Podcasts about googled

Fourteen months between Eric Richins' death and Kouri's arrest. During that window, she closed a real estate deal the day after finding him dead, hosted a gathering at the home where EMTs had pronounced him, Googled luxury prisons and insurance timelines, published a children's grief book, and went on television to promote it.Most analysis focuses on whether the grief was real or performed. This episode argues the answer is both — simultaneously — in different compartments of a psychology that doesn't process deception the way most people understand it. The lie isn't a mask held in place with effort. It's a migration. The person moves into the new version of events and inhabits it. And in that version, the grief is genuine.The second installment of a five-part psychological series examining every phase of Kouri Richins' decision-making. The 911 call, the Google searches, the book, the TV tour — and a brain that can produce sincere tenderness for children it orphaned.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#KouriRichins #EricRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #Psychology #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #FentanylPoisoning #SummitCounty #TrueCrimeCommunity #Justice

The defense tried to show the jury Blair's 10-out-of-10 sketch of a man who looked nothing like Allen. Excluded. Tried to call an expert to challenge the bullet science the State told the jury was never wrong. Excluded. Tried to play the audio that would show what Allen sounded like while confessing in psychosis. Excluded. Tried to present an expert who would have explained the crime scene as a pagan ritual rather than a lone attack. Excluded. Tried to introduce evidence about suspects who practiced those rituals, were connected to the victim, and whose interviews were lost or destroyed. Excluded. The defense even tried to present evidence about the quality of the investigation itself. Excluded. What the jury did hear: a State phone expert who Googled whether water damage could mimic headphones during the trial and was allowed to testify about what he found on anonymous forums — over the defense's hearsay objection. According to the defense's appellate filings, every meaningful avenue for challenging the prosecution's narrative was closed by the trial court. Allen was convicted in November 2024 and sentenced to 130 years. The State's position on every exclusion is the same: harmless error. The appeal is pending.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#Delphi #RichardAllen #DelphiMurders #RichardAllenTrial #HarmlessError #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #WrongfulConviction #ExcludedEvidence #JusticeForAbbyAndLibby

On this episode of The Late Night Vision Show, we're discussing the 5 Most Searched Thermal Questions on the Internet. These questions people constantly ask when they first start learning about thermal optics. Questions such as, can thermal see through glass? Can you identify a person with thermal, and more. We cover some of the biggest misconceptions and common questions surrounding thermal technology while giving straightforward answers from years of experience using it in the field.

On today's Daily Detroit, we start the week with a conversation with State Senator — and Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful — Mallory McMorrow. It's the third in our series of Democratic Senate candidate interviews, and we're focused squarely on what federal power could actually mean for Detroit, Metro Detroit, and Michigan. McMorrow talks about why she first Googled "how to run for office" after the 2016 election, and why she frames governing as a design challenge to build policy that improves people's lives. She talked about an approach to ieconomic development that feels less like "Lucy and the football" and more like real, ground‑up regional growth — including transit as economic development, and keeping young people from leaving the state. From there, the conversation moves to the auto industry and EVs, competition from China, and why she wants incentives that grow talent and clusters of jobs instead of focusing on chasing megaprojects. We also touch on affordability: gas prices, housing, childcare, and McMorrow's push to scale ideas like universal pre‑K, free school meals, more housing production, paid leave, and cracking down on scammy online ads. You'll also hear her vision on healthcare access, expanding Michigan's red flag law approach to the federal level, and supporting Detroit‑grown community violence intervention. And because this is Daily Detroit, they close with some city love — from classic Michigan license plates helping fix roads to her favorite spots around town.  We'll be at the Mackinac Policy Conference all week, so be sure to check your podcast feeds and inboxes for updates.  Constructive feedback as always: 313-789-3211 or dailydetroit -at- gmail -dot- com. And make sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get shows. 

FULL SHOW: Monday, May 25th, 2026 Curious if we look as bad as we sound? Follow us @BrookeandJeffrey: Youtube Instagram TikTok BrookeandJeffrey.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hope Chambers, a mom of two, content creator, and former marketing exec who worked in TV/film in LA and tech startups in New York, gets real about packing up her family and moving to Amsterdam with a six-month-old and a toddler. She talks about growing up with financial insecurity, the fear that motherhood would erase everything she'd built, and why she stopped waiting for the "right time" to go after the life she actually wanted. No sugarcoating, no vision board fluff, just an honest conversation about what it costs to blow up a life that looks good on paper.If you're a mom who's ever Googled "moving to Europe" at 2am, questioned your entire career after having a baby, or felt like you had to choose between being a good mom and being yourself, this one's for you.Why listen:How Hope navigated going freelance and moving abroad with two kids under three, and what the Dutch system is actually like for expat familiesBehind-the-scenes on building a personal brand as an American creator in Europe, why US brand deals still pay better, and her husband Clayton's advice to stop trying to monetize too fastHow motherhood made her realize her corporate career was draining her, and why she compares having kids to an ayahuasca journeyReal talk on the pressure to pick a lane (working mom vs. stay-at-home mom) and why moving to Europe finally let her stop choosingWhy she treats herself like her own client, using a decade of brand marketing experience to build something that's actually hersHow to stay unapologetically yourself abroad when people keep reminding you you're "too American"Find Hope:Instagram: @hope.ss.chambers YouTube: @hope.ss.chambers Find host Laura:Instagram: @laurafama Contact Laura: laura@herwhy.worldThis episode supports BirthFund. Every mom deserves access to quality midwifery care, but not every family can afford it. The BirthFund is a 1:1 community fund that sends 100% of donations directly to families to cover the cost of midwifery care. If this episode resonated with you and you want to support a mom on her own journey, consider donating. Every contribution goes straight to a family who needs it.Donate here

Can we really rebuild our society and achieve total freedom?John Bush has built one of the more grounded blueprints I've seen for exiting the system instead of complaining about it. In this episode, we get into parallel societies, the four horsemen of technocracy, the difference between Bitcoin as a store of value and privacy coins, and why he thinks stablecoins are replacing the CBDC rollout people were warned about.So, what's actually working at the community level? John shares why his first intentional community fell apart, what he learned the hard way about vetting people, and how the Haven Village project is structuring land, trusts, and private membership associations differently.There's a lot here on the practical side too: de-Googled phones, mesh communication, and the trifecta of PMA, trust, and ministry that lets you build outside the system without abandoning everything inside it.If you've been stuck in a cycle of doomscrolling and not knowing what to do next, press play.Visit lukestorey.com/fourhorsemen to sign up for the Escape the Four Horsemen of the Technocracy Webinar.You'll learn:[00:00] Introduction[13:58] Why so many freedom people fell for the Trump thing again[20:49] Larken Rose, false authority, and why belief in government is the real problem[23:15] The Four Horsemen of Technocracy and how energy credits will replace money[33:41] Why your smart meter could become a tool to punish your tweets[41:58] Flock cameras, Mexico's cashless toll booths, and the death of anonymous travel[56:36] The science behind Freedom Cells[1:03:02] Why your homestead falls apart and how to build a communal prenup[1:35:05] Bitcoin's block size war, Epstein's layer-two money, and how Bitcoin lost its cash use case[1:48:51] Why Monero and Zano matter before CBDCs and stablecoins lock everyone in[2:04:03] The trifecta (ministry, PMA, and trust) as a bridge out of the system[2:40:03] How losing everything brought John Bush to JesusResources Mentioned:Read: The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose | BookThe People's Reset | WebsiteFreedom Cell Network | WebsiteRead: Flourish! An Alternative to Government and Other Hierarchies by Bob Podolsky | BookLive Free Now with John Bush | WebsiteHaven Village | WebsiteExit and Build Land Summit | WebsiteHaven Earth Trade School | WebsiteFreedom Family Fellowship | WebsiteNO, I WILL NOT COMPLY! PERIOD! | YouTubeFull shownotes at lukestorey.com/johnbushRelated The Life Stylist Episodes:Alex Jones: The Mystic Behind the Madman & the Fight for Our Future | PodcastFake Viruses and Parasitic Politicians: How We Win by Thinking Clearly & Opting Out w/ Alec Zeck | PodcastDeath-Free Diet Fantasies vs. Regenerative Farm-To-Fork Food of the Future | PodcastAwakening Spiritual Law: A Bridge from Babylon to the New Earth w/ Michael Joseph & Phil Mederi | PodcastCommon Law School: Escape the Free-Range Tax Slave Matrix Legally | PodcastCommon Law School Part 2: Mastering Money & Dismantling Debt | PodcastThe Truth Shall Set You Free: Quitting the US Corporation & Breaking The Matrix | PodcastAre Trusts the Key to Financial Freedom in the Matrix? The Art of Living Privately | PodcastHow to Divorce Yourself from Government Jurisdiction and Create Your Own | PodcastBreaking Free: State National Status & Sovereignty Made Simple w/ Kenneth Plaster | PodcastFind more from John:John Bush | Website | Instagram | Facebook | X | TikTok | YouTubeFind more from Luke:Luke Storey | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube | LinkedInBIOPTIMIZERS | Visit bioptimizers.com/luke and use code LUKE15 to save 15% off

The Guest: Norris Francis BranhamWebsite: www. Turtlegang.nyc YT ⁠ IG: @turtlegangnyc —This conversation with Norris Francis Branham is one of the most important, eye‑opening, and culturally vital interviews of the season. Viewers will walk away with a deeper understanding of Indigenous history, the erasure of Native narratives in America, and the urgent work being done today to reclaim identity, land, and truth.—Norris is not just a historian—he is a living archive, a cultural protector, and a frontline advocate whose work with Turtlegang.nyc is reshaping how communities understand their origins and their power. This episode is a rare opportunity to hear history from a voice that carries lineage, lived experience, and uncompromising clarity.

What's The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Googled - Part 2 full 306 Mon, 18 May 2026 13:26:16 +0000 Kh3WezI80x6jop2HTWo22g1544LkTRcD latest,wbmx,society & culture Karson & Kennedy latest,wbmx,society & culture What's The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Googled - Part 2 Karson & Kennedy are honest and open about the most intimate details of their personal lives. The show is fast paced and will have you laughing until it hurts one minute and then wiping tears away from your eyes the next. Some of K&K’s most popular features are Can’t Beat Kennedy, What Did Barrett Say, and The Dirty on the 30! 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Society & Culture False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?

What's The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Googled - Part 1 full 242 Mon, 18 May 2026 13:23:58 +0000 8wzk7b3IV5XwArdmtnLSJuaNBT4tJJ8u latest,wbmx,society & culture Karson & Kennedy latest,wbmx,society & culture What's The Dumbest Thing You've Ever Googled - Part 1 Karson & Kennedy are honest and open about the most intimate details of their personal lives. The show is fast paced and will have you laughing until it hurts one minute and then wiping tears away from your eyes the next. Some of K&K’s most popular features are Can’t Beat Kennedy, What Did Barrett Say, and The Dirty on the 30! 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Society & Culture False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?

Episode 290- Warning: Use AI & Lose Your Guns  Also Available OnSearchable Podcast Transcript Gun Lawyer — Episode Transcript Page – 1 – of 16 Gun Lawyer — Episode 290 Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDS AI threat, gun rights, Chat GPT, police intervention, involuntary commitment, extreme risk protection order, privacy concerns, legal implications, AI misuse, mental health, medication monitoring, court hearing, AI development, Second Amendment, New Jersey gun laws. SPEAKERS Teddy Nappen, Evan Nappen, Mike, Speaker 2 Evan Nappen 00:17 I’m Evan Nappen. Teddy Nappen 00:19 And I’m Teddy Nappen. Evan Nappen 00:21 And welcome to Gun Lawyer. We have a very important show for you. This is a critical issue that you probably have never heard about before or even considered as an issue. Yet in this modern age of AI, it has emerged as a threat to gun owners and our Second Amendment rights. Today we have an actual victim of AI and gun rights, and I want this show to be a warning to every gun owner to beware. When you talk to AI, you’re basically talking to the Government. You are talking publicly, and it is a thing that is monitored, that is admitted to being monitored. This is something that can cause immense problems for any gun owner. Today, we have on the show Mike, and Mike is an actual victim of AI. Welcome to the show, Mike. Teddy Nappen 01:36 Hey, Mike. Evan Nappen 01:36 Do you? Hi there. Mike 01:38 It’s great to be here. Thank you. Evan Nappen 01:40 So, Mike, tell me, and tell our listeners, what occurred when you ended up, you were using an AI program, right? What program were you using? Mike 01:55 Yeah, I was doing ChatGPT. Page – 2 – of 16 Evan Nappen 01:59 And what were you doing at the time, speaking with ChatGPT? Mike 02:06 Well, it’s a pretty long story, but to summarize it. My wife and I were having marital issues. So, she left. She said, ‘I’m leaving”, and she left the house. So, I decided I would just vent, because I was very upset. So, I got on ChatGPT, and I started talking to ChatGPT. Evan Nappen 02:30 And ChatGPT is easy to talk to. It’s like a person. You’re essentially venting like you would to a friend, right? Mike 02:39 That’s correct. And so, I was assuming it was private, right? I didn’t think anybody was listening, and so I was telling ChatGPT some very private things, like, you know, I am not.. I don’t have a plan for suicide, but I am very distressed. I don’t want it to get to the point where I’m thinking about suicide and making a plan for suicide. So, I assumed that that was private. But within 15 minutes, 20 minutes or so, there was a severe pounding at the door. I went over to the door, opened the door, and it was the Police. This is Ocean County, New Jersey. And they started asking me questions. They did not have a counselor with them, which they normally would bring to a situation like this. There was no mediator. It was just police, basically. They walked in, and at the time I was in the middle of taking my normal medication. I distribute my medication across different vials, so that I know I’m on track, either taking too much or not taking enough. But the police decided to grab the vial away from me. They sort of took the vial away from me. They started to count the medication, and I said, “Yeah…. Evan Nappen 04:08 And this is prescription medication for you, right? Mike 04:11 That’s correct. I said, “You can’t count that vial. I distribute the medication across multiple vials. You’ll have to go back to the safe and get the other medication. They never bothered to do that. Evan Nappen 04:25 Did they tell you why they were at your door? Mike 04:29 They never did. They never told me. I asked them why they were here, and they said that somebody called 911. I said that I never called 911. Evan Nappen 04:42 Do you know any living person that called 911? Page – 3 – of 16 Page – 4 – of 16 Mike 04:47 No. Nobody called. I was the only one who knew what was going on. Evan Nappen 04:52 Because you were in your home, and it was just you there talking to ChatGPT, right? Mike 04:57 That’s it. Bottom line. So, they were very aggressive. They miscounted the pills. When I went to the hospital, they took me to Kimball Medical Center in Lakewood, New Jersey. There were about five people, six people standing around me, including police and nurses, and they said, “You have to pee in this cup.” I said, I can’t pee with a bunch of people watching me. They said, well, we’ll have to sedate you, and then we’ll have to do a straight cat. So, the sedation didn’t work. They did a straight cat with an untrained nurse. I was screaming my head off, and it caused me to bleed for like two, three hours. I had to keep changing the paper pants. It was a horrible experience. It was really terrible. Mike 05:52 They basically just watched me for three or four hours. Of course, the urine test and the drug work was all negative. Everything came back negative for overdose and use of illegal drugs, use of sleeping pills, whatever. Everything was negative. The only thing that was positive was my normal medication, and it was at normal levels. So, then they decided to commit me involuntarily, which I questioned. I talked to the psychiatrist. I said, why are you committing me involuntarily? Well, just because of some of the things that you said. I said, well, what did I say? And he said, well, I don’t exactly know, but it was reported that you said that you were going to commit suicide, he told me. I said, no. I was talking to ChatGPT, I was venting. Teddy Nappen 06:44 Wow. Mike 06:45 But they committed me involuntarily anyway. So, I went to the involuntary, I went to the behavioral health hospital. They weren’t treating me for anything. They were just letting me float around with everyone else, and there were a lot of people in there that needed a lot of help, serious psychiatric help. I felt bad for these people. There was one woman who was crawling on the floor, saying, ‘I’m not a child molester, just screaming it out. There was another guy who was in there for attempting to kill his brother. So, I was in with a bunch of people, and I didn’t belong there. I finally met up with a district manager that I figured that out, because she saw me writing letters to the management. I took some pieces of paper that I found, and I started handwriting letters saying you’re not treating me. You have to define what my treatment plan is, and what the goals of the treatment plans are. Otherwise, you need to release me by law. Well, that got their attention, because I took the time to hand write two letters. I sent it to the management and to the legal team. So, within a day I was told that I was going to be released. So, the whole thing was a big charade. In the meantime, this police officer goes before a judge and gets a TERPO, and he puts on the TERPO. Page – 5 – of 16 Page – 6 – of 16 Evan Nappen 08:09 A TERPO is a Temporary Extreme Risk Protection Order. Mike 08:13 Correct. Evan Nappen 08:13 And in getting that, they serve this on you when? When were you served the TERPO? When you got home from the hospital? Mike 08:23 Yeah, before I left the behavioral health hospital. I said, did you guys check the blood work and urine analysis? And they never did. So, bottom line is that they put down on the TERPO that I overdosed on prescription pain medicine, and I was abusing my pain medicine because they miscounted the medicine at my house. Evan Nappen 08:48 And that was absolutely not true. Mike 08:50 Absolutely not true, completely false. So, when we got to the FERPO, I defended myself. Evan Nappen 08:57 Okay. So, the FERPO is the Final Extreme Risk Protection Order. There’s a hearing that’s held where the judge has to decide whether the TERPO, which is issued ex parte, where you never had any say, the cops just made whatever statements they made, the judge issues this TERPO with no due process for you. And you’re served with the TERPO and your guns get taken. Then you finally get your day in court, where you’re going to be able to explain yourself. You go there without an attorney, and you have this hearing. What happens at this hearing on whether or not to issue this FERPO. Mike 09:45 Yeah. So, the hearing was on April 8, 2026 in the Superior Court of Ocean County, New Jersey. The prosecutor put the police officer on the stand. I asked him a bunch of questions. Did you do a background check on me? Did you find anything negative? Blah blah blah. The answer was no to everything. So, then I had a chance to cross-examine him, and I said, at the time that you went before the judge to get the TERPO, did you understand at that time, and did you present to the judge that the blood work and the urine analysis all came back negative for overdose? Normal use of my prescription medicine. He said, no. I did not do that. I did not present it. Then I said, can you name a specific person at the behavioral health hospital or the regular hospital that had made a diagnosis of suicide on my part? He said, “No, I can’t name anybody.” So, in other words, they said everything that you wrote on the TERPO, justification for the TERPO, was kind of like hearsay, basically. He said, yeah, I guess so. It’s unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t have any legal experience, you know. I’m an engineer, and I do the best I can based on the facts. And here I am doing a cross examination of this guy, and you could see that they never did their homework. Page – 7 – of 16 Teddy Nappen 11:23 I’m more shocked that the guy just answered blatantly. That he would just say, “Yeah, I guess so. It makes sense. Evan Nappen 11:35 So, you were cross-examining the officer at the hearing. You questioned him, and what did you think about his answers? Mike 11:45 I could tell he didn’t do his homework, because the first question, related to the really important stuff, which is, did this guy actually try to commit suicide? So you look at the urine results, and you look at the blood work, and they were all negative. The urine test was negative for any illegal drug and negative for sleeping pills. The only thing it was positive for was the medicine that I normally take, and it was at normal levels. And then he couldn’t name anybody that had diagnosed me as being suicidal. So, basically everything that he presented to the judge for the TERPO amounted to hearsay, pretty much. And you could tell when I was. Evan Nappen 12:33 Ultimately the judge dismissed it. After the hearing, he dismissed the TERPO and did not grant the FERPO. Mike 12:41 Right. The judge dismissed the FERPO, and actually wrote, she wrote in the finding that the defendant does not show any productivity or proclivity to suicidal tendencies. Therefore, there’s nothing to prevent him from owning firearms, in so many words. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s what she said. And then she also said verbally that I could go and retrieve my firearms because the FERPO was denied. You can go and retrieve your firearms from the Lakewood Police. Teddy Nappen 13:19 Wow. Evan Nappen 13:21 Okay. Mike 13:22 So, I filled out the application that they make you fill out. Little did I know it was landing in the lap of this detective that works for the Assistant Prosecutor. I had to provide all kinds of information, including the TERPO, the FERPO. I wrote a lab analysis that I included. I included my white paper, which has the timeline of events, and they just sat on it. It was around April 10 that I submitted all that, and they have just been sitting on it ever since. Page – 8 – of 16 Evan Nappen 13:47 So, even though the FERPO has been dismissed, you still have not gotten your guns back. And that’s what we’re going to be helping you to get your guns back. Even with no FERPO, with a finding of no issue regarding being a threat to yourself or a threat to others, and everything you went through, the stress of the entire situation, the medical procedure, which was extremely painful, Mike 14:31 Horrendous, no less. Horrendous. Evan Nappen 14:33 Horrendous. And then having to be put through this system where there was nothing, and it all was triggered because of you speaking with ChatGPT, right? Mike 14:49 Correct, exactly, exactly. And this is outrageous. Evan Nappen 14:53 It’s outrageous. Mike 14:55 It’s unbelievable. Evan Nappen 14:57 Yeah. Wait, Teddy. Go ahead, go ahead, Mike. Teddy Nappen 14:59 No, I’m sorry, Mike. I’ll leave it to him. Mike 15:01 It’s just unbelievable. You’re sitting there in your office, your home office, and you’re talking to an AI. And then there’s police pounding on the door, walking into your house, grabbing your medication, sending you to the hospital. Then you’re in extreme pain because somebody’s putting a straight catheter through your penis. You’re bleeding for three or four hours. You call for a urologist, and nobody shows up for six hours. I mean, and then when.. and then they had me talk to the psychiatrist. That was like out of, that was like out of The Wizard of Oz. They bring a TV monitor over, and they have me talk to this psychiatrist over this TV monitor. It was so bizarre. He’s just sitting there with his head in his chin, like some arrogant fool determining my future, and he throws me in this place where I didn’t belong. I mean, that’s why I have PTSD. Evan Nappen 15:58 Right. This is, this is what New Jersey? This is what you’re subject to. Gun owners take notice how this got triggered, and what Mike went through. And is still going through. He still hasn’t gotten his guns returned yet. Yeah, this is what happens when you live in the DPRNJ. Take note! Page – 9 – of 16 Teddy Nappen 16:20 Mike, I’m actually kind of curious. Prior to the incident, have you used any other AI’s? What did you use prior? Just do understand the relationship with you and the AI. Like, what you were using it for prior? Mike 16:37 Well, I’m an engineer. I’ve worked for many years for Bell Labs, and then Miter, and other companies. So, I write papers. I’m giving a presentation in July on 6G. So, I use AI’s to help me write papers and do other things that are technical in nature, and I’m trying to build a business. I actually’ve written. Me and a few people that I’ve worked with over the years have developed our own AI system that’s based on a human learning model, and we have a beta version of it. It basically learns like a human being learns, and it can learn any technical specialty and become an expert, a super intellect in that specialty. So, that’s what I’ve been using it for. But that day was a pretty bad day, because, you know, we’ve been married for 44 years. My wife said, “I’m leaving you, because we got into an argument over our grandchildren, without going into the details. It was, that was basically the bottom line, and she decided I’ve had enough. I’m leaving. That’s when I started to vent to ChatGPT, because he’s kind of my friend. Evan Nappen 17:49 And you know that it was not your wife who called, right? Mike 17:54 No, my wife did not call. Evan Nappen 17:55 Right. And that was it. It was you talking to ChatGPT, and here you are. Even working in the area of AI, and you didn’t realize that it’s a conduit out when you speak. Just so you know, I’ve checked. I just Googled about ChatGPT. Do they report? Do they contact police? And they admit it. They say yes, they do. If someone’s talking about, they claim, harming others, which of course you never talked in any way about that. Then it says with suicide, they claim, and this is just what comes up when you search it on a Google search, they claim, oh no, we recommend counseling. We don’t contact the police. Yeah, right. Well, apparently that’s not the case. Mike 18:44 That’s not the case. And listen, you know, being in this business, you can write a back end to any system. So, if they wanted to put it back end into the police. Evan Nappen 18:56 Yeah, well, they admit they do for these issues. I mean, I’m just reading what I see on Google when I asked this about ChatGPT, you know. Evan Nappen 19:10 They do this. They talk about their so-called policies, right on there. So, people need to be aware of it, and Mike, that’s why, isn’t that why you wanted to go public with this? You really wanted to tell people, so they would be aware of it, right? Page – 10 – of 16 Mike 19:29 Yeah, and again, I’m not, I’m not ashamed of going public, you know. Whenever it’s appropriate, people can find out all about me, my last name or whatever, because this is just outrageous, I don’t want anyone else to go through this. Teddy Nappen 19:42 Mike, I’m really curious about regarding your just for your understanding of, with seems like you have a decent amount of knowledge on AI. I know, mine is very limited. But I understand that there’s like closed AI, like for instance, just to give an example. Westlaw is now adding AI to help people do legal research, or even, like, other forms of platforms. Even Adobe now has AI to help you. Evan Nappen 20:10 They say, like, with Claude, it’s supposed to be contained, or can be? I don’t know. Mike 20:18 Any system can have a back end. Evan Nappen 20:20 Right. Mike 20:20 It’s not, it’s not a difficult thing to do, and you just get, you know, even a junior programmer to provide the backend capability. You can call it closed, open, whatever. You can call it anything you want. If somebody wants to put in a back end to a system, it’s not hard to do. It’s relatively simple to do. Most of it’s done through what’s called an Application Program Interface, or an API. You may have heard that term before. So, ChatGPT obviously has an API calls to certain platforms that the police have access to. So, that’s the only thing that could have happened. That has to be the case. Evan Nappen 21:03 Right. It’s really something, and it’s really great that you wanted to share this and let folks know. It is something we’re just not aware of. And with AI being this whole new kind of age we’re entering into, its impact to our rights is well, you’re a shining example of what we have to worry about. It goes further, too, because now there’s great concern about AI, for example, being able to access the illegal gun registry of the billion records that ATF has warehoused, where they claimed, oh, well, you know, it’s something. With AI, that now takes on an even greater dimension for AI use on registration record. Essentially being able to create a dossier of every person and their purchases. And then that can combine with individuals who may be talking, and then knowing what gun, and I mean, the ramifications just go on and on and on. From the global picture right down to someone like yourself, an individual who unsuspectingly is speaking with AI. Mike 22:31 Well, the thing that I want to make sure people are aware of is that you may think you’re alone in your freedom, you may think you have freedom of thought, but in actual reality, when you get online, there’s no such thing. That’s why I wrote that white paper that I attached and I sent to you guys, called Page – 11 – of 16 “Freedom of Thought”. I have since contacted somebody that I know at the NRA, and they’re interested in publishing it. I have to clean it up a little bit, but I really believe in this. I really believe that there’s things beyond the guns. The Second Amendment, of course, is very important. Mike 22:33 But it’s also the stuff beyond it. Evan Nappen 22:33 That’s a great point, too, because it does go beyond. It affects across the boards our rights about privacy. Mike 22:33 Exactly. Evan Nappen 22:33 Oh, without a doubt, and yeah, it’s very significant, and this highlights it. Teddy Nappen 22:48 I will say, from your experience, not only just your background and what you’ve gone through on that, I still see the value in AI as a tool. And it seems like in your field you still see it as that, as a tool to be used, and yes, there are the dangers as clearly seen. Do you still hold that opinion? Do you have any changes from that? Or where are you at now? Mike 23:54 No. I mean, AI is wonderful. I mean, I’ve been doing AI research for a long time, and people think AI is new. It’s not. There’s just new manifestations now, because the hardware is much faster. So, the stuff that we weren’t able to run in the past we can do now, because we have a lot more horsepower. Architectures of the chipsets are better. So, that’s going to even get better. We’re talking about now hybrid chip sets that are part biology and part silicon. And over time, that’s going to, you know, develop further into actual, you know, bio capable chipsets. So, what I’m trying to do is create a super intelligent version in my, I call it Adapt One. It’s based on a human learning model, and this thing will learn in any field you put it in that environment. Let’s say you put it in the law office, you give it a video camera or a microphone, text input, whatever, it’s going to learn whatever gets discussed in that office. And eventually over time, if it has access to electronic media, like books, and so on, like case law, it’ll learn all that. So, it’ll become an expert, become a legal expert, right? Just like I’m trying to use it initially as an expert in the networking arena, because I’m a 6G wireless person using AI. So, what I’m trying to do is use Adapt One in a networking environment where you distribute the Adapt Ones. They learn about what’s going on in their particular segments of the network. Then they discover each other, and they exchange information and learn from each other. So, we’re talking about going forward as AI evolves, you’re talking about super intelligent entities that will achieve superior intellect, the human being. So I’m very gung ho with AI. Page – 12 – of 16 Teddy Nappen 25:57 Yeah, one thing I do find valuable, and people should remember this. When looking at AI, I see it as valuable to make a lot of the institutions, the ones that have been, you see it, the political bias, and have been corrupted, like the education system, what’s going on with media. When it comes to, like, Hollywood, and they’re all terrified of AI, those have been the propagandist arms for the longest time. I see AI making them irrelevant, too. And your program, could you, for someone who wanted to homeschool, have an AI trained to be a teacher in the house to help educate your children. Mike 26:39 Yes! Teddy Nappen 26:39 That’s what I’m looking at, because I do not want to send my child to a propaganda public school and be trained up to be a radical communist. Mike 26:49 Yeah, exactly. I don’t blame you. I mean, so Adapt One will do that, right? Evan Nappen 26:55 Very cool. Teddy Nappen 26:56 And I do see the value, a lot of the creativity, where. I don’t know if you caught Spencer Pratt out of LA. Mike 26:58 Yes. Teddy Nappen 26:58 He’s running for mayor. Did you see his AI ad where he dressed himself up as Batman? He’s bating Karen Bass, and they’re all throwing tomatoes. Hey like, this whole like, what is it? This Marie Antoinette level of just, let them eat cake. Mike 27:23 She is the most incompetent person on earth. I cannot believe she’s the mayor. Why did the people elect her? She’s horrible. Teddy Nappen 27:31 She checked off enough boxes, that’s how it always goes. Mike 27:34 Oh my god, she is so incompetent. All those fires, and I guess they’ve only issued like a handful of permits to rebuild. It’s insane. What’s going on there? Page – 13 – of 16 Teddy Nappen 27:43 Oh, yeah, and it seems like they might even.. in it’s still a toss up, and they may vote in the worst, the socialists who working.. Mike 27:51 I know, Teddy Nappen 27:52 And they’re just like, well, we.. well, you know what? Let’s just further the problem, that’s it. And the other thing I remember, that just a little bit of the abuse by AI. I always laugh at this one. MSNBC was caught photoshopping Alex Pretti, the guy who was attacking ICE, and then was taken down. They used AI to make him look more handsome. Mike 28:21 Oh yeah. I saw that. Teddy Nappen 28:23 They edited his photo so he would look like a more handsome victim, and it’s like, what the heck is wrong with you? Mike 28:31 It’s unbelievable, the propaganda that people want to create, you know. Evan Nappen 28:35 That’s true. Mike 28:36 But there’s too many suckers that fall for it, that’s the problem. I mean, you know, yeah, I’m gonna vote for Karen Bass. She’s wonderful. Or I’m gone vote for Mandami, because he’s promising from Defense Deliver. Yeah. Teddy Nappen 28:47 No, I love the latest thing they’re pushing for, where they’re talking about how Mandami solved the budget crisis. Oh, you mean he took out a massive loan from New York because Governor Hochul handed him the money? Yeah, like, and it still doesn’t solve the budget issue. Although he’s hiking rates and fees up and down, so don’t drive through New York, or you’re gonna get a ticket for something. Mike 29:11 Yeah, I heard he’s gonna try to rob the pensions or something like that. I mean. Teddy Nappen 29:14 Oh yeah, he did. For five years, they’ve done a moratorium on the pensions. I believe that was the number, but I was like, oh, good, that’ll work out. Page – 14 – of 16 Mike 29:24 Oh yeah, that’s gonna be wonderful. Evan Nappen 29:27 Hey, well, let me mention about our friends at WeShoot, because they’re running something very interesting. They’re having a rescue for pewppys, that’s right, pewppys. You might think that a pupae is similar to a puppy because the way their ad is rolling and the way they are promoting this. They have adopt a gun. So, they have a 20% off at WeShoot, which is a range in Lakewood. It’s where both Teddy and I shoot and get our training, and we love it at WeShoot. This is a real fun thing that they’re running. Adopt a gun, and the reason is real simple. They have a lot of guns that need to be adopted, and they need rescue. Evan Nappen 30:23 Their pewppys come in all shapes, all sizes, all calibers. Some are teeny little .22 Chihuahuas with big personality. Some are loyal nine millimeters, everyday companions ready to protect the home. Each one has its own bark bite personality and purpose. So, adopt a pewppy. The rescue shelf at WeShoot is 20% off. They don’t bark unless they get triggered. They don’t shed, other than brass, of course, and they don’t chew your furniture. Although you can perforate a few things with them, so be responsible. They’re looking for responsible, law-abiding owners. Check out WeShoot, and they’re adopt a pewppy, a 20% off program. And don’t forget, they have tremendous training and a great range facility. They are offering this great sale, and WeShoot is a lot of fun. We love it there. Check out WeShoot at weshootusa.com, weshootusa.com. Evan Nappen 31:37 Let me also shamelessly plug my book, New Jersey Gun Law, which is the bible of Jersey gun law. It’s over 500 pages, 120 topics, all question and answer to help you guide your way through this matrix of insanity called New Jersey gun law. And now we have an entire new warning. I’m going to have to incorporate this into a book update, I’m sure. And it is this week’s GOFU. As you know, every show we have a GOFU and that’s the Gun Owner Fuck Up. Where gun owners have made mistakes, errors, problems that end up costing them. Well, as you heard firsthand today, this was a GOFU. It’s something where we’re fortunate enough to have the person who experienced it wanting to go public and warn about this GOFU. With a warning that really has not been put out before. When you’re talking to AI, you just better believe you’re talking to the world. And it is something, particularly in New Jersey, particularly in a state that does not respect our Second Amendment rights and has mechanisms in place to abuse our rights, like the Extreme Risk Protection Orders. You can see how this all comes together into a perfect storm that Mike already has suffered through, and he doesn’t want to see anybody else suffer. Teddy Nappen 33:23 The other thing I was wondering about, because I know some firms are doing like a closed AI, basically, that would, I will, that would take almost like you’d have to have, like, I guess, even like a server, where it’s complete blank slate, and you give it the law of what, and just can do research on that. I don’t know if that, what would be. Page – 15 – of 16 Evan Nappen 33:45 Ethically lawyers can’t use ChatGPT or any open AI. It can’t even. Teddy Nappen 33:50 Correct. Evan Nappen 33:50 Because it goes into the public. We can’t do it. Mike 33:54 Yeah. Teddy Nappen 33:54 But there’s been talk of firms doing that instead, where they have like a closed, their own thing. Mike 34:00 Well, that’s what.. well, that’s what didn’t come across when I said it, but Adapt One, which is based on a human learning model. It will be whatever you want it to be. So, if you want it to be an expert in one particular area and sort of a closed information context, you could use it for that. If you want it to be more open, you can use it for that. Basically, you can put it anywhere. It’ll learn like a human baby learns, but it’ll do it much faster until it gets to the point where it’s super intelligent. So, if you wanted to, if you wanted a tax expert in your office, that would be the way to go, right? I should have a working product soon. It’s in a beta release now, but I should have a production version of it in about eight months. Evan Nappen 34:49 Wow, that’s cool. Teddy Nappen 34:51 Wow. Evan Nappen 34:51 That is really good. Mike 34:53 Yeah. Evan Nappen 34:54 Well, Mike, thanks again for going public and letting folks know. This is going to be really important, and I’m sure it’s going to catch fire to everyone in our community. You know, like I said this hasn’t been revealed before. It hasn’t been discussed in this context. I go through every news feed, every pro-gun site and feed. I am constantly reading and reviewing, and nobody has talked about this issue. Page – 16 – of 16 Teddy Nappen 35:30 The only thing that’s come up that’s even close to it would be the shooter that was shooting up the highway. He was using ChatGPT to plan out his attack. Evan Nappen 35:41 Right! The planning. And the other one is the global, where right now there’s a bill in Congress, they want to stop over that illegal registry because of fears of AI, particularly. Yeah, Ammoland just had an article on that. (https://www.ammoland.com/2026/05/ai-could-turn-atfs-4473-stockpile-into-the-gun-registry-congress-banned/) They talked about that because, what it is, they can read even the handwriting on the 4473s that they have. So, it’s all accessible. And then with AI, it’s very easy to do. They could put the dossier together to have the registration, the confiscation schemes, the monitoring, on, on. You know, it’s very, very dangerous when you combine it with the data that they have. Mike 36:23 Yeah, I mean, AI can be very dangerous, right? Put it in the hands of the wrong people, they’ll use it in a very bad way. Teddy Nappen 36:29 Well, my biggest nervousness is the one where all the nuclear reactors they are building to help power it. They’re like, oh, we’re just gonna put AI in charge of that. I’m like, Mike 36:38 Oh yeah, Evan Nappen 36:41 Haven’t they watched Terminator? I mean, come on. Mike 36:45 Yeah, but listen, I mean, here’s the problem. A lot of the AI systems are a lot of software, okay? It’s not just hardware. What that means is that there’s no.. in this world we haven’t figured out a way to do error-free software. I am an expert on software reliability, and I can just tell you that if you’re putting this thing in very high-risk applications like management of nuclear weapons, you’re making a big mistake. Because at some point there is going to be a severity one MR. or war bug. And it’s going to cause a problem. People are putting too much confidence in AI. We have to realize that a large part of it is software, and software is not bulletproof. Evan Nappen 37:37 This is Evan Nappen and Teddy Nappen reminding you that gun laws don’t protect honest citizens from criminals. They protect criminals from honest citizens. Speaker 2 37:49 Gun Lawyer is a CounterThink Media production. The music used in this broadcast was managed by Cosmo Music, New York, New York. Reach us by emailing Evan@gun.lawyer. The information and opinions in this broadcast do not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your state. Downloadable PDF TranscriptGun Lawyer S5 E290_Transcript About The HostEvan Nappen, Esq.Known as “America's Gun Lawyer,” Evan Nappen is above all a tireless defender of justice. Author of eight bestselling books and countless articles on firearms, knives, and weapons history and the law, a certified Firearms Instructor, and avid weapons collector and historian with a vast collection that spans almost five decades — it's no wonder he's become the trusted, go-to expert for local, industry and national media outlets. Regularly called on by radio, television and online news media for his commentary and expertise on breaking news Evan has appeared countless shows including Fox News – Judge Jeanine, CNN – Lou Dobbs, Court TV, Real Talk on WOR, It's Your Call with Lyn Doyle, Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, and Cam & Company/NRA News. As a creative arts consultant, he also lends his weapons law and historical expertise to an elite, discerning cadre of movie and television producers and directors, and novelists. He also provides expert testimony and consultations for defense attorneys across America. Email Evan Your Comments and Questions  talkback@gun.lawyer Join Evan's InnerCircleHere's your chance to join an elite group of the Savviest gun and knife owners in America.  Membership is totally FREE and Strictly CONFIDENTIAL.  Just enter your email to start receiving insider news, tips, and other valuable membership benefits.   Email (required) *First Name *Select list(s) to subscribe toInnerCircle Membership Yes, I would like to receive emails from Gun Lawyer Podcast. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please leave this field blank.var ajaxurl = "https://gun.lawyer/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php";

A decade ago, Anne-Marie and Katrina Anne Willis met inside a small Facebook group that no longer exists — a quiet corner of the internet where women who had Googled "late in life lesbian" found each other. They were both raising kids. Both married to men. Both trying to understand a feeling they didn't yet have language for.This week, they finally meet face to face.Katrina is the author of Hurricane Lessons: A Memoir of Betrayal and Becoming, released April 7th by Sibylline Press. In this conversation, she and Anne-Marie trade their parallel stories — the Pilates instructor, the Catholic upbringing, the husbands who said "if you ever leave me, you'll leave me for a woman" long before either of them understood what that meant. They talk about the catalyst relationship that ripped Katrina's world open, the friend group that quietly disappeared, and the children who grieved in their own ways and on their own timelines.They also talk about what comes after the hurricane. The chosen family. The intentional life. The unexpected softness of a world without raised voices. And the lesson Katrina says took her the longest to learn: that the first betrayal in any coming out story is the betrayal of self, and the becoming begins the moment you stop.If you've ever wondered whether you're the only one who has felt this way — Katrina's answer, and the heart of this episode, is no. You're not. You never were.Where to find Katrina:Hurricane Lessons is available at bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and independent bookstores everywhereSubstack: Surrendering to SapphoInstagram & Facebook: katrina.anne.willisReady to write your own next chapter? Authentically Us is Anne-Marie's private community for women navigating exactly the kind of transition Katrina describes in Hurricane Lessons — the questioning, the becoming, the quiet rebuilding of a life that actually fits. You don't have to figure it out alone, and you don't have to wait until you have language for it. Join us at https://community.annemariezanzal.com

A decade ago, Anne-Marie and Katrina Anne Willis met inside a small Facebook group that no longer exists — a quiet corner of the internet where women who had Googled "late in life lesbian" found each other. They were both raising kids. Both married to men. Both trying to understand a feeling they didn't yet have language for.This week, they finally meet face to face.Katrina is the author of Hurricane Lessons: A Memoir of Betrayal and Becoming, released April 7th by Sibylline Press. In this conversation, she and Anne-Marie trade their parallel stories — the Pilates instructor, the Catholic upbringing, the husbands who said "if you ever leave me, you'll leave me for a woman" long before either of them understood what that meant. They talk about the catalyst relationship that ripped Katrina's world open, the friend group that quietly disappeared, and the children who grieved in their own ways and on their own timelines.They also talk about what comes after the hurricane. The chosen family. The intentional life. The unexpected softness of a world without raised voices. And the lesson Katrina says took her the longest to learn: that the first betrayal in any coming out story is the betrayal of self, and the becoming begins the moment you stop.If you've ever wondered whether you're the only one who has felt this way — Katrina's answer, and the heart of this episode, is no. You're not. You never were.Where to find Katrina:Hurricane Lessons is available at bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and independent bookstores everywhereSubstack: Surrendering to SapphoInstagram & Facebook: katrina.anne.willisReady to write your own next chapter? Authentically Us is Anne-Marie's private community for women navigating exactly the kind of transition Katrina describes in Hurricane Lessons — the questioning, the becoming, the quiet rebuilding of a life that actually fits. You don't have to figure it out alone, and you don't have to wait until you have language for it. Join us at https://community.annemariezanzal.com

A conversation about surveillance, data gathering and advertising targeting at the hands of Big tech and governmental agencies, along with some ways of avoiding the over-reach. We also get into the perils of AI data centres, and Digital ID.Guesting is Hakeem Anwar, the CEO of Above Phone, a conscious technology company that makes devices like de-Googled phones, laptops and tablets.Any listeners ordering through the following link will get $25 off any order placed. This helps all of us out!abovephone.com/djmarkOr use this code at checkout:DJMARK

Jeff Dudan's free digital copy of his book What does it actually take to walk away from a $450K career, build something meaningful, and perform at the highest level without burning out? In this episode of the Unemployable Podcast, host Jeff Dudan sits down with high performance coach Kristy Kuhl - former medical sales executive turned executive coach, speaker, and host of the Keep Rising Podcast. Kristy shares the exact moment Tony Robbins' phrase 'success without fulfillment' changed her life, why she Googled the word 'fulfillment' under a conference table, and how she walked away from a $450,000 income with no plan, no website, and no business cards - and built a thriving coaching practice from scratch. Together Jeff and Kristy unpack the most important frameworks for high performance, including: ✅ The Personal & Professional Scorecard system for daily clarity and decision-making ✅ Why 80% of coaching clients are working on the wrong problem entirely ✅ The Zone of Genius framework and how it eliminates burnout ✅ Why your environment is either fueling or draining your performance ✅ The 'Chicken List' strategy for doing your hardest calls at peak physiology ✅ What a death doula's research on 2,000 deaths reveals about regret and action ✅ How masterminds and peer rooms compress 12 years of learning into 12 hours ✅ The single trait that separates top 5% performers from everyone else ✅ Why radical honesty with yourself is the foundation of every business breakthrough ✅ How to use Human Design to understand how you make decisions Whether you're a franchise owner scaling your business, a corporate executive considering a leap, or an entrepreneur trying to get out of your own way - this conversation is packed with honest, actionable insight that will shift how you think about success, fulfillment, and performance.  Guest: Kristy Kuhl  Guest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kristy_kuhl  Guest Website: https://kristykuhl.com/  Guest Socials: https://www.instagram.com/kristy_kuhl/  #HighPerformance #ExecutiveCoaching #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Mindset #FranchiseBusiness #LifeCoaching #PersonalDevelopment #UnemployablePodcast #KeepRising Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jeff Dudan's free digital copy of his book What does it actually take to walk away from a $450K career, build something meaningful, and perform at the highest level without burning out? In this episode of the Unemployable Podcast, host Jeff Dudan sits down with high performance coach Kristy Kuhl - former medical sales executive turned executive coach, speaker, and host of the Keep Rising Podcast. Kristy shares the exact moment Tony Robbins' phrase 'success without fulfillment' changed her life, why she Googled the word 'fulfillment' under a conference table, and how she walked away from a $450,000 income with no plan, no website, and no business cards - and built a thriving coaching practice from scratch. Together Jeff and Kristy unpack the most important frameworks for high performance, including: ✅ The Personal & Professional Scorecard system for daily clarity and decision-making ✅ Why 80% of coaching clients are working on the wrong problem entirely ✅ The Zone of Genius framework and how it eliminates burnout ✅ Why your environment is either fueling or draining your performance ✅ The 'Chicken List' strategy for doing your hardest calls at peak physiology ✅ What a death doula's research on 2,000 deaths reveals about regret and action ✅ How masterminds and peer rooms compress 12 years of learning into 12 hours ✅ The single trait that separates top 5% performers from everyone else ✅ Why radical honesty with yourself is the foundation of every business breakthrough ✅ How to use Human Design to understand how you make decisions Whether you're a franchise owner scaling your business, a corporate executive considering a leap, or an entrepreneur trying to get out of your own way - this conversation is packed with honest, actionable insight that will shift how you think about success, fulfillment, and performance.  Guest: Kristy Kuhl  Guest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kristy_kuhl  Guest Website: https://kristykuhl.com/  Guest Socials: https://www.instagram.com/kristy_kuhl/  #HighPerformance #ExecutiveCoaching #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Mindset #FranchiseBusiness #LifeCoaching #PersonalDevelopment #UnemployablePodcast #KeepRising Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hakeem Anwar is a technologist, educator, entrepreneur, and privacy advocate. A former software engineer in Silicon Valley — where he built web and mobile applications, including health-related software — he grew disillusioned with Big Tech's surveillance practices and left corporate life in 2019. He then dedicated himself to activist movements, running technology infrastructure for the Freedom Cell Network and The Greater Reset to help connect people globally around freedom and sovereignty. In 2021, Hakeem founded Take Back Our Tech, an educational movement that provides free guides, articles, and resources on using privacy-respecting, open-source technology. At the same time, he launched Above, a privacy-first company where he serves as Founder and CEO. Above develops de-Googled phones, secure Linux laptops, and private communication services (email, encrypted chat, VPN, etc.) designed to make digital sovereignty accessible to everyday users — from tech novices to activists. He is recognized as a leading voice on digital privacy, surveillance resistance, and building technology that empowers rather than exploits people.Watch the Cornerstone Forum 26'https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: SNP@silvergoldbull.comText Grahame: (587) 441-9100Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: welcome@BowValleycu.com Expat MoneyExpatmoney.com/SNPGet your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

Spencer Pratt — yes, that guy from The Hills — lost his $3.8 million Palisades home in the LA wildfires and decided to run for mayor against the people who let it happen. He's crushing debates, winning 88% of post-debate polls, and making the best political content on the internet. Then there's the arsonist who started the Palisades fire: a Luigi Mangione superfan might as well have Googled "how to start a forest fire" before torching a city. Bridget Phetasy breaks down the most American story of 2026 and asks the obvious question — how do you look at Los Angeles right now and vote for more of the same?#LosAngeles #SpencerPratt #dumpsterfire #BridgetPhetasy Topics covered: Spencer Pratt LA mayor race, Karen Bass wildfire response, Palisades fire arsonist, Jonathan Rinderknecht, Luigi Mangione, LA homelessness, pretextual traffic stops LAPD, California politics 2026, LA mayor debate 

On this episode of The Ty Brady Way, Ty sits down with Mike Saunders, a marketing strategist, keynote speaker, and the creator of the federally trademarked Authority Positioning Portfolio. The two have history, Ty was a guest on Mike's show years ago, and now the tables have turned for a conversation that is equal parts business strategy, personal philosophy, and hard-won wisdom from someone who built something real the slow and honest way. Mike's journey did not start in marketing. He spent a decade in the mortgage industry at JP Morgan Chase before the 2007 crash effectively wiped out the world he had built. Rather than wait it out, he got his MBA in marketing, launched his own firm, and promptly made every mistake a new entrepreneur can make, chasing every client, offering every service, and spreading himself so thin that nothing stuck. For four to five years he describes it plainly as a desolate and dark time, with a wife, four kids in private school, and the pressure of it all bearing down. But buried inside that stretch of struggle was the moment that changed everything, the day he handed out his first book at a conference and watched the room respond differently than they ever had to a PDF or a blog post. That one moment became the foundation of everything he does today. What Mike built from that moment is a concept he calls the Authority Positioning Portfolio, a done-for-you system that positions independent financial advisors as celebrity experts through podcast interviews, TV placements, press releases, and books, all indexed by Google and working around the clock to pre-frame trust and credibility before a prospect ever picks up the phone. He draws on a principle from 1960s philosopher Marshall McLuhan to explain why this works: the medium carrying your message gives it as much value, if not more, than the message itself. The same insight that might get ignored on a LinkedIn post becomes instantly compelling when it is delivered in a televised interview. It is not about the content changing. It is about where it is seen. One of the sharpest moments in the episode comes when Mike flips the script on the ghosting problem that plagues so many advisors. When leads no-show or disappear without explanation, most people assume it is a follow-up problem or a pricing problem. Mike argues it is a credibility problem, and the terrifying part is that no one ever tells you. They just quietly decide you are not worth their time based on what they found, or did not find, when they Googled you. The solution is not more ads. It is permanent, indexed, trust-building assets that are working even when you are not. Ty and Mike also dig into what separates people who succeed from those who stay stuck, and Mike's answer is simple but unsparing. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward, because everyone behind you is still moving forward. He shares the story of an advisor who chose the higher-priced package not because it was comfortable but because he had learned that every time he stepped into discomfort and trusted the process, it worked out. That, Mike says, is exactly the mindset of someone ready to grow. He also introduces his daily VIP Three habit, three outreach touches per day to referral sources or strategic alliances, and his end-of-day practice of recording one good thing, a simple discipline that keeps gratitude and momentum running in the same direction. The episode closes with Mike finishing one of Ty's sentences in a way that lands hard. You either win or you lose? Wrong. You win or you learn. It is a phrase that captures the entire arc of Mike's story, from mortgage crash to marketing mastery, and it is the principle he would leave anyone with who is just getting started. Mike can be reached at MikeSaunders360.com, where his full authority hub, interviews, and contact information are all in one place.  

If you're typing “Celebrate Recovery near me” into Google because you’re desperate for help after discovering that your husband has been lying to you about his infidelity or his use of inappropriate material, you're not alone. BEFORE GOING TO CELEBRATE RECOVERY NEAR ME, CONSIDER THIS: 1. Recovery Programs Only work If He's Honest A recovery environment only works if your husband is completely honest about his behavior. Even in cases where he’s willing to attend a program, some women discover their husband takes “chips,” confesses slips, or shares breakthroughs in group without ever telling her. Not because he's changing, but because he's using the system to make it look like he's changing. 2. celebrate recovery near me Can't Fix Emotional Abuse When women search “Celebrate Recovery near me,” they often think the program will help heal their marriage by helping their husbands understand the root causes of their addiction and behaviors, especially if he seems willing to go meetings. But the root issue isn't addiction, it's entitlement, control, and dishonesty. Most recovery programs aren't designed to assess or confront coercive control. So instead of getting safer, some women end up feeling more confused. Before you invest your hope in any program, you deserve to understand the full picture. To discover if your husband is emotionally abusive, take this free emotional abuse quiz. 3. Some Men Use Recovery or Language as a Shield Many women report that once their husband joined a recovery group like Celebrate Recovery near me, he just learned to speak the language of recovery without actually changing. Instead of becoming more honest, some men become more skilled at hiding, using the right words, sharing at the right times, and appearing accountable…while the underlying patterns stay the same. This isn't necessarily the program's fault. Recovery culture tends to take disclosures at face value. But for some men, it becomes a stage rather than a mirror. 4. If He Gets Praise in Group but You Get Hurt at Home, Pay Attention The applause of a group like Celebrate Recovery near me can unintentionally reward performance. Your lived experience matters more than his report. If his recovery looks great publicly, but privately you feel scared, confused, dismissed, or blamed, that's a sign to step back and observe what’s happening. You don’t have to announce this to anyone 5. RECOVERY Programs Don't Replace Betrayal Trauma Support A program like Celebrate Recovery near me often uses a model that focuses on his trauma from childhood or his triggers. They may encourage couples to build routines that reduce his stress or triggers, sometimes placing more responsibility on her to monitor or support his progress. These might be good tools for people who genuinely want to heal. But they don't address lying, manipulation and entitlement. A woman in an emotionally abusive marriage needs support that centers her emotional safety, not his recovery timeline. 6. If You Feel Worse After the Program Starts, That Matters Many women assume feeling worse is a sign that they're a part of “the problem,” or they need to be “more supportive.” When his patterns of behavior become a shared problem…something you're both expected to manage…it often creates more emotional chaos for her. Her emotional safety needs to be addressed separately, not tied to how well he's doing or how much effort he appears to be making. Feeling confused, blamed, responsible for his recovery, or pressured to forgive and move forward…is a sign something else is happening. 7. Your EMOTIONAL SAFETY COMES BEFORE HIS RECOVERY STORY If you’re searching “Celebrate Recovery near me” to save your marriage, here's the most important thing: his recovery is not the foundation of your emotional safety. Your clarity is. It’s important to have your own support community in place that is educated in the dynamics of emotional and psychological abuse and can help you decide what you need for emotional safety. If you need support in addressing what's really happening, and whether a recovery program can help, you can start with the Living Free Workshop or BTR Group Sessions. They're designed to give you immediate clarity. Transcript: What Happened When I Googled “Celebrate Recovery Near Me” Anne: I’ve talked to hundreds of women who have typed things like “Celebrate Recovery near me”, or “addiction recovery program” into Google. Especially when their husband said he was an addict and he is willing to go to a program. So if he’s willing and goes to this program, it’s totally normal for a woman to think that things are gonna get better. But over the years, I’ve interviewed countless women who tell me things actually got worse. And I’m interviewing one of those women today. We’re gonna call her. Nancy. Here’s part of her story. Nancy: His coworker called me. She told me she was out with some friends. And he flirted with her and tried to pick her up. We were Going to Celebrate Recovery. He supposedly had been sober for months. Anne: We’re gonna get to her whole story, but before we do, I wanna stress that it’s important to understand that a manipulative man can use anything, a recovery program, therapy, even meeting with clergy to manipulate a woman further, and that causes a lot more harm and trauma. So before you start searching for a recovery program for your husband, it is important to consider what his recovery would be for and how abusers manipulate their victims. Most of the time, the therapist will say something like childhood wounds or addiction recovery. When really what you’re actually experiencing is emotional and psychological abuse. And I’ve even interviewed women who have tried to find an abuse program for their husband, and they still tell me the same things. So as you listen to Nancy’s story, I think it will help put into perspective what’s really going on and what steps you wanna take next. When I met him I thought he was a good guy Anne: That’s why I created the Living Free Workshop. It helps women know what’s going on, if he’s really abusive or not. Some women find out he’s not. And then what steps to take to create emotional safety in your life. It’s much faster to figure that out first, before spending tons of time and money in therapy or a recovery or Celebrate Recovery near me program. Living Free total run time is about two hours and 50 minutes, which is much shorter than three or four years to find out it’s not working. So Nancy, thank you so much for sharing your story today. Welcome, can you tell us how you met? Nancy: When I met him, he went to church. He served on the worship team, and he could talk like a preacher. So I thought he was a good guy. It was confusing, because we were play wrestling, and I wouldn’t have remembered this except I had written in a journal and I read it after everything fell apart. He held me down and said some things like, did you think you were stronger than me? Did you think I would let you go? It really scared me. I was very close to breaking up with him, but he actually cried and apologized. So I thought, he’s sorry. It’s not gonna happen again, and that sort of thing never happened again. He realized he had to be more subtle. He did tell me about his past sexual history. Mirroring my desire to serve missions Nancy: He was in the Navy and with several prostitutes. And he was honest, it felt like to me at the time. That he struggled with porn. I thought after we married, that wouldn’t be an issue. And honestly, I don’t know that anyone would’ve told me anything different. I wanted to serve in medical missions. He didn’t seem interested in this, so I prayed and left the relationship in God’s hands. I told him about how I prayed. And the next time we got together, he said, “He had been thinking and praying, and he really felt God moving his heart to missions. That everyone always thought he should be a missionary. It really blew me away, because I thought God had answered my prayer really fast. He knew that he was not only lying to me, he was also lying about God, and he chose it. Which makes him a really evil person. In pre-marital counseling, I was clear that I didn’t see myself as a housewife. I wanted things to be equal, and I didn’t plan to stop working. He acted like he was on the same page and that he was fine with this. So we married. Things were not good. In less than a year, he turned me down for sexual intimacy. Which was surprising and incredibly hurtful. Especially when I realized he was looking at porn. We went to see the movie Fireproof, and afterwards he admitted he was taking off his ring to flirt with people. I was trying to be very understanding, but I did feel hurt, and he got angry at me. He said this was the thanks he gets for staying away from porn for a couple weeks, which is not funny, but I’m laughing at the audacity. He Pushed Me to Quit Working While Avoiding Any Real Recovery or Celebrate Recovery Near Me Programs Nancy: I think I blocked a lot of it out, because somehow things were good enough back and forth between nice, the Christian thing, and when he would be not so nice. I didn’t recognize abuse. The only thing I could put my finger on was the sexual things. We never could solve how things were to be run. And now that we had children, he could step away and I would be forced to do more house duties, cooking, cleaning, et cetera. Because someone had to do all the things for the children. I would tell him what we had agreed before marriage, and he said, “Yeah, but I thought you would change after we had kids.” Anne: I said the same thing. I said, I’m not gonna cook. And he was like, no problem. Then later told me, I thought you would change. And I’m like, I was so clear. Nancy: Exactly, we’re both honest and open. It’s like, that doesn’t mean I have to change, just ’cause you thought I would change. Well, it did because we had children now that needed to be taken care of. Anne: Right. Nancy: The same thing I said, I didn’t wanna stop working.” And he would constantly try to get me to stop working. I was only working part-time. He wanted me to not have an escape route. We separated, but I was so exhausted and overwhelmed with a baby, 2-year-old, and a 5-year-old. We got back together pretty quickly. Discovering he was flirting with coworker Nancy: A year later, we separated again and went to couples counseling, ’cause I still had not seen how that was harmful. I was really hopeful, which seems funny after just like a week or two of separation. But his coworker called me and told me she had been out with some friends, and he was flirting with her and trying to pick her up. I thought this would be his rock bottom, because he’s almost lost his family. Anyway, we got back together and things were up and down. I was dealing with a lot of anger and depression, social anxiety. At the time, I thought I needed counseling to deal with my issues. We were going to Celebrate Recovery near me. His stated problems in Celebrate Recovery were sex addiction and anger. It’s so crazy knowing that, how could everybody there not believe anything I was saying? He supposedly had been sober for months because of all the addiction model stuff. We agreed that he would tell me if he ever had a slip within a certain amount of time. So at Celebrate Recovery, he went forward for a one-day chip, and that really shocked me because he wasn’t ever gonna tell me. When we agreed that he would. After that we had sex that was definitely, obviously coercive. I don’t think I had the words at the time, but I definitely felt that way because we had an agreement and he didn’t follow it. That was the last time we ever were together. He said he would throw me a 30th birthday party Nancy: I took a step back, and I was observing him because I felt like we were at the best place, and I’m actually an okay person. That means there’s nothing I’ve done wrong, literally. And there’s nothing I can do to change this. It just became increasingly clear to me. So I started looking for more information and came across BTR, but I didn’t listen to the episodes because I saw the word abuse. And thought that doesn’t apply to me. And I found a couple other podcasts. They didn’t fully explain everything, and then a really bad incident happened when I turned 30, a big birthday. Anne: They always do it on birthdays and holidays. Nancy: I know, I had always thrown him birthday parties. He’s an extrovert and that was something that he enjoyed and I didn’t mind, he didn’t throw me anything because I’m more of an introvert. So when I was going to turn 30, I told him that I’d like a birthday party and would like him to throw it for me. I said if he didn’t want to, let me know. ‘Cause it was important enough to me that I would throw it for myself. He said he would throw me the birthday party. But when I wasn’t seeing any preparations, I checked in with him. And the motions he made came across like he was planning a surprise birthday party. Anne: Like, let’s not talk about it. Or you might ruin your surprise. Nancy: Exactly, I had said, “I will throw it for myself.” I repeated that again, that time. He knew. He Claimed He ‘Forgot' My Birthday While Pretending Recovery Through SAA and Celebrate Recovery Near Me Groups Nancy: So my birthday comes up. I expect a surprise party around any corner. I come to the end of the day and nothing happened, nothing. And his excuse was forgetfulness. Anne: I never gave you the impression I was gonna throw you a party. Nancy: Yeah, It was always that gaslighting and blame shifting. I feel like I dissociated a little bit around that time. ‘Cause it was really hurtful, because I would have thrown it for myself. Anne: And he knew that and he gave you the impression that he was throwing you a party on purpose to ensure that you didn’t have a party. Nancy: Exactly, I actually believed him that it was on accident, but that was just as hurtful. Now, I believe it was fully on purpose. At the time I was going to COSA and he was going to an SAA group. Anne: When she says COSA or SAA, she’s talking about 12-Step recovery for pornography addicts or sexual addicts. There are other programs like Celebrate Recovery near me. And the COSA is a co sex addict’s 12-Step for a wife of an addict, where she basically does the same program he does and tries to fix her character defects. Nancy: Yeah, I’d been talking about giving him another chance to throw me a party, and they said if he already didn’t do it, you should not do that. So I ended up throwing myself a party. After that 30th birthday, I would get down around my birthday every year. I ended up telling him that, not in a way to blame him, because like I said, I didn’t think he had done it on purpose. I just thought I should let him know I wasn’t myself. Recognizing Gaslighting in real time Nancy: And it was the first time I recognized what he was doing in the moment, he started to say. “That had not happened. That didn’t sound like something he would’ve done, that my memory must be a little off.” So many different ways he was trying to convince me that it hadn’t happened, and he couldn’t convince me because I knew it had happened. So he switched tactics and said that maybe he should get counseling for being abused. Anne: He’s claiming that you’re abusing him. Nancy: Exactly, I was so confused. I asked him, “Abuse, what are you talking about? Am I being abusive right now?” And he goes, “No, the abuse I’ve had to endure for the last how many years.” And then I realized oh, that was gaslighting. That’s blame shifting, and I ended up leaving the room and cried on my own. It shook me up that he could take something very vulnerable and turn it on me like that. I was talking about that incident and how he was saying I was abusive and I heard myself saying, “It was surprising he would call me abusive when he’s been so much worse.” And that was the first time I thought maybe he is abusive, and that reminded me about BTR. I thought, let me listen to that, ’cause maybe I can get some insight. That brought me back to listening to the BTR podcast. And I vividly remember I was binging all these episodes, hearing women’s stories. It felt like my life. And it just blew my mind to realize I’ve been abused this whole time. Anne: I’m so sorry. You were experiencing Betrayal Trauma and were not aware that recovery or Celebrate Recovery near me programs wouldn’t help you. Addict model says he’s struggling, he’s not in control Nancy: It made sense. It felt like everything clicked into place. Everything else I was told didn’t make sense. I always talked about stuff. I was always looking for answers. And I never felt like I was codependent or that I needed codependents anonymous. None of that stuff seemed to fit. In fact, the advice I was given, “Don’t pay attention to what he’s doing. Only work on yourself.” While they’re also saying, “Don’t be codependent, ignore what he’s doing,” which just doesn’t work. The addict model, like he’s struggling, he’s trying, he’s not in control. I mean, that’s like step one. You’re powerless to control your behavior. He accepted the addiction model early on, and we were in and out of groups the whole time. But I don’t believe now that he’s an addict, and I don’t think he even thinks he’s an addict. It’s a great excuse to keep doing what you’re doing. Because there’s no accountability, and everyone applauds your efforts. Even if you’re not reaching the goal, you actually have a choice. He would say to me that he could not promise that he would never do any of the sexual stuff again. So it was like basically just saying, I’m gonna be doing this my whole life. Anne: My ex wouldn’t promise either. He said if I promised, “I wouldn’t be on my toes. Like I don’t want to think I couldn’t do that, because then maybe I would be in danger of doing it.” Which doesn’t even make sense. Like I can legit say, I will never have an affair. finding BTR helped me wrap my head around the abuse, Celebrate Recovery near me didn’t Nancy: Right, yeah. I found BTR. And the abuse model is they have a choice, and they’re choosing to be harmful and abusive. All these years he had been a liar. I stepped back and observed behavior for me to fully wrap my head around it. I believe he feels entitled to do what he wants. He doesn’t see people as people. Or maybe it’s just women as women. Objectification is a huge thing. I don’t think he ever saw me as an equal partner or a person. And I don’t believe he ever loved me. I was a desirable object he acquired, and that was it. When I started listening to BTR, it helped me understand abuse and the subtleties of it. Because before, I had only been thinking physical abuse or yelling insults, which my ex did not do. Listening to the stories helped me see how this plays out in marriage, even in a Christian marriage. It was helpful to see the ways men could twist faith things, because many of these men and my ex are very manipulative. Like it has to slowly play out over time to see what they’re doing. And a lot of it goes back to intent, and it’s hard to see intent. It was hard for me to imagine my husband is lying to me. So that was a shift too, to start looking at actions instead of words. BTR gave me a lot of insight into what I was living through and what was helpful, especially getting into the BTR groups. Celebrate Recovery near me didn’t do that. It helps build you up so that you can go through the hard stuff. We were going to counseling around the time I started going to BTR group. Going to couple counseling Nancy: Because of BTR, I had the words for it. I was able to express better what was happening. The counselor didn’t help my situation, of course. Individual counseling and couple counseling are unhelpful, because an abuser’s goal, my ex’s goal, was not to get better. His goal is to get whatever he wants. He’ll say whatever he needs to say to get what he needs from the counselor. We’ve gone to quite a few couple counselors. We would go into a new counselor, and he would bring up a new issue. He had never told me about me. Anne: Suddenly you’re a kleptomaniac or something. Nancy: Yeah, things that he thought I did that were hurtful to him, that I had never heard of before. But I felt so bad that I was hurting him without knowing it. What a callous person I am. Anne: Not knowing he was bearing false witness and that he literally made it up. Nancy: Yeah, completely distracted from why we went to counseling in the first place is sexual issues. Like I would have to be a safe person so he could be honest with me. Because I’m an actual caring person, I would feel like this was an actual issue that I needed to fix. And that is the part about the psychological abuse that is hard to describe. Because a lot of it could sound valid, and I thought these things were valid. But later realizing they were lies. They were lies, because he would’ve said them before. Anne: Exactly. creepy experience with new counselor Nancy: We did an in-home separation, At first. His abuse escalated the freer that I was getting. I never completely stopped working. I got a job and started after the in-home separation. He actually shut off the internet. Luckily, I prepared ahead of time. I had my own phone plan with the hotspot, So I could just switch over and just didn’t even engage with him. It has been a process of combing through my life, and I have wondered that how many lies I won’t even know about or remember. Because, I believed him and he was so good at lying. One of the new things he said was I wasn’t being vocal enough in bed. It felt so humiliating for him to say that to the new counselor. When he had never said that before. This male counselor wanted us to do an exercise right then on the sofa in front of him. He wanted my ex to touch like my foot or my leg, and then slowly move closer to my private areas. And as he moved closer. I was supposed to make more and more noise. Anne: No. Nancy: Isn’t that crazy? Anne: That’s so creepy. Nancy: I did feel incredibly creeped out, and I refused to do it. Anne: Good for you. He said there would be no equality in our marriage – Celebrate Recovery near me didn’t help with that Nancy: I wish I had just walked out, But after we left, I said, “I will never go back to that counselor again.” And we never did. I said, “What I would need to continue in the marriage was for him to be seeing his own personal counselor, to have a full disclosure with a lie detector test.” Which he said no to. And I know now it wouldn’t have been helpful. Just like Celebrate Recovery near me wasn’t helpful. Anne: I know, thank goodness. Nancy: Right. Anne: Mine never did that either. And I think I would’ve just been in the abuse for so much longer had he said yes. Nancy: Right, and then the second thing I said is that, “I wanted equality in our marriage.” And he said no. Anne: He said no, he didn’t want equality? Nancy: Correct. Anne: Wow. Nancy: So I was like, then literally that’s the end of it. And I was going to BTR group. I remember one of the coaches said to me, “It was a blessing that he actually had been honest.” At the time, I didn’t understand, now I do. And I’m so glad I asked those questions. I don’t know why he was honest. There are two possibilities. He didn’t think I would leave, because I hadn’t yet. We’d been married for almost 14 years, and he was only saying what was already true. You don’t need to be perfect to be loved Nancy: I just didn’t realize it was true. Or maybe he did want me to leave. I had some conversations with his mom. Because I found BTR, and surprisingly, she said it made her realize she was in an abusive relationship with my ex’s dad. However, she still felt like I should stay. Because she felt like the Lord had taught her so much and she had grown through all these trials. I have sympathy for her, but it’s so wrong. All of a sudden it just became very clear to me that if I stayed for the kids, it was actually putting them more at risk. And honestly, that conversation solidified that I had to leave for the kids. If you’re not sure yet if your partner is abusive, Just listen to some BTR stories and see what jumps out at you. You are a worthy human being that does not have to be perfect to be loved and treated with respect. Reconciliation is not necessary for forgiveness, and you don’t have to forgive anyone. It’s more of a process that can happen on its own time, and no one should force it. Pay much closer attention to someone’s actions over time than the words they say. And it’s never too late to make different choices when you learn or understand new information. I feel like having to make a choice that is wildly unpopular with people around you. Church, that I had to learn in a new way. Maybe for the first time, to not let what people thought about me affect the decisions that I make that part has been really hard because a church we were going to was not supportive at first. Call from somebody in Celebrate Recovery near me group Nancy: Some of them seemed supportive, and even the ones I thought were supportive, in the end weren’t. I actually got a phone call from somebody in my Celebrate Recovery near me group. She called me up to ask me if I was seeing a counselor. Because I still seemed angry. I was speechless, of course I’m angry. Anne: Yeah Nancy: I didn’t even know how to respond to her. I just told her yes, I’m in BTR group and got off the phone. There’s nothing wrong with being angry about the situation. I feel like church tells women they shouldn’t be angry. But Jesus was angry. There’s nothing wrong with being angry. Anne: Yeah, I feel like if you’re not angry, something’s wrong. Nancy: Right. Anne: I mean, nothing is wrong with you. You might be numb, you might be sad. I went through periods where I wasn’t super angry. I was just really depressed, but on the whole oppressed, abused, exploited people, their anger is from God to help liberate themselves from the oppression. But of course, the abuser does not want you to liberate yourself. He said flat out he didn’t want you to be equal. That is infuriating. Nancy: And now he wanted 50/50 custody. It was very upsetting, because my ex had been very non-helpful around the house and with the kids. It was hard to think that he would want 50/50. Anne: But of course he did. Nancy: I didn’t see that coming, and I wish I had been more prepared and could have been more strategic. Listening to him lie in the courtroom Nancy: I could not wrap my mind around that at the time. I had seen more and more abuse as my eyes were open. So I couldn’t wrap my mind around 50/50 custody. I was under the delusion that justice was in the court system. I found out, even though I know he lies, it was a big shock to listen to him lying in the Courtroom. It’s hard to witness. It’s something I wish I had processed before, because I’m sure that was pointed out to me. But I couldn’t process that as a reality back then. The Living Free Workshop was so helpful. And going to group and getting help constantly. The Living Free Workshop is so different than anything you’ve ever been taught. I don’t know how I would’ve made it through this, honestly. That was another thing that was really helpful. There were some scripts in Living Free to get him on Our Family Wizard, and he actually got on it easily. I was surprised. I didn’t think he would get on as easily as he did, and just not responding in any other way. Anne: That’s the thing, they’re desperate to talk to you. With the workshop, everybody says, how am I gonna make him go on OFW? And if you do the script and stick to it and do not deviate. Legit, don’t deviate. Once you’re on Our Family Wizard, literally block him on your phone, so he has no other way of contacting you. He is desperate to get your attention and your belief, like Living Free says, yeah, they’re so transactional. And if you respond through Our Family Wizard, he will find a way to do it. he performs for others in groups like Celebrate Recovery near me and in court Anne: They’re like, well, this is what I gotta do to talk to her, because I’m blocked otherwise. They will move. It might take a month. I’ve had it take the longest six weeks with one woman that I was working with. Every single time he texted, she said, “Hey, I’ve responded on Our Family Wizard.” Nancy: Right. It felt overwhelming, because he kept sending me long, manipulative messages, but I responded on Our Family Wizard. It only took me once for him to switch. Being on OFW was better. Oh, one of the books BTR recommends, The Woman They Could Not Silence. I read it and that was awesome. It helped open up my mind to spiritual abuse. It’s been inspiring to me this whole time. What she went through being separated from her children. That book has been really inspiring. The thought of leaving them with him, terrifying to me. We went through two rounds of court. He would make it sound like I was controlling and not letting him do things. Like why wouldn’t I let him take the kids to half of the doctor’s appointments when he never came to a pregnancy appointment? And same with field trips. He’ll go on field trips now, and I feel like it’s just to keep me from going. It. He never wanted to before. Anne: If he was actually a good dad, he would’ve been doing it before, but since he’s only doing it now, he is just performing. Nancy: Yes, it’s a performance because he’s getting something out of it from other people, like in in celebrate recovery near me, and it’s punishment for me because he knows how much I like being there for the kids. Reluctance to support anything he can’t control Nancy: When we married, he didn’t want us to do extracurricular activities. He didn’t even want free after school activities, much less anything you would have to pay for. He was only okay with youth group attached to his job, not the free after school activities. But since we’ve been divorced, he has them interested in hockey, which is one of the most expensive and time consuming sports there is. It’s very strange from my entire experience with him. He never talked about hockey, and he never wanted them involved. At the same time, he is not wanting to pay half of necessary expenses, like medical or orchestra uniforms. For a long time, I was not asking for half of necessary expenses. Because I didn’t wanna have to deal with him because he makes it such a struggle. Anne: My ex is exactly like that, exactly. When my book comes out, I’m anxious for you to read it, because it was all about control. Like, if I’m paying you anything or if I’m involved in any way, I have to control it. Nancy: Yeah, like my youngest wanted to do karate. His dad would not participate even when I offered to pay the whole thing. Other son was invited to concert band, and his dad said no. Anne: Think about the power trip that gives him that he’s able to manipulate them away from their natural interests. And maybe hockey is something that he wants to do. Like he thinks karate’s dumb, but he thinks hockey’s interesting. Draining my bank account and controlling my time Nancy: It is a huge expense that is very draining. When he won’t even pay half of an AP test. Anne: And that might be part of it. He’s, let’s pick the most expensive thing to drain her bank account. Nancy: Yeah, it was a double bind to drain my bank account and control my time. And at the same time, if I have to back out of it. He’ll say, sorry, kids, Mom won’t let us go to hockey. Anne: He’s calculating ways to set you up to be the bad guy. Nancy: Yes, he is an expert at setting up situations, so my bank account is being drained, and I cover a hundred percent of their insurance. Anne: With a lot of these post-separation abuse situations. They get the benefits, but they don’t have any of the responsibilities, and they can use it against you, but it never works for you. They can bend the rules in order to benefit them, but you can’t bend the rules. Nancy: In the Living Free Workshop. It was helpful to see how to deal with narcissistic abuse in marriage and how it plays out in separation, to find a way out of it. There was one thing you said, and this is when you’re moving away from his harm. You said, “If he escalates, remember that protecting yourself from the harm is not the cause of the harm. Just like evacuating a building was not the cause of the exploding gas lines.” He still wants to get together Nancy: That really hit me. One of the things that keeps haunting me is did I do the right thing? He still tries to get together personally with me. It constantly comes up that he wants to get together for coffee, or would I go to counseling with him, co-parenting counseling. I mostly ignore it at this point because he’s asked so many times. I don’t even answer him. Then if something goes wrong with the money situations or if there’s a point of disagreement, he will say, if you would’ve only met with me like I’ve asked, then this would’ve already been stopped. Anne: Yeah, we could’ve worked it out somehow, no. He would still lie. Nancy: It’s a trap. There’s that little 2% of me left that feels like, well, maybe I should meet with him, but no, it’s a trap. Anne: Yeah, no. Nancy: Because he never intends to do a nice thing. He just wants to get me in front of him again. I don’t think any good would come of it. Anne: A hundred percent, no. It might seem good, ’cause once you get there, it might seem good. He might like to turn on the manipulative lies to make you feel like he cares. I think one of the most abusive things people can say is, I love you or that I care. So manipulating you in that way is actually dangerous, and that’s probably what would happen. Nancy: I don’t think I could keep a straight face. It would skive me out so bad to be around him and hear stuff like that. Everything he says is the opposite of the truth Anne: Well, it’s just further evidence of his controlling nature, because he desperately wants to hang on to control. And so he’s increasing his lies because it’s getting away from him. That’s definitely a sign that he’s been lying the whole time. Nancy: I completely agree. I know that this is better for them in the long run, but in the short run, that sentence helps me right now. That was probably one of the hardest things for me to come to terms with, is that he never loved me. He doesn’t love the children. None of it’s real. It’s all lies, and he still does it. It’s mind-boggling. Everything he says is the opposite of what the truth is. He continues lying as he did in programs like Celebrate Recovery near me. As we were moving through the separation process, the boys did not want to leave and crying and like holding onto the car seats. It was horrible. I knew if I said anything to him, he wouldn’t care. Any altercation would be scary for the kids. So I started getting third party exchange people through a new church. I actually found a church with a woman pastor, which is quite lovely. The new church was helpful and supportive, and there were several people that would help me with exchanges. And things changed, like taking the Living Free Workshop, and suddenly I felt a lot stronger. I had a new understanding and confidence, so I stopped doing the third party exchanges. He actually met with the principal to try to get the principal to agree with him that I’m not allowed to go into the school on his parenting weeks. like in celebrate recovery near me, A clear example of him lying, controlling and abusing Nancy: Which isn’t true. You’re allowed to visit your kid in the school. Anne: Absolutely. Nancy: Unless there’s a restraining order, which there’s not. We have shared custody, but he made it sound like the principal agreed with him. I didn’t think it was the truth, but it scared me at the time. And we were about to have a party, and I signed up to bring food, so I worried I would be kicked out. But the principal didn’t say anything. Isn’t that a clear example of parental alienation? Anne: It’s a clear way of him undermining your relationship with your kids, lying, controlling, and abusing you. This is how he’s literally abusing you and your children. Nancy: Everybody heard about this incident, and it didn’t matter. He made it sound like he had just been concerned for the children’s wellbeing. Anne: Yeah, no. Nancy: My being around them upset them. Anne: Lies. That’s the issue they lie in programs like Celebrate Recovery near me and fool the leaders. Nancy: It’s lies at times it is possible that they might be upset, but it’s not because they’re scared of me. It’s more that they’re sad about the situation. My one son, he told me, it makes him sad to see me when he knows he has to go back to his dad’s. My daughter had a phone before we separated, but he wouldn’t allow communication between the boys and me ever. Once, my son called me using his sister’s phone. He was crying. I was only on the phone for about two or three minutes, and then the phone cut off. And they told me when they came back that he had been mad at them for calling me. Even if there is a court order they will find away around it Nancy: He wouldn’t allow them to have a watch phones either. That’s one of the reasons we went back to court. Anne: That’s the problem with court. You think if we get it in writing, then he’ll do it, but it doesn’t matter. He is not gonna do it no matter what. Nancy: This is what I have learned. I don’t ever wanna go back to court again, because it doesn’t help. No matter what you do, they’ll find a new way to cause harm. So there’s no point in any kind of new order. ‘Cause then they’ll find a new way around it. Anne: Exactly. Nancy: I’m still glad I went, because before I had been worried I had to do everything exactly perfectly or something would go wrong. And then I realized he’s doing wrong things on purpose. He just says stuff to get what he wants and nobody cares. So that has relieved a lot of fear. Anne: What would you share with listeners about what you’ve learned so far about finding help, maybe from Celebrate Recovery near me or elsewhere? Nancy: You know, hearing other people’s stories have meant so much to me, Living Free and the BTR coaches set me up for success. They told me to transfer half of our money to a separate bank account before I even told him that I might be leaving. That was incredibly helpful because I’m not sure if it would’ve been easy for me to get the money. I never used the word abuse or narcissism to him. That played out well, because he would’ve twisted it against me. Anne: A hundred percent. Kids need to know what a safe place feels like Nancy: Getting on the parenting app, super helpful, third parties for switches. Finding people to help with the things you need is just a lifesaver. I do feel like it will be better for the kids in the future, because they can be in a peaceful setting that’s not manipulative. So when they’re making decisions. About how they want to live and their future partners, that they know what it feels like to be in a safe place and being able to have discussions with them about men’s and women’s roles. Anne: Nancy, thank you so much for sharing your story today. And helping others who are searching, to find something truly helpful. Nancy: Thank you.

It's a taboo topic too often overlooked in women's cycling: saddle sores.Dr. Melissa Mauskar, a dermatologist specializing in vulvar health, unpacks the medical science behind saddle sores, debunks common myths, and offers practical advice for prevention and treatment. If you've ever Googled "saddle sore remedies" at 2 a.m., this episode is a must-listen—your comfort on the bike depends on it!Key Takeaways:Understand the different types of saddle sores and their causes, including friction and inflammation.What are effective home remedies and when should you seek professional help?The importance of proper saddle fitting and how anatomy affects saddle sore risksAnd don't be afraid to start open conversations about vulvar health and break down stigmas.Dr. Melissa Mauskar is a dermatologist specializing in vulvar health and the treatment of skin conditions among female cyclists. With her expertise, she aims to empower women to discuss these often-taboo topics openly.Episode resources:Follow Dr. Mauskar on Instagram: @drmelissamauskarLearn more about the Feisty Women's Performance Podcast: Feisty Women's PerformanceIf you found this episode helpful, please subscribe to our podcast for more valuable insights and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us continue to bring essential conversations to the forefront. Share this episode with someone who could benefit from it so we can normalize discussions about women's health together.Watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KvLxR75DAz0 Join Feisty at the Grand Traverse in Duluth, MN on October 3rd! Use code FEISTY20 for $20 off when you register at https://feisty.co/events/the-grand-traverseSign up to Receive The Feisty Women's Performance Newsletter:https://feisty.co/newsletters/feisty-womens-performance/Follow us on Instagram:@feisty_womens_performanceVisit the Feisty website at https://feisty.co/ for info on all of our events and podcastsSupport our Partners:Eternal: Get 15% off services with code FEISTY15 at https://eternal.co/ Hettas: Use code STAYFEISTY for 20% off at https://hettas.com/ PILLAR Performance: use code FEISTY for 15% off first-purchases at https://pillarperformance.shop/, or https://thefeed.com/ for North American listeners. Wahoo: Learn more about Wahoo Fitness Products at: Wahoo: Learn more at https://shorturl.at/WVhdr

Our royal experts tackle the internet's most searched questions about Prince Harry—from the topical to the truly surprising. In this episode of Talking Royals, our royal experts Chris, Lizzie and Charlene break down viral Google queries and reveal what we actually know about the Duke of Sussex. The episode explores some of the most frequently asked questions about Prince Harry, including why he stepped back from royal duties and whether he could one day return to live in the UK. It also examines his royal titles, his life in California with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their children, and the ongoing public interest in his family, finances, and career beyond royal life.The discussion also looks at his relationship with the wider Royal Family, including King Charles and Queen Camilla, while addressing some of the internet's more unusual and light-hearted questions. This is your ultimate guide to the most Googled questions about Prince Harry—answered. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more royal content. Write your questions in the comments—which royal should we cover next?

What happens when a physician searches her own name online and gets redirected to a billionaire-backed corporate clinic she has no connection to? Stephanie Waggel, a physician and founder of Improve Medical Culture, explains how vertical integration in health care is quietly suffocating independent practices while most doctors and patients have no idea it is happening. Based on her KevinMD article, "The dangers of vertical integration in health care," this conversation unpacks how a single corporate entity can own the insurance company, the pharmacy benefit manager, the drug distributor, the retail pharmacy, and the provider group all at once. Waggel breaks down why this consolidation drives up costs rather than lowering them, how private equity and venture capital firms pressure physician-owned practices into selling, and why the consumer ultimately loses when one entity controls pricing at every step. You'll hear her compare health care models across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, learn why she believes pharmacists should own pharmacies and doctors should own clinics, and discover the community-based survival strategies independent practitioners are using to stay visible. If you care about the future of the doctor-patient relationship and the survival of independent medicine, this one deserves your attention. Tune into our episode "2026 Cholesterol Guidelines: LDL goals, lipoprotein(a), and coronary calcium scoring," brought to you by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. For the first time in eight years, LDL cholesterol goals have changed, and preventive cardiologist Seth Baum says the new guidelines are a long-overdue course correction. He breaks down the new LDL targets for your highest-risk patients, why the LDL hypothesis should be retired in favor of the LDL fact, why lipoprotein(a) screening finally belongs in every patient's workup, what a coronary calcium score over 300 really means for how aggressively you treat, and how to talk to statin-skeptical patients without losing their trust. Listen now at KevinMD.com/cholesterol. VISIT SPONSOR → https://kevinmd.com/cholesterol Partner with me on the KevinMD platform. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story. PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

Our royal experts tackle the internet's most searched questions about Prince George—from the serious to the downright bizarre…In this episode of Talking Royals, our royal experts Chris, Lizzie and Charlene break down viral Google queries and reveal what we actually know about the future king.The video explores whether Prince George could theoretically become king as a child, before taking a closer look at his school life, including security arrangements and efforts to maintain a normal upbringing.It also covers his love of football and connection to Aston Villa, alongside insights from Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, on parenting, technology, and screen time.The discussion addresses viral AI rumours—such as the claim involving Tom Jones—and looks ahead to questions around his future, including schooling, potential military service, and royal duties.It also offers lighter insights into his hobbies, from video games to music, including learning the electric guitar.This is your ultimate guide to the most Googled questions about Prince George—answered.Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more royal content.Write your questions in the comments—which royal should we cover next?

In this episode of The Life of KG, Katie Godfrey talks about one of the most requested (and most avoided!) topics for business owners, VAT and tax.If you're a salon owner, aesthetic clinic, lash tech, brow artist, nail tech, hairdresser or training academy owner in the UK, this episode is a must-listen, especially if you're approaching the VAT threshold or already VAT registered.As your business grows, your tax responsibilities grow too. And while it can feel overwhelming, VAT registration is often a sign that your business is scaling successfully.Katie shares:·       What happens when you hit the VAT threshold in the UK·       How VAT registration works with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)·       The impact VAT has on your pricing and profit·       Common mistakes beauty business owners make with tax·       Why paying more tax usually means you're making more money·       The mindset shift required when stepping into CEO mode·       Why moving abroad (including to Dubai) doesn't eliminate financial responsibilityThis is an honest, straight-talking episode designed to remove fear around VAT and help you feel more confident managing the financial side of your business.If you've ever Googled:·       “VAT for salon owners UK”·       “When do I register for VAT UK?”·       “How does VAT work for service businesses?”·       “Why is my tax bill so high?”This episode breaks it down in simple terms, without jargon, without panic, and with real-life experience from someone who's navigated it herself.Remember: growth comes with new levels of responsibility. Understanding your numbers is part of becoming the CEO your business needs.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another beauty business owner who needs to hear it.DM me “RETREAT” to find out more: https://www.instagram.com/kg_katiegodfrey/Get a FREE trial on Salon Success Manager App here: https://salonsuccessmanager.com/ 

At 27— and without a college degree — she was named chief technology officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today, Marina Nitze is trying to reform the foster care system. She tells Steve how she hacked the V.A.'s bureaucracy, opens up about her struggle with Type 1 diabetes, and explains how she was building websites for soap opera stars when she was just 12 years old. This episode originally aired on March 12th, 2021. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An Analog Brain In A Digital Age — A Newsletter by Marco Ciappelli On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're Not Human — And Nobody's Asking There was a moment — brief, unrepeatable — when the internet felt like a genuinely open place. No profiles. No algorithms deciding what you deserved to see. No one monetizing the fact that you existed. You showed up, you explored, you talked to strangers in other countries about things that mattered to you, and the whole thing felt less like a product and more like a discovery. Like finding a door to another dimension. There's a cartoon that captured that moment perfectly. 1993. The New Yorker. Peter Steiner. Two dogs, one at a computer, and the line that accidentally defined an entire era of the internet: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog It was funny. It was also prophetic. And it was optimistic in a way we've completely forgotten how to be about the web. Anonymity as freedom. Identity as something fluid, chosen, playful. You could be anyone. You could be from anywhere. You could reinvent yourself in real time, with no one to contradict you. Then surveillance capitalism arrived and broke the party. Cookies. Behavioral profiling. The algorithmic panopticon. Suddenly everyone knew everything. You weren't a dog anymore — you were a demographic, a data point, a cluster of purchase histories and scroll patterns. The internet that promised liberation became the most precise identity-tracking machine ever built. Anonymity collapsed under the weight of monetization. Nobody knows you're a dog became everyone knows you're a dog, what breed, what you ate for breakfast, and which vet you Googled at 2am. And now we're in the third act. A Buddhist monk named Yang Mun has 2.5 million Instagram followers. He posts silent morning meditations. He has made over $300,000 since October. Three Buddhist scholars reviewed his content and confirmed: his wisdom isn't grounded in any actual scripture. It just sounds like it is. Yang Mun doesn't exist. He was built with ChatGPT, HeyGen — an AI platform that generates realistic synthetic human video, a face, eyes, a voice, moving and breathing and entirely artificial — and a handful of other tools, by a creator operating inside what's being called "Big Slop": a venture-backed industry that manufactures fake influencers, automates their posting, and scales them to millions of followers while platforms, politely, look the other way. Hat tip to Jack Brewster, whose LinkedIn post on Yang Mun is what started this thread of thought. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jackbrewster_a-buddhist-monk-named-yang-mun-has-25-million-activity-7451268378499137537-RPB1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAD_QZMB_jUr1316NWqo3MgG_iFVSPTfDgY The circle has closed. And inverted. We went from nobody knows you're a dog to everyone knows you're a dog to something far stranger: Nobody knows you're not human. The dog is gone. The human is optional. Here's what interests me — and it's not the outrage part, because the outrage is easy and everyone will do it. What interests me is the McLuhan part. Marshall McLuhan said it in 1964: the medium is the message. Not the content. The medium itself. The form of transmission shapes reality more than anything transmitted through it. Yang Mun's fake wisdom is almost beside the point. The scholars confirmed it's scripturally meaningless. But it sounds right — which is precisely the tell. The content was never engineered for truth. It was engineered for the platform. For the algorithm. For the engagement pattern that rewards the feeling of depth over the presence of it. The medium produced the monk. The monk is the message. And if you zoom out — which is what I keep trying to do from Florence, where the stones beneath my feet are five hundred years old and nobody around me is particularly impressed by disruption — you see something that looks less like a technology story and more like a civilization story. We built an internet that promised connection. We built AI to simulate humans. Somewhere along the way we forgot to ask whether any of it was real — or maybe we never quite got around to asking in the first place. Because here's the thing: this didn't happen slowly enough for us to develop a moral relationship with it. There was no adjustment period. No cultural processing. The fake monk didn't represent a fall from grace. It was a first contact situation. We haven't even named what's wrong yet, let alone decided whether it matters. The analog brain — slow, emotional, context-dependent, stubbornly human — is the one thing that still notices the difference between a conversation that carries weight and one that merely carries words. It's not superior in processing power. It's just that it comes from somewhere. From experience. From loss. From the specific, irreplaceable accident of having lived a particular life in a particular body in a particular place. The monk who wasn't there had none of that. And somewhere — maybe in 2.5 million people scrolling past silent meditations at 7am — some part of us already knows. Will we remember to ask? Are we ever gonna care? Let's keep exploring what it means to be human in this Hybrid Analog Digital Age. Stay imperfect, stay human. — Marco

What is a furry — really?In this episode of The StickyBeak, we dive inside the furry fandom, one of the internet's most misunderstood subcultures.Originally recorded for my Living with Mon series on alternative lifestyles, this conversation features Haruka (Haru), a member of the furry community who shares what being a furry actually means — beyond the stereotypes. We talk about identity, creativity, community, and why so many assumptions about furries simply aren't true.Because there's a lot to unpack, I also recorded a second interview (linked in the show notes) with Rune, a self-described “Scalie” — a member of the furry fandom whose character is reptilian. In that conversation, we explore the more adult side of the community and how it differs from mainstream furry culture.If you've ever Googled “what is a furry?” or wondered what really happens inside the furry community, this episode offers a thoughtful and open-minded look at a world that's often judged before it's understood.As always, go in curious.

Do you ever wonder if you're doing it right as a mother… or quietly fear you're messing it all up? In this deeply honest and powerful episode of YES, WOMAN, Carin Rockind sits down with parenting expert Laura Dawn to talk about what's really going on beneath mom guilt, anxiety, and the pressure to be perfect. This is not about fixing your child. This is about trusting yourself again. From ADHD and emotional regulation to self-compassion and boundaries, this conversation will change how you see parenting—and yourself as a WOMAN. You'll learn why your child's behavior isn't a reflection of your worth… How to stop the cycle of self-blame… And how saying YES to yourself actually makes you a better mother. If you've ever Googled in the middle of the night, "Am I doing this wrong?"—this episode is for you. What You'll Learn Why mom guilt isn't the truth—and how to release it The real reason your child's behavior triggers you How ADHD and "neurodivergent" traits are actually strengths The power of emotional regulation (for you, not just your child) Why self-care alone isn't enough—and what actually works How to say NO to your kids without guilt The concept of the "evolved brain" and the future of parenting Why YOU come first—and how that changes everything Powerful Quotes "You are the perfect mama for your child." "Your child's behavior is not a reflection of your worth." "The things that trigger you about your child… are actually about you." Resources to find Lara Dawn Connect with Lara Dawn: The ADHD Village -> https://www.theadhdvillage.com/ Call to Action If this episode spoke to you, share it with a WOMAN who needs to hear it. Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and subscribe on YouTube so more WOMEN can rise. If this episode spoke to you… Subscribe to YES, WOMAN so you never miss an episode. Every week we're saying YES to the lives we actually want to live. And if you loved this conversation, take 30 seconds to leave a review. Your review helps more women find the show and step into their next chapter. And if you want to share what landed for you, we'd love to hear from you. Email us anytime at team@theinstituteofwoman.com We read every message. Until next time… Say YES to yourself.

Every parent has been there — the meltdown in the grocery store, the bedtime battle that never ends, the picky eater who somehow eats everything at daycare but nothing at home. But what if most of what we think we know about our kids' behavior is actually missing the point entirely? This week on Take the Lead, we sit down with Paula, a psycho-educator with over 10 years of experience working with children from newborns to age 12 at her Montreal-based clinic. Paula works at the intersection of child development, family coaching, and behavioral intervention — and she is here to give every parent the honest, science-backed framework they never got handed at the hospital. We get into everything. Paula breaks down the difference between psycho-education and psychology, and why understanding the need underneath your child's behavior is the only thing that will actually make it stop. She introduces us to the ABC behavior chart — one of the most practical tools you can start using today to decode why your child does what they do and when. We talk about tantrums, what actually triggers them, and why being either too strict or too permissive both backfire in ways most parents don't see coming. Paula walks us through the three key stages of child development — attachment from 0 to 1, exploration from 1 to 3, and socialization from 3 to 6 — and why knowing which stage your child is in changes everything about how you respond to them. We debate gentle parenting versus structured parenting, and Paula makes a compelling case for why you actually need both — and shares her 5 C's of parenting framework that every mom and dad needs to hear. We also get into the topics that make parents feel the most guilt: sleep training, self-soothing, screen time at mealtimes, and whether showing your child your disappointment is harming them. Paula's take is refreshingly nuanced — no judgment, no one-size-fits-all answers, just real developmental science delivered in a way that actually makes sense. And because this is Take the Lead and we never stay surface level, we also get personal. Carine shares her own real-time parenting dilemmas — from potty training accidents to a baby learning to self-soothe — and Paula meets her right where she is with practical, compassionate advice that every parent in the trenches will recognize. If you've ever Googled "is my toddler's behavior normal" at midnight, argued with your partner about screen time, or wondered whether your lifestyle is impacting your child more than you'd like to admit — this episode is going to feel like a long overdue exhale. The bottom line? You don't have to be a perfect parent. You just have to be a present one, most of the time. And trust your gut — because Paula confirms it's usually right. Hosted by Carine Badran Follow the show: @taketheleadpodcast Follow Carine: @carinebadran

Is every step you take a "withdrawal" from your joint bank account? In this high-stakes episode, Letty and Ryan tackle the 4 Most Googled Questions of 2026 and burn the old rulebook to the ground.We dive into the mind-blowing MRI research that proves running doesn't thin your cartilage—it can actually make it thicker and stronger. Ryan breaks down the "Thicker Cartilage Paradox" and the "Sponge Effect" that keeps your joints oiled, while Letty discusses the 120g carb-loading revolution and her final preparations for the Boston Marathon.If you've been running in fear of injury or hitting the wall, this episode is your biological wake-up call. Your body isn't a machine that wears out; it's a system that levels up.In this episode:The Hypertrophy Reveal: Why runners' knees often look healthier on an MRI than non-runners'.The 120g Carb Ceiling: the new gold standard of fueling.The 50mm Stack Height Trap: Is your "super-shoe" sabotaging your stability?Heavy Lifting for Speed: Why the strongest runners are becoming the fastest runners.Boston UpdatesStop guessing. Start adapting.Get the full research links and the Boston Marathon event schedule at MarathonJournal.com.

You've probably Googled "how to remove a skin tag at home" at least once. Before you reach for the dental floss, you need to hear this. In this episode of The Skin Real, Dr. Mary Alice Mina covers everything you need to know about skin tags — from what they actually are and why you get them, to what they might be revealing about your metabolic health, and how she safely removes them in her office. In This Episode: 0:00 — Is That Dental Floss Around Your Skin Tag? 0:45 — What Are Skin Tags? 2:00 — Why You Get Skin Tags and Where They Show Up 3:30 — The Genetics Behind Skin Tags 4:30 — Skin Tags and Metabolic Health: The Connection You Need to Know 6:15 — Can You Prevent Skin Tags? 7:30 — At-Home Removal Methods — And Why They're Risky 9:30 — When Skin Tag Removal Gets Dangerous 10:30 — Subscribe to The Skin Real 11:00 — Ligation vs. Destruction: The Two Treatment Approaches 12:15 — When Skin Tags Aren't Actually Skin Tags 14:00 — The Harvard Story: When a Skin Tag Was Melanoma 15:00 — How Dr. Mina Removes Skin Tags in Her Office 16:30 — Post-Removal Care: How to Heal Without Scarring 17:30 — Does Insurance Cover Skin Tag Removal? 18:15 — Final Thoughts and Share This Episode Want a deeper look? Watch the full episode on YouTube for a more visual experience of today's discussion. This episode is best enjoyed on video—don't miss out!

If you've ever Googled symptoms at 2 a.m. and spiraled… this episode is for you!In this conversation, I sit down with pediatrician Dr. Tori Niemynski to talk about what's really happening when parenting turns into panic mode, and how to step out of it without ignoring your instincts.We talk about the pressure parents feel to get everything right, how constant access to information is fueling anxiety, and what it actually looks like to make thoughtful, grounded decisions for your kids.Dr. Tori has stepped away from traditional practice and now focuses on giving parents accessible, ethical guidance online without crossing the line into individualized medical advice.This is not about doing less as a parent. It's about doing it with intention.If you've been stuck in overthinking, second-guessing, or fear-based decision making, this will help you reset.Why parenting anxiety is higher than everThe difference between informed and overwhelmedHow to stop spiraling over every symptomWhat pediatricians wish parents understoodHow to trust yourself without ignoring real concernsConnect with Dr Tori:INSTAGRAMConnect with Ginny:Website: https://www.ginnypriem.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginnypriemYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ginnypriemLeave a rating or review and follow the show so you don't miss an episode!Support the show by supporting our sponsors:ine+ nutrition: Get your Super Greens and Collagen for 15% off with code GIN15Thrifty Traveler: Get cheap flight deals in your inbox. Save $20 off your first year with code GINNYPRIEM

Grief doesn't always look the way we expect it to—and sometimes, it's not just about loss, but about unmet expectations, disappointment, and seasons that feel heavier than we thought they would be.   In this episode, I'm continuing a really honest conversation about what it looks like to walk through a wilderness season while still showing up in your life, your business, and your calling. I share what's been anchoring me lately—how to hear from God in the middle of grief, how to guard your heart, and how to stay grounded when your emotions feel all over the place.   In this episode, you'll discover: ✨ Why getting a personal word from God can anchor your hope in hard seasons ✨ How to navigate grief, healing, and mindset shifts without losing yourself in the process ✨ What it looks like to protect your peace and be intentional about what you're consuming ✨ How “breathing through the pain” can help you stay present with God instead of shutting down   If you're navigating faith-based motherhood, leadership, or business in a heavy season, this is your reminder—you're not alone, and you're not off track.   Take a moment to listen, slow down, and invite God into what you're feeling. And if this resonated, share it with someone who needs it or leave a review so more women can feel seen and supported

We're back with part two of your burning questions — and we are not holding back! From the weirdest things we've Googled at work to first dates, baby fever, coming out stories, and secret talents, Ryan and Tyler are serving all the tea.Oh, and yes — skincare questions too, because we can't help ourselves. Shop here now: https://www.savannaboda.com

What do you do when life feels heavy… but you still have to show up?   In this episode, I'm opening up about a very real and tender season of grief I've been walking through—and the honest question I found myself asking: how do I keep showing up in my business, my calling, and my life when things don't feel okay?   This isn't a polished, tied-with-a-bow conversation. It's real. It's raw. And it's rooted in faith, healing, and learning how to walk with God in the middle of pain—not just after it.   In this episode, you'll discover: ✨ Why grief, wilderness, and pruning seasons are actually invitations into deeper intimacy with God ✨ How slowing down can strengthen your mindset, leadership, and long-term podcast growth ✨ What “radical obedience” can look like in a season where rest is the assignment ✨ How to show up authentically without oversharing or abandoning your boundaries   If you're navigating faith-based motherhood, business, or leadership in a hard season, I want you to know—you're not behind, and you're not alone.   Take a listen, give yourself permission to slow down, and reflect on what God might be doing beneath the surface. And if this meets you where you are, share it with someone who needs it or leave a review so more women can feel seen in their season

Your clients are not searching the way they used to. And if your website is still built for the old rules — you are invisible in the new ones. TIMESTAMPS: [0:00] — Someone booked a call with me from ChatGPT. Here is what that means for your business. [1:30] — The Google problem: why clicking and backing out is exhausting your clients [3:00] — What SEO is and why it still matters (but is no longer enough) [6:30] — What AIO is and the one line that explains the difference [8:30] — The 12% stat: why 88% of websites are invisible to AI right now [10:00] — The three things your website needs for AI to recommend you [13:00] — The villain: the business owner who keeps saying 'I'll do it later' [15:00] — What it actually looks like when it's working [16:30] — Your 3-minute self-audit: do this before the episode ends IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER: What SEO is and why it still matters in 2026 What AIO (AI Optimization) is and how it is completely different from SEO Why 88% of small business websites are invisible to AI search right now — and how to check if yours is one of them The three things your website must have for ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend you A 3-minute self-audit you can do tonight to see exactly where you stand ABOUT THIS EPISODE: The way your clients find you has changed. They are not Googling and clicking through ten links anymore. They are having conversations with AI — and AI is recommending someone. In this episode, Bella breaks down the difference between SEO and AIO, explains why 88% of small business websites are invisible to AI tools right now, and walks through exactly what you need to fix it. No tech degree required. This is strategy, not software. A NOTE ON THE STATS IN THIS EPISODE: Every statistic Bella cites has a source link in the show notes below, along with who funded the study and what their potential bias is. Bella believes you deserve to fact-check her. Click any link and see for yourself. RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED: Magai — All the major AI models in one place — 30% off for 3 months Website Sessions with Bella — 6 focused sessions to rewrite your website for AI search The Jumpers Mastermind — Where Bella works with business owners on AI, hiring, marketing, and more Eight Oh Two 2026 AI Search Study — The 37% stat — who did it and their bias (self-funded marketing agency) Seer Interactive ChatGPT Conversion Study — The conversion rate data — one B2B client, 6 months Schema.org Structured Data — The 12.4% stat source — neutral standards body, no commercial bias Xponent21 AI Overviews Analysis — The 60% Google AI Overview stat Search Engine Land AI Referral Traffic — The 527% growth stat — owned by Semrush, editorial independent CONNECT WITH BELLA: Website Sessions with Bella The Jumpers Mastermind  Subscribe to Bella in Your Business   Bella's Website   Find Bella on Instagram and Facebook — search Bella Vasta     FAQ SECTION: What is the difference between SEO and AIO? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of structuring your website so Google ranks it in search results. AIO (AI Optimization) is structuring your website so AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can read, understand, and recommend you. SEO gets you found. AIO makes you the answer. Both matter in 2026 — but most small business websites have only been built for one of them. What is AIO and why does it matter for small business owners? AIO stands for AI Optimization — also called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) depending on who you ask. The industry has not settled on one term yet. What they all mean is the same thing: structuring your website content so AI tools can read it, trust it, and recommend your business when someone asks for help with the problem you solve. As more people use ChatGPT and Perplexity to find services, businesses that are not optimized for AI are losing referrals they never even know about. How do I know if my website is visible to AI? Open ChatGPT or Perplexity. Do not search your business name — search the problem your ideal client has, the way they would actually type it. If your business does not come up, that is your answer. Other signals: your website has not been updated in over a year, you do not have a blog, your homepage is vague about who you serve and how, and your site does not use structured data (schema markup). All of these reduce how findable you are to AI tools. What is schema markup and do I need it? Schema markup is code you add to your website that tells AI systems exactly what your business does, who you serve, what questions you answer, and why you are credible. Without it, AI has to guess — and AI would rather recommend someone it does not have to guess about. As of 2025, only about 12% of websites use any structured data at all. That means the businesses who add it now have a significant early advantage in AI search visibility. Does my website need a blog for AI search? Yes. A blog is one of the highest-value things on your website for AI visibility. AI tools favor content that is specific, answers real questions, and has been published recently. A blank or outdated blog page gives AI very little to work with. You do not need to publish every day — consistent, specific, question-answering content matters more than volume. If you have not posted in over six months, that is your most urgent gap.   Full Episode Transcript Someone booked a call with me recently and I asked what I always ask. How did you hear about me? And she said, chat GPT, not Google, not Instagram, not like I saw you on my feed or I was on your email list or I listened to your podcast, podcast, what you're listening to right now It was chat GPT. She had been mid conversation trying to figure out a problem and was asking what top consultants could help her with the problem. And chat GPT told her me. and proceeded to explain more than just my name, but the reasons why. That conversation stopped me cold because what I realized is what if my website had not been set up the right way? That conversation would have ended with someone else's name. And then I started thinking of you and your website and whether AI even knows you exist. Welcome back to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. I've been doing this podcast since 2014 for you, my small business, pet sitting business, dog walking business, dog grooming business, dog training business, all of you, since 2014. Your clients are not searching the way that they used to. And if your website is still built the old way, then You are invisible in the new way. And so today we're going to talk about SEO, AIO. There's a couple of different forms of that, AEO. And there's a couple others, but for the sake of the show and today, March 20, 26, I'm going to call it AIO. And what to do in the next 90 days will determine whether your business is findable or just existing. OK, I want you to think about the last time you Googled something for your business. So you typed it in, then 10 blue links came back. You clicked one, it wasn't quite right, so you hit back. Then you clicked another one and shoot, it was an ad. Clicked back, you scrolled, you got distracted, you got overwhelmed, and then you gave up. That's what your clients are doing when they Google you. Or the problem that you solve, or the service that you offer. They're clicking, they're backing out, and they're clicking, and they're backing out, exhausted. Because before they have even found you, they're just overwhelmed. Now think about what it feels like to have a conversation with Chachi BT when you're trying to figure something out. It's different, right? It like listens to your whole situation. You feel heard. It asks follow up questions sometimes and it gives you one clear answer instead of 10 options that you have to sort through yourself. And when it says you should go talk to this person, you go because it felt like advice, not advertising. All right. Before I give you some numbers, I want to be upfront about something. A lot of statistics in marketing worlds are produced by companies that have a financial interest before believing in them. All right. So for every stat in this episode, I have put the source in the show notes. You want to go to JumpConsulting.net, click on podcast and you could find that so you can know who did the study, who paid for it, what their potential bias is. And I want you to go fact check me, like not because I'm hiding anything, but because A business owner who makes decisions based off of bad data is worse off than a business decision being made, like no business decision being made at all. And so here's what the research says with full context. A marketing agency called 802 surveyed 500 people who have already used AI tools. 37 % they say that they now start their searches with AI instead of Google. And here's what I want you to know. 802 sells AI search strategy services. So they do have a financial interest in what you're carrying about with this number. I'm telling you that because you deserve to know, but the finding really does line up with what I'm watching in my own business and what I hear from all the other experts that I follow. Okay. So take it with context and decide for yourself. But here's the question that I want you to sit with while you're reading this right now. Someone's having a conversation with AI. about the exact problem you solve. my gosh, I wanna go to Las Vegas this weekend and shoot, I need a dog walker. Who do you know near me, okay? It doesn't show a list of links unless you pick. It reads the website behind the scenes. It reads it and it crawls it for your structure, your content, your copy, the unique value proposition that you have. And it decides whether you're credible enough to

Tim found a site listing the top parenting question googled in each state. He saves the state of Washington, Michael's home state, for last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most powerful biohacks on the planet don't cost a dime, and most people have no idea they're already within reach. In this rapid-fire Q&A, I'm answering your most Googled questions and breaking down my top five free, portable biohacks, my exact cold plunge protocol, and the truth about mold toxicity that most physicians won't tell you. If you've been waiting for a no-excuse starting point to upgrade your biology, this is it. CLICK HERE TO BECOME GARYS VIP!: https://bit.ly/4ai0Xwg Thank you to our partners A-GAME: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: http://bit.ly/4kek1ij AION: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4h6KHAD AIRES: "ULTIMATE20 " FOR 20% OFF: https://bit.ly/4a3Duze BAJA GOLD: "ULTIMATE10" FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa BODYHEALTH: “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV CARAWAY: “ULTIMATE” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3Q1VmkC COLD LIFE: THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: https://bit.ly/4eULUKp GENETIC METHYLATION TEST (UK ONLY): https://bit.ly/48QJJrk GENETIC TEST (USA ONLY): ⁠https://bit.ly/3Yg1Uk9 GOPUFF: GET YOUR FAVORITE SNACK!: https://bit.ly/4obIFDC H2TABS: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4hMNdgg HEALF: 10% OFF YOUR ORDER: https://bit.ly/41HJg6S PEPTUAL: “TUH10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4mKxgcn RHO NUTRITION: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: https://bit.ly/44fFza0 SNOOZE: LET'S GET TO SLEEP!: https://bit.ly/4pt1T6V WHOOP: JOIN & GET 1 FREE MONTH!: https://bit.ly/3VQ0nzW Watch  the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST: YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8 Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3RQftU0 Connect with Gary Brecka Instagram: https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs TikTok: https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo X: https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf Facebook: https://bit.ly/464VA1H LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2 Website: https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU Merch: https://bit.ly/4aBpOM1 Newsletter: https://bit.ly/47ejrws Ask Gary: https://bit.ly/3PEAJuG Timestamps 00:00 ​Intro of Show 01:22 Gary's Top 5 Biohacks 02:59 Gary's Meal Times 05:12 Advice for Mood Disorders 07:18 Cold Plunge Routine and Alternatives 08:11 Mold Detox and Testing 10:21 Join the TUH VIP Community Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation.  Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On January 7th, 2021, Maya Millete called a divorce attorney, came home to Chula Vista, and was never seen again. Her husband Larry sent his last email to a spell caster two minutes before she drove up. A neighbor's camera recorded loud banging sounds from the house that night. Maya's phone went dark around 1:25 AM. No camera ever captured her leaving.What investigators found when they started pulling this marriage apart is unlike almost anything in recent true crime. Larry Millete allegedly paid over $1,100 to people he believed could cast magic spells — starting with love spells, escalating to requests that Maya be injured, made dependent, given nightmares, or given cancer. He placed subliminal audio devices throughout the house — his internet search history included the phrase "subliminal wife training." He Googled Rohypnol and date rape drugs. He allegedly built a physical shrine to the marriage with what appeared to be red wax or blood. Maya's own diary entries suggested she believed he was poisoning her vitamins. A friend told investigators he had choked her until she passed out. A police officer testified in open court that he once punched through drywall to get to her when she locked herself in the bathroom in fear.The morning after Maya disappeared, Larry drove the family Lexus for over eleven hours with his phone turned off and no alibi that has ever held up under questioning. He later asked a neighbor to detail — clean — the vehicle. Every text between him and Maya had been deleted from his phone.Five years later, Larry Millete still hasn't faced a jury. The latest delay came January 28th, 2026, just two weeks before a trial date attorneys had publicly described as final. Defense attorneys cited personal family losses. Maya's sister Maricris stood in court and begged the judge not to grant it — telling him their aging parents wake up every morning still waiting for justice for their daughter. The judge granted it anyway. Trial is now set for May 11th, 2026.Larry Millete has pleaded not guilty. His defense has argued Maya had her own reasons to disappear — a professional situation that could have cost her everything, and an alleged plan to make Larry look responsible. Tony Brueski gives that theory the fair hearing it deserves. Then he lays out everything the prosecution has spent five years building.Maya Millete told her sister, her brother, and a stranger at a law firm: if anything happens to me, it was Larry. Her parents are still waiting for the trial that will decide if she was right.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#LarryMillete #MayaMillete #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime2026 #MissingMom #MurderTrial #ChulaVistaMurder #CoerciveControl #NoBodyCase #TrueCrimePodcast

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Greg Curtis and Tommy Carreras from Climbing the Assimilayas, an organization dedicated to helping churches build systems that move people from first-time guests to engaged disciples. With years of experience working inside and alongside growing churches, Greg and Tommy bring practical insight into one of the most overlooked—and most critical—areas of church health: assimilation. Are people showing up at your church but not sticking? Do you feel like guests are slipping through the cracks despite your best efforts? In this conversation, Greg and Tommy unpack what's changing about how people engage with church today and how leaders can respond. A seismic shift in why people are coming. // One of the biggest changes in churches is a shift in motivation: people are no longer primarily coming to church for community or life improvement—they're coming to find God. Where previous generations often needed to be convinced of the benefits of church, many new guests today are already spiritually curious or even actively seeking Jesus before they arrive. Greg shares stories of individuals with no church background who are reading Scripture, watching content like The Chosen, and showing up ready to take decisive steps like baptism. This means churches must recalibrate their approach—not just creating welcoming environments, but facilitating genuine encounters with God. You're missing more people than you think. // Tommy identifies a foundational issue: most churches are only tracking a fraction of the people actually engaging. Many leaders celebrate the number of new guests they can count, but in reality, they're missing a significant percentage—especially families checking in children or people who never stop at a guest table. Churches often aren't lacking opportunity—they're overlooking it. Recognizing and responding to all entry points into the church is critical if leaders want to move more people toward connection and growth. Stop telling your story—start naming theirs. // A common mistake churches make is focusing on communicating their own story—how the church started, what it believes, and why it exists—rather than connecting with the story of the guest. Guests aren't primarily interested in your church's narrative; they're asking what God might be doing in their life and how your church fits into that. Instead of offering multiple vague next steps, churches should provide clear, guided invitations that help people take one meaningful step forward. When churches shift from “Here's who we are” to “Here's how we can help you,” engagement increases dramatically. The first questions every guest is asking. // Every new person is subconsciously asking, “Is there anyone here like me?” That question shapes their experience from the parking lot to the worship service. But today, a second question is emerging: “Is there someone worth imitating?” Guests are looking for more than information—they're looking for transformation. This has led many churches to create space for prayer, reflection, and personal ministry during or after services. These moments often become powerful connection points where guests experience both God and meaningful relationships with others. People are looking for people—not programs. // Both Greg and Tommy emphasize that guests aren't primarily searching for better programming—they're searching for meaningful relationships. That means churches must prioritize relational connection over information delivery. Simple actions—like learning someone's name, asking thoughtful questions, and creating environments where people feel seen—can have a greater impact than any polished program. Designing clear pathways for connection. // Greg outlines three key journeys every church should consider: from the “screen to the seat” (first-time attendance), from the “seat to the circle” (relational connection through groups, teams, etc.), and from the “circle to the street” (living out faith in everyday life). Each stage requires intentional environments and clear next steps. Without these pathways, guests may attend once or twice but never fully engage. Every response is a sacred opportunity. // Tommy closes with a powerful reminder: every form submission, every piece of contact information, every small step a guest takes is a miracle. People don't casually give their information—they do so because something significant is happening in their life. When churches fail to follow up or steward those moments well, they're not just missing a system—they're missing a person God is drawing. Leaders must treat every interaction as sacred and respond with urgency, care, and intentionality. To learn more about Climbing the Assimilayas, access their free assimilation audit, or explore their Sherpa Tribe coaching community, visit assimilayas.com. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: SermonDone Hey friends, Sunday is coming… is your Sermon Done?Pastor, you don't need more pressure—you need support. That's why you need to check out SermonDone—the premium AI assistant built exclusivelyfor pastors. SermonDone helps you handle the heavy lifting: deep sermon research, series planning, and even a theologically aligned first draft—in your voice—because it actually trains on up to 15 of your past sermons. But it doesn't stop there. With just a click, you can instantly turn your message into small group guides, discussion questions, and even kids curriculum. It's like adding a research assistant, a writing partner, and a discipleship team—all in one. Try it free for 5 days. Head over to www.SermonDone.com and use promo code Rich20 for 20% off today! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in. Really looking forward to today’s conversation. We have got repeat guests on the call, which you know what that means. These are people I love dearly and who I know have so much that they can help you with. You’re going want to stay plugged in. In fact, this is one of those areas that I think many of our churches are stumbling on and are not doing a good job. We’re not doing what we should be doing. And that doesn’t just come from like, it’s a hunch. I’ve literally been in dozens of conversations where what these guys have shared literally illuminates our thinking and helps us take steps towards being a more effective church. So you’re going to want to stay tuned stay tuned for the entire conversation. Rich Birch — Super excited to have Greg Curtis and Tommy Carreras with us. They’re with an organization called Climbing the Assimilayas. Greg is the director of First Steps and Content Development Eastside Christian Church, a fantastic church. Been on the podcast a number of of times. They’re a multi-site church with six locations in all the places that make sense, California, Nevada, and Minnesota. Of course, those fit together.Rich Birch — And then Tommy is is the head sherpa at Climbing the Assimilayas. Super excited to have both of you guys on. Welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Greg Curtis — Yeah. It’s awesome to be with you, man. Always.Rich Birch — Always fun to connect. Why don’t actually, before we jump in, Tommy, why don’t you tell us about Climbing the Assimilayas? How do you guys help churches? What do you do to come alongside us and help us get better at what what we do?Tommy Carreras — Yeah, I’d love to. Climbing the Assimilayas was started by Greg back when I was brand new in ministry. I was a groups pastor who had just taken over sort of the rest of the pipeline of getting people into groups because I realized I couldn’t get anybody into groups because I wasn’t in charge of anything that was happening before that.Tommy Carreras — So I met Greg in like 2013, 2014. He had just taken over the role of assimilation at Eastside. He kind of designed the role himself when his lead pastor—I’m telling your story now, Greg. Usually you get to tell it.—But his lead pastor, Gene Appel, said, hey, what what do you want to do in this next season? And Greg kind of designed the role based on what he saw was super necessary in the church and also what he was really well designed for.Tommy Carreras — And he was right. Because it was exactly what I needed at the time. It was just trying to figure out what a replicable and scalable system looked like for making things more personal and more effective at getting people to take real next steps. And it sounded really simple, but it was so unbelievably challenging because I just kept getting it wrong myself. And I had no idea where to actually go for advice on any of this. And he started figuring it out, started universalizing some of the principles that were working for him at Eastside and testing those with other churches.Tommy Carreras — I was at his first ever base camp training at Eastside. And so a long friendship began there. And then I just believed everything he said at that point and customized it, contextualized it for ministry and in also Southern California, but a different part. And, you know, it’s California is like five states total. Rich Birch — Right. Sure.Tommy Carreras — So it was much different than Eastside, but also all the principles held up. And so that’s what he’s been doing ever since. I came alongside him a few years ago to sort of throw gas on the fire. I had transitioned out of my role in ministry and started doing a few things with multiple churches. And this was one of them. And it has been a blast to help build these systems in churches that are super hungry for helping people connect, but can’t quite build the systems or just don’t have the models out there that are able to adapt and flex with the changing culture and the changing needs. Because those needs of guests have changed a lot over 12, 13 years.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s fantastic. And friends that are listening in, both Greg and Tommy are the kind of leaders that I just say, you should just do what they say. Like, just listen to what they’re doing and do it. And you’d be amazed at the results that we’ve seen at churches all across the country. And so you’re in for a treat of a conversation today. Rich Birch — Greg, since we last talked, so I think that was maybe a year ago, maybe 18 months ago, what have you continued to notice that’s maybe different around how people are engaging, connecting? We’re talking about getting first time guests, the kind of people that are arriving, trying to help those people get assimilated, get connected. What what have you noticed maybe something that’s that’s maybe different in the way people are engaging right now that’s different than maybe even a year or two ago?Greg Curtis — Yeah, over a crescendo over the last two years has been remarkable in its shift towards—this is going to sound crazy because we’re talking to churches—they’re wanting God now. And what I what I mean by that is prior, we were having to sell the benefits of following Jesus, most growing churches, which there are, and I think it was a compelling thing to share with the culture.Greg Curtis — And so people were coming to church to find community, to find help with parenting, to find support in marriage or to, you know, a variety of different things. And so the draw and and what was causing people to engage with church was really what can, what help in my life? How can I increase the quality of my life? Maybe even get some pretty powerful pain points addressed.Greg Curtis — This has shifted. I’ll put it in the terms of our um our young adult pastor. His name is Charles. He came to me. He said, Greg, prior to a few two, three years ago, maybe not even that long. He said, young adults were coming, 80% of them to find friends and community, and about 20% to find God. He goes, it’s flipped. It’s flipped. Now it’s 80% God and 20% community.Greg Curtis —  And that has expressed itself in some remarkable ways. I’ll just throw two out. At the end of last year, i was covering somebody, ah a pastor who was gonna baptize somebody after the service. He had to be gone, so I said, yeah, I’ll cover it. So in our context, I’ll meet that person ahead of time and kind of show him where to sit in the service, when to come out, where the baptistry is, et cetera.Greg Curtis — And I met her, she was 28 years old, named Connie. And I said, as we’re walking through the baptistry, so, you know, I asked these typical questions, how how long have you been coming to Eastside, which is my church? And ah she says, oh, I’ve I’ve never been to Eastside.Greg Curtis — And was like, oh, so you’re from our online campus? And she goes, no, I’ve never really heard of Eastside. And I said, well, what’s led you to be baptized today?Rich Birch — Right.Greg Curtis — And this was her story. She goes, I grew up in a very non-religious home and I’ve I’ve never been to church. And I have, I vowed I’d never even date a religious person, but I had some friends three months ago that invited me to watch The Chosen with them.Greg Curtis — I didn’t want to. I got I was mad at myself for getting engaged after the first episode. Kept watching. Decided to buy myself a Bible two months ago. I started reading the Old Testament and New Testament concurrently and decided, I love Jesus and I want to follow him. And I could tell what I needed to do was get baptized. But get this. I’m the game day operations coordinator for the NFL. So I work on Sundays. And I just Googled who would baptize me on a Saturday. And your form came up and I filled it out. So here I am.Rich Birch — Wow. That’s amazing.Greg Curtis — Yeah. And and I’ll tell you what. She didn’t know, Rich, that this baptism was going to be in front of other people until we were in the water and the whole church was looking at her.Rich Birch — Wow. That’s incredible.Greg Curtis — Okay. The questions she had, we’ve we’ve remained in touch. The questions she asks are so precious. I mean…Rich Birch — So good.Greg Curtis — …but I’m telling you, I met with somebody, I’ve had a few of those that are similar. That one’s pretty dramatic, but are very similar. No background at all. They’re coming because they’re having a God moment before they get to us.Rich Birch — Yeah. Greg Curtis — And that’s a big shift because God is doing something literally worldwide and in our culture right now that they’re coming to us to find God and and they’re already they’re already encountering him in some way and they need help with that and want it. And that’s a huge shift.Rich Birch — Yeah, I would agree. I’ve seen that in our context, in our church, so my specific home church that I’m a part of, Connexus. I’ve seen that at our church. We’ve seen it in the churches we work with. There is a um a measurable change in the way, kind of the state that people are at when they arrive. You know, that the way I’ve said, echoed similar to what you’re saying there, Greg, is like, There used to be, you know, you and I are of a certain age. I can remember a time when, you know, people would kind of stumble into church and they, you know, they were there for all different kinds of reasons. And, you know, we had to hold their hand for a long time. Rich Birch — But it seems like now people are arriving and they have ah It’s like a God question on their heart that they’re looking for an answer for. It’s they’re, they’re arriving already asking something significant. And, you know, we’ve got to meet them there. We can’t, we can’t just leave that.Greg Curtis — So get get this. I’ve often, I think I’ve probably said this on your podcast before, but for for our church, Christmas is our Super Bowl. It’s our number one outreach event for the year. Traditionally, we’ve gotten 18% of our guest leads from Christmas for for the year.Rich Birch — Wow. That’s amazing.Greg Curtis — Okay. But yeah, but we tried something in light of this. Because we’re we’re we’re looking at this and trying to meet God in in this. And we did something we have never done at Christmas services. And that’s, we it’s so counterintuitive. We invited people, we just shared the gospel. If you want to be baptized right now, We’ll do it.Rich Birch — Wow. Wow.Greg Curtis — And we have never done that because, and and you’ve heard me say i Christmas guests are different than other guests of the year. They’re not there to find God. They’re there because Aunt Sally invited them to a Christmas service before the dinner and gift exchange. So they’re on their way someplace. They’re not going to do anything. And we just thought, let’s just try it. Rich Birch — RightGreg Curtis — And it probably, we we were we were prepared for, we thought maybe, you know, we’re a church of, I don’t know, 12-, 15,000 today. We thought maybe we’d get 120 people to respond, but we prepared for 200 just in case. We had 399 people… Rich Birch — Wow. Wow. That’s incredible. On Christmas Eve. Greg Curtis — …get baptized by coming to a Christmas service, not knowing that they were going to do that.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s incredible.Greg Curtis — So that just that that just illustrates there’s a seismic spiritual shift going on. And I think meeting guests there is going to be very smart for us in this hour.Rich Birch — Yeah, and I want to, that’s a great place to start. I think sets up, tees up the conversation we will be having today, which is, friends, I think a lot of our churches could be missing some of these folks as they’re as they’re connecting. And I want to really mine from you guys. You guys are the experts on this. You interact with a lot of churches. I want to mine for our our listeners some help for them. So Tommy, from your vantage point, you work with churches across the country where we’re asking questions like this.Rich Birch — How do we get these people plugged in? How can we help these first time guests take steps towards ultimately groups, teams, get plugged into whatever it is that we’re trying to get them plugged in. Where do you see that leaders keep getting stuck when it comes to helping people take their next steps beyond this kind of first weekend? Where do we keep stumbling? What do you see consistently bubbling up in the churches that you’re working with?Tommy Carreras — Yeah. Yeah, there’s a few really specific things. And the first one is, first of all, we always have to move as far left or as far up, however you’d like to think, left to right, top to bottom. We have to move all the way to the left or all the way to the top. And the problem is there aren’t enough people in your funnel in the first place.Tommy Carreras — We’ve talked about this before, but a really, really popular church that I’ve been talking to a lot recently, and working with—by “popular”, I mean it’s growing, it’s a few thousand, so it’s there’s something there, obviously, and really popular online pastor. Not not super duper 2 million followers, but like quarter of a million. That’s a lot. Right. And just a wonderful guy. Right. Tommy Carreras — They announced really proudly recently that they had 1300 new people in the last year and their church of 25 to 2800. And I, looked him and said, guys, guys, that’s not even half of how many new people walked in the door. And they just looked so con confused.Tommy Carreras — They’re like, that’s a great number. I’m like, that’s a that’s a great number. It’s a really bad percentage, though. And it’s just wrong. Doesn’t matter if it’s good, bad, ugly.Rich Birch — Right.Tommy Carreras — It’s just wrong. The idea is most often we’re trying to help people take next steps, but we’re just looking at half or less than half of the actual people that are there. And so if we can’t get the top of the funnel right and recognize who’s there, and some of that is just missing the data that we do have. You can give this one away… If you’re not treating your new families like new guests, you’re ignoring them. You’re not missing them. You’re ignoring them because they’re giving you all the info. They’re giving you all the info besides their social security number, right? We need all their info for having their children. And we’re just missing that opportunity usually because we don’t treat them like, well, they didn’t go to the new guest table. But well, who cares? Bring the new guest table to them, right? Just bring it over there and treat them as such. And so that’s a huge one. That’s 30 to 40% of your new guest leads are actually coming in through kids. And so we have to stop ignoring those people.Tommy Carreras — But also it’s all about that invitation. If we can’t get that invitation right originally, then we’re always going to be looking at less than the actual amount. And then fewer people are going to take next steps because fewer people are being invited to take next steps. And so the top of the funnel is the first problem. We’re just not dealing with all the information. Tommy Carreras — The bigger sort of meta problem that I think has has been really interesting to watch is that most churches end up trying to tell their story instead of name their guest’s story.Rich Birch — That’s good. That’s good.Tommy Carreras — And so if you want to go like the StoryBrand route, and if you’re a Donald Miller fan, which I think, Rich, you are a Donald Miller fan, like it, how could you not be, right?Rich Birch — Sure, sure.Tommy Carreras — Like, “Blue Like Jazz” and “StoryBrand”, where does this guy stop? But the idea is we try and play the hero so that they’ll choose us. We’re trying to make sure all our theological ducks are in a row. We need to tell them the story about the incredible call that that God had on this this church planter’s life 23 years ago and that incredible first moment. And and they’re just sitting there going, Okay, that’s really cool…Rich Birch — That’s interesting to you.Tommy Carreras — …but it has nothing to do with them. Yeah, that’s super interesting. And that sounds like a great documentary that I would watch the trailer for. But that’s it. And what we’re not trying to do, though, is name their story, how they might be feeling right now, and how we might play a part in their story.Tommy Carreras — So instead of trying to say, here’s the story of our church, do you want to get on board? Those assimilation environments, whether it’s your “one program”, which is our language for, you know, the the program that you invite somebody to to help them take a next step into belonging and purpose. Instead of trying to name our story as an organization and say, here’s where you can fit into it. We’re trying to say, here’s the story we believe that God is writing in your life. And we might be able to play a part of it. It’s way bigger than us as a church, but we would love to play a part in it. And here’s the specific next thing that we would like to try and do for you because God’s writing your story and it’s a really good one. And we think we can plug in right here, right now.Tommy Carreras — And that’s the other thing. It’s a lot of times we’re just trying to go and here’s all the ways you could connect. And Greg’s been saying this since 2013 when I met him. But, you know, if you give if you give somebody A, B, C and D, they’ll choose E, none of the above. We’re just we’re giving them options and really they want guidance. And so if we can say, hey, here’s the thing that we have found is the best step for most people like you right now. Then they can just say yes or no.Tommy Carreras — And yes or no is great because if they say no, we just downsell and say, well, what do you want? What are you looking for? What what can we help you accomplish in your story and in your life right now? Not what environment do you want to be in? Because they don’t know. They don’t know what the deliverable of a group is. They don’t know why they would do it. We just have to say, what what do you want then?Tommy Carreras — And they say, oh I’m kind of looking for this, this, this. And you go, oh well, this is an environment that might be built just for you. And so we’re just trying to come alongside their story. But most often we’re trying to convince them that our story is really compelling. And that’s just falling way too flat.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. So much there. Unpack. Friends, rewind. Listen to that. There’s good stuff packed in there. Greg, sticking with this idea of options versus guidance, you know, when we’re thinking about a new person that walks into our church this weekend, this season, what do you think they’re actually trying to figure out in those first few weeks? What are the kind of questions that are on their minds that we’ve got to try to guide them towards? What are you seeing in the churches you’re working with? How should we be trying to guide those people?Greg Curtis — Multiple thoughts come to mind with that one. I’ve always said, and I do think that it’s still true, that the number one question when any of us are in a new environment is, and we’re not conscious of it really, but we look around and is there anyone here like me? And that’s that’s the inner question everybody is asking whenever they go to someplace that’s foreign or new to them. And that, you know, in a church context, that starts in the parking lot.Greg Curtis — And that sounds unusual. But if you’ve if you’ve driven in in on your motorcycle and every other car is a Mercedes and a Beamer, when you pull up, you know, you start to feel other than. And it’s people just look around, is is there somebody here like me? Greg Curtis — And I do think, like I had mentioned before, they are trying to figure out if this is a place where I can encounter God. So I do think we need to calibrate our services in such a way that they do encounter God. And I think that there’s a shift and I can’t wait to see how it gets ferreted out. But the shift in worship that needs to be happening is not just singing great praise songs and, having compelling announcements and and great teaching that is given to you, but having moments where they they actually feel like they’re encountering God, you know what I mean, in some way. And not that he’s not encountered, you know, through his word and and and and in worship. But um you know, ah creating a little bit of space ah for that, I think, going to actually speak to what they’re trying to figure out, which is, okay can I figure out God here? I have so many questions.Greg Curtis — And when they encounter God, that covers a multitude of sins, so to speak. Like, they may have three burning questions, but when if they actually encounter God, the questions almost go into the backseat because, oh my gosh, I just I sense God here. And when I say this, I’m not being theoretical. I just met with a gal, another 28-year-old, yesterday. And again, no church back when whatsoever.Greg Curtis — Her father was Jewish. She passed away a year ago. And she just feels orphaned and started looking for God and started watching us online for two weeks and then came and got baptized her first week she came because we happen to be doing one of those baptism things that we do maybe five times a year.Greg Curtis — And so we sat down, she had her little Bible that we print. It’s one of these few dads that we make. We call it a Bible, but we just print out text for the Bible because we’re doing an Old Testament survey kind of thing called the Old Testament Junk. But she’s she’s like, I think I should get it. Like she just figured out that’s not actually a Bible. And she what what Bible should I get was her first question.Rich Birch — Right. Love it. Right.Greg Curtis — Her other second question. because I said, you got a real pastor of front of you. Where do where do you which what kind of Bible should I get? The second one was, how do you pray?Rich Birch — Love it.Greg Curtis — This is the kind of stuff that as we were growing up, you said we were men of a certain age, that we used to anticipate and dream that people would ask us these incredible discipleship questions, like the disciples asked Jesus, Lord, how do we pray? And he gives them Lord’s Prayer. And we were prepared for those questions, but we were unprepared for a culture that was pretty disinterested. And so we’ve gone to the other paths I mentioned before. But now they’re asking the questions that we we are very prepared to answer, but I think we’re just got a little unused to it. And we need to put those things right in our pocket again because they’re asking. Greg Curtis — And so those are the kinds of of things that that they’re looking for in their first few weeks. And I think they’ll gauge and they are gauging our church by different things than they were a couple of years ago. You know, yeah, sure we have our kids program needs to be good and safe. You know, and and and we can’t do a sloppy job, you know, as we worship God corporately. But they’re gauging it by is God here? Am I meeting him? How can I connect with him? And that is just a very beautiful thing to see happen. That’s a great shift.Rich Birch — You know, I kind of sticking with that. One of the things I’ve been doting as I’ve been interacting with churches across the country is something that a friend of mine, Jeff Brody, lead pastor at Connexus has said. He talked, he’s talked about how we’re trying to offer what we’ve been calling accessible encounter, that it’s like we are trying to, so he wouldn’t say this next part, I’m saying this, so I don’t want to put words in his mouth.Rich Birch — But, um you know, i come from I come from the attractional church movement. That would be my background. Happy to say that that is my background. I know you’re not supposed to admit that, but that’s where that’s my background. It’s like you’re not supposed to say or that’s who it is.Rich Birch — And you know, what we were trying to do there was trying to connect with people who don’t normally attend church. And that’s still our heart. That’s still what we’re trying to do. But what we’ve realized is people are looking for an encounter with God that is that does go beyond. It transcends like, here’s three great ideas for this week at work or whatever. It’s it’s like, hey, I’m coming with real questions.Rich Birch — And so people are looking for something in the service that does have a transformational experience or an encounter to it. Sticking with you for a second, Greg, do you see that trend? So we’re doing more, I’m seeing more churches doing more kind of prayer stuff at the altar, end of the service experience, light these candles if you’re praying for that, fill out this card and post it on the cross. More of those kinds of experiences than I’ve seen before. What do you think about that, Greg?Greg Curtis — No, I feel that too. But that do you know what that does, is it shifts me into one thing I didn’t say is, I also think they’re looking for a person, a resource that they can talk to also. Tommy Carreras — Yeah.Greg Curtis — And I think that when we have those after church like prayer moments, like what what how that’ll look at our church is, and we’ve we’ve decided for this very reason to increase the frequency of them because we didn’t do them often. Now we’re doing them a little bit more regularly, more cyclically. But we we’ll have a prayer team, and I love being on the prayer team that’s at front afterwards because of the content that we were talking about.Greg Curtis — And lines will form of people, and we just pray for them and and talk to them and look in their eyes and sometimes connect them to resources if you know, that’s appropriate. But we just watch the people just line up for that, you know. And I just think people are looking for also a person or a guide, you know, that they could ask some questions of. Rich Birch — Right.Greg Curtis — And so I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who’s, I think he’s 31. And um his name is Kellen. Love this guy. He’s a leader on staff at a church in Georgia. And his thing, and I’m not saying this is the answer, but because I don’t think anybody knows the answer right now, because all of this, there’s not, and it’s really multiple answers, right? It’s just a bunch of things. But I’ll throw this in as an ingredient in the thought soup, you know, that’s percolating right now on all this. He was saying, especially with all the younger people returning to church, he that he sees a shift in the attractional church model maybe that may be happening over the next five years, where instead of the worship service being the attractional event, and then we get them assimilation-wise into small groups and ministry teams, that it it may be the reverse of that.Greg Curtis — Where because they’re looking for God in a person, they end up in somebody’s home at, at a, something that may look like a small group, as we think of them, and conversations over coffee. And they get so enraptured in it that it starts there. And then it ends kind of like my friend, Connie, who, who came the NFL gal, it ends at your church. It doesn’t start there. That’s the shift. It starts to end there. And that may mean in the future, our attractional church model and worship may shift to something that’s unapologetically for those who are following and seeking Jesus, not trying to get them to. And that’s a big shift. So so the the the river flow may be shifting. And I just think that’s an interesting thought. It’s been in my head for a while.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Tommy Carreras — I think it’s so funny that you mentioned that people are looking for a person, because I was hoping to jump in and say, I think that all of this is like they’re looking for people, not experiences. Rich Birch — Right.Tommy Carreras — And so thank you for for going there. The question that came to mind, because I’ve always loved your question to to remind us how simple and basic the initial need of a guest is. Anybody in any new scenario, is anybody here like me? I think the question that they’re asking next, is anyone here worth imitating? Because also imitation, imitation is the way we learn. It’s the way we grow. It’s why Jesus is a, is a person we follow, not a doctrinal set of beliefs that we adhere to. Tommy Carreras — That’s not the point. The point is the person we follow and the people we’re becoming and everybody wants to become someone better. And that’s not actually a legalistic gross, like, Oh, you’re just prideful. No, no, no. We’re designed to be phenomenally wonderful people that look like Jesus. That’s what our, our actual heart’s desire is. Tommy Carreras — And so if God’s leaning into that desire in people, then their first question is going to naturally be, is anybody here worth imitating? And we can’t tell people that we’re worth imitating. We can only show them that we’re worth imitating. And how do we show them? We walk up to people we don’t know and say, Hey, I don’t think I know you yet. And you deserve to be known. I’m Tommy. What’s your name? And just take it from there. Tommy Carreras — That’s somebody that’s worth imitating. That is somebody that’s confident and inviting and welcoming and kind and compassionate and interested and curious. That’s who I want to be. And so I’m going to naturally say, oh, if that’s the first person I met here, what are all these other people like? This could be wonderful.Rich Birch — Right. Greg Curtis — Yeah.Tommy Carreras — And so I think those two questions really build the the exact desire set, or at least the first initial desires of somebody who’s who’s coming to church, especially somebody who’s explicitly coming to get to know God and to be the best version of themselves. And they’re they’re actually saying, and I think God defines what that best version looks like. That’s like the best news ever for churches. But we tend to miss it because we design for information transfer and not relationship building. And that’s just not what they’re looking for.Greg Curtis — Yes.Rich Birch — So sticking with that, Tommy, I’d love to, I’d love you to unpack that a little bit. Think of maybe I’m a church of a thousand. So it’s, you know, this thing’s got some energy behind it. And I want to design this, these kind of initial first steps. I want to design our weekend experience and then whatever I’m asking for people to make, to try to get them towards some relationship and get them towards some people. What are some of those initial things that we should be thinking about to try to help them take those first couple steps? What are some of the, these initial steps. Again, picture a church of maybe a thousand. What’s that look like? So it’s gotta be done at scale.Rich Birch — I love the idea of like, you know, I could note people in the room who I don’t know, but like, we all know you get up over a couple hundred and it’s like, I don’t know. By the time you get to a thousand, you look around your lobby and you’re like, I don’t know any of these people. Like I don’t know who any of these people are.Tommy Carreras — I don't know any of these people. Yeah.Rich Birch — So how do we, how do we build a system for lack of a better word that helps us move people towards that?Tommy Carreras — Yeah, I think that first we have to get clear on our goals as a team and we have to get clear on every environment’s goal and make sure there is an environment for every step of the journey. Nobody’s just going to take a big swing. Right. And also we, I would love to live in a place and and be in a church where this is just like, I don’t have to design any systems because all the people just naturally do it. Tommy Carreras — And I would say that often, like I want to, I want to, I want our church to be a church where we don’t even need a group connection event because everybody gets invited to a group personally. And that wasn’t because I was actually hoping that would be a realistic thing. I was trying to set such a clear picture of my actual goal that we could just move 5% in that direction. We could get 20% of our people invited instead of going through a connection event. That would be awesome. Even 5% is better than zero. Tommy Carreras — And so I tried to set ah a visionary goal just for the sake of the culture building. But we have to build the systems and and be really obvious about it because people are also walking in with baggage and they’re walking in with a clear picture and they’re they’re asking to be proved wrong in most cases. Well, i don’t know about in most cases, but in plenty cases, they’re they’re hoping they’re proved wrong. Tommy Carreras — Well, church people just like each other. Well, church people are going to judge the places that don’t have it together yet. Lightning is going to strike when I walk in the door. I’m not actually going to be useful here. I’m going to be a burden. All of those things, that’s the baggage they’re walking in with, not just because of church hurt, because of life hurt. And that is exactly why we’re here, to meet that and say, that’s actually a lie. That’s actually a lie from the father of lies. And you’re here to meet the good father that has only truth for you. And I’m going to show it to you. Tommy Carreras — But we need the systems and the environments that build it correctly and that that lean toward those and produce those kinds of relationships or relational touch points. We need to set clear goals and we need to be relentless in our invitation into those environments. So just having a new here sign on a booth is not an invitation. It’s information. But when my favorite way to announce, for example, which should be an announcement, every single service, hopefully twice in the service. Hey, if you’re new here or you consider yourself new here, and if if you haven’t done this yet, we’d love you to go have a conversation at this place. We want to put this gift in your hands or this something and, and, and here’s what I would always say. And if you’re thinking that the free mug is a bribe to get to know you, you are exactly right. The mug is great, but what’s better is that we think you’re worth knowing and we want to make sure that you have every opportunity to have a familiar face next time you walk in the door.Tommy Carreras — Not, we want to meet you because it’s part of our organizational goal to identify this many guests so that hopefully you give at some point. That’s not a great message. The great message is you’re worth knowing. We think you deserve a familiar face who calls you by name next time you walk in the door. And hopefully also there’s going to be a next time. And we’d like to ensure that there’s a next time. So yes, it’s a bribe. All we want to do is get to know you. We stop by the place. Tommy Carreras — And that, that really worked because also we’re not being slick. We’re being honest. We’re being vulnerable. We’re being transparent. We’re saying we’re just here to do this and whatever it takes to get you there. That’s great. You can leave the mug. The point is we would love to get to know you because you’re worth knowing. And so we’re trying to make sure those environments exist. And then we also have to follow it up. Tommy Carreras — And that means training people training. empowering volunteers to actually accomplish the goal as opposed to accomplish what they think is the goal, but never really was. And so if they’re like, I got to sell the church. Nope. No, no, no. You got to remember their name and ask three personal questions about them. That’s my, that’s my goal for you. Just do that. Tommy Carreras — And if they come to the next thing, like we’ll, we’ll get them to the next thing. You got to mention the program that we want them to come to. That’s fine. They’re not going to come next week anyway. They’re not ready for that. Just get to know them. Rich Birch — That’s good.Tommy Carreras — And so we’re setting real goals and making them very attainable for those volunteers. And then we’re also doing it ourselves in staff and we’re not hiding in the green room, just a little note. But you know, if you’re on staff and you’re hiding in the green room, you know, would fix that. Just fix it.Rich Birch — Yeah, exactly. Stop doing that. I love that. So super tactically, Greg, because we’re talking, we talked, you brought up the ethical bribe. I like to call it the like, Hey, we’ve got a great coffee mug or a water bottle. And you know, it’s one of those things. I love how you framed that, Tommy. Cause I like, think that’s a, that’s a great way even just to like unpack this exactly what we’re trying to do. I think that’s fantastic.Rich Birch — Greg, you’ve helped us think, you’ve helped me think so clearly around um how are we collecting people’s contact information, which is just the start of the of the relationship. Like we’re I think sometimes we can get that turned upside down. It’s like we’re trying to hit the metric because for some metric reason. No, no, it’s ultimately about trying to start a relationship. What are you learning about the timing, the context of all of that, of that kind of part of the service that we’re asking when we’re giving them? You know, what is the ethical bribe, all of that?Rich Birch — What are you learning these days for this very tippy top part of the transaction we’re talking about, the very first step? Is there anything that you’re learning there that we should be thinking differently about?Greg Curtis — I don’t I don’t know. I’m always cautious about saying what I’m learning as if it’s been learned. Rich Birch — Right. Greg Curtis — I think that we are experimenting with some new things in light of this. And I would say that one of the big shifts is it’s look, how do I say it? In light of everything we’ve said already about them looking for God, right? And not just life help. They, I think looking at their discipleship, there’s an old word, you know, but they’re they’re learning to follow Jesus, right? Their discipleship, becoming a follower of Jesus. We have always looked at that through just a biblical theological doctrinal lens. Like, do they know this? Have they done that kind of thing? Greg Curtis — And I think it’s an interesting thing to look at it through the journeys that they experience at at when they come into a new church from their angle. So I call them, I’ve said this before, I think to your crowd, but I call those three journeys the journey from the street to the seat, which really became from the screen to the seat after COVID.Greg Curtis — Right. Like I mentioned, the gal I met with ah on Sunday, she had already attended our church twice online before she had come. And many churches I have talked to, their average is about four times that they’ve attended your church online. But that journey from, say, the screen to the seat where they’re ah they’re seeing you on their television. But then it’s the parking lot, the greeters, the info counter, kids checked in, ushers, whatever. Right. That journey is is so important. Greg Curtis — And that journey is about but ah belonging. But then you get the journey from, ah that’s really the growing journey, which is what they’re there for. And that’s a journey from the seat to a circle. And that’s because the circle is the environment we know works best for somebody to grow, where they’re just kind of FaceTime with people, you know, that in Tommy’s words, they might want to imitate, right? And learn from.Greg Curtis — But it’s so important to get that information. We’re making a big shift where instead of like we’re actually experimenting and saying this for the last few weeks at our church where we’re not collecting their information at all at the at that stage. What we’re doing is saying just come get a free get come get…in our case, we have like a grill where they could get a free meal. Come get a free coffee drink or meal or whatever on us. And we’re we’re not asking them for anything. We’re just creating engagement.Greg Curtis — But we’re starting to shift because we are baptizing, like in our in our case, over the last 15 months, we’ve baptized over 1800 people. And that’s a big that’s a big shift from targeting what I call cold leads to warm leads. You know, you want to get engagement, start collecting stuff and engaging with people when they’ve been willing to get wet in front of people they don’t know, because they made a decision to follow Jesus. That’s a warm lead.Rich Birch — Right.Greg Curtis — Somebody, you know what I’m saying? And in the, in the spirit of the parable of the talents investing where the, you’re starting to see results, you know, in the fruit and just being strategic about that.Rich Birch — Right.Greg Curtis — That’s where we’re pouring in some of our, of our best stuff. We’re experimenting with that. I’m not telling people to do that yet because we don’t know how that’s going to work for us.Rich Birch — Yes.Greg Curtis — So let me just say that in the… Rich Birch — Yes. That’s good. Yeah.Greg Curtis — But moving them from the seat to the circle through that kind of engagement, you know through whatever one program you have, inviting them into a ministry team, a small group. And then that third journey is the journey, you know once it’s belongings established, growing established, then it’s it’s going, the journey about going.Greg Curtis — That’s the journey from the circle back out to the street. And it’s really just equipping people to to not just know Jesus, but to be more like him and to imitate him ultimately, even through their other people examples. And ad I just think that there’s some great environments that we can talk about later that really equip them to do that. Because we may look at the Bible and see, here’s discipleship steps. But from the guest vantage point, it’s their journey from the screen to the seat, the seat to the circle, and the circle back out to the street. And so what environments are we creating?Greg Curtis — And like you said, how are we engaging with them? When do we get their contact info, right? When do we invest in in the engagement? And for us, it it seems a worthy experiment to shift to, because we are seeing so many baptisms in light of the the huge God interest, is to start it’s like a it’s a it’s a discipleship moment to let the discipleship issues drive when we do what. And look at it through the lens of these journeys that guests experience our church with. Right. So that’s a little bit about, you know, what we’re looking at in there and on the front end.Rich Birch — Love it. Well, I friends who are listening in, I was really hoping that you’ll take steps to get connected with Greg and Tommy. We’ve talked about a bunch of stuff. The problem with these things is, man, we can just keep going. And like, there’s so much in this that I find fascinating and, you know, I’ve always loved when people connect. Rich Birch — I do want to kind of pivot and talk a little bit about how you guys help churches. So first, maybe Tommy, talk to us about, you’ve got this incredible free audit that you’ve made available for folks. Talk to us about the audit. How will it help us? We’ll put a link to in the show notes about it. But I really think 100% of the people that are listening today should take this. This would be a great next step for folks coming out of today. Talk us through this a little bit.Tommy Carreras — Yeah, yeah. One of my favorite things about the audit, because it’s it’s a brand new tool that we just rolled out. Because we had a 63-point checklist before, and it was phenomenal. I worked through every item on that checklist…Rich Birch — Yes.Tommy Carreras — …when Greg initially rolled it out a long time ago. And what we did was we took our own medicine and said, how do we reorganize this instead of around an organizational checklist of do we have the features that we think are valuable? Instead, we said, well, what what milestones are going to help a guest on their journey. And so we, we organize the assimilation audit around the three journeys of the guest, not the environments of the church. Tommy Carreras — Now the audit does say, well, this is an environment that meets them in this thing that they’re looking for on their journey, but, do you have the environment? Is it working? Is the main question usually is, is it actually working? And we give you some actual markers around whether or not it’s working. Because the the reality is you have the programs, you have the ingredients, you have the volunteers, you probably have a great Sunday experience. And yet all the people are still disappearing or at least most of them. And they’re, the problem is they do it quietly. They don’t write in and tell you… Rich Birch — Right. Tommy Carreras — …by the way, I left because I didn’t find somebody that I could imitate quickly enough because what I really had was all this baggage from this… They don’t tell you any of that. You just never knew they were even there. Rich Birch — So true. Tommy Carreras — And so what we’re trying to do is look at the experience and go based on all the churches that we’ve worked with, Greg, for over 12 years and seeing this happen over and over and over and seeing the remarkable consistency in the issues and the challenges. We said, here are the leakage points in the system. And some of them are pretty surprising. Some of them are super obvious. But what this will do is actually help you audit the effectiveness of those experiences, organized by what the guests are hoping they experience. They’re desperately hoping you can provide for them on their journey.Tommy Carreras — And the best part about it, honestly, like it’s a Google doc right now. That is, I’m just giving you that admission because also it’s not a fancy tool that I vibe coded like Rich recently vibe coded one of his really cool assessment tools. I haven’t done that yet. And the the reality is though, it’s a Google doc because also you should write some notes on this thing and you should sit around it as a staff and share it and have real conversations.Tommy Carreras — Cause the, the, the gold of this audit is going to be in the conversation and the arguments: No, I think it’s red. No, it’s yellow. It’s doing okay. But what about this person? What about this person?Rich Birch — That’s good.Tommy Carreras — Will somebody go pull up the numbers? Because the numbers… That’s where the gold is in the audit. And it’s, I mean, it’s a lot. It’s a lot of stuff to dig through in your system because it’s 49 points. It’s 49 stops along the way on those three journeys. But you’re going uncover so much. And then I think that it’ll give you a really clear pathway toward, okay, well, here’s what we should do first. Rich Birch — That’s good.Tommy Carreras — And that might be the most important thing about it.Greg Curtis — I would just say, too, on that point that for your listeners, if you’re at a point where you are either feeling alone in in wanting to see a breakthrough in engagement or you have a team and you guys are just kind of spinning your wheels and you have the same results all the time and wanting to see them increase and they really don’t that much, this thing is do it for a few weeks together in meetings. It will invigorate. And you’ll do it do it with a team, even if if ah ah but ah a team of key volunteers yeah in a smaller context.Greg Curtis — But make a day retreat or something out of it and really go through it. And you will find that you, oh my gosh, you can shake out all of the obstacles, all the pain points and weaknesses. It will be very, very helpful and rejuvenating. And it’s free. So there’s that.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. Yeah, and we’ll put a link to that in the show notes. I really do think this would be a great next step for everybody who’s listening in. Super helpful. Great. It’s crazy that it’s free to me. You know, don’t don’t trash talk that it’s just a Google Doc. Like, man, a lot of intelligence built into that that, you know, we want people to take.Rich Birch — And then the second thing, Greg, could you tell us about the Sherpa tribe? Because I think there are people, well, I know there are churches that are listening in that, you know, you talked about earlier, there was this, you know, hey, there’s 1300 guests or or, you know, sorry, Tommy was talking about the fact there’s 1300 guests at this church, and they should have had a lot more. That has been my experience with 100% of the churches that I’ve talked to around these issues, we’re missing people. So how does the Sherpa tribe help with that? How does that actually help us find those guests, get them to stay, get them to serve and to start growing? What does that look like?Greg Curtis — Well, alongside of looking at the guest journeys in these three ways that I earlier described, we we find that each church, once they do the audit, has a different weakness. You know what I mean? Some of them are common, right? But they ah they’re at their own place and shoring up and strengthening different aspects of that journey. Greg Curtis — And so what we did is we took our video course, which was one of our mainstays, and we started breaking it up and creating a ton more videos that breaking up around 10 minutes and then creating action points for each one and allowing ah people who become part of our Sherpa tribe—which you can go to assimilayas.com and click on Sherpa Tribe, find out more—to to to go right where they need it and study the things and action points that they need. Go deep in that. And then weekly meet with Tommy or I, with other people just like them from around the country and beyond that in these Zoom sessions where there’s no agenda but you. Rich Birch — Right.Greg Curtis — And you bring your questions and what you’re struggling through in this. And we have the most dynamic and fun conversations that create breakthroughs for teams through those through those Zoom moments. Tommy, would you add anything to that?Tommy Carreras — No, I think the the other the other piece of the puzzle that’s so powerful is we’ve seen the we’ve seen the best results from the folks who haven’t just jumped in to go like, I got to shore up a thing and get some information and and then get out and then you know milk it for all it’s worth and just get in.Tommy Carreras — What they’re really, that the churches who are getting the most out of it are the ones who say, this is the year where we fix this. Greg Curtis — Yeah, yeah.Tommy Carreras — This is the year where we look different at the end of it. This is the year that our staff gets it. There are no more people just sitting around in workflows or process queues 29, 42, 83 days overdue. That is the biggest crisis that we could have now because we all get it. We’re speaking the same language and we’re serving each other and we’re doing all these things to shore up all of these systems because it’s not just one person. And most likely it’s most people’s second or third job on their actual plate. Tommy Carreras — And so we’re trying to skip them up to third base on all of these different kind of sections of their assimilation system. And we’re trying to give them the people and the contextualization that’s going to make it come to life for their entire team. But it’s it’s the churches that go, we’re going to make it this year is going to be the one where things change.Tommy Carreras — And they they dive in and they go, I’m going to commit to this thing because they believe that it’s a keystone. It’s almost like a keystone habit. We fix this. Everything else is going to make more sense in our church. And that’s assimilation is a mindset and ah a sort of almost a belief system, not just a couple different environments in our church or a couple different process cues. And so those are the churches that are really crushing it inside the tribe.Rich Birch — Yeah, that that’s fantastic. And friends, again, we’ll link to that. It’s assimilayas.com where you can you know connect more with Tommy, with Greg, with everything that they’re they’re doing. And you know super hearty endorsement from me. You guys do great work and I think it’s super helpful for many churches. This is one of these areas that if we don’t keep an eye on over time, we’re just missing people. We’re missing people taking steps closer to Jesus.Rich Birch — Tommy, why don’t I give you the last word here? Any kind of last encouragement as we wrap up today’s episode that you’d like to share with listeners who are you know thinking about these issues? Obviously, these people are the better part of an hour in. What would you say to them as we wrap up today’s call?Tommy Carreras — Yeah. I was at a church recently and they I was working on mostly data with them. Okay. And they said, hey do you want to talk to the staff for 20 minutes? And I said, okay, sure. Random. I’m going to try and convince them that data matters. And that they okay, they should love their church management software at the end of this 20 minute talk.Tommy Carreras — And by the end of it, they did actually. They believed me. But the whole idea was I led with there’s a whole bunch that got to it, but the the crux at the end was every form response. Every time somebody gives us their information is a miracle. God has moved heaven and earth since before time began to get them to put their name, email, and phone number on that stupid Planning Center form. And it’s a dang miracle.Tommy Carreras — And if that’s true, then every single person in a queue or a workflow or a form, you know, submission, whatever you call in your church management software, that is a sacred opportunity and a massive burden of leadership on our shoulders.Greg Curtis — Yeah.Tommy Carreras — And every red light overdue, 23 days not started, all of those are massive warning signals in our ministry. All because it’s a miracle that anybody would say yes to anything. And how could we not do everything in our power to lean in meet them there and steward their next step and get them across the gap that they are not going to and may not be able to cross on their own.Tommy Carreras — That’s the opportunity ahead of us. And it’s just sacred. And I hope that we don’t miss it.Rich Birch — That’s great. Well, thank you so much, guys. really appreciate you being on the show. Again, that’s assimilayas.com. We’ll link to all of that, but appreciate you being here today. We’ll have to have you on again in the future because this is such an important area, but appreciate you being here today. Thank you. Tommy Carreras — Thanks, Rich.

You're smart. Driven. Successful. You've read the books. Followed the experts. Memorized the calories in baby carrots. Googled all the tips.So why are you still binge eating?Binge eating is not an intellectual problem. It's biological and psychological.In this episode, I'm breaking down the real reasons knowing “what to do” hasn't translated into change to your eating habits.I'm walking you through the 5 biggest reasons you feel stuck, including:- Why binge eating isn't solved by more information- The difference between passive learning and active implementation- How emotional activation blocks access to your tools- Why overwhelm keeps you frozen- The uncomfortable truth about still wanting the binge

Ivan From Phoenix is recruited as guest host once again, as he interviews Mark Devlin about The Tragedy & The Triumph, his latest novel, and the conclusion of his Oxford-based "truth fiction" trilogy.*You can purchase ‘The Tragedy & The Triumph' paperback on Amazon from here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1913438961?ref_=ast_author_dp_rw&th=1&psc=1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aNTNI8JR0eAjZoQe9eRPhN9wt1UiOVLkLuqC7e6w31HVpbiek5WC2tJl2EFOMD5SsWGEob1qjZCTF4E3xBY-voEiTkUwmwLeb0_a1ZY886D4tZVRpxn3e2EoXxMLTTpf8uN7hR2uu6GyA5GhmQxiVA.FeSz80Saw5gOUukWIIU6TD1bQZAqfpIXfbXZNFN9Ndo&dib_tag=AUTHOROr, to order a signed copy direct from the author, just e-mail markdevlin2022@protonmail.com*If you have found value in my work and would like to support its continuation, please consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters which gets you access to exclusive content that I don't post elsewhere. You can join up here:https://www.patreon.com/user?u=113137448To support my output through Buy Me A Coffee:https://buymeacoffee.com/markdevlinTo support me via Paypal.com donation, find me at paypal.com under the e-mail address markdevlinuk@gmail.comI've partnered as an affiliate with Above Phone. This lot are a conscious technology company that makes devices like de-Googled phones, laptops and tablets. The emphasis is always on avoiding the Big Tech tracking, surveillance and advertising targeting that comes with conventional suppliers.They also offer VPNs, private file sharing and video conferencing options.If you order any of their products through the following link you'll get a $25-off coupon by entering the code DJMARK, plus you'll be helping to support the continuation of my work in the process:abovephone.com/djmarkReal gold bullion available from this source. (Tax-Free (CGT, VAT), Allocated and Segregated Storage (London/Zurich), Pension (SIPP) Gold, Buy Back Guarantee:https://goldbullionpartners.co.uk/download-our-complimentary-guide-m-devlin/Natural/ organic health solutions from Clive De Carle:https://clivedecarle.ositracker.com/170240/11489Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-vibrations-podcast--2594848/support.

I caught up with British-born, Spanish-based musician Alex Michael, better known as Conspiracy Music Guru, for a free-range speakeasy. We discussed the impact that authentic, conscious music can have in putting great truths into the world, and the added importance of satire and sarcastic humour.Further info and tickets for the Guru Gathering in Javea, Spain in September 2026 can be found here: https://www.conspiracymusicguru.com/product-page/guru-gathering-2026-day-1-the-main-event*If you have found value in my work and would like to support its continuation, please consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters which gets you access to exclusive content that I don't post elsewhere. You can join up here:https://www.patreon.com/user?u=113137448To support my output through Buy Me A Coffee:https://buymeacoffee.com/markdevlinTo support me via Paypal.com donation, find me at paypal.com under the e-mail address markdevlinuk@gmail.comI've partnered as an affiliate with Above Phone. This lot are a conscious technology company that makes devices like de-Googled phones, laptops and tablets. The emphasis is always on avoiding the Big Tech tracking, surveillance and advertising targeting that comes with conventional suppliers.They also offer VPNs, private file sharing and video conferencing options. If you order any of their products through the following link you'll get a $25-off coupon by entering the code DJMARK, plus you'll be helping to support the continuation of my work in the process:abovephone.com/djmarkReal gold bullion available from this source. (Tax-Free (CGT, VAT), Allocated and Segregated Storage (London/Zurich), Pension (SIPP) Gold, Buy Back Guarantee:https://goldbullionpartners.co.uk/download-our-complimentary-guide-m-devlin/Natural/ organic health solutions from Clive De Carle:https://clivedecarle.ositracker.com/170240/11489Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-vibrations-podcast--2594848/support.

Ryder Lee, the director of the Amazon Prime documentary ‘A Clockwork Shining' had me back on his personal podcast. We discussed the use of allegory and symbolism in movies and literature.*If you have found value in my work and would like to support its continuation, please consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters which gets you access to exclusive content that I don't post elsewhere. You can join up here:https://www.patreon.com/user?u=113137448To support my output through Buy Me A Coffee:https://buymeacoffee.com/markdevlinTo support me via Paypal.com donation, find me at paypal.com under the e-mail address markdevlinuk@gmail.comI've partnered as an affiliate with Above Phone. This lot are a conscious technology company that makes devices like de-Googled phones, laptops and tablets. The emphasis is always on avoiding the Big Tech tracking, surveillance and advertising targeting that comes with conventional suppliers.They also offer VPNs, private file sharing and video conferencing options.If you order any of their products through the following link you'll get a $25-off coupon by entering the code DJMARK, plus you'll be helping to support the continuation of my work in the process:abovephone.com/djmarkReal gold bullion available from this source. (Tax-Free (CGT, VAT), Allocated and Segregated Storage (London/Zurich), Pension (SIPP) Gold, Buy Back Guarantee:https://goldbullionpartners.co.uk/download-our-complimentary-guide-m-devlin/Natural/ organic health solutions from Clive De Carle:https://clivedecarle.ositracker.com/170240/11489

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell unpack a strategically bold conversation with high-performance coach Molly Asplin about the difference between high achievement and overachievement. They explore why many ambitious people confuse loyalty with strength and how that mindset can quietly lead to burnout. The discussion also dives into how most people are time-blocking their lives without accounting for their natural energy cycles. Whether you are defending a career you no longer enjoy or waiting for the "perfect time" to pivot, this recap might be the nudge you need to start. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Distinguishing between the habits of high achievers and overachievers.The hidden trap of linking professional loyalty with personal strength.Auditing your energy levels instead of relying only on time blocking.Why your peak morning brainpower should go to your hardest task.The power of committing to one bold, courageous move every day.Episode References/Links:Contrology Pilates Conference (Wroclaw, Poland) - xxll.co/polandPilates Workshop (Bruges, Belgium) - xxll.co/brusselsPilates On Tour® (London, UK) - xxll.co/potOPC Spring Training (Virtual Event) - opc.me/eventsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsWhen: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing By Daniel Pink - https://a.co/d/06aFMhMZMolly Asplin's Website - https://mollyasplin.comMolly Aplin's Podcast - https://beitpod.com/mollyasplinpodcastMolly's Free Resource - mollyasplin.com/momentum If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  Most high achievers are taking their morning when their brains are the best, you know, like processing time and they're using it for dumb things like responding to emails or random things that set them down a side trail, when instead they should be focusing on like the big project that's going to move the ball forward on the company.Lesley Logan 0:22  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:01  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the strategically bold convo I had with Molly Asplin in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, you can hit pause and go listen to that one, and then listen to this one. If you like to hear the ending first, I don't blame you. I love that. I do that too. Brad Crowell 1:23  She literally does that. Lesley Logan 1:24  I do. I actually tried to get my client today we're talking about the new Love is Blind season. And I was like, I'm only on episode three. She's like, well, I won't ruin it for you, because it's like, obviously she's all the way to Mexico. And those who know Love is Blind know what I'm talking about. And I was like, I don't even remember the names. You could tell what's going on. She's like, No, I don't want to ruin it for you. And I was like, you, I'm gonna Google it like, I know that there's ways to find out who stays together before the recap. So you can ruin it. Brad Crowell 1:49  Ruin it. Lesley Logan 1:50  Except for, you know, what? Brad Crowell 1:52  What? Lesley Logan 1:52  I thought that I would watch glitter and gold documentary, and I would just be okay, a little late to the Olympics, because, you know, I'll just watch it later. Like, not a big deal. You can just Google it later. And then we were listening to a podcast has nothing to do with sports, and they ruined it. Brad Crowell 1:53  Oh, I was laughing at you, because you Google everything. Lesley Logan 1:54  I know, but I hadn't Googled that because I was, like, I was trying to do it the way you wanted me to, and they ruined it. And, you know, when they ruined it, I'm just gonna tell you all in case, I'm gonna ruin it for you now, because you know what it's fucking March. You should know. I know the villains won like the villains won. Anyways.Brad Crowell 2:30  The villains won. Lesley Logan 2:31  Today is March 19th 2026, and it's Companies That Care Day. Companies That Care Day celebrate on the third Thursday in March to encourage employers to start caring for their employees instead of overworking or exploiting them. This year, that would be today. Yes, the happier the employees, the more productive they will be. Most importantly, employers must keep in mind that both physical and mental health can have an impact on the performance of workers. Hence, to have a long lasting there's a comma hence, to have a long lasting workforce that can produce quality work, employees must show that they care. This includes celebrating the success of the employees or honoring them in their great contribution to the company. We kick ass. I think, as best we can at this, I also think that if, like, more companies didn't have to make sure their shareholders were happy, they would make sure their employees are happy. Brad Crowell 3:13  Yeah, I know it's, that's weird, right? Lesley Logan 3:15  You wanna know what's really weird. I just saw a reel where they asked all the like head CEOs of the top health insurance companies, like, if they're publicly traded, raise your hand. They're all publicly traded. Okay, keep your hand raised if you also own a pharmacy. Keep your hand raised if you also own doctor's offices. So the health insurance companies and the states, of course, they are not only publicly traded, which means they have to make sure that they are doing as what they can for profit margins for their stakeholders, but then they own the doctor's offices who prescribe the prescriptions, that own the pharmacies that fill the prescriptions, which means they're in charge of whatever you pay, whether you pay or not, right? It was abhorrent. Brad Crowell 3:59  That makes it a monopoly. They own every part of the chain. Lesley Logan 4:03  Right. Disgusting. Anyway, we. Brad Crowell 4:03  Fascinating. Capitalism at its finest. Lesley Logan 4:04  Yeah? And here's the thing I'm not like, if you are a small business owner in this capitalist society, we do have to play with by the rules that are made. Your IRS is going to want to make sure that you are doing something that's profiting every year. Otherwise, they call it a hobby, but in that, there are ways to make sure that your employees are thought of and not overworked.Brad Crowell 4:29  I was gonna say that those guys are breaking the rules or not playing, or they have no rules for their game they're playing. Not cool, but I, but I agree shifting back here to focusing on companies that care.Lesley Logan 4:41  There's things you can do. There's this one female business owner that she forces the company to be closed one week per quarter. It's built into the schedules. They don't have meetings on there. That way, whatever employees need to do, they can do. Obviously, they could take vacation times other times. But like, you know that's gonna compound their work. But they have that to guarantee. The other thing that they have, they have paid family leave for all parents, no matter the gender. And they also have leave if you had to go to a hospital for sickness, things like that. Like they have all this extra leave. And also, you can take your meetings from anywhere. It's a rule. Wherever you want to take a meeting, you can take a meeting as long as you get your work done, it doesn't matter. That's one way you could do it. We have a wins channel, oh, it's a wins and gratitude channel where, like, different people on our team just thank each other for, like, what they're doing. It's super fun. We celebrate everyone's birthdays on there. And the win isn't like, oh, we nailed this launch. It's like, hey, so and so helped me with this project. And like, that is really fun. We really pride ourselves in that we built in, like, donating. It's not huge numbers. Like, no one's gonna, you know, go a wow, or put Lesley and Brad on the on the wall. But like, we built that in, like, there's ways to do things that make sure that you care in different ways. You just have to build it in. And then you do when you can do better, you do better, you know, so.Brad Crowell 5:53  100% agree, 100% and it's fun. I mean, honestly, it's been a dream of mine to have a team of capable, enthusiastic, yeah, human beings who are experts at what they do, and bring them all together. And it's been really, really fun to make that dream a reality.Lesley Logan 6:16  It's really cool. It's forced. It's also forced us, like, if we want our people to not overwork and get their work done in a timely manner, so they can be happy with their families and be we've had so many people on our team have babies and things like that, then that means we, too can, like, we have to show them that we take time for ourselves. Because otherwise, if they're like, if the boss never stops working, then I can never stop working, right? So those that's another way to care in a company like, if you're like, I don't have any extra. Brad Crowell 6:39  Lead by example. Lesley Logan 6:39  Extra money right now, then lead by example of what you want them to do, and you'll and then you'll build that in. And then the other thing is, like, that means we also hire people who care. You know, we're we were just talking today. This is, you know, you're hearing this in a month ago, month. I don't know. We're in the past, we're in the (inaudible), but we're trying to refill three jobs, and we're struggling to find people that actually aren't just using AI to answer all of the questions. Yeah, it's like, I love that you know how to use AI, but this job that you're gonna do doesn't use it and your personality matters.Brad Crowell 7:09  Well, it can, but that's not the point. We want to know you. Lesley Logan 7:12  Right, well, we're big fans of hiring a personality and trained skills. So like, if you are a bot, then I'm so sorry. We have a bot. We don't need a bot. We need a person who's cool. Anyways.Brad Crowell 7:26  Come hang out with us in Poland, March. We're gonna be there.Lesley Logan 7:30  Yeah, actually, Brad, it's March 19th. Brad Crowell 7:31  Come hang around with us tomorrow in Poland. Because that's where we are right now. Lesley Logan 7:36  Come to the event in Poland. Brad Crowell 7:38  We may or may not have recorded this in the past future. Lesley Logan 7:40  Yeah, and next week you can join us in Bruges, which I've been calling Brussels this whole time. And, well, it'll be in Bruges so.Brad Crowell 7:47  It's near, it's near. Lesley Logan 7:49  I think so also, I also wish I had known that, because, like, people said we're gonna be in Brussels. And then she said, Bruges, I'm like, there's a whole movie. We all saw it. Very hot actor, of course, we saw it. Brad Crowell 7:59  We did? Lesley Logan 7:59  Yes, Colin Farrel, Colin Farrel, right. That's a hot one. That's a hot Colin, right? Brad Crowell 8:00  Hot. Sure. Lesley Logan 8:04  Well, because there's the Colin Firth, not hot, but very great actor, then there's Colin. Is it Colin Farrell? What's his name? Brad Crowell 8:13  I don't know the movie. Lesley Logan 8:15  The movie is called, oh, I'm just messing with my camera. The team hates me, In Bruges.Brad Crowell 8:21  In Bruges is hold on. Lesley Logan 8:25  2008 Yeah, Colin Farrell. Brad Crowell 8:27  I have never seen this.Lesley Logan 8:28  Oh my god. It's so up your alley. It's totally up your alley. I can't believe you haven't seen it. I've seen it so many times. Brad Crowell 8:33  It's about a hit man who shoots people. Lesley Logan 8:34  Yeah, probably not gonna watch. Brad Crowell 8:36  I'm gonna watch that tonight. Lesley Logan 8:37  Go watch it tonight. Okay. And then. Brad Crowell 8:38  I will report back to decide if he's as hot as we're thinking is, I don't know if it's Colin Farrell. Lesley Logan 8:46  Yeah. Then after our second honeymoon in France, which we still haven't planned, but hopefully by the time you're hearing this, we have some idea, we'll be in London for Balanced Bodies On Tour, Pilates On Tour at the time recording this the last I heard about my my workshop says there's only room in the Sunday one, there's a few spots left xxll.co/POTis London. So you want to go to that, guys, we probably won't be in Europe for a while, and I don't say that to frighten you. Brad Crowell 9:14  Yeah, no, I think that's fair. I mean. Lesley Logan 9:16  Transparency and honesty are part of our value system. Brad Crowell 9:19  Here's the reality is, I'm very excited about the idea of going to Australia and New Zealand. We haven't done that together. You have. I have not. And I would love to go. And not only that, I want to spend time driving around in circles in Australia. That one's on my bucket list. Lesley Logan 9:33  Yeah. Yeah, and if you're like, oh my god, when are you coming? This is not planned. This is just, we're putting it out in the universe.Brad Crowell 9:39  What that means is that, if we're going there, that means we're not going here. It's what that ultimately means. And we are going to Cambodia, because we literally put down roots there. So, that will always be on the on the list but.Lesley Logan 9:50  Spring training is in May, and that is online. So if you're like, guys, I can't get on the plane anywhere, I don't have the funds or the time, or whatever, Spring Training, it's going to be all about getting overhead. If you're an OPC member, it will be free for you. You just have to register. Well make sure you check your email for how to do that. If you're not an OPC member yet, you can turn into one and then get it for free, or you can pay for it and then fall in love with us and turn into one, opc.me/events is all your what you want to want to do, so make sure you get the early bird information.Lesley Logan 10:13  Yeah, that'll put you on the wait list. Yeah. opc.me/events, so.Lesley Logan 10:23  Well, we have taken our sweet time getting into this interview, but we still have to answer an audience question. Brad Crowell 10:28  Yeah. So actually, RawsomeYoga from Instagram is asking, hey dou run your biz as an S Corp or an LLC? Lesley Logan 10:37  I actually love this question, because so many people we in our Profitable Pilates coaching years, we've been doing for a very long time. So many people say, my accountant says I don't make enough money. This is obviously, for the people in the States, I don't make enough money to be an S corp and LLC, so I'm a sole proprietor and Brad, why is that, Brad?Brad Crowell 10:57  Oh, I mean, first off, high level, I'm gonna, I'm gonna step back and try to keep this really simple, risk. It's all about risk management. Okay? And what do we mean by that? If the rest, if you're, if you're not in the United States, you're probably laughing, because everyone here likes to sue each other, and so. Lesley Logan 11:14  There's a lawyer for every 100 people.Brad Crowell 11:17  That's insane. Ridiculous. That's insane.Lesley Logan 11:21  Have you met a happy lawyer? Not me. They all become Pilates instructors. So anyways, so to go to just keep going risk is a thing. So if you're a sole proprietor and someone gets hurt doing Pilates with you, and you're in the States and you're a sole proprietor, that means your personal assets become part of what they can take advantage of. And so you want to be an S Corp or an LLC, they have there's different reasons to want to be one or the other, and I don't think we need to bore anybody with this, but you should already have been doing that. If you are a fitness instructor who takes money from clients to teach fitness, I don't care what your accountant says. They are not a lawyer. They're not a lawyer. So you want to pick one of those. Now in California, I can say we weren't S Corp, which was very nice for California and Nevada, I think we are. Brad Crowell 12:12  There's a couple of things to understand here too. Is that when people say S Corp versus LLC, technically they're confusing two things. Okay, so it's actually Corporation versus Limited Liability Corporation or LLC. So it's C Corp versus LLC, you can actually have the S election on both of them. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. So that is a conversation to have with your accountant. Why would you have an S Corp or an S LLC? That's a conversation that you should have with them, because that depends on a lot of different factors, right? But typically, what we're what we mean when we say, Oh, I have an S Corp, it means we have C Corp, a corporation with an S election for the federal government's, you know, understanding. And the reason that we would do that is because it's just a different way of being taxed. Okay, so again, that's why you'd have this conversation with the with your accountant. But high level, you know, the pros of an LLC are that it's, it can be owned by one person, it can be owned by multiple people, but all profits are subject to self employment tax. So like, that's where, this is where the big conversation is, how are you paying yourself? How are you paying your team? Do you have a team? You know, pros for an LLC is that it's simple, relatively flexible. The cons of an LLC, well, it traditionally was that, you know, and this is hearsay, because I don't have any proof on this, but the new guy at the IRS who was doing audits was always going through the LLCs. They were very rarely going through the corporations. Corporations are typically larger companies.Lesley Logan 13:48  Yes, that's what my accountant told me when he brought me into his office. You never want to get called in. Calls me in, done my taxes for like, two years, and he's like, Hey, we have to change how you're filing, because you're gonna get audited. Because people get audited the most are sole proprietors, and they are the bottom of the totem Well, actually, can't say that, because the bottom of the totem pole is the best of the people. I was just educated. So they are the youngest, newest. They've not like. All they do is like these and so, and they're easy, like, kind of, kind of be an asshole and audit you because you're a sole proprietor, and it's not a ton of stuff to go through, whereas the people who are auditing the S corps or the corporations they have supposedly have had more experience. So they understand that corporations have multiple locations for rent. They understand that corporations have multiple different types of write offs. So I chose a corporate because I was like, I want the best. I want to I want.Brad Crowell 14:40  Well also about that time we weren't married and you didn't have, like, the the there's a very clear tax benefit to having a multi member LLC versus a single member LLC. I remember this whole conversation, so because you didn't have a partner, no, then you went in the corporation route because it was better for taxing. So and then eventually.Lesley Logan 15:01  And then you proposed a month later. And I was like, Well, me, that would have been nice information a month ago. But at any rate, whatever you choose is going to be a conversation about your growth strategy, your goals for your business, with your accountant, and if you have an accountant that says you don't, you shouldn't do either of these. You should get a new accountant, because that person does not understand the risk, and they also are clearly not understanding, like your growth strategy.Brad Crowell 15:25  Yeah, no, I do want to clarify. If you're an employee for someone. Lesley Logan 15:28  Oh, this doesn't matter. Brad Crowell 15:29  Yeah, none of this matter, because you you know. And what I mean to say is, if you are only an employee for someone, if you're still taking clients on the side, this matters, but if you are not taking clients on the side, and you're an employee for someone, then what you need is just typical teacher liability insurance and youre, yeah, the studio.Lesley Logan 15:49  Make sure that you are classified as an actual employee. Oh, this is because way too many this pisses me off. It really pisses me off. Way too many studios are misclassifying their teachers as 1099s, right? Yeah. They're not W2. Brad Crowell 16:06  They're, correct. So what is that for people have no idea what we mean, so they're not employee versus contract. Lesley Logan 16:11  So they're treating like a contract. Brad Crowell 16:13  So if you are an ICA or an independent contractor, oh, IC, sorry. Brad Crowell 16:18  Yeah, an IC, that you so I don't a true IC means you make your own schedule, you have your own insurance, you have your own waivers. You take the payments, you decide how much money you're charging. True, true, true. You would have already even part of the conversation Brad and I had already. If you think you're an employee somewhere, but they are treating you like an IC as far as taxes go, and they are trying to sell to you like it's better for you, because it means you get write offs. Get write offs. You actually are under that risk part that makes me really nervous and then you would need to. Brad Crowell 16:46  Now we're talking like, should you have a company so that you can protect your own, like, house, car, 401(K) whatever.Lesley Logan 16:48  Let's say the equipment at the studio you're at breaks.Brad Crowell 16:55  Let me just finish my thought, is that if you're an employee, and only an employee and a proper W2 employee, then the studio has the insurance. So if, if someone were to sue, they wouldn't be suing me, Brad, the employee, they might. I might be named in the suit, but really, they're suing the company. Lesley Logan 17:16  Yeah, the company's insurance would do it, yeah. Brad Crowell 17:17  So then, so, yeah, that's the big difference.Lesley Logan 17:20  So you can see why I get really, like, I get really pissed when people are misclassified because you don't understand the liability that you're set under, and then they try to cloak it in, oh, it's better for you. It's it could be, yeah, if you know that, and you are insured properly, and your business is set up properly, sure.Brad Crowell 17:37  Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, hey, that was, that was welcome to Brad time.Lesley Logan 17:40  Send your question. These are things we do at Agency, by the way, in our office hours. So send your questions into beitpod.com/questions or text us at 310-905-5534, that's a plus one. If you're out of the country, I don't know your tax systems, but happy to answer. Brad Crowell 17:53  Yeah. Or if you don't want to text internationally, go to beitpod.com/questions beitpod.com/questions or you can leave us both a question or a win, because we'll use those wins on the FYFs the Friday pod. So we should be getting wins all the time, people, I'm gonna tell you that we're not getting enough wins.Lesley Logan 18:15  People, sometimes you guys, DM them to me, and I actually don't know if you want them to stay private, and so then I don't know, so I need you to send them into this thing so that I know that I can share it. I'm happy to celebrate in the DMs with you, but, like, also, you won't hear it on the pod, because I won't know if I can.Brad Crowell 18:34  Yeah, so be it pod.com/questions. All right, stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about Molly Asplin, and we're going to dig into, you know, why she has her podcast, what she does and how she is kicking ass and taking names. We'll be right back. Brad Crowell 18:49  Welcome back. Welcome back. Let's talk about Molly Asplin. Molly is the host of the Dream It, Do It podcast, and a high performance coach who works with the with high achieving women who feel like there's something more or something different for their lives and careers than what they're currently doing and and I'm already like, ready to jump into the conversation, because I thought it was a really amazing thing to be a distinguish between over achieving and high achieving. Love this. Okay, anyway, after spending 10 years in corporate finance, she made the shift into coaching and now supports women in exploring what they're truly good at, what they enjoy, and how they bring more of that into the work and life that they love, whether they're pivoting into something new or finding fulfillment where they are. Lesley Logan 19:33  So yeah, I mean, I want to jump in on what you were saying. Because, like, I actually have only ever heard of overachieving, right? So when I heard the word high achieving, I was like, is that just like a rebrand of overachieving, but it's not. It's it's not. And as a recovering overachiever and perfectionist, I actually was like, Oh, I could still want to achieve things and not end up in my addiction. So, right? Like, I.Brad Crowell 20:05  I feel like, I feel like, you know, like, if you compared it to this idea of high performance, we've probably heard of high performance athlete, usually is, what is the next word that comes, you know, but, but it's very rare that you hear of over performance athlete. No, he don't, well, I mean, I mean, probably just because no one uses that phrase, but I think there certainly are those kinds of people.Lesley Logan 20:26  Well, anyway, she said, I think it was, I think it was I liked, that we finally got to, like, address that. Because I don't think on any of the episodes of having someone talk about, like, performance and achievement, that, like, we distinguish the difference between the two, and I think that that's really helpful. And then she also said, like, a lot of times with high achievers, and I would say, I would also say, with the overachievers, we, they. I said we, because hello, associate loyalty with strength. Like you say to yourself, I need to stick this out. I'm a loyal person. And this is something that, like, I come across a lot of times with. I just had a coaching call with one of our members, and she's like, Oh, this person's leaving in May. And I'm like, are they bringing you any benefit right now? No, it's costing me a lot of money right now. Why are they staying until May? Well, I mean, I told her she could, like the loyalty part of it, and I'm like, no, no, no, there's nothing. There's no law that says you have to do that. They're an employee at an at will state. Like, you can say, thank you so much for your time. This will be your last date. But, like, I understand this from a different perspective, and I'll share it like I think it's on episode.Brad Crowell 21:31  Y'all were talking about burnout, right, and being the person who is an overachiever, being in the environment, and then what are the story that we tell ourselves? We tell ourselves, well, you know, we might not even be like explicitly saying I'm loyal, but that's how I used to define myself. I'm loyal to a fault. Yes, well, the irony is that it was my own fault. I was hurting myself.Lesley Logan 21:58  I think companies that care come in as well, because like, so companies that don't care will take people like you and I, who are like, Oh, I'll help with that. Oh I'll help with that, and they won't go, wow, that person is taking on a lot. Maybe we should take some things off of their plate so that they can do these things, right?Brad Crowell 22:14  I literally just had this conversation with someone on our team who's like, this project is shifting, and in the interim it will, it'll basically come back to me, and I'll be handling this role of it. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I, that is not, that's not for you, that shouldn't be for you, and I'm grateful that you're willing to do it, but that's that's the wrong your efforts are better than that, like, bigger than that. Or, you know, the way you think is bigger than that. So how do we adjust it so that this doesn't land back on your plate? It shouldn't. Lesley Logan 22:50  Right and so I think, like, if you're someone who's like, because you said you would do it, you're having a hard time taking yourself away from it. Or you're finding yourself going, Oh, once this happens, then I'll give my notice. Or once this happens, then I'll break up with this person. Or once this happens, then I'll it's like the reality is, is like that somewhere in the waiting till this happens, you will take on something else for them and or something else. And so it's really important that you understand you can still be loyal and strong and a committed team member and stop doing it, like you can't, there's conversations that might have to be had, there's things, but I think it's important to, like, at least spot it in yourself, so that you can recognize when you're doing it. Yeah, and something that I'm having a hard time with in my own life is like, I know that I'm someone who is very present when I'm with you, like I try really, really hard to when a friend visits or a family member is visiting, not so much with people I live with, but the people who are visiting they're really hard to clear my schedule be really intentional about them knowing how much time I have all these different things, which means that I might not respond to a text for a bit, because I I can't be present in the conversation at the time. I would have to, like, sit down, think about it, answer it. I can't just read it and move on. Like, I have to, I have to close the loop, right? That's who I am and so.Brad Crowell 24:11  Well, also, too, it's not just that. It's like, it's like, if you're gonna say something and then that, you know they're gonna respond back, but you know you won't be able to get to that response, like.Lesley Logan 24:21  I can't do it. I That's not wrong. That's just like, like, I can't be there for the ping-ponging back and forth. And so for me, I am really trying to honor that about myself. I'm a high achiever. I don't want to be overachiever. Brad Crowell 24:41  You know, that's how they used to sell Slack. That was literally the the selling point. Lesley Logan 24:45  Keep the ping-pong going. Brad Crowell 24:45  Yep, no, well, not the key, not that wasn't, they didn't say it like that, but it was effectively like, you get to it when you when you can get to it. Oh, and that was like the selling point was like, Oh yeah, they can leave you a message. You can come circle back when you're ready.Lesley Logan 24:52  That is also how Slack feels for like, to me, and text messages feel like you're supposed to respond, you know, so, like, because I can't, because I'm working on just like, not over committing myself, I'm not responding, which is, in turn, you know, some people don't like that, because that's effect that's changing the boundaries and the status quo that they're used to. And I am working really hard and going it doesn't mean I'm not loyal to them. It doesn't mean I don't love them. It just means I can't do it right now. So I'm just sending that to you because, like, if you're trying to recalibrate, which is what Molly talked about. She said, if you find yourself defending what you're doing more than you're enjoying it, complaining about it a lot, but you're just fine at the same time, it might be time to recalibrate. And I think that recalibration means like, not just like going to a hotel and like getting a spa weekend and like, yes, or just that time, take some time to go okay, what? What can I change here? What can I share here? What can I ask for help on? Can I say, Hey, I know I said I could do this. It's taking a little more bandwidth than I thought. Is it possible to get some help on these things or postpone these due dates if you told family members you would do something, and that is like actually becoming something that you're frustrated by? Is it possible say, Hey guys, unless somebody really wants to do this, do you mind if I like, cater it? Do you mind if I like, is there someone else? Like, it's okay.Brad Crowell 26:04  Asynchronous communication tool is what that is called, by the way, down this rabbit hole.Lesley Logan 26:09  I heard the typing. I was like, what is he doing? What did I say? Anyways, I just, I just want to say, if, if this episode resonated with you. Hello, I see you. I see you. And you're still loyal, and you're still an amazing, committed person, even if you are taking step backs from things, taking more time on things, asking for space on things, it doesn't mean you're an asshole.Brad Crowell 26:33  Doesn't mean you're an asshole. Love that. Lesley Logan 26:35  Yeah, that's my next book. You're not an asshole. You need space.Brad Crowell 26:43  Well, I really loved when she was talking about high achievers, who are generally good at time blocking and getting stuff done, but they're actually not great at. Lesley Logan 26:53  They're not, naturally. Brad Crowell 26:55  They're not managing their energy well. So while they might be like, Okay, I'm blocking out this time to do this, I'm blocking out that time to do that.Lesley Logan 27:05  Brad, this isn't This is insane. This is, like, literally every single woman that we work with,Brad Crowell 27:10  Oh, I was gonna say it's very much me, too. Lesley Logan 27:11  Yeah, they're, you're, they're so good at time blocking, but not necessarily putting the blocks of time when the energy is there.Brad Crowell 27:19  And specifically what she was talking about, and this is what made me laugh, is it's one of I've heard this a million times, but for some reason this really stood out to me this time was when you're thinking what your brain is like at the best capacity, relatively early in your day, in the morning, And that's like science, right? So.Lesley Logan 27:42  Unless you're an owl, there's owls and larks and. Brad Crowell 27:44  Well, for sure that, for sure that is me. Lesley Logan 27:47  Daniel Pink wrote a book. I can't tell you which book it is, but you can just look up which one has time management there. And he explains there is, like, a small percentage of population who are naturally designed to be night people, but most people are beginning of the day.Brad Crowell 28:02  His book is called When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, 2018. So, When. Lesley Logan 28:09  You know what, it's crazy, I can remember when he said that in a podcast, and where I was walking home to our apartment in LA, but the title of the book not in there.Brad Crowell 28:18  Well, well anyway, so most high achievers are taking their morning when their brains are the best, you know, like processing time, and they're using it for dumb things like responding to emails or random things that set them down a side trail, when instead they shouldn't be focusing on like the big project that's going to move the ball forward on the company. Lesley Logan 28:43  I think that's the eat the frog mantra, right? There's the eat the frog first you do the big thing in the earlier part of your day.Brad Crowell 28:49  Yeah or, you know, hug the cactus, yeah. But, but the you're right, it's the eat the frog concept of, like, all right, get it out of the way, because your brain is functioning the best then, but we are letting ourselves be be taken down these other random trails by stuff that is not.Lesley Logan 29:09  After lunch, after I've had lunch.Brad Crowell 29:13  I mean, think about it, from the studio.Lesley Logan 29:15  I am the worst, the worst at creative stuff after I've had a lunch. Like, I, I'm a little different now that we've had the Adderall. I'm not gonna lie, like I actually wasn't pretty impressed myself what I did in the afternoon. But I naturally the I'm good at teaching and coaching. I can actually really present and pour into somebody else, but to, like, creatively, think about some project. No, no, that would be a good time for me to do my emails if I had to.Brad Crowell 29:42  Yeah, today was really interesting. I actually did my that kind of stuff, Slack, emails at the end of the day. Lesley Logan 29:49  Do you like it? Brad Crowell 29:49  Yeah, actually, I thought it was good. I mean, it didn't set me up for the phone call I had at five o'clock but. Lesley Logan 29:55  But it's a new system, so, you just said now, you had to figure that out. Brad Crowell 29:59  Yeah that was the first time I was like, oh, oops. Anyway, the point is that if you have a bigger project that's going to move the company forward, you want to do it in the day, like for studio owners, imagine, you know, waking up in the morning and the first thing you do is, like, pull out the dust pan and broom and you sweep the studio. You're like, wasting your brain on the on something that is just mundane. Lesley Logan 30:20  And just in case you're not a company or a studio owner, this could be, like, life stuff, you know, like a lot of people on the weekends are like, oh, I want to do this big thing. I want to, like, clean out my closet. But you don't do that in the morning. You like, go grocery shopping, you organize the clean the kitchen. Like, in fact, if you were to do that in the beginning part of your day, when you have a lot more energy, and then you did the other stuff at the slower time, it would be better. Brad Crowell 30:46  Yeah. Well, you know. Lesley Logan 30:48  I mean, Molly can tell you how to manage your time. What we're saying is, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably someone who time blocks the fuck out of your life and doesn't have the energy to do what you've time blocked. Here's your sign. Brad Crowell 30:59  You know, I mean, also too, we're so distracted, right? It's so easy for like, I can't tell you how many times I actually caught myself today, which is really interesting, that I hopped on to dig into Slack, the chat, you know, to get through everything for the team. The first thing I did took me to my email, which took me to this other thing, took me this other thing, took me to this other thing. And then, like, all of a sudden, 10 or 15 minutes had gone by. I was like, what was I even doing? Oh, I literally got to one message in what I was trying to do, which was Slack, right? It's like, oh, okay, hold on. I'm this is not a win. Like, also, too, I the notifications on my phone, if my phone is up, it's like, every every two minutes. So like minimizing those that's important to do you know, but effectively, when you know this about yourself, if you can reorient your projects so that your morning or your when your peak time that your brain is functioning is when you're doing the thing that needs to actually happen to get things done, you're going to love life so much better. Yeah. All right, stick around. We'll be right back, because we're going to dig into those Be It Action Items that we got from Molly Asplin in a moment. Brad Crowell 32:09  All right. So finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items, what bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Molly Asplin? She was talking about pivoting to something new, like changing things, you know, in mid stride. Pivoting usually is like, I'm going this way and now I'm changing it to go that way, right? So she's saying that it's not about taking this big leap immediately. For her, she did it in a little bit more of a thoughtful way. She said, you usually already know what your next bold move is, just kind of inherently know. But the question is, when are we ready to tackle that thing right? And it's very easy to say, I'm going to get to say, I'm going to get to it, I'm going to get to it, I'm going to get to it. So how do we actually get to it? And she was talking about her clients, and she's like, you know, she had a client say to her, I want to start a podcast, and I'm going to do that at some point. And she's like, Well, why don't you start it now? And she's like, Oh, I guess. I guess I could start it now. Lesley Logan 33:22  Yeah, start recording. You don't have to figure it out. You can always add an intro later, like you don't have to have the name figured out. You could just, like, start recording yourself.Brad Crowell 33:31  Yeah, but, but, but that left her, that led her down to this tool that she uses that is like, one bold move a day, one bold, one bold, courageous move a day. And that means, after 30 days, you have done 30 bold, courageous moves, right? And so what is a bold, courageous move? What could that be? It might be like actually responding to the text message you've been avoiding. Lesley Logan 33:54  Yeah, that could be bold. Brad Crowell 33:57  It might be making the phone call that you're like, I just don't want to take the time. Well, if you do it when your brain is active, the most active, you know, it will be less burdensome for y'all.Lesley Logan 34:07  For my ADHD people listening, you'll be shocked how quickly it it goes if it's the phone call you've been avoiding, like, I hate, well, it's not, I mean, like, it's true. It's an actual sign of ADHD. So, and because you and I have it, and we attract people who are, like most of our listeners probably like, you're really good at, like, a lot of, like, big thinking projects, but like, you know, calling your accountant just feels like the most annoying thing to do, and then you like, thank God I got their voicemail. Like, you know what I mean? No, just me, but the other day, I had to make two phone calls. And I was so shocked that I was able to do two phone calls in five minutes. And I was like, whoa. Why did I put that off for like, 72 weeks, like, so I just would say, like, do it when you have the high energy for it. I like that. I like that.Brad Crowell 34:54  Yeah, you know, but, but, but then, like, also, too, it starts a progression, one bold move a day. Lesley Logan 34:59  That's how confidence is built, by the way, by doing the same. Brad Crowell 35:02  Messy action. Lesley Logan 35:03  And then, by the way, I'll just that'll go into my thing, think about that thing, and then you want to do the future and then do it today. Like, it's actually like, don't, like, Don't go, Oh, I'm gonna talk to my friend about doing it. No. Like, go do it. Send the email. Like, hire the coach. Like, oh, I've been really wanting to get on this dating app so I could find something, put the build up the profile like do the actual thing. Because one, you'll be surprised how quickly some of these things are able to be done in our head, that we've built up to be this hard thing that we have to do. Brad Crowell 35:30  Oh, me too. Lesley Logan 35:31  So take the actual action, and don't let that get covered up with plans of just thinking about it. I'll tell you one thing, one way to really irk my you know, situation is if you just keep talking about the thing you're going to do with me, I can't. I don't have patience for it. So I don't it's how, it's how I met Brad. Y'all want to know this girl friend of mine just kept complaining about the scarf she lost, and I had the exact same scarf. I love that scarf. And I said, if you want, you can have my scarf, the one that you lost. I have the other one, but you're gonna do it with Brad, because I just needed her to shut up, like, go buy a new scarf. Go call the thing. Go see if there's a lost and found or it's a fucking I can't so anyways, I'm clearly not the person to call for you to repeat yourself. I'm gonna tell you, take the actual action, and then if you want to understand how to get momentum going, she did share a free resource called Momentum Builder at mollyasplin.com/momentum.Brad Crowell 36:29  Yeah, that's Molly A-S-P-L-I-N dot com mollyasplin.com/momentum, it's pretty cool, like you can print it out. She she recommends doing it monthly, and it helps you build that momentum. And if you take one bold move a day, by the time you're done 30 days, you're ready to fill out another one of these Momentum Builders. Lesley Logan 36:47  This is so great for so many people I know who listen to this podcast or in Agency, because they're like, I just need to figure the system that helps me get the things done. Like, just keep writing new lists down. And this Momentum Builder. All right, I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 36:59  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 37:00  You're amazing. We're so grateful for you. I hope you enjoyed we had Clare the last two weeks for the recap, so hopefully you enjoyed that she'll be back for a recap coming up, because she's excited about the guest so once, so you'll hear from her again. But we appreciate you guys letting someone else jump in on these recaps. Sometimes it's for me, sometimes for Brad, and we appreciate that you share this with a friend. So share this with a friend who you're tired of hearing them complain about the thing that they think they're gonna do. They won't know why you did it until this point. So at any rate, until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 37:31  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 37:32  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 38:15  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 38:20  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 38:25  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 38:32  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 38:35  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bobby talked about how police in Washington Township, New Jersey, completed a DoorDash order after arresting the delivery driver during a traffic stop. Amy shares the new women only option on Uber and how it works. But the guys have some issues with it that we debate. Bobby also has an easy way to boost your mental health. Bobby reveals the Top 3 questions that get googled about him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New DOJ documents reveal one of Jeffrey Epstein's prison guards searched his name minutes before his death and made mysterious cash deposits before the incident. The PBD Podcast panel examines the new details, unanswered questions about Epstein's death, and why the case still fuels suspicion.

Ever had one of those moments where you step back from everything you have built and ask yourself a simple but uncomfortable question. What is all this actually for? Many entrepreneurs chase success with relentless energy. Bigger revenue. Bigger teams. Bigger assets. Bigger everything. But eventually a deeper question surfaces. If you already have enough, what keeps you going? In this episode of The Happy Hustle Podcast, I sit down with entrepreneur and outdoorsman Peter Goodwin for a raw and honest conversation about success, identity, and building a life that actually means something. Peter shares his journey from a rugged bush guide with no college degree to building a thriving business and raising a family he deeply loves. Along the way, he opens up about insecurity, purpose, and the surprising lessons that come when you realize money alone is not the destination. Peter is an entrepreneur, lodge owner, and passionate outdoorsman who built his career through grit, problem-solving, and relentless determination. Without a traditional path or backup plan, he learned how to navigate uncertainty and create opportunity from nothing. His story is a powerful reminder that resourcefulness, resilience, and purpose often matter far more than credentials. Through his work, Peter has built businesses, supported communities, and most importantly, created a life centered around family and meaningful impact. This episode matters because it speaks directly to the quiet struggles many entrepreneurs face. The self-doubt. The pressure to prove yourself. The temptation to measure success purely by money or status. Peter's story shows that real success comes when your work supports your life rather than consuming it. Peter shares that some of his darkest moments came while building his lodge. At the time, he had no formal training in business, so he literally Googled his way through creating a business plan and learning how to use PowerPoint. He pitched to anyone who would listen and faced constant rejection. During that time, the inner voice of doubt was loud. Am I enough? Do I have what it takes? Should I have gone to college? Those thoughts can hit especially hard when you are surrounded by people who seem more accomplished on paper. Yet those moments of doubt also forced him to grow into the man he needed to become. Another powerful lesson Peter shares is the idea that having no backup plan can actually be a gift. When you grow up solving problems with limited resources, you become incredibly resourceful. Living in remote environments taught him that when something breaks, you cannot just run somewhere else to fix it. You have to figure it out. That mindset carried over into business and became one of his greatest advantages. Peter also offers a refreshing perspective on identity. He believes that a huge portion of life is simply figuring out who you are not. Many people spend years trying to imitate mentors, parents, or people they see online. But constantly trying to be someone else creates pressure and frustration. Real freedom comes when you stop chasing those comparisons and become comfortable with who you truly are. Perhaps the most striking moment in the conversation comes when Peter talks about reaching financial success. At one point, he had more assets than he ever imagined. Boats, planes, land, tractors, and everything that many people dream of owning. But instead of feeling fulfilled, he realized he could not even keep up with maintaining it all. That moment forced him to ask a deeper question. Why am I working this hard if my family is already provided for? That realization sparked a shift. Success stopped being about accumulation and started being about purpose. Peter realized he needed something bigger than money driving him forward. Something meaningful. Something aligned with the life he wanted to live. This conversation with Peter Goodwin is a powerful reminder that entrepreneurship is not just about building a business. It is about building a life. One where your work supports your values, your purpose, and the people who matter most. If you are navigating your own entrepreneurial journey and searching for clarity around success, identity, and purpose, this episode will resonate deeply. Listen to the full conversation now at caryjack.com/podcastin and keep Happy Hustlin'. What does Happy Hustlin mean to you? Peter says Happy hustlin' is putting my family first, and then also winning at any, whatever game you're in, like winning and that balance it, you know, the family keeps you, that's what keeps me grounded. Cause I can kind of work and just completely bury myself in the game. Love the game, but when you go back home, and you're like, this is what it's all about. So enjoy the game. But don't burn out on the game. The game is just, it's just part of life. It's not life for sure. Connect with Peterhttps://www.instagram.com/groovelife/https://www.facebook.com/groovelife.cohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/petergoodwinak/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJmCr41eOvPY4LjG3MQeGUA Find Peter on his website: https://www.groovelife.com/ Connect with Cary!https://www.instagram.com/caryjack/https://www.facebook.com/SirCaryJackhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cary-jack-kendzior/https://twitter.com/thehappyhustlehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDNsD59tLxv2JfEuSsNMOQ/featured Get a copy of his new book, https://www.thehappyhustle.com/book Sign up for The Journey: 10 Days To Become a Happy Hustler Online Course @ https://thehappyhustle.com/thejourney/ Apply to the Montana Mastermind Epic Camping Adventure @ https://thehappyhustle.com/mastermind/ “It's time to Happy Hustle, a blissfully balanced life you love, full of passion, purpose, and positive impact!” Episode Sponsors: If you're feeling stressed, not sleeping great, or your energy's been kinda meh lately—let me put you on to something that's been a total game-changer for me: Magnesium Breakthrough by BiOptimizers. 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" We have access to so much information... so people know just enough to be really scared."Parenting anxiety is at an all-time high and social media isn't helping.Dr. Tori Niemynski, Board-Certified Pediatrician, is here to chat with us about raw milk safety, vaccine fears, viral pregnancy “wellness” trends, and why so many parents feel stuck between medical advice and internet influencers.If you've ever Googled a symptom at 2 am … this one's for you.We're chatting about:Why parental anxiety feels higher than everRaw milk risks and what science actually saysThe truth about viral pregnancy wellness trendsWhat pediatricians really think when parents walk in with Google searchesThis chat with Dr. Tori will give you practical ways to lower your panic and make confident health decisions for your whole family.Connect with Dr. Tori:Follow Dr. Tori on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourpediatricianbestie/Learn more about Dr. Tori at https://meetdrtori.com/ Connect with Nicole:Chat with Nicole over on Threads: https://threads.net/nicolewaltersWatch Tell Me More on YT: http://nicolewalters.com/youtubeEpisode Sponsor:Right now, listeners can get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/nicole.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.