Podcasts about for chris

My guest this episode is Chris Burggraeve. Chris is a practitioner scholar of the art and science of marketing. His corporate marketing career culminated as the Chief Marketing Officer for AB Inbev from 2007-2012. In 2013 he founded Vicomte, a marketing advisory and micro-ventures firm. He is also a former Capstone Project Director for the TRIUM Global EMBA.In this episode, we discuss his latest book, Marketing is not a Blackhole. For Chris, if you have a business model based on a branded product or service, then marketing is at the heart of everything you do as a company – or at least should be. Great marketing gives a firm the ability to consistently raise prices without losing market share (pricing power). Pricing power, in turn, is a key to long-term profitability and growth. If you could effectively rank the marketing excellence of the firm, then you could use this as a predictive tool of the future profitability of the firm. Chris has created just such a marketing excellence rating – αM 2.0. He hopes/dreams that this rating will be as useful and used as other, more established ratings (think Moody's, Fitch, FICO scores, Altman's Z score, ESG ratings, …etc.) when analysts are valuing a firm. Join us to find out more!Citations Burggraeve, Chris (2021) Marketing is not a black hole. Great Britain: Amazon. Damodaran, Aswath (2017) Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. Columbia Business Press.Hadfield, Chris (2015) An astronaut's guide to life. Pan, Main Market Edition.Host: Matt Mulford | Guest: Chris Burggraeve | Editor: Théophile Letort See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

: Episode 1886 - Chris Kostman, creator of Badwater, joins Vinnie to talk the world's toughest footrace, Chris's journey to ultra events, the course, and more. Https://www.vinnietortorich.com/2021/07/badwater-the-worlds-toughest-footrace-episode-1886 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS BADWATER Chris is the founder, creator and host of the Badwater events. There hasn't been a Badwater event since 2019! These events are incredibly complex, so adding anything is very difficult. He wants his events to have a human drama element. Many people who do these events overcome a LOT to do them. Those who participate have amazing stories (think of Mike McKnight, for example!). For Chris, many of the pioneers of ultra races were his heroes. He wanted to do what they were doing! THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST FOOTRACE This weekend, the Badwater 135 is happening. It begins July 19.  Runners will be taking off in the evening. This makes the race harder. People are sleep deprived and doing some of the toughest climbs during the day in the heat. It's a world event. We'll have 84 runners from all across the globe. The course starts at the lowest point in North America. The runners then traverse three major mountain climbs, and end up at the Mount Whitney portal. We have a 100 degree temperature range during this race. The limit is 48 hours. Crews are incredibly important! WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE FAT DOC 2 IS AVAILABLE ON iTUNES and AMAZON Please also share it with family and friends! Buy it and watch it now on iTunes to get it to the top of the charts. We need it to get big for people to see it. Here's the (BLUERAY, DVD, PRIME) (MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE YET ACROSS THE POND). And the And the https://amzn.to/3rxHuB9 [the_ad id="17480"] PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW the film AFTER YOU WATCH!   FAT DOC 1 IS ALSO OUT Go watch it now! We need people to buy and review for it to stay at the top of iTunes pages. Available for both rental and purchase. You can also buy hardcopy or watch online at Amazon. YOU CAN NOW STREAM FOR FREE ON AMAZON PRIME IF YOU HAVE IT! RESOURCES Https://www.vinnietortorich.com Https://www.purevitaminclub.com Https://www.purevitaminclub.co.uk Https://www.purecoffeeclub.com Https://www.nsngfoods.com Https://www.bit.ly/fatdocumentary https://www.belcampo.com https://www.villacappelli.com

In this episode we're answering some of our listener questions.  We'll be covering how to maximise borrowing on a low income, what agents mean by ‘expressions of interest”, borrowing from overseas, the research needed when buying your first investment property, dealing with “best and final offers” in a hot market and what due diligence do buyers agents do that regular buyer don't? Questions: “I'm 26 years old and already have 1 investment property and currently looking for my second. As a landscaper that is only on 65k a year at a job that I love, how would I be able to increase my max loan from the bank? Down deposit isn't a problem with me with a bit over 110k in the bank ready to go. With my wage being so low and me only having my wage as a source of income what would the next steps be getting investment 3 and going into the future. Thanks for your time.” “Hi Veronica & Chris, love your podcast! I have one question for each of you :) For Veronica, I occasionally see a property being listed as "expressions of interest". How is that different to a private treaty sale or auction and what kind of properties are best suited for it? For Chris, could you please talk about the borrowing options overseas Australians might have? Especially if they're asset rich and income poor? Many thanks for your time!” “Hi Veronica & Chris, I am a big fan and long time listener of your podcasts. In short I am 22yo and looking to buy my first investment property and have recently graduated my Civil Engineering degree. I have now moved into FT work in my chosen field of study and in the process of getting my finance pre-approved. If possible, I would love you to discuss the following in regards to undertaking research prior to the purchase of an investment property; 1. Various different online platforms available to the public to research past and future wages growth in numerous suburbs around Australia? 2. Research methods and frameworks you adopt/prefer? 3. Most important research indicators for a investment-grade suburb? i.e. wages, employment, population growth. 4. How to best determine and interpret data available online? i.e. Number of days on market, auction clearance rates, etc. I'm very eager and exciting to begin my wealth creation journey, and would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to answer my questions. :) Thanks!” “We've bought and sold a lot of different sorts of properties but only in NSW and we were totally bamboozled by the way they do it down there. No auctions, even in a really hot market. They are listing properties with a price, and you are expected to put in your best offer, and then the agent sells it to the highest offer, but without coming back to you to give you the chance to up your offer.” “I have a comment, not a question, after listening to your podcast re hiring a Buyers Agent. I hired a Buyers Agent to assist me in buying an apartment for a family relative to live in. My reason for doing this was primarily to ensure due diligence, not recommend a property. Nicole had a lot of specialist contacts, eg for analysis of body corporate minutes, building contracts, conveyancing etc. I was very happy with the result.” RELEVANT EPISODES: Episode 183 | The Secret to Capital Growth | Jeremy Sheppard Episode 168 | Listener Q&A: How to buy your first investment property LINKS:www.suburbtrends.com.auhttps://www.homebuyeracademy.com.au/https://www.rask.com.au/podcasts/australian-investor-podcast/ https://www.corelogic.com.au/reports/pain-and-gain HOST LINKS:Looking for a Sydney Buyers Agent? www.gooddeeds.com.auWork with Veronica: https://linktr.ee/veronicamorgan Looking for a Mortgage Broker? www.wealthful.com.au Work with Chris: hello@wealthful.com.au Send in your questions to: questions@theelephantintheroom.com.au EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Please note that this has been transcribed by half-human-half-robot, so brace yourself for typos and the odd bit of weirdness…This episode was recorded in July, 2021. https://www.theelephantintheroom.com.au/podcasts/184

For Chris' birthday celebration it becomes a Nate Dogg Tuesday as we honor the Robert Horry of Hip-Hop and going to a dentist visit on his birthday. Chris also asks Erick about producing the new Clay Travis show, which he, along with Buck Sexton, is replacing Rush and had President Trump on. They then get into the NBA and NHL playoffs before getting back into the comments Scottie Pippen made about Phil Jackson on Dan Patrick. Finally to end the hour Nate Dogg is compared to Robin, much like Scottie Pippen.

For Chris' birthday celebration it becomes a Nate Dogg Tuesday as we honor the Robert Horry of Hip-Hop and going to a dentist visit on his birthday. Chris also asks Erick about producing the new Clay Travis show, which he, along with Buck Sexton, is replacing Rush and had President Trump on. They then get into the NBA and NHL playoffs before getting back into the comments Scottie Pippen made about Phil Jackson on Dan Patrick. Finally to end the hour Nate Dogg is compared to Robin, much like Scottie Pippen.

In This Episode You Will Learn About: Asking yourself better questions Manufacturing pain points Thinking an hour ahead Becoming addicted to convenience Reframing difficult situations   Resources: Text “FASTER” to 310-421-0416 to join my new “Fastermind” Text “PODCAST” to 310-496-8363 to get your questions answered on our Q&A segment or even get coached on the show!   Show Notes: Questions can be a powerful tool for leveling up in every aspect of your life. As they say: “Ask better questions, get better answers.” We're going to talk about one question we each use as a tool in order to better our lives and our businesses. For Chris, his goal is to be as fit as he can be this summer. To make sure he hits this goal, he had to develop some tools. One of those tools was asking himself this question before every decision: “How will this make me feel in one hour?” We make so many decisions hoping for instant gratification, but thinking an hour ahead is just far enough out for you to realize whether it's something you truly want or something you'll regret. My question that I ask myself is: “How can I look at this differently?” We experience discomfort on a daily basis, but we rarely think about why we're feeling that way or what it might be telling us. Often when we're feeling fear, it's actually a sign that we're in an area with opportunity for expansion and growth. When there's no problems and no fear, there's no way we're ever going to get better. If you ask yourself these two questions purposefully and intentionally, you will make exponentially better decisions and see a wider set of opportunities. These two questions can change your life.

While our Steelers Insider Ed Bouchette believes Ben Roethlisberger will be better in 2021, Chris isn't sold that will be the case. For Chris, it is entirely reliant on Ben hanging in the pocket and pushing the ball down the field on a regular basis. If he doesn't, it will be more of the same for Pittsburgh's offense this season. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PODCAST EPISODE 54: Chris Monaghan, Holy Cross Retreat, Templestowe, Victoria, Australia Spirituality means different things for different people. But in challenging times, like the one we have been experiencing since COVID-19 hit, I have noticed a real need—in myself and other people—for meaning. A seeking out of what's important. Looking deeper into how spirituality might be invited into everyday life, tasks and duties as a way to keep in touch with hope and positivity for the future. For some, spirituality includes religion, religious services, ceremonies, the institution of the Church, its principles and values. For others, spirituality is something found in nature, animals, plants, their beauty and soothing ways. For others, the spiritual manifests in good deeds, community, love and family. Of course, spirituality moves between its more organised and everyday forms, and every person's belief system is unique, in some way, to them. In my forties, I am still not entirely certain what I believe, but I understand that there is great healing and stability to be found in finding something to go to, in your mind and maybe your body, when times are tough. For that reason, I am delighted to introduce you to a wise and humble man, a great thinker and seeker, and a lover of bees— priest, scholar and beekeeper Chris Monaghan. Born in Melbourne in 1955, Chris Monaghan has always loved nature, beauty, art and music. A keen nature photographer and musician, he was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1981. After his ordination, he studied biblical studies in Rome and Jerusalem, before gaining a PhD on the New Testament. Since 1987, Chris has been teaching at Yarra Theological Union—a college of the University of Divinity. These days, Chris lives at the beautiful Holy Cross Retreat in Templestowe—a 10-acre property with a conference centre, home to a religious community. Here, Chris and his bees have a happy life: “My bees have a beautiful and restful home down by our dam shared with ducks and other water birds. It is a delight to watch how they interact with their environment.” For Chris— a wealth of knowledge on the history of bees' appearance in scared religious texts and stories— it is the “collective intelligence” of bees that amazes him; the way in which they work, in unison, with their environment and their colony members to make the delicious elixir that is honey. From this, Chris derives great lessons that could, and should, transpose superbly to human life: “They teach me how to live in harmony with all creation—it's a pity that human beings are so slow to learn the lessons that they teach us about cooperation and how we can achieve so much together if we try.” Tune in to hear Chris and I chat about the spiritual quality of beekeeping, the profound place of bees in biblical and sacred texts, and how bees are wonderful role models for human cooperation with the environment.

Do you remember the first voice you heard on the radio? For Chris, that voice belongs to Laurie DeYoung, who has been waking up Baltimore for 35 years on her award-winning morning show on iHeart's 93.1 WPOC. To her thousands of listeners, she is known as a beloved friend, an indispensable part of their daily commutes, and--for some--a part of their families. Join us as we sit down with one of radio's living legends for a candid conversation about her radio journey, the changes she has seen both in radio and in music, how she overcame the stereotypes about the place of the woman on-air, her life in Baltimore, and much more. Be sure to check out Laurie's show from 5-10 AM Eastern on WPOC and look for The Laurie DeYoung Show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Joining Lauren in this episode is Chris Craddock, the newest coach of Wholesaling Inc. and the creator of the newly launched program, REI Revive. This program guarantees to bring in leads through the wholesaling tools that will get you paid every time your phone rings. For Chris, old and dead leads are gold! It just needs the right people and script to monetize those leads. In this episode, the goal is for Chris to convince Lauren and the listeners to stop neglecting old leads in this strategic session. He will also talk more about the REI Revive program and how it massively boosts business income with its techniques and procedures. Let Chris help boost your business through the  REI Revive program. Listen to this episode to learn more. RESOURCES: REI Revive Program The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham Chris Craddock on Instagram

In this episode of the Build Hatch Podcast, we had the opportunity to hear from Chris Morgan from Accomplice Media. In this episode we talk about: Chris explains his work at Accomplice Media as a speciality construction content creator.  Chris grew up in New Zealand and completed a Bachelor of Media Arts specialising in Photography and Film.  Starting his career in feature films as a ‘runner which', he found was not his calling he then switched to TV broadcasting in NZ. His wife's Hockey career brought them to Australia 10 years ago, however as the media industry is so cut-throat, he was unable to get a job in mainstream media and started work in milk delivery to make ends meet. Early mornings caused burnout for Chris, so he stepped out on his own as a freelancer right after the birth of his first child.  The first two years of business was tough for Chris, but he eventually connected with our good friend Matt from Elevate Building Group which led to a rise in success for Accomplice Media. Film and media is a trade, and we discuss the correlation between media and construction.  One of the pain points of construction business' is regular, budget friendly content which led Chris to create a subscription-based model for ongoing content creation.  Chris' favourite aspect of his role is bringing the story of construction together. Imagery shot on a phone vs Chris' drones, professional camera's, 360 cameras, go-pros and professional sound equipment, and the difference this can make to your social presence.  Chris dives deep into his camera equipment and shares the coolest aspect of creating content.  Finding the action, framing the action and editing to create a coherent story that is also unique for each construction client.  The trick to creating diverse video content when the subject matter may be similar.  Outside of work, Chris is a busy man with one year old twins at home, and although there is not much downtime, he finds so much joy in his work in the creative spaces.  Chris is a leader in a niche market and his subscription-based model is almost unheard of in his field.  As Chris regularly comes back to shoot video content, he is able to try new techniques and has the opportunity to become a leader in this creative field.  Chris shares one of his recent experimental shoots for Matt from Elevate Building group and the excitement of starting new trends and styles.  The influence of Chris' business coach and how he has been able to re-shape his thinking to work within construction. For Chris, it is all comes back to listening to his client's needs and establishing long-term relationships with his clients.    Sit back and enjoy this helpful interview with Chris Morgan from Accomplice Media.    Links: Accomplice Media Build Hatch Follow @buildhatch on Instagram    Credits: Podcast Produced by Pretty Podcasts Build Hatch Podcast Soundtrack Title: “Ride It Like You Mean It”. Artist Name: Kristian Leo. Written By: Evert Zeevalkink.   Published by Soundstripe Productions. 

Reely Scared is joined by great friend of the show and THE personality of WAT Reel Entertainment, Chris Anthony Lopez! We're discussing one of the greatest sequels of all time in the cult horror-comedy classic, Evil Dead II! Follow Chris Anthony Lopez! https://twitter.com/CAnthonyLopez Listen to For Chris' Sake! https://canthonylopez.wixsite.com/website/podcast Credit to Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio for the music! Subscribe to “Who Are They? Reel Entertainment” and watch our next broadcast live! You can find us at: Facebook: WhoAreTheyMovies YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/WhoAreTheyReelEntertainment Twitch: wat_reelpodcasts
Twitter: @WATReelEnt Also on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and iHeartRadio! Follow Reely Scared on Instagram! @reelyscared For all of your WAT merchandise, be sure to visit: https://teespring.com/stores/wat-reel-entertainment Don’t miss a second of our live gaming streams by following us on Twitch! http://twitch.tv/wat_reelpodcasts

Craig Hoffman and Chris Gorres talk about the rash of injuries that have swept the NBA. Is it actually worse than usual? What could be causing it to be so beyond the simple scheduling? Plus, a tangent on Steph Curry including the stat that Craig calls "one of the most impressive he's ever seen!"Plus, Craig and Chris talk about the considerations trainers and athletes need to take after the COVID vaccination. What does the data show about how people are reacting in the immediate aftermath of getting the vaccine and how should trainers plan to compensate for potential, normal side effects?For Chris's sister's empanadas discussed in the episode, click here! https://www.instagram.com/merryendaeats/To truly Train With The Best, check out the new TWTB Programming on TrainHeroic here and use the code POD for 20% off as a podcast listener.We have a brand new code with our friends at Momentous! Use the code TRAINWITHTHEBEST25 at LiveMomentous.com (automatic when you click the link) for 25% off your first subscription order and 15% off all recurring orders. Subscribe to your favorite proteins, Performance Collagen, Performance Creatine, Elite Sleep or the all-new Omega 3's all for 25% off the first shipment and 15% off all that follow. The Train With The Best Podcast is powered by Kitu Life Inc. For 25% off Super Espresso, Super Coffee (including the all-new Blueberry Latte!) and Super Creamer, use the new code "TWTB" at checkout at DrinkSuperCoffee.com. Craig is an official Whoop affiliate! You can join him on Whoop by getting $30 off your membership at join.whoop.com/hoffman.Contact Craig on Instagram at @craig_hoffman and Chris at @trainergorres.Our theme music was made by Jamarian Bates. You can contact him via Soundcloud here: @jaybates40oz!

During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, host Jeff Pfitzer speaks with Chris Craddock. He is an expert in lead generation, working with investors specifically. Chris has grown his business from $80 Million to $160 Million over the last few years in the Northern Virginia DC area. Founder CEO of Redux group. He has a Platform of REI REVIVE, and he is a co-host of the podcast Uncommon Real-estate. Episode Highlights: It is a challenge for real estate agents to develop and build relations with investors in the pandemic. It is a critical component to keeping your business very high or taking it to the next level.  Chris took the unconventional path to real estate. He went to some of the bigger investor groups and enquired what they do with the dead leads. For Chris, persistence was the key to get his first break.  Chris points out that real estate agents and investors should work together in tandem, but they rarely do so.  Investors are more open to fixed costs than variable costs where on the other hand, real estate agents are more open to variable costs than fixed costs. With agent vs. investor mentality, you have to identify what the seller or homeowner wants. The script should be more about questions, and then you give solutions. Normal conversations for the script: How do you differentiate? What are the common mistakes that agents make? 3 Key Points: Chris answers the questions: Where do you find investors?, Where are the investors getting the leads from?, and What is it that may have caused you to succeed whereas others may have not? It is highly crucial how you approach a lead; Instead of approaching them as standard agents, it is best to approach them as problem-solvers. Chris answers the question: Do you think most agents go in with a standard presumptuous mindset? Resources Mentioned: Lab Coat Agents  |Website| Facebook | | Facebook Group | Twitter | Instagram | Chris Craddock | Website | | Facebook Group | Instagram    https://www.chriscraddock.com/reirevive   https://www.facebook.com/groups/uncommonrealestate https://www.landvoice.com/pre-foreclosure https://www.propstream.com/ https://www.coleinformation.com/ https://dmv.thereduxgroup.com/

Modern parenting is tough, especially when it comes to navigating a balance between providing kids with access to technology and maintaining a healthy amount of screen time. As a parent, how do you know the difference between if your kids are tech savvy enough that they won't be left behind? To understanding what is the right amount of exposure to technology and when have they had enough screen time? Lucky for us our special guest, Christopher Hogbin, Global Educational Strategy of 3P Learning, who deliver online learning programs such as Mathletics, Readiwriter and Reading Eggs, will share expert tips today with and an easy approach that you can apply at home to help navigate this. We ask Chris questions including:  As a dad and a high school maths teacher, do you think children are better or worse with technology in their life? How do you see children continue to benefit from technology? Equally, how do you see that it has or has hindered their lives? What challenges are you seeing parents face when it comes to screen time with their kids? Why is It important for parents to see and understand that video games, such as Minecraft as an example and many others can be educational for kids? How do you associate video games with the dangers of excessive screen time? I understand a recent UNSW study provided some answers to the ideal amount of screen time. Could you please tell us more? What is the ideal amount of screen time? Is there a simple and effective approach? What is a screen time budget? How can parents set up a successful budget and how can it help families? Do you think that a screen time budget is much more effective than slashing screen time or leaving kids to their own devices (literally)? For Chris full article: https://kiddipedia.com.au/how-teaching-parents-to-budget-screen-time-can-help-them-negotiate-the-minefield-of-kids-and-technology/ For further details: https://www.3plearning.com/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thank you for joining us in prayer this Tuesday of Holy Week.  This is our last week together and I'm so grateful that you are part of our community. Thank you for praying for the intentions of our community. Please know that we're praying for you. We're planning on launching the 4th season of 54 days of Roses in June or early July. If you would like to support our ministry by paying it forward, with just 0.10 cents per episode, that's $5.40 the cost of a cup of coffee.  your support would go along way.  Please know that we appreciate all that you have done for our ministry, by sharing this podcast, rating, giving us a review, donating. All these things matter and they all make a difference, and that is why you make such a difference in our community.Just a couple more things,  If you're interested in praying the rosary live with me during or off-season, Im hosting a room on Clubhouse M-F at 6 am PST under the Catholic Club.  This app is by invitation as of now, but if you need an invitation go ahead and email me and ill send you a link to join. the email is Prayers@54daysofroses.comAlso, a couple of days ago we published our first episode of "The Rose of the Day",  please let us know what your thoughts are.  Should we continue highlighting someone from our community?  This would be  1 bonus episode per week.  Send us an email we want to hear from you.  Prayers@54daysofroses.comWith that,Day 49 Joyful Mysteries in thanksgivingToday we're praying the Joyful Mysteries in Thanksgiving.  Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, we pray that we may rediscover Jesus in this season of Lent. Blessed Mother, as the Lenten Season is coming to an end, we pray that we may give ourselves another spiritual challenge. We pray that the grace of our land will be with us during this Holy Week. We pray for the strength of our Lord.We pray to take refuge in our Lord. We pray to be obidient to our Lord. Blessed Mother, we pray for the needs of our listeners, and we pray for all those who wrote their intentions on our website, email. We pray for the catholic community on Clubhouse and Instagram. For Chris, Marcie, Maria, Alicia, Cindy, Jason, Joe, Addy, Bella, Angel, Greg, Kaylee, Thomas, Sophia, Anna, Sheila Gill, Oscar Lopez, Donna, Nadia, and ChiamakaWith Love, Maritza MendezMake a Donationhttps://www.54daysofroses.com/donateSupport our Ministry:https://www.patreon.com/54daysofrosesWebsite:https://www.54daysofroses.com/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/54daysofroses/Audio Engineerhttps://conceptualpodcasting.com/podcastsThe song "Meditation 2" created by Patrick Buddewww.patrickbudde.com

UNITE THE FIVE - Chris, Conner, Matt, Taylor, and Toby sit down to have a special spoiler-filled discussion about Zack Snyder's Justice League. After the last year of speculation, debate, and excitement; WAT comes together to finally share our complete thoughts on the film. Listen and subscribe to For Chris' Sake! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/for-chris-sake/id1524214570 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1rHVMo3eRJuaqD1MD1AF3k?si=eIPuWFLsQtadpGlvXWiAsg iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-for-chris-sake-69260042/ Subscribe to “Who Are They? Reel Entertainment” and watch our next broadcast live! You can find us at: Facebook: WhoAreTheyMovies YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/WhoAreTheyReelEntertainment Twitch: wat_reelpodcasts
Twitter: @WATReelEnt Also on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and iHeartRadio! Follow Reely Scared on Instagram! @reelyscared For all of your WAT merchandise, be sure to visit: https://teespring.com/stores/wat-reel-entertainment Don’t miss a second of our live gaming streams by following us on Twitch! http://twitch.tv/wat_reelpodcasts

Christopher McDaniel is the President at the Institutes’ RiskStream Collaborative. In this podcast he announces the launch of Canopy 3.0 their latest version of their insurance blockchain platform. This new platform, built on Kaleido, supports Corda, Enterprise Ethereum and Hyperledger. Chris also shares with us his plans to launch first notice of loss in production mode on Canopy 3.0 this year.   What is blockchain? Since the launch of Canopy 1.0 in late 2017, Chris' view of blockchain has evolved. Back then when they were building Canopy 1.0 their views were that blockchain was fundamentally a sharing mechanism. There weren’t many applications out there so they had to build use cases and applications to demonstrate to the market what is possible. Now with the launch of Canopy 3.0 things have changed. GDPR, and the right to be forgotten, has had some impact on what you can and can’t do on a blockchain. There are now many parties building out solutions on blockchain compared to back in 2017. Whilst blockchain is still a sharing mechanism there is this realisation that you don’t need to put everything on the blockchain. You can store data off chain and link it to the blockchain via a validated hash. For Chris, blockchain is a great solution for verification, for trust and for facilitating sharing.   The Institute and RiskStream Collaborative The Institute, parent company of RiskStream Collaborative, is focused on education and certification in the insurance industry. Their flagship certification is the CPCU certification amongst another 20 certifications. Their reason for starting RiskStream Collaborative, is that the management at the Institute realised that emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (internet of things) are going to be key things they will need to teach and certify for insurance professionals in the future. Based on that they created RiskStream.   Canopy 1.0 Prior to creating Canopy 1.0 the Institute organised a working group for 30 insurers who wanted to find out more about blockchain. From that event three to four proof of concepts (PoCs) were set up on a public Ethereum blockchain. Some of the learnings they gained from that event was the need to build on a private blockchain. Canopy 1.0 was launched on a private Ethereum blockchain with proof of insurance as the one use case built on top of it.   Canopy 2.0 One of the key learnings that the team took out of Canopy 1.0 is that members of RiskStream Collaborative weren’t comfortable with the classic version of blockchain where everything is shared with everyone on the network. Whilst the information was encrypted and accessed on a permissioned basis it still had  trust issues along with legal and compliance ones as it was shared with everyone. Chris and his team looked for an alternative solution and identified R3’s Corda as it had a point to point approach instead of everything being shared across the blockchain. This was a critical success factor for the consortium’s members. Purist would argue that Corda isn’t a blockchain but a distributed ledger technology (DLT). Whilst this is true from a technical standpoint, the DLT solution provided the answers to the challenges they were facing. Canopy 2.0 was launched on a Corda Enterprise License with a number of use cases such as first notice of loss, proof of insurance and a number of other applications within commercial lines, workers compensation, certificates of insurance, surety bonds and a proof of concept for the placement process for reinsurance between brokers and reinsurers. Canopy 2.0 brought significant learnings including one where a number of customer needs and third-party solutions weren’t a natural fit for Corda and thus couldn’t be integrated into Canopy 2.0. GDPR along with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 introduced some new challenges for blockchain.  Both presume the operation of the traditional d...

For many, 2020 has not been a good year. If 2020 left you feeling defeated then do the work to overcome it. In this episode, Chris Williams talks about how you can do that.  Moving forward in 2021 2020 was hard for everybody regardless of social status. It was a hard heart and mind-bending process.  For Chris, there are three things that matter: You need to be yourself. In this time when money and the market are getting pushed, it's difficult for people to figure out who you are. Eventually, you start to become someone else. You start to see other people on social media and you aim to become more like that person. You need to stop that and anchor down to who you are and what your core values are.  Whatever your metrics are, whatever your numbers are, it's not about the money. It's about what you know that you're good at and being able to anchor to that. A good handle on that will give you assurance and confidence.  Have an actionable plan. You need to put up an actionable plan that leans on your strength.  This may mean that you need to read a book, listen to a podcast, or other amazing resources you can get your hands on. Pick up resources that will give you actionable stuff that you can do.  This is about clearly defining the list of things that you can do every single day.  You need to have a community that supports you. You need to be with people with hearts, souls, and minds.  People are inherently social beings. We have cultures, religious affiliations, political parties, and more. We need to anchor to a group of people who share the same beliefs and interests that we have.  Don't consume just any information available out there. Instead, lean in on the experts that provide the information that you like to consume.  “If 2020 Left You Feeling Defeated, Do the Work to Overcome It'' episode resources  Follow Chris Williams on Facebook and Instagram.  Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.  Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real.  85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan.  Try NetHunt CRM today →  https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It's a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.  We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to.  You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial.  Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Bright seed and Hill.

Welcome to Gear Talk: The Löw Tide Böyz and Swimrun Labs swimrun gear review show!In this episode we discuss one of our favorite topics: Pull Buoys. We do a deep dive into the new Ark Sports Keel + and break it all down.Before we get into that, we have some gear updates.Gear UpdatesAnnie dusted the cobwebs off of her old Finis Swim Snorkel and has started using it in the pool again to mixed results. Speaking about swim snorkels...Chris ended up copying Chipper and got the Aqua Sphere/Michael Phelps Focus Swim Snorkel and thinks that it is a vast improvement from his old Finis one but is still getting used to it. Brooke is 100% sold on the NRS Maxim gloves. She used them in open water in the ocean for the first time and they were amazing. She has since ordered the NRS Booties to complete her cold open water situation.Chipper is still in love with his Red Original Dry Robe and hasn’t been stopped by the neighborhood watch yet so all’s good there.Keel + Pull Buoy ReviewThe Keel + is the largest pull buoy available from Ark Sports. With the following dimensions: Length 28 cm, Height 31 cm, and Width 12 cm. For reference, ÖTILLÖ has limit on the maximum pull buoy size of Length 30 cm, Height 32 cm, and Width 15 cm. We think that Ark Sports didn’t take it to the limit because it didn’t need to. The Keel + is super buoyant at 55 Newtons and any more might just be too much. Swimming ImpressionsAnnie and Brooke did some scientific testing in the pool comparing the Keel to the Keel +. For Brooke, the Keel + was 2 seconds per hundred faster than the regular Keel. She also thought that the pull buoy was a bit “too much” in terms of buoyancy. She also felt that the Keel + was a bit too long and she couldn’t keep it nice and snug between her legs. Annie was disappointed in her swim test. She tested the NU ORZA, Swimrunner’s Piraya, and the Keel pull buoys and was fully expecting that the Keel + would make her faster but instead she was about 2 seconds per hundred slower than with the regular Keel. She felt that the Keel + was too big and challenging to wield. It felt thick between the thighs and it went below the joint line of her knees and couldn’t get comfortable with it.Chris and Chipper also tried to do “science.” For Chris, the Keel + was definitely faster in the water than the normal Keel. He felt that the fit was a bit tough because the pull buoy felt fine in the groin but it was hard to keep between the legs towards the knees and it felt like it was popping out a bit. Chipper tested the Keel + just using the buoy with no paddles and felt that it was faster in the pool and in open water. He thought it was too big for the pool.Chipper and Chris did use the Keel + in training and raced with it in Ödyssey Swimrun Austin and it was a non-issue in the water.Transition and Running Impressions Brooke practiced transitioning with the Keel + and found that tucking it into the loop was only possible by using Chris’s method of tucking the buoy in the front and then moving it to the back. Chipper also had to use Chris’s method for the Keel +. Everyone thought that a thigh mount pull buoy method might be tough to pull off. There’s just a lot of pull buoy that will stick out while on the run. Speaking of the run, Chipper and Chris practiced with the Keel + before Swimrun Austin and felt that it was fine. The Keel + wasn’t so wide that elbows would hit the thing during a normal stride but it did take up the whole back.Pull Buoy Rankings(By way of reminder from our Ark Sports Keel review Gear Talk Episode: Annie, Chipper, and Chris gave the Keel 4.5 pull buoys each and Brooke gave it 4 pull buoys.)Chris’s Pull Buoy RankingChris gave the Keel + 4.5 pull buoys. The Keel + has a very specific application and it works really well if you’re tall enough and strong enough to wield it. He docked it .5 for the lack of universal applicability. He plans on continuing to race with the Keel +.Brooke’s Pull Buoy RankingBrooke gave it 4 pull buoys. She docked some points for it being over-designed and she didn’t feel that the Keel + gave a distinct advantage but it is a great option for people that come in different shapes and sizes.Chipper’s Pull Buoy RankingChipper gave it 4 pull buoys. He docked some points because the Keel + didn’t have universal applicability and not something that you could use for all aspects of Swimrun training and racing like one could with the Keel.Annie’s Pull Buoy RankingAnnie gave the Keel + 3 pull buoys. She felt that it was over-designed and sort of sets up an arms race of having multiple pieces of gear. She also felt that this wasn’t the only pull buoy that you have in your quiver. Overall ImpressionsWe all felt that the Keel + isn’t for everyone. It’s a great piece of tech for those who feel that they can wield it but it might pose a challenge for shorter athletes or those that don’t want to be engaging their adductor muscles for an entire Swimrun. It’s a great option to have but we would recommend that if you’re just going to have one mondo pull buoy, that one the size of the regular Keel is way more versatile.That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions, and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined. 

Chris Attwood is a transformational leader and the Co-Author of the New York Times best-selling books, Your Hidden Riches and The Passion Test. With over 30 years of industry experience, he was also a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council and helped arrange 70% of the interviews for Rhonda Byrne’s renowned movie and book, The Secret.  Currently, Chris is the Founder and President of The Beyul, a club and community designed for individuals and families who are professionally successful, socially conscious, financially independent, and committed to the experience of higher states of consciousness. In this episode… Do you want to build a business that is both profitable and meaningful? According to Chris Attwood, the recipe for success is simpler than you think. By combining your skills, talents, and passions with the things your consumers need most, you can create a successful and transformative business.  For Chris, his success hinged on his talent and passion for building strong relationships. While growing his career, he formed a number of enlightened alliances that helped him achieve his business breakthroughs. So, what are his strategies for finding partnerships that lead to greater transformation and impact?  In this episode of Growth to Freedom, Dan Kuschell sits down with Chris Attwood, transformational leader and best-selling author, to talk about how to align your purpose with your passion so you can achieve your next business breakthrough. Chris shares his expert strategies for finding your ideal alliance partners, how to build a more meaningful and profitable business, and the biggest mistakes he sees entrepreneurs making today. Stay tuned for more.

Chris is the owner of Chris Dantonio Drone Photography Introduction: Chris says he got in a “little late” and “by accident”, because he started about four years ago at 43 years old. His parents bought him a little toy drone that had a small camera. He flew it for a week, broke it and knew he needed something better. He then bought a $100 drone and broke that in about a month. The DJI Phantom 3 Standard was his first real drone. He started taking pictures around Philadelphia just as a hobby, and really enjoyed it because he’d grown up around photography. His father, a photograph teacher at the local high school, would set up backgrounds to do portraits in the living room. “Photography has always been a part of my life and to be able to do it with a drone and be able to show people things in the city, especially that you didn't even know were there, is nice.” He could show people things that are very rarely seen from the ground level, which intrigued him more. He started an Instagram account, which has been a godsend, Chris says, because it's free. It doesn't cost any money and, with good work and hard work, you get followers. Chris just hit 10,000 followers a couple of months ago. After that, Chris knew he had to get licensed in order to sell pictures. Sure enough, he bought a study guide, studied for six months and took the test. “It's because of the study guide, I did really well. For those of you wondering ‘Should I get a study guide?’ I’d highly recommended it...” Then the business started, almost by accident. David: What year did you get your first Phantom and when did you say, ‘let’s get rolling on this’ and decide to get your Part 107? Do you do drones as a full-time gig or do you have a full-time job or some other supplemental income to go along with your drone business? I got the Phantom in 2016, started studying in 2017 and took the test in early 2018. This is a part time thing for me. Leaving my day job is really far off. I’m also an executive chef for an elite school outside of Philadelphia, so I have a job that allows me to do the drone thing, since nights and weekends are perfect for drone work. David: It's nice to have something that covers your bills and provides the freedom to experiment and pursue things without pressure to make immediate income. There’s pressure to get it going, but you don't want so much overwhelming stress that you're just going to crumble. Chris agrees that it adds stress to a day job—in addition to family and everything else going in in his life, but it’s also nice to pick and choose what jobs you want to do because your next mortgage payment isn't relying on that. Chris hasn't bought a drone with his own money for two years; the business has paid for all of the equipment. In early 2018, Chris got an email from an Instagram follower who worked for American Idol who was from Philadelphia and had seen Chris’ work. That was his first real big job. He had to join ICG Local 600 to shoot as a contractor for the show, which he pays dues for, but found out how beneficial it would be down the road for future work.  The show was high stress, they worked all day, but got a very high reward. The third shot of the opening of American Idol was their shot.  When subsequent clients came, it helped because they knew that we had already worked for a popular show. David: With American Idol were you just shooting content and handing it over and their guys were editing it? For all his major jobs, Chris gave them raw footage and they had somebody in their organization that handled all of the editing, cutting and doing everything with it. This was the case for Comcast, American Idol, and NFL films. David: What happened next? How did your next client find you? The next person to call was Comcast who wanted to purchase rights to footage for unlimited use. Chris says every job they've had—big or small—has all found them through Instagram. Chris says, “it's a smart business tool that doesn't cost money...the key is getting reposted to get your name out there.” With Comcast, a higher-up had been following him for a while, seeing Chris post shots of cool and different angles of the city. He has never really done any outbound sales activities to pursue clients. “I would be out there shooting regardless. If I had a thousand followers or less, I would still be out there shooting that much because I love it, which makes it easier.  if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.” David: One of the things people love on this podcast is specifics and numbers. It inspires people to know what's possible. Can you tell us what you make? His daily rate early on (for American Idol) was $1500 for an all-day shoot. Comcast wanted five photographs and five 15 to 30 second videos. He quoted $500 per still/$1000 per video. He said he’d give them the whole package for $6,000—they didn't bat an eyelash and wrote the check. To come up with those numbers, Chris researched what rights he was giving up for unlimited use. If it had been exclusive—where he was never allowed to use that footage—the number would have doubled because he’d lose all future profit from that footage. He did a lot of research as to what Getty images charges for a single image and then cut the deal. Chris says, “It's extremely important to go online and research things, as well as talk to friends in the photography industry, who you will meet through Instagram. They will help you figure out what your service is worth to you.” Later, a photography director for NFL films reached out, asking for footage of the NFL films building for the opening of a new show. He shot all kinds of things for three hours, getting paid $1500. He got to work with cameramen who’d shot some of the most important sporting events of our time. They knew exactly what they wanted, which made it so much easier on Chris to be directed in that way. David: It sounds like you're getting pretty good pricing per gig. How many jobs are you flying per month and what are you getting paid these days? Chris tends to average two or three jobs a month, but sometimes those jobs have multiple flights. His pricing has increased a little bit—his hourly rate is now $300/hr; his daily rate is $2000. David: One of the biggest questions is ‘How do I find clients?’, ‘How do I find work?’ For Chris, many commercial projects have come from family members or people he knew in high school. He got a Land Rover Jaguar job from a high school friend who is now the sales manager there. He knew Chris was into this because he posted on Facebook constantly. It was all about getting the word out that that he’s “the drone guy” on social media. David: Obviously, it pays to have really good photos that are worth sharing...Do you have any strategies when you're posting on Instagram? Are you also posting to Facebook or doing them independently? Chris does not post to Facebook every time because he has a separate Facebook account just for the drone business. Philly Drone Shots is the only Instagram account he has, and it’s listed as a business. He usually posts directly and separately to Facebook. Chris’ advice is, “When posting to Instagram, hashtagging and tagging are how you get seen with little followers. If you're just starting out on Instagram, hashtag and tag large accounts in the city you live in with things like #gameofdrones, #photooftheday, #dronephotography. When people look at those hashtags, they see your photos, whether they follow you or not. That's how you build your followers.” He got 500 followers just from a repost from a local news organization that has 213,000 followers. Last words from Chris... “If you keep working at it, they WILL come. They will find you and they will see you.” Connect with Chris: Website: Chris Dantonio Drone Photography Philly Facebook: Chris Dantonio Drone Photography Instagram: @phillydroneshots Have a Drone Business? Want to be Interviewed for Season 3? Complete this questionnaire: Drone to 1K Business Owner Application Training from Drone Launch Academy Part 107 Exam Prep Course ($50 off) Aerial Photo Pro Course ($50 off) Aerial Video A to Z Course ($100 off) Aerial Roof Inspection Pro Course ($100 off) Drones 101 Course ($20 off) Other Places to Listen iTunes Stitcher Google Play Spotify TuneIn

This podcast addresses the most important investment lessons of 2020 from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation’s research team, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls. In each case there is a table/chart/graph that helps illustrate the lesson. (See more below. Also, WATCH as a VIDEO). In this a year-end Zoom call, Chris discusses his recent studies on using “2 Funds for Life after 60” as well as the case for international diversification and how he has created additional past returns for international asset classes that are difficult to find. Paul discusses why he thinks the new book, We’re Talking Millions, has been well received. Each finished the discussion with what’s coming in 2021. For Daryl it is new studies on distributions and inflation. For Chris it is a new book on 2 Funds for Life, along with Best In Class ETF Portfolio updates. For Paul it is more presentations to high school and college students, a series of 5-minute videos, promoting the upcoming We’re Talking Millions audio book, and a major overhaul of his website. About The Charts Click here to access a pdf of the charts The first two Quilt Charts show the one year returns (1928-2019) for S&P 500, Large Cap Value, Small Cap Blend, Small Cap Value and 4 Fund Portfolio. Only 1 in 5 years produced expected premiums. The next two quilt charts show that the 10 and 20 year results become more dependable in achieving results. In 75% of the 20 year periods the ranking of results was as expected. The next 5 graphs show the relative strength of the S&P 500 vs. the 4 Fund, All Value and Small Cap Value Portfolios. All of the graphs show investors how very patient they must be to capture the better returns of the different portfolios. The worst case in each graph ran from 15 to 20 years of under-performance. The next five tables track the risk and returns of 11 super simple portfolios of 1 to 4 funds. The good news is all but one of the portfolios had very fine returns. It was also noted that the best performers also had the biggest number of best and worst years. The Ultimate Buy and Hold Equity Portfolio didn’t produce many new lessons but the one it produced was interesting. After 50 years of performance the All Value Portfolio produced its first total return that was lower than the portfolio of all 10 asset classes. What Paul failed to note (but Daryl and Chris left in the table) was the 50-year result of the 4 Fund All U.S. Portfolio of 12.3%, just .3% less than the much more complex 10-fund Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio.

This is a reposting of Episode 34 & 35 featuring Chris Ross as a part of Catapulting Commissions' Best of 2020 series. It features a new introduction from Anthony where he talks about the episode and the exciting things to come in 2021.  ---   Today’s guest is an incredible Sales Leader, Chris Ross. He’s lead corporations to award-winning and high-performance sales teams, as well as pioneered profitable business development programs for his own companies that are Nationally Accredited. He specializes in training international business executives, companies, and corporations on methods, techniques he has developed over the years on adopting both sides of the buyer-seller relationships. He’s here today to break down how he’s breaking records and performing at the highest level.    Winning is something we discuss all the time. Chris embraces the losing more than “winning”. You don’t win or lose, you win or learn, according to Chris. You either have a quitting mentality or a winning mentality--and when you take a break, someone else will catch you. Having an abundance mentality allows you to put in the work without worrying about the haters or the accolades. It isn’t a finite game--as long as there are resources to continue, it’s crucial to get better. It’s one long game, Anthony adds.    Chris talks about his practices to get just 1% better every day. While it’s different for everyone, it’s important to have an overall goal--that will change with time. Your goals will uplevel and get bigger as you experience more success. Equally as important is having a target you can chase. The hardest battle Chris wins is at 5 am when he makes the choice to get to work and win. He removes distractions--phones and other people’s wants and needs. Then, he can attack the day by starting with a plan set in place the night before. Sure, somedays you get knocked out, but that’s why you prepare to adapt and adjust. Small, incremental improvements lead to massive changes. Making progress means you’ve gotten a win. If you focus on where you’ve failed, it can ruin you over time.    Progress is made when no one is looking. For Chris, being the Michael Jordan of sales means being 100% authentic within himself. He’s studied every sales technique there is and just found himself poking holes in it. Having a conversation from a script isn’t authentic nor is it useful. Ask yourself what you can do differently--how can you stand out? It’s not about reading and regurgitating information and methods--it’s about adapting information to your experience and the individual you’re talking to. Every person has a different story tied to different emotions. In fact, the two skills Chris says are essential to learn: anchoring and framing. If there is a negative response to something, re-anchoring the feeling into a positive emotion and reframing the situation to a beneficial one is a much easier way to communicate. This can only happen if it comes from a place that’s authentic. It allows you to pivot and move forward with the conversation.    Chris breaks down how we can eliminate buyer’s remorse for potential sales by dissolving the “pitch.” He sets standards for his conversations and brings the client to them. When you take the decision away from the client and take it upon yourself as the salesperson, you want it more. From the start, focus on what’s in the buyer’s best interest. What barriers are there for them to make a purchase? Beyond that, the language that is used in marketing is foundationally important. The phrase “for those who qualify” immediately shifts the power to the salesperson. Recommending a customer can turn them into a life-long client.     Anthony and Chris talk about what it means to be selective about the people they work with and what it means to truly help a person in the most meaningful way possible. They dissect the relationship between a coach and a client and how it can be beneficial for everyone if everyone is 100% committed.  Chris is in the process of expanding his organization, Winject. This endeavor has spearheads teaching companies and corporations on his methodology and aligning his sales process to increase sales numbers to astronomical transformation. His success as a salesperson is transferred into any industry--but he reminds us what he mentioned last week; you need to prove that you’re in for the long-haul. To see success, you have to approach with intention.      https://chrisrossofficial.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thisisChrisRoss https://www.instagram.com/thisischrisross/ https://twitter.com/thisisChrisRoss https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisChrisRoss https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisisChrisRoss @thewinwineffect @tcrconsultingagency

It's the ChooseFI Christmas Edition where we hear end-of-year wins direct from our community members. During this live event, listeners shared the actions they've taken during the past year that have helped them to spend less, earn more, and enjoy the journey. This year, the year-end-win episode took place in a three hour live Facebook and YouTube event featuring around 20 members of the community. Despite how tough this year has been, many people were able to implement some of the strategies and tactics discussed on the show into practice and find more margin in their lives. The first featured win comes from Valerie. She purchased a condo a couple of years ago and has been working on renovating it. While not a financial win, Valerie says putting it behind her is her biggest personal win. Finally closing out the permits allowed her to refinance her mortgage, saving her $466 a month. She was also able to pay off her credit card renovation debt, saving her an additional $600 a month. In total, Valerie paid off $34,000 of debt. Besides the debt, Valerie also maxed out contributions to her HSA and because she now has an additional $1,000 a month, she increased her 401k contributions from 8% to 11%. Valerie opened her first taxable investment account and rebalanced her portfolio, while her side hustles earned her $4,000, mostly from participating in focus groups. Due to COVID, Valerie wasn't spending as much money and it allowed her to focus on things she might not have had the time to do and she's now one-third of the way to her FI number and hoping to retire by 2030. Brad comments that cutting $1,000 in monthly expenses is $300,000 less Valerie needs in retirement when using the 4% rule. Valerie has been sharing her copy of ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence with family members. The second end-0f-year-win comes from Michelle who learned about ChooseFI after Googling financial independence while attending a conference. To convert her husband, she had him read ChooseFI's book and then scheduled a date night to discuss it. Michelle‘s husband, Greg, never thought he could retire early. They didn't have a lot of debt but bought into the concept of getting 1% better and things began to snowball. During the last year, Michelle and Greg joined their finances, maxed out their 401k, sold a rental home, bought a short-term rental, and broke up with their financial advisor. They opened a Vanguard account and moved their accounts over after discovering their financial advisor was making a lot more in fees than the $50 per month to come up with an investment plan. Because Michelle and Greg met later in life, they had maintained separate accounts. After joining finances and being transparent, they found making small 1% better changes each week didn't hurt at all. All of the extra money that came in from COVID refunds or bonuses went toward paying off the debt from new windows. They also started travel hacking. Michelle says when breaking up with your finical advisor, chances are they won't understand FI, so state that it's you not them and feel free to contact her for help breaking up with your advisor. Up next is Chris, who has been a member of the FI community for about three years. He got started by reading The Simple Path to Wealth and Your Money or Your Life. For Chris, the pandemic has been an opportunity allowing him to save $15,000. He's been able to max out his HSA and Simple IRA. Chris also has two adult children to who he has introduced the concept of FI, as well as his nieces and nephews who have been very receptive to the information Chris has provided. He says to reach out and if they are interested they will let you know. One of the actions Chris took this year was to switch to Policygenius, which saved him 50% on policy premiums. The next end-of-year-win comes from Lauren. Lauren found ChooseFI in late-August and is on Episode 61R. Lauren got a side gig in August being a census worker which enabled her to pay off all $7,000 she had in consumer debt. With all of the premium pay she earned, it ended up being $1,300 a week. She says she wouldn't have taken on the side hustle if it wasn't for the podcast. After learning about 403b's, she switched from stocks and bonds to VTSAX. She and her husband also opened up a joint VTSAX account and reduced all of their monthly recurring bills to as low as they could possibly be. She's currently looking for hacks for satellite service. In July, they moved into a home that they are caretakers for, which is an upgrade that eliminated $1,100 in rent. They found the caretaker job through her mother but says other caretaker or home sitting positions can be found online. Since August, Lauren has earned or save roughly $9,000 since finding ChooseFI and taking action. They are now trying to pump as much money as possible into retirement accounts. When an old job asked her to come back to work for them, she opted to focus on what things were important, like the baby she and her husband are expecting and how they can raise it frugally. Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation Register for The Simple Startup Winter Challenge and save 15% with the promo code “podcast” Automate your investing strategy with M1 Finance Sign up for the ChooseFI Foundation's FREE FI101 course Get the ChooseFI Foundation's FREE preK-12 finical literacy curriculum If You Want To Support ChooseFI: Earn $1,000 in cashback with ChooseFI's 3-card credit card strategy.  Share FI by sending a friend ChooseFI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence.

A chat with Chris, Shaun, and Adam from Overdrive Orchestra with fans Jason, Denise and Mike. We talk about the new Overdrive Orchestra album Electric Mind and get into a bit of the history of the band. Then we all dig into favorites. Favorite songs to play, favorite stages, and favorite albums. Along the way we explore musicians who inspired the band, prospects of new music, and what is the point of pineapple on pizza.Overdrive Orchestra and Electric MindOur chat took us all the way back to the formation of Overdrive Orchestra in Hartland, Michigan. Denise and Mike have been following the band since the earliest incarnations of Chris and Adam playing a Van Halen cover at a high school talent show. After a brief stint down in Nashville, Chris and Adam met up with fellow Hartland alumni Shaun, Cam, and JC (James Blevins) to round out what we now know as the Overdrive Orchestra.In February 2020, just before all hell broke loose, Overdrive Orchestra released Electric Mind. This is a must for anyone that digs emotive rock music with a progressive almost psychedelic lean. What is even better is that they released it on vinyl. The concept behind the album is the light, the spark, the energy within each of us. Overdrive Orchestra transform the inner fire of existence into a broadcast of electric rock music. It is a beautiful thing and this band has done a great job of capturing the fire within.A special song on the Electric Mind album by Overdrive Orchestra is called “Glass Kingdom”. A pulsating drum loop, accented with acoustic guitars and Chris’s soulful vocals is hauntingly beautiful. The main riff was developed by drummer Cameron Hill and the rest of the band fell in love with it. This riff spawns a moving composition that hints at loss and reflection. Each band member felt the drive to add their own texture and color which adds to the special vibe of the song. As Adam says about the main riff “It was a post and we were the vine crawling on it”.Favorite SongsMike was interested in what is the favorite song for each band member to play. Which could be their own or any other artist. Shaun mentioned that the vibe of a show can drive which one their songs feels favorite on a given night. However, in general Shaun is down with playing anything by All Them Witches. A super solid choice for those who dig a grungy stoner psychedelic tunes pulsing with bass. Chris seconds this as he was representing with an All Them Witches shirt. Sounds like we need to get All Them Witches on the show.For Adam the favorite song to play varies, but recently it has been “Release” off the Electric Mind album. This song features big burly foot stomping riffs and some tripped out harmonica (courtesy of Craig Griffith of the Verve Pipe). When journeying outside the Overdrive Orchestra catalog, Adam digs “No Quarter” by Zeppelin. Who can argue with that? Chris enjoys playing “Harvest”. Its moody syncopated intro builds into a torrent of fist pumping riffs.Favorite Albums and stagesJason piggybacked off favorites songs into favorite albums. Adam was quick to jump on 10000 Days by Tool and in particular the stellar bass playing of Justin Chancellor. Shaun digs Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age. This album never disappoints. For Chris, the album that resonates with him is Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin. This timeless classic features perfect albums sides on A and B. Diehard fans Mike and Denise love the new Overdrive Orchestra album. We flipped this question back on Jason and he feels a great deal of nostalgia for Tommy by The Who as his dad played it quite a bit. That album when played with a candle burning will set you free.Favorite stages made it into the conversation and the clear winner was Founders in Grand Rapids. This is based on the fan and band interactions and sound quality. Honorable mention goes to the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. This historic venue evidently was the loudest show by Overdrive Orchestra. As Shaun said louder is more better.Inspirational ArtistsAfter talking about favorites, we moved into inspirational musical artists which includes Dimebag Darrell, Josh Homme, Justin Chancellor, Frank Zappa, Jimmy Page, and Frank Ocean. A well rounded list that gives you a peek into the diverse spectrum of influences that guide Overdrive Orchestra.New Music and Naming of Overdrive OrchestraMike asked about a new album. The band has been using the quarantine period due to COVID to write new music, but want to wait to release until they can play live. This is the first time that all the band members have been working together on new tunes. The music on Electric Mind is actually a collection of music that is several years old. The new songs are more of a construction from the ground up with each member offering their unique inputs to the songs.Jason asked about the naming of the band. Chris relays that it started early on when the band was just a trio (prior to Shaun, Cam and JC joining). The concept behind the name is layered music like an orchestra, yet the hard rock vibe captured in the word overdrive. The actual first name kicked around was simply Overdrive with Orchestra being added to complete the concepts of the band. A bonus is you can abbreviate as O2, the fuel for our lives.Dig ItDig into all the stories, laughs, and the merit of pineapple on pizza in this episode of Fans With Bands with Overdrive Orchestra. We hope you enjoy it! Subscribe to Fans With Bands on your favorite podcast service such as Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible or Stitcher.  Be sure to rate the show and please send us feedback. We would love to hear from you.Check out Overdrive Orchestra’s music on BandcampFollow Overdrive Orchestra on Facebook, Twitter, and InstagramYou can also follow Fans With Bands on Facebook, Twitter, and InstagramFor samplings of music by artists featured on Fans With Bands, drop by our playlist on SpotifySupport the podcast!!

We're back with another #VHS4T1D episode, and for the second time in a row, we're going to discuss a Kubrick film, this time we're digging into the highly controversial 1971 classic of ultra violence, A Clockwork Orange! For Chris and George this is a rewatch of a film they've seen a bunch of times, for Dan it is the first time watch of a film he always felt people liked just to be edgy. Tune in to hear how it sat as a rewatch verses as a first time watch! Also hear the latest on how Lily is doing with her Type One Diabetes, and a reminder on why we keep doing this thing! If you want in on the fun and you're interested in helping the JDRF find a cure for Type One Diabetes, here are the awesome rewards for your donations (each includes the previous):$5: Mix CD (or tape)$10: + Shoutout$20: + You pick the movie$50: + You come on the show and get a copy of the film on VHS$100: + You are made Queen or King of the Series with your name attached to all #VHS4T1D episodes$1000: + You are the goddess or god of the show with your name attached to all Movie Cellar content!There ya go, and here is the current wall of fame:King of the Series: Jack ThorneGods of the show: The #AlitaArmyClick here to get involved!

Today Chris Miles has a very special guest, his wife, Adhis Boucha. For Chris what he is doing is making a ripple effect on everyone to achieve financial freedom is not possible if he is alone. It is for this reason that he brings here today his partner in crime and his secret weapon.   Adhis is now the first approved financial counselor for Utah. She is the founder of the company called New Money Mama. She works mostly with women who are emerging entrepreneurs and people who want to get out of the rat race and corporate world. Chris Miles, the "Cash Flow Expert, and Anti-Financial Advisor," is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He's an author, speaker, and radio host that has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, Entrepreneur on Fire, and spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results. http://moneyripples.com/ https://www.twitter.com/chriscmiles https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJS6bPY8sm53pkjiCSuBKMA  

Today Chris Miles has a very special guest, his wife, Adhis Boucha. For Chris what he is doing is making a ripple effect on everyone to achieve financial freedom is not possible if he is alone. It is for this reason that he brings here today his partner in crime and his secret weapon.   Adhis is now the first approved financial counselor for Utah. She is the founder of the company called New Money Mama. She works mostly with women who are emerging entrepreneurs and people who want to get out of the rat race and corporate world. Chris Miles, the "Cash Flow Expert, and Anti-Financial Advisor," is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He's an author, speaker, and radio host that has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, Entrepreneur on Fire, and spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results. http://moneyripples.com/ https://www.twitter.com/chriscmiles https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJS6bPY8sm53pkjiCSuBKMA  

Chris, who is based in Sydney, heads Learning Advisory at SAP. His mission is to ensure that SAP cloud customers are able to effectively use learning and approaches to learning as a driver for user adoption and long-term, sustainable business success. We reflect on this new Learning Advisory offering from the customer success organization – a model that can provide benefit for any company. In the podcast Chris and Thomas discuss the role of learning experience and share tips on how to improve it – like making it available on-demand, supporting regular, informal and user generated learning. Chris compares customers’ relationship with SAP with a wedding (the project), which is followed by the marriage, which needs the same priority for long-lasting success. For Chris every day is a school day and he learns a lot from his team. Find out more in the podcast.

The importance of asking questions cannot be overstated, whether it be to the discipline of coaching or your growth journey. In today’s episode, listeners get to hear Chris take the mic without a guest and weigh in on the importance of questions. For Chris, without questions, coaches can only advise their students, whereas by asking the right questions, students go on a journey of discovery which is so much more necessary for true growth to occur. Chris speaks about a few specific reasons for why questions work so well as drivers for growth and coaching, drilling down on their ability to help us get curious, help us examine what is true and what is possible, and help us get somewhere new. After that, Chris switches gears, zooming in on one question in particular, which is, “Who must you become to get what you want?” He unpacks the words in this question, talking about how they fit together to encourage a process in the person that asks it to themselves, a process that turns a seemingly unreachable dream into a problem that can be solved in a step by step fashion. Fundamental to the effectiveness of this question is the concept of neurolinguistic programming which, by tuning in, you’ll learn more about too. Listen along and accept the challenge in this episode to implement this question by answering it and applying it to your life and business today!Key Points From This Episode:The centrality of questions to coaching and achieving relentless growth.Without questions, a coach can only advise, where true growth involves discovery.Questions keep us in curiosity and help coaches step out of the, ‘You should do this,’ role.Secondly, questions help us to critically examine ‘the truth’, to see if a better way is possible.Thirdly, questions can be used as the vehicle for change, helping us get somewhere new.The need to get uncomfortable in order to grow, which can only happen if you question yourself.Chris’s plan to have episodes dedicated to the most useful questions he asks as a coach.Today’s question: “Who must you become to get what you really want?”Chris unpacks each word in this question, why it is included, and what it implies.The concept of neurolinguistic programming referring to the relationships between words and thoughts.The need for coaches to listen carefully to what their students say.Some examples of times where Chris asked himself today’s question in his life.Tweetables:“I want you to understand that questions are mission-critical to coaching. They are also mission-critical to growth.” — Chris Goodman [0:01:29]“Here’s the truth, you won’t grow staying right or comfortable, period.” — Chris Goodman [0:04:30]“Questions help us get curious, help us examine what is true and what is possible, and they help us get somewhere new.” — Chris Goodman [0:05:28]“Who must you become to get what you really want?” — Chris Goodman [0:07:30]“Hopefully by now, you are picking up on a little bit of what I have learned which is called neurolinguistic programming. It’s a fancy way to say that the words we choose to use in our language matter.” — Chris Goodman [0:12:44]Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Goodman CoachingChris Goodman on LinkedInChris Goodman on Instagram

For Chris.

Today’s guest is an incredible Sales Leader, Chris Ross. He’s lead corporations to award-winning and high-performance sales teams, as well as pioneered profitable business development programs for his own companies that are Nationally Accredited. He specializes in training international business executives, companies, and corporations on methods, techniques he has developed over the years on adopting both sides of the buyer-seller relationships. He’s here today to break down how he’s breaking records and performing at the highest level.    Winning is something we discuss all the time. Chris embraces the losing more than “winning”. You don’t win or lose, you win or learn, according to Chris. You either have a quitting mentality or a winning mentality--and when you take a break, someone else will catch you. Having an abundance mentality allows you to put in the work without worrying about the haters or the accolades. It isn’t a finite game--as long as there are resources to continue, it’s crucial to get better. It’s one long game, Anthony adds.    Chris talks about his practices to get just 1% better every day. While it’s different for everyone, it’s important to have an overall goal--that will change with time. Your goals will uplevel and get bigger as you experience more success. Equally as important is having a target you can chase. The hardest battle Chris wins is at 5 am when he makes the choice to get to work and win. He removes distractions--phones and other people’s wants and needs. Then, he can attack the day by starting with a plan set in place the night before. Sure, somedays you get knocked out, but that’s why you prepare to adapt and adjust. Small, incremental improvements lead to massive changes. Making progress means you’ve gotten a win. If you focus on where you’ve failed, it can ruin you over time.    Progress is made when no one is looking. For Chris, being the Michael Jordan of sales means being 100% authentic within himself. He’s studied every sales technique there is and just found himself poking holes in it. Having a conversation from a script isn’t authentic nor is it useful. Ask yourself what you can do differently--how can you stand out? It’s not about reading and regurgitating information and methods--it’s about adapting information to your experience and the individual you’re talking to. Every person has a different story tied to different emotions. In fact, the two skills Chris says are essential to learn: anchoring and framing. If there is a negative response to something, re-anchoring the feeling into a positive emotion and reframing the situation to a beneficial one is a much easier way to communicate. This can only happen if it comes from a place that’s authentic. It allows you to pivot and move forward with the conversation.    Chris breaks down how we can eliminate buyer’s remorse for potential sales by dissolving the “pitch.” He sets standards for his conversations and brings the client to them. When you take the decision away from the client and take it upon yourself as the salesperson, you want it more. From the start, focus on what’s in the buyer’s best interest. What barriers are there for them to make a purchase? Beyond that, the language that is used in marketing is foundationally important. The phrase “for those who qualify” immediately shifts the power to the salesperson. Recommending a customer can turn them into a life-long client.     Anthony and Chris talk about what it means to be selective about the people they work with and what it means to truly help a person in the most meaningful way possible. They dissect the relationship between a coach and a client and how it can be beneficial for everyone if everyone is 100% committed.      https://chrisrossofficial.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thisisChrisRoss https://www.instagram.com/thisischrisross/ https://twitter.com/thisisChrisRoss https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisChrisRoss https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisisChrisRoss @thewinwineffect @tcrconsultingagency

"It's not aggression, it's passion." This week we have another guest this week! For Chris's birthday month, Shelby and Chris have invited one of Chris's close friends to talk about who he was as an undergraduate student. Get ready to feel motivated and get more work done than ever before. Our guest is definitely a hard working and motivational and we think you will feel the same!

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/207/29 On todays Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank talks about an article by Sarah Kramer titled, A New Virginia Law Will Force This Photographer to Violate His Faith So Hes Taking a Stand. The convictions of the photographer, Chris Herring, have landed him in serious trouble in Virginia. Why? Because Virginia law requires him to celebrate same-sex weddings. Not only so, but Chris cannot use his website to explain why, without facing draconian penaltiesmonetary penalties that could quickly exceed a million dollars. As noted by Kramer, thats a heavy price to pay for living out your faith. The reason Chris is taking this stand is that he rightly believes that no one should be unjustly forced to say something against their beliefs under threat of government punishment. For Chris, a clear conscience is far more significant than success or money. Chriss stand for truth no matter the cost inspires all of us to continue on as cultural change agents rather than cultural conformists. Hank also answers the following questions: When do I give up on reconciliation with my estranged wife? If I meet someone else in a few years and want to marry again, would God hold that against me? Some people say that 2020 will be the last days because of the coronavirus pandemic. Is that true?

In this episode of the RallyCast presented by Oz Rally Pro we welcome back Chris Greenhouse. Although not seen as frequently on the American rally scene of late, Chris is one of the fastest 2wd competitors out there. We talked about social distanced rallying, his overall win at Central UP, and how he's looking forward to the depth of competition at the upcoming Southern Ohio Forests Rally. We even helped plant the seed of a potential run at the ARA Open 2WD championship. Grab a cold one and  enjoy a chat with us at the virtual rally pub we call the RallyCast.       Official Central UP Press Release: Greenhouse tops field at Central UP Rally Powers, MI, USA Chris Greenhouse and Ryan Scott took their Dodge Neon SRT4 to the overall win at their first attempt at Central UP Rally. Heavy rain created treacherous road conditions, but the team was undeterred and took the win not only against the 2-wheel-drive cars, but also against all of the much higher spec all-wheel-drive cars. For Chris, this was his second 2WD victory this season, but also his first ever overall win. Chris has competed exclusively in the 2WD class and scoring an overall victory in a 2WD car is a feat that's almost unheard-of in modern rally. "Conditions were not favorable at all," said Chris after the event. "Friday was absolutely gorgeous with clear, blue skies, but then the rain started and left a lot of mud and standing water on the stages, which do not drain well. We had to carefully choose our spots to push hard and our spots to be conservative. We had a few mistakes, including one on the last stage where we nearly rolled the car about 11 miles from the end of the event. Luckily for us, we escaped without damage." Ryan Scott was the recipient of the Diane Sargent Memorial Award, which was given to the fastest 2WD co-driver of the event. "I am honored to have been presented the Diane Sargent Memorial Award. Though, I was not fortunate enough to have met her, everything I have learned about her proves she was not afraid of a challenge and that she embodied the 'press on regardless' spirit we should all diligently work to cultivate in our own lives" The team would like to thank the organizing committee and volunteers who created new procedures to conduct the event under COVID-19 safety protocols. Chris and Ryan are now busy preparing for Southern Ohio Forest Rally next month, where they hope to extend their class winning streak to 3-in-a-row. Chris would like to thank the following: Adam Brock of 9HIO MotorsportsDavid Morrisette of Platto MotorportsAngry Sheep MotorsportsA1CVTechRacersEdge411Paul Eddleston of Team Illuminata MotorsportsMotodecals.com

I just want to send out some big props to my man Chris! Before Chris joined up with Forged FATHER, it wasn’t like he was sitting around doing nothing. He wasn’t laying around on the couch being lazy and “unmotivated”. He wasn’t eating a bunch of crap and stuffing his face with food. Chris was putting in the work and pushing hard, but despite being consistent with his training and “eating clean”, Chris just wasn’t seeing the results he had wanted. I know a lot of fellow DRIVEN DADS out there can relate to this. It's frustrating when you’re putting in the work but the RESULTS aren’t showing in return. For Chris, even though he was being consistent with his workouts and strict diet… His weight wasn’t changing. His body composition wasn’t changing. His energy still wasn’t the greatest. He wasn’t sleeping all that great at night. His performance within workouts wasn't the greatest. GOOD NEWS IS… When Chris joined up with the Forged FATHER, we were able to get him dialed in. We got him on a more efficient and effective training program. One that didn’t require him to train 2+ hours at a time, nor require access to a full-fledged gym. He only needed to train for only 30-45 mins, 4-5 days/week. Instead of trying to “eat 100% clean”, we got him to dial in on his MACROS and his overall food quantity. In turn, his energy went up, plus his performance and intensity within his workouts increased. Fast forward a few months ahead, Chris is in a completely different place. He’s dropped 20 pounds of unwanted weight and he’s now LEANER (despite now eating MORE food he’s ever eaten before on a daily basis). His energy is up and he’s sleeping better. He’s also more present and spending higher quality time with his family, even after he gets home working long hours as a LEO. Chris didn’t do anything crazy… He just committed to the Forged PATH and the rest has taken care of itself. =========== The Forged FATHER PROJECT (Coaching) If you're an EX-ATHLETE DAD and you're ready to lose the extra 20-30+ lbs so you can get back to looking and feeling great, let's step up and make some changes. ==> CLICK HERE TO APPLY For The Forged FATHER Project

Were you ever that person in high school that was just terrible at volleyball? Do you miss being a kid and playing four square at recess? Do you love going to the beach, but feel left out when you can't play beach volleyball? There is now a solution to that predicament: CROSSNET! It is a new game developed to solve all three problems. Today’s guest is the co-founder of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris Meade moved to Miami in 2017 to start the business with his brother and a childhood friend. Now, CROSSNET has swamped the market and is being distributed by retail giants like Walmart and Target. Chris joins James and Dean as they go over the progression of how an idea turned into a million-dollar company. They discuss tips for running a business, why it’s important to be patient and frugal, and so much more!   We don’t surrender cash unless it’s going to bring us back money. If I spend $10, I better be getting $11 back. That’s been our whole mindset since we’ve started the company. - Chris Meade   Outline of This Episode   - [03:49] CROSSNET, from idea to business   - [09:26] The negotiation between the company and retailers   - [15:27] The biggest challenge in owning the business   - [17:40] Future plans for CROSSNET and the company   - [20:29] What made Chris and his partners decide that the idea was worth it   The inception of CROSSNET  CROSSNET is a four-way volleyball game that merges traditional volleyball with the game four square. It divides the court into four quadrants, rather than in half. The rules combine traditional four square and volleyball elements in a competitive game. They started out advertising by going to the beach and playing the game every day until people caught on and got interested. Three years later, CROSSNET is now available at Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Amazon, and 20 other retailers.   The biggest challenge of owning a business For Chris and his partners, the biggest challenge they faced was during the early days of the business. In their first year, the company only made $80,000. They did not make any profit from the money and all of it went back to the company. Chris mentions that they had to be super patient for the first year and a half before seeing any return on their investment. It may have taken them a longer time than what people would normally refer to as an “overnight success”. It took them two years of steady work before they paid themselves. Chris and his friends knew that they had the skill sets to bring in cash while their company was still starting out. So even if they thought about getting a bank loan to scale faster, they depended on their diligence to keep them afloat.   How do you decide if an idea is worth the effort or not? Chris mentions that in deciding whether an idea is viable, it all comes down to numbers. He specifically talks about the conversion metrics paired with how much money it costs to get customers to the site when ads are run. It’s all about your growth strategy. If there is positive growth, then that is something you would want to continue working on even if there isn’t a sale made every day. On the other hand, if you are on a sale plateau for too long, then that becomes an issue. You can either pivot your marketing strategy or put a little more effort into it, but if there is no more effort to be put in, then that can be your cue to stop.   Resources & People Mentioned   - Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjmeade   - CROSSNET'S Website: https://www.crossnetgame.com/   - CROSSNET on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crossnetgame/   - CROSSNET on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossnetgame   - CROSSNET on Twitter: https://twitter.com/crossnetgame   - CROSSNET on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3_8Rgawrlg_YTqqN2rrsQw    Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License   Connect With James and Dean   James P. Friel:   - CEO Quickstart: https://jamespfriel.com/ceo-quickstart/   - Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hustledetox/   - Site: www.jamespfriel.com   - Facebook Group (BulletProof Business): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1107362546297055/   - Interested in being a guest on the show?   Dean Holland:   - Blog: www.DeanHolland.com   - FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeanHollandHQ   - Billion Dollar Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BillionDollarProject/   Just The Tips Podcast:   - Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/justthetipsshow/

Today Mary Poppins and Locusts Day Thirty eight of the Spanish Lockdown, the sometimes amusing, diary of a Brit in southern Spain under the 'Alarma' - normal life has stopped.   To find out more:  https://www.thesecretspain.com Day 38 Mary Poppins and Locusts It is day 38 of our Spanish Lockdown and yesterday evening I made perfect custard.  I usually just guestimate the ingredients but as Birds Custard is an expensive commodity here I actually followed the directions on the side.. and blow me you get great custard including the revolting skin which Chris likes and I hated so much at school.   I think lockdown has now made the most mundane of things a highlight of the day.  Whereas in a past time, maybe going to see the premiere of a west end play with a decent buffet press party with wine would be a good night, now it is custard.   It is shameful; but being members of the press we got to see a great many plays and musicals, and for the life of me I can only remember a handful, sometimes I can only remember the free buffet.   We were at the Prince Edward theatre, I think .. well a theatre with a glass balustrade outside at the front, seeing the first night of something or other, but I remember they laid on a sumptuous Chinese buffet.  For Chris and I, this was going to be our main meal of the day.   I made a bee line for the chicken satay, and the guy beside the spring rolls made a deliberate moving and turning around action as I headed his way. Shovelling satay onto my plate I noticed that it was the comedic actor Rowan Atkinson. who clearly believed I was some deranged fan heading for a one to one, when in reality I hadn’t even noticed him for the delicious looking chicken satay.   Chris loathes chicken satay but is more than happy to eat Chinese and there was also plenty of free wine and soft drinks to be had.  But now post lockdown our highlight is custard, at least I am unlikely to find Rowan Atkinson blocking my way in the kitchen, just three good legs cat who has a habit, like most cats, of being under your feet at just the wrong moment.   Day 38 and we have had a plague of locusts, which seems about right for this post-apocalyptic times.  The first came to an unfortunate end in the jaws of the three good legs cat, who chased the creature into next doors terrace and because the poor thing hadn’t warmed up in the morning sun, made easy prey.  But don’t tell the cat, who after pawing and ripping the locust to pieces, sat regally and proudly as if he was one of the lions around Nelson’s column.   Tonight we might watch a film, I forgot we have the latest Mary Poppins on the Apple TV.  Signing into the ghastly new look, split in to three bits iTunes reminded me we had a number of films that we had purchased.   We saw the theatrical Mary Poppins a number of times, I think at The London Palladium.  The first was a pre-premiere press special, where the whole audience are press or press related and the poor cast have to perform in front of critics and drunken hacks.  We went to the evening performance and there had been an unfortunate flying incident in the matinee, where the clever wire device that allowed Mary Poppins to fly off across the audience in the stalls, had become detached as she got half way across and it left her balancing precariously over the audience for an embarrassing amount of time as the cast continued in great earnest to wish God Speed Mary Poppins.   In the end they wheeled her back to the stage and some wag of a hack cried out – look Mary Poppins returns.  So the evening performance consisted of a quick black out at the appropriate moment so the actress playing Mary could jump off stage.   I thought it was a great clever show, with an amazing moving set that effortlessly moved from the attic to the drawing room and pulled back to reveal the park.   About a year later we went to a cast change, another free ticket and another buffet, but only two free glasses of wine allowed.  The ensemble cast were all looking quite worn out compared to that first performance, and you could see they were only going through the motions.   Chris had just finished a long day at work and had grabbed a sandwich to stave of hunger during the performance.  Unfortunately, it must have been off because about a quarter way through he whispered that his stomach was churning, and he really needed to fart.  I said to him wait to they pipe up with “Chim Chim charee.”  And let it rip.   By the interval he was in need of the loo.  Knowing the theatre, we knew there was a little bar up in the gods that had a bog we had used before, usually the bar was deserted as the press all went to the main bar for the free drinks, of course forgetting there were paying audience in the theatre that night.   We reached the bar and there was a collection of elderly ladies gathered around tables all drinking gin and tonics, dressed up to the nines, in fact they all looked is if they might have all been former Nannies themselves.   Chris made a bolt for the toilet and I stood in the corner of the little bar trying not to look conspicuous. Amongst the interval chatter you could clearly hear Chris .. lets say evacuating enthusiastically, the dear ladies all doing their best to ignore the noise. One or two looking toward the toilet door with disgust.   Chris did manage the second half, or Act Two as theatre folk like to call it, but it was a struggle and we sadly had to leave before the free buffet, going home hungry.            

“I believe if you could help other people up the ladder of success — it's a privilege to do so” Chris Krimitsos is the founder of the second-largest Podcast Conference in the world called Podfest, and he is an author, business leader, influencer, and a speaker. Chris has been in the influencer scene for a long time and helped many people become influencers. “I want to help other people” this line has been used many times by different people, but in reality, many of us would rather focus on helping ourselves than voluntarily helping others. For Chris, it's a different case. Chris has been helping people boost their morale and helped them grow and become a better version of themselves. He helped people grow their voices through podcasting. “I always tell people if you can help someone, and it doesn't take a lot of time out of your day. It's a small amount of time, and it's a good person that needs a break. Why not?" We live in a world where help is not given, and you should ask for it to be served but isn’t it enough to help when we see someone who needs it? Chris is an example of a person who voluntarily helps without being asked nor being asked for something in return. He showed care for those people who doubt themselves and people who just needed help. He never asked them for anything in return when they succeed, and he’s just happy about what they t know that he had helped them. Helping is contagious, and as Chris stated, if it doesn’t take a lot out of your day and it’s a good person then why not? By helping we are influencing others to do the same. We mold the society that helping should be done regardless if they asked or not, not only when they asked to because there are a lot of people who want to ask for help but are shy to ask for help. You can’t just say “it’s easy to ask for help” but humans are different not because things are easy for you; it’s going to be the same for them. "Helping is not a chore, it's a privilege." Helping is a privilege, a privilege that does not make you feel guilty. When others asked for help or when we see someone in need of help, we usually see it as an inconvenience, especially when it’s not our boyfriend, girlfriend or our crush who needs help. We always see it negatively as if it will make us lose something when in fact it is a win-win situation. Chris expressed his strong will to help people, and that is why there are a lot of people who took the chance and decided to have their own voice through podcasting with the help of Chris. Chris also benefitted from it because he felt satisfied and happy knowing that he made a contribution to someone else’s life that is why there’s no reason for us to look at helping as an inconvenience but rather we should see it as a character that not everyone possesses. “Be kind to one another and make sure that you're having a good time and do good things. I think it is a part of what makes life special.” A Chinese proverb says, “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.” When Chris was interviewed, he was so happy sharing these stories to the viewers not because he sees it as an achievement he needs to boast to other people but because of the fact that helping somebody makes our lives happy not just for a day but for a lifetime. Think about the last time you helped someone, whether it be your friend, family, co-worker, or just somebody else you saw while walking or driving. No help is too small, whether you just opened the door for your co-worker or you lend them references that they can use in work or when you offered to lend them some huge amount of money because of a financial problem or when you donated blood in the hospital to help those who need it still it is all considered as helping. Chris taught us to be kind, helpful, and to be someone who does good in the society. No wonder why Chris was able to attain such success and happiness in his life. It is because of the good deeds he has done to society. “I'll be more than happy to consult and help those people get started on their own. They won't need me in the long run, and I'm okay with that like most people tell me 'aren't you afraid they'll outgrow you?' Well, I hope they'll outgrow me; I want them to be successful; that's the whole point.” In this particular interview, Chris explained the importance of helping and being kind to people. Chris' story is inspirational and this episode is definitely worth a listen! Subscribe to our email newsletter to be notified of our upcoming live-streamed interviews! Join our Discord community and become part of the conversation!   https://whyinfluence.com/

Chris Ferdinandi on Greater Than Code, Ben Orenstein on Maintainable, Susan Rice on Coaching For Leaders, Courtland Allen on Software Engineering Unlocked, and Matt Stratton on Hired Thought. I’d love for you to email me with any comments about the show or any suggestions for podcasts I might want to feature. Email podcast@thekguy.com. And, if you haven’t done it already, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button, and if you like the show, please tell a friend or co-worker who might be interested. This episode covers the five podcast episodes I found most interesting and wanted to share links to during the two week period starting March 16, 2020. These podcast episodes may have been released much earlier, but this was the fortnight when I started sharing links to them to my social network followers. CHRIS FERDINANDI ON GREATER THAN CODE The Greater Than Code podcast featured Chris Ferdinandi with hosts Rein Henrichs and Jacob Stoebel. Chris is a proponent of plain vanilla JavaScript. He says that modern web development has grown so much in scope and complexity that it makes it difficult for beginners to get started and it can negatively impact the performance of the web for users in ways that developers with fast machines don’t always feel. One of the reasons things are the way they are today, Chris says, is because a lot of backend developers migrated to the front end because that was where the exciting stuff was happening and they brought with them their approaches and best practices. The front end, however, is a very different medium. In the back end, you have control over how fast the server is, when things run, the operating system, etc. On the front end, you have none of this. People are accessing what we build on a variety of devices that may or may not be able to handle the data we’re sending and may have unpredictable internet connections. If a file fails to download or the user goes through a train tunnel and we’ve built things in a modern JavaScript-heavy way, the whole house of cards falls apart on these users. Chris would like people not to abandon JavaScript altogether, but to be a little more thoughtful about how we use it. Modern web development involves a few things: frameworks, package managers, and doing more and more things (such as CSS) in JavaScript. All of this JavaScript has the effect of slowing down performance because 100KB of JavaScript is not the same as 100KB of CSS, a JPEG, or HTML because the browser needs to parse and interpret it. Because of these performance problems, single page apps have become more popular. But now you’re recreating in JavaScript all the things the browser gave you out of the box like routing, shifting focus, and handling forward and back buttons. You’re solving performance problems created by JavaScript with even more JavaScript, which is the most fragile part of the stack because it doesn’t fail gracefully. If a browser encounters an HTML element it doesn’t recognize, it just treats it as a div and moves on. If you have a CSS property you mis-typed, the browser ignores it. But if you mistype a variable in JavaScript, the whole thing falls apart and anything that comes after that never happens.  For Chris, a better approach to web development is one that is more lean and more narrowly-focused on just the things you need. His first principle is to embrace the platform. For example, a lot of people don’t realize that DOM manipulation that used to be really hard years ago is really easy these days in vanilla JavaScript. Also, many of the things that JavaScript was required for in the past can be done more efficiently today with HTML and CSS. He also says that we need to remember that the web is for everyone. Because we are often using high-end computers, the latest mobile devices, and fast internet connections, we forget that this is not the experience for a majority of web users. We build things that work fine on our machines but are painfully slow for the people who actually use the things we build. They ended their discussion with reflections. Chris’s reflection was about learning JavaScript and web development for the first time. He says that people learning shouldn’t be made to feel like they need to dive in to the latest trends, but should instead find a way to learn the fundamentals. Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/170-the-case-for-vanilla-javascript-with-chris-ferdinandi/id1163023878?i=1000466076138 Website link: https://www.greaterthancode.com/the-case-for-vanilla-javascript BEN ORENSTEIN ON MAINTAINABLE The Maintainable podcast featured Ben Orenstein with host Robby Russell. Ben believes that, in a maintainable codebase, the code should match how you think about the world. When speaking about the domain with your teammates, do you use the same terminology that the code uses? Do you use the term “user” but the code uses the term “customer”? Getting your terms consistent is a specific case of a more general principle of implicit and explicit knowledge. Maintainable systems have as much knowledge put into them as possible so that they become sources of truth. Ben’s definition of technical debt is a technical shortcut you took intentionally after weighing it against alternatives and deciding it was worth it in the short team with the eventual intention of eliminating it. He says it is hard to get time on a schedule dedicated to cleaning up technical debt, so it is your professional responsibility to clean it up as you go. Ben says that asking permission to clean up technical debt as you deliver a feature is like asking permission to do your job well. He says that the idea of “We’ll go fix this later” never happens and, if you don’t believe him, grep your codebase for the string “TODO”. Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ben-orenstein-someday-well-go-clean-that-up-doesnt-work/id1459893010?i=1000466511242 Website link: https://maintainable.fm/episodes/ben-orenstein-someday-well-go-clean-that-up-doesnt-work-_fGCpf6F SUSAN RICE ON COACHING FOR LEADERS The Coaching For Leaders podcast featured Susan Rice with host Dave Stachowiak. From the time she was seven, Susan would hear her parents fighting loudly and violently when she was trying to sleep at night. When the fighting got scary and out of control, Susan would step in. Sometimes that meant talking them down and sometimes that meant separating them. The mediation she did with her parents taught her how to interact with parties who were intractably opposed. This developed in her a lack of discomfort with conflict, disagreement, and argument. She said that this helped her to be willing to stand up and not be conflict-averse. This reminded me of the Buster Benson episode of Lead From The Heart I summarized in my last article. Dave asked Susan about a section of her book Tough Love in which she described some feedback she received from former congressman Howard Wolpe when she was Assistant Secretary of State. He warned her bluntly that she would fail as Assistant Secretary if she did not correct course and she came to agree with that. She was only thirty-two at the time and had never held a position like this before. In 1998, six months into her tenure, a series of crises hit. Africa’s “first world war” broke out and, then in August of 1998, Al Qaida attacked the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing twelve Americans and over two hundred Kenyans and Tanzanians. This was both a horrific loss and a policy blow for those who were working on Africa at the time. Rather than addressing the pain they were all feeling head on, her approach to dealing with it was to charge through it as she did her parent’s divorce. This wasn’t a leadership style that would work in that context and Howard Wolpe gave her the tough love she needed at the time. Over the Christmas holiday, she reflected on what he had told her and realized that he was right. She had to be more patient. She had to be more respectful and solicitous of other people’s views and perspectives. Dave asked what she did first to make this change in her leadership style. Susan says she started by being more humble. She brought people into decision-making even if their recommendations were not ones that she ultimately accepted. She says, ”You can get a long way leading a team, even if many members of the team don’t actually agree with the direction you’re steering towards, if they feel that their advice, perspective, recommendations have truly been heard and appreciated.” Dave asked how she ensures in meetings between high ranking officials that everyone is genuinely heard even when she doesn’t agree with everything they are saying. She says it is not just what happens when you’re sitting around the meeting table. It comes down to the preparations going into the discussion: the quality of the paper that lays out the issues and the actions and the coherence of the agenda. Managing the meeting, though, is the hardest part. You have to make sure the options are given due consideration and everybody gets a chance to express their judgment. Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/456-how-to-be-diplomatic-with-susan-rice/id458827716?i=1000466472793 Website link: https://coachingforleaders.com/podcast/be-diplomatic-susan-rice/ COURTLAND ALLEN ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING UNLOCKED The Software Engineering Unlocked podcast featured Courtland Allen, founder of the Indie Hackers podcast and community with host Dr. Michaela Greiler. Michaela asked Courtland what was different about Indie Hackers compared to the earlier startups he had founded that made for its success. He said that for Indie Hackers, his notion of a business idea changed. Back in 2009, if you asked him about a business idea, he would have described a product idea and wouldn’t have been able to say much about how to get the product in customer’s hands, how much to charge for it, or even who the customer was. With Indie Hackers, he was thinking about all aspects of the business. She asked whether the original Indie Hackers idea was to build a community. Courtland said that while there was no desire to do a podcast at first, he always had a plan to build a community. He had multiple phases for Indie Hackers to go through to get to where he wanted it to be. Phase one was a blog where people who wanted to earn financial and creative freedom though revenue-generating side projects could go to find interviews Courtland had done with people like themselves. He figured these blog readers would subscribe to his newsletter and from there he would build a community forum where people could help each other. Somewhere along the line, the podcast was added based on community demand. Michaela asked how Courtland managed to keep Indie Hackers successful as a business when similar communities are struggling. Courtland believes that there are a few principles behind the success of Indie Hackers. The first is that you are much more likely to generate meaningful revenue quickly if you are charging for something that each customer is willing to pay a lot of money for. Regarding building a successful community, you have to start with your marketing. A community is a chicken-and-egg problem where the whole value of a community is the people inside it, making it really hard to start from nothing. With Indie Hackers, he started with content that brought in the people who could form the community. Courtland had thousands of people coming to the website before he turned it into a community. Another example is dev.to. Its founder, Ben Halpern, spent years just growing his Twitter account, tweeting funny jokes and helpful tips for developers. When he launched his community, he was able to advertise it from his Twitter account. A second thing you need to build a community is to seed it with discussions. As Courtland also described in an episode of Software Engineering Daily that I summarized in “Lighting Up The Brain and Joining A Gym”, he started his community by having conversations with fake accounts that were secretly also himself. Ben Halpern kickstarted the dev.to community with discussions with his friends. Choice of topic is critical too. You want a topic that you can talk about forever. The dev.to community’s topic is software engineering. It is the perfect topic because lots of people are learning and trying to learn from each other and there are countless issues and frameworks to talk about. Similarly, there are countless topics and subtopics around founding companies. As Courtland also said on Software Engineering Daily, you also need to think about the timing for when people get together and the space your community takes up. If you throw a party in a small room, you only need ten people to make that party feel like a success, but if you throw it in a football stadium, you need forty thousand people for it to feel like a success. It is the same with an online community. If you constrain it by saying something like, “Our community is just one discussion thread every Sunday at 3:00pm,” then even with ten people, that community can feel like it’s thriving. He talked about how he got advertisers interested in Indie Hackers and how he eventually got Indie Hackers acquired by Stripe and now no longer spends time selling ads. Not much has changed, he says, now that he is an employee of Stripe because Indie Hackers and Stripe were aligned from the beginning. Michaela asked why he decided, despite his desire to write as little code as possible, to create custom software for the Indie Hackers forum when he could have chosen third-party forum software. Courtland said he wanted Indie Hackers to have a strong brand and it is hard to have a strong brand if the thing you’re building looks like everything else. So he put a lot of time making the community unique. He spent a lot of time on the name of the community and the design of the website, all in support of having a strong brand. Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/starting-profitable-business-in-six-weeks-courtland/id1477527378?i=1000465925620 Website link: https://www.software-engineering-unlocked.com/episode-12-profitable-business-courtland-allen/ MATT STRATTON ON HIRED THOUGHT The Hired Thought podcast featured Matt Stratton with host Ben Mosior. Since his move from Chef to PagerDuty, Matt’s focus has shifted from software delivery and infrastructure code to incidents and outages. Ben brought up Matt’s talk “Fight, Flight, or Freeze — Releasing Organizational Trauma.” Matt’s motivation for creating this talk was his own treatment for PTSD and a discussion with J. Paul Reed where they kept seeing similarities between Matt’s experiences and what companies go through when they experience an incident. Trauma occurs when our response to something is ineffective. Two people can have a similar experience and it can be traumatic to one person and just a bad day for the other. We respond to perceived trauma physiologically the same way as actual trauma. Events that are reminiscent of trauma that occurred to Matt as a child trigger him to have the same physiological response today. Organizations do the same thing. An organization that has an outage that is similar to an event that happened before and, say, cost them a million dollars a minute, will react the same way. Just as an adult re-experiencing a childhood trauma because of a triggering event shouldn’t necessarily respond the same way, an organization needs to learn how to respond differently to these similar stimuli. Matt talked about the window of tolerance beyond which you become activated and have an unhealthy response. He says that it can get spiky or you can get stuck-on or stuck-off. If you are stuck-on, you have anxiety and other symptoms. If you are stuck-off, there is lethargy. In an organization, we can get into a hyper-aroused state fearing any type of change, getting into analysis paralysis, or becoming over-vigilant. None of these states are healthy and they trickle down into the emotional health of employees. The good news is there are things we can do to help the organization be better. Ben added that a lot of therapy is about building up the language to describe what is happening so that when it happens or when you are reflecting back later, you can share the experience and develop skills to lengthen your window of tolerance. Matt talked about how in cognitive behavioral therapy we try to identify when a distortion occurs, knowing that the feeling we experience is not something we can change, but our response to it can be changed. In an organization, we can do the same thing. Matt is striving to excise the word “prevention” from his vocabulary and instead become more resilient when something bad happens. For a person, this can mean that you can have something happen and then you can get back inside your window of tolerance quickly. For an organization, this means that an incident can happen and we can restore service and get on with business. We need to normalize incident response. It is not an anomaly to have an incident. The irony is that we’ve gotten worse at responding to incidents as we’ve gotten better at distributing on call. Back in his days as a sysadmin, Matt was on call constantly and incident response was business as usual. Today, if you are doing a healthy on call rotation with developers on call in their own domain, you can be on call for a year and experience just two incidents. Then, when you have an incident, you freak out. You don’t want to be trying to remember how to do incident response and you don’t want to think of the response process as an exceptional thing that we only sometimes do. Ben connected this to the book The Fifth Discipline. He says we always feel like we have to do something in response to something bad happening. The other thing the book points out is that whenever you are doing an intervention, yes, you may have short term actions that buy you time, but at all times, you need to be building capabilities. When you normalize incident response and you regularly show people what it looks like to work together in a high-pressure situation, you learn to respond to incidents in healthy ways. Matt says we need to run our failure injection exercises and game days like real incidents. This is also an opportunity to train your incident commanders. In these scenarios, we know what’s wrong and we can bail out at any time. Then, when a real incident occurs at 2:00am some morning, the people who did the exercise associate the real incident with the calm exercise they did in the office on an afternoon. Sometimes there are people who want run an exercise and not tell the incident response team what’s wrong. Matt has to explain to these people that it is not an exercise in troubleshooting or to stress test your people. You don’t need to inject stress into the people who work for you. You want to do the opposite. When we are doing incident response all the time as part of the regular cadence of work, when a real incident occurs, we will associate it with the positive physiology of our response during the exercise. That means we should treat every incident the same, even false alarms. If you get a few minutes into responding to an incident and realize it is a false alarm, finish it out as an incident. Get on the bridge and do as you would in a real incident. Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/6-organizational-resilience/id1479303584?i=1000466488009 Website link: https://hiredthought.com/2020/02/24/6-organizational-resilience/ LINKS Ask questions, make comments, and let your voice be heard by emailing podcast@thekguy.com. Twitter: https://twitter.com/thekguy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithmmcdonald/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekguypage Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_k_guy/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKGuy Website:

Chris Ballinger is the CEO and founder of MOBI – the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative. MOBI is a non-profit smart mobility consortium working with forward thinking companies, governments, and NGOs to make mobility services more efficient, affordable, greener, safer, and less congested by promoting standards and accelerating the adoption of blockchain, distributed ledger, and related technologies in the mobility industry.   About Chris Ballinger Chris started out in monetary economics and worked briefly for the Council of Economic Advisors in the United States. Chris moved into Fintech in the early days of the derivates market. More recently he joined Toyota as the CFO of their financial service organisation, the same year that Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Whilst at Toyota he eventually went on to work at the Toyota Research Institute, which is Toyota’s arm in Silicon Valley that does the development of autonomous vehicles and robotics and AI. Whilst he was there, Chris developed his thinking on new mobility services and how blockchain and distributed ledger's might be able to improve the new mobility service economy. Two years ago, Chris left the Toyota Research Institute ,and launched along with others MOBI.   What is blockchain? Blockchain is a particular kind of distributed database that is append only where the rules for appending blocks are designed to make sure that the information is agreed on by the participants. But more generally, blockchain is common usage, it’s a broad collection of technologies, including cryptography, open databases, payments, perhaps identity, and probably quite a few other things.   Blockchain’s potential for redefining the automotive industry For Chris blockchain and related technologies broadly bring four unique capabilities to the table: Digital twins: bringing digital identities to physical things. Micropayments: Today’s banking system is relatively expensive as is the variety of other trust services related to payments. By reducing the cost of those trust services and enabling peer to peer payment, the size of the payment you can do goes down. Once that goes down you can pay for more things with micropayments, thus enabling things that aren’t monetizable today to become monetizable. That may include the buying and selling of data from a car. Charging for city infrastructure in small increments for congestion pricing, pollution pricing, carbon footprint pricing and all these kinds of things might become possible with lower overhead costs for payments. Trusted shared data. When Chris was the CFO at Toyota, most of the financing was through securitization. Securitization, is the main financing mechanism for vehicles where a collection of auto loans get sold off to third parties. The overhead costs for that process, such as legal fees, accounting fees, reconciliation fees and trust are 1 to 2% of the value of the loan. Being able to have an open database that everybody can look at, share and agree as the single source of truth can potentially reduce the cost for transacting quite a bit. Data privacy and protection – the ability to control user data or third-party app data at its source, instead of it being shipped to a central database where it can be a single point of attack. These are the four basic capabilities that blockchain can bring to the mobility industry. They can be combined in various different ways to create a lot of interesting use cases. For Chris the single most interesting one is the ability for vehicles to pay as they go for things. The combination of blockchain, IoT and AI that gives anything that is connected with a modicum of sensors and intelligence, the ability to have an identity, act intelligently and autonomously in its ecosystem, and to participate in an economy autonomously. With respect to vehicles what that means is vehicles moving around and being able to interact with their environment as economic agents.

Chris Powers is the author of Clean Code in the Browser for Clean Coders and VP of engineering for Thinkful. He starts the show by talking about the path he sees people following when they come through Thinkful, which includes weekly meetings with a mentor in the industry. Every person that uses Thinkful comes out prepared for an entry-level position or apprenticeship. Chris talks about the importance of having different levels of skill and experience in a team. He and Chuck discuss the different points at which people start caring about clean code, which is all based on a desire to improve their methods of doing things. He talks about different ways to approach refactoring and how clean code and working code go together. They discuss how the solid principles of clean coding play out in an object-oriented language like JavaScript and the shift in the identity of a frontend developer in the past 15 years. For Chris, clean code is code that can be easily changed, and that is the ultimate goal. Clean code can be achieved through design principles and judgment. He and Chuck discuss how to know the right amount each to apply. Chris believes it comes down to solving problems you actually have and making the system legible. At Thinkful, they focus on quality, keeping your work in progress low, and delivering early and often. He talks about how to balance people’s desire to get more features and the need to slow down for business reasons and how to recognize friction between the two. Chris talks about how he takes the lead in writing quality software. The show concludes with Chris talking about some of his current projects.  Panelists Charles Max Wood Guest Chris Powers ____________________________ > "The MaxCoders Guide to Finding Your Dream Developer Job" by Charles Max Wood is now available on Amazon. Get Your Copy Today! ____________________________________________________________ Links Clean Code in the Browser Thinkful TypeScript Kent Beck's 4 Principles of Simple Design The Technical Debt Trap by Doc Norton chrisjpowers.com

Our second episode of this podcast detailed one of the most impactful experiences we create for our employees—transformational business retreats.  We have just returned from our 2020 retreat, which was nearly three times the size and even more powerful than last year’s. As a follow-up to last year’s episode, we interview some of our new employees, so you can hear from the attendees themselves. Chris Hloros, our business analytics manager and Jeff Smith, director of the Best-Self Academy share the profound impact that they experienced in January.  For Chris and Jeff, this retreat really crystallized our company’s new values and brought them to life. We’ve found that these retreats have the power to have everyone create their own personal relationship with our mission, vision, and values in a way that is difficult by simply sharing them in a deck.  More than that, we create experiences that break down barriers, create authentic connection, so that we can deeply see the humans that comprise the company, and then all align around the mission and company objectives. This year, in addition to building camaraderie over meals and downtime, we held workshops that focused on vital company initiatives, taught how to facilitate breakthroughs on the team, and continued the discussion about diversity, equity, and inclusion (along with some vulnerable sharing from the team).   In this episode: The power of retreats to reaffirm company values How coming together as a whole company can encourage all of us to stop holding back our ideas and our potential How to turn our inner critics into our inner champions How a retreat shows everyone a more complete picture of the people they work with Deeply touching stories from working humans just like you, who are looking for connection and trusting relationships   Quotes: “It was lifechanging. I know a lot of people say that in a hyperbolic sense. But this is not hyperbolic.” [0:52] “I was so scared of failing. This retreat made it super clear that that was okay. I didn’t have to worry about messing up or not doing it right or not being good enough for this role.” [7:22] “Just spending 14 hours a day for four days inside and outside of my comfort zone with people I love and appreciate was really extraordinary.” [13:15] “If you never see people other than when they’re behind a PowerPoint or in very prepared moments, you can lose that sense of actual human connection with them.” [22:25]   Links: The Magic of Human Connection Best-Self Academy Best-Self Management Episode 2: Life-Changing Company Retreats  Adventure Architects Listen to Best-Self Management Here Find 15Five online Follow 15Five on Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

As the owner of Janis Trading Company, Chris is the founder of two watch microbrands, Lew & Huey, and NTH (https://nthwatches.com/collections/subs). Janis has been profitable since its founding in 2012, and has consistently grown at double-digit rates every year, with customers in more than 50 countries, and retail distribution in seven.A serial entrepreneur and military veteran, with a background in finance, and extensive experience in both retail and wholesale sales at a national and global level, Chris brings a diverse skill set to running his business, a role which requires competency in strategy, finance, operations, sales, and marketing.When Chris Vail started Lew & Huey, he was out to prove something, mostly to himself. He has always said the philosophy behind the brand is inherently optimistic, and it is, although, if he’s being honest, for Chris it was always optimistic in the Sparta vs Persia, “we’re outnumbered, not out-manned” sense.For Chris, the Chinese Mandarin phrase “luen huey”, for rebirth, always meant “You can beat me down, but I’ll keep coming back. You’ll never destroy me. Eventually, inevitably, I’ll win.”That’s not the sort of theme which easily translates to the design of a watch, not literally.Figuratively, it was the dog logo, which Chris always saw as being equally ready to meet friend or foe. It was the wild colors. It was the complete disregard for convention. It was Chris telling everyone who challenged him to go pound sand. Chris took great pleasure in proving all the doubters, haters, and trolls wrong.A friend may have said it best, when he told Chris (in 2018), “You need to be the Johnny Cash of wristwatches – American, talented, slightly dangerous, but unmistakable.”(About NTH Watches)• Why NTH? What does it mean? Is it “Enth” or “N-T-H”? In algebra, N represents an unknown value of infinite possibilities. The process of solving an equation to find the value of N is a process of reducing the unknown and infinite down to the known and finite. It's a lot like the process of design, where we start with a blank page, but through a process of refinement end up with a final design. Sometimes the design process is an attempt to come up with something completely new, but often it's a process of taking existing ideas further. Each NTH model puts a new spin on a classic, vintage design, so you can think of NTH as standing for “Nod to History”, or as an expression of their goal to take their designs as far as they can go, to the “Nth degree”. Show AgendaOn today’s episode we will:• Get to know Chris and hear more about NTH Watches• Discuss how Chris has grown his company and brand over the last six years• How Chris is innovating his business and maintaining the brand that has made him popular with their “Nod to History” brand story• Then we will dive into the organizational strategies Chris uses to continue to grow a brand in a very crowded marketplace What you will learn on this episode:• Chris’ process for developing your band story, and the philosophy he used for his brands• Chris has written that “microbrands are part of a larger trend of change within the industry; as a group, we need to up our game, if we want to continue growing in importance.” He discusses his strategies for “upping your game”• Why Chris thinks collaboration with your competitors is so important• Chris also discusses how his business grew 40% from year one to year two; then, it was 30% growth; then, it was 20% growth; then, it was 10% growth; and then, his business just stayed there, at 10% year-over-year growth, for three years straight. Chris considered this a failure and shares the adjustments he made to take your business back to a steadier growth curve• Chris also discusses MicroBrand University, where microbrands can learn from Chris and other experts in MicroBrands, and what you can learn from them • We then discuss the key areas businesses should focus on improving first, to increase their operational efficiency and overall growth • Chris gives some advice on dealing with service providers• We also discuss best practices for trademarking and intellectual property protection• And so much more!After you’ve listened to the episode, make sure you visit NTH Watches (https://nthwatches.com/collections/subs) to get more information about their new watches. Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find us on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Spreaker.You can also connect with us on: • https://www.facebook.com/selfmadestrategies/ •• https://twitter.com/SelfMadeStratGs •• https://www.instagram.com/selfmadestrategies/ •• https://www.linkedin.com/company/self-made-strategies/ •

This is the Self Made Strategies Hustle Story about Chris Vail, Founder of NTH Watches; and founder of Lew & Huey. Self Made Strategies Hustle Stories are quick short stories about our next guest’s entrepreneurial journey. This is exclusive content, brought to you, so that you can get a glimpse of what is coming up this Thursday (on the full episode). Check out this short clip, where we Chris tells us a crazy story about a special watch that got away from him. Make sure you tune in to the Self Made Strategies Podcast this Thursday, wherever you listen to your podcasts, to hear our episode with Chris. About this week’s guest Chris and his company NTH WatchesAs the owner of Janis Trading Company, Chris is the founder of two watch microbrands, Lew & Huey, and NTH (https://nthwatches.com/collections/subs). Janis has been profitable since its founding in 2012, and has consistently grown at double-digit rates every year, with customers in more than 50 countries, and retail distribution in seven.A serial entrepreneur and military veteran, with a background in finance, and extensive experience in both retail and wholesale sales at a national and global level, Chris brings a diverse skill set to running his business, a role which requires competency in strategy, finance, operations, sales, and marketing.When Chris Vail started Lew & Huey, he was out to prove something, mostly to himself. He has always said the philosophy behind the brand is inherently optimistic, and it is, although, if he’s being honest, for Chris it was always optimistic in the Sparta vs Persia, “we’re outnumbered, not out-manned” sense.For Chris, the Chinese Mandarin phrase “luen huey”, for rebirth, always meant “You can beat me down, but I’ll keep coming back. You’ll never destroy me. Eventually, inevitably, I’ll win.”That’s not the sort of theme which easily translates to the design of a watch, not literally.Figuratively, it was the dog logo, which Chris always saw as being equally ready to meet friend or foe. It was the wild colors. It was the complete disregard for convention. It was Chris telling everyone who challenged him to go pound sand. Chris took great pleasure in proving all the doubters, haters, and trolls wrong.A friend may have said it best, when he told Chris (in 2018), “You need to be the Johnny Cash of wristwatches – American, talented, slightly dangerous, but unmistakable.”(About NTH Watches)Why NTH? What does it mean? Is it “Enth” or “N-T-H”? In algebra, N represents an unknown value of infinite possibilities. The process of solving an equation to find the value of N is a process of reducing the unknown and infinite down to the known and finite. It's a lot like the process of design, where we start with a blank page, but through a process of refinement end up with a final design. Sometimes the design process is an attempt to come up with something completely new, but often it's a process of taking existing ideas further. Each NTH model puts a new spin on a classic, vintage design, so you can think of NTH as standing for “Nod to History”, or as an expression of their goal to take their designs as far as they can go, to the “Nth degree”.Make sure you subscribe to the Self Made Strategies Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find us on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Spreaker.You can also connect with us on: • https://www.facebook.com/selfmadestrategies/ •• https://twitter.com/SelfMadeStratGs •• https://www.instagram.com/selfmadestrategies/ •• https://www.linkedin.com/company/self-made-strategies/ •

In Episode 415, we’re kicking off 2020 with a fun conversation with Richard Rivera, the creator of Stabbity Bunny, and artist Chris Hamer! A special one-shot called Emmet’s Story has just been released, so we discuss what that book is about as well as how Chris came to provide a great variant cover, which you can see in the banner above. We talk about their other various projects as well as what we can expect from them in the coming months, including more issues of Stabbity Bunny from Richard and The Adventures of Byron from Chris, so don’t miss it! For more on Stabbity Bunny, check out the comic’s website at Stabbitybunny.com! For Chris’s art, go to his website here!

This week Kofi and Chris talk about Go meetups, a couple product releases, a number of math/analytics packages in Go and code for this week's challenge. This week's challenge: Do some maths. Notes: Go 1.13.5 and Go 1.12.14 released! 1.13.5 - https://github.com/golang/go/issues?q=milestone%3AGo1.13.5 1.12.14 - https://github.com/golang/go/issues?q=milestone%3AGo1.12.14 Go Developer Survey 2019 https://google.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b1xqnBCMpZAhJZ3 Go events in your area! https://www.meetup.com/pro/go Golang-syd - Sydney Dec 12 Golang 10th Birthday Orlando Golang Meetup - December 12, 7pm Chennai Golang Meetup - Dec 14, 10AM Golang Bangalore - Dec 14, 9:30am (100 Attendees!!!!) Let’s Go - Melbourne - Dragon Boat Racing Dec 14 8:15am GoLang Reston - December 18, 6:45 Women Who Go Bangalore - Dec 21, 11AM Mile High Gophers - Boulder, CO Jan 16 7:30 198 days to GopherCon! tickets are now on sale - 100 early bird tickets CFP is open, Jan 10 deadline Student, non-profit tickets, group discounts, diversity fund scholarships and international assistance (letter of invitation) GoBridge site tracks events scholarships https://github.com/gobridge/ KotlinConf this week. Sessions are coming up GoLand 2019.3 ! Did you know there are Go fonts? https://blog.golang.org/go-fonts Gonum.org Libraries for matrices, algebra, stats Probability distributions, sampling, function differentiation, integration and optimization network creation and analysis Gophernotes - using Go in Jupyter notebooks Go kernel for Jupyter notebooks!!! https://github.com/gopherdata/gophernotes Exploring Toronto voting with Go https://towardsdatascience.com/exploring-toronto-voter-statistics-using-golang-33077b6db123 #data-science in Gopher slack go-gota/gota Loading data into dataframes https://github.com/go-gota/gota gitlab.com/all-systems-go Public, hosts will submit anyone can view What about reviewing the little things. Like Naming Conventions https://medium.com/@lynzt/variable-naming-conventions-in-go-89fe1ef17b0a Challenge: Do some Maths!! For Chris - list of VMs and data go-gota/dataframe to read and load into a dataframe Read CSV file using os.Open Loaded reader into dataframe, started working on analyzing Next week's challenge: Make some data visualizations!

Hey listeners, we had a miscommunication leading to the episode originally being published with the wrong intro music—sorry to any of you who got that earlier version! This new version has the right intro music (and one edit fix Chris caught listening back through the episode as a bonus). Sorry about any hassle or confusion! An interview with author and editor (and our friend) about his new book! Show Notes An interview with author and editor (and our friend!) Jake Meador—focused especially on his book In Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World. Links Jake Meador Mere Orthodoxy possibly of interest to listeners: posts and essays Chris has written for Mere O “The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate”, Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt “Why Don’t Rich People Just Stop Working?”, Alex Williams, The New York Times Related, see the episode “When meritocracy wins, everybody loses” on The Ezra Klein Show On India’s tax break for companies which can invest at least $750M in data centers: “This State’s 50-Year Bet on Big Tech Could Cost Hundreds of Millions of Dollars”, Mya Frazier, Bloomberg Derek Rishmawy: [@DZRishmawy](https://twitter.com/DZRishmawy) and Fred Sanders: [@FredFredSanders](https://twitter.com/FredFredSanders) Second Treatise on Government, John Locke ”Questions for Jake Meador after reading his lovely new book”, Brad East Herman Bavinck On the Christian view of marriage and family in the future: But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.…” —Matthew 22:29–30, ESV Desiring God, John Piper Anne Bradstreet “The Author to Her Book” Sylvia Plath “Stillborn” “Slow Cooker vs. Crock Pot - What’s the Difference?” (because regionalisms are fun, and you might call this something else) For Chris on Sabbath and rest, check out the final section of Corecursive 34: Using TypeScript Like A Pro with Chris Krycho, or check out the transcript here The Divine Imperative, by Emil Brunner (read about him) Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe Lord of the Flies, William Golding Music “Shush Me” by Nimrawd “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Jake Grant Jeremy W. Sherman Marnix Klooster Nathaniel Blaney Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!

Can you organize a company around collaborative projects and break free from your org chart? Liz and Kat talk with author Chris Creel, who says yes! Chris Creel, a technologist and futurist, is the author of Adaptive: Scaling Empathy and Trust to Create Workplace Nirvana (https://www.amazon.com/Adaptive-Scaling-Empathy-Workplace-Nirvana-ebook/dp/B07WSGD18D). Adaptive is the result of years of research and re-thinking about how work gets down through collaboration and organizational design. The Adaptive project started in 2013, when Chris was tasked with improving productivity by 10-fold. He began thinking about what type of organization could adapt to the technology advances that were heading our way, and this research and experimentation eventually resulted in the book. Another book recommendation: Primed to Perform (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S590OQI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) by Lindsay McGregor on how organizations get good at what they do vs. changing and evolving with emerging markets. In order for a company to be adaptive, one of its major values has to be adaptivity and change. Chris distinguished between servant leaders vs managers, and how being adaptable means giving employees the tools but also making them empowered to act on their own to drive the company's strategy forward. When professionals aren’t empowered to make change, companies can get stuck. Managers keep trains running and maintain discipline at work, but one of the aspects of a healthy and functioning organization needs to enable their people to be limber. As a society, Americans are programmed for change; other countries, like China, are programmed for stasis. Companies need to look to see if they are designed for change or not. Change comes at us so quickly today that companies need to be designed for it from the ground up. As you design your company, the rules of the road that you establish are important in allowing people to figure out how to succeed. Make sure that these norms and standards of the culture are practical so that people can be held accountable to them and can get better a them. As an example, look at the employee handbook of the game company Valve (https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/publications), where employees become characters in the story. Historically, org charts were made to manage railroad employees for robotic precision: they’re great for precision, but they're not great for managing change. An adaptive environment is one where employees are empowered to align their career aspirations to drive company strategy forward however they see fit. They are also empowered to take risks and try new things. True adaptive environments allow people to fail if their failure was trying to better the company and to move things forward. In traditional companies, we are responsible for our careers and we get coaching from our managers. In an adaptive organization, everyone is rooting everyone on, and we get coaching from our whole team to make us better. For Chris, this includes quarterly 360 degree feedback based on cultural values. After the feedback process, each person would then work with a coach -- a coach that was not their manager -- to help them level up to be a better team player. Technology platforms like Zugata and Betterworks helps with this type of 360-degree feedback. Chris talks about HR needing to rethink their role and priorities to be more about company strategy and what skills will be needed to successfully complete that strategy. This kind of approach helps avoid stasis in the company and in the company culture. It also helps with retention. How can you as a manager get better at building adaptivity within your team and your company? One way is to help the people on your team to help each other improve their skills. Pair up people on your team to achieve goals; essentially you are crowdsourcing improvement to get the team working better together without the direct involvement of management. In this way, the team’s performance will improve faster and the managers will have more time to improve your own skills and performance. You will have more time to coach and to be coached. In the research that Chris did that formed the basis of the book, he found that women were hindered by the org charts and rigid hierarchy of a traditional corporate structure, but they succeeded so much better in adaptive environments because of their emotional intelligence. Chris also developed a methodology to teach people how to receive feedback so that this kind of true adaptive environment could work. The feedback training was part of the coaching and performance process. The coaches -- not their managers -- taught people that feedback was the other person’s reality and to receive it. The goal is then to see the other person’s reality, and to relate it back to the truth of how you perceive the situation. For example, someone may give feedback that your performance isn’t good and that you don’t get enough donethink you’re lazy, but the truth is that you are juggling too many things. Christopher Creel Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-creel/ Email: chris.creel@adaptive.team Website: https://www.adaptive.team/ The Book: Adaptive: Scaling Empathy and Trust to Create Workplace Nirvana (https://www.amazon.com/Adaptive-Scaling-Empathy-Workplace-Nirvana-ebook/dp/B07WSGD18D)

Chris Sullivan and Jeff Hebrank waited three years, and worked with two adoption agencies before receiving not one, but two last-minute placements. In this context, last minute means that the birth parents start adoption planning at birth. For Chris and Jeff, it meant dropping everything and rushing to the bedsides of two strangers who had chosen them to parent their children.

By Ivy Lamb Chris is a father, an artist, a business owner and a Christian — but he’s not likely to tell you about it. For Chris, being Christian is more about how you treat people than anything else. In this episode, he shares his journey in and out of church, dealing with the death … Continue reading "Stories From A Village Podcast: Finding Hope In The Trenches of Life" The post Stories From A Village Podcast: Finding Hope In The Trenches of Life appeared first on Stories From A Village.

Jeff & Will talk about their past week of business decisions and the coming week they’ll spend at the Podcast Movement conference. They also remind the authors in the audience to check out the new Big Gay Author Podcast. The guys talk about the production of The Wiz they just saw as well as the current season of Pose. Together they review Lucy Lennox’s Wilde Love and Jeff reviews Dreadnought by April Daniels. Amber Smith joins Jeff to talk about her young adult novel Something Like Gravity. Amber reveals how the characters of Chris and Maia had been the main characters in different books before she decided they’d be great together in a single book. Amber also discusses how she got started writing, the trademarks of her books and the research she does to create her characters. Complete shownotes for episode 201 along with a transcript of the interview are at BigGayFictionPodcast.com. Interview Transcript – Amber Smith This transcript was made possible by our community on Patreon. You can get information on how to join them at patreon.com/biggayfictionpodcast. Jeff: Welcome Amber to the podcast. It is great to have you here. Amber: Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been really looking forward to this. Jeff: So I reviewed ‘Something Like Gravity’ back in episode 195 and it was the summer book that I didn’t know I was looking for. I’d like you to start us off by telling everybody, in your own words, what this book is about. Amber Well, this book is about a lot of things, but really, at its center, it’s a story about falling in love for the first time and finding yourself in the process. It’s told between our two main characters, Chris and Maia, and both of them are going through a really difficult time in each of their lives. Chris has recently come out as transgender and he’s really trying to figure out how to navigate his life now that everything’s suddenly changing, and he’s also trying to process this really terrifying assault that he survived the year earlier. Maia is dealing with the recent death of her older sister. And so both of their lives look very different, but the one thing that they have in common that brings them together is that they’re both trying to figure out who they are going to become in the face of these life changing events that they’ve been through. Jeff: What was your inspiration behind the book? Amber: There are various threads of inspiration, but it’s funny, I actually started writing this book as two separate books. Chris was the protagonist of one and Maia was the protagonist of the other. And I do generally work on two things at the same time because, if I get stuck on one I can sort of hop over to the other thing I’m working on. I always thought of these as separate books in the beginning and Chris’s story was primarily about coming out, and being queer, and being trans, and trying to figure all of that out. And Maia’s was a story about grief. At a certain point, I think it became too hard for me to continue working on these stories because both of them were super personal. I was drawing from a lot of my own experiences with coming out as a lesbian and also, you know, dealing with the loss of loved ones myself. At a certain point, I thought, you know what can I do to kind of make this easier on myself? And I thought about giving Chris a love interest. And when I started to think about what would be the kind of person that would be really good for Chris, and would kind of balance him out, and all of those wonderful things that happen in a relationship. I immediately thought of Maia – this other character that I was writing, and that’s when I realized, oh my gosh, I think these stories were always meant to be one story. And it just took me a while to realize it. Jeff That’s amazing to me on a couple of levels. I can’t do two projects at once because it makes my head want to explode. But also there’s – just coming back to the title, ‘Something Like Gravity’ is like gravity just pulled between these two stories and brought these two together from the disparate places that you had them. Did the characters fundamentally change when you brought them together or did everything just click into place once that happened? Amber: Well, not necessarily so. I think the biggest part was that I had been working on these stories for so long. I don’t think much of my original writing made it into the final book. I think doing that writing on both of the stories prior to lining them as one, really helped me to get to know each character in that sense because, I knew each of them so well, I knew their voices, I knew their histories. It was sort of easy to bring them together, but I had to rewrite everything better. I think it was almost like telling the stories of two people I knew really well already. Jeff: Any chance that those original stories get to become prequels or something? Amber: Oh my gosh I love that idea. Something to think about. Jeff: As you noted, I see both Chris and Maia have these weighty things that they’re dealing with on both sides. What was your process to present that authentically to the readers? Amber: I always, whenever I’m starting a story, I begin with my own experience and I always sort of view writing as therapy in a way. So like Chris and Maia’s experiences start out as something very real that’s happened in my life. But then as I write them they become something else. So, I don’t know. I think I just always have in the back of my mind the roots – like emotion, or the emotional world that I lived in as kind of the parameters for this story. And so hopefully that helps to keep things feeling real and authentic. Jeff: And then you put the love story in with this. The way that you counterbalance what they’re going through with this super sweet love story. It was unique to me how that worked because for some of the story at least, they’re almost not dealing with their issues because they’re finding this in each other. How did that kind of all mix together for you? Amber: I think one of the things I’ve realized as I was writing the book, separately in the beginning, was that I was focused so much on the pain that each of these characters felt. I’ve written about trauma, and assault, and grief, in the past and it felt like I was sort of rehashing – or reopening old wounds of my own. I just thought I really need to do something different here. And it took me a while to figure out that I wanted this to be a love story because, as you know, it took me a while to kind of wrap my head around why was I writing it that way in the first place? I had this switch flipped in my mind when I started to think about the love story aspect of, you know, what I’d love to do with this book is make love be more powerful than the pain that each of them were experiencing. And so that kind of helped me to steer this story in a different direction. And then when I really started thinking about it, that love, and connection, and relationships, those are the things that really helped me heal during the hardest times in my life. And so I think it can be so easy to focus on the darkness sometimes but, when I really thought about even my own life, I realized the things that really got me out of those dark places were my connections with other people, and learning how to love myself, and falling in love for the first time. And so that became something I want to do – explore more than that other side of things. Jeff: And it’s interesting too that essentially the secondary story for both characters is their relationship with their parents. For Chris it’s his parents coming to understand that Chris has come out as trans, and for Maia they’re going through the same grief that she is, having lost their daughter. How did you approach layering that in? Because, again, you’ve balanced this out so beautifully, how it just all kind of ebbs and flows together – but there’s a lot in play here. Amber: Oh thank you. You know, I think the family dynamics with each of the characters – I will say that’s the one thing that kind of carried over when I was working on these as separate books. In my original ideas for both Chris and Maia, one of the big things that they were dealing with were these really complicated family issues that were going on. Yeah. So I think I just I always knew from the beginning I wanted part of their journeys to be trying to work out all of this messy, complicated, emotional stuff with their families and with themselves. I don’t really know how I layered it in because I think it was just always in the back of my mind that that stuff needed to be there. And I had thought of Chris and Maia’s relationship, the way that they grow and discover more about themselves, as kind of the framework of getting to the place where they were able to deal with their family stuff because they evolved too. Jeff: Did you have to do a lot of research? In your acknowledgments in the book you list out a whole bunch of people and things that you looked at to help craft all this, and so it seems like there was quite a bit that went on to create the characters, and create the situations, and then, as we kind of talked about it a little bit, getting it authentically on the page. Amber: For this book in particular I really reached out to a lot of different readers and friends, people who have gone through similar things to Chris and Maia. So I had friends, who identify as trans or non binary, read different sections of the book looking at Chris’s perspective. I even had a professor at one of the universities here in North Carolina really go through the entire manuscript with a fine tooth comb because, while in particularly looking at Chris’s side of the story because even though I kind of started with a kernel of my own experience, for Chris as a queer person. I’m not transgender, so I wanted to be very careful that I wasn’t doing anything in my narrative, and my representation, that would be in any way harmful or misrepresenting Chris as a transman. And so that was super super helpful. I found that the areas that I was really worried about in Chris’s story, were not the areas that were pinpointed by my readers as being problematic. I think that goes to show, it really was important for me to seek out those other perspectives, because the things that I thought might be issues were not what they thought were issues. So yeah, that was a really big process… getting that feedback from those other readers. Jeff: One of the things I’d mentioned in my review, what struck me about the book, is a sweet love story, two characters with trauma, and yet the book itself kind of felt like this lazy summer vacation. I think some of it is because of where it set. So it’s a small town, and you’ve got Chris and Maia essentially living on farms and separated by this field, and I could just envision hanging out on the porch, and just kind of letting the summer go by. Bike rides, and these adventures they went on – where they went to the to the adjacent town to check things out. And it really kind of held the story together – and kind of kept it in this very innocent place. Was that deliberate, or did it just happen that way, because of how it all pieced together as you were going? Amber: You know, that part of this story really was deliberate. Once I started trying to figure out how to weave Chris and Maia’s stories together, I really sat down and I did a lot of pragmatic planning and plotting, which is not something I usually do at all. I think I knew trying to combine two stories, I really had to know where I was going because it could get really confused. So one of the first things I decided was the setting and the timeframe. I decided I wanted it to take place in a rural North Carolina town, which Carson is fictional, but it’s based on a lot of the small towns on the outskirts of Charlotte where I live. I knew I wanted it to take place across the course of one summer and I did that partially because of that feel that you’re talking about. I really wanted to give Chris and Maia a space where it felt like their lives and their realities are somewhat suspended for a little bit of time, so that they could have the freedom to figure out what they’re going to do, figure out how to process what’s happened in their lives. And I always felt, growing up, summer is sort of this weird Time Warp kind of area, where things just don’t happen in the same way as the rest of the year. And so I definitely wanted to bring in that kind of like lazy feel because it feels like we have all the time in the world, but of course, we know summer only last so long. That’s also a little bit of a ticking clock I could put in there. Jeff: What do you hope readers take away from the book? Amber: I really wanted readers to be able to look at Chris and Maia’s story and find pieces of themselves in each of these characters. Even if a reader isn’t trans, or queer, or grieving, I hope that they might be able to find some commonality with Chris and Maia. And maybe that’s just the simple fact of being able to relate to falling in love for the first time, but that for people who do identify with the things that Chris and Maia are going through, maybe if the reader is trans, or non-binary, or going through a major loss, or some kind of upheaval in their lives, I would hope that they could look at Chris and Maia as a way of knowing that there are people in the world who understand what they’re going through and they’re not alone. Jeff: Let’s talk a little bit about Amber Smith’s origin story. What got you into writing and coming specifically into writing these powerful young adult books? Because this is not your first one that deals with weighty material. Amber: I sort of came to writing in a very roundabout way – as a lot of people do. So, when I was growing up, I always wrote. I always kept journals. And when I was a little bit older, like a teenager, I wrote poetry, but all of my writing was very personal and not something I would ever show anyone. It was more like therapy. Like, even when I was a little kid, I remember the little diaries. And it was like I would just write about what happened that day, just sort of like dumping everything out of my head. So I was actually much more involved in the visual arts all throughout my life. That’s what I really focused on when I was in high school. I ended up going to college for painting. I had my BFA in painting and then I went on to get my master’s in art history because I had worked in some art gallery settings as an undergrad and I was like, “You know, I think I want to be a part of this whole art world in this way, maybe not as an artist, but as someone who kind of brings art to people.” And so I did that for a long time. I was working in my role as a curator, and during that time I was doing a lot of writing for my work, but it was more writing about art history and biography-type writing. Even though I loved what I was doing in the art museum world, I really missed working on my own creative stuff and so it was then that I really looked at writing as, not just a therapeutic outlet, but it became more of my creative outlet, and that’s when I started working on my first book. That first book actually started out as very much therapeutic writing and then the longer I spent with this story, it kind of morphed into something more fictional, and I’ve I guess I was sort of hooked at that point. I realized, “Wow, you know, I can really do a lot with fiction.” And it was really healing, just like when you read a fictional book, it can be a lot easier to sometimes relate to a fictional character and have empathy for their situation, and kind of see the big picture more so than we can sometimes do for ourselves. And that’s sort of what writing became for me very early on. That’s how I got here. Jeff: That’s a good story. I like how you went from essentially one creative expression to another – from creating works of art to now creating a different work of art, if you will. Amber: ‘Something Like Gravity’ is the first book where I’ve been able to kind of bring in some of my art background. So that was really fun. Jeff: Yeah, with Maia’s photography, I could see how that could bridge that gap a little bit. Amber: Yeah. Jeff: What would you say is the trademark of an Amber Smith book? Amber: I would say the trademark is the story is going to be emotional. It’s going to deliver some difficult stuff and it’s going to be very real. So I definitely don’t like to kind of sugar coat things all that much, so it can be a little gritty. Jeff: Gritty is a good word for it actually, having now read this one. Who are some of your author influences? Amber: Oh, you know, some of the authors who really influenced me the most are the authors that I read when I was in high school. I remember YA wasn’t necessarily a thing yet when I was a younger teenager, but in my senior year of high school I remember there were several books that came out right at that time and I was a big nerd, so I volunteered at my school library, and my librarian was like my best friend, so she would give me all of the books that were coming in – for me to take home and read her first, before anybody else. I remember reading ‘Speak’ by Laurie Halse Anderson. And that book really stands out for me. It just changed my life because I think it was one of the first times I remember feeling like a book truly brought me this deep sense of comfort. I was seen and understood. I was not alone. And that really stayed with me. And then there were other books that came out right around that time, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. That was a huge book for me that I read when I was in high school. Let’s see. Sonya Sones, her debut, ‘Stop Pretending’ came out and it was written in verse. And that was also the first time I had read something like that and it really made an impact. I think back to those books I read when I was a teenager, and the ones that really affected me were those ones that were about really serious issues, and they are the ones that made me feel like I was not alone. There was hope things could get better. I guess that’s sort of where I’m coming from now as a writer. What were the stories I needed when I was a teenager? Jeff: And what’s coming up next for you? Amber: Well, I’m not entirely sure. I have a couple of things in the works. I’m pretty sure what is going to be next is going to be a middle grade book. So, going a little bit younger. So that’s really exciting. I’ve been wanting to kind of explore different genres. I think back, middle school was actually a lot more traumatic for me than high school. So it’s funny I haven’t gone there yet. Jeff: I look forward to seeing what that could be because, over time, I’ve read some really compelling middle grade books. Amber: Yeah. Things that have been coming out recently too are just amazing. Jeff: What’s the best way for everyone to keep up with you online so they can follow along with what you’re doing and when new stuff comes out? Amber: I always keep updates going on my website ambersmithauthor.com, but I’m most active on Instagram. On Instagram I’m @ambersmithauthor. I’m also on Twitter as asmithauthor and Facebook as well. So definitely keep up with me there. I love hearing from readers, and I just I get so excited when I see messages come in from you guys. Jeff: Fantastic. We’ll link up to all those places, the books we talked about, and of course, ‘Something Like Gravity’. Wish you the best of luck with that as this summer continues this year. Amber: Thank you so much.

For Chris and Emily Norton, walking across the stage at his college graduation seemed like an impossible goal. Paralyzed in a football game his freshman year, Chris was given a three percent chance of moving anything below the neck again. But he trained relentlessly. With his then-fiancé Emily by his side, Chris’ triumphant 10 steps were seen by millions around the world! Little did they know, this was just the beginning of Chris and Emily’s incredible journey. Three years later, Chris joyfully conquered another challenge, this time walking seven yards down the aisle after their wedding ceremony with new wife Emily at his side – seven yards that symbolized the seven-year anniversary of his injury. But with all of their triumphs, Chris and Emily have also faced many challenges and struggles. Together they’ve fostered 17 children, adopted 5 daughters, and overcome a season of debilitating depression and anxiety that set in for Emily just two weeks after Chris’ graduation walk. Listen now as Chris and Emily share their story and the strength they found in fully relying on God and supporting one another. Subscribe to hear Chris and Emily talk more about fostering, parenting with a disability, and overcoming depression and anxiety next week on the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast. Listen to the first two chapters of Chris and Emily Norton’s new book, Seven Longest Yards: Our Love Story of Pushing the Limits While Leaning on Each Other. https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio_us/the-seven-longest-yards-by-chris-and-emily-norton/s-sd07v *Joni and Friends was founded in 1979 by Joni Eareckson Tada who in a diving accident was left a quadriplegic at 17 years old. Ministry began as Tada, joined by friends around her kitchen table, responded to letters she received from people with disabilities in search of support. Over the past 40 years, the ministry has grown to serve thousands of people impacted by disability worldwide: Joni and Friends has delivered more than 150,000 wheelchairs and Bibles through Wheels for the World and provided Christian care to 63,000 special needs family members through Family Retreats. The organization also equips individuals and churches with disability ministry training and provides higher education courses through the Christian Institute on Disability. For more encouragement, download the Joni and Friends radio podcast in English or Spanish, and view inspirational videos on the Joni and Friends website. www.joniandfriends.org*

For Chris and Emily Norton, walking across the stage at his college graduation seemed like an impossible goal. After suffering a paralyzing injury in a college football game in his freshman year, Chris Norton was given a three percent chance of moving anything below the neck again. Despite a negative prognosis, Chris trained relentlessly, focused on walking across the graduation stage, which led him to meeting his then-fiancée, Emily. His incredible 10 steps across that stage were seen around the world by more than 300 million people—but little did they know, that was just the beginning of Chris and Emily’s journey.

After moving to the diverse city of Clarkston, GA, Chris encountered many refugee neighbors who were struggling to find jobs. They faced challenges despite being legally able to work; at the same time, many local industries were struggling to find dependable personnel. For Chris, the impact of solving these two problems at once was too big to ignore. In this episode, we dive into some polarizing issues to discuss what it was like to build a staffing business with a truly one-of-a-kind mission. Support the show (http://buildingabusinessthatlasts.com)

Not sure how to find and hire the right digital agency talent to help you grow? Here's the 8-steps one agency owner uses to build his business. He is also diving into reasons why niching down has was a good decision and the most important focus of agency sales pitches. 3 reasons your agency must niche down. The only kind of profit that matters. 8 steps to hiring culture-fit digital agency talent. Today, I talked with Chris Martinez Co-founder of DUDE! — an agency that provides unlimited web designing for other agencies. Chris has been through the ropes as an agency owner. And he's worked hard to figure out how to nail pitches, niche down, and hire that perfect prospect. Plus, he wears a wrestling mask sometimes. What's not to love? 3 Reasons Your Agency Must Niche Down Chris said the single best decision he made in order to help his agency grow was to select a niche. And if you haven't yet, you need to niche down, too! Here are 3 reasons: Clients will come to you. Niching down accelerates word-of-mouth. Now, I don't want you to rely on referrals to grow your business but when you are able to generate a buzz as a specialist within an industry or a specific skill set that establishes authority in your niche. You don't have to re-invent the wheel. If you're taking on any and every client, it can be tough to build processes. When you choose a niche, you know exactly what you have to do. You can build simple, effective systems and processes to become efficient. Targeting clients is easier. Building a buyer's persona gets 100x easier when you identify a niche. You know exactly who you're going after, where they're at, and how to speak their language. Related:  How Your Agency Can Pick a Niche and Dominate It Besides, your clients really only are about 2 things: What do you do better than your competitors? What results can you give them? That's it! So why not start thinking high-level. Be specific in who you serve and create processes that give you an edge over your competitors. Use your successes and case stories to win even more business in the same category. The Only Kind of Profit that Matters Everyone wants the big clients, right? But bigger clients aren't the key driver to agency growth. It's profitability. For example, when your first big client comes in with a $50k contract, you're going to want to say YES! But, how much of that $50k is really hitting your bottom line? You might be a 7-figure agency but if your margins are single digits then gross revenue doesn't mean squat. Conversely, you might be a $300,000 agency who's really learned how to tighten your belt and coming home with 40% profit, then you're doing really well for yourself. If your bottom line isn't where it should be, you need to pivot. Carve out your niche, determine where your expenses have gone askew, and then go lean and/or raise your prices. Do whatever it takes to put you where you want to be. Sure, you may be taking some losses when you first startup. But, if your agency is established and you're margins aren't at 30% or better, it's time to change courses. And that change may start with learning how to say NO! 8-Steps to Hiring Culture-Fit Digital Agency Talent Hiring someone who has the skill set to do a job is easy. Hiring someone who wants to do a job in the environment and with the team you've created can be a bit tougher. Chris says to hire people for their culture-fit, not their technical-fit. You can teach someone a skillset but you can't make them change who they are. Chris has an amazing culture-first hiring process inspired by the way they do things at Zappos.com. Here's his agency's 8-step hiring process Post the position publicly. (Obviously.) Identify candidates' soft skills and hard skills from their resume and application. Chris always puts more value on soft skills. You want to see who a person is — not just what they can do. Send the best candidates a questionnaire. You can find out a lot more than just their answers to the questions... like, how fast do they respond? Do they pay attention to details? Can they meet the deadline? Do they follow direction? Are they going above and beyond expectations? If you ask them to send you 5 examples, did they only send 4? Schedule a phone interview. Talking to someone can help weed out applicants early. Are they polite or rude? Authentic or fake? Aggressive or grumpy? Send a technical skills test. Do they actually have the basic skill set they're hiring for? Send a psychometric test. This helps you figure out who they really are deep down. These aren't perfect, but they can help you get rid of a bad fit fairly early on. Schedule an in-person interview. Chris has a round-robin interview style with 4 - 5 people. Each person talks to the potential hire. Then, they meet afterward and see if all parties are in agreement for hiring them. They ask each other:  "Would you work with them?" and "Would you work for this person?" Everyone must answer in the affirmative or they pass on the candidate. Give the candidate a final job-related task. Make sure they know how to perform and can do so on deadline. For Chris's agency this is particularly important because they're hiring developers and designers.

Christopher Salem is an accomplished business and emotional intelligence strategist, world-class speaker, award-winning author, certified mindset expert, radio show host and media personality, and wellness advocate partnering with entrepreneurs, corporations, and small businesses with overcoming their limiting beliefs so his clients can then adopt the process to operate within the solution – and not manage the problem – for sustainable success. Chris has worked with organizations such as JP Morgan Chase, Ralph Lauren, Microchip Technology, Anthem, the United States Census Bureau, Hubbell, and the NYPD forensics department. He has also worked with tertiary institutions, such as the University of Hartford, Bay Path University, Worcester State University, and spoken on overcoming limiting beliefs for peak performance at the Harvard Faculty Club.  Chris is the originator of the term, Prosperneur, which refers to an individual whose health and wealth are aligned in a way that leads to true prosperity. His book Master Your Inner Critic addresses this and in doing so hit the international best-seller list in 2016. He was also a co-author of a recent edition of Mastering the Art of Success with Jack Canfield. His weekly radio show Sustainable Success is broadcast on the VoiceAmerica Influencers Channel.   “I could have acted out, I could have started drinking … (and gone) back to the things I used to do when I was really young that would have taken me out. But … I made a conscious choice to be mature about this … there was nothing I could do except go forward, be present and … not allow this to sideline me for any other future decisions or risks that I would take, whether for starting a business or making an investment.” Christopher Salem   Worst investment ever Venture begins in bullish mood of mid-2000s Chris’ story is set in the boom time before the global financial crisis of 2008. House prices were skyrocketing alongside stock markets and people were doing very well. He had invested in start-up companies before, his first being back in 1993. So in around 2006 he met a couple of very smart founders of a media company who were going to revolutionize the video space on airplane seatbacks to engage business and first-class passengers with special offers. After some due diligence, he wanted to invest in what they were doing to take the company from the ground up to make it successful. With his background in media, it was also in an area he had interest in. All pieces and people in place for air-travel-tech winner And so he put a lot of time into preparation for this particular investment and when he went forward everything looked as if it were going to plan. It was a truly disruptive business idea that filled a niche and a need. That positivity was boosted by the presence of American Airlines former CEO Robert Crandall on the board of the company. Chris invested a considerable sum, not being exactly averse to some risk. Early days show promise with ‘Six-Sigma-type guys’ at the helm At first the company was showing a lot of promise with its special offers based on personalized information obtained through credit cards. If a VIP passenger’s lease on their Audi was finishing in a month, and they were going to be in Las Vegas, the company would put an offer up on the seatback monitor for the passengers to test drive a BMW when they arrive via sophisticated algorithms and processes. All of this was being run by people with excellent credentials in technology and business in general, “Six Sigma type guys”. Global crisis plunges knife in investors’ backs But then the financial crash hit. As a result, Chris and the team’s venture began to unravel. The progress of everything slowed down, and certain airlines planning to go forward, did not. Also slowly Chris began to the money invested by himself, other investors and the company’s founders being burned through quickly. All measures to save it were fruitless despite that extensive planning had gone into it, despite how great it looked on paper, and in spite of the support provide by a lot of skilled, experienced people. Despite all that, the company never made a sale to a single airline. Hard times for new parents For Chris and everyone, it was a very difficult time. His marriage was young and they had just had a son. Though it didn’t bankrupt him, it put him in a very tough situation as he had lost a significant amount of money and time doing research and managing the investment. Start-up investor reaches emotional crossroad At that time Chris had to decide whether to sit in the problem, act out and be angry about what happened, or just accept what happened, live with it and advance to what was necessary to get his money back. Eventually, he weathered the storm. Chris said he could have started drinking or doing other things that would have taken him out, but he made a conscious choice to be mature and go forward, be present not allow this to sideline him for other future decisions or risks in starting a business or making an investment.   Some lessons Active investors must learn to accept that losses do happen. It’s just part of the game. Even though you’re going to win some and lose some, take calculated risks. Learn how to stay calm in these situations and be truly present. Believe in yourself and know that if you continue to do right things, with the right habits and disciplines, in time you will make the money back or you will make another investment that you put a lot of time and due diligence into that will pay off. Don’t allow mistakes to take you out of the game. So be cautious, do your due diligence. Reflect and try to emerge with gratitude and humility, because even the great investors have lost vast amounts of money. They just don’t talk about it.   Andrew’s takeaways The winners are not the people hitting home runs all the time, they’re just those who don’t strike out in business, finance and investing. Everybody experiences losses at some time or other. Risk management is vital. Though Chris lost a lot in this story (he estimates 10 years of work!), many people lose everything in deals like this because they ignored the readily available risk management methods.   “They say: ‘I lost everything, I lost all my money, I lost my family, I lost everything,’ because there are risk management principles that they didn’t follow, such as only investing a small amount of your money into an idea, particularly in the beginning.” Andrew Stotz   The pain of loss can be crushing, but there are ways out of it. Sometimes everything goes wrong; an investment, a business idea, health, work. When you get in such a storm of defeat, the self-worth can fall and that has an impact on your interactions with the people you love and who love you and other people. Chris has some great recommendations in the next section.   Actionable advice Learn how to become present and mindful in the moment. This can be done through meditation and journaling, and we then have the ability to offset the fear created from the past that triggers stress. Such stress produces inflammation in our bodies from the cortisol levels that rise and this affects us physically. This can lead to poor eating habits, failing to take care of ourselves, and this carries on to a negative impact on our emotional health. That same fear and stress from the past is projected into the future and becomes anxiety that can then lead to procrastination, and failing to act and make decisions or having a cluttered mind. When you learn to be present, we learn how to accept what happened and look at it as a learning experience. By being present, we can do what it takes to make back the money we have lost. There is always a way to make money back, but if you dwell on the problem and not the solution, it makes it very difficult to do so because you get further trapped in the problem. But meditation and journaling on a daily basis will allow you to get centered and move forward from a major loss or a major challenge that is affecting your life. Daily program to be aware how you are feeling. This is especially when you’re not feeling too good, bothered by negative emotions such anger, shame, guilt, whatever is consuming you, and be aware that they’re taking you further into the problem. So the only logical choice that you have at this point to get into the solution is to be present. And Chris here shares his daily program to get into the present and prepare the day. Make your bed. When you wake up in the morning, before you do anything, do something like making your bed or some other action to get your mindset clear and focused that you have accomplished something, something you’ll feel good about. Meditate for 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t overthink or over-analyze the thoughts that come in and out of your head. Just be present. Let those thoughts come and go and keep your focus on your breath. Write down exactly and only what comes to mind during the meditation. Don’t overthink, don’t over-analyze, just write exactly what comes to mind. This allows us to get the clutter out of our conscious mindset, and whatever is being revealed from the subconscious mind, which gives clues to the limiting beliefs that could be holding us back or triggering the way we feel in these types of situations. Andrew adds one of his own actions to this daily program: Read Practicing the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle or listen to its audiobook. When times get so tough that Andrew feels overloaded and overwhelmed, one thing he does is turns on the audio version of that book. Tolle’s voice is very calm as he reads through the book but the key for Andrew is that Tolle brings him back to every single moment and convinces him that he is safe and not under threat at that moment. The hopes and fears of the future can be set aside, as can the fears and suffering of the past.   “It’s like taking an aspirin for a bad headache. It works.” Andrew Stotz   No. 1 goal for next the 12 months Chris is investing in a Canadian start-up that recently signed a deal with Fitbit. The company is providing algorithms that can detect sickness in the body, such as common colds, flu, and the like. They seek to make further advances in detecting other types of major illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer, and there are discussions IBM and Johnson & Johnson about this. His goal is to be very active, as an investor and an advisor to help the organization really make significant advancements.   Parting words Chris wishes you to believe in yourselves, forgive yourselves for any past mistakes or bad investments you have made. They’re in the past, so let them go learn from them. In the areas, you can control, perform differently. In the areas you can’t control, let them go. Be present and apply the things you have learned into the present moment going forward to reach your success.   You can also check out Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points    Connect with Christopher Salem LinkedIn Twitter Website Email   Connect with Andrew Stotz astotz.com  LinkedIn Facebook  Instagram Twitter  YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast  Further reading mentioned Christopher Salem (2016) Master Your Inner Critic: Resolve the Root Cause – Create Prosperity  Christopher Salem, Jack Canfield, et al (2011) Mastering the Art of Success   Eckhart Tolle  (2009) Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now 

In January of 2018, Christopher was two years away from retiring from the military and was thinking about the future. He wanted to figure out how he was going to make money once he was out and found the Bookkeeper Business Launch course and thought that it might be a good fit. Turns out it was. [3:45] Chris got his first client one month after completing the course. He connected with them on Craigslist and is still working with them today. [4:30] Chris used the money from the first client and joined the BNI (Business Networking International). Using only BNI referrals, Chris got to ten clients by October. He also got five more clients using paid leads from Thumbtack. [6:50] BNI meetings are structured so the first fifteen minutes are meant for networking with the members and occasionally giving ten minute presentations. For Chris, being in BNI is not his natural environment. He was actually voted “Most Likely To Eat Alone” in high school because he was such an introvert, but he faced his fears and did it anyway. It took him a good six months to feel comfortable at the meetings but now he really enjoys them. [10:00] Some people are good at talking to people and starting a business which seemed to be the case for Chris. He feels like it was just something he had to learn, so he did. His one regret may be not having gone to college sooner because the different learning techniques you pick up in school could have been an asset. [13:20] Chris has to serve one more year in the military before he can retire, and because of that it has forced him to hire more employees as his business expanded beyond what he was capable of handling. [14:30] Chris’s vision for his future business is to essentially just manage the business, do the marketing, and bring in the clients while other bookkeepers do the numbers work. [16:15] Chris’s main challenge/potential opportunity is just keeping track of everything and keeping focused. Working with clients is a lot like juggling, when you have just four in the air it can be managed. Once you start juggling 27, things start to get hectic. The good news is that nothing major has slipped through the cracks yet. [19:35] The goal is putting processes in place, not necessarily revenue or clients. Chris needs to create order from chaos. [22:30] The easiest way to create a new process is to just record yourself doing that task. Record your screen while you’re doing the work, narrate what you’re doing, and make sure you keep it short. Once it’s recorded, you can transcribe the audio using a service like Rev.com. With the transcription you can condense the process into a checklist that contains the major important points of that process. Once you’ve got that finished, not only did you get the work done, but you’ve also defined a process and put yourself ahead of 90% of all bookkeepers. [28:15] The biggest mistake that Ben made in his business was feeling that he was so busy that he need to hire people to take care of all the chaos in his business, but all that resulted in was more chaos. [29:20] You will have to change your mindset as you transition from doing the work to reviewing the work. What got you here isn’t going to get you to where you want to go. [30:35] Start with the processes you like least and that are the most client-facing. Give it time and you will eventually start to enjoy the process. [33:10] Your business is a system and a system is a series of processes that get the work done. The value in the system is in clearly defined processes, especially if you are interested in eventually selling the bookkeeping business that you’re building. [34:30] You have to be committed to the process, it’s always a challenge to do something new or something big. [35:40] Chris is looking at a couple of different software options to help him track what he’s working on but so far he’s been falling back on just using a spreadsheet. Lots of bookkeeping professionals believe all they need is one more app but that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes you just need what will get the job done. Start mapping out your processes with a pen and paper well before you get to an app or a spreadsheet. Look to the function before you look for a shiny object. [41:10] You don’t want to be dependent on a person to get things done, you want processes that people can do. That way if someone leaves the team, you can move things around without causing chaos trying to find a new perfect person to fill that role. [43:55] A virtual assistant may be just the answer that Chris is looking for. [45:00] Keep your big goals front and center. For Ben, that means a giant whiteboard positioned in front of his desk that keeps his goals and projects always on the top of his mind. Technology is great, but you should lean on your process first. [48:45] When you need to get something done, don’t think of “what”, think of “who”. Who has done what you want to do and how can you talk to them? [50:30] Chris’s wife has been crucial in terms of support for the growth of the business. A common thread for people who have succeeded in the bookkeeping business is having a supportive spouse. [52:05] The ultimate vision for Chris and his wife is to be able to travel in their RV while still running their business from wherever they are.

In this full episode of "Exploring Minds", Michele Carroll and Chris Hogan dive into what it takes to become a millionaire. From compound interest, goal setting, discipline, and focus, Chris reveals that the reality is far different from the perception. - Chris Hogan might have been the most unlikely person to wind up working as a financial speaker. Why? Years ago, Chris was an All-American college football player who pushed future NFL players all over the field—far removed from the world of helping others find Financial Peace. For Chris, the path from football to where he is today was a long, but meaningful, journey. While he was a vice president of a well-respected company, helping clients manage all phases of their businesses, he realized how so many families, marriages and children were being affected by money issues. He felt powerless as he sat behind his desk and watched his clients throw away their financial futures. Chris knew things needed to change. That’s when he met Dave Ramsey, and his career found a new direction. Today, he helps spread Dave’s message of financial hope to audiences everywhere. An engaging and humorous speaker, Chris is an expert on subjects like mortgages, healthcare and investing. To promote financial education, he speaks at colleges and businesses, and conducts on-site training sessions at companies. Chris also works with high-profile clients, such as athletes, entertainers and businessmen, to help them develop a financial strategy to protect their wealth and secure their future. Chris has had insurance licensure and banking certifications in three states. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown College and a master’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania. Chris lives with his wife, Melissa, and their three sons in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Twitter https://twitter.com/chrishogan360 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chrishogan360/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisHogan360 - SUPPORT US ON PATREON:  https://www.patreon.com/exploringmindsshow FOLLOW ALONG FOR UPDATES AND NEW EPISODES: Discord - https://discord.gg/YhaAcN3 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/exploringmindsshow Twitter - https://twitter.com/ExploreMinds_TV Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/exploreminds_tv/ Website - exploringminds.show —  Exploring Minds with Michele Carroll is the online show committed to exploring the world beyond talking points.  Thank you for listening! Support the show.

GUEST BIO: Chris has worked as a lead developer on some of the largest web projects and is currently a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft.  He is also the author of several JavaScript books and the Developer Evangelism book as well as being a regular presenter at conferences. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Chris Heilmann.  Over the years, has worked as an HTML and web developer on some of the largest web projects. He has worked for netdecisions, Agilisys, Yahoo UK and Mozilla. Today, he is a Senior Program Manager Developer and Evangelist, at Microsoft. Chris is also an author who has written mainly about JavaScript. But, he is best known for his Developer Evangelism book and for his conference speaking. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.00) – So Chris, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Chris starts off by explaining that he did not take the normal route into an IT career. He did not go to university. His IT journey started with him writing games for the Commodore 64 and other early computers. After leaving school, he became a journalist and newscaster. In 1986, he discovered the internet and was immediately hooked. Fairly quickly, he was able to bring his two passions of tech and journalism together. Almost immediately, Chris could see the internet was going to help him and his colleagues to easily publish on a worldwide. He says that he was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. (2.25) - So, presumably your background in journalism has helped you in terms of other things you have done. For example, writing your books and public speaking. Chris agrees, he says his journalism skills were a great help when he started blogging. He found that his experience of writing for radio translated particularly well when writing for an online audience. When writing for the radio you have to ensure that every sentence makes perfect sense. Usually, people are doing other things while listening to the radio, for example, driving. So, they cannot focus 100% on what you are saying. The clearer you are the more likely you are to keep their attention and really get through to them. It is the same when people are reading your stuff online. You rarely have their full attention. We all tend to skim through things, so every sentence has to clearly make its point. This ability to make a point effectively and hold the attention of the audience has also been very useful when it comes to public speaking. His work as a journalist also helped Chris to adapt his message to suit the audience. (3.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Chris says that being flexible is vital. He has moved to several different countries to pursue his career. If you are willing and able to be flexible there are a lot of opportunities available in the IT world. For example, You need to be prepared to work at strange hours sometimes. Doing so opens up the opportunity to collaborate with people from across the world. Being flexible enables you to put yourself in the right place at the right time, more often. Chris also thinks it is important to be prepared to physically travel so that you can work with others from across the world. Even though we have the internet you tend to get far more done when you spend time working with people face to face. (5.05) – Can you tell us what your worst career moment was? And what you learned from that experience. For Chris, his worse career moment was when the UK office of a company he was working for was shut. When that happened, basically, all of the talented people they had pulled together over 10 years were scattered to the winds. The team he was working with was very talented and worked quickly. They achieved more than the Silicon Valley team did in far less time. Yet, they still closed the office and asked everyone to move to the USA. Some people went and just stayed with the firm for the 2 years they neede for the visa. Then, naturally, they left for better offers. Chris felt that this action showed an incredible lack of insight on the part of the company. It led to all of that talent being lost just because they were geographically in the wrong place. Plus, naturally, a lot of the people were bitter. Many left in anger, which is a bad idea, especially in IT. Even today, it is quite a small world. Chris says that the best approach is to take the high ground. Don’t bad mouth the company to others. The chances are you are going to come across these people again, in the future. (7.00) – Phil asks Chris about their best career moment was. Chris has had lots of great moments. He really enjoys the fact that a small change on the front end can make such a huge positive difference for users. It is also nice when you build up your reputation to the point where finding a new job becomes almost automatic. Chris also gets pleasure from seeing the careers of others he has worked with flourish. (9.18) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that computers are taking over more is something that really excites Chris. This is despite the fact that AI is set to cut into the amount of work that will be available for him. Currently, he sees too many security issues slipping through the net because the code has been written by people who are basically bored with their job. In the future, much of that boring work will be done by computers. AI machines will be great at finding and fixing malicious code and debugging. They will be far faster at it than humans are. This will free developers up to become even more creative and innovative. However, for this to happen quickly the industry needs more data scientists. We need people who can see the patterns and teach machines to recognize them too. He points out that a lot of code has been written already. It is just that much of it has not been shared yet. The open source movement is helping to sort that out. As a result we are now moving forward at a far faster rate. Chris is also excited by the fact that new roles are constantly being created within the IT industry. There are dozens of exciting and interesting jobs that simply did not exist a few years ago. (12.20) – What drew you to a career in IT? Chris explains that he has always loved computers, so when he saw the chance to make working with them a part of his daily life he lept at it. He was also drawn to the sector because he realized he would be able to help people to overcome their fear of working with computers. His work on the front end was helping people to tap into this new technology and achieve more, something he really enjoyed doing. (12.51) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That was – don’t forget to network within your company, especially when you first join. Get to know the people and their problems. Help others and do everything you can to get departments to talk to each other. Get to know other communicators within that business. Doing all of this helps you to understand your company and find your place within it. Taking this approach ensures that you will always have a backup plan. If your fantastic boss suddenly leaves and your new one is awful, you will be able to quickly move to another job. Plus, when you play a role in getting something difficult fixed you are going to quickly be seen as a valuable employee. So, staying there long-term becomes a viable option. Provided, of course, that is what you want to do. (14.31) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Nowadays, having a proper IT degree is a good thing. Chris knows that he was lucky to end up working in the IT field without a relevant degree. He says that the degree he would take now would be data science. Chris also thinks he would start out by working for smaller startups. He says that this enables you to focus on one project and see it through. This hones your skills and helps you to learn how to turn what you are working on into a success. He also says that he would not go into gaming. It is really hard to become successful in that field now. Nowadays, there is a huge pool or pre-done stuff you can draw upon to get things done quickly. You no longer need to know how to code everything from scratch. So, Chris would also focus on maximizing the potential of this. He would familiarize himself with the various components and frameworks that are available and learn how to use them to get things done fast. (16.49) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Chris’ main objective is to move up and start building a team again. He wants to have team members who can replicate what he is doing right now, so he can focus on working with just a few clients. (17.48) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Chris finds that he uses his communication skills a lot. It is important to know how to talk to people. It also helps you to recognize when not to pursue something. Just because you have identified the perfect solution does not mean that you should insist on developing it right there and then. Sometimes you have to think of the needs of the project, chunk up your knowledge and put together something that works for now, to move things forward. Then, perhaps circle back later to push your idea and get it implemented.[[ (18.59) – Phil asks Chris to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Make sure you stay interested in the job you are doing. Don’t do a boring job or one that you do not like, just for the money. If you do that, you are setting yourself up for failure. You have to find something that challenges you as well. If you are hiring people, always hire someone who is better than you. When you do, you open up the opportunity for you to delegate to them. They get to develop and you are freed up to do something else. In time, they become able to replace you, by which point you will be ready to move on, anyway. You should not be afraid of the people that work for you. BEST MOMENTS: (3.57) CHRIS – “Being flexible in your time and being flexible to actually work across the world is something that a lot of people still have problems with. IT is not a 9 to 5 job." (9.26) CHRIS – "I'm actually very excited that computers are taking over more and more." (9.54) CHRIS – "We should not be bored by writing software. Computers should actually be good enough to write most of the code for themselves." (13.00) CHRIS – “When you join a new company network inside the company." (16.47) CHRIS – "We are reusing 90% of the time what other people have been doing." CONTACT CHRIS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/codepo8 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianheilmann/ Website: https://christianheilmann.com/

Welcome back to the Snyder Showdown podcast. Host Chris Snyder is a passionate entrepreneur and digital marketer and loves taking businesses to the next level. He’s the President and partner at Juhll.com, a full-service digital marketing agency aimed at delivering superior results to help clients achieve their business goals. Juhll offers its clients a full range of services, specializing in strategic digital paid media to acquire online customers and generate leads. If it’s online and measurable, you can trust Juhll with it. He’s also the founder, operator and investor in Banks.com, a financial online market place aimed to become everyone’s trusted, go-to resource for all things financial on the web. In this episode, Chris talks all about turnover and the hiring practices his organization utilizes to anticipate it. There are many different types of turnover; some can be negative while others can be positive. For Chris, it’s all about getting the right person in the chair and witnessing that person do the job well. Chris shares his thoughts on exit interviews, recruiters, and searching for a ‘unicorn’ during the hiring process. Chris talks about the expectations he sets for all new employees and the result-oriented culture he has built at Juhll. Chris also speaks to the realization that dealing with people is an integral part of running a business. He reveals how he researched and compiled his ideal candidate profile and why it’s rooted in honesty and productivity. Finally, Chris discusses the importance of maintaining a clear vision, especially throughout a hiring process that has changed vastly over the last decade. To hear all past episodes visit: https://www.snydershowdown.com/

Journaling, prayer, and Bible study. For Chris, these three disciplines are really powerful when used together. Check out some of the tips he's learned by using these to help him rest in his identity in Christ. Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

Welcome back to the Snyder Showdown podcast. Host Chris Snyder is a passionate entrepreneur and digital marketer and loves taking businesses to the next level. He’s the President and partner at Juhll.com, a full-service digital marketing agency aimed at delivering superior results to help clients achieve their business goals. Juhll offers its clients a full range of services, specializing in strategic digital paid media to acquire online customers and generate leads. If it’s online and measurable, you can trust Juhll with it. He’s also the founder, operator and investor in Banks.com, a financial online market place aimed to become everyone’s trusted, go-to resource for all things financial on the web. In this episode, Chris discusses the value he places on OKRs, objectives and key results. For Chris, if something is not measurable it is not worth the time and money to pursue. Chris talks about the various methods of measuring key results that he uses at Juhll, including systems like JIRA, Confluence, BigTime, Quick Books and Slack. These software systems are implemented with the sole purpose of tracking projects in order to remain as efficient as possible. Chris also speaks to how he has changed his company’s policy on meetings. It is Chris’ belief that meetings should be concise, straightforward and productive. Chris likes to put himself in his clients’ shoes. In  order to put client interests first, he expects his employees to work with a higher level of transparency, sophisticated planning and communication. To hear all past episodes visit: https://www.snydershowdown.com/

If your view of Ireland is only architecture, hills, and accents, you’re going to want to hear from Chris and Joi Copeland. They share some perspective on the needs and how they want to be part of the solution. Upcoming Topics: http://engagingmissions.com/2019Q1 (http://engagingmissions.com/2019Q1) Be a Patron: http://engagingmissions.com/patron (http://engagingmissions.com/patron) The process of missions can be a long and beautiful one. For Chris and Joi Copeland, they have been waiting to go to Ireland for four years. They are currently raising support and are almost fully funded. Their ministry focuses on leadership development, church planting, and serving the community. It all centers on bringing hope to the hopeless. Chris and Joi share about how God called them to Ireland. They have many stories of God’s faithfulness and provision over the last few years. Their desire is to see the people of Ireland come to know God and find hope in Him. What We Talked About00:23 - Episode summary 02:05 - The beauty and problems of a country 03:12 - What are some of the needs in Ireland? 04:09 - Addressing the current struggles 06:08 - Staying present in the moment 07:10 - Keep on keeping on 07:27 - How did God call you to Ireland? 08:57 - Trying to be on board with God’s call 10:23 - Conversations with family and friends 12:35 - Being active in ministry 14:29 - Learning to walk by faith 18:54 - Leaning on the Scriptures 20:17 - Catching the vision for missions 24:19 - How do you tie it all together? 25:34 - Looking ahead to the future 26:19 - The process of fundraising 27:34 - Giving draws you closer to Christ 30:26 - Pushing towards 100 percent funding 31:38 - How close are you to your goal? 32:20 - Ways to support the ministry 33:17 - How can we best pray for you? 37:02 - Closing thoughts Resources & Contact InfoWebsite: WorldVenture (http://www.worldventure.com/cjcopeland) Email: cjcopeland@worldventure.net (mailto:cjcopeland@worldventure.net) Facebook: @copelandclantoireland (http://www.facebook.com/copelandclantoireland) Show LinksFacebook: @engagingmissions (https://facebook.com/engagingmissions) Messenger: @engagingmissions (https://m.me/engagingmissions) Twitter: @engagingmission (https://twitter.com/engagingmission) Leave a Voicemail (https://engagingmissions.com/voicemail) Become a Patron (https://engagingmissions.com/patron) Listen for Free (https://engagingmissions.com/quicksubscribe) Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 (http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html): “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This week on the GDX Chris and Kaleb are talking Resident Evil 2, Dark Souls 1-3, KKingdom Hearts 3, and the Oscars.It's been awhile and the guys start the episode catching up on the things they've been playing. For Chris that Darksouls Remastered on the Switch. It's his first time completing the game and he's now caught the Souls Borne itch. Aside from spending most of his time with Darksouls Chris has also been spending his time with Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Season 16 of Diablo 3.Kaleb on the other hand has been playing Darksouls Remastered on the PS4, after having his urge to play reignited by Chris. He's also been dabbling in some games here and there like the Order 1886, and some indie titles.Both guys have been just trying to fill the time until Resident Evil 2 releases. Which this show was recorded on the eve of. The guys speculate which characters have been cut. Talk about the time limit demo for the game, and are just really excited for the remake to be so close.Kingdom Hearts 3 reviews dropped today. So the boys spend sometime discussing the fallout from Polygon's review as well as what other sites have said. Following this the guys do dive deeper into the lates news like EA and Starwars canceled game.Chris and Kaleb round out the episode talking about the Oscar's since Black Panther got a best picture nod. They go over who was nominated and Chris will tell you what movies has boobs. Subscribe to us on youtube.com/gamingdeathvideoSubscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play!Remember you can be part of the cast by sending an email to podcast@gamingdeath.com

In this heartfelt episode, Chris explains how his passion for sharing his experiences about stress and wanting to help others inadvertently turned into a source of stress! If you want a reminder about balance and how we can all achieve it, this podcast is a must to begin a new year with a new focus. KEY TAKEAWAYS There are unexpected challenges when doing anything. This applies to this podcast as any podcast requires a level of preparation and research. Trying to ensure that every show is the best it can be can put the host under pressure. For Chris this was linked to the ‘fear factor ‘– the fear of not being able to create the best show possible. To mitigate this he over prepared and as a result of this lost focus on the important reason for hosting a podcast - to create an enjoyable show. In trying to create a series that helped to share experience and relieve stress for others Chris realised he had created an incredibly stressful lifestyle for himself. This reflective learning curve has helped to redefine the focus and structure of the podcast moving forward. What can you learn from this episode? Trying to juggle too many things at once is not sustainable- try do something about it If you lose sight of what is important you need to take time out to find out what it is. You always have choices, you can always change to make things better. This may mean changing direction completely. If you are not happy either drop it or change direction. Even if you’re invested in something financially you must consider walking away from that choice if it doesn’t make you happy. Almost nobody gets it the right first time and that’s ok. You can learn from experience and change things around to keep moving forward. BEST MOMENTS It’s a symbiotic relationship’ ‘Managed to create a show where I’m not really being me’ ‘Stress is a symptom that can come and go’ ‘Look back now at this brutal learning curve as useful’ ‘During this time I’ve put myself under a lot of pressure, because of the ‘fear factor’’ ABOUT THE HOST After many years of dealing (badly) with personal stress for over 20 years, Chris Hackett is on a mission to help people understand and overcome stress and anxiety by tackling the problem head-on. “Stress is the enemy and you are the killer.” CONTACT METHOD Website:serialstresskiller.com Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialstresskiller Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/serialstresskiller Email:admin@serialstresskiller.com Support the show https://www.patreon.com/serialstresskiller

We have a round table with a group of addicts and alcoholics. We are all sitting here in a circle. We're going to talk about real life experiences when it comes to getting clean, staying clean, and what treatment is like. We also talk about what they've been going through and the struggles that they have. We also talk about what they're looking forward to. Chris, Evan, Casey, Dylan, and James kick off the discussion with what they were going through prior to treatment. We talk about turning points and the actual treatment process once they are here. Everyone shares their struggles and more in this episode. Show Notes [03:38] The group consists of Chris, Evan, Casey, Dylan, and James who are first going to talk about some of the barriers they had prior to treatment. [04:13] Life blowing up in your face is one of the things that gets you to treatment. [05:16] Evan was only 16, and he was embarrassed about his drug use. He overdosed and his parents knew something needed to be done. [08:34] Accepting that you are an alcoholic is a big part of going to treatment and having it work. [09:58] Changing things like beginning to exercise and who you hang out with can help, but you really do need the treatment process. [12:31] Everybody shares what they struggle with the most while they're in treatment. [12:59] For Chris, relationships are a struggle while in treatment. He needs to find relationships with people who have long-term sobriety. [16:24] People have different reasons for coming to rehab. [18:28] Certain things that you have done in the past can lead to misery. Don't repeat those behaviors that lead back to addiction. Don't get overconfident. [19:37] You don't realize how much you actually have until you look at it everyday and see all the things you have to be grateful for. [20:55] Go to treatment where you're going to be living. Build a support network because 30 days isn't enough. [22:52] A lot of people have the urgency to progress forward. Goals have to happen within a certain time frame. It can't be rushed. [25:49] Sometimes people with heroin addiction think that they can drink. There isn't much of a difference with the addiction aspect and needing to change something about yourself with a substance that you will use to an extreme. [30:42] Be okay with what you feel and what you think and try to find the core reason why you're putting these substances in your body in the first place. [31:37] Drinking begins as a social thing than it progresses to something more when you have the addictive mentality and the addictive mindset. [32:59] If you're not a drug addict or an alcoholic, you may never discover some of the things from childhood that are holding you down. [33:27] Tom's addiction has given him the opportunity to look at everything that has happened in his past. [35:12] Fears that come when treatment comes to an end. [36:02] It's crucial to build a foundation around people who are serious about recovery. [36:28] Reach out and find people in meetings to hold you accountable. [37:56] A big fear is what are you going to do when no one is watching you. [39:59] Stay as long as you can and make sure you are ready to go home. There's a good chance that home isn't a sober place to be. [40:35] When you go to treatment be completely open-minded and let the people there make the decisions for you. [41:03] Do your research on treatment places before you go, and 30 days isn't enough. Take your time, because you can't fix your problems and do what you have to do when you're using. [41:54] Be careful who you associate with. Get in a 12-step program. Take some time and sit with yourself.

Chris and Alicia Vargo's journeys before their paths converged in Flagstaff were filled with pain and heart break. For Chris, it was a past riddled with addiction and health complications. And for Alicia (formerly Craig/Shay) - an ideal marriage and optimism for the future took a turn one fateful morning at the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials when her husband at the time, Ryan Shay collapsed and died early in the race. Hear their tales from the past and how they found love and happiness in the wake of tragedy and loss.   :: Shay Hostel https://youtu.be/3vRGuKQctmw :: "6 Gifts" https://vimeo.com/ondemand/6gifts/291391549 :: Alicia Shay Coaching http://www.aliciashaycoaching.com/ :: "Pure Heart" by Runners World https://bit.ly/2UXGbLq ______ Patreon.com/BillyYang Instagram.com/BillyYangPod Twitter.com/BillyYang Facebook.com/BillyYangPodcast 

Have trouble staying happy? When it became a struggle for Chris Ashenden, founder of Athletic Greens he attacked it like any other problem in life.  He compiled a list of things that make him happy, then made sure to do them every day. For Chris the list includes dancing, time with dynamic people, sunlight on the face, intense exercise, heat changes. In this episodes of Spartan Up Joe DeSena sits with Chris at Spartan World Championships in Tahoe to learn about the entrepreneurial and personal journey that led to the incredible success of Athletic Greens - both as a product and as a business. LESSONS “It’s not what you eat, It’s what gets absorbed.” Build a Moat = protecting your business. Play well as a team. There is value to being 100% focused on happiness. Struggling with happiness? Try writing a list of things that make you happy and doing them every day. Find one thing each day that pushes you toward your goal and check it off. Always be improving, if someone is going to come out with a better product, let it be you. Have fun with the growth of your business. Don’t let perfect stand in the way of possible. Get your marketing message right. LINKS Athletic Greens https://athleticgreens.com/ Athletic Greens on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/athleticgreens This episode is brought to you by CHOMPS, the cleanest jerky stick on the market. You can purchase Chomps' grass-fed, non-GMO, no sugar added meat snacks at https://chomps.com use the promo code SPARTAN for 20% off and free shipping   TIME STAMPS 0:00 Our hosts Sefra Alexandra (The Seedhuntress,) Johnny Waite and guest panelists Matt B Davis (Obstacle Racing Media,) and Charlie Brenneman (The Spaniard) introduce Joe DeSena’s Interview with Chris Ashenden. 1:22 CHOMPS.COM save 20% with code SPARTAN 1:40 Interview with Chris Ashenden of Athletic Greens begins 3:00 What you eat vs. what gets absorbed 5:45 Playing rugby in Argentina & meeting Tim Ferriss 7:45 Building a “moat” around the brand 9:20 CHOMPS.COM break 10:25 Back to Joe DeSena’s interview with Chris Ashenden 12:00 Origin story of this entrepreneur 12:50 Bankruptcy & how to overcome it 14:00 How to focus on happiness 17:00 What’s good enough? 18:30 Perfect vs. possible 21:40 Charlie Brenneman (The Spaniard,) Sefra Alexandra (The Seedhuntress,) Matt B Davis (Obstacle Racing Media,) and Johnny Waite put the interview with Chris in perspective and help you apply the lessons to your life.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod   CREDITS: Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra Alexandra & guest hosts Matt B Davis & Charlie Brenneman   Synopsis – Sefra Alexandra Production Assistant - Andrea Hagarty   © 2018 Spartan

GUEST BIO: Chris is the author of the award-winning Wahl Network Blog and host of the Datanauts podcast. Chris focuses on creating content that revolves around virtualization, automation, infrastructure and evangelizing products and services that benefit the technology community.  He is also co-author of “Networking for VMware Administrators”, has published hundreds of articles and a conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: The guest on today’s show is Chris Wahl who has been working in the IT  industry for over two decades.  He is the host of the Datanauts podcast and the author of the Wahl Network Blog, both of which have won awards. His focus is on using his experience to give others the expertise they need to create the data centres of the future. Chris specializes in workflow automation and building operational excellence and the successful adoption and integration of new technology. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.07) – So Chris, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Chris said that he spent most of his career rising through the ranks. Three years ago, he set up Rubrik, which is already a market leader in Cloud Data Management. He now runs a fairly large team. The change from individual contributor to a full-time kind of manager has been a blast. (1.45) – Did you make the decision to change in terms of moving more into a management role? Chris said, yes, kind of. But, he tends to gravitate towards new things that push him to learn. For him, it is an effective way of managing the “imposter syndrome” that most of us experience. He also realized that if he continued to work as an individual how much he could achieve would be limited. On your own you can only get so much done. With a team you can build in more capacity to get things done, move the technology forwards and complete large projects. Chris has found that creating a team has enabled him to pursue some passion projects. (2.34) – Phil asks Chris for a unique IT career tip. Chris explains that it is important to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It ensures you continue to learn to keep up with the fast pace of technology. Chris has what he calls a “fear compass”. When he finds something that makes him go wow and take a step back initially, he usually dives in instead of backing away. You cannot afford to become stagnant or stale. (4.18) – Chris is asked to share his worst career moment. For Chris that happened early on. He was working for an IT shop that had a call centre type of operation to assist customers and keep the business running. One day Chris did an update and rolled it out without thoroughly testing it. Unfortunately, he had accidentally put a wild card in the script which nuked everyone’s system 32 folders. Leading to the operating system failing. On that day, 200 terminals went down. Chris could have tried to sweep his mistake under the carpet. But, he didn’t. Instead he was transparent, which enabled him and his team to get things back up and running as normal, very quickly. He felt really guilty about it. But, since then he has never broken the “test first” rule, which has helped him to deliver excellent solutions and propel his career forwards. (7.95) – Phil asks Chris what his best career moment was. Chris says that moment goes in tandem with his worst IT experience. On another job, a client asks him to do an upgrade at 11 am on a Wednesday. One of the busiest times of the week, so he warns them this is not a good idea and documents the fact. Yet, they insist he does it and everything goes down. Immediately, Chris was surrounded by the whole team, very upset and all panicking. Despite the pressure Chris was able to remain cool and quickly solve the problem. His worst career moment had helped him to understand the importance of remaining calm at moments of crisis and give him the chance to practice that skill. So, he was ready and able to deliver his best career moment. (9.26) – Phil wants to know what excites Chris about the future of the IT industry. Chris says the fact that the way we deal with IT is changing to a more collaborative way of working is exciting and important. Chris calls it the DevOps blend. He also likes the fact that everything is becoming more workflow and process driven. It is also good to see automation being utilized more. (11.19) – Phil asks Chris what drew you to a career in IT. Chris was only about 3 or 4 when he started playing computer games. He was programming by the time he was 8. He said that IT chose him rather than him choosing it. (12.18) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Surround yourself with the right people and success will follow. Positive people who challenge you and are great to work with will always drive you forwards. (13.04) – Phil asks Chris if he has ever been involved in Masterminds. Chris says not exactly. But, whether he is working on a project, attending a conference or something else he always seeks out the experts. Often, he ends up working collaboratively with them. (13.47) – If you were to start your IT career again, what would you do? Chris jokes that he would have invested heavily in Apple stock. Refreshingly, Chris does not think he would change much in the way he approaches his career decisions. (14.30) – Phil asks Chris what he is currently focusing on in his career. Chris is no longer getting heavily involved in the engineering aspect of IT. Instead, he is now focusing more on what the greater architecture of IT looks like. He is working to understand how to make this technology more accessible, so normal people can deliver this stuff. So, recently, he has been attending a lot of Gartner events and analyst conferences. (16.22) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill, Chris? Writing, the ability to take something that is complicated and make it simple enough for most people to understand is a great skill. Communication is key. There is no point in producing something fantastic, if you unable to share it with others. (17.19) – Phil asks Chris to share a few final words of IT career advice. Don’t focus too much on the details, if you do you will just spin your wheels. Stop fixating on which cloud to learn, get your feet wet, learn and pivot later if you need to. BEST MOMENTS:  (3.41) CHRIS – “Standing still means you're just gonna be brought down. You have to constantly keep moving and finding that fear factor.” (3.47) PHIL – “It’s a case of challenging yourself to be able to grow and move forward” (10.21) CHRIS – “I really liked that we're blending those two worlds and gathering a lot of the great practices that the dev world has done and applying that to ops.” (12.25) CHRIS – “Surround yourself with great people, and successfully follow." (16.31) CHRIS – “As I've grown my career, I've realized that everything boils down to communication.” (17.11) CHRIS – “Learning how to extract ideas from your head and put it into a consumable format is such a huge skill”    CONTACT CHRIS WAHL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisWahl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wahlchris/ Website: http://wahlnetwork.com/

Have you ever thought about starting your own podcast? Today’s show has amazing tips from a seasoned expert in the world of podcasting. He has the answers to all your questions around all things podcasting. Don’t miss my conversation with Chris! Chris Krimitsos is often described as a change-maker, motivator, catalyst for change, and inspiration. Whether he’s working with a major company’s CEO or a new solopreneur, Chris is passionate about being a difference maker. Channeling that energy into creating a documentary, Chris has successfully birthed The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary, which has obtained worldwide distribution and theatrical screenings. With a unique skillset programmed to stay out in front of rapid change, Chris is a speaker, business leader, and source for growth who empowers audiences toward better opportunities for succeeding in business in the 21st century. A gift for communicating Has anyone ever done you the favor of shooting down your dream? Chris is from a “big, fat Greek family” in New York. His childhood dream was to own a diner---that is, until he worked in his uncle’s diner and found that it really wasn’t what he wanted. At the end of his shift, his uncle gave him $50 and told him not to ever come back. He went on to tell Chris that he had the gift of communicating with people, and that he should use that gift and go to school to develop it. These meaningful words became a huge pivotal moment that Chris has lived out by creating community and coordinating events. TWEET: The people who “start ugly” will almost always beat those who want to start perfectly.#chasingdreams The entrepreneurial drive Is college the right choice for everyone? Chris knew by age 8 that he would be an entrepreneur and would never need a traditional college education. Although he attended three different schools, he never got a degree. He calls himself a “lifelong learner” who loves learning, but not for a structured purpose. He pursued his goal of becoming a millionaire in his 20’s, but didn’t achieve it. A close friend helped him move to Florida and then passed away; his loss changed the trajectory of Chris’ life and spurred him to create a bucket list. One aspiration was to produce local TV shows. Chris learned the technical skills he needed, went on to work on two shows, and his career took off in media. TWEET: I got really tired of answering the question, “What is podcasting?” I created a visual representation of podcasting that would inspire people. #chasingdreams Creating the documentary What does it take to make a movie? For Chris, the movie was born out of people repeatedly asking him about podcasts. When he would explain podcasts, a common response was that people just couldn’t understand what they were all about. He wanted to create a visual representation to show people about podcasts, but he didn’t just want an informational documentary. He put a production team together and started traveling around with his friend, Neil. They interviewed people in the world of podcasting and shared their stories. The film became a vehicle to convert people into podcast listeners, and the movie has been accepted into film festivals. Chris’ next step is to share it on Facebook to get the message of podcasting out there to a larger audience. TWEET: Anyone who has a podcast has a message for their community. #chasingdreams Guest Recommendation: ONE action for a dream chaser to take--”Start ugly. Record something now and just start. You can clean it up later.” OUTLINE OF THE EPISODE: [:40] Young Chris’ dreams [3:41] Following through on his uncle’s prophetic words [5:46] How TV led to podcasting [11:29] Envisioning the growth [12:33] How Podfest and Podcast Movement support each other [13:26] Creating The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary [16:24] Growing and showing the movie [21:15] Chris’ love for producing [22:43] Juggling it all [24:18] Common mistakes that podcasters make [28:24] Being a #2 [30:03] Building community while facilitating events [31:55] ONE action for a dream chaser  Resources Mentioned: Chris’ Website Chris on Facebook  Chris on Twitter  Chris on Instagram Chris on LinkedIn TWEETS YOU CAN USE: TWEET: My uncle saw that I had the gift to communicate with people and he wanted more for me. #chasingdreams TWEET: I’ve always loved hearing and recording people’s stories. #chasingdreams TWEET: We have a really tight-knit community of individuals--and we love that. #chasingdreams      

Here is episode thirty-four of S. Chris Edmonds' Culture Leadership Charge video series. In these concise videos, Chris presents the best practices for creating and maintaining a purposeful, positive, productive culture - at work, at home, and in your community. Today's focus: what inspires us and sustains us? For Chris, it's service and grace - something that has endured for years and is much needed in our workplaces today.   This content was originally published in video format on January 15, 2018.

What if you could retire at 37? That's exactly what Chris Reining did. Chris Reining retired at the age of 37 after working in cyber security for over 10 years. He slowly increased his savings rate, made sure to keep his expenses low and invest in index funds and a few stocks. Classic FI strategy, and now he gets to do pretty much what he wants. You'll love his story. We also chat about... The difficulties of quitting your job The importance of focusing on your income increase Deciding what's best for health insurance The misconceptions about FIRE Chris' last two years as financially independent Enjoy this chat with Chris, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it! Show notes and links from today's episode Blog: Chris Reining Suze Orman on Paula Pant's podcast Becoming a millionaire is a letdown Key takeaways from our chat with Chris 1 - Quitting your job isn't always easy Chris tells us it took him 2 years to pull the plug because he didn't feel ready. He wanted to make sure he had enough money to retire and that all his investments were in place. He wanted it to be all planned and disciplined in order to reach his goal - and the good news is that it has and everything has been going pretty smoothly! But he does admit it takes courage and a certain kind of personality to quit your job. 2 - Focus on the bigger wins Chris explains the importance of focusing on increasing your income instead of just being as frugal as possible. As he says, there's a maximum at which you can decrease your expenses (diminishing gains), however your income can always increase. For this reason he encourages others in the FI community to focus on the income increase, on side hustles and bonuses, as well as removing the consumerism. 3 - People FIRE for different reasons There is a misconception that being financially independent means sitting on a beach lathering yourself with coconut oil all day. But this is completely wrong; being FI means finally being able to work on the things you enjoy and value. This could be a job, it could be a side-hustle, it could be travelling around the world - it really is up to you. For Chris, it wasn't his job, so he decided to quit and now focuses on enjoying the present. Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment! Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do. 1. Start tracking your net worth with Personal Capital using our link. It's free. 2. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get one extra LIVE episode from us per week. 3. Join our Facebook group and connect with other members of the FI community.

What does it take to develop and launch a consumable product? What are the unique challenges with an ingestible product? My guest today is innovator and entrepreneur, Chris Tolles. Chris co-founded Sundots with Emilia Javorsky MD, MPH, a physician-scientist focused on developing new tools to improve health and well being. Sundots are the world’s first gummy for sun protection and provide an innovative solution to prevent sun damage to your skin. In our conversation, Chris touches on the intricate process of developing an ingestible product, challenges he and his team have faced along the way, how they identified their target audience, advice for startup entrepreneurs, and much more! You don’t want to miss a minute of this engaging and informative episode featuring Chris! Developing an ingestible product. As if launching a new product wasn’t hard enough, try making it a consumable product! Far and away, there are more challenges, difficulties and hurdles when it comes to producing and marketing an ingestible product like Sundots. On this episode, you’ll hear from Chris Tolles as he goes through the process of developing his product, Sundots. Much of the product development process centered around safety tests, procuring pure, quality ingredients, and passing ethical standards. Sundots are based on the active ingredient polypodium leucotomos, a fern extract from Ecuador backed by 30+ years of research for sun protective properties, including blinded human clinical trials conducted by Harvard. To hear more about the development process with Sundots, make sure to listen to this episode! Pre-campaign efforts that led to early success. How does a profitable brand lay the groundwork for success and capitalize on it before and during a crowdfunding campaign? What lessons can you learn that you can apply to your startup? On this episode, you’ll hear from Chris Tolles as he shares how Sundots was able to stay in contact with their backers as well as learn from early testers and build on their feedback. For Chris and his team, it came down to not only making sure that the product resonated with consumers but that the storytelling aspect made a connection as well. Learn more about Sundots and how they’ve been able to get a product off of the ground that speaks to consumers pain points on this exciting episode! Why a subscription service is so attractive. As a business leader and entrepreneur, you are constantly on the lookout for ways to make your product stand out from the competition. What is the best way to accomplish this goal? On this episode, you’ll hear from innovator Chris Tolles as he explains how Sundots stands out with their subscription model. Because Chris and his team have worked so hard on creating a high-quality product, they wanted to find a way to make their awesome product part of everyday life for their consumers. This led Chris to market his product with a subscription service model where customers pay for a month, three months, six months or a full year’s worth of products. Listen to this episode as Chris expands on this concept and how it helped Sundots stand out! The key to success? Real benefits! Everyone wants to know what the “key” is to launch a successful and thriving product. Is there a secret key strategy that will make one product sell better than others? Yes, but it’s not so secret. Create products that resonate with people! One of the best ways to do this is by creating products that end up producing real benefits. While creating consumable products has its own set of challenges, a great way to midgate some of these challenges is by crafting an effective message about their benefits. On this episode, Chris Tolles talks about the benefits of Sundots and how he and his team were able to communicate that message to their customers. You don’t want to miss this fascinating episode! Key Takeaways [1:05] Chris Tolles joins the podcast and shares the backstory for Sundots.

Chris Brogan, CEO of Owner Media Group, sought-after public speaker, and New York Times bestselling author of nine (soon-to-be 10) books, shares the essential mindset elements to build relationships in business. Chris Brogan’s Journey Chris started out as a blogger in 1998, but many years passed until wide audiences started paying attention to his message. He embarked in collaborative projects with friends until finally, through funding from another company, he started a consulting business to help entrepreneurs figure out digital media and the online space. Chris's no-nonsense approach to business, hard work, and dedication helped him become a notable influencer. He has spoken for or consulted with the biggest brands you know, including Disney, Coke, Google, GM, Microsoft, and many more. People like Paulo Coelho, Harvey Mackay, and Steven Pressfield enjoy sharing their projects and best ideas with Chris, because they know he’ll share them with you. Tony Robbins had Chris on his Internet Money Masters series. Forbes listed Chris as one of the Must Follow Marketing Minds of 2014, plus listed his website as one of the 100 best websites for entrepreneurs. Statsocial rated Chris the #3 power influencer online. Building authority and creating new connections Grow your audience and connections by leveraging your skills Chris created his own content platform (blog), which allowed him to build authority, but that alone wasn't enough to expand his reach. He leveraged his writing skills as a guest blogger for prominent sites so he could reach a much wider audience. The essential mindset to build long-lasting connections In a few words: Be genuine and always be guided by your values. He doesn't use formal systems when it comes to networking. instead, he tries to directly relate and connect with the person he wants to build a relationship with. For Chris, a measure of success is “being able to say no to the things I don’t want to do.” When there's a disjoint between a business proposal and what he stands for, he simply moves on. Clear communication is key. Chris spells out what he will and will not do early in every business relationship, setting the stage for long-lasting connections built on trust. One thing you’re most excited about Chris is excited about fast-evolving technologies and how they'll affect businesses. Voice technology, artificial intelligence, and chatbots are changing the way businesses interact with their customers. He's dedicated to helping companies find better ways to connect and build trust through all these changes. Resources and tools mentioned Chris Brogan’s Website Chris Brogan’s Newsletter Book: The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators by Chris Brogan More about Chris Brogan Chris Brogan provides strategy and skills for the modern business. He is CEO of Owner Media Group, a sought after public speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books and working on his tenth. Ask him about it! Owner Media Group:  http://owner.media List of Books Authored by Chris on Amazon.com

Mynd VR - Virtual Reality for the ElderlyChris Brickler and Shawn Wiora are businessmen addressing a large, and growing market. Its not surprising that Samsung decided to partner with them early on with a strategic alignment. Their backgrounds respectively are in Content Distribution, such as Video content from the major studios and TV syndicates, and in Nursing Home care administration. What strikes me is the need to address the aging population. Well, that actually includes every living being… but specifically, in the US we’re adding 10,000 people per day to the retired and aging population. When I was a student at Berkeley I remember taking a geography class with a focus on Global Population dynamics. Two terrifyingly awesome trends were burned into my brain. 1) How China completely cut its massive population boom by instituting 1 child policy 2) Seeing the ‘boom’ bell curve of baby boomers, and forecasting that out in the future 30 years. Many of those boomers (my parents included) are approaching retirement age, or already there. These are often affluent, highly educated, and competent individuals who are seeking high-levels of customized care as they age. I’ve visited nursing homes over the years. From singing to them as an elementary student, to later in life bringing flowers to people I’d never met before as a good-deed practice. While the levels of care vary, and the administration and staff are doing their best to care for aging people, often the homes are lacking mental stimulation, deep community, family, and educational outlets. Can VR help with these? I believe it can. Specifically, VR can bring such an immersive environment to these elderly, they’re able to be transported back in time, or take a completely novel trip to some-place tropical for example. Later, I hope they can connect with like-minded people in a Virtual environment. A clear next-step with VR in the Nursing-home environment is integration of biometrics. It will happen. For Chris and Shawn It seems they are taking the content distribution and entertainment tack as a sales tool for distribution. This is a great idea because its not a far-cry from the current form of entertainment, TV. It seems it would be an easy sell. From there, with distribution in place, one could launch all kinds of other programs: Education, Virtual Human Assistants, Mind-enhancing games, Community interactions, Family Connection portals. So many possibilities. One idea Chris and Shawn are launching is their ‘Missions’ platform. While I don’t have the details on what this is, it sound like it could be bringing in the youth of the Church to connect with Elderly in a virtual environment, hopefully bringing love, optimism and faith to their lives. www.myndVR.com

In this episode of Inspired Evolution, we welcome the inspiring Chris Dixon. Chris Dixon is a yoga practitioner and educator from Southern California. He has a deep passion for yoga, meditation, mindfulness and the healing arts. As a teacher, Chris aims to inspire students to discover their own practice; to find strength and space in the body, as well as clarity of heart and mind. Chris believes in a well-rounded, balanced yoga lifestyle and through his teaching wants techniques to connect with life more fully. Chris has studied and taught extensively in the United States, Australia, India, and Thailand, and is now based in here in Melbourne.Chris is committed to helping people explore the ways we can remember how to connect to more harmony and clarity in our lives. Specifically, the method He's working with is the yoga practice, commonly misunderstood nowadays as a strength/flexibility experience, but more contextually is an ancient science of the mind/psychology. The heart of the practice is harmonizing the energies of the body to create clarity of mind and ultimately is a spiritual practice.Chris reflects that the: Modern lifestyle is full of constant noise, reasons to become distracted / disconnected from ourselves and others, and the world is complicated. For this reason, no one goes unaffected, and personal tools to balance, center, and hone our clarity becomes more and more important. Similarly, in fast-paced societies, its also important to develop methods to slow down and rest as well, with practices like meditation or yin yoga.A beautifully simple topic of conversation that emerged in this podcast is the idea of: Low-Tech High-Tech.For example, breathing is a simple low tech exercise that has deep profound high-tech benefits.We also explore: Yoga as Clarity and returning to the essence of what the thing of action or contemplation really is.We also discuss the grassroots functional starting point: Mind-Body Connection.Chris shares his philosophy and insight on the Breath as a Leader and Creating a SHIFT: ‘Prana-ayama'.We talk deeply about life through: Patterns, Behaviors, Transformation and ultimately Letting GoA message that Chris continues to promote is: Daily Consistency with the Yoga LifestyleChris reminds us to keep with the edge. Keep growing in to those areas that feel a little bit scary and a little bit confronting and move into spaces of new growth as they become clearThis in-turn pulls us to stay Creative. Thinking outside the box and following threads of creativity. In Chris' example: This includes writing a book, making an album for yoga classes (Chris' music is amazing), and painting /creating for fun.And to ensure that we dont get into a rut with it all, Chris calls us to: Get out into nature and play! And keep doing the things you love.Chris' story highlights the spiritual path: For Chris, this comes as a practice or feeling of being connected to spirit, ways of accessing connection to spirit and experiencing spirit within. This can be as simple as breathing, or being in nature and feeling awe at its beauty. Chris says that Spirit can be defined as energy, life force, subtle forces, nature, life, or the universal intelligence that moves through all of us.This conversation is about Health and Purpose is extremely valuable it shows you the importance of health and the inherent wisdom latent within one's self, yearning to live to the fullest. Chris’s story is one that reflects that everyone has deep innate wisdom expressing through their being at all times that deserves to be cultivated for the highest reasons. In this conversation, we discuss Chris Dixon’s habits, hacks, philosophies, and tools that have formed the threads of his success, happiness, health, and wealth. This is a story about getting totally conscious about your relationship with yourself through your innate health and wisdom. All this so that you can go out there and embrace life and allow life to embrace you – the amazing be-ing you really are! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Have you ever asked yourself the following question: “Am I doing what I love to do?" Today's episode focuses on someone who's taken years and years going down the business road trying to find what he loved to do. If you've asked yourself the question before: “what is it I love doing?" then be sure you listen to Season 2 Episode 38 with Chris Ryan, owner of http://chrisryanfitness.com/ (Chrisryanfitness.com) and co-owner of Spiderbands. In order to be successful in business you must do something you love, you must be as authentic as possible, and you must develop key relationships. Success will come to you in that order as well. Doing something you love and making a living from it is true success and your happiness will last a lifetime. Showing up to the world as your most authentic self, will not only keep you happy, it will also attract those people who you want in your life. And key relationships must be developed to skyrocket your success. For Chris it started with his dad, then a college buddy, then his brother, and eventually his future wife. In this episode we focused on: 1. Doing something you love 2. Developing key relationships 3. And being as authentic as you possibly can There is a big lesson in this episode… to be successful you must show up as your true authentic self. Today were diving deep... with Chris Ryan! For those of you who are ready to surround yourself with the right people, it's time! We are planning our next exclusive Mentee Mastermind experience, version 2.0. This event is limited to 15 people…and there is an interview process you must go through to be a part if it. This event will bring you targeted mentorship, accountability partners and open the doors to being a lifetime part of something truly special. If you are interested, be sure to apply now: menteepodcast.com/mastermind Links & Tools From This Episode http://chrisryanfitness.com/ (Chrisryanfitness.com) http://spiderbands.com/ (Spiderbands.com) Apply for The Mentee Mastermind: menteepodcast.com/mastermindhttps://www.facebook.com/thementee/?ref=br_rs (https://www.facebook.com/thementee/?ref=br_rs) If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the Mentee Podcast on iTunes and leave us a review for the show. Free Resources at http://menteepodcast.com/resources/

No recording by The Spaniard has included more laughter than this one. His camaraderie with Chris Spealler goes back to their being college wrestling teammates. They ran parallel tracks back then and later, when each followed a continuing hunger for competition. For Chris, this meant throwing down in the very first national CrossFit Games, and eventually six more. He and a partner opened the first CrossFit affiliate in Utah, and later Chris founded Icon Athlete, an online resource for all levels of CrossFit training. He even put on MMA gloves for a few bouts! (Sorta) That didn't go well, but it takes nothing away from his insights on competing, negotiating phases of life and providing an example.

For Chris's 2nd time on the podcast, Chris and Stuart chat about how to hire a second trainer and how he handles feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

In past episodes, Chris referred to his time in Gimli as a "fresh start". And, for some people, starting over isn't necessarily a bad thing. For Chris, however, moving to Gimli became another eye opening experience into the way in which he had naively lived his life up until that point. As Chris reflects on his Gimli-life, he discusses the responsibility that he had to take on as he went from being unemployed, to having three jobs - all at the same time.   Follow the story on Instagram! @characterpodcast   Character is brought to you by EPH Apparel. Enter promo code: character to get 20% off your next order.   Production assistance by Samurai Guitarist.   Theme music by Me and Molly.

We’re joined this week by Chris Spealler. Chris opens the show discussing the transition from competitor to coach in the 2016 CrossFit Games. We quickly switch gears to a discussion around culture. Specifically, we discuss ways that your programming and values can influence the culture of your gym. For Chris this comes down to his “why”. Why do you program? Why do you offer what you offer? Why are your members in your gym? What are they there to achieve? Chris and I also chat about Icon Athlete. Icon Athlete is, in essence, the culmination of nearly a decade of coaching, competition, and programming. In short, this is Chris’s “why”. One takeaway we arrive at for the affiliate owner is this practice of “why”. Any class you coach, workout you program, and offering in your gym should have a reason behind it. We wrap up the showing chatting about the emotional aspects of Affiliate ownership and some advice Chris would go back and give himself back when he first opened CrossFit Park City. Stay up-to-date with all things Icon Athlete including the “Weekly Geek.” Follow Icon Athlete @iconathlete on Instagram ChrisSpealler.com IconAthlete.com BeyondTheWhiteboard.com/iconathlete

Product designer, Chris Lin, Flip Wallet, Founder. What you will learn from the show:   Chris Lin - He is Not just the Founder but also the product designer of Flip Wallet. He is a mechanical engineer by education, but an entrepreneur at heart. Although his time as an undergraduate was spent focusing on getting a degree, he always found time to work on the various prototypes of designs including the flip wallet. He recently graduated from the University of Delaware and was the winner of a Hen Hatch pitch competition, now he is in the process of launching his first product. For Chris creating products for his own design firm isn't just a dream but a passion. We discuss the journey for him becoming an entrepreneur upon graduation to building his startup. What contributes to his success What hs been his challenges. How he found his testers for the flip wallet. Discussion on his product, could not discuss cost of goods and services but importance of negotiating cost per unit up front negotiate price after tooling not a sticker but your mark logo is in the tool Outsourcing manufacturing internationally: use Skype for international discussions  - find a virtual assistant internationally for better communication - use text so helps with loss of translation.  For international mailing use an upfront signed contract with DHL. Testing product; prototype - patent; Logo design; website development; Advisory Board;  attorney and accountant Minimal design:  "Minimal design could be defined as using less to do more. But it’s time we start pushing the envelope, and using more to do more." Reach application and how to apply your philosophy to your startup and products that you development - Quotes: Life entrepreneurship "I’m always looking for advice! I’m a little fish in a big pond, as they say." Chris Lin in his blog post says "having your back against the wall never hurts." Anyone saying don't do this or get a job working for someone else - advisors mentors accountants lawyers parents For our next interview show Jay Mootz Dean of the McGeorge Law School University of Pacific in Sacramento CA. The post Product Designer, Chris Lin, Flip Wallet, Founder Show 017 appeared first on Startup Entrepreneur Listenup Show.

Today’s guest, Chris Aguirre, has been in recovery from alcohol and drugs since 1997. From firsthand experience he knows sobriety may be simple but is not always easy.   Chris shares an interesting recovery story and brings a unique perspective to his conversation.  For Chris, recovery wasn’t connected to a treatment program or sustained by traditional methods. Though he followed an untraditional, somewhat ill-advised path to his recovery, his eighteen year sober journey has been reflective and elightenting.   It is in conjunction with his perspectives of past and present that Chris has made a commitment to be a resource to those who are dealing with their addictions.   In our conversation, Chris comments on: His own challenges dealing with the addiction of a loved one; The joy that comes from witnessing others grow in their sobriety; The power that comes with positively reflecting on your past without trying to hide or forget it; How he found contentment in recovery and life. We are often blessed by the gifts from those who share their stories and experiences in the conversation and this is certainly one of those enlightening ones! Enjoy! Follow Chris' work through his website: Since Right Now    

Hey everybody, we've got another INTERNATIONAL edition of Back To The Island where we're two lil' nightboys. For Chris it's 2 am, for Jeff is 9 PM. Or 8 PM. I'm JUST NOT SURE WHICH.

A lot of the people we have featured on our show and through this blog have been incredibly outspoken members of the modern music industry. Whether they be artists, bloggers, publicists, or something else entirely, the vast majority of industry professionals working today rarely shy away from an opportunity to promote themselves. I’m the exact same way, as are most the the people I associate with, but one person who tends to stay a bit more in the shadows than most is Modern Vinyl founder Chris Lantinen. Today, he steps into the light and indulges James in a little music business conversation. You may remember when we featured Chris and his work on our blog back in 2013. What you may not know is the fact that interview was the first he ever did that used his full name. For Chris, writing about music and running his site are not attempts at fame or any kind of celebrity status. For him, writing is a passion that allows him a platform to speak his mind on the the various things that interest him. Modern Vinyl has become much more than that in the years since it launched, but Chris’ views on why he does what he does and what he wants to do moving forward have remained largely the same. He’s one of the most down to Earth people I have ever known, and it was a pleasure to have him as a guest on this week’s show.