something wrong. The “or else” feeling: the clearest sign it's fear Here's one of the easiest ways to tell whether something is care or fear: If it has an “or else” feeling—it's fear. “I have to respond right now… or else.” “I have to say yes… or else.” “I have to make them happy… or else.” “I can't disappoint them… or else.” That “or else” is not love. That “or else” is survival mode. And it's usually not about the current situation—it's an old pattern repeating itself. Why niceness drains your vitality Here's the truth that many nice people don't want to look at: You will not be fully alive in the nice operating system. At best, you can build a life that looks okay on the outside… but it doesn't feel like your life—because you're not being you. And eventually, the nice pattern catches up. burnout resentment being taken for granted relationships that feel one-sided physical symptoms, stress, tension, pain a shrinking life No matter how much you give, the answer becomes: “Give more.” More helping. More fixing. More proving. More caretaking. And that's not a path to freedom. The shift that changes everything The way out is not “try harder.” You can't over-function your way out of this. The way out is a deeper realization: What you've been calling “care” is often fear. And when you see that, something opens up: Saying no becomes healthy—not cruel Boundaries become respectful—not selfish Truth becomes connection—not danger You stop trying to manage people's emotions You start living your life again Because this is the mature truth: Other people are responsible for their emotions. And you are responsible for yours. Real emergencies vs. emotional discomfort Sometimes people say, “But isn't it important to show up for others?” Yes. There are real crises in life. There are emergencies. There are moments when love calls you to step up. But here's the problem: Nice people treat everyday discomfort like an emergency. Someone is frustrated. Someone is impatient. Someone wanted something faster. Someone admits disappointment. And your nervous system reacts like: “Danger. Fix it now.” That's the pattern. And breaking the pattern means you stop treating emotional discomfort as an alarm bell you must obey. Your action step: upgrade your operating system If you want to get free, you'll need more than a small tweak. This isn't “be a little more assertive.” This is: Commit to a deeper level of change. A full operating system upgrade. A decision that says: “This year, I'm no longer living inside the nice cage.” “I'm no longer responsible for managing other people's emotions.” “I will be honest, direct, kind, and real.” “I will live as me.” Because liberation doesn't happen from a wish. It happens from commitment. Why environment matters (and how transformation accelerates) Personal responsibility matters. But you don't have to do it alone. One of the fastest ways to change is: Commitment + the right environment. That's why I've spent decades investing in mentors, coaching, groups, and training environments. Because the right environment speeds up what would otherwise take years. And if you want to do deep work on people-pleasing, niceness, social anxiety, and living with real confidence… If you've been listening to this show for a while and you feel drawn to do this work deeply, you might be a fit for my Unstoppable Confidence Mastermind. It's a 12-month program designed to help you: break free from social anxiety and people-pleasing build bold, authentic confidence speak up, set boundaries, and stop over-functioning create real change that sticks It's immersive support over a full year: live calls with me, step-by-step guidance, progress tracking, quarterly check-ins, and a curated community. If you want to explore it, you can apply using the link above. You don't need to become harsh. You don't need to become selfish. You don't need to stop caring. You just need to stop confusing fear with care. And when you do, you get something back that you might not have felt in a long time: Freedom. The freedom to be fully you. Until we speak again—have the courage to be who you are, and to know on a deep level that you're awesome. Quick Recap Nice people don't care too much. They often fear too much. Watch for these signals: “or else” urgency automatic yes guilt when someone's disappointed over-responsibility for emotions The shift: Other people manage their emotions. You manage yours. The commitment: Upgrade the operating system. Live outside the nice cage.

Detroit Lions Podcast: Season Finale Lessons and the Road Ahead First to Worst: NFC North on a Razor's Edge The Detroit Lions closed the regular season against the Bears with margins on full display. Three NFC North teams finished with nine wins, yet only one reached the postseason, aided by a tie the Packers picked up in Dallas. Small things flipped big outcomes. Halftime adjustments. A single injury. A drive-killing penalty. Details in weekly prep. The Bears carried a negative point differential for most of the year and lived off turnovers, and it still bought them extra wins and the division. In a season where the first-place team lost to the last-place team twice, the line between success and failure stayed paper thin. Offense Is Close, Even With a Battered Line Narratives say the offense slipped. The film and numbers say it's close. The Lions were top 10 and often top five in major offensive categories with John Morton calling plays, then even better with Dan Campbell. That happened while the offensive line was in shambles. In Chicago, they executed without Penei Sewell, the best tackle on the team and arguably in football. The unit needs repair. Frank Ragnow is central to putting it back together. The offseason priority is obvious: restore the front. When the line is whole, the engine of this offense runs hot, and the entire operation follows. Numbers Over Narratives on Jared Goff The Jared Goff narratives keep coming. Cold weather. Gloves. Pressure. The reality undercuts each one. He won in the cold. He wears gloves. He handles pressure. Reliability defined his year amid a decimated tight end room and a messy line. He was one of the most accurate, consistent quarterbacks in the NFL. Top five and top 10 in the categories that matter, including yards and completion percentage. He played all 17 games and never missed a snap. The discourse won't stop, but the production keeps answering it. Dan Cam, a Decker Salute, and the Road Ahead A new Dan Cam segment spotlighted Monday's messages on urgency and detail. A salute to Taylor Decker is due. He deserves it. Team PR flagged four straight winning seasons, a note that landed awkwardly as the postseason slipped away. The point is taken. Head down. Fix the line. Keep the offense intact. In a division ruled by thin margins, the Detroit Lions can turn close into control by cleaning up the smallest things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shSDvDlTYzE #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #seasonfinalevsbears #nfcnorthmargins #dancampbellpressconference #dancamsegment #taylordeckersalute #jaredgoffunderpressure #coldweathergame #offensivelineinshambles #frankragnow #peneisewellabsence #johnmortonplaycalling #turnoversandpointdifferential. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Turn Patients into Raving Fans (and Referral Machines) In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Doc Danny breaks down why most clinics are stuck in "purgatory" with word of mouth and what separates average clinics from the ones patients can't stop talking about. Using a great chicken joint and a mediocre Italian restaurant as examples, he shows you how clients really think about your business and what has to change if you want more organic referrals in 2026. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why saving clinician time with an AI scribe like Claire can quietly add $30,000 in revenue per staff PT per year The two levers that drive referrals in any service business: outcomes and experience How a chain "hot chicken" spot crushed a local restaurant on basic execution Why "pretty good" is the most dangerous place for your clinic to live What a 9–10 Net Promoter Score really looks like inside a cash practice How your space, punctuality, and communication shape patient trust Why referrals jumped when Danny moved from a subleased gym corner to a standalone space A simple way to mystery shop your own clinic and see what patients see Claire: Freeing Up Time and Unlocking Revenue Danny opens by talking about Claire, the AI scribe built for cash-based clinics. On average, Claire is saving staff clinicians six hours a week on documentation. Even if you only recapture half of that time for patient care, that is three extra one-hour visits per clinician per week. 3 extra visits per week at $200 per visit = $600 per week Roughly $30,000 in additional annual revenue per staff clinician And it all comes from taking notes off their plate and putting that time back into patient care. Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai Two Restaurants, Two Very Different Referral Stories Danny shares a simple contrast to frame how referrals really work. On the same day, he took his son to Dave's Hot Chicken and later that night took his family to a new Italian restaurant near their house. Dave's Hot Chicken: Friendly staff, simple "honey hack" suggestion, clean space, food that exceeded expectations. He would happily tell people to go there. Local Italian restaurant: No clear host, missing reservation, clunky service, average food at a higher price point. He will not badmouth them, but he is not going to recommend them either. That is exactly how patients think about your clinic. They are either excited to send people, quietly neutral, or actively warning people away. Net Promoter Score and Your Clinic Danny ties this into Net Promoter Score (NPS), a simple question that predicts referrals. "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to refer a friend or family member to this clinic?" 9–10 = promoters who actively tell people about you 0–6 = detractors who may talk negatively 7–8 = passives who are neutral and mostly silent Most clinics live in the 6–8 range. Not good enough to be talked about. Not bad enough to be trashed. That is business purgatory. The Two Levers: Outcomes and Experience For a cash-based clinic, your referrals come from two places. Outcomes: Are you actually better than the average in-network option? Do people get results faster and more completely? Experience: What is it like to work with you? Space, punctuality, communication, how you follow up, how individualized things feel. If your space is a noisy gym corner or a rough sublease, you have to make up for that with flawless communication, punctuality, and outcomes. When you eventually level up into a standalone space, the experience finally matches the quality of your care. Danny saw that firsthand when his clinic moved from a subleased gym space to a standalone location. Referrals jumped. Patients openly said they were now more comfortable sending friends and family because the space matched the price and reputation. Are You "Just Okay"? Danny challenges clinic owners to be honest about where they sit. Are you truly a 9 or 10 out of 10 on outcomes and experience? Or are you a 6–8 where people say you are fine but do not talk about you proactively? He suggests a simple exercise. Have a friend or family member your staff does not recognize come through as a "mystery shopper" patient. Let them go through your entire process and give you brutally honest feedback about what felt confusing, clunky, or underwhelming. Getting Obsessive About Excellence Clinics that become referral machines look different on the inside. They: Obsess over outcomes and ongoing clinical improvement Obsess over small details in the patient journey, from first inquiry to discharge Answer quickly, follow up clearly, and stay ahead of patient questions Fix small frictions in their space and processes every month When you get this right, you build a stable referral base that cushions you from algorithm changes, ad costs, and platform shifts. You still might use marketing, but you are not desperate for it. Want a Clear Path to Go Full Time? If you are still in the early stages of leaving a job and going all in on your own cash-based practice, PT Biz runs a free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge that walks you through: Exactly how much income you need to replace How many patients you need to see and at what average visit rate Three different strategies to go from part time to full time The basic sales and marketing systems you need in place A simple one-page business plan so you can take action Join the free challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

Today I'm joined by Eric Cohen, CEO at Merchant Advocate. We break down why credit card processing is one of the most overlooked expense lines in dealerships, how 60–70% of stores are overpaying, and which “non-negotiable” fees are actually negotiable. Eric explains where the hidden charges live, how to audit statements properly, and why transparency matters more than ever in a largely unregulated space. The payoff: real strategies dealers can use to reclaim margin without cutting people or growth. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Flai Technologies Inc - Your best people know how to turn an opportunity into an appointment—but they can't be everywhere. Flai is an AI communications platform that handles calls, texts, and emails before your team takes care of customers. Every call gets answered. Every lead gets followed up. Appointments get booked. Flai works with some of the largest dealer groups in the US, and some dealers have seen appointments double. They're offering free pilots to CDG listeners till January 31. Book a meeting @ http://useflai.com 2. Ikon Technologies delivers a connected vehicle program for dealers that maximizes Customer Lifetime Value by driving sales efficiency and securing non-cancellable PVR on your front end while delivering an average of 50 additional customer-pay ROs every single month for your service bays. At NADA 2026 in Las Vegas, visit Stand 1763 West to see the benefits for yourself and take your chance to roll the dice to win a Rolls Royce (terms and conditions apply; no purchase necessary). Plus, as an exclusive offer for listeners, mention “Car Dealership Guy” when you sign up at NADA to have your entire initial installation fee waived—book your demo today @ http://ikontechnologies.com/CDG 3. Merchant Advocate - Merchant Advocate saves businesses money on credit card fees WITHOUT switching processors. Find out how they can help your dealership with a FREE analysis. Click on @ http://merchantadvocate.com/cdg for more. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership's social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics: 00:14 What are the top dealer concerns today? 04:43 How do credit card processing fees work? 07:44 What are the best optimization strategies? 14:03 What are the most common hidden fees? 16:56 What is the Merchant Advocate's unique approach? 21:40 What is your most impactful client success story? Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

If hiring feels impossible and retention feels fragile, you're not alone — and you're not crazy. In this episode of the Private Practice Owners Podcast, Nathan Shields and Adam Robin break down why recruiting is harder than ever right now, and why the real solution isn't “more applicants” — it's building a retention machine that compounds. Drawing directly from real-world clinic experience, Nathan shares how shifting focus from reactive hiring to intentional retention, leadership development, and new-grad pipelines allowed his organization to stabilize staffing, protect culture, and sleep better at night — even in one of the most competitive labor markets physical therapy has ever seen. Together, they unpack what practice owners must do as we head into 2026 to stop bleeding talent, stop overpaying for lateral hires, and start developing leaders from within. You'll learn:Why “hiring is impossible” is a signal to fix retention first — not panic recruitHow to identify and lock in your true A-players before competitors doThe exact conversations owners should be having with key team members to secure 12-month commitmentsWhy new grads are the most overlooked (and highest-upside) recruiting strategy right nowHow to turn student placements into long-term leaders inside your organizationWhat a real leadership development pathway looks like — from new grad → leader → clinic directorHow delegation, ownership, and development directly impact retention and recruiting outcomesThe mindset shifts owners must make to stop being the bottleneck and start building a scalable team If you're a clinic owner, hiring manager, or leader who feels stuck between burnout, turnover, and constant recruiting pressure, this episode will help you rethink how you build teams — and show you how to create a system where great people want to stay, grow, and recruit others for you.

Guy Winch reveals that when you're stressed at work, your partner at home can actually start developing symptoms of burnout themselves, even if they don't work. The most surprising truth? Your workday doesn't end when you close your laptop. It ends when you stop thinking about work, and most people never truly clock out. He exposes why relaxation alone won't recharge you after mental exhaustion and shares the counterintuitive actions that actually restore your energy. This isn't just about surviving your job. It's about reclaiming the parts of yourself you've been amputating one by one while everyone around you suffers the spillover.Guy's books:Emotional First AidThe Squeaky WheelHow to Fix a Broken Heart (TED Books)Mind Over GrindIn this episode you will:Break free from rumination that keeps you stuck in fight-or-flight mode hours after work by converting your emotional spiral into a solvable problem with a simple three-step processUncover the shocking truth about why relaxation is only 50 percent of what you need to recover from burnout, and what recharging activities will actually fill your batteryDiscover why your unhealed wounds are making you choose unhealthy relationships at work and home, and the exact moment you need to look in the mirror instead of blaming othersTransform how you think about stress by understanding that your job isn't stressful all the time, it has stressful moments, and this one reframe can dramatically lower your cortisol levelsMaster the psychological ritual that trains your brain to detach from work mode, using all five senses to create a transition your nervous system will recognize instantlyFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1872For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you'll love:Dr. Caroline LeafMark MansonSimon Sinek Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Barb McQuade hosts #SistersInLaw to relay the #Sisters' 2026 predictions on everything from SCOTUS ethics to crypto, political engagement, and even fashion trends.  Then, they revisit the events of J6 and analyze Jack Smith's recently released testimony, focusing on the evidence, witness testimonies, and the political attempts to silence him.  From there, they dissect the fraud accusations targeting the Somali community in Minnesota and call out the reliance on misinformation and the dangerous precedent of targeting communities rather than individuals.  They also discuss Chief Justice Roberts' end-of-year statement, upcoming cases, and whether the court is still independent. The holidays are here! Get the brand new ReSIStance T-Shirt, Mini Tote, and other #SistersInLaw gear at politicon.com/merch!  Additional #SistersInLaw Projects Check out Jill's Politicon YouTube Show: Just The Facts Check out Kim's Newsletter: The Gavel Joyce's new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable, is now available, and for a limited time, you have the exclusive opportunity to order a signed copy here.  Pre-order Barb's new book, The Fix. Her first book, Attack From Within, is now in paperback.  Add the #Sisters & your other favorite Politicon podcast hosts on Bluesky Get your #SistersInLaw MERCH at politicon.com/merch WEBSITE & TRANSCRIPT Email: SISTERSINLAW@POLITICON.COM or Thread to @sistersInLaw.podcast Get text updates from #SistersInLaw and Politicon.  From the #Sisters On Joyce's Substack - Crypto Interview  Jack Smith's Video Testimony & Transcript Chief Justice Roberts' Year-End Report Support This Week's Sponsors Gusto: Gusto is your all-in-one online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses.  It's remote-friendly and incredibly easy to use.  Try Gusto today at gusto.com/SISTERS and get three months free when you run your first payroll! Thrive Causemetics: Amplify your everyday look in 2026. Go to thrivecausemetics.com/sisters for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order. OneSkin: Get up to 30% off OneSkin with the code SISTERS at https://www.oneskin.co/SISTERS #oneskinpod Get More From The #SistersInLaw Joyce Vance: Bluesky | Twitter | University of Alabama Law | Civil Discourse Substack | MSNBC | Author of “Giving Up Is Unforgiveable” Jill Wine-Banks: Bluesky | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight For Truth & Justice Against A Criminal President | Just The Facts YouTube Kimberly Atkins Stohr: Bluesky | Twitter | Boston Globe | WBUR | The Gavel Newsletter | Justice By Design Podcast Barb McQuade: barbaramcquade.com | Bluesky | Twitter | University of Michigan Law | Just Security | MSNBC | Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America