POPULARITY
6 episodes with how've
2 episodes with how've
How've you been? Have you been stuck inside with your true love... or someone you now want to cough on with a certain crunch berry? In this episode Titus, Bombshell, and the Highlander talk true love, yorkie TV habits, and get sucked back in to the current events vortex. Now pass the fava beans.
Were back! Just remember to stay six feet away from this recording at all times! How've we been during the 'ronapocalypse? Find out exactly what it takes to kill a karen with a mouthful of bacon and what Mom's catchphrase is on an all new Season 4! -- w/ Mom, Hannah & Bret -- Music by Matt Blaker -- Were doing a charity drive for the Best Friends Animal Society! Check out our socials for more info and we'll match all earning from our TeePublic store (up to $500) as well! www.bestfriends.org -- https://www.teepublic.com/user/teamcyanide -- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmMF01lRPH5VV12yaTOndg -- Twitter @LetsDiePod -- Instagram @InstaPodDog -- LetsDiePod@gmail.com -- Facebook @ Pod Dog -- #LetsDieSaveLives -- M6KOxLVcgRONA2PmPw6p
Hey, Professor Cleber Dall Pizzol aqui! How've you guys been? Bati um papo SUPER bacana com o artista/professor Kelvin Bohm. Kelvin possui uma enorme bagagem, tanto na música quanto no Inglês. Clica no botão de PLAY e enjoy the episode.
HEY! How've you guys been? Teacher Cleber here. Hoje vamos falar de como eu aprendi inglês e o que isso resultou em minha vida. Hope you like it.
AWKWARD!!! There's nothing worse. You walk into the funeral home, see the grieving person and ask, "How've you been?" or "What's new?" We've all been there. We have those moments when we don't know what to say so we end up saying the absolute worst thing. So, what do you say when...you are in those situations? We'll be talking about that tonight.
Hello. It's been a while. How've you been? Well it's been a very busy summer for me and whilst I've missed you, it does mean I've been gathering loads of great tunes to share with you. We kick off with another great Donna Summer edit, this time of "Love to love you baby". A little later you'll be blown away by the funktasticness of J B Boogie's "Crazy face" paying homage to War's amazing 1978 hit "Galaxy" (number 14 in the UK singles chart). Ooh and there's the silky smooth soulful sound of "Ready for love" by Tiger Cloth, and I love Pete Le Freq's edit of Heatwave's "Boogie nights". So, nearly two and a half hours of disco, original, revised and new, mixed with love in London. I hope you enjoy it. X F
Hey guys! What's up? How've you been?! :) I know it's been since like April, I've done a podcast. This episode I go through explaining what life's been like lately, and why I needed to step away. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/glamgirlradio/support
Hey, welcome back. How've you been? This episode is mainly the "Young Adult" part of our "Existential Young Adult" Podcast. Of course we bring up some existential topics, but this episode is just a casual conversation between two ex-teenagers. No main existential topic, just random bits of young adult issues. Stuff we talk about!: Our Health and how we get sick and not have insurance Friends changing and growing apart Time goes by faster as you grow You are not you're body And other random topics!
The Bible tells us that the crucible is meant to refine, and God will allow us to go through things in our lives that will act as crucibles to bring us to a place where the dross of our character can come to the surface. Consider supporting this podcast by buying one of our marriage books today. https://shop.marriageaftergod.com READ: [Aaron] Hey, we're Aaron and Jennifer Smith with Marriage After God. [Jennifer] Helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage. [Aaron] And today, we're gonna talk about asking God to search our hearts. ♪ Whoo ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ [Aaron] Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast, where we believe that marriage was meant for more than just happily ever after. [Jennifer] I'm Jennifer, also known as Unveiled Wife. [Aaron] And I'm Aaron, also known as Husband Revolution. [Jennifer] We have been married for over a decade. [Aaron] And so far, we have four young children. [Jennifer] We have been doing marriage ministry online for over seven years through blogging and social media. [Aaron] With the desire to inspire couples to keep God at the center of their marriage, encouraging them to walk in faith every day. [Jennifer] We believe that Christian marriage should be an extraordinary one full of life-- [Aaron] Love-- [Jennifer] And power-- [Aaron] That can only be found by chasing after God-- [Jennifer] Together. [Aaron] Thank you for joining us in this journey as we chase boldly after God's will for our life together. [Jennifer] This is Marriage After God. ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ [Aaron] Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God podcast. [Jennifer] The most amazing podcast you've ever been listening to. [Aaron] Yeah, if you're married for sure. Actually, I think we have people that are not married listening to us. [Jennifer] Hey, that's good. Yeah. It's awesome. [Aaron] Which is awesome. As usual, we wanna invite you to leave us a quick review. A star rating is the easiest way to do it. All you have to do is scroll to the bottom of the podcast app and hit the star. But if you have a little bit of extra time, you can leave us a text review also, and that helps lots of people see the episodes, see the podcast, because it comes up in the rankings the more reviews they have. So that'd be awesome if you can do that. If you've been blessed by the show, we just invite you to do that. [Jennifer] And thank you to everyone who has already left a review and star rating. We really appreciate that. [Aaron] Yeah, there's tons of 'em. We have over 600 star ratings, and like 70 or 80 text reviews, which is amazing. [Jennifer] And so encouraging to us. [Aaron] Yeah, I go through and I read 'em, and I send 'em. I'll text pictures of 'em to my wife so she could see what they say. They're really encouraging. So we wanted to also invite you to check out our online store, shop.marriageaftergod.com, where my wife and I have written a 30-day devotional bundle for husbands and wives. We've also written a prayer book bundle for husbands and wives. And it's also where we're gonna be launching our new book next year, Marriage After God, which this podcast was started because of, and that comes out next year. So if you wanna support our podcast, if you love the content, just go to shop.marriageaftergod.com. [Jennifer] For those listening who, like you said, maybe aren't married yet, we also have a book bundle for them. Oh, yeah. And it's prayers for your future husband and wife, so you can check that out as well. [Aaron] Thank you for that reminder. So that's how we get support for our podcast. If you love it, if you wanna support the podcast and the content, check out our store, and pick up one of our books. That'd be awesome. So before we get into the topic, I'd love to do an icebreaker. And this is something we're gonna try doing. It's a new part of our show. And so it actually reminds me of when we used to lead a marriage table back at our old church, babe. Do you remember how we do icebreakers in the beginning of all of the sessions? [Jennifer] Yeah, it was super fun. I think it was just a way for people to get to know each other on a real quick, kind of surface-level basis. And so I think it'll be fun. I think it'll give our listeners just a little bit more insight into us. [Aaron] Yeah, and sometimes it'll be fun. There might be like a little game or something. I don't know yet. [Aaron] So here's the icebreaker. What is your favorite candy? [Jennifer] Mm, that's a good one. I have lots of favorite candies. I tend to lean more towards the chocolate, which when I think of candy, I think of hard, sour tart things. So I don't know how other people would answer this, but I would just say like a good Snickers bar, good chocolate bar. [Aaron] Do you like the nougaty center? What's in a Snickers bar, peanuts? I don't even know. Yeah, there's like caramel, nuts, the nugget, all of it. [Aaron] Mm. [Jennifer] Or is it nigget? I don't know. Nigget? [Jennifer] I don't know what it's called. [Aaron] I think it's nougat. Noo-jit. Okay, so now you ask me an icebreaker question. [Jennifer] All right, so you're drinking a cup of coffee right now. Yes. What do you like in your coffee? How do you take it? Let everyone know. [Aaron] Black, nothing. I don't put anything in my coffee. ♪ Boring ♪ Just kidding. I like it that way. Just espresso and water. Hot water, of course. So that's... I don't know if anyone knew that about me. I just like black coffee. Yeah, it is boring. I don't put any sugar, no cream. I don't even like eggnog in my coffee even though I love eggnog. [Jennifer] I've never even heard of someone putting eggnog in coffee. Why would you even say that? [Aaron] Like an eggnog latte. [Jennifer] Oh. I'm not really a coffee drinker, so I don't know what's available. I don't know what's out there. [Aaron] Yeah. It's the season for eggnog, that's why I brought it up. I'd rather just have a cup of eggnog with a cup of coffee next to it. Okay, so icebreaker done. But another thing we're gonna add toour podcast is I'm reading a book right now, and I'm gonna read a quote from it. And so I think what we're gonna try and do is just take little quotes as we're reading through books and materials that we are checking out and going through. And the one I'm currently reading is Letters to the Church by Francis Chan. And the quote is on page 78. And it's this. Scripture is clear. There is a real connection between our unity and the believability of our message. If we are serious about winning the lost, we must be serious about pursuing unity. And I just love that, because we've been talking a lot about unity in our church lately. A theme in our life lately over the last few years has been unity, just learning to fall in love with the body of Christ and fall in love with other believers in the way the Bible has called us to. So that just really spoke to me last night when I read it. [Jennifer] So I love that quote, and I think it's pertinent to what we're gonna be talking about today, specifically just introducing what we wanna talk about today 'cause it kind of started out with a little messiness in a relationship that contributed to what we're gonna share today. Do you wanna-- Yeah. Share a little bit more about that? So in our, in our small home church, we have a handful of families. And when you walk so closely with people, there's just going to be some messiness sometimes. There's gonna be stickiness. There's gonna be hard things. It's why the Bible talks a lot about our relationships with each other. The majority of the Bible is not just our relationship with God, but how he desires us to walk with one another. [Jennifer] Right, which I really appreciate that about the Bible. I think that it gives us all the tools, and encouragement, and guidance on navigating the messy parts of relationships. [Aaron] Yeah, and-- [Jennifer] For the purpose of unity, which is what you just shared on. [Aaron] Exactly. And we're not gonna talk about the specific situation. We're not gonna talk about the specific people. [Jennifer] Well, here's the thing, is everybody listening right now can relate to this. No matter what relationship that you're a part of, there's gonna be messiness. [Aaron] So what all of our listeners can do is as they hear what we're talking about, they can superimpose their own experiences to fill in the blank, because we don't need to give those details. Because what we wanna talk about is what happened-- [Jennifer] After. [Aaron] Because-- Yeah. Of that situation. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] So maybe you can give a little bit of synopsis of what happened over the last few days, and maybe what led up to this. And we can talk about our conversation we had. [Jennifer] Okay, so there was this relational messiness that was going on. And you were sharing with me late Saturday night that on your way home God had used that situation to prompt your own heart to kinda confront some things. [Aaron] Yeah. I took what was going on, and in the midst of what was going on immediately began to internalize and look inward and say, okay, who am I in this scenario? Who am I at home? And I felt like God started just really pointing out in me things, and calling out in me things, which is I believe is what we should be doing. Whenever we confront hard things, whenever we walk in trials with our brothers and sisters, I feel like the fleshly response is to look outward and say, oh, look at this, look who's at fault. This happened, they did this. But the spiritual response should be to look internally, and say, who am I? [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] What does God wanna do in me? How does God wanna use this situation to change me, transform me, make me more like him? [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. Yeah, so we were sitting on the couch that night after the kids went to bed, and you started sharing this with me, kinda like as if this situation pulled up a mirror to your own life. And what was the specific thing that God revealed to you? [Aaron] He revealed to me a few things. He revealed to me, specifically, my harshness at times with my children. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] Although I've been growing a lot, and we're trying really hard to disciple our children well, and be consistent with them, and discipline them well, and train them well, and raise them well, and love them well, I have some areas of my heart and areas of my character that need to be changed. And he used this hard situation in other relationships in our fellowship to show me this. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. So what you didn't know going into this conversation with me was that I had also been wrestling with some similar thoughts just about the way that I sometimes react or respond to the kids. And earlier that day was just a struggle for me. And I just was short with the kids, a little negative in my responses toward them, and I felt really bad about that. And we sat there for about an hour and 1/2 weeping over these types of responses, because our kids don't deserve that. Our kids don't deserve us to be short-tempered, or quick in our responses, or what are some of the other things? [Aaron] Harsh stares, the way we look at them. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] The words we choose to use. The way we word our messages to them. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. And it's not that we're like this all the time, but there are specific situations or circumstances that happen that we respond to in this way. Fleshly, yeah. Fleshly. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. [Aaron] And what's funny about this in how God works is our conversation on the couch that night started out as a debrief of what we've been dealing with outside of this conversation. This wasn't even a conversation we were having. And then it just mutated very quickly into a very internally focused, intrinsically-focused conversation about our own, we should call it sin. Mm-hmm, yeah. 'Cause that's what it is. Us not walking rightly, and us walking in the flesh is sin. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] The first thing I think of is the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience. Us not being peaceful with our children, us not being patient with our children, us not being kind or gentle, it's sin. 'Cause right before that statement about the fruits of the Spirit is the fruit of the flesh. Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And although we were going through something very hard, and what I think happened is we were already spiritually sensitive because of the things we were going through in the other relationships. [Jennifer] Well, and we were kind of talking, the conversation started out with the different perspectives of that situation and kind of going to God and saying, what's going on, what's happening, and what needs to happen for reconciliation or unity within the body, within these other relationships? And then, like you said, it kind of just internalized. And I feel like what happened sitting on the couch with you that night is it was almost like God had a bucket going down into a well and he was drawing it up. And it was like the bucket was pouring over. That's a good illustration, yeah. [Jennifer] And I felt like he was pulling it out of me, all these things that I wasn't really struggling with in that moment until all of sudden, the light shined on my heart. [Aaron] I think I said one phrase and it just triggered this whole conversation, and softening of our hearts, and a revealing of our sin, and a conversation that led us to just dive in of who we are, what we do, are these things gonna remain, or are we gonna change them and remove them? [Jennifer] Well, I remember, too, a few days before this was happening, I remember driving down the street, and I had the same conviction about my role and relationship with my kids. And I brushed it off with the justification of, well, I'm not as bad as some people, or I don't do it that often. And I had these justifications that made me just kind of push it aside. And we should never push aside convictions like that. And I was realizing that-- But it's so easy to. [Jennifer] I know. -Sometimes. I know, it really is. [Aaron] 'Cause confronting those things makes us feel ugly. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] And that's not fun. [Jennifer] Yeah, so all a sudden, my flesh goes, well, you're not that terrible, you know? Mm-hmm. [Jennifer] When really, the things that I was doing, I should definitely stop and recognize. And so, man, that was a good conversation sitting with you on the couch that night. [Aaron] It was a necessary one. And so why are we bringing this up to our audience? Are we talking about parenting right now? No. [Aaron] No. [Jennifer] No, it actually has nothing to do with parenting. [Aaron] No. In our case, it had to do with parenting. It also had to do with we had some conversations about our marital relationship. [Jennifer] Yup, and how we treat each other in certain circumstances. Yeah, the words we use. Are we walking in the roles God's called us to? Or are we going outside those? Are we fighting against them? Because we've grown so much in those areas, but at the same time, we can't forget that we aren't perfect yet. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] That God's still sanctifying us, and he's changing us, and he does it in specific ways. And so I just wanted to bring up a scripture that illustrates just really well. It's Proverbs 17:3, and it says the crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. And Proverbs uses this illustration several times. And a crucible is a big, ole hot pot that you would throw metal into, and it melts it down. And you melt it, and melt it, and melt it, especially with precious metals like silver and gold. And what happens is the more you heat it up, the more you boil it, the dross, the impurities, float to the top, and then you can scrape it off the top. And then you keep heating it, and then more impurities come up to the top, and you scrape it. That's what a crucible on a furnace is for, for gold and silver. And I believe God was using this situation in our church with some of these relationship that we were having that we were navigating issues with as a crucible for our hearts. It was a spiritually-sensitive situation. We're being required to be in the spirit, and being praying and asking for the Lord's will, and seeking after his answer for what's going on. Which then brought to the surface in our hearts some thingsthat he wanted to scrape away from us. [Jennifer] Yeah. That's definitely what it felt like sitting on the couch with you that night. I just felt like he was-- It was kinda painful. Like drawing it up, yeah. But it was good. [Aaron] Mm-hmm. [Jennifer] And I remember at the end of it, you said, "Well, we need to change." And then I cried some more, and said, "It's so hard, I don't know how to." And you're like-- Yeah, you're like, "What do I do? "I feel like I wanna change, "and what?" And you weren't saying just you. It's us. Us. Yeah. [Aaron] But you're like, "I feel like I want to, "but I don't know how to." [Jennifer] And you said, "We just do. "God's already given us the Holy Spirit that empowers us, "and we just need to." [Aaron] Yeah. And for those that are listening, I'm sure they can think, remember we talked about the filling in the blanks? They can think of a situation or something in their life where they're like, I just don't know how to change. Like what do I do? And what's amazing is, and it sounds too easy, and I'm not trying to downplay the difficulty and the struggle that our spirit and flesh have with each other at times, but we can just change because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Do you remember the illustration I gave Eliott this morning during Bible time? We were talking about the Holy Spirit empowering us, and I used his-- [Jennifer] Oh, yeah, Tony Stark. Yeah. [Jennifer] Our son's obsessed a little bit with Iron Man. He thinks he's the coolest guy ever. [Aaron] Yeah, so I was reading in Galatians, and it was talking about being empowered. And I told Eliott, I said, "Eliott, do you think Tony Stark "would be powerful without his suit?" And he's like, "Well, no, he's just a man." And I said, "Well, but his suit gives him power. "He can fly, and shoot blasters." And I was giving all these little illustrations. And I said, "That's what the Holy Spirit is." [Jennifer] You could see kind of a light bulb go on in his head like, oh, yeah. [Aaron] I said, "Without the Holy Spirit, "we can't do anything." Which the Bible tells us, we can do nothing to please God without the Spirit of God. We can't do anything apart from the Spirit. But with the Spirit of God, we can do everything. Everything that God wills for our lives, we could actually accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit. And yeah, his eyes did light up, because I equated the Holy Spirit to Iron Man's suit. It's much more powerful than Iron Man's suit. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] We have the living God inside of us. We have the power that resurrected Christ from the dead in us. Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And so on the couch, I was like, "I'm not trying to be harsh, "but I think we just have to change today. "We cannot continue in what we were walking in. "We cannot continue to give ourselves excuses. "We cannot continue operating the way we've been operating." I said, "We just have to change." [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. And then you also said, you said, "We need to ask God to search our hearts, "and in humility, confront the things that he brings up." [Aaron] Yeah, like the dross. Mm-hmm. And deal with it. [Aaron] Allow him to search us. And that actually came, so right at the end of the night, I made a phone call to a friend, and I told that friend. I said, "Let God search your heart." [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And I get off the phone, and immediately this conversation broke out with us. And it's like, not to be a hypocrite, I must take my own advice. Yeah, yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And I was like, well, am I allowing God to search my heart? So I just said, "We need to let God search our hearts, "search within us, "and show us the things he wants to cut out of us, "he wants to change in us." And I wanna read all of Psalm 139. It's Psalm of David, a man after God's own heart. The Bible calls him that. God calls him a man after his heart. And as I brought up on Sunday when I was talking about this topic and what God was doing in us, I asked everyone, I said, "Do you want to be, "do you wanna be people that are after God's heart?" And everyone raised their hands. Yes. And said, "Yes," yeah. [Aaron] And said, "Yes." And I was like, "Well, we have a template for that. "We know someone who when they sinned against God "and were confronted by God with it, "confessed, and repented, and turned that moment." There was still consequences in life, but he was a man that showed us like, oh, when we walk this way, we can turn and walk the other way, and we can please God with our life. And so Psalm 139 says this. Oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to Heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret intricately woven in the debts of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, oh God. How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, oh God. Oh men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, oh Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my enemies. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And what's so powerful about this scripture, first of all, it's beautiful. Mm-hmm. Just David's ability to write poetry and song. He's very talented. But also his ability to show us the vastness of God's knowledge of us. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] That he knows us better than we know ourselves, better than anyone knows us. He was there before we were formed, had thoughts about us before we were formed, knew the days of our lives before they existed. And yet at the very end of this, he still asks this all-knowing God that knows everything about him to search him, and to know him, and to know his thoughts, and for the purpose of finding any grievous way in him. And I just think if David did that, as people with the Holy Spirit in us who searches our hearts would sit down and say, Lord, is there anything in me you want out of me? I think it's important for us as believers to do that. [Jennifer] Yeah, I know. It's just so beautiful. And I love how you brought up that God already knows us inside and out, every which way before we were even born. He's the one that knit us together. He is the one who made us in the secret place. And I think that that helps us trust him when we cry out to him and say, search me, oh Lord. We can trust God. Right. [Jennifer] Because he's the one that created us, and he already knows us. [Aaron] Yeah, and he desires us of our own will to invite him to search us. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] Because we can be oblivious. [Jennifer] Yeah, we can. [Aaron] It's not an excuse, but often we use it, the ignorance and obliviousness, as an excuse of like, well, I didn't know, or well, how am I supposed to, I'm not perfect. We use all these words, like you said, "Well, I'm not that bad." [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] And I've done the same thing. When I come to these thoughts that the Holy Spirit's prompting my heart, I say, well, I've changed a lot, and I used to be much worse, and therefore, I'll get better eventually, and it's not that bad. [Jennifer] Well, we can't be blindsided if we are growing in spiritual maturity to think that we've ever reached the pivotal place at the top where we're just like perfect. Yeah, we're there. [Jennifer] We're not there yet. We'll never be there until we're in the presence of God, and we have to stand before him. [Aaron] It's a great point is we're not there yet. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And so, A, can we humble ourselves enough to recognize that we're not there yet? [Jennifer] Well, we have to. -Yeah. We need to. [Aaron] Yeah, the Bible tells us that if we don't humble ourselves, we're gonna fall. And I don't wanna fall. I don't wanna, in our scenario, lose our kids. I don't wanna just continue in these every once in a while or every so often things that we deal with, and then embitter our kids to us. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. Or set the example so that when they're parents, they respond in this way. Let's just end it. Let's stop that, and show 'em the right way. [Aaron] And ask God on our knees, change us. Make us better. Show us how you want us to be the way everlasting, right? Yeah, 'cause who benefits from when we cry out and say, search me, oh God, of course we benefit from that if we walk out and pursue what he has for us in purifying our hearts and purifying our lives, but who else benefits? [Aaron] The body, others, our children, our spouse, our neighbors. It increases unity in the body of Christ with other Christians. Other people benefit from us inviting God to search us, and change us, and draw things out of us. And what's awesome is the Holy Spirit's already doing this. His desire is to sanctify us and transform us from the inside out. But there's something powerful about acknowledging and recognizing that he wants to do that. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And then it's almost like opening the curtains or taking the glasses off, you're like, oh, like yes. I'm gonna look for the things you wanna show me, so when you show me, I'm not gonna slough 'em off. I'm not gonna justify them away. I'm gonna say, that's something you're showing me. Okay, I'm gonna change it. I'm gonna walk in your spirit you're giving me, good Lord, to help me change it. We woke up that next morning, how did you feel? [Jennifer] Lighter and braver. [Aaron] Braver? Brave's a good word. [Jennifer] Yeah, I just felt like we could do this. And the coolest part is that we're doing it together. You could've had that revelation from the Lord and just continued on and maybe ask God to search your heart without ever having that conversation with me. But because you entered into that conversation with me, we're able to not just have had an awesome conversation where intimacy took place in that moment, especially-- I was just thinking the word intimacy, yeah. Over our children. That was so beautiful to me. But that we get to keep each other accountable and walk through it together. Day-to-day, we're asking each other, "Hey, how've you been? "How've you been with your attitude? "How you've been with your responses?" That is what marriage is, that's a part of what marriage is for, why God created two becoming one. [Aaron] Yeah, to help sanctify us, to transform us. Yeah, so it's not just your journey with God, although, that's important. It's our journey together, and how God can move through our marriage. [Aaron] Yeah, and the next day, man, it did feel lighter. It did feel like we can accomplish anything with God. It also empowered us. It made us ready for what God had next for us. And I don't know, I just wanna encourage everyone listening to consider the things we're saying. I asked everyone on Sunday. I said, "Go this weekend, ask God to search you." And it is scary, and I'm pretty sure there are people that haven't done it yet, because they're like, okay, am I ready for this? Am I, you know? [Jennifer] What's God gonna show me, even though you probably already know. [Aaron] Yeah. What's funny is just me even mentioning it, I bet you anything, things just immediately came to people's hearts. Well, what did I keep saying on the couch that night when I was crying? Do you remember? [Aaron] Um, we said a lot of things. You kept saying you can't, or-- I kept saying, "Why did you even say anything?" [Aaron] Oh, yeah. [Jennifer] Like three different times, I'm like-- And oh, yeah. "Why did you even say anything, why did you bring this up?" [Aaron] Yeah, "I don't even like that you brought it up." [Jennifer]But I didn't mean it. It was just my flesh-- No, it was out of your heart, yeah. Yep. Not wanting to confront certain things, but I know it needed to happen. And I'm so thankful. And I remember telling you, "I didn't bring it up. "God brought it up." Yeah, the Lord did. Which I'm grateful for, I really am. [Aaron] Well, yeah, and-- [Jennifer] And don't you feel unified in our marriage that we know that we're trying to tackle hard things with parenting? Together, yeah. [Jennifer] Together, yeah, I just love that. [Aaron] And what's funny is the more you're with someone, the more you're one with someone, the more your issues are the same. I think when we-- [Jennifer] We start copying each other. [Aaron] When we first got married, I had my issues, you had your issues, and we've slowly worked through a lot of them. Mm-hmm. Right? And now we're on the couch crying about the same thing. The same thing. [Aaron]Like our horrible parenting, or our horrible attitude. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I feel like I'm not. Like that God wants us better in these areas. Well, here's the thing. I don't think it matters what level. I think that if it needs to change, he's gonna prick your heart about it. Yeah. And it's our job to have the courage to face it and allow God to transform us. That's the point. It doesn't matter what the level of harshness is if there's any harshness. God wants it. You know what I mean? [Aaron] Yeah, well, level is a good word. 'Cause you actually mentioned a while, you've talked about how if something you were walking in a sin wasn't to the same level of something I was walking in-- [Jennifer] I disregarded it. [Aaron] You would be like, well, it's not that. [Jennifer] It's not as bad as that guy. Yeah, at least I'm not like my husband, and the things he's walking in. [Jennifer] Stop justifying, Jen. [Aaron] We can actually, we do that. [Jennifer] I know. [Aaron] There's things that God might wanna change in us, and what we do is we say, well, it's not one of the major sins, so it's not that big of a deal. And God's like, wait, no, I'm not okay with any of it. The Bible tells us to be holy as he is holy. What that means is that we're pursuing the holiness, which means we're practicing it. In 1 John, it tells us, it says, he who practices righteousness is righteous. [Jennifer] Mm-hmm. [Aaron] And that's what God wants. He wants us to practice it, and he teaches us these things. And so-- [Jennifer] What's the challenge for them? [Aaron] The challenge for them, the challenge for them is to sit down with their spouse, and ask God to search them. As David said, search me, oh Lord. Know my thoughts. See if there be any grievous ways in me. [Jennifer] And if there are grievous ways and he reveals them to you, which he will, he's faithful, and he wants this for us to have the courage to change. [Aaron] Yeah, and to realize that you can change, and be transformed in those areas because the same Holy Spirit that just revealed those things to you lives in you empowering you to be different, to be a new kind of human. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] As The Bible Project always says. A new kind of human that we can actually be godly people. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] And it's a journey. Yeah. And so that was our encouragement for everyone today is to do what we just did. [Jennifer] Yeah. [Aaron] And then to do it often. We're gonna do it more often. We're gonna be kind of a constant prayer of like, okay, Lord, is there anything in me? Change me, make us new. [Jennifer] Yeah. Well, speaking of prayer, we ended the last episode on spiritual stamina with a time of prayer together, which I really enjoyed. That was really awesome. And we just loved that so much that we believe that there's a necessity to be praying with you guys. So at the end of every Marriage After God episode from here on out, we're gonna end with prayer. So you can look forward to ending each episode with us, and we just invite you to join us in prayer wherever you're listening. [Aaron] All right, I'm gonna pray. Dear Lord, thank you for your holy word that guides us and challenges us to be transformed. We desire to be mature. We desire to be who you create us to be. We lay our hearts down before you. Please search our hearts, Lord, and see if there be any grievous way in us. Prune our hearts. Cut out what is sinful and unfruitful. Strip away the bad and replace it with your good. Reveal to us the areas of our lives that need to be repented of, that need to be changed, that need to be transformed. If there is anything we have been hiding, anything we have been avoiding, anything we have been unaware of, please open our eyes to it all and give us the courage to confront it. Lord, help us to deny our flesh and embrace the righteousness through your Holy Spirit living in us. May we never be prideful. May we never be convinced that we don't have room to grow. Search our hearts, oh Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. [Jennifer] Amen. [Aaron] So I hope that blessed everyone. Prayer is important. God calls us to pray without ceasing. And so have this conversation with your spouse, get in prayer, and see what the Lord reveals. So we thank you for joining us this week. And we hope it blessed you. We hope God's working in your lives. That's our constant prayer for you all. And we look forward to having you next week. Did you enjoy today's show? Find many more encouraging stories and resources at marriageaftergod.com, and let us help you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.
Justo Hidalgo co-founded 24symbols 8 years ago, and this 'Spotify for Books' contender is still around and successful. In this week's podcast, we talk about how books really can compete against Angry Birds, the importance of continuing to provide ways for people to easily find and read books, and of balancing your work and home life. In the episode, Justo mentions several great business books in passing so I thought I'd list them here for you. Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown (Amazon / Kobo); Scaling Lean by Ash Maurya (Amazon / Kobo); The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman (Amazon / Kobo); Venture Deals by Brad Feld (Amazon / Kobo); New Venture Creation by Geoffrey Timmons (apparently out of print but available from Amazon). Transcript (This is a bit of an experiment - let me know if you like transcripts!) John: [00:00:35] Welcome back to Talking Through My Hat. Today I'm talking with Justo Hidalgo, CEO and co-founder of 24symbols, the subscription service for ebooks. He's also an author, a university professor teaching product strategy and innovation. And I just discovered he's also a radio host. So thanks for talking to me today Justo. Justo: [00:00:53] Yeah. It's a pleasure to be here. John: [00:00:56] Yeah, so 24symbols has been around for over eight years now, which is quite an achievement. How've you distinguished yourself from all the other e-book subscription services that have come and gone in that time? What's kind of unique 24symbols thing? Justo: [00:01:10] Well if I really knew [laughs] I would probably sell the idea. Oh yeah the idea's still the same. You know, it's a subscription service for ebooks as you said and other kinds of cultural and entertainment assets like comic books and audiobooks. I believe that the reason we are still here is that since the start, it was very clear for us that these was a long race. That it was gonna take time and that we needed partners to work with us so very very very early in the state as soon as we could we started talking to partners especially in the customer acquisition stage. You continue having the amount of people that wanted to read and that we were unable to reach just because of our size. John: [00:01:53] Okay. So which sort of partners were you kind of linking up with there? Justo: [00:01:57] Oh but mainly right now is mobile carriers. We started having relationships with them in 2013 I think. These are typically launch and relationships both in terms of getting their relationship to work - you know very well how it is to work with big companies! John: [00:02:11] Yeah. Justo: [00:02:12] Yeah. And then of course they need some time to work. So right now we're for example in Latin America in a few countries, also in Germany, and we are also working with having some others. In some of the cases, some regions didn't work. We tried and it didn't work. In other cases, well the unit economics didn't work. You know in some countries for example, where the price of ebooks is too high but they are very used to very low-cost services. Well that's fine - we'd love to work there but that's very difficult. And also we're also started to diversify, to try to find other areas where books are necessary - for example transportation companies, hospitality companies, you know. Anywhere where someone can spend some time reading, we are trying to be there. John: [00:03:00] OK. Yeah. It's the hard thing about business, it's not building a product. It's finding someone to use it. And I think this strategy of working with people who have lots of customers who they need to find interesting things for, like mobile phone companies and as you say trains and hotels and stuff. I think that's a really interesting way of doing that. Justo: [00:03:20] Yes I mean, what we do is very straightforward. I mean we want, as someone from my team always says, we want to feed people books. You know, people want to eat this that we offer. But the difficulty is that being a generic service, a horizontal service, you need to provide a very good value proposition. We have 24symbols the B2C service that allows you to do whatever you want. But then of course you have to look for other ways to reach the people that may not know that they want to read. And this sounds like a very, you know, commercial or product-ish but it's the truth you know what we found it with more carriers, we're finding it in other verticals that people, you know they find out that you know, instead of playing Angry Birds, they can read some books sometimes. John: [00:04:07] Yeah well that's the thing, isn't it, that we say, you know, that books are now in competition with all forms of entertainment but they always were. And, you know, there's something there that people have always liked, so it's gonna be really great. So it's fantastic to find that you're finding this place for yourselves, this way of reaching customers and stuff through these partnerships. Why did you first create 24symbols? What was the big idea where you thought, I'm going to do this mad insane thing and an e-book business. Justo: [00:04:34] Well I think there are many many reasons. First, personally, I always wanted to build a company, so I come from a family where my parents always ran small businesses, and I kind of grew up seeing their difficulties, the challenges, the hard work. John: [00:04:50] A realistic view of what it might be like. Justo: [00:04:52] Yeah yeah. But at the same time, how my parents built something from scratch providing value to the community. You know they started with a drugstore and they started building driving schools - one and two and then three, before they retired. So, for me, it's part of my memories where I had to take chairs from my house to the driving school because suddenly there are lots of people in their theory classes. And then the opposite when there's some competition coming up and there are some struggles there in the family, but I always kind of looked at my parents to see how hard they work and is like: this is cool. But then I start, you know, I did my Computer Science degree, I started working for companies - always small companies but always like with a salary - and I always had, like, yeah this is good but, you know, I want to try to replicate what my parents did in a new way you know, of course, because I had other abilities, you know, my parents... John: [00:05:50] You've got to work on your own skill set than. Justo: [00:05:52] Exactly. My parents were great salesmen and I'm different but I know Computer Science. So that's kind of my first reason. Then, more specifically, 24symbols - technology. In other companies I worked for technology was basically an end, you know, so I spent many years working in a tech company doing data integration stuff, which has been really valuable for me afterwards in 24symbols. And I really enjoyed it. I got my PhD there. All that stuff. But I had the need to build something that people could use as a final result. Basically, what we were building there was a tool to build solutions. And I wanted to be that solution. And then I would say that the third reason is that thinking about that and related to what I have said this act of of the "Spotify for books" at that time. Everything I really wanted, it merged technology of course because at that time creating a cloud reader subscription service with all the cloud DRM was technologically quite challenging. At at the same time it was books, it was basically giving people books to read, which is something I've enjoyed all of my life. So, you know, these three things plus working with my colleagues at that time, my partners that I had worked with them in the past. You know, one of them was a previous student of mine. With another, we had been like 15 years working together - made a lot of sense. So he was kind of the final push as to say: This makes sense. Then of course from a business perspective it looked like people were talking (and you know that because you were at that time very deep) talking about you know subscription services in publishing. There were many doubts but there was also many good opportunities and we decided to give it a go. John: [00:07:37] So how did you form that initial kind of team, the co-founding team, the people who have, hopefully, the same kind of vision, of passion, that you did? How did you build that group? Justo: [00:07:48] Yeah I think that, typically, most of the decisions we make here while creating a company, and you know that very well, John, is pure serendipity or random. But some of the decisions you make are quite thought out. And in this case I think we kind of gave it a good thought. It was basically the four of us initial partners who came from the same company, that B2B tech company I mentioned. So we typically had, you know, coffee or had lunch together and talked about books. Most of the times were business books, but some of the time it was narrative, and we kind of shared this love for books. So at the beginning we would think, you know, of moonlighting projects of bringing American books, business books, to Spain and getting the rights and translating them and, you know, basically becoming a publisher. John: [00:08:38] Yeah. Justo: [00:08:39] I think it is good for the publishing company that we didn't do it! [Laughs] We would have been a horrible publisher, I believe. But that kind of started to say, maybe we should do something about this. And this idea came in early 2010 about the "Spotify for books". And then I remember very well the presentation of Steve Jobs with the first iPad. And that was the moment where it was like, Wow, this is the future. I mean that was our bet. And then it's when we start thinking, OK, with us four, does that make sense? It kind of makes sense - I mean, we have sales people, all of us were technical people. But you know, one of us very high experience in sales and marketing, the CTO had very deep down experience with with this technology, had experience with product and also had lived in the United States for a while doing product management and sales and marketing, so that we kind of had most of what we needed. And of course we missed the publishing side. So that's why one of our first - we tried to, and we found our one of our first investors to be part of the industry in Spain. John: [00:09:53] So, your co-founding group, as you say, you're all technical people so you're presumably all together writing the product, but then sharing out all those other roles as needed, kind of thing. Justo: [00:10:04] Yeah. So, building the product, like coding, it was our CTO Angel. Then I worked in the product and, you know, the data architecture. And then one or the other worked on the product management and product design but the four of us were able to give insight. It's about, you know, we could have very detailed discussions about, I don't know, I remember one discussion about the cache, you know - the book cache - how the information was going to be kept secure or whatever. And so we were able to - but then each of us had very specific roles, which changed completely as, for example, I was going to be focusing a lot on product but, you know, since we launched at the London Book Fair in 2011, it was clear that because of my English, because of all the things I could do that my other partners couldn't do, I was going to be more like PR. John: [00:11:02] Yeah - the public face for the English-speaking world. Justo: [00:11:04] Exactly. And that's that's very funny because out in Spain, it was very clear that one of my partners was the CEO at the time. Everyone knew my partner but nobody knew me. But, you know, outside in the English-speaking world, it was the total opposite. It was like, So you're not the CEO? No, but that doesn't matter! You know, so, and he also talks to me! John: [00:11:27] So you kind of mentioned that you started off with you that little group of you, you were a kind of a book group effectively, and one of the things you did was talk about business books. Is that how you've gone about learning to run a business yourself? Do you go to books, is it kind of web sites and stuff these days? Anything particular that you found useful? Or are you more of a, kind of, throw it up in the air, try it and see what happens? Justo: [00:11:48] You learn from everywhere you can. I mean, I have a very small anecdote about that, you know, then we can talk about books. So, we got accepted by Seedcamp, which is a London-based accelerator that was here in 2012. So one of the incredible things about Seedcamp is that, I think it was a Monday, I said something to them. I said, you know, since we're Spotify for books, I would like to meet someone from Spotify. You know, it would be great. John: [00:12:16] Yeah. Justo: [00:12:17] So, two days, they got me a VP, a vice president of Spotify, talking to him, and the meeting was five minutes - five minutes. It was, like, you know, we're 24symbols blah blah blah blah blah. "Oh yeah?" So he just put the hand on my shoulder and said, "Quit." [Laughing] Sorry, maybe my English is, I speak too fast. Let me explain that again. 24symbols... "Yeah yeah, you're like Spotify but for ebooks. Quit." So this is something like, OK. "So you want to be like Spotify for books, right. What's your background - technical this and that? Yeah OK. So it's great but only take into account one thing: if you are successful, you are not going to be a tech company, you are not going to be a content company, you're going to be a law firm." So, basically Spotify is the best law firm in London, in Europe. OK. So that's going to be your role. You're having a huge understanding of the law. Huge understanding of the relationship with publishers. Yeah that's going to be 24symbols so, you want to go for it, that's it. And for me those five minutes were huge in understanding where I was getting into. We're not a law firm at all but it's true that that, for many years, that's basically what I've done. I've basically learned to negotiate contracts with publishers before we tell other people. So these things are what I learn from. But also of course, you know, I'm more like a product guy so books like the classic "Crossing the chasm" or "The Innovator's Dilemma" or "Made to Stick". But there are also some very recent ones that are really good like Sean Ellis's "Hacking Growth" or Ash Maury's "Scaling Lean", which I don't know how it's going in sales but I think it's much better than his previous one, "Running Lean". And then from a business perspective there's a really good one called "The Founders' Dilemmas" from Noam Wasserman is really good for founders. I'd really recommend it. John: [00:14:20] Yeah, I found that really helpful at the beginning, just to get your head around some of the things that are coming your way. Justo: [00:14:24] Exactly and what it means to be together in a company with your partners. And of course for example Brad Feld's "Venture Deals" is absolutely key in terms of negotiating deals with VCs or business angels. And maybe a lesser known one is called "New Venture Creation" by Geoffrey Timmons. It's from a course at Stanford University - it's a huge book, it's really huge, it's a thousand pages, but full of good information for someone who started a business. So basically, my part of the business plan was written with this book open. Because there are so many good information. John: [00:15:03] So as we think about business and product and stuff, and when you think about it, you look back on eight years and the ways you've grown and changed and stuff. When you think about the next eight years, or eighty years or whatever it is, how do you think about that and where you want to be? And if so, how do you plot that kind of work? John: [00:15:26] Yes, That's a very difficult question! Well, I have no idea! [Laughs] Most of the time, we're trying to continue, I wouldn't say survive exactly but to continue - to thrive and to continue giving them the best product. But it is true that when you see where the industry is going and where the entertainment is going and even what the data for me is. And you know, because of my background, I think a lot about, you know, how this is going to evolve in terms of what kind of entertainment is going to be created. I believe that a service like 24symbols makes sense in the following, you know, five to eight years or whatever. I think a subscription service - the area of consumption instead of ownership - is there. People are consuming more Netflix, more HBO, more Spotify, more Amazon Prime. So we're looking to use that as part of our life. I think in terms of ownership, we're always going to own things and it's because it's an integral part of who we are as a species. So everyone, you know, all of us are still going to have books - I still have a full room of books - but they're going to be the books that are important to us. And it's going to be the same with everything. John: [00:16:40] I think this is interesting. We often hear "book people" talk about how it's really important that people buy books and own books and stuff, and this terrible, terrible modern thing of subscription is awful. When I was growing up, most of the books I read, I got from the library. They weren't my books. I took them for a week, I read them, and I gave them back. If I wanted to read it again I had to go back, find the book and bring it in. And OK, yes, then you'd find your favourite books or favourite authors and then you would buy those and want to own them for the long term. And I think we get a little bit too obsessed with ownership, you know. Borrowing, subscription stuff, is actually, has always been a really good low-barrier way to discover stuff. Justo: [00:17:21] Absolutely. You know, of course I have to agree! John: [00:17:26] Yeah you would, of course. Justo: [00:17:27] But I don't think this is a fight between, you know, print books or having books. There are some books that we're going to want to have because it's part of our life. And actually we might actually buy a better edition because we want to have it there, but because he has a story. And there's some others like, you know, I read it, that's fine. I have some notes, that's fine. You know, 24 symbols or whoever, you keep that. Just in case. But that's that's how I say to think of a more ahead is, you know. How people or why people read I think is the question to try to solve. John: [00:18:00] Yeah I think that's going to be a fascinating one. So when you look at the business, when you look at 24symbols, what is it that you find hardest about being a CEO, about running the business being a founder whatever? You know, some things obviously come naturally and, for you I guess from the sound of it, product is your focus and that's what you like. But what are the things you kind of shy away from but still have to do? Justo: [00:18:22] But still have to do, yes. This is totally personal, I mean, as Justo. I don't like to negotiate. And I know that's that's a horrible thing to say as a CEO. But you know I decided many years ago that I was going to be honest on this. I have to do it and of course, if you have to be hard on a negotiation, you have to be hard. But, man, it's just some people that enjoy negotiating, you know, it's like, No no, we have to negotiate. It's like, no, you know, let's get a deal fast, that's it, you know. And that I have my own issues with that. Then of course you have to learn and I've been successful in some negotiations. But wow, for me that's the hard thing. John: [00:19:10] That's really interesting. When we were talking earlier, actually before we started the show itself, of this thing of running a business and being a parent. I mean I'm in the same kind of shoes as you with kids and I love that you were sharing a quick story about looking after your daughter while you were having to do a presentation. Justo: [00:19:31] Oh yeah. Yes. Yes. The thing is that my wife and I, we both have companies so we both are entrepreneurs. She's more in the health side and I'm more in the book side. We have a daughter, an almost 4 year old daughter, and we have to kind of keep a balance of how we take care of that. Because for us taking care of Olivia is a priority. So it has good things, you know. I can take her to school every single morning, no problem. But there's moments where, you know, it's impossible to manage and so this year, this academic year, there's been two occasions where I had to give a talk to, in both cases, like 150-200 people. And I couldn't find someone to take care of Olivia. So I said that to the organisers and in both cases they said, Just come with her. Like, are you sure? It's like, well let's try it. So you know there were some people taking care of her, playing with her while I was giving my talk. But in both of them she just wanted to be with me, so she would be up with me in the final minutes or whatever. But in the first one, she came to me while I was giving the talk - actually the talk was in English so kind of my brain was totally busy with, you know, in general translating everything I want to say. And she just came to me and said, Daddy! Yeah you want you come here? Yes, but I want to go pee. Just like that. Well, can you what with this other person? No no no no, I want to go with you. So I had to ask the audience can you wait for five minutes? [Laughter] And the audience started to clap and, you know, we go. But I was totally embarrassed because for me, you know, this is serious. There's like, I'm giving a talk. John: [00:21:21] Two halves of your life blending. Justo: [00:21:23] Yeah. But the audience saw it as, you know, this is life. This is life as well and people are starting to understand that this happens. And I wouldn't rush with her. You know, she did what she had to do and then we came back, and people were clapping again and I finished and everything went well. They invited me to give a talk again. John: [00:21:39] So that went very well then. Justo: [00:21:41] That went well. But, yes, this is what you have to do when you have a startup and you want you to continue engaging and commiting to your family. John: [00:21:51] So as you look back over the last 8 years or so of running this business, creating it, building it - what have you learned about yourself from doing that? You know, do you still think of yourself as the same person or have you learned more about who you are or have you changed? Justo: [00:22:08] Yes I think everyone in 8 years changes a lot, you know, regardless of what you do. But it's true that running your business means having to make a lot of decisions, having to do things that you didn't expect that you would do and even enjoying it throughout the process. As I said, I never thought that I could negotiate the things I've been able to negotiate. I came from a career, a professional career, that was basically meant to be an expert in a very specific area. I did my PhD in data integration so I was meant to be that. John: [00:22:44] More specialist kind of thing. Justo: [00:22:47] Very specialist. And so even when I decided to be part of this, even my previous boss, who is someone I truly respect for everything he's done, was like: are you sure? You could be a big-data expert and things like that. You know what it's like. I don't know if I would be able to do that, but I want to try this. And it taught me a lot about, you know, having to manage many things at the same time and all that stuff. And then one thing I learned is, for us as for any company, we've had our ups and downs. And I remember, in 2012 we had a very very strong down and I never thought I would be able to have this, well now this word is resilience, right? It's to continue. We were like 15 months without having payments at all, you have no salary. And we are not rich. We don't come from rich families. So we had to do many different things because we believed and that, and for 15 months it was like I don't know how I'm going to do it. Of course sometimes you think, I'm what, 38 at that time or 36, 37. And I looked at my account and it was like, What am I doing? You know this doesn't make any sense. But you know I like this. I think this makes sense to me and you continue doing it. John: [00:24:06] So what is it that then brings you back every day in the face of those difficulties? It gets very real sometimes doesn't it? Justo: [00:24:14] Yes. John: [00:24:15] What brings you back? Justo: [00:24:18] I think in this case, at least for 24symbols, it's this vision. As I said before, I wanted to build something that could be used by people. And I know this sounds very typical but in my case at least this is true is of course we have our bugs, we have our complaints, but also we have lots of people saying, hey I'm enjoying! I read everyday with you, you know, with your books and this is just amazing. This is just amazing that you are building up a service where hundreds of thousands of people are being able to read and that's what in 2012 and other years it's like, OK one more. There's a challenge there. I remember I had a chance to talk to Ash Maurya the author of "Running Lean" and "Scaling Lean". And we were talking and he kind of agreed with me at that time that we still need to learn more about entrepreneurship like in judo or martial arts. You know, when you do martial arts, this is something you are taught: when you quit. You know, these guys are beating me. Okay so let's quit. You know, that's it. In entrepreneurship, you don't know that, you have no idea. There is no one who can tell you and in our case in 2010 and all the years, we were lucky but we could have not been lucky and we would have been in trouble. So that's I think in terms of knowing or learning more about what it means to build a company or a startup. We still need to learn more about, you know, when to quit, when it's the right moment to say that's it. John: [00:25:51] We gave it our best shot. John: [00:25:52] That's it, you know, next. John: [00:25:56] Well that seems a very topical note on which to say thanks very much Justo for that fascinating conversation and it's been great to hear from you again. Justo: [00:26:03] It's great you always talk to you John. Thanks so much. John: [00:26:07] Thanks to Justo for that fantastic interview. I'm always energized when I talk to him because he's got this real passion for just making books available to people. And it's really great, it's been great over years now to follow 24symbols in the way that they have persisted and survived. There are so many companies that have been touted as the "Spotify for books" and they're still here, they're still doing really well and just getting books in front of people. And the fact that, you know, this consumption model of streaming books, of borrowing books, of just having books for a while is nothing new. You know, as I said in the interview, you know, we've borrowed books from libraries for hundreds of years, decades. And this is just the new iteration of that model. So it is great to see people pushing that forward and developing it. So thanks very much to Justo. Next week we're going to be talking to Emma Donnan who is a ghostwriter. If you've ever wondered what ghostwriters do, how they go about things, how they fit into the world of publishing, tune in next week and hear what Emma has to say. Until then thank you very much.
If you're already subscriber to the Blog Oklahoma Podcast, you can just ignore this message. Thanks for subscribing and listening to the Blog Oklahoma Podcast. New episodes will be out soon. This is a message to those of you subscribed to the Exploring Oklahoma History Podcast on iTunes. Hi! It's been a while. How've you been? We rolled the Oklahoma history episodes into the Blog Oklahoma Podcast a long time ago. Good News! You should start seeing new episodes in your feed very soon. We're busy going though the Blog Oklahoma Podcast and flagging those Oklahoma history episodes to show up in this feed. You can get more information about the Blog Oklahoma Podcast at .
If you're already subscriber to the Blog Oklahoma Podcast, you can just ignore this message. Thanks for subscribing and listening to the Blog Oklahoma Podcast. New episodes will be out soon. This is a message to those of you subscribed to the Exploring Oklahoma History Podcast on iTunes. Hi! It's been a while. How've you been? We rolled the Oklahoma history episodes into the Blog Oklahoma Podcast a long time ago. Good News! You should start seeing new episodes in your feed very soon. We're busy going though the Blog Oklahoma Podcast and flagging those Oklahoma history episodes to show up in this feed. You can get more information about the Blog Oklahoma Podcast at .
Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は、ちょっと変わった英語表現の登場する会話を集めました。女の子をクサいセリフで口説こうとする男の子、ラッパー気取りの男の子、英語の早口言葉やスラングが登場します。英語のもつ様々な顔を、ぜひお楽しみください。 (初級〜中級)*** Script *** [ (210) Tongue Twisters ] F: Boy, this food line is pretty long. Hey, I have a magazine on me. You can read it while we wait. M: OK. Hmm… looks like a kid's magazine… Hmm, yeah. [ Mumbling quickly to himself. ] Peter Piper picked a pick… hmmm. A peck of pickled peppers. Peter piper picked a peck of peckled… GAhhh! F: Michihiro… what are you doing? What are you muttering about? M: I don't understand what on Earth this magazine is talking about. First, it was talking about seashells, then a woodchuck, and now pickles! F: Oh, those are different sets of tongue twisters, Michihiro. M: Tongue twisters? What are those? F: I'm pretty sure most languages have them. It's a game to see if you can say or repeat a short funny phrase without messing it up. M: Oh, I DO know those! These ones are hard though. F: They're fun. Here, I'll read one for you. "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" M: Wow! That's amazing. Hey, do the seashell one! F: OK. "She sells seashells by the seashore." M: Hey, you're so good at this. I can't do any of them! F: You were just speaking too fast! Here, try reading this one SLOWLY. M: OK. "Peter piper picked a pick"... bleh! F: Try going slower, Michihiro! Here, I'll say it once for you. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" M: OK. "Peter Piper picked a peck of peckled pippers" F: [ laughing ] I guess you just need to practice. M: I give up! Forget it! F: Oh, it's our turn to order? Oh, do you want any pickles or peppers on your food, Michihiro? M: NO! NO MORE PEPPERS AND NO MORE PICKLED THINGS! [ (229) In Love with a Girl ] [ Setting: Locker room chat after a friendly game of basketball ] M: Hey, Aya, good hustle out there! W: Hey, Bob, thanks! You too! But I don't think I played so well today. I need to work on my dribbling a little more. M: Well, I think your dribbling was just fine. But if you want to, we can go back to MY room and I can teach you about a few REALLY SPECIAL things! W: Bob! Why are you always making such comments! I hope you don't say things like that behind my back. It's so crude! M: Well, let's hope you're never on your back. Ha ha ha. Then I can be a real crude boy! W: Ah! That's gross! Seriously, Bob, you're going to get in some serious trouble some day with your words! Some people aren't as nice as I am! And get that smirk off your face. M: Oh, I'm just having a little honest fun. You should try it some day… W: Yeah. I know how to have fun. I just don't make vulgar remarks at people. M: But, I'm making more than just a remark. I want us to make something… some beautiful music together, baby. W: Oh, Bob, you're hopeless… M: Well, give me some hope then! You see, the thing is… Aya, I'm in love with you! The way you walk… the way you talk… it gets me going! And this king bee needs some of your sweet, sweet honey. W: [ Gasp! ] Oh…Bob…well, the way to a lady's heart is NOT through her pants, you know! But, I must say: now that I know your true intentions, I guess I could use a quick lesson… about basketball, that is! [ (249) Rap Music ] [ Situation: Jenna is walking down the hallway of her high school and runs into Jerald, the school's "wannabe rapper". ] W: Oh, hey Jerald! Long time no see! How've you been? M: I been great. Check it. My mixtape bouts to drop next week and you best believe it's fire. W: You're still into that whole rap-thing? I thought it was just a phase, like when you used to carry that stuffed giraffe to school everyday! M: Nah brrr, it ain't like that. I'm married to the rap game and there ain't nothin' you can do to get in the way of that. This ain't no phase like Jimmy the Giraffe was. W: Meh... If you say so! M: In three years you gonna be beggin' at my feet for my autograph. Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? W: If you say so! [ Laughs to herself ] [ Mr. Fritz, an elderly teacher, approaches Jerald. ] M2: Hello Jerald! I just got finished listening to your mixtape and I must admit it was some, how you young people say these days, fire. It was so fire, I think I burned my ears listening to it. [ Giggles to himself in a self-satisfied manner ] M: Mr. F! I appreciate that! Yo brrr my newest mixtape's droppin' next week so be sure to check it out! W: What is the world coming to? [ (272) English Slang (1) ] W: Greg, I find English slang quite interesting, don't you? M: Well, actually, I never really think about it. I kind of just say things. W: Yeah. But by studying other languages, you realize how many meanings each word can have! Take, for example, the word "sick". Have you ever realized just how many meanings the word "sick" has? M: Two, right? The first meaning "being under the weather," such as "I feel sick." And the second meaning "cool", such as "Whoa, that's so sick!" W: You can't think of a third meaning? M: Well, I'm sure there is one, but no, I can't think of a third definition right now. W: Sick, meaning "gross." You know, you see a horrible bruise on someone's arm, and you say to them: "Ew, that's so sick." M: Oh yeah! You're right. Sick, sick, and sick. How could I have forgotten the third meaning? W: And it's kind of funny. The more you think about it, the more you realize how hard English slang can be. M: Can you give me another example? W: Well, for instance, most English slang words have a positive and negative connotation, regardless of their true meaning. Take, for instance, the word "bad." It normally means "not good." However, when we use "bad" as a slang term, it can mean "good" or "awesome!" M: Ah! You're right!
Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は、ちょっと変わった英語表現の登場する会話を集めました。女の子をクサいセリフで口説こうとする男の子、ラッパー気取りの男の子、英語の早口言葉やスラングが登場します。英語のもつ様々な顔を、ぜひお楽しみください。 (初級〜中級)*** Script *** [ (210) Tongue Twisters ] F: Boy, this food line is pretty long. Hey, I have a magazine on me. You can read it while we wait. M: OK. Hmm… looks like a kid's magazine… Hmm, yeah. [ Mumbling quickly to himself. ] Peter Piper picked a pick… hmmm. A peck of pickled peppers. Peter piper picked a peck of peckled… GAhhh! F: Michihiro… what are you doing? What are you muttering about? M: I don't understand what on Earth this magazine is talking about. First, it was talking about seashells, then a woodchuck, and now pickles! F: Oh, those are different sets of tongue twisters, Michihiro. M: Tongue twisters? What are those? F: I'm pretty sure most languages have them. It's a game to see if you can say or repeat a short funny phrase without messing it up. M: Oh, I DO know those! These ones are hard though. F: They're fun. Here, I'll read one for you. "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" M: Wow! That's amazing. Hey, do the seashell one! F: OK. "She sells seashells by the seashore." M: Hey, you're so good at this. I can't do any of them! F: You were just speaking too fast! Here, try reading this one SLOWLY. M: OK. "Peter piper picked a pick"... bleh! F: Try going slower, Michihiro! Here, I'll say it once for you. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" M: OK. "Peter Piper picked a peck of peckled pippers" F: [ laughing ] I guess you just need to practice. M: I give up! Forget it! F: Oh, it's our turn to order? Oh, do you want any pickles or peppers on your food, Michihiro? M: NO! NO MORE PEPPERS AND NO MORE PICKLED THINGS! [ (229) In Love with a Girl ] [ Setting: Locker room chat after a friendly game of basketball ] M: Hey, Aya, good hustle out there! W: Hey, Bob, thanks! You too! But I don't think I played so well today. I need to work on my dribbling a little more. M: Well, I think your dribbling was just fine. But if you want to, we can go back to MY room and I can teach you about a few REALLY SPECIAL things! W: Bob! Why are you always making such comments! I hope you don't say things like that behind my back. It's so crude! M: Well, let's hope you're never on your back. Ha ha ha. Then I can be a real crude boy! W: Ah! That's gross! Seriously, Bob, you're going to get in some serious trouble some day with your words! Some people aren't as nice as I am! And get that smirk off your face. M: Oh, I'm just having a little honest fun. You should try it some day… W: Yeah. I know how to have fun. I just don't make vulgar remarks at people. M: But, I'm making more than just a remark. I want us to make something… some beautiful music together, baby. W: Oh, Bob, you're hopeless… M: Well, give me some hope then! You see, the thing is… Aya, I'm in love with you! The way you walk… the way you talk… it gets me going! And this king bee needs some of your sweet, sweet honey. W: [ Gasp! ] Oh…Bob…well, the way to a lady's heart is NOT through her pants, you know! But, I must say: now that I know your true intentions, I guess I could use a quick lesson… about basketball, that is! [ (249) Rap Music ] [ Situation: Jenna is walking down the hallway of her high school and runs into Jerald, the school's "wannabe rapper". ] W: Oh, hey Jerald! Long time no see! How've you been? M: I been great. Check it. My mixtape bouts to drop next week and you best believe it's fire. W: You're still into that whole rap-thing? I thought it was just a phase, like when you used to carry that stuffed giraffe to school everyday! M: Nah brrr, it ain't like that. I'm married to the rap game and there ain't nothin' you can do to get in the way of that. This ain't no phase like Jimmy the Giraffe was. W: Meh... If you say so! M: In three years you gonna be beggin' at my feet for my autograph. Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? W: If you say so! [ Laughs to herself ] [ Mr. Fritz, an elderly teacher, approaches Jerald. ] M2: Hello Jerald! I just got finished listening to your mixtape and I must admit it was some, how you young people say these days, fire. It was so fire, I think I burned my ears listening to it. [ Giggles to himself in a self-satisfied manner ] M: Mr. F! I appreciate that! Yo brrr my newest mixtape's droppin' next week so be sure to check it out! W: What is the world coming to? [ (272) English Slang (1) ] W: Greg, I find English slang quite interesting, don't you? M: Well, actually, I never really think about it. I kind of just say things. W: Yeah. But by studying other languages, you realize how many meanings each word can have! Take, for example, the word "sick". Have you ever realized just how many meanings the word "sick" has? M: Two, right? The first meaning "being under the weather," such as "I feel sick." And the second meaning "cool", such as "Whoa, that's so sick!" W: You can't think of a third meaning? M: Well, I'm sure there is one, but no, I can't think of a third definition right now. W: Sick, meaning "gross." You know, you see a horrible bruise on someone's arm, and you say to them: "Ew, that's so sick." M: Oh yeah! You're right. Sick, sick, and sick. How could I have forgotten the third meaning? W: And it's kind of funny. The more you think about it, the more you realize how hard English slang can be. M: Can you give me another example? W: Well, for instance, most English slang words have a positive and negative connotation, regardless of their true meaning. Take, for instance, the word "bad." It normally means "not good." However, when we use "bad" as a slang term, it can mean "good" or "awesome!" M: Ah! You're right!
Download MP3 誰でも、若い頃に何かに夢中になるものです。後で思い返すとちょっと恥ずかしいことも、その当時は影響を受けすぎるあまり、傍目から見るとおかしな行動を取ったり…。 今回の会話の男の子は、ラップミュージックにハマっているようで、その口調はいかにもラッパー気取り。彼の不思議な英語表現は、アメリカの歌や映画にもたびたび登場します。皆さんは彼の英語をどこまで理解できるでしょうか…Check it! Image credit: ClkerFreeVectorImages via Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain. （初級〜中級） ※今月はYouTubeによる配信を試験的に実施しています。上記の画面をクリックして番組をお楽しみください。 *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） Long time no see. 久しぶり。 I been great. = I've been great. a mixtape ミックステープ（ラッパーが様々な曲をリミックスしてテープに収めたもの） bouts to =about to to drop music 音楽を発表する fire （形、俗語）かっこいい、アツい What is the world coming to? もう一体どうなってるの。 to be into ... ... にハマっている ... -thing ...なんか ※批判的な意味合いを含む a phase ブーム、一過性の流行り stuffed giraffe キリンのぬいぐるみ Nah brrr. = No, brother. ain't = isn't ※俗語表現なので使用には注意。 Meh = Whatever.（どうでもいいわ） If you say so. 勝手にして。（イントネーション注意） to beg ... ...を乞う（若者言葉） You gonna be beggin' = You are going to be begging Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? 俺は第２のエミネムになるよ、わかるか？ Imma be = I'm going to be Jafeel? = Do you feel what I am saying? *** Script *** Rap Music Situation: Jenna is walking down the hallway of her high school and runs into Jerald, the school's "wannabe rapper".) W: Oh, hey Jerald! Long time no see! How've you been? M: I been great. Check it. My mixtape bouts to drop next week and you best believe it's fire. W: You're still into that whole rap-thing? I thought it was just a phase, like when you used to carry that stuffed giraffe to school everyday! M: Nah brrr, it ain't like that. I'm married to the rap game and there ain't nothin' you can do to get in the way of that. This ain't no phase like Jimmy the Giraffe was. W: Meh... If you say so! M: In three years you gonna be beggin' at my feet for my autograph. Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? W: If you say so! (Laughs to herself) (Mr. Fritz, an elderly teacher, approaches Jerald.) M2: Hello Jerald! I just got finished listening to your mixtape and I must admit it was some, how you young people say these days, fire. It was so fire, I think I burned my ears listening to it. (Giggles to himself in a self-satisfied manner) M: Mr. F! I appreciate that! Yo brrr my newest mixtape's droppin' next week so be sure to check it out! W: What is the world coming to? (Written by David Shaner)
Download MP3 誰でも、若い頃に何かに夢中になるものです。後で思い返すとちょっと恥ずかしいことも、その当時は影響を受けすぎるあまり、傍目から見るとおかしな行動を取ったり…。 今回の会話の男の子は、ラップミュージックにハマっているようで、その口調はいかにもラッパー気取り。彼の不思議な英語表現は、アメリカの歌や映画にもたびたび登場します。皆さんは彼の英語をどこまで理解できるでしょうか…Check it! Image credit: ClkerFreeVectorImages via Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain. （初級〜中級） ※今月はYouTubeによる配信を試験的に実施しています。上記の画面をクリックして番組をお楽しみください。 *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） Long time no see. 久しぶり。 I been great. = I've been great. a mixtape ミックステープ（ラッパーが様々な曲をリミックスしてテープに収めたもの） bouts to =about to to drop music 音楽を発表する fire （形、俗語）かっこいい、アツい What is the world coming to? もう一体どうなってるの。 to be into ... ... にハマっている ... -thing ...なんか ※批判的な意味合いを含む a phase ブーム、一過性の流行り stuffed giraffe キリンのぬいぐるみ Nah brrr. = No, brother. ain't = isn't ※俗語表現なので使用には注意。 Meh = Whatever.（どうでもいいわ） If you say so. 勝手にして。（イントネーション注意） to beg ... ...を乞う（若者言葉） You gonna be beggin' = You are going to be begging Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? 俺は第２のエミネムになるよ、わかるか？ Imma be = I'm going to be Jafeel? = Do you feel what I am saying? *** Script *** Rap Music Situation: Jenna is walking down the hallway of her high school and runs into Jerald, the school's "wannabe rapper".) W: Oh, hey Jerald! Long time no see! How've you been? M: I been great. Check it. My mixtape bouts to drop next week and you best believe it's fire. W: You're still into that whole rap-thing? I thought it was just a phase, like when you used to carry that stuffed giraffe to school everyday! M: Nah brrr, it ain't like that. I'm married to the rap game and there ain't nothin' you can do to get in the way of that. This ain't no phase like Jimmy the Giraffe was. W: Meh... If you say so! M: In three years you gonna be beggin' at my feet for my autograph. Imma be the next Eminem, jafeel? W: If you say so! (Laughs to herself) (Mr. Fritz, an elderly teacher, approaches Jerald.) M2: Hello Jerald! I just got finished listening to your mixtape and I must admit it was some, how you young people say these days, fire. It was so fire, I think I burned my ears listening to it. (Giggles to himself in a self-satisfied manner) M: Mr. F! I appreciate that! Yo brrr my newest mixtape's droppin' next week so be sure to check it out! W: What is the world coming to? (Written by David Shaner)
今回のテーマは「一人暮らし」。広島大学では地元だけではなく全国から学生が来ているので、彼らの多くは一人暮らしをしています。一人暮らしは自由な反面、大変なことも多いようですね。 *諸般の事情により、今週のポッドキャストの配信が遅れましたことをお詫び申し上げます。 今回お借りした素材 アパート：PDPhoto Download MP3 （13:59 8.1MB 初級～中級） *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:30-04:35 (Natural speed) 10:55-12:40 W: Hi, Ken. It's been a while since I saw you last at the graduation ceremony! How've you been? M: Hey, Mariko. I'm doing fine, thanks. I'm getting used to the new environment at school. How about you? W: I think I'm getting used to the classes and stuff at uni… But things are not really that different from when I was in high school: just go to school in the morning, and go home after school… M: Don't you have a part-time job, or aren't you in some club? W: Not yet. I want to, but…the thing is, it takes too much time going to school from home. I don't have enough time to do those things… Ken, you're living by yourself now, right? Do you like it? M: Yeah, I love the freedom. But I'd never done housework before, so it took some time to learn to do that…I'm still learning…I miss my mom's home-made food. I take care of myself more now, because there's no one else to take care of me! W: Hmm, doing housework is good for you, though! Men should be able to take care of themselves nowadays. I don't mind doing housework. It'd be fun! I want to have my own space and time to fully experience college life! Now, I need to tell my parents what I'm going to do, what time I'm coming home…sometimes they're so annoying! M: They're just worried about you. So, why don't you live by yourself? W: Well, I want to…but it costs a lot. And I have two younger sisters… M: OK…but I think even though you live with your family, you can still have a good time at uni! You shouldn't miss all the opportunities. And you're old enough to be responsible for what you do. W: You're right, Ken…Hmm, I might've given up before trying… OK, I'll try! I'm interested in boxing, actually. Are you into any sports? M: Boxing!? I didn't know you were that kind of person… W: Yeah, I want to be a strong woman so I can protect myself! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)
今回のテーマは「一人暮らし」。広島大学では地元だけではなく全国から学生が来ているので、彼らの多くは一人暮らしをしています。一人暮らしは自由な反面、大変なことも多いようですね。 *諸般の事情により、今週のポッドキャストの配信が遅れましたことをお詫び申し上げます。 今回お借りした素材 アパート：PDPhoto Download MP3 （13:59 8.1MB 初級～中級） *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:30-04:35 (Natural speed) 10:55-12:40 W: Hi, Ken. It's been a while since I saw you last at the graduation ceremony! How've you been? M: Hey, Mariko. I'm doing fine, thanks. I'm getting used to the new environment at school. How about you? W: I think I'm getting used to the classes and stuff at uni… But things are not really that different from when I was in high school: just go to school in the morning, and go home after school… M: Don't you have a part-time job, or aren't you in some club? W: Not yet. I want to, but…the thing is, it takes too much time going to school from home. I don't have enough time to do those things… Ken, you're living by yourself now, right? Do you like it? M: Yeah, I love the freedom. But I'd never done housework before, so it took some time to learn to do that…I'm still learning…I miss my mom's home-made food. I take care of myself more now, because there's no one else to take care of me! W: Hmm, doing housework is good for you, though! Men should be able to take care of themselves nowadays. I don't mind doing housework. It'd be fun! I want to have my own space and time to fully experience college life! Now, I need to tell my parents what I'm going to do, what time I'm coming home…sometimes they're so annoying! M: They're just worried about you. So, why don't you live by yourself? W: Well, I want to…but it costs a lot. And I have two younger sisters… M: OK…but I think even though you live with your family, you can still have a good time at uni! You shouldn't miss all the opportunities. And you're old enough to be responsible for what you do. W: You're right, Ken…Hmm, I might've given up before trying… OK, I'll try! I'm interested in boxing, actually. Are you into any sports? M: Boxing!? I didn't know you were that kind of person… W: Yeah, I want to be a strong woman so I can protect myself! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
