Podcasts about New Zealand

Island country in the South Pacific

  • 31,299PODCASTS
  • 157KEPISODES
  • 35mAVG DURATION
  • 10+DAILY NEW EPISODES
  • Sep 1, 2026LATEST
New Zealand

POPULARITY

20192020202120222023202420252026

Categories




    Best podcasts about New Zealand

    Show all podcasts related to new zealand

    Latest podcast episodes about New Zealand

    Richer Soul, Life Beyond Money
    Ep 508 You Already Have the Life. You're Reading It Wrong with Dr. Michael Glock

    Richer Soul, Life Beyond Money

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2026 65:34


    Dr. Michael Glock spent seventy years earning the right to say something simple. Twenty-eight startups. Two marriages. A doctorate in depth psychology. Talks at Yale, Princeton, and the University of London. And the thing he keeps coming back to with clients is not a strategy. It's a sentence a client said to him days before this recording: standing on a beautiful plot of land, deciding what to build next.   Most people chasing the next milestone assume it will finally quiet a low-grade unease they stopped noticing years ago, because it's been there so long it feels like personality. Glock has spent two decades watching what happens when successful people stop long enough to ask what that unease has actually been trying to tell them.   What was covered: Why Carl Jung's idea that "the dreams are the same, just dreamt in modern dress" shows up in Glock's clients as blocked toilets and flooded basements at the start of the work, and circles and mandalas by the end The four directions of the medicine wheel, and why most high achievers get stuck circling the East (the eagle, the big plan) without ever visiting the West (the bear, reflection) Why "beginner's mind" determines whether transformation is even possible, and why extreme success can make someone harder to reach, not easier The scenario-planning method Glock borrowed from the same research culture that invented modern futurism, now used to build a client's future ten years out and let it pull them forward Why he believes most people don't need a different life, they need a different interpretation of the one they already lived What running a suicide-prevention line in 1970s New Zealand as a teenage immigrant taught him about what people actually need when life ruptures   About Dr. Michael Glock: Dr. Michael Glock is a philosopher, futurist, hypnotherapist, and co-founder of Joymind, one of the largest hypnotherapy platforms in America. Trained in Jungian and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, he developed Hermeneutic Hypnosis, an emerging framework blending hypnosis, neuroscience, mythology, symbolic thinking, and storytelling. For more than 20 years, he has worked with entrepreneurs, executives, creatives, and high performers seeking transformation beneath outward success. His work focuses on how unconscious narratives shape anxiety, trauma, burnout, identity, and human behavior — and how altered states and imagination can help rewrite those patterns. He is the author of Way Ahead: Medicine Stories and publishes widely on Medium.   Links: joymind.com/richersoul    Websites: https://joymind.com/cat/specialists/michael-glock/ https://www.drmichaelglock.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaelglock/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/joymind-hypnotherapy/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joymindhypnotherapy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joymind.hypnotherapy X: https://x.com/DrMichaelGlock YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@joymind TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joymind.hypnotherapy   Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@richersoul Richer Soul Life Beyond Money. You got rich, now what? Let's talk about your journey to purposeful, intentional, amazing life. Where are you going to go and how are you going to get there? Let's figure that out together. At the core is the financial well being to be able to do what you want, when you want, how you want. It's about personal freedom! Thanks for listening! Show Sponsor: http://profitcomesfirst.com/ Schedule your free no obligation call: https://bookme.name/rockyl/lite/intro appointment 15 minutes If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes: http://bit.do/richersoul https://www.facebook.com/richersoul http://richersoul.com/ rocky@richersoul.com Some music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast

    Tough Girl Podcast
    Helen Watson – Author of Tea and Grit and Cycling 15,000km Along the Silk Road from Scotland to China with Her Husband

    Tough Girl Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2026 36:32


    Helen Watson is a traveller, writer, and conservationist based in the Scottish Highlands. Born in Scotland and raised in Switzerland, she has always been drawn to adventures that are both physically and culturally challenging. In 2009, shortly after completing her PhD, Helen and her husband Ed set off on an extraordinary bicycle journey from Scotland to China. Over the course of a year, they cycled 15,000 kilometres across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and China, following sections of the ancient Silk Road and relying on paper maps, curiosity, and the kindness of strangers. The journey took them through countries including Syria, Iran, and the Central Asian 'Stans', where they experienced incredible hospitality and forged meaningful connections with people from vastly different cultures and backgrounds. The trip would later inspire Helen's first book, Tea and Grit: A Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road, published in January 2026. In this episode, Helen shares the spark behind the adventure, the logistics of planning a long-distance cycle journey, and the realities of life on the road. We discuss what it means to become comfortable with discomfort, the privileges and challenges of travelling as a woman, and how her experiences in Syria took on a new significance in the years that followed during the refugee crisis. Helen also reflects on the importance of storytelling, why she felt compelled to write her book, and the lessons she has learned from a life shaped by travel, endurance, and human connection. Listen to this episode to hear about cycling 15,000km along the Silk Road, the generosity of people across cultures, and why stepping just outside your comfort zone can lead to the most transformative adventures. ***  New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast drop every Tuesday at 7 AM (UK time)! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss the inspiring journeys and incredible stories of tough women pushing boundaries.  Do you want to support the Tough Girl Mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media in the world of adventure and physical challenges? Support via Patreon! Join me in making a difference by signing up here: www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.  Your support makes a difference.  Thank you x *** Show notes Being based in the Scotland Highlands 2009/2010 - cycling from Scotland to China Being born in Scotland and moving to Switzerland at 5 years old Going to St. Andrews for University  Speaking; English, Swiss-German and German  Growing up in Switzerland and spending time in the outdoors Growing up with a lot of cultures  Wanting to take on this adventure and where the spark came from Being interested in long distance journeys Being inspired by Ffyona Campbell  Walking some long trails in New Zealand  Meeting her husband Ed at University  Wanting to do a longer trip after marriage  Heading off after she fished her PhD Studying genetics of the red deer in Scotland  Applying the lessons learned from studying for her PhD to planning the cycle ride Learning endurance from her PhD The logistics of getting visa's Not wanting to set a specific route in advance  Using paper maps and making route decisions as they went  Making some radical route decisions and deciding to go to Syria  Why it was one of the best decisions she's made (apart from marrying Ed!) The route - Scotland - Newcastle - Holland - Germany - France - Switzerland, Austria, Hungry, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Greece, Syria, Turkey, Iran, the Stans…to China  Spending 2 months cycling around China The reality of what it was like being on the road Loving the experience most of the time! Meeting different people and experiencing hospitality in different countries Getting to the deeper levels of connection with people  Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable in awkward social situations  The privilege of being a woman while travelling with her male partner  Getting to experience the best of both worlds What being a feminist means  The amazing women who are fighting against oppression around the world  Gender roles while travelling as a couple Having a love for writing  Keeping a journal to document the journey  Feeling depressed with what happened in Syria Doing volunteer work related to refugees  Wanting to tell the story of the people she met The Arab Spring and the refugee crises  Community Refugee Sponsorship The book being released in January 2026 - Tea and Grit: A Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road The point she wanted to make with the book Wanting to go on the same trip again  How to connect with Helen  Final words of advice and wisdom for other women who want to take on an adventure or challenge  Start with something that is a little bit outside your comfort zone and build up  Break it down     Social Media Website: www.helenwatsonwriting.com  Instagram: @helenwatsonwriter  The Book: Tea and Grit: A Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road  

    Who Wear There by the Travel Brats
    Where Do Solo Travelers Go… and Where Don't They?

    Who Wear There by the Travel Brats

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2026 61:27


    Guest: Clarissa CappellettiCompany: WeRoadEpisode Focus: Solo travel, destinations, travel confidence, safety, age, and finding connection on the road In This Episode What happens when someone who has visited 58 countries gives us the real talk on solo travel? We sit down with Clarissa Cappelletti, Regional Manager for English-speaking travel coordinators at WeRoad, to talk about where solo travelers should go, where they might want to wait, and why you shouldn't let fear — or a destination's reputation — decide your next adventure. Clarissa shares how she went from growing up in a tiny Swiss village to living in four countries and traveling the world, why she didn't start solo traveling until her late 20s, and how becoming the only single person in her friend group helped push her into traveling on her own. We Talk About: Growing up in an 87-person Swiss village How Clarissa caught the travel bug during a California road trip with her dad Living in Switzerland, Italy, the United States, and the UK Why London surprised her the most Traveling to 58 countries Why Colombia exceeded her expectations The Lost City Trek Why Nepal is one of her favorite destinations Italy's incredible history The best destinations for active travelers Why South Africa is underrated for adventure travel Switzerland vs. Latin America for travel costs The destination that challenged Clarissa the most: Japan Her favorite countries for food Why she could happily return to Colombia and Nepal Why "hidden gems" don't stay hidden for long How social media is changing tourism Her definition of solo travel: "Discovery" Why solo travel isn't necessarily lonely The importance of human connection while traveling How media can influence perceptions of travel safety Whether you're ever "too old" for solo travel The biggest solo-travel mistake people make Why first-time solo travelers should start small Why the Maldives isn't just for couples How language barriers can affect your first solo trip Why travelers shouldn't automatically write off Latin America Mongolia, Central Asia, Canada and New Zealand on Clarissa's bucket list And, of course… the infamous Jordan canyoning wig story! Clarissa's Travel Picks Unexpected favorites: Colombia & Nepal Best for history: Italy Best for mountain adventures: Nepal & Switzerland Underrated for active travel: South Africa Food favorites: Italy, Mexico, Peru, South Africa & Southeast Asia Places she'd happily revisit: Colombia & Nepal Top wishlist destinations: Central Asia, Mongolia, Canada, New Zealand & Patagonia Solo Travel Takeaways Start small. Your first solo trip doesn't have to be two weeks on another continent. Don't overthink it. There is no single perfect destination. Do your safety research. Know the areas, activities, and situations that require extra awareness. Don't let fear make the decision for you. Language matters. If you're new to solo travel, going somewhere where you can communicate easily may make your first trip less stressful. Don't assume a destination isn't for you. Couples' destination? Family destination? Bachelorette destination? Who cares. Go anyway. And most importantly: JUST TRIP IT. Favorite Quote From Clarissa "Solo travel in one word: discovery." And honestly, we couldn't have said it better. A Question For Our Travel Brats Would you take your first solo trip tomorrow if you knew you couldn't talk yourself out of it? Tell us where you'd go! Connect With The Travel Brats The Travel Brats are here to help you travel the world in a fun, smart, and unforgettable way. Follow along for travel guides, destination inspiration, travel tips, podcast episodes, deals, hot takes, and plenty of no-regrets travel.

    The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons
    Ep. 170: "I Only Have a Minute"

    The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 69:57


    New Truth About Vintage Amps discount from Amplified Parts on all Apex matched-tube products: TAVAAPEX10 gets you a one-time discount of 10% off Apex products now through October 31. So stock up! https://www.apexmatching.com It's the 170th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields all of your guitar amplification questions (or at least the ones involving tubes).    Thank you to our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts / Mod Electronics.  Some of the topics discussed this week: :32 What's on Skip's Bench: A Voice of Music 8810 2:40 Jason's Fretboard Summit 2026 report 10:13 Recommended reading: Willie Dixon's 'I Am the Blues,' 'Bo Diddley: Living Legend,' and 'Buzz Busby: Father of Washington DC Bluegrass'  12:35 Is this Fender Super Champ safe to use? 20:06  Aotearoa New Zealand Amplifier History Project (support it here); New Zealand pop and punk; building guitars in the Congo (Fretboard Journal #56) 25:19 MusicMan HD130; Sun O))); a typewriter at the 2027 Summit? 33:34 Who made Rickenbacker amps? Talk to me about my Rickenbacker M11 41:14 Bix Beiderbecke's birthday (August 6); conversing with your amp heroes; frozen udon noodles and mushroom stock powder; Red Norvo's "In a Mist"; Donald Brosnac's 'Guitar Electronics for Musicians' 50:06 Warming up a two-pronged amp through a Variac; if a Jenson speaker has been reconed, can I stop worrying about its value?  55:35 Listener recommendation: A cheap Amazon wall outlet meter (link) 57:36 Mark Bartel's prototype line-out interface (see Instagram pic!)  58:24 The magic of purslane  1:00:29 Why a vibrator? (on old DC amps/PAs) 1:04:19 The Savage Croaker amp; Bloodstone's "Natural High;" Mesa Boogie Mark I repairs and Jim Washburn Want to be a part of the show? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com! Include a photo, too. Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. 

    Jason in the House
    Inside the Secret Service's Growing Morale Crisis

    Jason in the House

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 50:35


    The Secret Service has one of the most important jobs in the nation, but behind the scenes, its agents have been treated like an afterthought.  RealClear Politics' Senior National Correspondent, Susan Crabtree, joins Jason to pull back the curtain on the conditions within the Secret Service, highlighting how a culture of corruption and lack of internal accountability have left one of the government's most important agencies underfunded and undertrained, even after numerous attempts on the President's life. Bring on the Stupid: Young investors turning away from stocks in favor of gambling, a New Zealand woman receiving a parking ticket while being resuscitated, and instant karma for a U.K. resident who left his dog behind to flee the police. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Southeastern Fly
    133. Building Your Fly Fishing Community

    Southeastern Fly

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 70:12


    In this episode, we sit down with Jamie Hanna, Amy Snitko, Chaseline Waldrup, and Bella Orr from Knox Girls Who Fly Fish to talk about what it takes to build a fly fishing community from the ground up. In less than a year, the group has grown from a handful of women fishing together to a thriving community with regular meetups, fishing days, an active social media presence, and a growing email list.We talk about the practical things that have helped them grow, including social media, word of mouth, local fly shop support, and creating events where people feel comfortable showing up even if they've never picked up a fly rod. We also get into fishing techniques, favorite waters, dream trips, local food stops, and a few painful stories about the fish that got away.Key Highlights:Social media and word of mouth helped Knox Girls Who Fly Fish grow quickly while keeping the community personal and welcoming.Local fly shops have played a big part in connecting women with the group, hosting events, providing speakers, and helping spread the word.Meetups aren't always about fishing. Fly box nights, brewery gatherings, speakers, food, and casual conversations give new anglers an easier way to get involved.Creating a comfortable place to ask questions helps remove some of the intimidation that can come with learning fly fishing.Dry-dropper rigs are a group favorite, with plenty of discussion about changing fly size, tippet length, leader setup, and experimenting until you find what works.Bow-and-arrow casting, Euro nymphing, and Tenkara all make an appearance as the group shares some of the techniques they enjoy using on East Tennessee waters.The conversation travels from small plunge pools in the Smokies to tailwaters like the Clinch and Hiwassee, along with dream fishing destinations including New Zealand, Patagonia, Belize, Italy, and Alaska.We finish with local places to eat after a day on the water and stories about big trout that came painfully close to the net.Whether you're thinking about starting a fly fishing club, trying to breathe some new life into an existing group, or simply looking for more people to fish with, there are plenty of ideas here worth borrowing.Share this episode with your fishing partners and anyone interested in building a stronger fly fishing community. Be sure to follow Southeastern Fly, sign up for the newsletter, and go fish!Resources:Visit southeasternfly.comSign up for our newsletterProduced by NOVA

    Talking Pools Podcast
    The Biggest Pool Technology from Down Under

    Talking Pools Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 56:37 Transcription Available


    Ask a question hereFor this special Mondays Down Under episode, Lee, Shane, and Nick are finally together in the same room after two exhausting days walking the floor at SPLASH! 2026.The team shares the products, technology, conversations, and innovations that caught their attention, including smarter chlorinators, Bluetooth pressure monitoring, automatic backwashing, direct free-chlorine testing, advanced commercial sanitation systems, and robotic cleaners that are becoming increasingly independent.They also speak with representatives from Waterco, Davey, Fluidra, Brauer Swim, Maytronics, and other industry leaders about equipment designed to reduce maintenance, conserve water, improve chemical control, and give pool professionals better information before they arrive on-site.Beyond the equipment, the episode explores two important industry developments: a new guide addressing sanitization marketing claims and the draft revision of Australian Standard 3633, which has not been rewritten since 1989.And yes, after two days of demonstrations, masterclasses, interviews, networking, and enough walking to make a Fitbit file a workers' compensation claim, everyone's feet are completely destroyed.In This EpisodeThe sights, crowds, and atmosphere of SPLASH! 2026Waterco's MultiCyclone dual-cartridge filtration systemHow centrifugal prefiltration can reduce cartridge cleaningThe Waterco OptiCell and direct free-chlorine measurementCommercial salt-chlorination and AOP systems from Brauer SwimFluidra's Solo, ECHO, Halo Pro, and Halo Pure chlorinatorsSeasonal programming and centralized app controlBluetooth pressure gauges that monitor filter conditionAI-assisted heat-pump technologyThe Maytronics Dolphin EON robotic cleanerInternal robotic-filter backwashingManaging multiple cleaners through one technician-friendly appRobotic cleaners that dock, recharge, and empty themselvesAutomatic remote backwashing with the iWash systemA rollable, lockable insulated spa coverThe new sanitization marketing-claims guideWhy “freshwater,” “mineral,” and ionized-pool claims need clarityThe draft revision of Australian Standard 3633Why Australian and New Zealand pool professionals should provide feedbackLee's chemistry, diagnostics, and customer-experience masterclassesThe WAVES event and helping more women find their voice in the industryWhy SPLASH belongs on every Australian pool professional's calendarIf you attended SPLASH! 2026, tell us which product or presentation impressed you most. If you missed it, Lee, Shane, and Nick have done the walking, filming, questioning, and blister collection for you.Send questions, topic suggestions, or requests for future industry guests to talkingpools@gmail.com. The Pool Shop Coachan online store offering industry-specific business mentoring, coaching, and training programs Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media:FacebookInstagramTik TokEmail us: talkingpools@gmail.com

    WAYPOINTS - with Jim Klug
    Episode 97 - CHRIS PATTERSON - Through the Lens: How Film Changed Flyfishing

    WAYPOINTS - with Jim Klug

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 93:32


    Ask Us A Question!Over the past two decades, film has fundamentally changed the world of flyfishing. It has introduced anglers to far-off destinations, inspired countless adventures, elevated conservation issues, created new fishing heroes, and transformed the way we see and experience the sport. From 1992's A River Runs Through It, to the early days of The Drake Video Awards and the Fly Fishing Film Tour, and now to YouTube, social media, and an endless stream of digital content, moving images have become one of the most powerful forces shaping modern flyfishing. Few people have had a better front-row seat to that evolution than filmmaker Chris Patterson.In this episode of Waypoints, Jim sits down with his longtime friend, traveling partner, and Confluence Films co-founder to explore the stories behind the stories — and the incredible career that shaped Chris as a filmmaker. From three decades shooting Warren Miller ski films and working on Hollywood productions like Inception, to creating the flyfishing classics Drift, Rise, Connect, Waypoints, and Providence, Chris has spent his career capturing people, places, and moments that make us want to explore. Together, Jim and Chris look back at the rise of flyfishing film, the adventures and personalities that defined an era, and the profound impact film has had on the sport — for better and for worse. It's a conversation about adventure, creativity, conservation, changing technology, and ultimately the power of a great story to make us see flyfishing — and the world around us — a little differently.Waypoints is brought to you by PatagoniaTo bring their gear to life, Patagonia is motivated by relentless curiosity and a passion for the wild. They evaluate hundreds of materials, build dozens of prototypes and spend seasons punishing them in the world's most extreme conditions. The work is the guide, and Patagonia never tires of exploring, learning and improving. For the past two years, the Yellow Dog Flyfishing travel team has worked closely with Patagonia to test and refine the all-new Patagonia River Salt Wading Boots II in destinations ranging from New Zealand to the Seychelles. Featured throughout the Yellow Dog Field Reports series, these boots have become the go to choice for our team thanks to their Vibram® Megagrip soles, durable quick drying construction, speed to get on and off, and support built for both freshwater and saltwater environments.- Follow us on Instagram- Follow us on Facebook- Check out our YouTube Page- View the official Yellow Dog w...

    Management Blueprint
    363: Simplify Your Tech Environment with Denis O’Shea

    Management Blueprint

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 26:46


    Denis O'Shea, Founder of Mobile Mentor, helps organizations pursue a clear goal to simplify your tech environment while strengthening security and empowering employees to remain productive. Driven by the joy of learning and intellectual adventure, Denis left a 15-year career at Nokia to build a company that learns about emerging technologies, translates them into business outcomes, and mentors customers through change. In this conversation, Denis introduces The Tech Stack Streamlining Framework: Understand Current Tech Stack, Assess Capacity for Change, Benchmark to Peers, Build the Roadmap, and Deliver Simplified Tech Stack. He explains how immersing his team in a customer's environment, asking thoughtful questions, and benchmarking the organization against its peers can reveal a clear path toward a simpler technology stack. Denis also discusses Mobile Mentor's fast-growing mentoring service, how its Microsoft partnership transformed the business, the challenge of finding technology professionals who are natural mentors, and why people must remain responsible for the quality and accuracy of everything they produce with AI. — Simplify Your Tech Environment with Denis O’Shea  Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here, Management Blueprint Podcast. And today my guest is Denis O’Shea, the Founder of Mobile Mentor, a technology service provider helping thousands of clients find and maintain the right balance, securing devices, protecting data, and empowering people to be productive. Mobile Mentor is also a five-time Microsoft award winner. So Denis, welcome back to the show.  Thank you, Steve. Thank you for having me back. And I have to say, you look fantastic. You’re aging gracefully, and I hope I’m doing the same.  Well, unfortunately, my barber is on vacation, so I couldn’t visit him last week. But it’s great to have you back on the show, and we couldn’t agree whether it was two or four years ago that you were here. Anyhow, it’s great to have you back, and I’ve got some questions for you that I’m curious about. And first and foremost, the question is, what is your personal Why, and how are you manifesting it in your Mobile Mentor business?  My personal Why is probably learning. And I think the reason I went into business in the first place was to learn and grow as an individual. It certainly wasn’t money. I expect money as an outcome from the process, but I didn’t go into it for money. It was really to learn, and the trigger for me was I did an executive education program in Switzerland. I was living there for a few years, and that blew my mind. That just exploded my mind when I started learning all about mergers, acquisitions, turnarounds, management buyouts, all these different ways of growing a business that were nonlinear.  And that motivated me to go on and do an MBA, and that then motivated me to leave my employer, who was a great company. I was working for Nokia for 15 years. They were amazing, but I decided to leave them and go out and embrace all this nonlinear stuff and found a company from scratch. And one day I thought maybe I’ll do a spin-out, or maybe I’ll do an acquisition, and I’ll do all these different things. And it was purely for the joy of learning and the intellectual adventure. So I think that’s my Why. It’s learning.  Yeah. Well, learning is great, and it’s a big driver of businesses when they are able to learn, especially in today’s age. So tell me a little bit about how Mobile Mentor is reflecting this way of learning. Is it a learning organization, and in what way is it?  Oh, that’s an interesting question, Steve. I would hope we are a learning organization. Something I’ve been saying to my kids and my staff for years is, “We’re a learning species. We can learn anything we put our minds to.” And so I would hope we are a learning organization. And the word “mentor” plays a huge part in not just our brand, but how we work. So we’re a technology service company. We’re always unpacking the latest technology and helping customers figure out what to do with it and how to extract value from it.  So I would hope that we’re good at learning what the technology can do and then translating that into outcomes for customers and helping people unlock the full potential of the technology they’ve just purchased. And when we started 22 years ago, we were focused on mobile devices. That’s why the company’s called Mobile Mentor. Nowadays, it’s mainly AI and security and all that. And by the way, we’re going through a rebrand. The company’s just going to be called Mentor going forward. Just Mentor. So that we can work with all technology, so we remove any association with that small device where we started 22 years ago. So I think we are very good at learning, internalizing the new technology, and then translating that into business outcomes for our customers.  Yeah.  That’s what I feel like our core skill is.  Yeah. And I love this concept of mentoring because essentially it’s not about teaching people, it’s about helping people discover how to be great. And if you can do that, that’s amazing. So that brings me to the next question, which is about frameworks. So this, as you know, this podcast is about frameworks, and what I’m curious about is, what’s a framework that has helped you grow this company, build this company, or help your clients or mentor your clients? Maybe it’s a mentoring framework. Maybe it’s a technology framework. So something that comes to mind that can be explained in three to five steps to our listeners.  Sure. We have a really strong framework at the front end of our sales process. It’s an assessment and roadmap we do for customers. And it’s something that’s on our website. It has a price point, so it’s got a value, but we choose to give it away for free when we get a strong, well-qualified opportunity, or when we have a channel partner bring us a strong lead. We will use this assessment and roadmap process to build a vision for the customer. And the way we do it, we’ve got a good framework for this.  We go through an assessment. So we tell the customer, “We’re going to have a look at your environment holistically and get a really good understanding of the technology stack you have today, all the different technologies you’re using, and also get a good understanding of your organization’s capability and capacity for change, and how you embrace change, how you make change happen. “And we’re going to show you how you compare to a whole bunch of other organizations.” I think we’ve done 174, 175 of these in the last maybe three years. And so we show the customer how they compare to others in their industry and also against others roughly their same size. And then, most importantly, we build out a roadmap, and we show them, “Here’s how you can potentially go from where you are today with today’s technology stack,” which is usually very busy, it’s usually a long list of technologies, “to a much simpler technology stack in the future if they’re willing to consolidate on one or two platforms and do all the possible integrations, automations, and simplifications so that they’re extracting much more value from one or two platforms, like Microsoft, than having a whole colorful mix of different technology vendors.”  So we’ll say, “Here’s a journey you could go on,” and then we describe it in vivid detail, showing all the different parts and how they would go passwordless, how they would automate setting up new employees and all the technology they need, how they would automate all their patching and security, how they would embrace AI into their operations, how they would use AI for productivity improvements, and kind of show this technology journey. That process, or that framework, of doing an assessment, and it covers 120 different topics. So we do the assessment, the comparison, the roadmap.  We find that to be extremely powerful because customers will look at that, and they’ll look at the destination and say, “Right. We want to be there. We want to get that outcome,” and then they’re buying off us. We’re not selling to them. They’re basically saying, “Okay. We want to get there. How do we do it? Help us. How can you come in and help us do it?” So the narrative flips from us being a sales organization to then being a mentor and helping the customer figure out how to get there.  And of course, we want to sell services, and we want to sell long-term contracts to say, “Yes, we can take you from here to there, and it’s a three-year engagement to do all those changes.” So that’s what we want. But the customer is buying it off us because they’ve bought into the destination.  Yeah. And that’s the modern buyer’s journey, right? They research you. Before even they come to you, they want to listen to you because you might have something for them. So I love this framework. So what I noted down was step number one, understand the technology stack that they have. Step number two, assess their ability to manage change or to handle change.  Yeah.  Then you benchmark them to others in their industry or in their peer group. Then you build the roadmap, and then you show them the simplified end state, the simplified tech stack.  Correct. Correct. And then we give them options around how we can help them to get there. Usually, there’s three options. And we say, “Well, what style of engagement works best for you? How would you like us to work with you?” And then it becomes a very comfortable, easy sales process from there, and it becomes easy because we’ve done all the listening.  So when we do the assessment and we cover 120 topics, we do 60 questions in 60 minutes. So it’s two one-hour sessions. And we call it our “friendly interrogation.” But what happens during that time is what I call a selfless immersion in the customer’s world. So we don’t talk about us. We never talk about us. Everything is about them, their technology stack, their environment, their processes, their technical dependencies, all the things about their organization.  So we get this really rich understanding of their environment. And at the end, guess what they say, Steve? Or guess what they say at the end of that interrogation or that assessment session?  I don’t know. Give it to us. What do they say?  They say thank you, which is extraordinary, and it surprised me when it started happening. But people love to be heard. We’re not selling. We’re not pitching anything. We are just seeking to understand their environment and asking a whole bunch of really good questions. So we don’t need to tell them who we are and what we’ve done, that we’ve won Microsoft Partner of the Year and blah, blah, blah. We don’t need to do any of that.  They know that we know our stuff because of the questions we’re asking, because those questions have been refined and refined and refined. So we’re able to get right into the heart of their issues, and they tell us all about their environment and their issues and concerns and frustrations. And at the end of the assessment, they say, “Thank you.” And I remind them, I say, “We haven’t delivered anything yet. All we’ve done is asked you a whole bunch of questions.” But they feel like it was almost a cathartic process of unloading and sharing all of it. And then we do the second session, and the rapport gets even better, and they bring in some different people.  So by the time we get to the end of the assessment, we’ve had a really good conversation about 120 different things. There’s now a high degree of trust. And so when we come back in the third session, we say, “Okay, we heard you. Here’s where you are. Here’s how you compare to others. Here’s where you could be, and here’s what the journey would look like to get you there, taking all the complexities into account, all the dependencies, all the legacy, all the technical debt you might have. “Here’s what it would take to get you to where you want to be.” They’re now listening and they’re trusting us because we’ve listened to them.  Yeah. I love that. That is very powerful. And asking good questions is actually not always easy. In the age of AI, answers are omnipresent, but good questions, good prompts, that’s a skill, right? To ask the right question.  It is. And it’s interesting you mention AI because we’re not using any AI in the way we do this. We could choose to send out a form to the customer and say, “Please fill out this form.” Actually, we tried that. We tried that 10 or 12 years ago in our New Zealand operation, and it was a complete disaster. Nobody wants to fill out a long form and answer all those questions. But if you have a conversation face-to-face, on Teams or Zoom, whatever, you can have the conversation. You’ll get all the information.  But now we’re establishing rapport between us while we do that, and that also gives them a flavor of what it’s like to work with us. How we interact and how we follow up the question, how we drill down, how we clarify and confirm, “Did I understand that correctly?” in a way that you don’t get from just filling out a web form. And we also don’t use AI to analyze the transcript and try and fill it out. We actually do it based on us understanding it, because we find we get way more detail and nuance than relying on a transcript.  That’s very interesting. Definitely, when there’s a human on the other end who is interested in what you’re saying and is listening deeply, it’s a highly motivating and even inspiring thing. That’s why it’s hard to make a talk without the audience, because you need the energy of the audience. So you provide the energy for them to come up with the goods and explain where they are, right?  Yeah, yeah. So let me switch gears and ask you this. What drives growth in your business?  What drives growth? Two things. One, that process sets us up to be able to sell something. The fastest-growing thing that we sell is a service called mentoring, which is very closely aligned to our brand and the way we work, and it’s something that’s very unique to us. So what we figured out is that there are some customers who just want to bring in a partner to build something for them let’s say to deploy some new technology, and then they want the vendor to go away and leave them with it. There are other organizations who don’t want to touch the technology. They want somebody to provide a managed service, so you get all the outcomes.  And those two technology service categories have been around forever, right? Microsoft has 400,000 partners doing this kind of work, doing project work, or providing managed services. We found a huge white space in the middle between those two. We found there’s a big white space in the mid-market, in particular mid-market organizations, where they have their own IT team. They don’t want to give the keys away to a managed service provider and let go. They want to learn all about the new technology.  They want to internalize the knowledge, and they want somebody to come in and help them deploy it with them, and be hands-on-keyboard, and do it together with them, and do lots of knowledge transfer, and help them build the documentation and the knowledge base, and get the experience and the skills so that their skills grow, their confidence grows. And we call that service mentoring, where we’re doing that for them. So we’re not just building it and walking away, we’re building it together with them. And it can be a one-year, two-year, five-year engagement where we’re building out this complex technology capability, but we’re doing it together, and they become the experts over time. That is our fastest-growing, top-selling service.  That’s fascinating. So it’s essentially coaching, mentoring, and still you turn it into an ongoing engagement because it’s not simple, right? There are a lot of layers to it. And what’s the timeline of such a relationship?  Typically three years. Typically. It can be as short as one, it can be as long as five. But for most of the technology transformation projects we’re doing, I would say they’re two, three, four years for the organization to change and embed all the changes and turn off all the legacy technology and fully embrace the new way of working. So our typical contract is three years. And then we set up all the cadences so that we’re working together every week through specific things, and there’s a weekly cadence, our engineers doing all that stuff, and then monthly coming up for air to see how we’re doing against the roadmap. Do we need to make any changes? What’s the focus for next month? And that’s a rolling process that keeps going on and on. And so the two teams end up working extremely closely.  Our engineering team, and we’re bringing in different architects, engineers, and there’s obviously a consistent project manager across it. And on the customer side, they’re bringing different engineers or architects depending on the piece of work we’re doing. But it’s generally all modernizing the way they work with Microsoft technology primarily, and changing from legacy stuff to very modern, invisible security, embedded AI, really trying to accelerate their maturity as an organization.  Yeah. Love it.  Does that make sense?  So it makes sense. I’m wondering, I mean, most businesses these days, they want to have recurring revenue, and even though you have a three-year engagement, it’s still not an evergreen engagement. So what do you do to turn these engagements into more of an enduring one, or you’re not trying to do it because it’s not the purpose?  That’s the $64 million question for our business, Steve, is how do we turn a two-year or three-year engagement into something longer? And it actually comes back to where you started with the learning thing. So what we need to be doing, and this is a constant battle for us, is learning about the latest and the newest technologies and staying ahead of the customer. Always staying ahead in terms of our knowledge so that we can keep adding new things to the backlog of work that needs to be done.  So that we might deploy technology A and get that done and do the migration and modernization, but then we need to move on to B and C and D and E. And there’s always new stuff, and actually the rate of change is accelerating now with AI. Everything is changing so fast, it’s unbelievable. But our job is to stay ahead so that we can always have something new and edgy that we can bring to the relationship. That we’re always able to give new knowledge, information, value.  So is it a managed technology business or is it more of a consulting business?  Ah, we are three different things. We do a lot of project work where people will come in and say, “Migrate us from platform A to platform B.” So we do that. We do this mentoring service where we’re doing the change and modernization together with the customer. We’re also a managed service provider. We have a lot of small and medium businesses that say, “We don’t have an IT team. We don’t want to have an IT team. Manage this stuff, make it invisible to us. Just give us great service and give us great reports and be transparent with us.” And that’s part of our business too.  So I would say we’re roughly one-third professional services, project work, one-third mentoring, and one-third managed services. So more than half the business is recurring revenue in any given year.  So what makes this kind of business hard to scale, or what makes it easy to scale?  What makes it hard to scale is finding great people who can learn and share that learning with customers, so people who are natural mentors. So what we do not want is to hire geeks who want to just put on noise-canceling headsets and sit in front of a screen coding all day. They would not work for us. We want people who are head up, good people skills, want to learn it, but want to share it. Naturally very good at sharing. So getting the right people, that’s one constraint to growth. The thing that makes growth easy for us is our relationship with Microsoft. That’s unbelievable.  We didn’t have a relationship with Microsoft 11 years ago, and they came to us and asked us to become a partner, and we did. And they asked us to work with them on a specific technology that was very immature at the time. And I set a goal for our team. I said, “What would it take us to become the best in the world at that one specific technology? To become the best in the world on that technology as it matures and grows?” And we set that as our North Star and really went after that and focused everything on that.  And that enabled us then to win Microsoft Global Partner of the Year based on our focus on that. And by winning that award, that got us noticed because they got 400,000 partners. So at the time, I was based in New Zealand, so basically the second-last rock before the end of the earth. And so we were nobody in a nowhere place and not noticed, and we’re just one of 400,000, completely lost in the noise. We got noticed when we won Global Partner of the Year and when we got recognized for being the best in the world at that one technology, and that changed everything, and I moved to America.  Then Microsoft introduced us to a whole bunch of customers, including the largest healthcare organization in the world, the largest education provider in the world, and largest government departments. And so now our business is totally different to what it looked like 11 years ago before Microsoft. And this goes on and on. So almost every day, they contact us to say, “Hey, we got this customer over here, and they got this problem, and we thought of you.” And then they introduce us, and we do our assessment, show them how they compare, build a roadmap, and say, “What would you like to do from here?”  Yeah. I’m just very curious about what is that technology, and what is the ideal customer for you for that technology? That technology is a platform called Intune. It’s a device management platform, so it’s for managing desktops, laptops, MacBooks, smartphones, tablets, and all that. And everything we do, of course, starts with a device. And so it’s the technology that secures and manages and configures our devices. Microsoft Intune is the name of the product, and that’s where we’ve got very, very deep expertise. But that leads us to all the other parts of the Microsoft 365 environment, and most organizations are using Microsoft 365 to some extent.  So in most cases, they’re coming to us and saying, “Hey, this customer has bought our licenses. They’ve got Microsoft 365 E5 or E3, whatever. They’re not using it all. They’ve got all these overlapping competitive products. They want to consolidate, reduce costs, or they want to improve security, or they want to simplify their environment. Can you help?” And we’re like, “Hell yeah, we can help. That’s right in our wheelhouse.” And so we have a discovery call with the customer. They tell us what they want to achieve, and if they’re a good fit for our assessment and roadmap, then we’ll propose that. So we’re not trying to sell anything at that stage, and we’ll do that.  It’s many, many hours of work. We’ll do that roadmap and assessment at our cost. Sorry, that’s our investment. That’s our investment in the relationship, so that we’re showing that we’re giving value back to the customer and to Microsoft because they brought us that lead, and we’re creating value from day one. And sometimes the customer will go, “Thank you. We understand the journey. We’re going to do it ourselves,” or, “We’ve got an existing partner,” or, “We don’t have budget,” whatever. And so we don’t land them all, but we’ve got a very high conversion rate. We land a lot of them.  And even if we don’t, I know that we deliver a huge amount of value through the process, and the customer goes, “Wow, that was great. That was a great process. We learned a lot. We can see where we need to go. We might be back in touch in the future when we do have budget or when the stars align.”  Or they refer someone else.  Yeah.  So if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business in the next 12 months, what would that be?  I would say it would be doing more with AI internally. Some days I feel like an imposter because we are selling a lot of AI services, and we do a lot of AI work for our customers. But I, as the leader, I don’t do enough. I’m not doing enough with AI. I’m not building enough capability. I’m leading the charge, but I’m not savvy enough myself. And I feel like our leadership team could be doing more. So I feel like doing more, embedding more AI into how we work, is something I want to change or fix in the next year. Not just doing it for customers.  Yeah. I mean, you can never do enough with AI, right? There’s so much out there and so much changing, and to stay ahead of it, one’s head is spinning all the time. It’s very inspiring, but can be also overwhelming.  That’s true. And one of the things I’m dealing with is managing what we call AI slop, where we see people internally and externally producing things that are not good-quality outcomes because it hasn’t been double-checked. So just because it could be produced quickly and easily by AI doesn’t mean it’s great or specific enough or detailed enough or accurate enough for the result, whether that’s an internal report or an external thing.  So the coaching I’m giving people is you’re still responsible for the thing, the quality of the thing. You have to read it, make sure it’s on point, it’s detailed enough, the customer’s going to be happy with it or your manager’s going to be happy with it. We are still responsible for the thing we produce. Let’s not get lazy.  Yeah. And the more content you generate and the more solutions you generate with AI, the more the mental load on the decision-makers to actually filter out what’s not real and what’s real.  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  Yeah. I can see that happening. So if someone is listening to this and says, “Wow, I love this idea that you benchmark me, you figure out what our tech is, learn our tech, benchmark us, come up with a roadmap, and evaluate the organization, how fast we can manage change, and then come up with a roadmap and mentor us to get there and simplify our tech stack,” and would like to learn more and perhaps connect with you, where should they go? Where can they find out more information?  I’m on LinkedIn only. I’m not on other social platforms. I’m a bit of a Neanderthal in that regard. But Denis, with one N and O’Shea, O-S-H-E-A, on LinkedIn, and my company is Mobile Mentor. It will be Mentor soon, but we’ll keep the Mobile Mentor alive for quite a while. And so go to the company, mobile-mentor.com. And yeah, love to talk to any of your listeners and audience if this is a technology journey they want to go on or want a partner to work with them. That’s the role we play, being a mentor and helping people get the outcomes, but internalizing it and becoming experts while doing so.  Yeah. So if you want to filter out the AI slop and the AI noise, and you want real people who will look at your specific situations and help you and mentor you and help your staff get up to speed and simplify, then reach out to Denis. And if you enjoyed this conversation, stay tuned because every week I bring a couple of entrepreneurs who are sharing their frameworks of how they’re improving and growing their businesses, and you can implement some of these things yourself.  So thanks, Denis. Denis O’Shea, the founder and CEO of Mobile Mentor, soon to be called Mentor. Thanks for coming on the show, and thank you for listening. Thank you, Steve. Always a pleasure. Important Links: Denis's LinkedIn Denis's website

    Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
    Why AI Is Becoming a Business Transformation, Not a Technology Upgrade

    Microsoft Business Applications Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2026 38:31 Transcription Available


    AI is about to replace bloated SaaS, and most businesses are still only playing with chatbotsSean G Muller says the next wave of AI is not about better prompts or prettier copilots. It is about rebuilding business around context, agents, and what actually creates value - before your software stack becomes the expensive middleman.Mark Smth and Sean unpack why the last six months have been a genuine shift: agentic loops are now good enough to handle real business work, not just experiments. Sean explains how he moved from traditional technical architecture into building full application pipelines, MCP servers, and background agents that review email, track social signals, draft responses, and keep business moving without adding more human overhead.You'll discover why context is the missing ingredient in almost every failed AI project, how Sean uses a simple meal-planning example to explain it, and why companies that scatter knowledge across laptops, SharePoint, Google Cloud, and people's heads are sitting on hidden risk. Sean also breaks down the difference between AI as a feature and AI as a business transformation engine, including the mistake many firms make when they bolt chat onto old workflows and call it progress.We also get into the coming SaaS pocalypse - the idea that tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Xero, Slack, and Atlassian may face a serious reckoning as businesses realize they can build leaner, custom, agent-first systems for less than the cost of endless licenses and modules. Sean shares how he built a headless, agent-driven CRM and why he thinks greenfield builds will replace expensive transformation projects much sooner than most executives expect. This conversation matters if you lead a business, run operations, own a small or mid-sized company, or simply suspect your current software is forcing you to work the wrong way. If you want to understand where AI is actually delivering leverage right now - and how to avoid wasting money on shallow pilots - this episode is essential listening.Mark Smth hosts the conversation and brings the enterprise and product lens, pushing Sean to get specific about what success looks like for real businesses in New Zealand.Sean G Muller is an AI and enterprise architecture specialist based in New Zealand, known for helping organizations build practical AI systems, implement agentic workflows, and rethink business process from the ground up.Resources1. The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0385249462?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz2. Gemini: A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models — 2312.11805.pdf ⁠https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.118053. On the Measure of Intelligence — 1911.01547.pdf - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.01547Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening

    Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect
    "PARTYNEXTDOOR - SOME OF YOUR LOVE *PARTYNEXTDOOR 3 P3*"

    Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2026 6:47


    Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠ In this Notorious Mass Effect segment, Analytic Dreamz breaks down PARTYNEXTDOOR's “Some of Your Love,” the 2016 OVO demo officially released August 21, 2026 on P3 (10-Year Edition). Produced by G. Ry and sampling Wild Nothing's “Chinatown,” the late-night R&B cut about conflicted lust converted a decade of leaks, 400K+ TikTok creations and 756K Shazams into ~1.72M first-day Spotify streams (Global No. 64), 11.7M early streams, plus chart peaks of No. 22 New Zealand, No. 32 Australia and No. 41 UK.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/exclusive-contentPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    The 365 Days of Astronomy, the daily podcast of the International Year of Astronomy 2009
    Travelers in the Night Eps. 371 & 372: Kiwi Nights & Close Ones

    The 365 Days of Astronomy, the daily podcast of the International Year of Astronomy 2009

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2026 6:05


    Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From January, 2026. Today's 2 topics: - New Zealand's 4.5 million people are concentrated in three major population centers which to various degrees suffer from the modern plague of light pollution. However, most of New Zealand's large rural areas and land reserves, covering an area as large as the UK, have unpolluted natural night skies. A completely unique place to experience New Zealand's natural night sky is the Aotea-Great Barrier Island International Dark Sky Sanctuary. It encompasses New Zealand's, 110 square mile, sixth largest island, which is located about 62 miles from central Auckland. It is easily accessible by boat or a short airline flight.   - In less than 24 hours, while observing with the Catalina Sky Survey's 60 inch telescope on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, I discovered two 25 foot diameter space rocks that can theoretically pass less than a quarter of the Moon's distance from us. After I posted my discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation page one of them received immediate attention, as an incoming object, and was tracked by observers at 14 different observatories around the world. Scientists at the Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate its 926 day orbital path around the Sun, estimate its size, and give it the name 2017 TH5.    We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

    university uk arizona moon new zealand sun mt arkansas scientists nights travelers auckland kiwi astronomy little rock lemmon grauer planetary science institute astronomy cast minor planet center astronomy podcast cosmoquest catalina sky survey al grauer
    Lead on Purpose with James Laughlin
    Fredrik Härén : Why Your Best Ideas Come When You Stop Trying

    Lead on Purpose with James Laughlin

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2026 38:00


    In this episode I sit down with creativity explorer, author and global keynote speaker Fredrik Härén to explore what it really means to be creative and how we can create the conditions for better ideas.Drawing on 25 years of studying creativity and interviewing thousands of creative people around the world, Fredrik shares why creativity can be developed, the importance of curiosity, and why we need space to turn inspiration into action.What we cover:Why creativity can be learned and developedHow curiosity helps us generate better ideasWhy constantly consuming inspiration can hold us backHow to create an environment that supports creativityWhy stepping away can help overcome creative blocksHow to seize opportunities without constantly hustlingWhether you consider yourself creative or not, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on curiosity, ideas and creating space for your best thinking.Grab a copy of Fredrik's book here - https://bookhero.co.nz/products/the-unvisible-by-fredrik-haren-9789814954556Learn more about Fredrik here - https://www.fredrikharen.comConnect with Fredrik on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredrikharen/If you're interested in having me deliver a keynote or workshop for your team contact Caroline at caroline@jjlaughlin.comWebsite: https://www.jjlaughlin.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6GETJbxpgulYcYc6QAKLHA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesLaughlinOfficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameslaughlinofficial/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/life-on-purpose-with-james-laughlin/id1547874035 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3WBElxcvhCHtJWBac3nOlF?si=hotcGzHVRACeAx4GvybVOQ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslaughlincoaching/James Laughlin is a High Performance Leadership Coach, Former 7-Time World Champion, Host of the Habits of High Performers Podcast and an Executive Coach to high performers and leaders. James is based in Christchurch, New Zealand.Send me a personal text message - If you're interested in booking me for a keynote or workshop, contact Caroline at caroline@jjlaughlin.comSupport the show

    The Lawfare Podcast
    Lawfare Archive: The Trucker Convoys and Domestic Unrest in Canada

    The Lawfare Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2026 63:04


    From February 11, 2022: Over the past few weeks, Canada has been living through its own insurrectionary moment, as a series of trucker convoys have used tractor trailer trucks to occupy much of downtown Ottawa, launch protests in other major Canadian cities, and block points of entry along the country's southern border with the United States. While nominally objecting to Canadian vaccination mandates, particularly as applied to truckers, the convoy movement has at times made even more ambitious demands, including the dissolution of the Trudeau government, and it has close ties to far right-wing nationalists and ethno-nationalist organizations, both in Canada and the United States. While the convoy movement began in Canada, there are signs that is beginning to spread, with similar efforts appearing in Australia and New Zealand and intelligence reports suggesting the same may soon happen in the United States.To put these recent developments in context, Scott R. Anderson sat down with three Canadian national security experts who have been following the convoy crisis closely: Amarnath Amarasingam, assistant professor at Queen's University; Stephanie Carvin, associate professor at Carleton University; and Jessica Davis, president of Insight Threat Intelligence. They discussed the origins of the convoy movement, its relationship with domestic violent extremism and what it might mean for both Canada and the rest of the world.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Cult of Conspiracy
    Cryptid Women's Society | The Florida They Don't Put in the Guidebooks

    Cult of Conspiracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2026 116:28 Transcription Available


    Forget everything you think you know about Florida.Lisa sits down with Chelsey from Ancient Florida History and Mysteries to go looking beneath the polished tourist version of the Sunshine State and into the forgotten history, strange locations and stories that refuse to disappear. What starts with local history quickly becomes a reminder that some of the best mysteries are sitting right under our feet. You just need someone stubborn enough to start digging. Ancient Florida, forgotten stories and a few very questionable rabbit holes. Exactly where we like to be.Join Cryptid Women's Society on Patreon for ad free listening, early access and extra exclusive content through a paid membership.https://www.patreon.com/CryptidWomensSocietyInternational〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰 YOUTUBE

    The Delingpod: The James Delingpole Podcast

    James finally catches up with Australia's irascible, motormouthed conspiracy OG Brendon O'Connell and asks him who really runs the world, how and why.. On the menu: the Rothschilds; what Brendon learned in prison in Western Australia and New Zealand; Israel; is Trump a White Hat?; really?? James and Brendon get on quite well at first but then they fall out and Brendon storms off. Oh well. Here is Brendan's Substack where, in a fit of pique, he has already run the podcast and accused James - lol - of being a ‘friend of Ben Shapiro' https://substack.com/@brendonoconnell ↓ ↓ ↓ Brand Zero is a small skincare and wellbeing business based in Nailsworth in the heart of Gloucestershire, with a strong eco-friendly, zero-waste, cruelty-free ethos. Brand Zero sells a range of wonderfully soothing natural skincare, haircare, toothcare and wellbeing products, mostly hand made, with no plastic packaging or harsh chemicals. All our products are 100% natural and packaged in recyclable or compostable tin, paper or glass. Discount code: JAMES10 www.brandzeronaturals.co.uk ↓ ↓ Sharklings Assemble — Saturday 10th October 2026, my neck of the woods in Northants. My guest is Feargus O'Connor Greenwood, author of 180 Degrees: Unlearn The Lies You've Been Taught To Believe. Unregistered Chickens are playing, there's wood-fired pizza, and there are twenty VIP places for anyone who fancies a chat and some bell ringing thrown in. Standard and VIP tickets here: https://www.jamesdelingpole.co.uk/Shop/Events/sharklings-assemble-ft-feargus-o-connor-greenwood-live-event ↓ ↓ How environmentalists are killing the planet, destroying the economy and stealing your children's future. In Watermelons, an updated edition of his ground-breaking 2011 book, James tells the shocking true story of how a handful of political activists, green campaigners, voodoo scientists and psychopathic billionaires teamed up to invent a fake crisis called ‘global warming'. This updated edition includes two new chapters which, like a geo-engineered flood, pour cold water on some of the original's sunny optimism and provide new insights into the diabolical nature of the climate alarmists' sinister master plan. Purchase Watermelons by James Delingpole here: https://jamesdelingpole.co.uk/Shop/ ↓ ↓ ↓ Buy James a Coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jamesdelingpole To support independent, no-holds-barred journalism and gain first and full access to all James's content, subscribe directly at https://www.jamesdelingpole.co.uk x

    Meanwhile At The Podcast
    383. The Rob And Amy Show

    Meanwhile At The Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2026 97:59


    Hi, everybody. It's the return of the back door pilot as the show is taken over by astronomy professor Amy Fredericks and Disneyland castmember Rob Shade. They join Rich and George to talk about their trips to New Zealand and Hong Kong Disneyland. It's the time honored tradition of a good ol' fashioned travelogue episode! Oh, yeah, and, of course, fun with astronomy! Don't forget about Kristin and Rich's new online shop Dragon Breath Comics & Collectibles. They update the website daily so bookmark https://dragonbreathcomics.com and check them out everyday for all your fun, geeky shopping needs. Follow them on social media at https://www.facebook.com/people/Dragon-Breath-Comics-Collectibles/61591089072402/, @DragonBreathComics616 on Instagram and X/Twitter. Thank you for listening. Connect with Meanwhile At The Podcast on social media. Don't forget to #livetweet (we're still calling it that)! Share the show, subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and rate us on your podcast apps. Those much coveted five stars are always appreciated. Stay safe out there. NOW ON BLUESKY @MeanwhileATP https://x.com/meanwhileatp https://www.meanwhileatthepodcast.libsyn.com Rodney (AKA Art Nerrd): https://x.com/artnerrd https://www.instagram.com/theartnerrd/ https://facebook.com/artnerrd https://shop.spreadshirt.com/artnerrd Kristin: https://www.facebook.com/kristing616 https://www.instagram.com/kristing616 Rich: https://x.com/doctorstaypuft

    kPod - The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show
    Sam From New Zealand Is Back!

    kPod - The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2026 12:54


    Sam from New Zealand always stops by to brighten our day when he's in the states. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    R2Kast - People in Food and Farming
    R2Kast 436 – Grace Boardman on veterinary medicine, drench resistance and taking DAGI global

    R2Kast - People in Food and Farming

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2026 86:02


    Vassals of Kingsgrave
    VoK 894: The Movie Passport #24 – New Zealand Cinema

    Vassals of Kingsgrave

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2026


    Kia ora! Welcome to The Movie Passport, a podcast series about world cinema. In this episode, Duncan (Valkyrist), Tanja (Scilens), and Matt (Blu3arm0r) travel to the country of New Zealand to discuss the following films: 11:10 – Once Were Warriors (Lee … Continue reading →

    WSTR Galactic Public Access - A Star Wars Podcast
    "The Worst Vacation Spots in Star Wars" - Episode 443

    WSTR Galactic Public Access - A Star Wars Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2026 73:15


    Worst Vacation Spots in Star Wars Todd Hoffman and Carla Giacalone/Coffey kick back for a fun, nerdy Cantina Chat about the absolute worst places to spend a vacation in the Star Wars galaxy. It starts with a personal update from Carla on her recent wedding and upcoming Lord of the Rings honeymoon, then shifts into a playful planet-by-planet debate over which worlds are too hot, too wet, too buggy, or too dangerous to ever book. Key topics In this episode: Carla shares wedding highlights, including the Camp Sacagoia venue in New Jersey, R2-D2 at the reception, and walking down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme. Todd and Carla talk about Carla's delayed honeymoon to New Zealand, where she'll take a Lord of the Rings tour through filming locations. The conversation turns to Star Wars vacation planning, with Mustafar and Exegol quickly emerging as top-tier nightmare destinations. Hoth gets compared to extreme winter travel, with discussion of blizzards, emergency Wampa insurance, and the appeal of cold versus heat. Tatooine comes up as the rare planet with enough civilization to survive a trip, despite the sand, the sun, and the constant danger. Dagobah is treated as a hard no for its swamp conditions, bugs, and general "Florida but worse" vibe. Geonosis, Kessel, Felucia, and Exegol are each framed as terrible choices for different reasons, from language barriers to poison mushrooms to Sith cult energy. The hosts compare how bad a long trip would be next to villains like Darth Vader, General Grievous, or Jabba the Hutt. They close the vacation debate by choosing the "least bad" nightmare trip and agreeing that Tatooine is probably the safest bad option. Carla also gives an honorable mention to Wobani from Rogue One as a place nobody would want on a vacation itinerary. Timestamps: 00:00 - Todd opens the show and tees up the "worst vacation spots in Star Wars" idea 02:21 - Carla's wedding recap and why the venue felt like it belonged in a fantasy world 04:41 - R2-D2 joins the wedding celebration with champagne and dancing 05:30 - Walking down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme 06:33 - Why Carla and Brian delayed the honeymoon until New Zealand 07:04 - A Lord of the Rings tour through filming locations and why it may be emotionally overwhelming 09:39 - Carla's married name and the "decaf" joke that keeps following her 11:56 - Todd's family updates, school starting, and football season returning 14:07 - Carla teases the news items before the main topic 15:03 - Why the hosts think Star Wars has great vacation potential and terrible vacation potential 16:00 - Mustafar versus Exegol as instant refusal destinations 18:22 - How they would rate a Star Wars destination using danger, weather, food, and accommodations 20:37 - Why Mustafar sounds like a place with no good tourism infrastructure 22:25 - Hoth as the extreme cold-weather option and why Norway inspired it 24:15 - Wampa insurance, and the debate over freezing versus melting 25:38 - Why Tatooine is still strangely livable compared with the other nightmare planets 28:42 - Dagobah as swamp hell, bug central, and possible poison-water disaster 32:36 - Geonosis as a language-barrier and execution-risk vacation spot 34:01 - Kessel and the worst possible souvenir from the mines 35:18 - Felucia's mushroom-covered scenery and the danger of touching anything 36:55 - Exegol as an unusable honeymoon location with constant lightning and cult energy 38:00 - Which planet would have the worst hotel and worst spaceport 39:08 - Which planet would have the most dishonest vacation brochure 40:57 - The worst villain to sit next to on a hyperspace flight 43:44 - The difference between dangerous, gross, and truly unlivable family vacation spots 45:45 - Exegol and Camino as terrible honeymoon or relaxing-trip options 48:52 - Choosing the least awful free seven-day vacation: Tatooine 53:23 - Carla's honorable mention: Wobani from Rogue One 55:07 - News item 1: The Saga Begins and Weird Al's Star Wars legacy 58:25 - News item 2: A Star Wars Starfighter leak and a strange new creature 61:27 - News item 3: Star Wars Galactic Racer and the return of pod-racing nostalgia 71:07 - Outro, socials, email, and a call for listener feedback Notable quotes: "I walked down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme." "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi." "Come for the suns, stay for the sarlaccs." Action items: Send in your own pick for the worst Star Wars vacation spot. Share your favorite Star Wars pod racer. Tell the show which planet you'd actually choose if the trip were free. Mentioned links and handles: Socials: @wstrmedia Podcast archive: podcast.wstrmedia.com Merch store: store.wstrmedia.com Live stream: livestream.wstrmedia.com Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com

    The RELEVANT Podcast
    Michael Cochren, Columbia House Finally Dies & the New Church Abuse Database — Ep. 1315

    The RELEVANT Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 58:39 Transcription Available


    This week we're joined by Michael Cochren, the soul-and-blues frontman of Cochren & Co. He talks about the eight years he spent waiting on an answer from God and why he refuses to say God is good just because things finally worked out. We spotlight the band's new album, 'Runs in the Blood.'In RELEVANT Buzz, Cory Asbury posted and deleted a shirtless workout photo, apologized for it and then got roasted by every friend he has in Christian music. Also, survivors launched the first national database of Protestant leaders accused of abuse, years after the SBC voted to build one and then let it die. And The Promised Land, the Moses workplace mockumentary that started as a YouTube pilot, just signed Lionsgate and got a second season.In Slices, Columbia House is finally shutting down, which mostly raises the question of how it was still open, and one of us confesses to running a stack of accounts under slightly different names to get free CDs as a teenager. And a woman in New Zealand went into cardiac arrest in a supermarket parking lot, got revived by a stranger and then got a parking ticket for it. Also in here: a follow-up on the resting heart rate situation, a public service announcement about energy drinks, and the actual reason last week's episode showed up five days late.One Has to Go closes it out. And we're still taking answers to last week's question: What's something you wish you'd known going into your freshman year of college? Drop it in the comments or @ us. We're running your answers in a piece this week.Highlights:01:21 — Marty's new house and the California no-AC problem 04:07 — Is the house haunted 06:15 — The resting heart rate follow-up and a Celsius warning 07:48 — C4, Sour Patch Kids flavor and two hours of pins and needles 11:35 — David Blaine, stunt magic and the four kinds of magician 19:15 — Emily is podcasting from what appears to be a TJ Maxx dressing room 21:04 — Kohl's cash 22:13 — RELEVANT Buzz: Cory Asbury takes down the shirtless photo and apologizes 28:08 — Survivors launch the first national database of accused Protestant abusers 30:09 — The Promised Land gets a second season and Lionsgate 31:33 — Michael Cochren of Cochren & Co. 39:12 — Slices: Columbia House is shutting down after 71 years 43:34 — She died in a parking lot and still got a ticket 48:34 — Why last week's episode was late 50:05 — One Has to GoAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    The Tom Barnard Show
    Dick Wybrow is a Minnesotan and radio guy, but not a Minnesota radio guy

    The Tom Barnard Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 42:31


    Dick moved from Winnipeg to Edina when he was 9, graduated high school there in 1987, spent some of his young adulthood listening to Tom, then jet setted across America on multiple radio stations for a while. He now lives in New Zealand where he writes a million books. Well, 21, but that's still basically a million.His latest book, The Facilite Con, has been reduced to 99 cents for a very limited time only - as in, probably a day or two. Check out his website, https://www.dickwybrow.com/, for more information!Topics:Growing up in MinnesotaThe radio businessWriting books for a living

    The Acquirers Podcast
    I Studied Every 100-Bagger Stock in History. Here's What I Found | Chris Mayer

    The Acquirers Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 60:13


    Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, and Jake Taylor. We are live every Tuesday at 1.30pm E / 10.30am P.────────────────────── ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠VALUE OPTIONS LETTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Three to five curated ideas every week — cash-secured puts, covered calls, and spreads on businesses we'd want to own at strikes we'd be willing to pay. Every trade includes the business thesis in plain English, the fair-value estimate and its key assumptions, the specific option trade with target premium, and the pre-identified exit criteria.Every idea reviewed and approved by an analyst before it hits your inbox.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠valueoptionsletter.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠──────────────────────See our latest episodes at https://acquirersmultiple.com/podcastAbout Jake Jake's Twitter: https://twitter.com/farnamjake1Jake's book: The Rebel Allocator https://amzn.to/2sgip3lABOUT THE PODCASTHi, I'm Tobias Carlisle. I launched The Acquirers Podcast to discuss the process of finding undervalued stocks, deep value investing, hedge funds, activism, buyouts, and special situations.We uncover the tactics and strategies for finding good investments, managing risk, dealing with bad luck, and maximizing success.SEE LATEST EPISODEShttps://acquirersmultiple.com/podcast/SEE OUR FREE DEEP VALUE STOCK SCREENER https://acquirersmultiple.com/screener/FOLLOW TOBIASWebsite: https://acquirersmultiple.com/Firm: https://acquirersfunds.com/ Twitter: ttps://twitter.com/GreenbackdLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobycarlisleFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/tobiascarlisleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobias_carlisleABOUT TOBIAS CARLISLETobias Carlisle is the founder of The Acquirer's Multiple®, and Acquirers Funds®. He is best known as the author of the #1 new release in Amazon's Business and Finance The Acquirer's Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market, the Amazon best-sellers Deep Value: Why Activists Investors and Other Contrarians Battle for Control of Losing Corporations (2014) (https://amzn.to/2VwvAGF), Quantitative Value: A Practitioner's Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors (2012) (https://amzn.to/2SDDxrN), and Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World's Greatest Concentrated Value Investors (2016) (https://amzn.to/2SEEjVn). He has extensive experience in investment management, business valuation, public company corporate governance, and corporate law.Prior to founding the forerunner to Acquirers Funds in 2010, Tobias was an analyst at an activist hedge fund, general counsel of a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and a corporate advisory lawyer. As a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions he has advised on transactions across a variety of industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Singapore, Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Guam. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland in Australia with degrees in Law (2001) and Business (Management) (1999).

    Movements with Steve Addison
    377-Momentum Builds in New Zealand

    Movements with Steve Addison

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 31:24


    Troy Cooper, Nick and Sarah Field discuss a NoPlaceLeft strategy for New Zealand: https://www.theway.co.nz/5in12

    new zealand momentum builds no place left troy cooper
    Stocks To Watch
    Episode 866: Rua Gold ($RUA | $NZAUF): Gearing Up for the Next Stage of Growth at Reefton & Glamorgan

    Stocks To Watch

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2026 16:59


    This interview is disseminated on behalf of Rua Gold Inc.From securing regulatory approval to drill at the Glamorgan Project to advancing a pre-feasibility study (PFS) and permitting at Reefton, Rua Gold (TSX: RUA | NZX: RGI | OTC: NZAUF | FSE: X9R) is progressing key milestones across its New Zealand portfolio. CEO and Director Robert Eckford highlights the fully funded 9,000-metre Glamorgan drill program, Reefton's PFS and fast-track permitting process, and the key catalysts ahead as the company works toward transitioning from explorer to producer.Learn more: https://ruagold.com/Watch the full YouTube interview here: https://youtu.be/z37qMywBmE0And follow us to stay updated: https://www.youtube.com/@stockstowatchofficial 

    Survivor NSFW with Jonny Fairplay
    Survivor Vanuatu and Micronesia's Ami Cusack Beyond The Torch

    Survivor NSFW with Jonny Fairplay

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2026 62:56 Transcription Available


    In this episode of Beyond the Torch, hosts Todd Herzog and Leslie Nease welcome Survivor: Vanuatu and Micronesia alum Ami Cusack, joining from New Zealand, for a heartfelt conversation that spans her surprising path onto Survivor as a last-minute alternate, the wild real-life earthquake that shook her Vanuatu season, and the deep bonds she built with her all-women's tribe. Amy opens up about major life changes — her father's passing, her recent divorce, and a whirlwind new romance with a partner from Tahiti. Ami shares reflections on minimalism, living fearlessly, volunteering in her New Zealand community, and her philosophy of saying "yes" to life's adventures, making for an emotional, funny, and inspiring episode centered on personal growth and human connection.Special thanks to our sponsor Big O Brand Skin care. Big O Brand has a special formula of Ostrich Oil and is rich in Omega 3, 6, and 9! Bad strategy gets you voted out but bad skin care will leave you dry and your body dehydrated, Check out Big O Brand for all your skin care essentials and use PROMO CODE: Survivor at Checkout for 10% off! Tell them Fairplay sent you! https://www.instagram.com/bigobarskincare/https://bigobar.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopc3_AesoBcmd6chnib8JNAXrcz1O4JdMrVrxgx4iVGpF8GsxVkOur new Website is live! Check it out at: www.realityaftershow.comJoin our Patreon at RealityPatron.comIf you would like a cameo from Jonny Fairplay order one now! cameo.com/jonnyfairplayCheck us out on Tiktok @fairplaytokBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reality-after-show--5448874/support.

    Standing For Freedom Podcast
    Christians Must Be Compelled to Share the Gospel w/ Ray Comfort

    Standing For Freedom Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2026 47:38


    What compels someone to spend a lifetime proclaiming the gospel?On this episode of Give Me Liberty, Ryan Helfenbein sits down with legendary evangelist Ray Comfort, founder of Living Waters, to hear the remarkable story behind his new autobiography, Compelled: My Story.Ray shares how he went from growing up in New Zealand with virtually no Christian influence to becoming one of the world's best-known evangelists. He explains why the fear of God, the reality of hell, and the urgency of eternity should motivate Christians to boldly share the gospel.Ray also discusses his approach to evangelism, overcoming fear, using God's law to expose sin, the importance of preaching the full gospel, his experiences speaking at Turning Point USA events, and why Christians must take the Great Commission seriously.*Like*, share, & subscribe* for more!*Follow Us!*https://twitter.com/@freedomcenterluhttps://instagram.com/freedomcenterluhttps://facebook.com/@freedomcenterluVisit us at https://standingforfreedom.com*REGISTER FOR FREEDOM UNCENSORED 2026!*https://standingforfreedom.com/events/freedom-uncensored/

    TMS at the Cricket World Cup
    What are the greatest ever Lord's moments?

    TMS at the Cricket World Cup

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2026 45:56


    Simon Mann, Michael Vaughan, Phil Tufnell, Jonathan Agnew, and Andy Zaltzman debate their greatest and favourite moments that have happened at Lord's.From the England Men's 2019 World Cup win, to the Women's World Cup glory in 2017. From Jonny Bairstow's infamous Ashes stumping in 2023, to Ben Stokes bowling the then New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in 2015. Plus, an unforgettable story of when Aggers held some Bob Massie memorabilia.

    The Worst Idea Of All Time
    Family Friends 03

    The Worst Idea Of All Time

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2026 25:55


    The boiz are at the beach because it may be NZ Winter, but it's also NZ sunny today. And to prove we're in New Zealand, we randomly ran into our friend, Brady - a delightful man who looks strikingly like modern depictions of Jesus carrying a TV. Why? You'll just have to listen to find out.Find out what Brady looks like by watching the video at twioat.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Pilot to Pilot - Aviation Podcast
    I flew around the world and built a plane w/ JP Schulze E368

    Pilot to Pilot - Aviation Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2026 91:45 Transcription Available


    In 1999, a handful of people gathered at a dusty Namibian airfield to meet two men flying weight-shift microlights around the world. One of them was Mike Blyth. Watching from the crowd was a boy who had never left the country, whose family couldn't afford much flying, and who had no real concept of where these men had come from — only that whatever they were doing, he wanted to do it too.Twenty-five years later, JP Schulze has flown around the world himself, built the first Sling High Wing off the line — designed by the same Mike Blyth — and become one of the most distinctive filmmakers in aviation.This one took a while to make happen. We finally met at Oshkosh this year, and JP is candid about being a naturally shy person who ended up with a career in front of a camera.He grew up in Namibia with no art classes and no creative outlets, thinking in German and Afrikaans, teaching himself English from the Discovery Channel at eight years old. He was taking the controls of his dad's microlight at ten. He funded his first licence by free-diving for crayfish, selling snake venom, and restringing tennis rackets.The around-the-world trip nearly didn't happen twice. Sponsors walked after a Cirrus ditched near Hawaii and the CAPS pull ran on every news channel — nobody wanted their logo on a small plane over an ocean. So JP and Louis Cole self-funded it, and JP is honest about what that cost: the fourteen-hour legs, the multi-hour shouting match somewhere between Fiji and Kiribati, and the weight of being responsible for a non-pilot's life for the first time.In this episode:Meeting Mike Blyth in 1999 — and building his airplane twenty years laterGrowing up flying "sketchy" weight-shift trikes over the African bushWhy Southern Africa has a GA scene almost nobody expectsMoving to New Zealand at seventeen and rebuilding from scratch in a third languageMeeting Louis Cole on a sand dune and having his life change in a daySigning with Discovery, then watching the money disappearWhat flying around the world actually took — and why he'd do it againInsisting on being the first to build the Sling High Wing, then helping write the manualWhy he refuses to post weekly, and what that has cost himThe sunglasses he built because a $350 pair costs $10 to makeWhy print still matters, and what we both think is at stakeWe also recorded a second conversation about the around-the-world flight itself — that one is exclusive to the magazine, with the audio released free a year after publication.Happy Flying,JustinSupport JP - otavi.co best sunglasses for pilotsPilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • NEW SPONSOR ALERT I'd like to welcome AeroTow to the Pilot to Pilot sponsors! check out their AeroTow T2 Engineered for easier maneuverability, the AeroTow T2 is versatile for a variety of aircraft. Its universal cradle provides a seamless towing experience ( Pilot to Pilot listeners can save $100 by using the code in the podcast!) Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) • Learn more about the exciting innovations at Textron Aviation today… just go to TXTAV.com • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Allworth Financial - https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social 

    Y’s Guys Podcast
    Y Cracks Top 6 | Harvey Langi: Season's Toughest Games | Emma Hamberlin Re-Lyte Athlete | Superfans

    Y’s Guys Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2026 114:18


    visit: https://www.ysguys.comDave McCann and Blaine Fowler open a truly global episode of Y's Guys — with viewers chiming in from Singapore, Cambodia, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and across Cougar Nation — by running down a stacked stretch of preseason news heading into the Sept. 5 opener against Utah Tech. BYU checks in at No. 6 in ESPN's preseason power rankings (per Mark Schlabach), running back LJ Martin picks up preseason Second Team All-America honors from USA Today and the AP along with Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year buzz, and Bret McMurphy's AP-voter research names BYU the single most underrated preseason team in the country over the last 12 years. National forecasters pile on from there: Stewart Mandel (New York Times) has BYU going 11-1 and winning the Big 12, while CBS Sports and CFB Kings both project the Cougars reaching the College Football Playoff.Former Cougar linebacker and current BYUtv football analyst Harvey Langi joins for the back half of the news segment, pulling back the curtain on NFL cutdown day — the anxiety of waiting for "the grim reaper" to call, and how some of the league's biggest stars (Taysom Hill, Zach Wilson, Todd Christensen, Fred Warner) turned early setbacks into Hall of Fame-caliber careers. He then breaks down what a healthy, more experienced Bear Bachmeier means for BYU's offense entering year two, how he'd scheme to defend him, and closes with his own ranking of BYU's five toughest games of the season — landing on Arizona, not Notre Dame, as the No. 1 measuring-stick game.The second hour brings the Re-Lyte Athlete of the Week (soccer's Emma Hamberlin, who scored twice to beat USC), a big basketball headline as BYU beats out Kentucky for transfer big man Jaxon Kohler, and a full campus-notes sweep across women's basketball (Delaney Gibb and Canada's run to the 2028 Olympic qualifying final), soccer, volleyball, cross country and baseball. Two Hotel Park City/Ruth's Chris BYU Super Fans round out the show — Greg Schroeder of Twin Falls, Idaho and Provo-studio guest Dean Taylor — each sharing their Cougar histories and playing a round of "Where Were You?" through classic BYU moments, before the Redmond Roots Rollout and a look ahead to next Monday's Game Week Bonanza with Jaren Hall, Rod Zundel, Adam Edmunds and Michael Johanson.Timestamps (approximate):0:00 – Show Open: Live From Singapore to Cambodia, Cougar Nation Tunes In9:31 – BYU vs. Utah Tech Game Week Details + BYU Cracks ESPN's Top 611:04 – LJ Martin's Historic Preseason All-American Honors12:54 – BYU Named Most Underrated Preseason Team in the Country16:27 – Stewart Mandel Predicts BYU Wins the Big 12 and Reaches the CFP21:11 – Week Zero College Football Preview + Cougars in the NFL Before Cutdown Day28:11 – Harvey Langi Joins the Show30:10 – Inside NFL Cutdown Day: Harvey Langi on the "Grim Reaper"35:11 – Harvey Langi on Taysom Hill, Zach Wilson & the Biggest Cuts in NFL History43:00 – How Would You Defend Bear Bachmeier? Harvey Langi Breaks It Down51:37 – Harvey Langi Ranks BYU's 5 Toughest Games of 2025 (Arizona Is No. 1)1:00:37 – Re-Lyte Athlete of the Week: Emma Hamberlin's Game-Winning Goals1:04:47 – BYU Basketball Lands Jaxon Kohler, Beats Out Kentucky1:14:22 – Super Fan Greg Schroeder & the "Where Were You?" Game1:30:35 – Super Fan Dean Taylor: From Oklahoma State Fan to True Blue Convert#YsGuys #BYUFootball #BYUCougars #CougarNation #GoCougs #Big12Football #HarveyLangi #LJMartin #BearBachmeier #KalaniSitake #EmmaHamberlin #JaxonKohler #DelaneyGibb #StewartMandel #BYUBasketball #BYUSoccer #DallinHall #BYUSuperfans #DaveMcCann #BlaineFowler #lds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    The Real Science of Sport Podcast
    Inside The World of Sports Broadcasting

    The Real Science of Sport Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 93:22


    Briton Tony Davies has pretty much seen it all when it comes to television sport broadcasting. With over 20 years' experience in broadcast TV as a director, producer and writer, Davies has made a number of documentaries, including the RTS-nominated A Bat and Ball War, and worked on numerous sports events including the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Paralympics, Asian Games, Wimbledon, Open Championship and Tour de France.His broadcast experience opened the door to event management roles, and Davies has worked as Broadcast Venue Manager on the past three Rugby World Cups. He was also the Broadcast Project Manager for the Special Olympics in 2019. During his early years, he worked on the legendary sports magazine show, Trans World Sport and his interviewed some of the biggest names in world sport, including Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Maradona, Pele, a 13-year-old Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, Kip Keino and even Whitney Houston and John Candy.In this episode we talk about how commentators are chosen, the economics of sports broadcasting, how modern technology is changing how we watch sports and what the future holds in the digital age for viewers.Davies lives in Nelson, New Zealand, where he lives with his wife and six (yes, it's not a typo !) children. He enjoys a number of sports including cycling, running, boxing, hunting, fishing and paddling. He is a frequent visitor to the UK, where he still has a base, and to Asia, where he does production work for the BBC.Also, for our Real Science of Sport Members, stick around after the show for some bonus content as we continued our chat with Tony and got even more fascinating insights, including his thoughts on social media influencers as broadcast 'partners', why he doesn't buy into the 'all access' documentaries so frequently made about sports events, and his choice of best documentary ever made. If you're not a member, a small monthly donation gets you that bonus content, ad-free listening, exclusive shows and membership of our Discourse community, of which Tony is a member too! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Talklaunch with Ryan Estes
    Denver Food & Wine Festival is back, and we're going in hungry.

    Talklaunch with Ryan Estes

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 19:40


    Ryan sits down with Denise Mickelsen to preview one of Colorado's biggest culinary weekends, running August 26–29. They break down everything from wine education and competitive cocktail making to food trucks, green chile and Saturday's massive Grand Tasting. The week kicks off Wednesday with the Riedel Wine Seminar, where attendees learn how the shape of a glass can completely change the way a wine tastes and smells. Even better: you leave with your own set of Riedel glassware. Thursday brings the Shake & Break Showdown, featuring 10 food trucks and 11 bartenders battling for the People's Choice awards. Expect everything from Ethiopian and Indian food to Korean cuisine, dumplings, pizza, New Zealand-style ice cream and apparently something called a "burger bomb." Then Saturday is the big one: the Grand Tasting on the Tivoli Quad. More than 50 restaurants converge on Denver alongside hundreds of wines and spirits, DJs, games, VIP experiences and even a roaming tarot card reader. Restaurants are coming from across Colorado, making it what Denise calls "Colorado on a plate." Ryan and Denise also get into one of Colorado's most important culinary debates: Who actually has the best green chile? Savina's enters the conversation with a perfect score, Taco de Mexico gets some love, and the Colorado vs. New Mexico green chile rivalry is temporarily downgraded from open warfare to a "friendly" disagreement. Best of all, the festival supports the Colorado Restaurant Foundation, which provides culinary education, apprenticeships, scholarships and emergency assistance to restaurant workers throughout Colorado. Come hungry. Take a rideshare. Always get the ice cream. In this episode: Denver Food & Wine Festival 2026 The Riedel Wine Seminar Shake & Break food truck + cocktail showdown Saturday's massive Grand Tasting 50+ restaurants from across Colorado The Colorado ProStart culinary program Supporting Colorado restaurant workers Savina's and the hunt for Colorado's best green chile Why Denver's food scene deserves more respect Why you should always get the ice cream Tickets & Info: denverfoodandwine.com

    Two Cents gets Distracted - A Rugby Podcast
    THE SWEETEST WIN AGAINST THE TOUGHEST TEAM - 2CGD S5 EP 25

    Two Cents gets Distracted - A Rugby Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2026 83:08


    What. A. Weekend.The All Blacks have drawn first blood in the Greatest Rivalry Series, knocking over the much-vaunted Springboks in a result that has Tony desperately attempting to remain humble and gracious in victory. Unfortunately, humility has never really been his strong suit. Mark is much better at that sort of thing.And somehow, the All Blacks actually fucking did it.For long periods, it felt like the Boks had them under enormous pressure. The scrum was creaking, the high-ball battle was brutal, and physically South Africa seemed to have the upper hand. But instead of folding, the All Blacks did something we haven't seen nearly enough of lately: they played like an All Blacks team.They absorbed the pressure. They stayed in the fight. And when opportunities appeared, they absolutely feasted.Five tries to one tells part of the story, but the bigger story was efficiency. South Africa had pressure, territory and dominance in key areas, but couldn't turn enough of it into points. New Zealand, meanwhile, lived off scraps and somehow made every post a winner. Give them half a sniff and — by God — they took it.We break down all the ins, outs, heroes, concerns and glorious moments from Test One before turning our attention to Cape Town, where a wounded Springbok side will undoubtedly be waiting with violence in their hearts.It is going to be significantly harder.And yet...We're quietly starting to think the All Blacks might be able to fucking do this again.Plus, in considerably less important but equally satisfying news, Tony's North Harbour got one over Mark's Auckland in the Battle of the Bridge.The All Blacks win. Harbour win. Tony wins.It's all coming up Milhouse.Springbok fans: commiserations. We're trying not to be smug.Grab a beer and enjoy.

    Lead on Purpose with James Laughlin
    Why You Procrastinate (And How to Finally Stop) with Itamar Shatz

    Lead on Purpose with James Laughlin

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2026 34:28


    In this episode I sit down with Cambridge University researcher and lecturer Itamar Shatz to explore why we procrastinate, what's really happening beneath the surface, and how we can stop relying on willpower to get things done.Together, we unpack why procrastination isn't simply laziness, how fear, uncertainty and perfectionism can keep us stuck, and why distractions like social media are often a symptom rather than the real problem. Itamar also shares practical strategies from his book Solving Procrastination for making action easier and creating systems that work with our behaviour rather than against it.What we cover:Why we procrastinate, even when we know exactly what we should be doingHow perfectionism, fear and uncertainty can make procrastination worseWhy social media may not be the real reason you're avoiding important tasksHow breaking big goals into tiny, manageable steps can make it easier to take actionWhy systems, reducing friction and the “reality rule” can be more effective than relying on willpowerWhether you're putting off a career change, struggling to start an important project, avoiding your tax return or simply finding yourself scrolling instead of taking action, this conversation offers a practical, research-based approach to understanding procrastination, and finally doing something about it.Grab a copy of Itamar's latest book here - https://solvingprocrastination.com/book/Learn more about Itamar here - https://itamarshatz.meConnect with Itamar on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamarshatz/If you're interested in having me deliver a keynote or workshop for your team contact Caroline at caroline@jjlaughlin.comWebsite: https://www.jjlaughlin.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6GETJbxpgulYcYc6QAKLHA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesLaughlinOfficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameslaughlinofficial/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/life-on-purpose-with-james-laughlin/id1547874035 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3WBElxcvhCHtJWBac3nOlF?si=hotcGzHVRACeAx4GvybVOQ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslaughlincoaching/James Laughlin is a High Performance Leadership Coach, Former 7-Time World Champion, Host of the Habits of High Performers Podcast and an Executive Coach to high performers and leaders. James is based in Christchurch, New Zealand.Send me a personal text message - If you're interested in booking me for a keynote or workshop, contact Caroline at caroline@jjlaughlin.comSupport the show

    Television Times Podcast
    Repeat Transmission: Jarred Christmas

    Television Times Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2026 59:47


    In this repeat transmission, Jarred Christmas explains how he has been navigating the comedy industry long enough to know that the only constant is that everything keeps changing — and has built a career on being good enough to keep up with it.Jarred Christmas is a comedian, actor, and writer originally from New Zealand, known for his sharp humour and charismatic personality across stand-up comedy and television.Why evolving as a performer is less of a choice and more of a survival strategyHow balancing family life with creative work changes the kinds of projects you take onWhy comedy can be used to engage with serious social issues — and when that works and when it doesn'tWhat resilience in a creative career looks like when the industry keeps shifting under youConnect with Jarred here:InstagramWebsiteFind us on social media — links on the About page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Cult of Conspiracy
    Cryptid Women's Society | The Doctor tells us 'Why We Keep Creating Monsters'

    Cult of Conspiracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2026 59:45 Transcription Available


    Every culture creates monsters, but what exactly are we trying to warn ourselves about?Lacey sits down with Dr. Emily Zarka - Host of the PBS series ‘Monstrum' to explore folklore, horror and the creatures hiding inside our oldest stories. From oral traditions and Gothic literature to television, movies and modern popular culture, Emily examines how monsters change shape while the human fears behind them remain strangely familiar. This is a conversation about what monsters represent, why folklore survives and what happens when the creature in the story tells us more about humanity than humanity may be comfortable admitting.Turns out the monster under the bed may have been making a point.Prefer to watch and listen without adverts? Join CWS on Patreon for ad-free episodes, early access and extra exclusive content available only to paid members. https://www.patreon.com/CryptidWomensSocietyInternational〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰 YOUTUBE

    Live Lean TV with Brad Gouthro
    Is an Organic Mattress Actually Worth It? (Birch Luxe, Tested)

    Live Lean TV with Brad Gouthro

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2026 8:00


    Is the Birch Luxe Natural the best organic mattress of 2026? In this honest Birch Luxe mattress review, I test this organic latex hybrid across 5 categories — comfort, cooling, support, non-toxic materials, and value — and give it a final score. If you're shopping for a non-toxic, organic mattress made from natural latex, cotton, and wool, watch this before you buy.

    The Creative Endeavour
    Episode #95 - We're Back with Kathleen Hudson!

    The Creative Endeavour

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2026 86:08


    Check out the full video version!

    It's A Drama: Parenting podcast.
    Married Life in Paradise (let us just pop that bubble for you)

    It's A Drama: Parenting podcast.

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2026 56:50


    We've been living as a family (husband, wife + young adult kids) on the Greek island of Paros for 3 months. The Greece vacation feel has worn off, and now it's just us. Dealing with stuff. Looking at the bins. Because we love you, we thought we'd share that reality (and reveal where we're off to next...Hurray!) Thank you for being here, for sharing this episode with someone who'd love it too, and lastly, for rating the show. We love and appreciate you very, very much. Kia kaha, lovely you Liz and Brian x Links mentioned in the show: Find Brian's Toolbox Meetings Here  ➡️  ❤️Join Liz's inner circle. Liz's free newsletter is here Liz's new book: You Won't Just Cry When They Die: Love, Loss and the Heartbreaking Reality of Grief If you are struggling and hurting right now, please know you are not alone. I wrote this little book to be a gentle companion for those who are grieving, to feel less alone.  survive, cope, and begin to heal. The book is available for purchase on Amazon. To support my work directly as an independent author, you can purchase all formats (hardback, e-book, audiobook) via my website: www.elizabethdeacle.com

    MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

    Today's podcast will feature 3 stories about divers who underestimated what was waiting for them beneath the surface. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast. Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos: #3 -- "The French Pass" -- A small stretch of water in New Zealand that kills (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ywxRasv5s) #2 -- "The 4th Chamber" -- 2 cave divers explore a deep underwater chamber... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBXb3W71DY) #1 -- "Don't Let Go" -- Number one rule in cave diving, NEVER let go of the dive line (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceXSZtJlAGA)   You can WATCH all new & exclusive MrBallen podcast episodes on my YouTube channel, just called "MrBallen" - https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen If you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballen Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Better Call Daddy
    498. Boarding School Made Her Fearless: Chomp Founder Kiko Zang on Identity, Open Relationships & Authenticity

    Better Call Daddy

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2026 81:07


    In this episode of Better Call Daddy, host Reena Friedman Watts sits down with Kiko Zang, business executive, tech founder, and opinion leader building human-centric consumer products. Kiko is the Founder & CEO of Chomp, a social game that rewards honesty instead of punishing it and she's on a mission to fix what she calls the "performative internet." Kiko opens up about her path from boarding school in China to New Zealand and the United States, the anti-authoritarian streak she carried as a kid, and the long road to understanding her own identity across cultures. The conversation gets candid as she discusses her experience with open relationships and how it reshaped her views on love, trust, kindness, and loyalty then turns to the bigger picture: why social media rewards performance over authenticity, why women in particular self-censor online, and why honest human belief may be the scarcest, most valuable data in the age of AI. Kiko also shares her founder journey from COO at Orca (one of Solana's largest decentralized exchanges, where she helped raise $19M and grow the platform to $1B+ in 24-hour trading volume) to building Chomp, which drew 50,000 beta users sharing millions of honest answers and raised $3.6M from backers including BlueYard, JSquare, and Accomplice placing her among the 2% of female-led startups to raise venture capital. Chomp launches on iOS in 2026. Equal parts personal memoir and founder story, this episode covers identity, relationships, resilience, the loneliness epidemic, the funding gap for female founders, and what it takes to build something real in a "dead internet" full of bots and AI slop. Keywords: Kiko Zang, boarding school identity, open relationships podcast, cultural identity, female tech founder, women in venture capital, social media and authenticity, dead internet theory, Chomp app, Solana Orca DEX, honest opinions app, read the room, loneliness epidemic, Better Call Daddy podcast, Reena Friedman Watts

    The Acquirers Podcast
    The Caracas Play: Venture capital and private equity investment in Venezuela with Francisco Amador

    The Acquirers Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2026 62:04


    Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, and Jake Taylor. We are live every Tuesday at 1.30pm E / 10.30am P.────────────────────── ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠VALUE OPTIONS LETTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Three to five curated ideas every week — cash-secured puts, covered calls, and spreads on businesses we'd want to own at strikes we'd be willing to pay. Every trade includes the business thesis in plain English, the fair-value estimate and its key assumptions, the specific option trade with target premium, and the pre-identified exit criteria.Every idea reviewed and approved by an analyst before it hits your inbox.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠valueoptionsletter.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠──────────────────────See our latest episodes at https://acquirersmultiple.com/podcastAbout Jake Jake's Twitter: https://twitter.com/farnamjake1Jake's book: The Rebel Allocator https://amzn.to/2sgip3lABOUT THE PODCASTHi, I'm Tobias Carlisle. I launched The Acquirers Podcast to discuss the process of finding undervalued stocks, deep value investing, hedge funds, activism, buyouts, and special situations.We uncover the tactics and strategies for finding good investments, managing risk, dealing with bad luck, and maximizing success.SEE LATEST EPISODEShttps://acquirersmultiple.com/podcast/SEE OUR FREE DEEP VALUE STOCK SCREENER https://acquirersmultiple.com/screener/FOLLOW TOBIASWebsite: https://acquirersmultiple.com/Firm: https://acquirersfunds.com/ Twitter: ttps://twitter.com/GreenbackdLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobycarlisleFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/tobiascarlisleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobias_carlisleABOUT TOBIAS CARLISLETobias Carlisle is the founder of The Acquirer's Multiple®, and Acquirers Funds®. He is best known as the author of the #1 new release in Amazon's Business and Finance The Acquirer's Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market, the Amazon best-sellers Deep Value: Why Activists Investors and Other Contrarians Battle for Control of Losing Corporations (2014) (https://amzn.to/2VwvAGF), Quantitative Value: A Practitioner's Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors (2012) (https://amzn.to/2SDDxrN), and Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World's Greatest Concentrated Value Investors (2016) (https://amzn.to/2SEEjVn). He has extensive experience in investment management, business valuation, public company corporate governance, and corporate law.Prior to founding the forerunner to Acquirers Funds in 2010, Tobias was an analyst at an activist hedge fund, general counsel of a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and a corporate advisory lawyer. As a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions he has advised on transactions across a variety of industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Singapore, Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Guam. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland in Australia with degrees in Law (2001) and Business (Management) (1999).

    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
    Book Marketing, AI Book Discoverability, And Resilience, With Ricardo Fayet

    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2026 67:55


    How can you get your books surfaced when readers ask an AI what to read next? What are the hallmarks of authors and businesses that last more than a decade in the indie author industry? Ricardo Fayet gives his marketing tips after more than a decade at Reedsy. In the intro, Expanding Your Book's IP through Merchandising [Wish I'd Known Then]; Guide to writers conferences [Kindlepreneur]; Rick Rubin and Stephen Pressfield on resistance and the muse [Tetragrammaton]; Pulitzer Prize winners disclose AI usage [Nieman Lab]; My new rebuilt fiction site JFPenn.com. Today's show is sponsored by Draft2Digital, self-publishing with support, where you can get free formatting, free distribution to multiple stores, and a host of other benefits. Just go to www.draft2digital.com to get started. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Ricardo Fayet is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Reedsy, a marketplace for writers to find vetted freelancers, author training courses, and lots more. He's also the author of How to Market a Book and Amazon Ads for Authors. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes How AI search actually finds and ranks the books it recommends Why keywords and search volume are disappearing as marketing metrics Building an internet footprint so your book is worth recommending Why Claude leans on Goodreads while ChatGPT and Gemini lean on Reddit Product is more important than marketing, and how to find your comp titles Passion, business sense and resilience in the authors who last You can find Ricardo at Reedsy.com. Transcript of the interview with Ricardo Fayet Jo: Ricardo Fayet is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Reedsy, a marketplace for writers to find vetted freelancers, author training courses, and lots more. He's also the author of How to Market a Book and Amazon Ads for Authors. So welcome back to the show, Ricardo. Ricardo: Thank you, Jo. It's been a while. Jo: It has been a while. As we were saying, it's been a decade, which is crazy, because you and I see each other at events and things. For anyone who doesn't know you— Tell us a bit more about you, where you're from, and also, what is Reedsy these days and how have things changed? Ricardo: Yes, sure. I think I'm hard to dissociate from Reedsy because my only background really is Reedsy. We started Reedsy right after business school for most of the founders. There are four founders, and I'm one of them. We've been going since 2014, so it's been 12 years. We started around the same time, and you started even earlier than we did, but we've had the chance to meet at quite a few conferences since. I think the main thing we're still known for is our marketplace. Since the very beginning, Reedsy is a curated marketplace where authors can come in and look for editors, cover designers, marketers, ghostwriters, literary translators, author website designers, pretty much any freelancer you would ever need to hire throughout your writing career. That's how we started. That's our main source of revenue and our main business. Since then, as you mentioned, we've also added courses, live events, so we've got a membership under Reedsy Learning. The main thing we're proud of right now is our writing tool, Reedsy Studio, because we've been pouring a lot of engineering talent into it over the past five, six years, and I think it's a really cool writing tool that is 90% free. It also does the formatting, so it's a good alternative to Vellum or Atticus for those who haven't purchased those tools. So there's a lot of things that Reedsy does at this point, which always makes it hard for me to describe what we do. Jo: But you generally serve writers. That's probably the crux of it. Ricardo: Exactly, yes. We're mostly at the production stage. The thing we say is we help authors make beautiful books, right? That's a little bit the tagline that applies to 90% of what we do, though we also help a little bit with the marketing side of things. Jo: And then just tell people where your accent is from. Ricardo: So I'm half French, half Italian from my parents, and I was born in Spain. So depending on my mood and the moment, it might be anywhere from French, Italian, Spanish. It's anyone's guess, really, at this point. Jo: Yes, exactly. You've been part of the indie author ecosystem, as you said, since 2014. You're often at the author conferences, and you stay abreast of everything that's going on. So what are the biggest changes you've seen in the industry since you started out? Like you said, you guys came from business school. You chose to come into the industry at a particular point, and yet things have changed. So what do you think are the biggest changes, and how have you seen authors adapt? Ricardo: It's crazy, the amount of things that happened in the past 10 years. Obviously we came into the industry as a result of Amazon launching Kindle Direct Publishing, and then the Kindle Store becoming one of the number one places where people buy books. That's what enabled self-publishing in the first place as an industry, and obviously we wouldn't exist without self-publishing being a thing. But then I think probably one of the biggest changes that happened was the introduction of Kindle Unlimited and various other subscription models. Perhaps as a response to that, afterwards, I would say direct sales is the other massive change that happened in the industry. The ability for authors to sell direct to their readers via their websites, or running Kickstarters, or basically the ability to reach your customers directly. Now, obviously, artificial intelligence is probably the biggest change of them all, not just in publishing, across every industry, but of course it's going to affect publishing very strongly, or it has already started making big waves. So I would say those are the three main changes that we've seen happening in the industry. Jo: Just interestingly, given that you're French, Italian, Spanish, European— Has the pace of change been the same in mainland Europe? Because you and I have also met up at European conferences, but I just get the sense that each individual European country, the UK included, as I include the UK in Europe, goes at a different speed. Ricardo: No, they definitely do. Our market at Reedsy is all in English. We only have an English website, and I would say 70% of our market is US, then 15% UK, and then Australia, New Zealand, et cetera. We do have clients in continental Europe, but they're mostly going to be American or British expats. A lot of retired people who write books and use Reedsy services. I think the main reason for that is that self-publishing as an industry hasn't really grown in Spain, France, Italy the way that it's grown in the US and the UK, probably because these are countries where book buying habits are a lot more traditional. So all my friends from high school and university in France, they all buy books, they all buy paper books. They all buy from bookstores. They don't really buy from Amazon that much. They love the smell of paper, all these sorts of things. So obviously that makes it harder for indie authors in those countries because they cannot place their books in the places where people buy them, which is traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores, or at least it's much harder. So there is an indie movement in those countries, but it's much smaller. I would say Germany is maybe the exception in Europe, where I've seen more and more full-time indie authors, but I don't think it's a market that's comparable even to the UK. Jo: Interesting. Okay, so let's go to marketing, because you love marketing, you have a newsletter about it, and you have a book, How to Market a Book, same title as mine, and we've found each other in our Also Boughts over the years. You have, however, updated yours several times. 2025 was your last update. Mine was 2016, so yours is definitely the most up-to-date one. So what are your thoughts on how authors can reach readers now? And let's split this into two. Let's start with some tips for new authors who just have maybe one book and are really just starting out. Ricardo: Yes, first of all, sorry for stealing your title. Jo: Oh, you know, it's never been a problem. Ricardo: We were trying to come up with something… I know, I know, I know. But still, we wanted something more original, and then we realised that for SEO purposes, that's the title we should really go for. The good thing is, if you search “how to market a book” on pretty much any retailer, you're going to find your book or mine in any order really, but those are going to be the top two books to this day, thankfully, so I'm good with that. I think in terms of marketing tips for new authors who have just the one book, I'd say, despite all the changes in the industry, the basics of marketing still stay the same. One of my big mantras when it comes to marketing is that product is more important than marketing. So having a great book is going to be more important, in my opinion, than being a great marketer. Having a great product. By that, I generally don't talk about literary value or prose or anything like that, just because I'm not a book critic. I'm not an editor. My opinion on whether a book is good or not is worth zero. From a marketing standpoint, for me, a good book is one that resonates with its intended audience. So the first step for newer authors is to basically figure out who they wrote this book for, right? Have an idea of who their target market is. A great way to do that, without entering into marketing jargon like proto-personas and stuff like that, is to think in terms of comp titles, comparable titles. I think that's probably the base of any marketing, whether traditional publishing houses or indie authors, to think, “Okay, which other books out there are similar to mine?” If your book is completely unique, you have, I would say, 99.9% chance of not selling, because your market doesn't exist, and 0.01% chance of creating your own market and completely dominating it, right? So being unique is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would say 99% of the time, it is. Obviously being unique within an existing niche, within an existing market, that's completely different, but you need to work on some comparable titles. So I would say that's where I would start, and that's one of the things that AI is great at. If you even just plug in your book into an AI chat that has enough context, if you're comfortable doing that of course, or if you plug in a synopsis, like a long synopsis, you can basically ask the AI chats, “Okay, what would be some comp titles?” Either you'll have heard of those books, and you'll think, “Okay, they're good comps,” or you may not have heard of them, in which case I would really recommend buying them and reading them and seeing whether they're comps or not. I think that's where marketing starts. Jo: Yes, and we might come back to that for book discoverability. Well, let's just talk about it now, because I now pretty much use Claude for discovering books as well. I just find that the Amazon search, for nonfiction it works really well, right? As you said, if you want to learn how to market a book, you just search “how to market a book”, and our books are very well titled for that. But for fiction, it's so difficult to find new books and comp titles, especially if you don't write in a clear genre, which I don't. I know lots of people do. So we're writing cross-genre. So in terms of book discoverability, I know you've been looking into SEO for books and all of that. What are your thoughts on how authors can more effectively have their books surfaced if people are using the AIs for finding books? Ricardo: That's a very big topic. That's one of my favourite topics right now. That's what I talk about in my marketing newsletter, and I want to start a Substack on the topic as well, because I think it is the future of book discoverability. As you say, search on Amazon isn't great, and if it's not great on Amazon, you don't even want to imagine on Google Play, Kobo, all these sorts of places, right? If you search on Kobo or Apple Books or Google Play for witch cozy mysteries, the top 10 books are going to have exactly “witch cozy mystery” in the title or the subtitle or the series title, right? Jo: Yes. Ricardo: Search is very simple on those sites, so it's very easy to game, but it's terrible as an experience for readers. So I do think that a big part of search is going to move to AI, and now you have Rufus within Amazon itself that appears as a chatbot and encourages you to talk with it, to ask for recommendations. In the beginning Rufus was really terrible, but now I recommend authors play with it. In general, I recommend when it comes to AI discoverability that authors play with all the AI search tools. So it's going to be Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Rufus within Amazon. Just like we talked about comp titles, right, ask for something like, “What would you recommend for fans of this book? Which other books would you recommend?” Or if you're looking for something specific that describes your book, what books would you recommend on… I think one of your examples was fiction around masonry or something like that, right? Jo: I always say, for example, if you ask for action adventure thrillers on pretty much anywhere, you're going to get 20 books by male authors. For those of us who are female authors, but also who have female main characters, you can then be far more granular. That's just not something that necessarily works on Amazon. So, action adventure thrillers with female protagonists written by female indie authors, which is very specific. That will work in AI, whereas that definitely won't work on Amazon. Ricardo: Exactly. So one of the great things about AI search, and terrible things at the same time, is that the concept of keyword is lost, right? So we title our books How to Market a Book because the keyword that people would search for is “how to market a book”, or “book marketing for authors”. Those were the two keywords that had the biggest search volume if we looked at Google Keyword Planner, or any search tools that give you keyword volume. When it comes to AI search, since it's conversational, and it's very personalised, and it can go as niche as you want, keywords are going to disappear, and search volume as a metric is going to disappear. The search you just told me about, maybe there are 10 people who are going to run it exactly. Most people are going to run variations of that. Since you can go as granular as you want, it's going to be very long phrases, very long sentences. So the whole concept of keywords, search volume, SEO, is going to disappear in favour of what some people call GEO, generative engine optimisation, AIO, AI optimisation, AI search optimisation. There's a bunch of names for it, but it is a different discipline. It still works on the basis of Google SEO because what most of these search engines will do is they're going to search the internet, right? They've been trained on a lot of information, but not all of that information is current. Most of these models have been trained on documents and web pages before 2021. That's why when you used the very early versions of ChatGPT, and you asked it about current events or current books, it didn't find it. It didn't have that information. Now all these models have the ability to search the web, and they do that really effectively. So the first thing they're going to do if you run a search like that is they're going to run dozens of different searches on Google or a similar search engine. Action thriller books with female protagonists. Action thriller books with female protagonists by indie authors. Action thriller books by indie authors. They're going to create what I call a corpus, so a massive document of information with candidates, books that probably meet those criteria that they have found through regular web searches. Then they're going to go through all those books and determine which are the most relevant to recommend, and they'll return with that. Then they'll usually have a verification layer as well, which is, okay, I have these five books that I want to recommend to this user, but I just want to make sure first that they are written by indie authors, that they do have a female protagonist, et cetera. And if I'm not able to verify that, I'll flag it in my answer to them. So there are these three layers. Web search, then ranking of the book candidates, and finally a verification layer, and then they serve you the answer. Obviously, that's really powerful. If that's the way that search is headed, which I firmly believe, then we as authors need to learn how to get our books in there. Jo: Yes. It's so interesting, and I do this all the time. Really niche stuff, like a thriller about anatomical Venuses, which are these models from anatomy museums and stuff like that, with an edge of the supernatural. What is brilliant is that you can find the books that come up. I actually got one that I read and reviewed, and it was fantastic. So I love the more granular thing, but we're really in the very long tail now, right? It feels like you can write a very nuanced book, and it will be surfaced, but only by a few people. So do we have to write our books and then try to not even retrofit them in the way that we used to? We used to try and figure out the seven keywords and all of that kind of thing, and now I almost feel like we just get to be grownups, where you just get to write the book and put it out there, and these things are more intelligent than the search terms. Ricardo: Yes, absolutely. I think in terms of the variety of books that are going to be read and discovered, that's amazing. A little bit like the whole indie publishing movement was amazing, because if you remove the traditional publishing gatekeepers, then suddenly zombie books aren't dead anymore. Zombies are alive again. They've… Jo: Come to life. Ricardo: They've come alive, and so you get a bunch of zombie books again. It's not a small niche audience. It's actually a pretty big niche audience that loves zombie books, and suddenly they have those to consume. This is a little bit similar on a much, much bigger and more granular scale, because anyone can find exactly the kind of book that they're looking for, with the tropes they want, with the type of characters they want, with the type of author they want, and you can basically use any kind of filter. So for discoverability on the side of the reader, that's great. For the authors, it doesn't mean that you can just write whatever you want and then rest, and readers will find them. Because your books still need to have generated a certain internet footprint and a certain review footprint in order to become interesting or recommendable to AI search engines, right? Unless you're the only book that an AI search engine can recommend for that specific search, and yours was very specific, so it might have been the only one. If there are other candidates, the AI search engines are pretty smart. They're going to recommend the candidates that have more reviews, better reviews, or are more famous, that have more, when I talk about internet footprint, more pages talking about them on the internet. That's for me the big finding I've seen. The more pages you have on the internet talking about your book, so that could be book review sites, that could be Goodreads lists, Listopia lists, anywhere on the internet where your book is mentioned, that creates a footprint for it. The more footprints, the more famous your book looks to AI search engines, and so the more worthy of recommendations it is to them. Jo: Yes, and this is one reason why I now ask people, especially when you sell direct, or say you have a Kickstarter and you want reviews, I ask people if they can review on Goodreads. Obviously Goodreads is owned by Amazon, but it is far more searchable by the bots than Amazon is. I sometimes find that Amazon gets blocked. Or Amazon blocks some of the bots, let's put it that way. They might change over time. They own 15% of Anthropic or something. But Goodreads I feel like does get indexed, and I'm not willing to engage on Reddit. I know Reddit is another popular one. Just be very clear on social media, because some people think, oh, I just need loads of influencers to talk about my book, and that will impact the AIs. But I find that social media just almost isn't even there. Ricardo: It depends on which social media. For me, Reddit is a social medium, right? It's a very weird one, but it's obviously the number one social medium used by AI search engines, and it's pretty dodgy stuff with lots of conflicts of interest, because Google has a paid partnership with Reddit. I think Sam Altman has shares in Reddit. So both OpenAI and Google Gemini heavily rely on Reddit for their AI answers, right? If you ask anything from ChatGPT or Gemini, I'd say there are very high chances that in the sources and the citations of the answer, you're going to find Reddit, right? That goes for books as well. Every time you ask for book recommendations, Reddit is going to be big for those two AI search engines. Claude, it's a little bit different. They do have a little bit of a relationship with Reddit, but I don't think it's as big. I found that Claude relies heavily on Goodreads, not Reddit. To me, Goodreads is another social medium at the end of the day, right? It's not the kind of social medium we think of, like… Jo: It's not TikTok. Ricardo: It's not TikTok. TikTok is surfaced a little bit, but not that much. It might become more surfaced in the future, but right now what I've found is, it's really Reddit and Goodreads. Facebook, LinkedIn, but LinkedIn is big for nonfiction topics more than fiction, because there are just not a lot of fiction readers, sorry, talking about their favourite books on LinkedIn. They usually go to other places for that. Jo: Yes, it's really interesting. So obviously TikTok has its own BookTok thing, so some people are finding books on BookTok, and some people like me are finding books through asking Claude, and that's just my overwhelming feeling about the industry. We talked earlier about what's changed. When I started, so 2006, there wasn't even KDP, and then KDP arrives, then you came in 2014, and probably until maybe a few years after that, there was one way to self-publish. Then what's happened since is this kind of splintering. There are so many ways to self-publish. There are so many ways to reach readers. There are so many ways to market. So someone, for example, could sell direct on TikTok Shop, only market through TikTok, and you wouldn't even know that they existed over in another ecosystem, right? So do you feel like that's happened too, this total splintering? Ricardo: Absolutely. I think there are so many different ways in which you can reach your audience now and monetise it as well, that it's absolutely possible. We both know examples of authors who are only visible to their TikTok niche, right? I think the big difference is also monetisation, because earlier you also had different ways of becoming well-known. Like you had Facebook, you had potentially Twitter, back when it was Twitter. Various social media, word of mouth. But where people bought books was Amazon. So that was your monetisation. It was either selling your book on Amazon, or potentially getting KU reads after that when KU launched. Now you can sell on TikTok, you can sell direct, you can run Kickstarters, you can start a Patreon or Substack and make your money through there. There are pretty much infinite ways through which you can monetise your content as a creator. Most of those places will also have a discoverability engine built in, so you can not only sell through there and make money through there, but also grow an audience there. That's probably the biggest competition that Amazon has ever had to face, is this sort of splintering. For us authors and content creators in general, it's amazing, because it's a bunch of different opportunities. Jo: Yes, and I think probably that's circling back to marketing. As we've said, some things have changed, some things stay the same. Is the email list still the number one way to market, do you think, for authors who want a long-term career? Ricardo: I think so. It's just the one thing you really own that allows you to communicate with readers, right? Because even if you build a following on TikTok, TikTok can change. The things we said about Facebook 10 years ago, if you build your Facebook group, Facebook can change, and Facebook changed. Facebook destroyed the reach of pages, and now groups also aren't amazing, et cetera. So the same thing that happened to Facebook can happen to TikTok, can happen to any other social media. Substack is a bit of a hybrid because it is a newsletter, it is a mailing list, but it also has a discoverability engine built in. So I still wouldn't really go all in on Substack. The great advantage there is that you do own the emails, right? So you can move away from it at some point. For me, the email list is the one thing that you are completely in control of. Personally, the main thing I check is my emails every day. I spend more time in my inbox than anywhere else, and I think that's probably the case for most people. So I do think, despite the influx of mails that readers are getting in their inbox, I still think it's one of the most important marketing tools for authors. Jo: Yes, and I still remember when I started my list in December 2008, and I still have people on the list who've been with me that whole time, and have moved email list services several times as well. So I think that's important too. The care of that list too is so important. One of the things that I am annoyed about with Substack, I don't have a Substack, but when I follow some people's, it's always constantly trying to get you to sign up to other people's lists, trying to subscribe you to this or that or the other. I'm like, “That's so annoying.” Now I've found on all these email services they're trying to pair you with other creators and cross-promote and all of this. So it feels like even the email list is becoming a difficult place unless you really protect it. So just protecting your list, I think, and remembering that those are people. Those are people who've bought your books, or people who read your emails. Like people listening to this, these are humans. Sure, some bot might be looking at the transcript, but humans listening to this are individual humans with individual email lists. We tend to forget that, don't we, as you get a bigger list. You think about it as a big number, whereas it's still individual people. Ricardo: Yes, it becomes a number, it becomes metrics, the open rate, the click rate, and all that. But the great thing about email is that you get replies in your inbox. There you remember that they're actual human beings who write you back. I think for readers, the ability to write back to an author and get a response is just amazing, right? If you write to your favourite author and they write back to you, that's the best feeling ever as a reader. So I think email is still one of the best ways to turn your readers into fans and into super fans of your brand, by just interacting with them and answering them. Because yes, you can answer comments on TikTok, Facebook, and all those places, but it doesn't feel the same as an author answering you in your inbox, I feel. So you do get that ability to create a real connection with readers directly through email. Jo: Yes, and I think that trust and the reputation is so important. Just in terms of seeing the authors that you've seen over the years, like I said, you've been going to a lot of the author conferences. You know a lot of the authors in the industry. A lot of people will know you from events. But you've also seen authors come and go, and you've seen vendors come and go. Both of us have seen people arrive, and we'd be like, “Oh, yes, I wonder how long they're going to last.” Then some people do and some people don't. So what are some of the elements that you've noticed about the businesses that last more than a decade? Ricardo: I think they need to solve a genuine problem, or offer a genuinely better solution than one that already exists. I see a lot of businesses come in and they do what another vendor already does, without doing it necessarily better. Those businesses tend to disappear, or linger there, but you don't really hear about them again. When they solve a real need… I still remember when BookFunnel came out, and they've since become massive with one very, very basic thing, which is, “We will take care of delivering your ebook files to readers.” That's how they started, and that's how they became massive. To me at the time, I was like, “That seems like a very small problem,” because I can just email an ebook file. I didn't realise that it was so complicated for a lot of readers to upload files to their Kindle or other devices, and that having a service that takes care of that for you is just massively helpful. I realised that when I published my books, actually. So businesses that solve even micro or apparently very small problems, but they really solve them effectively, they stay. Others that surf on trends, they tend to disappear when the trend disappears. When there's a new marketing trend, and that trend stops working, then those businesses tend to go. Jo: Yes, and what about the authors who last? Because let's face it, most of us don't solve a problem in a different way. Maybe you could say we solve your entertainment problem in a different version to your last book. What about the authors who last long term? What have you noticed about them? Ricardo: Two things. So the first one… Maybe three things. First one is passion. I always say to people who are looking to start self-publishing, I always say that publishing in general is probably one of the worst ways to make money. It's awful. You can pick up any other occupation and it's probably going to be easier to make money. So writers who make a career do it because they need to write, because they have a passion for writing. So a lot of people who come into the industry thinking, “I've heard about all these self-publishing success stories. Surely I can write a book and I can market it. It's not that hard. So that's going to be a great way to make quick bucks,” those generally don't last, because they don't have that genuine passion. The first hurdle they're going to face—and there's going to be a bunch of them along the way—they're going to quit. The second thing is business sense, or business education, the basics of business, right? Thinking in terms of marketing, thinking in terms of who's my reader, unit economics. If I'm selling my books at $3.99, I shouldn't be spending a ton of money. If I just have one book at $3.99, I cannot afford to pay $5 on ads to generate a sale. So those kinds of basic economics or business knowledge, I think, if not a requirement, it's a massive plus. The third thing is resilience. The industry has changed a lot, as you mentioned. There are a bunch of ways now to reach an audience. There are a bunch of ways to make money. It can also be distracting, because you go to one of these conferences and you go back thinking, “Oh, I've got to create my own website, sell direct. I've got to launch my Substack. I have to use Claude Code for my ads,” and three more things, “and I have to set up my TikTok Shop and do TikTok Lives to sell books,” right? Jo: All of those by next week. That's why we go to the conference. Ricardo: Exactly. All those by next week, right? And during that one week after the conference, you have the energy to start implementing all those things, but afterwards you lose that energy and you go back to, “I just want to quit.” So you need to have some sort of resilience, and the business sense of, “Okay, I'm going to try this for the next six months, and I'm going to stick to it, and I'm going to see whether it works or not. And if it doesn't work, I'm not just going to despair. I'm going to try something else.” That goes for marketing tactics, but also goes for books. Most authors I know who make a living writing, they didn't get there with their first book or even their first series. A lot of times I see authors who write a couple of series, and those series do okay. They sell a little bit, but not much, and it doesn't afford them to quit their day job. Then suddenly, based on what they've learned with those first two series and what they've learned potentially going to conferences or listening to podcasts like this, et cetera, they write a third series that's a hit. That's a hit, and that's instantly much easier to market, and that's when they can afford to go full time and write full time, because they've found that sort of product market fit. And product market fit for me is the main thing for marketing in general and for authors in particular. Until you find that, everything is really difficult from a marketing perspective. But finding it usually requires writing more than one book and more than one series, because you're rarely going to get the big lottery ticket on the first try. Jo: Or ever. I think it's really important. I've never had a breakout book, but I've made good money every year. I think, and Hugh Howey said this, that the real story of self-publishing is not the people who make seven figures a year, it's the people who can go on a holiday once a year, or the people who can just put a bit towards their mortgage or whatever. So you may never have a breakout series. I think that's really important, too. Ricardo: That's true. Jo: That's true. You can just keep writing and make all right money and be what we call in the mid-list. Ricardo: Yes, but you've got to keep going. You've got to have that resilience to keep going, probably because it's your passion. Exactly. You're not chasing that seven figure series. You're writing because you need to write. Jo: Yes, and you can't stop, and you get the bug. I think when you're writing that first book, I'm not sure if people understand that you either get the bug or you don't, I think. You've written a couple of books now. Do you think you have the bug, or is it more about the business? Ricardo: I don't have the bug. I definitely don't have the bug. I would've kept writing otherwise. Jo: You're a technologist, right? Ricardo: Yes. I'm more of a technologist, more of a marketer. To write my first book, How to Market a Book, I actually had to write newsletters, because that I can manage, right? One newsletter a week. Now I don't even manage that. I send it once every two weeks when I can even manage that pace. But back then I did one newsletter a week, and that's how I wrote my first book. I then put all these newsletters together, and that was before the age of AI, so I couldn't just dump all that into ChatGPT and tell it, “Create me a book based on that.” I had to do it myself. Jo: Oh, terrible. Ricardo: Terrible, I know. The days when we had to work. No, but that was a really good experiment. The second book, Amazon Ads for Authors, I actually wrote it from scratch, and I didn't love the experience. I loved the finished product, I'm very proud of it, but I didn't enjoy the experience of writing it. Amazon Ads is not the most exciting topic in the world. Even for people like me, who actually enjoy Amazon Ads, it's not super exciting to write about. The fact of having to write that whole book from scratch, I didn't love the experience. So now I do want to write a third book at some point, but I think it'll probably be in the format of the first one. Like, when I finish my series of newsletters on AI search and AI discoverability, I might do a booklet or something around it, but we'll have to see. It's not my favourite thing. It's a good thing I don't need to. Good thing I'm not an author, basically. Jo: No, but I think that's really great to recognise. You actually have written books that support your business, and that is very common for nonfiction writers. That's completely normal for nonfiction authors. So I think that's another important thing for people to recognise, is that the reasons we write are different, the reasons we market are different, and we all have different approaches. As we wind up, and obviously you talked a bit there about how easy it is to generate books with AI, and that is probably one of the biggest things that people are worried about. Now, those of us like you and I have been talking about AI at conferences and things for years now. Neither of us are afraid of it, I think basically because both of us use it, and we're technologists, so we just get on with it. There is so much fear in the community. There's so much negativity. You mentioned Substack, and now they've integrated Pangram, which is renowned for false positives around what is written with AI, and so people are very worried. If we look forward and we look at the next decade, this is not going away. This is going to change a lot of things. So how should authors be thinking about AI, do you think, if they want to prepare for the next decade? Ricardo: I think they need to play around with it, because you and I know that until you actually use it, you don't realise what it's capable of. We've both had these moments of “Oh my God, I'm going to be out of a job,” or “Oh my God, this is incredible,” the kind of things it's able to do. You also realise by using it the things it's not great at, or the things it can be good at but needing a lot of human input. There are courses out there, there are books, there are a lot of things, but for me, the most important thing is to start playing around with it. So you can pick one specific topic to play around with. Either something that you've been meaning to get into for years and haven't done, or something that really annoys you. Looking at the results of your Facebook ads, for example. If you run Facebook ads in the first place, and when you log into your Meta dashboard you cannot make sense of it, take screenshots or download the data, feed it to an AI chat, and talk with it. One of my biggest tips when talking to AI chats is asking them questions rather than asking them for things to do. Because if you just feed it your advertising data and you tell it, “Tell me what I should do,” the chat has no context about what your ads are about, what your goal is, et cetera, et cetera. If you feed it just a screenshot and you say, “Here are my ads. I would like you to help me make sense of them. What do you need to know from me in order to help me with this?” Then it's going to start asking you questions. “Okay, what are you advertising?” They're books. “Okay, what kind of books? Where are you selling? Are your ads going straight to Amazon or retailers, or are they going to your website? If you sell direct, okay, are these conversion ads?” Et cetera, et cetera. So you build that context, and they can help you with it. So that's just one example, but I would pick one thing that you want to test AI with, with zero expectations. Don't expect that by the end of the week you'll have a full system for understanding your Meta ads thanks to AI. You might get to that or you might not, but at least you'll play with it and you'll understand its capabilities, and have a sort of understanding of how it works and how you can potentially use it for other things. I think that's the best way to adapt, because once you play with it, you start thinking. You're walking the dog and you're just thinking, “Ha, I could maybe use it for this thing or that other thing,” and that's how you progressively become more familiar with it. I think there are a lot of worries around AI, but as you say, it's there to stay. So far, I think I was looking at data this morning, and the unemployment rate in the US has stayed stable ever since ChatGPT was introduced two years ago. So there are a lot of narratives out there around how it's going to replace humans, it's going to replace jobs, et cetera, which it might do. I'm not great at predictions usually, but so far it hasn't. What it will definitely do, however, is completely change the way we work. Obviously AI was one of our big reckonings at Reedsy, because we run a marketplace. Our main business model is the marketplace, where authors come in and look for editors, for marketers, for cover designers, for translators, and some of these domains and services are being transformed by AI, right? AI translations are massive right now. We haven't really seen a decline at all on the Reedsy marketplace, but we're prepared for it. It might very well happen, but what we think is happening, or is going to happen, is professionals using AI tools to provide a better output or a faster output or a cheaper output, or all three of these things. So for example, we now have literary translators who say they're open to editing AI translations, right? So you can come in, you can have your book translated with AI, whichever tool or method you choose for that. Then if you want a set of human eyes on it, you can hire a literary translator who's open to working on an AI-translated manuscript, and that's obviously going to be much, much cheaper than paying 10 cents per word from scratch for a literary translator. I'm not necessarily recommending you completely bypass literary translators, or that you go this way, but you have options, right? You have options for different sets of budgets. I think all these human editors, narrators, translators, designers, et cetera, they're not going to disappear, but they might have to reinvent the way they work in the future. Jo: As we all are doing. As you say, for me mostly it's the business side, getting Claude to help me with business stuff. Like even bookkeeping. There are bills that we've all been paying for years that we can now maybe reduce, and reducing costs as well as increasing profit is obviously good business sense. So, interesting times. But just as we wrap up, what are you excited about in what's coming? How do you see Reedsy shaping up in the next decade? What is coming for you and Reedsy? Ricardo: We're really excited about the decade to come, because obviously 10 years for a startup is a long time. I think most startups after 10 years, the founders are gone. Jo: Yes. Ricardo: Or they've exited or they've sold or whatever. We've stayed, we're the same founders, and we're still as excited because I think we have new products, right? We're working on new things. As I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, Reedsy Studio, our writing tool, is probably one of the things we're most excited about, because first, it's getting adopted very fast. It has startup-like growth that we hadn't seen for other products in a long time, and it has very cool technology built in. We probably have a team of 10, 15 engineers now working full time on it and adding a lot of things. So we've added templates for plotting your book, with relationships within different characters and places and magic systems and things like that. We've added writing goals and writing statistics. We still have the free exports. One very cool thing we've added is real time collaboration. So just like Google Docs, you can write in real time with a co-author, or you can get an editor to work in there live with track changes. So you could have an editor working on chapter one while you're writing chapter three, for example. That kind of thing. It's really powerful technology, and that's one of the things we're really excited about for the future. A business, just like authors, we've got to reinvent ourselves. We've got to find ways to keep things exciting and keep motivated, and that is definitely one of them. When adoption goes along with it, then that's obviously super satisfying. Jo: Brilliant. So where can people find you and Reedsy online? Ricardo: So Reedsy you can find at reedsy.com, R-E-E-D-S-Y.com. And there you'll find the whole suite of tools and services. For me, you can find me mostly by email, as I mentioned. That's the one place I check consistently every day, and my email address is ricardo@reedsy.com. So again, R-E-E-D-S-Y.com and ricardo@reedsy.com. You can email me any questions you have about this episode, about AI book discoverability, about marketing, about Reedsy. I always try to answer every email I get, because I think when we started Reedsy, I really appreciated people like you, and some other agents and editors and authors we contacted who were influential in the industry, who actually answered us and took the time to do that. So now I try to answer every email I get, because I feel like we've been very lucky in the beginning to have those people answering our emails, so we should do the same. Jo: Oh, well, thanks so much for your time, Ricardo. That was great. Ricardo: Thank you, Jo. Thanks for having me again.The post Book Marketing, AI Book Discoverability, And Resilience, With Ricardo Fayet first appeared on The Creative Penn.

    Hard Factor
    Dog Meat Soup and Fang Fang | 8.18.26

    Hard Factor

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2026 43:19


    Episode 2018  Brought to you by our incredible sponsor:Ethos: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/hardfactor. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.  00:00:00 Timestamps 00:04:10 We take our first stab at the Lindsay Clancy case 00:10:00 New info on Eric Swalwell banging Fang Fang  00:16:05 Jon Ossoff make Trump banging White House aide Natalie Harp joke  00:22:10 North Koreans told to cool down during heat wave with dog meat soup 00:28:40 Woman gets parking ticket after dying in New Zealand parking lot  00:33:30 Man finds out McDonald's has 515 page personal profile on him For more head over to patreon.com/hardfactor for weekly bonus episodes and most importantly HAGFD! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast
    #424 | Think Someone's About To Be Carved

    Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2026 244:28


    On PlayStation 5 in the near future, you're going to be hacking, slashing, stabbing, and serrating your enemies with reckless abandon. For starters, the dangerously-clawed Wolverine emerges in September, along with a newly-announced special edition PS5 console, a couple of DualSense controllers, and even some plates for your existing hardware. (Plus, the previews are quite positive!) September also provides us with horroresque Halloween: The Game from IllFonic, which interestingly enough won't be released in Australia and New Zealand for the stupidest reason. Come October, hack-and-slash RPG Phantom Blade 0 joins the fray -- a long-in-development Chinese game that's getting its own State of Play imminently -- not to mention Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition, packing new single-player content galore alongside the return of the Katana-wielding Atsu. Other news this week includes a surprise PS3-era Lord of the Rings drop, insane data about Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders, and more. But we end, as we always do, with listener inquiries. Will Sony really eschew any sort of external disc drive for PlayStation 6, if only for backwards compatibility purposes? Why is visiting a new town in an RPG typically such an exciting experience? What would a "Digital Bill of Rights" look like? Is Dustin losing his Japanese language skills through atrophy? Timestamps: Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00 - Intro42:56 - Met-cha Chameleon47:49 - Sacred American Gladiator50:20 - 24 minutes53:49 - Almonds vs data centers1:07:26 - Phantom Blade Zero State of Play1:15:00 - Halloween The Game refused classification in Australia and New Zealand1:27:08 - Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition1:35:19 - Wolverine console plates and more1:43:56 - Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-released1:52:42 - New PS+ Game Catalog games2:01:00 - GTAVI's $100 version is the top seller2:14:29 - July's Top PSN Downloads2:17:35 - Spider-Man sales increase thanks to the movie2:20:20 - What We're Playing (Big Walk, Marvel Tokon, Gears of War E-Day, Spider-Man (2000), Beast of Reincarnation)2:59:54- Digital Bill of Rights3:10:07 - Playing PS5 discs on PS63:20:35 - Codes in boxes3:24:14 - RPG towns3:29:23 - Defending big companies3:39:48 - Game discipline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    Your Stupid Opinions
    Undercover Fast Food Spy, Foreign Toilet Sign Outrage, Backwards Cap & A Bob

    Your Stupid Opinions

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2026 69:40


    More of the funniest reviews on the internet! We read reviews for a Hardee's fast food restaurant, with "crunchy" floors, and weed smoking employees. An art gallery in New Zealand, where they will actually wrestle the balloon from a 3 year old's grip. An store in upstate New York, that is an area staple, but seems to be falling short, with an employee that you may consider an "opp" & much more!!   Join comedians James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman as they explore the most opinionated part of the internet: The Reviews Section! Subscribe, and we will see you every Monday with Your Stupid Opinions!! Dont forget to rate & review!!   Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for merch & more Check out James & Jimmie's other podcasts, Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!!

    Radiolab
    Nigel and the Real Gannet

    Radiolab

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2026 25:54


    In 2016, Chris Bell, a ranger with New Zealand's Department of Conservation, was the sole human inhabitant of a small island off the west coast of the country, called Mana Island. He was there to take care of the island's fragile and recovering ecosystem, including a colony of Australasian Gannets at the top of a high cliff overlooking the sea. But there was one catch. All but one of these striking seabirds were fake, made of concrete and paint.  This week on Radiolab, producer Annie McEwen tells us a love story about a rogue bird and what happens when the things we want for animals clash with what they seem to choose for themselves.  Special thanks to Melody Thomas and Kirsten Johnstone from Popsock Media, the New Zealand-based podcast company. Thanks also to Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt from The Burning Hell and Steven Lambke at You've Changed Records.  Visit Friends of Mana Island at https://manaisland.org.nz/ to learn more about conservation efforts on Mana Island. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Annie McEwen Produced by - Annie McEwen with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly and Edited by - Alex Neason EPISODE CITATIONS: Videos -  There are many Nigel-inspired songs and poems, find links to a few of them below: See Nigel with his concrete mate (https://zpr.io/kZZC9erwauCD) Nigel the Gannet song video by The Burning Hell (theburninghell.com) Nigel [w/ score] (https://zpr.io/t47J6VkqAXLj) by Angus Davison Nigel the Lonely Seabird (https://zpr.io/4gSSv5MX8xTa) by Daniel Henderson Nigel (https://zpr.io/FuLupaZG42sn) by Avem Nigel No Mates (https://zpr.io/hckrSSdBXKE9 ) by Dainius Kučinskas Nigel Gannet (https://zpr.io/kddxySdXqd3C) by Fred Pilcher Nigel (https://zpr.io/88HdTWRSd2UF) an Experimental Animated Short Film About a Lonely Gannet Literature -  Poetry inspired by Nigel the Gannet (https://zpr.io/xBiW9usvAkpy)   Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.