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In the first part of our Musicians Spotlight Series, we bring you John Kay from Steppenwolf Fame which brought us such great hits as Born to be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride, The Pusher and 50 years of John Kay music and his work with NGOs helping Elephants survive as they, too, were Born to be Wild. John Kay: from Rock Star to Elephants, We Were All Born To Be Wild #Steppenwolf to #MaueKayFoundation Show Summary (Full Text Transcript Below) John Kay reveals his journey from escaping the Iron Curtain, getting on with limited vision, his passion for music and his love and commitment for wildlife and especially elephants. Ironically, I first learned about John Kay being legally blind from Dan Gausman, a librarian at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. A client requested to have the Communications Center record an audio copy of John Kay's 1994 autobiography, Magic Carpet Ride. This is a service provided to people who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have difficulty in reading the printed word. Dan mentioned that John was legally blind. This I did not know. John Kay explains his vision and how it led him from behind the Iron Curtain to the freedoms of West Berlin, his adventures as a youth and his days at Sight Saving school in Toronto. Canada. Most importantly, John talks about feeding the fire, feeding his passion for music and for the protection of wildlife. John Kay is transforming from Rock Star to Wildlife Advocate as his touring days with John Kay and Steppenwolf come to a well-deserved rest after 50 years since the release of the first Steppenwolf album. John is ready to make this transition as he has been devoting his time and proceeds from his touring over the last 10 years towards John and his wife Jutta's Maue Kay Foundation, and NGOs, Non-Governmental Organization, similar to a Non-profit organization, that focus on the protection of wildlife. Image of Elephants provided by MKF Join Jeff Thompson and Pete Lane as they sit down with John Kay and learn about John's continuing soundtrack of his life, his experiences and his focus on the years to come. This podcast is over 80 minutes long and we suggest kicking back and enjoy this epic interview with one of the great social and political voices with us today. My son asked me while he drove us home from the John Kay and Steppenwolf concert September 29 in Prior Lake, MN, why don't today's bands make statements about causes anymore? I thought to myself and wondered… is John Kay one of the last? Maue Kay Foundation Logo Here are some links that will let you know more about his music and his foundation. I suggest starting here, Steppenwolf.comwhere you can dive in and find out about everything Steppenwolf, purchase their swag, read articles and more about John Kay. Be sure to get their latest release, a 3 CD set titled, John Kay and Steppenwolf-Steppenwolf at 50. Included in this 3-disk set is an entire CD of John Kay and Steppenwolf live. You will learn and enjoy this collection of hits, and somewhat over-looked songs from 1967 to 2017. That is where you will find all the music used in this podcast, John Kay and Steppenwolf-Steppenwolf at 50. Follow John Kay and Steppenwolf on Facebookand on Last.FM Be sure to check out John Kay's web site. Where you can find links to articles, interviews, his solo music, the elephant sanctuary and the Maue Kay Foundationand learn about the passion and selflessness that John and Jutta and others are doing to protect wildlife around the world. And an Elephant size Thank You to John Kay for taking time to conduct this interview and to Charlie Wolf for all that you do and whom I met at the concert in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Glad I could support the band and I love the T-Shirts. By the way, the concert was Great! Thanks for Listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store Full Transcript John Kay: From Rock Star to Elephants, We Were All Born To Be Wild #Steppenwolf to #MaueKayFoundation John Kay: To become aware of how special they are. I'm a big elephant lover you might say. Jeff Thompson: Blind Abilities welcomes John Kay, wildlife activist. John Kay: My vision got me probably out of Communist East Germany and my vision very definitely kept me out of Vietnam. Jeff Thompson: Who happens to be a rockstar. John Kay: They were all telling her, “You got a legally blind, penniless musician, and that's your future? I think you can do better than that.” Jeff Thompson: John talks about his limited vision, his band, Steppenwolf, one's inner voice, and following your passion. John Kay: There's an old snide remark, what do you call a musician without a girlfriend? You call them homeless. Jeff Thompson: I would like to thank Dan Guzman of the Communication Center at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota, as Dan informed me that a client had requested the autobiography of John Kay to be converted into audio format. Dan also informed me that John Kay was legally blind, and this started the process that led me to the interview of John Kay. John Kay: Hey, we all got stuff to deal with, kid, just get on with it. You learn how to figure out workaround solutions for what you're dealing with. Jeff Thompson: Hello, John Kay. I'm Jeff Thompson, and with me is Pete Lane. Pete Lane: Good morning, John. It's an honor. I'm Pete Lane. I'm in Jacksonville, Florida. Jeff is in … Jeff Thompson: Minnesota, Pete. Pete Lane: Yeah, Minnesota. John Kay: I'm in Santa Barbara. Jeff Thompson: What's the tie to Tennessee then? John Kay: I lived there for 17 years. In '89 my wife and I were a little tired of Los Angeles beehive activity. We said, “If not here, then where?” To spare the other boring details, we wound up just south of Nashville, Tennessee. In our travels with Steppenwolf we had played there several times. We'd met a lot of friendly people. It's a beautiful area. Lots of music, obviously. We were out in the country, and lots of privacy, and had a recording studio and our tour bus. We just relocated what we called Wolf World out there. For the following 17 years that was home. It was a good period during our life to be a little bit away from large cities. Jeff Thompson: Great. Pete Lane: Do you have an elephant reserve, do you not, still in Tennessee? John Kay: I don't, but Tennessee certainly does. While we lived in Tennessee, we became aware of the elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, which was about, I don't know, maybe 40 minutes drive from where we lived, which was near a little town called Franklin, Tennessee. John Kay: Anyway, one thing led to another. Eventually my wife got involved with the board of directors of the sanctuary, and then they're after our daughter, who's all about animals, so from childhood wound up becoming a caregiver to three large African elephants. She was there for several years. It was like the Peace Corps slogan, the toughest job you'll ever love. She did love it, but she's rather slender in build and developed arthritis. The doctors told her she should quit, which she had to do very reluctantly. John Kay: However, the sanctuary of course continues doing very well. It's a wonderful place for often abused, neglected, sick, old circus and zoo elephants to finally live amongst their own kind without any human intrusion. They have 2,700 acres of rolling hills and woods and waterholes for them to swim in. Once you get to know elephants, because our foundation is involved with African elephants-focused NGOs in Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania, and the like, once you get to spend a real amount of time with them out in the wild, in those places where they aren't traumatized by poaching, you become aware of how special they are. I'm a big elephant lover you might say. Pete Lane: I was reading on your website where you posted the awareness of the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee and how they live a lifestyle that they never get to live when they're held in captivity. John Kay: Exactly. It used to be this way, and I don't suppose that has changed, the number one killer of captive elephants was foot rot, because unlike in the wild, where they walk up to 50 miles on relatively soft, sandy soil, in captivity they are often forced to stand on a solid concrete floor, and that's not good for them, so eventually they … One of the rescues, Tina, which came from the Vancouver Zoo, when she arrived, they had to … I was gonna say, one of the sandal makers, I can't think of the name of the brand right now, they actually made a pair of very soft boots for her because she was suffering so badly. Unfortunately, she died a couple of days before those boots arrived. I saw the bottom of her feet, which were just terrible situation. John Kay: They don't belong in captivity unless you can have a relatively good number of elephants together in a large area where they can at least simulate the kind of life they would have in the wild. Pete Lane: 2,700 acres is a large area. Do you know how many animals are on the preserve? John Kay: I think at the moment they have somewhere in the neighborhood of close to a dozen Asian elephants. They fenced off a section of the 2,700 acres for the African elephants, which are much larger, and thank goodness in relatively good health. They're larger and younger and very active, so they keep them away from the Asians, that are older and more docile. I believe right now they have about four Africans, because the Nashville Zoo I think has two of them that are there at the sanctuary now. I don't know whether they will stay there long-term, but that's what's going on there right now. John Kay: It's quite an amazing place, and so much has been learned about how to look after these creatures, and from the standpoint of veterinarian care. The research, both in the wild and in places like the sanctuary, on elephants continues, because there's still much to be learned, even though people like Joyce Poole has been studying their communication skills and language and rumbles and all of that for over 40 years. They're still working on figuring out what goes on that's beyond the grasp of science right now. Jeff Thompson: We'll be sure to put a link in the show notes for that. John, your story is quite interesting. I'm doing some research, and I just came across Feed the Fire. I was wondering, hearing about that elephant sanctuary, your foundation, it seems like you stuck to your passions. John Kay: Yeah. That's quite observant and quite spot-on, because long ago as a child, the first time I became aware of something that is I suppose related to passion or rooted in passion is when I discovered the power of music. That oddly enough was … John Kay: My father had been killed in Russia a month before I was born. When the Russian Army advanced on the area where my mother and I lived, I was just a few months old, she took me, and we got on a train headed west, and wound up eventually in a little town that wound up behind the Iron Curtain, and hence we were living under Communism until I was five. When we escaped, my mother and I, by paying off some people and getting through the border, which was patrolled with soldiers and all of that, anyway, we made it. John Kay: The point is that I was about eight or nine years old, living in West Germany, under democracy and freedom, and my mother took me to hear, of all things, an all-male, a Russian choir, the Don Cossacks. This was in a church with great acoustics. It was just a concert. Some of these ancient, incredibly sad songs that these 15 guys with these amazing voices were singing reduced me to tears, even though I didn't understand a word of Russian. I still don't. In fact, my mother was somewhat concerned. It introduced me to the power of music when it connects with your internal core. John Kay: Oddly enough, less than maybe four years later, I had a similar but very opposite experience when I first heard on American Armed Force Radio Network the likes of Little Richard and Elvis and all the rest of the rock-and-roll pioneers. I just had goosebumps, chicken skin from head to toe. Once again, I didn't understand a word of what they were singing, but the music was so primal, so intense, so full of just joy of living I'd say. That was just something that I had to have more of. John Kay: I became obsessed with trying to find this music wherever I could, and of course at a certain point started to have the delusion that someday I could be on the other side of the ocean and learn how to speak English and get a guitar and do this sort of thing myself. Obviously conventional wisdom and the adults were saying, “Yeah, sure, kid. In the meantime, pay attention in school.” Jeff Thompson: It's quite obvious you didn't lose that glitter in your eye. John Kay: Yeah. That's I think very important. It's one thing that concerns me with regards to young people that are raised with constant sensory stimulation and having a virtual life through their little screens that they're attached to all the time. John Kay: I remember once talking to university students, and I asked them, “Be honest. How many of you fear silence?” A number of hands went up, because a lot of them, from the time they're toddlers, whether it's TV or the background music of the supermarket or wherever, whenever there's silence, it astounds them, and it concerns them. I finally said, “I'm here to tell you that unless you learn to find some quiet spots, you may never hear a voice that's in you that is trying to tell you there's more out there. In other words, if you don't hear that voice, you may live a totally external life all your life, instead of finding something that is … ” John Kay: That is the humbling experience that I've had, running into people who all their lives have not been seeking the spotlight, but have been from early on moved by a passion to work on behalf of something greater than themselves. I'm specifically talking about the various people that in the last 15 years, through our efforts in various parts of the world, we've had the great pleasure and honor even to rub shoulders with. It's a humbling thing to see people who are not about themselves, but on behalf of others. You learn from that sort of thing. John Kay: There are a lot of young people who have that capability also. I'm often wondering whether they aren't so barraged with constant Twittering and social media and whatever else is going on that they never have a quiet moment. That's not necessarily a good thing in my opinion. Jeff Thompson: I was talking to Pete earlier, and I was dissecting your song, but you just answered the question for me, that solitude is no sacrifice. John Kay: That's right. You picked up on that. That song has been used by a number of people who wanted to play something for their daughter or son that were about to leave home and go to university or go far afield to do something on distant shores. That's basically it. “Solitude's no sacrifice, to catch a glimpse of paradise.” Jeff Thompson: That's an awesome song. I really like that song. Pete, you've got some questions I'm sure. I've been jumping in here. Pete Lane: John, I'm just honored to be speaking with you. I'm in my late 60s and of course grew up with you and your music and of course Steppenwolf. Until recently I had no idea of how enduring you have been and how diverse you are in your view of the world and society. I just want to compliment you on that for starters. John Kay: Thank you. That's very kind of you and generous. I would hope and think that I will continue to be still in a lifelong learning process of clumsily following the footsteps left by others that have preceded me with their examples of how to nurture their humanity and how to have a purpose in life beyond just mindless consumption and amusing themselves, as the book once said, amusing ourselves to death. It's something that keeps the inner flame burning, and been very, very fortunate in many different ways, currently still healthy, thank goodness. Any day when you remain vertical is a good day. Pete Lane: Absolutely. John Kay: There are so many out there who lead with their example. I have met some of them who have been inspirational. Every so often, some young people come along, say, “Hey, I came across your music, and it has given me some stuff to listen to when I have to get over one of the speed bumps of life, and thank you for that.” It's a generational thing. I'm still focused on the ones ahead of me. There are younger ones that have found something in what we have to offer of a value that went beyond just musical wallpaper, but with no real substance that you can use for your own. John Kay: There's so many out there who have written songs and played music practically all their lives, which has given sustenance to the rest of us, or the listeners, and have had personal little anthems that we go to when we need to have a moment of rejuvenation through music. John Kay: I sometimes talk to people who say, “You're talking about all these other people doing great work, making music that gives great pleasure and joy to people. It's not a bad way to make a living either.” While I agree with that, music will continue to be something that I do on occasion, meaning once in a while I have a desire to write a song or two, irrespective of whether they will ever be recorded and commercially released. I've performed at fundraisers and things like that. Music continues very definitely to be part of my life. John Kay: By the same token, I am very much now focused on bringing the word to a lot of people, who once they know what we are losing, meaning wildlife, we've had this number of times, we're talking to people who are well-educated, quite engaged, very successful in what they do, and when we talked about that an elephant was being killed every 15 minutes for their tusks and that we, at this rate, 15 years from now, may no longer have any living in the wild, and the same holds for the rhinos and numerous other species, they're aghast. They're, “I didn't know that. This is terrible. Who's doing anything about it?” Then further to that, “Who can I trust with my money if I want to help?” John Kay: That's really what our little foundation is about. We have been supporting various entities. I think at this point we're at 16 different NGOs we support annually for about 15 years. We're the ones who are a little bridge between the boots on the ground who are fighting to preserve what remains, and those who are willing to help provide it, there's some assurance that their money will go to the boots on the ground. We're the ones who can vouch for a number of wonderful people at NGOs. Because we have born witness to the work they do, we're going to back to Africa next year to look in on several of the NGOs again. That's my role of both my wife and I. John Kay: In fact, this year's the last year that Steppenwolf will be performing. We have six more engagements to play, the last one October 14, and after that the wolf will go into hibernation, if you want to put it that way. My emphasis is now on … I assume both of you are familiar with TED Talks. Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Pete Lane: Yes. John Kay: With that in mind, although the following is not a TED Talk per se, because those talks are limited to 18 minutes in length, mine is more like an hour and 15 minutes, but what it is, it's similar to a TED Talk, in the sense that I'm up on stage giving my story, while behind me on a screen there are many, many still images and short video clips and so on. The whole thing is called Born To Be Wild: From Rock Star To Wildlife Advocate, John Kay of Steppenwolf and His Journey of Transformation. John Kay: It basically starts with my early life and how I got out from behind the Iron Curtain and was enthralled with American rock-and-roll when I grew up as a teenager in West Germany and made it to Canada as an immigrant, got my first guitar, and then got into music more and more, and of course the story of Steppenwolf, and then how gradually over time we, my wife and I, through our travels, went to Cambodia, where we saw the killing fields, and we got involved with building a school there, which was the start of our foundation, and then Africa and so on down the line. John Kay: Basically at the end of this presentation, towards the end, after having shown what we do, where, and who is doing what in Africa and Asia and Borneo and so on, it's basically a pitch of saying, “Now that you know, if you didn't know already, you can use our website as a gateway to other NGOs or you can support what we do directly, but do it for your grandchildren's sake or do it to honor the 2,000, almost, African rangers that have been killed by poachers in the last 12 years, or do it simply because our fellow living beings have very little left to call their home, and they too have a right to exist.” Pete Lane: Unbelievable. Jeff Thompson: That's awesome. I love the way you talk about your passion that you even have today. Pete and I both met because we had a passion for recording. One story that really caught my attention is when you were in Toronto and you received your reel-to-reel, and I don't think you listened to the books as much as you wanted it for recording music. John Kay: You got that right. It was a scam from the get-go. I said, “I don't need talking books. I can read books, even though I gotta read them with my nose.” I said, “I could use it for something else.” I was just simply appalled at what came out of that dinky little speaker that was built into that Wollensak tape recorder, because when I tried my hand at recording my first efforts of playing guitar and singing, I said, “I don't sound like that, do I? This is terrible.” It was sheer ego that kept me going, said, “One way I can get better if I keep at it.” Hope springs eternal. Sometimes you simply have more luck than talent. Pete Lane: John let's talk a little bit more if you don't mind about your eye condition. Talk about that a little bit. Let's start if you don't mind a little bit in your early years and maybe focus in Toronto when you were moved into is it Deer Park, that Deer Park school? John Kay: Yeah, that was the sight-saving classes. It's a strange thing, with respect to my eyes. When I was still a baby, lying in one of these carriages that back in those days were typical, I think the English call them prams or whatever, living in this tiny little town in what was then East Germany, I would cry whenever the sun was in my eyes. John Kay: When I was older, my mother took me to an ophthalmologist, and he said, “He obviously has very, very poor vision and he's very light-sensitive.” The only thing he could think of at the time was that, “His condition might improve if he had a better diet,” because at that time we were on food rations, and because of where we were, we were eating herring morning, noon, and night, boiled, fried, stewed herring, coming out of the ears. I never touched a fish again after that until I was 40-something years old. John Kay: This is the important point about this. My mother took that as a, “Maybe the doctor's right.” It was that that caused her to take the risky chance of getting caught, imprisoned, or shot by, in the middle of the night, together with about half a dozen other people, getting smuggled by a couple of border guides that worked for the railroad and knew how to time the searchlights from the watchtowers and the dog patrols and everything else. John Kay: We got through, and then it turned out that, this was in Hanover, Germany, West Germany, and of course this was after the war, there were still schools in short supply, having been destroyed, and so there were classes 50 children large, two shifts, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I was not doing well. It was my mother who was working as a seamstress who managed to get me into the Waldorf school, the private school, which was banned under Hitler because it was far too humanitarian, but which looked after me. There I blossomed, and the eyes didn't play as big a role. John Kay: It wasn't until I came to Toronto that I was back in public school. I didn't speak English yet and couldn't read what was on the blackboard. The school officials got in touch with the CNIB, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and they said, “We have these sight-saving classes in a, it's just one large schoolroom segmented into two or three different grades, at a public school called Deer Park School, in the northern part of Toronto.” That's where I went for about two years. John Kay: The primary benefit was that, yes, they had textbooks with extra-large print and all that, but I learned English during those years, not just in school, but because of my obsession with listening to the radio all the time, looking for music that connected, I was always having to try and make out what these speed-rapping DJs were saying, because they were yakking a mile a minute. Between radio and the Deer Park School, I got to the point where I got a handle on things. Of course during that period at that school, I was also given this tape recorder on loan. As I mentioned before, I immediately pressed that into service. Jeff Thompson: That's really impressive, just the journey. John Kay: One thing I should add, by the way, was that nobody really knew what was the matter with me. I went to a Toronto University I think, the medical department, ophthalmology I think it was. There I was treated like a guinea pig. They brought in all these medical students and take a look in my eyes and everything. They said, “Oh, you're totally colorblind. Let's see here.” John Kay: They had one of those books where every page is made out of these little mosaic little pebbles with different colors.” Embedded amongst them, so to speak, would be a combination of these colored tiles that spelled something, a letter or a number or something. At the beginning of the book, the contrast between the primary colors versus whatever the number or the letter was very stark. I said, “Yeah, that, it says six, okay.” As we went from page to page, the differences in terms of contrast became more and more subdued to the point where by page whatever, I don't see anything other than just one page of all these little mosaic tiles and pebbles. They would say, “No, actually there is a light yellow whatever something or other.” John Kay: They figured out later down the line that I was an achromat, achromatopsia, that as an additional bonus with that condition comes extreme light sensitivity. Then finally, I also have a congenital nystagmus, which is the eyes shaking all the time. You do the best you can with what you have. John Kay: Now in '63, and this has a point with respect to my vision, my vision got me probably out of Communist East Germany, and my vision also probably, in fact very definitely, kept me out of the U.S. Army and probably out of Vietnam, because when in '63 at age 19 my mother and stepdad, my mom had remarried, decided to move from Toronto to Buffalo, New York, because my stepdad had something going on business-wise, and I joined them there, the first letter that hit our mailbox was from the draft board. Of course I had to show up. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to the States. John Kay: Of course somebody once said that the military intelligence is an oxymoron. I'm not the judge on that, but I will tell you that I had something that made me scratch my head, namely when I was there and I was to have a complete physical, I tried to tell the man that I was legally blind, and of course he said, “We'll get to that, son.” After a very, very thorough, top to bottom, in and out physical examination, he said, “Now read those letters on that chart on the wall.” I said, “What chart?” He said, “You can't see the chart?” I walked a little closer, said, “I see it now.” “What do you see?” “If I can step a few steps closer … ” “Yeah, you can.” “Okay. I think there's a large capital A at the top, and the rest is guesswork.” He harrumphed about, “You could've said … Never mind.” My designation was 4F. I asked him, “What does that mean really?” He said, “Son, in your case it pretty well stands for women and children first, before you. Nobody's gonna put a rifle in your hands.” John Kay: It was one of those things where during those times, because in short order I went to the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, to hear the greats, and I was amongst tens of thousands of young people my age, of course many of them, at least 50% or more, being young men. The draft in the Vietnam War was very much on everybody's mind. I could relate to their concerns about going off to a foreign land. This case, I would imagine my eye condition did me a service. Jeff Thompson: That was probably a baptism into the social issues of the United States coming from Toronto for you. John Kay: That's very true. That is very true. Sometimes you have the aha moment decades after it was already rather obvious. In certain ways, what makes up my musical background in terms of my self-taught things, is to some extent rooted in the early '60s folk music revival, in my visits to not just the 1964 but also the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. '65 of course I saw Dylan go electric. That is that I had already, because of my baptism with rock-and-roll, by the early '60s rock-and-roll had lost a lot of its punch and we had the pretty boy Philadelphia singer syndrome, like Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and the like. There wasn't much on the radio that I could really sink my teeth into. Here comes the folk music revival. John Kay: While living in Buffalo, a folkie says, “If you really want to know the roots of all this stuff, go down to the main library, they have a music department, which has all of the Library of Congress recording that John and Alan Lomax made in the field. You can listen to Appalachian Delta music. You can hear Delta blues, whatever.” I did that. They would let you take a few albums home every week and trade them out for other ones. I went through the entire thing and gave myself a bit of an education. John Kay: Then when I went to the Newport Folk Festival and saw some of those still alive, those recordings I'd heard, I didn't know that McKinley Morganfield, who was recorded in the Delta by the Lomaxes, was actually Muddy Waters. Here he was with his band playing at Newport, and all of those kind of things. John Kay: The blues, which as Muddy once said, “The blues had a baby and they called it rock-and-roll,” so the blues immediately spoke to me, particularly when I came across some of the lyrics of the chain gang songs and other things. There's a powerful song about … The lyrics go, “Why don't you go down ole Hannah.” Hannah was the name they gave to the sun, “And don't you arise no more, and if you rise in the morning, bring judgment day,” because these are guys, they hated her, because the sun came up, they were forced to work in the field, out of the prison, the chain gangs, and they didn't get any rest until the sun went down. I learned that the blues had a lot more to offer than just, “Woke up this morning, my chicken walked across my face,” and all the rest of the stuff they'd write. John Kay: The other thing was great, was that the likes of Dylan and numerous others of the times were following in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie and writing new songs about the here and now that was of interest to our own age group, because this was the time when the three civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi. I remember hearing, let's see, I can't think of his name right now, it'll come to me later, he was just like Dylan, a topical, as we called them, we never called them protest songs, topical songwriter. I remember he sang it, had just written it, about the killing of these three, at a topical song workshop in the afternoon. His name was Ochs, Phil Ochs. Jeff Thompson: Phil Ochs, yeah. Pete Lane: Phil Ochs, of course. John Kay: Suicide some years later. The refrain of the song was, “And here's to the land that you've torn the heart out of. Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of.” Jeff Thompson: That rings through with your Monster song. John Kay: Yeah, because the thing that became obvious to me was that songs can have content which is reflective of what's on people's minds. One of the first things we experienced as Steppenwolf was a baby band, when we went on our first cross-country tour and we were still approachable, so to speak, by long-haired kids in bellbottoms who wanted to say hello after the show, a lot of them said, “Those first two albums of yours we got, you're saying on our behalf some of the things that worry us or that we are concerned with.” John Kay: That's the first time we had positive reinforcement that what we were writing about was not just our own individual personal opinions, but it was reflective of what was on the minds of many of those in our own age group. Of course I had experienced that at Newport. It was a galvanizing experience to be amongst 20,000 young people, and they're listening to somebody like a Phil Ochs or a Bob Dylan, and others who were writing about what was going on in our country in the world. Like JFK once said, “And that's the role of the artist, to remind us of the potential we have yet to reach,” in terms of being a just society and all the rest. John Kay: When it came time for us to start writing our own songs, we had of course witnessed, in fact I'd played in a couple of the same coffeehouses as a journeyman folk musician solo act in Los Angeles with the likes of David Crosby and then still called Jim, later Roger, McGuinn and the rest, who formed of course The Byrds. Jeff Thompson: The Byrds. John Kay: Their first album was by and large electric versions of Bob Dylan songs. In fact I was at Ciro's nightclub when The Byrds played, when Dylan showed up and played harmonica with them. That was a photograph on the back of their first album. John Kay: The point is that I took from there, why couldn't even rock music have lyrics that go beyond “oowee baby” and the typical? That's why our first album had songs like The Pusher and The Ostrich and Take What You Need, which was really about the environment, and later, things like Don't Step On The Grass Sam and None of Your Doing, which was on the second album, which was about a Vietnam soldier coming home and nobody understands him and he can't deal with what he had witnessed. Then of course eventually came the Monster album. John Kay: The thing with the Monster album, which was very, very successful, popular on the college campuses, were all these demonstrations which were going on against the war in the campuses, and then of course the horrific Kent State shooting. These were things where what we had to say resonated with a lot of young people. John Kay: What I found interesting was that we after so many years were no longer playing that song as part of our show. Then came the Great Recession, 2007-08, and all of a sudden, a couple of things happened. I can't think of his name right now, he's been a stalwart writer for Rolling Stone for several decades, from the early days on, and he had posted a thing, something like, “I went back to listening to Steppenwolf's Monster album and I was astounded how appropriate it is in the here and now.” John Kay: That coincided shortly with getting more and more requests on our website via email primarily, “Please start playing Monster again.” From about 2009 onward, we've been playing it ever since. It's rare that that song does not get a standing ovation in the middle of the show. Of course it's aided and abetted by visuals that accompany our live performance, not every song, but many. In the case of Monster, it is a 10-minute film that illustrates pretty well what the song, line by line, lyrically is about. John Kay: I remember when we did it for the first time in 2009, our sound man, who's been with us now for over 30 years, and he said, “John, I had the most weird experience tonight, because there was this strange situation with Monster. It was like I was watching a movie that had a soundtrack that a live band was playing, and instead of a narrator telling me what the story was, you were simply singing the story. It was just a really intense experience.” It's been like that ever since. John Kay: Sometimes you write something, and it goes out there like a kid leaving home, and you have no idea what it's doing out there, and then all of a sudden it comes back and say, “I'm still here.” Jeff Thompson: The prodigal song. John Kay: It's been like that for the last 10 years. It's a song that seems to very much resonate about what we are dealing with right now. Pete Lane:         It's funny, John, Jeff and I, again, were speaking before you connected with us this afternoon, and I had prepared a question along those lines. As you did earlier in this interview, you've answered it. Let me ask you this question. It's a slight variation on what we just spoke of. For those of you who don't know, Monster is just a dynamite song. It chronicles the country, the United States from its inception to what was then modern-day U.S. back in 1970 I believe, '71, early '70s. John Kay: Correct. Pete Lane: My question is this. If you were to write that song today, would you title it anything different? John Kay: No, because in my opinion the Monster has almost taken human shape now. Donald Trump: The American Dream is dead. Richard Nixon: I'm not a crook. Donald Trump: We will make America great again! Richard Nixon: I'm not a crook. I'm not a crook. I'm not a crook. Pete Lane: Just a dynamite song. Jeff Thompson: There's another long big song. It was big on the album I bought. You had over I think it was 20-minute long, The Pusher. John Kay: Yeah, that thing. There's a story to be told about that, I'll tell you. You're referring to the so-called early Steppenwolf album, a vinyl album obviously, back in those days. One side was that 20-minute version of The Pusher. That whole thing came to be because it was really a performance done by the band The Sparrow, which I had joined. John Kay: When I was in the early '60s, like so many others, with a guitar, hitchhiking around, playing wherever they'd let me, in coffeehouses and the like, when I returned after a year of being in Los Angeles, hanging out at the Troubadour, doing various things, meeting Hoyt Axton, learning The Pusher from him, etc, and wound up in Toronto again, and York Village at that time, section of Toronto had exploded into this area of just coffeehouses and clubs, all sorts of things. While I played at a coffeehouse as a solo act, I bumped into this Canadian band called The Sparrows, with an S, plural at the time. We joined forces. I started to perform The Pusher with an electric band instead of just acoustically. John Kay: The Sparrows eventually left Canada, because in those days most people did, where there was Joni Mitchell and Neil Young or others, and wound up in the States. We played in New York for a while, got a record deal that went nowhere. I kept badgering them that having seen the formation of The Byrds in L.A., that we ought to go to California. That's what we did eventually, and wound up, through various reasons I won't take time to explain, in the Bay area. There we played on the weekends usually the Avalon Ballroom or the Fillmore Ballroom. During the week we would play different clubs. One of them was a permanently beached paddle wheeler ferry boat in Sausalito called The Ark. John Kay: We were now amongst all of these Bay area bands that liked to stretch out and experiment and jam and do different things. We said, “Hey, we can play songs that are longer than four or five minutes.” We started to do different things. One of them was this ad-libbed version of The Pusher, which was preceded by us doing different instrumental experiments. Steve Miller would come by and sit in and play all the different things. One of the things we'll always remember is that regularly the Hells Angels would come, drop acid, lie down on the dance floor, and stay all night listening. John Kay: We also played a club called The Matrix. Unbeknownst to us, the manager of the club had a couple of microphones suspended in the ceiling. When Steppenwolf later were moving forward into the '68 and '69, when we were quite successful with our first couple albums, we were being badgered to go back into the recording studio, because the label was always hungry for a new product. We had a couple record contracts that obligated us to deliver two albums a year, which was in hindsight ridiculous. John Kay: Anyway, the point is that the label said, “This young man, or this guy showed up, and he has these tapes that he recorded, unbeknownst to you, when you guys were still called The Sparrows, from a show you played at The Matrix in San Francisco. We would like to put it out as a collector's item called Early Steppenwolf.” We listened to it. Of course you can imagine that with a couple of microphones suspended from the ceiling, this was, yeah, a collector's item for those who must just for bragging rights have to have one of everything, to be able to say, “I got everything they ever did.” We hated that. We hated it then, but it bought us time. It bought us time in the studio, because when that thing was released, we got busy on writing and eventually recording what became the Monster album. That was a major step forward. Jeff Thompson: Yes, it was. Pete Lane: Fascinating story. Jeff Thompson: John, I want to go back to you told a story about how kids in school would bully you, but you took their names, you remembered, and you would get them back somehow. John Kay: It wasn't so much in school. What would happen is, like just about everywhere in the world, including the States these days, soccer, what they called football, every kid plays it. They play it barefoot in Africa. Whatever. We did too, meaning the kids in the street in West Germany when I was young. There was a vacant lot next to our little apartment building, and that's where we played. John Kay: During the day, with the sun in my eyes, even with my dark glasses, that wasn't so cool, but the moment the sun started going down, during twilight hours, I'm like a nocturnal creature that can make do with very little light. My eyes open up. I don't squint. I can see much better, not further, just more comfortably I can see things. John Kay: I would join the kids playing soccer. When they figured out that I couldn't always see what was going on, there's an 11-meter penalty kick that's part of the rules, and so when it was my turn to make that kick, some wise ass would put a half a brick in front of the ball, so I wouldn't see it. I'd come with just regular street shoes, no special athletic shoes, and take a run at shooting this ball, and of course, wham, would run my toes right into that brick- Jeff Thompson: Ouch. John Kay: … holding my foot and hopping around on one leg, doing a Daffy Duck, “Woo! Woo!” That did not go down well with me. I was fairly big for my size always, tall. They then of course saw that I was gonna come after them. They also knew that if they managed to run a certain distance, I could no longer find them. I had to learn to say, “This is not the time.” Two or three days would go by, and they would have forgotten about it, and whoever the instigator was would be doing something, and then I would go over there and deck them. They would be, “Oh man, what was that for, man? I didn't do … ” “Yes, you did, and I did not forget, but I hope you will remember this,” and they did. Jeff Thompson: I remember seeing your album covers. I collected albums. There was one of you leaning back, and you're very tall, the way the angle was on it. You wore the sunglasses. When I thought of artists, musicians, I go through Roy Orbison and other people that wore the sunglasses on stage and stuff, I never thought of you. When someone brought it to my attention, State Services for the Blind here, some client wants your book recorded, so they'll take volunteers, record chapter by chapter for the person to listen to. They contacted me, said, “Hey, John Kay, he's visually impaired.” I went, “Oh, that explains the sunglasses,” maybe for the lights on stage or something. John Kay: Absolutely the case. I had learned over time, since I wore dark glasses during the day, certainly outdoors, I got in the habit of keeping them on, because I went, “Spotlights and stage lights, they're pretty bright, and sometimes it's difficult for me to see the guitar fret board, where my fingers go and everything, and so I'll just keep the dark glasses on. Besides, some pretty cool people seem to be wearing them, and so that's just part of the persona.” Over time, meaning literally decades, I learned that I could avoid, provided the spotlights were mounted high enough with a downward angle, I could look under them in a sense, look at the audience rather than up into the bleachers. Gradually I was able to dispense with them on stage, although the moment we play outdoors they go right back on. In fact I have one pair that's damn near as dark as welding goggles when things get really super sunny, Africa's sun is very bright, or the snow is very reflective, that sort of thing. John Kay: Of course I remember one time, we were never the darlings of Rolling Stone, and so there was a negative review of one of our albums. The guy said, I'm paraphrasing, “As far as John Kay's jive sunglasses are concerned,” he went on about something else. Actually, one of our managers felt compelled to write them a letter and point out that those glasses have a purpose for being on my face. He's just like everyone else. John Kay: When I was a kid in West Germany when we first got there, I had a key around my neck, because my mother was a seamstress in other people's homes, so making a living until she remarried, and I had to learn how to get around, to get on this streetcar to get to there, because I was at a daycare center run by the Swedish Red Cross and I had to make my way back home and I couldn't read the street signs. You figure things out, there's this kind of a building on that corner, and markers that you imprint into your memory banks. John Kay: You have to remember, this is a time, post World War II, the Soviet Union alone lost 20 million people. In Hanover in 1949 and '50 and '51, there were tons of people, legs and arms missing and crutches and this and that, those who managed to survive the war in some semblance. It was basically a mindset of, “Hey, we all got stuff to deal with, kid. Just get on with it.” You learned how to figure out workaround solutions for what you're dealing with. I'm certainly one of millions who are having to make adjustments. John Kay: I remember we had a dear neighbor in Tennessee was a Vietnam veteran, Marine Corps, and he was in a wheelchair. He had to overcome his anger and started to meditate and do other things. He said to me, “Hey John, it's not the hand that's dealt you, it's how you play the hand that's dealt you.” He married, had a wonderful daughter. He became a cotton farmer and somehow got onto his tractor, and like so many out there, that okay, he's not perfect, but what are you gonna do with what you got? Jeff Thompson: John, regarding your visual impairment these days, do you use technology, computer, smartphone, anything along those lines? If so, do you use any kind of adaptive tools or screen enlargement features, anything like that? John Kay: I'm lucky enough in the sense that most standard issue devices have features that work just fine. I have a fairly large flat-panel monitor on my PC. Of course with the zoom feature and other things, I can make the font, what I'm reading, as well as what I may be writing, email and Word documents or whatever, whatever I want. The iOS, I have a phone, I have a iPad, they have a zoom feature that's just marvelous. I use that when needed. Some things with Siri or Chicano or something, in the PC world you can actually just ask for certain things to be brought to the screen. I'm learning how to do that more and more. It's a great convenience. John Kay: I really don't have any problems. I've flown all over the world to meet my band mates on my own. I've learned to do … That was a big deal for me, because of … One of you mentioned you had been to our foundation's website. There are a number of videos about the things that we support, and we have witnessed and the wildlife that we see and so on. All of that was shot by me, edited by me, and then narrated by me. Now granted my wife, who is a fine photographer and had no colorblindness like I do, I ask her sometimes, “What about this?” “We can tweak that a little, whatever.” Other than a little color assistance, I do all that myself. John Kay: The reason I can do it primarily is because there are several brands of prosumer or even professional camcorders that have up to 20x optical zoom lens, which gives you an incredible reach from where you are to get a closeup of whatever's in the distance, an elephant, whatever it may be. I use it like a pair of binoculars, because I remember one time we were in Africa and our guide was asking my wife, “He's constantly looking through that thing. Is he always shooting?” She says, “No no no. Instead of picking up a pair of binoculars, then finding something he wants to shoot, putting down-” Jeff Thompson: Good for you. John Kay: “… the binoculars, picking up his camera, he just uses that zoom lens of his like a pair of binoculars, and when he sees something, he just pulls the trigger and starts recording.” Jeff Thompson: That's great. That's neat. John Kay: That's my workaround solution for that. Jeff Thompson: John, there's so much information on your website. I was going through it. That's how I found out about the elephants and your foundation. I also was reading your question and answer, which any of the listeners who are out there, go to his website and check it out, the question and answer, because it answers so many questions. One of them was when someone mentions you are a legend, I loved your response to that. You would say it to if you met Chuck Berry or someone else or something. It was just such a humbling thing that you … Then I believe you met your wife in … John Kay: Toronto. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, in Toronto. Usually when you hear about rock stars and these legends, they've gone through wives, divorces. You're still together. John Kay: We are still together. I was a member of the aforementioned Canadian band in Toronto called The Sparrows. We were playing Downtown Toronto at a place. Between sets, our bass player said, “Hey, my girlfriend is here, sitting over there at that table, and she brought her girl friend. Why don't you join us for a drink or something?” I went over there, and I met this young woman by the name Jutta, spelled J-U-T-T-A. She was from Hamburg, Germany, where she had already as a teenager seen the band that later was to name itself the Beatles and numerous American rock-and-roll stars at The Star-Club in Hamburg. We had some things in common. I liked her a lot. I followed her home that night and moved in with her. We've been together ever since. Jeff Thompson: The longest one-night stand. John Kay: Yeah. The thing is that I, like so many others in the rock-and-roll world, being in our early 20s when we caught a wave as Steppenwolf and we were out there on the road, there's a degree of too much ego, testosterone, drugs, and temptations out there. When my wife sometimes, particularly women ask her, “Was it all roses and rainbows? You guys are still together. What's the secret to your marriage's longevity?” She'll look them straight in the eye and say, “The secret is not getting a divorce.” Jeff Thompson: Rocket science. John Kay: We're very much lifelong partners. We have much, much in common in terms of our interests and where we direct our energy and passion and time. The other hand, rather, she has certain intuitive traits that for whatever reason elude me, and I'm more analytical and more logical in some ways. We're a good fit. It's the yin and the yang together. We hope to remain like that until we are no longer vertical. Jeff Thompson: I have a question about this. When you met her, was your eyesight at the time, did you have to explain to her you won't be driving or something like that? John Kay: Yeah, you're right. Just like my thing that I mentioned earlier, when you're a 12-year-old and you're fantasizing about becoming a rock-and-roller on the other side of the ocean and being told, “Sure, kid,” when I moved in with her, she was a very young, desirable, good-looking woman, some of her friends, there's an old snide remark in the industry, which is, “What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? You call them homeless.” John Kay: When I went back to this other girl that I had been living with, to get some of my belongings to bring those over to Jutta's place, when I showed up at this other girl's place, there was another guy sitting there already, playing the guitar. I said, “Hello, who are you?” He says, “My name is Neil Young. I just came in from Winnipeg and I'm joining this band called The Mynah Birds.” I said, “Oh, cool. I just joined this band called The Sparrows.” In other words, all of us folkies were always looking for a kindhearted woman to put a roof over your head. John Kay: When I moved in with Jutta and we had been together for a while, they were all telling her, “You got a legally blind, penniless musician, and that's your future. I think you can do better than that.” Of course the conventional wisdom, they were absolutely right. The chances of all of this working out the way it did, you'd probably get better odds winning the lottery, if you go to Vegas, they would give you better odds for that, but like I said earlier, sometimes you just have more luck than good sense. It all worked out just fine. Jeff Thompson: That's great. How did you keep your focus? How did you, I keep going back to that song, but your eye on the chart, through all that has gone on with the early Steppenwolf to John Kay and Steppenwolf? What kept you focused? John Kay: That's an interesting story, question rather, because I've had to contemplate that before. I've never felt the need to go see a shrink. I seemed to always get over whatever emotional speed bumps there were. I suspect that the same deeply rooted passion for certain things, be it music, be it a sense of justice, being easily enraged by injustice, that I think is also the touchstone of other things where anger is the motivator and the engine. In the case of Steppenwolf, was very successful, we had various albums, some more commercially successful than others. It wasn't all roses and rainbows, but on the whole, it was a segment of my life that was pretty special, obviously. John Kay: Then came time when the obligations to the band, because of being its primary songwriter and lead singer and front man and all that, became such that I wanted time for the private me, which meant my family, our daughter, who was hardly ever seeing me. John Kay: When I pulled the plug on Steppenwolf in the late '70s, after a rejuvenating period in the mid-'70s on a different label, our little family went in our little family van all over the Southwest. We spent a lot of time in Hawaii, on Maui and stuff. That was quite nurturing and very good for me, but I was also, “Okay, I'm gonna do a solo album, this and that.” It was on pause to a certain extent. John Kay: Then the news reached Jerry Edmonton, the original drummer and co-founder of the band, and friend, that a couple of ex-members of the band were out there using the name Steppenwolf. Then all sorts of boring details as to lawsuits and other things involved, but the news that reached us was generally from fans, saying, “We went to see what was called Steppenwolf, and it was horrible. People were throwing stuff at them. They're trashing the name.” John Kay: We tried to put a stop to these activities, using the legal system, lawsuits and so on. Again, it would take too much time to go into the details. Let's just say that the results, I kept saying, “This legal system is limping along like a turtle with a wooden leg. We're not getting anywhere here with these lawsuits.” It was like whack-a-mole. You'd go after them in this state, they'd pop up in another state. John Kay: Finally, out of sheer desperation and anger, I had a number of musicians with whom I had been playing as the John Kay Band, I called Jerry and I said, “Man, I want to go out there as John Kay and Steppenwolf, because I want to resurrect the name and rebuild it. We'll work out something, so you participate financially.” He was already into his photographer and artist mode. That was fine. John Kay: In 1980 I went out there, driven by the outrage and anger of, “You guys are destroying something that you didn't build. I was the one who called everybody up to see if you wanted to what became Steppenwolf, and I'm going to go out there and compete with you guys on the same low-level clubs you guys have played the name down into, see who wins.” John Kay: We from 1980 on went out there 20 weeks at a time, five shows a week, overnight drives 500 miles, playing in the toilet circuit of bars, where some of them, you wouldn't want to enter those clubs without a whip and a chair. It was just horrible. John Kay: The mantra was, “Yeah, three years ago we were headlining in arenas. That's not the point. If there are 300 people here tonight at this club who are not above being here to hear us play, and we're certainly not above us playing for them, so the mission is every night we gotta send people home smiling and telling others, ‘You missed a really good show,' and all you can do is grit your teeth that that will eventually,” because we ran into, we distinctly remember, a club on the outskirts of Minneapolis, St. Paul. During the soundcheck time, relatively young guy came over and looked me straight in the face, said, “You're not John Kay. He wouldn't play a shit hole like this.” That was the level to which the name had been played down into. John Kay: That really got me aggravated. I said, “I'm gonna kick their butt, not by … The lawyers are still fighting over this and that, but in the meantime, we're getting great reviews and we're going town by town, state by state.” By 1984, after relentless touring in the States, also twice in Canada, by that time we had also released a couple new albums, twice in Europe, once in Australia, we in essence put what we called the bogus Steppenwolf bands out of business. John Kay: While we were at it, since we were somewhat damaged goods, we said, “Then we're gonna learn how to mind the store ourselves.” That's when we had our own music publishing company, our own recording studio, our own merchandise corporation, our own tour bus, huge truck with a triple sleeper, 105 cases of gear, and on and on. To give you an idea of how tight a bond was formed, our entire crew, all four members have been with me for over 30 years. Jeff Thompson: Oh wow. Pete Lane: Wow. John Kay: We took the reigns into our own hands and learned. I did not want to become a paralegal or para-accountant or any of those other things. Almost everybody in our 12-member organization, bus drivers, everybody, wore multiple hats, selling merchandise during the show or whatever. They were all quality people, and we learned how to fend for ourselves, and not just survive, but at a certain point, thrive. We knew exactly where the money was coming from and where it went. Nobody was running off with our loot to Ecuador. Jeff Thompson: What suggestions would you have for someone today who is interested in music like you were, driving your passion from Little Richard, Chuck Berry, all those people that inspired you to follow your passion? What suggestions in today's music world would you give to them? John Kay: Unfortunately, I wish I had some kind of a magic formula to impart to them, but obviously every situation is vastly different, is really I think in the end, I know people who are tremendously talented, vastly more talented than I am, who are not necessarily doing well. I've experienced in the early days where someone whose primary talent was to show up at every opportunity to pitch what they had to offer. It's one of those, “Did you go to that audition yesterday, this morning, or whatever?” “I had a really late-night last night. I'll go to the next one.” How many opportunities are gonna come your way? It's one of those. John Kay: The other thing is, do you have the fire in your belly to handle the ego-destroying rejections, because there are probably hundreds, if you were to take a poll of … Well-known singer-songwriter Nora Jones, that first album, which I love, was rejected I think by every label in town twice. There are stories like that all over the place. John Kay: How do you pick yourself up every morning after, “I'm sorry, it's just not radio-friendly,” or, “You don't really fit into our whatever.” You need to have a pretty intense flame of passion about what you are and what you have to offer. You need to be able to handle … John Kay: You may be the one that wins the lottery, where the first attempt reaches the right set of ears and you've got a partner in your career moving forward, but most likely you will be like so many of the baby acts these days, and some who have been around already for 10 years plus, which is you have to learn how to wear a lot of different hats, the social media stuff, the pitching your music on YouTube or whatever, to endlessly tour in clubs, to build a following, four of you sleeping in the van with the gear, whatever. It'll burn you out if you're not made of something that can handle those rigors. John Kay: Meantime, you have the temptations of, “I want to have a private life too,” depending on whether you're a female or male, an artist, “I met somebody I want to share my life with. At some point we want to have children. This band isn't getting me anywhere.” There are all these things that are strikes against your ability to prevail in this, unless you are one of those who's willing to take those beatings out there, in terms of the rejection and being often the response that you get from reviewers or whatever is not always positive, particularly if you're still in the process of really finding and tweaking who you are and what you have to offer. John Kay: If you're a singer doing other people's stuff, that's one thing. If you are a writer and you really have something to say, that may be an advantage in the sense that if it resonates, you may find what we found in the early days, which is, “Wow, you've become our musical spokesperson. When I play that song, it is my inner voice, having been give voice, by your voice.” If you're one of those who's able to put in words what moves you most, and there are lots of others out there that take your music as their personal soundtrack, then it may still be a long slog uphill, but usually that sort of thing spreads readily on social media. John Kay: We have the Wolf Pack. When we played our official 50th anniversary, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band, when we played that official concert to commemorate that at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee last August, and the Wolf Pack fan club was notified of that. We had over 300 Wolf Pack fan members coming from all over North America and at least close to 70 or 80 of them coming all the way from Europe. They all know each other. They're all like the Dead Heads. They have a passion that they share with others. John Kay: If you are able as an artist to reach people in that kind of way where what you have to offer becomes more than just sheer entertainment, then I think your chances of making a go of it are pretty good. Some of more or less my contemporaries that are still writing, still out there, still loved, John Prine, John Hiatt, if you are one of those, or you're aspiring to become one of those, I wish you a lot of good fortune. John Kay: Sarah McLachlan song Angel, it has moved millions to tears. One of the verses that basically I'm paraphrasing, about when you're always being told you're not good enough, you're basically having the door slammed in your face all the time, and the self-doubt creeps in and nobody seems to get what it is you have to offer, those kind of things, they're hard on you. John Kay: You wouldn't want to be a writer, artist, player, whatever, singer, if you didn't have some degree of ego that says, “Hey, I've got something to offer, something to say. I'm up here. Do you like what I got?” That's rooted to some extent in your ego. If you have that ego under co

Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co!Speaker 1 (00:03):Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one.Speaker 2 (00:42):What's up. So we're preneurs. Welcome to another episode and I'll be honest. This is the second time I am recording this episode right now. I had some fire money content that I was spitting, and I don't know what happened cause they didn't press record, but I go and replay the recording and dead silence crickets. So I'm back for another one. So hopefully it's even better than the first time I recorded it. Um, but I am currently in lake Powell, Utah right now. So just to preface this, if you heard some waves hitting the shorter that's, what's going on standing on top of the top of a houseboat right now, recording some content for my solar preneur peeps. So I'm dedicated. I want to show you guys that I am committed to helping you improve your lives as solar cells, professionals. So let's jump into it this episode today.Speaker 2 (01:37):I want to talk about gratitude. We've talked, had a lot of guests on that have talked about the importance of gratitude. Earl capuli was one probably about a month ago. He is known as Mr. Gratitude. So go listen to his, if you haven't already. But the reason I'm thinking so much about this is because I went to a conference a couple of weeks ago in Dallas, Texas. Um, you guys probably heard me talk about it was the knock star conference, Danny PESI Tanner McCarthy that had been on the show. They run the knock star movement. They did an awesome event to definitely check out, going to their next one. Bat this event, they brought a guest. His name is John Israel. And if you haven't heard of him, he is known as Mr. Thank you a little bit different than Mr. Gratitude, but Mr. Thank you.Speaker 2 (02:24):And what he did was he wrote, uh, um, five, thank you cards a day for 365 day streets every day. And it took him about an hour and a half a day on average to write these cards. So these weren't just little, you know, little notes. These were full-blown thought out, thank you cards. And he couldn't write them, write them to more than three people. Hey, so we're cutting. Just keep writing. Thank you cards to his wife. He could only do a max limit of three per person throughout the course of a year. Pretty incredible what he did. So he wrote a book on it. He's spoken to all types of, and he's really created a movement and change people's lives in the process. So super inspiring dude. And the reason I got thinking about him so much is because I am on this boat, reading his book, it's called the Mr.Speaker 2 (03:17):Thank you project. And then the book, he just documents the journey, what he did and talks about it. And so the reason I'm thinking about it so much, because I hadn't experienced actually, before I left on this little trip that went hand in hand with some of the things he talks about. So I'll get that, get to that in a second. And actually I shared this experience on Instagram. So if you're not falling already go shoot me a fall at Taylor J Armstrong. And I shared kind of a crazy story that happens, got some feedback from some listeners here, but there isn't that remind to me is Mr. Thank you. He talks about this thing called the gratitude loop. And what happened was he was at an event eight years ago and he speaking at it after he gets done speaking, one of the ladies at the event comes up and says, Hey John, I appreciate your message.Speaker 2 (04:09):This is exactly what I came to the conference to learn. He tells him, thank you. And his response was, yeah, well I missed a couple of big parts that were really important to the whole message. I was running short on time. I'm sorry about that could have been. So he basically shot down the appreciation that this lady showed and the lady's like, okay, well, I thought it was great. Then she turned and walked away. And has he went on to think about this? He's like, what was I doing? Did I just respond to someone's? Thank you with an apology. What is wrong with me? Hey, and so I got thinking about this. How many times do we do this? It sells people. How many times do we do this in our lives? Where someone is trained to give us thanks. We shut it down. We say, no, it's nothing.Speaker 2 (05:01):We got to change these things. And I've done it time after time. Even a lot of our listeners here, you all shot me messages like, Hey Taylor, thanks for the podcast. Thanks for what you shared today. That's exactly what I needed. This helped me close the deal, things like that. And I want to apologize to those that I have shot down that things at times. Cause I know for sure I've responded with people out is nothing. Uh, yeah, well that episode wasn't that good, but glad you got something from it. I've sent out messages like that and response. So this was kind of a slap in the face to me as I was reading. This is, and that's this point with it is we need to accept compliments and reflect gratitude. Okay. So was point is if someone takes the time to give you a gift, pay you a compliment or acknowledge the great work you do.Speaker 2 (05:52):Pause, soak it in and say, thank you for your welcome there's to be said for being humble. And there's another thing to be said for allowing others to contribute to your life. It's not as much about horrifying you as it is honoring the vulnerability in generosity of another person, bold enough to take the time to appreciate you. So it's, you're someone that struggles accepting. Thanks from other people. Let that be a lesson to you. We all need to practice this thing. He calls it the gratitude loop. What it is is when you open a gratitude loop, that's you expressing gratitude saying thank you. And if that loop is left open, how do you feel? He gives an example. If you went up to a crowd that says, Hey, thank you for, I don't know. Thank you for being my friends today. They just stare at you say nothing.Speaker 2 (06:45):What's that's going to feel like it's going to feel awkward. I'm going to feel weird. You go say thank you to the crowd. They do nothing don't even acknowledge. It feels like a slap in the face, right? It's an uncomfortable, it's weird. Almost seems offensive. So that's his point with the gratitude loop is when we go around, we say, you're welcome. That's closing the loop, right? So don't leave God two loops open. And then the second piece that I learned from his book, as I'm reading here is give up the need to be appreciated for your generosity. Hey, and the story that goes along with this, the reason I'm thinking about so much about this right now is because on my Instagram, I actually talked a little bit about what happened, but the experience was is that before I left on this little trip, I'm on, I made it a personal goal.Speaker 2 (07:41):I said, okay, I want to close three deals before I leave. I got Monday and Tuesday of all is all this week. I want to close three deals can be pretty good. Right? Two days of work in closed three deals. And the reason I set the goal too, is because I knew I had, I had a handful of solid appointments set up, given my I'd given myself a good shot to actually attain the goal. Okay. And so I go out some of this neighborhood they're condos and here in California, the good news is with condos. Townhomes, H ways can't restrict homeowners from putting solar up there. They can make it super difficult, but they can't restrict it. So I use this to my advantage. This area didn't have any solar yet. So I said, okay, I'm going to go off. I'm going to cause everyone in the neighborhood, they don't even know they can have solar.Speaker 2 (08:33):First thing I do, I talked to the HOA president. Okay. And I'll make this a short story since I already chaired the majority of it on my Instagram. But I, um, talked to her actually at several appointments, but then she canceled the appointment because of some confusion. She thought it was like a government program or she was getting free software. It wasn't. So she said, okay, yeah, you lied to me. I'm not going to meet with you. Canceled the appointment. My Mike, okay. I got three other appointments set up. No problem. I'm still gonna close some deals. These people are stoked. They're like no way. Yeah. We want to go solar. We didn't even know we could have Sawyer go to them as I'm about to close the first one on the week, the guy says, okay, Taylor, whoa, this sounds awesome. But you know what?Speaker 2 (09:21):Let us talk real quick to the HOA president. Just because I don't know, we don't want to be the first ones. The neighbors are doing this and we want to make sure it's all good. So what happened? They go and talk this HOA president and she just slams the door on him. She says this kid, he lied to our community. He told me it was a free government program. This isn't it. She just completely shuts them down, talks them out of the cell. And I lose a cell. And then the other ones cancel appointments, turns into a disaster. So it went from being this golden area. I was going to close all these deals there. Now this HOA president just completely, it throws a wrench in my plans and just ends my hopes hitting my goal on the week. So I was devastated. I come up with this plan.Speaker 2 (10:10):I said, okay, this area, there's guaranteed. There's going to be deals. And I can even probably go back and close these deals that they had. I just need to get back in the good graces of this HOA president. Okay. So her name's Carol. I go, I come up with this idea. I say, I'm going to go give Carol I thank you card. And to be like Mr. Greg, Mr. Thank you like John is, you'll give her a thank you note and even better. I'm going to give her a box of cookies to go with it. That's something we do for our customers. We send them little gifts, cookies, um, treats stuff to kind of stand out, help them remember us. Let's say how many she didn't buy it, but I'm going to send her some cookies. So I go, I pick up these cookies, um, box of four cookies from a dirty dough here in California.Speaker 2 (10:57):That's a Bennett Maxwell has company. They make some giant cookies that have all these crazy flavors. She's a single lady. I'm going to give her a box of 40, these giant cookies and a thank you card. So I go right to thank you card dropping on the porch. And then I'm just like, okay, she gets home at five. I'm going to get a thank you wife. I'm going to get a text from her, a call saying, Hey Taylor, I'm so sorry. You're the best? Come close my whole neighborhood on solar. So I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm working. I'll look at my clock at five. Dave, no texts, no calls Mike. Okay. Maybe she was running late. I wait, wait, wait. Six o'clock comes. Nothing. No texts. Seven o'clock eight o'clock nine o'clock 10. O'clock no calls, no texts, nothing. I'm like, what is going on? The Carolyn, I get this. Hey. And actually deliver it to another neighbor is the one that I had almost closed, but that's, you know, camp blow to them. Got a thank you. Text from them. So I'm like, okay. I know, I know they got him. What's going on? I wait two more days, Mr. Courtney. It's been about a week now. And guess what? Still? No, thank you. Texts. No acknowledgements. Absolutely.Speaker 2 (12:17):A N S yeah, it was, it was a little sad. I was hoping I'd get something, but I didn't. And that's the reality of it. They actually used to write, thank you cards to my customers. But this experience with Carol reminded me of why he got discouraged writing. Thank you cards because sometimes I would write dozens and dozens of thank you. Cards, get nothing in return. People wouldn't even acknowledge it. And I did get results from it. I did get an extra referral here and there. People remember him, but it was the scourging that sometimes people wouldn't say anything. So John's point with this is we need to give up the need to be appreciated for generosity. How many times have we given something then been discouraged when people don't say thank you. So John's point is now this may sound counterintuitive after explaining the whole gratitude loop.Speaker 2 (13:11):Yes. When people don't reflect back that they received or valued our gifts, compliments or acknowledgements, and the natural reaction is that something is missing. The loop feels open. True gratitude is, is expressed with nothing expected in return. When you feel the frustration that someone didn't appreciate what you did for them, just remember, you never know what other people are going through in their lives, except that you did a good thing, pat yourself on the back and move on. Hey, so this is reminding me. I go like, okay, well, I sent this good thing to Carol thought. I was going to change, change my success in the area, but it didn't. And that's okay. So I'm trying to be okay with that. Hey, and John goes on to talk about how, when he was on day, I think 50 of sending out all these thank you cards.Speaker 2 (13:59):He got really discouraged because after 220, thank you cards. Only 20 people responded to thank him for the cards or even acknowledged acknowledged that they got it. And he ended up talking to, um, one of his friends later they'd send a hardtail and they said, John, I got your card a few months back. But the reason I didn't even say thank you or respond to it is because I was going through so much pain in my life. I was going through a really tough breakup. I just couldn't be present to anything positive in my life. So thank you now. But that's why I couldn't. I just was in just, was in some pretty heavy stuff to be able to respond. So think about that next time. You're expressing gratitude, trying to say, thank you. Don't expect anything in return in return. Okay. Be happy with what people respond, whether they respond or don't respond in the challenges.Speaker 2 (15:04):First solar preneurs, go out and write. Thank you cards to your customers, right? Thank you. Cards to your managers. Write, thank you cards to those that have helped you get to this point of success in your sales career. Okay? And that's how we're going to change the industry. How many, how many sales people are out there? They're just focusing on the money. Don't care about their clients. This is how we show that we care about our clients. And guess what the side effect is going to be. You are going to get more referrals. You are going to get those people that send cards back. They express appreciation. Hey, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. How about after you send a hundred? Thank you cards. You don't get one extra referral. You don't get one person saying thanks for the card back.Speaker 2 (15:49):Can you live with that? So that's the challenge. I'm going to get John Israel on the podcast. Soon. He's lined up. Um, we're waiting for him to lock down the time with him. So if you know, John Israel go out and shoot him a message say, Hey man, we need you on the solar prenuer podcast. Yeah, we're going to get them on. But in the meantime, he was actually on Sam Tagard store or podcast. You can go listen to his experience there. Do you want to search that episode? Hey, but let's elevate ourselves to that mindset of gratitude. That's how we're going to change this industry. And that's how we're going to really have a better attitude ourselves to go out and close more deals and be grateful for the things that are happening, happening to us. Even in times like this, when you're getting shut down by each way, presence.Speaker 2 (16:37):And when deals are canceling, when everything seems like it's going to crap, these are how these are. That's how you're going to get through these tough times is expressing your gratitude and elevating your level of gratefulness to something like John Israel. Okay. So I hope you enjoyed the episode and send it to someone who's going through a tough time. Go and write a thank you card today. Let me know your experience with it. And yeah, I hope this turned out better than the first time again, second time recording it, but appreciate our listeners. And I'm grateful for all you listening to the show and sharing this content in implementing the strategy we talk about. So go out and close some deals and we'll see you on the next one.Speaker 3 (17:22):Hey Solarpreneurs. Quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs, and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day. For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community, exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety. This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and to help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds. For, are you ready for it? Less than $3 and 45 cents a day currently society's closed the public and membership is by invitation only, but Solarpreneurs can go to society.co to learn more and have the option to join a wait list. When a membership becomes available in your area. Again, this is exclusively for Solarpreneur listeners. So be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you again in the next episode. 

In this episode the Crew dials the voicemail to answer a question from a loyal Power Athlete Radio listener: Hey John and Tex – there seems to be a lot of flip flopping in the strength and fitness world in regards to rep ranges for strength and getting jacked. Power Athlete has been consistent with… The post Ep 507 – Strength and Muscle Growth Programming MasterClass first appeared on Power Athlete.

In this episode the Crew dials the voicemail to answer a question from a loyal Power Athlete Radio listener: Hey John and Tex! It's JT, long time listener, second time questioner. I recently had a friend share an Instagram post about life after athletics and the “athletic identity” which got me thinking… As a former… The post Ep 505 – Finding an Identity After Athletes Hang it Up first appeared on Power Athlete.

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings. (1 Timothy 4:1 NET) 10 And then many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one other. 11 Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 This Good News of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:10-14 Tree of Life Version) 1 Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you brothers and sisters, 2 not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion (the falling away, the apostasy) comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 NET) Many deserting or turning away from the faith means it will be a great falling away or apostasy, and it is already happening! You are foolish if you don't see it!  That is a subject that my dad, Israel Rodriguez, preached about often. After I received Jesus in December of 1973, I watched and heard my dad preach and minister for 10 years before he passed away and went to heaven in 1983. He must have preached hundreds of times about the great falling away, the antichrist, the mark of the beast, the wrath of God, judgment, hell, and the lake of fire. He preached often from the book of Revelation and the prophetic Scripture that dealt with the end-times. Of course, he also preached about healing, repentance, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and tongues, and the promises of God, but he leaned heavily on the former. Unfortunately, I did not want to pay too much attention to his messages of hell, fire, brimstone. When he would begin to preach on all that, I thought it was either condemnation or bordering on it, but it was delivering, healing, and saving truth. I often disliked those fiery messages because I thought they weren’t “good news.” How wrong I was! Did you read my previous post on “Gospel Preaching Versus Anemic Sermonettes”? It will straighten out wrong ideas about what is Gospel preaching. My understanding of “good news” has changed dramatically since my dad preached those mighty sermons, especially over the last 12 years. It was a slow process of learning for me. Mentally, I am pretty sharp, but this has little to do with mental capacity and everything to do with receiving spiritual understanding by the Spirit. It took a while to get this straight in my spirit.  Let me summarize good news preaching by stating this: “Good news” is whatever the Holy Spirit gives you to minister to the people, based on the Scripture. That is true even when the message is harsh, tough, and offensive. If it comes from Him, then even if it is speaking about God’s wrath and the lake of fire, then that is “good news”, and the anointing will rest upon it.  During the ministry of Hispanic evangelist, Yiye Avila (from Puerto Rico-now deceased), I learned that he often preached and ministered along the same lines as my dad. After a message like that you wondered who could receive Jesus. To my surprise, deaf ears and blind eyes would be healed, and the crippled would walk in every one of his crusades. The miracles were intense, varied, and abundant.  During a Yiye Avila crusade in Miami (around 1980), my Dad and I sat on the platform in the section reserved for visiting ministers. Dad knew Yiye for many years, even before Yiye was saved. Yiye preached for almost two hours about the antichrist, the great falling away, the great white throne judgment, the lake of fire, and the coming of the Lord. He also preached about living holy lives and being a witness. Then he prayed for the sick and the power of God electrified the place. It was like sticking your finger in the electrical outlet! Paralytics walked and many other miracles took place. Wheelchairs, walking sticks, and braces were lifted in the air above people's heads, and the miracles flowed like water. It was awesome to watch and hear the mighty healing and miracle testimonies. After that, he called for people to come to repentance and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Hundreds responded to the call! Some people ran to the front to receive Jesus. The gospel was preached as a witness (undeniable proof or evidence), and people streamed to the front!  John the Baptizer preached “good news” to the people that came to hear him. (Luke 3:18) Have you ever read what he preached? Let me give you a taste of it: John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9) You won’t hear that in most churches! Those words came from the fiery neighborhood prophet of God! How would you like to wake up to, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Then, Luke 3:18 has the unmitigated gall to call ALL he preached GOOD NEWS. It was good news because it woke people up to the truth and brought many to repentance! It also brought persecution and vitriol from the religiously brainwashed people, and those that loved their sin. It was good news when John rebuked the adulterous relationship Herod had with his brother’s wife! Herodias was still married to Phillip, but she left him and went away and married Herod the tetrarch! (Luke 3:19, 20) It was adultery times two! How could that rebuke and others for Herod’s many sins be good news? In John’s case, the “good news” preaching led to his martyrdom. Herodias deceived Herod. She made her daughter dance sensually before Herod and he fell for the trap. The dancing forced Herod’s hand after he promised the girl anything she wanted. She asked for the Baptizer’s head on a platter! Herod granted the wish.  My dad always gave many Scripture references during his anointed messages. He was an excellent student of the Word. Often, he would stay up most of the night to study and pray. To top it off, my dad was an anointed, passionate, authoritative, Bible preacher. His preaching oozed with zeal, authority, and power. Let me add this: I saw some of the most amazing miracles under his ministry that I have ever seen. I’ve seen many wonderful miracles and healings as I have ministered the anointing of the Holy Spirit to the people through the laying on of hands. There have been many undeniable proofs! I saw the same and more under dad’s ministry. Many were saved, healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit with tongues, and delivered from demons under that anointing he carried and wore so well. Dad had manifestations of unusual miracles like Paul did. (Acts 19:11, 12) Now, I am getting ready to tell you a little bit of my story. Maybe you will begin to understand why I take the responsibility laid on me to come down so hard on all the Covid surrendering churches, pastors, ministers, congregations, and telling them to repent. Soon, I think you will understand why I am striking a death blow on compromise, capitulation, and surrender! Others may have their own reasons that God has used in their lives, and some may be copy cats, but here is my “testimony.” It's not a copy cat story! Some have had a spotless ministry record and an idyllic marriage to one woman for many years. My hat is off to you and I salute you for a job well done. That is truly awesome! Thank God for tried and true ministers that have been faithful all these years and are a shining example! Surprise! I wish my story was a sweet story of loving the same woman in marriage and a pure ministry for 50 years or more, but it is far from that. Sorry, if you thought you were reading after some glorious ministry of 60 years! No so here, even though I started very early in ministry.  Are you ready?  My lack of listening with my heart to the WHOLE Word of God that my dear dad was preaching had a part in my falling away from faithfulness to God and His Word. I didn't follow his example. I was missing a huge part of Bible teaching and instruction that could have kept me out of huge problems, misunderstandings, errors, compromise, and sins. I taught some of what he taught about the end times at our Bible school, but I never taught it in public. I didn't like that message for the general public. Without that important information delivered in public as a part of our spiritual weapons of warfare, I wasn’t ready to deal with what happened, and neither were the people of our church family! I went through major failure in ministry after being an anointed pastor and teacher on radio and TV, one that saw abundant results! From 84 until around 1988, we had one of the largest, if not the largest, or at least the fastest growing church in Puerto Rico. There is a lot of history here since the ministry was established in Puerto Rico in 1978 or so. My dad opened the way through his ministry to establish that church by plowing the field. The field needed plowing with TNT because traditional views contrary to God's Word were entrenched in Puerto Rico. My dad came with the explosiveness of Holy Spirit C-4 that shook churches and people everywhere he went. In late 1976, I started travelling to minister with my dad in Puerto Rico while I continued to pastor a church in Florida. The anointing would come on me heavily and my delivery and ministry to the people would increase dramatically while I was ministering in Puerto Rico. It didn't take long until I realized the Lord was calling to Puerto Rico. Dad ministered often on radio and at churches in Puerto Rico throughout the 70’s, and I joined him and my mother in 1978 to establish that church, but I will keep it short. As soon as I arrived, I was thrust into a place in the anointing I had never been in. It was tangible, and a ministry of laying hands for healing the sick and for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and tongues burst onto the scene. It is not an exaggeration. So much history, and so many wonderful things to write about, but that may come at a later time.   I was the pastor of Iglesia Fe es La Victoria (Santurce, Puerto Rico) that ministered to the entire island via radio and TV, and to thousands of people every Thursday and Sunday. On any Sunday morning, we would jam about 2,000 men, women, and children into the theatre complex. Though we did not have an official membership roster, we knew from the people tithing and giving weekly that about three thousand or more people were being ministered to in the services alone. That excluded the media ministry and its glorious impact. The Word increased and multiplied EVERY day. Interestingly, the crowd that came on Thursdays was almost entirely different than the people we ministered to on Sundays. The smaller theatres in the complex were for children’s church, Bible school, and for overflow, and we often overflowed! People were saved (they repented and were converted to God and the Lord Jesus), healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit with other tongues, and delivered from demons during those services and over radio and TV. It was so richly wonderful and glorious! Dramatically and disgustingly, I missed the Lord’s direction in ministry because of my own hardheadedness and pride, and the anointing of the Spirit that caused all the growth and powerful ministry to the people began to wane in 1988-1989. I remember the day and moment, right in the middle of me preaching, when the anointing crested like a wave and began to decrease like a wave crashing on the shore. It was the sickest feeling in my gut I have ever had. It was painful and distressing because I knew I had grieved the Holy Spirit, but I couldn’t see any way out. I was blinded.  Everybody knew I was destroying the work of the Lord via my own doing, especially when I quit ministering and teaching like I had before in the anointing and power of the Spirit and became like a boring college professor with no power, no results, and no anointing. Yuk! Stick your finger in your throat and gag! It was VERY bad! After a few months of that kind of dead ministry, Yiye Avila called me personally in early 1989 to see what had happened to me. He told me on that call that he listened to all of the messages I preached as often as he could, but that he saw a stark difference in my ministry starting in 1988. What happened to Dan Rodriguez? He tried to help me and correct me, but I didn’t listen. Dumb and dumber could be a description of me then! Yiye was my elder in the Lord and had been a friend with my dad for some years. I should have respected that association but I didn't. I gave Yiye some ignoramus reasons and hung up the phone as soon as possible. I didn't want to hear that I was wrong. In my heart, I knew I was wrong even while I talked to him, but I was too hardheaded and prideful to repent and get back to ministering like I should. Isn't that amazing? The Lord sent me an anointed evangelist to get me back on track and so I could repent, but I ignored him, and refused to repent, and it cost me the loss of everything. It didn't take long. I faltered miserably and sinned often in the early 1990’s, though it was nothing reported by the news media. There was no public scandal like skipping town with the secretary, music director, a prostitute, or by going gay! In my case, the secretaries were not available, the music director was a man, I was never involved with a prostitute, and I wasn't a homosexual! I did not steal money and move to Bora Bora! I mention those sins because they seem to dominate church scandals often. The church members were spared of public scandals, but my life was one big dung-filled scandal! I was like Samson in that respect. My sinful activities got my eyes plucked out (blindness), my hair cut off (the key to the anointing), and I was left grinding a very heavy millstone like a burro! My enemies were ecstatic! I left the ministry in early 1993 totally dazed and confused, and the church that had ministered to thousands of people dwindled away until on good days there were a couple of hundred left. Those that stayed were the stubborn. They should have all left. Every one of them! Today, in the same situation, I would have left early on as soon as I perceived the decline in the anointing. As soon as I would have seen that the altar calls had greatly decreased and finally were non-existent, and little to no results were evident, I would have been gone! Don’t stick around in a dying church or you will die with them! I’m sorry to say that many of those that stayed, DIED, and as far as I know, never came back!  As a side note: Don't ever return to the Covid-caving churches and pastors that closed their doors for months, and became supporters of antichrist activities, UNLESS they publicly and vocally repent of their sins! Why? They are either already dead or they are dying UNLESS they repent! (Luke 13:3, 5) Any and every church that closed, supported the antichrist agenda of closing down the assembling of the church as a body (Hebrews 10:25), rejected continuing evangelism, baptism in water, (Matthew 28:19, 20), altar calls, laying hands on the sick for healing and anointing with oil for healing and repentance (Mark 16:18; James 5:14-16), the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:25-30), the laying on of hands to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues (Acts 19:6), and just about every other church activity! What about baby dedications, preaching the Word to the saints, visiting prisons, hospitals, and performing wedding ceremonies? It was a suspension of Church fellowship and activities that totally contradict what the church in Acts did when they were commanded to stop preaching in the Name of Jesus and end their meetings! (See Acts chapters 4 and 5!) I will come back to that in a moment.  I spent most of the 90’s refusing to recognize or admit my sins. I fell away from the Lord and I was miserable! I lost everything I held dear, including family and friends, but I refused to repent of my sins and get myself right with God. It was my own doing. It was all my fault. There was no one to blame but me. I refused to see the truth. Yes, I am brutally honest with myself. I learned to do that. It did not come naturally. It’s so very uncomfortable, and it makes me squirm just to retell it, but it is so extremely important! A rude awakening and a brutal honesty about your spiritual condition is absolutely necessary. Repentance is not possible without being brutally honest with yourself. Blame others for your sins and you will NEVER get out of them!  I have seen people do that. I've done that. It is like Adam and Eve after they sinned. Adam blamed God for giving him "that woman" that gave him the forbidden fruit to eat. Eve blamed the fact that the fruit looked good to eat and it was all the serpent's fault! (See Genesis 3.) There was no excuse. It was their fault, but they refused to admit that they were at fault, and they did not repent, at least not in Genesis 3.  By 1996, I began to seek the Lord consistently, but I had not come to repentance yet. I read my Bible and continually asked for God’s help. I did not need rocket science or "special" revelation to repent, but I was blinded by tragedy, despair, and sin. I was the problem, and no one else was responsible but me. It was good to finally come to that realization, but none of that mattered until I repented. Many were praying for me. My mother and grandmother never quit praying for me to be restored. There were others that took it upon themselves to pray for me every day. I didn’t know about any of that until some years after I repented. To set up a story I'm going to tell you, I lived in New York City until early 1999. How anybody can live in all that mess called New York City is beyond me. It's much, much worse now with the hell Cuomo and De Blassio have created for all New Yorkers, especially with all the Covid trash. It's become a totalitarian regime and police state! I know people that have lived in the city their whole lives and don't want to live anywhere else. Now, finally, a large number of New Yorkers are seeing the light and moving to other states! Many are moving to Florida. Please leave your devil-inspired politics up there. You voted in De Blassio and Cuomo and look at what your demon-inspired politics got you. Don't bring your libtard views to Florida or else continue travelling west until you reach sunny California and "enjoy" Gavin Newsom's Marxist hell. Sorry New Yorkers, I don't feel sorry for your predicament! You created your feces and garbage covered streets with your liberal views by voting in devils to lead your government, and now you are "enjoying" the fruit of your support of demon-inspired politics. Hey, you can always repent and cry out to God for mercy! Apply 2 Chronicles 7:14 here! While in New York, a “dumb ass” (from KJV- 'a speechless donkey') spoke to me from the Lord in 1998! A non-Christian, a sinner, half-drunk, and after smoking a joint, suddenly sobered up and his visage changed. Oh oh! He looked straight into my eyes and stated in a completely sober voice, “Dan, you have to get back to preaching and ministering!” What?! I knew it was the Lord. I could see it in his eyes! He had no clue what he said! Then, he pulled out a fifth of rum from his coat pocket and chugged it down like water! This guy would have never said that to me of his own accord in a million years! The dumb ass spoke to the mad (crazed) and backslidden “prophet”! I am not calling myself a prophet, but you get the message. It’s sad when you are so hard hearted and so blinded by pride that the Lord has to use a dumb ass to get your attention! Yes, I like "dumb ass" better than "donkey" as used in most modern translations. It seems to get my message across better! See the story of Balaam and the donkey that received the temporary ability to speak in Numbers 22:21-33 KJV.  In March of 1999, I finally admitted, confessed, repented of my many sins, and got right with God. I humbled myself before the Lord, as it were, in dust and ashes. It was truly an amazing coming back to the Lord Jesus! He came and forgave me and cleansed me of my unrighteousness, and He set me free! His holy presence and glorious power came into my tiny apartment like a sudden thunderstorm, and the manifestation of His glory stayed there and on me for days. It was truly for me a “WOW” experience! Listen carefully here because it was a close call for me. This should put the fear of God in many that are reading this now. This is for you, and never forget it! After I repented, the Lord spoke to me vividly and clearly. It would not have been clearer or louder if someone were standing next to me and yelled it into my ear. The Lord said to me that 1999 would have been my last year on earth had I not repented. Oh my God! The door for me to repent was going to slam shut in my face by the end of the year! Not only was that a scary and horrifying thought, but a harsh warning that still makes me feel shocked and in awe when I think about it. It makes me shiver. Just a little longer and I would have gone to hell for all eternity! Just now, it hit me again and I stopped typing, and with tears in my eyes I gave thanks to the Lord for His enduring mercy! Glory to God! I almost lost out with God for all eternity, but when I humbled myself and repented, He received me with arms wide open! My God! Yes, an awfully close call. Too close. The moral of the story is: Never postpone repentance! Never! It could cost you eternity with God and you wind up in a devil’s hell if you postpone repentance. Hell would have received me had I died in the condition I was in before repenting. I was a mess. I was a sinner, even though I had been an anointed minister of the Gospel. I had gone back to wallow around in the muck and miry vomit of the world. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20-22 NASB) Get it? I was close to going to a devil’s hell for practicing sin or lawlessness! I would have been like Judas Iscariot! He had a powerful ministry among the other apostles and was sent out by Jesus to preach repentance, heal the sick, and cast out demons, (Matthew 10:1-4) but he lost it all when he betrayed the Lord and never repented! Like Judas, I once had a glorious ministry, but I would have lost it forever and gone to a devil's hell and the the lake of fire for practicing lawlessness.  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NASB) Thank God for the gift of repentance! Thank God for His mercy and goodness! He never fails to forgive and cleanse from unrighteousness all those that will humble themselves and repent of their wicked ways and turn back to God! It will work even for backslidden preachers! I am living proof of that! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9 NASB) The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. (Proverbs 28:13 NET) But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble… Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. (James 4:6, 10 NET) Maybe now you can understand why I talk relentlessly and harshly about the Covid-surrendering pastors and churches that bowed down to the false prophets of Baal, and many refuse to repent! I was like them in the fact that I fell away at one time and refused to repent, and know what refusing to repent will do. Even at the very beginning of the Covid mess, I was almost led away with all the unbelieving churches and pastors, but it was very short lived because I could see and feel the fear behind it. It was evil and I knew it. What did I do to get out of that demon-inspired and fear ridden mess that began March/April of 2020? I quickly turned off all social and the lying news media. Yes, all the alphabet soup news had to go! Next, I hooked into ministries, churches, and pastors that refused to bow their knee, and were propagating the truth. Finally, I quit giving my tithes and offerings to the dead, and ONLY tithe and give to two churches that NEVER surrendered to the lying Covid antichrist spirit. That is what changed me completely! I am getting REFIRED, RENEWED, and REFRESHED every time I go to their services or attentively watch them online!  I didn’t want to be one to speak up now and tell pastor, ministers, and Christians all this via writing. Some of it is really embarrassing and it certainly doesn’t get you invitations to preach! It is too graphic and thorny a reality for most pastors and churches to take in. They lack the fortitude, the “testicles” to face the truth about their compromise and sin during this Covid-lying mess. You better find your "testicles" in a hurry before you are destroyed by the enemy!    I am also specifically addressing the Latin community because I am a part of it! Most people on my mailing list are Spanish speaking people. It’s OK though. Probably 99% read English, and many speak it as well. I know some from the Fe es La Victoria days. Others I’ve met after that time, and a number of them are pastors or ministers. Some I have no clue who they are. One ministry couple already asked me to remove their names from the ministry mailing list. This message is not to their liking.  Unfortunately, the Spanish-speaking and Latin churches folded like a deck of cards when the Covid mess hit. Many of those churches in the U. S. A. are still closed because they lacked the “spine” to take a stand for the Lord! I say, REPENT NOW, all you cowardly Latin pastors and churches that submitted to the lies of the devil and closed your doors, agreed with the wicked Fauci and government lying narrative, and obeyed an antichrist spirit. Closed churches with all their social distancing, alcohol gels, "vaccine" compliance, and masks, obeyed the false prophets of Covid (like Baal)! Many lukewarm Christians in the Latin churches are cowardly afraid of a virus with a 99.97% post-infection survivability rate! Seriously?! That's not even the issue. The issue is your damning unbelief against Jesus being your healer and your refusal to trust in Him in the midst of it all! Do you remember the scriptural truth that all the cowards and the cowardly submissive will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone! You don’t? See, I answered for you. Here it is. But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practitioners of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)—[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8 Amplified Bible) It is time to repent for being cowards! The unbelieving-faithless are the unfaithful to the Lord and His Word. Right now, many people in Christianity qualify for at least the first part of that verse! They are “scared to death” of a sickness because they don’t believe the Scripture when it tells us that Jesus bore their pains and carried their sicknesses and diseases! (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4, 5; 1 Peter 2:24) They don’t put their trust and confidence in the Lord according to Psalms 91 and 103:1-5! They have fallen away from the faith or they deny the truths of God’s Word. You are bare and naked before God! (Hebrews 4:12, 13) You can’t hide anymore behind your worthless religion, church, denomination, or pastor. Your façade has fallen off. With you wearing that external mask, your lukewarm spiritual mask is showing! Your true colors are visible. You can’t deny your lukewarm-ness anymore. Everybody knows your true spiritual condition now. You have a form of godliness, but you DENY the power of God! (2 Timothy 3:5)  The great falling away has begun! Don’t be fooled! It’s here now for all to see. It is not the time for “nice” preaching. Too much is at stake. “Nice” will not save or deliver anybody! I know some will disagree and think I am taking this too far, but more teaching along the fire and brimstone type messages are called for now. The church NEEDS this now to prepare to be presented to the Lord. Many need to repent before it's too late. I was dismayed in 2008 when I saw that many pastors and ministers were falling for the deception espoused by hyper or pseudo (wrongly taught) grace, once-saved-always-saved, Calvinist teachers and prophets. I saw the direction they were headed with that ungodly teaching. I could see that they were leading themselves and those they were teaching into loose living and sinful lifestyles. They were teaching grace without repentance or faith-faithfulness. They were espousing doctrines of demons. At that time, the message of “repentance” flooded my heart and soul. Unfortunately, I didn’t take up the mantle of a “zeal” for repentance. I did not wear it very well. I kept putting it on and taking it off. It was extremely uncomfortable. It was way out of my comfort zone. “Repentance” for the lukewarm and backslidden lit up my spirit again in 2013 and culminated in January of 2015 when my book, A CALL TO RETURN was published. The Church at large was not ready to hear or read about repentance. The book went over like a lead balloon. Hopefully, many are ready to be called out to repentance, but we must face an unfortunate truth. It could be that many are less likely to hear about needing to repent now that their lukewarm and cowardly façade is visible for all to see it. They could harden themselves. God wants to give them mercy, and He will give it IF they humble themselves! I believe all cowardly Christians will have the opportunity to repent. Whether they do repent or not will be on them. Let me say this. The open door of repentance for the lukewarm and for the rebellious or backslidden in the churches will come to an end. Don't let the door slam in your face! Have you ever read Matthew 25:1-13? It is the parable of the ten virgins. Five were devoid of oil for their lamps or the anointing that produces light or the fire of the Spirit. They were asleep or they were not ready to meet the Lord. The five alert virgins with oil for their lamps were ready and they went into the wedding banquet with the Lord. The door was slammed shut and the five unprepared virgins were left outside with the words, "I never knew you." Have you ever heard that before? I quoted it above in Matthew 7:21-23 when speaking about the backslidden ministers.  Thank God that many other ministers are stepping up with a message similar to this one. Some ministers are out there telling Christians-in-name-only to REPENT! They took up the zeal for repentance seriously and are running with it. I'm so blessed to see that! I am the least likely for a mission like this one, at least in my own thinking. It is almost like the Lord is telling a joke by using me for anything in this area of ministry. Haha on the devil! You would think God would choose a “better qualified” candidate with no "history" against him. If you look at my past, it is fraught with stuff that would seemingly disqualify me here. Maybe God does the choosing of the “less likely” on purpose! No one can look at my history admirably! I certainly have NOTHING to offer anyone in my own self. In Christ there is EVERYTHING good and righteous to offer everyone that will receive from Him! The message presented is very simple. Humble yourself and come to repentance! If you do that, He will show up mightily in your life, pull you out of the miry clay, and set your feet on a solid rock! How this message affects you will depend on you. Reject repentance and you are already signed up for your own horrific death. Accept repentance and God's holy presence will get in you and on you and supernatural change will take place in your life! Take the forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness that Jesus bought and paid for with His own blood! Repentance is the way back to His goodness, mercy, and blessing! It is available right now!  Do you know what is happening in the church right now?  The Lord is sifting His Church like wheat. He started doing that a few years ago. It intensified many-fold in 2020. (Matthew 13:24-30, see below) The lukewarm and masquerading Christians (tares) were forced out of the closet! They couldn’t hide their unbelief and lukewarm-ness anymore. They are being rooted out and will be separated. If they don’t repent, they will finally be gathered up and burned in the fire. Jesus taught that ominous and damning truth. I am just a repeater of His message.  Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat and went on his way. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also. And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it? He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, “Then do you want us to go and weed them out?” But he said, “No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the (true) wheat along with it. Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.” (Matthew 13:24-30 AMPC) That is a truth that most evangelical, Pentecostal, Word-of Faith, Prophetic, Spirit-filled, or independent churches stopped preaching long ago. Forget the art and seeker-friendly sissified gatherings that many have mistakenly labeled as “churches”. They are pusillanimous social clubs (pubs). They never preach the truth of Scripture because they no longer preach the Bible. You will hear in those weak churches, “We just preach love and acceptance”. Instead, they should be preaching “repentance and the kingdom of God” in the fire of the Holy Spirit like Jesus did! Now after John was imprisoned, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:14, 15 NET) Repentance for the forgiveness of sins is what Jesus commanded us to preach in His name to all nations, but most churches do not preach repentance. They preach “feel good” messages that never confront sin. …And repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47 NKJV} From that time Jesus began to preach this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 4:17) The apostles were authorized and anointed by the Spirit through the ministry of Jesus. Here is what they preached and did. So they went out and preached that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with olive oil and healed them. (Matthew 6:12, 13) Have you heard all the sissified monotone voices of some preachers that are more feminine than they are masculine? Have you seen the clown show at the churches with those “pastors” wearing their tight-fitting obscene jeans with holes in them? Are they in their mid-life crisis now? Are they really men or are they conforming more to the world’s gender neutrality abomination and becoming more femininized? Instead of being like John Wayne, they are more like “Jane” Wayne, and that might be pushing it a lot! Monotone preachers are not the fiery and very masculine hero prophets and preachers like Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptizer, Paul, Peter, James, Stephen, or Jesus. That is only naming a few in Scripture. How about preaching like Whitmore, Dowie, Lake, Richey, Bosworth, Wigglesworth, others from the last few centuries that preached with the fire of God! Many today don't even have the guts or “testicles” that women like Sarah, Deborah, Esther, Rahab, or Jael had. Jael drove a tent peg with a mallet through the temples of Sisera (enemy army general) into the ground while he was hiding under a rug and slept (Judges 4)! That godly woman had no fear of repercussions or even of death! What a woman! What about women like Maria Woodworth-Etter, Aimee Semple-McPherson, Lillian Yeomans, and others? Yep, the sissified monotone preachers are a bunch of “Jane” Wayne’s and don't even come close to having that kind of fortitude!  I tell you, No; but unless you repent (change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost eternally. … I tell you, No; but unless you repent (change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost eternally. (Luke 13:3, 5 AMPC) Getting back to John the Baptizer, remember that he was sent to tell the religious leaders what hell-bound sinners they really were, that they had to repent, and to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord! Tough ministry, but it was righteous. It was not glamorous and was greatly despised by many that were bound by religious demons and going to hell. Their only option was to repent! Hey John, please pass the locusts and wild honey! Camel’s hair? No. I’ll pass on that. Too itchy. I think I will stick to cotton. Hanes will do fine. T.M.I., I know, but I don’t care. I got over caring what others think about me or this message. Read my lips: I DON’T CARE! I do care about people coming to repentance. I just don’t care if you like me or you don’t. It is liberating when you come to realize that likes or dislikes are irrelevant. Take that to your Fakebook  or Twit page! That was on purpose. You should already understand that NOWHERE in the entire New Testament are we told to shut down our churches because the government tells us to. The early Church would not stop preaching in the Name of Jesus even after severe warnings, threats of imprisonment, or beatings. They would not shut up or shut down! But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After further threats they let them go. (Acts 4:17-20 NIV) Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail… “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood. Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!... They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 5:17-18, 28-29, 40-42 NIV) BIG Haha! Threaten them, command them not to preach and teach, jail them, and beat them with whips, and they go right back out to continue with their ministry! They NEVER stopped! That is what the churches should have done, but they didn’t! They were told to shut down and they disobeyed the Scripture and the example of the apostles in the book of Acts, and they bowed their knee to Covid restrictions and mandates! Repent! Do it now, and then repent publicly because your actions were public when you surrendered to the world and the devil! We are supposed to heal the sick, and not be afraid of any disease! I’ve laid hands on a lot of sick people. Some had transmittable diseases. I’ve never been sick over any of that. Never! Churches allowed the devil to stop their ministries, many of them for months! Some of them were not doing the Word anyway with their sissified and corrupted ministries of preaching fluffy cotton candy messages. These must be confronted with the truth that THEY SINNED, and that they must repent, that is, IF they want mercy and grace from the Lord. If they don’t repent, their fate is already sealed with the enemy. They need to get out of that stinking religious trash and begin to preach the Word without compromise. What will it be pastors and churches that have succumbed to the enemy? What will be your next step? Choose this day whom you will serve! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15 NKJV) Download a free PDF copy of “A CALL TO RETURN: Restoring the Roots of our Relationship with Jesus” here unless you want to pay for a physical copy or purchase more. Barnes and Noble, Christian Book , Westbow Press have it available. It would be good seed to get extra copies and send them out. It would benefit the Kingdom of God. The church at large needs this message more right now than ever before! Buy a thousand copies and send them out! I receive VERY little per copy sold. Making money was never the reason for the book. The point of the book was and is to bring to repentance the lukewarm and backslidden in the churches.  How tragic that more churches didn’t listen to this message in 2015. Had they done so much of what has happened could have been averted. What can be done now? You can help get this timely message out by sending this article to everybody you know. Forward the podcast. Send them "A Call To Return." Do your part to get this message out. Be like an evangelist and be fervent about it!  ________________ In case you didn’t get the information from my previous articles on useless masks, vaccines, and more, here it is again with some additions: Canadian doctors and medical professionals reject the closures, lockdowns, quarantines, and masks: https://medicalkidnap.com/2021/03/10/canadian-doctors-speak-out-against-government-covid-restrictions-masks-and-vaccines-not-needed/ At the end of the article, listen to the 11-minute video presentation. Doctors from other countries speak out: https://healthimpactnews.com/2020/doctors-around-the-world-issue-dire-warning-do-not-get-the-covid-vaccine/ Mask mandates: Medical studies on the use of masks reveal a few shocking things: *Masks are useless at stopping viruses from infecting a person wearing one, and from stopping the virus from escaping the mask if someone is infected. Keep in mind the fact that ALL viruses are much smaller than the microscopic openings in the material used for masks. "It's like using a chain link fence to keep out mosquitos!" I heard someone else say that, but I don't remember who it was or I would give them credit because it really gives you a mental picture of what I am saying here. *Masks hinder the intake of air for breathing (up to 30%) and hinder the exhaling of carbon dioxide into the air. That means that what you are rebreathing under the mask is partly carbon dioxide (a waste product that is unbreathable) and not the air you need to live! That contributes to the diminished function of a lot of internal organs! There is evidence that surgeons have decreased mental acuity after 4-6 hours in the operating room after using a surgical mask. The real losers here are the little children being forced to wear masks for hours a day. What do you think oxygen deprivation together with carbon dioxide inhalation is doing to their developing brains and internal organs? It is child abuse and it is criminal. Here follows an article by Dr. Margarite Griesz-Brisson MD, PhD. a Consultant Neurologist and Neurophysiologist with a PhD in Pharmacology, with special interest in neurotoxicology, environmental medicine, neuroregeneration and neuroplasticity on the child abuse and criminal demand to mask up children: https://www.globalresearch.ca/covid-19-masks-crime-against-humanity-child-abuse/5726059 *Studies indicate that continual use of masks will have a detrimental effect on the immune system and will contribute to infections in the gums and lungs. Look at this article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mask-mouth-dentists-warn-prolonged-use-of-masks-leading-to-poor-oral-hygiene Dr. Lee Merritt on the falsehoods of masks: https://www.americasfrontlinedoctors.com/custom_videos/mask-myths A surgeon speaks out on the falsehood of the general population wearing masks: https://principia-scientific.com/surgeon-destroys-myth-if-masks-dont-work-why-do-surgeons-wear-them/ Penile shrinkage because of mask usage: https://nationalfile.com/study-chemical-that-causes-penile-shrinkage-found-in-face-masks/ Men, masking up is death to your manhood! Take off that stinking mask! Your wife will thank you! Interviews with Dr. Richard Urso: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4BfPl2EzMI https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/conservativebusinessjournal/id/17376962 The medical profession is slowly but surely revolting against all the lies of Covid-19, and they are coming from different countries around the world.  In some countries, and in some local socialist governments (NYC and others), they are implementing an ID card to prove you have been vaccinated or you can’t go into a business or eat at a restaurant. That is just like wearing the emblem of the beast! The same has been done with mask wearing. Sometime back, I tried to get my little boys ice cream at two different shops on Treasure Island (next to St Petersburg Beach) and they would not serve me without a mask! Did I yield? No way! I went through a Chick-Fil-A drive through and got each one of my boys an Ice-Dream! Haha! Trust me, it’s not an advertisement. Chick-Fil-A closed in store service and tripled up on their drive-thru operation. They also capitulated!   “May no man eat fruit of you hereafter forever?” Mark 11 anyone? That may have been Jesus’s attitude and words to a non-productive ice cream shop, I mean, fruit tree. Hmm! Nazi-like measures similar to those used against Jews in Germany are in place! Jews were forced to identify their businesses with a special emblem (a star) so Germans faithful to the Third Reich would not buy from them or sell them anything. In many places, you can’t buy or sell unless you have on a mask, and still, churches don't get it and try to defend their closure actions and capitulating ways. At a SunBank/Truist bank, I was told that to come into their lobby to open an account, I had to wear a mask! Do you know that many states have laws on their books that prohibit wearing a face mask inside a bank and most businesses? It wasn’t that long ago that if you wore a mask inside a bank, you were considered a criminal trying to rob the bank! I refused to wear a mask in their bank, so, I couldn’t open the account there. Food, money, grocery stores, government buildings, and what else is coming? If that doesn’t sound like preparation for the antichrist's one-world government in training with the mark of the beast, then I don’t know what would! Saint reading this, are you still yawning and sleeping? Vaccination, forced vaccinations, vaccination passports: Article and 55 minute interview with Dr. Kaufman: https://vaccineimpact.com/2020/censored-dr-kaufman-they-want-to-genetically-modify-us-with-covid-19-vaccine-loses-his-job-and-willing-to-go-to-jail-to-resist/ The associated deaths and side effects from the "vaccines" are running into multiplied thousands and maybe millions all over the planet. Now a new phenomenon is taking shape among the vaccinated as brain function after vaccination in many can begin to go haywire. The root of these dire problems with people passing out, going into an intense mental fog, and losing perception of reality, is being only now taking center stage among the vaccinated. There a huge amount of reports of non-sensical auto accidents because of these issues among the vaccinated. This is no joke and no conspiracy theory. It may take weeks or months before this begins to make headlines, but I have already read many reports about this terrible vaccine side-effect, and here is the science behind it.  Vaccines can modify DNA permanently and contribute to Mad Cow Disease like symptoms and illnesses in humans: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/science-mrna-vaccines-alter-dna/ https://naturalnews.com/2021-04-08-mrna-vaccines-may-cause-your-body-to-churn-out-prions-eat-your-brain-mad-cow-disease.html# 8 ways that the mRNA vaccine can kill you by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny: https://www.brighteon.com/3ef68971-87ad-4ac5-9a1c-8552364d8ccd https://rumble.com/vd0vrj-interview-with-sherri-tenpenny-about-dangers-of-vaccines.html New medical research reveals that the Pfizer mRNA vaccine can lead to the development of common neurodegerative diseases. I hope the government doesn't bury the research, so I suggest you download it and keep a copy for your records, especially if you stupidly took the experimental "vaccine". That way, when you get crippled from some neurodegenerative disease, you can try to sue Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, or Astra Zeneca for damages. News flash: The government has released big pharma from liability for any injuries or deaths resulting from the "vaccines." Basically, that means that if you get a neurological disorder, a debilitating disease, or die from the experimental "vaccine", big pharma cannot be sued. Below is the PDF of the research paper that recently came to light, though it was accepted by the SciVision Publishers (medical journals and medical research site) January 18, 2021. That was 4 months ago from me publishing this article! News like this can really travel slowly. This should be FRONT PAGE news on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and the rest of the alphabet soup devil-inspired news networks! Don't hold your breath because the fake news, mainstream media, are corrupt and in bed with the devil. This paper will not see them light of day on any major news channel or social media. It doesn't fit their agenda or lying narrative. It took Nationalfile.com to report it.   https://nationalfile.com/report-pfizer-vaccine-confirmed-to-cause-neurodegenerative-diseases/ PDF research paper: https://scivisionpub.com/pdfs/covid19-rna-based-vaccines-and-the-risk-of-prion-disease-1503.pdf The side effects of these demon-inspired experimental gene modifiers erroneously called "vaccines" will have a huge effect among the vaccinated population. Watch for a huge increase in senseless accidents of all kinds and generally people losing their minds and ability to concentrate and carry out everyday activities. It will be a plague unto itself and demonstrate that the supposed cure is a million times worse than the coronavirus!  More than 52,000 medical professionals worldwide have signed the Great Barrington Declaration at https://gbdeclaration.org/ calling into question the draconian Covid 19 policies, procedures, and vaccinations: https://healthimpactnews.com/2020/covid-has-caused-tens-of-thousands-of-medical-doctors-and-scientists-to-wake-up-to-corruption-in-the-medical-industry/ Israel’s “vaccination passport” and the violation of the Nuremberg Code: https://vaccineimpact.com/2021/israelis-cry-out-to-the-world-to-stop-mandatory-covid-injections-as-lawsuit-is-filed-in-international-criminal-court-over-nuremberg-code-violation/ Chananya Weissman: 31 Reasons Why I Won’t Take the Vaccine. Some points have to do specifically with what is going on in Israel, but we see the same nonsense in the U. S. A. New York Teachers for Choice: https://nyteachersforchoice.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/top-10-reasons-why-a-covid-vaccine-should-not-be-mandatory/ Mandatory vaccines, or forcing people to get vaccinated, is a direct violation of the Nuremberg Code that was established after WW2 to counteract Nazi policies and practices. These are all signs of the times where the antichrist system is being pushed to set things up for the still future man of sin or lawlessness. This is not funny! Listen to what Bill Gates is doing NOW with injections from this medical doctor: https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/073/075/235/original/214821d7b2498c91.mp4 Look at the latest official info (May 2021) on deaths and injuries from the experimental gene altering injections falsely labeled as vaccines that are already reported. These numbers are way behind the real numbers but it shows you what all these injections are doing to the people receiving them. There are many more serious injuries and deaths yet to be reported. Of course, as expected, the mainstream lying-devil media is saying that no injuries or deaths can be directly linked the Covid injections. When perfectly healthy people die within minutes, hours, or days after taking the injections, and they complained of severe reactions to the injection, even a moron with little gray matter upstairs could see it was linked. But for the zombies (lukewarm and weak former Christians and the devil worshippers) that mindlessly watch the news media and the lying garden gnome Fauci and believe everything they say, ignore the truth to their own doom. https://healthimpactnews.com/2021/genocide-in-the-u-s-continues-3848-deaths-118902-injuries-following-covid-injections-children-now-being-reported-as-dying-also/ We must take a stand. The protests are going on all over the world. There is a complete media blackout on these protests going on worldwide. Video of just ONE day of protests against the overreach and removal of our human rights by tyrannical governments:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvXXgPHyPFE Why are not churches protesting? The simple truth is that most churches submitted to the Covid lie brought through an antichrist spirit, and they have not repented. Where is all the righteous indignation and anger against evil!  Now to today’s podcast message:

In this episode the Crew dials the voicemail to answer a question from a loyal Power Athlete Radio listener: Hey John and Tex. My name’s Alex. I’m from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. 5 months ago, I suffered a knee injury playing basketball. Basically, the guy went for my pump and the post and while I was in the… The post Ep 484 – Tendon Tensegrity & Rec Sports w/ Dr. Matt Zanis first appeared on Power Athlete.

Hey my friends! I’m Hayley Hobson and I’m so glad you’re here!  Welcome to the Whole You Podcast where I share tips to help women like you implement healthy hacks and habits so you can eat smarter… rest better, and get it ALL done.  Today we’re gonna talk about how crazy the internet is… And I don’t think this is really gonna be an unpopular opinion but… the online world is a noisy place these days.  It’s not enough just to be online anymore, you have to actually be FOUND by your clients and customers, right?  But being found? It’s no easy task.  Here, let me drop some stats on ya... just to paint a picture. On any given day…Google does 63,000 searches per second. PER. SECOND. Ok maybe that doesn’t sound so bad… but here’s what it translates to. 3.8 million... searches per MINUTE... That’s 5.6 BILLION... searches per day. Yup, with a B. Which means… at least 2 TRILLION searches per year. And I bet you've never thought about HOW Google serves up the results to you in a fraction of a freaking section, have you? You’re more concerned that it does it FAST, am I right? LOL So here’s another little fun fact… there are over 200 factors that play into what shows up the instant you hit ENTER. That’s some complicated coding going on in the background… And you know what? Getting on Page 1 of those results is important…  ...because 95% of web traffic comes from the first page of the search results...  Which means just 5 freaking percent comes from anything on page 2 or later. AND -- check this out -- the majority of people don’t even bother to get past the FIRST FIVE RESULTS ON PAGE 1.  I know, I know… I just threw a lot of numbers at you and your head is probably spinning… but the point is… if you wanna get found super quickly and easily on the internet? You wanna be highly ranked in Google. So -- if you could somehow hack that algorithm to show up at the top of page 1…  To soak up all that secret sauce? Well, that’d be worth a pretty penny, don’t you think? And here’s the deal. You can. The place to start is 3 little letters: S - E - O.  There are entire companies dedicated entirely to SEO… It’s literally that important. So knowing all this… it can be a little overwhelming. I GET IT. That’s why I’m so excited to be chatting with my guest today, John Vuong, an SEO expert who knows how to refine, clarify and AMPLIFY your brand and get it found online. He’s the Founder and President of Local Seo Search, a boutique agency entirely focused on the SEO game. He’s here to break down SIMPLE ways you can start improving your own SEO… without dropping bucket loads of cash on it. He’ll share some of the secrets big brands know… so you can get all the insider info that they spent years and tons of money into figuring out. Because entrepreneurs? It’s important that we understand SEO… and how it plays into getting super clear on who are are… who we serve… and what we offer. Because I promise you. If you stay super high level… and you think you’re for everyone… SEO is gonna be tough for you. So we’re gonna dig into how entrepreneurs can use SEO techniques so we get found… and make more MONEY. That sounds awesome, right? John’s gonna help us get there… working with business owners like you and me is HIS JAM. So let’s get started! Welcome, John... Hey John, welcome. I’m so excited to be chatting with you today! Could you introduce yourself briefly to our listeners and give some insight into your background, how you got here, and what you do? Okay now let’s dig on into some biz tips. For those who aren’t as familiar, can you tell us briefly what SEO is and then I’d love to know what advice you have for how biz owners can take advantage of it to get their businesses FOUND online? What is the most common mistake you see brands making when it comes to getting their businesses found online? How do small businesses and entrepreneurs can get found on google when they're up against major competitors with a ton of money to put toward SEO? In the Wild Wild West that is the internet, how do we go about differentiating our brand from everything else that’s out there? What does that process look like? Do you have any other closing tips for amplifying our brand, maybe in the areas of sales and relationship-building as I know you consult with companies on that? John, how can people connect more with you? Do you have a website or social account you’d like to share? Well, my friends, I hope you all learned as much from John as I did.  Do you feel a little smarter about your biz now? I know I do. SEO is crazy important, right? I’m super pumped after chatting with John! Let’s get your businesses out of the DARK back pages of the internet, lol!  I’d love to hear from you on Instagram, TikTok, or Clubhouse - share with me some of your biggest takeaways from today. My DMs are open, lol. And as important as SEO is… it’s kinda hard to land yourself on the top 5 results of page 1 after listening to just one podcast episode. I WISH it were that easy… There’s a lot that goes into it… Like John shared, getting crystal clear on your brand foundations is a major part of the SEO puzzle… And it’s just one step in the process of smashing your success goals. So if you’ve struggled a bit in your biz… or your head is now spinning from all the knowledge dropped on ya today… I’ve got the cure. First… take a deep breath. Right now. You got this. Second… you’re gonna want to go step by step. Baby steps even. Bite-sized chunks is the only way you’re gonna actually make it happen. Unless you’ve got a gazillion dollars to drop on a huge team of experts. I’m gonna assume that ISN’T you. (But I wish it were!) So the first baby step is to come up with a plan. You need a roadmap to know where you’re going, right? You’ll find one inside Your Whole Biz… This is a course I recently decided to reopen because I saw so many people struggling with getting found online -- or heck, even GETTING online. Your Whole Biz gives you everything you need to know about stepping up your game by going online… Whether you’re brand new to the idea or if you’ve got a biz with a bit of an online presence. You’ll get value from it. The course is basically all of my learnings from the past, oh I don’t know, decade, of experience condensed in one place for you. I used a specific set of online marketing strategies to take my passion for health and wellness and turn it into a multi-million dollar division of my existing business.  I'll teach you how to do the same thing with your business. You know, the other day I was hanging out in the private Your Whole Biz community group and Danielle popped in to say that she learned more from this course than she did a 6-month mastermind… And you KNOW those are pricey… What’s funny is I was putting this episode together… which is obviously all about search and Google… and she said that Your Whole Biz offers clear instructions and  resources -- so you don’t have to Google anything. It’s all right there in the course. Because as we just learned… Google is a JUNGLE. There’s a whole lotta information out there, so it takes a ton of time to find everything you’re looking for. Especially if you want to learn how to grow your biz online. And like Danielle says… with Your Whole Biz -- you don’t need to Google.  Everything you need to know is right there in the course… and it’s super clear, easy to follow, and with all the resources you need to get started NOW. But here’s the thing: You need to register for this course right now though because we won’t be doing an open registration for a while.  The place to go is https://www.hayleyhobson.com/yourwholebiz. Don’t worry about catching that right now… I’m dropping the link in the Show Notes and this week’s newsletter.  Registration is only open until April 13th so do your future self (and your biz) a favor and get in there. I hope to see you inside! Okay friends, I’ll see you online.  

In this episode the Crew dials the voicemail to answer a question from a loyal Power Athlete Radio listener: Hey John & Texas. My name is Alex and I follow Jacked Street. I actually asked a lot of questions in the feed, but this one seemed appropriate for the hotline, which I’ve heard is always… The post Ep 462 – Post-Bulk Bodyweight Maintenance Guide first appeared on Power Athlete.

Hey John here, Welcome to the tradesmen podcast. This podcast is about how you can grow and scale your business. In this episode, John Clarke talks about what is happening in his business and shares some tips on what to do. Enjoy and listen in. Website: www.johndclarke.co.uk Social:  Instagram @johnclarkeuk & @tradesmanbusinessmentor Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/johnclarkeuk1 Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/573569386605982 About the Host: John Clarke is the host of the Tradesmen Business Mentor Podcast. John Is a multiple business owner of a plumbers merchants, bathrooms showroom, property business and business coaching academy. John Is an Author of If I Can You Can o true story of how he overcame adversity to become a positive role model to others. His passion is business and helping other tradespeople grow their businesses from the ground up Support the show: https://www.johndclarke.co.uk/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey John here, Hope you are doing exceptionally well. In this episode, we catch up with how we are doing and what we are doing.  How are you getting on in your business?  Im looking to take on 5 new clients next month will it be you? Do you want a coach? Website: www.johndclarke.co.uk Social:  Instagram @johnclarkeuk & @tradesmanbusinessmentor Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/johnclarkeuk1 Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/573569386605982 About the Host: John Clarke is the host of the Tradesmen Business Mentor Podcast. John Is a multiple business owner of a plumbers merchants, bathrooms showroom, property business and business coaching academy. John Is an Author of If I Can You Can o true story of how he overcame adversity to become a positive role model to others. His passion is business and helping other tradespeople grow their businesses from the ground up Support the show: https://www.johndclarke.co.uk/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To help a grieving friend starts with being present and joining God in comforting those going through difficult times. Hello everyone and welcome to episode no. 71, where today we discuss how to help a grieving friend. Before we get into that, I have some listener feedback to share with you from episode 69, When our Kids Go Off to School for the First Time. Hey John, I have enjoyed the past two weeks and happy for your new season.  This is a bright spot in the middle of the pandemic.  I am wondering if I will ever get out of England.  ~ Dorcas Great podcast John!  I love your action step of writing a notecard to parents who are sending their kids to school for the first time.  Well done!  ~ Teri On to today’s episode. We’ve all been there. A friend loses someone important to them through death. We care, but we don’t know what to do. Today’s episode is about what happened to me recently when a friend died, and what I did to help a grieving friend. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for what you can do when you find yourself in the same situation. Because sooner or later, you will. Our Friends, Martin and Suzanne We met them at a missions conference a number of years ago. Martin was from Germany, Suzanne from Chicago. They met in China were they served as missionaries for 11 years. When my book, THEM, came out in 2016, they heard about it and invited Janet and me to come down to their home in Chicago to talk about it. Janet couldn’t make it. So I just went. Suzanne shared similarities in her background and mine. Both of us born to unwed mothers, both of us found Jesus in College through Campus Crusade. My time with her and Martin was just delightful. They would come up to Milwaukee for our GermanFest. Martin would translate the beer-drinking songs into English for us. We last saw them about a year ago when they came to our home. And they invited us to come down to Chicago to do some fun things there. As they were leaving we didn’t know it was to be the last time we would ever see Suzanne. Martin gave me permission to share his story in this podcast, trusting that it may help someone. I’ll start by sharing the sequence and Martin’s texts. Saturday, August 8, 2020,  4:23pm. Suzanne, the love of my life, heart and soul of our small family just went to be with Jesus. The machines keep her body going so she can donate some of her organs. Likely Monday evening! Thank you for everything! The new shocked Janet and me. What do I do to help a grieving friend? 5 minutes later I texted back: Oh no, Martin! I didn’t know she was ill! How terrible. I will pray for you, Serena, and her mom. I will call you at some point in the near future after you have notified everyone. Hang in there brother. A minute later Martin replied: A sudden brain aneurysm on Thursday. So that was Saturday. Monday August 10th, 5:24am Martin’s text: Good morning, Serena and I together with a friend from church will return to the hospital at 7:30 am as Suzanne will go to the OR at 8 am. Serena wrote a statement which will then be read by a staff member. Please remember us during this moment. Thank you, Martin Apparently Suzanne was declared brain dead early that Saturday. And they were keeping her alive until Monday to harvest her organs she was donating. Later that Monday afternoon Martin sent me the viewing and funeral information to take place the coming Friday and Saturday. We couldn’t go - out of town company that weekend. The next communication from Martin was 2 days later on Wednesday August 12th. It was a text with a photo of a blackboard Suzanne kept on the wall in their kitchen. She periodically wrote scripture verses to encourage her daughter Serena and Martin. The last one she ever wrote was from Isaiah 41:10. Martin included a link to a Gofundme campaign that 5 people from his church took on to pay for the funeral, cemetery expenses, and something to replace Suzanne’s lost income to help pay for Serena’s college expenses next year. He also shared the text of his daughter Serena’s donor letter to the medical staff and the recipients of her mother’s organs, her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Imagine this 17-year-old girl who just lost her mother, writing the following to 4 unknown people who would be caring parts of her mother’s body in their bodies for rest of their lives. Serena's donor statement Dear Medical Staff & Recipients, When I think of Mom, I think of giving. There would never be a time where she would go empty-handed anywhere. It would be what can we bring or what would make them smile. Giving to others was what she was born to do ever since she was little. She gave to others all over the world not only with gifts but her precious love and time. It was always her wish to become a mom and give everything she had to that little human. After a couple years of praying and hoping she had me. She told everyone I was a gift from God and her little miracle baby. She gave me the most wonderful life that anyone could imagine having. When things weren’t perfect, she made it perfect when things weren’t ok, she somehow made them ok. Since she gifted me this life I am gifting you all parts of her. She will carry on and live on in the lives of others. Even when she’s no longer with us she’s giving and will forever be. So with that, be gentle and accept these gifts that she is giving because she is smiling with joy. May she forever be known as the most loving and giving person out there. Be gentle with these parts of her because these will be the best gifts she’s ever given. With lots of love, her daughter Serena. Then on Friday, the public viewing was held, followed by the funeral on Saturday. Only 50 people were allowed in, all masked. It was live-streamed. I watched and saved the link and emailed it to a mutual friend in Germany who was very close to Suzanne. A week later I texted Martin and asked if he’d like to talk. He couldn’t at the time, but we set a time to chat a few days later, on August 24th in the evening. We talked, or I should say, he talked for about an hour. “I can’t believe this has happened. “I don’t know if we have any money. Suzanne took care of all the finances here in America. I did the same thing when we lived in Germany. I don’t know how things work here. Do we even have any money? I don’t know. “The only reason we moved to Chicago was to care for Suzanne’s mother. We spent several years in Germany caring for my father before he died, and now it was going to be Suzanne’s turn to care for her mother. How am I going to do this? “Why would God allow this to happen?” Martin later in the evening texted me with “Thank you for reaching out. Still remember our visit with you!!!” About a week later Martin texted me on September 3rd, late in the evening: "John I would like to come up to New Berlin someday and talk to you if you are available. I just don't know whether I have someone to stay with Jo for a couple of hours. Unless you would be able to come to Chicago and we could talk here at our place. Just wondered. Thinking about my life story and generational issues." I went to bed with this on my mind. The next morning I woke up and told Janet about Martin’s text. I said, “I think I need to go down there. It would so much easier for Martin.” Without hesitating, Janet agreed. So I texted Martin and we arranged a time for me to drive the 85 miles down to Chicago to meet and talk. I didn’t know what I would do, or what I would say, except to just be there with him and listen, and then take it from there. No plan, except to listen. So my answer to the question and title of today’s episode of how to help a grieving friend is this: Just show up, be present, and listen. In next week’s episode I tell you what happened, and what I learned from my grieving friend that could help you the next time one of your friends goes through grief. If you forget everything else, here’s the one thing I hope you remember from today’s episode. God is at work in the lives of our friends, and there are times, especially the difficult times, when we have the privilege of being used by God to be part of that work. It pleases and honors him when we accept the invitation to be part of the story he is writing. It starts by just showing up and listening. What you can do in response to today’s show? When someone you know is going through loss, be part of God’s story of working in their life. Be open to the possibility that God may want you to join in the journey of grief your friend is going through. Ask God what role he wants you to play. He may not want your significant involvement, but he would at least like you to ask him. As always, another thing you could do is let me and your fellow listeners know what resonated with you about today’s episode. By the way, did you know this podcast and our blog posts are sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry?  It is through this organization that we first met Martin and Suzanne. Closing I hope your thinking was stimulated by today’s show, to both reflect and to act. So that you will find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This. Now for Our Relationship Quote of the Week In my book THEM I wrote about our daughter’s friend Kellie, who lost her child within hours of birth. One year after this tragic loss she posted this quote on Facebook by Ralph Fletcher from his book Fig Pudding, “When someone you love dies, you get a big bowl of sadness put down in front of you, steaming hot. You can start eating now, or you can let it cool and eat it bit by bit later on. Either way, you end up eating the whole thing. There's really no way around it.” That’s all for today. See you next week. Bye for now.

Hey John here, Learn my thoughts on celebrating your wins and destination. Man, Im soo excited to be back in the recording booth. There is so much more to come... stay tuned. Website: www.johndclarke.co.uk Social:  Instagram @johnclarkeuk & @tradesmanbusinessmentor Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/johnclarkeuk1 Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/573569386605982 About the Host: John Clarke is the host of the Tradesmen Business Mentor Podcast. John Is a multiple business owner of a plumbers merchants, bathrooms showroom, property business and business coaching academy. John Is an Author of If I Can You Can o true story of how he overcame adversity to become a positive role model to others. His passion is business and helping other tradespeople grow their businesses from the ground up Support the show: https://www.johndclarke.co.uk/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I believe we are in a new civil war now. We have intimidation squads now operating around the country. I explore how these mobs caused a prosecutor in Omaha Nebraska to empanel a grand jury after he had otherwise declined to charge owner of the Omaha bar the hive Jacob Gardner. 126 - We are in a New Civil War - The Jacob Gardner Case 00:00:05 - 00:05:16 And? Welcome, Republic. Uber Podcast Name is Brian Kelly. I will be your host for today's program. Broadcasting from the forest, just outside of the anarchists zone in Seattle Washington. My name is Brian Kelly again this is the republic keeping podcast. Our facebook. Number One, twenty, six. Republic Uber Dot Com website etcetera for the social media connections and more and let's kick this off like every other broadcast in. Thank God for good health and the ability to be here sharing. With you today and. Wondering where that extra sound is coming from and I just figured it out I was like, wow, weird. ECHO in my. Ear. I forgot to turn the volume down on one of my Monitoring Devices, not that you all care but anyway good morning. Welcome and thanks for joining lots to go through today. Today's program. titled. America's new civil war. And at the risk of that being hyperbole, let me talk to you a little bit about why I'm saying this. This has been a conversation I've been having for. Literally, decades I remember. Over twenty years ago. Sitting in a parking, lot of the newspaper I was working out with my friend Julian and we were discussing the political landscape in America, and I told him at that point that I thought that the country was going to break up into four or five countries someday. That was my view then and it's still not very different today. My view was that the west coast would split off and become its own country. That the mid West would separate into at least one country. And, the eastern seaboard would separate into. Two Countries a northeast and southeast country along, and these would be along values in ideological lines was my view and because the reality is that there's nothing about Nebraska. And Kansas and Iowa. That's like Oregon. Or Florida. And it's not just the geography of climate. It's the attitudes and the people and the things that they value. Now people are people but the culture you grow up in determines a lot about what you value in consider. To be important and So I, told Julian years ago that I thought that the country was going to break up into. Three four or five countries and along ideological lines, and we are seeing these ideological divisions happen and IT IS A. To say IT'S A it's a war. That's hyperbole, right? Well, I don't know. You know typically in a war you have. Military engaged on both sides right and sometimes in guerrilla wars, the military aren't official military. There are a paramilitary group right or a loosely organized group and the Sikh Kita station seems to be the. Once these things start to invade your neighborhood. And stop being just police chasing criminals. It's the point to me. It seems that there's a line that's crossed, and so I've collected together quite a few pieces of video and audio from around the country of these intimidation squads at work and this has resulted in. The death of a man named Jake Gardner and we're GONNA go in depth into that one case before the show is over today. So let's jump right in here with some of the first things these intimidation squads are as I say ramping up all over the country and you've seen some of the violence that's happened at the protests including some shootings, right? Well, this is just real quick. This is a man who was beat up a few weeks ago. I think just like August twentieth. So about a month ago, I guess in Portland take a listen and here is the video this man. Hearing. From the truck driver who was brutally beaten over the weekend by demonstrators in Portland. Meanwhile, protesters are renewing their battles with federal agents correspondent. Dan Springer has the latest tonight. Tonight Portland Police are wondering where the next attack will be last night. It was back at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office with of federal officers inside Portland. Police declared a riot after protesters started a fire broke several windows and through softball sized rocks at officers we all should be condemning the violence that's occurring increasingly. There are calls for citizens to rise up and say, no more police chief Chuck Lavelle wrote the solution is in a critical mass of community and partners coming together to denounce this criminal activity and call it out for the first time since his brutal beating over the weekend at heinous speaking out saying he stopped to help a transgender woman who has been. 00:05:17 - 00:10:04 Hearing from the truck driver who was brutally beaten over the weekend by demonstrators in Portland meanwhile, protesters are renewed. On the side of the road and she's trying to figure out what happened to me. Hater says he was called a racist during the attack police are still looking for their main suspect. Marquees love who reportedly posted on social media. Video. Bunny. Sorry about that. But that guy was beat up there in. PORTLAND. Okay. So that's okay. Fine gets beat up at the protest. You know that's not a big surprise. You went down the protest, right? You had it coming. Well, what about the Los Angeles police chief? Did He have it come instructors vandalized the home of LAPD chief Michael. Moore last night tonight. There's new concern that this type of activism is doing more harm than good to the Social Justice Movement and drowning out peaceful protests more now from NBC Forest Kim Bulletin Auto. It's a trend many find disturbing protesters going directly to the homes of public officials. Last night, the black future project vandalize the home of La Police chief Michael Moore and plastered signs laced with obscenities on his garage windows in front door. I'm very concern I know that I participated in a number of protests and demonstrations. During my time they've always been at a public place in front of a public facility earl. Affari Hutchinson is president of the L. E. Urban Policy Roundtable, and says protesting his point there. It's always been in a public place in front of a public forum right and so that that's fine that makes sense. You know the protests should be in know used to be down at the courthouse or whatever. Right? It didn't use to ever be. At anybody's home. So that was the LA police chief. That's a big city, right so you know he's a target that makes sense right? Well, how about we start with new video of the Olympia Mayor's home being vandalized this happened during protests last night watch closely there's this one person who appear to spray painted Blm by the door. They're the mayor sent us this video and it also looks like a sign saying Blm, which is obviously stiffer. Black lives matter throughout these protests was already in her window so she's along. So. That's the Olympia Washington mayor and that's The capital of the state of Washington here, and that's not a big city. It's it's a relatively small city. In fact, it didn't have the capital I don't know what what else it would have their. So, then Tucker Carlson is the course of the Fox host right. This is a report from the Australian TV about what happened to him. Now, this stuff isn't in nine enough the media partisanship with the cancel culture with a liberal lift same intent on silencing. Any opposing views? Well, it's played out in another ugly why in the United States influential conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has gone public now about how the Liberal Lift New York Times newspaper has targeted him. Two years ago left-wing journalists publicized our home address in Washington a group of screaming antiques lunatic showed up while I was at work vandalized are home they threatened my wife she called nine one one while hiding in a closet a few weeks later they showed up again at our house for the next year, they sent letters to our home threatening to kill us try to ignore it. It felt cowardly to sell our home and leave. We raised our kids there in the neighborhood and we loved it. But in the end, that's what we did. We have four children it just wasn't worth it. But the New York Times followed us the paper is assigned to political activists called Murray Carpenter to write a story about where we are. Now they've hired a photographer called tristen spins ski to take pictures their story about where we live is slated to run in the paper. This week editors there know exactly what will happen to my family when it does. Run I call them today and I told them but they didn't care. They hate my politics they want this show off the air. If one of my children gets hurt because of a story they wrote they won't consider it Claro damage. They know it's the whole point of the exercise to inflict pain on our family to terrorize us to control what we say. Because this is one of the big concerns I had in starting the show is what is it going to mean to my family? If I make the wrong person angry. Do I want to be a public person and this is what they're trying to do is to keep people from shutting up. And keep people for speaking out or shut people I remember when I. Was Beginning discussing this. Concept I was talking with my boys who both serve in the military and explaining them. 00:10:05 - 00:15:06 This was a real concern. What if the mob comes to my house and you know attacks my wife and my grandkids are my children or anybody else my neighbors? and My boys said to be dad you know were literally there literally people shooting at us. And you're worried about some criticism in this from guys might come to your house. Well, it's you know yeah, it's not just criticism. It's I'm I'm kind of worried that they might actually hurt somebody because it's what they do. Here is outside of Derek Children's home this morning we're also learning more about the now former officers who were involved in George Floyd's death. We go right to Christiane Cordeiro, she is at the scene a thirty eight in Chicago where she was yesterday morning with what she knows today Christiane. Cool Jason We know that there were for responding officers initially we. Understood that there were at least two of them and we now. Have confirmed the identity of one of those responding officers former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Show van was one of the four who responded Monday night he's represented by Attorney Tom? Kelly Kelly represented Saint Anthony Police. Officer your Janas acquitted in the death of Landau Casteel in it 2017 we also learned. was put on leave at least once before and twenty eleven. He was one of five officers involved in a police shooting and little earth. In that case, we're told officers were responding to a shooting the suspect fled and when he didn't stop, he was shot in the Torso Minneapolis police later said that the officers acted appropriately and courageously very different reactions from NPD Cheese Madeira air when he fired Shelvin and his three colleagues yesterday. I stand before you in the city. Of Minneapolis here to say that our deepest condolences, the vast majority of the men and women who probably put on this uniform each and every day understand the important role in relationship we must have. We must have. With all of our community members and when tragedy strikes, it absolutely strikes to the core and we should all be impacted by this. There was a protest massive want here. Of course, you can hear a couple of people who actually just showed up just to show a little bit more of their support. There was also a smaller protests over in Oakdale at Derek Shaw Wtn's home a we understand that about a few dozen people showed up there. Yesterday protesters said enough is enough that they wanted to their presence known the chief of Oakdale. Police also showed up he said that given the circumstances he understands why people are so. Home protested him there and Then we had a repair Ginsberg died the other day and now people are protesting outside of. Mitch McConnell's house. Vote Him out and vote him out they WANNA get rid of Mitch so we go to now. Protest. Washington DC. Bureau bouncers house. See Mayor. Any murder. Cutting a majority. An During So these demonstrations are now happening outside of people's houses right here is the looking at a live picture right now happening now, protesters refusing to leave the condo complex they believe is the home to mayor Ted Wheeler. giving. Him a list of demands tonight. This is coin six news at ten o'clock. Good evening everyone. I'm Jeff Gianola all this comes after around two hundred people marched through northwest Portland earlier this evening before making their way to that condo complex are Jennifer dowling on the scene right now what is the latest Jennifer? Here behind me, there's a massive dance party going on is alive. Cut Her off right there because this is what happens every time the reporters come on and say it's just a dance party. It's a lively crowd. It's nice to be here. But. What happens every time is that the party is early and the people committed a violence or there later, and the violence happens later and every single time the reporters of all gone home and the violence happens and I saw here in Seattle I mean I've witnessed this with my own eyes. This isn't just some speculation. I'm not some guy in some remote place who hasn't seen it. I've been down at the protests repeatedly Seattle and I've seen it these are organized. Events with people, coordinating them, and so on and so forth now. 00:15:08 - 00:20:06 After the break I've got one more to plan were come into the. Break and then we're gonNA come back and we're explore one man's real story that's ended in tragedy now. After the break. So I wanted to hear from this police captain here I. This is a Richmond Virginia, our police chief I guess in Richmond take a listen to Let's see if I got this cute up right and I don't think I'd do. Go, take a listen to this guy. And again there's a there's one incident I think is particularly pointed that truly illustrates. The The seriousness of the issues that we're facing. The mayor mentioned this last night protesters intentionally set a fire to unoccupied building on broad street. This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to the last two days. But they prohibited us from getting on seeing. We had to force our way. To make a clear path for the department. Protesters intercepted that fire apparatus several blocks away with vehicles. Department scrambling. To the structure far. Inside that home was a child. Officers were able to. GET COMPOSURE BACK Officers were able to help those people out of the House. We were able to get the Fire Department there safely. Can Barely get through it. But when you take a Legitimate issue. And hijack it. For unknown reasons that is unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to the right police department unacceptable to the city rich. As the mayor said, this isn't Richmond. And it truly is not Richmond. Virginia. Is Not even the mid Atlantic. Intelligence that we're working on presently so that we hope to be able to file charges following up from this, we have people from across the country have traveled. Many states to be here. We know that this is an organized effort. We're committed to try and identify those that are behind it. And we're doing our level best to arrest those that are perpetrating the balance in our community, our city, and our citizens. So. So these guys started fire to building set fire to a building that had people in it. And the adults were able to get out. And a baby was not able to get out. Now I don't know what you call that when they're attacking civilians. For no other reason apparently they lived in the wrong neighborhood. And I I don't know what you call that. So I'm saying, yeah, we're in a civil war because we have what is effectively a traveling funded paramilitary guerilla group the travels around the country and attacks. Anybody who doesn't agree with them who doesn't see it their way now I'm not sure about you but that sounds a lot like a civil war to me. So we get back. We're going to dig into the Jake Gardner case out of Omaha Nebraska in depth and I think you're gonNA find it fascinating and we'll see if you do we'll be right back in a minute and we'll. Explore what's happened there and We'll go from there. Thanks be right back. Welcome back to the Republika podcast broadcasts were we'll call it in. Hell. Thanks for those of you who are joining live on the livestream on facebook on twitter. Youtube appreciate it welcome good morning and There's been this Thing going on all around the country those plan these. Things that people being intimidated right public officials, police, officers, police, chiefs, mayors, etcetera, and you know one of the people that have been intimidated places are prosecutors right? Sometimes the prosecutors get intimidated if they don't act the way that the public wants them to because after all. The. Public has the best view of what's going on. That's why instead of juries now, we're just GONNA go to whatever the crowd thinks. It's ridiculous, right we're not going to do that. But what happens is if the crowd doesn't like the prosecutor's decision, sometimes they show up at the prosecutors house, and so we're going to go through the story now of a man named Jake Gardner. 00:20:07 - 00:25:09 and. This Omaha Nebraska. So this is the first news story. This is the morning after. So let me give you the setup real quick This man Jake Gardner owns a bar. And apparently there were protests there was some damage done. It has bar. As I understand it his father was there and his father and one of the protesters got into a shoving match and I I think maybe his dad's started it not certain how that worked out. But either way this man of Jake Gardner was pulled into it. was armed and a man jumped on him and he shot and fired in what was initially determined to be self. Defense? Here is the first news story from the day after protester is shot and killed in downtown. Omaha last night with the shooter in police custody as the investigation is ongoing senior reporter Jake was a cousy is live with the latest. John More than one hundred people are out here supporting James Skirl Lock. Let me go ahead and step out of the shot. As you can see just eighteen hours ago he was killed less than half a block away where at Thirteenth Harney here. Chance to support him as well as is. Violence especially after so much happened last night right here in the old market. For James Reds? No No justice. No peace. That's legit. Right there. No justice no p fighting back tears diamond Davis fights to keep his name known her friend James Scurr lock the twenty two year old was shot and killed outside the Gatsby bar formerly known as the high that twelve and Harney, last night I everybody to know just keep his name while i. Don't let his name. I said. He pretty cool kid if you get to know. Hundreds of people protesting in the area and many witnessed. The shooting was recorded by several people in videos like this one have been circulating since last night and social media. Police haven't said much as to what happened, but the shooter is not on the streets and charges would have to come from the county attorney the Police Department did detain. Somebody who fired that weapon that individual remains in Omaha police customers jake shooter has not been identified by police but many are talking about who he is is racist. He's a known homophobic. He's a known big at. This is not the first time that's happened. He's been the news several times. And I hope he's held accountable for what he's done. It's not okay. It's not acceptable. I'm not going to speculate as to the the. The content of the character of this individual. I think that will come out and police investigations over time and I think we need to wait for that Davis says screw lock was peacefully protesting like everyone else when he saw a man goes important. Is No peace. No justice, no peace. No justice no peace. Now hear how they set up. He was a white supremacist right that this guy has an. On Thirteenth Street here maybe offer diamond just a few minutes ago and let them know that the alleged shooter is actually in police custody, which was something that they had not known yet, and that he wasn't that person was never actually released. Gardner that they took into custody there now, they were setting up the idea that Jake Gardner is a bad man if you heard that. Because Jake Gardner apparently is a racist they said and so regardless here is the father of. James Spurlock who's the man who was shot by? Gardner good evening John father just wrapped up moments ago. He decided to go ahead and speak out here at the Malcolm X.. Center here in North Omaha. Now, it was a huge turnout, lots of family members and just emotion. That's the easiest way for me to describe it as raw motion is heard tears i. saw tears heard a few laughs. You know remembering him and family members are really hurting right now and wanting you know obviously answers and most of all wanting justice. Now Senator Justin Wayne was here he spoke on behalf of the family said he'd be representing them and they would not take any questions today they asked that. You just provide the family with the space that they need and also with closure for them. So really just lots of people here supporting this family and we'll have more for you coming up at ten o'clock tonight reporting. Against, supporting, the family. You know whatever happened their family didn't do. Whatever they're young man did if you did anything right So of course, there were more protests were visible but remained in the background as dozens of protesters showed up tonight at three different locations including for a protest downtown at the site where two other planned events were called off. 00:25:09 - 00:30:18 That's where three news now reporter Sydney grade joins us live with Lake City. John Good evening. So I'm not in the shot right now because I want you all to take a good look at what is happening right now police officers and protesters from earlier this evening have escorted those protesters rather over to the area near the hive were they've taken that wreath that Lock now, if you can see the woman and the biggest church. Walk down the street There is a large group of protesters. It's not just the two people you see how? They're going to. Protest continue once again in Omaha tonight, this time, not just for James Kerouac book for what's happening in Portland reporter Sydney Gray was at the gathering house more. Hey John did evening well, dozens of protesters gathered in the mid area. They tell me that the fight for justice locally and the country must continue until they begin to see a real change. Now, the group Pro Block as the one who led the event today it started at Turner Boulevard and Form Street organizers. Say they wanted to shine a light on the city's own racial injustices such as the murder of James? Skirl he's the twenty two year old black man no. Is Anybody missing something important here. The entire issue is supposed to be about police brutality, right? Jay Gardner the shooter is a businessman. He owns a bar. And whether or not he's a racist or not I don't know. Any may be. But being racist is reprehensible and disgusting, but I don't think it's illegal. And I don't think it's a capital crime. At least not last I checked it wasn't now the district attorney there of course is the one who determines whether or not charge right the police go ahead and do the investigation and gathered the evidence they bring it over to the DA and the DA decides whether or not to charge. Here is Mr Klein, the district attorney old market intentional report. Tonight County. Attorney explains his answer senior reporter Jake Gorski was there and brings us the latest strike. Would J first off those peaceful protesters here at five o'clock right outside the courthouse have since moved on their outside the courthouse and City Building County Attorney Don Klein says after reviewing all the surveillance video. GonNa, pause him for a second. Did you notice how he said those peaceful protesters they couldn't just say protesters they always have to all the media. It's like an order say the word peaceful because peaceful gives us sympathy L. and witnesses that he heard from including the shooter prosecutors all agreed it was self defense or the father of the victim says doesn't want violence, but he does want something to happen in court. Cell Phone and surveillance video showed the altercation that leads to the death of twenty two year old James Scurr lock late Saturday night. The shooter is identified as Jacob Gardner the owner of the HIVE and gatsby bars. It shows a scuffle with gardeners dad push a protester and his pushed back. Gardner backs up when approached and showed a gun when two people jumped on him, he fired two shots but didn't hit anyone and then skirl jumped on his back. That's been Gardner said he was being choked and shot him once and the clavicle his version is an IP felt that I felt that. Determines that pretty of getting serious bodily injury getting pummeled or choked out with this guy on top of me and I asked the guy to get off me you wouldn't off me Klein says he based decision off the evidence in the case and not on emotions which are still very high screw locks case. So now this Guy Klein goes out and The district attorney either he says, no charges self-defense. What do you think happens next? I don't have video that nobody got it. But the mob shore leasing if anybody got it, I couldn't find it. The mob showed up at Klein's house. No justice. No peace outside the District Attorney's House no justice. No peace. No justice. No peace. So here's a guy who spent his entire life. Prosecuting crime. He knows a crime when he sees it, he knows self defense when he sees it. And he says, we're not going to prosecute this guy because it was self defense. But. Then the mob shows about side is house and here's what happens. Next good evening I'm trying to Brazil wall though Douglas County Attorney Down Klein feels the shooting was justified and self defense he's taking a step let others take a look at the case senior reporter Dick was Kathy joins US live J.. Jetty right now, we have Senator Ernie Chambers addressing a group of citizens rallying outside of the City Hall and courthouse area talking about the importance of voting as well as standing up for their rights and they heard the community they heard the protests Klein says he will ask for a grand jury to review the killing of James. 00:30:18 - 00:35:02 KEROUAC. He will petitioned the District Court to convene a grand jury for a special prosecutor to examine the case late Saturday night James spurlock was shot and killed outside the hive and gatsby bars in the old market. Surveillance video shows the owner of the Bar J. Garner in a confrontation with protesters when he's backing up and flashes a gun. To people jump on him and he fires two shots. Then spurlock gets on his back. And Gardner shoots him killing him Gardner said it was in self defense and Klein agreed. Now, that there will be a grand jury squawks family wants more witnesses and videos to come forward. I certainly believe in transparency and I have no problem with any oversight about decisions that we've made I think the black community for goodness grand jury painful. I understand the pressures on everybody. From the judicial, board to the community, and when we raise our voice about an injustice that we can make a difference I think that was huge for our community to see I think that was huge when I say our community I'm not just talking North Omaha but the entire, Omaha community. To Munich and so they pressured Don Client, and the family says there. Are from justice, but on the right track, grand jury impaneled right. But that grant and in the grand jury jury gets empanelled and in the meantime there is this entire. Public Relations campaign going on. This is part of reason the crowd has outside today is protest the. Douglas County not putting charges on the killer of James Spurlock a twenty, two year old male who was shot at the corner of thirteenth and Harney on Saturday yesterday out of the protest I talked with skirl ox brother and his mother who told me a little bit about the guy they called you. He by Davis, he lived life to the full. Adventurous. Yes, that's the big heart. And use a Momma's boy emotions apparent never wants to feel this is the new reality for those closest James Skirt I've of. All Life. With that, kid his goal to tell you that anybody can tell you that Nicholas Harden was James Girl, ox brother, and so. James Skirt lock apparently was saint, James Saint. James was absolutely the best I guess Saint James. Could. Do. No wrong. But Saint James jumped a man who had just fired his weapon twice. And then the man fired his weapon at James. Sherlock. and. So it James Scarlett may have been. The greatest guy ever and pure is the wind driven snow but at least on this one night. It didn't work out so well. So here's what happens next. Panel the grand jury. Right. In the grand jury becomes a place for the case to be made not that this man. was in fear for his life. But that this man was a racist and therefore anything he did was suspect and because he was a racist, he was going to be indicted and so we don't know what went on in the grand jury jury for sure. But here is the report special prosecutor. Frederic Franklin said tonight it was new evidence that led the grand jury to make its decision to indict Jake Gardner. Most of that evidence he says came from Gardner himself three news. Now, reporter Rudolph Tonight has more on the charges, what they mean and what happens next. When they came from Gardner himself what that means is that that they found things on his facebook page or in his life. That were evidence that he was a racist and so therefore it because of his attitude. He. Doesn't have the right of self defense is what it appears like. On May thirtieth during night violent protesting regarding the death of George Floyd twenty two year old James Skirl was shot and killed by former old market bar owner jake. Gardner shortly after Douglas County Attorney Don Klein determined that Gardner acted in self defense and no charges were filed. Then after pushback from the public, a grand jury was called as well as a special prosecutor to look into the case client himself petition for the grand jury to review his decision, the investigation continued and about sixty people were interviewed by the Omaha. 00:35:02 - 00:40:04 Police Department the jury had the chance to look at new evidence and deliberated last. BA- grand jury at the point in time that they made their decision. It's also slam dunk. Much more information available to them Then what was had at the time that the initial decision was made special prosecutor Frederic Franklin said, most of the new evidence came from Gardner himself through his phone and facebook messages. There was evidence that was gathered and presented to the grand jury about activity. That Jim Gardner was engaged in. Prior to even coming in contact with James Go lock the grand jury routine Heen people indicted Gardner on four charges manslaughter the use of a firearm in the Commission of a felony attempted first degree assault and terroristic threats. Her restrict stem from the verbal exchange between Gardner and Scurr lock that night. Franklin also said the jury spent more time to liberate here's. The prosecutor I think the Monday after. James Locke was was shot and killed the press conference conducted by Don Klein and Brenda Beetle indicated that There wouldn't be charges forthcoming because there was a determination that the action by Jay Gardner was self defense within a few days there became a request for a grand jury to do the investigation. The Omaha Police Department did continue with their investigation. They interviewed approximately sixty people in conjunction with This homicide investigation, they received video clips from members of the public who were down any all market, the grand jury. At, the point in time that they made their decision. It's almost a slam dunk that they had much more information available to them. Than what was had at the time that the initial decision was made and of course, we have more information so because they had sixty days and all this other time. So you're a back in just a minute and we'll show you what happened with Jay Gardner you're not gonNA believe how this turned out Republican for PODCASTS. Again, my name is Brian Kelly enthusiast. Show the way this works listener supported broadcasting, and what that means. There's no big company behind it. It's your meet together. I do the work that you support the show. Simple I asked listeners three things from. People pray for me because I I need wisdom inside any balance and he'd energy and all the things we need to do this well. On top of the fulltime job in fulltime life and. I asked people share the show whatever device you're on right now probably has a share and subscribe button. Make sure you're subscribed in good and hit that share button and share it to. All of your social media, and even if you've done that before, it's good to do it once a week every. So often let people know you're listening to the show and that you've found something valuable here so that they will see that in join you in the last thing is visit the link to support show financially Patriot dot com slash republic keeper if you'd be so kind that would be awesome. If you can find the time to do that. So Jake Gardner Jacob Gardner is the bar owner here in Omaha who? was indicted then by the grand jury. And the indictment just happened a few days ago last week I believe and. So we saw the video tape there of the prosecutor and the then appointed a special prosecutor who impaneled a grand jury, and so this is video I believe this is from just yesterday. This. Is well I'll just play the report developing tonight a bar owner from Omaha Nebraska recently indicted in the shooting death of a black man related to protests. There was found dead in Hillsborough today Jacob Gardner faced four charges in the shooting death of twenty two year old James, scurr? Lock. Gardner shots scurr lock outside his bar as protests were happening nearby early reports of that incident show that bar was being vandalized at the time. A judge issued a warrant for gardeners arrest on Friday. Hillsborough police reported finding Gardner's body near a medical clinic off northeast. Ninth Street this afternoon in his attorney confirmed that Gardner died by suicide. So the District Attorney. Says that Jake Gardner? Acted in self defense. The videotapes submitted to the district attorney caused the district attorney to say. 00:40:05 - 00:45:03 That Jake Gardner. Acted in self defense. Then, the mob shows up and demands a grand jury impaneled. Now, the grand jury gets empanelled, and of course, in the environment where if you don't do it the mob once. They're gonNA come to your house. The grand jury. decided. That, they would charge him. And he decided. That, he couldn't get a trial. Apparently. He didn't WANNA come back and face justice and you know I don't know maybe he's guilty. Maybe. He's guilty maybe the grand jury got it. Right and the prosecutor got it. Wrong to begin with I don't know. I know that the mob drew drove this. Here's Jacob. Gardeners attorneys. Missing Martin. By one. Price. Only a are. had. Terrible. Is. Tolleson. Lavar. Laura. Yeah, and so obviously, it's a terrible tragedy when somebody commits suicide for any reason. And But I think it's especially tragic when they're driven to it. There was the case couple years ago I think of the young woman. Who? Was I. don't remember her name now and I just I wasn't thinking about it. So it's our looked it up but. I think he has probably remember the young woman who is encouraging her boyfriend to take his life. You know just go ahead and commit suicide, and then he did and she ended up prosecuted for it because she incited him to it and I, think that there. I. Don't know if there's anything criminal that's happened here. Maybe the only criminal thing that happened was that Jacob. Gardner. Shot. James spurlock when he shouldn't have maybe the grand jury. Got It. Right I don't know. What I know is that had the vigilante mob not shown up. To Don Klein's house. There wouldn't have been a grand jury. So I, guess if Jacob Gardner was in fact guilty. And we will never know. Because he didn't, there's not going to be a trial right and whatever evidence was given a grand jury to compel them to make the indictment is grand juries are secret and sealed, and so that evidence is not gonna come out now because there won't be a trial, maybe it'll be leaked. But. If in fact. Jacob Gardner was guilty of a crime and should have been punished. Then the actions, the mob. Ended up in a grand jury and an indictment that should have happened. That case the mob was I guess. Righteous in what they accomplished. But I would still say that even if. Even so You. Don't go to somebody's house. You could maybe just protest bigger louder longer at City Hall. There's got to be at some level. And this is part of why I open the show saying it's a civil war. You know there there's the old saying says, all's fair. In love and war. Translation there are no rules. When IT COMES TO CONFLICT The rule is survive. Because the other guy wants to kill you. I hate to be so. Blunt. But the other side in this conflict wants to kill us who are conservatives they want to kill us who are religious people. And they are doing it. And if you stand in the way, they're okay with you as long as you're the kind of religious person that says, I'll go ahead and adapt my religion to you. Know, I had an episode a lot long ago where I Read that right from the DNC platform. Do you know what the DNC? Platform says on religion. It says that we embrace a progressive view of religion. That is not discriminatory toward anyone. 00:45:04 - 00:50:15 Translation. Your views about homosexuality. In your church, they're not going to be allowed anymore. You're old fashioned. Marriage and divorce or not allow that. and. So the idea is that we are literally I don't think it's figurative. We are in a war. And I remember in the. Pamphlet Commonsense. Published way back at the Revolutionary War time by Thomas Paine home not a fan of honest as early but regardless. When That was passed way back then or when that was written way back. Then one of the things Thomas Paine said these are the Times that try men's souls right and he was putting in there put in there something about that if you're not. Willing to step up to the battle that maybe you're not worthy of the prize that will be achieved afterwards. And I would say that to all of you listening and to myself. At this point that it's time to prepare to do battle? And Battle is ideological and battle maybe physical depending on what's happening, and so I'm attempting here with the Republican broadcast to be in the ideological side of the fight. On the idea that if we can win the argument, we don't have to win the armed conflict. And I'm trying to help provide. Ammunition to our side. If you will in the conflict so that it doesn't become an armed conflict anymore than it's already become. But realistically, at this point, we are going to see I'll just give you the future here. So you know what we're GONNA see. There are several events coming up that are going to that are going to be Convulsive. The president is going to appoint. A Supreme Court justice probably. Amy conybeare. The Senate is going to hold hearings. Are Going to have a confirmation hearing and all of that before the election. Those are going to cost protests. The officers in the Jacob Blake? Shooting. will or will not be charged. That'll cost protests doesn't matter that they're charger not. Charged, it won't be enough if they're charged with a maximum crime, the trial won't be over yet. So it doesn't matter they're going to be protests. The Minneapolis officers are going to get their day in court and those. Verdicts are gonNA come out and whether or not that will happen before the election or not doesn't matter when those verdicts come out it doesn't matter what the verdicts are. There will be protests. So, there are already several events queued up. In the calendar of the left to disrupt America. and to try and create less trust. In how things work. So I'm going to grab a real quick break phones are open if you want to call in and if not great, we'll be right back and we'll go from there. So. Will Offer just a minute I'll be right back. Thanks. Welcome Max. Republic. Keeper podcast. Again, my name is Brian Kelly. Thanks for joining and. Sponsoring the show those you do and all that sort of stuff. So. Wrapped up today you know the been going forward as we think about this and think about what is your role In the coming conflict and first of all in the avoidance thereof. Right. And so I would say the the first and foremost. The thing we gotta do is we make sure that we're going to get Donald. Trump. reelected. And I mean that. I know that in the short term. It probably means more violence. In. The short term reelecting Donald Trump probably means more violence. That when he's reelected, the left is GONNA lose their mind even more. The good news is. When he's reelected. He won't have to be concerned about being reelected and what that means is that you're going to see these protests and ANTIFA violent leftist movements. Absolutely crushed. Crushed into oblivion. People. are going to be prosecuted into long-term jail sentences my noses in here. Sorry. Trying to avoid sneezing. One of those things, right So Once. The reelection happens I do think that trump is going to have the freedom to use all of the policing powers that they have. At their disposal to end this and what I'm hoping is that many of these arrests that have been happening in the last couple of months have been pulling some of the ringleaders of these things out of the situation, and hopefully, what that'll mean is that there will be less violence at the night of the election. 00:50:15 - 00:54:44 And we'll find out but I expect that on election night we are GonNa see lots and lots of violence when the trump landslide is announced And again, I, it is going to be a trump landslide and it's very, very easy. To, understand you know if you look at Donald Trump and I know that some of you who don't like Donald Trump thinks that he is the consummate liar. and. Perhaps that's true. But he's genuinely appears to be just having a great time on the campaign trail. and. What that means to me is that. The internals that they have. don't have them concerned. He doesn't look rattled. They don't appear to be behaving in panic mode he's speaking about the future. In a way that sounds like he really does believe he will be there. and. Joe Biden is more tentative in his approach. So on one quick little Vignette with you about. The way these things work the way people. Work Guess. In. and. I have had an opportunity to meet with. A public official locally a couple of. Times. Let's just say this this way I'm careful I don't WANNA reveal it is A local public official, a couple of times this public official has an important objective to accomplish in from a communication standpoint. In terms of getting the word out about certain things and. The audience for this show is not small. It's growing like crazy. The livestream doesn't have a big audience, but the podcast has a large audience in the livestream is only ten days old or two weeks old and it's growing. But. I met with this guy in the reside. Tell the story is the first time I met met with him. I handed him a business card for the podcast and I said you know I know you've really got story that you want told in your frustrated that you're not getting. The coverage. So why don't you come on the show and then you can we can repurpose that audio video into other things to, and you know we'll. We'll do in his yeah. That would that sounds great. Why don't you reach out to my team? and. Okay I'll do that. So I did. No response didn't the answer. So, then I encountered this individual at another event. And reintroduce myself. And he said. Yeah. He I remember. Weren't you going to get a hold of my communications person wherever it wasn't see I did and? I didn't hear back. All. Really. Well. Why don't you? Why don't you go ahead and just reach out to them again And I said, well, how about this? I'm handing you business car. How about you reach out. and. That resulted in. No. Response. And so the reason I tell the story is. This was a person who has a mon- Yana. Somebody else not me. Instead of a a right now, and I'll do it kind of an attitude and I can see the difference in results in people based on leadership style and I'm watching Joe Biden, and he is in the Montana. Not Me Camp. And I'm seeing Donald trump very much in the. Man of action, Champ And those are very different kinds of ways approaching the world and. I'll just leave you those thoughts. Tomorrow. I don't know I. Think we'RE GONNA dig into Seattle Anarchist Zone A. Little Bit. Not sure some of the things going on. So all these welcome to Jimmy topic suggestions. So on on the facebook messenger at the Republican Uber Dot. com or call the phone number eight, six, six, nine, hundred, eighty, three eleven and leave me your show ideas, topic ideas at Cetera. So thanks for your time and attention this morning please. Do visit the Website Republic keeper Dot Com and find time to sponsor the show if you'd be so kind. Thanks again have a great day and talk to you. Tomorrow.  

Hey John here, I'm back and in a big way. Over the last few months I have been doing soo much stuff to help my clients, its now time to get back in the hot seat and deliver some new content with a new special person.  If you have been listening over the last few years then you know how much I love helping people, well now there is two of us!  Stay tuned over the coming months for some great content Website: www.johndclarke.co.uk Social:  Instagram @johnclarkeuk & @tradesmanbusinessmentor Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/johnclarkeuk1 Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/573569386605982 About the Host: John Clarke is the host of the Tradesmen Business Mentor Podcast. John Is a multiple business owner of a plumbers merchants, bathrooms showroom, property business and business coaching academy. John Is an Author of If I Can You Can o true story of how he overcame adversity to become a positive role model to others. His passion is business and helping other tradespeople grow their businesses from the ground up Support the show: https://www.johndclarke.co.uk/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, I'm Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast! Alright, a quick recap of the past few weeks shows -- they've been awesome. If you haven't listened go back and check out: Raleigh Anne Gray, CEO of Must Love Sports and Senior Director of Athlete Exchange for WassermanMelissa Silberman, Atlanta hawks Director of Partnership Activation Ameena Soliman, Player Personnel Coordinator for the  Philadelphia EaglesNeeta Sreekanth COO of INFLCR I just noticed that it's been ladies' night on the Work In Sports podcast for the last month-- love that! It wasn't even intentional! Coming up this week is Kevin Brown, Director of Community Relations for the Detroit Red Wings and Director of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation -- super cool guy, I learned a lot about the power of community relations from our conversation. I know you will like it.  We're also getting all of our fall semester sports curriculums up and running -- for those of you who don't know, we have an online Sports Career Game Plan program with over 120 pages of content, 30+ videos, downloadable worksheets and audio files and more.  Our program is being used by Grand Canyon University, University of Florida, Ball State, University of Findlay, Fontbonne University, Dubuque University, and many more.  If you are a professor listening, this program is available to you -- it teaches the strategies and tactics to get hired in sports. Period. From the feedback we've received from students, it's life-changing.  If you are interested in learning more or seeing a demo -- email me - b clapp at work in sports dot come. If you are a student -- push your professor to learn more about our program. Your goal is to get a job after college, and we'll teach you how.  Alright on to today.  Before we get into today's question - I have a request for all of you. I need more podcasts to listen to, personally.  Now, here are the rules: I don't need more sports podcasts, I have plenty of those and I know what I like. I need more podcasts for when I'm not listening to sports. I don't need political podcasts, I have a few I listen to and respect, and I'm well covered there. I really really like well-produced professional podcasts that tell a story over a 6-10 episode arc. Examples: Winds of Change, The Clearing, The Catch and Kill podcast..and the granddaddy Serial.If you have any interview-style shows, like mine but not necessarily related to sports or sports careers, let me know those too...I'm always trying to improve my questioning and techniques.  I'm looking for more smart, insightful podcasts so if you have a suggestion that hooked you - please let me know. I'm a content junkie, and I like to learn.  Jump over to our private Facebook group, by searching for the Work In Sports podcast on Facebook - answer a few questions so I know you are for real, and let me know what you like and are listening to right now.  I'll start the thread over there and you can all share… OK, now to today's question from John in Los Angeles… and I'll be honest, it's a subject I don't like very much: “Hi Brian, I've recently graduated and while the world is turned upside down a bit right now I am lucky to be in the midst of interviewing with two companies. Your advice over the years has really really helped me, I wouldn't be where I am right now, feeling like success has arrived, without your help.  My question is simple -- I think both companies are going to offer me positions -- how do I negotiate to get the best deal for myself and my future? “ Hey John, thanks for the kind words and I'm thrilled to know I helped. Even if it's just 1%, I'm glad to be a part of your story.  Negotiation is so incredibly important, but it's also awkward and difficult… for everyone.  The first thing to recognize is that you are venturing into an area many many people are afraid to even travel...

Hey John, your first book. The Lone Wolf is here! In this episode we pick John Pepe's brain about his first novel and his journey to publication and beyond! 

James: Hey audience and listeners, this is James Kandasamy from Achieve Wealth Through Value-Add Real Estate Investing Podcast. Today, I have Sterling White. Sterling is from Indianapolis and he focuses in Indianapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, currently owning almost 400 units with valuation of 19 million, his company's called Sonder Investment Group. Hey Sterling, welcome to the show. Sterling: Alright. Welcome everyone, it is Sonder Investment Group is one thing I did want to do. James: Awesome, we'll get that right, Sonder Investment Group. Sterling: If then off camera, for those of you who are from Louisville, he pronounced it Lewisville so, it sounds like you do too. So, that was hilarious. But get your popcorn ready everyone, it's about to be a show. James: Awesome. Sterling is very popular in BiggerPockets, you know, I've been, you know, getting his blog posts on BiggerPockets for many, many years. Wait, how long have we been doing that?  Sterling: Oh gosh, I-- four and a half, five, four years, three and a half years. I don't even know what day it is anymore James. James: And you have been interviewed on BiggerPockets podcast for many, many times, right? Sterling: I would say Episode 308 and then also, I've been on their Best Deal Ever podcast, which is like a spin off from their main podcast, but yeah. James: Okay, that's awesome. Well, that's BiggerPockets, this is Achieve Wealth, we are still one of the top 24 Real Estate podcasts for 2019. So, you are in the right place. So, Sterling, why don't you tell our audience about yourself, about your story? Because I think you have a lot of good stories to share that can be inspirational to others. Sterling: Yeah. So, just a little background on myself, I'll give everyone like a cliff note version. So, born and raised in Indianapolis, as James mentioned earlier, fraternal twin brother and single mother and we grew up on welfare, section eight housing, food stamps and I'm sure of other government assistance my mother didn't tell me about. And I remember the environment that we grew up in just wasn't the best. And I remember one instance my brother and I were actually sitting at one of those little multi-color like Fisher Price type tables, we're about six years old and as soon as we get done eating dinner, we go upstairs to-- we're playing like PlayStation or Sega or something and a bullet comes right through the back patio where we were sitting. So, I may not be here, he may not be here, but at the end of the day, decided to not be a product of that environment and use that as fuel. Got started in real estate 2009 on the construction side, fell in love with the industry, not so much getting my hands dirty, and then shifted to the investing. Bought first deal 2013, no money out of pocket with leveraging my mentors cash at that time, scaled up to 150 single families and then in 2017 made the entire shift to multifamily in scale portfolio, just under 600 units, exited out of all the single families and now just all multifamily. James: Yeah, I remember when I was reading your blog you were all about single family and you know, I didn't care, but I did learn a lot. I'm happy that you wrote that blog because-- Sterling: The content marketing too, that's a whole nother, yeah. James: Yeah, we'll go deep into that because I think, you know, writing blogs like that where you generate content and sometimes people say, "Why do I need to write?", right? I mean, that is definitely credibility establishment when that happens, right? So, I'm happy for you that. So, coming back to your-- so, after you finish your studies, you said-- did you go directly into real estate? I know we missed that part on how did you move to real estate, why real estate was the aha moment. I mean, you said you did some construction but, why investment? Sterling: Yeah, so, I was in college at the time, I actually dropped out at a later point, college was not for me. I took chemistry one and two, a total five times. Yeah, chemistry, it was-- James: Chemistry is fun man, even though I don't enjoy it.  Sterling: So, during those college times, during the summer, my roommate's dad owned a construction company and he saw that I had some free time and that's how I got started. He said, "Hey, I see you're around the house oftentimes.", and I also was doing entrepreneur ventures and then that's how I was able to earn some money. James: So, when you were having free time, and when your, you know, friend's father saw you and there must be something that has attracted you to go and try out this. Because the reason why you had free time because you didn't find something that was motivating enough for you to go and do, right? But what was the trigger point? Maybe I should go and try that out. Sterling: One thing that I always did enjoy and seeing, because also, I was able to visit some of his houses that he had because he owned rentals, not my roommate's dad did and also, he owned rentals. I really enjoyed the element of seeing a house in distress condition and then seeing the aftermath, once the value is created, and then you're able to see afterwards so, the before and then after. So, that's what I enjoyed. And then on the construction side, I was helping the bricklayers, I provided them the mortar to be able to lay the bricks, huge grind for sure but after that project is, I started from the beginning and then it was on the fire station to look back and say, "Wow, I was involved with all that.", such a cool experience. James: Yeah, didn't you write a blog about it? I remember someone writing a blog, doing a wall, is that you? Sterling: Will Smith has a-- James: No, not Will Smith. I mean, this is from a BiggerPockets somewhere, I mean, either podcast or a blog where someone said they build a wall, it was very cool. That's fine. So, how did you move-- I mean, so, before going into multifamily. So, on single family, was there any limiting factor that you had? Because you know, you're moving from construction to investment side of it, was there any limiting factor, you know, limiting hurdle that you had in your mind, and how did you overcome that? Sterling: Yeah, I would say I had no limiting beliefs when I was making that transition, and what really helped with that was feeding my mind as much positivity. So, that same roommate that got me started in construction, he has also been pivotal in terms of another aha moment that I had in my life, which was, I was at a college party, yes, I'll call it what it is and having a good time and I ventured out on my own. This is my early 20's and I'm out on this boat, and there's this, and I'm all by myself and there's this beaming question that comes down to me and says, "Sterling, is this what you want to do with your life?", and I answered back to that question, "No. This is not.". Since then, I cut off all my friends because they weren't going where I wanted to go ultimately. I cut off all the news because there was so much negativity and then I started with a lot of self-improvement and that allowed me to get a lot of the limiting beliefs out and replace those with more empowerment. And I still believe I have limiting beliefs to this day and I'm always looking to become self-aware to identify those and replace those with more empowered ones. James: Got it. So, when you started on a single family, did you-- I mean, how did you start buying deals, how many single families did you have before you transitioned to multifamily? And how did you buy that deal? And how did you make money on a single family to transition to multifamily? Sterling: Yeah, so, just got up to about 150 of those and I'll start it with one, and that very first deal was, it was a $25,000. It was in about, I would say a C neighborhood, C plus neighborhood and it was not a shed, those of you who may be on the West Coast or East Coast, you can actually, in Indianapolis get some very affordable houses, you couldn't get that for that much now since things have gone up. And I presented that to my mentor, he funded the purchase price, and also the rehab and one thing before all of that happened with that deal, I was working for him for completely free, and that's how I got started in the investing side and was able to compact his 20 years knowledge into the two and a half years that I worked with him. James: Got it. So, did you use any, but-- so, you went up to 150 single family houses? That's great. That's crazy because I stopped at 13. Sterling: I wish I would've known that sooner. James: I cannot take it after 13. But did you have the infrastructure to manage that many houses or did you have like a system? Sterling: Yes. So, ended up from that mentorship, shifted to a, finding a partner that was very similar, in terms of our ages, because I outgrew that original mentorship, and he was behind the scenes of an operation of a operator that managed closer to about 1000 single families. So, he understood how that worked and we were able to lay the foundation to start building up on that and scale our portfolio.  James: Got it. And how did you buy these houses? Is it through normal MLS or you did off market marketing? Sterling: A mix of just about everything. So, doing the bandit signs, that was one route and I remember doing those way back when and there was someone who always would go down and take them out. So, that was one. And-- James: I did that too.  Sterling: Oh, did you? James: Of course, we all are hustlers.  Sterling: Yeah. It was funny, there was a stapler, you would take a PVC pipe, and then you would take the staple and-- a staple gun and put it on there so you can hang the sign all the way up on a telephone pole.  James: I didn't do that.  Sterling: So, people just couldn't jump up there to-- James: Oh, you did the more advanced bandit sign. I did the one that you just put in, you know, on the side yard and all that. You did the one that is harder, more effective because people can see it from early and nobody can come and grab it. But you're right, every time you put in and after a few days, the city or someone's going to come and take it out.  Sterling: Not if you put it all the way up there. So, that was one route, was purchasing from the MLS and then also taking the direct to owner approach as well. So, a multitude.  James: Which one was the most effective? Made you the highest money? Bandit sign, MLS and, you know, direct to seller marketing. Sterling: I would say the direct to seller was by far. The MLS, had success with that, but that took a lot in terms of offers, which most of it, whichever channel you go through does, that's the same thing but in essence is, I would say it was the MLS and also the direct to seller approach which included mostly direct mail.  James: Got it. And how did you transition to multifamily and why? Sterling: Because managing that many single families was a pain in the grass. James: But you had someone helping you out, right? Sterling: Yeah, there was a whole team that was involved with the acquisitions.  James: How many was the team? Sterling: 15, 16 team members. James: Yeah, that takes time. Sterling: It worked out on the property management side.  James: Okay. Yeah, I had like 13 houses all on my own so, just crazy, right? So, yeah, that needs a team, 150 houses needs a team. So, why did you move to multifamily? Sterling: More so, economies of scale was the biggest and then also looked at, okay, where we want to go in the future, which was ultimately shifting to the multifamily at some point so, why not do it sooner rather than later? James: So, what are the key learnings that you took from single family to multifamily acquisition and operation? Sterling: Yeah, I would say more so is the management. I mean, if you're able to manage that many single families, so, yeah, if you're able to manage that many single families, the same could apply. Of course, there's some more, what is it? Small day to day changes that would be different on the multifamily side but managing 46 single families is a lot more difficult to manage 1 46-unit apartment complex, which was my very first deal in 2017, which was a 46 unit. And then so, there's that, and it's just a lot more labor intensive, because scaling to that many single families is, it wasn't 1, 2 transactions. There was close to about 100 to 125 transactions, because a lot were one offs, a package of two, maybe a package of three or four every so often. And then, from the multifamily, that very first deal was one seller, one transaction, all in one single location. So, once that happened, it was like, light bulb went off. James: Yeah. What do you think, I mean, in terms of like value add, right? Because multifamily is valued differently from single family, I mean, did you find that out halfway through? Sometimes people do like single family, I have people who just want to do single family. But I moved from single family to multifamily. What did you see in terms of value add and how did that change your strategy? Sterling: Yeah, I would say that is a great point. So, also, what was learned is, underwriting was a different style. So, looking at it from, "Okay, the NOI is, let's say it's this, we're purchasing at a 7% cap, in, let's say, five, six years, we're going to be looking at an exit. Let's be a little bit more conservative at a seven and a half or eight and not bank on cap rates or so much going steadily be compressing.". So, on the single family-- on the multifamily side, we took more so that it's valuated as a business versus on a single family, there's more exits and so, there was, "Okay, this is one if we exit to an investor, okay this is one if we exit to retail..", so, those were also differences too. James: Got it. So, tell us about more about your multifamily journey like, how many units you started and how many units you have right now and how did you grow each one of that, I mean. Sterling: Yeah, so, started with a 46 unit then acquired a 50 unit and after that 2 80-unit apartments and then 156 units. So, exited out of the 46 unit, the 50 unit and now just own the 2 80 units and the 156 unit.  James: Why did you exit out from the smaller ones?  Sterling: Because they were smaller.  James: That must have made you a lot of money too, right? Sterling: Yeah, I mean, the one that was a 46 unit is one that was the boiler system. So, that was the old age property. So, there was heating the boiler, that was affecting the, I mean, in terms of the expenses, and then also, we wanted to be able to push up the rent a little bit more and we felt a little bit capped off. And also, we were transitioning to more desirable assets and just step above in terms of the neighborhoods. And so, with all those things considered, that and we're not able to have on site staff, that's why we made the transition selling that one and then also there was a 1031 buyer too. James: Got it. Yeah, smaller one can be a problem with the onsite buyer. So, where do you see yourself going from now on wards on multifamily or any other asset classes? Sterling: Yeah, so, have shifted more from the older style. So, the ones that have been built pre 1970's and shifting more to those in the, what you would say, B class, that have less heavy lifting. James: So, how do you under write a deal? I mean, can you like, walk through your basic sniff test? Because, I mean, this is a market in the Midwest state, right? So, how-- what would you look for when a deal is thrown to you by a broker? Sterling: Yeah, so, more so just looking at and-- so, I go the approach of going direct to owner. So, I still do have brokers send over deals, but in essence is, looking for cash on cash to be in the double digits, that way myself as operator, our team as, when we do the equity split, that we still have enough to provide our partners double digits so, there's that. And our IRs to be anywhere between 15% to 18% on a three to five-year horizon. James: So, what would you look for, I mean, I'm not talking about the compensation structure. Oh, yeah. So, basically, you say the end result is what they look at compensation structure, right? Before that, do you look at the area, the demographic, the household incomes and all that? Sterling: Oh, yeah. So, looking at the-- so, we look at the overarching market and ensure like, Indianapolis is very diversified in terms of the businesses, you got Simon Property Group, which is one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the world, you've got Eli Lilly, which is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, you got Blue Cross, which is one of the largest healthcare. So, looking at that from that, a high level and then go into the submarket, looking at how are the schools, how is the crime, that's always something that's very significant. And then, also yes, looking at the median incomes, ensure that when we're doing the value add that that submarket can support it or absorb it. James: Got it. So, let's talk about off market strategy, there you talked about, how many multifamily deals have you bought using your off-market strategy? Sterling: All of them. James: Oh, all of them. So, basically, this broker doesn't exist, I guess. So, you bought like, what? Almost 4 to 500 units on all of market? Sterling: That is correct.  James: Awesome. So, let's talk about that. What kind of strategy did you use to get off market deals? Sterling: So, that is a secret, just kidding, no, I wouldn't do that. So, it all starts with a co-call and I know there's people on here that a little bit screams like, "I don't know about a co-call.", but in essence is, that's the route that we go, we pull a list, we'll use something such as rihanme.com or even costar.com, not affiliated with either, but those databases you can pool these properties that are between 75 to 200 units in let's say, Indianapolis, Indiana or Austin, Texas, and then from there, further narrow down the list and say, "Okay, I want the assets that haven't been sold in the most recent five years.", and then further narrow it down, "I want the rents market rates between 700 to $1,000.", and then that is very niche of a list. Most of them will be owned in LLC so, skip trace the LLC and then find the persons, the principal, the owner, and then give him a call. James: Got it. That's-- well I do a lot of off market as well. So, that's why I want to understand that, how are you doing it and all that. But it's impressive that you found all of your deals off market. I think I found like almost three of my deals were off market out of my nine deals that I've done right now. Sterling: Yeah, it's a whole separate infrastructure, it's one thing because you think of it when I first started building that out myself, I was the one that headed all of it. So, that's a full-time job because that's what brokers do on a full-time basis. So, I was doing that on top of everything else but then I decided to document what I was doing, put an infrastructure in place and now hire people to do that and then now, they, when an owner raises their hand, they just set the appointment with me. James: So, what kind of infrastructure did you have to do that? Because that's a lot of work. Sterling: Yeah, it is. So, a researcher is the first one, and that's the person I'll provide the criteria to, they'll go to St. Louis, Missouri, pull all those properties, and then most of are owned in LLC so, they'll skip trace the LLC. Second role that comes into play as the co-caller, they're the one that places all the outbound calls. And the third is, you could say, the acquisition's manager where the appointment is set with me, or I then hop on the phone call. One of the questions I always ask right from the beginning is, "Why now being open to selling?", just to understand if there actually is a motivation, if they're saying, "I just want to hear your offer, and I'm looking for something that I couldn't resist ultimately, and then I would sell.", then that person wouldn't be a good fit. But if there is something to where, not a slam dunk deal, especially in today's environment, then that's when I would retrieve the T 12 as well as to start the underwriting process. James: So, where do you get the list for the initial, you know, such? Sterling: Rehanme and costar.  James: Rehanme and costar. So, do you use both of it or, do use both in conjunction of each other? Sterling: I use Rehanme right now and formally, I would use costar because I had a, what is it? The agent that we used, we used apartments.com and they had access to costar because costar bought apartments.com so, they would just send that from the data that I wanted. James: How accurate is Rehanme owned information? Sterling: Not accurate, same with costar. And I'll give you all the prime example for costar, which is one of the most reputable, if not the most reputable when it comes to data, had a representative, one of their reps in the office of one of the apartments that I have here in Indianapolis and I said could you pull the data on this specific property and they pulled the property and also the owner information, I said, "My information is not there and I have this property.". I said, "Don't add it." but, yeah.  James: The same thing happened to me when I first talked to costar, I told them, "Hey, can you pull my property and it's under somebody else's name and okay, forget about it.". No point of selling anything else to me. Sterling: So, it's just one of those things that yes, these places are a good starting point. but still you have to go the extra mile and actually do your own due diligence.  James: Yeah, but that was like almost five years ago, maybe they're better right now, right. So, okay, after you get the data out from Rehanme, do you basically do skip tracing? What software do you use for skip tracing? Sterling: So, public records. So, have it found an absolute science when it comes to skip tracing LLCs, I've looked for just about anything. So, if anyone who's on here who knows a software or a service that offers that, I would love to hear about it. There's some I've actually looked at two, but they don't work. So, the route is to go public record to find out who filed the articles of organization. James: Okay, after that, how you find their information? Sterling: You use a source such as beenverified.com, B-E-E-N verified.com, or there's truepeoplesearch.com, whitepages.com, just one of those providers to type in their name. Hopefully it's not as common as John Smith. James: Yeah, I've heard about beenverified, I've never really used it, but I've heard about it. That's good. So, okay, so, now you have all the information, the owner's information, you're going to get your acquisition person to call these owners, right? So, how would they first call and how would they pick up the call and how would they approach the sellers? Sterling: So, sometimes it does vary on script, whether they get the gatekeeper, or they get the decision maker, but it's more along the lines of, "Hey", it goes ring ring, "Hey John.". Well, I'll speak from my side is how we go. "Hey.", ring ring, "Hey, Sterling here, Jim, did I catch you at a bad time?", and then the person on the-- or we could just do some role playing right now-- no, I was going to say we could do role play but-- James: I'm a tough guy.  Sterling: Because this is what I do with the team is that, we do role playing on a daily basis, going back and forth of objections. But the opening is just more so, "Hey, Sterling here, I just bought Bit Wood Apartments across the street from yours and wanted to personally reach out to see if you'd consider selling.". So, it's more of just straight to the point, transparent. Then from there, a lot of times they'll say not interested, "John, I completely understand. I'm sure you get these types of calls all the time. Tell you what, give me 30 seconds, if you don't like what you hear, I'll hang up on myself.". So, that's how the dialogue goes and then we also go into some additional questions. James: Yeah, I get a lot of calls too, maybe one of that is your guys too and I wouldn't know. Because you mentioned, Austin in the beginning, but I will say I'm not interested, forget about it, because sometimes you're very busy on the phone, or I mean during our day time and suddenly someone calling and asking something irrelevant, we want to hang up as quickly as possible, but it's fine that you said, "Hey, give me 30 seconds, you know, so that I can explain it.". Sterling: Yeah. You're just looking to buy as much time as possible. James: Yeah, it's all about connection and numbers, right? End of the day, right? I mean-- Sterling: Contacts equals contract.  James: And that one person who said yes to you could be $10 million deal, right? So Sterling: Yeah, that deal that we were talking about offline was a $7 million deal and that all started with a co-call. And of course, there took many people see, "Oh, it was a co-call that closed on this deal.", but you don't see all the contacts and all the work that happened until it got to that point.  James: Correct. Yeah. I think my-- yeah, I'm-- you know, we made millions of dollars just by co-calling, co-texting, that's what I use.  Sterling: It works best-- it works. But at the end of the day, whatever channel anyone uses, it's about consistency. James: Yes. I mean, you can do broker relationship, but I think it's, you know, you probably get the normal deal at the same time, for a newbie it's just so hard to get with brokers, right? I mean, they already know you're a newbie and they're not going to waste time giving you the best deals out there, right? So, that's good. So, let's talk about content marketing because you are expert in content marketing to get invest acquisition, let's walk through that process. How did you thought about content marketing? How did that have worked out for you? And how does the investors are attracted to come and you know, connect with you through content marketing? Sterling: Yeah. So, it all started with the book, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk. Phenomenal book, he's an influencer out there. But in terms of that book, planted the seed, and in essence, Jab, Jab-- the jab jab is, value, value, value content, content marketing, free content, and then the right hook could be invest with me, what is it? Does it go with my coaching? Or whatever your services happen to be, and-- but the original title of the book was supposed to keep saying more jabs, and that's the exact process that I take it, is put out a lot of content, a ton of content and then also, I use Grant Cardones 10 x rule, philosophy with pushing out a lot. Because the thing is, it's so noisy in the marketplace so, overall from the content marketing is to provide value and those of you who are just getting started that are thinking, "I don't know what value I can create.", share your story, people would want to hear your story and also document your journey as well as far as the content. James: Got it. So, what are the content channels do you use? You use blogs, podcasts? Sterling: All of it.  James: YouTube? Oh, you're on all of it.  Sterling: Yeah, I would say more so now is on, I've pushed to the video side. And so, I have my own podcast Real Estate Experience, which James is on and that will be airing soon. So, there's that is one channel and then also, I use all the social media platforms to post that content. So, on the audio side, iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify, through the podcasts which a lot is shifting more to the, what is it? Listening, and then have the video side, got YouTube, got Facebook, got Instagram, in which I could take like what you're doing here James is, you could take the video from this and be able to post it on all those platforms and repurpose it. James: So, which one do you think is the most effective in terms of connecting with investors and investor, you know, acquisition?  Sterling: Yeah, I would say in terms of, when I got started BiggerPockets was huge and then also, being on others' podcasts really help, just those two channels alone, of course I had a multitude of other channels but those two really did help with brand awareness. James: Got it. That's awesome. Alright Sterling, I'm sure you had tons of value to our listeners. Why don't you tell our listeners how to get hold of you? Sterling: Yeah, so, you can visit Sonder Investment Group and contact me on there. My email is Sterling@sonderinvestmentgroup, and also, I'm on Instagram, Sterlingwhiteofficial. If you have any questions, slide into the DM with any questions. James: And how do you spell Sonder? Sterling: S-O-N-D-E-R Investment Group.  James: Okay. Got it. Okay, awesome. Alright. Thanks for coming on the show.  Sterling: Alright. Have a great one everyone, keep being awesome. James: Thank you.

Patty talks to John Roedel, the author of Hey God. Hey John.: What Happens When God Writes Back. She met John via Facebook after seeing one of his posts that went viral. She loved his insight, so she reached out and invited him to join her on the podcast. John is also a husband, father of 3, comedian, writer and an advocate for children with autism. He and Patty talk about dealing with life during a pandemic, being a parent and what it means to have a connection to God. You’ll love how John dealt with a crisis of faith by writing about skinny jeans. Using his improv skills, he kept saying “yes, and” to whatever came next. There was no grand plan, just a willingness to show up each day and write what was on his mind. Does John think he’s really talking to God? Is God really answering him? Why are we afraid to move on? Am I broken? Can I let go of the expectations of others? Patty and John discuss all these questions and more. This episode is full of hope and you’ll love the encouraging energy of this conversation. John’s Book Facebook Post Facebook Page

Now, George, we wanted to focus on probably the single most valuable way to increase sales right now, which is an awesome tool that you told me about a week ago that we're going to be implementing here in the coming weeks, as soon as we relaunch revenue. I can't think have a more effective way to increase sales right now than to use this tool. So I'm going to bring it up for folks, but it's called the Bonjoro.com I'm going to bring up the site, like George, take people through. Do you want to share your screen? Do you have something you can share? Do you want me to share my screen now?You can go ahead and share your screen, but yeah, let me, let me talk about Bonjoro right now for everybody. Use Bonjoro.com. Understand now, and Google predicted this three years ago, I was at a conference and I spoke at Google with a Google rep, and they said they predicted by 2020 that 86% of all content consumed would be on video, and we've seen that. We've seen Tiktok, we've seen Instagram now it's probably more like 97.9% in the current state of the world. But video kind of fast forwards relationships on a whole different level. So use Bonjoro.com is a tool that I use every single day, every company I work at. And so basically what it allows you to do is to create a customized video message for every single customer that comes in that you can trigger how you want.So example, in my world, in my information products world, when you opt in for a free mini course. I get notified on my phone, I record a video. It says, Hey, Mike, so stoked that you just joined this new mini course. I'm excited. Below is the link to get started. If you need anything, hit reply my team and I'll get out, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. It's mindofgeorge.comAnd then when somebody buys a course or they joined my mastermind, they get another prompt. I record a video. Hey Mike, welcome to the mastermind. I'm so stoked to have you proud of you for making this commitment. Just like I sat on the phone. The first step is that you've got to create a membership account, so go ahead, click below and do it. And these videos are recorded in a native app on your phone, and they're sent directly to people's emails. So it comes as an email, but it's a video and it has a gift, and they can click to a landing page.And that landing page is hosted by Bonjoro. It's a video of you, and then you can make a template and put a button below it, and you use Zapier to make these things. So when I go into companies. We talk about customer retention. So I'll give you an example. A CBD company I work with sells a subscription for CBD pills. And they were averaging like a three and a half, four months retention. And I was like, I bet you we can fix this without changing anything. Just adding these touch points. So when somebody bought the product, we had the CEO send a Bonjoro video. When the order was being packed in the box, we had the employees that were packing the box say, Hey Mike, we're super stoked. We included a little bonus in here for you, but make sure you start taking this like as soon as you get it once a day, set it by your bedside to make sure you get a habit and you can really feel the full benefits of it.And then, once it was shipped, we sent them another one. We're like, Hey, don't let the UPS drivers steal your box. It's been known to happen. Our products are that good, but I want to make sure you get it. Here's a video of what your box looks like getting loaded on the truck, and so before the product even ships out of the company, they have three personalized video messages that come from the team that don't take more than three or four seconds before it even gets there.And email rate open rates through the roof, social media consumption through the roof. And those customers were basically sending responses like, how could I believe, I'm never canceling, actually, I forgot something. Can you throw something else in the box for me? And we're like, sure. Shopify, boom, order added. And we ended up getting an increased consumption by like double when we went across the board and we do this. And so, when you think about it right now, and I mean, right now, everybody wants to feel safe, certain insecure, but words on a screen. Don't do it, an email message doesn't do it.But when you have the ability to reach out and touch people and literally be like, Hey Mike, thank you. Like Mike, I'm so proud of you. Like, Mike, how can I help you in 6 seconds or 12 seconds? It changes the game and nobody's doing it. And we, we've done this with billion dollar companies and we'll put employees on it, or we'll put CEOs on it.And it is the number one way to go deep in your relationships with your customers. And it can't be replicated. It's almost impossible. Like we've been waiting for tools like this for years, and I've been using this for maybe 18 months now. And it's kinda been like in my secret arsenal of like, ah, nobody needs to know. And I'm like, all right, everybody gets to know now. But it, really is impeccable. And when we do this, and, and there's accounts that I manage where we'll send a thousand Bonjoro a week and we get an average response rate of 90%. Response rate opens are like 98, 99 clicks or 98, 99 but we're getting like response rates.And so we'll ask a question, right? So where do you get your best customer insights? Well, you ask and it's free marketing, right? Like, Hey, like I'm super stoked to have it. Actually, if you hit reply like, what was the biggest thing you were looking to gain from this product? And they're like, Oh, well, I haven't been sleeping in weeks and I figured this was the best way. And I'm like, okay, copy, paste next ad the next piece of content. And you can do so much well deepening that relationship with the customer and in video, you know, in the world that we're in right now,it's not going anywhere. The number one app in the app store, zoom, not Tiktok. And everybody's connecting on video and doing it.And so it's a kind of really sure fire away to insert yourself now in a medium that people are consuming more of it and use it to deepen your relationships. And so, you know, you can do personalized ones, which I prefer, but you can also have prerecorded ones. And then you can use the go to use Bonjoro ,you'll see this, they actually have an amazing ebook, that tells you all the power of video marketing, all the creative ways to do this. So to reduce churn. You can set it. So if a customer has been in for 21 days with your product, it sends you a task and you send a video to check in to see if they need to reorder.You can do it to thank people. You can do it on reorders, on rebills, on the end of trials, physical, digital, and they teach you how to use it all. And then you can even record them on your computer or your phone. But you can create drafts. So you can have, let's say, if you're doing a thousand orders a day, you can't really send a thousand video messages. And so one of the things we'll do is we did ran through all of our customers, like we pulled a hundred thousand customers and we're like, what are the top names? And we figured out they were about 16 of them. And so we recorded 16 videos with each one of the names and so on. Sarah bike, John, Sarah, Kimberley, things like that.. And we did that stuff a few times and the responses there, and then a few times we're just really honest and we're like, Hey, you know, we get 1500 orders a day, but it's really important, you know, that we're really here. This is really a video for me and the CEO. And if you respond, I will personally respond, but I can't say each of your names in the video and we'll use those.And so a task is created, well, a VA or an employee. Task send,and with Bonjoro you can send them individually, or let's say you have 50 new orders, you can check all the boxes and create a roll up and then send one video message to all 50 of them and it goes individually. And so it really is probably bang for buck and time.The most effective way to go deep with your customers and probably increased the backend two, three times. So if you're in a position where every sale counts right now, let's just go with something difficult, like a restaurant. Let's say that you're a restaurant and you're doing takeout and delivery.And you've been getting people's email addresses or phone numbers when they've placed previous orders, whatever it may be..You can send them. If every order counts right now, you can just pull up their email address, send them a video. Hey John, I just want you to thank you for coming to taco deli. Thanks for coming into the restaurant. I just want to let you know that we're doing takeout right now. We'd love to cook dinner for your family tonight. Let me know. You know what, we can, what we can order for you or give us a call. Here's the number, whatever it may be.If you have consulting clients that are canceling, send them every single one of them a video. Hey, uh, John, I've got a great tip for you. We just, you know, whatever, XYZ. I hope you're doing well and thinking about, you know, looking forward to being on, on next month, you know, meeting together, whatever. If you're on a sales call, this is how you break through. All of the noise that is everywhere right now because no one has seen this before.No one has gotten a personalized video from you where you took 15 seconds to send them directly, a one-to-one video. And the moment you do that, you are different than everybody else in the industry. And I guarantee you that if you are selling a product. And if you have someone who's been a lead, this gets a little bit technical, but all of the people who came to, we use SameCart for our shopping cart. Yep. All of the people who came to SameCart for revenue this last few days and filled out the checkout form, but didn't submit and complete the order. They just got to that last point. Where they filled out their name and email address, maybe even the credit card, but they just hesitated and they didn't press the submit button. That information, even though they didn't hit submit, gets saved in the Samecart, and we can pull a report of all of those people. There's about 30 of them, and those people get pushed into my.Bonjoro account, and I can then go back and instantly send a little personalized email. Hey Julie, just a notice that you were checking out revenue. We'd love to have you here in the mastermind group. If you have any questions, feel free to, you know, shoot me an email or send me a text, whatever it may be.I guarantee you that when we start doing that, we're going to convert probably a third or more of those people into actual customers and at a thousand dollars a customer or $600 affiliate commission for you guys, that's huge. If you send 10 of those videos a day to 10 leads, you're going to get at least one sale, if not two or three sales a day just from that personalized effort.So for me, this is the single most powerful tool in the world right now. If you need to make sales, if you need to generate revenue or if you need to drum up new business, if you, you need to do a prospecting thing. And again, a lot of us have huge email databases, but we don't have cell phone numbers of all of these people. I just usually get first name and email address. Doesn't matter. That's all I need. I need their email address. And usually their first name is in it. I can send a video to that person and we can just start a one-on-one dialogue. So. This is unbelievably important. And here's another little twist. If you guys are getting the opportunity here, put in a chat like, this is awesome. I'm getting this, and here's something else to think about. If you go in and you spend the next two to three weeks mastering Bonjoro, you could turn this into a service for other businesses and help implement them the service in their business as a consultant.Like, Hey, John, how would you like to double your sales right now? Or how would you like to decrease your cancellations by 50%? Give me a call. I'll show you how to do this. Hey, here's what I do. I. Specialize in helping companies go really deep with their interactions. We are seeing this from a conversion rate perspective. This from a save a sale perspective, would that be useful to you if we could help add another $30,000 a month in sales. Great. Then you charge them a thousand dollars for $2,000 to get set up on Bonjoro. You become the expert of the platform. You do the setup for them. You go through the strategies with them, which are all in the free ebook.They get here all mapped out for free, and this could be literally. A whole new business for you that is born out of this crisis. And so when I keep saying crisis creates opportunity, this is what I'm talking about, and I guarantee you, if you just send those personal videos, which is demonstrating what you're talking about, it's going to grab their attention.They're going to call you back, especially if they need customers right now, or if they're losing customers right now. And if you just say, make them an irresistible offer. I don't know what it would be, but I'll go do it to you half price now, after your first 30 days. Let's look at the results. If it does what I think it'll do for you or, and set an expectation, you can pay me the other half then, or whatever it may be. So. It can be its own little business. Mike and I love it. And I'll actually, if everybody wants to see, if you guys want to see me send one, I'll pull it up on my phone and I'll show you on the screen right now. Just leave yes in the comments. But Mike, what you nailed is that every business that I've seen around here. Like, and , we isolated ourselves up here. So there's restaurants. And they're all open, but I go in, I'm like, Hey, have you done this? If you've done this, like, you should try this. We can try everything here. Like you can take lists back. Yeah, you can go in like a restaurant cause everything's doing delivery, right. So you can like do a video bank. Hey, here's your Uber driver. By the way, Hey, introduce yourself. This is who's showing up at your front door and it's so quick and so easy and agile. You could do it at any moment or you can do it fresh. It's a way to indoc or go deep with people. So I guess I'm going to screen share right now. So let me show you. So I'll show you guys how this works. And so like on our website for my podcast, mindofgeorge.com, we just have a couple entry points and I'm basically make templates. And so in Bonjoro, you can make templates and let me pull up my airplay here. There we go. All right, so you're going to see a picture of me as a little kid on the background of my phone.There we go. Okay, so that's me when I was four with no front teeth, so everybody can get that. Okay. And so when I click on Bonjoro, this is my task list that opens. And so I use this to nurture my mastermind members. So I sent my mastermind members a video every morning, Hey, checking in, how you doing today? And then you'll see we have a free, opt-in called TEM mini course. And then we have a paid course called the lighthouse method course.And you'll see that we kind of go through this. So I'll grab somebody, we'll describe Brandy at random so I can assign it to an employer. I can dismiss it, but I'm gonna hit record. And then it tells me Brandy and her email and why she's here. And so I'll literally just do this right now. Hey, Brandy, super stoked to have you. And I did pick your name cause I know you. So I hope you're staying well in Canada up there and you're treating all those doctors in your business well, but as always, it's always a pleasure to see you. Welcome to the mini course. You know I did launch that lighthouse method course that you, I think you got, and if you didn't, the links below, but I want to say thank you. If you need anything, hit reply. I love you. And you're also on a webinar with Mike Dillard right now, which I feel like I should tell you in full disclosure. So. Say hi to everybody. Have a beautiful day, and when you hit reply to this, I'll let you know. I'll see you later. Talk to you soon. I record it. I grab a template. And I hit send and I'm done. And so I have 10 premade templates in here on like why, what I do, where I send them, and they're really just links. And then when you come over here, you can see the results. And so when I do send one, it changes the logos next to their names. So I can see Sophia. Sophia opened it, clicked it, and watched it, and then it changes the little logos next to their names.And so then TJ down here. He got it, he opened it, he played it and he liked it. And then it tells you when they respond, what the results are and then you can reply right in the app and play in the app. And so it's really, really that simple. And 25 seconds, 30 seconds kind of changes the way that you do business.And the Brandy is going to get mad at me cause she keeps telling me she's going to buy later, but I'll just share it publicly now. But it really, really is a deep opportunity when you think about it. Don't think about it just from a marketing standpoint either. So think about it from a customer journey journey standpoint. In the beginning, you're welcome a man. You get them or you're going deep with them. But then like, let's say that restaurant. That one restaurant, I helped the restaurant here and I was like, Hey, do me a favor. Just make like three prepackaged meals that you can literally deliver to somebody's door, and then they can cook them.And he's like, well, how do I teach them how to cook them? I'm like, get their email and send them a Bonjoro teaching them the steps behind the scene or send them here and you can really take this anywhere that you go. I mean, my favorite thing, and Mike, you know, I'm going to do this all day. Every time I'm sending one of these for a sale, I have my three year old next to me and I have him say, Hey, in their name.And so I use my three year old to be like, Hey, Branson's a say Hey Brandy. And he's like, hi, Brandy. I'm like, now you have to. You see that I put my kid on here for you. And so Corrina, what do they see on their end? That's an amazing question. So what happens is Bonjoro sends an email, and they send either an HTML or a text based email.So when the email comes, you can choose to either show a screen grab of your face or a gift. of like your faces. And so when they open their email, you have a template with your message. So mine says, Hey, you know, I'm addicted to hearing myself talk, but I promise I kept this video under 60 seconds, so you're going to want to open it. That's what my default messages. And Mike tell you, I talk a lot. So when they open it, they see that and they see the video, they click on it. And it goes to a page on Bonjoro where you can control the background. So I just have a lighthouse in the background, my logo, and it's literally the video of me talking a reply box and a button.And so then you can even do things like follow up strategy. So I have mine set up that if they don't open it for two days, I have another one that goes out, says, I'm so sorry I offended you. Please watch my video. And they're like, no, you didn't. I'm like, no, I'm just kidding. But I have a followup strategy as well.And so what they see on their end is it just comes to their inbox like you would expect any other inbox to be. You can control the subject line, you can control the text, and then the, the content of the email is just a screen grab or a GIF of your face. And then they click it to watch the video and you can link them out to places.So they'll have a button that you can change the word on the bio and you can send them to a Facebook group to their login.Like when you onboard new members, we send them to their login page. When you download our event recordings, we send you to that page and then they have a reply button so you can encourage them to reply and do anything like that. And so that's exactly what it is.So if you want to get ahead of the competition and  sky rocket your sales. Go to this link to sign up: https://drops.georgebryant.co/Q3KDB7Take advantage of this super awesome tool and add a wow factor to your business.

Special thanks to our friends at AlertLogic - for providing some great discussion points and John for the episode! This week, as DtSR hits episode 395 on our way to Episode 400, James and Rafal take some time out to ask: "Hey John, how's the hair?" It's great to be able to spend time with old friends and just talk about solving some long-standing problems our industry faces. One of the perennial favorites is why MSSPs are all terrible. Well - we have some ideas! Listen in if you've ever been frustrated with your MSSP... and are maybe interested in how the industry can collectively do better. Guest John Pirc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpirc/ Rafal's personal note: John's a badass who has more experience in solving broad-scale problems and helping customers and companies through some difficult challenges. His advice is sage... you should probably listen in

Bob Enyart and Fred Williams complete Real Science Radio's List of 25 Ways the Shutdown Kills People. See the full written list at rsr.org/25 and links to various scientific studies showing how increased death results from economic decline. We've noticed leftists and other Democrats getting angry at this list. But, if you're a conservative Christian, hold onto your hat! Because you might get mad at the guys yourself as they begin today's program quickly calling out their List of 25 COVID Christian Conspiracies. * List of COVID Christian Conspiracies: from the conservative pastor of DBC, after first angering the left with our 25 Ways the Shudown Kills People, now we've angered many on the right, our own natural consituency, with our list of COVID Conspiracies. Millions of Christians lacking discernment swallowed whole each of these absurdities, many of which are contradictory, and risk their mental health by indulging their paranoia... - the coronavirus was never a real threat - the government planned the pandemic (as a power grab) - the media planned the pandemic (to get Trump) - the global elite planned this (toward ushering in the anti-Christ) - Fauci who had said "it's coming" planned this (to make money) - China planned the pandemic (but first infected itself) - the CDC planned this (advertising in 2019 for pandemic workers) - the virus is a Plandemic (even though its clearly natural) - somebody, doesn't matter who, planned this (says my paranoia) - this virus can't be natural ('cause then I can't indulge my paranoia) - a SARS or COVID virus could appear naturally only every 800 years - China created this as a biological weapon (then infected itself) - people can contract SARS-CoV-2 from the flu vaccine - masks increase your risk of contracting the coronavirus - Bill Gates is creating a vaccine to kill millions of people (depopulation) - God's command to not bear false witness doesn't apply to me - KS City ordered churches to turn over membership roles - coronavirus test kits are infecting people with the virus - the Mark of the Beast is a vaccine (Of course! How could it not be!) - any conspiracy always explains whatever crisis occurs - COVID deaths, relatively small in number, are highly exaggerated - $39k paid for each ventilator use (So what? Most have gone unused.) - government plans to forcibly remove children from homes - 5G wireless technology helps to spread the coronavirus - churches have been shut down but not mosques - medical examiners are attributing traffic deaths to COVID - the CDC designed guidelines to overcount COVID deaths - the CDC quietly reduced COVID death count by 23,000 (and see below) - the COVID vaccine is unsafe (yet one doesn't even exist) - Fauci profits from a (non-existent) HIV vaccine and will from COVID - the left is using this crisis (yes, but they use everything, even normalcy) - to receive any of the $100 billion HR 6666 testing money institutions must require everyone entering their facilities to have taken the (non-existent) COVID vaccine. COVID Leftist Conspiracies: - Trump-led racists fabricating Wuhan lab origin - Those urging return to work want people to die - HCQ used safely for 60 years now a very dangerous drug - _________ please send suggestions for leftist or Christian conspiracies to Bob@kgov.com. Like the people in the Bible and taking the Lord as an example, we are far more interested in confronting bad behavior among us Christians, and exposing the misinformation spread by believers, than we are in talking about the overtly obvious left-wing conspiracies. Understanding the Shutdown without Conspiracies: and please send suggestions for this section to Bob@kgov.com. - For decades epidemiologists have proposed shutdown mitigation ideas - Mankind through the 1900s lacked the wealth to even try a shutdown  - In late 2019 SARS-CoV-2 jumped from bats to a Wuhan laboratory staffer - That Wuhan lab worker spread the disease in the Wuhan wet market - The communist Chinese lied and covered up igniting a pandemic - The World Health Organization dutifully repeated China's misinformation - President Donald Trump insightfully cut off the US from China - Fauci, the media, the Dems, and the WHO condemned the "overreaction" - May 12th Trump announces unprecedented cutoff of US from Europe - We conservatives, also fearing the virus, did not criticize cutting off Europe - US media and all the left flipped position to now claim Trump underreacted - Epidemiologists, security consultants, etc., given a free hand, will overreact - Prosperity meant eventually nations would try the epidemiologist proposal - Europe's nations closed their borders and not for conspiratorial reasons - First time ever millions (all liberals) hope a drug, HCQ, fails to save lives - Shutdown flattens the "curve" but as at rsr.org/25-ways it also kills people - Leftists and epidemiologists seem oblivious to mass death from recession   - NY Gov. Cuomo's Dept of Health ordered nursing homes on March 25th (and reversed on May 10th), "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to ­admission or readmission." That incompetence led to approaching 5,000 deaths, or nearly 25% of New York's fatalities while hundreds of emergency hospital beds went unused at the Javits Center and on the USNS Comfort. - Late January to late March when a tiny fraction of Americans were dying from the coronavirus, the epidemiologists had justification for their predictions that a major wave of death was coming soon, whereas many pro-Trump conservatives were solidifying a premature belief, based on what they were seeing, that this disease was a minimal concern.- As worldwide daily fatalities for this brand new cause of death race past those of most recent endemics and pandemics and have tied malaria and AIDS and approach pneumonia, U.S. fatalities have average 1,800 deaths daily and higher for a number of days in April and May 2020, and for that duration COVID-19 was the #1 cause of death in America... - Millions of Christians swallowed whole the rsr.org/COVID-conspiracies - Conspiracy allegations make it harder for politicians to back down - The cure is worse than the disease per rsr.org/25-ways-the-shutdown-kills* Wuhan Flu: Those who seek to hold the Chinese communist government accountable for the lies and cover-up behavior that ignited the pandemic can use this map of China coated with the widely-recognized SARS-CoV-2 virus graphic... * Biblical Principles Related to a Drastic Epidemic Mitigation: Consider historical accounts and biblical principles from Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, and Jesus Himself. In the Book of Leviticus Moses wrote God's commands regarding infectuous disease mitigation 3,000 years before the age of microbiology ushered in by creationist Louis Pasteur. The Lord instructed the Israelites to quarantine, wash, observe, and even at times burn the personal effects of the infirm. That quarantine, of course, was for the person who was ill, and this was for the particular infectuous disease the Israelites were facing at that time. A biblical teaching from a couple centuries earlier in sacred history that is related to drastic action taken by a government in the face of a possibly existential threat comes from the time of Amenemhat III. (He's the source of the ancient expression, Amen, make it so.) The reason that God revealed the coming famine to Joseph was so that the Egyptian government could prepare for a looming drought. Pharaoh undoubtedly expropriated land over the nine miles of what is still today called the Waterway of Joseph. That Bahr Yussef brought the Nile's water to Birket Karun, quadrupling its water acreage. Also undoubledly, thistook a tremendous number of lakefront properties, when Birket Karun became the massive ancient Lake Moeris, filling that valley to become a huge resevoir. Joseph was not known as one of the twelve patriarchs of Jacob at that time, and any displaced landowners, even any who happened to believe in the Creator of the world, if they held the same position as many right-wing Christians today, would have fiercely objected: "The government has no just authority to take away my God-given right to control my own private property! And besides, look at the weather. Looks fine to me! There's no drought in site!" (Sounds like many Christians in January, February, and March 2020. See the almost non-existent daily deaths for those months, above.) When God authorized Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and build the great wall of the city to mitigate possible future death from invaders, the descendants of Jews and others who had escaped Nebuchadnezzar's army seventy years earlier were living among the rubble of the cities overthrown. Undoubedly here too God's authority extended to the appropriation of land for the wall even over any objections of current residents. "You're not building a wall across my land!", to which Nehemiah if he were in a good mood would have said to his men, "Ignore him." Consider also the significant implication of Jesus' teaching that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man. Selah. * Masks: The world's mitigation efforts have suddenly promoted a medical industry question of effectiveness into a public controversy. For the sake especially of medical staff, hopefully we will improve our understanding of the dynamics involved, even after a hundred years of enormous experience and a lot of study. In 1977 smallpox, a disease from a highly transmissible airborne virus, was eradicated. Three of ten victims died. In case of a reemergence, nursing protocols reiterated even this century call for those around a suspected case to wear masks. With all our conspiracy-minded friends have learned against masks, undoubtedly each would still wear a mask if their work (or love) required them to be around folks like that poor girl, shown here. The mask conspiracy item listed above states the false belief that those who wear masks increase their risk of transmission. Such conspiracists must conclude that over the last century those who wore masks to minimize risk actually increased disease transmission. It appears thast most of those who come to that conclusion and who are also angered thereby don't assume that recommending masks is a well-meaning but ill informed policy, but rather, there must be nefarious reasons motivating the thousands of medical experts who advise wearing them. This later is an indication of a progressing mental health issue evidenced by paranoia. * Traffic Deaths Being Marked as COVID: If you play a trick on your Christian friends and read any of a thousand Bible verses to them, not telling them it's from Scripture, about half will say they disagree with what you've just read. So when Christians en masse instantly accept the claim that coroners are marking traffic fatalities as COVID deaths, that overwhelming uncritical acceptance alone is a good indicator that, as it appears on it's face, it's fake news. Here's a typical BEL email correspondence... Forwarded Conversation Subject: "My cousin knows somebody?" ------------------------ From: K********  Date: Thu, May 14, 2020 at 8:44 AM To: Bob Enyart Bob, I gave my friend a link to your program, and he did enjoy it. But our text exchange went as follows. To my friend: Didn't u say u knew someone whose kid died in a wreck but they put COVID on her death certificate and he has to fight the hospital to change it for insurance purposes? It's interesting all the messages around that start with "my friend knows someone" or "my brother knows someone" etc. His response: Yes. And I heard it again from my doctor Monday. He has a client who’s son just died in a motorcycle accident in Vancouver. They listed the death as Covid. Also my buddies grandmother who was 92, no Covid symptoms, just old, week at the end of her life died in the hospital of natural causes. Listed as Covid. I know a girl in Hawaii that just had a friend pass of pancreatic cancer, listed as Covid. No conspiracy when you hear it over and over again. Sent from my iPad ---------- From: Bob Enyart  Date: Fri, May 15, 2020 at 9:19 AM To: K********" Cc: B******** Hey K*******! I've cc'd our dear friend and graphic artist extraordinaire B****** because of the Vancouver area traffic deaths, two of the more tragic ones were children from his town. B..., if you're aware whether the local news reported a recent motorcycle death in the Vancouver area, please let us know. I'm fishing out another spreading conspiracy for our RSR show for May 15th and for our list at rsr.org/covid-conspiracies. K*****, using my lie detector mode, when I read the above exchange, I'm thinking as though I'm interviewing a suspect's friend, and I'm spotting evidence of evasion and likely false information... Q: Didn't u say u knew someone whose kid died in a wreck but they put COVID on her death certificate and he has to fight the hospital to change it for insurance purposes? A: Yes. Oh really? And that's it? With such a pointed question, the only answer is, Yes. Not, "Yes," and then offer the identity of the gal who died, or at least your friend's identity? What's missing that would appear in a truthful answer is: "Yeah, it was Jerry Berry's kid brother, Mark. He died last Tuesday over on Main and 15th. It was a reall mess." But instead of details about the case he knows of personally, he then obfuscates by throwing in questionable and likely uncheckable details about a different case. A continues: And I heard it again from my doctor Monday. He has a client who’s son just died in a motorcycle accident in Vancouver. They listed the death as Covid. Ah, now he gives more details than he just did for the person that he knew. But it turns out that traffic deaths in Vancouver and its surroundings, like in all major cities, are contemporaneously reported and in the last month according to local and Canadian media there were: - three motorcycle accidents in the past month and as of a report six days after the one with the most serious injuries, no report of fatalities - a baby boy was killed and parents injured in a rollover crash on Highway 97 C - two Abbotsford children killed when drowning in a crashed and submerged ATV   - a Vancouver island pilot killed in a far-distant Canadian miltary helicopter crash - two fatal boating accidents in the last ten days - new recommendations from a fatal train crash a year ago - finally charges issued in a nearby Malahat crash two years ago - but no fatal motorcyle crashes [UPDATE: other than the tragic one that B***** found from November, which he truly doubts was marked as COVID related.] And even if there had been, the doctor's account would have turned out to be false. Doctors are hardly less susceptible to personalizing the conspiracy theories they spread than are others. And ironically, there's undoubtedly a slightly paranoid doc in Vancouver who's saying a motorcycle death in your friend's city was marked as COVID. (Televangelist faith healers know that trick. They tell donors in Singapore that God raised someone from the dead in Kansas City and when in KC say they did that in Singapore. Piece 'o cake.) A continues: [with two examples that were not fatal crashes marked as covid deaths] These just add details that even if true wouldn't corroborate the original false statement but they're meant to imply that they corroborate it. Lies often are detectable by the details added in order to make them sound more believable. Like, the friend "has to fight the hospital to change [the cause of death] for insurance purposes." Oh, really? Right. Overcounting and undercounting obviously both occur and both for unavoidable and for bias reasons, and often these cancel each other out and regardless, because the number of cases is by far the greater factor, getting the count "accurate" is not as important as most people think. If millions of people are infected, and a hundred thousand people are claimed dead from the virus, but the deaths were overcounted by double, that would mean that, for example, the death rate was 0.02 instead of 0.01. The overcounting, and the undercounting (as with nursing homes and via state governors who want to look like they did a great job reducing deaths), these factors both go into the number in the numerator, and it's the denominator, that is, the number of cases, that is so vastly greater, that makes the difference in evaluating the real world happenings. UPDATE: At any rate, K****** just emailed: It's obvious some of that overcounting went on. But the "I know someone's sister" ... is all over. "My wife's a Farmers insurance agent and just last night a fellow agent said one of his 'prospects' told him a similar story. Thanks K******, I'm obviously not saying the doc or your friend are going to hell because of this. (People go to hell if they reject Jesus Christ.) But I am admonishing them and ten thousand others by pointing out that regarding God's Ten Commandments, when they're endulging their paranoia, they believe they can reject His command, as maybe the Amplified Bible would put it, "Do not bear false witness against your coroner." They're so sloppy with the retelling of stories, and so eager to have people believe them, that like with the game telephone, only somewhat intentional, each time they or someone else repeats what they've heard or read on social media they have the opportunity to falsely remember/misspeak/personalize the story or add a detail they imagine must be true, in order to make the claim sound more convincing. When it comes to fake news, the left has nothing on the right. After all, they say, never let a crisis go to waste. Thanks K******. In Christ, - Bob EnyartKGOV.com  -  RealScienceRadio.com  -  rsr.org Today's Resource: Predestination & Free Will Debate Bob Enyart vs. Brian Schwertly Can God change? Does He change? Has God pre-planned all events? Is your life following a complete script, written before you were born? Has it been decided in advance which, if any, of your children will go to heaven or hell?       Forwarded ConversationSubject: CDC WEBSITE (Table 1) REPORTS only 50,000 COVID-19 DEATHS as of 5-11-2020 ------------------------ From: JOHN H******  Date: Tue, May 12, 2020 at 9:01 AM To:   https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm On website PAGE DOWN TO TABLE 1 Also read FOOTNOTE 1Why have I never heard these numbers reported by the media?? Thanks John from Alabama   ---------- From: Bob Enyart  Date: Tue, May 12, 2020 at 12:11 PM To: JOHN H******    Hey John! Because the CDC is notoriously slow and notoriously bureaucratic in the way they communicate. "Last updated May 12, 2020" does not mean that the data is up to date as of today. Ha, that'd be startling if those bureacrats could do that. The first time I contacted them about their terribly slow reporting was in early March. Those are weekly numbers, and to figure out what they mean by them, you'll have to read their fine print and figure out how to interpret bureacratikease.   Thanks so much for writing! - Bob KGOV.com  -  RealScienceRadio.com  -  rsr.org ---------- From: JOHN H******  Date: Fri, May 22, 2020 at 4:43 PM To: Bob Enyart BobThanks, I've been watching that CDC website and your advice in your email below is spot-on (I have to admit, at the time, I sort-of questioned your insight). Very helpful.  Thanks for all you do.John

Bob Enyart and Fred Williams complete Real Science Radio's List of 25 Ways the Shutdown Kills People. See the full written list at rsr.org/25 and links to various scientific studies showing how increased death results from economic decline. We've noticed leftists and other Democrats getting angry at this list. But, if you're a conservative Christian, hold onto your hat! Because you might get mad at the guys yourself as they begin today's program quickly calling out their List of 25 COVID Christian Conspiracies. * List of COVID Christian Conspiracies: from the conservative pastor of DBC, after first angering the left with our 25 Ways the Shudown Kills People, now we've angered many on the right, our own natural consituency, with our list of COVID Conspiracies. Millions of Christians lacking discernment swallowed whole each of these absurdities, many of which are contradictory, and risk their mental health by indulging their paranoia... - the coronavirus was never a real threat - the government planned the pandemic (as a power grab) - the media planned the pandemic (to get Trump) - the global elite planned this (toward ushering in the anti-Christ) - Fauci who had said "it's coming" planned this (to make money) - China planned the pandemic (but first infected itself) - the CDC planned this (advertising in 2019 for pandemic workers) - the virus is a Plandemic (even though its clearly natural) - somebody, doesn't matter who, planned this (says my paranoia) - this virus can't be natural ('cause then I can't indulge my paranoia) - a SARS or COVID virus could appear naturally only every 800 years - China created this as a biological weapon (then infected itself) - people can contract SARS-CoV-2 from the flu vaccine - masks increase your risk of contracting the coronavirus - Bill Gates is creating a vaccine to kill millions of people (depopulation) - God's command to not bear false witness doesn't apply to me - KS City ordered churches to turn over membership roles - coronavirus test kits are infecting people with the virus - the Mark of the Beast is a vaccine (Of course! How could it not be!) - any conspiracy always explains whatever crisis occurs - COVID deaths, relatively small in number, are highly exaggerated - $39k paid for each ventilator use (So what? Most have gone unused.) - government plans to forcibly remove children from homes - 5G wireless technology helps to spread the coronavirus - churches have been shut down but not mosques - medical examiners are attributing traffic deaths to COVID - the CDC designed guidelines to overcount COVID deaths - the CDC quietly reduced COVID death count by 23,000 (and see below) - the COVID vaccine is unsafe (yet one doesn't even exist) - Fauci profits from a (non-existent) HIV vaccine and will from COVID - the left is using this crisis (yes, but they use everything, even normalcy) - to receive any of the $100 billion HR 6666 testing money institutions must require everyone entering their facilities to have taken the (non-existent) COVID vaccine. COVID Leftist Conspiracies: - Trump-led racists fabricating Wuhan lab origin - Those urging return to work want people to die - HCQ used safely for 60 years now a very dangerous drug - _________ please send suggestions for leftist or Christian conspiracies to Bob@kgov.com. Like the people in the Bible and taking the Lord as an example, we are far more interested in confronting bad behavior among us Christians, and exposing the misinformation spread by believers, than we are in talking about the overtly obvious left-wing conspiracies. Understanding the Shutdown without Conspiracies: and please send suggestions for this section to Bob@kgov.com. - For decades epidemiologists have proposed shutdown mitigation ideas - Mankind through the 1900s lacked the wealth to even try a shutdown  - In late 2019 SARS-CoV-2 jumped from bats to a Wuhan laboratory staffer - That Wuhan lab worker spread the disease in the Wuhan wet market - The communist Chinese lied and covered up igniting a pandemic - The World Health Organization dutifully repeated China's misinformation - President Donald Trump insightfully cut off the US from China - Fauci, the media, the Dems, and the WHO condemned the "overreaction" - May 12th Trump announces unprecedented cutoff of US from Europe - We conservatives, also fearing the virus, did not criticize cutting off Europe - US media and all the left flipped position to now claim Trump underreacted - Epidemiologists, security consultants, etc., given a free hand, will overreact - Prosperity meant eventually nations would try the epidemiologist proposal - Europe's nations closed their borders and not for conspiratorial reasons - First time ever millions (all liberals) hope a drug, HCQ, fails to save lives - Shutdown flattens the "curve" but as at rsr.org/25-ways it also kills people - Leftists and epidemiologists seem oblivious to mass death from recession   - NY Gov. Cuomo's Dept of Health ordered nursing homes on March 25th (and reversed on May 10th), "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to ­admission or readmission." That incompetence led to approaching 5,000 deaths, or nearly 25% of New York's fatalities while hundreds of emergency hospital beds went unused at the Javits Center and on the USNS Comfort. - Late January to late March when a tiny fraction of Americans were dying from the coronavirus, the epidemiologists had justification for their predictions that a major wave of death was coming soon, whereas many pro-Trump conservatives were solidifying a premature belief, based on what they were seeing, that this disease was a minimal concern.- As worldwide daily fatalities for this brand new cause of death race past those of most recent endemics and pandemics and have tied malaria and AIDS and approach pneumonia, U.S. fatalities have average 1,800 deaths daily and higher for a number of days in April and May 2020, and for that duration COVID-19 was the #1 cause of death in America... - Millions of Christians swallowed whole the rsr.org/COVID-conspiracies - Conspiracy allegations make it harder for politicians to back down - The cure is worse than the disease per rsr.org/25-ways-the-shutdown-kills* Wuhan Flu: Those who seek to hold the Chinese communist government accountable for the lies and cover-up behavior that ignited the pandemic can use this map of China coated with the widely-recognized SARS-CoV-2 virus graphic... * Biblical Principles Related to a Drastic Epidemic Mitigation: Consider historical accounts and biblical principles from Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, and Jesus Himself. In the Book of Leviticus Moses wrote God's commands regarding infectuous disease mitigation 3,000 years before the age of microbiology ushered in by creationist Louis Pasteur. The Lord instructed the Israelites to quarantine, wash, observe, and even at times burn the personal effects of the infirm. That quarantine, of course, was for the person who was ill, and this was for the particular infectuous disease the Israelites were facing at that time. A biblical teaching from a couple centuries earlier in sacred history that is related to drastic action taken by a government in the face of a possibly existential threat comes from the time of Amenemhat III. (He's the source of the ancient expression, Amen, make it so.) The reason that God revealed the coming famine to Joseph was so that the Egyptian government could prepare for a looming drought. Pharaoh undoubtedly expropriated land over the nine miles of what is still today called the Waterway of Joseph. That Bahr Yussef brought the Nile's water to Birket Karun, quadrupling its water acreage. Also undoubledly, thistook a tremendous number of lakefront properties, when Birket Karun became the massive ancient Lake Moeris, filling that valley to become a huge resevoir. Joseph was not known as one of the twelve patriarchs of Jacob at that time, and any displaced landowners, even any who happened to believe in the Creator of the world, if they held the same position as many right-wing Christians today, would have fiercely objected: "The government has no just authority to take away my God-given right to control my own private property! And besides, look at the weather. Looks fine to me! There's no drought in site!" (Sounds like many Christians in January, February, and March 2020. See the almost non-existent daily deaths for those months, above.) When God authorized Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and build the great wall of the city to mitigate possible future death from invaders, the descendants of Jews and others who had escaped Nebuchadnezzar's army seventy years earlier were living among the rubble of the cities overthrown. Undoubedly here too God's authority extended to the appropriation of land for the wall even over any objections of current residents. "You're not building a wall across my land!", to which Nehemiah if he were in a good mood would have said to his men, "Ignore him." Consider also the significant implication of Jesus' teaching that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man. Selah. * Masks: The world's mitigation efforts have suddenly promoted a medical industry question of effectiveness into a public controversy. For the sake especially of medical staff, hopefully we will improve our understanding of the dynamics involved, even after a hundred years of enormous experience and a lot of study. In 1977 smallpox, a disease from a highly transmissible airborne virus, was eradicated. Three of ten victims died. In case of a reemergence, nursing protocols reiterated even this century call for those around a suspected case to wear masks. With all our conspiracy-minded friends have learned against masks, undoubtedly each would still wear a mask if their work (or love) required them to be around folks like that poor girl, shown here. The mask conspiracy item listed above states the false belief that those who wear masks increase their risk of transmission. Such conspiracists must conclude that over the last century those who wore masks to minimize risk actually increased disease transmission. It appears thast most of those who come to that conclusion and who are also angered thereby don't assume that recommending masks is a well-meaning but ill informed policy, but rather, there must be nefarious reasons motivating the thousands of medical experts who advise wearing them. This later is an indication of a progressing mental health issue evidenced by paranoia. * Traffic Deaths Being Marked as COVID: If you play a trick on your Christian friends and read any of a thousand Bible verses to them, not telling them it's from Scripture, about half will say they disagree with what you've just read. So when Christians en masse instantly accept the claim that coroners are marking traffic fatalities as COVID deaths, that overwhelming uncritical acceptance alone is a good indicator that, as it appears on it's face, it's fake news. Here's a typical BEL email correspondence... Forwarded Conversation Subject: "My cousin knows somebody?" ------------------------ From: K********  Date: Thu, May 14, 2020 at 8:44 AM To: Bob Enyart Bob, I gave my friend a link to your program, and he did enjoy it. But our text exchange went as follows. To my friend: Didn't u say u knew someone whose kid died in a wreck but they put COVID on her death certificate and he has to fight the hospital to change it for insurance purposes? It's interesting all the messages around that start with "my friend knows someone" or "my brother knows someone" etc. His response: Yes. And I heard it again from my doctor Monday. He has a client who’s son just died in a motorcycle accident in Vancouver. They listed the death as Covid. Also my buddies grandmother who was 92, no Covid symptoms, just old, week at the end of her life died in the hospital of natural causes. Listed as Covid. I know a girl in Hawaii that just had a friend pass of pancreatic cancer, listed as Covid. No conspiracy when you hear it over and over again. Sent from my iPad ---------- From: Bob Enyart  Date: Fri, May 15, 2020 at 9:19 AM To: K********" Cc: B******** Hey K*******! I've cc'd our dear friend and graphic artist extraordinaire B****** because of the Vancouver area traffic deaths, two of the more tragic ones were children from his town. B..., if you're aware whether the local news reported a recent motorcycle death in the Vancouver area, please let us know. I'm fishing out another spreading conspiracy for our RSR show for May 15th and for our list at rsr.org/covid-conspiracies. K*****, using my lie detector mode, when I read the above exchange, I'm thinking as though I'm interviewing a suspect's friend, and I'm spotting evidence of evasion and likely false information... Q: Didn't u say u knew someone whose kid died in a wreck but they put COVID on her death certificate and he has to fight the hospital to change it for insurance purposes? A: Yes. Oh really? And that's it? With such a pointed question, the only answer is, Yes. Not, "Yes," and then offer the identity of the gal who died, or at least your friend's identity? What's missing that would appear in a truthful answer is: "Yeah, it was Jerry Berry's kid brother, Mark. He died last Tuesday over on Main and 15th. It was a reall mess." But instead of details about the case he knows of personally, he then obfuscates by throwing in questionable and likely uncheckable details about a different case. A continues: And I heard it again from my doctor Monday. He has a client who’s son just died in a motorcycle accident in Vancouver. They listed the death as Covid. Ah, now he gives more details than he just did for the person that he knew. But it turns out that traffic deaths in Vancouver and its surroundings, like in all major cities, are contemporaneously reported and in the last month according to local and Canadian media there were: - three motorcycle accidents in the past month and as of a report six days after the one with the most serious injuries, no report of fatalities - a baby boy was killed and parents injured in a rollover crash on Highway 97 C - two Abbotsford children killed when drowning in a crashed and submerged ATV   - a Vancouver island pilot killed in a far-distant Canadian miltary helicopter crash - two fatal boating accidents in the last ten days - new recommendations from a fatal train crash a year ago - finally charges issued in a nearby Malahat crash two years ago - but no fatal motorcyle crashes [UPDATE: other than the tragic one that B***** found from November, which he truly doubts was marked as COVID related.] And even if there had been, the doctor's account would have turned out to be false. Doctors are hardly less susceptible to personalizing the conspiracy theories they spread than are others. And ironically, there's undoubtedly a slightly paranoid doc in Vancouver who's saying a motorcycle death in your friend's city was marked as COVID. (Televangelist faith healers know that trick. They tell donors in Singapore that God raised someone from the dead in Kansas City and when in KC say they did that in Singapore. Piece 'o cake.) A continues: [with two examples that were not fatal crashes marked as covid deaths] These just add details that even if true wouldn't corroborate the original false statement but they're meant to imply that they corroborate it. Lies often are detectable by the details added in order to make them sound more believable. Like, the friend "has to fight the hospital to change [the cause of death] for insurance purposes." Oh, really? Right. Overcounting and undercounting obviously both occur and both for unavoidable and for bias reasons, and often these cancel each other out and regardless, because the number of cases is by far the greater factor, getting the count "accurate" is not as important as most people think. If millions of people are infected, and a hundred thousand people are claimed dead from the virus, but the deaths were overcounted by double, that would mean that, for example, the death rate was 0.02 instead of 0.01. The overcounting, and the undercounting (as with nursing homes and via state governors who want to look like they did a great job reducing deaths), these factors both go into the number in the numerator, and it's the denominator, that is, the number of cases, that is so vastly greater, that makes the difference in evaluating the real world happenings. UPDATE: At any rate, K****** just emailed: It's obvious some of that overcounting went on. But the "I know someone's sister" ... is all over. "My wife's a Farmers insurance agent and just last night a fellow agent said one of his 'prospects' told him a similar story. Thanks K******, I'm obviously not saying the doc or your friend are going to hell because of this. (People go to hell if they reject Jesus Christ.) But I am admonishing them and ten thousand others by pointing out that regarding God's Ten Commandments, when they're endulging their paranoia, they believe they can reject His command, as maybe the Amplified Bible would put it, "Do not bear false witness against your coroner." They're so sloppy with the retelling of stories, and so eager to have people believe them, that like with the game telephone, only somewhat intentional, each time they or someone else repeats what they've heard or read on social media they have the opportunity to falsely remember/misspeak/personalize the story or add a detail they imagine must be true, in order to make the claim sound more convincing. When it comes to fake news, the left has nothing on the right. After all, they say, never let a crisis go to waste. Thanks K******. In Christ, - Bob EnyartKGOV.com  -  RealScienceRadio.com  -  rsr.org Today's Resource: Predestination & Free Will Debate Bob Enyart vs. Brian Schwertly Can God change? Does He change? Has God pre-planned all events? Is your life following a complete script, written before you were born? Has it been decided in advance which, if any, of your children will go to heaven or hell?       Forwarded ConversationSubject: CDC WEBSITE (Table 1) REPORTS only 50,000 COVID-19 DEATHS as of 5-11-2020 ------------------------ From: JOHN H******  Date: Tue, May 12, 2020 at 9:01 AM To:   https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm On website PAGE DOWN TO TABLE 1 Also read FOOTNOTE 1Why have I never heard these numbers reported by the media?? Thanks John from Alabama   ---------- From: Bob Enyart  Date: Tue, May 12, 2020 at 12:11 PM To: JOHN H******    Hey John! Because the CDC is notoriously slow and notoriously bureaucratic in the way they communicate. "Last updated May 12, 2020" does not mean that the data is up to date as of today. Ha, that'd be startling if those bureacrats could do that. The first time I contacted them about their terribly slow reporting was in early March. Those are weekly numbers, and to figure out what they mean by them, you'll have to read their fine print and figure out how to interpret bureacratikease.   Thanks so much for writing! - Bob KGOV.com  -  RealScienceRadio.com  -  rsr.org ---------- From: JOHN H******  Date: Fri, May 22, 2020 at 4:43 PM To: Bob Enyart BobThanks, I've been watching that CDC website and your advice in your email below is spot-on (I have to admit, at the time, I sort-of questioned your insight). Very helpful.  Thanks for all you do.John

John GhiorsoCEO of Orca Pacific Bio: John Ghiorso is the founder and CEO of Orca Pacific, a Seattle-based agency focused exclusively on helping brands sell on Amazon. He started the agency about 12 years ago and now manages over 100 top brands in a variety of product categories. After 10 years of studying Amazon, Mr. Ghiorso has earned a reputation for approximating industry reaction and forecasting shifts within the Amazon marketplace. His insights have been featured in prestigious publications like The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Vox, Modern Retail, and Digiday. Sponsors: Drip – Get a free demo of Drip using this coupon code!Spark Shipping – eCommerce Automation Links: https://www.orcapac.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlouisghiorso/https://www.linkedin.com/company/orcapacific/ Transcript: Charles (00:00): In this episode of The Business of eCommerce. I talk with John [Ghiorso] about how to grow your Amazon business in 2020 this is the business of e-commerce, episode one 16. Welcome to the business of eCommerce. The show that helps eCommerce retailers start, launch and grow their eCommerce business. I mean host Charles Palleschi and I'm here today with John Ghiorso. John is the founder of Orca Pacific. A Seattle based agency focuses exclusively on helping brands sell on Amazon. You started the agency 12 years ago and is now managing over a hundred top brands and a variety of product categories. I asked John on the show today to chat about how you can optimize your Amazon listings in 2020 so, Hey John, how are you doing today? John (00:48): Good, good. How are you Charles (00:49): Doing well, thanks for coming on the show. I love the topic. Kind of the all Amazon stuff right now. Lot of retailers are either on Amazon or moving to Amazon, thinking about selling Amazon. So everyone's, everyone's kind of somewhere touching on Amazon right now. So I love the kind of top, Whoa, just how to grow that. So do you guys normally work with, so you work with brands, but is this just brand selling their own products or what kind of retail is typically do work most with, John (01:22): Yeah, sure. So you know, our, our, our primary client archetype is a branded manufacturer, but we also work with distributors, retailers, direct to consumer brands. So it, it kind of runs the gambit. In terms of folks reselling other brands, products, reselling white label, private label products or you know, sort of traditional national brands. So really, you know, our clients are essentially entities that are trying to increase their sales top line growth on the Amazon platform. And kind of the, the simplest way of saying it. Charles (01:56): Okay. So if you're a white label brand [inaudible] white label retailer you could still get some value out of, basically you should have stopped listening at this point. They can get some value out of these types of things. Yeah. Hopefully. All right. So are we talking when you typically kind of start working with someone, are they already on Amazon? Are they competing for the buy box or are they competing to shop at a search or where's a good place to focus? John (02:21): Yeah, so primarily they're, they're going to be competing in, in search. I mean competing to win the buy box is it's certainly a game that we play, but our primary goal is to drive more demand for a given product. So, you know, then there's kind of the secondary consideration. Is that demand going to you? Are you the, the seller that winning the buy box? I guess the way we look at the platform primarily is our sort of assumption is that you will be winning the buy box. And then you know, we're really trying to drive demand for the product. Overall if there's, if there's lost by box issues or competitive by box issues, we see that as a problem that needs to be solved, but more of kind of a shorter term consideration. And then longer term macro is, is really how to,

Is it OK to respectfully decline a handshake prior to a job interview? That and more on the Work In Sports podcast!Hey everybody, I'm Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…I feel like we have a lot to talk about today. Big picture stuff. So we're just going to jump into things. Great question today coming up from Giovanna P, Giovanna is a member of our private facebook group and posted a really great question yesterday that we're going to dig into soon.But first -- a question from a friend of mine, someone who wishes to remain anonymous, but presented a very, very timely and important question.This friend asked:“Hey Brian, I have an interview coming up this week I am very excited about, I've heard you talk about first impressions a lot on your show, and I value it's importance as well.   Handshakes, eye contact, smiles -- all important stuff.But I have to admit - normally, I hate handshakes, I'm a bit of a germaphobe by nature, but I struggle through it in these instances. But now, with coronavirus and the instances of community transmission...is it fair for me to avoid a handshake completely?” Friend who slipped into my DMs… yes. 100%.I won't deny there is a part of me that thinks, ugh, I hate this catch 22, because that awkward first moment could be damaging and we should all just suck it upBut that is crappy advice.  Let's be real people -- if someone is offended right now, by someone not wanting skin to skin contact - that person is an a-hole. I think there is a way to do it respectfully, and proactively that helps avoid any awkwardness. You have to think ahead and start your motion before someone else moves to shake. At this time you raise your hand higher, shoulder height, and start to wave courteously.Hey John nice to meet you, waving at them. If anyone says – “oh we're not doing handshakes” because some people can't help themselves, they have to be a meathead, its lodged in their DNA. Just be respectful and say something while smiling like, “it feels like an appropriate choice”If they push any further – this is a red flag, and likely not someone you'd want to be around in a work role anyway. Put this in your data file and remember you are choosing them as much as they are choosing you.  Alas, I don't think this will happen – a polite wave, with eye contact, sends the signal quote clearly – we're not doing that…and in this time in our history, quite understandable.Again, you have to make your move early -- and take charge with a wave. So, there is no awkward hand out-stretched and you start retching, like they are handing you tetanus.You who listen to this show know I am not a big quotes guy -- not a big fan of the posters with quotes. BUT, I have a few movie type moments that bounce around in my head a lot. One, is from the movie “the girl with the dragon tattoo” great book series, decent movie, which is very applicable here.I won't get into the full scene, but the bad guy says to the good guy:  “Sometimes the fear of offending can be stronger than the fear of pain” Let's break that down into everyday life. Would you shake someone's hand, knowing it *could* harm you, because you are afraid to offend them?Really think about that.Would you shake someone's hand knowing it could hurt you, just because you are afraid to offend them?Think about this in your daily life – have you ever made a choice that you really really questioned, just because you were afraid to offend the other person?I've known women, who went out on dates with guys they hated because they were afraid to offend them.I've known guys, who went base jumping, or some other risky move because they didn't want to offend the friend who booked the surprise trip.Are these smart choices? Don't make decisions, important decisions, based on your fear of offending. Make them based on what you truly believe is right, or safe.My wife and I deal with this all the time with our kids -- we'll get an...

John DohertyFounder of Credo Bio: John Doherty is the founder of Credo, where they connect businesses with the right marketing provider from Credo's exclusive network. Since 2015 they've helped over 3,000 brands, including some of the world's most well known, work with great marketing firms. Sponsors: Drip – Get a free demo of Drip using this coupon code!Spark Shipping – eCommerce Automation Links: https://www.getcredo.comhttps://twitter.com/dohertyjfhttps://twitter.com/getcredo Transcript: Charles:                        00:00                In this episode of the Business of eCommerce. I talked with John Doherty about how to hire an SEO agency. This is a business of eCommerce, episode one 11 welcome to the business of eCommerce to show the helps eCommerce retailers start, launch and grow their eCommerce business. I'm your host, Charles Palleschi, and I'm here today with John Doherty. John is the founder of Creo where they connect businesses with the right marketing provider from cruise exclusive network. Since 2015 they've helped over 3000 brands work with great marketing firms. I asked John on the show today talk about what you should look for when you're hiring an SEO agency, so Hey John, how are you doing today? John:                            00:44                Good, Charles, how are you? Thanks for having me on. Charles:                        00:46                Yeah, great to have you on. Super interesting to talk about this side of SEO, right on working with a consultant and how to actually kind of do like the high level of when you should be doing it, if she should be doing it, and kind of all the strategy around that. I've talked to a bunch of guests in the show on kind of the tactical SEO, but this is kind of a different level, right? You kind of focus more on when to work with a consultant, how to work with them. Is that kind of what you guys focus on at credo? John:                            01:14                Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I actually come from the SEO world. I've been in SEO doing SEO for about a decade now for the last four years has been helping companies basically find the right firm to work with through credo. And so really I've kind of more from like being in the trenches, tactical, that sort of stuff. I can still do SEO quite well, but I find a lot more interesting on the business side. How do people do a good job of hiring for for SEO, for digital marketing? Really? you know, I've learned a lot of lessons over the years. You know, my background is I worked, I worked agency side couple agencies. I worked in house for a couple of years with Zillow and then I've also been a solo consultant and then seem 3,500 plus companies come through creative looking to hire. So I've talked to a lot of companies. John:                            01:53                I've seen a lot of companies sign with firms and in a lot of companies not signed with firms. I've seen companies signed with the wrong firms. And so it's a, you know, I've seen people hire the wrong type of, of firms so it consultants have an agency or vice versa. And so yeah, I learned, I learned a lot of lessons and it's something not a lot of people talk about. And I think it's something that we should be talking about more, especially in the digital space as we're growing companies. Because once you get beyond just you and you found product market fit or you're starting to get some traction with your eCommerce company then it's a, you know, basically the question becomes how do I scale it more? And doing that well is really, really hard. And as we were talking about offline, that like, you know, this stuff is really hard and so whatever I can do to help people do it better and give them kind of more signal in a very noisy world I love to do that. Charles:                        02:36                Yeah. Sq is one of those things too where if you're hiring some external, they don't really,

Setting Goals for 2020 Here it is 2020 and since it’s January, let’s talk about goals. As I look over the outline of what I want to talk about, it sounds like I’m complaining. That’s the thing with goals. There are stumbling blocks one has to get over completing them. I’m simply letting you know what mine were.  Now I wasn’t going to even set horsemanship goals this year.  had set no horsemanship goals until I got an email from a listener, “Hey John, what projects are you working on?” And it really got me thinking about what I wanted to do with the horses this year. Over the course of my horse ownership years, I have competed little in the show ring. If you’ve listened awhile you know this, but if you’re new to the show, it’s important you know I didn’t grow up around horses, I came to them in my 50s. The reason I haven’t competed with horses is #1 because it’s expensive. I think if you grow up around horses you get used to their cost over the years. It becomes another expense. When you get your first horse at 51, and you have to build the pens, get the feed, the supplements, the tack, the vet bills, and all the other minutiae that goes along with it at once, it’s a bit intimidating. Then, I spent the first couple of years learning about horsemanship, and how to ride, and competing wasn’t in the picture because I wasn’t competent to compete in anything. Then, we - that’s Ranae and I - got a little bolder and tried a trail trial, then a trail class. Those weren’t bad. We looked into some other show stuff Working Equitation, Reining, cow work and three things popped up. The cost of entry was higher. The level of performance was higher. And the rule books were thicker. Me and rulebooks don’t get along. They make my hair hurt. My eyes glaze over, my memory takes a hike, I get lost. We began doing ETI trail Trials a few years back. One, they are relatively inexpensive. Two, they occur over the course of a 1-2 hour trail ride so we ride along for a quarter of a mile, do an obstacle, then ride along for another ¼ mile. And three, the rules are simple. Yeah, I blew some points for not knowing to call out cinch check before going up or down a hill, but you learn those things quickly and they get easier. Okay. Goals for this year. The last two years at a Mule and Horse Show, I competed in the Ranch Riding classes with my mustang Scratch at a show in Tehachapi. I did it mainly because Scratch was born in the Tehachapi mountains and roam the area as a wild horse for 9 years and the show invited us to take part. In the show ring, Scratch loses all sense of speed control and direction. He gets a little amped up with the other horses around, and we lose our connection. Goals Change The Older One Gets At this stage in my life with horses, competing isn’t about the placement. I need to measure how I’m doing with Scratch. Am I helping him? Can he do this? Not every horse can. What do I have to do to help him feel comfortable? I know he can live out his life just riding along the trail, and maybe it’s hubris but I think he can be better. He’s a tough little horse who is smart, and I’d like to see if I am the person who can develop that toughness and smartness. And, along the way, I learn more about horses and horsemanship and that’s gotta be a good thing. So what are your goals? What do you plan to do with your horse this year? I remember one year, early on in my horsemanship, I logged all the time I spent in the saddle. I had a GPS wrist watch and an Excel spreadsheet and wanted to reach 150 hours that year. Just having that goal, got me up early to spend time on my horse. It’s those little things that can keep you motivated. Set some goals. And, I have goals for the podcast too.  I’ve reached out to Backcountry Horsemen and ETI.  I hope Ken McKnabb will come on to talk about laying down a horse. I’ve always wondered about this and recently noticed Ken has a video on it. I’m trying to get some experts in horse transportation on the show to talk about getting your horse from one place to another. Trainer TJ Clibborn has verbally committed to come on and talk about training mustangs and his life as a trainer.  One other guest I am hoping to have on the show is Arien Aguilar, who is an extraordinary trainer with some unique ideas and methods. And, I would love to find some stories to illustrate sonically like the episode I did last year on Comanche. Join Us on this Journey We want you to be a part of the show.  Tell us about your horse.  Share your challenges, triumphs, or just everyday items that make horse ownership unique.  Create an audio file using the memo app on your phone.  Or, contact me and we'll set up a time to talk by Skype or phone.  Perhaps what you have to share can help someone in THEIR horse journey. You are a big part of why we do this podcast.  We really love getting your feedback.  Please let us know your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions for the show.  Email us at John@WhoaPodcast.com Thanks for listening, John & Ranae Episode #162 Support the Whoa Podcast with this Amazon Link.  

In today’s episode of “Commercial Real Estate Investing with Don & Eden” we have guest John Casmon. He’s founded Casmon Capital Group where he primarily invests in Chicago & Cincinnati. Together, he and his business partner/wife have helped families invest in multifamily apartments to create a passive income stream and tax benefits without the hassles of becoming landlords.    In today’s episode, John discusses his partnership and business goals, his big deal in Texas, shares a variety of resources to learn your market & discusses important factors when analyzing a deal. He also explains why multifamily apartments are the main focus of his business strategy, his different types of value adds & views on the mobile home parks asset class.   Highlights:  Importance of Building Relationships How to Analyze Unfamiliar Markets Data Points to Focus On Knowing When to Scale Up   Connect with John: Website: casmoncapital.com Email: john@casmoncapital.com   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TRANSCRIPTION   00:00 Hey guys, this is Don and my guest today on the show is John Casmon. John is a real estate investor and he's investing primarily in Chicago and Cincinnati and he's in control of over 920 units, which is quite a lot of units. So I'm very excited to have him on the show today because he's one of the most experienced investors out there and I'm also, John was kind enough to share his resources with us. So at the end of the episode I'm going to read a few websites that you want to check out in case you want to do some research and find out some more information about the multifamily deal you're looking at. So we're always happy to give you guys that information. So stay tuned. 00:46 Welcome to the Commercial Real Estate Investing podcast with Don and Eden where we cover all aspects of real estate investing with special attention to off-market strategies. 01:03 Hey John, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me on. 01:07 Of course. I think you deserve it. I heard you own or in control of over 920 units. 01:14 Yeah. Were general partners of 920 units across the country, primarily in Texas, Florida, South Carolina and Cincinnati. And continue to grow that and working with investors. So excited about everything. 01:27 That's great. But I know when you started it wasn't always this way, so now you're a full time real estate investor, but when you started, you were doing that part time. I know you're investing since 2012 if my records are right. 01:41 Yeah, absolutely. We started off part time. I started with the house hack. We had a two unit property, lived in one unit, rented out the other and you know, from there we bought a three unit building. A couple of years later we bought an eight unit building the next year and just continued to build the portfolio. And eventually it got to the point where we were running out of our own money and we're talking to a lot of people who were interested in investing in real estate but didn't have the time to really learn everything that we had learned in the us on their own. And at that moment we kind of realized, Hey, there might be a great opportunity to partner with these people where we can bring them in along side of us on deals. They can be passive, they can, get all the, you know, the income that comes from being an investor without having to actually be the landlord and take care of the property themselves. So that kind of really opened us up to different ways of expanding and growing our portfolio. Yeah. So when you say we, who exactly are you talking about? Oh, my wife. You know, I don't make any decisions without checking in with the boss. 02:41 Yeah. Just checking in with the boss. That's, that's true. So when you, when you first made the transition to real estate, I know you were working in a different job, a day job and then how, how did your wife take it? So how, how was she with, with that idea? 02:57 Yeah, I mean it's the, it was truly a partnership thing. So it wasn't like I had to convince her or anything like that. I know some folks go to those situations, but you know, we were always aligned on the lifestyle we wanted to create a lifestyle, we wanted to live the environment we went to raise our kids in. So as we had conversations about how to create it, real estate was a big part of it. So that first property, I mean we lived in that property, lived in one unit. We lived in our property for seven years. So I mean we lived basically in an apartment for seven years in and built equity and continue to grow. So that was something we were always aligned on. And I think that's really important. If you're going to invest in real estate you want to make sure your partner is on board with that. 03:38 So she was completely aligned with it. We had our roles in the business, so she did certain things. I did certain things and we kind of use that to grow the portfolio. So we were both, you know, doing it kind of on the side and we have a smaller portfolio, you can do that. I think when you get to the point where you really want to scale and you want to start working with other people, that's where you start to have to shift roles, responsibilities and dedicate more time into the business. Yeah. So when did you feel that things are getting bigger and that you, you're, you just scaled up a little bit? You know, we bought the eight unit building and that was our first commercial property. We hired a professional management company to over see it and we're still pretty involved in the process from an asset management standpoint. 04:22 But going through that process gave me the confidence and, you know, the readiness to start moving forward into some of the larger properties. So I think for me, you know, cutting the teeth on something that was commercial but not overwhelming, that gave us a chance to learn to work with property management companies, understand the way they work, the way they underwrite, the way they manage and just really take that experience and they use that to kind of build and take the next step into kind of larger commercial properties. Okay. So yeah, let's talk about that. So when you're saying large commercial properties- I'm assuming you're talking about multifamily units over 80 units or 90 units, right? Apartment buildings. That's right. Yeah. So tell us about the first deal that you had of, of that scale. Yeah, so I mean, we were looking for properties for awhile and knew just like now the market's been kinda tight and we were looking for properties where we could deliver strong returns for our investors and we're having a hard time finding it. 05:23 So we ended up partnering with a friend, a gentleman that I had met and he was in a similar boat, but we just kinda had a conversation and I expressed that if he found something that made sense, wanting to love to review it, and if the deal looked good, we'd be interested in coming on as partners and maybe bringing some of our partners on as well. Because at that point point we had been talking to investors for a little bit of time and you know, they were kind of getting itchy and wanted to get in on a deal that all the great things we have been telling them about multifamily investing and we were struggling to find that deal. So we ended up partnering with that investor and that was 192 units out in San Antonio, Texas. Oh, that's a big, that's a big property. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it was a win, win situation because that was the big property for them as well. Right. So that was their first very large apartment deal where they kind of word the, the leads. So we came in as general partners and we help them with you know, kind of some of the marketing from the investor relations and you know, that was kind of our foray into the larger commercial apartment space. 06:29 Okay. So do you feel like you got into the deal because your investors got itchy or did you actually spot the opportunity there? 06:37 Well, I mean I think it comes down to building relationships first of all. Right. So for us, we would not have done this with just anyone. This was an individual that we had gotten to know over the course of probably about nine months. And you know, we've met him in person, we've sat, we've had dinner with them. We've had various conversations at that time. I had just launched our podcast “Target Market Insights” and he was one of the early guests on this show and it actually came up while we were talking right after we recorded the episode. So, you know, he was someone that we respected, we, we understood how he was looking at deals. He had been a general partner and other deals as well. In a large space. So he had experienced that. He knew what he was doing from that perspective. So I think we, there was a level of comfort with with that individual that gave us comfort and moving forward and, and being a partner there that I don't think we would have had no matter what our investors were thinking or looking for. 07:33 Okay. So let's talk about the numbers for that deal. So what was the purchase price? Find my ask and, and what was the value at plan and everything there? 07:41 Yeah, 16 point $1 million purchase price. We invested a little more than a million bucks into renovations. Value adds a couple things. Interior innovations on that property. We changed up the exterior landscape changed out the siding. There was a who's that? There was a, a second area that was kind of like a hot tub at one point. I, I don't know why, but it was a hot tub and we actually fill that in and made a kind of a barbecue pit area. So looking at different amenities that we can add. We added in private fenced in yards for the first floor units and then we added some technology packages as well. 08:24 I see. Okay. So basically you focused on improving the lifestyle and the, comfortability and the feeling of, of the people that are going to live in that, 08:33 The apartment, right? Yeah, yeah. A combination of interior renovations too. You know, just have a more attractive home, a more premium home, and also adding amenities and improving the amenities of the property. And then also just the aesthetics. Right. So from the exterior, just improving the aesthetics with a scheme of brand colors that really popped in, allow the property to stand out and photos and in person and felt more warm. It felt like a great home environment. 09:01 Yeah. So when you guys bought the property at $16.1, what was the, the vacancy rate roughly? If you don't remember? That's fine. 09:11 Yeah. I mean, I believe it was 92% occupied, so we're on a 7% or 8% vacancy rate. 09:16 Okay. And so the, the rents where they, where they maxed up or there were still some space? 09:22 Well, I'll tell you, this is the great thing about our strategy. So we do value add investing, right? So I just talked about all the stuff we did to it, but the beauty is you can buy the property based on its current operations. So it was making money and it was doing okay for what it was and what we saw was an opportunity for the property to perform even better. So almost like a private equity firm coming into it, looking at the current operations, but knowing that if we inject this some capital into the right things, we could really drive the returns. And that's kind of what we did. So it was for the vintage of the property, it was achieving pretty good rinse, but there was an opportunity to improve those units and take it from being a 1983 product and actually upfitting the countertops and appliances and the flooring and the fixtures and updating all of these things where we could compete with some of the class A properties and some of the 2015 & 2016 builds. Now we have something that's a bit more attractive and because it is still a little bit of an older property it can't quite achieve the rents of those new construction projects. But it's certainly gonna stand above the properties that were its like a B-class class. 10:40 That's exactly it. That's exactly it. So it's a nice sweet spot for us to play in where it's a better property than the other, you know, 1980 construction properties that are there, but it's going to be more affordable than the new construction. So for a renter, what they really care about, they don't care about the year of property was built, they care about what my apartment looks like, you know, does it have nice countertops? Does it have a washer dryer in unit, does it have a stainless steel appliances? Those kinds of things is what they care about. And then also what other amenities are there. Right. So that's what we, that's what we did with our business plan and that's worked out really well for us. 11:15 Very interesting. So let, let me, let me dig a little bit deeper on that deal specifically. Cause it's, it's very interesting the things you were saying. So as far as the rents, the 1983 product that was out there in the market, what was it by the way, that deal, you said, where was it? Yeah, San Antonio. Oh, San Antonio Okay. So the, the, the other products are the B class, in that market at the time. How much were they renting for roughly? And so where did you put your property in comparison with the A class property? So you, you were right in the middle, you're saying, right? 11:48 Yeah, I mean, so I think what we'd like to do, right, and for your listeners here don't understand part, what you want to do is you never want to have the most expensive property out there. So we were very conscious to manage our renovation schedule and understanding what kind of rents we could get. So we looked at those class a project properties and said, okay, if they're charging, and I'm just going to throw rough numbers here, they're charging $1,300 in rent or $1,400 in rent. If we fit, have our property with similar finishes. If we do units with similar finishes to this class A property, then we can expect to get something a little less than that. Now again, because that's the class A they knew, bill knew everything. Maybe you get $1100, maybe you get $1200, but take a couple, take 100 bucks off to, you know, 10- 20%, something like that. 12:36 Take that off of the class, but you also have to compare that to class B because again, you want to make sure you're not above the market to the point where you're in no man's land. So you wanna make sure that you're providing something of value and that value is ‘Hey, if you can get a class a product at a class B price’, that's how you know you've hit the sweet spot. So you want to make sure that you're still able to compete with those other properties and it's okay to be at a premium to some of them as long as your renovations and the property itself is above is above kind of the offerings that those properties have.  13:12 What would you say the price of the other B properties was? The same price, like $1100, $1200 13:18 A more the, thousand dollar range rights. I mean they kind of depends on where you start your property. So in this scenario, let's say that they're all getting similar rents, but there are a couple of comp properties that I've seen some upgrades and those properties that have been upgraded are seeing rent premiums of a $100-$150. That lets you know that Hey, if we were to do certain renovations, we can improve the rents, we let them this property. 13:42 Yeah. And so when you got into the deal, what was the rent that was charged by the, by the previous owner? 13:48 I don't know. I'd have to look back on that one, man. 13:50 Yeah. Okay. Yeah, of course. You can't remember everything. But that's very interesting. So I think the, the ability to really look at a deal and see the small things you can do, but still looking at it objectively. Cause sometimes, you know, when I look at deals, I want them to work, you know, cause I want to close on the deal and I want the deal to work. So I'm not really looking at it objectively when I give it to somebody else that I know and I have them look at it then, you know, they look at it in a different way. And so I think looking at a deal and knowing that you could get what it is you're trying to get, you know, and add the extra value and still make good profit. I think it's great. And you guys really noticed that on that specific property. And I think that's, that's amazing. That's beautiful. 14:33 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think ultimately when you talk about underwriting, right? And when you're looking at these numbers, I mean, you have to allow the numbers to tell the story, right? You can't get too fixated on, you know, what you want to happen on that deal in particular, you know, like th the numbers they made sense and sometimes you have to tweak it, right? I mean, it's not say that, ‘Hey, if you underwrite a deal and the numbers don't work, run away.’ I think what it means is you have to rethink your business plan. Sometimes you step back and say, okay, well what will happen if we did this? Or what will happen if we, if we didn't upgrade every unit, what if we only did these units? So I think you can play around with scenarios, but the numbers are the numbers that you don't want to force the numbers to work. That's where you get into a lot of trouble. So you definitely wanna make sure you stay diligent to the numbers. But you can stay somewhat open-minded in your business plan as long as the numbers are dictating the proof points of what your business plan actually is. 15:28 Definitely. Okay. So let's talk about your other deals that you've done since that big deal over there. So have you changed your strategies, you know, during the years with looking at properties differently and doing other things that, you know, you, you haven't done in that specific deal? 15:46 Ah, I mean I think generally speaking, value add is our approach. So we're always looking to buy a property that is cash flowing day one. That's, that's a core principle of ours. We like cash flowing assets day one. And what we want to do is want to find ways to add value. So that is a core principle of our business and the way we operate. So some of the things that have changed since then is we, we look at our loans. So the loan kind of is a deal by deal thing. So we're always balancing the loan product that we want to put on there and the exit strategy that we place. And we're always looking at the market, you know, the market dynamics, you know, how much room is there to improve rents you know, what can the market take, what will be too much, what's the story of the asset and how do we come up with the business plan that best matches the property itself, the community, and then what renters in the area are looking for. 16:39 Yeah. So when you're looking at a new market or a market that you don't know, where would you look or what is the data that you're trying to get? 16:46 Yeah, there's a ton of data that you're looking for, but ultimately the main thing that you're looking for is you want to understand where demand is, not just today, but tomorrow. You want to know how future demand compares to current demand and the, the more recent realities. So a lot of people will tell you, ‘Hey, you know, I'm, you know, this market saw 5% rent growth last year.’ That's great. It does not mean it's going to see 5% rent growth in the future, which is what you really care about. So we try to look at the different data points to figure out what's demand currently and what can we realistically expect it to be in the near future through life of our business plan. Now, none of us have a crystal ball, but we try to look at different data points to determine that. So what are some of those points? 17:31 Look at population. So you want to understand population population growth in particular. Are people leaving an area or are they moving into an area? Jobs, job growth. We're looking at, you know, what jobs are there, are they growing? Are there more jobs being added to an area or people, you know, more companies leaving the area. Job diversification. So, you know, I lived in Detroit for four and a half years and I worked in the automotive industry. So I can tell you how important it is to have a diverse industry from a, from a jobs perspective, you never want to have one city or one market solely dependent on one industry because if something happens to that industry, you know, obviously you can suffer the consequences of it. Outside of that, you are looking at the ease of doing business and you're looking at landlord, tenant friendliness. 18:20 So how easy is it to evict or to, you know, get a tenant out of if they're not paying their rent. So you want to understand those different components. So we look at all of that, but ultimately, you know, we're trying to figure out demand. So the last factor we look at there is more in the multifamily space. We'll look at as supply and demand. New construction is new construction coming on board. You know, what is the absorption rate for that? So absorption rate is essentially the, the frequency or the amount of demand for the new apartments that are coming on board. So you want to make sure that there's more demand than properties being built because there's more properties, more units being built, then demand, then that's going to force everyone's rent to go down. So you may not be able to actually implement your business plan if you are trying to raise rents. 19:09 Yeah. So where do you gather all the data on? I know that you, you probably gathered from many, many places like I know CoStar, you can look at things over there, you can look at things that Reonomy. You can look at best basis. There are so many, you know, things you could look at and report. So you could read. So for our listeners, people that are trying to get into real estate investing and they want to know where you gather the data, what would you say are the best places to do that? 19:33 Yeah, so there's a lot of different resources out there. I just did a presentation. I've put a whole list together. I'd be happy to email this to you or share with your audience as a download. But a handful that I'll go off the top of my head. You mentioned bus places. That's a great one. Best places done that is a, is a great resource there. The US census census.gov it's a great website, great forum for understanding both population and job growth. So it does have that information on there. On the jobs, it's more, I think it's a Bureau of Labor is the website to go check out for, for the jobs there. And yeah, I mean, unfortunately there's not like one site that's going to just give you all of those things in a pretty package. What I will say is that brokers to now this information available. 20:20 So if you're talking to brokers, that's something that you can ask them. Typically they'll, you'll see some of this information in their offering memorandum. The other places you know, talking to, to local officials, but also reach out to any kind of Economic Development Council. So if you're looking at a specific market, a great resource is going to be that Local Economic Development Council, Chamber Of Commerce. And you can just flat out ask them, Hey you know, trying to get some information in regards to population growth and job growth in this market, new construction and what developments are being planned and they can have some of that information available to you as well. Nice. These are some great tips. So what is your focus for the future? I know that multifamily market is kind of tight right now that, you know, the way you said it before. 21:11 So what are you doing in this type market? Are you still looking at multifamily deals or, you're looking at different asset classes? No, we stay focused on multifamily. You know, I know a lot of people are looking at other asset classes and there's certainly opportunities in different asset classes and I think that's the beauty of real estate is there's always going to be some opportunities, but multifamily from a fundamental standpoint is something we really like. And I'll tell you why. First of all, it's housing. So everyone's always going to need a place to live. That's something that technology can't replace. It's pretty straight forward. You know, you need a place to stay. Two- Affordable housing is getting tough in this country. You know, prices are going up, rents are going up, home ownership is going down. You know, they're trying to increase salaries and wages, but between the debt that most people have, whether it be called student loan debt or other debt, it's really difficult for, for your average person to come up with 20%- 25% down for a have to buy a new home. 22:09 So many people are saving. The other thing is people are getting married later in life. So young people are not getting married in their thirties. They're having children later in life and no one wants to own a ranch home when there's 24 years old live in by themselves. So most of them want to be in the city. They won't be downtown. They would be close to the action. So you're seeing more people choose to rent out a lifestyle. Same thing on the flip side of that equation, you have more older renters now where they don't want the burden of being a homeowner. They'd rather rent call the main has got it fixed, whatever they need, fixed, live, close to the city, close to colleges, universities, things like that. And they're happy to, to rent as opposed to owning a home. So I think the view of what home ownership means has changed significantly in this country where he used to be kind of a, the goal for many people. 22:58 Now it's almost a burden, you know, to, to be a homeowner. You can't move around the country, you can't take a new job, you can't do the different things. So people actually prefer a lot of people prefer to rent. So because of all those things, I still think multifamily is a strong place to be. The core for us is we, we buy based off our fundamentals. So if you're buying based off of fundamentals, you're a little less concerned with the economy. Because I could sell whenever I want to sell for the most part, as long as I put a loan product on the proper property, that gives me flexibility on the exit. We're buying cash flowing assets day one. So I'm not trying to flip a project or, you know, do all these other things to try to figure out how to make my money. 23:38 It's not new construction or development. You know, so we're going in and we are particularly investing capital into the property when and where it makes sense. We have the ability to slow down or rev up that process as we see fit. So I still think multifamily is a great place to be. You need to be smart and you need to be diligent as you're going through the process. But if you're buying cash flow that properties and you have proper reserves and you put the proper loan on it, that gives you flexibility and I think you'll still do fine even in an economic downturn. 24:11 Yeah, definitely. And I think a lot of things you discussed before are so interesting and so true because the people that rent today are primarily millennials. And then we were exposed to, and that's what happened to me. We were exposed to the purple book or, or you know, some other people call it ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. I just call it the purple book because people just know what I'm talking about and then that book describes that owning a home in America and in general is more of a liability than, than an asset. And so you see the impact of, of Robert Kiyosaki's words, you know, to the people where you'd see that everybody would prefer to rent and not to own. And you're, you're so right about the things you said. Cause I had the same, the same concept right now when I was debating where I'm going to move if I was gonna move to another, a condo or an apartment or a, or a single family house in Miami, that's, that's where I'm from. 25:04 And then I was thinking the exact same thing I was thinking about. Do I? I'm single. So I, I'm, I'm not married, I don't have kids. So I was thinking, you know, the exact same thing even though I'm 30 I, I still don't want to, don't want to live in, in a, in a single family house, you know, when I can live downtown, close to everything and, and close to my friends and close to young people, you know. So, so the things you mentioned are, are very true. But despite that, I'm going to ask a question regarding what she said about the affordable housing. So since the crisis of affordable housing is not going anywhere anytime soon, what do you think about, I see a lot of, a lot of chatter on a mobile home parks and  the affordability of, of basically living in a mobile home in comparison to other things. And so a lot of investors and trust and funds are buying them right now. So what do you think about that asset class? So have you ever looked into it? 26:03 Yeah, I mean, you know, we, we interview a lot of people and we have talked to multiple people who are focused on mobile home parks and we know a lot of other city caters and operators and investors who, who are in that space. We get it, we understand it at a high level. It's just, you know, for us, when I think about mobile home parks I think that it makes sense for certain people. I just, I personally haven't seen a reason for us to pivot our strategy. You know I think that there are a couple of different types of people here and I'm not saying one is right, but we like to try to focus on one thing and really get great at it and spend a lot of time and energy to excel and get as great as we can be on something. 26:51 And at that point then we would consider other approaches, other asset classes or whatever. But for us, I just don't like I'm concerned about the shiny object syndrome for us. So we just prefer to focus in on what we're doing and not try to chase yields. Cause I think unless you truly want to be in a mobile home parks or you know, still a self storage or some of these other things, I think what's happening is people are chasing yields are chasing deals as opposed to really trying to lock in on what they do. And I'm not saying one is right or one is wrong. If you have the ability to do that, the great for us, you know, I think we prefer to just kind of focus in one asset class as opposed to trying to be a Jack of all trades. 27:35 Yeah. And that makes sense because you're already in that asset class and you have the connections, you have the knowledge and you've done it before the investors been brokers, everything is at your hand. So what would you, what would you think about a person who's trying to get into multifamily investing right now at this market at this point? Yeah, I will tell you the same thing I tell everybody. So if you want to get into it wonky clarity on what you want to do if you want to kind of buy large apartment buildings or things like that, then or if you just want to, you just heard of all commercial investing and you want to get into the space. What I would say is the best thing to do is find someone who's doing it and see if you can be a limited partner. 28:20 Because being a limited partner is going to allow you to learn more real time. You, you have money in the deal. So you've got skin in the game and you can ask the questions that come up and you can gain experience, confidence and credibility that's gonna make it much easier to grow. And that's something that will put you in position to be very successful. So we talk a lot about the kind of how to grow into the space and do it where you don't have so many things pushing against you with the learning curve is very high. And I think ultimately what will happen is, you know, people get into this, they read a book and they get excited and you know, it just becomes very tough. It's very difficult to go out and just buy a property in a very competitive market. 29:04 And you don't want to be the person who inadvertently overpays for something and you know, not be in a position to make that money back or implement your business plan. So I would say trying to find a deal where you can come in is a great way to start from there. You can become a general partner or become an operator yourself. But then also think about what you really want to do. Because for many people, they want to invest in real estate, especially commercial real estate because they want the benefits that come with it. You want the passive income, you want the tax benefits, you want to diversify your portfolio. What you don't want is a second job. You want to be chasing down tenants for rent. You don't want to be, you know, fixing toilets that are leaking in the night. So, you know, just make sure you're clear on what you're signing up for and what you're going to get out of it. The larger properties give you the ability to be an investor and the smaller properties, you know, give you a chance to be a landlord. 30:01 Yeah. But I guess a lot of people would say that you also learn a lot when you deal with the small properties. You learn what you don't want to do. 30:09 I think many people can learn from me telling you, you don't want to change toilets though. So you can, there's a lot of ways to learn, right? You can learn by getting punched in the face or you can learn from someone saying, Hey, that probably hurts. You just don't walk into it. Right. Yeah. It's up to you about how you want to learn. 30:23 Yeah, definitely. That's very smart. Okay. So John Casmon, what are the best ways to connect with you in case anybody wants to get in touch? 30:31 Yeah. So if you're interested in multifamily or you want to grow kind of from a marketing standpoint, whether it be finding deals or you want to learn more about how to find deals, how to analyze deals, how to learn more about markets or even just growing your personal brand, check out our podcast is called “Target Market Insights” and sites and it's available anywhere podcasts are, and you can also go to our website. We have a free download, you go to casmoncapital.com/sampledeal. We have a free sample deals to get a sense of what a deal package looks like. And then if you have any questions or you want to connect with me further, you can email me at john@casmoncapital.com. 31:10 Alright John, thank you very much. 31:13 Thank you. Appreciate you having me on the show. 31:15 Yup. Have a great day. Hey guys, so yes, as promised courtesy of John casmon. Here are some resources in case you want to check some critical information on multifamily deals or the market that you're looking into. So if you want to know more about economic trends in the market, you can check out the US Census. You could check out the Bureau of Labor statistics, the Local Economic Development Council, and there's a website called areavibes.com. So it's area vibes.com. Okay. So if you want to know more about multifamily trends check out Colliers International Marcus and Millichap, C. B. R. E. you can always use CoStar. You could use REI reports, ALN Data, Integra Realty resources, also known as IRR. WeAreApartments.org and justicemap.org. So these are all the resources that John shared with us. I hope this is very helpful to anybody who's trying to get into multifamily and learn more. It's always good to know as much as you can about the market. I hope that helps. So thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the episode. 32:30 Thanks for listening to the real estate investing podcast with Don and Eden. Stay tuned for more episodes till next time.

About John Waid John is the founder and CEO of C3 corporate culture consulting, a firm specializing in aligning an organization's culture with its strategic goals. John has worked in sales and marketing at Pfizer, Pepsi Company, Nestle and Chateau St. Michelle winery. During these experiences, he developed a heightened awareness of the indispensable role people's attitudes play in implementing effective processes and procedures. John is an author, speaker, facilitator, and thought leader in the area of corporate culture and its positive impact on people and companies. He was born in Mexico City, has lived in five countries and speaks fluent Spanish, Portuguese and English. He is an author, keynote speaker, blogger, soccer fan, wine enthusiast, and proud dad. He currently makes his home in Atlanta.   Why does culture matter and what is the definition of corporate culture? “Culture is basically some values and some behaviors that you stand for. Most companies have made an effort to define their culture through selecting some values and then also some behaviors to go with those values…”   How easy or hard is it to implement great company culture? “The biggest barrier to implementing culture is self-awareness. And self-awareness is a topic that’s uh…90% of people think they're self-aware, only about 10% of people are.”   How much does company culture contribute to results, profits, and all other variables? “How much more do you think that Chick-fil-A sells versus a Kentucky Fried Chicken?... 500% more. Yes. Because of the experience, because of the people.”   Can you share with me your most successful or favorite networking story/experience that you’ve had? “I met a person who wrote a book called The Platinum Rule and he was from New York, he lives in San Diego, and what he found out is that the golden rule ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, wasn't working for him…”   What advice do you have for the professional on growing their network? “Don't be shy. Get out there. Say hello and start with hello. Care about the other person. Use the platinum rule. And you know, build a relationship to the point where they want to buy from you. Because at the end of the day, we don't sell anything, people buy.”   Digital networking or traditional networking? “Digital's a good way to get to see how people remember you that you've met before. I often find when I send out things digitally that people that I haven't talked to in a while, will reach back around and say, ‘Hey John, haven't heard from you. I got this email from you; I got this material from you…”   If you could go back 20 years, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of regarding your career? “I would've gone to Wharton and studied international business because I've could've gotten in there as an MBA. I would have found my calling, you know, which is training and development and the area of culture earlier in life so that I could have devoted more time to it.”   Any final words of advice for our listeners? “Be good to people. Figure out what your calling is.”   You can get in contact with John at: Phone: 404-915-3051 Email: jwaid@corporatecultureconsulting.com(link sends e-mail) Website: www.c3culture.com LinkedIn: Click Here

Hey John is back from his business meeting y'all! In this episode, we talk about marriage, boomers, gaming. Ay it's the usual. You know what it is.

Welcome to episode 10 of the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast! This week we talk with Michael Cart, the Finance Manager at CDJR. Michael is from the Middle Tennessee area. In this episode we get the opportunity to learn more about: Michael’s backstory and how he ended up at Miracle CDJRHis role at MiracleGetting financing through Miracle vs getting credit from outside sourcesHow easy it is to get approvalWhat makes Miracle differentThe Miracle VIP Advantage Program This is another great episode, so enjoy! Transcript John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Podcast, where each week you’ll learn the best ways to purchase, lease, service and maintain, accessorize, and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready to do it. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month right here, as you know, we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can use. And you’ll also see a transcript of each podcast for quick reference. On this podcast, today we’re speaking with Michael Cart. He’s the Finance Manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Gallatin. Hey Michael, welcome to the podcast. Michael Cart: 00:38 Hey John. Thanks for having me. How are you doing? John Haggard: 00:40 I’m doing great man. I appreciate your taking the time to, to talk with us. You know, finances is a big, big deal in everybody’s life, whether it’s a car, whether it’s a house, you know, buying furniture, it’s just a big thing and looking forward to talking about that. But before we do, just to get to know you a little bit better, are you from this area? Did you grow up in Gallatin? Michael Cart: 00:59 I actually grew up in a Sumner county. I grew up in White House, Tennessee. So I’m local. I’m from White House and now me and my wife, we live in Gallatin. Just five, 10 minutes down from work. So it’s real nice, I like it here. John Haggard: 01:13 So you’ve been here all your life, you didn’t move away. You’ve always been here? Michael Cart: 01:17 Yeah. Correct. John. Yep, born and raised. Yes sir. John Haggard: 01:20 Okay. And so where did you go to high school? Michael Cart: 01:23 I went to school in White House, Tennessee. So White House High School. John Haggard: 01:27 White House High School. Okay. And was that school, did it have any special area of learning? You know, like some cities have a space program, like if they’re in Florida or whatever. Michael Cart: 01:37 Ha ha ha! John Haggard: 01:37 No? You’re laughing! Michael Cart: 01:40 No, unfortunately. White House is a small town. So you know, I think that they’re special learning was, what do you call it? They have like FFA, like Future Farmers of America. But nothing for like a space program though. John Haggard: 01:53 Gotcha. Well if you’re from here, you must have family here as well. Michael Cart: 01:58 Yeah, I do. My mom’s side of the family is from Springfield, Tennessee and my dad’s side of the family is from Nashville, Tennessee. And my mom and dad, they still live in White House and we got family all over the place in Nashville and in White House in Springfield, just surrounding counties. John Haggard: 02:14 Yeah. So any of them in the car business? Michael Cart: 02:17 No, not at all. First one in the family in the car business. Yeah. John Haggard: 02:21 First one in the family. All right. So once you got out of high school, did you do college as well or did you just elect to go ahead and work early? Michael Cart: 02:29 Yeah, so I went to, after high school I went to college right away. And, you know, as a young adult you’re deciding, you either I want to go to college, I want to go to work. And while I was in college, I was really trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And at the time I was working for, you know, like a local drug store. And I was in between jobs cause I quit the drugstore. I was getting ready to go back to school. And right before school started I said, “You know what, let me let me get into car sales.” I don’t know why I was, you know, thinking that. But I was just thinking, “Hey I’ll try sales, car sales is good.” I was, you know, googling “good jobs without having to finish college” and it said try sales. So I said, “You know, I’ll, do car sales.” And I got a job in doing, selling cars. And I’ve been doing it since, what does 2011, 12? So, I’ve been doing it for a while, I guess. John Haggard: 03:13 So when you’re not working at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, what do you like to do on your time off? Michael Cart: 03:20 Me and my the wife, we just have a little newborn and around Monday be turning a month old. And so.. John Haggard: 03:26 Wow! Congratulations! Michael Cart: 03:28 Oh thanks John. Really just work and then go home. And take care of the family, you know? John Haggard: 03:32 Yeah. So are you, let’s see, one month, are you getting any sleep? Are you up every two hours? What’s going on there? Michael Cart: 03:39 No. I actually, I get plenty of sleep. My wife doesn’t really get a whole lot of sleep. She’s, she she really helps out a lot. During the work week, she gets up every night, but on Sundays I’m off on Saturday, so I’m on Sundays. So on Saturday night I’ll, you know, stay up late with the baby, usually gets up on her at like around 3am and then we’ll feed him and he goes back to sleep. But he’s pretty good. John Haggard: 04:00 Oh, that’s pretty good. You know, some are up every hour and a half to two. Some will sleep maybe three or four hours. So it sounds like you are getting a little bit of sleep anyway. Michael Cart: 04:08 Yeah, I am. She’s not. Ha ha! John Haggard: 04:09 Yeah, I got ya. What a great wife, I got to tell you that. Michael Cart: 04:13 Yeah, I’m lucky. Yeah. John Haggard: 04:15 So what about favorite hobbies? Maybe from childhood that you are still doing today? Or maybe some new hobbies that are going on. Michael Cart: 04:23 My main thing that I do is try to figure out how I can better my family and my life. So here recently, I’ve been doing lot of like you know, reading and I’ve been trying to read about how to invest. And so that’s kind of my hobby right now, just reading and learning. John Haggard: 04:40 Gotcha. So what was your very first job? Michael Cart: 04:45 First job? Let’s see. I want to say maybe Pizza Hut, I might’ve been a cook at Pizza Hut, I think? No, actually my first job I worked at a grocery store. So there’s to be this grocery store right down the street from the house where I grew up in White House. I think It’s called the Al’s Food Value or something. And I was like, I bagged the groceries and I put the groceries in the, on the shelves and I hated it. (laughs) John Haggard: 05:10 (Laughs) It’s tough work, I have to tell you, it is. So what brought you to Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. There are a lot of car dealers out there. How did you wind up there? Michael Cart: 05:19 Actually, I was working for another dealership and I was in the market for Jeep. So I said, well let me go to Jeep or Miracle jeep and buy cars as close to the house. And whenever I got here, I was talking to Mark Ledford, the general sales manager, and he offered me a job and him and Tim kind of rolled the dice and I didn’t have any finance experience and they kind of rolled the dice and took a chance on me. And the [inaudible] Finance School and they hired me and trained me and I’ve been here for I guess, you know, two, three years now. So I really appreciate that. John Haggard: 05:51 Yeah. What do you think it was? I mean, cause that’s kind of rare. Did you do personality testing and all that type of thing? What was that like? How do you just sort of come to buy a Jeep and end up with a job? Michael Cart: 06:01 Well I was in sales before I was. I’ve been doing sales for a while. But I was working for another brand and you know, Mark said he needs someone, you should come work for us. I said, “Well, I’ll come work for you if you could give me a management position.” You know, maybe Financer. That they also what they called Desk Managers. And he said they had a spot opened up and they interviewed me and, you know, sent me a call and rolled the dice, I guess. John Haggard: 06:22 As a Finance Manager, what does your typical day look like? Michael Cart: 06:25 So mainly my job is to make sure whenever there are customers buying a car. John Haggard: 06:31 So as the Finance Manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Michael, what is your typical day look like? Michael Cart: 06:39 Yes. So typically what I’ll do, I’m, the first thing I’ll do John in the morning, I’ll come in, I check my computer, check my email, see if anybody’s calling me or if they have any questions about a vehicle that they just purchased. Usually I have too, I’d say it’s called funding. Sometimes the bank needs like a copy of the customer’s like driver’s license or something. I have to make sure that they receive the documents and make sure everything was signed and dotted correctly. You know, my job is really just to make sure all the paperwork is filled out correct when the customer is here. So whenever the, we send the contract to the bank, we can get the money right away. So there’s no problem with our accounting office and, you know, we can keep doing business in a smooth way. John Haggard: 07:14 When you talk about finance, people have this choice and it’s just been around for years. You see it advertised on television or hear about it on radio or see it on the Internet, wherever it might be. Is it a better deal to finance with a dealer or go get outside financing from a bank or a credit union? Tell us about that. Michael Cart: 07:35 That’s a good question. So I hear a lot of the time, “I have been pre-approved through my bank, through my credit union.” Well a lot of times the manufacturer they put on incentives. So Chrysler is owned by Chrysler Capital – that’s the name of our bank. So they’ll say, hey, if you buy a Ram or a Chrysler or a Dodge or Jeep, we’ll give you free money basically for finance. It’s called a rebate. So you get a rebate for financing through Chrysler. But I’ve seen customers also too that had been doing business with a like a credit union. And we do so many business with banks and we also have credit unions. We have that were 50 banks that we work with. But let’s say you know, I’ve had a customer says, “Hey, I’ve been preapproved to my credit union.” Okay, perfect. What was the rate they gave you? You know, sometimes it’ll be like 6% or 7%. And a lot of times, I can beat the rate that they get from their bank or their credit union because we just do so much business, more volume through banks and credit unions. You know, you might do a loan once they, you know, once every five years you might buy a car. We do loans every single day, so I have more volume so I get a better interest rate than the customer can get a lot of times through their bank or their credit union. Does that make sense? I explained that… John Haggard: 08:42 It does, yeah! Absolutely. Michael Cart: 08:42 So a lot of times I can beat the rate, but you know, sometimes I can’t. And you know, we want what’s best for the customers. So if they can get a better rate, perfect. But if I can get a better rate, you know, save the customer some money, that’s obviously going to be the better way to go. You know? John Haggard: 08:57 Well, you know what you see also TV commercials, especially these days that talk about getting approved online in minutes, you know? Does that, does it really work that way? I mean, in minutes, you go to a website, boom bam! You’re approved here, walk in, take this piece of paper, buy what you want up to x amount of money. Michael Cart: 09:14 Yeah, pretty much! It’s really easy. Also, if you go on our website on this, there’s a tab that says get financing. You m go on there. You put in your information, your name, address, social, birthday, everything. And then you pick out which car and then you click on the car. Then you can say, Hey, I want my payment to be 500, 600 bucks a month and it’ll just calculate how much money you need to put now and based on the credit to get there. And then you just come in and fill out the paperwork and it’s really easy. John Haggard: 09:37 So it really, it doesn’t take long at all to get financed. You hear these stories from some people. Well, you know, I went to this dealer and, you know, hung around half a day, all day and went to another dealer and took three or four days to get a deal put together. But it’s not really typically that way. Michael Cart: 09:53 Not really. Where you get people that sit around at dealerships a lot of time is really with, don’t know if you’ve heard the term subprime lending. People that are subprime need subprime lending. And we actually have a special finance department that specializes in that. Really with people that are prime borrowers. It doesn’t take that long. It’s instantly approved. But if you’re subprime, you need steps, like proof of residence, a proof of income like paycheck stubs and the bank wants a lot more information. So we actually specialize in that too. There’s another guy that works here. His name’s Rich Craycroft. He’s been doing it a long time and he specializes in helping people obtain subprime loans especially the bankruptcy. Tennessee’s like the number one bankruptcy state in the southeast. So we, we do actually do get a lot of, a lot of customers need help in that area. We do, we do all types. You know, we do all types of prime, subprime, you know, anything. We help out everybody. John Haggard: 10:43 And Tennessee is the number one state in the southeast for bankruptcy. Michael Cart: 10:48 Yeah. John Haggard: 10:49 Is there one question that customers ask a lot or, or maybe one or two questions that you’re always asked that would really kind of clear up confusion about financing or the process? Michael Cart: 11:01 I wouldn’t really say there’s a question. I have to say there’s more of a, a concern. I would say that people feel like, you know, maybe I should go to my credit union. They don’t feel like the dealership’s being more transparent. But Miracle, you know, the Miracle Automotive Group, they’ve been in business for a long time and they’ve built that off of being transparent and customer service. And Mr Galvin, Sr. has instilled that in the community. So, you know, we have to be really transparent and upfront to, you know, keep people coming back here and trusting us in doing business with them. Cause it’s, you know, the second business, second biggest purchase, they’ll ever make. So we want them to feel safe and, you know, no concern, no worry. We want them to know what they’re getting into. John Haggard: 11:40 So Miracle Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and also Miracle Ford, two dealerships just almost right next to each other, they are family owned. And so what is it like the atmosphere, you know, a lot of are big, you know, I guess you would say big corporate conglomerates and so forth. What’s different or what’s neat? What makes you get up and want to go to work at Miracle? Michael Cart: 11:55 The really cool thing about Miracle is that it is family owned, like you said. Well, what that means is, we’re really heavily involved in the community. I’m like, I don’t know if you know, but Jeep has pretty much like a big like cult following. So does Mopar. Like these guys that buy the Jeep, they’re in these clubs and people that buy the Mopars, like the Dodge’s, they have like the Mopar Club in Nashville and things. And so what we do, we actually have like Jeep meets and have car shows at our dealership. And so we try to stay involved with the local community that way. Michael Cart: 12:36 Also just being known around the for good, excellent customer service around here and community involvement, which we just want to know people, you know, hey, they can trust us and you know, why they should do business with us is because you know, we’re involved in the community. We’re not just here to sell them a car. We’re here for them and in the long run. John Haggard: 12:55 Is there any question I did not ask you that, you know, you would just want people to know? Michael Cart: 13:02 Yeah, absolutely. We just started this program in August. It’s really big and we’re really excited about it. So basically what it is, the customer gets that at no cost to them, no charge to them. The dealership pays for it. It’s a lifetime power training warranty for as long as they own the vehicle. They’re also gonna get 72-hour investment protection program. They’re going to get a free loaner car whenever they come and a vacation checkup for two years and a 5% off parts and service. Also started in August whenever we started this program, you can upgrade to what’s called the VIP Platinum Advantage. Instead of getting emergency roadside assistance, like you’ll get an emergency processes for five years, you’ll get key five replacement for five years time. We’ll protect you for five years, 10% off service instead of 5% off service, which is actually can be huge when you start thinking about a big service building, you know 10% off compared to 5% off. And also a, you’ll get like a free concierge service. So if you live with like 15 miles, we’ll come pick up your car for oil changes and tire rotations and things like that. But something that we also offer in the business office, instead of doing like a power training warranty, you can upgrade to like a comprehensive extended service contracts so you can do just unlimited. Was it unlimited time up to a hundred thousand miles? Or, you can cover the comprehensive, not just engine and transmission, but we do offer the instant transmission at no cost to the customer, which is really good. John Haggard: 14:24 Thanks Michael. That’s Michael Cart, the Finance Manager and Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month. Our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, lease, service and maintain, accessorize, and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready to do it. And don’t forget the transcript of each podcast right here on the website so that you can easily refer to it for information at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard, and we will see you next time!

Welcome to Episode 8 of the Miracle CDJR Podcast! This week we talk with Mike Olari, the Commercial Fleet Manager of both Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and Miracle Ford. In this episode, Mike shares a little bit about his origins in California and how he ended up in Tennessee, his love for Sports and what Miracle can offer large businesses in terms of Commercial Fleet pricing and service. This is a great episode that you do not want to miss! Enjoy! Transcript John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week you’ll learn the best ways to purchase lease service and maintain, accessorize and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do it. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here, we will have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can use. And you’ll also see a transcript of each podcast for quick reference. On this podcast, we’re talking with Michael Olari. He’s the Commercial Fleet Manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Hey Mike, welcome to the podcast. Mike Olari: 00:36 Hey John, how are you doing? John Haggard: 00:37 Doing well. Glad to have you along with us. You know, people always want to know who’s behind the scenes. Let’s find out a little bit about Mike before we get into your role as commercial fleet manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. So did you grow up here in Nashville area? Right? Where are you from? Mike Olari: 00:53 I did not. I’m actually born and raised in California. John Haggard: 00:56 California. California. So how long have you been in this area? Mike Olari: 01:01 I’ve been here almost five years. John Haggard: 01:04 All right. So what got you to Nashville? Mike Olari: 01:07 Well, my parents actually moved out here almost 15 years ago and decided it was time to go. John Haggard: 01:14 All right. Wanted to be closer to family? So where did you go to high school in California? Mike Olari: 01:19 Went to high school at Alto Loma high school. John Haggard: 01:22 All right, so that Alto Loma California as well then? Mike Olari: 01:25 Yes sir. John Haggard: 01:26 All right. All right. And so when you’re not working, what do you like to do on your time off? Mike Olari: 01:31 I’m a big sports fanatic. I love to watch football, baseball, everything. John Haggard: 01:37 Gotcha, Gotcha. So you go to games, watch primarily. Are you one of those that has like eight games up on your television set where you can look at all eight of them? Mike Olari: 01:45 Do I have to answer that one? John Haggard: 01:49 Ha, I hear you. So what other hobbies do you have when you’re not doing sports? Mike Olari: 01:53 I like to go out and just hang out with friends and I actually do like to do my yard work and kind of keeps me level-headed. John Haggard: 02:01 Gotcha. Absolutely. So how did you get started in the car and fleet business, Mike? Mike Olari: 02:07 Well, I got started in the car business about six and a half years agom=, out in California. A buddy of mine called and said he needed some help. I told him I’d never been a salesman before. He said, give me six months. If you don’t like it, we’ll part ways. We’re still friends now. Six and a half years later, I’m still doing it. I enjoy what I do. John Haggard: 02:24 Well, so now before you got in automotive, what did you do before? Mike Olari: 02:28 I did construction for almost 20 years. I’m electrical for 15 to 16 years of that. Enjoyed what I did, loved it. Just had some health issues come about, which ended up putting me out of that business. John Haggard: 02:47 Understand. And so then what brought you to Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram? Mike Olari: 02:51 Well, I actually came out here to visit my mom one time, and drove by, and I’d been wanting to get out here. Mike Olari: 02:58 So I in and talked to one of the sales reps that was here and found out how many cars they’ve sold and how many, you know, salesman they had. It was pretty much what I had out in California at the time, so I made a jump. John Haggard: 03:11 There you go. So as the commercial fleet manager, what does your day typically look like? Mike Olari: 03:17 As you know, I am over the Ram store, but I am also over the Ford store as well. So I do a lot of running back and forth, have bids that I’ve got to get out almost daily now. And you know, if I get a phone call, hey, we’ve got a customer over here that’s looking at a van, I run back over and, and help that customer out and you know, do the best I can to, to make sure everybody is helped quickly. John Haggard: 03:45 All right. So now how long have you had a fleet department at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram? Mike Olari: 03:51 We’ve had a fleet department here for right at about a year and a half. John Haggard: 03:56 Okay, so relatively new. Mike Olari: 03:58 Yes. John Haggard: 03:59 And then so what, what was the decision, tell me about how that came about where obviously you’re sitting around a table I guess one day talking with people and they say, you know what, we need to do a fleet department here. How did that come about? Mike Olari: 04:11 Well, they had, they had already kind of been working on it. In a sense already. And I just brought up the fact that there is a lot of, you know, a lot of businesses out here, and I watched a friend of mine out in California build his up out there. I know there’s plenty of people that we can help out here in this area and that’s what I like to do. Mike Olari: 04:33 So that’s why we ended up doing it. As soon as we started talking about it, built the back end of the building on, they went gung ho, we got business link and we been blowing and going ever since. John Haggard: 04:44 All right. Then you said you also handle Miracle Ford as well as for their fleet department and how long has that been going on? Mike Olari: 04:52 But two to three months. They’ve done fleet before in the past, but never really had anybody to take the grasp and just run with it. So right now that’s what’s going on. John Haggard: 05:02 So you’re doing both stores… Are you getting any sleep? Mike Olari: 05:06 It doesn’t feel like it. No. John Haggard: 05:09 Ha, I hear you. Now, what are some of the companies that you work with, those who have are doing fleet management with you? Mike Olari: 05:15 One of the biggest ones. We have Servpro. We’ve got them, we’ve got people, US Pest is another huge one, Assure Heating and Air. There’s quite a few that we actually work with, but the two big ones that we do are a Servpro and US Pest. Those are the ones that they do purchase a lot of vehicles. John Haggard: 05:36 You know, today people are sensitive about pricing. They say, Hey Mike I could use 10, 20, 30 vehicles. You know, how can somebody get a good deal with a commercial fleet today? Mike Olari: 05:48 In that aspect that they’ve got that many vehicles that they’re looking at. What I do is I go through and I set them up with a Fan number at Ram or a Fin number at Ford. What that is, it’s a fleet number that they get from the manufacturers and whatever they get off on, on the vehicles, that’s what they get. So it’s already a set in stone number. Say it’s $5,000 per vehicle that they get off. That’s what they get. John Haggard: 06:15 And that comes directly from the manufacturers, is that right? Mike Olari: 06:19 Yes sir. John Haggard: 06:20 Got It. All right. And would you say it’s better in a fleet situation to purchase or to lease? Mike Olari: 06:26 Most of the time it’s better for them to purchase. There are some times that the lease will work out better for them because there’s a program called track lease, and what that is, is it’ll give them the ability to set their own residual at the beginning and at the end of it, when it’s sent to auction, if they owe less than what it got at auction, they actually get money back. If it gets less than what they owe, then they got to pay. At that point. You got to make your decision on if that’s good for your company, but it is 100% tax write off. So that’s the way things are starting to go is to that track lease. John Haggard: 07:04 What about trade in’s on fleets at the end of that term, do you take those vehicles you mentioned earlier or do you take them all to auction? How does that work? Mike Olari: 07:13 Well a lot a lot of them will keep their old vehicles because they’re still running. So they say, no, I’m just going to write you a check. I’m not trading nothing in. And that’s mostly what I’ve been dealing with. Do they trade them in? Yes. most of the time they are going to be the auction vehicles. Cause you’ve got 250, 300,000 miles on a vehicle. John Haggard: 07:36 Is there any one question that customers ask you, Mike? A lot to clear up confusion on what they thought or understood or do understand or they’ve heard about? Maybe they’ve never done a fleet purchase, but just a typical question or two that most people will ask you. Mike Olari: 07:52 Well, most of the questions I get asked is what’s the difference between commercial and fleet? You kind of run those two departments. You say, I, you know we’ve got a commercial fleet department. Well, the commercial side is, it’s going to be your heavy trucks. Your 350s, 450s, 550s is 3500s it’s 4500s 5500s now with the fleet, what a lot of people think is, well, I’ve got a full fleet of five. Well, if you have less than a fleet of 15 there’s some manufacturers that go, well that’s not a fleet of five is not a fleet unless you buy them all in one year, and that’s what a lot of people don’t understand it as. They go, I have five in my fleet, I should get a number. Well, it’s hard for me to say no, I can’t give you that number, but I kind of have to at a point in time, they got to understand that there’s, you have to have a certain amount of vehicles to be a fleet account. John Haggard: 08:49 All right. To qualify as what you’re seeing there, Mike Olari: 08:51 Yes sir. John Haggard: 08:52 Got You. Now everybody of course looking for discounts if they buy in volume. It’s kind of like, you know, the more I buy the better price I should get. Tell me about discounts on parts and service with fleets. Mike Olari: 09:04 Well, we have, we have a program that goes through Ram that what they do is they have a thing called business link. And what business link does is that gives you 5% off of your parks and 5% off your labor, your service, but it gives you an extra added bonus with, you get the next available bay when you do bring your vehicle in. John Haggard: 09:26 What about pickup and delivery service for fleets? Mike Olari: 09:29 I will do that, and again, if they are signed up for business link, I will actually take a vehicle to them, let them use it and I will bring it back and then take my art, take our vehicle back. So we do have a program that that sets that up. Makes it a lot easier on the customer. Now if it’s just an oil change, normally they sit and wait, and that’s fine. They’re fine with that. But if it’s something that we got to have the truck for, you know, a day or two to fix something on it or we have parts that we’ve got to order, I will put them in in a vehicle to where their business is not down. John Haggard: 10:03 So for Miracle Ford, is it pretty much the same in terms of the discounts and the way that’s done? Just like Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Mike Olari: 10:12 They do have a similar program. Yes, they do. John Haggard: 10:16 Hey, just a curious question. When you think about the Miracle family, is there anything that’s there I guess or something that’s unusual or something that’s like, here’s something that’s really neat about Miracle? If most folks maybe don’t know about, unless they come here. Mike Olari: 10:32 Being that I’ve worked here as long as I have on the Ram side, I’ve worked under the Galvin’s for quite a while in my head and they do care about their community. They have shown that to me and if something needs to be fixed, they do everything in their power to fix it. They’re a family owned business and to me, they run it like that. John Haggard: 10:54 And so what is it that just makes you get up out of bed every day that says, you know what, I love this business. I want to go, I want to go do this. What is it that gets you going? Mike Olari: 11:03 Knowing that I’m going to be able to help somebody out if, whether it’s a new business or a business has been there for 50 years. What gets me out of bed is I do love my job. You know, helping out people that that’s the biggest thing. John Haggard: 11:16 So what’s the one thing about Mike Olari? What is the, what is the one thing that people would be very surprised if they knew about you? Mike Olari: 11:24 I guess I could say the one thing is, is came real close to going professional baseball. A lot of people don’t know that. John Haggard: 11:31 Really. Okay. So tell us a little bit about that. That’s interesting. You said real close. So obviously you were very good to get up to the point to even be considered. Mike Olari: 11:40 I was, I was a decent pitcher. I don’t, I don’t pat myself on the back, but you know, I pitch between 96 and 98 and had seven pitches. So my pitching coach taught me very well. John Haggard: 11:55 What about your prediction for the Tennessee Titans this season? Mike Olari: 12:01 Oh, well, the way they looked last Sunday, if they keep that up. They’re gonna, they’re gonna go far John Haggard: 12:07 And you think they can make it, you think you can make it at least to the playoffs? I mean, what, what do you see out there? What do you see the positives and the negatives on what you’ve seen so far? Mike Olari: 12:15 I do think they can make it to the playoffs this year. Long as they can keep the quarterback healthy and keep him in the game and his head in the game, I think they will do very well and they will at least make it to the playoffs. John Haggard: 12:31 All right. You heard it folks. That’s the prediction for Michael Olari. Now he’s the commercial fleet manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Also at Miracle Ford. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast. Throughout each month. Our goal here is to help you purchase lease service and maintain, accessorize and sell your vehicle, or if it’s fleet that you need to do as well for the highest resale value possible. When you’re ready. John Haggard: 12:55 By the way, Mike, is there any one tip you would give those who own a fleet now that they’ve gotten from you? How do they get that highest resale value possible? Any quick tips that you would say, hey look, you know, when it comes time, if you’ll keep these things in mind, your vehicle will be worth more money. Mike Olari: 13:12 Well, the biggest thing I tell people is, you know, take care of your vehicle like you take care of yourself. Give it a tune up, do all the oil changes, everything it needs to have. Just keep it, keep it, keep it up and you’ll get a higher resale value. John Haggard: 13:27 All right. Just treat it like you treat yourself. I think that’s pretty good advice. That’s Mike Olari, everybody. Once again, the commercial fleet manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Gallatin and also Miracle Ford. I’m your host John Haggard. We’ll see you next time.

Welcome to the 8th episode of the Miracle Ford Podcast! This week we speak with Jim Morgan, the Finance Manager at Miracle Ford. Jim is from Nashville and has been with Miracle since 2002. This is a great episode, so be sure to sit back, relax, and enjoy! Topics Discussed: Jim’s backgroundWhat is the job of a Finance ManagerHow getting great loan rates are still possible with low or challenged creditA deep dive into the 2020 Ford ExpeditionWhat makes Miracle different Transcript John Haggard: 00:03 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where each week you will be able to learn the best ways to purchase lease service and maintain, accessorize and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready to do it. And you’ll also find out about new technology on new vehicles. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month, right here we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle Ford to bring you tips you can use. You will also see a transcript of each podcast so that you can easily refer to it for information to have at your fingertips. John Haggard: 00:35 Today’s topic is the new 2020 Ford Explorer and what’s changed since the original Explorer was released and also some financing information for those who are looking on best ways, quickest ways, fastest ways to get financed. On the podcast we have with us, Jim Morgan, he’s the Finance Manager at Miracle Ford. Hey Jim, welcome to the podcast. Jim Morgan: 00:56 Hey John, thank you for having me. John Haggard: 00:58 Glad to, glad to have you along. You know, people always want to know who’s behind the curtain, who’s behind the voice, who is this guy? So tell us a little bit about you, your background. Where did you grow up, Jim? Jim Morgan: 01:09 Well, I grew up here in Nashville. I’ve been here all my life. Started in the car business in 1993 after several years working in the hospitality industry. John Haggard: 01:19 Okay. So what were you doing in hospitality? Jim Morgan: 01:21 I managed hotels and restaurants. John Haggard: 01:24 Okay. Well such a big switch from that to automotive. How did you get into automotive? How did you bridge that gap? Jim Morgan: 01:31 It’s about the same. It’s the same kind of the business. You’re still dealing with people. So that’s, that’s basically how I was able to move into it. John Haggard: 01:40 And then how did you wind up at Miracle Ford Jim Morgan: 01:43 In 2002 I went to work for Tim Galvin, at Miracle Chrysler as Finance Manager. Been with them ever since. John Haggard: 01:52 All right. So and then since 2002 so that would make it about, what, 17 going on 18 years. Jim Morgan: 01:57 That’s correct. John Haggard: 02:00 Gotcha. All right. So as Finance Manager, people understand, okay, well he manages finance, but what exactly is your role at Miracle Ford in terms of Finance Manager? What can you do for someone who’s coming in to try to get financed? Jim Morgan: 02:14 Well, we are going to offer the best programs that we have available for our customers, especially the customers that may feel like that they have the credit issues that maybe keep them from buying a car. Credit scores aren’t what they used to be. I mean there are many cases where you see some lower scores. It’s still git, very good rates. I had one over the weekend, I get as low as 1.9% so you have to be able to look at it in the big picture in order to structure a deal to make it work for both the customer and the bank. John Haggard: 02:47 Well you know the old perception is, well if you have a low credit score, the only thing you’re going to be able to buy, if you can buy, is a junker clunker or something that it might be eight or 10 years old. So your saying even with challenged credit, it’s possible to get a a new vehicle, a lease or purchase at at 1.9% in that particular case Jim Morgan: 03:05 The 1.9% was a on a purchase of a new Expedition. So yeah, I mean you can buy pretty much whenever you can, you know, whatever you care to buy. John Haggard: 03:16 So what’s changed? I mean why now Jim is it that with a, we’ll just call it challenged credit or less than you know, high credit that someone would be able to not only get into a new vehicle but at a good rate. Why, why now versus a few years ago? Jim Morgan: 03:31 One thing I’ve seen is that there are more opportunities depending on the cars and also the customer. I mean the credit score is not their whole story either. I mean most of the time they’ve got great history and employment history, residence history, things like that all add up. So you have to take the whole picture when you’re getting a customer taken care of with a bank. John Haggard: 03:57 Okay. So you think they take a more of a 360 degree view today versus a few years ago when they just would only look at the score and say yes or no? Jim Morgan: 04:06 That’s exactly right. John Haggard: 04:07 We’re also talking today about the new and exciting 2020 Ford Explorer SUV. Kind of hard to believe that 2020 models are here and when you hear about the Ford Explorer SUV, you also hear things like, well there’s the XLT, there’s the limited, there’s the s t and the platinum, and sometimes the model names can be confusing, but just basically tell us a little bit about the Ford Explorer and the different models in terms of what the differences are. But really I think what people want to know about most is what’s cool about the Ford Explorer, what’s going on? Jim Morgan: 04:37 Well, everything’s cool about the new Explorer because it’s a whole new body style. We’ve revamped it top to bottom. One of the things that I really like about the new Explorer is now rear wheel drive meaning instead of the front pulling it when it was with the front wheel drive. Now it’s going to be pushing. The overall length has changed. The rear of the truck is now a little bit longer, which is going to increase the towing experience. The towing on a new Explorer can be up to 5,600 pounds, which is a lot larger than it’s ever been before. And also with that design, it’s going to give a better ride and handling to a better weight distribution on the truck. John Haggard: 05:20 All right. You know, and I think I was doing a little bit of research before calling you that the Explorer was the first four door SUV that was produced by Ford, I think back in 1991 to replace the two-door Bronco. I remember the Broncos. Is that about right? Jim Morgan: 05:35 That sounds about right. I know it’s a year or two before I got into the business, but I think that’s exactly right. John Haggard: 05:41 Right. And, and the site also say this is now the sixth generation, if I read that properly, six. Jim Morgan: 05:46 That is correct. John Haggard: 05:46 Wow. I mean that’s, that’s something, what do you see in terms of new and exciting technology? You know, we’ve got so much technology with Wifi and everything fi all over the place, everybody’s connected all here and there. What’s going on in the Explorer that’s cool about technology? Jim Morgan: 06:03 Well, it starts everywhere. We’ve now have a tenant screen that’s in the middle of the, of the stack for your navigation and all your controls. It’s also handy. Everything’s just right there for you to see. And then you go into like the st truck and the st Explorer is straight out of the racing division of Ford. So you really got a performance vehicle in the new Explorer. And also John, we now have a hybrid Explorer, which is really exciting, but the hybrid can get up to 500 miles of a tank of fuel, but also it can still tow 5,000 pounds, which is really unheard of when you talk about a hybrid vehicle. John Haggard: 06:49 So Jim, what would you tell people about Miracle Ford in terms of why they should buy at Miracle as opposed to other Ford dealers? Because every dealer out there as you know, is going to say, hey, you know, we’re going to give you the best deal. We’re the best. We got the best customer service and all this kind of thing. What is it that makes Miracle Ford different now that you’ve been there? What do we say, 18 years? Jim Morgan: 07:10 Well, soon to be 17. The thing I see is the people, I mean, you can go and look at the numbers of a car and they’re within $100 of each other. And I mean they’re, everybody’s got them. Everybody pays the same. However, it’s the people from the Galvin family who’s been here since they opened this in 1980. I mean, they’ve been, they’ve been strong community people. And I mean, we all work towards the same goal. We’re here to take care of our customers first. And you know, I have a lot of special customers that just call me and you know, and so it’s, it’s the family approach that we use here to take care of our customers. John Haggard: 07:59 That’s Jim Morgan, everybody, the Finance Manager and Miracle Ford. Join us again for other topics on the podcast throughout each month because our goal here is to help you learn the best ways to purchase service, maintain, accessorize, and sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready. And also to find out about latest technology on new vehicles like we did here just a few minutes ago. And don’t forget, we also post a transcript of each podcast right here on the website for quick reference. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

It's time for part 3 of our discussion about one of the most challenging parts of transitioning into retirement, dealing with the fact that you're no longer receiving a paycheck from work. Today, we'll discuss specifically how to turn your nest egg into paychecks with strategies like living off of dividends and using an income floor.Helpful Information:PFG Website: https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/Contact: 813-286-7776Email: info@pfgprivatewealth.comTranscript of today's show: ----more----Speaker 1: The rules of retirement have changed. No longer can most of us rely on social security or a single pension to fund our futures. We're living longer in retirement doesn't just last a handful of years anymore. Instead, you might stay retired for 20 or 30 years, and maybe even more. We need to look at retirement through a new lens, with fresh eyes, with a new approach and plan of attack. Here to answer the call are financial advisors, John Teixeira and Nick McDevitt of PFG Private Wealth Management, serving you throughout the Tampa Bay area. His podcast is Retirement Planning Redefined, and it starts right now.Speaker 2: Hey everybody, welcome into Retirement Planning Redefined with the guys from PFG Private Wealth, John and Nick, financial advisors here with me once again as we talk about investing, finance, and retirement on the program. Anytime you're listening to the podcast and you've got a question or concern, jot it down, jot this number down, give them a call and talk to them about it before you take any action with anything you're listening to that's financially related, 813-286-7776. Well, that's a mouthful. Let me do that again, 813-286-7776 is the number to call, and of course you can go online to PFGPrivateWealth.com. That's PFGPrivateWealth.com, and while you're there, subscribe to the podcast so you can get upcoming episodes and check out past ones and all that good stuff.Speaker 2: John, what's going on man? How are you?John Teixeira: I'm good. How are you doing?Speaker 2: I'm hanging in there. Trying not to melt. At the time of this podcast, it's about 8 million degrees, I think, on the outside. Nick, what about you buddy? You hanging in there?Nick McDevitt: Yeah. Yeah, we've had a ton of rain lately-Speaker 2: Which just makes it worse.Nick McDevitt: Giving me flashback of living up north, but ...Speaker 2: Well, aside from the heat and all that fun stuff, what else is going on with you guys? Do you guys got anything cooking, no pun intended.John Teixeira: Yeah, so tonight we're actually excited to, we're doing some volunteer work tonight, and there's a group that Nick and I are part of. It's called the 13 Ugly Men. That's exactly the response whenever people hear that name. But no, it's a great organization. It's about 30, although it's 13, there's 35 guys in it. We throw events and donate to local Tampa Bay charities. And part of the donation, we actually do hands on work. So we're donating to a charity called Gigi's Playhouse, which Nick and I actually interviewed, and he's on the charity committee for, for our group.Speaker 2: Nice.John Teixeira: And we're throwing a Halloween event. The goal is to donate about $25,000 to them. And tonight we're doing some hands on efforts, which Nick can kinda touch on, cause he set it up.Nick McDevitt: Yeah, man. The organization supports people with Down Syndrome, and so they have a lot of different programs that they have. So tonight we're going to go in and kinda run an evening of Bingo and bring in some food, and kind of play Bingo, and there will be a broad range of ages there and stuff like that. So, so we're looking forward to that tonight.Speaker 2: That's awesome. That's really cool. I appreciate you sharing that with us. That's very cool that you can do that.Speaker 2: And maybe what we can do is we can talk on another podcast about how you can get involved with that particular thing if you'd like to help. But that's awesome that you guys are doing those extra things out in the community here in the area. So, well, with that, let's turn our attention to this week's podcast, which is to continue our conversation about strategies to turn that nest egg into a paycheck. We covered several things last time to your cash reserves, bucket strategy, so on and so forth. What are some other things we need to think about?John Teixeira: Yeah, so you know, like we talked about last week, there's a lot of different strategies and really we let our financial plan kind of dictate which is best for the individuals based on needs and goals.John Teixeira: So as you mentioned last, week we did go over the two year cash reserves bucket strategy. Another one that we've been utilizing, and depending on the situation, is basically just living off of your dividends and interest. So that's where you have your principal and whatever dividends interest is spun off either monthly or quarterly, that goes into a spend account, and that basically becomes your paycheck moving forward. Some of the benefits of kind of utilizing this would be you don't have to worry about your money running out, because you keep your principal intact, and you're never really dipping into into it. So, the fear of money running out goes away.John Teixeira: And also we see this a lot where someone's interested in leaving some type of legacy to somebody.Speaker 2: Right. Sure.John Teixeira: Basically like, "Hey John, Nick, I have this money here. I want to leave it to my kids, I want to leave it to whoever. So I'm just going to live off of the interest in dividends." So that's kind of one way to look at it.Nick McDevitt: And I would say this is a strategy we wanted to talk about, because we get asked about it. However, with how the markets have changed over time and how people spending in longevity has changed over time, it's become less of a common strategy, with one of the big reasons being yields are down significantly over the last 20 years. Where years ago you could get a really good CD rates and things like that, where you can get a decent paycheck from that.Nick McDevitt: So some of those challenges are, it's tough to find a yield, whether it's via dividend, whether it's via fixed securities, to give people the amount of income that they need. And so what'll happen is they'll chase that yield and give up growth opportunities, which then essentially makes it difficult for them to keep up with inflation over time. So dividend rates will change over time and at the onset people kind of see it as, "Hey this is what my parents did," but maybe their parents had a pension or their parents expenses were a lot lower.Nick McDevitt: And we like to talk about it because, and it's interesting, it's usually men that bring it up and more focused on like individual stock or individual bond investing, which is less common now. So although it is a lot more rare, we do like to bring it up at least to address it, so that people understand how it works that depending upon their overall situation it can be, but most likely some of the other strategies we're going to discuss are probably going to make more sense for them.John Teixeira: Yeah. And kind of who this works for is really someone who has a very large nest egg and...Speaker 2: Okay.John Teixeira: ...and necessarily doesn't need more than the dividends interest will spin off. And as Nick mentioned, this environment does make it very challenging because interest rates are low, and then people will kind of go to stocks for that to try to find some extra dividends.Speaker 2: Right.John Teixeira: But we [inaudible 00:06:24] some of the equity corporations, they'll actually change the dividend on you. So that's a big risk where, and I know Nick touched on it, but I've seen where some companies will have a specific dividend and then recession hits or the stock isn't doing so well, so they need some growth, so they'll go ahead and lower their dividend, which could really affect your monthly income.Speaker 2: Okay. All right.Speaker 2: So that's kind of a living off a dividend type of strategy to turn that nest egg into a paycheck. What's another one? Is there something else we can also share with the listeners?Nick McDevitt: Yeah, so another one again, depends on the situation, is kind of creating an income floor.Speaker 2: Okay.John Teixeira: So this is where you look at, "Hey, what's my guaranteed income that I have coming in?" And most people, clearly social security is number one. But some other people might have a pension and what they'll look at is saying, "Okay, what's my guaranteed income?" And we'll do an exercise and do all their expenses, but we'll divvy it up where we have our fixed expenses and then our discretionary. And what we'll try to do in this situation is match up their guaranteed income with their fixed expenses. So no matter what happens, it gives them peace of mind to say, "Hey, no matter what happens in the market or health, I know that my fixed expenses are covered." And we make sure that those fixed expenses are covered for life.John Teixeira: The risk of running out of money necessarily for those fixed expenses really isn't there. And then some challenges to this, what we see in why. Again, it's not perfect every situation, but some challenges with it is, does that leave you with enough liquidity? Do you have enough money? What if you need to tap into a little bit more. And then also the big one with this I would say is inflation. I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Nick.Nick McDevitt: Yeah. So, realistically there's only a few ways to kind of create the guaranteed income floor, and we'll end up talking about that kind of later on down the series of a podcast. But, John mentioned the social security. They may or may not have a pension, and so the only other way to create, essentially a guaranteed income, would be through some sort of annuity, and there are different sorts of annuity.Nick McDevitt: So when John refers to the not having enough liquidity, meaning that, to provide the guaranteed paycheck that they may be looking for, there may not be enough in assets to do it in a large sum of money. So usually if we're looking at something like that, we only like to attribute up to 20% of their overall nest egg into a strategy like that.Nick McDevitt: So typically it's people that, where something like this would make sense is somebody that may be a conservative investor, somebody that has maybe a lot of longevity in their family and they have a significant fear of running out of, or outliving their money. Maybe they're only guaranteed source of income is social security. So they're looking to kind of build on and have some additional security from that standpoint. So, going through and trying to find other ways to help increase that floor is a pretty typical process that we use with people.Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.Speaker 2: So again, each of these strategies may or may not be the right fit for the individual. It's a matter of going through and talking about some different things and looking at stuff to see which is going to work best for you.Speaker 2: You mentioned kind of earlier on that you're just living off the dividends. What about somebody who might be in a situation where they do need to sell off the investments, maybe as needed type of thing. So more of a withdrawal strategy, I guess.Nick McDevitt: Yeah. So what we'll kind of refer to that as is like a systematic withdrawal. And frankly this is pretty much the most common way.Speaker 2: The norm kind of thing.Nick McDevitt: Yeah. How people handle their income from their assets in retirement. The majority of people, their nest egg is comprised of some sort of combination of funds, whether it's mutual funds, exchange traded funds, in some sort of diversified portfolio.Nick McDevitt: And what we'll do is, kind of after we go through the planning, and we figure out - Hey, your plan kind of tells us that we need to pull out, we'll call it $3,000 a month from the nest egg, and they want to receive it on the first of the month, each month. And from the standpoint of their advisors and kind of portfolio managers, we'll structure it so that that money deposits automatically into their account. We decide which investments that kind of sweeps off of, and we do it via kind of an automatic quarterly rebalance to make sure that we're keeping the portfolio diversified in what the overall objective of the account. And then, realistically, this helps them deal with the ups and downs of the market. And really they're only spending what they need.John Teixeira: So, one of the things that Nick kind of said here...it's important that you have a very good advisor, because you are looking at your advisor to make sure they customize the portfolio to deal with some challenges like a market downturn. So, that is a big risk with this, because if the market goes down and you need to sell off your investments, the worst thing you can do is really start selling off big chunks in a down market.John Teixeira: So it's important that your advisor has some strategy in place for that. And then also, again, a challenge with this would be depending on the person's mindset, they might get afraid of spending too much, because the risk of running out of money and the kind of spiral down effect of tapping into your principal is always there.Nick McDevitt: So it's really important. I think you'll notice as far as who the strategies work for is really who's saved a lot of money. So it's important to save as much as you can, because it allows you the ability to really use any of these strategies and be comfortable with it depending on your situation.Speaker 2: All right. Well there you go.Speaker 2: So there's a few things to consider, to think about. We were, again, continuing our conversation about ways to turn our nest egg into paychecks and retirement and if you've got some questions, if you've got some concerns you'd like to talk with the team about how to do that, talk with John and Nick, give them a call at 813-286-7776, that's 813-286-7776, to talk with John and Nick, financial advisors at PFG Private Wealth, serving you in the Tampa Bay area.Speaker 2: Go to the website, PFGPrivateWealth.com. Again, that is PFGPrivateWealth.Com - check them out there, as well as subscribe to the podcast, and give us a chance to share a bit more of these things with the each and every week by subscribing on whatever platform it is that you happen to like. Apple. You can find us on Apple podcasts, on Google play, Stitcher, iHeart, various things like that. Thanks for listening to this edition of Retirement Planning Redefined. For John and Nick, I'm Mark, and we'll see you next time here on the program.Speaker 2: PFG Private Wealth Management LLC is an SCC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only, and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.

Welcome to the 6th episode of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram! In this episode, we talk with Joe Smith in Commercial & Retail Sales at CDJR, where we discuss the Ram 1500. Topics Discussed: Joe’s backstory and how he got in the car businessJoe’s Role in the DealershipTop questions that people ask about the Ram 1500What differentiates the Ram 1500’s ride from it’s competitorsRam 1500 Gas MileageRam 1500 Interior TechnologyRam 1500 Safety TechnologyWhat differentiates Miracle CDJR and Miracle Auto Group from it’s competitorsWhat Joe likes to do on his time off Transcript Opening John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week you’ll be able to learn the best ways to learn, purchase, or lease, maintain and accessorize, and really just how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do so. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month right here we will have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips you can use. And by the way, we also post a transcript of each podcast. You can easily refer to it for information. If you want to go back and look without having to listen to the entire podcast, you can go right there and get the information that you were just listening to. John Haggard: 00:38 On this podcast, we’re talking with Joe Smith, he’s in commercial and retail sales at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Our topic today is the Ram 1500 and really what makes the Ram 1500 so different compared to all of the competitors. Hey Joe, welcome to the podcast. Joe Smith: 00:55 Hey John. Thank you. It’s a pleasure. How Did You Get Started in the Car Business John Haggard: 00:56 Well, glad to have you. And you know, we always like to know before somebody talks about what they’re doing. How did you get started in the car business? Did you grow up from age six washing cars and stuff or how did you get in? Joe Smith: 01:07 Oh, well it’s kind of a funny story. I’m actually prior military and when I was coming back from a tour over in Japan, my dad recently moved around here in this area. I bought my first vehicle from here, kind of enjoyed the experience. And then few years later when I moved back here, while I was going to school, I saw that the dealership had an opening. Again, I enjoyed the experience here, so I figured I’d apply and at least try and see how I fit into the automotive industry here. John Haggard: 01:32 Hey, by the way, thank you for your service. Joe Smith: 01:34 Thank you. I appreciate that. John Haggard: 01:35 What did you do when you were in the military? Joe Smith: 01:37 I was a structural civil engineer for the Air Force. What is Your Role in the Dealership John Haggard: 01:41 Gotcha. Gotcha. All right. And so tell us what your exact role is at the dealership. When we hear a commercial and retail sales that that seems to sort of explain itself, but is there anything else you do? Joe Smith: 01:53 I do a little bit of everything here, so yes, you’re right. I do the commercial sales as well as retail. I also help do dealer trades for other salesman if we don’t have the exact vehicle here that the customers want ,and I have the ability to find them one and get it here in a timely manner to make sure they are fully satisfied. And I also help out with the backup finance department here as well. What are the Top Three or Four Questions they You Get From Customers about the Ram 1500 John Haggard: 02:12 Okay, got it. What would you say today, Joe, are the top three or four questions that you get from people when they’re saying, “you know, I see a lot of truck ads on television and just trying to decide should I buy a Ram 1500 or should I buy another brand”? Seems like I see a Ram commercial, then I’ll see another commercial then another Ram commercials. Like everybody’s fighting it out. Joe Smith: 02:31 Yes, definitely. There’s definitely a competitive market out there today. And top three. I would say that most people will always try to factor in there is going to be the towing capacities, cause I mean the trucks they’re going to be used for that and they want to make sure that the towing is going to be suitable for what they need. Then the next two things that I always get as well would be like your creature comforts… basically what kind of features have been added into the vehicle as well as safety features too. What Makes the Ram 1500 Ride Different from it’s Competitors? John Haggard: 02:55 All right. And if you were going to say, speaking of that, what makes ride of the Ram 1500 really different from its competitors? Joe Smith: 03:04 So what Ram has done that really separate themselves from the other competitors is that the Ram actually uses the five link independent coil springs. So it’s going to be an active independent there. All the other brands, they still use the leaf spring suspension. Now the Rams use that on the heavy duty trucks just for the higher towing capacity. But that independent coil spring plus there’s an exclusive air ride suspension that you can get as well. And no other truck brand has that out on the market. And those two things alone definitely separate the ride. And that’s kind of what contributed to making the Ram the motor trend truck of the year. John Haggard: 03:39 Okay. So I think what you’re saying like in just super simple layman’s terms, that each shock is sort of its own suspension system. So just because the left front is moving, does it necessarily mean the right one is. Kind of what you’re saying there? Joe Smith: 03:52 Correct. So when we do test drives here, we like to take customers over railroad tracks because normally in a normal truck with the leaf spring suspension, if you hit a bump, the whole truck’s gonna move once you go over on one side. But with independent it’s going to hit it as each wheel goes over it on its own. It’s not gonna just rock back and forth for you. Ram 1500 Gas Mileage Compared to the Competitors? John Haggard: 04:11 Gotcha. Now you know, if you’re a truck lover, you are a truck lover. I mean that’s the way people are. And back in the old days, the gas mileage was really low. So what’s been done today? If you’re looking at the Ram competing with fuel ratings and towing capacity, you know, compared to the competitors out there. Joe Smith: 04:27 So what Ram has done is they had actually adapted to their current 5.7 Hemi and they’ve actually got a mild hybrid system and it’s called the Hemi with eTorque capability. And what that’s going to actually add for you is the stop start feature, which a lot of vehicles have nowadays. And with that, that does actually save about 10% of your average fuel consumption while you’re driving using your vehicle. Plus with that eTorque system, it will actually give you a little bit better in the boosting on your fuel ratings with that feature. And what’s Nice with the eTorque technologies, it’s also incorporated with your towing technology as well. With the eTorque, you’ll actually get an additional 130 pounds of torque starting off the line. So most vehicles, you’ll start at zero if you’re pulling something, but with the eTorque right off the gate, you start with 130 pounds of torque. So it gets you off the line faster when you’re pulling the load. What Features Has Ram Done to Compete in Today’s Technology? John Haggard: 05:19 Gotcha. Now what about if we go to the interior in terms of features that Ram has done to compete with technology that’s current today? Joe Smith: 05:28 Well Ram has definitely taken the advantage on that. We do have the exclusive 12 inch touchscreen. It’s not standard on everything, but you can get that and that does give you a dual display if you want it to. So you can have your radio on the top, you can have your navigation on the bottom, you can move it around wherever you’d like to. But one thing that they also did to the Ram is they actually made the body style about four inches longer. So that’s going to allow for the back seats to recline back. Sort of like a mega cab would, just for that comfort for whoever’s riding in the back there as well. John Haggard: 05:59 Yeah. You know, someone says, well, four inches doesn’t sound like a lot, but it really is when you look at your feet down, I suppose. Joe Smith: 06:06 Oh it does. You’ve got plenty of leg room in the back. Plus you can lay it out. They did add in the panoramic sunroof now too. So if you’ve got that all the way open, everybody gets a good view of what’s above you. Another nice thing that they did add on that radio is they’ve upgraded to the fourth generation Uconnect, and what that’s going to give the customers is your Apple CarPlay, Android Auto. So say you did get one that didn’t have the navigation built in, you can plug your phone in and you can actually still use your navigation or the Waze app if you have that, and that will actually pop up on the screen for you as well. What About Safety Technology? John Haggard: 06:37 Gotcha. Now what about safety technology? A lot of people want to know what are the new safety features? Joe Smith: 06:43 So on the old body style, they didn’t really have much, but on the new one, they did definitely bring the Ram back to life there. So the Ram’s actually gonna have your blind spot monitoring now that they’ve put on these trucks for you. You can actually get the surround view camera on these things too. I love that feature. You could literally have the windows completely blacked out in a parking lot and as long as you have that camera on you can park comfortably without even hitting anything cause you’re getting that three 60 surround view camera there for ya. They’ve also added on your adaptive cruise control. You’ve got lane sense, departure, parallel and perpendicular park assist of the trucks nowadays pretty much can drive themselves. You just got to control the gear and the gas and the brake. What are Ram’s top Competitors John Haggard: 07:26 Ha, that sounds fun. Who would you say are the top competitors to the Ram? I mean people come in and they say, well I’m looking into 1500 and I’m also looking at these other things. Who’s out there, where someone’s really trying to make a choice? Should I go this way or the Ram? Joe Smith: 07:39 I know Ram’s definitely in the top three. I do know Ram has probably one of the highest rebates out on the market right now because they are being very aggressive with this new body style and they’re just trying to really take that leap to take the lead there. What are the Top Changes in the Marketplace Today In Terms of Purchasing a Vehicle? (Buying vs Leasing) John Haggard: 07:51 Gotcha. What do you see in terms of changes in the marketplace today for people as they go about making a decision to buy or getting research? Should I buy, should I lease and which trucks should I get? Joe Smith: 08:02 Well, what I like to do with my customers is I always sit down with them for a few minutes before actually starting the process, trying to understand their wants and needs. If they’re planning on keeping the vehicle for awhile, the retail financing would be the best option for them. But with today’s market, a lot of people typically want to get in something new every few years and that’s when I would also show them at lease as well. Cause that’s gonna allow you to continue to get into new vehicles with new features. Leasing nowadays is definitely taking the advantage. I mean, I think about more than 60% of the staff at our dealership here, they all lease. Ha. John Haggard: 08:35 Somebody told me a story one time. If you’re going to buy something or you’re going to do something, ask the person who actually does it for a living. What do they have? You know, what do they do? So it’s that much about 60%.? Joe Smith: 08:45 Yeah, I know all of the management here does and some of our salesmen here do as well. What Differentiates Miracle CDJR and the Miracle Auto Group From it’s Competitors? John Haggard: 08:50 Gotcha. What would you tell people about Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in terms of why someone should buy from Miracle Auto Group? There are a lot of choices out there and everybody says, “Hey, we’re the best”. Joe Smith: 09:00 You can always shop around and you’ll find a good deal here and there, but we are a business, but at the end of the day, we’re more so trying to establish a relationship with our customers too. So that’s why we did incorporate our VIP program here. So as long as you own the vehicle, you’ll actually have a lifetime powertrain coverage on it as well. And we’ve got a concierge service for the local community. So if you work or live within 15 miles, we’ll actually pick the vehicle up from you, do the maintenance, drop it back off to you. Plus we offer discounts through service. We’ve got an exclusive referral program. We’ll send you $250 each time that you send somebody to your salesman and they get a vehicle. It doesn’t even have to be new. They can get something for $5,000, and we’re still sending them a check. John Haggard: 09:44 Wow. Joe Smith: 09:45 Yeah. Is There Anything That I Didn’t Ask You About the Ram 1500 Compared to Other Trucks? John Haggard: 09:46 Is there any question that I didn’t ask you that a lot of people ask when it comes to comparing? Let’s go back, say to the Ram 1500 to other trucks? Joe Smith: 09:54 Not so much. I mean the biggest thing that people usually want to get on their trucks is they want to know what it can tow, how it performs and what kind of safety features that they’ve added in. Just to kind of separate it and make that decision a lot easier for them. John Haggard: 10:07 So this is kind of the top one, two, three and if you get past that, now we’ll talk about which one. Joe Smith: 10:12 Once you get past all that, it really comes down to trying to find that unique truck for you. I mean, do you want a certain color on the outside and the inside? Do you want the big screen? Do you want a bench seat? Do you want the Captain’s Chair up front? They’ve included a lot of options on these Rams. That’s why, with these, I always like to again sit down with my customers finding exactly what they are looking for, because there’s just so many options out there on these trucks now. What Do You Like To Do On Your Time Off? John Haggard: 10:37 Gotcha. So Joe, what do you like to do on your time off? Do you have any hobbies, recreation, things you like that are fun for you? Joe Smith: 10:44 Well, my time off, I’m mainly spending it with my daughter or I’m going to the gym or playing some golf here and there. I try and stay a little busy, but most of my time is spent here trying to make sure my customers are happy. John Haggard: 10:56 So you, uh, tell me about that golf game. Joe Smith: 10:59 I’ve been golfing for about 12 years now. I mean, I do pretty good. It’s always fun trying to, I’m left-handed too, it’s always fun to try and teach somebody when they’re right-handed… it’s a little challenging. John Haggard: 11:10 I bet. Do you get to play once a week anyway? Joe Smith: 11:13 I try my best to when I can, but most of the time I’m usually spending it with my daughter. What Do You Do On The Commercial Side? John Haggard: 11:19 That’s great. That’s Joe Smith, everybody. He handles commercial and retail sales at Miracle Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Ram. And by the way, we were talking a lot, you know about retail sales and so forth, but commercial? Can you tell the difference between commercial and retail? What do you do on the commercial side? Joe Smith: 11:32 So in commercial, I mean, whether it’s a big business or small town business, we’re really being aggressive out here too cause we’ve had our commercial side running for almost two years now. So I mean we’re just trying to help out. So if you own a business, doesn’t have to actually go in the business name, but there are additional rebates and some other stuff that we can actually use for you to help save you some money. Plus, Ram has what’s called a business link, completely free to enroll. There’s no annual fees, but it does give you some added benefits through our service department as well. Closing John Haggard: 12:04 All right, Joe Smith, everybody again handling commercial and retail sales at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month. Our goal to show you the best ways to learn, purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resealed value possible, when you’re ready to do it. And don’t forget, we’ve also posted a transcript of each podcast right here on the website. You can easily refer back to it for information that you’d like to have right there at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Welcome to the 5th episode of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram! In this episode, we talk with Marcy Miller, a Business Development Center Representative. Topics Discussed: Marcy’s backstory and how she got in the car businessThe role of the BDC (Business Development Center)Frequently Asked Questions that customers askWorking with customers with challenged creditWhat makes Miracle differentThe difference between a “locally owned” dealership and a “corporate giant”What Marcy enjoy’s doing during her time off Transcript Opening John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week you’ll be able to learn the best ways to purchase or lease, maintain and accessorize, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can actually use. John Haggard: 00:25 We do post a transcript of each podcast so you can easily refer to it for information. Maybe you heard something and you just want to get more detailed. What was it that he said or she said? Well, you can go right to the transcript and see it and not have to listen to the entire podcast to get back there, so we’ll have that for you. John Haggard: 00:42 On this podcast, we’re talking about what a Business Development Representative does at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Gallatin. We’ve got Marcy Miller with us here today. Hey Marcy. Marcy Miller: 00:52 Hey John. How are you? John Haggard: 00:54 I’m doing good. Hope you are too. Marcy Miller: 00:56 I’m doing great. Tell Us a Little Bit About Yourself John Haggard: 00:57 Great. Well, welcome to the podcast. You know, anytime we have a guest on the podcast, Marcy, people want to know something real about this person. It’s not just a talking head, if you will, but really get to know them. So tell us a little bit about you. Where’d you grow up? How did you get started in the car business? Marcy Miller: 01:12 Okay. Well I came here from Ohio, honestly. I grew up in Ohio. I’ve been around the country, lived in [inaudible], lived in Los Angeles and landed in Nashville 21 years ago, a singer. So I followed the music and ended up in Nashville. So… John Haggard: 01:30 You know, a lot of people do that. Don’t they. Say we’re going to come to Nashville. Do you still sing? I mean, do you do like any of that? Marcy Miller: 01:36 I do. I sing a lot. And I try to karaoke any time I can. I don’t do anything professionally, but I just do it for fun and enjoy it. How Did You You Get Into The Car Business? John Haggard: 01:46 Yeah. Yeah. So tell us how you wound up going to work for Miracle. Marcy Miller: 01:50 Okay. Well, I started in the car business 14 years ago. I’ve been in a lot of dealerships, and I have been a salesperson before. But I figured BDC was kind of my specialty. I was really good at being on the phones with customers and I’m great with people. So, I just got better and better at it and I’m still in the BDC, so I’ve been here for four years and I love Miracle. It’s a great company and it’s a great family owned dealership to work for. And I feel like I’m family. What Does BDC Mean, and What Is Your Role On The Miracle Team? John Haggard: 02:23 Yeah. And when you say BDC, just for the folks out there, that’s the Business Development Center that we’re talking about, is that right? Marcy Miller: 02:29 Yes sir. John Haggard: 02:29 Gotcha, Gotcha. So what is, what do you do exactly, cause people say, “well business development manager, I mean what does that really mean”? What do you do? Marcy Miller: 02:37 Basically when the phone rings I answer it, or when customers send in internet inquiries, I call them and I just try to see how I can help them answer their questions, and see if they can come on in and take a look at what they’re looking at online. So sometimes we have to work some things out on the phone first and sometimes they are just wanting to see if something’s available. So I check and make sure it’s available. They come in and get with the salesperson and purchase a vehicle. So it’s all about customer service and helping the customer in any aspect that they need. What Are Frequently Asked Questions That Customers Ask? John Haggard: 03:19 Okay. And what do you find when people are calling for information, what are the top say, three or four questions that people are asking today? Marcy Miller: 03:29 They will ask you first of all if the car is available that they’re looking at, unless they’re looking at new cars and they’re kind of in general looking at new cars and don’t know specifically what they want, and they have questions about those and the trim levels and that kind of thing. So the other questions: I would say typical questions would be about their financing and if they have to put money down and that kind of thing. Can You Work With Customers With Challenged Credit? John Haggard: 03:57 Now what if somebody has let’s say less than good or less than perfect credit? Maybe we’d call it challenged credit. What about folks like that? How can you help them? Marcy Miller: 04:06 Yeah, we help people with challenged credit all the time. We do have our bankruptcy programs through Rich Craycroft who is amazing. He’s the best in the business and we thank God we have him every day. A lot of times we can help them get into something right away. They don’t even need to be discharged. What Makes Miracle CDJR and the Miracle Auto Group Different? John Haggard: 04:26 So we have Marcy Miller, the Business Development Representative for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram on the podcast today. And you know, Marcy, everybody says “we’re the best”. “We can get it done”. Come now. If you were going to tell people about Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, why they should deal with the Miracle Auto Group versus a lot of other people who say, “we’re the biggest, the best, the brightest” or whatever, what would you say? Marcy Miller: 04:50 I would say that we are transparent. We try to put our best foot forward and tell you everything upfront. We don’t hide anything. And I feel like people are so used to playing games. We don’t do that. We’re just very straightforward and real. And that’s why I can work for this company because I wouldn’t have it any other way. Is There a Difference Between a Locally Owned Dealership and A Large Corporate Giant Dealership? John Haggard: 05:15 And you talked about locally owned. Have you worked for dealerships that were like corporate giants, if you will, or parts of big corporations. Marcy Miller: 05:24 I sure have. John Haggard: 05:24 And what’s the difference there? Marcy Miller: 05:26 A difference is that you’re expendable. You’re not important to them and they make you feel like you’re not important, regardless of how great you are and how good of a job you do. It doesn’t matter. If you don’t fit into their mold, they’re not going to keep you. Miracle isn’t like that. They keep you, they try to make everything work for you. They care about their employees and I’ve always felt like I was important here. That’s definitely important to me. What Do You Do In Your Time Off? John Haggard: 05:56 We talked a little bit earlier, you said that you are a singer, came to Nashville a little over 20 years ago. So when you’re not working, is singing your hobby or are there other hobbies, fun things that you like to do on your time off? Marcy Miller: 06:09 Well I have three kids and one of them is leaving me on Saturday. She’s going to college. So I’m a mom, I’m a single mom. And, I love my kids and I try to spend as much time with them as I can. Other than that, I like to spend time outdoors, go kayaking, canoeing, anything I can on the water. This summer has been all about water for me. I’ve been on boat rides and everything else. So, I try to just stay busy and, and try to enjoy my life because I’m realizing that it’s just passing me by and I’m trying to enjoy every minute of it. I feel like I wasted way too many years not enjoying my life and that’s what I’m doing. I’m enjoying it. John Haggard: 06:58 You know, that hindsight, 2020 for all of us, it’s that sort of Woulda, Shoulda, coulda. If I had only… Is that what you’re saying? Marcy Miller: 07:05 Yeah, and that’s not what I’m saying anymore. I’m not saying it anymore. I’m doing it and I’m enjoying my life. Closing John Haggard: 07:12 Well thanks Marcy. That’s Marcy Miller, everybody the Business Development Representative for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, and you know that you can join us right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle. Then how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready to do it. And don’t forget, we’ve also posted a transcript of each podcast right here on the website. You can easily refer to it and get all the information you need in summary form at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard, and we will see you next time.

Welcome to Episode #3 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with Sales and Leasing Consultant, Charlie Piper of Miracle Ford. Charlie is a native of Gallatin and has been with Miracle for close to 6 years. Charlie shares a bit about himself, and he discusses why buying online is most likely not the best option for most customers. Charlie also discusses buying a vehicle with poor credit. This is a great episode, so sit back and enjoy! Transcript John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast, where each week you’ll be able to learn the best ways to purchase or lease, maintain, accessorize, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do so. I’m your host, John Haggard and throughout each month, right here, different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can use. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast. That way you can easily refer to it for information. Maybe something you heard in the podcast, and you wanted to understand it a little bit better. So you’ll have it right there at your fingertips. On this podcast today we’re talking about different ways to own or lease a vehicle, what’s new about the process these days compared to the past, and really what separates Miracle Ford from the others. And we’re proud to have on the podcast, Charlie Piper. He’s the Sales and Leasing consultant at Miracle Ford. Hey Charlie, welcome to the podcast. Charlie Piper: 00:57 Hey John. John Haggard: 00:58 What have you been up to this past week? Charlie Piper: 01:00 Well, we’ve been selling cars and keeping busy. That’s what we like to do here at Miracle Ford. Ha. John Haggard: 01:07 Well that sounds like a good plan to me. And you know, before we actually get into what you can teach us today, a lot of people always want to know, “well, I’m listening to this person”, who are they? Where did they grow up and how did they wind up in the car business? Tell us a little bit about yourself Charlie. Charlie Piper: 01:24 Well, John, I was born and raised right here in Gallatin, graduated from Gallatin High School in 2005. I love a lot of outdoor activities and relaxing and binge watching TV shows. But you know, I really love selling cars. John Haggard: 01:40 Well, and when you’re outside, you said, you mentioned that as well. Besides binge TV viewing, which a lot of people do these days, what do you like to do outside? Charlie Piper: 01:47 Fishing, hiking, going to see the sights, you know, just really being outside and enjoying the outdoors. John Haggard: 01:54 And so you said Binge TV watching people always like to know, well, what are you watching? Charlie Piper: 02:01 I have been watching Texas Flip and Move, like it’s no other, I’ve been watching that constantly and it gives me new ideas for home renovations and stuff like that. John Haggard: 02:13 Well, I do understand Charlie, by your title, that you are a sales and leasing consultant at Miracle Ford. What does that title actually mean other than selling and leasing vehicles? Charlie Piper: 02:26 Well, this pretty much goes into taking care of the customer and their needs. Listening to who, where the customer wants to be at and where their goals are and where they’re trying to do into getting them into their next investment, their next vehicle. It’s a detailed process that we like to go through with our customers to make sure they are going to be taken care of now, but also in the future as well. John Haggard: 02:50 Well, have you seen, you said you’ve been in the car business since, what was that year, 2005? Charlie Piper: 02:55 I’ve, no, I’ve actually been in it since 2014. I’ve been with Miracle Ford for five years, going on six years now. John Haggard: 03:03 Gotcha. All right. So what have you seen over the last five or six years? If you look at the shopper’s market place today for buyers? You know, they’re thinking about, “well, you know, there are many more ways to buy or lease today compared to a few years ago”. What are you seeing out there? What’s the difference? What should people know about? Charlie Piper: 03:20 Well, the biggest thing is I’ve seen a lot of changes, and the biggest thing is internet. There’s so much information on the Internet now and it’s right at the tip of everybody’s fingers. You can go online, search what you want, find what you need and go pick it out. Nine Times out of 10, the customers that are coming into the dealership know what they want to buy when they get here. John Haggard: 03:43 So they pretty much have it laid out for you. Absolutely. Nine out of 10. Yeah, that’s, that is a high number. That is the internet and boy, I won’t tell you lots of information. One of the things that a lot of dealers experience is high turnover of personnel. Do you think today taking into account the Internet and other ways, buying and leasing, does it really make any real difference today? How long someone actually works at a dealership? What’s the benefit of longevity or is there any, Charlie Piper: 04:15 Well, it absolutely does matter how long sales associates stay with Miracle Ford or with any dealership for that matter. Because when you have repeat referral business that want to come back and see you, they know they’re going to get treated the same no matter what. They’re going to get that same level of respect that they got in the past. I mean, it also gives the customer a good feeling about the dealership obviously showing that it’s a quality place to work at too. John Haggard: 04:42 That makes sense. And if someone said, “you know what, I’m going to tell you about this Charlie Piper guy and my, my experience in buying or leasing a vehicle from him”, what would you say sets you apart? And maybe what sets Miracle Ford apart from all of the other sales and leasing consultants out there at other dealerships who say, “come see me, I’m the best”. Charlie Piper: 05:05 Well, I will say that we’re going to give you the experience that you’re wanting to get at a dealership. We’re going to handle your purchase and experience from beginning to end. We’re gonna make sure we’re going to go over the vehicle with you in full detail, make sure you understand our product completely. And the biggest thing is following up after the sale to make sure that everything is still going well with the vehicle purchase that you made with us. John Haggard: 05:31 And how would you advise someone like this, Charlie? Let’s say they’re looking for a pre-owned vehicle and they say, you know, I just think I will buy a car off the internet and try to get a better deal. I’ve seen these ads from Carvana and Cars Direct and CarGurus and Vroom, you know, all these other people. What would you say to that? Charlie Piper: 05:49 Well, a lot of people have a lot of reasons for not wanting to deal directly with a dealer. The best deal that anyone can get is actually coming into the store and talking with us. But I always like to tell everybody, be careful what you’re buying online. Our philosophy is come in and drive the vehicle. Sit down with us. Let’s see what’s going to make you happy and let’s see if the vehicle is really going to take care of your needs and your wants. I mean, you can buy anything online, but when you have the touch and the feel driving the car down the road and making sure this is yours, this is a good investment, just not for you, but with your family as well. John Haggard: 06:27 Have you heard some real horror stories, Charlie, from people buying online? Charlie Piper: 06:31 You know, I haven’t heard any horror stories. I guess I’m just old school when it comes down to, hey, if I’m making a big ticket purchase, I want to make sure I’m going to put my hands on something before going online and getting it. It’s not like buying clothes or jewelry or some little things online. This is a big ticket purchase and I think you really should take time out to come in and sit down and talk with us and make sure this is going to be the right choice for you, you know? John Haggard: 07:01 Gotcha. And you know, you hear people say, “we’ll cut out the middleman or cut out the middle woman and save money by buying online”. Is that true? Can you get a better deal buying online versus going to a dealer? Charlie Piper: 07:12 A lot of people have many reasons for not wanting to deal with a dealer directly. The best deal that you can get is when you come into the store. I mean, I’m sure they’re going to give you great deals online, but there’s just something that’s missing from that. And when you sit here and you’re in here with us, we’re going to make sure that we’re going to take care of you, no matter what, and you know what you’re getting. You’re getting a quality excellent service. You’re getting professionalism and respect when you walk in the door. And I just don’t feel like you’re gonna get that online. I think you’re going to get a better deal when you come in and see somebody than what you would online, and you’re just getting it thrown out there to you, you know? John Haggard: 07:59 All right. What if somebody has a real credit issue? Maybe they’ve got a low credit score due to a bankruptcy, maybe a charge off, maybe a big healthcare situation that happened. It’s on their credit report. Can they still buy a new vehicle at Miracle Ford or does it have to be a pre owned vehicle? Charlie Piper: 08:16 Oh No, absolutely. We, we deal with all types of credit issues. We deal with great credit, low credit in between credit. Come in and see us. I mean we’re going to take good care of you no matter what your credit is. I mean, we can get you in a brand new car. You have more of a likelihood to buy a brand new vehicle than you would have a pre-owned one having credit issues. John Haggard: 08:39 Is that right? Charlie Piper: 08:39 Yeah, absolutely. I mean a brand new one is going to be right there for you, because it’s going to have equity for the customer. And you can get special interest rates or financing or rebates that are going to be on top of that. So yeah, I mean if you have bankruptcies, you’re coming out of something, and you’re trying to get reestablished again, you’ve been doing good. Yeah. A new car is definitely the way to go. John Haggard: 09:04 And so you can do that with a bankruptcy on your record. You can buy a new car. Charlie Piper: 09:09 You can get a new car. John Haggard: 09:11 Wow. Because I think a lot of people think, “I’ll get a junker clunker. Nobody’s going to really want to talk to me. I’ll get a 150, 200,000 mile vehicle because I’ve got bankruptcy”. But that’s, that’s not true. Charlie Piper: 09:23 When you’re coming out of your bankruptcy. Absolutely. When you’re coming right out of it. John Haggard: 09:28 Gotcha. What’s your favorite vehicle, by the way? Charlie Piper: 09:30 My favorite vehicle is a Ford Mustang. John Haggard: 09:33 A Ford Mustang. Are you a fast mover and shaker? Is that it or what? Charlie Piper: 09:38 I guess you could say that, ha. It’s one of the most iconic cars Ford has ever come out with and very customizable with that. It’s a stylish and sporty. I this think it’s a head turner, you know? John Haggard: 09:48 Oh, there you go. Hey, is there any other question, Charlie, that people ask a lot when they come to purchase or lease a vehicle when they walk in? What do you hear people, what do they ask most? Charlie Piper: 09:59 What’s the technology in the vehicle? I get asked that a whole lot more now. With today’s society, you would think like, hey, this technology is the most important thing. I mean these vehicles are now like computers on wheels and people really want something chalk full of technology that’s going to be right there at the tip of their fingers. I mean, we have our smart phones that we’re on constantly all the time. So people like to have that in their vehicles too. So I think that would be the biggest thing, the technology. John Haggard: 10:32 And is there anything I did not ask you that you’d want people to know or another question that they ask that you could clear up for people who might have the same question? Charlie Piper: 10:42 No, I think that’s about it. John Haggard: 10:45 All right, well thanks Charlie. It’s Charlie Piper, the sales and leasing consultant for Miracle Ford. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month. Our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to purchase or lease, maintain and accessorize that vehicle. Really how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready. And don’t forget, we have also posted a transcript of each podcast right here on the website so that you can easily refer to it for information that you would like to have at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Welcome to our second episode of a weekly podcast that we are doing here at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram! In this episode, we talk with General Sales Manager of both Miracle CDJR and Miracle Ford (Miracle Auto Group). Mark talks a little bit about his history in the car business, the benefits and details of leasing instead of purchasing a vehicle, and also shares what he enjoys doing in his spare time. This is a great episode that you do not what to miss! Enjoy! Transcript John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week we hope you’ll be able to learn the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible. When you’re ready to do it. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here we’re going to have different team members join us from miracle to bring you tips that you can use. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast so that way you can easily refer to it for information that you would like to have right there at your fingertips. Today on the podcast we have Mark Ledford, the general sales manager at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Hey Mark, welcome to the podcast. Mark Ledford: 00:44 Hey John, how are you doing today buddy? John Haggard: 00:45 Good man. Glad to be here. You know, we always, when we bring somebody onto the podcast, before we start, people like to know, well, who is this guy that you’re getting ready to talk to? People just love to hear stories about how others got into a particular profession. So tell us a little bit about your background, how you started, how long you’ve been doing this, and how long you’ve been with Miracle Auto Group. Really specifically. How did you get into the car business? Mark Ledford: 01:10 Well, you know, it’s very similar to the Galvin’s, which you guys heard obviously before, which my father was very, very inspirational in making that happen for me. It’s funny, as I watched my father, when I was growing up, my comment, it was, I’m never getting in the car business. You know, he was very inspirational, you know, as far as me getting into this industry after college. And, you know, I watched his work ethics and, the thing that stood out to me most about, I saw the joy in watching him help others accomplish their goals. And I said, you know what? I think that’s me. I think that’s something I need to give a shot sometime soon. And, a little time after that, I was able to land my feet at a dealership and I spent many summers working at the dealership, washing cars, things like that back in high school. And, so I guess it was meant to be John, you know, just one thing led to another and then at an early age, popped in the business, been in it for about 25 years, been around it for about 35 years, and absolutely love it. John Haggard: 02:16 Alright, you’re about ready for some gray hair, aren’t you? 35 years. Ha! Mark Ledford: 02:19 Yes sir. It has started. You know, I can’t believe I’ve been able to hold it off this long. John Haggard: 02:25 Well there you go. There we go. Well today’s topic on the podcast is leasing versus buying a vehicle and while we won’t be able to cover every topic about leasing in just one podcast, we did ask Mark to help us understand some key components about the differences in leasing versus owning. So we’ll devote future podcasts to learning more about other aspects of leasing versus owning. So a lot of people today, Mark, you know, they’re looking for a better way to acquire a vehicle, perhaps a cheaper way. In other words, you know, save money the best way they can and folks always hear, well should I lease or should I own? I mean really, what would you say? What is the best way to do it? How could a person decide for them whether they should lease or own? Mark Ledford: 03:10 That is a, you know, John, that is a fantastic question. Probably one of the most exciting things I get so fired up about is just the discussion of lease, purchase options on vehicles. And it’s just such a great way, that we’ve been able to help customers decide and help them save money yet get the vehicles that they want. Obviously with the increase in vehicles in today’s world, in today’s society, everything continues to increase. However, I’m not sure incomes always continue to increase at that, right? Rapid, right. So what we’ve done is over the years, you know, we’ve tried to really hone in on what is going to be the best thing that benefits the customers at least as a purchase. So we like to try to have that discussion, you know, with our customers about a way to save money, yet get the vehicle that they want. And we have been able to really do that through leasing, as far as determining what is best for our customer, whether lease or buy. A lot of that will just depend on what is the consumers goals, you know, two, three, five, eight, 10 years down the road. And those are the discussions we’d like to try to have to try to set them up the best way that we can. John Haggard: 04:15 Gotcha. And do you see a trend? Is it that more people are leasing today versus a few years ago was right about, you know, 50, 50 lease purchase, how’s that shaking out? Mark Ledford: 04:26 We’re obviously still the dominant arm force is the purchase option, but leasing is becoming more and more prevalent than it ever has. You know, we have consumers walking in the door asking about leasing these days. And it’s something that we try to consistently talk about and train on so that we can equip ourselves to handle the right questions to help the customer make the right decision that is for them. But it is becoming more popular than ever. It’s not the old ways, I guess back 40 years ago when leasing was not a great option for people. It has really become, something that is just tailored for consumers looking for a less expensive way to purchase the vehicles they want. John Haggard: 05:11 All right. You know, you hear about anytime you’re getting ready to lease or purchase, there’s obviously something due at signing or in most cases, maybe some cases not on special offers, but are the amounts due at signing for a lease, would that be the same amount as if someone were purchasing a vehicle? Mark Ledford: 05:30 Yeah, that’s, that’s obviously a good question. Most consumers today that we work with, obviously are trying to come out as less out of pocket as possible. And that is absolutely the truth with leasing is that there are some upfront cost in some cases that is basically giving you your first payment. As you walk out the door, you’re making your first payment so that down payment money is already being applied to your first payment. However there you have the same on leasing that you do on purchasing, which is if you want to walk out of here today with zero money down. That’s an option that we can provide for you as well. John Haggard: 06:04 All right, so if you’re just going to say the difference between loan payments on a purchase versus lease payments, in terms of the monthly amount being paid, what’s the difference there? Mark Ledford: 06:16 Here’s just a, you know, one of the most exciting things is that there are many cases that I have seen, you know, over the years where payments are as low from anywhere from $50 up to $200 a month difference in between what a lease payment would be compared to what that purchase payment would be on the same vehicle. And when you talk about that with a consumer that they can save that kind of money on a lease option compared to a purchase option. It is just, you know, it’s mind boggling. It’s absolutely exciting that you can save that kind of money and there’s an option out there to do that. John Haggard: 06:52 So yeah, I mean if you have a, if I’m doing the math properly, I would say it is $200 there. And if you’ve got a, you know, maybe a three year lease, so 200 times 12, 2,400 times three, you’re talking $7,200 in cash that you’re keeping in your pocket might really be sometimes when you look at, well, how much money you’re saving, you have to earn to save. So if you’re in maybe in a 30% tax bracket, maybe you’re really saving a little over $10,000 because you have to earn 10 to pay the seven, if that makes sense. Mark Ledford: 07:21 Absolutely. Great Point. Yes. John Haggard: 07:23 How does it, in terms of the lease term today, I mean, you hear these three year leases, maybe I’ve heard a five, six, seven year lease. What’s the, what’s the standard or is there one there? Mark Ledford: 07:33 Well, the standard, traditionally is we like to traditionally stay between 36 and 42 months. However, there are leases that you can go up to 60 months on. Very rarely do we ever, you know, see a customer or talked to a customer that wants to go that long. Because one of the benefits to leasing is it’s, it’s a short term decision on what you’re going to do with your vehicle. So 36 to 42 is typically where the manufacturer is going to offer the most incentives, the best, what we call residual factors, money factors, things like that, that are driving that payment down for you. So 36 to 42 is the area that we love to live in, because that’s where the best incentives are for the consumers most of the time. John Haggard: 08:12 All right. And I would think so too. You know, you know, 36, 48 months, people are sort of thinking, they see the new models, they see the new body styles and they probably think, you know, I’d like to, I’d like to be able to get into a different vehicle. I guess you see that as well. Mark Ledford: 08:25 Absolutely. You know, obviously with today’s world, with the technology, the way that it changes, and how fast it changes, you know, more and more consumers are wanting to be, driving the vehicles and the models that have the updated features and options. And, that’s why leasing is becoming more and more prevalent is because it’s something that you can get into the average consumer. Just so people know, the average consumer that trades a vehicle in is trading every 30 months in our country. So it just makes sense to have the discussion and at least look at the option of a 36 to 42 month lease for you. John Haggard: 09:03 All right. You know, and people also sorta think, well what’s included in that monthly lease payment? Like how about maintenance? Cause you know, you do have to maintain the vehicle. And, and is that part of that payment or separate? How does that work? Mark Ledford: 09:16 Well, obviously the maintenance side of it is something that you still do, that you would normally do on your vehicle anyway. What is covered, obviously is you tend to stay under the manufacturer’s warranty throughout leasing. So that is just another absolutely great benefit. I’m not financing this car for 72, 75, 84 months and I know that I’m going to be out of warranty right in this vehicle, you know, in two to three years. Whereas if I’m leasing this vehicle and I’m leasing a new car every year, three years, let’s say, I’m staying under the manufacturer’s warranty. So the only thing my cost of ownership is extremely low. So not only am I saving on payments every month, I’m also saving on cost of ownership on that vehicle. John Haggard: 09:57 All right. Let’s say that someone has a three year lease and then life changes, you know, maybe a new baby comes along or there’s some issue and someone says, you know, I’ve been in this two years and I need more space. Or you know, maybe I got married and the wife likes, well you know, a color and I, you know, I want a red color or whatever it might be. How, or can you, if you’re in a three year lease, can you upgrade or change into another vehicle? How does that work? Mark Ledford: 10:22 The answer to that question is yes. It is no different than if you’re in a purchase right now, and you come in and you want to trade that vehicle in two years. We can then have options to work with you. If you decide in a couple of years that I want to look at something different or maybe I want to go from a lease to a purchase, I’m doing something different, my life has changed. We can definitely sit down with you to discuss those options with you to upgrade or just trade that vehicle in and, and change things. John Haggard: 10:47 All right. You know, one of the things you hear where people say when they go on the Internet and they read about leasing versus owning, they say, oh, watch out about the mileage limit. If you go over the mileage limit, you know, it’s going to cost you a fortune or whatever. So what happens if somebody does go over the mileage limit? Mark Ledford: 11:05 That is, that is probably John, the number one thing that a lot of folks, you know, as they’re trying to understand leasing more, that’s probably one of the things that they have the biggest concern about is, you know, the mileage restrictions that they’re under. And it’s not that the fact that you’re going to drive a vehicle, so the standard mileage on a lease is 15,000 miles per year. So obviously on a three year term, you know, you’re talking about 45,000 miles, but for example, it’s just that you drive 54 55,000 miles over the term of that lease, the only thing that’s going to happen at the end of that lease is you’re going to have what they call, a mileage adjustment, which is going to be about 20 to 25 cents per mile depending on the manufacturers, they all can be different. Mark Ledford: 11:47 Sometimes I see anywhere from 15 to 25 cents per mile that you would pay. So when you break that down, let’s just use for example, I think you know, some you did 54,000 miles, compared to a 45,000 mile lease, that’s 9,000 miles. I believe that comes out to somewhere around $1,800 in a penalty. But if you break that down over a 36 month term, that’s about $50 a month. All that extra mileage on it. You’re already saving all that on the front end anyway. Sso as you walk in and there, the other part of that that I want customers to always understand too is that a lot of times the manufacturers are going to forgive that mileage if you upgrade with their vehicle the next time around. But there are ways around it. John Haggard: 12:34 Yeah. Wow. Okay. That, that’s an incentive right there. They’ll forgive that if, if you do certain things and stay within the family so to speak. Mark Ledford: 12:42 There are many cases where they will do that. A lot of times the manufacturer of course wants to keep you and keep your business. So there are cases where we will just allow you to trade that vehicle in and then obviously that mileage is no longer an option for you and having to pay. John Haggard: 12:58 Gotcha. So if you’re just going to recap is a quick summary, when is the best time to lease versus the best time to own for somebody? Mark Ledford: 13:08 Well, I think as far as the best time to lease or the best time to purchases, obviously it just depends on what your goals are. If I’m in my twenties, thirties, even forties, and I’m going to, and my life’s going to change here and there and I know that I like the latest and greatest technology, and I like to have a new car every three, four years. Lleasing is going to be a way that you really need to consider in your next vehicles and for many vehicles to come. There are those clients that say, you know what? This is gonna be my last car, or I like to hold onto my cars for 10 years. I would say the customer then at that point, probably a lot of times purchase is the best option for them if it’s going to be long term. Like you’re saying. Correct. In what we’re trying to stay away from. The ultimate goal of what we’re trying to stay away from for the customers that like to have the new cars every two, three, four years, John is we’re trying to set them up where they don’t have to deal with the negative equity. Oh, we all know that, you know, an automobile is a depreciating asset, so, let’s let the manufacturer handle that at the end of three years and not the consumer. John Haggard: 14:14 Gotcha. You know, you said about 35 years Mark, that you’ve been in this business now, so you know, when you’re not working, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies? Are you working seven days a week? What do you like to do? Mark Ledford: 14:26 Well, I do work a lot. However, when I am off, I try to enjoy myself by, always been a lake, big lake guy. Love to hike. Have some aspirations to hike the Appalachian one day. I’m a big sports fan. Football and hockey are my two favorite sports to be involved in. And, outside of that, you know, I’ve got two fantastic daughters and I just absolutely love being around my family. John Haggard: 14:50 Gotcha. Did you play sports in high school or college or anything? Mark Ledford: 14:54 I did. I played sports all through from the time I was probably five and up until I was 20, 21 years old. Played football in college for a little bit as well. John Haggard: 15:04 What position? Mark Ledford: 15:05 I actually, started out as a quarterback but then was moved into defensive back. John Haggard: 15:11 Wow. So rough, tough and hard to bluff. Is that it? Mark Ledford: 15:15 No, I found out, I found out real quick buddy. It was time for me to get out of the game of football. John Haggard: 15:20 Are you and me both on that? Hey, let me ask you one more question here. You know, there are a lot of choices out there today when somebody is going to get ready to lease or purchase a vehicle and all the dealers out there say, you know, we’re the one, we’ll treat your right, come by, you know, all this type of thing. And some think car dealers will say about anything to get somebody in the door. And what would you tell folks about Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram? Just in terms of really why they should deal with the Miracle Auto Group? Mark Ledford: 15:49 That is a fantastic question because I know you see it everywhere. You hear it everywhere. But the biggest thing is, is that, what we try to focus on is that we invest a lot of time in learning and mastering our craft. And what I mean by that, we just wanna make sure that when a consumer comes in, we’re able to sit down and consult and discuss with you what is the best way for you to move forward on the purchase or lease of a vehicle. And we try real hard to make sure we have the communication skills that we understand, our staff understands leasing, they understand the difference between leasing and purchasing so that we can try to set the customer in the right direction. Not only for today but for the years to come. And honestly, John, I just think that we outwork the competition in a lot of ways. You know, we’re never going to try to sell you a car. We just try to assist and helping you buy a car. And that is our motto year. John Haggard: 16:43 And one thing about Miracle Auto Group that I’ve come to learn is it is a local family that lives in the local community. You’re not dealing with some big corporate conglomerate where the owners in another city and you’re sort of a, I don’t know, maybe faceless or a number instead of a person. Mark Ledford: 17:00 Absolutely. You know, you hear of a million big cities and things like that that we’re a part of these days. You know, there are the big corporate, companies out there. The benefit that we feel like we have is again, that we are family owned. We are right here local in the community. You’ve been in the community for years and years and years and you know, ultimately where you definitely want to take care of our customers. We know that customer retention is something that special. It takes a lot of work, and it is extremely important to us in the community to make sure we’re trying to do the right things. John Haggard: 17:32 Well there it is. That’s Mark Ledford, general sales manager for the Miracle Auto Group, including Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. And join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month, right here where you are. And our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible when you’re ready. And don’t forget, we’ve also posted the transcript of each podcast right here on the website so you can easily refer to it for information that you would like to have right there at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard. We will see you next time.

Welcome to Episode #2 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with General Sales Manager of Miracle Ford and Miracle CDJR (Miracle Auto Group). In this episode, we get to learn a little be more about Mark, his beginnings in the business, and he also shares about the benefits and details of Leasing vs Buying a new vehicle. Enjoy! Transcript John Haggard: 00:01 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast, where each week we hope you will be able to learn the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can actually use. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast so that you can easily refer to it for information that you’d like to pull out right there at your fingertips. Today on the podcast, we’ve got Mark Ledford, he’s the general sales manager for the Miracle Auto Group, and that includes Miracle Ford in Gallatin. And Hey Mark, welcome to the podcast. Mark Ledford: 00:41 Hey John, how you doing today? John Haggard: 00:43 I’m doing great, man. Good to be here. You know, before we start, a lot of people want to know, well, who is it that I’m dealing with if I came down to Miracle today? Who are these people? So I thought it’d be kind of fun to learn a little bit about you, how you got in the car business, how long you’ve been, say at Miracle and just how did you get started? Mark Ledford: 01:00 Fantastic. I love the business. I’ve been with the Miracle Group coming up on six years now. My father was extremely inspirational in bringing me into the business many, many, many moons ago. Been around the business for about 35 years now. Been in the business, so to speak, for, I’m coming up on but 25 years now. So, it’s a fun business to be a part of. And, again, my father was extremely inspirational in bringing me into the business. John Haggard: 01:27 And how did you get started? Were you sweeping the lot, were you sweeping, you know, cleaning out bathrooms, what were you doing? Mark Ledford: 01:33 Yeah, tell everybody all the time. You know, it’s Kinda funny because I’ve kind of worked in a lot of different areas. You know, from the time that I was a kid and really where I guess I could say I cut my teeth and started was just working in detail. You know, in the summer months growing up as a high school kid and in between summers and football practice and all that stuff, you know, just coming into work, and being around the business a little bit. It was fun. It was just meant to be for me, I guess. John Haggard: 02:00 We know they always say, if you’re going to learn the business, learn it from the inside out and really start at the bottom rung and, and work, you know, work your way all the way up. John Haggard: 02:09 So today’s topic is leasing versus buying a vehicle. A lot of people were asking questions about that. And of course that’s a real wide topic. You could probably spend maybe a couple of hours on that, but, we’ve asked Mark to help us understand some of the differences between leasing versus buying. And just to know how to make the right decision, how to save the most amount of money so you can keep that money in your pocket as much as you can. So I guess Mark, just from a summary standpoint, the difference between leasing and owning, what should somebody do? What are the factors that say, this is where you go, this is what you do? Mark Ledford: 02:45 I think honestly, John, what we try to do is just sit down with the customer, have that discussion about what are their goals, what are their habits. How many miles a year are they driving? What do they want to accomplish? Do they like to trade every two to three years? So really it depends on the customer. And I think that that’s the discussion that a lot of dealerships just don’t have with their customers is what is it that you hope to accomplish? What are your habits? And that’s going to dictate to us how to help you decide, is leasing or owning better, which one’s going to be more beneficial for you. You know, in today’s world, obviously, vehicles have gone up in price, and what we have found is a great way to go now, and still get the things that you want and the payments just not way, way crazy for you, is to look at a lease option. You can save a lot of money a lot of times on the lease option. John Haggard: 03:39 Well you know, leasing has been around a long time. As you, as you think about it, is there a trend? Are more people leasing now than they were or is it about the same? What’s the difference about it now? Mark Ledford: 03:53 Well, we are definitely getting more and more people I think that are walking in the door asking us about leasing than what we’ve seen over the years past. It’s still been around for a long time. I think it just got pushed aside for whatever reason. Maybe bad habits back 40 years ago. But leasing is becoming more and more popular, as it’s discussed more. I think our younger generation understands that, there is a different way to go than what my parents did. You know, back in those days. And so it’s become more and more prevalent. We see probably more of the younger generation and we still actually see a lot of business owners and high level management folks that come in and inquire and do a lot of leasing. So just to also let people know that our management staff within our dealerships, a majority of us lease cars. So it’s just a great benefit for a lot of people. John Haggard: 04:48 Yeah. Well if you look at payments and you look at amounts and that type of thing, the down payment if you will. If you’re going to lease versus if you’re going to purchase, is it the same or do you find that part of the transaction, the sign before you drive, is it less money down on a lease compared to a purchase? Mark Ledford: 05:06 Yes, in a lot of cases, the money down on a lease can be much less. Just because a lot of times when you’re leasing a car, you’re not having to deal with negative equity when you’re doing leasing on a consistent basis. But typically when you see that we’re asking for a down payment or other manufacturers asking for down payments up front, a lot of times That can just be, that’s your first payment plus any fees up front. But however, just like a purchase, we can do zero down if that’s what the customer wants to do. John Haggard: 05:37 All right. So it’s very flexible. There is what I’m hearing you say, and if you were going to look at just the monthly payments, for the lease versus monthly payments on a purchase, is there much difference there? Mark Ledford: 05:49 In some vehicles I have seen up to $200 a month difference in payment between a lease option and a purchase option. And that is just fan. I mean that is just amazing to me. And when you look at those types of numbers and people can save that kind of money on a monthly term, I just think that, you know, a customer and a consumer has to look at that and consider that as something that, hey, I’ve got to really consider this option. It is a fantastic way to go on many of our models in today’s world. John Haggard: 06:20 Well, if you can get $200 a month, if you think about that and keep that in your pocket times 12, you’re at what, 2,400 a year times the number of years that you are on the lease. So that, that’s pretty substantial cash, I would say. Mark Ledford: 06:33 Yeah. You know what, anywhere from seven to $10,000 probably. John Haggard: 06:37 Gotcha. How long of a lease term can you get today? Do you get no, how does that work? Or does it mirror a purchase? Mark Ledford: 06:43 Well on the lease term. That’s what’s another beautiful thing about a lease term is typically you can pay less money and cut your term in half from what you’re going to pay on a purchase payment. Traditionally, the lease terms that we do are 36 to 42 months. And that’s where kind of what we call the honey hole. That’s where the manufacturer is gonna put the best incentives on the best residuals on for you. However, we have in the past, over my 25 years of doing this, I have seen customers do a 60 month lease before. So, you can go up to 60 months on the lease, but traditionally the purpose of leasing is to stay within that 36 to 42 month term because we understand that a consumer that’s leasing is traditionally probably trading in about every three to three and a half years anyway. John Haggard: 07:31 Gotcha. And if you take a look at what’s included and the monthly lease payment, is maintenance included? Are there other things, can somebody get insurance included? How does that work? Mark Ledford: 07:40 You’re going to be, the fantastic thing about leasing also is one of the things that has become ever more popular in our world today with a negative equity on vehicles is gap insurance. With a lease, gap Insurance is something that’s going to be automatically included in that lease for you. Because again, the manufacturer owns a vehicle, they’re protecting themselves. So you get the benefit of that. The other beautiful thing about leasing is traditionally you’re constantly under the manufacturer’s warranty all the time. So now we’re talking about not only a less expensive payment gap, insurance included that we’re also talking about cost of ownership here being down as well. John Haggard: 08:18 All right. And when you’re saying gap insurance for folks who don’t know exactly what that is, what does that mean? Mark Ledford: 08:25 Yep. Gap Insurance is simply going to be, if you purchase a vehicle and let’s say it’s totaled out in two years, and you owe $20,000 on it and the insurance company says we’re going to give you $15,000 for it, you’re responsible to pay that difference. John Haggard: 08:40 Gotcha. Mark Ledford: 08:40 What gap insurance does is it comes in and it takes up that gap for you. John Haggard: 08:46 And to clarify again, that is included in the monthly lease payment. Mark Ledford: 08:50 That is correct. John Haggard: 08:51 Gotcha. Yeah, that’s good. That’s good protection right there. Well, let’s say you have someone went on a 36 month lease and they think, well it’s the end of two years. They get married and the wife says, I kind of sort of wish you’d drove this car or this instead of something else than what I’ve got right now. Can you get out of the lease or is it like non cancelable I mean you’re sort of stuck until the lease is over. Mark Ledford: 09:16 Yeah. And I think that’s the misconception a lot of times about leasing John is that, I think a lot of folks feel like that’s just what they have to do. However, it’s no different than a purchase in a lot of cases. We can have the same discussion with them in regards to when they come in to trade that vehicle in two years, it’s no different than what a purchase would be. We can sit down and show them the options about treating that vehicle in and have that discussion. John Haggard: 09:39 You know, one thing we hear a lot about in a lease is watch out about the mileage because if you go over that mileage man, they’re going to kill you with fees. What’s the reality of that? Mark Ledford: 09:51 Okay, so standard mileage per year is 15,000 miles per year. However, if you do go over that mileage, all it is, is just anywhere from about 15 to 25 cents, what they call mileage penalty from the manufacturer. But, at that time, when you come in to turn that lease in, there are a lot of cases, and a lot of instances where manufacturers, if you stay with them, are going to forgive that and give you money to help upgrade to a nicer, newer vehicle. John Haggard: 10:17 Just that simple really. All right. If you were just going to quickly recap, okay, should I lease or should I buy? What would you say? What would be my decision to make? Mark Ledford: 10:28 I think that goes right back to the discussion that we try to have up front that I mentioned with the consumer is what are their goals? What are their habits, and try to sit down and have that discussion with them while they’re here. So that we can show them the benefits to leasing or purchasing and whatever’s best for them. Yeah. John Haggard: 10:45 Alright. Well, you know, you said 35 years, I think, if I remember properly, that you’ve been in this business. So, you’re probably, I would think by now not working seven days a week, maybe only six. I don’t know. But what do you do for fun? Mark Ledford: 10:58 The good news is, we’re off on Sunday, so only six days a week. John Haggard: 11:03 And so when you’re on that seventh day, what do you like to do? Mark Ledford: 11:07 You know, I’m a big outdoors person. Love being around the lake, hiking, sports, football and hockey, and then obviously, you know, family’s extremely important. John Haggard: 11:16 Gotcha. So, you know, as a bottom line, because this is what it really gets down to when people begin to look, should I lease? Should I purchase? There are a lot of choices out there. And most of the dealers, probably all of them say, come see us. We’ve got the best deals, we’re the only one. Shop all the rest and then come here last. Those types of things. If you were going to tell people, look, there are a lot of Ford dealers out there, but there’s only one Miracle Ford if you will. And of course that’s true. Only one Miracle Ford, but what it really, why should someone deal with the Miracle Auto Group versus going somewhere else? Mark Ledford: 11:51 Well, I think anywhere from our management down to our sales staff, John. And that is a great question, just because a lot of you do hear that on the TV, the radio a lot when people walk into a dealership. But we invest a lot of our time just learning our craft and talking about different options for customers. We want to be able to sit down and talk to you about what is the best way for you to purchase a vehicle today. Is it lease, is it purchase? Is it down payment, is it no down payment? So we want to have that discussion. So we really work hard on our craft to be able to separate ourselves from the competition. And in all reality, we just feel like we outwork the competition. And John, we just don’t really try to sell you a car. We just want to assist and help you buy a vehicle. John Haggard: 12:33 All right? And local ownership too, right? Miracle Auto Group. I mean these are local owners who are here. They live here. You might see them in the grocery store at church, wherever it may be, as opposed to some big corporate, you know, conglomerate that might be out of Dallas, Texas or wherever. Mark Ledford: 12:49 Absolutely. You know, again, we live in the community, we work in the community. We have folks that we have known for 30, 35 years around this community. So obviously it’s in our best interest to make sure that, you know, we are doing the right things day in and day out. John Haggard: 13:03 All right, Mark Ledford, everybody, the general sales manager for the Miracle Auto Group, including Miracle Ford. And join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month, because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle. And here’s the big key, how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible. When you’re ready to do so, and don’t forget, we’ve also posted the transcript of each podcast right here on the website so you can easily refer to at a particular topic, something you want to go over, and you’d just get the text right there and see it right at your fingertips. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

This is the second episode of the Mind Your Noodles podcast. In this episode our guest is investment banker, keynote speaker and author of Pitch Anything, Oren Klaff. We discuss how to use neuroscience when interacting with others, the importance of narrative and emotion in communications and ways to build trust. Show Notes [00:00:05] Mind Your Noodles Podcast [00:00:20] Episode Two - Oren Klaff [00:01:01] Transparency - I'm a Student of Oren's Work [00:01:53] Pitchanything.com [00:02:42] New Book Coming - Flip the Script [00:06:10] Time Passes Differently for Speaker and Audience [00:07:56] How Do You Get Information Out of Your Brain and Over to Someone Else? [00:08:25] Oren Breaks Down the Brain [00:09:03] The Crocodile Brain [00:10:54] Mid-Brain  Function - Social [00:11:32] The Neo-Cortex Role [00:13:00] Does this Thinking Apply to the Masses? [00:15:00] Adjustments When Addressing the Audience [00:15:20] Emotional Needs of the Audience [00:16:39] Collateral Damage and Narrative [00:17:35] Narrative Arc [00:18:50] The Pre-wired Brain [00:20:08] Programmed Narratives [00:21:15] Conflict and Trust [00:22:12] Trust as Too High a Bar at the Beginning - and What to Do to Get There [00:26:32] Conflict Raises the Stake [00:28:53] Conflict = Stakes [00:29:55] The Big Idea and it's Role [00:31:45] Role of the Big Idea [00:36:19] Big Idea Applies to All - Even the Furniture Business [00:40:00] You are Valuable - Use It or Make It [00:43:51] How Might We Engage Employees [00:47:13] Closing Thoughts     Transcript Tripp: [00:00:05] Welcome to the Mind Your Noodles podcasts take care of the brains that take care of you using neuroscience research and methods for a brain friendly organization and healthy you.   Tripp: [00:00:20] In the second episode of Mind Your Noodles My guest is Oren Klaff. Investment banker, keynote speaker and author of Pitch Anything. We discuss how to use neuroscience when interacting with others, the importance of narrative and emotion in communication and ways to get trust quickly.   Tripp: [00:00:46] Hi I'm Tripp Babbitt host of The Mind Your Noodles podcast.   Tripp: [00:00:51] My guest today is investment banker speaker and author Oren Klaff. Welcome Oren.   Oren Klaff: [00:00:57] Hey thanks. TRIPP I appreciate it. Good to connect with you. Glad we could get on the same schedule.   Tripp: [00:01:01] Very good. Full disclosure to my audience I am a huge fan of what Oren does and I'm also a student of his Pitch Mastery online class that that he has and workshops and call ins and also Oren you probably won't meet with us but you are the inspiration actually for this podcast. So no pressure.   Oren Klaff: [00:01:25] Great. And I can't wait to get the checks.   Tripp: [00:01:28] There you go. And one of the things I do a little bit differently especially for folks like you is instead of talking about all your stuff that you do at the end. Kind of like to just where people can go so they can get back right to the beginning of the podcast episode and just know kind of a little bit about. So I knew they'd go to like pitchanything.com I would assume if they're going to learn about you.   Oren Klaff: [00:01:53] If you want to get started here you go to pitchanything.com. Putting your name and we will flood you with really information on that will transform the way you get in front of people the way you talk to people in the way that you close deals. That's what you care about. That's the right place to be pitchanything.com   Tripp: [00:02:11] Okay. And do you want to say a couple words because I know you're kind of doing preorders for your new book Flip the Script. I'm sure we'll talk about as we get into it. But.   Oren Klaff: [00:02:22] So I wrote a book. Second Book because they said you have to write a book. Another one. Your first book is like everyone on Earth bought it. There's no one else to sell it to. I didn't read the book so I wrote another book. I said Yeah I'll do it in a year. and then two years later I finished it because apparently I put everything I knew in the first row.   Oren Klaff: [00:02:42] But the book the new book is Flip the Script. It is. I love it like I'm reading it myself. Oh my God this is so good. I should write this down. Wait a second. I just wrote this. It's like this infinite loop of the Flip the Script is full of scripts of how to make somebody chase you instead of you chasing them out to put your ideas. In the mind of somebody else so they think it's their idea. It is it. It's completely next level. There's nothing like it in sales. It's just revised what sales is about. So Flip the Script is the new book. It's out of control. Now that I've said that you can't get it.   Tripp: [00:03:21] Well you can preorder it though.   Oren Klaff: [00:03:25] You can preorder it. That's OK. Because.   Tripp: [00:03:27] I see it here on Amazon right now.   Oren Klaff: [00:03:30] I'm looking at it and I'm going to get two hundred galleys. So you know if you're in the media a galley is you know the copy that the editors send you that isn't really a copy. It's sort of the secret copy print on cardboard and toilet paper. But if you want that copy I have 200 of them.   Tripp: [00:03:48] Oh OK. OK. All right. So. So where would they contact you to get that.   Oren Klaff: [00:03:52] E-mail you if you want that copy. Go to Tripp's house.   Tripp: [00:03:55] OK.   Oren Klaff: [00:03:56] Talk to his dog.   Tripp: [00:03:59] My dog will kill them. They don't want to do that. All right.   Tripp: [00:04:02] So where I'd like to start Oren is because you were the inspiration for my my podcast that I'm putting together here. I do a couple of other podcasts I'd do one for the Deming Institute. We have about 45-50000 listeners every every month.   Tripp: [00:04:18] And also do one with a gentleman by the name of Doug Hall does innovation types of things. But the the thing that struck me you know I love sales from way back. So you know did the Carnegie stuff I did the Ziglar and I did Tracey and I did the Sandler sales Institute and then on a fluke I I ran into a copy of Pitch Anything actually from another book that was actually meh not very good. But but but in their bibliography your book was mentioned in there and as I started to read it. The thing that that really stood out. I know this is part of your your pitch process and I would certainly want to talk about that is this whole concept of people whether it's neuroscience or brain science or ever you want to say it it's this concept of people are not communicating between a sales situation or a pitch situation because they're on really two different planes in the brain level.   Tripp: [00:05:24] And so I kind of like to start there and I know I've listened to some of your interviews that you've done over the past year on the Life of Charm I think it was one of them and and some other ones that you've done with like the Project Management Institute.   Tripp: [00:05:42] Yeah. And so there's going to be some some it's going to be boring for you. But for the audience I think level setting kind of that component and especially because it really fits in well with the purpose of this podcast kind of walk us through how you. First of all arrive there and then kind of the basics associated with the crocodile brain and the mid brain and all that.   Oren Klaff: [00:06:10] Yeah. So I think you know one way you can get there they've never talked about but we'll do some fresh stuff here. If you think about how differently time passes in different situations so if you're a speaker presenter write to an audience and nearly everybody listening here you know whether it was in grade school, high school, college or in a professional you know sits up and had to present something longer than five minutes when you pass five minutes time begins to pass differently for the speaker and the audience.   Oren Klaff: [00:06:45] You the speaker. Are talking you're all the sound that you get warmed up. Think about five six seven minutes to get warmed up. You got the sound of my voice is pretty good right.   Oren Klaff: [00:06:55] And now you're sort of getting going in your juices are flowing and you feel warmed up and now you're ready to say the things you have to say in explaining the features and the benefits and the ideas that you have and the business of it. And. At eight nine 10 12 minutes your just getting going and the audience is just about cooked right. And so now as you get into when this happens to me you know I a half an hour into a speech. I feel like wow I could do this for three or four hours and the audience is thinking I want you to do this for another minute maybe. OK. So so things happen differently. Experiences that are in the same room happen very differently to different people especially when you're you're teaching or giving information or selling. So. So there's different parts of the mind that are engaged when you're the seller and you're the buyer. And then we follow that through and we sort of think of it like this that where. Do you. What part of the brain do you disgorge information from.   Oren Klaff: [00:07:56] How do you get information out of your brain over to someone else. And what part of the brain do they receive then when you start to look at that from a neuro standpoint you and you ask. Cognitive psychologists. You know what's happening in the brain by the way if you never hire cognitive psychologists to help you out with your relationship. Right. You don't give a fuck about relationships.   Oren Klaff: [00:08:18] They care about your feelings they care about how information moves in and out of the brain and up and down and how you react to things and why.   Oren Klaff: [00:08:25] But if you think about where you receive information into the human mind well it's received as you alluded to do something. Call we call the crocodile brain. And it's the most ancient part of the brain the least sophisticated the most unable to handle nuance, detail, emotion. Right. It really just trims things down to the absolute basics.   Oren Klaff: [00:08:50] Right now the part of the brain that I'm using that you're reading now listen to the part of bringing you you used to get to work and get a buy a laptop and get a job and think that of course is the neocortex smart thinking linguistic capable math problem solving.   Oren Klaff: [00:09:03] Also relatively emotionless but but that part of the brain thinks about complex ideas and talks about them uses the language communicates them and it's sending all this information over to the other person who's just receiving that information through their crocodile brain. We call that because it acts like a crocodile. Huh. What is this. Something is moving. Noise is coming from it. I gotta deal with it because anything that's moving that creates noise in an animatronic way right. That isn't a rock a tree or an insect. Anything is moving and making noise I gotta pay attention to and decide how to process it. And so the other person is. You're coming up with all your great ideas and that person thinking you know as I wrote is it's just something I should eat. There's something I should mate with. Is this a danger. Should I kill it. There's sort of some of the base angry hungry and horny. Right. That's so nature. That part of the brain is trying to process the thing you're saying. So unless you give that part of the brain the information it needs at the beginning to get it calm down and end to allow it to move information up higher into the brain. You never get past. Really the initial. Interest you don't get the attention because you go hey this is not something I should eat. There's not something I should mate with. This isn't something I should kill am I. I'll just ignore it and worry about other problems. So. So that part of the brain is very concerned about survival and self interest and if you don't placate it give it the information it need. Truncate you know your story so it calms down and is willing to pass information up to the higher order of the brain. You can't get anywhere. And that's why you go there eyes roll back in the head. We never got their attention you know and all these things. So. So you got.   Oren Klaff: [00:10:54] So that's a first part of the brain its gotta deal with then it moves up to the mid brain and the mid brain doesn't care about ROI IOR and you know these things that you know you've heard me talk about before you know with the benefits of the SAS software or how the insurance is going to know save you money or this car's better than that I didn't care about and sort of cares about social situations.   Oren Klaff: [00:11:15] So until it's safe. And it sounds and there's some things to be intrigued by by the crocodile brain. And then there is a sense of social order that you're a high status individual that can provide some valuable information.   Oren Klaff: [00:11:32] The neocortex won't engage so I really just start talking to neocortex with the details data story and the neocortex is not easy to access. So that's how I think about human-human communication. You got to give him the right information for the part of the brain that is actually paying attention. At that point in time you got it. If I could just simplify this by a million times when you go to merge on the freeway right.   Oren Klaff: [00:12:00] They give you an on ramp so you can build up speed to get up to you know by the time you get a freeway you're doing seventy five miles an hour. If you've ever been in a situation where somebody build a shitty road system somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.   Tripp: [00:12:13] The jug handles. Yeah.   Oren Klaff: [00:12:16] Yeah yeah what you sort of take aRight there's this right turn onto a five lane road where people are going 80 miles an hour and you go Damn how do I get up to that speed from a dead stop. Right. That's what most people are facing. How do we take a right turn onto this freeway and get up to speed without getting murdered. And most people's presentations get murdered on by by trying to do that incorrectly. You need to have an on ramp.   Tripp: [00:12:45] Okay. And so one of the things as far as this particular podcast you know my whole aim is applying neuroscience to organizations kind of how do I build a better system.   Tripp: [00:13:00] In that particular company now ours obviously you know a sales component to it. There's a pitch component to it when you're reaching out to even the masses. These things hold true right.   Oren Klaff: [00:13:13] When you're sending this devout to the masses it's even more true and I'll give you an example if you've ever gone to see a can a comedian right in a club.   Tripp: [00:13:22] Yes.   Oren Klaff: [00:13:24] They don't actually have to be that funny right cause you face to face people are having a couple of drinks you want them to do well you don't want them to fail you know the joke. If you're watching that same comedian on TV they have to be you know three 4 times funnier the jokes have to be amazing the content has to be you know that's why that's why people you know when they do these HBO comedy specials you know they can practice for a year to do that because when you're watching it on TV in an in-person way that the jokes have to be incredibly on point and funny versus being there in a club that you know just everyone's having a good time and and almost anything is funny. The comedians on stage you know these high status with your friends you want to have a good time. So it's the same thing right. When you go into the masses you're not there.   Oren Klaff: [00:14:14] To affect them in a emotional way. One to one or one to a few. And so the structure of the information has to be incredibly well organized and precise and feed these parts and respect neuroscience and feed these parts of the brain in the way that the brain is willing to accept information right. We're not talking about feelings or emotions or or wants and desires.   Oren Klaff: [00:14:40] We're talking about how the brain is actually willing to accept information from you. Another human in what order they need the information and what amount of detail at what speed and what level of emotional color and depth those things have to be pre-programmed. If you want to meet the masses.   Tripp: [00:15:00] Okay. And I know you do a lot of public speaking and keynotes and things of that sort. Is there are there adjustments that you're making as you're doing a keynote versus doing a a pitch for capital. Or is it still pretty much the same blueprint. How do you approach that.   Oren Klaff: [00:15:20] Yeah my sense of it is that. It. If you're making midstream adjustments something is going wrong right. Because what you're doing is you're tuning yourself to the emotional needs of the audience at that moment. OK then they're not.   Oren Klaff: [00:15:43] Now you're on this slippery slope or going down to the circling the drain because their emotional needs will change. You know in a few minutes from now. Now you need to feed those emotional needs to keep them happy. The emotional needs of the audience aren't the same as their information needs so in my experience it is incredibly important not to have every word written but you've got to have the structure of a your narrative laid out. I mean think about a movie right halfway through the movie. They know all the actors tired well let's give them some easier lines and you know fuck it let's just having fall in love now instead of 20 minutes from now because the actors are tired right. So. So in no way do and those scripts go through infinite rewrites until the story is right and then you deliver the story. And yes do the actors have some variant variants you know during the turn the screenplay.   Oren Klaff: [00:16:39] I give a perfect example. Good friend of mine wrote a movie called Collateral Damage starring starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and this guy is a brilliant writer. You know he was a partner at Goldman Sachs and a very good friend of mine an excellent writer. You just just Mensa genius level guy.   Oren Klaff: [00:16:55] Love him David and I said you know the collateral damage not the greatest movie the plot. No no no no. The script is amazing. Right. Best script ever. The problem is Arnold Schwarzenegger goes I would not say my lines in this way. You know when he changes the lines change the lines and changing the narrative really affects the grand scheme so whenever we see somebody changing on the fly there tend to be feeding reacting to the emotional needs of the audience in that moment. And that usually leads to circling the drain.   Tripp: [00:17:35] Okay. And so you know it's interesting it's some of the people that I have lined up to talk to are on what you call the the narrative arc I believe is the words that you use. I just interviewed a gentleman by the name of Dr. Paul Zak and I know if no Paul at all but he does the dramatic arc and he wrote a book a book called The Trust Factor and where you do neuro finance. Zach does neuro economics which is basically measuring brain activity while people make decisions and one of the things that they found apparently is this in this whole narrative component that you guys talk about is that only are two areas of the brain are activated when you're talking about facts and figures and details and things of that sort and seven parts of the brain are activated when you're doing a narrative of some sort. And so how are you using that in your pitch in your whether it's a pitch to you know again for capital or whether you're pitching to a group of of you know employees in a company about the direction that the organization is going to go.   Oren Klaff: [00:18:50] Yeah. So I wrote about this a lot in my new book and I think you know I certainly had that same layer of thinking but I simplified it in this. That there are these pre wired pathways through the brain that are just acceptable narratives that people you know. Then there's you know seven or eight of them that that you know when they're getting that narrative all the parts of the brain are paying attention and somebody is riveted. Right. So man against man right you wants to snap somebodies attention you go. John and Mark are outside fighting over Susan. Boom. Everybody in the office drops what they're doing. Run to the fire exit to watch this parking lot incident you want to get so much attention you say two people are fighting. That is a pre wired part of the brain that has to pay attention to conflict. Right. And so we pay. We have to pay attention to movement right. Every single book on script writing or story writing or ply writing should drop people into rapidly unfolding action. Do not start. It was a dark and stormy night.   Oren Klaff: [00:20:08] Ok. You have a job even or under so. So man against nature man against himself man against man. Right. Ah ah are these ancient narratives that are pre-programmed the mind that you know people accept and follow and will pay attention to. So. So my my sense is in order to fully engage the brain it is not to find what engages the neocortex what engages the amygdala what engages the you know the mid brain what gauges the left temporal lobe. Trying in some complicated format. Get all of those fired up. Instead I say what. Pathways. Are available in the mind of this buyer that I can just feed into. What are they looking for. In what order and in what amount of detail. And then I just follow those pathways instead of trying to do something new and creative.   Tripp: [00:21:15] And I've heard you talk about this on numerous occasions as well as in your book. As far as conflict and things moving away and things moving. Are you manufacturing conflict. And if so. I know you also kind of go into this trust factor where you can't get to trust especially when you're doing a pitch real real quickly. Obviously if you're dealing with some employees that are out there a large group of employees you might have more time because they're employees but but as far as the conflict and getting to the autonomy associated with that can you can you kind of help me with the and help the audience too with the how you deal with bringing up conflict. How how are you gonna get that. You know Sally and Joe are out fighting in the parking lot type of type of situation.   Oren Klaff: [00:22:12] So. So a couple of things I think I'm less concerned about trust right. Because trust takes time to build and trust comes at the trust is not something you build upfront. It comes towards the end. Once you've done everything else correctly. Right. So I think it's a really high bar to try and build trust right. I think what is easier to accomplish is to build expertise and to build status and to provide information in the way that somebody can is interested. Continues to be intrigued and provides insight to move them past the information age when you can help somebody understand their business better than they currently know it. You've provided them insight when you establish your self as an expert.   Oren Klaff: [00:23:11] Then you've provided them the confidence to spend time with you. And believe in you when you've provided them that the enough sense that you're not going to beg for their business you're not going to chase them. Right. That you have got the status as a peer. Then all those things lead to trust. Right. So again I just want to put trust in its proper place and it is very hard to say as a marker hey we're going to try and develop trust. Trust comes automatically if you do everything else.   Tripp: [00:23:45] Okay. So. So. So what you're saying is there's kind of an on ramp to trust if you will. There are certain things that you need to have in place in order to build that. And certainly cycles of time that you talked about one of your friends in an interview recently you know that the trust has been developed over a longer period of time when you're trying to say if you're a new CEO walking into an organization you aren't going to have trust at the very beginning. But doing these other things you know the fact he has status he's been named the CEO of the company. You should be an expert in something you know before he even became CEO. But developing that intrigue and insight then would kind of be the the on ramp to getting to that trust component. Do I have that right?   Oren Klaff: [00:24:37] Yeah. So I think all those things are a proxy for trust or a replacement for trust. So what happened is somebody come to you and says hey listen trust me right. This is the best solution. This is the best water heater for your house that there is right there. That is sort of pressing to "do not trust me" Button. Right. When you ask for trust or go after it initially it has the exact opposite effect.   Oren Klaff: [00:25:04] Right. So what can we replace trust with that has the same impact expertise status insight. Social proof. The the just quality of presentation. Right. What I try and you may have heard me say Well but what would I try and develop very early on instead of trust with somebody you go Oh crap. This is awesome I'm in the hands of an expert. This guy knows how to pitch I can relax. This is not stressful. I don't got to be on alert that you know this information is true I don't have to you know think about every statement this guy seems to know what he's doing. I'm going to relax. Listen to this pitch 15 20 minutes whatever it is I'm in the hands of a professional. For me I try to achieve that feeling in a buyer rather than hey you should trust me.   Tripp: [00:25:59] OK.   Oren Klaff: [00:26:00] And we can circle back around the conflict right. The job of conflict is really to manage attention. Right. People pay attention to human conflict. So. So there's no movies about rocks interacting with each other. Right. Nobody. But there's lots of movies with rocks in them. But they have to you know whatever the word is anthropomorphize them. Right. If I maybe put too few or too many syllables in the word.   Oren Klaff: [00:26:32] But you know they have to make inanimate objects animate in order to get kids or anybody to pay attention to it. OK. SpongeBob Square Pants or whatever. Right. So so everything has got to be put in human terms and we're only interested in humans. Interacting with each other in a way to solve a problem and that generally means conflict. Right. And so if you want to raise attention raise awareness raise the stakes. It always has got to lead with conflict. And then you can move on to. And so how would you do that right. I mean if you get on a conference call with me about a deal you know and be the CEO of 3M of Xerox of you know I don't care what it is you know I'll get on the call. And typically you know this always happened if the CEO of a large company they'll come three or four minutes late and I go Hey John you here for the 3 0 3 meeting you know writes Funny and boring we laughed at it I just doing it for so long and I'm sorry. So I got the CEO of a Fortune 500 company apologizing to me because I'm in conflict with him but in a fun. So. So it's not that you can't challenge him or accuse him or you're all that there's lots of wrong ways to do conflict right.   Oren Klaff: [00:27:48] But if it's if it's social and socially aware and fun but it makes the point you know makes the point you know sometimes they'll bring six or seven people to the call and we'll have two you know which is always a bad sign socially anyway and we'll say OK you know here we are and you know tribal council. Right and there's trouble of us here and only nine of us will advance the next phase or a boost in the three people to kick off this island call here in the next few minutes. And you know that's it's fun. But you know it's also true is like hey you brought too many people to the call and you know you're making them aware of it. So you've got to find your own forms of this. But if you want people to pay attention there's got to be some sense of conflict if you you know if you're uncomfortable with that it's just like when I go to speak in Texas. Yes conflicts. Right. Like you mean bring a gun great Crudup Hey man I'll bring it in. Go to that meeting right. And so. So that's what they think of.   Oren Klaff: [00:28:53] You know conflict in Texas when I go to Silicon Valley they're really uncomfortable with in Palo Alto. You know invariably some women will stand up and say you know this is and this feels very male centric. No you're just you're hearing my voice. Right. But but you know women can and should do this as well. And so I wouldn't feel comfortable but so. So a word you can replace conflict with IS stakes. Mm hmm. Is the stakes. That's good. It's an other way to do and say hey glad we could get together today. On this call notes introductory call. All right but there's something going to be decided and as much as you're evaluating us. I'm evaluating you.   Tripp: [00:29:41] And we're going to figure out A if our product and services are right for you. But we're also going to figure out on this call if I'd the interest in working for you and if you're right for us because we only work with the best.   Tripp: [00:29:55] Right now you're talking. You're lucky you've hit on several things associate with this one is your talking. And we haven't talked about it as the frame that you're coming in to a situation with or it's coming to you and then you kind of hit each of the pieces but just kind of bring it together and then I'd like to go back to frame is the narrative arc that you talk about. So you said the the thing that you talk about all the time is the big idea. You know a problem that something that's difficult to solve and then what our solution is. And so you've touch upon some components of the big idea. Can you kind of rather than me just kind of hitting around what the big idea is can you tell me how that fits into the broader narrative.   Oren Klaff: [00:30:44] When you start working with someone talking to someone get on a Skype meeting phone call you know sending out an email there minding their own business.   Oren Klaff: [00:30:54] Oh my god is my wife going to see this email from this woman I met at the conference. It's not really like that but if she's attractive and all the kids are graduating from grade school and you know we can send her private high school and you know I really want the promotion. I love the team I'm working with. And should we go on vacation here locally and grandma is sick but the kids got here before she dies. My diet is not going well. I can't believe I didn't get to the gym the last two days. I promised my trainer and is on and on and on. Right. And then you're like hey our SAS software can deliver three times more throughput you know on your Amazon S three server side compared to your current on prem systems and we do it at a you know per whatever. And those thoughts dreams are just incompatible.   Oren Klaff: [00:31:45] And so for me the big idea. Is about getting someone's internal dialogue. Whatever happened their last meeting wherever they were. It was going on for them over the last 50 minutes last hour the last day getting that thought string. Tamped down and tempered and getting your ideas stream introduced and sort of switching the amount of attention they're paying to their own thoughts from you know being internally and so focused to being focused on you. And for me there might be other ways to do it. So I know for example like you know the state police use a taser that gets people real focused away from what they were doing under what they want to you to focus on. And so other professions you do things in a different way. But for me I don't can't use Tasers in the conference rooms that I go to. So I used a big idea.   Tripp: [00:32:39] And that's your way of getting them to now.   Oren Klaff: [00:32:42] And yeah. And so the big idea. Right. And most people get this wrong. They hear me talk about the big idea and they think oh the big idea is our software can make you money. That's not a fucking idea. Right.   Oren Klaff: [00:32:53] That is about you. The big idea has nothing to do with you it's about them. And the greater world around all of you. Right. The big idea is all software has now moved to the cloud and is being rented. OK. And so if in fact you want to have a customer for software in today's world. Right. You need to you rent them the software everything's in the cloud. That's an idea right. We have software that's in the cloud that can make you money is a value proposition. There's a solution that come to way down the line. So ideas truly are ideas right. And so you know and typically as you know there to me there are a lot of things that are changing right.   Oren Klaff: [00:33:44] So fundamentally the the you know obviously politics we don't want to get into here because I just say the word politics and a divisive political discussion in the country and you know red versus blue and you know support of a Republican Party and sort of non Republican way. Yeah I was going to light up.   Tripp: [00:34:05] Right.   Oren Klaff: [00:34:06] Right. And pay attention because that is changing and those are those are important issues but you know what else is changing. I mean if you think about Samsung you know if you saw the release of this folding tablet thing right.   Tripp: [00:34:18] Oh yes.   Oren Klaff: [00:34:18] I mean I had you know in my company we might have 700 Apple devices. You know I mean maybe maybe 15 hundred I don't know. You know I've I've owned 60 iPhones and 20. You know i pads and 15 iMacs and you know just myself and I see that device and I'm like Oh man I'm I get a Samsung Android whatever that stuff is right so.   Oren Klaff: [00:34:41] So even you know technology is constantly changing the relationship with North Korea is confusing, the terrorists, with China. I mean everything's changing. You know all the time and so big ideas are around change.   Tripp: [00:34:55] You know it's interesting you know one of the things that that I really struggled with that that you helped me through coming up with with the big idea for for my consulting practice was you know I'm a long time follower of of a man by the name of W. Edwards Deming who you know went over to Japan and helped turn them around and do all that type of thing. But you know.   Oren Klaff: [00:35:18] Sure.   Tripp: [00:35:19] He died in the early 90s. But I mean and and I think the difficulty associated with his teachings it's more of a philosophy as opposed to a method per se. And one of the difficulties I have and I think it's important to kind of bring this out because I think people are gonna have a hard time going oh but I'm not in the investment banking business or not in this. But but what you do extrapolates a method for helping people even if they know you're talking about Samsung and all the new and exciting things associated with that. But I might be in an h vac business. You know what I mean. And and I. How do I you know get a big idea or make shots here or you know right.   Oren Klaff: [00:36:07] Yeah.   Tripp: [00:36:08] And I think it's an important thing right. Yeah.   Oren Klaff: [00:36:10] You have to take you know or even worse you're in the furniture business.   Tripp: [00:36:16] Yes. Yeah I.   Oren Klaff: [00:36:19] So if you're in the furniture business. You're fucked. That's we can't know.   Tripp: [00:36:26] If you're a furniture business skip this. No. Yeah.   Oren Klaff: [00:36:29] Okay listen on the phone for business. You know what I would tie that to without knowing too much about it is logistics right. Something about logistics. There's 18000 too few truck drivers in the United States right. And so what's hot and what's driving that. It's Amazon and these package delivery you order a toothbrush you know some dental floss and some throat lozenges. It comes in a box. You know the size of a small desk right. And so all these empty boxes moving everywhere back and forth to deliver a toothbrush is causing a huge Oh you know over demand on logistics. And so if you're in furniture logistics are are becoming a huge problem and you know a big cost of the you know of your final delivery product. And so that industry is changing a lot and it's tied directly to Amazon which everybody can relate to. So again I might say hey so you know if I'm a furniture company and I'm looking for example for an investor right or a partner I would say hey look today if you think about furniture the business has basically been the same for two hundred years you make the furniture you know you put it in a box you take a picture of it you put in a catalog it's shipped to the store.   Oren Klaff: [00:37:53] People browse the store. They they pick a model and they go to the warehouse and they deliver one to your house. Couple days later is basically how furniture has worked today. It's quite different because because of the difficulty with logistics there's there's 18000 truck drivers that need to be hired that aren't currently available and you cannot get the inventory to where the purchases are happening so the salespeople. Have to tell the buyer the furniture you're not going to get your delivery for three to six weeks. People want to finish that home tomorrow. So the salespeople. Are the key to revenue today in the furniture business. It never was that way that you had to hire you know for 50 60 70 thousand dollars base and get real salespeople used to be able to pay commission because the furniture sold itself. So I don't know. Right. A big idea in of your business. I know nothing about.   Tripp: [00:38:53] Yeah. No. And I think that's good I just want to point out especially to the audience that you know one of the things I found I find fascinating well know it took me six months to build up the courage to to to actually talk to you about my pitch.   Tripp: [00:39:07] But but as I listened to you talk to people in different businesses I mean everything from pharma of pharmaceuticals to health care to you know furniture you know that you have this mindset that that is associated with being able to come up with a big idea in whatever situation it is by kind of looking more broadly at the industry and what's going on or or trends of things that are happening within an industry. And I saw you more than once. Certainly probably 20 times where you pulled somebody out that hadn't thought in that particular you know with that particular mindset it's one of it's one of your redeeming qualities that you have associated with what you do is is there any hints that you might be able to give folks as how did they get that mindset.   Oren Klaff: [00:40:00] So for me then the number one thing to drive the mindset for all this stuff is you know you and you know I talked about it before it is. Internal understanding of our own value. Write that in the relationship. With a potential buyer investor partner whatever it is we don't have the product and the service or the company or the investment that's valuable. It's the relationship with us right. I know things about how to buy this product how to invest in this kind of company that will help you avoid losing your money or making them or making the wrong choice. I can help you if you go somewhere else. You're not going to get me you're gonna get some other very likely less connected less experienced less caring individual. So if your priority is to get a low price. Or some other value for yourself and you're willing to work with somebody who has less experience less value less caring than I do. You should go do that because I'm a unique person. I have experience and I'm only going to share that with people I'm connected with. So that has got to be your an internal set point until you feel that believe that and let somebody actually walk away that you could have sold. Otherwise because of that issue it'll be difficult to adopt the other mindsets that help you sell and clothes. So. So that's your entree point into this world is understanding your own importance to the deal not just the product or the service.   Tripp: [00:42:05] Ok. All right. I have two more questions. The first one is one of the things that when when I when I joined Pitch Mastery you had in there a bunch of articles under what you called Psychology in it. And this is one of the things that set me down the path of doing this podcast is there is something in there it was an acronym. It was called SCARF which is stands for Stand our status certainty autonomy relatedness fairness and it just because I respect your opinion so much. Well it's a good ticket a little bit out of your realm here but I know you have this kind of perspective that I am very curious about and that is when you look at organizations and the way that organizations are run today and you've heard all the numbers about you know to two thirds of people are not engaged in their work. Those types of things. What do you see as what needs to what needs to be happening within organizations in order to get people engaged and how you know from all the things you've learned about neuroscience all the things you learned about pitching you know those types of things. What would be your perspective on that. I know again I'm thinking a little bit out of your your comfort zone here but you are so you know you have a broad thinker.   Oren Klaff: [00:43:28] Yeah yeah. So when you say engage. Yeah just chased that down. Sure. And unpack that a bit.   Tripp: [00:43:36] Yeah. So peep peep. There was a Gallup survey in essence that was done publicly about five years ago. Now we're something like two thirds of all people are not engaged in their work.   Tripp: [00:43:51] They're checked out basically. Yeah. You know they're they're just you know I've got I need a pay check and you know I have obligations I'm there but I'm not innovating. I'm not excited about coming to work every day. Well what would be what's your perspective on all the stuff that you've learned about neuroscience everything you've learned about pitching. How do we move these people way. How do we in essence my business is designing organizations that are basically brain friendly if you will where people look forward to coming to work every day. What needs to change in these corporate cultures from your perspective that they need to be doing in order to do it. I think you've hit upon some of this. Bye bye by just talking about what you know coming up with an a narrative that in essence engages people you know making more money for the guys at the top is not always that exciting. So. Right. So so so what what what what's your view.   Oren Klaff: [00:44:46] I mean my view for an organization is is you know very much the same as yours. It's you know micro goals or Gamify. Right. So it's funny we ran the cabin this last weekend up in Big Bear and they had a Galaga machine right. The videogame Galaga.   Tripp: [00:45:04] Ok.   Oren Klaff: [00:45:06] And. The you know in essence your goal is to get on the leaderboard right so they've got the top 20 people and you only their initials. But that is a huge reward you know to play the game well get the points and get on the leaderboard right. And so for me engagement is about you know my organizations is these goals that are doable that are tangible. And I think a lot of organizations have that. But you know you move up the leaderboard you know for accomplishing something as you know as close to you know as close to the blueprint as possible. So that's my experience in the organizations we run is is you know hard to connect people to our goals which is to grow revenue you know sell the company make 20 million bucks distributed to three guys and buy another plane. You know people don't come into work to help you do that. They come into work to you know write a blog post put it up get the most amount of clicks on it you know log that and move up the leaderboard. So maybe over simplistic but you know I'm not a management you know expert as you are but that's what I feel. It drives our organization forward is these micro goals and the gamification or the moving up the leaderboard. I mean you look if you watch the show.   Oren Klaff: [00:46:31] Darn, the British car show or come to me as soon as we hang up right where they race cars on the track and if the celebrities in the car and then and then the celebrity gets on the leaderboard right to see what their time was and that's very exciting for them. And it's hard to get except you know celebrities excited about much.   Oren Klaff: [00:46:49] And so getting on the leaderboard to me for accomplishing something that is manageable but challenging I think is really drives organizations.   Tripp: [00:46:59] Ok. And then my last question is when I typically ask which is there anything that maybe we talked about that you'd like to provide more clarification on. Or is there any question that you wish I would've asked that that I didn't.   Oren Klaff: [00:47:13] Well yeah I think for me you know the clarification is if you really want to give a great pitch a great presentation captures people's attention have them listen. It's really about raising your status to one as a peer. And then so I think most of understand that. But then I think it's important to go further as being more than appear as an expert. So those to me are the goals raise the standards a peer and they go further. Be seen as an expert. Now somebody will listen to you for an hour.   Tripp: [00:47:50] Mm hmm. Look at that. That's good. So that's kind of you again you're on ramp. The trust that we get that we kind of talked about earlier to.   Oren Klaff: [00:47:59] Yeah absolutely. OK. So. So I think yeah all somebody has to do is do all of these things we've talked about here today and do'em by tomorrow morning and be way way ahead of the game.   Tripp: [00:48:12] Okay. All right. And just just for my audience as I said I. Full disclosure and transparency I am part of Oren's Pitch Mastery of a huge advocate of the program and not only that but as far as the personal time that Oren spends going through pitches and giving suggestions those types of things it's well worth the investment in joining the Pitch Mastery piece and think it's it's you know for what the value you get out of it it's it's of great value.   Oren Klaff: [00:48:48] So thank you Tripp. OK well great connecting with you today. You know again love to meet people over at pitchanything.com we're pretty accessible there and we'll take it from there. I can't wait for this to come out. I want to listen to it again. The I mean these these these topics are. You know as you know part of my experience but also we've research them heavily and even more so we've deployed them in thousands and thousands of business and those businesses come back and said that works. Right. And so that's why I'm talking about them here. because they really work.   Tripp: [00:49:19] Absolutely. All right. Thank you Oren.   Oren Klaff: [00:49:21] Thanks Tripp. I'll talk to you soon.   Tripp: [00:49:27] Thank you for being a listener. of the Mind Your Noodles podcast if you'd like to learn more or sign up for our newsletter or upcoming podcasts go to MindYourNoodles.com    

Subscribe To Bulldog Mindset YouTube Channel: https://bulldogmindset.com/bulldog-yt-podcast Are You A Bulldog? TAKE THE QUIZ: https://bulldogmindset.com/bulldog-quiz-podcast   Hello Bulldogs! John Sonmez from Bulldog Mindset Here, where I teach you how to go from the Victim Mindset to the Bulldog Mindset. TodayIi'll be responding to a question from one of my active subscribers Grant C., about Masculinity, achieve things and motivations in life. Grants asks: Hey John. I have E-mailed you a few times now. I'm Grant, an avid follower of yours who really enjoys hearing what you have to say... I am serious, I literally tell myself in the back of my mind on a daily basis, what would John do in this situation, trying to associate your prospective thoughts together. Although I don't agree with you on everything. you are someone who I aspire to be, being a different version though, not EXACTLY like you of course. John, A am having a deep sense of trouble in questioning who I am as a person. No victim mindset here, but I feel like most of my peers in college are just not at the wisdom, or even WANT to develop some sort of Bulldog Mindset... I am not saying everyone has to be a self-dev guru, but my motivations and aspirations in life are beyond the college years. I want to develop my social skills, become a better man (just bought The Rational Male), and understand what being a real man is like... so I am not saying the party scene is completely out and I think it's bad to be in the party scene... I just aspire to really maximize my blessings, my gifts, and all the things I have been given in this world to a maximum. Is my thinking wrong here man? You talk about this a lot, not living by other standards. Hell I created a damn video on that about women and related cybersecurity (you've seen the video). My own mother and father, who are mostly supportive, have told me that college is the only way and that I should simply have fun as I am in college, and stop focusing on my career so much, "joing the Greek System Grant!" Again, I focus on my career and build social skills at the same time. I can't do it though man. It's in my nature to be and continue to be someone who goes for it... I feel like it's my responsibility to finish college as they are funding it too. My heart is not in college, I have found and identified gap in this industry, cybersecurity. The degree is a waste of mu time. I don't just say this either, I wake up at 5:30 AM and bust my ass to ensure I am an action taker and not one of "those" who is coming up with BS. I know, however, sometimes you just got to do both until you have the results to back you up, until then, you have to be in college? For girls, this definitly sounds like the scarcity mindset, but i am more mature than them (and I am in no means superior at all), just a little bit further along in my maturity: I am thinking about myself as a man and not a boy who goes to parties and smokes Weed. I don't watch porn and I am not in the hookup scene, I am in need to be patient with that. Parts of me, want to buy a one-way ticket with a backpack, laptop, two or three pairs of clothes, and really, truly understand who I am as a person... I know this totally sounds like self-doubt: Should I just stop doing att of this, stop listening to you, stop with the YouTube, stop with the website, and get my college degree, and just be that "normal" guy ... Long E-mail: I know ... If you ever get the chance to read this. thank you .... I have attached my 2019 goals if you were curious...

I was chatting with a potential client about my One-On-One Coaching Program and while were talking he asked me, "Hey John, how would you handle this, I had a REALLY crappy day yesterday. How can you help be bounce back from it?" And as much as we would sometimes like to crawl under the blankets and just sleep all day... we have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with being awesome. Here's some suggestions on how you can get over a crap day. In Today's Episode: - How to bounce back from a really bad day - Ways to insulate yourself from more bad days - How to prepare yourself when things go wrong - How to deal with people who get under your skin --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/johncdonahue/support

Show Summary (Full Text Transcript Below)   John Kay reveals his journey from escaping the Iron Curtain, getting on with limited vision, his passion for music and his love and commitment for wildlife and especially elephants. Ironically, I first learned about John Kay being legally blind from Dan Gausman, a librarian at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. A client requested to have the Communications Center record an audio copy of John Kay’s 1994 autobiography, Magic Carpet Ride. This is a service provided to people who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have difficulty in reading the printed word. Dan mentioned that John was legally blind. This I did not know.   John Kay explains his vision and how it led him from behind the Iron Curtain to the freedoms of West Berlin, his adventures as a youth and his days at Sight Saving school in Toronto. Canada. Most importantly, John talks about feeding the fire, feeding his passion for music and for the protection of wildlife. John Kay is transforming from Rock Star to Wildlife Advocate as his touring days with John Kay and Steppenwolf come to a well-deserved rest after 50 years since the release of the first Steppenwolf album. John is ready to make this transition as he has been devoting his time and proceeds from his touring over the last 10 years towards John and his wife Jutta’s Maue Kay Foundation, and NGOs, Non-Governmental Organization, similar to a Non-profit organization, that focus on the protection of wildlife. [caption id="attachment_4001" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Image of Elephants provided by MKF[/caption] Join Jeff Thompson and Pete Lane as they sit down with John Kay and learn about John’s continuing soundtrack of his life, his experiences and his focus on the years to come.   This podcast is over 80 minutes long and we suggest kicking back and enjoy this epic interview with one of the great social and political voices with us today. My son asked me while he drove us home from the John Kay and Steppenwolf concert September 29 in Prior Lake, MN, why don’t today’s bands make statements about causes anymore? I thought to myself and wondered… is John Kay one of the last? [caption id="attachment_4002" align="aligncenter" width="200"]Maue Kay Foundation Logo[/caption] Here are some links that will let you know more about his music and his foundation.   I suggest starting here, Steppenwolf.comwhere you can dive in and find out about everything Steppenwolf, purchase their swag, read articles and more about John Kay.   Be sure to get their latest release, a 3 CD set titled, John Kay and Steppenwolf-Steppenwolf at 50. Included in this 3-disk set is an entire CD of John Kay and Steppenwolf live. You will learn and enjoy this collection of hits, and somewhat over-looked songs from 1967 to 2017. That is where you will find all the music used in this podcast, John Kay and Steppenwolf-Steppenwolf at 50.   Follow John Kay and Steppenwolf on Facebookand on Last.FM   Be sure to check out John Kay’s web site. Where you can find links to articles, interviews, his solo music, the elephant sanctuary and the Maue Kay Foundationand learn about the passion and selflessness that John and Jutta and others are doing to protect wildlife around the world.   And an Elephant size Thank You to John Kay for taking time to conduct this interview and to Charlie Wolf for all that you do and whom I met at the concert in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Glad I could support the band and I love the T-Shirts. By the way, the concert was Great!   Thanks for Listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store   Full Transcript John Kay: From Rock Star to Elephants, We Were All Born To Be Wild #Steppenwolf to #MaueKayFoundation John Kay: To become aware of how special they are. I'm a big elephant lover you might say.   Jeff Thompson: Blind Abilities welcomes John Kay, wildlife activist.   John Kay: My vision got me probably out of Communist East Germany and my vision very definitely kept me out of Vietnam.   Jeff Thompson: Who happens to be a rockstar.   John Kay: They were all telling her, "You got a legally blind, penniless musician, and that's your future? I think you can do better than that."   Jeff Thompson: John talks about his limited vision, his band, Steppenwolf, one's inner voice, and following your passion.   John Kay: There's an old snide remark, what do you call a musician without a girlfriend? You call them homeless.   Jeff Thompson: I would like to thank Dan Guzman of the Communication Center at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota, as Dan informed me that a client had requested the autobiography of John Kay to be converted into audio format. Dan also informed me that John Kay was legally blind, and this started the process that led me to the interview of John Kay.   John Kay: Hey, we all got stuff to deal with, kid, just get on with it. You learn how to figure out workaround solutions for what you're dealing with.   Jeff Thompson: Hello, John Kay. I'm Jeff Thompson, and with me is Pete Lane.   Pete Lane: Good morning, John. It's an honor. I'm Pete Lane. I'm in Jacksonville, Florida. Jeff is in ...   Jeff Thompson: Minnesota, Pete.   Pete Lane: Yeah, Minnesota.   John Kay: I'm in Santa Barbara.   Jeff Thompson: What's the tie to Tennessee then?   John Kay: I lived there for 17 years. In '89 my wife and I were a little tired of Los Angeles beehive activity. We said, "If not here, then where?" To spare the other boring details, we wound up just south of Nashville, Tennessee. In our travels with Steppenwolf we had played there several times. We'd met a lot of friendly people. It's a beautiful area. Lots of music, obviously. We were out in the country, and lots of privacy, and had a recording studio and our tour bus. We just relocated what we called Wolf World out there. For the following 17 years that was home. It was a good period during our life to be a little bit away from large cities.   Jeff Thompson: Great.   Pete Lane: Do you have an elephant reserve, do you not, still in Tennessee?   John Kay: I don't, but Tennessee certainly does. While we lived in Tennessee, we became aware of the elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, which was about, I don't know, maybe 40 minutes drive from where we lived, which was near a little town called Franklin, Tennessee.   John Kay: Anyway, one thing led to another. Eventually my wife got involved with the board of directors of the sanctuary, and then they're after our daughter, who's all about animals, so from childhood wound up becoming a caregiver to three large African elephants. She was there for several years. It was like the Peace Corps slogan, the toughest job you'll ever love. She did love it, but she's rather slender in build and developed arthritis. The doctors told her she should quit, which she had to do very reluctantly.   John Kay: However, the sanctuary of course continues doing very well. It's a wonderful place for often abused, neglected, sick, old circus and zoo elephants to finally live amongst their own kind without any human intrusion. They have 2,700 acres of rolling hills and woods and waterholes for them to swim in. Once you get to know elephants, because our foundation is involved with African elephants-focused NGOs in Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania, and the like, once you get to spend a real amount of time with them out in the wild, in those places where they aren't traumatized by poaching, you become aware of how special they are. I'm a big elephant lover you might say.   Pete Lane: I was reading on your website where you posted the awareness of the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee and how they live a lifestyle that they never get to live when they're held in captivity.   John Kay: Exactly. It used to be this way, and I don't suppose that has changed, the number one killer of captive elephants was foot rot, because unlike in the wild, where they walk up to 50 miles on relatively soft, sandy soil, in captivity they are often forced to stand on a solid concrete floor, and that's not good for them, so eventually they ... One of the rescues, Tina, which came from the Vancouver Zoo, when she arrived, they had to ... I was gonna say, one of the sandal makers, I can't think of the name of the brand right now, they actually made a pair of very soft boots for her because she was suffering so badly. Unfortunately, she died a couple of days before those boots arrived. I saw the bottom of her feet, which were just terrible situation.   John Kay: They don't belong in captivity unless you can have a relatively good number of elephants together in a large area where they can at least simulate the kind of life they would have in the wild.   Pete Lane: 2,700 acres is a large area. Do you know how many animals are on the preserve?   John Kay: I think at the moment they have somewhere in the neighborhood of close to a dozen Asian elephants. They fenced off a section of the 2,700 acres for the African elephants, which are much larger, and thank goodness in relatively good health. They're larger and younger and very active, so they keep them away from the Asians, that are older and more docile. I believe right now they have about four Africans, because the Nashville Zoo I think has two of them that are there at the sanctuary now. I don't know whether they will stay there long-term, but that's what's going on there right now.   John Kay: It's quite an amazing place, and so much has been learned about how to look after these creatures, and from the standpoint of veterinarian care. The research, both in the wild and in places like the sanctuary, on elephants continues, because there's still much to be learned, even though people like Joyce Poole has been studying their communication skills and language and rumbles and all of that for over 40 years. They're still working on figuring out what goes on that's beyond the grasp of science right now.   Jeff Thompson: We'll be sure to put a link in the show notes for that. John, your story is quite interesting. I'm doing some research, and I just came across Feed the Fire. I was wondering, hearing about that elephant sanctuary, your foundation, it seems like you stuck to your passions.   John Kay: Yeah. That's quite observant and quite spot-on, because long ago as a child, the first time I became aware of something that is I suppose related to passion or rooted in passion is when I discovered the power of music. That oddly enough was ...   John Kay: My father had been killed in Russia a month before I was born. When the Russian Army advanced on the area where my mother and I lived, I was just a few months old, she took me, and we got on a train headed west, and wound up eventually in a little town that wound up behind the Iron Curtain, and hence we were living under Communism until I was five. When we escaped, my mother and I, by paying off some people and getting through the border, which was patrolled with soldiers and all of that, anyway, we made it.   John Kay: The point is that I was about eight or nine years old, living in West Germany, under democracy and freedom, and my mother took me to hear, of all things, an all-male, a Russian choir, the Don Cossacks. This was in a church with great acoustics. It was just a concert. Some of these ancient, incredibly sad songs that these 15 guys with these amazing voices were singing reduced me to tears, even though I didn't understand a word of Russian. I still don't. In fact, my mother was somewhat concerned. It introduced me to the power of music when it connects with your internal core.   John Kay: Oddly enough, less than maybe four years later, I had a similar but very opposite experience when I first heard on American Armed Force Radio Network the likes of Little Richard and Elvis and all the rest of the rock-and-roll pioneers. I just had goosebumps, chicken skin from head to toe. Once again, I didn't understand a word of what they were singing, but the music was so primal, so intense, so full of just joy of living I'd say. That was just something that I had to have more of.   John Kay: I became obsessed with trying to find this music wherever I could, and of course at a certain point started to have the delusion that someday I could be on the other side of the ocean and learn how to speak English and get a guitar and do this sort of thing myself. Obviously conventional wisdom and the adults were saying, "Yeah, sure, kid. In the meantime, pay attention in school."   Jeff Thompson: It's quite obvious you didn't lose that glitter in your eye.   John Kay: Yeah. That's I think very important. It's one thing that concerns me with regards to young people that are raised with constant sensory stimulation and having a virtual life through their little screens that they're attached to all the time.   John Kay: I remember once talking to university students, and I asked them, "Be honest. How many of you fear silence?" A number of hands went up, because a lot of them, from the time they're toddlers, whether it's TV or the background music of the supermarket or wherever, whenever there's silence, it astounds them, and it concerns them. I finally said, "I'm here to tell you that unless you learn to find some quiet spots, you may never hear a voice that's in you that is trying to tell you there's more out there. In other words, if you don't hear that voice, you may live a totally external life all your life, instead of finding something that is ... "   John Kay: That is the humbling experience that I've had, running into people who all their lives have not been seeking the spotlight, but have been from early on moved by a passion to work on behalf of something greater than themselves. I'm specifically talking about the various people that in the last 15 years, through our efforts in various parts of the world, we've had the great pleasure and honor even to rub shoulders with. It's a humbling thing to see people who are not about themselves, but on behalf of others. You learn from that sort of thing.   John Kay: There are a lot of young people who have that capability also. I'm often wondering whether they aren't so barraged with constant Twittering and social media and whatever else is going on that they never have a quiet moment. That's not necessarily a good thing in my opinion.   Jeff Thompson: I was talking to Pete earlier, and I was dissecting your song, but you just answered the question for me, that solitude is no sacrifice.   John Kay: That's right. You picked up on that. That song has been used by a number of people who wanted to play something for their daughter or son that were about to leave home and go to university or go far afield to do something on distant shores. That's basically it. "Solitude's no sacrifice, to catch a glimpse of paradise."   Jeff Thompson: That's an awesome song. I really like that song. Pete, you've got some questions I'm sure. I've been jumping in here.       Pete Lane: John, I'm just honored to be speaking with you. I'm in my late 60s and of course grew up with you and your music and of course Steppenwolf. Until recently I had no idea of how enduring you have been and how diverse you are in your view of the world and society. I just want to compliment you on that for starters.   John Kay: Thank you. That's very kind of you and generous. I would hope and think that I will continue to be still in a lifelong learning process of clumsily following the footsteps left by others that have preceded me with their examples of how to nurture their humanity and how to have a purpose in life beyond just mindless consumption and amusing themselves, as the book once said, amusing ourselves to death. It's something that keeps the inner flame burning, and been very, very fortunate in many different ways, currently still healthy, thank goodness. Any day when you remain vertical is a good day.   Pete Lane: Absolutely.   John Kay: There are so many out there who lead with their example. I have met some of them who have been inspirational. Every so often, some young people come along, say, "Hey, I came across your music, and it has given me some stuff to listen to when I have to get over one of the speed bumps of life, and thank you for that." It's a generational thing. I'm still focused on the ones ahead of me. There are younger ones that have found something in what we have to offer of a value that went beyond just musical wallpaper, but with no real substance that you can use for your own.   John Kay: There's so many out there who have written songs and played music practically all their lives, which has given sustenance to the rest of us, or the listeners, and have had personal little anthems that we go to when we need to have a moment of rejuvenation through music.   John Kay: I sometimes talk to people who say, "You're talking about all these other people doing great work, making music that gives great pleasure and joy to people. It's not a bad way to make a living either." While I agree with that, music will continue to be something that I do on occasion, meaning once in a while I have a desire to write a song or two, irrespective of whether they will ever be recorded and commercially released. I've performed at fundraisers and things like that. Music continues very definitely to be part of my life.   John Kay: By the same token, I am very much now focused on bringing the word to a lot of people, who once they know what we are losing, meaning wildlife, we've had this number of times, we're talking to people who are well-educated, quite engaged, very successful in what they do, and when we talked about that an elephant was being killed every 15 minutes for their tusks and that we, at this rate, 15 years from now, may no longer have any living in the wild, and the same holds for the rhinos and numerous other species, they're aghast. They're, "I didn't know that. This is terrible. Who's doing anything about it?" Then further to that, "Who can I trust with my money if I want to help?"   John Kay: That's really what our little foundation is about. We have been supporting various entities. I think at this point we're at 16 different NGOs we support annually for about 15 years. We're the ones who are a little bridge between the boots on the ground who are fighting to preserve what remains, and those who are willing to help provide it, there's some assurance that their money will go to the boots on the ground. We're the ones who can vouch for a number of wonderful people at NGOs. Because we have born witness to the work they do, we're going to back to Africa next year to look in on several of the NGOs again. That's my role of both my wife and I.   John Kay: In fact, this year's the last year that Steppenwolf will be performing. We have six more engagements to play, the last one October 14, and after that the wolf will go into hibernation, if you want to put it that way. My emphasis is now on ... I assume both of you are familiar with TED Talks.   Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).   Pete Lane: Yes.   John Kay: With that in mind, although the following is not a TED Talk per se, because those talks are limited to 18 minutes in length, mine is more like an hour and 15 minutes, but what it is, it's similar to a TED Talk, in the sense that I'm up on stage giving my story, while behind me on a screen there are many, many still images and short video clips and so on. The whole thing is called Born To Be Wild: From Rock Star To Wildlife Advocate, John Kay of Steppenwolf and His Journey of Transformation.   John Kay: It basically starts with my early life and how I got out from behind the Iron Curtain and was enthralled with American rock-and-roll when I grew up as a teenager in West Germany and made it to Canada as an immigrant, got my first guitar, and then got into music more and more, and of course the story of Steppenwolf, and then how gradually over time we, my wife and I, through our travels, went to Cambodia, where we saw the killing fields, and we got involved with building a school there, which was the start of our foundation, and then Africa and so on down the line.   John Kay: Basically at the end of this presentation, towards the end, after having shown what we do, where, and who is doing what in Africa and Asia and Borneo and so on, it's basically a pitch of saying, "Now that you know, if you didn't know already, you can use our website as a gateway to other NGOs or you can support what we do directly, but do it for your grandchildren's sake or do it to honor the 2,000, almost, African rangers that have been killed by poachers in the last 12 years, or do it simply because our fellow living beings have very little left to call their home, and they too have a right to exist."   Pete Lane: Unbelievable.   Jeff Thompson: That's awesome. I love the way you talk about your passion that you even have today. Pete and I both met because we had a passion for recording. One story that really caught my attention is when you were in Toronto and you received your reel-to-reel, and I don't think you listened to the books as much as you wanted it for recording music.   John Kay: You got that right. It was a scam from the get-go. I said, "I don't need talking books. I can read books, even though I gotta read them with my nose." I said, "I could use it for something else." I was just simply appalled at what came out of that dinky little speaker that was built into that Wollensak tape recorder, because when I tried my hand at recording my first efforts of playing guitar and singing, I said, "I don't sound like that, do I? This is terrible." It was sheer ego that kept me going, said, "One way I can get better if I keep at it." Hope springs eternal. Sometimes you simply have more luck than talent.   Pete Lane: John let's talk a little bit more if you don't mind about your eye condition. Talk about that a little bit. Let's start if you don't mind a little bit in your early years and maybe focus in Toronto when you were moved into is it Deer Park, that Deer Park school?   John Kay: Yeah, that was the sight-saving classes. It's a strange thing, with respect to my eyes. When I was still a baby, lying in one of these carriages that back in those days were typical, I think the English call them prams or whatever, living in this tiny little town in what was then East Germany, I would cry whenever the sun was in my eyes.   John Kay: When I was older, my mother took me to an ophthalmologist, and he said, "He obviously has very, very poor vision and he's very light-sensitive." The only thing he could think of at the time was that, "His condition might improve if he had a better diet," because at that time we were on food rations, and because of where we were, we were eating herring morning, noon, and night, boiled, fried, stewed herring, coming out of the ears. I never touched a fish again after that until I was 40-something years old.   John Kay: This is the important point about this. My mother took that as a, "Maybe the doctor's right." It was that that caused her to take the risky chance of getting caught, imprisoned, or shot by, in the middle of the night, together with about half a dozen other people, getting smuggled by a couple of border guides that worked for the railroad and knew how to time the searchlights from the watchtowers and the dog patrols and everything else.   John Kay: We got through, and then it turned out that, this was in Hanover, Germany, West Germany, and of course this was after the war, there were still schools in short supply, having been destroyed, and so there were classes 50 children large, two shifts, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I was not doing well. It was my mother who was working as a seamstress who managed to get me into the Waldorf school, the private school, which was banned under Hitler because it was far too humanitarian, but which looked after me. There I blossomed, and the eyes didn't play as big a role.   John Kay: It wasn't until I came to Toronto that I was back in public school. I didn't speak English yet and couldn't read what was on the blackboard. The school officials got in touch with the CNIB, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and they said, "We have these sight-saving classes in a, it's just one large schoolroom segmented into two or three different grades, at a public school called Deer Park School, in the northern part of Toronto." That's where I went for about two years.   John Kay: The primary benefit was that, yes, they had textbooks with extra-large print and all that, but I learned English during those years, not just in school, but because of my obsession with listening to the radio all the time, looking for music that connected, I was always having to try and make out what these speed-rapping DJs were saying, because they were yakking a mile a minute. Between radio and the Deer Park School, I got to the point where I got a handle on things. Of course during that period at that school, I was also given this tape recorder on loan. As I mentioned before, I immediately pressed that into service.   Jeff Thompson: That's really impressive, just the journey.   John Kay: One thing I should add, by the way, was that nobody really knew what was the matter with me. I went to a Toronto University I think, the medical department, ophthalmology I think it was. There I was treated like a guinea pig. They brought in all these medical students and take a look in my eyes and everything. They said, "Oh, you're totally colorblind. Let's see here."   John Kay: They had one of those books where every page is made out of these little mosaic little pebbles with different colors." Embedded amongst them, so to speak, would be a combination of these colored tiles that spelled something, a letter or a number or something. At the beginning of the book, the contrast between the primary colors versus whatever the number or the letter was very stark. I said, "Yeah, that, it says six, okay." As we went from page to page, the differences in terms of contrast became more and more subdued to the point where by page whatever, I don't see anything other than just one page of all these little mosaic tiles and pebbles. They would say, "No, actually there is a light yellow whatever something or other."   John Kay: They figured out later down the line that I was an achromat, achromatopsia, that as an additional bonus with that condition comes extreme light sensitivity. Then finally, I also have a congenital nystagmus, which is the eyes shaking all the time. You do the best you can with what you have.   John Kay: Now in '63, and this has a point with respect to my vision, my vision got me probably out of Communist East Germany, and my vision also probably, in fact very definitely, kept me out of the U.S. Army and probably out of Vietnam, because when in '63 at age 19 my mother and stepdad, my mom had remarried, decided to move from Toronto to Buffalo, New York, because my stepdad had something going on business-wise, and I joined them there, the first letter that hit our mailbox was from the draft board. Of course I had to show up.   Jeff Thompson: Welcome to the States.   John Kay: Of course somebody once said that the military intelligence is an oxymoron. I'm not the judge on that, but I will tell you that I had something that made me scratch my head, namely when I was there and I was to have a complete physical, I tried to tell the man that I was legally blind, and of course he said, "We'll get to that, son." After a very, very thorough, top to bottom, in and out physical examination, he said, "Now read those letters on that chart on the wall." I said, "What chart?" He said, "You can't see the chart?" I walked a little closer, said, "I see it now." "What do you see?" "If I can step a few steps closer ... " "Yeah, you can." "Okay. I think there's a large capital A at the top, and the rest is guesswork." He harrumphed about, "You could've said ... Never mind." My designation was 4F. I asked him, "What does that mean really?" He said, "Son, in your case it pretty well stands for women and children first, before you. Nobody's gonna put a rifle in your hands."   John Kay: It was one of those things where during those times, because in short order I went to the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, to hear the greats, and I was amongst tens of thousands of young people my age, of course many of them, at least 50% or more, being young men. The draft in the Vietnam War was very much on everybody's mind. I could relate to their concerns about going off to a foreign land. This case, I would imagine my eye condition did me a service.   Jeff Thompson: That was probably a baptism into the social issues of the United States coming from Toronto for you.   John Kay: That's very true. That is very true. Sometimes you have the aha moment decades after it was already rather obvious. In certain ways, what makes up my musical background in terms of my self-taught things, is to some extent rooted in the early '60s folk music revival, in my visits to not just the 1964 but also the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. '65 of course I saw Dylan go electric. That is that I had already, because of my baptism with rock-and-roll, by the early '60s rock-and-roll had lost a lot of its punch and we had the pretty boy Philadelphia singer syndrome, like Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and the like. There wasn't much on the radio that I could really sink my teeth into. Here comes the folk music revival.   John Kay: While living in Buffalo, a folkie says, "If you really want to know the roots of all this stuff, go down to the main library, they have a music department, which has all of the Library of Congress recording that John and Alan Lomax made in the field. You can listen to Appalachian Delta music. You can hear Delta blues, whatever." I did that. They would let you take a few albums home every week and trade them out for other ones. I went through the entire thing and gave myself a bit of an education.   John Kay: Then when I went to the Newport Folk Festival and saw some of those still alive, those recordings I'd heard, I didn't know that McKinley Morganfield, who was recorded in the Delta by the Lomaxes, was actually Muddy Waters. Here he was with his band playing at Newport, and all of those kind of things.   John Kay: The blues, which as Muddy once said, "The blues had a baby and they called it rock-and-roll," so the blues immediately spoke to me, particularly when I came across some of the lyrics of the chain gang songs and other things. There's a powerful song about ... The lyrics go, "Why don't you go down ole Hannah." Hannah was the name they gave to the sun, "And don't you arise no more, and if you rise in the morning, bring judgment day," because these are guys, they hated her, because the sun came up, they were forced to work in the field, out of the prison, the chain gangs, and they didn't get any rest until the sun went down. I learned that the blues had a lot more to offer than just, "Woke up this morning, my chicken walked across my face," and all the rest of the stuff they'd write.   John Kay: The other thing was great, was that the likes of Dylan and numerous others of the times were following in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie and writing new songs about the here and now that was of interest to our own age group, because this was the time when the three civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi. I remember hearing, let's see, I can't think of his name right now, it'll come to me later, he was just like Dylan, a topical, as we called them, we never called them protest songs, topical songwriter. I remember he sang it, had just written it, about the killing of these three, at a topical song workshop in the afternoon. His name was Ochs, Phil Ochs.   Jeff Thompson: Phil Ochs, yeah.   Pete Lane: Phil Ochs, of course.   John Kay: Suicide some years later. The refrain of the song was, "And here's to the land that you've torn the heart out of. Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of."   Jeff Thompson: That rings through with your Monster song.   John Kay: Yeah, because the thing that became obvious to me was that songs can have content which is reflective of what's on people's minds. One of the first things we experienced as Steppenwolf was a baby band, when we went on our first cross-country tour and we were still approachable, so to speak, by long-haired kids in bellbottoms who wanted to say hello after the show, a lot of them said, "Those first two albums of yours we got, you're saying on our behalf some of the things that worry us or that we are concerned with."   John Kay: That's the first time we had positive reinforcement that what we were writing about was not just our own individual personal opinions, but it was reflective of what was on the minds of many of those in our own age group. Of course I had experienced that at Newport. It was a galvanizing experience to be amongst 20,000 young people, and they're listening to somebody like a Phil Ochs or a Bob Dylan, and others who were writing about what was going on in our country in the world. Like JFK once said, "And that's the role of the artist, to remind us of the potential we have yet to reach," in terms of being a just society and all the rest.   John Kay: When it came time for us to start writing our own songs, we had of course witnessed, in fact I'd played in a couple of the same coffeehouses as a journeyman folk musician solo act in Los Angeles with the likes of David Crosby and then still called Jim, later Roger, McGuinn and the rest, who formed of course The Byrds.   Jeff Thompson: The Byrds.   John Kay: Their first album was by and large electric versions of Bob Dylan songs. In fact I was at Ciro's nightclub when The Byrds played, when Dylan showed up and played harmonica with them. That was a photograph on the back of their first album.   John Kay: The point is that I took from there, why couldn't even rock music have lyrics that go beyond "oowee baby" and the typical? That's why our first album had songs like The Pusher and The Ostrich and Take What You Need, which was really about the environment, and later, things like Don't Step On The Grass Sam and None of Your Doing, which was on the second album, which was about a Vietnam soldier coming home and nobody understands him and he can't deal with what he had witnessed. Then of course eventually came the Monster album.   John Kay: The thing with the Monster album, which was very, very successful, popular on the college campuses, were all these demonstrations which were going on against the war in the campuses, and then of course the horrific Kent State shooting. These were things where what we had to say resonated with a lot of young people.   John Kay: What I found interesting was that we after so many years were no longer playing that song as part of our show. Then came the Great Recession, 2007-08, and all of a sudden, a couple of things happened. I can't think of his name right now, he's been a stalwart writer for Rolling Stone for several decades, from the early days on, and he had posted a thing, something like, "I went back to listening to Steppenwolf's Monster album and I was astounded how appropriate it is in the here and now."     John Kay: That coincided shortly with getting more and more requests on our website via email primarily, "Please start playing Monster again." From about 2009 onward, we've been playing it ever since. It's rare that that song does not get a standing ovation in the middle of the show. Of course it's aided and abetted by visuals that accompany our live performance, not every song, but many. In the case of Monster, it is a 10-minute film that illustrates pretty well what the song, line by line, lyrically is about.   John Kay: I remember when we did it for the first time in 2009, our sound man, who's been with us now for over 30 years, and he said, "John, I had the most weird experience tonight, because there was this strange situation with Monster. It was like I was watching a movie that had a soundtrack that a live band was playing, and instead of a narrator telling me what the story was, you were simply singing the story. It was just a really intense experience." It's been like that ever since.   John Kay: Sometimes you write something, and it goes out there like a kid leaving home, and you have no idea what it's doing out there, and then all of a sudden it comes back and say, "I'm still here."   Jeff Thompson: The prodigal song.   John Kay: It's been like that for the last 10 years. It's a song that seems to very much resonate about what we are dealing with right now.   Pete Lane:         It's funny, John, Jeff and I, again, were speaking before you connected with us this afternoon, and I had prepared a question along those lines. As you did earlier in this interview, you've answered it. Let me ask you this question. It's a slight variation on what we just spoke of. For those of you who don't know, Monster is just a dynamite song. It chronicles the country, the United States from its inception to what was then modern-day U.S. back in 1970 I believe, '71, early '70s.   John Kay: Correct.   Pete Lane: My question is this. If you were to write that song today, would you title it anything different?   John Kay: No, because in my opinion the Monster has almost taken human shape now.   Donald Trump: The American Dream is dead.   Richard Nixon: I'm not a crook.   Donald Trump: We will make America great again!   Richard Nixon: I'm not a crook. I'm not a crook. I'm not a crook.   Pete Lane: Just a dynamite song.   Jeff Thompson: There's another long big song. It was big on the album I bought. You had over I think it was 20-minute long, The Pusher.   John Kay: Yeah, that thing. There's a story to be told about that, I'll tell you. You're referring to the so-called early Steppenwolf album, a vinyl album obviously, back in those days. One side was that 20-minute version of The Pusher. That whole thing came to be because it was really a performance done by the band The Sparrow, which I had joined.   John Kay: When I was in the early '60s, like so many others, with a guitar, hitchhiking around, playing wherever they'd let me, in coffeehouses and the like, when I returned after a year of being in Los Angeles, hanging out at the Troubadour, doing various things, meeting Hoyt Axton, learning The Pusher from him, etc, and wound up in Toronto again, and York Village at that time, section of Toronto had exploded into this area of just coffeehouses and clubs, all sorts of things. While I played at a coffeehouse as a solo act, I bumped into this Canadian band called The Sparrows, with an S, plural at the time. We joined forces. I started to perform The Pusher with an electric band instead of just acoustically.   John Kay: The Sparrows eventually left Canada, because in those days most people did, where there was Joni Mitchell and Neil Young or others, and wound up in the States. We played in New York for a while, got a record deal that went nowhere. I kept badgering them that having seen the formation of The Byrds in L.A., that we ought to go to California. That's what we did eventually, and wound up, through various reasons I won't take time to explain, in the Bay area. There we played on the weekends usually the Avalon Ballroom or the Fillmore Ballroom. During the week we would play different clubs. One of them was a permanently beached paddle wheeler ferry boat in Sausalito called The Ark.   John Kay: We were now amongst all of these Bay area bands that liked to stretch out and experiment and jam and do different things. We said, "Hey, we can play songs that are longer than four or five minutes." We started to do different things. One of them was this ad-libbed version of The Pusher, which was preceded by us doing different instrumental experiments. Steve Miller would come by and sit in and play all the different things. One of the things we'll always remember is that regularly the Hells Angels would come, drop acid, lie down on the dance floor, and stay all night listening.   John Kay: We also played a club called The Matrix. Unbeknownst to us, the manager of the club had a couple of microphones suspended in the ceiling. When Steppenwolf later were moving forward into the '68 and '69, when we were quite successful with our first couple albums, we were being badgered to go back into the recording studio, because the label was always hungry for a new product. We had a couple record contracts that obligated us to deliver two albums a year, which was in hindsight ridiculous.   John Kay: Anyway, the point is that the label said, "This young man, or this guy showed up, and he has these tapes that he recorded, unbeknownst to you, when you guys were still called The Sparrows, from a show you played at The Matrix in San Francisco. We would like to put it out as a collector's item called Early Steppenwolf." We listened to it. Of course you can imagine that with a couple of microphones suspended from the ceiling, this was, yeah, a collector's item for those who must just for bragging rights have to have one of everything, to be able to say, "I got everything they ever did." We hated that. We hated it then, but it bought us time. It bought us time in the studio, because when that thing was released, we got busy on writing and eventually recording what became the Monster album. That was a major step forward.   Jeff Thompson: Yes, it was.   Pete Lane: Fascinating story.   Jeff Thompson: John, I want to go back to you told a story about how kids in school would bully you, but you took their names, you remembered, and you would get them back somehow.   John Kay: It wasn't so much in school. What would happen is, like just about everywhere in the world, including the States these days, soccer, what they called football, every kid plays it. They play it barefoot in Africa. Whatever. We did too, meaning the kids in the street in West Germany when I was young. There was a vacant lot next to our little apartment building, and that's where we played.   John Kay: During the day, with the sun in my eyes, even with my dark glasses, that wasn't so cool, but the moment the sun started going down, during twilight hours, I'm like a nocturnal creature that can make do with very little light. My eyes open up. I don't squint. I can see much better, not further, just more comfortably I can see things.   John Kay: I would join the kids playing soccer. When they figured out that I couldn't always see what was going on, there's an 11-meter penalty kick that's part of the rules, and so when it was my turn to make that kick, some wise ass would put a half a brick in front of the ball, so I wouldn't see it. I'd come with just regular street shoes, no special athletic shoes, and take a run at shooting this ball, and of course, wham, would run my toes right into that brick-   Jeff Thompson: Ouch.   John Kay: ... holding my foot and hopping around on one leg, doing a Daffy Duck, "Woo! Woo!" That did not go down well with me. I was fairly big for my size always, tall. They then of course saw that I was gonna come after them. They also knew that if they managed to run a certain distance, I could no longer find them. I had to learn to say, "This is not the time." Two or three days would go by, and they would have forgotten about it, and whoever the instigator was would be doing something, and then I would go over there and deck them. They would be, "Oh man, what was that for, man? I didn't do ... " "Yes, you did, and I did not forget, but I hope you will remember this," and they did.   Jeff Thompson: I remember seeing your album covers. I collected albums. There was one of you leaning back, and you're very tall, the way the angle was on it. You wore the sunglasses. When I thought of artists, musicians, I go through Roy Orbison and other people that wore the sunglasses on stage and stuff, I never thought of you. When someone brought it to my attention, State Services for the Blind here, some client wants your book recorded, so they'll take volunteers, record chapter by chapter for the person to listen to. They contacted me, said, "Hey, John Kay, he's visually impaired." I went, "Oh, that explains the sunglasses," maybe for the lights on stage or something.   John Kay: Absolutely the case. I had learned over time, since I wore dark glasses during the day, certainly outdoors, I got in the habit of keeping them on, because I went, "Spotlights and stage lights, they're pretty bright, and sometimes it's difficult for me to see the guitar fret board, where my fingers go and everything, and so I'll just keep the dark glasses on. Besides, some pretty cool people seem to be wearing them, and so that's just part of the persona." Over time, meaning literally decades, I learned that I could avoid, provided the spotlights were mounted high enough with a downward angle, I could look under them in a sense, look at the audience rather than up into the bleachers. Gradually I was able to dispense with them on stage, although the moment we play outdoors they go right back on. In fact I have one pair that's damn near as dark as welding goggles when things get really super sunny, Africa's sun is very bright, or the snow is very reflective, that sort of thing.   John Kay: Of course I remember one time, we were never the darlings of Rolling Stone, and so there was a negative review of one of our albums. The guy said, I'm paraphrasing, "As far as John Kay's jive sunglasses are concerned," he went on about something else. Actually, one of our managers felt compelled to write them a letter and point out that those glasses have a purpose for being on my face. He's just like everyone else.   John Kay: When I was a kid in West Germany when we first got there, I had a key around my neck, because my mother was a seamstress in other people's homes, so making a living until she remarried, and I had to learn how to get around, to get on this streetcar to get to there, because I was at a daycare center run by the Swedish Red Cross and I had to make my way back home and I couldn't read the street signs. You figure things out, there's this kind of a building on that corner, and markers that you imprint into your memory banks.   John Kay: You have to remember, this is a time, post World War II, the Soviet Union alone lost 20 million people. In Hanover in 1949 and '50 and '51, there were tons of people, legs and arms missing and crutches and this and that, those who managed to survive the war in some semblance. It was basically a mindset of, "Hey, we all got stuff to deal with, kid. Just get on with it." You learned how to figure out workaround solutions for what you're dealing with. I'm certainly one of millions who are having to make adjustments.   John Kay: I remember we had a dear neighbor in Tennessee was a Vietnam veteran, Marine Corps, and he was in a wheelchair. He had to overcome his anger and started to meditate and do other things. He said to me, "Hey John, it's not the hand that's dealt you, it's how you play the hand that's dealt you." He married, had a wonderful daughter. He became a cotton farmer and somehow got onto his tractor, and like so many out there, that okay, he's not perfect, but what are you gonna do with what you got?   Jeff Thompson: John, regarding your visual impairment these days, do you use technology, computer, smartphone, anything along those lines? If so, do you use any kind of adaptive tools or screen enlargement features, anything like that?   John Kay: I'm lucky enough in the sense that most standard issue devices have features that work just fine. I have a fairly large flat-panel monitor on my PC. Of course with the zoom feature and other things, I can make the font, what I'm reading, as well as what I may be writing, email and Word documents or whatever, whatever I want. The iOS, I have a phone, I have a iPad, they have a zoom feature that's just marvelous. I use that when needed. Some things with Siri or Chicano or something, in the PC world you can actually just ask for certain things to be brought to the screen. I'm learning how to do that more and more. It's a great convenience.   John Kay: I really don't have any problems. I've flown all over the world to meet my band mates on my own. I've learned to do ... That was a big deal for me, because of ... One of you mentioned you had been to our foundation's website. There are a number of videos about the things that we support, and we have witnessed and the wildlife that we see and so on. All of that was shot by me, edited by me, and then narrated by me. Now granted my wife, who is a fine photographer and had no colorblindness like I do, I ask her sometimes, "What about this?" "We can tweak that a little, whatever." Other than a little color assistance, I do all that myself.   John Kay: The reason I can do it primarily is because there are several brands of prosumer or even professional camcorders that have up to 20x optical zoom lens, which gives you an incredible reach from where you are to get a closeup of whatever's in the distance, an elephant, whatever it may be. I use it like a pair of binoculars, because I remember one time we were in Africa and our guide was asking my wife, "He's constantly looking through that thing. Is he always shooting?" She says, "No no no. Instead of picking up a pair of binoculars, then finding something he wants to shoot, putting down-"   Jeff Thompson: Good for you.   John Kay: "... the binoculars, picking up his camera, he just uses that zoom lens of his like a pair of binoculars, and when he sees something, he just pulls the trigger and starts recording."   Jeff Thompson: That's great. That's neat.   John Kay: That's my workaround solution for that.   Jeff Thompson: John, there's so much information on your website. I was going through it. That's how I found out about the elephants and your foundation. I also was reading your question and answer, which any of the listeners who are out there, go to his website and check it out, the question and answer, because it answers so many questions. One of them was when someone mentions you are a legend, I loved your response to that. You would say it to if you met Chuck Berry or someone else or something. It was just such a humbling thing that you ... Then I believe you met your wife in ...   John Kay: Toronto.   Jeff Thompson: Yeah, in Toronto. Usually when you hear about rock stars and these legends, they've gone through wives, divorces. You're still together.   John Kay: We are still together. I was a member of the aforementioned Canadian band in Toronto called The Sparrows. We were playing Downtown Toronto at a place. Between sets, our bass player said, "Hey, my girlfriend is here, sitting over there at that table, and she brought her girl friend. Why don't you join us for a drink or something?" I went over there, and I met this young woman by the name Jutta, spelled J-U-T-T-A. She was from Hamburg, Germany, where she had already as a teenager seen the band that later was to name itself the Beatles and numerous American rock-and-roll stars at The Star-Club in Hamburg. We had some things in common. I liked her a lot. I followed her home that night and moved in with her. We've been together ever since.   Jeff Thompson: The longest one-night stand.   John Kay: Yeah. The thing is that I, like so many others in the rock-and-roll world, being in our early 20s when we caught a wave as Steppenwolf and we were out there on the road, there's a degree of too much ego, testosterone, drugs, and temptations out there. When my wife sometimes, particularly women ask her, "Was it all roses and rainbows? You guys are still together. What's the secret to your marriage's longevity?" She'll look them straight in the eye and say, "The secret is not getting a divorce."   Jeff Thompson: Rocket science.   John Kay: We're very much lifelong partners. We have much, much in common in terms of our interests and where we direct our energy and passion and time. The other hand, rather, she has certain intuitive traits that for whatever reason elude me, and I'm more analytical and more logical in some ways. We're a good fit. It's the yin and the yang together. We hope to remain like that until we are no longer vertical.   Jeff Thompson: I have a question about this. When you met her, was your eyesight at the time, did you have to explain to her you won't be driving or something like that?   John Kay: Yeah, you're right. Just like my thing that I mentioned earlier, when you're a 12-year-old and you're fantasizing about becoming a rock-and-roller on the other side of the ocean and being told, "Sure, kid," when I moved in with her, she was a very young, desirable, good-looking woman, some of her friends, there's an old snide remark in the industry, which is, "What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? You call them homeless."   John Kay: When I went back to this other girl that I had been living with, to get some of my belongings to bring those over to Jutta's place, when I showed up at this other girl's place, there was another guy sitting there already, playing the guitar. I said, "Hello, who are you?" He says, "My name is Neil Young. I just came in from Winnipeg and I'm joining this band called The Mynah Birds." I said, "Oh, cool. I just joined this band called The Sparrows." In other words, all of us folkies were always looking for a kindhearted woman to put a roof over your head.   John Kay: When I moved in with Jutta and we had been together for a while, they were all telling her, "You got a legally blind, penniless musician, and that's your future. I think you can do better than that." Of course the conventional wisdom, they were absolutely right. The chances of all of this working out the way it did, you'd probably get better odds winning the lottery, if you go to Vegas, they would give you better odds for that, but like I said earlier, sometimes you just have more luck than good sense. It all worked out just fine.   Jeff Thompson: That's great. How did you keep your focus? How did you, I keep going back to that song, but your eye on the chart, through all that has gone on with the early Steppenwolf to John Kay and Steppenwolf? What kept you focused?   John Kay: That's an interesting story, question rather, because I've had to contemplate that before. I've never felt the need to go see a shrink. I seemed to always get over whatever emotional speed bumps there were. I suspect that the same deeply rooted passion for certain things, be it music, be it a sense of justice, being easily enraged by injustice, that I think is also the touchstone of other things where anger is the motivator and the engine. In the case of Steppenwolf, was very successful, we had various albums, some more commercially successful than others. It wasn't all roses and rainbows, but on the whole, it was a segment of my life that was pretty special, obviously.   John Kay: Then came time when the obligations to the band, because of being its primary songwriter and lead singer and front man and all that, became such that I wanted time for the private me, which meant my family, our daughter, who was hardly ever seeing me.   John Kay: When I pulled the plug on Steppenwolf in the late '70s, after a rejuvenating period in the mid-'70s on a different label, our little family went in our little family van all over the Southwest. We spent a lot of time in Hawaii, on Maui and stuff. That was quite nurturing and very good for me, but I was also, "Okay, I'm gonna do a solo album, this and that." It was on pause to a certain extent.   John Kay: Then the news reached Jerry Edmonton, the original drummer and co-founder of the band, and friend, that a couple of ex-members of the band were out there using the name Steppenwolf. Then all sorts of boring details as to lawsuits and other things involved, but the news that reached us was generally from fans, saying, "We went to see what was called Steppenwolf, and it was horrible. People were throwing stuff at them. They're trashing the name."   John Kay: We tried to put a stop to these activities, using the legal system, lawsuits and so on. Again, it would take too much time to go into the details. Let's just say that the results, I kept saying, "This legal system is limping along like a turtle with a wooden leg. We're not getting anywhere here with these lawsuits." It was like whack-a-mole. You'd go after them in this state, they'd pop up in another state.   John Kay: Finally, out of sheer desperation and anger, I had a number of musicians with whom I had been playing as the John Kay Band, I called Jerry and I said, "Man, I want to go out there as John Kay and Steppenwolf, because I want to resurrect the name and rebuild it. We'll work out something, so you participate financially." He was already into his photographer and artist mode. That was fine.   John Kay: In 1980 I went out there, driven by the outrage and anger of, "You guys are destroying something that you didn't build. I was the one who called everybody up to see if you wanted to what became Steppenwolf, and I'm going to go out there and compete with you guys on the same low-level clubs you guys have played the name down into, see who wins."   John Kay: We from 1980 on went out there 20 weeks at a time, five shows a week, overnight drives 500 miles, playing in the toilet circuit of bars, where some of them, you wouldn't want to enter those clubs without a whip and a chair. It was just horrible.   John Kay: The mantra was, "Yeah, three years ago we were headlining in arenas. That's not the point. If there are 300 people here tonight at this club who are not above being here to hear us play, and we're certainly not above us playing for them, so the mission is every night we gotta send people home smiling and telling others, 'You missed a really good show,' and all you can do is grit your teeth that that will eventually," because we ran into, we distinctly remember, a club on the outskirts of Minneapolis, St. Paul. During the soundcheck time, relatively young guy came over and looked me straight in the face, said, "You're not John Kay. He wouldn't play a shit hole like this." That was the level to which the name had been played down into.   John Kay: That really got me aggravated. I said, "I'm gonna kick their butt, not by ... The lawyers are still fighting over this and that, but in the meantime, we're getting great reviews and we're going town by town, state by state." By 1984, after relentless touring in the States, also twice in Canada, by that time we had also released a couple new albums, twice in Europe, once in Australia, we in essence put what we called the bogus Steppenwolf bands out of business.   John Kay: While we were at it, since we were somewhat damaged goods, we said, "Then we're gonna learn how to mind the store ourselves." That's when we had our own music publishing company, our own recording studio, our own merchandise corporation, our own tour bus, huge truck with a triple sleeper, 105 cases of gear, and on and on. To give you an idea of how tight a bond was formed, our entire crew, all four members have been with me for over 30 years.   Jeff Thompson: Oh wow.   Pete Lane: Wow.   John Kay: We took the reigns into our own hands and learned. I did not want to become a paralegal or para-accountant or any of those other things. Almost everybody in our 12-member organization, bus drivers, everybody, wore multiple hats, selling merchandise during the show or whatever. They were all quality people, and we learned how to fend for ourselves, and not just survive, but at a certain point, thrive. We knew exactly where the money was coming from and where it went. Nobody was running off with our loot to Ecuador.   Jeff Thompson: What suggestions would you have for someone today who is interested in music like you were, driving your passion from Little Richard, Chuck Berry, all those people that inspired you to follow your passion? What suggestions in today's music world would you give to them?   John Kay: Unfortunately, I wish I had some kind of a magic formula to impart to them, but obviously every situation is vastly different, is really I think in the end, I know people who are tremendously talented, vastly more talented than I am, who are not necessarily doing well. I've experienced in the early days where someone whose primary talent was to show up at every opportunity to pitch what they had to offer. It's one of those, "Did you go to that audition yesterday, this morning, or whatever?" "I had a really late-night last night. I'll go to the next one." How many opportunities are gonna come your way? It's one of those.   John Kay: The other thing is, do you have the fire in your belly to handle the ego-destroying rejections, because there are probably hundreds, if you were to take a poll of ... Well-known singer-songwriter Nora Jones, that first album, which I love, was rejected I think by every label in town twice. There are stories like that all over the place.   John Kay: How do you pick yourself up every morning after, "I'm sorry, it's just not radio-friendly," or, "You don't really fit into our whatever." You need to have a pretty intense flame of passion about what you are and what you have to offer. You need to be able to handle ...   John Kay: You may be the one that wins the lottery, where the first attempt reaches the right set of ears and you've got a partner in your career moving forward, but most likely you will be like so many of the baby acts these days, and some who have been around already for 10 years plus, which is you have to learn how to wear a lot of different hats, the social media stuff, the pitching your music on YouTube or whatever, to endlessly tour in clubs, to build a following, four of you sleeping in the van with the gear, whatever. It'll burn you out if you're not made of something that can handle those rigors.   John Kay: Meantime, you have the temptations of, "I want to have a private life too," depending on whether you're a female or male, an artist, "I met somebody I want to share my life with. At some point we want to have children. This band isn't getting me anywhere." There are all these things that are strikes against your ability to prevail in this, unless you are one of those who's willing to take those beatings out there, in terms of the rejection and being often the response that you get from reviewers or whatever is not always positive, particularly if you're still in the process of really finding and tweaking who you are and what you have to offer.   John Kay: If you're a singer doing other people's stuff, that's one thing. If you are a writer and you really have something to say, that may be an advantage in the sense that if it resonates, you may find what we found in the early days, which is, "Wow, you've become our musical spokesperson. When I play that song, it is my inner voice, having been give voice, by your voice." If you're one of those who's able to put in words what moves you most, and there are lots of others out there that take your music as their personal soundtrack, then it may still be a long slog uphill, but usually that sort of thing spreads readily on social media.   John Kay: We have the Wolf Pack. When we played our official 50th anniversary, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band, when we played that official concert to commemorate that at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee last August, and the Wolf Pack fan club was notified of that. We had over 300 Wolf Pack fan members coming from all over North America and at least close to 70 or 80 of them coming all the way from Europe. They all know each other. They're all like the Dead Heads. They have a passion that they share with others.   John Kay: If you are able as an artist to reach people in that kind of way where what you have to offer becomes more than just sheer entertainment, then I think your chances of making a go of it are pretty good. Some of more or less my contemporaries that are still writing, still out there, still loved, John Prine, John Hiatt, if you are one of those, or you're aspiring to become one of those, I wish you a lot of good fortune.   John Kay: Sarah McLachlan song Angel, it has moved millions to tears. One of the verses that basically I'm paraphrasing, about when you're always being told you're not good enough, you're basically having the door slammed in your face all the time, and the self-doubt creeps in and nobody seems to get what it is you have to offer, those kind of things, they're hard on you.   John Kay: You wouldn't want to be a writer, artist, player, whatever, singer, if you didn't have some degree of ego that says, "Hey, I've got something to offer, something to say. I'm up here. Do you like what I got?" That's rooted to some extent in your ego. If you have that ego under control, wonderful. The ego also gets damaged and gets hurt when they

Hi everybody I'm Brian Clapp, Director of Content for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…Before we get into today's question – I am so fired up about our Sports Career Accelerator event coming up in September.If you are an avid listener to the podcast or a member of our private facebook group, you know that the team at WorkinSports.com along with our friends at Tremont Global Education are working together to create Sports Career Accelerator events …and our first one is in Atlanta, September 13th and 14th!So what is this event?First a little background – we've all been to career fairs, whether sports related or not, and the event doesn't usually live up to the hype and excitement. You go into it and think – this could be my moment! Then you get there and realize there aren't any real opportunities, the teams represented aren't engaged,  or there are so many people you just don't get any time to talk with anyone in a meaningful way.Well, we set out to do something different – very different.Our 2-day event will be intense and immersive – you will go inside the operations of the Atlanta Hawks, Falcons, Braves, United, Mercedes Benz stadium, Phillips arena, the college football hall of fame and more.You will meet and speak with high ranking officials within the teams, hiring staff, mid-level managers, and the important decision makers.We will submit a professional portfolio book, including your resume and detailed information to all executive speakers and guest hosts…Many of the team leaders will conduct micro interviews on the spotAnd here's the big one – we are capping the event to the first 40 people who register. We want this to be the most impactful 2-days of your sports life and we can't do that with hundreds of people – we want you to get one on one meaning impact with pro team executives, while learning and networking with them.Alright you probably have questions – here's what I would ask:How much is it – I don't have a final price yet, but I can tell you it's much cheaper than I would have guessed originally. I should know later this week an exact number – and I will post it on our private facebook group.How do I register? – We are opening registration to the public on August 1st. BUT, listeners of this podcast who go to workinsports.com/atlanta and submit their email address will get advance access to pre-register before the public on July 31st.What about hotels? – The cost of a hotel or airfare will not be included in your registration, but we will have suggestions for you on where to book – once you submit your email to the page I just mentioned, we will start sharing more and more info with you.What about food? – Yes, you will be fed. Specifics on that to come… but trust me you will eat.What about transportation between all of the facilities? That is all included! I'll tell you this too – we will be running some contests during the event for some really cool prizes so again, this is something you are not going to want to missI live on the West Coast – will you have any other events? Yes, we will. We're mapping out our event calendar, and it will be exciting for all of you. BUT, if you can make this one… make it. I think every event will have similar structures, but with different teams and execs a totally different vibe. You may want to go to multiple events, but you have to start with your first!So final reminder – go to WorkinSports.com/atlanta for more details and to put your name on our interest list for advance knowledge and early registration!Alright now on to the meat of today's program –The question –Hi Brian, I am John from North Carolina. This summer I've been honored to have an internship with a local minor league baseball team and it has been a blast. I'm entering the final month of my internship and I want to make sure I don't miss any opportunities…can you give me a checklist of things I should do before saying goodbye for now?Hey John – thanks for your question,

Today we have Dallas based agent and real estate investor Ian Flannigan. From an investment real estate agent to Ian has been in the real estate industry for over 15 years and has come a long way gaining a diverse background around investment property sales and distressed properties and has become an expert at it travelling around the country speaking on creative financing and topics.  Ian talks to us about what attracted him to EXP and his transition coming out of a franchise system and joining EXP. He touches on the things that led him to decide to move all of his businesses including his investment business his brokerage business etc. over to EXP Realty  He brings a business owners perspective not just a listing and selling agents perspective.  Learn More about eXp Realty - Click here to watch a quick 7 Minute Intro Video. Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content discussed within this podcast are the opinions of Kevin Cottrell and/or the guests interviewed.  This information is intended as general information only for listeners of the podcast. Listeners should conduct their own due diligence and research before making any business decisions. This podcast is produced completely independently of eXp Realty and is not endorsed, funded or otherwise supported by eXp Realty directly or indirectly.     In this episode. The Investor & Business Owner's Perspective  Creating Cashflow and building assets Benefits the Cloud provides Equity and revenue share Being the exponential earner Getting awarded EXP shares and becoming an EXP icon The compound effect on my revenue share & referrals  Predicting your income   Want to Learn More about eXp Realty? If you are interested in learning more about eXp, reach out to the person who introduced you to eXp or contact Ian to inquire or ask questions. Contact Ian: Text at  214 213 1737  Links: www.EXPCloud.com   Take away "you borrow capital you'll leverage it against a property and then you receive that cash flow. The reality is not too many people ever get to that point" Ian Flannigan   Podcast Transcription Kevin: Welcome back to another episode of In The Cloud the EXP realty explain podcast I am host Kevin Cottrell. Joining me today is Dallas based agent and real estate investor Ian Flannigan Ian is going to tell us about his transition coming out of a franchise system and then working for a transaction based brokerage to decide to move all of his businesses including his investment business his brokerage business etc. over to EXP Realty and why he did that. He brings a business owners perspective not just a listing and selling agents perspective. Ian and I are going to talk about things ranging from equity revenue share and the other things that attracted him to EXP realty. Please stay tuned for my interview with Ian Flannigan. Welcome to the show Ian. Ian: Hey how's it going. Kevin: It's going awesome. I'm looking forward to our conversation now for any of the listeners the podcast that may not be familiar with you once you take a minute and give your background and history as far as real estate. Ian: I've been in real estate for almost about 15 years and I was a young hairdresser in my past life. We all have that story right? So you know I read that book Rich Dad Poor Dad and made me realize that I was you know spinning my wheels as a self-employed business owner. I didn't own a business I owned a job and just like you know we have friends that are attorneys you know real estate agents. Well you know all that stuff that they had these commission businesses and stuff like that so I knew that I had to make a change so I started studying real estate and I started flying around the country go into seminars was like a lot of people I didn't come into the business through the licensing side I came through the investing side which I really cherish that information because I have a very intimate knowledge of how the legal process works with pre foreclosures. We know probate houses people losing their houses the tax liens. I mean I've bought fire damaged houses all kinds of very interesting distressed property situations. I've become an expert at it and I've traveled around the country speaking on creative financing and topics like that because I ran a big seller financed real estate model for quite a long time and like I said I wasn't licensed I leveraged to brokerage's one in Oklahoma City one here in Dallas and we used all of our marketing and we ran all of our leads through them. I learned the business on both sides so when I was drafting my own contracts two years before I ever got a license so you know the market changed and I felt like I left a lot of money on the table so I started. I realized that like look I'm going to get go ahead and get my license because I'm processing so many deals through my investment company. So I might as well do it so you know I got my licence I hung out with Keller. Keller was a great company at the time, for me it wasn't a good fit. When I moved my licence over to a 100 % shop and it was a much better fit for my needs at the time but I had a big exit out of my investment company and everything that I had built over the last nine years kind of came to an end and I knew that I needed to buy and sell houses I knew I needed to list and sell houses but I also knew that I had to build more cashflow and I needed to build more assets because I just made an exit out of a company and it was a very interesting time in my life because I went through a legal divorce. You know I went in business with these wealthy individuals that were coming out of it luckily everything the dust settles all right. I came out OK but you know I knew that I had to build something again and when I saw the model with the EXP I was like oh my gosh this is interesting because there have been nothing like it that I've ever seen. So that's how I got to be. Kevin: Great! So you have a diverse background especially around investment property sales and distressed properties. When you looked at EXP you mentioned like myself I was a team leader at Keller Williams for a long time great company but the EXP is.. You know especially and I want to chat about this for a minute. It's a different model. When you talked about Rich Dad Poor Dad in thinking like a business owner that I think the industry has seen so there's a lot of noise and information out there that is confusing for real estate agents. In other words I want you to take a few minutes and talk a little bit about how you process this as a investor slash business owner because for real estate agents listen to this a lot of them have a commissioned sales job and they need some help understanding how to think like a business owner. Ian: You know that that couldn't have been the more perfect way to explain that because you know being an investor we have to think about OK how are we going to get money out in the market. This is how our thought processes we have X amount of capital we can leverage capital and we're going to put that money out into the market either short term or long term and then we're going to get a return on it's going to be a four month timeline a six month timeline. So that's what we're doing when we're buying and selling houses right we're thinking of it as a business it's not on the other side of the track where when you're listing agent it's a different experience because you don't own the house you're not responsible for the repairs utilities all that other stuff it's just a different ball game but it's a great way for someone to be able to get into the market and that's what almost drives me crazy about getting a real estate licence. Was I did that in a couple of weeks it took me almost a year to get a licence to cut hair in the state of Texas as it was mindblowing how different it was but my point is you know getting into real estate is the barrier to entry isn't that you know it's not very difficult. So there's a lot of people coming in and they don't really think of it like a business. They don't know that they have to put themselves out into the marketplace and sell themselves as a business owner so they get stuck in just that hamster wheel of the commission side of the business still thinking of it from an investment standpoint is like like oh my gosh this company... Forget the name forget all of it just look at your balance sheet and what are you doing on your balance sheet. Right you've got income expense asset liability what are you doing to create income in your business that you only have a commission type of business you only have one source. So this is the way that I see it because I built a seller financed model by leveraging capital we would raise millions of dollars actually. We didn't raise millions of dollars until after we placed it because one of our limited partners was our lender. So we had in-house lines of credit and I was buying you know five to 10 houses a month that I was selling them on owner financing and carrying back a note and we were archiving basically building a big huge spreadsheet of notes right. So once my mind opened to that like I knew that there were so many different ways to make money in real estate but once you find one model that you can't replicate and duplicate... And that's what exactly what I was doing with seller financing I was buying a house. I was renovating that house and that I was selling it and carrying back a note. And the more notes that I could create the more money I could borrow because we had we were building. A balance sheet of. Assets. Yes we had debt on it but. Our cash flow was compounding. Our interest was compounding. So having that experience with selling houses in volume like that and then carrying back notes like a bank that's what expanded my mind into understanding how to create massive amounts of cash flow and that's traditionally how you do it you borrow capital you'll leverage it against a property and then you receive that cash flow. The reality is not too many people ever get to that point even when they've been in real estate 15 20 years especially if they're coming from the licensing side of the world unless they have some mentors and coaches that were great that helped them put money back in you know build assets outside of their license that would be great. But most people never experience that. So when I saw EXP I really understood like oh my gosh like I got it immediately. Not only could I you know sell houses I could get you know software and technology to plug into to sell more houses because the training in EXP is you know second to none which people don't realize is the support and the training in the cloud is 100 times more effective more efficient. I mean the words just go on and on and on that describe how well you know it is and how easy it is to plug into the cloud. It's... The support and training is you can access it from anywhere in the world any time. There are no restrictions on getting in your car driving down to the road like that is gone that is over we plug into the cloud. So. That's one of the biggest takeaways of you know. Jumping into that is the time right we're all trying to... Maximize our time. So you know not driving down to offices. I had a huge office on the eighth floor overlooking. Downtown Dallas and I hated it because I had to get my car. I had to drive down to the office. Much more efficient with the home based office than I'd take my laptops and I got my Wi-Fi. So when I travel. I'm connected so. That I was the one thing is offloading that big expense of an office so that's the biggest thing that the cloud provides. And you know. To grow business you've got to reduce your expenses and grow your cash flows. And grow your transactional cash flow too. Kevin: So let me ask you a question regarding the business small as a business guy. You know so when you're traditionally a commission based business you know like you said that's one stream of income. When you look at the two big plays that EXP let's talk about the one being equity and the other being revenue share. The market really doesn't get this from the standpoint of the way startups work in Silicon Valley that's where I come from. You know so they look at it. I'm a real estate agent. I'm at XYZ brokerage I'm at independent it could be a big franchise. I go through my business I sell own a bunch of houses every year and either take listings and so on will get buyers at the end of the year or if I run my business well like you said I make a little bit of money. Ian: Yeah. Kevin: Now meanwhile there are people like Sherry Elliott who you know because she's in your marketplace that come on the podcast and go Hey by the way I'm buying a EXP stock for 20 % below on the commission plan. I've also been awarded it as an Icon for several years. You know I look at my account and I've got seven hundred thousand dollars in equity and if you'll look around a big franchise market center or office I would challenge you and you know this because you're in the marketplace. This is where the market doesn't get it right. There are not people running around with 150000 like I met an agent here in Austin or 700000 like Sherry Elliott where this is just occurring on automatic investment because the average agent just at the end of there like oh how many units did I sell. Ian: Exactly. That's you know the biggest part of about the business model is. Having that that potential to be what we call the exponential earner right. How you can scale a business. And adding stock and equity to your balance sheet. You know it's like sitting down with a financial planner and saying hey we're going to take a little bit of your cash we're going to put it here again take a little bit more your cash. We're going to put it here and then over time we're going to let this grow. And that's what people don't understand is. EXP offer's.... It's almost like a 401k for real estate agents. So as they're closing transactions moving forward paying into the brokerage we're actually getting a return on the money we're paying in. Right. Especially with the stock program that we have you know there's actually you know there's six different ways to get stock. One is to buy over the counter. Another is when you close your first transaction with the EXP you'll get awarded I believe it's 50 shares right now that could be off because the numbers are changing so fast I can't keep track of them but you'll get awarded shares of stock when you close your first transaction and then when you cap once you sell you know two point six six or about three million depending on what commission structure you're on 2.5 or 3 % whenever you cap you'll get more shares of stock I believe around 100 shares right now and then here's the cool part is if you sell 20 houses after your cap which a lot of team leaders do and a lot of brokers do they do a lot of volume or if you're a commercial and you sell about half a million then you can qualify to become an Icon. And then there's a panel that vote you and once you get qualified. You can receive your entire cap backing company stock which is sixteen thousand dollars just awarded back to you in company stock and that is pretty darn amazing. Because think about that. All the other franchise models that are out there there are great companies. You know. Nothing has changed in real estate in the last hundred years. Now the Internet has finally caught up with the brick and mortar real estate model. And no longer are agents being you know paying every dime in you know into their brokerages and not seeing a return on it. So it's a completely different mindset from this day forward of technology and growth and all that it's just changing the game in you know the billion dollars in expenses that all the big companies have. What do you think they're going to be in five and 10 years. I mean the internet has completely changed everything. But but that's why it's so important to build a future. And we haven't even talked about the revenue share. I mean you know as you're closing transactions you can be accumulating stock just through production. So every transaction you close your laying stock you have to think about that is building assets on a balance sheet. So back the very first thing we first started talking about where is why is what attracted me was understanding that I could build and compound more and more line items of assets on my balance sheet like in a spreadsheet. When you see cash flow coming at you in a spreadsheet and you see a total at the bottom and that total gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger by adding more line items of assets to your balance sheet. When I saw the revenue share model my mind was blown. And I've been in the company two years in what I've seen happen in the last two years. I mean I just stopped telling people the numbers because they're so big it just It's not relevant to them right. How does anyone relate to the kid that won the 450 million dollar Powerball in Florida. Like how is that relevant to me right. That's a massive amount of cash. It's like you know it's just one of those things. What do you think about that. Kevin: It's exactly what people miss. I talked to somebody last weekend. She's in Southern California and I'm glad you brought up the Icon program because as I started to ask her questions I could see that because she comes from a big franchise system that she was confused by the noise and information and other words they're trying to basically make it not clear that you're getting an equity award if you qualify for the Icon program of 16000 and that that's highly highly difficult to actually obtain that. Well as you mentioned either based on GCI or 20 transactions above capping. Ian: That's right. Kevin: There are very clear terms on how you qualify for this. So in her case she's got a big presence right. So I asked her some questions and just to clarify for our listeners in her case I said well how many referral fees on top of capping right she does about four or five million dollars a year. So she easily qualifies based on capping and she's in a high priced market in Southern California. I said well how many referrals did you do. She said I did I think somewhere around eight or nine referral fees that I got paid back to me last year. I said do you do any leases you're in a pretty high price market you've got to have people that are looking to lease houses and she goes I did it at least 10 of those on top of my real estate transactions. I said well just the referral fees and the leases are 18 transactions. How many did you do above. Approximately three million in volume. She goes well I have like another six transactions on top of that based on her pricing. I'm like OK well in our model you would be an Icon. Ian: That's right. Kevin: She's like I have no idea. I'm like yeah that's exactly how this program works. And assuming that you want to participate you're going to get all of your money back after you basically qualify based on transactions and you know the other structure and then for anybody listening to this you can certainly reach out we'll have some more information about the Icon program in this and other episodes. But don't let the marketplace confuse you. This is a real program. We can refer you to plenty of icons within EXP to talk to them about qualifying. Some of them have qualified for more than one year. In other words this isn't some promo special like you'd have at the car dealer where they're doing it once right. We have icons that have been here for more than two years that have qualified. Every year their hair. So the whole purpose of this podcast and I'm glad you brought this up is to have people understand because as a business owner at most brokerages there is no way to qualify to get your company dollar back. Right they just don't offer programs like that specially around equity which is an appreciating asset in most entities like this. So you absolutely are in a position to create value. I mentioned two numbers and now I want to tie this down. There is a agent I met at one of the meet greets right one of the EXP explained meetings and when this came up about Sherry Elliott in the conversation she said well I don't have a big mega team right. I'm a Capper. I do business and I've been investing in EXP stock through the program that Ian talked about where you can divert 5 % of your commissions. She said I have a hundred and fifty five thousand dollars in less than two years in my equity account. I would challenge any listener here if you're in a franchise or even an independent brokerage. Go look at your equity account and go ahead and send me a message if you have a hundred and fifty five thousand of your company's stock in there. And I think you and I know the answer is not unless you're buying at the market and you happen to work for a company that's traded right there's companies like Real Ajee or Remax or others out there that you could buy stock but you're not buying it for 20 % below market. Ian: Now you've got to buy it at today's value which it's been going down. Kevin: Let's transition a little bit to revenue share I'm going to give you my perspective and then I want to hear yours as a real estate investor so Gene-Frederic and I come out of the team a role or the regional owner role if you will at a big franchise system Keller Williams in particular but they all work the same way right. So one of the big things that were trying to basically make sure that agents understand is in a franchise system and if you are lucky enough to be around Keller Williams in the early days and this would be in the 90s right Gene-Frederic and Susan joined in the early 90s. They along with others had the opportunity to invest and buy regions right Gene-Frederic in particular with a couple of partners own Northern California Hawaii. Ian: I actually hung my license at DPR and live right down the street from where they used to live in Plano Texas. Kevin: That's awesome. And so for anybody looking at this the way regional owners are paid in franchise system and I'll speak specifically for Keller Williams is the royalties are taken off the top and they are paid half to the regional owners and have to the regional operating company in Austin. Right. So half and half. So one of the interesting variants of information out there in the marketplace is taking money off the top. It's not sustainable. Well if Remax does it if Keller does it. If all of the real Ajee franchises do this and if they have a regional operating partners or owners they're all paid this way then I challenge anybody that has been told that to go back and ask the person that told you this is this not how our franchise system the regional owners get paid. And the answer I'll just give you the answer is yes. So don't let anybody tell you that paying money off the top out of the revenue stream is not sustainable. This is exactly what EXP is doing. They don't have regional owners. From the standpoint of anybody buying in and owning Northern California Hawaii like Gene and Susan did with their partners. You are paid as a regional owner any EXP so to speak and I'm using that term broadly and loosely but it's the same concept off the top. Based on agents that are attracted to the company they become like your regional owner group. So with that as a precursor so people understand the concept here. This is not any different than what the franchise are doing. Ian what's your perspective on this as a business opportunity. Ian: So the way I see it and then you can correct me if I'm wrong that you know this is a big referral type of based payment right. Everyone understands. Getting a referral you mentioned the referral a moment ago. I have someone in California. I have a lead in California. I'm in Texas. I contacted agent say hey I have a great lead for you. They're jumping up and down because it's a five million dollar acquisition. So they think I've hung the moon. And I come and I go back to that same age and I say Hey. Here's the business model. That I'm operating around the entire country if you're interested in it and you're attracted to it and you like it. I could sponsor you into this model and then I could show you how to expand that. Across the entire United States as well. So now I sponsor that age in California. Now every time they close the transaction I'm going to get paid a referral fee. How cool is that. Right. And then every time they attract somebody. Into the company underneath them they could be in Seattle they could be and. They could be in. WASHINGTON They could be in Florida. They could be down in Alabama taxes Arizona. Every time those agents close transactions not only is that agent that I sponsored in California are going to make a referral now I'm going to make a referral fee off of another 20 agents. And wow the crazy thing about this model is every single person is on the same plan and they all want to expand their business so now I get organic compound and kind of like compound interest. So I'm getting a compound effect on my revenue share because now I've gone from two agents to 4 agents to eight agents to 12 to 24. I've expanded my revenue share business into 14 states and Canada and I just hit 84 agents and almost 30 of them hit my team in the last 60 days. So I'm now getting the organic compound effect of the duplication of what makes this lucrative revenue sharing model so amazing. Kevin: I've interviewed several independent brokers because their business owners right? They get blown away with is all of a sudden like Mitch Ryback and Florida they wake up and they're in 32 states in two provinces in Canada and they're adding more people per month than they had in their brokerage when they converted to EXP. Now you started from scratch right. You didn't convert a brokerage but for any agent listening here it doesn't matter if you're a single solo or and an agent that operates by themselves. You're a team and you're the rainmaker. You have an opportunity just to have when people ask you and I'm sure this happens right. And they like Tell me about the EXP. Why are you with EXP. You know somebody is going to listen to this podcast or other episodes and get it right. You're going to be able to have people have an understanding of the reality of EXP and to tie this down. From the standpoint of my comment earlier in the down markets right there is a several franchise systems including a very large one that operates on profit share. The regional owners and I'll speak to Gene-Frederic and his partners in Northern California. We're making a enormous amount of money in that 0 8 0 9 downturn. Most of the market centers we're not profitable for obvious reasons right. People's production were down however... because it's paid off the top the regional owners were making money like they were printing money and they felt guilty frankly about it. If you ever hear Gene interviewed about it he talks about the fact that they felt fairly guilty about the fact that if you're out there and you're thinking that it's all about profit share that's your reality check. We are going to go through another business cycle correction and you're going to see that when something is paid off the bottom at a profit. There's nothing wrong with that. It works. I'm invested removed partner. I was at Kellems for more than three years so to speak. And so I'm vested. I get paid profit share every month. So does Gene-Frederic. So do plenty of people. Now the difference is we're now comparing revenue share the profit share and it's a completely different model revenue share. Just to make it really easy is paid off the top like original owner. Like. I described earlier. Ian: And it's 100 % transparent. Kevin: It's very predictable. In other words.. Ian: You know exactly how much it is you can calculate it on your own. Kevin: And you can build a business around it in other words you've got to look at it like Ian talked about if you've got 80 people you've got 100 people if you've got like Pat Hays you have 800 people. You can predict very accurately. But here's what I expect at a minimum I'm going to make. And usually the numbers end up higher than what people are estimating. So let me ask you this before we wrap up today if somebody is listening to this and they want to do some due diligence obviously they can listen to this or any of the other episodes they can click on the link and watch that seven minute intro video that's in the show notes. What would you advise them to do as far as due diligence to really understand what the EXP is about. Ian: I would just refer you to some Web sites like you can really learn about the company. Number one is we're a publicly traded company right. That's one of the big game changers about this and why Glenn Sanford created this because he wanted everyone that was contributing to the growth of the company to be an owner and to be rewarded with it. So EXP world Holdings Inc. Is the site that you can do your due diligence and you can see our balance sheet. You can see everything about the company we're very very transparent. That's number one and that's the myth that everybody that's listening maybe for the first time or have heard something negative from someone else about the company like just forget all that. Do your due diligence were a publicly traded company EXPworldholdings.com The next thing that I would say is maybe we could take him over to the cloud side so they can see the training schedule they can see the agent handbook at EXPCloud.com. That's what I like to refer people to you know if you scroll down on that site you can see the agent handbook and you can read this and you can see exactly what the financial model is. And you can read through it. There it is it's right there in PDF form you can download it you can read it all the contact information for everybody in the company not everybody as far as the agent count goes. But now it's got Vicki in there it's got Jason Guessing in there. It's got you know Glenn its got their e-mail addresses in there. Everybody in this company is 100 % transparent. That's the great thing that I love about it so EXPCloud.com that you can see the agent handbook there. Kevin: Excellent.. which are the two suggestions I would give. I also would like to state this and I know that we're going to get your contact information before we wrap up. And when you're introduced to EXP the person that introduces you to EXP can get you in touch with Ian or anybody else or any of the people you interviewed on this podcast ask for references if that's what you need as far as your due diligence. There may be somebody that's from the same franchise you are with that you can chat with maybe you've never met them maybe you admire them and you respect them completely. That is the culture. As owners of this business that's also not apparent from the outside. In other words he and I'm sure you've had this happen we're all of a sudden you have somebody that needs to chat with somebody that's in another part of the country you reach out and say Hey John this person is from the same franchise that you were with. They want to talk with you. The answer I found 100 % is yes sent them my way and I'll be happy. Yeah. And it's not that clear from the outside. And so now with that even if somebody listens to this and they want to chat with you a little bit more directly what's the best way to reach you. Ian: I mean best way to reach me is by text at 214 2131 737 and I'm in the Dallas market. This is my backyard and I've had a lot of fun. I still do tons of fix and flips I actually have some pretty huge renovations that I document put on Facebook and LinkedIn and stuff like that and I invite people to come out and check them out when I'm done. Kevin: Fantastic. Appreciate you coming on the show. Ian: Thanks buddy. Thank you.

Got this question from Curious Truth on YouTube: "Hey John, is it feasible to go from zero to successful freelancer without a traditional job in between? I've been told I should work towards getting a job first. Thank you." The truth about this and the five fundamentals of freelancing inside this episode. Show notes: https://www.johnmorrisshow.com/293 Support the show: https://www.johnmorrisonline.com/patreon

JSJ 270 The Complete Software Developers Career Guide with John Sonmez This episode features a panel of Joe Eames, AJ O’Neal, as well as host Charles Maxwell. Special guest John Sonmez runs the website SimpleProgrammer.com that is focused on personal development for software developers. He works on career development and improving the non-technical life aspects of software developers. Today’s episode focuses on John’s new book The Complete Software Developers Career Guide. Did the book start out being 700 pages? No. My goal was 200,000 words. During the editing process a lot of questions came up, so pages were added. There were side sections called “Hey John” to answer questions that added 150 pages. Is this book aimed at beginners? It should be valuable for three types of software developers: beginner, intermediate, and senior developers looking to advance their career. The book is broken up into five sections, which build upon each other. These sections are: - How to get started as a software developer - How to get a job and negotiate salary - The technical skills needed to know to be a software developer - How to work as a software developer - How to advance in career Is it more a reference book, not intended to read front to back? The book could be read either way. It is written in small chapters. Most people will read it start to finish, but it is written so that you can pick what you’re interested in and each chapter still makes sense by itself. Where did you come up with the idea for the book? It was a combination of things. At the time I wanted new blog posts, a new product, and a new book. So I thought, “What if I wrote a book that could release chapters as blog posts and could be a product later on?” I also wanted to capture everything I learned about software development and put it on paper so that didn’t lose it. What did people feel like they were missing (from Soft Skills) that you made sure went into this book? All the questions that people would ask were about career advice. People would ask things regarding: - How do I learn programming? - What programming language should I learn? - Problems with co-workers and boss - Dress code What do you think is the most practical advice from the book for someone just getting started? John thinks that the most important thing to tell people is to come up with a plan on how you’re going to become educated in software development. And then to decide what you’re going to pursue. People need to define what they want to be. After that is done, go backwards and come up with a plan in order to get there. If you set a plan, you’ll learn faster and become a valuable asset to a team. Charles agrees that this is how to stay current in the job force. What skills do you actually need to have as a developer? Section 3 of the book answers this question. There was some frustration when beginning as a software developer, so put this list together in the book. - Programming language that you know - Source control understanding - Basic testing - Continuous integration and build systems - What kinds of development (web, mobile, back end) - Databases - Sequel Were any of those surprises to you? Maybe DevOps because today’s software developers need to, but I didn’t need to starting out. We weren’t involved in production. Today’s software developers need to understand it because they will be involved in those steps. What do you think is the importance of learning build tools and frameworks, etc. verses learning the basics? Build tools and frameworks need to be understood in order to understand how your piece fits into the bigger picture. It is important to understand as much as you can of what’s out there. The basics aren’t going to change so you should have an in depth knowledge of them. Problems will always be solved the same way. John wants people to have as few “unknown unknowns” as possible. That way they won’t be lost and can focus on more timeless things. What do you think about the virtues of self-taught verses boot camp verses University? This is the first question many developers have so it is addressed it in the book. If you can find a good coding boot camp, John personally thinks that’s the best way. He would spend money on boot camp because it is a full immersion. But while there, you need to work as hard as possible to soak up knowledge. After a boot camp, then you can go back and fill in your computer science knowledge. This could be through part time college classes or even by self-teaching. Is the classic computer science stuff important? John was mostly self-taught; he only went to college for a year. He realized that he needed to go back and learn computer science stuff. Doesn’t think that there is a need to have background in computer science, but that it can be a time saver. A lot of people get into web development and learn React or Angular but don’t learn fundamentals of JavaScript. Is that a big mistake? John believes that it is a mistake to not fully understand what you’re doing. Knowing the function first, knowing React, is a good approach. Then you can go back and learn JavaScript and understand more. He states that if you don’t learn the basics, you will be stunted and possibly solve things wrong. Joe agrees with JavaScript, but not so much with things algorithms. He states that it never helped him once he went back and learned it. John suggests the book Algorithms to Live By – teaches how to apply algorithms to real life. Is there one question you get asked more than anything else you have the answer to in the book? The most interesting question is regarding contract verses salary employment and how to compare them. It should all be evaluated based on monetary value. Salary jobs look good because of benefits. But when looking at pay divided by the hours of work, usually a salary job is lower paid. This is because people usually work longer hours at salary jobs without being paid for it. What’s the best place for people to pick up the book? simpleprogrammer.com/careerguide and it will be sold on Amazon. The book will be 99 cents on kindle – want it to be the best selling software development book ever. Picks Joe Wonder Woman AJ The Alchemist Charles Artificial Intelligence with Python John Algorithms to Live by: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Apple Airpods Links Simple Programmer Youtube

JSJ 270 The Complete Software Developers Career Guide with John Sonmez This episode features a panel of Joe Eames, AJ O’Neal, as well as host Charles Maxwell. Special guest John Sonmez runs the website SimpleProgrammer.com that is focused on personal development for software developers. He works on career development and improving the non-technical life aspects of software developers. Today’s episode focuses on John’s new book The Complete Software Developers Career Guide. Did the book start out being 700 pages? No. My goal was 200,000 words. During the editing process a lot of questions came up, so pages were added. There were side sections called “Hey John” to answer questions that added 150 pages. Is this book aimed at beginners? It should be valuable for three types of software developers: beginner, intermediate, and senior developers looking to advance their career. The book is broken up into five sections, which build upon each other. These sections are: - How to get started as a software developer - How to get a job and negotiate salary - The technical skills needed to know to be a software developer - How to work as a software developer - How to advance in career Is it more a reference book, not intended to read front to back? The book could be read either way. It is written in small chapters. Most people will read it start to finish, but it is written so that you can pick what you’re interested in and each chapter still makes sense by itself. Where did you come up with the idea for the book? It was a combination of things. At the time I wanted new blog posts, a new product, and a new book. So I thought, “What if I wrote a book that could release chapters as blog posts and could be a product later on?” I also wanted to capture everything I learned about software development and put it on paper so that didn’t lose it. What did people feel like they were missing (from Soft Skills) that you made sure went into this book? All the questions that people would ask were about career advice. People would ask things regarding: - How do I learn programming? - What programming language should I learn? - Problems with co-workers and boss - Dress code What do you think is the most practical advice from the book for someone just getting started? John thinks that the most important thing to tell people is to come up with a plan on how you’re going to become educated in software development. And then to decide what you’re going to pursue. People need to define what they want to be. After that is done, go backwards and come up with a plan in order to get there. If you set a plan, you’ll learn faster and become a valuable asset to a team. Charles agrees that this is how to stay current in the job force. What skills do you actually need to have as a developer? Section 3 of the book answers this question. There was some frustration when beginning as a software developer, so put this list together in the book. - Programming language that you know - Source control understanding - Basic testing - Continuous integration and build systems - What kinds of development (web, mobile, back end) - Databases - Sequel Were any of those surprises to you? Maybe DevOps because today’s software developers need to, but I didn’t need to starting out. We weren’t involved in production. Today’s software developers need to understand it because they will be involved in those steps. What do you think is the importance of learning build tools and frameworks, etc. verses learning the basics? Build tools and frameworks need to be understood in order to understand how your piece fits into the bigger picture. It is important to understand as much as you can of what’s out there. The basics aren’t going to change so you should have an in depth knowledge of them. Problems will always be solved the same way. John wants people to have as few “unknown unknowns” as possible. That way they won’t be lost and can focus on more timeless things. What do you think about the virtues of self-taught verses boot camp verses University? This is the first question many developers have so it is addressed it in the book. If you can find a good coding boot camp, John personally thinks that’s the best way. He would spend money on boot camp because it is a full immersion. But while there, you need to work as hard as possible to soak up knowledge. After a boot camp, then you can go back and fill in your computer science knowledge. This could be through part time college classes or even by self-teaching. Is the classic computer science stuff important? John was mostly self-taught; he only went to college for a year. He realized that he needed to go back and learn computer science stuff. Doesn’t think that there is a need to have background in computer science, but that it can be a time saver. A lot of people get into web development and learn React or Angular but don’t learn fundamentals of JavaScript. Is that a big mistake? John believes that it is a mistake to not fully understand what you’re doing. Knowing the function first, knowing React, is a good approach. Then you can go back and learn JavaScript and understand more. He states that if you don’t learn the basics, you will be stunted and possibly solve things wrong. Joe agrees with JavaScript, but not so much with things algorithms. He states that it never helped him once he went back and learned it. John suggests the book Algorithms to Live By – teaches how to apply algorithms to real life. Is there one question you get asked more than anything else you have the answer to in the book? The most interesting question is regarding contract verses salary employment and how to compare them. It should all be evaluated based on monetary value. Salary jobs look good because of benefits. But when looking at pay divided by the hours of work, usually a salary job is lower paid. This is because people usually work longer hours at salary jobs without being paid for it. What’s the best place for people to pick up the book? simpleprogrammer.com/careerguide and it will be sold on Amazon. The book will be 99 cents on kindle – want it to be the best selling software development book ever. Picks Joe Wonder Woman AJ The Alchemist Charles Artificial Intelligence with Python John Algorithms to Live by: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Apple Airpods Links Simple Programmer Youtube

JSJ 270 The Complete Software Developers Career Guide with John Sonmez This episode features a panel of Joe Eames, AJ O’Neal, as well as host Charles Maxwell. Special guest John Sonmez runs the website SimpleProgrammer.com that is focused on personal development for software developers. He works on career development and improving the non-technical life aspects of software developers. Today’s episode focuses on John’s new book The Complete Software Developers Career Guide. Did the book start out being 700 pages? No. My goal was 200,000 words. During the editing process a lot of questions came up, so pages were added. There were side sections called “Hey John” to answer questions that added 150 pages. Is this book aimed at beginners? It should be valuable for three types of software developers: beginner, intermediate, and senior developers looking to advance their career. The book is broken up into five sections, which build upon each other. These sections are: - How to get started as a software developer - How to get a job and negotiate salary - The technical skills needed to know to be a software developer - How to work as a software developer - How to advance in career Is it more a reference book, not intended to read front to back? The book could be read either way. It is written in small chapters. Most people will read it start to finish, but it is written so that you can pick what you’re interested in and each chapter still makes sense by itself. Where did you come up with the idea for the book? It was a combination of things. At the time I wanted new blog posts, a new product, and a new book. So I thought, “What if I wrote a book that could release chapters as blog posts and could be a product later on?” I also wanted to capture everything I learned about software development and put it on paper so that didn’t lose it. What did people feel like they were missing (from Soft Skills) that you made sure went into this book? All the questions that people would ask were about career advice. People would ask things regarding: - How do I learn programming? - What programming language should I learn? - Problems with co-workers and boss - Dress code What do you think is the most practical advice from the book for someone just getting started? John thinks that the most important thing to tell people is to come up with a plan on how you’re going to become educated in software development. And then to decide what you’re going to pursue. People need to define what they want to be. After that is done, go backwards and come up with a plan in order to get there. If you set a plan, you’ll learn faster and become a valuable asset to a team. Charles agrees that this is how to stay current in the job force. What skills do you actually need to have as a developer? Section 3 of the book answers this question. There was some frustration when beginning as a software developer, so put this list together in the book. - Programming language that you know - Source control understanding - Basic testing - Continuous integration and build systems - What kinds of development (web, mobile, back end) - Databases - Sequel Were any of those surprises to you? Maybe DevOps because today’s software developers need to, but I didn’t need to starting out. We weren’t involved in production. Today’s software developers need to understand it because they will be involved in those steps. What do you think is the importance of learning build tools and frameworks, etc. verses learning the basics? Build tools and frameworks need to be understood in order to understand how your piece fits into the bigger picture. It is important to understand as much as you can of what’s out there. The basics aren’t going to change so you should have an in depth knowledge of them. Problems will always be solved the same way. John wants people to have as few “unknown unknowns” as possible. That way they won’t be lost and can focus on more timeless things. What do you think about the virtues of self-taught verses boot camp verses University? This is the first question many developers have so it is addressed it in the book. If you can find a good coding boot camp, John personally thinks that’s the best way. He would spend money on boot camp because it is a full immersion. But while there, you need to work as hard as possible to soak up knowledge. After a boot camp, then you can go back and fill in your computer science knowledge. This could be through part time college classes or even by self-teaching. Is the classic computer science stuff important? John was mostly self-taught; he only went to college for a year. He realized that he needed to go back and learn computer science stuff. Doesn’t think that there is a need to have background in computer science, but that it can be a time saver. A lot of people get into web development and learn React or Angular but don’t learn fundamentals of JavaScript. Is that a big mistake? John believes that it is a mistake to not fully understand what you’re doing. Knowing the function first, knowing React, is a good approach. Then you can go back and learn JavaScript and understand more. He states that if you don’t learn the basics, you will be stunted and possibly solve things wrong. Joe agrees with JavaScript, but not so much with things algorithms. He states that it never helped him once he went back and learned it. John suggests the book Algorithms to Live By – teaches how to apply algorithms to real life. Is there one question you get asked more than anything else you have the answer to in the book? The most interesting question is regarding contract verses salary employment and how to compare them. It should all be evaluated based on monetary value. Salary jobs look good because of benefits. But when looking at pay divided by the hours of work, usually a salary job is lower paid. This is because people usually work longer hours at salary jobs without being paid for it. What’s the best place for people to pick up the book? simpleprogrammer.com/careerguide and it will be sold on Amazon. The book will be 99 cents on kindle – want it to be the best selling software development book ever. Picks Joe Wonder Woman AJ The Alchemist Charles Artificial Intelligence with Python John Algorithms to Live by: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Apple Airpods Links Simple Programmer Youtube

Episode 171 “Veiny Bastard Program” 0:15 We’re Live. EntreProgrammers talk about trying to not discuss anything before they air. John shares information on his body fat measurements, at 11 percent. John talks about low hanging fruit and having a lot of room to grow. Be harsher on yourself as you measure your goals. John get off his soapbox.  5:00 Josh share his encounter with a very strict diet, and measuring his calories. Josh talks about the mental aspects and reaching the goals. Josh mentions being at 12 percent body fat.  10:00 John says losing weight does not take long, but getting to a certain body fat percentage is difficult. Josh talks about his conflict goal between gymnastic training and body building. Josh says the train helps him feel better, with less aches and pains.  12:00 Josh explains his maintenance levels for maintaining his body weight. John suggests workouts for Josh. Josh continue to talks the the other types of thing he was to continue and change with his workouts.  16:00 John talks about putting Josh on his Veiny Bastard program. John talks about finishing his marathon in some 4 hours this past Sunday.  20:00 John talks still doing leg day even after running a marathon. Josh talks about the Keto diet and his experience with broccoli tasting like butter. John talks about low fat diet and how sex drive.  25:00 John say vanity has a high price. Josh talks about how he finally achieved his childhood dream with his bracer. Josh asks questions about John’s two image consulting meeting. John shares how using two image consultants are creating an image for him 30:00 Josh talks about doing an interview for software developers and professionals for image. John and Josh discuss how people are dressed in the work place, and how that effects how people see them.  37:00 John mentions that Josh now is an equal partner in Simple Programmer! Josh talks about building a business is a quick way to build wealth.  40:00 John talks about Ty Lopez’s new video or commercial. John talks about the main points of Ty’s video on creating wealth.  John compares this to MJ DeMarco’s practice to building wealth.  John talks about investing in real estate to build wealth.  46:00 John and Josh discuss different ways to invest money from your business into real estate, stocks, and Angle Investing. John talks about adding a “Hey John” section in his book.  50:00 John talks about the value of his book as he is working on it. Josh thinks this is going to be a very long audio book. John talks about how they are going to blast 1 million developers on launch day. John wants to hit the biggest launch numbers in Amazon, not mainstream numbers.  1:00:00 Josh and John discuss the developmental ideas for John’s new book and the launch preparations that are coming up quickly.  John talks about another idea that is similar to the new book landing page.  1:03:00 John and Josh talk about polarizing and getting people excited about the book. John talks about Algorithms to Live By  1:09:00 Josh talks about YouTube ads on mobile, verse desktop ads. John talks about different pay platforms like ApplePay. John talks about break the store with updates.  Thoughts for the Week! Josh - Little bit at a time and chipping away, don’t despise the little things.  John - Plan your day ahead of time and cut away the distractions.

On this episode of The John Campea Podcast (recorded Monday September 5th 2016) John talks about the following:1) Ann’s dad 2) John Williams concert3) New schedule with joining Movie Talk Again FAN QUESTIONS:Philip Dagostino writes: Hey John, really excited you’re making your triumphant return to movie talk this week,but as a long time fan I have to ask: why do you keep leaving and returning? Isn’t this like the 3rd time? Are you sticking around this time? Not trying to give you a hard time, just really needed to ask.Chris Warden writes: What up John? I hope you & Anne had a great summer. Is there any chance you can publicly debunk this rumor going around that Suicide Squad needs to make 800 million dollars at the worldwide box-office just to break even? I personally can't see any studio head greenlighting a film project that needs to make that much to break even as the risk is just too high. John Michael Klobuchar writes: What are your thoughts on people who say Star Wars The Force Awakens, will receive the same backlash as The Phantom Menace over time? Personally I think thats nonsense.Yuhan Houth writes: Just a quick one. What are some films that come to mind whenever someone complains about lack of original content from Hollywood. It really annoys me whenever I see this complaint on message boards.Ben Davis writes: My question is regarding Jared Leto's joker. I'm a huge 30 seconds to Mars fan and a huge fan of Mr. Leto himself so I was pretty excited when he was first cast. Now after the movies release and reception I've had time to reflect upon his performance and I gotta say I loved it! He was in two of the best scenes in the entire movie (club scene/Harley and the chemicals scene). However it seems to me his performance has kind of a split reception with some liking it and some hating it. Do you think this will hurt us seeing him in another movie?Scott Wooldridge writes: Love listening to you talk everything movies! This summer was definitely a little disappointing for movies. My question is... even though we had a below average summer do you think we are in store for an amazingly strong fall? It seems like with Telluride and the Venice film festival, movies like Hacksaw Ridge, Loving, The Arrival, and La La Land are all getting lots of buzz. I feel like maybe more than previous years?

Post #1 from Mark (2:00): Would like you guys thoughts on a question posed online today I answered and I been getting about 50% agreement and other half think I need to see a shrink. Guy says he has had a bad run in 1/2 live game. He has only 55$ left. adding any more to his stack is not an option. It folds to a very loose lady player who has turned over any 2 suited or any 2 the Broadway cards all night and will take them to the river. She raises to 15 and he has 77. There are 4 people left to act. What do you do? Post #2 from John (7:00): Had a deep run in the 25k on acr today. Took 45th, but I'm kind of curious what you guys think of the hand that knocked me out. I'm fairly positive that it was standard, but would like to hear some opinions. Blinds are 8k/16k 800 ante. I have 340K start of hand. Hijack opens for 35k, I have him being a pretty solid opponent, wasn't getting out of line. I pick up AK spades on the button. I elect to 3 bet to 105k, he insta shoves all in, he has me covered. Do you call off there? If so why? If not why? Post #3 from John (10:20): Question for the group...You're playing an online MTT, 63 places get paid out of a field of 350ish. 65 people left, average stack is 20k, you have 18k and blinds ate 400/800 100 ante. Utg limps, utg+1 raises to 2400, he has 45k start of hand. You pick up JJ in the small blind. What's your play? Lemme also add that I just got moved to this table so I have no info on these players. Post #4 from Sky (15:00): Hey John, check out this hand. Very similar to yours, but I'm in the BB. I 3bet and TAG villain folded. Good result for JJ OOP I think. You can see their stats and I'd been at the table a while. It wasn't as close to the bubble as yours was, though, and I had a bit more chips (BB wise). Show Notes with more info, pics and links: http://www.smartpokerstudy.com/pod89 Hosted by Sky Matsuhashi, poker player, poker coach and author.  Please visit my poker strategy website at http://www.smartpokerstudy.com and sign up for the Smart Poker Study Newsletter for weekly strategy, study and poker play tips. Discuss poker with like-minded players at http://www.smartpokerstudy.com/discuss Support my show on Patreon!  http://www.patreon.com/smartpokerstudy Check out my YouTube Poker Training Channel at http://www.smartpokerstudy.com/youtube Contact Smart Poker Study: Twitter @smartpokerstudy Email to sky@smartpokerstudy.com

On this episode of The John Campea Podcast, recorded Monday March 21st 2016, John talks about the following:The wonder of ChromebooksDaredevil Season 2 thoughtsBatman V Superman is here and Gal Gadot thoughtsTwitter questions from the listeners:FranklinTCampb1Would you allow a fan to co-host your podcast show? Maybe by winning a contest of some sort. That would be epic. #tjcpBillyDeeTarkin@johncampea Hey John! Quick question, if Hulk and/or Thor were in Civil War, with side do you think they'll take and why? #TJCPPapaGino0017Do u think the CW would cancel Arrow or Flash without cancelling the other one? Or would they maybe just cancel one with bad ratings? #TJCPgundam_guyver@johncampea #TJCP Can you think of any way they can do Phasma in Episode VIII that can justify her mis-use in The Force Awakens?

It’s time for another edition of the Mantastic Podcast, I’m Sean Kavanaugh your host and I’m joined by my two co-hosts Allen Wilterdick and John George Ellis. Hey fellas whats new? Hey John did you get any Fuse care packages this week? I did, I got my brown matte Hovens with the yet to be […] The post Mantastic Podcast | Scott Smith appeared first on Mantastic Pursuits.

In this controversial episode I'm going to talk about one of the most hated, yet effective marketing tools you have in your arsenal.Telemarketing.Most people think telemarketing is annoying, complicated and leads to customers hating your business.And if it's done incorrectly, that's true.In this episode I'll show you how to set it up correctly so you actually INCREASE goodwill towards your company while dramatically increasing back-end profits for high-end ticket sales.   Transcript: Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Sales Funnel Mastery podcast. This is your host Jeremy Reeves. In today’s episode, I’m going to talk about part number 4 of how to add upsells to your upsell sequence without pissing off your customers. So if you haven’t been a part of the sequence yet, if this is the first time you’re listening,  what we’re doing is going through a 5-part series, showing you how to add upsells to your sales funnel without being annoying, being intrusive, and really pissing off your customers. In reality, you probably aren’t making your customers mad, but a lot of people think that they are. They really just aren’t comfortable with the more aggressive selling. And that’s understandable. This is what this 5-part series is covering and this is part number 4. What we’re going to talk about is how to use personal phone calls, so essentially telemarketing. Don’t worry. It’s not the dirty, scummy kind of telemarketing. How to use telemarketing to really add a lot of value to your customers’ lives after they’ve bought something from you, as well as make extra sales, make more profit from that customer. So quick recap: What we’ve gone over so far. In part 1 of the series, we went over how to use surveys and buyers auto-responder sequences to add additional selling to your upsell sequence without being intrusive. In the second part, we went over how to use re-targeting campaigns to do the same thing. In the last episode, part 3, I showed you how to use direct mail stick letters and  actually how to automate those direct mail letters to get people to funnel them back on to your website, to purchase more from you and do so in a way that actually adds value and adds good will to the the relationship. If you haven’t listened to them yet, make sure you go back because this series is extremely actionable. This is not theory. This is not some kind of fluffy thing where I’m talking a lot and not giving you anything to do. This is very, very action-oriented content that I’m doing in this 5-part series and really, for every other episode of the podcast. And the same thing goes for what I’m going to talk about next. So I want you to imagine that you just bought a product. Let’s just say that you’re a guy, don’t have to be a guy. Let’s just say you’re a guy and you just bought underwear for your wife. Valentine’s Day is coming up and you went to Victoria’s Secret and you bought some nice lingerie or underwear, some pants, whatever your wife likes. Let’s just say it’s 2:30 in the afternoon and at 3:00 or 2:45 or whatever, you get a phone call. You pick up your phone, “Hey, this is John.” On the other line, the person says, “Hey John, this is Becky from Victoria’s Secret. I just wanted to confirm that you just placed an order with us. I just wanted to let you know that everything went through properly. We’ll be shipping out your order in the next 24 hours. You’ll be sent a tracking information as soon as that’s done. Just wanted to ask if you had any questions about your order?” You say, “No, I’m good.” “Okay. Thanks, John.” By the way, this is a little bit of a script. I’m doing this off the top of my head, so I’m sure you can come up with something better. This is the gist that you want to do. “Okay, John. I’m glad to hear that you’re comfortable with the decision. Hey, I wanted to let you know, that just in case you didn’t realize it, we’re also having a special on...” Let’s just say that you bought underwear, “I also wanted to let you know that it seems like you’re wanting to buy some nice, sexy clothes for your wife. I also wanted to let you know that we have a couple of really new, exclusive pairs of lingerie. Maybe your wife will like them. Maybe you guys will like them together,” kind of the point. You go into the pitch about this new thing that you have. Most people don’t know about it. It’s exclusive. It’s not even available to the general public. This is a customer-exclusive offer. Whatever your offer is that you’re going to have for an upsell, you have to make it so that it’s exclusive to those buyers. You have to make it so people feel like they’re part of a club. Like they’re part of some elite group that is special. It’s kind of like a country club. A lot of people join country clubs, not because they want to golf or the place has good food or whatever. They want to join for the ego inflation, really. A lot of it just to be able to say that they belong to that country club.  That’s 80 percent of why people join clubs like that. It’s not just country clubs, it’s a lot of things like that. It’s why people buy nice cars. It’s why people buy really, really expensive houses. It’s not really a practical decision. It’s to inflate your ego. It’s to feel good about yourself. It’s to have the sense of well-being. It’s to have that sense of personal satisfaction when someone walks in your house and says, “Oh my God, I love your house. It’s so gorgeous.” Or “I love your car. Oh my God, it’s so sexy.” The reason that you do stuff like that isn’t because it’s practical. It’s because you like that feeling when people compliment you on it. That’s how you want your customers to feel. By the way, doing those types of things where you’re doing it for your own ego isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless you’re kind of abusive with it and you show off on purpose. It can get bad. It can get into negative territory. But when it comes to dealing with your customers, you want them to feel that emotion. You want them to feel like they’re part of an exclusive group and you want to appeal to their ego and they’re greed and all of those things that make people want to buy, all those persuasive elements. That’s really how this phone call should go. It should be, if you have ever heard of the term ‘consultative selling’, that’s what you want to do. You want to talk to these people. You want to ask a lot of questions. The way to sell, especially in the markets today, is not to ram down their throat why your product is the best, why it’s never going to be available again, all that kind of stuff, like the used car salesman tactics.  That stuff really doesn’t work anymore. And maybe it does on some people, but it doesn’t work on long-term customers. The mindset of people is really shifting into more that they want to deal with people they trust. They want to deal with people where they have an experience and it’s a really good experience.  It’s not one where they’re getting pitched really hard and the people never show up again. It’s one where they deal with the company. Someone like this calls them and it’s not a pushy sale. You want people to come off of this call, even if they buy 3x the price that they paid for the first item, you want them to call off of this call feeling high, feeling really euphoric, like they just made a really good decision. When you’re training your sales people, make sure that you have people, this is extremely important, make sure that you have people that know how to sell consultatively. That know how to sell in a very genuine, caring manner. They aren’t pushing down their throats, whatever product you’re trying to push. A lot of times it helps not even to have a specific upsell. A lot of times it helps to have 3-5 options that the salesman has in front of them and he asks the prospect or the new customer a few different questions and based on that person’s response, then he picks one of the upsells that would fit his needs the best, because that’s only going to help you increase the amount that you sell. It’s going to be a little bit harder to track. But really, all you have to do is have the salesman write down what the person sold and then you just track that over the lifetime of the customer. And you’ll be able to see what the average is, what people are buying, what people are not buying, that kind of thing. So I hope that helps. I just kind of did that in one breath. I don’t even know if I took a breath the entire time there. I hope that helps. I went into a lot of detail there from beginning to end. I hope that if you have salesmen, sales people, you can give them this audio. Share this with your team. Have them download the podcast. If you don’t and if you’re hiring someone to do this for you, again, share this podcast with them. Tell them that they’re really trying to be consultative. They’re trying to be genuine to the person’s actual needs and not the needs of the salesman. That’s really, really important, especially in this case. You have to remember, these are buyers that just bought. They’re very susceptible to if you go in and you’re too aggressive with them, it’s going to be a really bad experience. And they’re going to link that bad experience on the phone, to a bad experience purchasing the first product that they just bought. Again, when you do this, make sure that it’s really, really genuine. Basically, if you’re the owner, you shouldn’t be afraid of calling these customers because you know that you’re adding value. You’re going to answer questions for them. You’re going to help them. The only reason that you’re calling is to help them, either solve their problem faster, get better results with whatever they’re going to do, or make it easier for them. You have to have that in the back of your mind. I really hope this helps. Stick around for part number 5, coming your way soon. I will talk to you soon.