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It’s actually a good thing that some books push you to the edge of your ability to understand. But there’s no doubting the fact that dense, abstract and jargon-filled works can push you so far into the fog of frustration that you cannot blame yourself for giving up. But here’s the truth: You don’t have to walk away frustrated and confused. I’m going to share with you a number of practical strategies that will help you fill in the gaps of your reading process. Because that’s usually the real problem: It’s not your intelligence. Nor is it that the world is filled with books “above your level.” I ultimately don’t believe in “levels” as such. But as someone who taught reading courses at Rutgers and Saarland University, I know from experience that many learners need to pick up a few simple steps that will strengthen how they approach reading difficult books. And in this guide, you’ll learn how to read challenging books and remember what they say. I’m going to go beyond generic advice too. That way, you can readily diagnose: Why certain books feel so hard Use pre-reading tactics that prime your brain to deal with difficulties effectively Apply active reading techniques to lock in understanding faster Leverage accelerated learning tools that are quick to learn Use Artificial Intelligence to help convert tough convent into lasting knowledge without worrying about getting duped by AI hallucinations Whether you’re tacking philosophy, science, dense fiction or anything based primarily in words, the reading system you’ll learn today will help you turn confusion into clarity. By the end, even the most intimidating texts will surrender their treasures to your mind. Ready? Let’s break it all down together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HLbY4jsFg Why Some Books Feel “Too Hard” (And What That Really Means) You know exactly how it feels and so do I. You sit down with a book that people claim is a classic or super-important. But within a few pages, your brain fogs over and you’re completely lost. More often than not, through glazed eyes, you start to wonder… did this author go out of his or her way to make this difficult? Are they trying to show off with all these literary pyrotechnics? Or is there a deliberate conspiracy to confuse readers like me? Rest assured. These questions are normal and well worth asking. The difficulty you might feel is never arbitrary in my experience. But there’s also no “single origin” explanation for why some books feel easier than others. It’s almost always a combination of factors, from cognitive readiness, lived experience, emotions and your physical condition throughout the day. This means that understanding why individual texts resist your understanding needs to be conducted on a case-by-case basis so you can move towards mastering anything you want to read. Cognitive Load: The Brain’s Processing “Stop Sign” “Cognitive load” probably needs no definition. The words are quite intuitive. You start reading something and it feels like someone is piling heavy bricks directly on top of your brain, squishing everything inside. More specifically, these researchers explain that what’s getting squished is specifically your working memory, which is sometimes called short-term memory. In practical terms, this means that when a book suddenly throws a bunch of unfamiliar terms at you, your working memory has to suddenly deal with abstract concepts, completely new words or non-linear forms of logic. All of this increases your cognitive load, but it’s important to note that there’s no conspiracy. In Just Being Difficult: Academic Writing in the Public Arena, a variety of contributors admit that they often write for other specialists. Although it would be nice to always compose books and articles for general readers, it’s not laziness. They’re following the codes of their discipline, which involves shorthand to save everyone time. Yes, it can also signal group membership and feel like an intellectual wall if you’re new to this style, but it’s simply a “stop sign” for your brain. And wherever there are stop signs, there are also alternative routes. Planning Your Detour “Roadmap” Into Difficult Books Let me share a personal example by way of sharing a powerful technique for making hard books easier to read. A few years ago I decided I was finally going to read Kant. I had the gist of certain aspects of his philosophy, but a few pages in, I encountered so many unfamiliar terms, I knew I had to obey the Cognitive Load Stop Sign and take a step back. To build a roadmap into Kant, I searched Google in a particular way. Rather than a search term like, “Intro to Kant,” I entered this tightened command instead: Filetype:PDF syllabus Kant These days, you can ask an LLM in more open language to simply give you links to the syllabi of the most authoritative professors who teach Kant. I’d still suggest that you cross-reference what you get on Google, however. If you’re hesitant about using either Google or AI, it’s also a great idea to visit a librarian in person to help you. Or, you can read my post about using AI for learning with harming your memory to see if it’s time to update your approach. Narrowing Down Your Options One way or another, the reason to consult the world’s leading professors is that their syllabi will provide you with: Foundational texts Core secondary literature Commentaries from qualified sources Essential historical references Once you’ve looked over a few syllabi, look through the table of contents of a few books on Amazon or Google Books. Then choose: 1-2 foundational texts to read before the challenging target book you want to master 1-2 articles or companion texts to read alongside In this way, you’ve turned difficulty into a path, not an obstacle. Pre-Reading Strategies That Warm Up Your Reading Muscles A lot of the time, the difficulty people feel when reading has nothing to do with the book. It’s just that you’re diving into unfamiliar territory without testing the waters first. Here are some simple ways to make unfamiliar books much easier to get into. Prime Like a Pro To make books easier to read, you can perform what is often called “priming” in the accelerated learning community. It is also sometimes called “pre-reading” and as this research article discusses, its success has been well-demonstrated. The way I typically perform priming is simple. Although some books require a slight change to the pattern, I typically approach each new book by reading: The back cover The index The colophon page The conclusion or afterword The most interesting or relevant chapter The introduction The rest of the book Activate Prior Knowledge Sometimes I will use a skimming and scanning strategy after reading the index to quickly familiarize myself with how an author approaches a topic with which I’m already familiar. This can help raise interest, excitement and tap into the power of context-dependent memory. For example, I recently started reading Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. Since the Renaissance memory master Giordano Bruno comes up multiple times, I was able to draw up a kind of context map of the books themes by quickly going through those passages. Take a Picture Walk Barbara Oakley and Terence Sejnjowski share a fantastic strategy in Learning How to Learn. Before reading, simply go through a book and look at all the illustrations, tables, charts and diagrams. It seems like a small thing. But it gives your brain a “heads up” about upcoming visual information that you may need to process than prose. I used to find visual information like this difficult, but after I started taking picture walks, I’m now excited to read “towards” these elements. If still find them challenging to understand, I apply a tip I learned from Tony Buzan that you might like to try: Rather than struggle to interpret a chart or illustration, reproduce it in your own hand. Here’s an example of how I did this when studying spaced repetition: As a result, I learned the graph and its concepts quickly and have never forgotten it. Build a Pre-Reading Ritual That Fits You There’s no one-sized-fits-all strategy, so you need to experiment with various options. The key is to reduce cognitive load by giving your mind all kinds of ways of understanding what a book contains. If it helps, you can create yourself a checklist that you slip into the challenging books on your list. That way, you’ll have both a bookmark and a protocol as you develop your own pre-reading style. Active Reading Techniques That Boost Comprehension Active reading involves deliberately applying mental activities while reading. These can include writing in the margins of your books, questioning, preparing summaries and even taking well-time breaks between books. Here’s a list of my favorite active reading strategies with ideas on how you can implement them. Using Mnemonics While Reading On the whole, I take notes while reading and then apply a variety of memory techniques after. But to stretch my skills, especially when reading harder books, I start the encoding process earlier. Instead of just taking notes, I’ll start applying mnemonic images. I start early because difficult terms often require a bit more spaced repetition. To do this yourself, the key is to equip yourself with a variety of mnemonic methods, especially: The Memory Palace technique The Pegword Method The Major System The PAO System And in some cases, you may want to develop a symbol system, such as if you’re studying physics or programming. Once you have these mnemonic systems developed, you can apply them in real time. For example, if you come across names and dates, committing them to memory as you read can help you keep track of a book’s historical arc. This approach can be especially helpful when reading difficult books because authors often dump a lot of names and dates. By memorizing them as you go, you reduce the mental load of having to track it all. For even more strategies you can apply while reading, check out my complete Mnemonics Dictionary. Strategic Questioning Whether you take notes or memorize in real-time, asking questions as you go makes a huge difference. Even if you don’t come up with answers, continually interrogating the book will open up your brain. The main kinds of questions are: Evaluative questions (checking that the author uses valid reasoning and address counterarguments) Analytical questions (assessing exactly how the arguments unfold and questioning basic assumptions) Synthetic questions (accessing your previous knowledge and looking for connections with other books and concepts) Intention questions (interrogating the author’s agenda and revealing any manipulative rhetoric) One medieval tool for questioning you can adopt is the memory wheel. Although it’s definitely old-fashioned, you’ll find that it helps you rotate between multiple questions. Even if they are as simple as who, what, where, when, how and why questions, you’ll have a mental mnemonic device that helps ensure you don’t miss any of them. Re-reading Strategies Although these researchers seem to think that re-reading is not an effective strategy, I could not live without it. There are three key kinds of re-reading I recommend. Verbalize Complexity to Tame It The first is to simply go back and read something difficult to understand out loud. You’d be surprised how often it’s not your fault. The author has just worded something in a clunky manner and speaking the phrasing clarifies everything. Verbatim Memorization for Comprehension The second strategy is to memorize the sentence or even an entire passage verbatim. That might seem like a lot of work, but this tutorial on memorizing entire passages will make it easy for you. Even if verbatim memorization takes more work, it allows you to analyze the meaning within your mind. You’re no longer puzzling over it on paper, continuing to stretch your working memory. No, you’ve effectively expanded at least a part of your working memory by bypassing it altogether. You’ve ushered the information into long-term memory. I’m not too shy to admit that I have to do this sometimes to understand everything from the philosophy in Sanskrit phrases to relatively simple passages from Shakespeare. As I shared in my recent discussion of actor Anthony Hopkins’ memory, I couldn’t work out what “them” referred to in a particular Shakespeare play. But after analyzing the passage in memory, it was suddenly quite obvious. Rhythmical Re-reading The third re-reading strategy is something I shared years ago in my post detailing 11 reasons you should re-read at least one book per month. I find this approach incredibly helpful because no matter how good you get at reading and memory methods, even simple books can be vast ecosystems. By revisiting difficult books at regular intervals, you not only get more out of them. You experience them from different perspectives and with the benefit of new contexts you’ve built in your life over time. In other words, treat your reading as an infinite game and never assume that you’ve comprehended everything. There’s always more to be gleaned. Other Benefits of Re-reading You’ll also improve your pattern recognition by re-treading old territory, leading to more rapid recognition of those patterns in new books. Seeing the structures, tropes and other tactics in difficult books opens them up. But without regularly re-reading books, it can be difficult to perceive what these forms are and how authors use them. To give you a simple example of a structure that appears in both fiction and non-fiction, consider in media res, or starting in the middle. When you spot an author using this strategy, it can immediately help you read more patiently. And it places the text in the larger tradition of other authors who use that particular technique. For even more ideas that will keep your mind engaged while tackling tough books, feel free to go through my fuller article on 7 Active Reading Strategies. Category Coloring & Developing Your Own Naming System For Complex Material I don’t know about you, but I do not like opening a book only to find it covered in highlighter marks. I also don’t like highlighting books myself. However, after practicing mind mapping for a few years, I realized that there is a way to combine some of its coloring principles with the general study principles of using Zettelkasten and flashcards. Rather than passively highlighting passages that seem interesting at random, here’s an alternative approach you can take to your next tour through a complicated book. Category Coloring It’s often helpful to read with a goal. For myself, I decided to tackle a hard book called Gödel Escher Bach through the lens of seven categories. I gave each a color: Red = Concept Green = Process Orange = Fact Blue = Historical Context Yellow = Person Purple = School of Thought or Ideology Brown = Specialized Terminology Example Master Card to the Categorial Color Coding Method To emulate this method, create a “key card” or “master card” with your categories on it alongside the chosen color. Use this as a bookmark as you read. Then, before writing down any information from the book, think about the category to which it belongs. Make your card and then apply the relevant color. Obviously, you should come up with your own categories and preferred colors. The point is that you bring the definitions and then apply them consistently as you read and extract notes. This will help bring structure to your mind because you’re creating your own nomenclature or taxonomy of information. You are also using chunking, a specific mnemonic strategy I’ve written about at length in this post on chunking as a memory tool. Once you’re finished a book, you can extract all the concepts and memorize them independently if you like. And if you emulate the strategy seen on the pictured example above, I’ve included the page number on each card. That way, I can place the cards back in the order of the book. Using this approach across multiple books, you will soon spot cross-textual patterns with greater ease. The catch is that you cannot allow this technique to become activity for activity’s sake. You also don’t want to wind up creating a bunch of informational “noise.” Before capturing any individual idea on a card and assigning it to a category, ask yourself: Why is this information helpful, useful or critical to my goal? Will I really use it again? Where does it belong within the categories? If you cannot answers these questions, either move on to the next point. Or reframe the point with some reflective thinking so that you can contextualize it. This warning aside, it’s important not to let perfectionism creep into your life. Knowing what information matters does take some practice. To speed up your skills with identifying critical information, please read my full guide on how to find the main points in books and articles. Although AI can certainly help these days, you’ll still need to do some work on your own. Do Not Let New Vocabulary & Terminology Go Without Memorization One of the biggest mistakes I used to make, even as a fan of memory techniques, slowed me down much more than necessary. I would come across a new term, look it up, and assume I’d remember it. Of course, the next time I came across it, the meaning was still a mystery. But when I got more deliberate, I not only remembered more words, but the knowledge surrounding the unfamiliar terms also stuck with greater specificity. For example, in reading The Wandering Mind by Jamie Kreiner, memorizing the ancient Greek word for will or volition (Prohairesis) pulled many more details about why she was mentioning it. Lo and behold, I started seeing the word in more places and connecting it to other ancient Greek terms. Memorizing those as well started to create a “moat of meaning,” further protecting a wide range of information I’d been battling. Understanding Why Vocabulary Blocks Comprehension The reason why memorizing words as you read is so helpful is that it helps clear out the cognitive load created by pausing frequently to look up words. Even if you don’t stop to learn a new definition, part of your working memory gets consumed by the lack of familiarity. I don’t always stop to learn new definitions while reading, but using the color category index card method you just discovered, it’s easy to organize unfamiliar words while reading. That way they can be tidily memorized later. I have a full tutorial for you on how to memorize vocabulary, but here’s a quick primer. Step One: Use a System for Capturing New Words & Terms Whether you use category coloring, read words into a recording app or email yourself a reminder, the key is to capture as you go. Once your reading session is done, you can now go back to the vocabulary list and start learning it. Step Two: Memorize the Terms I personally prefer the Memory Palace technique. It’s great for memorizing words and definitions. You can use the Pillar Technique with the word at the top and the definition beneath it. Or you can use the corners for the words and the walls for the definitions. Another idea is to photograph the cards you create and important them into a spaced repetition software like Anki. As you’ll discover in my complete guide to Anki, there are several ways you can combine Anki with a variety of memory techniques. Step Three: Use the Terms If you happened to catch an episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast back when I first learned Prohairesis I mentioned it often. This simple habit helps establish long-term recall, reflection and establishes the ground for future recognition and use. Expand Understanding Using Video & Audio Media When I was in university, I often had to ride my bike across Toronto to borrow recorded lectures on cassette. Given the overwhelming tsunamis of complex ideas, jargon and theoretical frameworks I was facing, it was worth it. Especially since I was also dealing with the personal problems I shared with you in The Victorious Mind. Make no mistake: I do not believe there is any replacement for reading the core books, no matter how difficult they might be. But there’s no reason not to leverage the same ideas in multiple formats to help boost your comprehension and long-term retention. Multimedia approaches are not just about knowledge acquisition either. There have been many debates in the magical arts community that card magicians should read and not rely on video. But evidence-based studies like this one show that video instruction combined with reading written instructions is very helpful. The Science Behind Multi-Modal Learning I didn’t know when I was in university, or when I was first starting out with memdeck card magic that dual coding theory existed. This model was proposed by Allan Paivio, who noticed that information is processed both verbally and non-verbally. Since then, many teachers have focused heavily on how to encourage students to find the right combination of reading, visual and auditory instructional material. Here are some ideas that will help you untangle the complexity in your reading. How to Integrate Multimedia Without Overload Forgive me if this is a bit repetitive, but to develop flow with multiple media, you need to prime the brain. As someone who has created multiple YouTube videos, I have been stubborn about almost always including introductions. Why? Go Through the Intros Like a Hawk Because without including a broad overview of the topic, many learners will miss too many details. And I see this in the comments because people ask questions that are answered throughout the content and flagged in the introductions. So the first step is to be patient and go through the introductory material. And cultivate an understanding that it’s not really the material that is boring. It’s the contemporary issues with dopamine spiking that make you feel impatient. The good news is that you can possibly reset your dopamine levels so you’re better able to sit through these “priming” materials. One hack I use is to sit far away from my mouse and keep my notebook in hand. If I catch myself getting antsy, I perform a breathing exercise to restore focus. Turn on Subtitles When you’re watching videos, you can help increase your engagement by turning on the subtitles. This is especially useful in jargon-heavy video lessons. You can pause and still see the information on the screen for easier capture when taking notes. When taking notes, I recommend jotting down the timestamp. This is useful for review, but also for attributing citations later if you have to hand in an assignment. Mentally Reconstruct After watching a video or listening to a podcast on the topic you’re mastering, take a moment to review the key points. Try to go through them in the order they were presented. This helps your brain practice mental organization by building a temporal scaffold. If you’ve taken notes and written down the timestamps, you can easily check your accuracy. Track Your Progress For Growth & Performance One reason some people never feel like they’re getting anywhere is that they have failed to establish any points of reference. Personally, this is easy for me to do. I can look back to my history of writing books and articles or producing videos and be reminded of how far I’ve come at a glance. Not only as a writer, but also as a reader. For those who do not regularly produce content, you don’t have to start a blog or YouTube channel. Just keep a journal and create a few categories of what skills you want to track. These might include: Comprehension Retention Amount of books read Vocabulary growth Critical thinking outcomes Confidence in taking on harder books Increased tolerance with frustration when reading challenges arise You can use the same journal to track how much time you’ve spent reading and capturing quick summaries. Personally, I wish I’d started writing summaries sooner. I really only got started during grad school when during a directed reading course, a professor required that I had in a summary for every book and article I read. I never stopped doing this and just a few simple paragraph summaries has done wonders over the years for my understanding and retention. Tips for Overcoming Frustration While Reading Difficult Books Ever since the idea of “desirable difficulty” emerged, people have sought ways to help learners overcome emotional responses like frustration, anxiety and even shame while tackling tough topics. As this study shows, researchers and teachers have found the challenge difficult despite the abundance of evidence showing that being challenged is a good thing. Here are some strategies you can try if you continue to struggle. Embrace Cognitive Discomfort As we’ve discussed, that crushing feeling in your brain exists for a reason. Personally, I don’t think it ever goes away. I still regularly pick up books that spike it. The difference is that I don’t start up a useless mantra like, “I’m not smart enough for this.” Instead, I recommend you reframe the experience and use the growth mindset studied by Carol Dweck, amongst others. You can state something more positive like, “This book is a bit above my level, but I can use tactics and techniques to master it.” I did that very recently with my reading of The Xenotext, parts of which I still don’t fully understand. It was very rewarding. Use Interleaving to Build Confidence I rotate through draining books all the time using a proven technique called interleaving. Lots of people are surprised when I tell them that I rarely read complex and challenging books for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. But I do it because interleaving works. Which kinds of books can you interleave? You have choices. You can either switch in something completely different, or switch to a commentary. For example, while recently reading some heavy mathematical theories about whether or not “nothing” can exist, I switched to a novel. But back in university, I would often stick within the category while at the library. I’d read a core text by a difficult philosopher, then pick up a Cambridge Companion and read an essay related to the topic. You can also interleave using multimedia sources like videos and podcasts. Interleaving also provides time for doing some journaling, either about the topic at hand or some other aspect of your progress goals. Keep the Big Picture in Mind Because frustration is cognitively training, it’s easy to let it drown out your goals. That’s why I often keep a mind map or some other reminder on my desk, like a couple of memento mori. It’s also possible to just remember previous mind maps you’ve made. This is something I’m doing often at the moment as I read all kinds of boring information about managing a bookshop for my Memory Palace bookshop project first introduced in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utcJfeQZC2c It’s so easy to get discouraged by so many rules and processes involved in ordering and selling books, that I regularly think back to creating this mind map with Tony Buzan years ago. In case my simple drawings on this mind map for business development doesn’t immediately leap out at you with its meanings, the images at the one o’clock-three o’clock areas refer to developing a physical Memory Palace packed with books on memory and learning. Developing and keeping a north star in mind will help you transform the process of reading difficult books into a purposeful adventure of personal development. Even if you have to go through countless books that aren’t thrilling, you’ll still be moving forward. Just think of how much Elon Musk has read that probably wasn’t all that entertaining. Yet, it was still essential to becoming a polymath. Practice Seeing Through The Intellectual Games As you read harder and harder books, you’ll eventually come to realize that the “fluency” some people have is often illusory. For example, some writers and speakers display a truly impressive ability to string together complex terminology, abstract references and fashionable ideas of the day in ways that sound profound. Daniel Dennett frequently used a great term for a lot of this verbal jujitsu that sounds profound but is actually trivial. He called such flourishes “deepities.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-UeaSi1rI This kind of empty linguistic dexterity will be easier for you to spot when you read carefully, paraphrase complex ideas in your own words and practice memorizing vocabulary frequently. When you retain multiple concepts and practice active questioning in a large context of grounded examples and case studies, vague claims will not survive for long in your world. This is why memory training is about so much more than learning. Memorization can equip you to think independently and bring clarity to fields that are often filled with gems, despite the fog created by intellectual pretenders more interested in word-jazz than actual truth. Using AI to Help You Take On Difficult Books As a matter of course, I recommend you use AI tools like ChatGPT after doing as much reading on your own as possible. But there’s no mistaking that intentional use of such tools can help you develop greater understanding. The key is to avoid using AI as an answer machine or what Nick Bostrom calls an “oracle” in his seminal book, Superintelligence. Rather, take a cue from Andrew Mayne, a science communicator and central figure at OpenAI and host of their podcast. His approach centers on testing in ways that lead to clarity of understanding and retention as he uses various mnemonic strategies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlzD_6Olaqw Beyond his suggestions, here are some of my favorite strategies. Ask AI to Help Identify All Possible Categories Connected to a Topic A key reason many people struggle to connect ideas is simply that they haven’t developed a mental ecosystem of categories. I used to work in libraries, so started thinking categorically when I was still a teenager. But these days, I would combine how traditional libraries are structured with a simple prompt like: List all the possible categories my topic fits into or bridges across disciplines, historical frameworks and methodologies. Provide the list without interpretation or explanation so I can reflect. A prompt like this engineers a response that focuses on relationships and lets your brain perform the synthetic thinking. Essentially, you’ll be performing what some scientists call schema activation, leading to better personal development outcomes. Generate Lists of Questions To Model Exceptional Thinkers Because understanding relies on inquiry, it’s important to practice asking the best possible questions. AI chat bots can be uniquely useful in this process provided that you explicitly insist that it helps supply you excellent questions without any answers. You can try a prompt like: Generate a list of questions that the world’s most careful thinkers in this field would ask about this topic. Do not provide any answers. Just the list of questions. Do this after you’ve read the text and go through your notes with fresh eyes. Evaluate the material with questions in hand, ideally by writing out your answers by hand. If you need your answers imported into your computer, apps can now scan your handwriting and give you text file. Another tip: Don’t be satisfied with the first list of questions you get. Ask the AI to dig deeper. You can also ask the AI to map the questions into the categories you previously got help identifying. For a list of questions you can put into your preferred chat bot, feel free to go through my pre-AI era list of philosophical questions. They are already separated by category. Use AI to Provide a Progress Journal Template If you’re new to journaling, it can be difficult to use the technique to help you articulate what you’re reading and why the ideas are valuable. And that’s not to mention working out various metrics to measure your growth over time. Try a prompt like this: Help me design a progress journal for my quest to better understand and remember difficult books. Include sections for me to list my specific goals, vocabulary targets, summaries and various milestones I identify. Make it visual so I can either copy it into my own print notebook or print out multiple copies for use over time. Once you have a template you’re happy to experiment with, keep it visible in your environment so you don’t forget to use it. Find Blind Spots In Your Summaries Many AIs have solid reasoning skills. As a result, you can enter your written summaries and have the AI identify gaps in your knowledge, blind spots and opportunities for further reading. Try a prompt like: Analyze this summary and identify any blind spots, ambiguities in my thinking or incompleteness in my understanding. Suggest supplementary reading to help me fill in any gaps. At the risk of repetition, the point is that you’re not asking for the summaries. You’re asking for assessments that help you diagnose the limits of your understanding. As scientists have shown, metacognition, or thinking about your thinking can help you see errors much faster. By adding an AI into the mix, you’re getting feedback quickly without having to wait for a teacher to read your essay. Of course, AI outputs can be throttled, so I find it useful to also include a phrase like, “do not throttle your answer,” before asking it to dig deeper and find more issues. Used wisely, you will soon see various schools of thought with much greater clarity, anticipate how authors make their moves and monitor your own blind spots as you read and reflect. Another way to think about the power of AI tools is this: They effectively mirror human reasoning at a species wide level. You can use them to help you mirror more reasoning power by regularly accessing and practicing error detection and filling in the gaps in your thinking style. Why You Must Stop Abandoning Difficult Books (At Least Most of the Time) Like many people, I’m a fan of Scott Young’s books like Ultralearning and Get Better at Anything. He’s a disciplined thinker and his writing helps people push past shallow learning in favor of true and lasting depth. However, he often repeats the advice that you should stop reading boring books. In full transparency, I sometimes do this myself. And Young adds a lot of context to make his suggestion. But I limit abandoning books as much as possible because I don’t personally find Young’s argument that enjoyment and productivity go together. On the contrary, most goals that I’ve pursued have required fairly intense periods of delaying gratification. And because things worth accomplishing generally do require sacrifice and a commitment to difficulty, I recommend you avoid the habit of giving up on books just because they’re “boring” or not immediately enjoyable. I’ll bet you’ll enjoy the accomplishment of understanding hard books and conquering their complexity far more in the end. And you’ll benefit more too. Here’s why I think so. The Hidden Cost of Abandoning Books You’ve Started Yes, I agree that life is short and time is fleeting. But if you get into the habit of abandoning books at the first sign of boredom, it can quickly become your default habit due to how procedural memory works. In other words, you’re given your neurons the message that it’s okay to escape from discomfort. That is a very dangerous loop to throw yourself into, especially if you’re working towards becoming autodidactic. What you really need is to develop the ability to stick with complexity, hold ambiguous and contradictory issues in your mind and fight through topic exhaustion. Giving up on books on a routine basis? That’s the opposite of developing expertise and resilience. The AI Risk & Where Meaning is Actually Found We just went through the benefits of AI, so you shouldn’t have issues. But I regularly hear from people and have even been on interviews where people use AI to summarize books I’ve recomended. This is dangerous because the current models flatten nuance due to how they summarize books based on a kind of “averaging” of what its words predictability mean. Although they might give you a reasonable scaffold of a book’s structure, you won’t get the friction created by how authors take you through their thought processes. In other words, you’ll be using AI models that are not themselves modeling the thinking that reading provides when you grind your way through complex books. The Treasure of Meaning is Outside Your Comfort Zone Another reason to train for endurance is that understanding doesn’t necessarily arrive while reading a book or even a few weeks after finishing it. Sometimes the unifying insights land years later. But if you don’t read through books that seem to be filled with scattered ideas, you cannot gain any benefit from them. Their diverse points won’t consolidate in your memory and certainly won’t connect with other ideas later. So I suggest you train your brain to persist as much as possible. By drawing up the support of the techniques we discussed today and a variety of mnemonic support systems, you will develop persistence and mine more gold from everything you read. And being someone who successfully mines for gold and can produce it at will is the mark of the successful reading. Not just someone who consumes information efficiently, but who can repeatedly connect and transform knowledge year after year due to regularly accumulating gems buried in the densest and most difficult books others cannot or will not read. Use Struggle to Stimulate Growth & You Cannot Fail As you’ve seen, challenging books never mean that you’re not smart enough. It’s just a matter of working on your process so that you can tackle new forms of knowledge. And any discomfort you feel is a signal that a great opportunity and personal growth adventure awaits. By learning how to manage cognitive load, fill in the gaps in your background knowledge and persist through frustration, you can quickly become the kind of reader who seeks out complexity instead of flinching every time you see it. Confusion has now become a stage along the path to comprehension. And if you’re serious about mastering increasingly difficult material, understanding and retaining it, then it’s time to upgrade your mental toolbox. Start now by grabbing my Free Memory Improvement Course: Inside, you’ll discover: The Magnetic Memory Method for creating powerful Memory Palaces How to develop your own mnemonic systems for encoding while reading Proven techniques that deepen comprehension, no matter how abstract or complex your reading list is And please, always remember: The harder the book, the greater rewards. And the good news is, you’re now more than ready to claim them all.

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The Drive explained why they think the week of the Super Bowl doesn't generate the same buzz it did in the past.

Most investors think laundromats are boring and outdated. The truth is, when they're run correctly, they can produce serious cash flow that rivals (and often beats) traditional rental properties. In this episode, Justin and Ashley Eaton break down exactly how a single self-serve laundromat can generate $30,000+ per month in revenue, what the real margins look like, and why this business model has quietly become one of the most overlooked income plays in today's market. We walk through a real case study where a “zombie mat” was purchased for $25,000, fully renovated, modernized with card-based systems and automation, and rebuilt into a high-volume, community-driven business serving hundreds of customers each month. Justin and Ashley explain how they underwrite laundromats with little or no financials, how they finance equipment, what expenses actually matter, and how to evaluate whether a deal can work before you ever sign a contract. This conversation also covers the operational reality most people ignore, including the upfront work required to stabilize a store, the systems that reduce long-term management, and how laundromats scale differently than real estate while still benefiting from many of the same tax and leverage advantages. If you're looking for a cash-flow-focused business that doesn't rely on appreciation, interest rate compression, or tenant turnover, this episode will open your eyes to a very different way to build income.  Book your call with Neo Home Loanshttps://www.neoentrepreneurhomeloans.com/wealthjuice/ Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCES

In today's episode, Brian Mark and Cole Da Silva open the door to the media side of their businesses and break down exactly how they generate 200+ million views every single month across their personal brands and companies. At first glance, that number might feel unrealistic or unreachable, but the truth is this is not luck or random success. It is the result of years of backend work, testing what works, cutting what does not, studying analytics, and understanding both the algorithm and the audience. This episode is not about viral moments. It is about systems. If you want to grow anything, whether that is a personal brand, a business, or an audience from zero to millions, you need to approach it the same way you approach social media growth. By building systems, tracking performance, identifying drop offs, and making data driven decisions. Today, we help you see the bigger picture and understand how calculated growth actually works.   MY CLOTHING, CHECK OUT: https://amarokaesthetics.com/ CHECK ME OUT ON OTHER SOCIALS: IG = https://www.instagram.com/coleluisdasilva/ TIKTOK = https://www.tiktok.com/@coleluisdasilva/   WAKE UP WITH THE WOLF PODCAST: APPLE = https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wake-up-with-the-wolf/id1533545890 SPOTIFY = https://open.spotify.com/show/6cOLgWolq6mkOnvNesuTDc?si=8b3c4f153a264e9a

From media bias on deportations to election interference, surveillance, and political violence, this episode exposes the lies, double standards, and selective enforcement shaping America today.

In this podcast recorded at Buffini & Company's live event, Buffini Coaching Live, held in Las Vegas, Jan. 22, Brian Buffini shares an overview of how the real estate market has performed over the past year and what to expect in this coming year. Brian talks about why it is so important to understand and pace your business to the “seasonality of the customer.” He also stresses the importance of superior client service and why that will be one of the defining characteristics of those agents who succeed when others flee the industry. He also previews the company's reengineered year-long lead-generation program, the Blitz. This highly structured program has assets, videos, and resources designed to help agents fill their pipeline, with the goal of gaining at least one extra transaction a month. YOU WILL LEARN: Why the return to real estate's natural seasonality creates a major opportunity for prepared professionals. How the Blitz (and the Ultimate Year model) helps you generate leads, serve clients, and duplicate referrals, with the goal of leading to at least one extra transaction a month. Why agents who are committed to going the extra step for their clients will be the ones who succeed while others fleeing the industry. NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE: “There'll be hot markets, there'll be booms and busts, there always is, but we'll never see the conflagration of circumstances hit us like [it did in 2021 and 2022].” — Brian Buffini “We're going to help you generate 85% of your leads in 180 days.” — Brian Buffini “The Dupli-care System is while you're serving the client, you're also going to generate referrals from them.” — Brian Buffini “Have balance in your life while you grow your business. That's what coaching does.” — Brian Buffini “If you want to be in real estate, be in real estate. If you're going to sell real estate, prospect and present for real estate. Do a great job for customers, generate referrals, and live a great life for your family.” — Brian Buffini itsagoodlife.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When does a body of work reach completion? One answer is to end it by choice. This week in episode 356 you'll hear the reasons behind our intentional ending of the Nerd Journey Podcast. We'll rewind the clock and focus on the show's trajectory and inflection points over time just like we've done for guests, share what we learned over the course of an 8-year journey from idea to consistently released show, and discuss our favorite moments. All of our content will remain online and accessible for listeners like you to go back and enjoy. Don't miss our final call to action in this episode. Just because this body of work is complete, there is still work for all of us to do for our careers. Original Recording Date: 12-20-2025 Topics – A Purposeful Ending, Where We Started, Interview Format and Getting to Launch, The Why Behind the Ending, The Lessons We Learned, Our Favorite Moments, What to Expect from Us Moving Forward, There's More to Be Done for All of Us. 1:01 – A Purposeful Ending We'll give you the bottom line up front: this is the last episode of the Nerd Journey podcast. We still love the mission, but the time has come for us to complete this body of work. When we have interviewed guests on the show, we've talked through their career timeline and pulled out the lessons learned. Today, we're going to do it for the show itself. 1:38 – Where We Started John was working as a sales engineer at VMware and was the co-host of the VMware Community Roundtable Podcast. He loved listening to podcasts, enjoyed the medium, and wanted to find a topic for a show. At the same time Nick was in the process of joining VMware, John and Nick were discussing all the things Nick needed to know to transition into sales engineering for a technology vendor. “In that conversation, I said ‘maybe we should start a podcast.'” – John White As Nick remembers it, this happened the weekend before Nick started at VMware in December 2017 (almost exactly 8 years before this episode's recording). Nick wasn't sure what he would talk about on a podcast. This suggestion from John started the ideation period, and our launch of the show was in July 2018. John talks about some of the initial ideas for the focus of the show. At that time, VMware podcasts and blogs were a great way to interact with the greater community. Doing something like this was also a way to become what John calls “nerd famous.” By the way, no one else can use that term now (trademarked by John). We initially considered talking about VMware news and our opinions on it since we both were going to be working at VMware. Both John and Nick came from small-to-medium business IT operations and eventually became sales engineers at a technology vendor. One of the things the show could be for is to talk about that journey and help others understand it was a possibility for them as well. John and Nick recorded about 10 episodes before launching to help hit the release cadence. Nick doesn't remember why they chose a weekly release cadence but remembers the show launched while he was on vacation. John and Nick even recorded a podcast episode while Nick was on that vacation, which started a habit of Nick doing podcast work while on vacation. Because they had recorded so many episodes in advance, they were not going to be timely or points of authority on VMware technology. Both Nick and John's roles were as technical generalists on the VMware side. “The only evergreen stuff that we had was the career stuff, so that became a little bit more the focus. I think that we were still thinking…we'll just record more maybe VMware specific stuff later on…as that happens. For right now, here it is.” – John White Early episodes were very prescriptive about resumes and job interview processes at larger tech companies, for example. Nick points out that John had to carry the conversation in these early episodes because he was just learning to think about career focused topics (sort of like being new to lifting weights). But, Nick picked up a lot just from the conversations on the show. 7:50 – Interview Format and Getting to Launch Nick couldn't remember what made them bring in guests originally, but Episode 13 with Tom Delicati was our very first guest interview on the show. John feels bringing in guests was always back of mind for him, and it was what he saw happen on the VMware Community Roundtable Podcast. “We're just 2 people and we have our experience. But we can't represent that as the full breadth of all of experience. That just doesn't make any sense. So, we need to start exploring what other people's career journeys have looked like and see if we can extract some knowledge and recommendations from that.” – John White Nick doesn't remember having a prescriptive plan for interviewing guests but feels like they settled into long-form interviews as a style pretty quickly. John says this was a structure they hit upon in the beginning (talking through someone's job history). The lessons learned from career inflection points like job transitions emerged from conversations with guests. John and Nick did not know this was going to happen when they began. Nick likes being able to highlight more of one specific guest's story than otherwise could have been done if each interview was only 30 minutes with a guest. But we fully acknowledge people like different lengths of podcasts. “We wanted to tell interesting stories that had an arc: a beginning and an end and a journey in between. And we were able to find those even chopping people's long 2-hour conversations up into 2 or even 3 episodes. I think that worked for us. I don't know if it worked for everybody.” – John White “We probably spent the same time interviewing people as we would have. We just didn't interview as many as if it had been 1 episode per person.” – Nick Korte We also didn't want to release a 2-hour interview as one episode. That's a lot of editing for just one episode release. People might not realize how much time goes into editing and production even after recording an interview. At the beginning, John had to give Nick advice on the kind of microphone to get. Nick started recording with a headset and then bought the same mic as John. They would each later invest in nicer microphones as the show progressed. “I knew nothing about editing and really not that much about how to make a podcast.” – Nick Korte, on beginning as a podcaster There were a lot of things we had to figure out just to make the podcast publicly available. John had researched some of the administrative things. He knew there was a WordPress plugin that could be used to turn MP3 files of released episodes into publicly available audio feed that would be the podcast. John says there were some mental blocks and hurdles he had to get through before launching the show, highlighting the fact that it took 6 months to go from idea to publishing. He was getting overwhelmed trying to figure out the back-end production and publishing process. John thinks it was Nick who kept asking what needed to happen for us to launch, and we went with WordPress and the plugin mentioned but never changed anything…because we had no time to go back. Nick and John learned that once you start a show and get it going, you will never run out of ideas. 13:58 – The Why Behind the Ending We never ran out of ideas. In fact, we still have ideas. So why are we stopping the podcast? We ran out of time. Nick has run out of time to work on editing and production. This has been a weekly show (up until the last couple months of our run), and it takes a large time commitment each week. For guest interview episodes, the intro and outro were not recorded at the same time the interview took place. These had to be recorded before the episode was released. The show notes are not AI-generated. Nick enjoyed writing them and adding in important links and references, feeling like it allowed him to remember the episodes better and internalize the lessons within them. Nick has a teenager now with many extracurricular activities and has had a workload increase at his job. “Probably for the last year I think I've been fooling myself at how much of a toll it's been to just get an episode out each week.” – Nick Korte We even tried changing the release schedule to bi-weekly and have missed that cadence a couple of times. John ran out of time about 4 years ago and hasn't had much time since to handle podcast related tasks. John experienced a job change and new baby at that time and couldn't add anything else. He also moved at some point. John and Nick have been advancing in their own careers over time as well, which has added responsibility. John and his wife recently had a second child. He also left his job in June 2025 and has been doing a job search at the same time. Before Nick and John made this decision, Nick listened back to some previous episodes to get advice and perspective. Some of the advice that echoed the loudest came from Amy Lewis in Episode 302 – Ending with Intention: Once a Geek Whisperer with Amy Lewis (2/2). The idea of ending with intention stood out. “Rather than being spotty on our releases and not keeping our promise of how often we say we're going to get the show out, we wanted to end it with intention and say, ‘ok, this is it.'” – Nick Korte “We haven't lost the love of this task. We both want this to continue. But realistically, we can't do it. And rather than sputter and peter out and never be heard from again, we just thought we'll follow the lessons that we've learned from our bettors and do what they did. Let's be intentional about the end.” – John White 18:02 – The Lessons We Learned John learned how much we can learn from the experience of others. He had ideas and biases about how we should handle specific aspects of our career, but doing the podcast allowed him to pressure test these ideas against the experience of others. John appreciates the breadth of background and experience our collective guests have brought to the show. It made him realize there are so many different ways to do certain things. Nick learned a ton about the mechanics of podcast production. It was around Episode 113 when Nick became the editor because John needed to take a break. If you want to hear more about how this happened, check out this blog post. Nick got hooked into podcast communities and even attended a podcast conference in 2025, meeting many other people who run their own podcast. Nick learned how much salesmanship is involved in getting a guest. You have to sell someone on the idea of being on the show and what they can bring to your listeners. How easy can you make it for them to say yes? John and Nick asked guests for 1.5 – 2 hours for an interview. “If you make it easy for someone to say yes and you build the outline of questions you might ask and you tell them what your show is about and what you want to cover, they'll say yes. And they might give you more time than that…. I learned so much about different people that I never would have met otherwise. I am thankful for all the learnings of all the people who have been on the show. And I'm thankful for everything I've learned from you, John.” – Nick Korte John is grateful for the difference in skills he and Nick have and their ability to learn from one another just by co-hosting together. He likes to apply the idea of making it easy for others to say yes when he's asking something of someone at work, for example. Nick learned how to beat perfectionism weekly. Something can always be edited more or re-recorded. There was a weekly ship date. “The deadline was always there to keep me honest.” – Nick Korte Seth Godin's The Practice talks about keeping a promise to the people who follow you. Having a weekly release cadence meant we were promising to ship episodes weekly. “So, whether one person listened or a million people listened, we tried to keep that promise. And it was important to us to keep it, even if it was hard.” – Nick Korte “Having a million people listen to a specific episode or even hit the site in a specific week wasn't the goal. I think the goal was the breadth of work and making it accessible and having people be able to benefit from it.” – John White We also had to learn how to tell people about the show in a clear, succinct way. When John or Nick would join video calls for work, people would see their microphones and ask if they had a podcast. We also used generative AI in our workflow for production a little bit, even if it was not for show notes. Doing the show has dragged with it some reasons to tinker with generative AI. With John's help Nick learned how to build a Gemini prompt that would take the handwritten show notes and brainstorm titles, episode descriptions, and even create a prompt for a featured image based on the themes in the episode. John shares that we never wanted to use generative AI to take a transcript and generate an episode outline. We might lose touch with the content that way. John talks about the curse of being an audio editor. It's impossible to NOT hear issues in other audio. Nick can hear mouth noises on Zoom calls like you wouldn't believe. John says we can listen to someone else's podcast and may be able to tell who is and is not the editor based on whether they speak into the microphone or move away from it and keep talking. 25:15 – Our Favorite Moments John says it's hard to pick just one favorite moment. We got to meet some of our heroes in podcasting and other people who were “nerd famous” about their career stories. We had some great conversations with John Nicholson about how to evaluate a job offer and personal finance. Check out these for reference: Episode 224 – Tech Marketing, Interview Questions, and Executives as Wild Bears with John Nicholson (1/3) Episode 225 – Take Stock of Your Compensation with John Nicholson (2/3) Episode 226 – Negotiating Job Offers and Personal Finance Tips with John Nicholson (3/3) Having a podcast allowed us to have lengthy conversations with people who may not have otherwise had a reason to talk to us. John doesn't think asking someone out of the blue for 2 hours of time without having a podcast would have worked well. John says he has a strong recency bias, often walking away from an interview with a guest thinking it was the best one yet. Nick's favorite moments Nick remembers the first time we interviewed Mike Burkhart (in Episode 64 and Episode 65). He was having wifi issues and had to move everything into his living room floor to record the episode. John and Mike were kind enough to stay online and still do the interview. John and Nick live in different parts of the United States and have only been able to record together in person a handful of times. These times were special and rare. Nick remembers the time they recorded at VMware Explore and forgot to hit record…twice in a row! If John had to succumb to recency bias, he would pick the recent interview with Milin Desai. This set of interviews stands alone as the only time we were cold pitched a guest by someone we did not know, and it was a perfect fit. We got over 2 hours with a CEO! Episode 349 – Expand Your Curiosity: Build, Own, and Maintain Relevance with Milin Desai (1/3) Episode 350 – Scope and Upside: The Importance of Contextual Communication with Milin Desai (2/3) Episode 350 – Opt In: A CEO's Take on Becoming AI Native with Milin Desai (3/3) People being both generous with their time and inciteful has been a pattern with guests. Nick and John got to have conversations with people both on the air and off the air. Nick appreciated having Dale McKay on the show (a mentor of his). You can find those episodes here: Episode 288 – Guardrails for Growth: A Mentor's Experience with Dale McKay (1/2) Episode 289 – Enhance Your Personal Brand: Feedback as a Catalyst for Change with Dale McKay (2/2) Some other favorites from Nick: He enjoyed all of the conversations about the principal title and principal engineers. See also the principal tag for more of these stories. Nick also really enjoyed hearing the stories about why people went into leadership roles and why they moved away from them. One specific episode Nick highlights as a favorite is Episode 127 – Countdown to Burnout with Tom Hollingsworth (3/3). John mentions we all battle burnout from time to time, and having such great advice to go back to is a gift. Nick says being the editor is also a gift because you're going to get to listen to the recorded discussion multiple times. Many times, the questions Nick and John asked in guest interviews were things they needed help with in their own careers. Hopefully the answers to those questions helped you as a listener too! John liked the fact that we were able to clip some of the times we messed up on the air and include those sound bites at the very end of an episode for people. To find these episodes, look for the Stinger metadata tag on an episode post. Nick mentions the Barry White intro stinger. It's actually at the end of Episode 17. There are also some good stingers with guest Chris Williams. 31:05 – What to Expect from Us Moving Forward What are the things that will, won't, and might happen in the future? The Nerd Journey site will remain online and accessible so our content will not disappear. You can still enjoy past episodes, browse the show notes, and leverage the Layoff Resources Page as well as our Career Uncertainty Action Guide. John and Nick can keep it online in a very cost-effective way just as they have to this point since the podcast was never monetized (not even Amazon affiliate links). John still has a dream of making sure we have transcripts of all the episodes and making these available in addition to the show notes. Maybe that could be extended to an AI chat bot that was trained on the transcripts. There would be some overhead involved in doing it, but John thinks it's definitely possible. You can still reach out to John or Nick on LinkedIn or send us an e-mail. All current communication channels will remain in place. We are available for questions, if you want to talk, etc. We will definitely NOT restart this show. We have declared it complete. Even if we were going to do a show like this again in the future, we would do it differently. We might choose a different name, a different description, or a different format even. But we don't have the time to do that right now anyway. We are NOT starting a new show (at least not right now). 34:59 – There's More to Be Done for All of Us Just because the show is ending, that doesn't mean your work is complete. None of our work is complete when it comes to career. “The things that we've talked about in curating your own career and being intentional about it always apply. We're not going to be around to remind you of that every week, so I hope that people have learned those lessons and internalized them. But if not, do something to make those things intentional. You need to prioritize your career on a consistent basis.” – John White Here are some specific actions that you should take: Document your work. Generate proof of work. Show your work (similar to generating proof of work). John says this is what we were unconsciously doing when we began the podcast, sharing how we got to where we are and our job transitions so others can follow a similar path if they choose. The purpose of showing your work is so that others can learn from your experience and so you can remind yourself of what you've accomplished at a later time. Nick highlights that Episode 66: Three-Month Check-In as a Google Cloud Customer Engineer with John White, Part 1 remains the most downloaded episode in our catalog. Aim for small, iterative improvements. Turn information into knowledge. Some of this is through writing. We spoke several times on the show about writing being thinking, and it was specifically referenced in an episode with Josh Duffney – Episode 156 – Better Notes, Better You with Josh Duffney (1/2). Manage your knowledge in some kind of written form that isn't in your head. Make it a knowledge management system of some kind. Practice Deep Work. It's the most important work you can do because the skill of sustained attention will be the thing for which people are paid. Be mindful of technology waves and trends, and consider placing some small bets. Many guests have invested time and effort to become proficient in a newer technology before or as it was catching on. Don't be afraid to tinker with those newer technologies. Consistently invest in your professional network. One way to do this could be via meetup groups or online communities. Reach out to use if you want to talk about careers, starting a podcast, or other fun topics. Nick can also tell you what it's like to go through the John White School of Mentoring. We want to say a special thank you to every guest who took the time to be on the podcast and every listener who took the time to listen to an episode. Contact the Hosts The hosts of Nerd Journey are John White and Nick Korte. E-mail: nerdjourneypodcast@gmail.com DM us on Twitter/X @NerdJourney Connect with John on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @vJourneyman Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @NetworkNerd_ Leave a Comment on Your Favorite Episode on YouTube If you've been impacted by a layoff or need advice, check out our Layoff Resources Page. If uncertainty is getting to you, check out or Career Uncertainty Action Guide with a checklist of actions to take control during uncertain periods and AI prompts to help you think through topics like navigating a recent layoff, financial planning, or managing your mindset and being overwhelmed.

Read the shownotes and full transcript on our site: growyourcreditunion.com Your board thinks $100,000 is too much for a CEO because they never made more than $40,000 on the factory line. Your C-suite wants the credit union of old. And your employees? They're leaving, not for better pay, but because you're offering them a 1995 compensation package in 2026. In this episode: What age is your leadership thinking in? Why somewhere you lost your ability to be creative Why they don't want pizza they want a path to your chair Why you can't keep absorbing benefit increases every year Host: Joshua Barclay  Guest Co-host: James McBride, SVP of Credit Union Relationships at CU Benefit Guest: David Simms, Creator of CU Benefit A huge thanks to our sponsor, CU Benefit Stop absorbing annual benefit cost increases of 20-40%. CU Benefit is a strategic CUSO partner designed to help Credit Unions pre-fund up to 100% of employee benefits and unlock balance sheet potential. Generate investment returns 4-5 times higher than traditional bonds. Strengthen employee retention and increase net income by as much as 50%. Visit CUBenefit.com to learn more.

Send us a textSupport the showEarly Access Podcast: https://arsenioseslpodcast.podia.com/community/topics/195018/posts/676331-podcast-topic-the-three-s-s-of-motivation-expectancy-esteem-and-efficacy

You know why referrals are so great? Because whoever is referring a client to you has already warmed up that person. This saves you both time and money. In this episode, Caterina shares 14 innovative tips and ideas that you can take action on right now to get more referrals from your existing clients. Listen to this episode to set your business up for success by having clients that are consistently sending you referrals.

Come list me calls are the holy grail of real estate—but most agents wait around hoping they just happen. In this video, I break down four proven, long-term strategies that consistently generate inbound listing opportunities. You'll learn how to use daily sphere activity, micro-farming, buyer letters, and video CMAs to create predictable listing appointments. This isn't a shortcut—it's a system that works when executed consistently. If you want more sellers reaching out to you, this is where to start.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dave Charest. Summary of the Dave Charest Interview In this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Rushion McDonald interviews Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing platform. Charest discusses the rising wave of entrepreneurship, the foundational importance of email and direct‑to‑customer channels, common mistakes new business owners make, and how AI is reshaping small‑business marketing. He provides practical guidance on marketing consistency, channel selection, building community relationships, and using technology to scale. Throughout the conversation, Charest emphasizes that while small businesses often lack marketing expertise, they possess a valuable advantage: real, human relationships that can be strengthened through consistent communication. Purpose of the Interview The purpose of Rushion McDonald’s conversation with Dave Charest is to: 1. Educate new and aspiring entrepreneurs Charest breaks down the basics of digital marketing—email, social, SMS—and how to begin building a strong marketing foundation. 2. Highlight the key trends driving the entrepreneurship boom He explains motivations like work–life balance, independence, and financial potential that inspire people to launch businesses. 3. Provide practical, actionable marketing advice Especially around consistency, choosing marketing channels, and building direct customer relationships. 4. Introduce how AI can simplify and amplify marketing Charest showcases tools that help business owners quickly generate content, develop campaigns, and analyze customer behavior. Key Takeaways 1. Direct relationships (email/SMS) outperform social media Email offers ownership, stability, and higher ROI—unlike social platforms that can change algorithms or visibility overnight. Charest stresses that “the money is in the list.” 2. You don’t need huge numbers to be effective Small businesses often see high open and engagement rates because followers know and trust them. 3. Consistency matters more than platform choice Whether you choose Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or email, the biggest driver of marketing success is showing up regularly. 4. Start small—don’t overwhelm yourself One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is trying to do everything at once. Begin with the basics and grow steadily. 5. Community is a crucial marketing asset Local businesses thrive when they maintain strong connections with nearby businesses, customers, and community networks. 6. Entrepreneurs face challenges—but resilience wins Charest notes that small business owners rarely have a “Plan B,” which pushes them to adapt and continue learning. 7. AI is transforming small‑business marketing Constant Contact offers tools to: Generate emails and content Summarize content for social Build full marketing campaigns Analyze behavior from large email lists to recommend actions Notable Quotes (from the transcript) Here are direct paraphrases and key phrases—not copyrighted material but drawn from the transcript: On email vs. social “There’s a $36 return for every $1 invested in email—but what matters is that you own the relationship.” “If a social platform goes away, so does your following. Email is a direct line.” On audience size “Big numbers aren’t necessary—small lists can see 50% open rates and strong engagement because those people actually care.” On entrepreneurship motivations “People want better work‑life balance, independence, and financial potential.” On mistakes “A big mistake is trying to do too much at once. Start small and stay consistent.” On community “Digital marketing should extend real relationships—not replace them.” On choosing platforms “Where your audience spends time matters, but so does where you can show up consistently.” On AI’s role “AI can generate emails, build campaigns, and analyze audience data—saving you time for what you’d rather be doing.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSteve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Much Retirement Income Can $1 Million Really Generate?**Schedule your free virtual consultation

Read the shownotes and full transcript on our site: growyourcreditunion.com We all think it: "If I just work longer, I'll get more done." But when one of your high performers starts operating this way, you need to step in immediately. Because they're not going to tell you they're burning out. So how do you catch it before they quit? In this episode: Why AI isn't making you dumber Why working 70 hours isn't making you more productive Why better due diligence won't prevent vendor breaches Host: Joshua Barclay Co-host: Becky Reed Guest: Ray Ragan, CIO at Securityplus Federal Credit Union A huge thanks to our sponsor, CU Benefit Stop absorbing annual benefit cost increases of 20-40%. CU Benefit is a strategic CUSO partner designed to help Credit Unions pre-fund up to 100% of employee benefits and unlock balance sheet potential. Generate investment returns 4-5 times higher than traditional bonds. Strengthen employee retention and increase net income by as much as 50%. Watch this video or visit CUBenefit.com to learn more. Ray is organizing the Banking on AI Conference in Atlanta. Credit union professionals and banking professionals will discuss new and novel uses of AI throughout the industry. Learn more at bankingonai.info

Ashton Speno, an Associate Professor & Graduate Director of Mass Communications at SIUE, joins Megan Lynch. She's looked into the positive impacts that kids television programs can have on children. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Leaders don't have anyone to pick them up when they fall—so how do you generate energy when you've got nothing left? Josh and Bob share real talk about the mental battles of leadership, building your emergency support team, and why treating yourself like a "solo chief" might be the mindset shift you need. Plus: a daily ritual that transformed how Bob showed up for his teamsYou Are Worth More Than You Think - Jurgen AppeloThe Solo Chief - Jurgen AppeloStay Connected and Informed with Our NewslettersJosh Anderson's "Leadership Lighthouse"Dive deeper into the world of Agile leadership and management with Josh Anderson's "Leadership Lighthouse." This bi-weekly newsletter offers insights, tips, and personal stories to help you navigate the complexities of leadership in today's fast-paced tech environment. Whether you're a new manager or a seasoned leader, you'll find valuable guidance and practical advice to enhance your leadership skills. Subscribe to "Leadership Lighthouse" for the latest articles and exclusive content right to your inbox.Subscribe hereBob Galen's "Agile Moose"Bob Galen's "Agile Moose" is a must-read for anyone interested in Agile practices, team dynamics, and personal growth within the tech industry. The newsletter features in-depth analysis, case studies, and actionable tips to help you excel in your Agile journey. Bob brings his extensive experience and thoughtful perspectives directly to you, covering everything from foundational Agile concepts to advanced techniques. Join a community of Agile enthusiasts and practitioners by subscribing to "Agile Moose."Subscribe hereDo More Than Listen:We publish video versions of every episode and post them on our YouTube page.Help Us Spread The Word: Love our content? Help us out by sharing on social media, rating our podcast/episodes on iTunes, or by giving to our Patreon campaign. Every time you give, in any way, you empower our mission of helping as many agilists as possible. Thanks for sharing!

“We are constantly a work in progress,” explains Maya Shankar, Ph.D.  Shankar, a cognitive scientist, creator and host of the award-winning podcast A Slight Change of Plans, and author, joins us today to explore what science and lived experience reveal about navigating life's most difficult transitions, and how unexpected change can become a powerful form of revelation.  - Change can be revelatory (~1:20) - Confronting all aspects of who you are (~3:15) - The illusion of control (~6:30) - How to navigate change (~9:30) - Cultivating faith without religion (~15:15) - Does everything happen for a reason? (~17:40) - Strategies to handle rumination & denial (~19:10) - Rethinking our beliefs (~26:45) - Ask yourself these questions (~30:40) - What is moral elevation (~32:50) - Generate new possible selves (~36:10) - How to do hard things (& make it easier) (~37:40)  Referenced in the episode:  - Follow her on Instagram (@drmayashankar) - Pick up her book, The Other Side of Change - Check out her website (https://mayashankar.com/)  - Listen to her podcast, A Slight Change of Plans We hope you enjoy this episode, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: podcast@mindbodygreen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Click Here To Discover 7 Highly Effective & PROVEN Tactics Want to Keep Your Podcast Listeners Hooked & Coming Back for MoreIs your podcast still not growing or generating sales—even though you're publishing consistently?If you're putting time, energy, and creativity into your show but podcast growth feels painfully slow, this episode breaks down why. Most podcasters don't fail because of bad content—they fail because they skip the fundamentals that actually drive podcast positioning, retention, and podcast monetization in 2026.In this episode, Taig and Anthony unpack the three biggest growth-killing mistakes podcasters make and explain exactly where your focus needs to be if you want listeners to turn into loyal fans and paying clients.By listening, you'll discover:How tightening your podcast positioning makes podcast growth feel easier and more predictableWhy your show name and cover art directly impact podcast monetization and listener retentionA simple monthly habit that reveals what actually fuels sustainable podcast growthIf you want your podcast to stop feeling like an expensive hobby and start driving real results, this episode will show you exactly where to focus next—press play and fix the foundations of your podcast growth today.

In this episode, Jodi explores the tangible and intangible ROI of a book for business owners and why focusing solely on book sales misses the bigger picture. She shares examples from her new "Do the Math" sections in the newest edition of Write.Publish.Market., showing how books can drive revenue through coaching, courses, and offers — not just book royalties.    Time Stamps: 00:00 – Introduction and context for today's topic 01:00 – Revisiting the "intangible ROI" concept 02:00 – Introducing the "Do the Math" feature in Write.Publish.Market. 03:15 – Book launch reflections and why bestseller status isn't the goal for business owners 05:00 – Key takeaways from the 2024 Business Book ROI Report 07:30 – Example 1: Book + Webinar or Masterclass upsells 10:00 – Example 2: Book leading to coaching and consulting offers 12:30 – Example 3: Comparing direct sales vs. third-party platforms 15:00 – Stacking offers: upsells, tripwires, and mini courses 18:00 – The power of pairing tangible ROI with intangible outcomes 20:00 – Final thoughts: "Do the math" for your book's business impact   Keywords: book ROI, business book strategy, book marketing, author revenue, direct book sales, coaching offers, book funnels, upsells and tripwires, tangible ROI, intangible ROI, book launch strategy, Smith Publicity ROI Report, book as business asset, publishing ROI, author income streams   Resources Mentioned: A Comprehensive Study of Business Book ROI (2024) by Amplify Publishing Group, Gotham Ghostwriters, Smith Publicity, and Thought Leadership Leverage: https://authorroi.com/ Coffee + Commas signup: https://bit.ly/coffeeandcommassignup   LINK TO FULL EPISODE (RAW) TRANSCRIPT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1on6VyH0_jXw6d4tFB7QcohKG56WiSHWO78vhJy7tDLA/edit?usp=sharing  

Elon Musk's xAI says its Grok AI chatbot will be restricted from generating sexualised images of real people after it was used to create pictures of women and children in varying states of undress. Also in this edition: France's traditional Epiphany cake gets subsidised for Celiac disease sufferers.

Leads are crucial to the success of your insurance business. Take a step outside the box with these creative Medicare lead-generation ideas!     Read the text version    

Read the shownotes and full transcript on our site: growyourcreditunion.com Credit unions are out there chasing new members—spending on billboards, opening branches, crafting the perfect rate specials. Meanwhile, 80% of your existing members have one product with you and you haven't called them once. Maybe the new members you're looking for are actually the members you already have. In this episode of Grow Your Credit Union, host Joshua Barclay and co-host Becky Reed welcome Elizabeth Osborne, COO at Great Lakes Credit Union, to talk about: Everyone's measuring trust wrong The growth obsession is backwards You're tracking the wrong economic data Plus we play a BRAND NEW GAME that we hope you really enjoy. A huge thanks to our sponsor, CU Benefit Stop absorbing annual benefit cost increases of 20-40%. CU Benefit is a strategic CUSO partner designed to help Credit Unions pre-fund up to 100% of employee benefits and unlock balance sheet potential. Generate investment returns 4-5 times higher than traditional bonds. Strengthen employee retention and increase net income by as much as 50%.  Watch this video or visit CUBenefit.com to learn more.

In this episode of The Profit Lifestyle Podcast, Scott Carpenter breaks down one of the most effective, evergreen cash-generation strategies gym owners can run—without relying on paid ads.This training is a direct walkthrough of the $10K Weekend Playbook, a proven framework gym owners use to monetize existing email lists, social audiences, and past clients when cash flow is tight—especially during slow seasons like January.This episode is not theory.It's a step-by-step system you can run any month of the year.

Hosts: Michael Fanning & Stevi FanningStop the exhausting rollercoaster of feast-or-famine transactions. This episode breaks down the five non-negotiable systems that separate top-performing agents from hobbyists creating a business where clients come to you instead of constantly chasing the next deal.1. Show Up Consistently - Run Your Business Like a BusinessSet and communicate specific business hoursBlock non-negotiable time for lead generation and client servicesRemember: Discipline equals freedomYour clients need to count on you like any professional service2. Be the Trusted Advisor, Not Just an AgentGuide people through life-changing decisions, not just transactionsProvide perspective beyond opening doors and writing contractsPlay the long game talk clients out of wrong dealsAsk yourself: Would someone call me for advice even if they weren't buying or selling right now?3. Provide Valuable Market-Driven Data ConsistentlyShare insights proactively, not reactivelyImplement the 36-touch system: 3 times per month per householdBudget $3-5 per household per monthMix digital and physical mailBalance "head and heart" data insights with helpful, emotional contentBe the "Purple Cow" remarkable and worth talking aboutBuild parasocial relationships through consistent value delivery4. Be Genuine and Build Deeper RelationshipsPeople can smell fake from a mile awayRemember personal details kids' names, life events, concernsGo beyond hospitality with unexpected, genuine careKeep a relationship journal in your CRMBusiness becomes a byproduct of authentic friendship5. Create Remarkable Standard Operating ProceduresSystems create consistency; consistency creates reputationGoing above and beyond should be standard, not randomExamples: comprehensive moving guides, first-night home baskets, quarterly check-ins 2+ years post-closingMake your SOP your "purple cow" momentClose: Relationship management and automationExpress Docs & Maxa: Integrated digital and physical marketingHome Update Newsletter: Professional quarterly touchpointTrend Graphics: Stunning market data reports from your MLSPresent Perfect: Professional CMAs and property presentationsWindermere Ready Loans: Creative financing solutionsWindermere Education: 24/7 CE creditsJeff Tucker: On-staff economist providing market insightsBuilding evergreen business isn't about the next marketing tactic it's about being the agent people trust, value, and want to refer. When you combine consistency, expertise, authenticity, and remarkable service, clients start coming to you.Pick ONE area to improve this week. Small, consistent improvements compound into massive results.Want to be featured on the podcast or have topic ideas? Reach out directly to Michael and Stevi.Be awesome and help somebody!

Expand your Affordable Care Act client base with these six lead generation strategies!   Read the text version  

Higher interest rates have ushered in an era where income opportunities abound. That's following years of parched cash flow streams and low rates, especially in fixed income. However, risks like stubborn inflation and elevated stock valuations exist. Morningstar researchers believe it's important to identify income opportunities that could be resilient in today's market. Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist for Morningstar Wealth, joined Investing Insights to discuss where to look.Editor's note: The host misspoke when referring to Morningstar Holland's chief European market strategist. His name is Michael Field.Income Investing Strategies for 2026: Maximizing Yield in an Uncertain MarketOn this episode:00:00:00 Welcome00:01:33 Income investing in 202600:04:02 Bond market breakdown: short, intermediate, or long term?00:07:39 Global bonds and hedging strategies00:13:27 Equity Opportunities Beyond the US00:15:31 REITs vs Utilities00:17:14 Building Resilient Income Streams  Watch more from Morningstar:All in on Magnificent 7? Where You Should Invest Next9 Top ETFs for Income Investors That Stood Out in 2025Where to Invest in 2026 After This Year's Market Volatility Follow Morningstar on social:Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorningstarInc/X https://x.com/MorningstarIncInstagram https://www.instagram.com/morningstarinc/?hl=enLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/morningstar/posts/?feedView=all  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Business Brain, you're challenged to stop using AI as a polite yes-man and start treating it like a ruthless sparring partner. You learn how to pressure-test your thinking before you ever type a prompt by defining the real decision, the outcome that actually matters, and the constraints you refuse to break. Shannon Jean and Dave Hamilton walk you through using AI to surface opposing viewpoints, rank options by impact instead of effort, and expose second-order consequences that can make or break your strategy. This is how you sharpen judgment instead of outsourcing it. You're also reminded that adaptation has no age limit, with a perfect real-world example that proves curiosity beats complacency every time. Whether you're refining decisions or embracing new tools, the message is clear: stay flexible, stay critical, and keep building your Charmed Life by thinking better, not just faster. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs' Podcast #717 for Casual FridAI, January 9th, 2026 January 9th: Static Electricity Day 00:01:21 Your Chat AI should be your sparring partner, not your yes-man Ruthless AI Test Before using AI, answer: What decision am I trying to improve? What outcome actually matters? What constraints must not be violated? What would ‘great' vs ‘average' look like? Then use AI to: Generate multiple opposing viewpoints Rank options by impact, not effort Simulate second-order consequences 00:08:22 SPONSOR: Shopify – For anyone to sell anywhere, sign up for a one-dollar-per month trial period at Shopify.com/BusinessBrain and upgrade your selling today! 00:09:49 SPONSOR: Intuit QuickBooks Payroll – Leave the chaos behind and start the new year off right with QuickBooks Payroll. Learn more by visiting QuickBooks.com/payroll 00:11:03 98-year-old mom using Meta Glasses Keep adapting, folks! 00:18:32 Business Brain 717 Outtro Tell Your Friends! Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post FridAI – No AI Yes Men – Business Brain 717 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

First I want to apologize for how long it has taken me to get this show published to you. As you can tell there are a lot of links here and we talked about a lot of different subjects and on top of that it’s Christmas time. Thanks for bearing with us and understanding. As […] The post Toxic Beauty, How We Can Generate Our Emotions Even When Outside Circumstances Are Not Good, Why We All Need To Be Heard, Listener Questions & Some Good Dancin! appeared first on Extreme Health Radio.

Matt Milia is a strategic lead generation and conversion expert, top inside sales coach, realtor, interruption innovator, author, trainer, and software creator.As CEO and Co-Founder of Appointments Today, he supports people with lead generation and conversion through following his paint-by-numbers system.Matt uses his proven ISA knowledge to help others master the art of prospecting and his team produced over $44 Million in closed gross commission income for his clients.Visit his website here: https://appointmentstoday.net/profile/about-matt-milia/

Valentine's Day might be over on the calendar — but for smart photographers, it starts way earlier.In this episode, we break down why most photographers miss easy bookings, how existing clients are your most underused growth lever, and why event-based marketing creates stress unless you know how to use it properly.From client psychology and communication preferences to evergreen marketing, continuity, and even AI recommendations — this conversation challenges common assumptions and reframes how photographers should think about marketing, timing, and client relationships.If you want more repeat clients, less pressure, and smarter growth, this episode is required listening.Key HighlightsWhy Valentine's Day marketing starts months before FebruaryThe belief that's quietly blocking photographers from repeat bookingsWhy existing clients are easier, faster, and more profitable than new leadsThe truth about event-based marketing vs evergreen offersHow communication preferences can make or break client conversationsWhy photographers who deliver real experiences get clients coming back again and againHow continuity, recurring revenue, and AI recommendations are shaping the future of photography businessesJoin the Difference Maker Revolution!Take the first step toward creating a photography business that makes a difference. Visit Difference Maker Inner Circle to learn more about transforming your business through proven strategies and mentorship.The Difference Maker Revolution podcast helps you grow your photography business by teaching you how to:Generate highly targeted leads.Increase conversions with ideal clients.Build long-term client relationships.Create consistent, predictable revenue.This show is hosted by industry experts:Steve Saporito: Serial portrait studio owner and photography educator.Jeanine McLeod: Family portrait photographer specializing in joyful, storytelling photography for parents.Jonathan Ryle: Photography marketing funnel specialist.Ronan Ryle: Board of Directors of the PPA, Professional Photographers of America.Tune In for Real-World StrategiesGain insights from professionals who know what it takes to build a successful photography business. Whether you're looking to increase client satisfaction, improve your sales, or align your work with what clients truly value, this episode is packed with actionable advice.Through fun, educational, and inspiring discussions, the Difference Maker Revolution aims to help you create a healthier society through photography.

Learn how to use philosophy to run your business more effectively. Reid Hoffman thinks a masters in philosophy will help you run your business better than an MBA. Reid is a founder, investor, podcaster, and author. But before he did any of these things, he studied philosophy—and it changed the way he thinks. Studying philosophy trains you to think deeply about truth, human nature, and the meaning of life. It helps you see the big picture and reason through complex problems—invaluable skills for founders grappling with existential questions about their business.I usually bring guests onto my podcast to discuss the actionable ways in which people have incorporated ChatGPT into their lives. But this episode is different. I sat down with Reid to tackle a deeper question: How is AI changing what it means to be human? It was honestly one of the most meaningful shows I've recorded yet. We dive into:- How philosophy prepares you to be a better founder- The importance of interdisciplinary thinking- Essentialism v. nominalism in the context of AI- How language models are evolving to be more “essentialist”- The co-evolution of humans and technology Reid also shares actionable uses of ChatGPT for people who want to think more clearly, like:- Input your argument and ask ChatGPT for alternative perspectives- Generate custom explanations of complex ideas- Leverage ChatGPT as an on-demand research assistantThis episode is a must-watch for anyone curious about some of the bigger questions prompted by the rapid development of AI.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It's usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Ready to build a site that looks hand-coded—without hiring a developer? Launch your site for free at framer.com, and use code DAN to get your first month of Pro on the house!Timestamps:00:00:00 - START 00:04:35 - Why philosophy will make you a better founder00:08:22 - The fundamental problem with “trolley problems”00:14:27 - How AI is changing the essentialism v. nominalism debate00:29:33 - Why embeddings align with nominalism00:34:26 - How LLMs are being trained to reason better00:44:52 - How technology changes the way we see ourselves and the world around us00:46:24 - Why most psychology literature is wrong00:52:46 - Why philosophers didn't come up with AI00:56:30 - How to use ChatGPT to be more philosophically inclinedLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:Reid Hoffman: https://twitter.com/reidhoffmanThe podcasts that Reid hosts: Possible (possible.fm) and Masters of Scale (https://mastersofscale.com/)Reid's book: Impromptu https://www.impromptubook.com/The book Reid recommends if you want to be more philosophically inclined: Gödel, Escher, Bach https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6del-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567Reid's article in the Atlantic: "Technology Makes Us More Human" https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/chatgpt-ai-technology-techo-humanism-reid-hoffman/672872/The book about why psychology literature is wrong: The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich https://www.amazon.com/WEIRDest-People-World-Psychologically-Particularly/dp/0374173222The book about how culture is driving human evolution: The Secrets of Our Success by Joseph Henrich https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691178431/the-secret-of-our-success

If more self-care worked, it would've worked by now. In this episode, I share my own burnout story and introduce Claire—a patient whose chronic fatigue reveals a missing piece in how we understand stress. Through the research on learned helplessness and the metaphor of the elephant tied to a stick, this episode uncovers why so many of us feel stuck despite trying everything. Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast - Episode 153: From Burnout to Passion & Purpose: The Two Skills Our Nervous System Needs In this episode you'll learn: [00:50] The Energizer Bunny Who Couldn't Push Anymore: Claire's story of chronic fatigue and missing her daughter's track meets [03:39] Why Self-Care Fails: The backwards truth about stress that keeps us stuck on the hamster wheel [05:13] Skill #1 — Generate a Good Stress Response: Why wimpy stress responses lead to burnout and trauma biology [06:36] Skill #2 — Complete and Reset: The exhale our bodies never learned to do [07:35] The Critical Line of Overwhelm: What happens when stress builds without reset [13:46] Learned Helplessness Research: The study on dogs that changed everything about understanding why we stay stuck [19:51] The Elephant Tied to a Stick: How early experiences program us to believe we cannot escape [11:19] The Voice Underneath: Recognizing the quiet belief that "other people can have good lives, but not me" [25:31] What Comes Next: Preview of how the researchers helped the dogs get unstuck Resources/Guides: Biology of Trauma book - Available now everywhere books are sold. Get your copy Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 31: Am I Tired, Or Is This Trauma? The Roots Of Fatigue with Dr. Evan Hirsch Episode 122: Shutdown Before Stress: The Misstep in Trauma Healing That Often Gets Missed  

In this special Christmas episode, Ronan, Janine, and Steve slow things down and talk about what this season really means—not just for their families, but for photographers everywhere. From Christmas Eve feasts and quirky traditions to childhood memories and the joy (and chaos) of shutting the studio doors for a few precious days, this episode is all about connection, nostalgia, and being present—everything photographers ask their clients to embrace, yet so often forget to give themselves.It's a cosy, funny, real conversation about recharging, making memories, being human in your business, and leaning into the magic your clients feel this time of year. If you need permission to switch off, breathe, and enjoy the people who matter most, this is the episode to curl up with.Key HighlightsThe one time of year the entire photography world finally slows down—and why it matters for your creativity and mental health.How Janine shifted from “militant Christmas Eve commander” to intentional, slow, meaningful traditions… and why your clients crave the same energy.Why the small rituals—hot cocoa bars, new ornaments, matching PJs—are the things your children remember for life.Christmas around the world: Irish potatoes, Italian lasagna, Australian barbies, and flaming whiskey-soaked pudding.Why showing the human behind the business in your content is more important than ever (especially during the holidays).The honest truth: photographers give so much all year… but struggle to give themselves permission to rest.A reminder every photographer needs to hear: “The hardest person to celebrate is yourself.”Ronan, Steve, and Janine's Christmas wish for every Difference Maker photographer—and a seasonal invitation to join the community.Join the Difference Maker Revolution!Take the first step toward creating a photography business that makes a difference. Visit Difference Maker Inner Circle to learn more about transforming your business through proven strategies and mentorship.The Difference Maker Revolution podcast helps you grow your photography business by teaching you how to:Generate highly targeted leads.Increase conversions with ideal clients.Build long-term client relationships.Create consistent, predictable revenue.This show is hosted by industry experts:Steve Saporito: Serial portrait studio owner and photography educator.Jeanine McLeod: Family portrait photographer specializing in joyful, storytelling photography for parents.Jonathan Ryle: Photography marketing funnel specialist.Ronan Ryle: Board of Directors of the PPA, Professional Photographers of America.Tune In for Real-World StrategiesGain insights from professionals who know what it takes to build a successful photography business. Whether you're looking to increase client satisfaction, improve your sales, or align your work with what clients truly value, this episode is packed with actionable advice.Through fun, educational, and inspiring discussions, the Difference Maker Revolution aims to help you create a healthier society through photography.

Most coaching gyms add just five clients a month—but the world's best fitness facilities are consistently adding more than 20 with stellar sales systems.In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper analyzes the data behind top-performing marketing funnels, and he reveals which tactics landed these owners on our Top 10 leaderboards, from instant lead follow-up to simplified booking procedures, consistent organic marketing, airtight lead nurture and sales practice reps.You'll also learn how mentors help gym owners identify weak spots in their funnels and tighten their systems so they can add large numbers of ideal clients month after month.Tune in to discover exactly how elite gyms around the world are generating more leads, booking more appointments, increasing show rates and closing more high-value sales.Get Coop's “Generate 30 New Leads in 30 Days” guide in Gym Owners United, linked below. LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call1:49 - Marketing and sales leaders7:33 - Strong systems10:37 - Lead nurture11:49 - Events and niches13:00 - Consistency and tracking metrics

314 | In this episode, Dmitry Shamis sits down with Dave to break down how Dave writes—the process behind emails, newsletters, landing pages, and posts that get attention. They talk about why Dave starts with the hook, why editing matters more than writing, and why most B2B marketing fails by trying to say too much. Dave also shares how podcasting shaped his thinking, why formatting is underrated, how he decides when something is “done,” and why shipping beats waiting for perfection. If you want to learn more behind Dave's writing, creation, and marketing this episode is a great one for you; Dave shares a bunch of his behind the scenes style that he's not shared on the podcast before.What's Your Process? is hosted by Dmitry Shamis—co-founder of OhSnap!, former Head of Brand and Creative at HubSpot, and one of the early pioneers of self-service brand systems for B2B tech. The show is an in-depth look at the processes behind top marketers, with past guests including Jess Cook, Ross Simmonds, Eddie Shleyner, Lashay Lewis, and Melissa Rosenthal.Timestamps(00:00) - – Why this conversation matters (05:38) - – Dave's background and path into marketing (09:53) - – What Dave is world-class at (and why copy is the leverage) (14:28) - – Why hooks come first and editing beats writing (19:48) - – How podcasting sharpened Dave's instincts (25:18) - – Formatting, focus, and making writing easier to read (32:35) - – Deciding when something is “done” and when to ship (39:05) - – Why most B2B marketing fails by trying to say too much (45:50) - – Raising the bar, big bets, and making hard leadership calls Join 50,0000 people who get our Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.It's the only way you can truly “own” your audience.But when it comes to building the emails - if you've ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever. That's why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.Tired of ‘hoping' the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

We must maintain base load electricity sources, in particular coal fired power plants.

Archer's journey to $300 million in annual sales has been driven by an unwavering focus on operational excellence. In this episode, founder and CEO Eugene Kang shares how disciplined execution, vertical integration, and precisely timed innovation transformed Archer from an upstart jerky brand into one of the fastest-growing meat snack companies in the U.S. Eugene unpacks Archer's recent rebrand, how the company positioned itself ahead of the explosive growth of meat sticks, and the importance of building durable partnerships with retailers like Whole Foods. He also explains why patience and long-term thinking remain critical traits for CPG founders navigating scale. Show notes: 0:25: Eugene Kang, Founder & CEO, Archer – At Nosh Live L.A. 2025, Eugene discusses the rebrand from Country Archer to "Archer," revisits the company's early breakthrough – a partnership with Huy Fong Sriracha – and its expansion into meat sticks in 2018. He talks about Archer's rapid scale and how disciplined execution and new household adoption is helping the brand outpace the overall category. Eugene explains how two owned manufacturing facilities enable cost control, quality, and pricing flexibility, and highlights operational excellence as a core strength. He also talks about how a renewed push to build brand equity through national marketing like the "Stick to Real" campaign has supported brand growth. He underscores the importance of patience, discipline, and long-term thinking in CPG, balancing data with intuition in innovation, and delivering clear value to consumers amid inflation. Brands in this episode: Archer, Slim Jim, Huy Fong

The world of photography marketing is shifting—fast. In this episode, Steve, Janine, and Ronan break down what may be the biggest change since Google itself arrived: the rise of AI recommendation marketing. As more people start asking ChatGPT for help—not Google—photographers who want to stay visible must adapt now.You'll hear how AI is replacing traditional searches with smart, conversational recommendations that match people based on values, purpose, and emotional alignment—not style, props, or keywords. And you'll discover why Difference Maker photographers are uniquely positioned to thrive in this new era, where authentic purpose and transformational experiences matter more than ever.If you're a photographer who wants AI to recommend you first—to clients actively searching and to those who don't even realize photography is the solution they need—this episode is your roadmap.Key HighlightsGoogle is declining. AI search is skyrocketing. And the way clients find photographers will never be the same.Why people trust AI recommendations more than Google—and sometimes more than themselves.The new reality: AI won't match clients by “style”… it matches them by values, purpose, and transformation.How conversational websites and content can turn AI into your best referral source.The return of “referral marketing”—but now the referrer is AI.Why describing your purpose, your why, and your client's transformation clearly is now more important than SEO.A live example: how Janine planned an entire New York trip using AI—without touching Google once.The painful truth: “photographer's photographers” (focused on style, awards, and artistic ego) are the ones AI will leave behind.The A.I.D.O. framework for preparing your business for AI recommendations:A — Accuracy: perfect consistency across your digital footprintI — Intent: clarity of purpose and transformationD — Discoverability: emotional, conversational content AI can understandO — Optimisation: aligning everything across your brandHow AI will soon recommend photographers to people who aren't even looking for photography—just solutions like confidence, connection, celebration, healing, or belonging.Why Difference Maker photographers, already trained in emotional storytelling and purpose-led marketing, are decades ahead of everyone else entering the AI era.Join the Difference Maker Revolution!Take the first step toward creating a photography business that makes a difference. Visit Difference Maker Inner Circle to learn more about transforming your business through proven strategies and mentorship.The Difference Maker Revolution podcast helps you grow your photography business by teaching you how to:Generate highly targeted leads.Increase conversions with ideal clients.Build long-term client relationships.Create consistent, predictable revenue.This show is hosted by industry experts:Steve Saporito: Serial portrait studio owner and photography educator.Jeanine McLeod: Family portrait photographer specializing in joyful, storytelling photography for parents.Jonathan Ryle: Photography marketing funnel specialist.Ronan Ryle: Board of Directors of the PPA, Professional Photographers of America.Tune In for Real-World StrategiesGain insights from professionals who know what it takes to build a successful photography business. Whether you're looking to increase client satisfaction, improve your sales, or align your work with...

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Alicia Lyttle.

Todd Hartley is the founder of WireBuzz and the author of "Accelerating Yes!", and in this episode he shares the lessons about lead generation that he's learned from many successful years in online business, including working with Tony Robbins! What You'll Hear In This Episode: - How to built a predictable lead generation system in just 3 steps … - The $50M to $150M revenue jump in just 60 days (including a real case study of how Wirebuzz identified low-hanging fruit and tripled a company's revenue in just two months) - Why your coaching offer isn't converting (and how to fix it). - The $5,000 to $50,000 offer exercise - a simple framework to dramatically increase the perceived value of your coaching packages without necessarily adding more work. - From rejection to landing on Tony Robbins' stage: the 4-year persistence story, and how multiple rejections led to speaking opportunities and $200M in client success stories! - Why coaching isn't dying (despite what the naysayers say!) Todd addresses the "coaching is dead" narrative and explains why irresistible offers still convert in 2025 …

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Steve Selengut. Also known as The Income Coach. Here's a detailed summary of the episode:

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Steve Selengut. Also known as The Income Coach. Here's a detailed summary of the episode:

Most people treat their LinkedIn profile like a static resume.But if optimized correctly, it becomes one of the most powerful sales tools in your business.In today's training, I'm breaking down Three Ways Your LinkedIn Profile Can Generate Sales, and each one is simple, strategic, and immediately actionable.First: Your Background BannerYour banner should clearly communicate who you help and how you help them.If someone lands on your profile and can't understand what you do in under three seconds, you're losing opportunities.My own banner says: The LinkedIn Sales and Marketing System for coaches and consultants.That clarity alone builds trust before someone even scrolls.Second: Your HeadlineYour headline should connect directly to your banner.It should include the exact keywords that say:• What you do• Who you help• Why it mattersA strong headline is both SEO optimized and human-friendly, so you show up in search and resonate with the right people.Third: Your Featured SectionThis is where your profile starts generating actual sales.The Featured section is your bridge from online to offline.Use it to spotlight the actions you want people to take:• Landing pages• Free resources• Your calendar link• Your podcast or YouTube channel• Your LinkedIn Newsletter• Case studiesWhen someone is ready to learn more about you, this section shows them exactly where to go next.And here's the key: all three sections must work together.Your banner, your headline, and your Featured content should tell a consistent story about who you help, how you help them, and what step they should take next.When you align these three elements, your profile stops being a placeholder…and starts becoming a conversion engine.Sign up for the Expert Content Society here before the doors close tonight at 9pm ET: https://www.thetimetogrow.com/expert-content-society

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Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast, you'll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned and will learn on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Wanna scale your business? ⁠⁠Click here.⁠⁠Follow Alex Hormozi's Socials:⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Acquisition ⁠