Podcasts about i'll i'll

[00:00:25] What's going on. Downline automation, radio family. I, I was a little late to get that transition, to get me on the screen. If you're watching on YouTube or Facebook. Hey, how are you? Good to see ya. Hey, I am very, very excited. I did not have a lot of time to talk today. Unfortunately, there's ton going on right now. [00:00:43] I have a lot of exciting announcements to make. I finished my application funnel it's up and running, and I'm very excited about it. I think it looks amazing. I think it provides tremendous, tremendous value. I don't know how to share it with you though, without promoting my own MLM. And that's not what, like I promised you guys, I won't do that. [00:01:07] Right. So I'm not going to share that URL with you where you can find the thing, but I really want you to see it and see how it works. And I'm trying to work through that in my mind. Okay. Listen. I can't think of any other way to do this. How can I do there's no other way to do this. This is not a pitch. [00:01:23] Okay. It's not a pitch. This is not a, Hey, join my MLM. I just want to show it to you. Is that fair? Okay. I'm not asking you to join my Maya. If you're in your MLM and you're happy. Great more power to you. Stay there. Not, not trying to get you to come to me, but I want to show you how this works, how the process works from listening to this podcast, to getting put on an email list, to, purchasing a course. [00:01:47] So an upgrade course to application funnel where, how this all fits together. And I want to share it with you just because I think it's very cool. Promise me, you won't get mad about this. Okay. Like this is not like a game changer. If it's going to be a game changer for you to know where my application funnel is, skip this episode. [00:02:08] How about that? Is that fair? Is that fair? Okay. It's at www.jointhismlm.com. My one time, I'm going to say it and that's it. You can find it there, but, I'm very excited about it. Cause it has the opportunity for people to get to know me, to understand what I'm bringing to the table. Now, this funnel is already designed, understanding that people are already familiar with me, familiar with how I build the MLM business. [00:02:43]and they want to work with me. Okay, so that, that's what I'm bringing to the table. Okay. This is not listed on Google. You can't like Google this, it won't show up in search engines. based on, on SEO, like I've, I've removed it from that intentionally. I don't want people just coming to this and seeing it and being confused and not understanding. [00:03:06] I want them to go through a process to get to this page so that when they get there, They're ready to go. Like they're all right. They're chomping at the bits. I don't want cold or warm traffic going to this site. I want hot traffic going to the site. I want people who want to work with me, who are excited to work with me and are ready to just like, yeah, like, let's go like join hands. [00:03:32] Like let's let's apply. So. That's what this is. This is an application funnel where you do have to apply to work with me. And all of the stuff is in there. I've got a really, really super cool strategy going on. When you scroll down just a little bit, you can see the people as they're applying that updates every five minutes. [00:03:55] It's real time. It's real people applying to work on my team. They go there, they sign up. And that information is then uploaded up onto, a, a Google Excel spreadsheet and that Google Excel spreadsheet is then transferred so that no private information, no information that people might be sensitive to, that I'm asking in the, application funnel they are, then, That's then like filtered out and put into this, spread into another spreadsheet, which is then presented that you see on the website. [00:04:27] I'm so proud of it. I love it. I think it looks amazing. I'm so excited by it. and then there's the stack. Like I think the stack is really valuable as you go further down, just telling you what you're going to get by working with me and, and all the things that I'm going to be providing for you over $13,000 worth of stuff, frankly, it could be worth a little bit more. [00:04:46]but I didn't want to make an unbelievable some of the stuff. So that's, that's kind of the numbers that I'm working on. I may change some of this as we go, but, that's it that's it for the front page and it goes so well. And then from there they put in their email and their, and some information for them so I can call them and finish off the, the signup process. [00:05:05] If I want to, or if they're ready to get started right away, they can do it through the webpage. They don't even have to talk to me and we can get started right away. So. That's the first bit of big news. Wow. That is a good one. That application funnel is a game changer. I'm telling you people, when people start implementing this, it's going to bring so much professional believability to your business no longer are you asking people to work with you? [00:05:34] They're asking to work with you. It's a complete, complete reversal. It's easier to pull a rope, right? Like that old story of, you know, the, the sailor trying to curl up the rope he's brand new. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's a 12 year old kid. He's just on the docks for his first day. And the old seasoned sailor tells him to curl up this, this or the rope. [00:05:55] And he's trying to push the rope into a coil. Doesn't work that way. The old sailor grabs his hands and shows him and pulls the rope so much easier to pull a rope. It's so much easier to work with people who want to work with you by polling them, instead of pushing yourself onto them, which is what all the hun bots out there are doing. [00:06:15] Okay. And I'm not for that. I don't want to do that. I don't want anybody else to do that. It is an awful strategy. I don't like it. If you've listened to this podcast even a little bit, you know, I that's just not for me. Does it work? Yes. Is it the best way? Debatable, highly debatable. Okay. So I'm very excited about this because I'm only going to be talking to and working with people who want to work with me, who have gone through my entire funnel series and found their way to this point where they want to work with me. [00:06:47] And if that's not you totally cool. I get that. Please take the strategies, implement them yourself. Work with where you're at. That's totally fine. That's totally, totally cool. That's not the whole point of this podcast. This podcast is to educate you on a new way, on a new idea, a new philosophy of building this business and how powerful it can be for you as an entrepreneur and what this can change for you. [00:07:11] So don't go to this site, please. Don't go to the site and just like, fill it out just to hack it or whatever. Like this is an actual working site. Like I don't want. To have your information. If, if you're not serious about working with me, It's not a hundred percent on. I have not written all of the followup emails that go along with this site. [00:07:31] I'm building out the membership site. That's going to be a part of this. the first page is done and we should have that absolutely completed by the end of July. my partner is, is doing all the filming and stuff like that. And, it's going to be really good. It's going to be really good. I'm laying out all the funneling and stuff like that for the flow and how it all works. [00:07:49]and, that'll be up and running any minute. Now, like I said, in the next 30 days, probably in the next week, we should start actually having the site up and running with the training and we'll just be filling it out at that point. So, we're ready to go. We're a hundred percent live at this point. [00:08:03] I'm so fired up guys. This is so great. So now. The first step in my process has been this, get the podcast up and running so I can start educating people about this idea. Start bringing people into my world, getting, getting them into email lists, getting them excited about what I'm doing. Okay. I've other strategies of which I'm recruiting and selling a front end lead in a squeeze page where I have an offer. [00:08:29] I'm also going to be creating a summit. In summer and September, it looks like the last three days in September, I'll be going to be putting a summit together with other leaders, in the network marketing space who are doing incredible things. Some of them building the business the way I do, some of them building the business old school, some of them building it with social media, all sorts of different ideas, all coming together about how to recruit people. [00:08:53]In in this industry. And, I'm very excited about that. That's going to be huge too. So I have like a bunch of leaves out there that I'm bringing people into my world and exposing them to my ideas and my concepts. And then, I'm offering, a course, basically teaching the, the basics. Right. [00:09:10] And, and intro one Oh one class, basically, if you will, to automation and it's called, MLM MythBusters. and we're going to be selling that again soon. we're revamping it, making it even better, and it was great beforehand. We, all the testimonials that we got so far from that thing are, are absolutely, breathtaking from my perspective, I was like, wow, I'm really blown away by how blown away they are. [00:09:32]and I'm really proud of it. I'm very excited to continue to develop that. So we're going to develop that out even more this summer and put that back on the market, make it available for everybody. So that you're kind of getting like a, a watered down, not a watered down version, but a scrubbed version of all of, all of our personal, like I'm in an MLM. [00:09:50] So it will be all the training, the MLM training without mentioning which MLM I'm in. Okay. And we'll be selling that for those of you who, who love what I'm doing and are very excited about what I'm doing. That'll be selling that entire course for you. and you'll be able to use that however you choose to. [00:10:06] So there's a lot happening right now and that's why I'm so busy. I took two weeks off, just to rest and recuperate and get ready for this big charge. I was frankly, burnt out and I needed to take some time for myself. and that's what I love about this is because while I was resting and recuperating and spending time with my family and, you know, just clearing my head. [00:10:25] My list still grew. There were still some of you who signed up for my list. Thank you so much, by the way. Love having you here. I'm so glad that you're listening and enjoying this content, but I'm so, so fired up about this application funnel, guys. This thing is a game changer. I don't, I don't want you to just go through this, hack it for yourself. [00:10:45] Maybe what I'll do. I'll I'll probably put up, I'll probably make one available in the email list. So if you're not on my email list, Sign up. and I'll find a way to, I'll find a way to, to, to, to modify that. So that there's a link so that you can get, a copy, basically, a stripped down copy with, you know, all, all the important parts. [00:11:06] And you just have to put in your own information and videos and stuff like that. The video, by the way, I'm super pumped about the video, for our business plan that we put together. This thing is automated so brilliantly. We took a, I'm not going to tell you that I'm not going to tell you that cause it's so good. [00:11:26] I don't want that out yet. That's going to be a, that's going to be a team secret for a little while before I released that. To be honest with you, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna just give that one away. Listen, check it out. Check out the website. I promised I wouldn't say it again. So if you are curious, rewind back and check out the website. [00:11:44] And, and, and just look at it, if you want to, just to kind of give yourself an idea, but I'm very excited, for this, for this thing. and I, I hope you are too. I hope you're excited to put this in for your team so that you stop working with people. You gotta, you gotta push, you gotta push them to go do something. [00:11:59] It's like, come on, get out of there. Go, go talk to somebody, go, go, sell something, go, go create some volume, go, go sponsor somebody. You get exhausted doing that. Don't stop. Don't be the young sailor. Be the smart. Kraft, the older sailor who pulls the rope. Okay. That's my, that's my message to you. Thank you so much for listening. [00:12:16] I'm so excited for, all the great feedback I've been getting on the podcast and, and all the new listeners. Thank you so much for sharing the podcast. I really do appreciate that. it helps every little bit helps and, let's change this industry for the better, so that we're, you know, We're we're doing good things in the meantime. [00:12:32] Have a great day, everybody. [00:12:39] Hey, thanks for listening. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Would you like a copy of the book that changed everything in my network marketing business? If so you can get a free copy of network marketing secrets at downlineautomation.com.  

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text]Listen via YouTube video if desired[/fusion_text][fusion_youtube id="https://youtu.be/IRv--oaD9Ic " alignment="center" width="" height="" autoplay="false" api_params="&rel=0" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" /][fusion_text] Transcription (was completed by automated process. Please ignore any speech-to-text errors) [00:00:00] hello, everyone, I'm so glad you joined us. For those of you who don't remember me, my name is Penny. And welcome. Welcome to this next session of $get calling you with Beatty Carmichael. Beatty is the CEO of Master Grabber, the creator of Agent Dominator and one of the top marketing expert in the real estate field. Beatty, I'm super excited. I know you always have something great for us today. What are we going to be discussing today? [00:00:27] Well, Penny, today we've got a really exciting call because this is going to be something a little bit different as things like I'm always trying to do. I'm going to share the audio of a call I recently did with a friend and a very successful real estate agent client of ours named Stuart Sutton. And this kind of set the stage. You know, right now we're going through just some terrible times with the Corona virus. States are locking down where shelter at home. Nonessential businesses are being forced shut. And in some of those states, they consider real estate non-essential. We're headed into a recession. We have millions of people unemployed. And this is where we find ourselves in the real estate world. The question is, what do we do and how do you manage on it? The reason I did a special call with Stuart is in talking with Stuart. Stuart spins through every financial crisis in the last 40 years, 40 plus year veteran, whether the 1986 crisis, the dot.com boom and then bust, OK, or the meltdown in 2008 and now the coronavirus. One of the things that's been really interesting is every time Stuart entered one of these crises, he earned more money. And as he exited the crisis, he earned even more money. OK. And Paul, other real estate agents are going out of business. Stuart's income continues to grow. And I was asking him how I wanted to do a call. So we did a call recently, and that's what I want to share. But real quickly, before I introduce the call to you, I want to share one other thing. One of the things that he focuses on, you'll hear this right upfront is that he increases his marketing for listings. [00:02:15] This is the thing that's always impressed me when ever Stuart wants more listings. He simply increases his marketing for it. Most people don't understand. How do you market for listings? One of the things that we did many years back, Stuart was actually one of our very first clients and working with Stuart. We developed using his guidance and then have really taken it beyond from that point a very consistent pattern on how do you market for listings? Is the focus is both in geographic farming to generate listings and in your personal contacts, your past clients and sphere of influence. We've even expanded into commercial investment property and are just now moving the same process into property management. But where I want to go on this is as you're listening to this call, and if you don't have a way to market for listings, let me encourage you to check out what we do, because it's a very proven, consistent model. And as you move into these crisis times, then you can follow the pattern that Stuart's done and not only stay in business, but earn more money. And if you do have interests on that, just visit our Web site at Agent Dominator, dot com agent dominator, dot com. And you'll see a skilled prime is really on the Web sites geared for residential, you know, geographic and past client sphere of influence. If you do have interests on the commercial side, just make a note of that. If you fill out the form and will follow up with you on that. But anyway, with that penny, would I like to do now as I like to bring on the recording, this conference call I recently did with Stuart. It's really fascinating. [00:04:05] Welcome, everyone. Right now we have an open call, so you'll hear the beats coming in. And this is Bayti Carmichael. [00:04:11] The voice you're hearing and also with me is Stuart shotton. And this is going to be this really great call. And I'm so glad that you guys who are joining in or joining in, we are going to be recording this and we're putting it out as a podcast. If you want to listen to it, more completeness later, you'll have that opportunity really soon. But with all the challenges going on right now in this nation that we're experiencing and especially how it impacts our business and the real estate world, I reached out to my friend Stuart, whose is just a an amazing realtor in terms of consistent production, regardless of the environment. And I thought it were and could learn a lot and be encouraged a lot. So we'll quickly to start, if you would. We're still a few minutes before starting. So this is not an official start time yet, but I'd love to if you would just announce who you are and just what what city and state. [00:05:16] You're in the heart. All right, Gary. Rolling Stone Mountain. All right, welcome. St. Charles, Illinois. Hey. All right. Else is out there. Zelda Greenberg, quantity for Florida. Welcome, Ken. Ken Gandi, Naples, Florida. Remember this as you're joining interest. Tell us who you are and where you're from. John King. [00:06:00] John, welcome. And see the lady there. Welcome. [00:06:05] I miss the name, but welcome to call me Austin from Charleston, South Carolina. OK. Welcome from India. [00:06:15] Hi, Candy. [00:06:19] This been you are watching. Welcome. You can pour me some java to whoever is boring. That will set the mike down in just a moment. Get the background noise is out. The. But as you're joining it. Just tell us who you are and where you calling from. Justin was there. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hey, Justin. [00:06:46] All right. Anyone else want to say hello before we are? [00:06:50] We're at the top of the hour, someone said like anyone else want to say a lot before I shut down, am I? OK, now let me figure out how to let. Hold on. [00:07:04] Moment. [00:07:09] Everyone else is now muted. [00:07:11] Ok, great. So I've got the backgrounds down. And so I wanted to just kind of officially start this call off and introduce my friend Stuart to you. [00:07:24] So the purpose of this call is we're all going through some really difficult times right now with the Corona virus and kind of what's happening in shutting everything down. I want to see if I can turn these chimes off. Just one moment. [00:07:41] Entry and exit chimes are now off. [00:07:44] Okay, perfect. And and, you know, the question is how do we respond? How do you grow your business? I was talking to Stuart. In fact, Stuart, I have to tell you, the reason I reached out to you. We've had several clients saying, hey, you know, you're all going to do any of those mastermind calls. Again, this would be a good time. I was thinking, oh, yeah. Let's do that. Because Stuart and I did to mastermind calls a number years back for about a year and a half to two years. And I just learned a lot. But for those who don't know Stuart Street, you've been selling real estate for almost 40 years now. Am I right on that? [00:08:23] Q Well, it sure does sound like a long time when you say, well, you know, when you started fifteen years old, then, you know, anything can go on the trip. [00:08:35] And that's the neat thing with Stuart is Stuart is going through. So what what are all the crisis you've hit? What are the ones you remember? [00:08:48] I'll go and see. When it started, the real estate industry interest rates were 18 percent. So basically, nobody can buy a house with a new mortgage. The market crashed the. If anybody remembers that work. RTC pretty much took over a bulk of the properties in the country. Then the dot com bust, of course, was pretty nasty. And there was no age, of course. And then there's been some others that weren't as many as five, but really had a tremendous interest in go for when the first one started with great concern. And then, of course, the most recent one we're involved in, which is quite interesting. If I'm lucky to have experienced. [00:09:29] Yeah. And we were talking earlier today, you made a startling comment for me. What happened with your income in each of those? Can you share quickly entry and exiting each of those areas? [00:09:44] Yeah, and this is a little hard to get your arms around, but I believe the reason behind this has to do a lot with not a real exciting word, but it to me is a word that's paramount to my business and that is consistency. [00:10:00] The most money I've made in given years to my career has been going into and coming out of crisis like this. And I can give you kind of a reasoning and a background like that as we go. Or I can give you a summary. Is that such what you prefer? [00:10:18] Why do we do this? Wanted to give us a quick summary right now. And then what I may do is. And then we'll just dig into it, because what I like to do is I like to kind of peel back the onion a little bit with what I call the low hanging fruit, things that people can really take away from this call and start applying in the business now. And most importantly, make sure they apply in their business long term so they can weather anything like this in the future. [00:10:46] All right, so in the best way I can think of, to put it, is very simply that if you're prepared in I don't mean like make all these special preparations and do all this significant stuff that you'd never month been before. If you're prepared with the way you do business entering into a situation like this, this is not going to level you out or take take away your income and your livelihood. Here's what I mean by that. Let's just take the 0 8 debacle as an example. So when when 0 8 came around, one of the things that happened just before 0 8 was the market was moving along very, very well. And our listeners were selling just as fast as they possibly could. But when a late hit, things change dramatically. So we started we kept doing what we were doing. And so it just before 0 8, I was carrying a listening inventory. And after a weight, within a few months, my listing inventory was 2, 3 times that. In this time went by five times that. What we had to do, what we've always done is assess where we are compared to the market. So it's very important to know your market. So if the turnover ratio and I'm asking you use one ratio, I'm not going to get into a lot of subtleties and muddle this up. [00:12:14] But if your market sees 1 in 10 listings on the market close every month, then that means if you have 10 listings, you'll have one close. Well, if you have to pay all your bills with two closings, then you need 20 listings. If you have a budget that requires three closings, then you need three transactions. So we've always simply adapted to what the market was doing based on turnover ratio. So I'll give an example when I continue to talk about the 0 8. So when when that hit are we just kept marketing, kept marketing, kept marketing, our listening inventory built in. I'm talking about me and one assistant. All right. Me and one assistant. I was carrying 50, 60 at one time, even 70 listings. But guess what was happening? The turnover ratio was selling a portion of those every single month and keeping me with the income that I needed. It was used to and had set goals for. So if you remember when things started getting better, your market may be different than mine. But Irish was 12. It was the last year where things were sort of even in 13 they started up. I remember. Within a few months period, my listening inventory went from over 60 listings to less than 20. [00:13:49] So what do you think happened during those few months? Well, demand started changing. Interest rates were falling. People were realizing this crisis didn't the crisis anymore. In that year was very, very strong year for us. The same thing happened in the dot.com bust in the early 2000s. We saw prices drop within two months. Toward sellers could not even get close to what they thought they can get anymore. So parliamentary built. And then when the market improved, we made dramatic. We had dramatic sales months in. I think the same thing's gonna happen now. What I mean by that is my little toy already in one month is double what it typically is. I believe that in two months to three months it will double again. So when this crisis is over, guess what's going to happen? I truly believe in. I'm not a prognosticator, buddy, but I truly believe the pin-up demand after this eases up is going to come out and we're going to see most of the homes that we put in the market that are good value, good will price and show well that they're going to sell. So that's kind of a sign we do that since it does. [00:15:03] Look, let me really repeat it, because it seems I won't use the word so brilliantly simple. It's I think it's easy to miss. You made the comment. You keep marketing and marketing and marketing. Let me say, if I if I if I net this out, the turnover rate of how many listings in a given month actually sell, then you back into it. How many listings do you need to have an inventory to sell that will cover your nut? And you just keep marketing until you get that number of listings. So now you've got you've got to set the listing inventory that keeps you cash flowing. And I want to make an assumption and correct me if I'm wrong when you keep marketing for listings. [00:15:55] In these crisis times, I'm assuming that you're probably experiencing your competitors have stopped marketing for listenings by and large. Is that am I making it? I'm kind of extrapolating, but is that behind the scenes assumption? Maybe. [00:16:11] That's a very reasonable assumption in an accurate one. So going into a crisis, if you remain consistent and actually increased my budget a little bit, because what has to happen during a down market during a downturn is I have to have more listings in order to cover my expenses. And my expenses, by the way, are extraordinarily low for someone who does the volume I do. And that's just the experience to a great degree. So going into a crisis, I build my inventory. And what happens is those people but you might not have told me, keep getting my stuff. And even though the market's not what it was. People still have to sell. There are certain circumstances where people have no choice. They still need to sell. So in a in a current situation like this, where they may not want to sell right now, but they know they have to sell. I have quite a few listings right now signed that aren't on the market, but will be as soon as the seller and myself feel it's a comfortable time to go back in the market. So going into a crisis, my listening inventory builds coming out of a crisis. All those listings sell. So I do quite well on both ends of that. No, that's not that's not a hey, let's find out how we can get rich quick. That's the last thing it is. It's really a a consistency provides an opportunity no matter what. And you're not taking advantage of anything. What you're doing is being prepared in advance for whether the market goes up or down, if it stays consistent. Guess what? You stay consistent. [00:17:58] You know that this really is it seems so simple. [00:18:03] And I just want to reiterate repeat it, because, you know, I'm over here kind of grasping and going is that it goes like it's things like, do you increase your marketing for listings while everyone is pulling out of their marketing per listing? So now your marketing is more effective. [00:18:23] You're getting I think you're getting a higher response rate in generating listings because you're one of fewer people doing it. So now your listings are growing, which keeps your cash flow consistent. You're building up this huge pipeline of listening. And then when the dam breaks, now it all cashes out. [00:18:49] Yeah, I remember coming out of the 0 8, I believe it was April of about 12. We sold, we put it. Remember, this is mean assistance. We put 31 homes under contract in one month because the peanut the came out and we had a large listing. If I had, you know, plodded along and not been consistent in not adapted to the market. [00:19:19] In other words, if I hadn't paid attention to the turnover ratio and had done what I needed to, then I did. Okay. But you know how many agents, babies that that herd wander in even in this market? [00:19:33] I've never been without listenings before. They'll say I've got one listing. I'm usually carry six or eight or I usually carry 20. I've got two. Well, that doesn't happen. The reason that happened to me is because of the consistency in the actually extra little push. Always put a little push, for example, in the fall when other people back off. So I tried to be a little bit of a contrarian as far as the timing is concerned, if that makes sense. [00:19:59] Yeah, I know that in the fall we also go head to head. Now you go. [00:20:05] I will just say we also increased something else in. This is a lot of people have a hard time believing. I really had people look me in the eye and go really, really to 60 listings. Are you serious? And the answer is yes. How do you eat an elephant? [00:20:24] One bite at a time? So I'm going to work Monday through Friday and I'm out of work a little more on that back then, but really not much more because I had two little kids. So here's what happened on Monday. Twelve people hurt somebody who were listening. So let's take sixty divided by five on Tuesday. Well, people heard who listed with me, so I basically took an increased our level of service. [00:20:55] Hardpoint because a lot of idiots aren't used to having a whiskey for two months or four months or 12 months, but that's sometimes inevitable depending on the scenario. So if you don't want sellers getting upset with you in moving on to the next agent, you have to ramp up that service. So the adaptation is increased marketing for listening, increased service for those who do list. And that's that's simply an organization issue in the timing issue. That makes sense, right. [00:21:32] I remember a few years back I was asking you about your business and just to put things in perspective for everyone on the call. When you and I met, it was late 2012. So we're just coming out as we're about to come out of the recession. The recession caused by that. And you're doing like a hundred and twenty transactions a year. Thirty five hours a week at effort. And we started to talk about your business. This is about a year later going through the recession period. You pulled up your numbers and every year your numbers were not inconsistent. But you increase the number of sales you transacted every year for other agents. We're going out of business and collapsing. Your business was growing. And I just thought that was brilliant. And now it just seems like it's so easy to just increase marketing for listings. [00:22:38] Well, it's it's maybe easier said than done. But again, it's just, you know, what's that? You know how to tell someone by term. So I don't take that. I've never really taken that. Hey, I've got it. Get these six thousand mailings out over the next 60 days. Right. We piecemeal it. We send a few here. We send a few there. We we monitor we we follow up the IP. And as you know, I've been one of those teams with, you know, listing agents and buyers, agents and in staff and runners and marketing agents. And, you know, did hundreds of cells a year. And I really and truly enjoy what I do now because I have first of all, I can do it with an incredible system. She is phenomenal. But relationships are built with clients are very, very different than when I had a team, a big team. And one thing he said was very accurate. But that memory probably let it slip a little bit. [00:23:37] A number of transactions during that time didn't keep going up. They actually started going down. But that was on purpose. My income kept going up. That's what it was. Yes. So what I realized was it was one system. I could keep doing those 100 plus transactions a year or I could move them down. And there's three ways to increase your income in this business. I mean, it's very obvious. More sales, higher commissions or more transactions per client. [00:24:07] So I basically manage my business in a way that most of my clients are multiple transaction clients at this point. So they're much easier to deal with. It's a much easier transaction. There's a great deal of trust. So I do about half the transactions that clients have, but nearly half the transactions I did in 12. But my income is higher than it was in 12. Does that make sense? [00:24:34] That does. I want to get people to start asking some questions. I'm wanting to. For those interested, I'm pulling up a join me account. And I just want to direct you before you go and you can type your questions in and I'll read them out for you. [00:24:51] Stuart But if you go to join me, when else is now, unmute it. I don't want second, we don't have a really loud call. Give me just one moment. I just pulled this up. Let's see how. Take on. Here we go. I'm gonna say this online. [00:25:12] The conference is now in question and answer mount. [00:25:17] Ok. Stuart, is it okay if I let people start asking you question? Because I think we're right. I think this is a brilliant spot that probably a lot of questions for us a little bit dig deep. So I've got everyone's soft muted right now. If you have a question for Stuart, you want to kind of inquire a little bit more. Press star six on your phone and along your line and just a little bit of protocol. We'll quickly press Star 6 and announce yourself. And I just hope we'll just take any questions as they come along and let you meet yourself back. After you've asked your question, any questions out there, we'll quickly before we just continue in a monologue. [00:26:04] Bombeck. OK, Wanda. Go ahead. I didn't want a hard time from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I am. I missed the other two things that you mentioned. Stuart is two, three ways to increase the income. [00:26:21] I didn't get the multiple transection of clients. That is my strong suit and I love it. But what were the other two? [00:26:30] Oh, good question. And by the way, I love Minnesota. I've got a friend that just moved up there to get married. Beautiful part of the country. So the three ways to increase your income in this business are, as you and I both agree on strongly, and that's multiple transactions per client. And I've got two different ways that I do that. Another one. The most obvious is make more sales. [00:26:54] And then the third one is a higher commission curtail. [00:27:00] So just to kind of follow you back, just to kind of follow that path. I purposely increased my average sell price over the last six years rather dramatically, and that was from poignant, focused and pertinent marketing to to a targeted database of people. So the multiple transactions per client have to do with two things. I chose a niche and started working with a niche where the result is typically two loops. I deal with listenings where the seller is usually going to sell that and buy another house more often than the typical real estate market transaction in your your area will be different than mine. But the bulk of my business is people who move from acreage into a subdivision or from subdivision to acreage. So I have two transactions and in very high percentage of my clients and the other is investing. I teach my clients who want to learn how to invest in give him example this month alone. I have sold for investment properties to clients who are really scarily trusting. And what I mean by that is what do you think, Stuart? You go right ahead. [00:28:21] That's fine. We don't care to go ahead. So you really have to cover yourself and make sure that all the information and and pertinent documents are taken care of as far as, you know, that particular transaction is concerned. So I teach my plans to invest in a lot of my plans and go invest. And then I work a market where many of them will, you know, sell their acreage, move into a subdivision, cause your kids grow in some or multiple, multiple, multiple. I just sold one investment house I sold this week was to a guy who moved out of a subdivision with his family. But acreage then they sold their acreage, moved back into a subdivision, and they started buying investment property for me. And that's his third one. So, you know, those are just those are just the best kind. [00:29:11] You know, the other thing I want to make an observation. And I've seen this from you throughout our entire relationship, Stuart. But you made a comment sharing with. I think that I think as Karen was carrying around. I'm sorry, Mr. Wanda. Wanda is Wanda with Linda. And it was you made a deliberate decision to increase the sales price and you started marking that direction. And I think what happens a lot of times with a lot of agents is they just try to do anything, anywhere. But you've always been very deliberate. Do it with everything you do. [00:29:51] And. [00:29:54] And maybe if you just, you know, if there's anything that touch on with that. But I just thought that was an interesting observation. You don't react well. You make it happen where you want it to happen. [00:30:08] And that has that has a lot to do with experience, but also has to do with, I think, awareness. I mean, one of my favorite sayings is truly that, you know, the difference between an agent who makes a million dollars and an agent who makes fifty thousand dollars is is not always passion. It's not always determination. It's not always will. It's not always work ethic, but times, it's awareness. Are you aware of the steps you need to take? Now, here's the scary part. When you're aware of the steps you need to take. [00:30:42] Now, are you willing to do it? And that's where the rubber meets the road. But awareness is is huge. And one the best thing that ever did truly was learn to market. And I'm not being derogatory by any means. This is just this just an observation. You know, I know lots of insurance agents. You probably do, too. Very few of them really know how to market their business. Most trilogy's agents claim to market, market, market. They really don't know how to market their business. And if you remember, one of the reasons I pick up the phone and called you in 2012 was because I think everybody on this could probably agree. Man, I think I don't know who told everybody else or put real estate agents on a target list. But hey, real estate, buy anything. Just start marketing tool. I mean, there's so much stuff out there. [00:31:36] It's unbelievable what they're trying to sell us. But the reason I called you was because when I got a marketing piece from you, I read it and I said. This person knows Markin. This isn't some fluff piece for some good looking piece or some focused on them piece. This is a marketing piece in the difference, if you're aware, is astounding and. Making the decision to market to a particular group. You can do that. Whoever they are really does not matter your price range that matter. Market doesn't matter. I mean, bottom line is that if you understand the rules of marketing in consumer response, you can pretty much turn your faucet up, turn your faucet down. And I use that analogy simply because that's what marketing is. If I want to make more money next year, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to turn my marketing faucet up if I want to take more time off. And you know, this Beatty. But my wife had breast cancer about a year and a half ago. And she's doing very well. But I turn my marking faucet down. I didn't quit doing business totally, but I turned my marking post down so I could spend the time with her. And that's the beauty of real estate. That's the beauty of marketing. That's just why just this business is such an incredible business to be. [00:33:02] Yes, it is. Let's go with another question. If anyone else has out there, just say hello. [00:33:13] Impress Star 6 on your phone. [00:33:18] Any other questions before a yes. This is it, open hand. You can find Trulia, Washington and a real for about five years and. I'm doing a little better each year. Kind of, I guess, and say I'm in the top twenty five ish and are counting to small county. Kind of rural neighborhood. Just wondered what what advice you might give to somebody at my age. Got a bunch of kids at home. Sole provider for my home. And I've actually got six children at home. I'm trying to balance work life and and, you know, paying the bills, but looking for just any insight you might give to somebody who's at year 5 doing pretty well, doing about 25 to 30 transactions a year. And that's pretty good in our area with top producers, then 90, I think. And the next person to them is like 60. I want to get closer to 50. But, yeah. So any any input, anything. And it's kind of open ended, but anything you might have to say. [00:34:33] No worries that will bless you. By the way, six kids, you got your hands full. But Abed's Christmases are a blast, aren't they? Oh, yeah, lots of fun. And there's another you know, I'm in Texas, you guys. [00:34:48] I'll admit, it's not the beautiful, most beautiful state. We love central Texas, but I mean, Washington. What a gem that is so gorgeous up there. Yeah. So, yeah. You know what? First of all, five, five years in six kids and sole provider, that is. That's absolutely phenomenal. I'll I'll share something personal with you. [00:35:11] And, you know, my wife tells me, hey, you know, quit preaching at people, but sometimes I just have to share stuff. And you're probably already head of this. But you know what? When my first son was born, I started taking all day Thursday all in, gave my wife the entire day off. And the bond and the time and understand quality, time, quantity time is huge as well. And here's what's interesting. I would put on my voicemail. This is Thursday. It's the day with my family. So if you need me immediately, my system will know how to get hold of me. But if it's not, I'll be happy to talk to you tomorrow. People would leave voicemails that say, don't you dare call me back today, you know? Or, hey, good for you. Put your family first. We'll talk you tomorrow. [00:36:01] I guarantee it never cost me a deal. And I think it probably enhanced my business with people who knew the position that I was taking. OK. [00:36:13] So the next thing that I would say from a business perspective is very simply this and that is truly learn and understand marketing. And you said it if it's open ended. But if you if you get to become a student and learn marketing those people in your sphere. So we're going to refer you business because they like you care about you want to see you succeed. [00:36:47] In the number to get those people so Indian kids for free. [00:36:55] That poem, but I would recommend marketing people like our niece. Ah, yes. Look, I don't necessarily think it's a matter of fact, the agents that go through. I do some teaching, coaching, et cetera, et cetera. And I don't include real estate books in any of my progress. We read books that are outside of real estate and we bring the methodology into real estate. [00:37:21] Some of the best things that I've ever done in my business came from Ford or Nike or, you know, somebody like that, because guess what, marketing works. Coca-Cola does it on different scale than I do. I do it in a very small world. But guess what? The methods and strategies still work very, very well. And with that small town that you're in, in that small market, the turian, if you market professionally and aggressively, you're going to get to that 50 or 60 transactions faster than if you do it the old real estate way. If that makes sense. [00:38:02] Yeah, that. [00:38:04] Awesome. Thank you. I don't know if that was helpful. I hope it was. [00:38:07] Are you OK? Yes. Thank you. I am out of all the books I've read in marketing. There is one that's kind of encapsulates everything in a single book. It's absolutely the very best. I have to go on audio and I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it, but it's called Monopolized Your Marketplace by Rich Harshaw H.A. R s h a w I believe monopolized your marketplace. But it is the best book in understanding marketing copy writing headlines and the entire process of what I call the marketing equation are actually what they call the marketing equation. If you guys have been through any of our demos where we share what we do with Agent Dominators, you'll see what we talked about outside perception versus inside reality comes straight from that book. Okay. [00:39:11] And second, that that is that is a fabulous textbook for market. [00:39:15] Yes. And if you read that and apply it, then you'll start to really understand what what Stuart's been talking about. When he says when you understand marketing, then you can start to pursue most any niche you want and you can become successful there. So let me just encourage you not to get that monopolize your marketplace. I think it's still in print. If it's not, you can probably find a used copy somewhere. [00:39:47] Oh, yeah. I'm sure you can find his copy arms. Another one I would recommend is this in real estate related. But the principles are it's a book called Hug Your Customers, where everyone goes around saying, well, what with closing gift you recommend. Well, if you read hug your customer, you'll understand the principles behind true customer loyalty and keeping those customers raving fans of yours. [00:40:13] It's just it's again, it's outside the real estate industry. It's a retail industry book. But you bring their principles into real estate. It's fantastic. [00:40:22] Why? That's that's good. Any other questions out there? [00:40:26] Press star if you're not a medium yourself already and just announced yourself. [00:40:32] I am from California. And thank you for taking the time out today. Hey, I was curious, what is successful in your marketing plan? What avenues do you use? Are you using only print media, using social media? Where do you focus your kindness? [00:40:51] Very good question. We have so many options nowadays. And I would really encourage you to become an extraordinary expert at one. And pretty good, if not really good at others. So here's my strength. It's obviously because of my era is as Beatty said, I've been in real estate for just a little while. As my twenty five year old son says. And I don't know where they got this, but I've always heard out of his mouth. Well, you've been doing it a hot minute, had you? So, Hotman. It means a long time, apparently. So I have been doing it a HOTMAN Way I started was good old fashioned mail marketing. [00:41:37] And so I am the bulk of my income comes from mail marketing, but. It used to come from male marketing that gave consumers a hard offer. What that means is call me right now. Is technology advanced? Then my male marketing turned in to soft offers. Go to this 800 number. Hear this message. Now my soft offers. Take them, too. I want to remember this very specifically, landing pages and videos. I do not have a card that goes in the mail that doesn't send them to a landing page in a video and I'm gonna give you one area. The has helped me with this small harm area. [00:42:32] There's nine hundred and seventy one people there and I have one print piece that has gone out there. The video has been viewed at my the last time I look at the video has been viewed four thousand one hundred and twenty seven times. There's only 971 people in that in that farmers. And the reason for that, I think you can pretty much guess is they look at it. Oh, that's not bad. And then they get ready to sell and then they go look at it again and then they're ready to colonnades it. They look at it again. So it's just one of those things that what is how we adapting to what's going on that day. So my strength is truly male marketing. And I've had a tell me, hey. It don't work anymore. And I'm just I'm living proof that it does actually got a postcard from Google. About four months ago. So it's Google sending me postcards. I know that postcard marketing still works, but our social media marketing is quite strong as well. Last month, I'm sorry, last week I spent two hundred and nineteen dollars on Facebook ads and again, marketing. Works on Facebook like it works on postcards. The same methods, the same strategies, the same principles, typical real estate agent marketing is not as effective. [00:43:57] And I'll be happy to cover a couple of those things with you. But I spent two hundred and ninety dollars on Facebook ads in the last two weeks have put most modern in two increments, and I created ninety six leaves with phone numbers, emails and names. Now I know agents that don't do the phone numbers and they'll get a lot more leads than I do. But I get phone numbers, emails in names in one out of five phone numbers. So nearly 100 leads means I got nearly 80 good phone numbers and a high proportion to email addresses because even if they don't leave these phone numbers, I'll leave you a good email. So Facebook marketing is very inexpensive, but the actual commission that you generate is not that much greater with Facebook than it is with post-card. It's just an area where I'm going to find somebody that I might not have gotten from the postcards or if you've heard the term about very touches. If I get my postcard and then they see a video of me giving up on the market in my area and then they see a listing on Facebook on a Facebook ad. Now they're saying, well, this guy really works. This area guy really knows his stuff. Does that make sense? [00:45:24] Yes, it doesn't. No one should just like. Sure. All right. But again, I would I would reiterate the the marketing aspect of that. My life Facebook ads and my online ads get a much higher conversion than most agents because they produce high quality lead at a much higher level than most ads do. So what you were asking the question. I apologize. Ahead. [00:45:54] No, no worries. On your Facebook ads, what what are you advertising? When are giving in their assets in train a person to go through? [00:46:04] Query. Good question. Three things. One is a list of houses. Now they can go to Zillow, they go to Realtor.com and go anywhere they want. But if you show them a list of housing by list, I don't mean, hey, clicking here, I'm going to make your list or we're going to send you a PDA or some of that. [00:46:27] When they when they click through, they go straight to a page that shows them those in their updated in real time. It's not a it's not a static list. It's a page with the criteria. So I'll give an example. I work, as I mentioned earlier, the small acreage market, I call it the one acre plus. So I got to see what's 29, 28, 67 leaves from an ad that said. If you want a massive backyard for less than five hundred thousand dollars, here it is. So list of houses I call it must see houses that see all houses with massive backyards and such an acre or more because most people don't know want an acre is, but a lot of people want a huge backyard. So another one that I ran is if you want a home with more than two acres, there's a lot of people who are looking at acreage making quite enough. They want they want to do something that you can't do on an acre. Most of the acre subdivisions are restricted. You can't put a workshop, things like that. So when I say more than two acres, that hits a hot button with these people who want to park their RV on it or put a workshop on it so that one gets a lot of talk. It's what I call my see houses and see all the homes on two or more acres. See all homes with massive backyards. Preston Five hundred. See every house on an acre and more with a swimming pool. [00:47:57] And then it takes them directly to a page that is updated live with that in people are if they want to see that net is pertinent to them. They're a much better lead when it when it comes right down to putting in their information to see it. In the second type of ad is really what I call video views. And video views are nothing more than me doing the video. It might be, hey, here's one of the best values on the market. It might be. Here's what happened, in fact. Tomorrow I'll be putting one out that says here's what happened in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. I'm going to really separate out what happened in January, February. What happened March? Because I saw a very big difference in March and January, February. We thought this was going to be the best year we've seen ever since. I mean, in forever, it was going to be incredible. And then the third type is is not really the best lead that I put it out there. So those people who've seen the videos, who are seen the sea houses, ads and things like that say that I'm doing business. So new listings and I run them for a shorter time, put a new listing up in. When I sell a listing, I tell a little story behind listen, just like the postcards did. So listing sold ads, see houses, ads in video ads that help. [00:49:25] Yeah, yeah, definitely. [00:49:27] Thank you. You're welcome. [00:49:31] Stuart, you're here. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Bob Burns is in Naples, Florida. How are you? Oh, doing well, thank you, sir. Yes. Get out. [00:49:47] Probably only 4 percent of the agents in America meet the National Association's definition of a business base, which is what we're all trying to build as a reliable, sufficient base of people that are referring as well. That means the other 96 agents are working the stranger market, whether that's for sale by owners or expires this first time. And the thing that you shared with me, your strategy and I don't know if you have time to go into it today on expired listings. What was the most amazing that I've heard in 50 years? The nine Umbridge, nine children as a condition of all salesman in this business. So do have time to share your. [00:50:47] Yeah, I can give you a quick summary if you like. Beatty, how we doing on time? It. [00:50:53] Let's say we've got about 15 minutes, so that's a quick summary on that. [00:50:58] All right. This is typically our presentation. I'll do it in five minutes. I'm awfully glad to meet somebody who's been in the business longer than me. That didn't happen very often. Congratulations. So what you're probably referring to is, I believe very firmly that there is no better business. You can have been past clients and customers because of the trust and the referrals and all that. But I also believe that you're leaving money on the table if you don't market to strangers. If you don't market to the cold market as well. Again, if marketing is something you're aware of and understand, you're going to have a much higher level of success. When people who have never dealt with call me to do business because of marketing, it's not as good as a past client, but it is really reaching that. So a lot of people have mis perceptions about expires in by owners. I'm just going to focus on power right now. I don't work expands the way a lot of agents do. Now, I used to question surreally back in the 90s. I put on a headset and co-called and I'd call up and down streets and I'd call expands and I'd do that two to four hours a day. But once I learned marketing, I never did that again. Never had to do that again. That didn't mean it didn't work. That just means it's really hard work. So from an expired perspective, here's why I like experience with a home that's come off the market. [00:52:36] It's perfectly legitimate, perfectly legal, perfectly moral. They no longer have a relationship with a real estate agent. So I'm free to send them some information so that they can see that there are options if they decide to sell the house again. Now, I don't call them the first day. If all those, you know, twenty seven, eight, 30, 40 agents who come first day, the house expires, if they want to battle it out for an appointment, get the listing. That's most of the people I list whose homes have expired list with me. Two weeks, six weeks, three months, a year, even two or three years later. Here's one I like expired. It's a much more dollars productive set of people. I get three point seven times as much response from the expired database. Now, for years it was 3.1. Now it's 3.7, 3.7, nearly four times. So what I'm saying is that if I take a regular database like a farm area or a mailing area in and keep blanking. [00:53:44] Getting calls, my expires the same number of expired, the same amount of dollars spit is going to make me nearly four times as much money. So if I've got a group of 1000 people. And then I have a group of 1000 ex-parte. I'm gonna make three to four times as much money spent in the exact same dollars on the market. I kind of like those odds. [00:54:09] So when somebody's home expired, we send them some information and then we continue to send them information about how we do business. They'll look at this video online. Here's what here's why you should look at this video online. This video online is something you should see because we keep sending them to see. And that's one of the reasons that our videos are seen so often is because they are pertinent and informative to how we do business. So those inspired to list with me. Most of the time, I'm the only one that's going over to talk to versus if I was one of those who is co-called and trying to close them for an appointment. The first day or two they expired and we compete with 3, 4, 5, 6 agents. Anyways, that's kind of a summary. Better dollar, productive and consistent long term marketing. My record is I had somebody call me that had expired 13 years ago. And if you had been in the business 13 years, you can look forward to that. But that's my record. They had kept my mailings in and they knew that if they ever listed the home again, they would call me. Now, here's one of the best databases you can go get. [00:55:26] Go back in your market, the area that you work for, three, four, five years. Download all the listings that expired during that time. Now download all the listeners that have sold. That are pending, that are active. Take the two databases and do what would Excel calls data. So we take out the duplicates in the expires from three fourth from last week. Last month, a year ago, four years ago, five years ago to have never released Relisted their home are a great database for you to start marketing to not expect. You'll have three times as much business from those people as you will. A similar group. Let me give you a stat real quick. This one's pretty astounding. In an area that I that I work one acre plus homes. There are about 360 houses that have expired in that timeframe that I'm talking about. Now I market to a group beyond that of nearly six thousand. And I want you to grasp these numbers. The expired from those three sixty list is many houses from there. Is there do the other six thousand? What do you think cost me less money? [00:57:04] Now, here's why that is. [00:57:05] First of all, I'm an expert in the 16 plus market, so I have a higher result from that anyway. Now, you take the expired in a market where I'm perceived as an expert in the response. Absolutely skyrocket. [00:57:23] So if you just think about, all right, let's let's be very greedy with in very careful about our marketing dollar and if our marketing dollar can go farther than we can spend less money and make more money in that, how when we started this conversation I shared with you that I went. I kept decreasing the number of cells I was making and increasing my income because my overhead is far less marketing to groups with higher response rates. [00:58:00] Does that make sense, she goes to my own trap with that. Yeah, you are. Yes. [00:58:08] Thank you for asking that, by the way. Appreciate that. Now, did did you. Did we meet in Florida? What was the question? [00:58:19] Then we meet in Florida. You had said that I shared that with you. Oh, yes. Yes. And in Orlando, it's the edge in Orlando. You were at the Orlando. Yeah. And that was, you know, just something that's. While you're in the rat race, you don't look behind the door to this. There was a better way and now that's out. Yeah, I understand what work and so many that are the reason for the turnover of our business if you don't have that big. [00:59:09] Business space that will sparked a referral part of your business where 70 no, 74 percent of a legit business comes from people they know like and trust. But if you don't have that base, you're forced to go to the stranger market. And when you get there, if you work these elegant things, if you worked out, if it will save some people's ability to go ahead with their career and real. [00:59:36] That just awe inspiring, that holy grail. Oh, you bet. Thank you for speaking up. [00:59:41] Well, this has been great. Let's call it let's take one final question before we wrap up the call. Is there anyone who has the final question? [00:59:51] Emory Bruno from New Jersey. Go ahead, then. Just a question on landing pages and videos. Are you hiring a cut? Do you hire a company or do you have someone on your staff that's doing this for you? [01:00:09] Sorry for laughing sensitive. That's a great question. Well, I'll tell you. I'll bet he's laughing. You know where West Deptford, New Jersey is? [01:00:20] Not exactly. [01:00:22] No. OK. Well, my one of my favorite people in the world, my one of my programmers is in West Def., New Jersey. At least that's where us and his check. But he's a I've known him for many, many years. And he's a he's a great guy. I only know one person from New Jersey. He's an awesome person. So can't be too bad. Stay right anyway. That is a very good question. Here's here's what I do. And I can only tell you what I do. Everybody is different. But I'd like to know exactly how things are done. [01:00:58] And that way I can better manage people that are how to do things for me. Things I don't ever pass on them. And one of the things I don't ever pass on are my videos. The landing pages or there are programs out there that are quite simple to use nowadays. Very easy teens, very easy to create a landing page. Now, let me just give everyone the definition of the landing page. And I know some of you going, oh, gosh, we know what that is. But for those of you who might not be familiar, your landing page is simply a one page Web site. And the reason for that is if you've got one page, people go to it. There's no place for them to be distracted or go away. So if you if you've ever seen a really good online network, marketers say they use what they call funnels. They don't use Web sites anymore for a long time. That's the crux of this is very straightforward. Seth Godin, who is one of the first Internet gurus that came along, he was one of the big leagues in Yahoo! Said that you, the consumer, has to see the bonanza. And we got that. Is that intelligent animals? Anyone who's ever trained animals would acknowledge that they perform better if they see their reward. And Seth Godin says people are the same way. So if I market something like the the number one most powerful secret, you have to know before you ever list your home on acreage. Now, if I him from my website and they go just to a website that, you know, has all my stuff on it and there's, you know, there's a link on their head or it's part of the menu that's not been nearly as effective as if they go to that link. [01:02:44] Go to that. You are ill in. As soon as a page pops up, the top says here's the number one most powerful secret. You have to know before you ever list your home on acreage. So they saw the banana and they went there for a reason. They saw Facebook and they saw a postcard. Whatever the cases, Instagram didn't matter. When they land on that landing page, they have to see their reward. So there are several different programs and then you might want to throw a few of them out. I use two primarily. One is called Unbound. Just like it sounds, you know, bounce a ball, put you in and of a bounce. And the other one is client creator dot com. So I use those primarily to create my landing pages. And then the video is most of these programs. And I think there's actually some users in those. But most of the videos are very straightforward. Nowadays, there are free programs for everything. If you've got a P.C., you have probably have Windows movie maker. If you've got a Mac, you have their version of, you know, making videos. There is a program online called Blue L O O M Loom. And there's just there's there's quite a few. [01:04:04] So what I do is I've got different kinds of videos and I make I'm not even the center of attention on most of most of them. It's just me doing the voice in explaining the information. But here's the thing. It's been seven years now. I think either six or seven years, I had zero videos. One. Not. The first couple videos I did and Marina were so cheesy, they were absolutely embarrassing, but the first one is always the hardest and I don't care what you're doing, the first one is always the hardest. When I ran my first Facebook ad, you know how long it took me to do that because I didn't want to look dumb. I don't want to do something wrong. I didn't want to. But the first one's always the hardest. I now have to think I've crossed a twelve hundred might even be thirteen hundred because I consistently put them out in the videos are here, the statistics in the area or here's a new home that we put on the market. Here's one we just sold. We sold it for days and had been listed with another agent for a year. Here's why that happened. But here's some statistics you're never going to hear from anybody else. I mean, the videos. There is unlimited is your creativity in my videos are anywhere from 30 seconds to. 12 to 14 months and a lot of people just like my predicting package, which is 52 pages. Agents always say nobody will ever read all that. [01:05:43] Well, guess what? Consumers will if it's pertinent videos that are 11 or 12 minutes, if they're pertinent. People will watch them. But most of them are in the 90 second range. The 3 minute range. So if I can get someone because of a compelling reason to go to a video, they're going to learn a lot more about me, especially if my pictures on there or if it's me, you know, down in the corner talking explains that they just get a better feel of who you are. One of my agents hates being on video. Can't stand it. Finally talked her into it. And she is doing more business and she's ever done before. Because if people are missing out, getting to know who you are in understanding a little bit more about you and what kind of person you are, they can't get a feel for that on an ad or a picture or a business card or a postcard. They just can't. So they can learn more about you and some are going to make wrong decisions about who you are. Someone going to like who you are. And it's just a very powerful medium that I decided I certainly wouldn't early by me, but I decided, you know, six, seven years ago I had to take advantage of it. And it's just a very, very effective way to meet people in a very effective way to communicate your message to people that answer your question. I tend to ramble on that. [01:07:12] What it does and I'm assuming that when you post these on Facebook or boost them. [01:07:21] There's a very good question where you are on top of things. I don't boost very many posts in the reason I don't is because I get better results by running ads than boosting posts. So you can you can boost posts and you will have more people see your post when you boost it. But I've started spending a while back, started spending the same amount of time and effort running ads instead of boosting posts. You can do both. There's no reason not to boost posts. I'd rather just spend my dollar on ads because for me it seems to have a little bit more impact. [01:07:57] Yes. Thank you very much for answering my question here. Well, you're very welcome. And this has been great. I wanted to share what my chuckle was because I still think it's kind of funny. [01:08:14] So often everyone believes that you have to do this amazing professional job to have someone, you know, choreograph your video, put music in the background and make it look professional because your real estate agent and you wanted to be professional. But I think one of the keys I've seen with Stuart and I definitely have experiences over the years to a degree is there is a level of authenticity that people want to know who you are. And and if the video is Stuart talking, then it's very real. It's exactly who Stuart is. And people get this real comfort level of Stuart, because this is Stuart. It may just be his voice. I remember watching one of your videos. This was a few years back. Stuart, you're walking someone through a home and there was just a slide show video and you're just the voice voiceover describing it. But just the way you described everything, such as the custom inlaid marble for your with a quarter inch marble and and it comes from mentally injured. You're just describing it. It made me want to buy the house. But as you're describing it, I'm getting to know who you are because I'm hearing your voice. Sometimes I see you and I get to know who you are. And there's just this great level of authenticity. And with that authenticity comes realism and believability and therefore, trust ability. And so as you're out there doing these videos, let me just encourage you to be yourself. Don't try to be too professional. Be professional enough. But that's why I was chuckling because, you know, everyone is probably thinking, you know, serious got the slickest ads and the slickest videos. [01:10:07] And since an out for post-production, that's just that's not it. [01:10:12] And babies call me up and tell you guys that they're they weren't just cheesy when I started. [01:10:19] Oh, they're they're just wonderful. [01:10:20] No, they're but they are. It's you know, I enjoy doing it. So that's why I continue to do it. And feel free to you guys go to. I'll just give you one of my sites. It's the number one. And then everything else spelled out one Fakher plus dot com. And if you go around on that site, you can see lots and lots of different videos from from different things that will kind of give you an idea of how, how and why we do the videos that we did. And feel free to copy anything on there. Call me, ask questions. My contact information is on there. No, no worries. [01:10:56] They're wrapping up. I'd like to just summarize one thing that we started with. And I want to make a comment because it's been really impressive. I won't make a correlated comment. So what we started with is we're in a crisis or we're in an opportunity. Depends on how you look at it. And when every time stewards come in these type of environments, he's entered it making more money and he exit it, making even more money. And the reason is he continues to market for listings when listing slow down. You just build up your listing inventory. So you continue making a no sales to cover everything you need. And as you're marketing for listings, everyone else panic any and they're pulling back on their marketing budget. So it means your marketing is easier and more effective in building your listening inventory that you need. So you continue your lifestyle and then exiting. You've got this great big pipeline that empties out really quickly. And I want to share just another benefit of that. I was talking to one. He's the number one suburban agent here in this debut where I live, part of Birmingham. [01:12:08] His name is Mike. And my understanding is going into the 0 8 recession, he was just a typical agent coming out of the recession. He was the number one agent in our suburban city and has maintained that position year over year, except for maybe one year where he just barely lost to someone else. And and I hope this never gets to him. He's a great agent, but I would not put him near the caliber of someone like Stuart. What happened is he got there and he grabbed the market share and now he's got a name and a brand that everyone knows and recognizes. And it drives his business even to this day. And this is the opportunity. He did not stop when everyone else did and he came out on top and has maintained it. And I think that's the message. I really want to strike home for all you guys today. Keep your marketing budget up, whatever it takes, but drive it on listings. OK. And stay focused and deliberate and and don't panic because this too shall pass. [01:13:20] So with that, you. Go. Go ahead. One. Oh, OK. I just want to thank you for exposing the truth to your entire network. You absolutely gave them the best of the best. [01:13:40] Well, thank you. And so I'd like to I'd like to springboard one more comment with that. Why am I doing this? I'm a Christian. I have no fear of what's going on. [01:13:55] The Lord has promised he's going to tell us. And it's always taking care of us. And I've seen him do this famous Stuart and his family. There's a lot of fear. A man. There's a lot of fear because people have no foundation to turn. And I know I just want you to know that no one there's a great big guy who loves you and is going to take care of you. And if you follow him, he will lead you down the right path and he will take care of you. You trust him. But this is not a time to fear because of put your. I see. This is a time to trust the Lord and say, I want to follow you and I'm going to follow what Stuart is doing. I just wanted to be able to give back and share in just a simple way from our heart. [01:14:41] How do you make it through crisis? [01:14:44] And and because if you can make it through, then you can pay your bills. You can support your family. And hopefully if you are a follower of the Lord, then you can give price and glory to him as well. So, really, Stuart, I want to thank you for sharing of your time, because hopefully you've shared a lot of insight and just of encouragement to people. [01:15:08] Well, it was helpful, I just want to second everything you said. Thank you. [01:15:12] All right. Well, you'll have a very blessed day. Please take this to heart and go out and do it and you'll be blessed. Thanks so much. P061 [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

What turns you on - and what turns you off? Once you know your erotic blueprint type, it’s so much easier to have the kind of intimacy that you most deeply desire.  And when you hit a snag in the sexual sphere of your relationship, it could be that you and your partner haven’t quite learned each other’s erotic languages - leading to sexual miscommunication. Never mind the love languages - it’s the Erotic Blueprint type that matters in the sexual domain! This week’s episode features Ian Ferguson, who played an instrumental role in creating the Erotic Blueprint methodology with his partner Jaiya. You’ll learn the 5 Erotic Blueprint types, how to figure out what you are, and how to tackle differences that you and your partner might have in how you express yourselves in your most intimate moments. As always, I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this episode and what revelations and questions it creates for you. Please join us in the Relationship Alive Community on Facebook to chat about it! Sponsors: Find a quality therapist, online, to support you and work on the places where you’re stuck. For 10% off your first month, visit Betterhelp.com/ALIVE to fill out the quick questionnaire and get paired with a therapist who’s right for you. This episode is also sponsored by Native Deodorant. Their products are filled with ingredients you can find in nature like coconut oil, which is an antimicrobial, shea butter to moisturize, and tapioca starch to absorb wetness. They don’t ever test on animals, they don’t use aluminum or any other scary chemical ingredients, and they’re so confident that you’ll like their deodorant that they offer free shipping - and returns. For 20% off your first purchase, visit http://www.nativedeodorant.com/alive and use promo code ALIVE during checkout. Resources: Take the Erotic Blueprint Type quiz to find out your Erotic Blueprint Type: https://www.eroticbreakthrough.com/alive Visit Jaiya’s main website FREE Relationship Communication Secrets Guide - perfect help for handling conflict… Guide to Understanding Your Needs (and Your Partner's Needs) in Relationship (ALSO FREE) www.neilsattin.com/erotic Visit to download the transcript, or text “PASSION” to 33444 and follow the instructions to download the transcript to this episode with Ian Ferguson. Amazing intro/outro music graciously provided courtesy of: The Railsplitters - Check them Out Transcript: Neil Sattin: Hello and welcome to another episode of Relationship Alive. This is your host, Neil Sattin. We have covered in more than 200 episodes all kinds of conversations detailing the nuances of having an amazing relationship. We've talked about communication. We've talked about overcoming problems and obstacles and healing trauma and being present. And we have, of course, also talked about sex and the erotic. And it's important to dive into this topic, I think, a little bit more deeply than I have in the past.  Neil Sattin: Early on, I wanted to bring voices to you representing different kinds of sexuality, different ways of exploring sexuality that were more oriented towards slow sex or tantra. We talked to Diana Richardson. We talked to Margot Anand. And now, what I'd love to do is to open this conversation up further to the idea that there are actually different kinds of erotic types that we inhabit. And in order to have this conversation, which will, I think, help you really get to know yourself better in the sexual and erotic realm and also get to know your partner, if you're partnered or partners, or if you're out dating as a way of diagnosing what's happening with the people that you meet and getting a sense of where you're compatible, where you're not, and where there's learning and curiosity that opens up for you. It's fascinating. I had a friend who sent this link to me randomly not that long ago, and it was to the work of Jaiya. And I had actually heard of Jaiya's work, but I hadn't really honestly paid any attention to what she was doing. And. But there's something about this link spoke to me and I decided to take her quiz and listen to her on another podcast. And, I was fascinated. I learned so much about myself and about things that were happening in my own life. And I knew that I wanted to bring this work to you. So for today, we have our esteemed guest, Ian Ferguson, who is Jaiya's partner in business and in life and who is also responsible for the development of what we're going to be talking about today, which is your erotic blueprint -- the the thing that makes up who you are sexually and erotically and what turns you on, what turns you off. And we're going to dive deep into that topic with Ian.  Neil Sattin: If you are interested in getting a transcript of today's episode. You can visit Neil-Sattin-dot-com-slash-erotic. Or as always, you can text the word passion to the number 3-3-4-4-4, and follow the instructions along with being Jaiya's partner in business and life. Ian is also the co-founder of their company and he is a master instructor of the erotic blueprints methodology. And he's also someone who does a lot of conscious dance stuff, which I've talked about on the show over and over again. We finally have someone here who actually does the very thing that I'm talking about. So I'm really excited to have Ian here with us to talk about your erotic blueprints. And Ian, welcome to the show.  Ian Ferguson: Thank you. As a great intro. I just love all the seeds that you're planting about communication and learning and really using these kinds of tools to have a deeper understanding of ourselves and how we communicate with others about them. So, I love that intro. Thank you for that.  Neil Sattin: Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. And I think that, you know, we talked about this a little bit before I hit record. It's so important, especially when you're dealing with any system that gives you some information about you by telling you like, oh, you're an ENFP or you're a Scorpio or you're a number four in the Enneagram, whatever it is, it's challenging for people sometimes to break the mold of what they discover about themselves. So, I want this to be a conversation that allows people, and I know you're right here with me to tap in to curiosity about their type and also to like push the edges of the box that they find themselves in, and in fact, to unbox themselves and to stretch themselves.  Ian Ferguson: Perfect. Yeah. We often say about the erotic blueprints, which we'll be talking about in more detail here, that when you discover your primary erotic blueprint type, it's actually showing you more where you're limited than where your resourced. Because there's this whole range, there's a smorgasbord of opportunity erotically in the world of pleasure available to all of us. And many of us are accessing but a very small piece of that smorgasbord. You know, we're eating the, you know, the beautiful strawberry when there's chocolate and truffles and steak and, you know, a beautiful garden of vegetables at our fingertips.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. And this reminds me probably for obvious reasons to you, a lot of the love languages.  Ian Ferguson: Yes.  Neil Sattin: And, when I have been introducing people to your work, just friends of mine or or acquaintances, I've drawn that analogy:"It's kind of like the love languages, but for sex and the erotic." But one of the things that I think is so challenging about the love languages is that people sometimes find out what their primary love language or you're supposed to find out your primary two love languages. And then they just kind of stop there. And then, if they take it a little bit further, they figure out what their partners love languages are. And then hopefully they really learn to speak each other's languages. But in the end, where I always come down to is I don't think there's anyone who doesn't appreciate or have the capacity to appreciate all those love languages. And so I'm curious, before we dive into like the specifics of the blueprints, do you do you feel like that's true for them, that there's an evolution towards kind of being multilingual across the love languages, that's just like natural if we allow ourselves to be open or what do you find?  Ian Ferguson: Yeah, I think that that's the ideal almost of any of these typing systems, is that it's not just about understanding your first primary access, the place where you're most resourced. It is a way of articulating and speaking to all of the other types of people that there are out there, all the other types of eroticism.  Ian Ferguson: One of the things that I just love about our community in particular is that often in the realms of sexuality, when you're in this stage, you're curious, you're adventurous, you're looking to expand into something new or there's parts of sexuality you're hearing about and you don't have any idea what they are, say, in the kinky realm or around Tantra. The communities tend to be kind of siloed. They're brilliant. There are many brilliant communities that deal with all of these forms of sexuality. But when you want to find a find out about kink, you end up walking over into the kink realm, when you want to find out about energetic or tantric sex, you walk over into Tantra and they're very different communities. And one of the things that the blueprints have allowed us to do is to speak to the full range of eroticism and bring all of those people essentially under one roof. Ian Ferguson: So, you know, we'll see this in our community, even in my own relationship, where, you know, somebody who is an energetic, they have a kinky partner and they have no real way to merge or meet. And if the energetic is going to take the kinky person to their energetic Tantra class, that kinky person may actually be totally turned off. They won't have a deeper understanding, it just won't appeal to them and vise versa. The kinky person taking their energetic partner to the kink environment may find themselves contracted and re-traumatized, or they just don't understand what's going on in that community. Whereas in a community where all the languages are being spoken to, there's an opportunity for people to see a multitude of people operating with a variety of these erotic blueprint types under one roof. And to start to have a way to bridge the gap and create inclusiveness for all of those communities to be able to have a conversation together.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. When I imagine being in that community, I imagine what it would be like to be with someone who was or to be just like having a conversation with someone where my type is just as valuable as theirs is. And that was something that for me was so eye opening. Even in just taking your quiz, which by the way, if you visit erotic-breakthrough-dot-com-slash-alive, you can take the quiz that helps you diagnose what type you are. So, that's always fun, to take another quiz online. So you should definitely go check that out.  Neil Sattin: But, I took this quiz and what I found was that, it really helped normalize some things that I was experiencing that I thought were maybe... bad. That I had judgment about in myself and, we'll get further into this. But one, I actually have a lot of the different types in me. I'm the shapeshifter type which we'll get to, but I'm very strong in energetic. And so it was really easy for me and I mentioned I had a lot of probably very energetic oriented people here on the show. And you talk about one of the shadows of the energetic being kind of downplaying other kinds of sexuality. And I think I was doing that for the other kinds that live within me. So, it was really wild to take the test and to accept myself in a new way, as well as to have that language to bring to other people.  Ian Ferguson: Yeah. One of the things I get most touched by in responses that we get from like you're sharing, even people who just take the quiz, even if that's the only step that they've taken, we will get emails from people or at workshops that we're teaching. I'll get stopped by the attendees who will, with tears in their eyes, just talk about, "Wow, now I don't feel alone. I thought that I was weird or messed up or, you know, crazy." You know, like the energetic type is one of the blueprint types. And for the energetic, energetics are often a highly sensitive, they're very aware, their empath, They're connected to their environment. And the types of orgasm that are available to an energetic can sometimes look quite strange to somebody who doesn't have access to that type of orgasm because they'll be releasing kundalini energy or having kriyas. So, those will show up as a sort of muscular spasms in the body. So especially in the case of cock-bodied humans who tend to be stereotyped into the sexual blueprint, many of the male body people, cock-body people will all of a sudden feel seen and heard for the first time because they've been putting on a mask of being a sexual when their entire system is geared towards being an energetic.  Ian Ferguson: And then you also spoke to the hierarchical. I think we're probably going to start confusing people too much if we keep talking about the types without getting into what they are. But you did mention in terms of the energetic, there can be sort of a hierarchical viewpoint of the energetic. That energetics tend to be associated with spirituality, connected to sex. So a sexual act for many energetics needs to fall into the realm of being a spiritual event. And they may have judgment or look down on this as a shadow aspect to the energetic, may look down on people who might be a sexual type or kinky type, as that form of erotic expression is not spiritual to them. So these are all interesting distinctions of all of the five blueprint types that we've uncovered.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. Where we're dancing around a little bit. But let's, as you suggested, kind of dive in and detail each one a little bit more. We've spent some time on the energetics. So maybe let's flesh that one out a little bit more and then we'll kind of move through the others that we've chatted about already.  Ian Ferguson: Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. So the energetic is turned on by: anticipation, tease, space. They're very sensitive, energetically sensitive, environmentally sensitive, often emotionally sensitive. And this is the super power of the energetic type. They have the ability to be in an orgasmic state without even being touched. The breeze that blows across the hairs on their arm could send them into orgasm. A connection to themselves or the environment in some sort of spiritual connection could put them into an orgasmic state or into actual orgasm. So this is an amazing superpower for the energetic as well as on the flip side, can be a bit of the shadow or the challenge for the energetic. Because of that hypersensitivity, if somebody moves too fast, too quick and goes too deeply into the space of an energetic, it can turn into, overwhelm and shut down, so that the all the systems for the energetic will get overwhelmed. And they may actually be completely turned off or flatline in their turn on because the space has been collapsed.  Ian Ferguson: So if you're listening to me talking about this and let's say you have that experience of you're about to kiss somebody and there's all of this energy and all of this turn on happening as you're approaching the kiss, maybe teasing out the kiss a little bit. And for you, when you actually kiss, the energy or the eroticism, the turn on goes down significantly or maybe completely collapses, that might speak to you being an energetic type.  Neil Sattin: Got it. Got it. And I think you also mentioned in one of your guides about energetics being able to respond to someone's hands being placed just above their body. So like not even literally touching them, but just being in their energetic fields.  Ian Ferguson: Yes. So this is this is the fascinating thing and also something that if you are if this is not something you have access to at this point and your lover does, it can be quite a bizarre experience. You know, I didn't really have any access to this energetic turn on when I was first partnered with Jaiya. She's highly energetic. She's trained herself to be even more energetic than I think she naturally was. And she would have kriyas. I could put my hand above her body and she would be reacting to that without me even touching. And because she's a teacher of sexuality and because of the type of relationship we have, I could witness her in energetic connection with other people and see these really huge expressions, these physical manifestations of her orgasm when a person was, you know, a foot away, even 10 feet away. And at first I would look at this and to be honest, I was like, "Oh, what is this? Woo, woo. You know, B.S." I was like, "This is just people performing in there. They're making this stuff up." And it took me... Because, I tend to be a skeptic before I accept something. Even after I accept something, I'm still have some skepticism about it. But the the thing around the energetic is first I started to have my own experiences with it. And then I had a couple of trainings around something called Network Spinal Analysis, which is a form of chiropractic where they sometimes touch your body. But a lot of the work is done off of your body in energetic fields. And I had a couple of masters that I did a deep, deep workshop with Christine and John Amaral, and they basically blew open my energetic receptivity. And after that weekend, all the sudden was able to tap into something that really looked pretty mysterious, if not completely inauthentic, before I tapped into it myself. And now I'm like, oh, it's now it's it is interwoven in my eroticism. It is interwoven, actually, and just sort of how I approach my day to day life.  Neil Sattin: Wow, wow. What a transformation.  Ian Ferguson: For sure.  Neil Sattin: I am so fascinated and tempted to go down that road a little bit more. But before we do, let's jump to the next to the next type and we'll probably circle back around to these. But just so everyone knows, loosely, how do you define a type like what is what are the kinds of things that, "OK, I'm this kind of type. So that means that I have these kinds of physical experiences, these kinds of emotional experiences, these particular kinds of turn offs, these particular kinds of turn ons."  Ian Ferguson: Yes. So the turn ons or the superpowers of the blueprints are the positives or the things where you're going to have the easiest, fastest access to arousal to turn it on, to connection. And that defines often your access point or the positive blueprint that you may be. And then there are the shadow aspects of each blueprint type and you can have the full positive of this, full super powers of one blueprint type and have the shadows of a completely other type, and not have the turn on our shadow of those same types. I hope that made sense, what I just said.  Ian Ferguson: But the shadows are the things that are basically the brakes to your turn on. And Emily Nagasaki in her book "Come As You Are," talks about a bunch of research where, it is actually the brakes in people's sexuality, the things that put a stop to it that inhibit their ability to access pleasure or drop into expansion or discovery or a deeper understanding of their own turn ons and the shadow parts, that's what we talk about when we're talking about the shadow parts of the blueprints, those pieces that just shut it down for you. And it's bad, I think this land's better as I go through each blueprint type talking about the superpowers and the shadows of each one. So I can just jump into the sensual if you'd like? Neil Sattin: Sure. And just as a mention for you listening, Emily Nagasaki, whom in just mentioned, she was on the show Episode 123. So, if you want to hear here, Emily, it's a fascinating work. So, definitely check that out.   Ian Ferguson: She's awesome. She is so articulate about all of this stuff. So, yes, I would recommend your listeners. Go listen to Emily talk about that or read or pick up her book. Yeah. So the sensual type, the sensual type is, was one of my primary types I say "was" because I would say that I've really moved more into a shapeshifter in terms of my, all the superpowers that I've got going on. But the sensual is the type that brings artistry to sexuality. They are turned on by all of the senses being ignited. And that means that you can have an orgasm from eating that perfectly juicy, incredible strawberry. The sensuals will often when they're eating, they're the ones will be moaning they'll be like: "Mm... oh! Hmm!" And, you know, you can tell a shapeshifter often, by the way, that they dress, they'll wear textures and layers and often be perhaps touching themselves.  Neil Sattin: You mean a sensual?  Ian Ferguson: What did I just say?  Neil Sattin: You said shapeshifter.  Ian Ferguson: Oh, shapeshifter. Yeah. Sorry. A sensual will often be touching themselves. And one of their superpowers is the fully embodied orgasm. They'll find the orgasm all over their body in their own crevices of their arms, and their legs, uh, really, really fulfilling and rich. And a big difference between the energetic and the sensual, the energetic really gets turned on by that space, by the anticipation of the collapsing of the space without collapsing it. The sensual tends to want to get really snuggly and cuddly and tight and close in with their partner. So you can see where those two types might have a little challenge relating because one wants closeness, the other wants distance.  Ian Ferguson: The shadows of the sensual. Would be that there, those same things that can turn them on can become complete red flags and become very distracting. A sensual can get very lost in their head and have a hard time accessing their pleasure because they can't get relaxed, they can't drop into the space. So let's say the lights are too bright or the music is the wrong song or too loud. They've got bills to pay or a call that they didn't return, there's socks on the floor. All of these things can lead to intense distraction of the sensual. And when the sensual is not connected to their body, they can't drop into their eroticism. So. You know, often what we'll say is that the sensual needs to relax to have sex.  Neil Sattin: Got it. Got it. And one thing I'm curious about is language, as well. And you talk about the different ways that we actually use words and our voices and how that can have an impact based on the erotic type that you that you are. So how might that be different between an energetic and a sensual person?  Ian Ferguson: Well, there's so many aspects of speaking the blueprints, you know, I'll probably talk about this a little bit later, but we, in more detail, but we talk about once you learn your blueprint and you learn the sort of basics of what turn you on, turn you off, the next step there is to be able to learn to speak, feed, heal and expand your blueprints. So one of those pieces is what you're pointing to, which is being able to speak the blueprint. And in speaking the blueprint, that's the full range of what it means to speak. So that can be the words that you use. That can be the body language that you have associated to your eroticism. What turns you on in that realm, and a congruency between, say, vocal tone and your energy and your presence. So between these two types of the energetic and sensual, the energetic, a light energetic. So let me we can get into so many wonderful distinctions about all of these blueprints. But, there's light-energetic, and there's the dark-energetic. The light-energetic when speaking or being spoken to is potentially going to have a little bit of a loftier, lighter tone, maybe a little bit of lilting, but not crazy melodic, tends to be smooth and something that is gonna be flowing not staccato.  Neil Sattin: This is so hilarious. I'm thinking of Marianne Williamson. While you're....  Ian Ferguson: Yeah, that's perfect.  Neil Sattin: But honestly, I think even like Diana Richardson, who's been on the show, you can hear that in her voice, for sure.  Ian Ferguson: Yes. And they might choose the language of, "I feel so connected to you. I feel that we've been really connected through time. And this feels like a universal connection. And my heart is so, it would be so open to you if we could just spend some time being present with each other." So absolute presence, clarity of intention. And they'll often talk about the cosmic. Energetic may also use their hands in sort of flowing patterns when they're expressing themselves. And then alternately, a sensual they may have very expressive, and they may get into very you know, they may may use tone and like really get into the richness of their voice and how they express and they'll talk about, "Oh, this is just so juicy and delicious. What we're talking about, I just love, you know, they'll point to colors and oh, the beautiful day outside and the trees are so green. So they'll notice all of those sensory elements and often be framing things in the language of the senses.  Neil Sattin: Great. Yeah.  Ian Ferguson: Yep. So we can we can pull out little elements of that as we talk about the other blueprint types as well.  Neil Sattin: Awesome. Let's let's proceed to the next one. Yeah.  Ian Ferguson:So the sexual. That is sort of the zone where our society focuses advertising what sort of put out front and center often in music. It's the stereotype of what sex should be. And the sexual is one of the more simple. They they just bring the fun. And by simple I don't mean there's not depth. I just mean that they don't overcomplicate the process of sex. It's about genitals, it's about orgasm. It's about, you know, fucking and coming and all of the the great things that just are raw, pure sex. They're gonna be attracted to the physical, though, in terms of the body language of sexual may be the type of person you're talking to and they're gonna be scanning your body up and down more than meeting you in the eyes. It's just that that sort of limbic animalistic turn on and they're their superpower is that simplistic. They can go from zero to 60 in zero seconds flat, as long as they have certainty, like, "OK, that's what this is about. We're gonna get down to it. I know I'm going to have the orgasm." It's kind of like if everybody has an orgasm, then it's all good. We succeeded. Yay! And in contrast to the sensual, the sexual often needs to have sex in order to relax. Whereas you heard me say before, the sensual needs to relax in order to have sex. So there was some point here that popped into my head about the sexual... and I'm forgetting it.  Neil Sattin: Well, maybe it'll come back to you. But what you just said, I'm curious about kind of the gendered nature of particularly sensual versus sexual.  Do you find that it's a male bodied versus female bodied thing or not? Because that's kind of the classic example. Right? Like, the guy just wants to go straight to having sex and the woman needs time to, like chill out and and and really be relaxed and in her body. And in a lot of cases, that's true.  Ian Ferguson: Yes.  Neil Sattin: So what do you find in the as you've worked with, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people around this?  Ian Ferguson:So, yeah. Genitals are not just the descriptor or the diagnostic for telling us what our primary blueprint type is. We've had, I think over one hundred and fifty thousand people take the quiz at this point. Neil Sattin:Great. Ian Ferguson:And there is a light correlation to gender or genitals in terms of what we stereotypically think. But there is a large population of energetic cock-body people, you know, walking around the planet. There are a lot of men like myself who are sensual. So, gender is not really the deciding factor on any significant level of what blueprint type you are. Neil Sattin: OK, great. Good to know. I mean, I knew that, but I. But I wanted everyone to know that.  Ian Ferguson: And I also want to say something here, too, that is really important: if you are not experiencing any of the ecstatic states or the sort of forms of sexuality or the ease of access to your eroticism that we're speaking about here, there is nothing wrong with you. You're not broken. You are not wrong. Our deeper philosophy is that there's actually nothing to fix. It's really about creating an access to who you are first and foremost. So you accept yourself so that you can honor who you are, where you are, and that then opens up the opportunity to explore and find out other aspects of who you are. If you want to. So none of these are like, if you want them, great. If you want these heightened connections to your eroticism or your orgasm. Fantastic. If it's not your thing. Fantastic. Again, nobody's wrong, broken, and there's nothing to fix.  Neil Sattin: Got it. Yeah. That's that's one of the things that for me, I think was so freeing. Even in just taking the quiz was was that feeling of like, 'Oh, I'm I'm OK, just as how I am.' There was no aspect of the results of the quiz that said, here's where you're damaged or here's how you shouldn't be. So I appreciate that a lot.  Ian Ferguson: You know, and this is also something that that's what it was. And it's kind of ties back in again. Within the realm of therapy around sex or sex therapy, there is often the... putting of sex into the place of aberrant behavior or, you know, diagnosing things in the form, there's a word that's escaping my mind right now. But associating different behaviors to, you know, the quote unquote, unhealthy.  Neil Sattin: Right pathologizing.  Ian Ferguson: Pathologizing sexuality in a lot of the literature within that the that psychologists and therapists study, really only refers to sexuality in the frame of pathology. So that is, and there are amazing sex therapists out there. And we have erotic blueprint coaches who are teaching our methodology where we're just, and these things have been changing in the DSM, where, you know, Kinky was a pathology, I think not even 10 years ago. And that has now been taken out of the DSM as a pathology. Sothings are shifting. And part of our work is the intent to accelerate that path towards acceptance that we are erotic beings. We are very diverse erotic beings. And the problems tend to come more when we're shoving these aspects of ourselves in the closet and siloing ourselves and feeling lost and alone with no ability to articulate who we are and who these natural instincts and being able to funnel them in a way that we're creating consciousness around them and that they're happening with consent, that we understand how to declare boundaries, we understand what consent really means. And that we have agency in our own eroticism. So it's very important to us to normalize consensual sexual behavior in all of its forms.  Neil Sattin: Right. And I like the ability to bring consciousness to all of those forms. So I think typically one might think, for instance, of the sexual type as not a conscious type of sexuality, but in fact, if you bring consciousness to it and your awareness of how you are turned on by sight and sound and sexual language and very like, visceral sexual related things, then you are actually bringing a level of awareness that allows you to evolve when, how you how you approach that with other people and how your boundaries and edges bump up against someone else's.  Ian Ferguson: Yes, exactly. Love it.  Neil Sattin: All right. Let's go to the next one. So we've done an energetic, sensual, sexual and now?  Ian Ferguson: Well, there would be kinky next. But with the sexual, we get to talk a little bit about the shadow aspect.  Neil Sattin: Right. Right. Thank you.  Ian Ferguson: Yeah. So one of the shadow aspects is this part of the sexual that tends to look to: "This is what sex is, and why is everybody making it so complicated?" So they can get this short sighted or single focused and sort of miss out on that smorgasbord of availability. And the shadow is often more an interrupter for the partner of a sexual, than it might be for the sexual themselves because there there could be just as a lack of awareness or even an acceptance that there's more on the table, more on offer. There may be different ways of communicating about eroticism and turn on than just getting right to the act of sex and orgasm. And, you know, and genitals so that that can be a shadow aspect. Another shadow aspect of the sexual, what we'll notice in some of our clients is that sometimes for the sexual they, this isn't true universally, but sometimes there will be being caught in an adolescent sexuality and we'll uncover that, perhaps they were shamed very distinctly or told that their sexuality or turn on was bad. So they at a very young age or have stuck it in the closet and they've never been felt safe to express themselves in their overt turn on by genitals and sex and the desire for it. So they will have certain behaviors that are just kind of unconscious around their sexuality. Where they may be less aware of a partner while they're engaged with that partner. The partner becomes objectified and feels objectified. So this is... This always feel a little challenging to talk about with a sexual because it sounds like a potentially like a judgment. But as you and I have been talking about, it's really just about bringing a new awareness to these things and being able to accept where we're at and then be able to expand out of that to give ourselves the acceptance so that then we can say we can actually get our eyes above the above the horizon and see more of what's possible. The sexual also, this isn't so much a shadow aspect, but the sexual... sex is kind of like like air and water. It is  a necessity for a sexual. It is what has them feel connected to themselves, alive, dropped in. So a sexual who is getting plenty of sex and really feeling satisfied on that front is going gonna tend to be much more effective at work and in their other relationships. They're just going to feel like they're together. They got it handled and they can go out and conquer the world. On the flip side, a sexual who is not getting their sexual needs fed and fulfilled, they can really feel atrophied and starved and sometimes unseen in their relationship because there they are looking for acceptance for that intensity of desire that they have in their eroticism.  Neil Sattin: I'm curious, as you talk about this, what you offer couples where let's say someone who's a sensual or an energetic, is with a sexual. And it feels like typically the way I might have approached something like that is to encourage the sexual person to really learn the sensual language, learn the energetic language. How do you help people who are more sensually oriented, who need the slowness, who need to relax in order to have sex? How do you help them meet a sexual person who wants that, like visceral, quick, rapid thing?  Ian Ferguson: Yeah. So that is that is an incredible question. And of course, one that the answers can often be very individual. And you know,one of the other things that we say quite often is that we wish to bust the myth of sexual incompatibility. That we are not sexually incompatible. We simply do not know how to speak each other's language of turn on. And that is particularly apparent in the pair up that you mentioned here when you're talking about an energetic with a sexual. And oddly enough, you know, that's we'll see a lot of that pairing, this sort of like opposites attract. And if you look at the core of the opposite attracts piece. It has to do with these recognizing in someone else these unlived or untapped aspects of vitality that we don't understand. We may look at and you know, if we have, if we're in the pheromonal soup and we're in love with that person, those, if I'm a sexual, and I'm getting turned on by an energetic, in the first flush of relationship, it may be like, oh, my God, this person is so amazing. They're so unique. I love these pieces of themselves. And then as the limerence period wears off, that initial six to two years and we fall back into our natural primary blueprint, then that's when the divergence happens and we start to see the sexual gets frustrated by the energetics need. The energetic has felt that their boundaries have been crossed or they haven't spoken up for themselves and they've been trying to live and satisfy their sexual while completely crossing their own boundaries to do so. And then resentments build up. And without the language of the blueprints, there's no recognition of like, oh, this is just our types speaking. And now there's an opportunity to bridge the gap and discover where we can meet each other.  Ian Ferguson: So, there are a lot of ways that we go about bridging this gap in the work that we do. You know, one of the things that I mentioned earlier is we've got the speak, feed, heal and expand. And expanding into other blueprints is a big thing of what we teach, and how you can work to bridge the gap if you find yourself in a relationship where you are in opposing blueprints. Another another way that we'll work with people is to find where there is synergy. So we've got something that we use called the sex communication checklist. And it's a whole bunch of sexual practices broken down by blueprint type where you can say, "Yes, I'm interested in that. Mmm, I'm a maybe or I'm curious about that. And here are my no-ways." And we'll encourage our couples or people who are in poly relationships or whatever your relationship configuration is, or if you're dating, we even encourage people who are, you know, getting to that stage in their their dating life to share the sex communication checklist with their partner. And you fill it out separately...  Neil Sattin: You mean on the first date? Ian Ferguson: Yeah, well, for us, we kind of do that. So Jaiya and I will do that kind of thing with somebody that we're interested in, because that's the way we want to have our conversations, just like, Boom. Here it is. For others, you know, you may wait your second, third, fourth, 10th date. Just it's really your comfort level. But, you know, the advice is to go and fill those things, those forms out separately and then come back and compare and contrast. So you'll find just in those areas where you're both a total yes. Then you'll find areas where you might have been a yes and there are willing to or vise versa. You're willing to. And they were a full yes. Those are other areas where you can play.  Ian Ferguson: And then there's the no-ways, which you know, those, the no-ways can change over time. But when you're in the first flush of really starting to articulate where you do connect.My recommendation is to not push on the no-ways to just get curious about them, because sometimes there's misunderstandings about what those know ways really mean, especially when it comes to zones of eroticism like kinky and energetic, where some of the language is not so obvious and projections and stereotypes may come in and have somebody judge what they think it means when somebody wants to do something like breath play or knife play. So getting curious about what that means if you've got a hard no-way but your partners a hell-yes to someplace where you don't meet up starting to ask questions. Well, what do you mean by that? What would that provide to you if we did play that way? What if you know what turns you on about that? So you start to open up a dialog of empathy with your partner about what it provides for them. And that's actually a third thing that I would talk about, which is actually a primary aspect of any great communication, which is essentially curiosity first. So the moment there's a trigger of the moment, there's a misunderstanding, the moment that something arises where there's discomfort or contraction, taking a breath, taking a moment and getting curious. What you mean by that? Was that mean to you? What pleasure would that provide? Why is it important to you? Instead of going into whatever our preconceptions may be, because we may be wildly off in in whatever caused us to contract or pull away or not hear our partner and their desires and needs?  Neil Sattin: Yeah. Yeah. So there are so many different things that have come up for me over the course of what you're just saying, and I'm going to try to distill it. So one was the way that... Because you mentioned consent and boundaries as being so important and, so how do you encourage curiosity while at the same time honoring boundaries? You know, I'm thinking like, let's just take an example just to like, make it concrete.  Ian Ferguson: Sure.  Neil Sattin: And we'll we'll use this, like problems situation. So you've got a sexual person who's just like: "I just want you like when, I get home from work, what would be amazing is you if you just went down on me. And that would feel amazing to me." And their energetic partner is like, "Oh, my God. Like, that's the last thing I want to do when you get home from work. I need space. I need to like feel out how your how your energy is before I'm willing to..." Right? So an energetic person might say, "Well, I have a boundary and that's my boundary. I'm not gonna to I mean..." Especially an energetic person. Right. Because they're all about the space where the sexual person is just like, "No, come over here and like. Touch me. Do me." You know, in some way.  Ian Ferguson: "Yeah. Let's get to it!" Neil Sattin: Yeah. So how would you... I think it's easy to kind of go in the inverse way where you talk to the sexual person and be like, "You just gotta learn to be patient and enjoy the anticipation." Right? But let's be fair here. And so that's one thing. And, I want to just place that in the context of... my guess, which is that what comes up when a lot of people take your quiz and find out these things about themselves erotically, is that you get the relief, the sense of, oh, that's who I am, or that's so freeing to have learned that about myself and to learn that and to guess that about my partner. But then, there's the pain of recognition like, oh, this is this is maybe also at the heart of some of the ways that we haven't been working so well. You know, we got through the limerence stage and we've been in this place of tension and discomfort. So it makes me think about what you mentioned about the need for healing. And so it feels like those two things need to coexist, because if you're dealing with this hypothetical energetic and sexual couple, if that's been going on for any length of time, there's going to need to be a context of healing that allows them to even step into that space.  Ian Ferguson: Sure. Boy. One thing that's amazing about this conversation in general is how kaleidoscopic it is as we open one topic, then it starts to thread into all of the other areas.  Neil Sattin: I know, and we still have two more types to talk about. Ian Ferguson: Exactly. So the. OK, so one thing is that it is going to be just as difficult, sometimes, more difficult for the sexual, to put the brakes on what they need and want. And often that shows up in that they have been feeling unfed, like their libido is through the roof. They'd be having sex three times a day, while their energetic partner needs the connection. The space maybe rarely opens to full on intercourse and eroticism in a way that both people are are really feeling satisfied. So, we're dealing with opposing blueprints and we're dealing with what appears from the outside to look like potentially an unbridgeable gap. And in that space, the curiosity piece is vital. Let's take it from the energetics perspective and their sexual partners just said this to them: "This is really how I want it. I want you to go down on me the moment I come in the door." And from the energetic perspective, you could be saying, first acknowledging, "Thank you for letting me know that. I'd love to be able to provide that for you. And it's going to take some growth, I think, for me to get there. And I would like to know one, what it provides for you? Like, how does that make you feel?" So that as it is the energetic asking that question, can I start to bridge the gap and create an empathetic bridge of really understanding how their partner gets fed? And sometimes, even just really opening up the dialog so that  anybody in a relationship can be fully seen will take the pressure down several inches of: "It's gotta look this way. I've gotta, when I come home, we've got to be able to take my pants down and you gotta go down on me. That's the only way it's gonna be." So allowing for it to be seen and heard and say, "God, I really want that for you. I want that for us. And I'm scared because.." and getting into personal vulnerability. "I'm scared in it as well, because I want to provide that for you. And I think if I do that, I'm going to actually contract and feel less close to you. So I want to figure out a way to do this. But I really want to figure out a way to do that, so it works for both of us. Are you willing to explore and figure out how we can do that?" Ian Ferguson: So, then that leads into the exploration and in deeper curiosity and starting to find a way. So we're getting some synergy here, hopefully between two people with willingness. That's a primary need inside a relationship, a willingness to try and meet each other and see each other and then starting to play with what we think it's supposed to look like.  Ian Ferguson: So, you know, a specific example with the energetic may be, you know, "You're away at work all day. I don't really have any idea where you're at. I don't know what you're gonna be like when you come in the door. And if you're full of stress and anxiety, I pick it up immediately. And, I just feel tension and I don't feel comfortable feeling close to you. So why don't we try that throughout the day, you'll send me a text giving me where you are emotionally and giving me a piece of, telling me some way that you love me." So it's an energetic foreplay so that there's a sense of connection while the person's away at work. And it's not this immediate leap into just genital based sex, but they have some connection. "And when you come in the door for a week, let's try where or for the next two weeks we'll try it. We'll do this and I'll I'll go down on you shortly after you come home from work. But what I want to try to get there is, I'd like five minutes of eye gazing and breathing together. And then I'll go down on you." So starting to get into basically the science of your turn on and your partner's turn on and finding ways where you can bridge the gap and, there's no compromise. One of our mentors, Kelly Bryson, who wrote the book. "Don't Be Nice. Be Real." has a beautiful phrase I love, which is compromise is resentment, 50/50. So the whole book is about nonviolent communication. And the real gift of nonviolent communication, from my perspective, is the ability to find such a deep sense of empathy with the other that you find synergy such that you can figure out how you can meet each other's needs willingly without any compromise and get really creative about how you get to that solution.  Neil Sattin: Yeah, I want that for all of you listening. I want you to that experience. So just as a reminder, if you want to take the quiz to figure out what kind of type you are and you and you get a nice breakdown of what percentage you are of all the types. And we still have two more to talk about. You can visit erotic-breakthrough-dot-com-slash alive. We will have a transcript of this conversation at Neil-Sattin-dot.com-slash-erotic, which will also have links to Ian and Jaiya's sites, so you can get more information that way. And you guys, do you have have a course, right, that's not only walks people through this stuff, but also helps them go through all these stages that you were talking about expanding into each other's blueprints, and feeding themselves. And they're obviously this is such a rich conversation, so what is the course that you offer people?  Ian Ferguson: So we have a number of ways that we dive into this material. But the sort of the the entrance point is the erotic blueprint breakthrough course. And that is an online course. Along with it comes the opportunity to be part of our online community, our online membership group for three months as a bonus, just to kind of dip your toe in there. And the blueprint course is a very deep dive into the blueprints, because the blueprints, as you may be picking up, are not just simply about a sort of surface level idea of what you're erotic blueprint type is, but the blueprints are the core, your core erotic blueprints, what stage of sexuality you're in, where you are with the four pathways to sexual health and pleasure. These are all aspects of our sexuality. And we're really looking at sexuality as a 360 degree, you know, kaleidoscope of who you are, where you are in your life, what your aspirations are in your sexuality. And the blueprint course walks you through that process of really dialing in through games like fun ways to discover what your blueprint type is because you can take the quiz and that's your mind answering the questions. But when you get in your body, you may get different answers. You may open up in ways that you do you didn't that are a surprise, like oh! An example of that is a lot of people will take the quiz and the written portion of something related to kinky or even their predisposition to maybe have judgments about the selves around kink or shame around their kinky desires, may have them answering those questions either a little more carefully or kind of avoiding the thing that might turn them on, or may not just even relate to them because it's not a physical experience. But when you start doing things like our A-B game or the body mapping, which are games that we lead you through, then you start to get a real sense of your pleasure map. And these are great things to do with a partner, with somebody you're dating or a long term relationship to start to map each other's pleasure and start to really get a vocabulary and a way to articulate all your needs. So you can get them fed and fulfilled in relationship. And then there's the health and wellness aspect of our sexuality. Our hormonal health, our biochemical health, our bio energetic health and our emotional health. And this is another aspect inside of the blueprint course where I had spoken earlier about the healing portion around this, where we dive into those aspects, those things that may be putting the brakes on your sexuality, that may have you stopping yourself at that edge of where you really want to explore, where you really want to open up. There's a number of factors that go into really being able to to have a well rounded, vital vitality around your eroticism.  Neil Sattin: So in other words. It's a super comprehensive course, where you would get a lot probably out of going through it. And if you take the quiz, then Ian and Jaiya will make you aware of how to how to get the course and when they launch it and when it's available for you.  Ian Ferguson: For sure.  Neil Sattin: Definitely, check that out.  Ian Ferguson: Thanks for boiling that down..  Neil Sattin: Quick side note you have. You have definitely a hard stop at 2:30 your time?  Ian Ferguson: It could go a little longer.  Neil Sattin: Okay. I'm just eyeballing the clock and I want to honor your time. And thank you. We have two more to do.  Neil Sattin: So and then you also do some live events to write for.  Ian Ferguson: Yes, for. So every year we do something called Paths to Passion. That's that's sort of our entry level workshop where we introduce you to blueprints on a deeper level. This last year in October, we just do it once a year, we had 540 people at this event. It is just a beautiful way to drop in, start to get familiar a bit with our community and some of our coaches. And that's awesome. Our other workshops basically require you to have done that first workshop or at least have gone through the erotic blueprint breakthrough course, because we at each level of workshop that we offer, we go a little deeper, we get a bit more experiential with what we're doing. Again, everything at our live workshops is all very consent based and based on, you know, respecting people's boundaries and not doing anything to coerce anyone to do anything they don't want to do. The Path to Passion Workshop is, you know, I call it PG-13 because we definitely use racy language, we are talking about sex, but it's a clothes on, you know, there are immersive practices that are part of it, but it's all pretty digestible even from somebody who may be completely new to in diving into their own sexual exploration.  Neil Sattin: Got it. Yeah, I could imagine being excited about something like that. Being really nervous about something like that.  Ian Ferguson: Sure. We have people who just say that they're terrified to come Paths to Passion and pretty universally, on the flip side of that, they're just like, "Oh, wow, you've just normalized a conversation that I've had so much tension about my entire life. And I felt so safe in your community, in your environment. I felt taken care of." And, you know, more often than not, and the majority of people who come to that event come out with a stronger sense of their accepting themselves. Accepting the conversation and feeling comfortable, many times, for the first time to even claim what they want, who they are, and expressing a willingness to go after it.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. That was exactly the word that was coming to me. Like fostering that willingness for themselves and in the way that they understand others too.  Ian Ferguson: Yeah, for sure.  Neil Sattin: Okay. So for all those people out there who are like when are they going to talk about the other two types?  Ian Ferguson: That's it. We're using the energetic tease to hold out and have you want it really badly. A little bit of kink in not letting, not giving you what you desire.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. Let's transition to the kinky type.  Ian Ferguson: Cool. So kinky actually ends up being my primary blueprint. It is my fastest path to arousal. The kinky world is a vast, vast world. And simply put, we think of kinky as whatever is taboo for you. And that may run counter to the stereotype that people witness and see, even from movies like "50 Shades of Grey," where often it's the edgier aspects of kink that are that are labeled as kink or seen as kink. The leather. The dungeons. The whips and chains. Pain. These aspects of kink. And they are, they are part of the world of kink. But there are only one segment of it. So whatever taboo, whatever is taboo for you. For example, Jaiya had some clients in her practice who had been married for 40 years. They went to the same restaurant every Tuesday night, then every Thursday night, they would have sex and they would only have sex in missionary position. So when they started coaching with Jaiya and they started exploring having sex doggy style or doing oral sex, these things which may be very vanilla to your listeners or just most of your listeners, that was really edgy, hugely taboo and carried all of this thrill. So that was kinky for them. Whereas for others, kinky may mean, you know, intense submission scenes or intense rope tying and knife play, could even be hooks. You know, it can get very, very, very intense. And further, we break down kink into two different categories. We think about the psychological kink, which deals more with power games, power play, control and surrender from a not so much like the constriction and bondage in that version, but more somebody giving their power or submitting to the person who is in control of the scene. Psychological games.  Neil Sattin: Yeah, something like come over here, you know. Face the wall.  Ian Ferguson: Yes. Yeah. Get on your knees.  Neil Sattin: Like that sort of thing. Yeah. Ian Ferguson:  That sort of thing. Or you have to hold these paperclips on your fingertips with your arms outstretched and if you drop when you're gonna get a punishment. So that would be as a psychological predicament game. And then we have the physiological or the physical which tends to be more the spankings, the canings, the constriction. I'm a big fan of constriction as part of one of my turn ons. So it's more just the physical aspects of it. And you can be both. I'm certainly both psychological and physiological kink, kind of blended together. And the superpowers of the kink also, they're wildly creative. Other superpowers of the kink would be often in conscious kink, which I would recommend you practice highly conscious kink and highly safe kink if you're interested in this realm of exploration. The one of the superpowers is also the creation of the scene, creating really clear boundaries, creating really clear consent conversations and creating arousal and turn on by really setting up those scenes and scenarios with such clarity and holding those containers really powerfully. Other superpowers for the kinky, kind of like the energetic is, you can have orgasms without even being touched. So one example is a friend of ours did a scene with someone where they tied her all up. They tied her to a really powerful music speaker. Cranking like heavy metal music, and they gave the impression by shutting a door that they had left her alone in that room and so she was in this state of of fear, surrender all of these endorphins running in her system. And from her telling, she was left there for hours. That could have been 30 minutes and it felt like hours. But then the dom came in and slammed the door really hard. And she had the most insane orgasm, squirting orgasm that she'd ever had in her life. And he didn't touch her at all. So, that's an incredible super power of the kinky, as well as being able to go into what's called subspace. And that is that sort of endorphin rush where you completely surrender to sensation. And so it can often I mean, for me, the couple of times of I've accessed it, it's essentially same thing to me as reaching highly spiritual states through tantric sex or meditation. you go into a oneness state where you have surrendered identity, you've surrendered any sense of time or space, and it's for many people in the kink community, it's sort of the Valhalla. It's the thing you're seeking when you're doing this kind of scene work.  Neil Sattin: Got it.  Ian Ferguson: Yeah. And shadow aspects of the kinky would be one of the biggest ones is shame.  Neil Sattin: Yeah.  Ian Ferguson: So deep, deep shame. What's wrong with me? Why am I like this? As Jaiya and I, we use our personal life as a petri dish of experimentation. And that's where we've gotten so many of the games and techniques and things that we're that we teach is that we've played with this stuff in our own lives. And one of the ways that we dove really deeply into the realm of kink, kinky was a zero on Jaiya's blueprint quiz. And it was a, I don't remember what that percentage was was like, forty seven percent on mine. It was my primary blueprint. So here Jaiya and I in our relationship went through a three year period of deep disconnection. I mean, we were, we were almost done well. And she was an energetic sexual and I was sensual kinky. We were completely on opposite ends of the spectrum and we didn't realize it because Jaiya hadn't downloaded the blueprints yet. They were starting to come into play and she was trying, she was coming home from strip classes and doing cat pounces and trying to turn me on in a sexual blueprint. While we're in this period of time and I, my sensual was kind of like looking for that closeness and connection and down regulation while she was jumping in with, "I need sex, I don't want sex and approaching me from a sexual viewpoint." And we were just missing each other entirely, feeling unseen, unheard. Jaiya was crying herself to sleep at night. And I was you know, my confidence was just dropping through the floor. And in that state I was pulling back and not giving her my presence. So we were really headed towards the end of our relationship until this stuff started to get dialed in, of like, "Oh, that's who you are. Erotically. Wow. Okay. Now I can start to learn how to speak that." Or, when you come on to me in that way, I know what it means as opposed to thinking you're just imposing what you want on me. And I'm a tool of your turn on that kind of thing.  Neil Sattin: Yeah. I think in the interview I heard with Jaiya. She spoke a little bit about that and her journey from well, she was writing a book on kink, right? Did that come first? Like she got the book deal. And she's like, "Alright, now I've got to figure this out." Ian Ferguson: Yeah. We had done we had gone into some stuff that we teach that really started to heal our relationship, which is actively putting ourselves in sex life challenges where we're taking on a form of exploration and setting it on a calendar and making a date to explore in that way. And that was one of the big beginnings of the healings inside of our relationship. And also diving into the kink realm, which you're exactly right. Jaiya got the book deal to do the book on Kink and then had to do a bunch of research because you didn't know anything about it. And we dove into a 40-40 experiment where for 40 days, Jaiya dominated me and I was submissive. We took ten days off and then I dominated her for 40 days and she was submissive. And during those days, we were studying with kink experts in the bondage realm and the psychological kink realm in all sorts of areas of kink to really get a full understanding what the world was about. And that's when... like, I knew I was kinky and I thought it was a little bit of light bondage and some, you know, gender play and things like that. But the level and depth of my kink fully came into fruition when we started diving into this 40-40 experiment. I had no idea how much of a turn on it was for me and sort of how deep it went in my erotic map. And nor did Jaiya. So this whole aspect of my eroticism wasn't even being seen or honored by both of us. And one of the things I kept asking, you know, 30 days in to my being submissive to Jaiya, was like, "Why does this stuff turn me on?" I mean, there's this assumption or this this prejudice to think that kink is born out of people who were abused or have some dysfunction. And I had no sexual abuse. I had none of these things associated to that. So I'm ike, what is this about?! And one of our kink teachers during this kept hearing me ask the question. They said, "Stop asking the question, just enjoy yourself." It was just like a breath of relief of like, Oh, yeah, right. It doesn't have to mean anything. It's just what turns me on and I can play with it. And as long as I'm playing with it safely and consensually, it's a beautiful exploration.  Neil Sattin: And was there anything in particular that you recall, Jaiya doing that helped her with what I imagine might have been challenging as primarily an energetic, which is her judgment around it?  Ian Ferguson: Yeah. So there are a bunch of trigger things for Jaiya in the realm of kink. One was how far out my edges were because she couldn't find them. So, you know, there's in kink play. You'll set a scene, you'll begin the scene, you'll end the scene. And there's something often called aftercare, where in most circumstances, from my knowledge, the aftercare is usually guided towards having the submissive come back to their body and feel comfortable and connected because they've often gone through a very intense experience. Well, a Dom can also go through a very intense experience because they're holding the container for any number of you know edgy sexual explorations. For Jaiya, who is energetic, you know, when she first started doing kink, she would and was getting trained by a kink master, she would give somebody a spanking and she smacked their ass and then she'd go: "Are you okay? Are you breathing?" And the submissive would look up at her with like anger in their eyes, like, what are you doing? And so the kink person was like, no, that is not it at all. They're signed up for this. This is what they've agreed to. This is what they want. It's not going to check in with them after, you know, everything that you do. The time for that is in aftercare, after the scene is over. So anyway, we would do these scenes and Jaiya would be, you know, going pretty deeply into anything from, you know, we'd be playing with caning one session, we'd be playing with really derogatory language in another session, and usually we come out the other other end of the scene and she'd say, "I need some cuddling, I need some aftercare." So I come out like, "Oh, my God, that was great. We could've gone so much further!" And with no need for aftercare because I was just in a state of turn on and fun and arousal. So aftercare was a big thing, when I was dominating Jaiya, we started to u

Connect with Curt online in the following places:www.curtderksen.comInstagram: @curtaderksenHosted by: Andrew Bracewell @EverydayAmazingPodcastProduced and Edited by: Justin Hawkes @Hawkes21Full transcription of this Interview:Andrew Bracewell: This is the podcast that finds the most elusive people everyday. Amazing kind that you know nothing about. I'm hunting these people down and exposing their beauty to the world. I'm Andrew Bracewell, and this is every day. Amazing.Curt Derksen: I don't want to give them what's left of me. I'm gonna give him the best of me.Andrew Bracewell: I am both nervous and excited. Maybe even more nervous than excited because of the individual who's sitting across from me today. Curt Derksen. Welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me, Phil. It is absolutely my pleasure. I'll Ah, I'll start with that. I'd like to start things with confessions sometimes. And so Ah, the reason that I'm nervous is because you and I actually do this all the time. And the only difference is is today we're doing it with microphones in front of our faces.Curt Derksen: Yep, True that. And a whole bunch of people that might hear it.Andrew Bracewell: And a whole bunch of people that might hear it a little bit. And so, no, no, There won't be any editing. We're only doing we're only doing it in the raw. But what I have Thio say in admit and this is part of the reason why I'm so excited and and yet nervous at the same time is that there's been a number of times in the last couple years that you and I have spent late nights together Ah, out on the patio or the porch or in the backyard and I drive home from that experience where I walk inside my house and I say to myself, that has to be one of the best conversations in the history of mankind. Somebody needs to be recording this. That was amazing. That was life giving, and it was incredible. So, um, well, the feeling is mutual. You're making me blush a little bit. Well, I'm not I'm not trying to make you bless. So So this morning is that was getting ready. Ah, the nervous thoughts that came into my mind Where Andrew, don't screw this up. Just be natural. Let it flow, Do what you do And you guys are gonna have a great time. So I am truly excited to ah to have you sitting across from me and in keeping with our tradition that we've tend to have, whether it be through intent or not, we are sipping bourbon. Well, we Well, we talked to one another, and it should be noted for the audience that it's roughly 10. 30 in the morning. Won't say where we are. You know where that is. But we're not driving. We're actually in my living room, and we're Ah, we're gonna We're gonna do bourbon together because that's what we do. Brings out the best and the conversation seems to feel I have a question for you, actually on that on that topic. Good. Do you think so? Neither of you. Neither you or I has educated enough to probably intelligently answer this question, But let's try to do it together anyway. What do you think alcohol does to you in conversation? What is it doing? Your brain does it open you up? Does it shut you down? Speak to that a little bit because you and I have have had lots of alcohol into his conversations.Curt Derksen: Yeah, that's a good question. So I think about it often, actually, because it depends on a few things for me. Circumstances of my Dave, my own body chemistry, food that's on board. Kind of where I'm at emotionally, but often what it will do is it will help me come grounded in present in the moment. And then I can just be really some of my inhibitions or concerns of just being vulnerable out of subside. And then I could just be fully engaged in the moment. And it opens up some amazing opportunities for, like, we had some really cool conversations that you just feel like you're connected with somebody.Andrew Bracewell: So again, it's funny that we're having this conversation because we're probably not fit to have the conversation properly because we don't actually know what's going on in the body chemistry. Maybe we do a bit, but do you think that it takes us out of a current state of reality and allows us to get into a different space that therefore then opens up conversations that we otherwise wouldn't be ableto have, or how do you think that works? I thinkCurt Derksen: it's for me. Anyways. It's more just about some of the barriers coming down, like my own inhibitions, as far as like, maybe I won't say that right now, because he may be. He'll think something weird of me or whatever, and that is just kind of gone and then You just got to get into a flow. Almost. You just let it be. Some people can probably do it easier without alcohol. And I can definitely do it without I'll call as well. But I just find that regardless of what my circumstances are during that day, it will help the be present.Andrew Bracewell: Yeah, it goes without saying that this certainly isn't an endorsement of that. You course you need alcohol in orderto have real authentic conversation. Well, I mean, usually before nine. I'm onto my second little bit. Delete today. Yeah, I know. It just so happens that, you know, you and I have spent a lot of time together, but we have this great history of incredible conversations late at night. Well, while sipping on bourbon. So in keeping with our tradition, we're doing that this morning and, ah, you know, here's to us doing it one more time to choose. Um, So hey, I want to introduce you a bit to the audience, and I wanna give you the platform, and I want to let you know, tell us who you are, where you came from in a bit of your stories. So, um, I want to give you the platform. I'll I'll say that. You know, you're a guy who's married with three kids and you live in Abbotsford and you sell real estate. But maybe, um, I'll let you go from there. Take it over and away. You go.Curt Derksen: Okay. Not originally from atmosphere to grow up in Kelowna, just outside of Kelowna. And I was the oldest of three kids. Never thought that I would be anything to do with sales. That just wasn't my cup of tea. I volunteered in Cairo, Egypt, for a year, and I went to school in Alberta and went to school and Abbotsford and again, real estate was never on my radar. I had some experiences, met some people, read some books when I was in university at the University Fraser Valley that started just giving me a paradigm shift, challenging the way I thought opening up my mind to different possibilities and reading different perceptions, really, And so that led me to real estate, and I got to the place where I feel like it's actually a really good fit for me, and so it just I've grown a lot as a human and a lot of really great things have come as a result of had good opportunities to connect with and serve people and and create a cool life for my familyAndrew Bracewell: and your your family just to catch everybody up. You're married for how many years?Curt Derksen: So my wife, Michelle, we've been married since 2008. So 11 years at this 110.11 and 1/2 years we have three Children going. His eight. Thailand is six and Norris for. So we are in the full on chaos of all that is young families and loving it. We actually actually feel like we're kind of emerging out of like treading water, but mostly being underwater and coming to a place where I feel like I spend more time with my head above water than below. Which is a refreshing feeling. I think Michelle would say the same thing. I know she would.Andrew Bracewell: Oh, there'll be parents out there listening to this, nodding their head guy. I understand. Well, yeah, but I already meansCurt Derksen: once you're a parent, you you get it. You don't really know what chaos is until I mean, everybody has different levels are different kinds of chaos. But as a parent. The chaos that you deal with condense?Andrew Bracewell: Yep. I want to circle back to your You alluded it eluded to your university experience and how you're said your mind started to shift. You started thinking different ways. What were you What were you studying in university? And then what kind of experiences did you have that started to, you know, shift the way you were investigating the future of your life?Curt Derksen: I'd probably back it up even a little bit further before that, because I went to school and I went to three different schools. Three different postsecondary education institutions, one including a one in Calgary, then one in Abbotsford. And when I went in Kelowna, I was playing on the men's soccer team there, and my experience was mostly just about playing soccer. When I went in Calgary to that school, I was playing basketball, and my experience was mostly based around basketball. So what I was actually getting out of my studies was only what I needed to in order to keep their to this city there. But I didn't enjoy it. The studies that I was taking wasn't really for me. It was more typical like what you would do in high school. You just kind of jump through the hoops after both of those experiences. That's when I went to Egypt, and I just I went on a trip. Michelle, my wife is from there.Andrew Bracewell: Yeah, So this this was a FEMA female inspired this year. Go to ECurt Derksen: Exactly. She she lived there for 12 years, and so it wasAndrew Bracewell: a noble, noble reason. It's totally well, yeah, get in withCurt Derksen: the family, show that I'm actually good shit and then weAndrew Bracewell: can see where it goes from. ThereCurt Derksen: it was You got to go to Egypt and I fell in love with you. We're just on a tourist trip at that point were there for three weeks, and I fell in love with the opportunity and actually the opportunity that I sought to basically connect with and served Sudanese refugee kids. And so when I came back from Egypt, actually dropped out of school is supposed to be going for my second semester, but it was okay because the first semester was when we had soccer and the second semester soccer season wasn't going on so I could drop out. It was totally cool actually went back to the rigs at that point. Julian Reason, Northern Alberta paid off some debt, save some money and then went to Egypt. And so when I came back, Thio Canada So was in Egypt for a year when I came back to Canada. After that, I went raid in tow. Michelle and I got married, and then I wouldn't read into the University of Freezer Valley and started slitting kinesiology. And so kinesiology is the study of the human body in the human body in motion. And I always played sports and was active and trained pretty fit. And so getting into kinesiology at you, if he was a different like not only was I now older and mature and I was better because I was engaged in the studies and I kind of had a bit of an end goal and you where I wanted to be, Uh, But this this is what I was actually studying was actually fascinating to me because it was an application with stuff that I already at some core level, understood and new. And so the studies when I got to that position being a little bit older having some life experience studying something that I actually enjoyed. I started thinking differently. I just started, maybe even actually just thinking rather than going through the motions in life. And so I got to the end of my university studies, and rather than pursue kinesiology, I actually might last. I laughed one of my last second or third. Last semester, I started reading some books about investing in real estate. One of the fundamental books for me was the Robert Kiyosaki Bic Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and it's a really basic Michelle and I actually bought that book. We're driving to Remington for, uh, we're going to a family wedding or something out in Edmonton. We bought the book before we left. We read it to each other. At that point, I'm a student at you. If you were renting a condo and Michelle's and nurse just in her first year of practicing as a nurse working at the office for a hospital, we buy this book. We're driving a 2006 black Honda Civic, which was our first car that we got together. We're driving Delbert a reading this book, taking turns back and forth. Read it to each other. By the time we got home back to Abbotsford, we decided that we were going to buy a house. And it was never really on our radar, something that we talked about before. But there was some very simple principles that were like, We're gonna apply this. Our agent at the time was James Armstrong and poor guy. We just We're new to this whole world and didn't have any, like guidance. Really? So we're just like I thought it was the best thing to go and see every possible listing that there was. So we probably actually have a folder with all of the pieces of paper that Jim printed for us. We saw, like, 40 homes.Andrew Bracewell: You were the client from hell,Curt Derksen: right? Exactly. We totally he was just a happy go lucky love to just super social love to be with us and tell stories. And so we just saw everything that we could see anyways, So we go from living in a condo that we're renting to buying a house and within like, six months, you buy this house, I'm in university, still full time. Michele's working at this point. I'm working at Great West Fitness, that gym in town. I'm a personal trainer and or I'm studying to be a personal trainer on top of the other things that come along with kinesiology. And so I'm working at the gym studying, and we bought this house and I started renovating the basement. So we bought it without a sweet, renovated the basement, put a sweet and illegal suite, and then we lived in the basement and rented out the upstairs for the 1st 2 years. And so this was kind of like our problem at this point. I wasn't planning on being a realtor. I just had the idea from Robert if we use what we have, and we can actually make it work for us rather than paying somebody else's rent, and that's kind of where it all started.Andrew Bracewell: You were putting into action what you had read, and you were You were living it outCurt Derksen: exactly, and by time we actually got the living in that basement suite. We were little. We were living for less money. We're paying less money to live in our own house. Then we would have been paying rent it this other, and it was our own house. It was our own basement, soAndrew Bracewell: I want to circle back to something. Um I don't wanna miss over something. Miss out on something that could be good here, and I don't even know. I can't remember the exact dates. I know. You know, I have discussed this before, but when you were in Egypt, you were involved in a fairly significant accident. Was that Is that pre marriage or when? What does thatCurt Derksen: was? Yes. So that was March of 2000 and six, sort to March of 2008. And so Egypt was quite significant for me. Like not only was I in a situation that I would have never imagined before on several occasions I went to Egypt playing spy before Egypt had always played sports. Never got hurt, never broke a bone, never been in an accident. Never had anything bad happen versa. Master, I'm playing basketball against one of the students that I was working with. One of the refugees on the run. He was a moth, was like six foot nine, like he was a full grown human, like there's a whole side story here, if they often will when they when they come into, like so with a lot of the Sudanese living in in Cairo have refugee status, but they're not like in a refugee camp. They're just like in the shit mix with the Egyptians. And so there's a lot of differences between the Sudanese and an Egyptian like very, very different from the Sudanese air, not overly accepted in a lot of a large part, like they come and they don't have income potential. They can't work the speak different languages. They're not overly accepted. So there's like this massive problem of the Egyptians not loving the Sudanese and not I'm generalizing a little bit. But as a general rule, like the general person on the street is not overly excited that the Sudanese were there because they're just an extra burden, like we would be here like it was an extra burden on our society. Totally. It's not to the fault of the Sudanese. It's just the reality anyways, so I'm playing basketball games, this massive guy who says he's 17 but he's probably 35 he's probably older than I was just a monster. I drive the whole and I do a lay up and I came to the end of the Congo like end of the corpse in a concrete corner at the end. There's a little drop off when I rolled my ankle and broke my foot and I've never broken anything before. And so I walked. We walked everywhere. I was like a volunteer at the time, so I have $0 to my name. You could take a taxi everywhere you go, and it doesn't cost very much, but I don't even have enough money to do that. I'm just a volunteer. So I walked everywhere, so I walked for like, three days around Madi. That's the part of Cairo where we were on a broken foot before I went to the doctor and got X rays and sure enough got casted. So the first semester I was in a cast for like and Weeks came home at Christmas, proposed, went back toAndrew Bracewell: Egypt and then just fit in all the things that really all the things thatCurt Derksen: proposed Christmas. We're getting married that summer, July and go back. And then that spring break, Michelle came over to visit, to hang out with me there for a couple weeks and I got into a car accident. I was on a bicycle. First semester. I walked. Then when I had a broken foot, it was hard to walk. So I got a bike and was riding around. Well, trafficking Cairo is make noon. That's like Arabic for crazy, like it is mental. It's probably one of the least safe places in the world to drive. At one point, I remember hearing that there was something like 90 related traffic deaths per day in the city of Cairo. It like it's just absolutely traffic laws don't apply. They aren't there aren't any. And so I had this brilliant idea that I was gonna write a bike. I wasn't wearing a helmet, and I went to a soccer practice that I was coaching with a bunch of the Sudanese kids, and I'm riding back, and it's kind of like dusk getting to the end of the day, and it's the end of the week. So Friday's air the beginning of their weekend. So it's like a Thursday night at dusk. Everybody's getting out of town toe, go home or whatever. I'm trying to ride across traffic and I get to this mad Dan like a roundabout, and this should be like probably three lanes of traffic all the way around the Madan. But this was there's probably five, and so it's super busy. There's one traffic cop kind of directing, making sure that there is a flow. But it's just chaos. And so in the chaos, if you want to like yet anywhere you have to be aggressive. So whether you're walking or riding a bike or driving, if you don't go, then you'll stand forever and you're not.Andrew Bracewell: You're not going to Israel. You goCurt Derksen: where you don't where you stay. And so I decided to make a quick second approached the the Madden, and I made a quick decision that I was gonna give her. I was going to get across this Smith Dan and I got past the 3rd 1st 3 vehicles, and what I didn't see was that there was another vehicle on the inside that was cutting really tight, coming quick. And so I got past the 1st 3 you got to the fourth. I didn't see him and oh shit and right there he his I remember, and I actually nightmares about it for a while, but I remember the hood of his car hitting me on my left leg. And I always thought, being athletic, that if I got into that situation you like, I would Spider Man this shit out of thisAndrew Bracewell: situation. I would totally like, come out like his movies. Air rial. I know, right? I was complete.Curt Derksen: I would be like a cat. I would land on my feet. No issues. That's not what happened. I, um, cranked on front and rear brakes went up on the front. Well, the front wheel actually, like mangled completely, just from the my weight and the impact of the car and the bike went underneath the car, and I went over the handlebars and landed on the pavement. Luckily, just passed his car on and close enough to them center of the Madonna, where there is no other vehicles coming, have landed on my face first on my chin, then on my nose broke off. Three of my teeth, destroyed my nose, big cuts over my chin, and it was a bloody mess. I blacked out for a second, came through, came to brought up, grab my bike from underneath the car, and when sat down on the curb and my whole face was just on fire and blood was just gushing. And I looked up and I never seen a traffic cop being in front of the car. Traffic stopped and a couple people came over to see if I was OK. And by the time I looked up again, traffic was flowing in. That car was gone. He probably paid off the guard and was done. It was the end of it.Andrew Bracewell: Wow. So I had I had an equally traumatic accident in my life. I've heard yourCurt Derksen: story. It might be more traumatic.Andrew Bracewell: Yeah, well, I'm just different. Just different. And something I experienced Waas, uh, I had, like, significant nightmares for I want to say, intense at first for the first year yet where, On a weekly basis, multiple times was waking up in sweats, reliving what happened? Yep. And then, um, you know, doing my level best to control it with drugs in a healthy and unhealthy way. And then, uh, you know, it dissipated over time, but it probably years to completely, you know, leave my memory as I was trying to sleep. Yeah, is that Did you have anything like that. Yeah, probably.Curt Derksen: Why I never had. I was never medicated. Um, even being in Cairo, having those procedures done, there really wasn't a lot of medication that was given their very afraid, being an Islamic country, they're very afraid of, uh, drug dependency. So it was more tough it out and and deal with it. And so being that all of my primary care was there, I was in the hospital there for a few days at couple surgeries there. All my teeth I worked in my teeth was done there. There was no medication. But I do remember for a significant period of time having waking up in having sweats, being afraid, I was afraid. The first time I got back onto a bike. There's a lot that kind of came with it, but one of the best parts that came from that whole experience. And there's this one moment, this one, maybe evening. More than a moment is captured in my brain better than most of my time in Cairo. So my wife's mom, my mother in law Brenda, was living in Cairo at the time. And so after this accident happened, I actually moved into her place and she kind of was taken care of me. And one night, a boat, maybe a week where the even, maybe even less than a week after the event, the Sudanese kids that I was working with actually came to the apartment where I was staying toe to see me and take care of me. And just just to basically love on me like that was one of like, the most humbling and amazing experiences that I've had, because you're my this like, blond haired, blue eyed Canadian guy who's going over there to, like, serve the needy. That was kind of like my programming, and they came to, like, take care of me. They came to love on me. And so there was, like, 30 of them that piled into this little apartment like these monstrous kids that are like six toe six foot five and well ranging in age from probably 25 all the way down to 12 and they just it piled in the elevator. They came up the series. We're on the 10th floor and they just, like, came and just sat with me for like hours. And it was the connection that I had with them afterwards was amazing. And it was like, the for the first time, we connected on a different level. So really cool.Andrew Bracewell: So let's jump back to university now. Kinesiology? Yep. You've had an experience of smashing your body to pieces of an accident. You're learning about the body. You've You've told me many times you're fascinated with with the body and how it functions. What fascinates you? Why can you see ology fascinated? Well, how howCurt Derksen: much weaken accomplish or what we can actually physically do, and how training and preparation can actually expand your capacity. And so these traumatic experiences that I had breaking my foot or smashing my face or know any of the events playing sports, those kinds of things you become aware of, kind of like where your ceiling is and then learn that you can actually push past that house. Some of those traumatic experiences can actually make you better. And then the other part is like the accident was traumatic. But there is a hole like emotional psychological component to it that made me better. I'm better because of the pain that I went through. And so that's that's really intriguing. That fascinates me. That weaken actually learn from these experiences and you can apply that. I think you can apply the same principles of that kind of like growth. And if you apply the same principles to anything that you do, you actually have an opportunity to become better at. You know, any avenue business, for instance, like I've been in this business now have been in real estate since 2012 and I haven't done anything different than I've done in every other part of my life. Like I learnt your intentional you grow. You surround yourself by the right people that are doing what you want to do. You borrow from them until you can kind of make your own way and then implement and change and start to recognize kind of your own authentic voice and pay attention to that beast. That's been my journey. I feel like I've borrowed from others until I get to a place where I could be comfortable in my own skin and then kind of go on my own from there.Andrew Bracewell: So were you born with the Greek god body that you have or did you have to buildCurt Derksen: it, built it. No, I don't. I don't think that's entirely true. I think thatAndrew Bracewell: what? That you're a Greek god or that you have.Curt Derksen: Of course, Greek. God is true. ButAndrew Bracewell: you realize that I that I'm asking this question not for myself, but for the masses that are listening that want to know. Is that a gift from God? It occurred. Build that. And how do I get it?Curt Derksen: Yeah, I I I definitely worked hard at my body and I have my whole life and I've always been active, and I've been careful what I eat and what my nutrition looks like. And not to say that I don't have ice cream or, you know, my treats of choice. Those things happen. It's just a moderation. And then the majority of time, I'm intentional about it. But there is definitely a genetic component like my dad. I trained with my dad when I was 12 years old in our basement, like my dad was, he modeled something for me as faras being active and taking care of his body. And so that is something that is, you know, from a very young age I was playing sports. I was training and maybe my diet wasn't the best When I was a kid is here. I was a kid, but I still you know, at some level there is a genetic component where my dad's activity and it was imprinted upon me What he also modeled soAndrew Bracewell: well, that is. I mean, that's one of the things that I mean. I admire a number of things about you, but one of the things that I admire about you and have been challenged on it's your habits that you have in your life in the decisions that you have in place Speaking about, you know, specifically the body What you put in what you consume, how you train. I've trained with you before and training with you is not to be taken lightly. It's ah, it's impressive. And I would you know, I don't know. I never knew you when you were 56789 years old But But I've known you recently and I know that you know you you work your ass off for what you have, you can and the world the world thanks you for it because, you know, we get toe take you in it. It's a beautiful thing to take in.Curt Derksen: I was gonna say you could look at my son because my son, I think, is a pretty much like an identical. He looks a lot like me, but just the way he trains for baskets into basketball right now on the way he trains for basketball is focusing. Commitment to it is would have been the same for me. And I remember my mom telling stories about me sleeping with my soccer ball like I didn't have a stuffy like I slept with my soccer, but like that was what I did. That was my thing. I think that kind of mentality is that's just who I am. And that's who my son is. So,Andrew Bracewell: so a question that people would probably have is Where do you fit on the on the spectrum of the and it's a large spectrum. The physical fitness, the the diet, the food intake. Do you align with a particular philosophy, or has that shifted for you significantly over time, or what does that look like? I think it'sCurt Derksen: constantly evolving as I try things out, and as technology or science advances and we understand more. But as I trial things for myself, I'd like to just try different things for a while. I get bored, so I switch back and forth from different things. I'm just starting some yoga. I've seen that before, off last year, and I'm enjoying that. There's a whole element of, like mindfulness being aware of my body and exposing the supposing Some of my own kind of internal weakness is that I'm gonna find with yoga. I love hiking, so there's a whole outdoors element connecting with nature. That kind of comes for me from that CrossFit something that I is a kind of style, that I would train for high intensity interval training like condensing a lot of work into a short period of time. Really, it's just it's a lifestyle thing for me, like trying to be active every day, and and the reason that I do it is that I know what I feel like when I when I'm not, and I know how I perform with my family. I perform for work, how I feel about myself. All of those things come when I'm disciplined. When I'm on track and I'm eating well and I'm resting well and I'm training for equally. I can do better at life, and I wanted you will, though,Andrew Bracewell: so your physical routine has evolved quite drastically over time. What have you done with the food element and the calories you're consuming? Has that also drastically changed? Or what does that look like for you? I thinkCurt Derksen: it's It's definitely changed. I don't how drastic. Like my fares. Parents didn't feed me shit growing up like we had pretty ballistic recently, well balanced meals as a young 20 something youAndrew Bracewell: weren't raised on Froot Loops. AndCurt Derksen: oh, there was a capital wasn't every day. But we also don't have the money to have fruits. That's an expensive cereal. So we like. That wasn't something that was That was an extra. I would go to my friend's houses that had more money so that we could have those things. We were maybe Rice Krispies or something. So it's still cereal. But IAndrew Bracewell: had two of those friends. They were strategic partnerships. Yes, right. It was very important for the enjoyment of elementary school. Totally, totallyCurt Derksen: planning times to go and visit have sleepovers. I don't have a few too and I frequently went to their place will significantly more times than they came to mind. And that was orchestrated by this guy.Andrew Bracewell: That's intelligence. That's right. What that isCurt Derksen: right is adapting exactly next stage of evolution. So being married to Michelle, though Michelle has been instrumental for sure in having healthier, more balanced food, I don't ever have to think about going to the grocery store like sometimes all a go and help her out. But for the most part, like she plans meals there's always have are for fridges were very lucky. Your fridge is always full, There's always good choices, healthy options. And so a big part of it is just not having the shit options available. Lot of the stuff that when it isAndrew Bracewell: in theCurt Derksen: house, I still consume it. But having as little of that around, it's possible. But IAndrew Bracewell: find thisCurt Derksen: so this is probably comin from a lot of people, but for me, especially like there's a very big correlation when I'm active and I'm disciplined, you know, conscious about like doing the activities, having exercise, hiking, walking, exercising all those things, my diet, like I just tend to want to be more intentional about my diet. I don't take in as much crap because it just I want to make sure that I'm fueled properly. But I alsoAndrew Bracewell: feelCurt Derksen: good. And so when I feel good, then I want to keep that rulingAndrew Bracewell: totally. It's not chicken and egg thing, that that vicious cycle that has no answer to it. But when you when you're physically taking care of yourself, you're more inclined to put the right things in. And then when you get into a space where you're not, which it's important to have those those spaces to to to take a break, it's much easier to fall into a trap of all. Eat that bag of potato chips or I'll do that. I'll do that, which I think is also healthy to take time for for sure. But I I can identify that with that completelyCurt Derksen: for me, that the control part comes back when, like I can control it better if I was gonna say him off the wagon, okay? And I'm not exercising and I'm eating shit, and that maybe happens for Noah periodically throughout a year, a couple times where I have a week or two or three year a month When I'm just not engaged and not taking care of myself, I get back on back on track by exercise. And when I exercise intentionally, then I can. The food component just comes naturally for me, like it just it falls into line when I'm when I am working when I am training,Andrew Bracewell: that's an interesting thought. I would wonder if if a pole could be taken. I would bet that some people would be the exercise first to get back and some people would be the food first step. Get back, I think Absolutely. And I actually wonder now that we're talking, I think I'm a food first person because when I eat shit and feel like shit, there's, like, no fucking way. Yeah, I'm going out and, you know, lifting weights or whatever. So for me, I think it's the opposite. I think you know, if I get the right food and then all of a sudden I feel better. Confidence changes. Not so foggy in the brain. Okay? I wanna go left, right. We'll run.Curt Derksen: Yeah, I think anybody that has any kind of tendency towards a distortion on their food it's it's a it's a difficult thing. And if you are in a boat, a rut burn, extended period of time and you're you of food is distorted, then it's that much harder, actually, Turn it around. And those people would probably be the similar to you. ThatAndrew Bracewell: and that's me. I had my food journey in my life. You know what I was, um you know what? I was handed in terms of food, intelligence and habits as a child and then and then not to put the blame on, you know, how I was raised on my parents. But then even what I did for myself in my early adult formative years, I mean, I developed incredibly terrible habits and bad belief systems around food, and some of it was just ignorance, you know, lack of education. And so then when I made a change and I didn't want to be a diabetic in my twenties, it was the food thing where the battle was won and lost. I always I was an athlete as a child, you know, I played basketball, I played hockey, all of those things. But then when you feel like shit and you don't have energy. You actually can't even be athletic anymore. So for me, the battle is always won and lost in the kitchen and then even to this day, to get back on track. For me, it's a food thing before it's Ah, it's a physical thing,Curt Derksen: but that that probably makes sense compared to like your your family. It was modeled for you and for me, how it was modeled with my dad. My dad was training when my dad is 5 to 10 and when I was young, he was like to 40 like just a beast, just a beast. And he would consume like he'd sit down and have a dozen eggs like he just was constantly like in taking proteins and just intentional about lifting, benching over £300 squatting like ridiculous numbers and leg pressing £1000 that was that was that was what he did.Andrew Bracewell: Wow. And you had that model for youCurt Derksen: exactly. And I took part in it like, Yeah, I remember being 12 like we just sold our family home this last year, and I remember I have one of the some of the weight sets that we used when I was a kid and I would my dad and I would train that in the basement 23 times a week like that's what we did together. So that's obviously because that's ingrained in me. That's my default. And Michelle, my wife, who lives in the same house, is me. Would be food similar. More similar to you. Be food First exercise kind of falls in line when her food and nutrition is where it needs to beAndrew Bracewell: right. Let's switch gears for a bit. Ah, you've alluded to Michelle and your kids and your family a number of times and families. Big topic. But let's first dive into your immediate family, your wife and kids. How has being a father, a husband and a father? And as that's evolved, how is that changed particular philosophies in your life about how you approach work or how you approach this last topic we've been talking about, You know, the major topics in life. If you look at your life in last, say 8 10 years, what major evolutions have you come through in terms of the way you think, and how will you approach thingsCurt Derksen: before I got married. I would have told you that I am not selfish like I'm not a selfish human Like I'm other focused like I Mother Rish. Right? And then I got married and living cohabiting with someone When human makes you realize that actually, I was pretty selfish. And then if after a little while, I figured out like, you know, I I can do this, I could be married. I'm not that selfish anymore. I've learned I've grown and then we had kids and it was like, That's a huge time. Suck like you love those little buggers, but like it's a huge time. Suck on. I realized once again how selfish I actually am. And so now, three kids later in a wife, later that that I feel guilty for a while about this selfishness that I had. And I saw the pendulum kind of swing far from feeling like I wasn't selfish to then feeling like I was really selfish and that beating myself up and that's a common theme for me in my own head is beating myself really hard on myself. But feeling guilty about it being guilty and shame even around this idea that I was selfish. And then now the pendulum kind of swinging back, probably more towards center. And I'm realizing that, like, I can't Well, you everybody's heard this idea of you get on a plane And this flight attendant says if we you know, we lose pressure in the cabin, the masks fall down. You got to take care of yourself. Put yours on first. If you can't take care of yourself, you can't help someone else. And so the guilt and shame slid me into this pattern with young Children and a wife that was dealing with postpartum depression. And you know, her own journey, her own process for body being literally ripped apart him and trying to put it back together and not being able to do what she did before All all the psychological and emotional trauma that happens happens as a result of trying to raise these little humans being completely sleep deprived. We've kind of both now come to this place where it's like, Well, if I don't take care of me, then I can't be the best version of me for my family. And if I can't be the best version of me for my family than what am I setting them upAndrew Bracewell: for now we're into the meat of what I want to talk about. It takes aCurt Derksen: little while to get here, but we're here now.Andrew Bracewell: We've arrived. We worked into a lather. How does it go on? He needs more bourbon and he'll be good. So one of the things if not the thing that I both admire about you the most, but also worry about you the most is you are the most self sacrificing human in my life that I'm aware of which I love and admire about you. But then when I observe you in life circumstances, where others around you, whether it be family or not, family experienced tragedy. You are throwing yourself in front of the bus, metaphorically speaking, or people. And you and I have talked about this before. And one of the things that it doesn't me is when I've watched you, either in that, in your space is a father or a husband is Eiko. Holy shit. I'm not doing enough like I'm watching what Curt's doing, and that's unbelievable. And I just need to be I got to be more like hurt. Yeah, But there's two edges to that blade, and the other edge is that you're throwing yourself in front of that bus and you're getting run over and run over and run over. I want to hear you talk about that a little.Curt Derksen: You can only run over so many times, right? Like you kind of ball down and get back up and learn a little bit from it. And so I went back to my accident like I learned something from that event, like I got knocked over and life is like that. It continues to knock us over. And so the the Pro is that I care about people, and I do what I can in the people that I love. Know that I love them and I would do anything for them. But then there becomes a point where you also take on burdens beyond you take on. You start picking up people's burdens when they don't even want you to pick up their burdens, and it's actually not serving them the way I intend to serve them, like I'm trying to just help. But it's actually not being received like that. It actually comes across as almost being like this air against like you can't do it. Let me do it for you, Massa. Not my intention, but I kind of ran into this wall, and I think the business that I'm in is really great for that. It's helped me ro and become aware because my default and my mom is like This is well, my default is just to do everything for everybody. But then you burn yourself out. And so the business being coming into people's lives and seeing their circumstances and seeing that there is need and there's opportunity to help but learning of the line of what's actually appropriate and what's their responsibility and what you're actually have to constantly remind myself that doing something for someone else is actually robbing them. Often it can rob them of the experience or some of the experiences that I've had. And so in my brain, that's what I've had to do is actually like Helen myself. But I'm actually taking away from them, even though I'm trying to help them. I'm actually taking away from them and it's like a selfish thing, really, cause I'm learning toe, not pick up other people's rocks and put him in my backpack. Yeah, I'm learning that like it's their job to carry their rocks. And sometimes people's rocks there they're back back is so heavy that they need an extra hand but learning that line of like, what's appropriate and what's not for the sake of their growth, in their own development, in their own life, like their life, but also for mine, because it takes away from my ability to, like, get the most out of this life and beauty there for my kids and wife. Okay,Andrew Bracewell: there's a lot here that I don't want to miss out on this. There's there's two routes I want to go down and you you touched on one of them that I want to circle back to. And that's the how does this play out in your in your business? You're in the personal service industry and you're dealing with human needs Sometimes that are incredibly selfish. So I will go there in a sec, but I want to go to family tragedy. You've experienced a few things. We don't have to get into all of them, but I've observed you in your immediate family with with one of your brothers and your dad talk about either one of those circumstances, whichever one you want. Yeah, And in the context of this conversation and and what you've had to wrestle with it. So maybe give us some background.Curt Derksen: I feel like families like a different level for me. Like I I'm so in my business. I started off carrying everybody like they were my family, and I love everybody that I work with, and then I get to help. But I also need to draw a line somewhere of who I actually can carry stuff for and who I can't. That line is easily muddied, but my family side were going through. My dad has been 61. He's been diagnosed with dementia, and it's been going on for probably a handful of years undiagnosed. But we've been watching subtle changes, and it's really freaking hard. Man like this is heavy. Like, this is really heavy. This is not something that you, uh this is what I trained for. Actually, this is why I train. I train in life to be able to be in these kind of situations and be someone that helps and not be someone that's a burden by taking care of my own shit. I can help you situations. And so my parents are going through bar none. The hardest period of their lives. My dad's unfortunately, less his capacity and awareness is decreasing by the day, and there's nothing that we can do about it. There's nothing that anybody could. There's no a pill to take. There's not a lifestyle change. It's like the damage is done. And we're just like on this train to this point. And so there is a lot that my mom carries. There's a lot that my dad has lost, and there's a lot that I try and carry because my mom is. Her bag is so full that she's like she's treading water and having a hard time keeping your head above. And so I I have been for the last couple of years, probably longer than that, But intentionally right now and going forward, I'm going to be there with her in the water, helping her carry her back. And I could do that only because I take care of myself because I make sure that I sleep and I rest and I have time for me to do what I like. And I have time with my family where I can be engaged, and that gives me joy in life and exercise like those air. If I don't have those things sorted out, then if my mask isn't on, then I can't help my mom. Yeah, and so I I work on making sure that I have things put together in my life. And then obviously there's That's just one area of my life that's not that's just one thing, like there's still work and all the burdens that come with all these different people in their different situations and circumstances. But it for me fundamental piece comes back to taking care of myself. And so my journey this coming up this year into, uh, understanding myself better so I could be more authentic person of have a better understanding of myself, be more authentic in who I am, and then not have some of the extra stress is that come from trying to please other people or impress other people, take care of myself, be authentic? Then I can serve and be there for the people that mean the most to me.Andrew Bracewell: So as you're in this maze of dementia with no clear path it with your dad. What is the And you're in it. You're not through it. I mean, you're you're living it right now. What is the messaging that needs to be out there that you've had to dig and find on your own? But what people need to hear if they're in the space that you're in right now?Curt Derksen: Well, I think this is like all the things that I'm trying to practice right now is what I'm learning. Self care is of the utmost importance, like understanding your the way you tick, accepting who you are, not trying to please other people or perform to satisfy other people's expectations, saying No when you need to say no to something when you know that it's too much making sure that you get proper sleepAndrew Bracewell: because let me interrupt for a second because the need within the context of dementia, like with the person that's being affected by it, the need is so blind to other people's needs, right percent like it has the ability just to be the most selfish state it becomes, and it's not. The person's wrongdoing is a black hole. It's completely out of control so that if you're around that, everybody also have the barriers up. You can get sucked in, and before long, you know, there's nothing of yourself that that's accurate. 100% Yeah,Curt Derksen: but that's true of everything in life, right? That that is true, like especially for someone with personally like mine where you tend to. I want to be liked and I wantto do a good job for people. And I want I want to feel I feel fulfillment, and I feel significant when I feel like I've done a good job in somebody's a little bit better today or their financial situation's a little bit better because of on investment that I helped them with or you know they got really will take care of as we sold their home or whatever, no matter where you go. If you're not able to be fundamentally strong and who you are an authentic in yourself, take care of yourself, then you can easily get swayed. You lose your ability to be objective and then you get pulled into other people's shit. I want to be there to serve and honor my parents through this journey that they're on, not at the cost of my own sanity, nor the cost of my family. And but I'm also not willing to just I guess one way I could do it is be like, Well, no, hands off, like you deal with it and I'm busy with my own shit. I don't I don't want to be that person either. I want to be able to be engaged, developed that relationship, support them, love them, honor them as they go through this trialling Tyr trying time.Andrew Bracewell: I'll switch gears a little bit. Something that's been said about you is that Curt is one of the most playful fathers ever. And what I observe in you with your kid's eyes absolutely true. You know, I I agree with that statement. Where does that come from? Your desire to be engaged with your Children when given an opportunity?Curt Derksen: I think it comes from a couple of places. One. I just actually really love them, And I would just love playing with um, like I love it gives me joy to see them laugh. Like Nora is four and five times a day. Right now, she says, Daddy wrestle. Let's wrestle like a soon as I get in the door of the end of day. She's, like, wrestle first thing she said to me this morning when she came down the stairs. Danny, let's go wrestle like it gives her joy, and that makes me happy. That fills my tink. The other parties have a hard time even saying no to her like she'sAndrew Bracewell: okay, so I want it. I'm gonna I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate in this conversation.Curt Derksen: Give her because I see you sitting,Andrew Bracewell: I I'm a dad. I got three kids and not Devil's Advocate. That's the wrong way to structure the statement. But what I observe in you with your Children I have to work so hard, Tim Manufacturer in my own relationship. And let's just set the record clear on something. I love the shit out of my kids. I think the world rises and falls on the shoulders of my son when he's playing soccer or my eldest daughter when she's leading a musical or my youngest daughter, when she's just kicking ass in gymnastics like I think there unbelievable. But when I walk through the doors of the house and I compare that to when you walked through the doors of the house. I go, man shit. Like I don't have that natural instinct to wrestle. My natural instinct is I'm exhausted. I'm tired. I'm worn out. Shit, kid, give me space like a fuck. I can't. You know, I just can't. I'm not done yet. And so I wonder like, so is that thing that you have that I, by the way, fucking admire the shit out of you. Is that again? Are we talking nature nurture? Is this a d n? A thing? Is this AA thing that you've worked towards? What's your what's your take on that?Curt Derksen: I think it's the nature nurture question is complicated. And I think it's both, like, I think that at some level, that's just who I am. Like I remember being 12 and playing. We went to church as a kid and I remember, like playing with other younger kids and just making them laugh, chasing them, playing tag with them, picking up and running with them like I remember them like just howling with laughter and feeling like excited and joy filled. And part of it was that I remember how much it meant to the parents at that time that I was engaged with their kids and how much fun they're kids had and how much they're. Those kids looked up to me and how much fun we had together. Like I that that part just is that's just a part of who I am. I remember that. Yeah, I get home at the end of day and I'm tired, too. And as cute as my kids are sometimes chasing, I get home in. Nora Bellis is Dad chased me. Colin in Thailand will come and jump on me for hugsAndrew Bracewell: her pursue me, man pursued.Curt Derksen: So Nora will, like, come close and give me, like, a little bit of a little stare, little smirk, hide behind the pillar and then run away. And so sometimes chasing her isn't what I feel like doing. But when she gets laughing like I get home and I'm exhausted and I don't feel like chasing her, but she starts laughing at, I just kind of fall into it. I just give in. And I think at some level I just like, turn my brain off of what I actually want to do in that moment and just be who she wants me to be. Because I know that I've been away from her all day and I might only have a now hour or two hours or three hours with her before she goes to bed. And so I just kind of like gear down, find another gear and give them what I have left and try and make it the best of what I've given all day, even if it's for five minutes or 10 minutes. Because usually I can play with them for 20 minutes. Tops five minutes, 10 minutes and they're like they're good, They're tanks are full, they're ready to move on to the next thing, but at some level it's like it's inside of me. But another part of it is it's a choice. You're making an injection of choices so that I want to give. I don't want to give them the left of me. I'm gonna give them the best of me,Andrew Bracewell: and your window is only so big with themCurt Derksen: and they're so young. You're stages a little bit different to like where your kids were at. Like they make teenagers are different.Andrew Bracewell: Yeah, yeah, Oh, they're different. Teams are different. Let's just let that resonate through the podcast. Teenagers are different. Um, what's your go to space right now for, um, refueling and given yourself what you need in order to keep going. What's that? What's the thing? Or the space or the habit or whatever that you go to toe to fill yourself up?Curt Derksen: One of them is we have two dogs right now. Just a whole other conversation. But we have two dogs and IAndrew Bracewell: want to talk. About what? Just two dogs.Curt Derksen: Do you want me to getAndrew Bracewell: divorced? Maybe we should bring with shell into conversation. Ah, we, uh,Curt Derksen: wanted so one of the places is just getting out on the trails with the dog because we live up in Sandy Hill. He stabs her, and we have great trails that I can get on and just within a five minute walk. And so just getting away from everything and either listening to a podcast or listeningto quiet music or listening thio. My heart listeningto just whatever just being out there. So that's that's constantly something that fuels me. Podcasts are a huge part of my life driving. I spend a lot of time with her on the phone or driving, and so that helps me stay on track and keep focused with the direction that I want my life to go on, what I want to get out of this experience.Andrew Bracewell: And what's that? What's, Ah, current conversation that you're having in your head right now from something that you're listening to or you learn? What do you What is Curt telling himself right now? In this moment,Curt Derksen: I've been listening to a guy named Alan Watts, and there's some fascinating stuff that he has to say. But one of the most recent things that I've listened to probably 1/2 dozen times in the last month is talking about. Okay, so let me back up a business planning gold setting for 2020 and I look back on some of the intentions and plan that I put in place some of goals that I had in preparing for 2020. I look back on what I did, what I had set aside for 2019 and one of the things that I said to myself going into 22,019 was that when I wrote it down was that the struggle and the obstacles were going to make me better, that I was gonna become better as a result of those things. And I've So that was what I said the beginning. I started doing this business planning like End of October, which is the earliest I've ever started before. Then, in early November, I started listening to the song called Hell of a Year by Country Artist. I just heard him like, you know, he's an up and coming guy and singing this song, which it's a good listen don't necessarily his circumstances of what he's saying that song about don't necessarily apply to me. But application is in recognizing that it's been a hell of a year. Sure, my dialogue for a lot of this year was just that. It's been a hell for not a lot of this year. For a lot of November, as I'm business planning stuff was like, it's been a hell of a year now I'm gonna feel sorry for yourself. It's been a hell of a year and held the year fast forward Thio Alan Watts the last two weeks listen to this 16 minute, 16 minute segment a number of times, and it's basically talking about dream and how if you have thought, exercise and if you think about it, if you could go to sleep at night and dream absolute pure bliss and you could do that, you dreams in one night you dreamed 75 years like a full life 75 years of nothing but bliss. No hardship, no heartache talking like beaches in Hawaii like mountain Top moments your whole life. 75 years of bliss. This suggestion is you could probably on Lee Dream that dream with absolute pure bliss for like, four or five times of 75 years. Like that's a law that's like 300 years of experience over four nights, pure bliss. Then the next night, you might say, Well, that was really cool, but like a wonder what would happen if I wasn't in full control and some things happened that were a little bit out of my control, and maybe they were good and maybe they were bad, but I didn't really have full control. And so, as you did that for maybe 70 another dream, another dream, another dream like that and you get to the place. And his suggestion is at some point you would get to the place where you are right now and recognizing that you you actually don't have control. But this is where you would want to be if you had the ability to just live pure bliss all the time. And so I've often being in sales, talked and thought of, talked with Michelle and thought through myself, like this idea of what? Mountain top moments, Valley moments? Yeah, mountaintop moments, Valley moments. And when you're in the valley, you come out of it on the other side and you think, Okay, Don't really want to spend too much time in the Valley. But there's lessons that I've learned here, and it's gonna help me appreciate the mountaintop that much more. And so this idea of coming to like where I am right now some way, somehow if I had full control, I would probably choose to be here totally if I could live in pure bliss like some of some of the challenges, some of the obstacles. My child didn't sleep last night, you know, my physical bodies eking and I'm in. I'm in pain. My business isn't where I want it to be. I'm not doing some of things. You could focus on those things that you don't have or you could recognize that you should appreciate them, because those are things that you would actually choose if you had pure bliss all the time. Or this because you could only do pure bless for so much to appreciate where you are yet what you can from where you are and keep moving forward.Andrew Bracewell: We'll bliss. So by definition, bliss can only be considered bliss in relation or comparison to something that is not bliss. If that's all you have now we're getting deep. Okay? We're probably not acquit equipped to have this conversation, But let's go for it. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like you, we think in comparison. So So that that makes a lot of sense to me.Curt Derksen: Death in life. Yeah, you're alive, and you appreciate being alive because you're aware of the absence. Or like the opposite of young. This being a life,Andrew Bracewell: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.Curt Derksen: That's what I've been fixated on her have been thinking about a lot lately. Like last little while is just as I'm preparing now for this next year and making sure that I really I kind of, like, screwed myself over in the sense that, like I set myself up, I wrote it down. That I was gonna be the obstacles were going to make me better. And as a result, I feel like I had a handful of obstacles and in relation to a lot of people that go through a lot harder stuff than me. This is, you know, this is minor, but this is my journey. This is my process. And so there has been 2019 had quite a quite an unraveling for me in a lot of senses. And those three unraveling has made me more authentic. I just help me have a large desire to be more authentic and identify more clearly who I am and what I want. And then just be that more often, let go of some of this stress and anguish that I create from trying to be something that I'm not be something to please somebody.Andrew Bracewell: It sounds like one of the takeaways. From what you're experiencing, this conversation you're having in your head is that you have a higher level of contentment about the space You're in 1% and it's funny cause contentment in some circles or in some contacts, people say contempt. Shit. Don't be content, you know, strives, drive, drive, drive, drive. But I think that's actually false messaging for the most part. And that contentment is bringing you something that you didn't have before. And I thinkCurt Derksen: it's It's that this idea of, like, contentment in striving it's a pendulum again, like I feel like in so many areas in my life. I've seen these pendulums where you can go one way or the other, and contentment is different than settling and striving can actually burn you out like striving can, actually, if you're okay, So I'm a do er like I do like I fill my time with doing things, and to this point, I'm I am where I am as a result of my getting shit done like I I I commit. I focus, I get after it and I make it happen. But I've also learned the double edge of that this year, that trying to do all the time and not taking time to appreciate and be in the moment and yet from the moment, and be content and express gratitude for where I am will burn me out. So I I read a book earlier this year and I can't think of the title of it right now. But it talked about the idea that there's different kinds of people. And so there are people that are intent or settlers. They'll just stay at the base of the mountain and they'll set up camp and they will get all the amenities and they're super happy just to be there. For sure. This is like the average person average, not in the sense that one's better than the other. Just that things are different. Yeah, so you're you're at base camp and you're happy to be there. And then there's another group of people that will, like climb a little bit above base camp and they'll set up camp, and then that's their home. They're happy to be there. And then there's another group of people that are climbing their whole life, and they spend their whole life trying to get the topic Everest. And so they've climbed to past base camp. They've climbed past the next level past base camp, and now they're like perpetually climbing. Mmm. And it's a matter of figuring out some kind of balance and figuring out what's right for you and for me. This is it's for immutable. Figure out what's right for me, like I default to being a climber who's constantly striving and trying to make things better for me and better for those around me. But I've also learned that climbing all the time, without rest and without, like appreciation and gratitude and and being content with what I have and who I am creates turmoil. Intention that living attention all the time is not not effective. Way to live like we actually only have this minute right now, like this is all we have. And so if this is the moment that we have, being here is what's important.Andrew Bracewell: That's a great metaphor that that mountain climbing metaphor resonates. Lemme all Shayera on anecdotal thought from my own life. Using that metaphor, I would suggest that to your point earlier, one is not better than the other. Whether you're the settler, the person who has a tendency to go halfway 3/4 the way, all the way life has got all types, and we all fit in somewhere in that. In that spectrum, I think in the current context of our world, there's certain people that get worshipped more than others, right. They fill the spectrum of our social media mediums and outlets. They get presented a particular way in Hollywood or on the news or whatever. And unfortunately, we are often times comparing ourselves to these people on a global level, no longer just comparing ourselves to our own tribe in our own backyards and our own, you know, cities. But we're now comparing ourselves to people who live half

New Riff is a name that has become synonymous with bourbon lovers. You may have recalled our conversation with Jay Erisman, Vice President, back on Episode 072, but this time we get to speak with Owner, Ken Lewis, who drives a bunch of the decision making behind the company. It feels like an episode of How I Built This as we get to hear Ken’s story. From owning and hustling liquor stores to eventually selling all that to start a distillery, hiring some great people, and having a few strokes of good luck to put him in the position where he is today. Then we also get to hear about his thoughts on stickers and some future plans he has in store for New Riff as well. Show Partners: The University of Louisville now has an online Distilled Spirits Business Certificate that focuses on the business side of the spirits industry. Learn more at uofl.me/pursuespirits. In 2013, Joe Beatrice launched Barrell Craft Spirits without a distillery or defied conventional wisdom. To this day, his team sources and blends exceptional barrels from established producers and bottles at cask strength. Learn more at BarrellBourbon.com. Receive $25 off your first order at RackHouse Whiskey Club with code "Pursuit". Visit RackhouseWhiskeyClub.com. Distillery 291 is an award winning, small batch whiskey distillery located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Learn more at Distillery291.com. Show Notes: Jim Beam’s Historic Kentucky Home on Airbnb: https://www.travelandleisure.com/hotels-resorts/vacation-rentals/jim-beam-bourbon-historic-kentucky-home-airbnb This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about the top 5 states for bourbon besides Kentucky. What is your title? Tell us about your entrepreneurial spirit. How did you get into the alcohol business? How did you end up in Northern Kentucky? Do you have any regrets getting rid of your stores? How did you decide to sell Party Source and start a distillery? How did you get interested in bourbon? When was your first taste of bourbon? How did you find the team to get the business off the ground? How did you chose the mash bills? Tell us about the O.K.I. days. Do you still do contract distilling? So why did you release the bourbon at 4 years? How is such a young product so good? How did you get such a great location? What are your future plans for the bourbon? Tells us about the balboa rye. What do you think of the single barrel stickers? 0:00 Everybody Are you interested in looking at the distilling process and pairing that with key business knowledge such as finance, marketing and operations, then you should check out the online distilled spirits business certificate from the University of Louisville. It's an online program. It can be completed in as little as 15 weeks. It's taught by both of you have all business faculty and corporate fellows. So you're getting real experience from real experts at the most renowned distilleries, companies and startups in the distilling industry. all that's required is a bachelor's degree, go to U of l.me. Slash pursue spirits. 0:34 I thought, you know, this could be almost like semi retirement because once you start distilling, I mean, you just kind of sit around and watch barrels age, right? That's what I assumed would happen. You know, I'd wander in, you know, at noon or something and 0:47 get myself a glass. Hey, you 0:48 know, how hard can it be? You know, you're just gonna watch these barrels. Get old 1:04 What's going on everybody? It is Episode 223 of bourbon pursuit. I'm Kenny, one of your host, and it's time for the bourbon news so let's get to it. Woodford Reserve is releasing their fall 2019 Masters collection is a chocolate malted rye bourbon, this limited edition and one time release is offering a different flavoring technique where they toast the ride grain just long enough that it begins to taste like chocolate. This bourbon will have a suggested retail price of 129 99. It has hints of guests that dark chocolate as well as spice coming in and at 90.4 proof. The completed mash bill will be 70% corn 15% of the chocolate malted rye in 15% of distillers malt. Baker's bourbon is getting a facelift and a rebranding as well as a new limited edition offering. This one sort of flew under the radar for a lot of people. It was first picked up almost a year ago by ski Through the TTP just kind of trolling through the website, but now people are starting to find it on the shelves. The Baker's bottles with the black wax that we once knew is going away but there's going to be an upgraded packaging and a slightly higher price tag coming in as well. It is now changing from a small batch 107 proof to a single barrel but still at 107 proof like keeping a seven year age statement. There's also going to be a limited edition 13 year addition of bakers that will have an adorning a metallic inspired label as well as a metal neck charm. We've seen pictures of them already out there so keep your eyes peeled when you're going to the liquor stores. Travel and Leisure magazine has reported that starting on Monday, October 21 you will be able to rent Jim beam's historic home on Airbnb being Suntory will release a limited number of one night stays available for booking through the end of 2019 and each day is priced at just a mere $23 and this marks the same exact price as a bottle of Jim Beam black bourbon. The only catch is that you have to be 21 years or older to stay inside the home. But inside this store home, you're going to have three bedrooms as well as two and a half bathrooms and it overlooks the beautiful ever bought lake. And it comes stocked with a full bar of Jim Beam Bourbons. You can read more about it with the link in our show notes. New riff is a name that's become synonymous with bourbon lovers. And you may recall our conversation with JS man who's the Vice President and back on episode 72. But this time we get to speak with Ken Lewis who drives a bunch of the decision making behind the company. It almost feels like an episode of how I built this as we get to hear Ken's story of owning and hustling liquor stores to eventually selling out a lot of that and to start a distillery hiring some great people. And as most of these stories go, it's just a few strokes and good luck to put them in the position where he is today. Then we wrap it up by getting Be Here some of the future plans he has in store for new riff as well. All right, now let's get to it. Here's Joe from barrel bourbon. And then you've got Fred Minnick with above the char. 4:11 Hey everyone, Joe here again. In 2013. I launched barrell craft spirits without a distillery and defied conventional wisdom. To this day, my team and I sourcing blend exceptional barrels from established producers and bottle strength. Find out more at barrell bourbon com. 4:26 I'm Fred minnick, and this is above the char. This week's idea comes from Patreon supporter bill now, Bill asked give me an overview of the production and other states who is making their own juice. When did they start? Is Kentucky bourbon better? pick five states and highlight the top distiller in each one? Well, I think it makes most sense to take a look at the states that are bordering Kentucky. The states that are bordering Kentucky have the ability to actually pluck talent from the distilling capital of the United States. Isn't that that is Kentucky. There's no question about that. You also have access to the still makers and the and the training and, you know, places that are close to Kentucky can, you know quickly drive down here and learn from the likes of Vendome or independent stave, etc, etc, etc. to the access to talent that puts Indiana right up there. And of course Indiana has the MVP ingredients distillery that has, you know, goes back to the 1800s. It's in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, former seniors plant and I dare say you know, their bourbon rivals Kentucky's on a regular basis. Indiana is also home to you know, upstarts like Cardinal spirits that are very exciting. So Indiana is definitely on that top five list for me, Tennessee. Obviously it's known for jack daniels but we can't under look like some of the other great whiskey coming out there. Whether you like the style or not George decal is putting a lot of bourbon out onto the market, either through you know source purveyors or under their own label. And it's getting a lot of attention winning a lot of awards. You also have Charlie Nelson's Greenbrier distillery uncle nearest is coming on Coursera is in Tennessee so Tennessee is a state that is a no brainer to put on this top five. Now when you get outside of the states that really border Kentucky and are really growing on, you know, distilling wise, Texas stands out to me in a big, big way. Texas is a state that really they support anything from Texas. Texans are very proud of their state. And so if there's a Texas whiskey, it's selling out on those local stores, whether it's good or not, it's got that brand of Texas on it and people want that. That said I think about Connie's kind of stands out as the best from a from a quality perspective, garrison brothers does really well in blind tastings too. So Texas is one to keep your eye on. The one problem with Texas is they sometimes struggle with you know, water resources. So here's the hope and they get a lot of good rain. They can apply that to making good whiskey. I think Colorado is another one of those states. That's fascinating. Colorado really didn't come on until, you know, until the last decade. You've got Breckenridge there but a distillery that's really fascinating to me is to 91 to 90 was ran by this guy named Michael Myers. No affiliation with, you know, the Halloween guy, but he's a former fashion photographer. And he went from having a whiskey on the market that was just kind of so so to really improving it. So he's one of the most improved distillers that I've tasted in my career. And so he's done a nice nice job of building that brand in in Colorado and he finishes in Aspen stage and I tell you what, it's a fascinating flavor. So I think to 91 is an exciting story. I'm from from point A to point B. So I'm excited to see where they where they go next. Now rounding out this list, I'm going to have to say I'm going to pluck into the historical database of my brain in some ways, and say that New York is an extremely, extremely important state for the growth and rise of craft distilling period, when Tuttle town hit the scene in the early 2000s with Hudson baby bourbon, nobody really understood bourbon. It was not a time it's not like today or we had all these forums and people are talking about it or podcasts and everything. This was a time when people still thought bourbon had to be made in Kentucky. So what Hudson baby bourbon did for the conversation of bourbon just in general, is it allowed people to talk about well wait, bourbon doesn't have to be made in Kentucky, it can be made in New York can be made in Colorado can be made anywhere in the United States. And so that Hudson baby bourbon and New York open a lot of doors for people. So that's my list bill, Tennessee, Indiana, Texas, Colorado, New York. And if you guys have have an idea for above the char hit me up on Patreon that's at bourbon pursuit on Patreon or on Instagram or Twitter at Fred Minnick. That's at Frederick. Until next week. Cheers. 9:14 Welcome back to the episode of bourbon pursuit, the official podcast of bourbon. Kenny riding solo today coming to Northern Kentucky in the Covington area with a brand owner that, you know, this is this is one of the brands that have really started to garner a lot of national attention. They were once known for Okay, I, we had a few other people on the podcast. I think it was like two years ago now. And I'm now coming back because this this brand is starting to blow up so much. And it's amazing that the the national attention has been getting at just a four year product. And we're going to talk about that a lot more in depth because today on the show, we have the owner Ken Lewis. So Ken, welcome to the show. Thank you very 9:58 much can I appreciate it? So what do you go by You wouldn't just go by owner the entrepreneur the, you know when the head man in charge 10:04 Yeah, I'll check writer that's my main function it seems like founder, you know owner Yeah. 10:11 So you've been you're you're kind of a serial entrepreneur serial owner. So this isn't your first venture into not only just the the liquor business, but you've done something. I mean, let's talk about before sure party source, like was there was there a time before then where you're doing sort of entrepreneurial things? Absolutely. 10:29 Well, I started in, in the alcohol business and and I sort of hate to date myself, but it's a fact in 1975, so I was 25 years old. So been around the business my entire career. I fell into it at that time. But I found that I really enjoyed entrepreneurship and the alcohol industry in general, and I just kept growing with it because that's kind of what I like to do is grow a brand or grow a business and taking some side steps, but they've always been an alcoholic beverages. 10:59 So What was that that first venture into the alcohol? Well, 11:02 I the story real quickly because it's a cute story but a true story is I was actually an English teacher in high school for two years out of graduate school. And my wife wanted to go to medical school and we didn't have the money and but that was okay too. And I was not living. I'm a native Lily Valium, but I wasn't living and loyal at the time I was in, in the Detroit area in the suburbs. So my father and brought his brother to loyal and had been successful at what was the predecessors of discount department stores, you know, Walmart before there was Walmart, there was a chain in every city my dad had gone from World War Two and surplus military and had then gone into discount department store anyway, he had a very excellent location. And it was alcohol was fair traded the state set the prices It was kind of a no brainer. Businesses just sort of showed up and if you had a good location, it was pretty easy so 11:56 people drink when good times and bad good 11:59 times and bad. And and and you just needed a good location. So he set up my uncle, he's trying to help him out with this wonderful location for a real small liquor store. And my uncle turned out to be a drunk, a thief. He was a womanizer, and he was definitely a gambler. So his idea of running a business was the show. I 12:25 think he hit every single one of the Cardinals. Well, 12:27 yeah, he was good at that. And he was an all around jerk, too. So anyway, he, his idea of running a business was to come in in the morning at like 630 in the morning, take whatever cash he could out of the cash register and a bottle for the day and then disappear. Well. Needless to say, after about no matter how easy the businesses with that kind of approach. After eight or nine months, the business it failed, and it was shuttered and my dad said, you know, this is a no brainer. Why don't you come to town? Quit teaching for one year, take over this liquor store. I'm sure you can make enough money maybe to say Your wife to medical school. And you know, you can go back to teaching you know that you can do this as a side gig. So we didn't use Word gig. That was that's definitely not a 1975 word. But anyway, I did it. And I said, why not. And so he loved me enough to get started. And I really enjoyed it. I love. I love the people part of it. I love retailing. It was it was in the West End, African American area of blue collar area of loyal. I loved learning, you know, just about people and what they were doing. It was before urban renewal, so the very intact communities and I felt that they made me feel a part of the community. I just, I feel like it was my street education and I was there for seven or eight years. I paid my dad back after one year I was so proud and I never went back to teaching and just stayed in the alcohol industry. So that's my creation myth. 13:53 And so your dad was the store owner at the time and he told you to run it is that what 13:56 no he owned the discount department store okay, right next door, the generated The traffic guy made it such a great location. But we were right on the corner, you know, with our own independent little store. And it was like 1500 square feet. So tiny little store and I just kept going. And then without trying to be too boring here. This is 14:15 how I built Well, 14:16 after seven or eight years, Kentucky eliminated fair trade it was eliminated through a court case, because the state was actually setting prices for private enterprise so it was thrown out and no one knew what to do. So I said what the heck I'll I'll do something. So at that time that the trend in retail was big box stores and you know, maybe there are a few of your older listeners that will remember that, you know, it's just cut cases by cheap by NDO cut the cases, no frills and let the consumer just come in and save money and it was a big trend. And I said, well, let's try that with alcohol and no one else is doing anything Kentucky sigh I found this old AMP and Shively, another blue collar area of low evil and I rented the whole place and I started this started like in September and it was not going so well I mean I was doing okay but was wasn't gaining much traction my all everybody was interested in the industry and what I was doing and not very happy because you know people want to keep preserved the past and they didn't like this young upstart with new ideas for the alcohol industry so everybody is watching me like a hawk. And we also had the first PC and the small business that I knew of in loyal and in order to because we had a fair number of skews even even for the you know, even compared to today, we still had a fair number of skews so the computer was the only way at retail to manage them and I was doing all the data input and everything I was working you know, 18 hours a day and we had a law in Kentucky and I'm sure it's still is that you cannot sell below cost. Accidentally I was so tired sometimes I made mistakes. And I would sell you know I would actually put into the computer the cost instead of the price or something. Yeah, so accidentally I was selling a few items below cost 15:58 me like a like a consumer is like perfect, perfect storm. 16:02 Yeah, you can come in, you know talking about looking for destinies you can just come in and looking for deal. So anyway, its competitors are watching me they noticed that they turned me into the state ABC board and this is a magical story and it's absolutely true story. So the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the courier journal, the big newspaper of Louisville was doing a story I'm sure it was going to end up on, you know, right next to the obituaries or something, nothing story, but they were in the building with a photographer. And just at that moment, on a Saturday morning, the state ABC showed up with three armed officers. And while the photographer and the courier Journal reporter were there, they literally arrested me and handcuffed me for selling alcohol below cost. And this ended up on the Sunday before Thanksgiving on the front page of the courier journal was some headline like young entrepreneur blows away the liquor industry selling products to cheeky 17:00 arrest. It's amazing that you get arrested for that 17:02 well and it was ridiculous because you know, within one hour they they you know somebody the supervisor was apologizing and they let me go and it ended up like three months later I paid like a $50 fine and you know, it was no problem but it put me on the front page of the newspaper and then of course all the suburbanites couldn't get there fast enough and it was Thanksgiving and we were we were a success from that point. 17:23 It tell me you gave that newspaper like frame somewhere in your 17:26 Yeah, I think that actually I don't have it on a wall and I've actually tried to research and I have to be more diligent But anyway, it's a it's a true story we got started and then that grew into a chain at one point of six discount liquor stores in the state of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky and for two up here and for loyal. It was a big chain and just to conclude the story about died lose track of time and maybe 1214 years ago, I was really very tired of being a corporate person. I'm not born to do that. I like being on the street. I like being in a register. I like You know being in the in the trenches and I wasn't happy I had like 350 employees and you know a lot of debt a lot that's a lot to manage it was a lot to manage to cities and and and you know, so it's dealing the lawyers and bankers and all the problems personnel problems that got big and blown up, got to my desk and I wasn't doing I was unhappy. And so I I like to express it as I jumped off the capitalist trade. And I sold five of the six stores because I really liked running a store and I kept the party source in Bellevue Newport right next to Cincinnati. And it was was 18:34 the reason for that was it because it was a very high traffic high volume or was it because you're like, I need to get a change at a level what was the 18:41 precisely very pressing on your on your part because that's exactly the two reasons so I felt it had the best future because Ohio still 25 years ago had state stores. So and so it was a no brainer if you were very, very close and we were at the first exit of the main main interstate interstate of The East End of Cincinnati and we are doing extremely well and I thought it could grow and be even greater store so I wanted to focus on it. And secondly was 100 miles from a local side stop working seven days a week, because I had a family had children. So those are the two reasons that I kept it and I love that store. And the party source today I'm happy to say is the week say that we believe it to be the largest single store in the United States alcoholic beverage store physically and as today about $48 million in business but of course, I had to divest it five years ago in order to become a distiller but it's I sold it to my employees I'm very proud of that. And they're doing very well today and have paid me back and and it's it's moving forward it's still a great store. 19:47 So while you were still on the retail side, was there ever a point where you had any mild regrets or saying like what if if I didn't get rid of these these five locations like could have grown bigger Could I have gotten a Because if you think of today of what's happening, you've got the total lines of the world that kind of buy up people like is there is there ever that kind of what if scenario in your head 20:08 no because and that just gets into personal philosophy, you know, the point of life to me is that just become rich. I think I think that's a root of a lot of problems today in corporate America and and and with our society in general there's too much greed and and it's all about me. So I enjoyed the entrepreneurial challenge and I liked working with people, a young team of employees as well as the customers and I love the freedom of owning my own store at that point you know, selling five of them I was debt free, so I could do what I wanted to do in the store and not have to do any short term thinking and so never looked back I have I'm happy to say I've always had a you know, very nice upper middle class lifestyle and by God that's enough. I mean, having some control over your life and and feeling that you're doing some good and that you're sharing enjoying some lives of your employees and being a good community member and caring about the environment and you know, having some balance in life and purpose and meeting, not just trying to make money and get bigger and bigger and bigger and die rich that never had any attraction to me. 21:14 So you're you're running one of the states not only just the state because you're here as you said, You're the first exit off of the coming off from Cincinnati in Kentucky. And it was it for a lot of people. It's it's a destination, it is a destiny, retail location. And at the same time, you're also like I said, it's huge. You're competing with the liquor barns in Louisville at this time. What was what was the determining factor to say I'm ready to hang this up and move to something new 21:42 well, and the liquor barns in Louisville were the original four of them were three of them were my my stores. Okay, so there we go. You know, so I mean that the circle goes around, but and they're good customer today and a valued customer of us today. The motivation Kenny was just Sometimes we do things and unconsciously our subconscious takes over. And just as whatever was 12 1415 years ago, I was just not happy and I call it my 71 aha moment because 70 one's the road between Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky and loyal and I was on it a lot. And then you know, had a lot of time to think and, you know, it just I wasn't happy and I wanted to make a change and I think subconsciously I knew that I was a little bit of a burnout I had been doing it at that point, retailing which is a very, very, very hard work and it is six, seven days a week and you know, all the holidays and so forth. So and fairly repetitious. You know, I was a buyer, I was a spirits buyer as well as the owner. And it's just the drill and it's, you know, as wonderful drill and I loved it, but it's intense and deals are coming at you and there's a lot of paperwork and and it's a routine that goes on and on and on. So I think subconsciously I was a little bit of a burnout at that point. I didn't want to retire. I love working and I feel that it's healthy for the mind. And I think retirement is like, announcing to your body that you're ready to die or something. So I really do believe that and so I was not at all interested in any of that. So, 23:12 you know, most people just get a Porsche. That's usually what, 23:16 you know, everybody thinks. I mean, when I sold the you have no idea what people said to me and what I know what they were not saying to me. You know, they were completely astonished and befuddled that a guy would take the party source doing $40 million a year debt free, you know, just a gravy train and not just like retire to a beach and on Florida or something and let a manager run it at least but to sell it, you know, sell it to the employees, you know, and take that risk on top of everything else was going to the spirits business, build a distillery madness, absolute madness, but anyway, JS men is my wonderful, fantastic well known a lot of your folks listeners will know who jr Smith is. So he's my co founder. I like to Thinking that way, although he's not an ownership, and Jay was my fine spirits buyer, the specialty spirits buyer at the party source. So he's worked for me for many years. And jokingly say, you know, can we're both watching this brown goods revolution happening and resurgence and resurrection. right under our nose. We see it at the party source every day of our allies. This thing's got legs. So, I credit Jay with, you know, why don't we open a distillery? Yeah, that's a great idea. Oh, it's funny. 24:31 Because they're not 24:32 any more good ones. You know, here we are running the party source, you know, you know, tracking money to the bank. Oh, that's a great idea. Jay. Well, along the way, it became a little more serious. So I do credit Jay and not myself with the idea for starting new Earth distilling. But it was it just appealed to my entrepreneurial side of me and the challenge aspect to get back into the game and and see what I could create and what my lifetime of experience in alcoholic beverages could do. And I love The idea of the challenge of starting from the ground up and building a team of young people, which has occurred and they're fantastic, and I just really wanted to have a second act in my life. And I actually and I'll tell you honestly, I thought, you know, this could be almost like semi retirement because once you start distilling, I mean, you just kind of sit around and watch barrels age, right? That's what I assumed would happen. You know, I'd wander in you know, noon or something and 25:26 get myself a glass Hey, you 25:28 know, how hard can it be you know, you're just gonna watch these barrels get old. So of course, it's proven to be way more challenging way more dynamic way more interesting than any of that. But that was the impetus was being at the party source seeing it happen. Realizing that why not Northern Kentucky all the action, the limited action there was seven or eight years ago was all in central Kentucky and just starting and loyal. You know, why not Northern Kentucky because we're right next to a city that's more than twice as large as local, very wealthy city and a sophisticated city. And, you know and the party source have done so well right next to Cincinnati, why wouldn't a distillery so we arrived decided to go ahead and take on the challenge and sell the party source and get back out there on the on the interest position where I just feel comfortable in a way that most people don't. 26:17 So you decide to sell the party source. Was this because you needed the funds to be able to start the distillery or is that is there another motivating factor? Well, 26:25 the main reason is in the three tier system, you cannot be a distiller or manufacturer, and a retail or wholesale or the that's what the three tier means I came across you can't be both. 26:36 I've also heard you could probably put your wife's name under the contract. I know you can get around. You mean that's another legal hurdle but yeah, 26:43 but but it's not true in Kentucky. And it is true in some other states, for instance, New York as a one store law and there's plenty of families that have four or five stores. But that is not true in Kentucky and we are way too big and way too visible to play any shitty shenanigans with the ABC and Too much is way too much as invested in it risk to take any of that on So, and I thought it was a great thing selling the store to the employees. And, you know, I take you know, when all of a sudden done I'll be very very very pleased with the success and the reputation and the great whiskey of new roof but I also will be proud that I've changed 100 or 200 lives and giving themselves some pride and some self some control over their lives as employees and an employee owned company, and a little nest egg. You know, I said when I retired when I sold the store, and my general manager john styles is a fantastic guy took a took it over. So we had an experience management team. I said there's only one thing I want, as long as I'm alive. When someone retires and they're getting like a six figure check. Even if it's just one of those big checks, you know for show. I want to him hand the check to that employee. That's what I want out of this deal because we're talking about you know, 15 $16 an hour employees. Maybe some Someday things go well and they seem to be after 20 years, some of them might be handing them a six figure retirement, you know, for people that are living paycheck to paycheck and I want to be, I want to be when that magic there when that magic moment happens. 28:13 Yeah, I mean, I think you're you're really wrapping up the epitome of what it is to be a better than, than most of the entrepreneurs that are out there that are after chasing that that big paycheck or chasing that big payday. Your personality is really showing through that it's a you're one of the good spirited people that are out there and, and trying to build something that's that's ultimately bigger than yourself. 28:34 So many other people. And I don't want to get on a tangent, but there's a big movement in the United States, called a lot of things. But there's chapters all over the United States called conscious capitalism, you know, then again, I don't want to get into a tangent. I'm not talking about bourbon. But the idea that capitalism doesn't have to be as raw and just ingredients selfish that you can care about the community and care about your employees. You can care about the environment. That the bottom line should involve all those stakeholders not just ownership so let's let's get back to bourbon let's 29:05 let's definitely get back to bourbon kind of talk about your, your introduction to it as well because I think we need to capture that because, you know, you had this very entrepreneurial mind going into it, Jay said, hey, there's this brown water revolution. But was there a point when you said like, you know, like, I'm from Kentucky, I enjoy bourbon. I like bourbon. You've worked in the stores. We're pushing bourbon to people or people to bourbon, like, kind of talk about your gravitation just towards the product itself. 29:33 Sure. And I'll be dead honest about all this. First of all, Jay and I are great pair and that is cofounders. Because Jay is a Trump has a tremendous palate. And he's also a tremendous historian of alcoholic beverages around the world. And he was the fine spirits buyer and he would sleuth out things that, you know, people in the Midwest certainly other than the two coasts had never heard of him brought in so he knew he has a network of people he knows about. around the world. So, Jay brings to new riff, the great depth and honest depth of knowledge and a profound palette, and, and sophistication about alcoholic beverages to, to our company. I don't bring any of that. You know, I mean, at the party source, we are phenomenal wine store, and I'm a knowledgeable amateur. That's my extent of it. So I feel I'm a knowledgeable amateur about brown goods. But no expert do not have a refined palette. I know my place and that's good too. So that's what I bring to the team, of course, the founder of the financial aspect and the team building and the long term strategy and perspective of where the industry is going and so forth. So we're very good team together. So I think that's been a core of how we've, you know, started new ref and where we want it to go with it. Can you remember your first taste of bourbon? My first taste of bourbon was probably like a lot of lot of your listeners It was and I do remember, unfortunately, I was in the backseat of a car when I haven't seen y'all know where this is going. Yeah, all bad. And it was I'll never forget it was JW dat in a pint bottle and drank it straight. And you know what happened in the backseat of that car, which I spent about three hours terribly drunk, and a happy cleaning up before I turned it back to my day. So hoping he would never know Chris, he knew instantly. But that was my first experience. Like, I'm sure many of your listeners. 31:31 Absolutely, absolutely. So let's talk about, you know, the breaking of the ground and trying to build the team here. I know you've talked about JA and bringing him in, but what does it take to find? The still the distillers, everything like that to actually start getting the business off the ground and as well as sourcing because I know you had source products that are beginning to 31:51 well, the wonderful, yes, I mean, again, we Jay and I are good team and I think in some ways, I'm a good leader and founder be I know my own weaknesses. And I know what I don't know, which is a famous line from the past know what you don't know. And so when we started, we decided to approach this as a very serious enterprise. We decided to approach it a scale, that we would command the presence of Greater Cincinnati, and tend to preclude competition from coming in. Our goal from the very beginning was to be one of the great small distilleries of the world. Knowing that would take decades perhaps to accomplish and who knows, it'll be a self congratulatory thing, no one's going to notice that but to play in the sand lot of some of the greatest stories of the world small ones, is our goal and remains to this day our goal. And so in order to do that, we wanted to do everything extremely well, right from the beginning and put the resources which I felt we had with the selling of the party source, to work to to wait as long as we needed to for Five years to start bringing out whiskey and to just go for it in terms of quality in our and to find a leadership position as a small distillery the United States. So knowing that we went out or I went out and found some great people to get started Kentucky's a wonderful resource, the best thing that I did, I did two great things. One is one of my very first hires after Jay was the person who would maintain our plant manager so that he was involved with the construction and every aspect of planning and knew where every pipe was going. And I think that's something that's overlooked by a lot of people is is is you know, is the the guts and the fabric and the the core and the maintenance of your of a very complex manufacturing plant. I knew enough to know to hire a great person who's with us Dean today and he does a super job. 33:52 Dean was actually helping us earlier trying to get the AC turned off. 33:56 He knows that he knows everything. He knows where all the skeletons are, but I mean he knows where every valve is in every pipe and he was part of the construction crew for the year and a half and the whole thing was money very well spent. Second thing I did was found Larry Ebersole, who's the maybe the most important distiller of American history that many people have never heard of. And Larry was the plant manager at Sega drums as you well know, Kenny, for 25 plus years, the head distiller I misspoke, the head distiller at sea drums, and he's the guy that invented the famous 95 five, right recipe that, you know, right? I know what it is, but it used to be, it's more of what is seen on the shelf, and it's wonderful juice and Larry is a brand bread distiller and a wonderful human being. I count him as a good friend, and he was newly retired and living in Hebrew one which is near the Cincinnati airport, which is in Kentucky, and so he's only like 20 miles away, and was kind of pointing it turned out being a consultant. So didn't know how to get started at it is in his backyard it was Yeah, as easy for eight. And so we are a wonderful thing. So he really threw himself into it. best thing I ever did. And with Larry being involved from the very beginning, we knew we would construct and we did construct a very efficient a very, very well thought through distillery and not make some of the mistakes that are easy to make. And secondly, and perhaps in the long run more definitely more important in the long run with Larry on board as our consulting master distiller he would train my Distilling Team which gave me the freedom to pick with his approval, who would be on that steering team and I very deliberately with Jays advice in this regard to we did not go to Maker's Mark or heaven hill or four roses and higher way and assistant Stiller, which is the standard procedure because in the end, distillers do the same thing day after day and forgive me I don't mean to ruffle any feathers traditionally, at least they don't tend to be a very imaginative lot. 36:03 Don't get me Don't break. What's more, don't don't fix what's not broken. 36:07 People want to you want Maker's Mark, you don't want Maker's Mark with cream cheese on it, you know, it's, it's, it's appropriate and it's what they're the corporation's want. So if we hired someone from Maker's Mark, we'd end up with Maker's Mark north. And in truth, that's what happens, you know, when, when folks go from disorder to story, so what I knew and with Jace help, I knew I wouldn't have known this on my own. And Larry to fermentation is the key and distillers tend to poo poo. Traditional distillers tend to poo poo poo, fermentation, they don't pay that much attention to it. But fermentation if you don't have a great fermentation, you're not going to end up with great whiskey in the end. The people the folks that really understand this are brewers 36:52 absolutely their people, they know what they're Do they know. So 36:55 we deliberately went out and hired a fantastic Brewer in this case. It was pretty Ryan sprints who will absolutely be known if he's not already to so many people as a great young distiller and will truly be in the Hall of Fame someday. And Brian had been a small, small Brewer with a microbrewery in Cincinnati and for about eight years had worked at Sam Adams and I'm not sure how many people know that Sam Adams is brewed in Cincinnati not in Boston. 37:23 Obviously I'm learning something today and 37:24 it is it's the old beautiful plant and 95% of Sam Adams is burden sensing that 37:29 now that name I've heard of the beautiful because it's like a Northern Kentucky kind of 37:32 well Cincinnati Cincinnati kind of it but but the plant was closed and And anyway, so Sam Adams owns it. So he worked for Sam Adams over there and a serious industrial plant. So he brought to us when I hired him and he wanted out because he's not a corporate kind of guy and he wanted to get back into you know, brewing so to speak, or, you know, the guts of doing it not just the big industrial and it was a unionized plan is to this day, unionized by anyone at different scale. So we found, you know, we know so many people in Kentucky and Cincinnati we found Brian and recruited him one very hard, eager to come in here to take the challenge when he saw how real we were, and to be part of a startup. And he just brought that fantastic imagination and knowledge of fermentation and an understanding of grains and malts that traditional distillers are just very linear and very blinders on 38:26 dance. So get your percentages, you're throwing your yeast. 38:30 Yeah, see you in a few days. Let's see. Yeah, well, every day do it every day and they make some great whiskey at all these heritage distilleries Believe me, I'm totally understand that. But we wanted to do a little riff or our own little tweaks and things. And with Larry able to train. It gave us the freedom to assemble that team, so no one in the distillery other than Larry had ever worked into this story before, but with Larry there, we did it as a team and we have a fantastic group of Six distillers today they're all career. They're all doing a super job. And Larry is he trained them, he stepped back. And that's just he's he was. He's our founding father in many ways. And Larry was very, is obviously very rice centric. It was the 95 five, right? He's so proud of and so and we happen to fit our tastes as well. So New Earth is truly a rice centric distillery. And I will, I've said this many times, we make fantastic bourbon. But I think our long term reputation becoming one of the great small distilleries of the world will have a lot to do with, with rise and rise of fence, interesting niche that I think we can play in that sandlot very, very well and be extremely well known around the world for our rye. And maybe stay a little bit away from the great heritage global distilleries you know in the future because you're we're all going to need a niche. 39:56 So did Larry help you out with choosing the mash bills as well for everything you're doing or is that more of a consensus from the group? There are more craft distilleries popping up around the country now more than ever. So how do you find out the best stories and the best flavors? 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It's taken over by our Distilling Team and Brian now galera likes to come and taste and and offer some thoughts if we run into something new every now and then that's really past our abilities. We call her and he, you know, he really thinks very fondly of us. And we were his first client and, and I think he's enjoying our growth and, and is very optimistic about our future. So 42:27 well before we start talking about you know a lot about your bourbon because I know you're doing crazy stuff with barrels and types of grains and malts and stuff like that. Let's talk about the okay, because I know you're sourcing at one point, what was the what was the gist? I mean, that's the thought process that a lot of startups go through and they think, Okay, well, let's get money rolling in. We'll buy some barrels will bottle it up. And that'll be a way to kind of build some revenue. Is that was that your thought process going into it as well? No. So least you're frank about. 42:57 Always be frank. I mean, the nice thing is you're dealing with The owner I don't have any, anybody I have to answer to and I'm getting older. So I'm pretty, pretty straightforward. Know, the answer was we were going for quality and we knew I mean, remember I you know, I own the largest liquor store in the United States I was the spirits buyer, I, I saw the cannery I saw the dishonesty of the, of the brown goods business I, I hated all of it and saw it from the beginning that the not disclosing not disclosing your source charging too much, you know, in a pretty perfume bottle for one year old whiskey and, and, you know, hurting the reputation of all craft distilleries, I saw all the bad things that have happened and continue to happen in this industry. So we wanted no part of it. That's not how you build a great small the story of the world. So from the beginning, we were always going to be transparent and incredibly open with everyone about everything we did. I had fortuitously bought a J's urging 350 barrels From MCP years couple years before we even thought about the distillery concept Oh, wow. So I had I hit Yeah, let's just you know, we'll bottle this someday for the party source. And so I you know, I wish of course I bought thousands. I hate to tell you they were like, I really hate to say this, they were like $375 a barrel. Oh 44:20 man. And you know, we've seen a in the price list now, 44:24 thousands and thousands of dollars if you could even get them and they were already like three years old when I bought them. So, fortuitously I had those barrels and we never bought any other barrels. So it's only 350 and the idea of having those barrels and okay i, we deliberately released it very, very slowly. The idea was just to have some bourbon in the distillery a good bourbon, because it's it's marketing and brand building. People come to this story, like new f1 it's two years old. They know intellectually that were too young to have great whiskey, but they still want to taste great whiskey. They still think you should have a final bourbon sitting around. So we did. And we were very clear it was okay i that we sourced, it wasn't ours, we just bottled it, dumped it and bottled it. And we deliberately rationed it out to last until our bourbon was available. And then we always intended and we did kill the brand because we we don't want to have anything to do with source goods. So it served its purpose extremely well. And then as you well know, Kenny, in the end, when it was 12 years old, it was a terrific value. And when people heard that it was ending, you know, became a cult item and they went crazy about it and it's still a little bit of one of those legendary things, but the purpose is never to have any source goods and that the sales of 300 or so barrels you know, for the size of new riff never moved the needle as far as helping us to survive. We we survived on my proceeds from the party source and on contract is still in for until we had our own whiskey to sell 46:00 Yeah, absolutely. So contract distilling is it's still a part of what your your daily businesses diminishing 46:03 all the time that the idea of the contract is still in was to survive. Until we became till whiskey could be four or five years old, serve that purpose, it was maybe about 45% of our budget and allowed us to be completely full which distillery in production, the story is much better when it's running, you know, at full steam, then turn it on and turn it off the equipment and so forth. So it serves that purpose. And gradually we're we're getting out of the, as we can afford to we're getting out of the contract distilling and taking back all those barrels for our own. You know, stock 46:39 your own aging and everything like that. 46:41 Yeah, we're doing a little bit and we'll do less every year. 46:44 So four years was kind of your your mark, when when new riffs started coming out. Was it for because you felt like it was ready? Or was it for because you said I think this is to the point where we don't have to worry about like, at this point, we don't to worry about putting age statements on the bottle. By TTD law so what was the what was the idea on for there? And were you nervous? 47:06 Yes, I was nervous. Of course. 47:09 JS man is the answer. JA again as our co founder and fantastic and brings that knowledge and Jays idea which I bought into and the rest of the team did from the beginning was let's not release any whiskey till it can be bottled in bond Jays, a historian and he's a lover things past very, very smart about the future too, of course, and, and current distilling, but felt that the, you know, years ago he felt that the bottled in Bond was was right for revival and that the original, the first federal law about food and drug purity United States was about alcohol in 1897, the bottled in Bond Act and Jay felt that the incipient incipient revival bottled in Bond was a fantastic movement and we wanted to be very much a family Remember that so we always intended to wait to be at least four years old. And then along the way we were very, very pleased with Larry results helped to, to be tasting things as you go along and things were moving Well, we liked our juice. We liked the way it was aging. So along the way we realized that getting to be at least four years ago, we were going to have a very credible whiskey out there. And I wanted to and I made sure that it was at a very credible and easygoing price because again, as a retailer, I understood marketing and sales and pricing, and wanted our whiskey to come out at a premium level and pricing, which you deserve this and also is a brand marker, but wanted to always make it an appropriate fair price. One, one click above the the global heritage companies, but not not at the kind of pricing that I've always found repugnant as a retailer and I certainly did as a consumer as well. 48:54 And not only that, as I mean, you come out with this the four year old product in right away. It started It's like kind of taking over a lot of the bourbon culture and the bourbon. mindshare, because everybody's amazed at the taste of a four year old product I don't think there's a lot of or really there's any other product out there today that can really say that it it competes of what new roof does at its at its age, like is there something that you can say that you can attribute that to? Sure or weapon of their sprinkled dust that you're putting? 49:25 sprinkle dust is the water? Yeah, it really is Kenny and and that's a nice story too. Because we first started when we plan and we're very close to breaking ground on the distillery we didn't know about our water source, our water source turned out to be an aquifer the high river aquifer 100 feet under under the distillery property and we didn't know about it when we first started planning but along the way someone said something to Jay you know you know there's there's a lot of water you guys gonna do a well and Jay ran with it. He's smart enough to listen and think you know and that's Jays personality. I mean he's a scientist and interested in everything and he thought I'm going to find out what the heck's under us. And we did we did we ran a test well, and then worked with the University of Kentucky to to analyze and understand what was going on underneath us. So geologically, it was just turned out to be a bonanza. Because the the aquifer and brief and I'm no stem person myself, so forgive me. But the aquifer essentially is a almost inexhaustible pool of water under the far northern part of Northern Kentucky, and it's created because the glacier stopped and created the Ohio River and created the hills of Cincinnati. That geologic force continues to the state of pump want to push water under the Ohio River, and it's going through sand silt, and guess what limestone and then Northern Kentucky from our site right on the river. You go straight up hills to go into southern can lucky to get away from Northern Kentucky. So as you go south, it's going up here. So we're in a bowl and all and as you look and you see the highways and the Brock along the highways, where they do the cuts and the passes and so forth, it's all limestone rock. So it's all coming from two directions and settling. And it's under us in this magnificent huge aquifer under our feet. And it turned out we did all the testing, and it came in and it's magnificent limestone filter, naturally filtered water. It's it had no lead, which is you know, the great thing. It's high calcium from the limestone, very high mineral content, water, and it's 58 degrees year round. So we don't have to have a cooling tower. We're a very environmentally healthy and successful distillery and that water that putting that mineral water right into our mash bill, and you can drink it, we've all drunk it's just hard water. hard water tastes like crap. But it's great for to still it. And I would contend and obviously if someone's going to jump up out of this microphone Want to choke me but I believe it or not, Northern Kentucky new roof has the best water in Kentucky for distilling because the fact of the matter that the marketing people don't want you to know is that almost every other and perhaps every other significantly sized distillery in the state of Kentucky uses city water or river water and then they filter the hell out of it turned it into our water so they're putting into their mash bills whatever they're tell showing you in your advertising, 52:30 you know, whether it's coming from some sort of wheel that's spinning in 52:34 a lake or something absolutely in this wonderful spring and all that which long ago they outgrew you know the whole thing. But you know mean Buffalo Trace Polson the Kentucky River you know, the brown Forman polls for local municipal water I can go on and on and on and i'm not i'm not slamming them in any way they make fantastic whiskey. But we are bringing a natural high mineral content, awesome water into our message. Bill and God, darn it, I think that's when you only have like three ingredients going into your mash bill and one of them changes dramatically. That means something and then you layer on that Kenny, you know the the fact that we're all about quality at every turn and you know the the corn comes from a family farm the same one that for roses uses in Indiana and we can go on and on and on we we come off the still at less than the maximum we go into the barrel at 110. Instead of the legal maximum 125 we use 18 and 24 months aged in oak staves instead of the standard, you know, barrel at $100 more a barrel than other people. We go on and on and on. It's all about quality at every turn. But it starts with that water. So there are very good reasons. It's not by chance that our four year old thank you for saying so i think is a very good product. And you're going to want to get to this it's going to be fantastic when it's seven eight and 10 53:54 Oh yeah, that's what we'll save that here for a second because I kind of want to know your your plans for the future with that, but You know, back to this, you know, let's let's rewind it back another 1520 years or maybe 25 years, when you bought the location of the party source was it? You look at it now like just dumb luck. 54:11 Yeah, we bought the land and the distillery for your listeners that don't know, the distillery is right in front of the party source and we're right on right on the river. Across from Cincinnati, you can't get any closer to Cincinnati. But that was the point of the retail store, because Ohio had state stores and 80% or more of our customers came from Ohio. And that's why the party source grew to be such a large store. It's a it's a natural for Northern Kentucky but it's because we had all of Cincinnati coming to us so and then when I wanted to do the distillery the original plan was just Gee, this is a nice, I own I own some property. And that's another story too. I actually had to take out a levee and build a wall, a flood wall and so forth. million dollar flood wall in order to get more property. But the point was, I thought it'd be a great location. Very well known right in front of the source and there was a symbiotic symbiotic relationship you know people could come on a tour to see us and then walk into this fantastic whiskey store and shop and it's turned out to be like that but dumb luck in terms of the water absolutely dumb luck 55:14 it's just like being in Texas and somebody knock on your door me like oil in your backyard we'd 55:18 like to buy your land Yeah, and you just scratch under your armpits and go all the way down 55:25 so let's talk a bit about like the little bit of future state right because Sure, today we there's a lot of stuff out there it's a lot of for your product. There's people like myself we go we do barrel pics here. It's a four year product. I know that a lot of people we love it as is. However there's always this can't wait until it's six it's eight to 10 years so kind of talk about what your your future plans are to kind of stocks in these barrels. Sure. 55:52 Yeah, it's been it's been a but but first of all, it is a great ride and the four year of the bottle and bond is a wonderful product and will never release any plans. product from our distillery any whiskey that's less than bottled in bond for a year. And, and, and, and hundred proof and or it'll be barrel proof every one of the two. So, and that's why we've been and that's why we're always be because we think that's, we think that's the highest quality expression and that's what we're all about to, to hopefully become one of the great small distilleries of the world. Which by the way, even if we fall short, hey, it's great. I mean, life should be about lofty goals and and trying your damn this and, you know, if we fall short, and you know, we're not quite there. It still is a worthy endeavor. But signs are decent that we might, we've taken a few steps in that direction and we might just get there and 10 or 12 years in some form of recognition from the public and writers in our own self assessment, but 56:48 you really don't want to retire. Do you? 56:50 Know I actually, I'd like to stick around. honest truth is I'd like to stick around long enough in an extremely active role will stay a family business by In the business, everybody here is career we're not selling out, we're not going, we have no interest in one of the big boys buying a minority share, we're surviving. We're getting through the roughest part right now, economically, and we're going to stay 100% independent, because that's really the only way you can really achieve greatness is having incredibly long term thinking, and just be totally disinterested in short term results. So, and having that freedom of without any corporate decision making because whatever anyone says, nothing will change, we're going to buy you out and nothing's going to change. None of your people are going to change everything to say, everything's different a year later. We all know it. It's just it's a fact out there. So we're going to stay independent. And, and that's very important. So we've taken some steps. I mean, I think the fact Kenny, that I'm sure you're aware, we went out to our very first competition we ever went to, because again, why go to all these little county fairs or whatever, just so you can say, award winning, nobody. It doesn't mean anything to the like your listeners. And there's the People that we really care about that will establish our reputation. So we waited. We think like a lot of people that the San Francisco International spirits competition is the main spirits competition. It's an arguable issue but certainly one of the top couple we think it's the 58:15 you came on with a few medals from 58:17 it. Well, the thing is, we submitted all five of the products, we make three whiskeys and two gins and all five of them one double goal. You know, it's unheard of. 58:28 It's It's like going to the Olympics and just like it's 58:30 crazy. I mean, let's put it in context. And, and I'll abstract this real fast and backpedal. But you know, this year factually, Buffalo Trace submitted 21 entries and got seven double goals, numerous submitted five inches and got five double gold. We are not the equivalent above Buffalo Trace far better to story. You know, and they are, in my opinion, the best in the business. But the thing is, we've taken a step toward that goal. We you know, so We feel very encouraged to have some exterior validation. And it's so we're not just in a circle, you know, talking to each other about these things. So anyway, we started to take a step now to get back and sorry that sometimes I run on but it's a very passionate subject. We know to put up the very best whiskey that we can and to really have a very high world reputation as good as our four year old is and it's fairly priced as we will always keep it. We have to have older whiskey. So we've this year, I mean, it's all it gets back to a matrix of economics. Our first year of release, we held back only we held back 20% of everything we make to get older. Next year, we're budgeted for 33 a full third of everything we make, to get older. And what I will say now, which is actually the first time I've ever seen this public So it's a credit to the the reach that that that you guys have and the the interest in the students of your listeners, we're actually going to do a small expansion of the distillery. And we'll get back to that if you want. But the point that I want to make right now is the only purpose of that expansion is not to make more four year old or not to make some more money in the short run. It's to have older whiskey and a lot of it. So we are going to make a stand toward older whiskeys will always have a great four year old bottled in bond product at an extremely fair price. It may not go up in price for 10 years, stay at $40 fine with me. And then eventually we'll have a very fairly priced will have older whiskies and personally we'll see if things change. I'm all for age statements. I think again and and this is really where the future of new roof is going to be his older whiskies a great entry level that is fantastic. For cocktails and it's just fantastic for for sipping on without talking about it. But it'll be the seven year old eight year old, maybe 10 year old and whatever in very in everything that we make getting older that will put us on the map and will really I think make us proud and I think your listeners are going to really want to have someday we're going to try and have enough of it that it's not this high cult high scarcity kind of item I'm not saying that it'll be on a shelf but we want to have a lot more out there you know thousands of cases of older whiskey and not just dribble it out to people 1:01:35 makes more people are makes more sense people to start joining the Rangers program then so they get those was inside. 1:01:41 The Rangers program is ended 1:01:42 but the whistle as it I didn't know that. 1:0

Host of the Subconscious Mind Master Podcast and Author of the book Fear Busters, Thomas Miller, talks about how he transformed his life in his later 40's and shares the never-before-seen tools he's creating to help people become more conscious in their own lives -- it's top secret, he hasn't even shared these tools with his own tribe yet, but he's sharing them here today! We also talk about the thoughts we develop in childhood and how those thoughts shape us as adults -- and while we cannot change our childhood, it is our responsibility to fix our subconscious mental patterns as adults. A fascinating person. A fascinating hour of conversation! NOTE: Theres 2 minutes of audio that sound funny, but that completely corrects after those 2 minutes. Sorry about that! But thanks for sticking with us!    Continue the Conversation on Instagram! Website:  www.jancius.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/angelpodcast/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/angelpodcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOL5Dgsssv7A4C7SLvyqWg?view_as=subscriber   Connect with Thomas Miller Website Facebook   Show Notes *Show notes recorded by Sonix.AI.  [00:00:00] Hello beautiful souls! Before we begin I just want to share a few freebies with you. If you subscribe on my Web site, your name and contact info will be put in a jar that I pray on every morning. The Angels also have me pick a few people from that jar every week to text personalized Angel messages too. That could be you! All you have to do is subscribe on my Web site.   [00:00:20] Also you can win a free session with me if you write a positive review of this podcast on iTunes. After you post a glowing positive review on iTunes, just e-mail me with your name, contact info, and review and you'll be entered into a monthly drawing to win a free session. For details on all of this visit my Web site. www.jancius.com. W w w that Gen.   [00:00:41] You're listening to angels and awakening where we believe daily life can be lived from a constant state of love joy peace, bliss, ease and grace. Why are people always searching for a better way to live? Because there is one life doesn't have to be stress filled and anxiety ridden. You can make lasting changes that lead to a life you love. My name's Julie Jancius. I have the gift of connecting with angels and bringing through their healing positive messages to my clients every day. Join us on the angels and awakening podcast each week as we explore our big spiritual questions. Interview experts and bring through Angel messages. I am so excited you're here.   [00:01:38] So today we're here with Thomas Miller. He's the host of the subconscious mind mastery podcast. A podcast he's been hosting for over six years. His podcast covers the powers of manifestation, the laws of the universe, and how the conscious and subconscious minds work together. His listeners say that he provides an accessible road map to learning how to change your life for the better. How to turn your life into what you want it to be. Thomas has talked to all the great authors researchers scientists everyone who is at the forefront of brain research and what I love about your story Thomas is that you say you started to make this shift in your life that you really came into these big changes these big leaps in your later 40s. Can you tell us more about who you are and what you do?   [00:02:33] Hi Julie thank you. What a great introduction and loving your new podcast. Thank you for having me on.   [00:02:40] Oh thank you for being our guest. We just appreciate it so much.   [00:02:43] Well my story goes back quite a while quite a few years ago I had major changes though in my late 40s. So yeah I was a late bloomer of becoming conscious if you will.   [00:02:58] Hey it doesn't matter when it happens just that it happens right.   [00:03:01] Boy is that the truth. But you know, now my heart is for folks your age to get this because then you have all these decades in front of you to really compound this incredible growth that you can have in your life and the impact that you can have on the world is phenomenal. So yeah I played my part did my role and I'm living out my journey but. But yes I have such a heart for young people so I'm really thrilled to again to be participating here with you. But my story goes back to Tulsa Oklahoma where I was born and Tulsa is a fundamental town.   [00:03:44] I mean it's a great, talk about a great place to grow up wonderful community but it just had a fundamental underpinning in it culturally. So my parents were wonderful, very loving. We were a Christian family and that has a belief system and kind of especially in that it was it was accentuated because of where we were and the teachings that were common in around our community. So life was very rigid.   [00:04:18] I mean this is the way you were and this is what you believed in if you stepped out of that then there was disfavor with mom and dad and there was disfavor with the community so you can kind of see how even though everybody responds differently it was not the kind of place that you would step out of line if you thought I mean right. Because if you did I mean it was you know there was judgment quickly would would prevail so my brother and I because of respect for our parents are wonderful mom and dad who are both in spirit now we'd never either of us rebelled we didn't become the rebellious teenagers and climb out the windows at night and you know and go do all the stuff that a lot of kids do. We were obedient. So I went to college having never done a lot of the things that typical teenagers might have done.   [00:05:12] And that belief system created a box I guess that I lived in I thought that was the right thing to do. I mean that's how I was taught. I was brought up in Christian schools and all this and I just thought that that was the way that we were supposed to be. And I never knew that there was this whole big else wise way of seeing things or doing things. And what broke all that down was after four decades I had been through two divorces and see in that model you didn't get divorced once much less twice. So I had to sit down and figure out what happened. And that was my reaction to my second divorce was spent a year kind of just shaking my fist toward heaven. That was a bad year. That was kind of an off year but then I sat down and I said I've really got to figure out what happened because I don't want to do this again. So the first thing I did is I erased that entire belief system. I was like that didn't serve me. So I got to start there because at least I'm coming from that perspective. So I need to change my perspective on everything about life.   [00:06:25] So just like you would erase a chalkboard I erased my belief system because that belief system was really your programming since childhood right.   [00:06:35] Totally totally programmed and that's why I called the podcast subconscious mind mastery because I discovered after about a year of picking my life apart completely that a lot of the beliefs that I constructed as a child played themselves out without me having to lift a finger to do anything so I could see things that I was afraid of.   [00:07:01] That I built in fears as a child.   [00:07:04] All of a sudden I'd look when I was in my mid thirties and boy it had happened just as I had constructed it so let's break down like an example because I think you know so often in a spiritual community you know we talk big and broad back.   [00:07:20] How give me an example of this. And maybe one of the. The thoughts are the subconscious constructs that you had and how you rewired it.   [00:07:32] I found this really cool thing just not long ago and I did a recent podcast on it called Destiny cards. Have you ever heard of Destiny cards. No I haven't heard of that. Oh you ought to google it. It this is really fun and cool. So I found these destiny cards and it's basically it paints a beautiful picture of our how we came in and what our journey is through a deck of regular playing cards and there's a whole lot more to it than that. But my destiny Card said that I would have challenges in two areas relationships and finances or relating to money. OK so one of the constructs that I built in this actually really got reinforced after that my first divorce the biggest reaction that I had to my first divorce was that I was going to lose the money that I had built up in my 20s and 30s.   [00:08:34] It's not a funny reaction I think it's a typical reaction.   [00:08:38] I had two young kids and I was more concerned about the money. And that's hard to admit but that's the way it was.   [00:08:46] And see a lot of people would make themselves wrong about that. Like what. You weren't more concerned for your children than you were your bank account. But then when you come back and you you know these things that are built into the structure of the universe to show us the path and show us the way like this little Destiny card thing that comes along and says Dude you were wired to have these problems oh so I was just going through C and this is where the consciousness had I been aware of that I could have chosen. We all have choice right at the end of the day we all have choice. Absolutely.   [00:09:27] Then I could have chosen to do that to react to that differently. Problem was I was blind. I didn't know. I simply didn't know. So I went with what was there and what was there created this fear around I'm going to lose all this money well then when I started to pick my life apart I spent a year doing this with a journal literally almost every night reconstructing what had happened.   [00:09:58] So I would go back to particular events in my childhood and I was able to go back and find areas where I interpreted lack of money.   [00:10:09] So that's what happened in my in my family.   [00:10:12] We never quote unquote had enough although we had plenty in our lives.   [00:10:18] So you went back and you really found those moments from your childhood where these constructs of your mind started so that you could then piece it back together in a different way. Re Re pattern those thoughts within your mind.   [00:10:35] So what was normal to me as a child. That's absolutely right.   [00:10:40] Just as you said that was the process.   [00:10:43] What was normal to me as a child was. Inflation is going to rob all of our savings because prices are just going to keep going up and up and up.   [00:10:52] And that was true back in the 1970s. My mom lived in a world where she would go to the grocery store and a loaf of bread would be 50 cents more next week than it was this week. But it stopped you know it changed and the economy changed in the 1980s and it was different. And then prices were going down. So it's like but everything was just this crisis and emergency and the fear and we weren't going to have enough and if you died without accepting Jesus as your savior you were going to go to hell and just fear everywhere. In my background.   [00:11:27] So I applied that fear to money and sure enough that fear fulfilled itself.   [00:11:35] So I found myself after the second divorce having to start to rebuild everything financially and emotionally and spiritually and all of it yeah.   [00:11:45] I love those times though when they say spirit breaks us to make us.   [00:11:50] I had a similar thing happened in my life where it was like everything just came crashing down all at one time and it took away the self identity that I had put into my career that I had Clinton to my relationship and it it made me take a step back and realize I'm not worthy because I have this title I'm not worthy because I'm finally making the money that I wanted to be making at work. I'm not worthy because of this or that I'm worthy just because I am.   [00:12:26] That's a hard one to get sometimes isn't it. Yeah.   [00:12:29] Especially when we think we've messed it all up you know. Right yeah. So yeah I mean it's like and I've I've used a couple of other tools that just have helped me with perspective these destiny cards just happened to come across my path recently and I'm finding it to be very exciting and fun but it's an astrology is another thing that I've used to just paint the picture of what these realities are. You know I'm wired differently than you are. Go figure that Julie really.   [00:13:01] So my journey and the challenges that I'm going to face in my life and the struggles that I have to go through are going to be different than what yours having to go through and you might find ease and flow with money.   [00:13:17] Know I was looking up one of those cards in fact for a very close friend of mine and that's exactly what his card was. And that's what's happened in his life. You know it's like so that I'm that I came here to struggle in that area now that I know that.   [00:13:36] And like use a pun here put the cards all out on the table and let that be okay. Now what am I doing.   [00:13:46] I mean if this was just a kind of a fresh reminder that now what I'm doing is I'm studying everything I can about about finances and money and I'm just kind of going back to the basics and rebuilding that because I had done well in my 20s and 30s and then I let all this fear come in and kind of tear the whole thing down. So I'm just rebuilding that area and having fun doing it.   [00:14:13] Oh I love that. I love that.   [00:14:16] So Thomas you've been studying subconscious mind mastery for longer than it's been popular right.   [00:14:22] You've talked to the authors the the people who are at the forefront of studying consciousness and positive thinking. What do you know for sure from all your research on how our brains work how the whole system here on earth works to get us where we want to go to really bring the desires of our hearts to fruition.   [00:14:44] That's a great question.   [00:14:46] Well so a couple of things one of my favorite sayings is when the student is ready the teacher appears and that happens so much through that process and a teacher appeared for me in 2013.   [00:15:04] His name is Fred Dodson.   [00:15:06] He's written 25 books and he and I connected through me soliciting him to record his books for audio books. He had not done any audio books at the time so Fred and I have done now 24 of his 25 books.   [00:15:25] He has been a mentor to me in my growth in this new way of being that I can't even begin to describe and not only just from a mentor as in reading his material or taking courses or going to seminars or whatever. I'm sitting in front of this microphone for hours reading his material as him so I'm figuring out how I can inflect his voice how would Fred say this. So for the last about five or six years I've literally in a sense become like a second image of Fred Dodson right because I'm trying to really honestly communicate the way that he would. So I listen to his videos the way he talks the way he and flex and try in my own skin to inflect that. And I think that's had a tremendous rub off.   [00:16:20] So Fred has been really I have to attribute where I really got most of this information is from his work. So if somebody wanted to look into that they are certainly welcome to his name is Fred Dodson. And with that I would prove again because you're not going to pull one off on me again right. I'm not going to just believe something because you say so. So I put it all to the test and what I found is that his material and all of this material really on that we are co creators I have found it true over and over again to the point where I'm still like wow this thing really just manifest. I'm getting ready to get on an airplane this afternoon to go up to Colorado to work on consummating a business deal that I created over the last three years and it's happening and I am going to make money off of this transaction exactly as I created it over three years ago.   [00:17:22] So it does work. I mean it's exciting and it's still happening right now.   [00:17:28] I love that that's so perfect. So in your research where do you find to be the most fascinating part. What do you find to be the most fascinating part of my mastery or maybe from this author that you shared what is the most fascinating part of his message that he shares you.   [00:17:49] Well you're asking some great questions. I love a journalist's background. OK well me too then will I. All right then I'll I'll get to Shay here we'll get going on.   [00:18:02] I love it. All right. That's a great question. The most exciting thing to me has been the discovery that this is a soul based journey we get so caught up in the trappings around us. We live in a physical world. You live in Chicago I live in Dallas I go back and forth to Colorado. We have families. I heard a dog in the background. You know we have kids. We do our thing right. Yeah.   [00:18:35] And that becomes the structure of our reality. So everything we connect to are the physical things around us when you zoom up ten thousand feet like a drone you know now we have the drones I don't know if you've ever flown one but they are so cool because you can just hover up above the trees and then all of a sudden you can rotate that camera all around the view and look at it completely different than we do down in the trees.   [00:19:03] And when you view our life from a soul perspective and I know that's a lot of your work and you are gifted in that area to connect with that beyond the physical. That's a wonderful gift to have and I you know I think we all can to a degree but I know there are people that are more gifted with that my girlfriend Mirjana is like you you know she will hear messages from the other side. I don't have that I you know I mean maybe it's developable but I don't have it today more intuitive maybe but not in the way that you guys do.   [00:19:46] Fred did a book Fred wrote a book called lives of the soul and it actually picks up a death and it goes through until our next incarnation.   [00:19:55] What happens in between Michael Newton also does a lot of this type of this work that we are a soul and eternal soul on a journey that we are growing that this isn't our first rodeo and that we come in with in essence a blueprint it's like a roadmap we have choice within the road but we are on a road and boy did that answer so many questions that that I couldn't figure out in the old paradigm. So the most exciting thing for me was discovering from our higher level that this is a much bigger journey than it is manifesting a new car or new house or gee I'd really like to move to Chicago.   [00:20:51] How do I pull that one off.   [00:20:53] You know it's. Does that make sense.   [00:20:55] Totally 100 percent well and that's what we're really coming into right is I don't want to say stepping away from religion but it's because I grew up going to Catholic school and I could remember as a little girl the first thing that I wanted to be was a nun. But there wasn't a you couldn't have a family and be a nun. And I knew at a very young age that I wanted a family.   [00:21:19] So we have these constructs within our minds so young and coming and stepping out of those and realizing like you just said so beautifully so eloquently is that we are souls we are souls first and foremost and we can choose with our free will to live more from our souls energy to live more from our intuition which is I believe our souls thought system on the other side here and now. So this is such fun work to be able to share the broad community.   [00:21:59] Well and I know you'll be addressing this as your podcast episodes unfold but that you can connect with those souls and hear a message other than how we came up.   [00:22:13] Hey I'm trapped in Purgatory. Get me out of here or Woops I didn't say the right word and the prayer and I'm in hell because of it.   [00:22:22] You know it's like we laugh at that but you know I mean it's serious business that I like. I believe that for 40 years. What if I didn't get it right. You know a fear of hell. And one of the boy one of the transformative conversations I had is with a really good friend of mine Daniel Dana Carvey lives here in the Dallas area and we were on a patio not far from here having drinks one night and he said you know what if there were no sin.   [00:22:55] Think about that. Think about if sin just didn't exist because as he was saying at the end of the day who really is the judge well the Bible is the judge.   [00:23:08] Well wait a minute. There are 80 denominations because we can't agree on how to interpret the Bible. So let's back up who again is the judge whether you just send or not right. So what if you just took cent off the table and just said we're all on a journey now.   [00:23:27] If I if I kill another human being I'm going to certainly pay for that.   [00:23:34] That's a crime in our criminal justice system and this gets weird.   [00:23:39] I'm telling you this gets weird don't judge me on this but when you zoom up to that 10000 foot perspective then the mindset of today that everything is supposed to be nice and cushy and soft and easy and smooth goes away and I like the book by Neale Donald Walsh.   [00:24:05] Little Soul in the sun. Are you familiar with that little book now to cancel it out.   [00:24:11] Yeah it's a kid's book.   [00:24:13] Beautifully illustrated and the story is the two little souls on the other side who are getting ready to incarnate. And one of the little souls says that their mission is to work on forgiveness   [00:24:27] But the Little Soul is concerned because it doesn't know how it's going to be able to forgive unless somebody is mean to the soul that the soul has to forgive them so it's little partner soul says well I'll incarnate with you and I'll be mean to you. I'll do something to hurt you so that you can forgive me. How about that and the first hurdle. Yeah that first little soul says why would you do that for me would you really go down there and hurt me so that I could forgive you and the second soul says I would do it because I love you that much.   [00:25:12] I got to tell you so I don't know if you know much about my story but the way that I came into this gift was exactly that real my dad I.   [00:25:26] I love him to death and I go through my first podcast I talk about all the wonderful wonderful beautiful parts of him you know his really his one flaw was women and I caught him cheating on my mom for the first time when I was pretty young in elementary school and I didn't know how or what to do with that information or how to handle that information.   [00:25:50] And then I caught him again in middle school and in middle school again you know you're in a Catch 22 you love your mom you love your dad what do you do. And I ended up feeling in my heart that I was just going to punish him by pushing him away by not talking to him by distancing myself. So I did that all throughout my teenage years my twenties and we always tried to come back together but he'd have one girlfriend and I'd hear about how he had other girlfriends on the side and I was like I can't I can't be apart you know like at some point you got to get it together.   [00:26:29] And when he passed I started hearing from him a month before his family reached out to let me know he was gone and yeah. And I ended up having a visitation dream from him. Maybe six seven months later where he was on the other side and they actually showed me my house on the other side. They were at this big party it was like a welcome home. Julie's back and I could see my dad out of the corner of my eye walking around as I was talking to other friends and family that I didn't know I knew but I knew I knew him in the dream and my dad finally came up to me after what felt like a couple hours and he said well we should talk shouldn't we. And we went outside and there was a big lake outside and the scenery changed to a place we used to go out on a lake as a kid when I was when I was a child and he left me for the first time without us giving his side of the story just vent to him about him for hours on end and he just poured tears out of his eyes like I had never seen before and he said Julie if I could go back and take that all back I would but I can't. And even more than that dream when I woke up I was bawling hysterically when I woke up and that never happens.   [00:28:05] And I knew in my heart that he had been here not as a bad guy not as this flawed soul but he had been here to stir up some stuff so that we all could learn our lessons because he's got four kids we all that different stuff from him we all learned different stuff from him.   [00:28:32] He's got other stepchildren who learned from him as well and that is so right on.   [00:28:39] Here's the part that I can't connect the dots on. OK. As a person who has a community of people listening to them Where is the boundary so that people don't say well they're no bad on the other side I'm just going to go murder these bad people. Oh no. Whatever it might be you know. I don't I don't have that down yet.   [00:29:07] Karma is a bitch.   [00:29:10] Yeah.   [00:29:14] You will pay.   [00:29:17] So you know when you study this like you're talking about and this so fits Fred's lives of the soul and Michael Newton's work of what 7000 I think hypnosis sessions that he did to get this same message when you see recurring patterns.   [00:29:34] So it's like so many people who connect with the other side talk about this being the way that that things are. Again let's zoom up to the 10000 foot perspective of this is a soul growth process. So if you say well yeah there are no rules or judgments or anything on the other side. Well first of all there's gonna be hell to pay on this side. I don't know about you but I would not do well living in a 10 by 10 box for the rest of my life. This doesn't sound appealing to me at all. Not for 10 minutes much less for decades so you know there's there's that built in.   [00:30:14] Is this what I would really want to go do but if even if that didn't move you and you still had that that vile impulse Oh I got to show you something to let me show this.   [00:30:30] This works really well. I got a clue for the folks watching on video. Well we'll show you something here. This is something I've been working on. Nobody knows this. So I'm like.   [00:30:41] You're like the first I have I haven't even done this for my own podcast audience but we're going to let you know so because I mean you asked your journalistic skills are quite sharp so if we think about this from a soul growth perspective and we connect with what all is available when we do grow our soul it becomes such an incredible motivator to me to want to reach those higher levels of consciousness because there is so much magic up there there is so much wonder that we can't even imagine at those higher levels of consciousness that we don't get when we let our humanity get the best of us.   [00:31:32] You know.   [00:31:33] So what I was saying earlier and what you brought up like your dad's role in a sense was to stir stuff up for people so that they could grow.   [00:31:45] And we don't get that in our in our society today in our. I was going to say liberal or progressed you know our forward thinking society doesn't like those challenges doesn't make them that our society doesn't. It's not OK to be one who would stir up for others so that they could forgive. That doesn't resonate today. Right. We're not at that level of consciousness that you can know we like to make stories.   [00:32:14] We like to say oh well he must be really stupid because he lost his job or she must be this because this happened you know we want to apply a story to everything. He's a bad guy because he cheated. You know this story.   [00:32:30] It's all a story. Yeah I went through my transitional period I went through a program that a friend of mine said hey go just go to this it'll change your whole perspective on things that was called the Landmark Forum. And I did that weekend.   [00:32:43] I've done it once and it did.   [00:32:47] And one of the things that you take away from that program is how much we are enveloped in our stories. We make a story up out of everything.   [00:32:57] That's exactly right.   [00:32:59] So here's something that we're working on. This was a work in progress from one of the books that I did with Fred. And this is totally with his blessing. And we were corresponding on it yesterday. And he's like you've got to take this and run with it because this is this is good stuff so what the book was called low levels of energy. OK. So levels of energy by Fred Dodson and then the kind of the companion book that came before that about a decade prior was called power versus force by Dr. David our Hawkins and Dr. Hawkins used this as the basis of one of the largest clinical psychology practices in the country out of Long Island. He passed away in 2012 but left us with this incredible work that basically takes consciousness and puts it on a scale so both authors used the same scale Fred's treatment of the material is completely different Dr Hawkins is more scientific Fred is more practical applicable.   [00:34:01] But basically if you take all of our human emotions all of our human existence and put it on a scale from zero to 1000 let's say the numbers don't mean anything it just is the relativity if you go out and kill somebody that's probably a 20.   [00:34:17] It's down around the area of psychosis depression 50 fear one hundred anger 160 narcissism pride arrogance one ninety.   [00:34:28] Those are all low levels of consciousness so we've come up with this little system that's representing represented by these rings. So I've got four colors of rings. So if you take that all those low levels of consciousness and we'll just this is kind of a maroon color brown color and if you see that but that. So let's say that all of those are here right and then like daily life you know we we get the kids ready we take them to school we go to work we come back we help them with their homework we put them to bed we watch an hour of TV we go to we go to sleep that's that's just like we're just getting by.   [00:35:11] Right.   [00:35:11] Life works not bad not setting any records not you know creating anything not changing the paradigm of the culture but you know not bad we're getting by for those who can't see physically in the video he's got two rings and maroon ring and then he just added with that last statement a red herring on top of it. All right. So then we're going to put on top of that a golden colored ring. All right. So that's now we start to step outside of ourself and we start to put others first. Selfless service if you will we're moving up the scale the scale is is represented by these three ring stacked on top of each other that are different colors but we're moving up or getting higher. So we're growing and when you start to really step out of yourself when you put others first when you are full of joy when you're just happy when you're fun to be around when you give to others we Marjan and I were at a hotel up in Arkansas the other day and walking out there was this guy who was sweeping the floor in front of the door and one of those carpet pad things you know and he was just sweeping that and just getting and he'd go back the other way and somebody walk down the hall Oh thank you for staying at our hotel.   [00:36:30] This was at a Marriott. It was in his hotel I promise you he had known the darn thing right. But he was so proud. Oh thank you for being our guest we can't wait to see you back again. Have a nice day.   [00:36:42] That was that's this kind of that's that's the gold right. You know he's working twelve dollar an hour job up in Arkansas sweeping the floors and hauling the trash out and he's just serving other people. Beautiful. And then when so the final ring is is turquoise colored.   [00:37:01] Those are the pure levels of of unconditional love pure joy peace creativity.   [00:37:12] Think of Malala today is really representing this little girl that was shot in the head by the Taliban and lived. And her story is magnificent. Mother Teresa would have been in that we think of Gandhi you know so just those those areas where we really transcend our humanity because we're in such a different higher level different zone.   [00:37:38] So when you put all those together and you look at those colors that's the scale of consciousness.   [00:37:47] So when you're making that decision now remember we all have choice. This is the thing is at the end of the day nobody's making us do anything more than the visual. When you see those you know look say for the camera but if you're just listening on audio so you've got a maroon ring at the bottom a red ring a gold ring and a turquoise colored ring if you live out of that maroon colored ring you're going to get bad results.   [00:38:16] You're going to get bad results today and you're gonna get bad results on the other side you're going to have to come back and do it again. You want to do a do over.   [00:38:26] Now do you want to take two or three or five because you are stuck in that stubbornness or if you zoom up and you go wow you know and even if we again here for the folks that are not on camera let's just take the golden ring and the turquoise ring if you could live in that level of being loving giving serving helping.   [00:38:58] Not only are you in the paradox the cool paradox is that you feel better when you give out of yourself when you give it away.   [00:39:07] You get and that's built into the system.   [00:39:10] So it's like when we make that shift and then through our free will choice we say I am going to choose to serve somebody and we start to stack that up over decades of our life.   [00:39:29] Wow.   [00:39:31] I mean what you get back from that. So if you live that through five or six decades one of the cool things about being older there are very few. But one of the cool ones is you get the perspective. Wow you don't have as a younger person. You don't see what happened over those four four or five decades. But when you've lived through those four or five decades and you see compounding at work you realize you can compound interest and grow your bank account but you can also compound your karma if you will or you can compound your your energetic part of you and live that out over five or six decades and you have such a wealth of treasure at the end of that line that it's absolutely beautiful. And then you go on to much higher levels.   [00:40:25] There's so much more Julie there's so much more than we see now we could talk about this for so long I could talk about you I'd talk with you for hours.   [00:40:34] Oh there's so much that we don't see in our little boxes in our confined world that is below the tree level. And just when we get up there to these other realms there's so much and and that's my motivation. That's why I choose to do it what I do. Where's the boundary you ask. I don't think there is one. I mean if you break a law you're going to pay for it in our culture. There are some cultures where you can go do that and get away with it. Walk out scot free. Right. And you know so it's like comically you're not going to walk out scot free energetically you're not going to walk out scot free anywhere.   [00:41:13] Yeah.   [00:41:13] And that's what I tell my clients to because when I'm working and all of my sessions you know so many people and even mediums or psychics that I've heard on TV they'll say well on the other side there is no emotion and you don't hear or see people come through with emotion.   [00:41:28] And to me that's not true. One of the things that happens a lot is if somebody passed through suicide they will come through and I will be bawling hysterically in a session because that's the energy that they have on the other side. They're bawling hysterically. They're bringing that emotion through. And what they show me is that you know people who pass that way and there is no bad place on the other side. There's nothing like that. But we do have to go through a life review. On the other side. And that isn't sitting in a movie theater watching our lives on this big screen what it is is actually being in a simulation where we go through where we intentionally hurt somebody else and stepping into the body stepping into the mind of the heart of the other person and feeling our actions and how it hurt that other person which is actually where I think Catholics get the idea of purgatory because it is kind of this middle ground between us that happened but it doesn't take that long for most people to kind of go through. But we do get a much greater understanding it does help us clearer energy before we go through on the other side.   [00:42:49] Have you communicated with people who have either been in the midst of that process or just completed it like and can come back. Well that that you are communicating with like they had just been through that review or they were in that review I'd love to know what they say while they're in the process of that review of the review.   [00:43:10] It says if they take on and they become that other person because they physically have to step fully into that person and forget themselves to be that person in order to feel the way that their own actions in this lifetime hurt that person.   [00:43:31] So see if we're going to do that anyway. Yeah. Why not just do it today. Why not do it right. Right. Right. And I'm holding up the golden ring.   [00:43:42] Why not just choose to go ahead and do it today.   [00:43:45] I took Madonna's Madonna and I are partners but but not married and I took her son to school today just to be golden ring. Just. It's something I normally don't do but. And he's you know teenager whatnot. But I just said Hey it's raining. Would you like a ride you know. Yeah. It's stuff like that.   [00:44:07] It's that connecting with just to be there with somebody else to do something that's not serving you.   [00:44:15] Right. Oh I love that because you know it's so often people will say well what if I don't feel this through meditation or what if I don't feel that they think that they're not good they get to that place that golden ring. Right. But that's not what it's about. It's just about starting where you're at. And everybody has something that they can do from a self selfless point of view.   [00:44:39] So start there. Start with gratitude because everyone can do this every single soul that is here on Earth right now can do this.   [00:44:47] This working on this. We're putting a seminar together on this. Just started writing a book on it. Fred's involved consulted early with this.   [00:44:57] And yeah but the book's going to have your title isn't it. It is your name. Yeah. Is this the first one. I second the second.   [00:45:06] Ok. What was the name of your first book. Filibusters. OK. OK. Because there's more to come. That was coming through when I was praying this morning. They were saying talk about his book.   [00:45:16] Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You're not done here. Tom you've got a lot of stuff coming ahead.   [00:45:23] Yes you're good. You and I are going to talk. All right. All right Kyra. We're going to talk to you if you talk. No.   [00:45:36] That's awesome. And that I told you that I that we communicated about this yesterday. That was the communication was him handing the baton saying no you need to do this full out this one.   [00:45:48] Wow. Wow. Well they are so proud of you. Yeah. And I got to tell you too your mom and your dad are stepping forward and who is the younger boy that's on the other side.   [00:46:04] Not.   [00:46:08] Not from mom and dad. But there was a miscarriage.   [00:46:11] Yeah. Yeah.   [00:46:12] And that's. And and that soul has shown up several times by the way.   [00:46:16] Ok. As male. No. OK. First time I've heard male OK. Because they're bringing him forward and your mom. I don't know if there was a special bond between you and mom or you were kind of like.   [00:46:32] Because she comes through with tears in her eyes just saying how proud she is of you and just how how much you've grown.   [00:46:43] And she just she's making me feel it in my heart. Yeah well yeah and dad too.   [00:46:54] But she comes through with kind of some tears in her eyes so interesting because mom was the source of a lot of my challenge. She was my little soul that came here to rub me.   [00:47:09] Yes. Gave me lots of opportunities that I missed a lot of them.   [00:47:17] She says she did a good job.   [00:47:19] It seems that great job she played her role well thanks Mom. You were perfect. Yeah. Dad my Dad was an angel. I mean if you were to see him you'd see wings on his back. He was just an amazing amazing soul. And my mom was the source of my challenges. And you know this is so funny my brother and I are less than two years apart and he perceived that environment. He he knew of the challenges. He was very aware of the challenges not to say that it didn't affect him too but he responded to her differently.   [00:47:52] See I responded out of my paradigm what I brought in. He responded out of his paradigm. So here we were not ten feet apart. Growing up and and yet had these two different perspectives and outcomes and how it affected our souls differently and everybody has that story right. Everybody has that story but that's where we are so unique and so different. And yeah that mom would say that I I was in the room after she passed and now or when she passed and knowing what I know now of studying this material and being very comfortable with her soul transitioning was able to talk to her my brother and I in fact and his wife. We were the three together with her and were letting her know that it was OK and we would be OK and we would take the mantle and run with it from here and that she could let go and didn't need to hang on and I mean it was just hours before she left after that but but they left the room and knowing that her soul was probably still there. Knowing that I was in the room by myself and I sat down with her and had a conversation that I know she heard me and it was the conversation that I could never have with her here and it was kind of a clearing and it was a letting her soul know that it was OK I get it I get what happened here and be free.   [00:49:18] Godspeed and I love you.   [00:49:20] Yeah forgiveness really treat your heart right but you're released. We're good we're good here. Yeah yeah yeah. Beautiful that's beautiful beautiful beautiful. You know on Instagram the other day one of I just somebody popped down and they asked a question and I think it would be a good question. I've got my own kind of idea and how I'd respond but I just want to see what you think about this.   [00:49:46] So she said you know we have our subconscious. We have people like medium psychics intuitive Angel readers. How do you know that it to you hearing from the other side you hearing from angels or maybe like your girlfriend. How does she say that she knows them and just not our subconscious. These experiences that we had that we're just recalling.   [00:50:15] Got it. Got it. That's a great question and so many people also ask how do I know that it's intuition and not just my monkey mind. Right. You can bring it down to the earthly plane like even if we're not connecting with somebody on the other side. How do I know that this isn't just my Chatterbox up there going nuts that I really am hearing from divine source internally as intuition. I think it kind of comes from the same same type of answer to this for me.   [00:50:42] Now I know for Mirjana It would be that she would say very distinct feeling that she gets when these communications are coming it's like like no other. She has had it all of her life. So this is not anything new or unique for her so she knows that voice. Yep. So just on that. What is that. How is it for you.   [00:51:09] You know I've had several different experiences throughout my life. I didn't just hear my dad but in my early twenties. I had an experience that I've talked about with my listeners before where I heard I was actually out with this woman that I just randomly met on a business trip in Seattle. I met her on the street and spent the entire day with her. And at the middle of like talking after seven hours she just automatically went in to speaking in tongue.   [00:51:42] Wow. And she I remember thinking what language is this because this is not a language that I've heard on Earth before.   [00:51:52] This is not South Chicago I'm listening to hear it no no.   [00:51:57] And then I remember this analogy and it almost did feel like like a fog that you could see.   [00:52:06] And I remember hearing now this was at a very hard point in my life where my heart was just more heavy than it had ever been before. And I remember hearing it's okay you're gonna be okay. I'm here with you I love you I'm taking care of you everything's gonna be OK.   [00:52:28] And it just kept repeating and I remember knowing that that was an angelic that there were angels there that that was the Holy Spirit and that energy is something that when then I started hearing from my dad later on started working with different Reiki masters different spiritual teachers learning how to develop my spiritual get more. You're right. It's the energy of it. I know when I'm connected to it I know when I'm connected to the other side. And since I was the little girl one of my earliest memories is my dad telling me listen to your heart listen to your heart there's a little Julie there's a little whisper inside your heart and it's gonna talk to you and you have to listen to that whisper no matter what your mind says. And so I remember doing that since I was a little girl while always listening to that little whisper.   [00:53:26] And so I've trained myself since that time to understand what's my mind what's my heart.   [00:53:32] And that the thoughts the messages that come through from the other side they don't come through our ego mind. They come through the heart gut intuition.   [00:53:43] That's cool.   [00:53:44] That's beautiful yeah yeah.   [00:53:47] I had a very interesting experience to kind of flex my intuitive muscles. I was in Colorado for the last three years and there was a hiking trail that went up the side of a mountain literally right across the street from where I was staying and I went up there having done five or six or seven years of this work but still didn't have that touch with that voice and actually it started the first funny story on this is I went up there is a flat lander and started skiing and skiing kind of snuck up on me and I just love snow skiing. Now I think it's phenomenal. I just love it. But I you know I had I didn't have a system I would typically go every now and then would go skiing and hadn't been on a ski trip for quite a while and now I'm living in a ski town.   [00:54:44] So I was going up the chair one Sunday and this was really clear so I think this kind of is the same type of thing I was going to take a picture with my phone. So I had it in a pocket inside my jacket. So I reached to unzip the jacket pulled it down about a foot and I heard as I reached my hand and I heard this really clear don't and I was like Oh come on I'll hold on tight you know I'll I'll grip it I'll be careful.   [00:55:16] So I I pulled my glove I pulled my glove off by sticking it under my left arm. So here's my. And   [00:55:23] I reached in with my right hand got my phone took my picture slid it back in the jacket zipped it up so see it's all good and then I went to put my glove back on it now and oh so that was like oh wow I need to know more about this I need to learn more of how this works.   [00:55:47] So on the hiking trail I started to get in touch with that voice and it was always usually met with arguing from the monkey mind from the ego self.   [00:55:58] Yeah. So what I would do is pick a point on the hiking trail of like that tree up there.   [00:56:05] Okay. Let's just walk up to that tree where ego self mind would you be willing to just be quiet long enough we'll go up there and see what comes through I wouldn't take five steps. Run run run run run run run run run. Right here come back and I'd stop and I'd say wait a minute we had an agreement. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah yeah. Okay. All right. That tree just that tree. Okay. And then that tree turned into you know around that corner up there and then that turned into farther down the trail and then that turned into literally I could step on that hiking trail and the ego mind would go quiet and couldn't wait to hear from that still small voice. Yeah. And we'd go on for a long time and then sometimes it would want to question you know it's like Okay throw me a question water put about this or that should I write a book. Well you know and then and then.   [00:56:59] But then that voice would kick in and and I think it comes with an assurance and a piece and a flow you know just a you know that that's what's as you said well deep inside that little small voice problem is we always want to counter it with our monkey mind who is the alpha dog on the block. It's the one that wants to be in control. Yes. So we. Right. Right right right.   [00:57:27] And what I did again a visual here how can we create the audio part of this.   [00:57:34] So like if you like put your put your hand up like cup your hand up and like like you're gonna swat a fly that's below you on the desk OK you've got your hand you're ready. The fly is going to swing by. Boom you're gonna whack it right.   [00:57:50] So that's our ego mind and down here now be the little fly on the desk you know now down here is that little still small voice and it just whispers and it's really soft.   [00:58:06] And you know another point on that Julie is we have to be in quiet environments I think to hear it more and our world today. Sir dad on our world today is so full of noises everywhere. There's a television on and every waiting room and restaurant and airport and everywhere you go. And we can't be quiet.   [00:58:28] So once you get quiet you'll hear that voice more but what happens then is the hand that you've got cocked up here and ready to go whack it hits the.   [00:58:38] It knocks it back down and into its place. Because I'm the boss.   [00:58:44] So what I did is I just shifted roles now to where the little still small voice is the hand up above not ready to squash anything but where I brought that monkey mind into submission to where.   [00:59:01] Now when that still small voice speaks the role of the monkey mind is all okay.   [00:59:09] How do I do that.   [00:59:11] So when the little voice says write a book about the four rings then it's not argue we're not arguing there's no point counterpoint.   [00:59:20] We're not contradicting it. It's okay. Well I better watch program am I going to write it in word or Scrivener or you know it's well what's the first chapter going to be. How's the structure going to be the outline and you know that's where the arms start taking the baby steps that lead to the bigger steps that lead to the whole thing.   [00:59:38] You take start taking the actions and then along the way you stop and you listen well maybe that's not the right direction for this chapter. Oh what is. Oh okay. Got it. Off we go.   [00:59:49] Yeah.   [00:59:51] Yeah. It's a wonderful way to live.   [00:59:53] It is a wonderful way to live and see beautiful.   [00:59:58] You know you are asking to again I mean you have to make the shift up to these higher planes of being back to our little rings you have to get up to the golden turquoise ring because when you live from that perspective then you're just waiting for the next piece of instruction. Oh Fred had a great analogy story in a couple of his books and it's a really easy simple story but it's just like think about our life as a river.   [01:00:26] There's a point where we get in and there's a point when we get out and we're in a boat and we're given an oar.   [01:00:32] There's our choice and we float down the river and as he says so many times we want to paddle upstream.   [01:00:43] Or we want to drag the boat over to the bank and get out because there's a better River over on the other side. Right.   [01:00:49] If we could just get over there that's the river and I realized when I was narrating that story I just had to stop because it was like man that's how I lived my whole life. Yeah.   [01:01:02] Was paddling upstream all the time or cross currents are always fighting the flow. But when we just used the ore to gently bump us along the way and we just get out in the middle of the river and start flowing down the river. Oh there's a rock up there. Okay let's just move to the left a little bit.   [01:01:21] Got it.   [01:01:23] There's a nice flat spot of the river. Let's go over there and have a nice picnic lunch and just take a break.   [01:01:30] Got some rapids coming OK. We're gonna have some fun here right.   [01:01:33] Well let's go shoot the rapids.   [01:01:36] Life picks up it slows down. We have challenges in the way. Maybe there's an alligator in the river. We have to go around him. You don't have to go right toward him. Paddle over there and ask him how he's doing. You don't have to go forth with him right. Just paddle around. So it's a it's a beautiful analogy of how we just get into the flow and when you get into the flow. Life will take you where you're supposed to be just like the river will take you down to the to the place where you're going to get out.   [01:02:09] Life will get you there and it will all be good and well and fine I was just texting my mom because she keeps sending these texts and I keep hearing these things in the background. She she'll go through and she'll send ten at one time say her mom or my mom. Be sure you're talking to the right Mom. Yes totally. Oh my goodness. Thomas this was just the best. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. And I always asked my guests who do you think I should interview next on this podcast or who do you know who I should interview.   [01:02:50] Fred Dodson. OK my mentor. Absolutely fantastic. Oh.   [01:02:56] Eyes up and you know what time Thomas for people who want to connect with you online learn more about you. Where can they find you. You on your Web site and social media.   [01:03:06] Well thank you for that. So on Facebook we have a little podcast listeners group it's called subconscious mind mastery podcast listeners on Facebook and you can ask to join that group and we put up episode information and some behind the scenes cool stuff and that kind of thing. So there's that. And then just hop over to the podcast at subconscious mind mastery on iTunes and Spotify and Stitcher and all those good places where you can listen and my email is Thomas at subconscious mind mastering dot.com.   [01:03:39] Perfect. Well thank you again so much for being a guest on our show today.   [01:03:43] We are very appreciative that you would do this for us.   [01:03:46] Jill you are amazing and I love what you're doing. Thank you   [01:04:02] My dear friends. You don't know what an incredible huge huge huge blessing it is to this podcast when you write a glowing positive review for us. It truly helps us get the best experts on the show. I know this might sound a little complex but if you send me an email after you post a glowing positive review here I will put your name into a monthly drawing to win a free 30 minute Angel message session with me and it may just be broadcast on this show at a later date. Your name will be kept in the drawing every month until you win when you email me. Don't forget to include your name contact information and positive review. I hope you win   [01:04:45] Tune in for a new episode next week where I'll share tools and guidance that can help you fall in love with your life and start living it from a place of peace bliss and ease.   [01:04:56] Thank you so much for listening to the angels and awakening podcast. Until next time know in your heart just how deeply you're loved on the other side and open up your heart to all of the random unexpected blessings that your angels and your spirit team are trying to bring into your life right now.   [01:05:19] Disclaimer this podcast provides general information and discussion about energy healing spiritual topics and related subjects the conversations and other content provided in this podcast and in any linked materials are not intended and should not be construed as medical psychological and or professional advice. If the listener or any other person has a medical concern he or she should consult with an appropriately licensed physician or other health care professional. Never make any medical or health related decision based in whole or even in part on anything contained in the angels in awakening podcast or in any of our linked materials. 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Please note angels in awakening is a podcast produced by Chicago energy healing a company with locations in Wheaton, Illinois and Naperville, Illinois.     KEY WORDS: God, Universe, Source, Spirit, Guardian Angel, Angel, Angel Message, Angel Messages, Angel Reader, Angel Readers, Angel Whisper, Angels, Anxiety, Archangel, Archangels, Arch Angel, Archangel Gabriel, Archangel Michael, Archangel Raphael, Ask Angels, Attraction, Law of Attraction, The Secret, Oprah, Super Soul Sunday, Soul Sunday, Aura, Aura Field, Author, Awakening, Being, Bliss, Bible, Bible Verse, Bliss and Grit, Buddhism, Catholic, Chakra, Chalene, the Chalene Show, Realitv, Change Your Life, Chicago, Naperville, Wheaton, Chicagoland, Christian, Christianity, Church, Pastor, Preacher, Priest, Co Create, cocreate, Consciousness, Spirit Guide, counselor, therapist, Dax Shepard, Death, Depression, Died, Grief, Divine, Doctor, Dream, Angel Therapy, Gabrielle Bernstein, Ego, Empath, Energy, Energy Healing, Enlightened, Zen, Enlightenment, Enneagram, Fabulous, Faith Hunter, Family, Feelings, Goal Digger, Jenna Kutcher, Ancient wisdom, Brandon Beachum, girl boss, badass, life coach, sivana, good, gratitude, great, school of greatness, greatness, the school of greatness, lewis howes, the Charlene show, rise podcast, Rachel Hollis, Tony Robbins, the Tony Robbins Podcast, guardian angels, guides, happy, happier, happiness, Hay House, summit, hayhouse, healed, healing, health, heart, heart math, heaven, help, high vibration, higher self, highest self, holy, I AM, illness, inner peace, inspiration, intention, intuitive, jewish, joy, Julia Treat, Julie Jancius, learn, lesson, light worker, Louise Hay, Love, Marriage, Magical, Manifest, Manifesting, Marie Kondo, Master Class, Meditate, Meditation, Medium, Mediumship, the Long Island Medium, the Hollywood Medium, Message, Metaphysics, ACIM, A Course In Miracles, Method, Mindful, Mindfulness, Miracles, Mom, Motherhood, Naturopath, New Age, Passed Away, Past Lives, Peace, Positive, Power, Pray, Prayer, Prosperity, Psychic, Psychic Medium, Psychology, Purpose, Quantum Physics, Life Purpose, Ray of Light, Reiki, Relax, Religion, Robcast, Sadness, Depression, Sahara Rose, School, Science, Shaman Durek, Shift, Sleep, Soul, Source, Spirit, Spirit Team, Spiritual, Spiritual Awakening, Spiritual Gifts, Spirituality, Stress, Synchronicity, Tara Williams, Tarot, Teacher, Thinking, Thoughts, Transcended State, Transcendence, Universe, Vibration, Vortex, Wellness, Worry, Worship, Yoga, Zen, Afterlife. 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Rob follows up with Kevin on his homework and if the changes had an effect.    Together, they decide on the best hashtags to use and agree on a solid show description.  Kevin's question this week has to do with audience engagement.  The answer lies in this week's topic - social media basics.   Each week, Rob answers questions from Kevin Long and offers advice for how to have a successful podcast.  Good for newbies and seasoned podcasters alike!   Learn more, subscribe, or contact us at www.southgatemediagroup.com.  You can write to Rob at southgatemediagroup@gmail.com and let us know what you think.  Be sure to rate us and review the episode.  It really helps other people find us.  Thanks!      Kevin's Twitter @TheSwamppit Facebook The Kevin Long Show Rob Southgate’s Twitter @RSouthgate Email  southgatesmallbusiness@gmail.com Website  www.southgatemediagroup.com/newmedialab Patreon  www.patreon.com/newmedialab Pinterest www.pinterest.com/SMGPods/new-media-lab/   SHOW HOSTS: Rob Southgate SHOW EDITOR: Rob Southgate PRODUCER: Rob Southgate   #NewMedia #Podcasting #Business #YouTube #Blogging #Vlogging Transcription 00:00:00 This is a really difficult question. Oh, that's a great question. That's a good question. That is a great question. It's a really good question. I love this question. And I think this really is going to help me kind of meditate and grow on it. Want to hear the answers checkout season two of new media lab with Robert Southgate new episodes every Tuesday available on Spotify. I tunes. Google hod Cass and wherever you subscribe to your favorite podcasts. Welcome back. Everybody to the second episode of new media labs, creator lab with me, rob Southgate and with having long. Hey, kevin. Hey, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you. You're going to be doing a lot better in a second. When I start talking about what has happened with your show this week. Okay. So let's go back talk about we'll do a little recap of what we did last week. I've got some suggestions before it gets suggestions, though. I do wanna talk about what happened which you don't know about. So first of all last week. What we talked about was I gave you homework. I wanted you to write a detailed description, and I wanted you to come up with a tag. And I wanted you to get me some hashtags that we could use for Nautilus social media for tagging the show. You did not send me the. The tag yet. Which is okay. I just hold on. I took with you wrote. You sent me a paragraph, and actually I'm going to pull that up to and that way we can read your paragraph than I'll I'll explain what I changed a little bit. And actually, it's any of these kind of things and this is an important point. Should be looked at as a living document. It shouldn't be the kind of thing that you go. 00:01:53 Yup. I did it done. You know what I mean? Right. That's where we run into trouble. So here's what you wrote your description that we were adding as they showed description, not an individual episode. It said there was a rich history of tabletop gaming and in the Kevin long show. Kevin and his guest talk about all the additions of dungeons and dragons in some of the shows Kevin builds characters after reading the complete handbook and other weeks, he talks about character concepts and other story outlines not bad, not bad. I made some tweaks to it. Basically what I? I did do it is. I wanted it to flow a little bit better. I also wanted to get a well, let me read it. I got a couple of things out of there that were unnecessary words, necessarily language. So that we can actually make it read a little bit better and add a little bit more to it. And in fact, even reading it now, I want to add a couple of things that we could do later. So here's your description. There is a rich history of tabletop gaming and on the Kevin long show. Kevin and his guests talk about all the additions of dungeons and dragons, Kevin and his guests build characters after reading the complete handbook talk about character concepts and discuss various story outlines. It's it's a little more defined like it more to work from what I want to add as I was reading it. I was Kevin and his guests twice. I'm going to change that I also wanna get in some of our keywords. Now. 00:03:18 This is where we went into the hashtags, and you came up with four now where did you find those? I I don't. I think I typed in the right address that you gave me, but I typed in hashtag of fi. And it brought me to like a little huddle. Like a bid me where I in dungeons and dragons in. That's what gave me right? You did you were in this place. I'm sure okay. So here's what you missed. And this is something that is good to know. Because is probably because I've done it enough that I figured out. Oh, don't forget this part of it. You typed in dungeons and dragons and did search in your hashtags. You did not write dungeons and dragons guess what word probably needs to be there, dungeons and dragons, right? So so the other thing, and this is the part that that I figured out a while ago because I wasn't paying attention. I was like, oh, I want to do dungeons and dragons, boom, here's what I got defy E D, R, PG and tabletop. And then I'm like, wait a minute. Each of those should type in and see what it gets because what if something is bigger. Right. So I went through all the different iterations. And here's what I came up with going off of what you had. Oh, what you had those weren't the ones you gave me you gave me five eighty dice five fantasy and gaming. 00:04:48 All excellent. I added to that deity five eight dungeons and dragons DND RPG and tabletop and the way I came about those was by typing in like, I typed in DND, right? I got some different ones. I typed in RPG was terrible. It just gave you like Asian letters didn't really do it. But typing in five AD and defy it gave me a couple of different things. Wonderful. So now, we have eight in fact, let's see if I have any others. On here. I did put dragon magazine because that is actually another potential one. I think that's the only one I added. So we have nine different tags. We can use those went in tags and keywords on Lipson. But Kevin those are not those are not really valuable. I tunes doesn't use tag tag tags and keywords what they're valuable for. Is. You wanna have that list? And when you do your social media throughout the week to promote this episode you want to use those hash tax. So we came up with your description. We came up with a good set of hashtags a solid set of hashtags. Okay today. I posted an episode. It was of your your Monday. I can't think of the name because I'm drawing a blank as it Monday. Magic monday. I posted magic Monday today, and do you mind to be giving how many downloads you get on an episode? No. That'd be an easing. Okay. We'll get there. 00:06:28 So I posted a magic Monday today and on this episode. I did these things I not only changed your description this week and updated it an added those tags. On the description this week when I posted I added those to the specific episode. I also took something you said in your description and made that your subtitle. So now on every episode, we publish your subtitle says Kevin and his guests talk all about the additions of dungeons and dragons, so now dungeons and dragons hits as a single word as multiple words if somebody is searching for it shows up as an important word to Google. So now Google knows this show is about dungeons and dragons, so we eat. Okay. So now, we are in a much better place. We've niche down like we talked about we've gotten those keywords in here. And the other thing I did then was the stuff that was my part of this. So I went in to your to the settings. And I made sure you were updated on. Various platforms, and guess what? I found. Well, I dropped. I dropped the ball. So I did not have in here some of the different things. So I added your Facebook. This is in settings on Lipson, you if you go to settings you can put in keywords and Email and all that stuff. I put in the Facebook URL, I put in your Twitter handle what I found was you were not posting too. 00:08:08 I put an I tunes to even though it was posting the I tunes. I put in that address goes faster, you were not posting to tune in radio. You are not posting to Stitcher. You're not posting to Google play or Google podcasts or Spotify. You are now. So I went through and I made sure every one of those even though technically they don't add up too much for most shows you're there now or you will be in the next couple of days. Those even though you think well if apple is ninety five percent of the downloads. Why do I need to be on all of them? You do you need that all of them? Because what if your show what if the people that listen to tune in radio or totally into your dungeons and dragons show, and you get four hundred dollars on that on tune in radio. And I tunes gets you twenty. We don't know. So the point is for everybody making podcasts out there get him in every channel you can unless that channel is paying you have Stitcher says we want you to be exclusive. And here's a bunch of money to do it. Heck? Yeah. I'll be exclusive. But if they haven't done that. Why would you stay with one put it everywhere? Get it where the customer is getting in front of them that was something I hadn't done it's done. Now, let's get into the thing. You really want to hear about town stew? 00:09:28 Today. We post this episode right on average when we post a new episode you get about twenty downloads of that particular like that day. Okay. I'm not going by particular episode. I'm going by downloads on your feet. Okay. This is an important thing to clarify because the number. I'm going to give you is. Not today's episode did this number. It's your feed to this number today. And if you look at your feed average, it's it's you know, a couple of day, and then I'll post road you'll get like twenty okay? Which you and I have been happy with so far. We're like, hey, why not it's twenty people urge you that's pretty rock and great, right? Yeah. Okay today. I edit those keywords I updated the description, I added into those other things, but that's not live yet. So the only one that was really live was I tunes you had one hundred downloads today. Wow. And it's only one o'clock Austin, Chicago. So yeah, man, I think it had an effect will find out tomorrow. If it right. If it continues if you if we start seeing that. Everyday. Let's say it goes up to twenty a day would we're not posting something guess what those little tweaks had an effect. And if they didn't I'll eat my hat because I'm telling you. I know it did. Right. So there you go. We are. We are on our way to building audience now before we move into the next thing. 00:11:04 Okay. I want to ask one thing. Yeah. On the show. I like to get whatever question you have before start giving out assignments. So what kind of questions do you have the question today is going to be how do we get more involved with our audience, and and the new media lab, you talked about engaging your audience, and I want to know how to be better at here's the topic. We have this week. Let's do it because I know how to engage the shows that I'm listening to on social. Oh media. I just don't know how to get people to engage Mike show. Excellent. Oh, Kevin you made by day. What my assignment is this week ties into this pervert? Okay. So we're gonna jump ahead from like normally what the idea of the show was was I was gonna help through these little building walks to try to help make your show a brand and build it up. Right. And after we talked last week, I thought okay. Well, these were some really basic things getting those those notes, right and everything getting the tags. Then I thought well, you wanna see more motion. Even though I think what we had today was pretty darn good motion five times. We just went up by five hundred percent. That's good. I wanna see it keep going. So you're right engagement is a keyed everything. Now, this is going to be a slower burn. But we're going to try something K. So first of all, let's go over what social media platforms. You have the show on what do you have? 00:12:41 I'm on. I do Facebook and Twitter are the ones that I most active on, but I do have an Instagram account. Okay. And the Instagram account is that four swamp. It is at four the come long show. Or is it your personal? It's a personal. It's a personal. Okay. Let's take that one off the table. Okay. That's not what we need to use. Although I would suggest thinking about at some point getting an Instagram that is the Kevin long show. Okay, instagram. Okay. Here's why with these different platforms. If you have a Kevin long show Instagram when we post something you can post like seventeen hashtags, and it's not weird. Okay. And this is something that I've said before to people, and I get brushback. I don't get brushback from people that actually know the social media kind of etiquette and rules. I get it for people that are like, no, it doesn't really matter. Or no, I do it this way. We'll great. There are no hard and fast rules. But there are some things that do make a difference. So first of all, let's let's talk about these Instagram you could do up to seventeen hashtags there is a trick to get more. But if you have seventeen good hashtags you're off to the races. Okay. When you're using Instagram, and let's just talk about that for a second. Then we'll move onto what matters to you Instagram is a visual medium. So you want to make sure you take like the artwork from the show if you have some if you don't let's start. We'll talk about that on another episode. Kevin k-. 00:14:20 If you if you have behind the scenes pictures, or like in your case, you do gaming throughout the week. Take pictures of like your books. Take pictures of your dice take pictures of things related to DND, even if it's a page out of the book or a quote out of one of the books, or when you do your monster of the week or magic Monday, you take a picture of that from the book and you posted on Instagram and you're like, hey, it's the bag holding. That's what we're talking about this week that works beautifully oppose hashtags or things people are looking for. And you put it a good amount of them. And it can be like like I do things when I post because I'm kind of a coffee addict, I take pictures for Instagram where I'm holding a coffee Cup, and I'm like podcasting today. And I'll bet hashtag podcast podcasters, Chicago podcasting media new media coffee coffee addict. Like all these things. And you'd be surprised I have a huge amount of followers that are like these coffee bloggers IB huge amount that are podcasters like because I use those hashtags it gets noticed. Okay. But you don't do Instagram yet. So we're not gonna worry about that for this week. What I want you to do is. We're going to do a Facebook and a Twitter strategy. Okay. You wanna put the pick those you've got those nine hashtags right right now on on Facebook. I know they take hashtags, but it's actually been tracked. If you read some of these sources about social media about you know, what works and what dozen this hashtags don't really work on Facebook. In fact, the the the post without hashtags tend to do a little bit better the ones with I don't know why it makes. 00:16:12 When you click on the activity, tag and type in listening to gaming with Scott are the this old good. So so it's just like I said if you can be everywhere with your podcast feel free to use hashtags everywhere with this. Okay. All good stuff. And when you say, you're listening to gaming Lescot. That's an excellent thing. I wish everybody did that for every show there listened to because it sells people where you are. It might entice them to listen, I know that I've clicked on shows when I've seen that pop up. So that's an excellent practice from a personal standpoint. And also from your show because it says Kevin long is listening to me. What Scott anyone that follows? You is going to see that be like a look, there's another gaming podcast. This is cool. You want to build it like reciprocity between the podcasts. And if you mentioned a podcast, make sure you tag them put an at gaming with Scott when we do this. We need. Make sure we put hey gaming at giving. What Scott we talked about you on today's show. Right. Okay. So I've got thoughts here with with Twitter with Twitter you wanna use no more than two maybe three hashtags. I know you can use more it starts to cluttering people. Don't look at them. Sometimes when it has too much starts to look like a bought. Okay. So if you have to hash dad's, you're in good shape. Now, you have nine hashtags to work with what that should mean to you is, hey, every time I post maybe I wanna switch up those hashtags right guy and easy way to do. 00:17:48 Do. It is to use a an app called tweet deck where you can go in you sign in you've got your Twitter account when you you can go in and say, here's what I want the tweet to say, here's the image. I wanna use with always use an image on Twitter if tax people go right past it. Okay. So they they see the image. They read the thing. On tweet deck. You can say you can schedule it. So now, you can say, you know, what I wanna make sure that my show is hitting on Tuesday. I wanna make sure that that between seven AM and noone like once on our a tweet goes out. That says, hey, we've got to do episode today. You can send the same tweet all five times. Let's say you're doing five on that day. Okay. And it said the same tweet just change the hash tags on each of them or you can change your verbiage a little bit. So it's a little bit more interesting. If if you're doing like, the the bag of holding maybe there's a couple of different images of bags of holding or images that would be kinda cool that you'd be like, yeah, I could put this on air it or even the the show logo for one of them changing it up a little bit. You don't have to do twenty tweets a day. Okay. But the day launches maybe five would be really good. 00:19:08 Okay. The other thing you can do that. Let's say as we're starting. In fact, we will do it this way for this week do five on the date launches you had a magic Monday happened today. Figure out five tweets. Okay. And space out like once an hour. Then we can get into timing. And all that another time. I don't care what it is right now five tweets different hashtags, use them up. Okay. And if you wanna do if you more you can keep in mind that a tweet has a twenty minute lifespan at best. So don't worry that. Oh my gosh. I'm tweeting too much the person looking at the tweets unless they're only looking at your feed your going to go away. They're not gonna care that. You're tweeting every hour, right? Make sense. So let's start with Twitter with that. And then said another thing today is is Monday your show hit today. So setup five tweets I want you to do the exact same thing on Thursday with the same show. But now put ice e or I see why am I in case you missed it in all caps. Why do it with the hashtag? And put that I so it's in case you missed it. I had a new show boasts new magic Monday posted on Monday. Check it out or we did a magic Monday about blank today. Check it out and then use your hashtags. So getting your doubling up you're getting double the hit. And it is a people that you have this show out there and what it's about. 00:20:46 Okay. So that's one thing. We'll try that. You're talking maximum of of or a minimum of ten tweets over the course of between now. And next Monday. Let's see what happens. And if you're like, man, I can't do that. Today set them for tomorrow tomorrow and Thursday. Okay. That was good for the regular Kevin long show. Do it. What do we post on Wednesday Thursday? So do I'm gonna switch it up on your man. Okay. Do either today or tomorrow for Thursday do five for the Kevin long show on Friday? Do in case you missed it for magic Monday and on Monday of next week do five in case you missed it for the Kevin long show. Okay. Let's see if these numbers change now Facebook this goes back to your question. Yeah. Finally, Mr long-winded got back to the question. You ask about engagement? So one way to do it or to try, and you may get some you may not. But on your Facebook page. We posted new episode today. Make sure you post a link to it. But you wanna say something? Engage as anybody used this. What what was the magic Monday today? Let's go look and see. One that hit today was the deck of many things are so is there a question related to the Decca many things that you could ask is. Against snow. So ask a question or say, you know, magic Monday deck of many things discussion threat, and then then put a description underneath it. That says like like, let's talk about the Decca many things. And then asked your questions what experience if you guys had what was the best time you used it or whatever it is. 00:22:33 Okay. And hopefully, you'll get somebody. That'll right now, here's the key. With all of that. You're you're chumming the water by saying, hey, I want you to talk to me as soon as somebody talks to you make sure it doesn't have to be in that minute. But before you go to bed at night. Make sure that every interaction has had a reaction from say something back engage with them. Get them in conversation. Okay. Okay. You may or may not get any. That's okay. You gotta keep doing it. You wanna know how those shows get interaction? This is exactly how they get. Interaction. Perfect. I have a lot more to say about how to been late all of this. But for now, I think that gives you a good solid thing to work from your homework is do those tweets and make a thread for this episode gets conversation going. Okay. Cool. Sounds great any other questions. Kevin not at the moment. All right. Why hope this is working for people? I hope they're getting some good information. Like, I said, the creators lab is a way more casual discussion. I try to come in with an idea that I wanna share a homework I wanna share and Kevin tries to come in with a question. I hope it's helping and I I hope it's going to help you Kevin because I'm telling you jumping up to one hundred downloads today that was shocking to me. So let's hope that rain continues. 00:24:05 Yes, for sure why don't you give your social media? You can find us on Facebook just type in the Kevin long show. And you can find us on Twitter at the swamp pit great. And he will have a thread for the episodes. You can get in conversation about this episode, and please do and Kevin I'm going to give you one more tip before I go. Yeah. And this is something that when I said, give your social media, you should have done, and I wanna make it. So that it's ingrained in you. And it should also be on your your show notes, which it's not give your Email K. So make sure you give your Email whenever you can. Because a lot of people even though you say, here's my Twitter. Here's my Instagram. Here's my Facebook. Here's my YouTube channel a lot of people engage through Email. So give it and make sure it's in your show notes, and actually your homework. Their last thing is text me or tweet me or. Message me with your Email, and I'll put it on your show notes going forward. Sweet. So what's your Email? Kevin you can Email us at the Kevin long show at gmaiLcom perfect city. We're gonna we're gonna get you in good habits. And I can't wait to see where this goes. Wouldn't it be cool? If we actually made this show rock the house that would be great. I think it can. I love the show. 00:25:29 All right. Kevin. Thank you so much and everybody else we will talk to you on Thursday with the next episode of new media lab. I hope you enjoyed this last one with Brent hand. So this week's guest is Andrea Klender. Andrea is awesome. She does a thing where she's your podcast, boss. I've been interviewed. Martha I got interviewed by her at a women in podcast festival. She was on the SIM G podcast festival out at blue-box. Cafe. She is really fantastic has wonderful ideas. And. You're probably gonna want to listen to her show in conjunction with this show as soon as you get a load of what she has to say. So the guest for this Thursday is Andrea Klunder from your podcast, boss. You're gonna love it.

The Art of Asking for Google Reviews with Jonah Canter. Owner of Canter construction in Charleston, South Carolina. They are premier company that does remodeling, it's a fun talk we had together we talked about how he grew his business basically with zero dollars. He's shares   how he get’ s so many google reviews and what his results have been with us today going to share that with us today.” Hey welcome to contractors secret weapon. Today, we've got a great day, we got a great guest. And you know, I it's just fun when I have an opportunity to talk with other contractors about their successes and the things that make them grow. And today I have Jonah Canter. He owns Canter construction company in Charleston, South Carolina. They are premier company that does remodeling. So, it's a fun talk we had together with talked about how he grew his business basically with zero dollars. And so, he's going to share that with us today. And so, that you can help your business grow and maybe the same way that Jonah did his. And so, let's get into and Welcome Jonah Canter from Canter construction in Charleston South Carolina. Jonah, I am so glad that you're with us today. It's a really special treat for me because I don't get to talk to many contractors and it's really exciting. So, thanks for being with us today. Dave, I appreciate it as well and thanks for having me on the show. For those of people who don't know me out there my name is Jonah Canter. I'm the owner of Canter construction and also a co-owner of Oceanside construction and design located here in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. And, I've been in the construction industry for probably over 20 years but actively with my companies for the past 10 years and deeper capacities from being the guy that you know the hammer on the nail all the way up to you know being the owner now and having to make a lot of the hard decisions and business decisions that come with it. So, all that fun work. Now, before is be mindlessly just go to work do this to this to this. And now it's like, I got to think about stuff. Yeah, it's a-- I am the organizer of chaos. That's what I tell my wife and whenever anybody ever questions, I have an employee, a long time ago, say to me "Well, you know what do you get paid to do". And I looked at him dead in the face and I didn't embed it I said "I get to do the hundred dollar an hour stuff. You get to do the 14 dollar an hour stuff". So, we'll just keep it at that. But, no. Seriously it's-- I've had kind of a very interesting background. As a kid I grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. Went on a soccer scholarship to all male private school and Sidney in Virginia went for a year. Hated it. Dropped out. Didn't know what I was going to do. I moved down to Florida. To Fort Lauderdale area and ended up working on boats. That was when you're young and you can kind of be stupid not know what you really wanted to do. And, I slowly made my way back up. And my family is from the Charleston area and ended up getting a job with my brother in law. Believe it or not as a shipping manager for a startup company. And, if you don't know me one thing that I'm very proud of is that if you hand me a shovel and tell me to dig you a trench, I'm going to dig you the best trench you've ever seen. I've just always had a really strong work ethic so, when they put me in that role as a shipping manager I was trying to find ways of making things better faster cheaper for the company and that kind of I guess guest caught the eye of some of the business owners and they kept promoting me within that startup company. To the point where I ended up moving overseas to the Netherlands. And what's their point man for opening up a print facility. So, that was a whole fun time of my life and by this time I was only about 22 years old. Had hair down to my shoulders. You know, still a dumb kid just trying to figure it all out. But when I moved overseas to the Netherlands, I gained that whole business since that operation since like hey they're counting on me and there's people under me who were counting on me. I have take the serious. So, that was a fun part of my life where it kind of, I tell people I grew up very fast at 22 or the rest of my friends were waiting tables drinking and doing whatever they wanted. I was negotiating print contracts with Dutchman and Belgian people at the time. So, anyways the whole point of that is that Amazon ended up buying that company and I ended up working for Amazon and for a while in the same capacity. Opening up these print facilities in various locations other fulfillment centers. I got my business background from working at Amazon. And Amazon's a place if you've never worked for them. It is a really tough environment. They expect the world, they expect, blood, sweat, tears and almost your first-born child will work. And I lasted about three years and my wife said I'll I'll divorce you if you don't quit because I wasn't sleeping and all that. But what it did teach me is it taught me a lot of things that I apply to my business now and in a couple of those things is the customer experience has to be the most amazing thing on earth right. It has to be something that they're not getting because if they can just get it anywhere, well, you're one of a million. But if you supply something they don't have or they are not seeing, that makes you you know, the one-eyed man is king of the land of the blind kind of situation. So I really when I when I came back from all that I started my company and at first it was a cabinet company and House of round 2007. I was old. Now it's feeling good to have not. And then this year of 2008 hit and all hell broke loose as everybody knows now that's going into 2007 was a millionaire and 2008 they lost it all. And in the words of Richard Branson they asked them they said "How do you become a millionaire?" And he said "Well, you start as a billionaire. And then you buy air and company of which is true". But, anyway bottom tanked that I had to shut that company down. Lucky for me the same guys who had started that other startup. I literally was walking down the street and saw them and they were like we are pros and they were like "What are you doing" and I was like struggling and they're like we're getting the band back together. And so, I just as soon as I stepped in my construction light I step right back out of it and I ended up working for those guys for a long time and another software startup until this past year they allowed me to own my construction company and be their point guy at the software company. Yeah, it was amazing situation for me that's why I took it on. Great guys. I have great respect for them and I slowly but surely left that business altogether and focused on my business. But, I guess I'm giving you a little breadcrumbs to show you. You know sometimes you don't know where your life is going to take you but you need to take pieces your life and apply them to the next part of your life. Well yeah. And a lot of the interesting things that I think that nobody really thinks about is that you are here today because of what you went through in the past. Yeah. And the person you're going to be because of what you've learned in the past. Yeah. So, it's important. It really is that when you when you take it into that perspective. Yeah and it's one of the things when I when I got serious about my construction company the one thing that I wanted to do was I wanted I look at things at work. Let me take you back. I was at a conference one time giving a speech and this kid stood up and he said "Hey Jonah you've been an entrepreneur. What--What are you. How do you look for the next new technology or next new thing to land a business in?". And I looked at him and I said you don't. I said you take something that exists now and you make immensely better. So, Uber did that to the taxi industry and Amazon is doing that to almost everything right and right now. So you don't have to be some super smart guy. And the next technology but you have to do is look at businesses that are not being run well as a whole or as a general philosophy and make them better. So, when I came into construction, that's the first thought and I started to look at it. I know you're laughing because you know and everybody is probably listening knows that the construction industry is rife with just idiots. Be honest with you. I mean Darrell is bad business people you name it. And one of my fond jokes that I tell my customers today, just get a laugh but it's true, as I said who knew the minimum bar to success was having all my teeth and showing up on time. I'm going to be rich. And anybody that doesn't have teeth I'm not making fun of you about that but there is a little bit of a stigma there was that I was I was in the paint store when Nana and I was tied to the representative and even talking about my stuff like this. And he goes you know because of that bench and more they have to have training seminars that are painters in different parts of the country. And he said the trainer come in and there's like 100 guys in a room and say Frank's in his book he says probably six eight 10 inches. And he holds it up and then he puts it down and he goes OK well we're going to make this simple today. How many people want to become wealthy in the contract painting contracting business like a bunch of guys raise their hands. It goes OK. He says it's not in this book he said. Answer your phone and return phone calls. So true. So even today I get calls and that's another thing of mine. I pick it up. I try to be responsive and people will pick up and go oh my gosh. I didn't expect you to pick up and I'm like well I'm not like everybody else. I'm going to talk to you because I mean I have the ability in my current role to make sure that every car-- it calls me is answered. And so, there's little things like that that people miss. But the idea I had was focusing on things like that that are I look back now are very small details and very simple and don't cost you money and are simple but mean the difference of the world it changes you completely different from the other guy. I don't care what kind of car you roll up in or truck. I don't care what you look like. I'm bearded with tattoos right. I care how you respond to me. I care about your personality how you react things and so you can be mentally better than everybody else. In that case you're going to be successful so that's what I did with this company. Canter construction and it's really helped me keep myself grounded, keep a good head on where I want my business. It's been very successful for my business as well. But one of the stories I think I came here today to kind of talk about is trying to help contractors who are typically good at being contractors. Their skill sets. They're good carpenters or whatever but they fall short when it comes to the business side. They didn't get the training they don't have the know how whatever. And in that sense a lot of what is left out I think is you know trying to figure out how to keep your phone ringing without paying money. Right. That's the biggest thing for your phone ringing. So, a while ago, I was getting my domain name which is www .Canterconstruction.com . I was trying to get that domain name because it's my last name. And low and behold this other company popped up and they they're like they happen to be related to me 14 cousins or something. Right. And I looked out No. No problem I'll do Canter construction SC for SouthCarolina.com and roll on. And as I started to become successful I started to get these comments from people saying hey I looked up your company and your Web site and there's some old man not a Wilkesboro North Carolina or wherever it was. And I said Really. And I started to look at this and I realized wow these people were looking for me in Charleston and this other companies popping up. Are they going to get my business now or that business.?-- No because they're not in the Charleston area. But it led me to go you know what they are. The Web site didn't look fresh. It looked like it was old PHP. And I said you know they may not care about this. I'm going to call them and we're related so I'm going to ask him to tell us that they'll let me buy the domain. So, I called in a nice lady answered and I just I went in and said hey I'd like to potentially talk to you guys about buying your domain. And she literally went nope and hung up the phone. Oh right. And I was like gosh you didn't even know I'm going to offer like 2 million dollars. I mean I wasn't but you just she cut me off and to this day I even tell people I do not hold anything against those guys. They did nothing wrong. I wouldn't I wouldn't sell my domain right now. Somebody asked me but what if it was it. All of a sudden lit this fire. And I always used the term you know hell hath no fury like me scorned when she scorned me on that. I decided enough is enough. I want to figure out how I would my people search for my name and trolls and how I can be the topless and Google them and so one of the things that I did and going through that is I learned all this on the fly and people listening that know a little bit about that are already thinking he's learning Seo or search engine optimization. That is the goal at the end of this and it's a bit of alchemy and smoke and mirrors. We'll talk more about that. But what I tried to do was how do I get myself in front of people when they do a search for my name? That's how I started. Now, I look at ways of when you look at contractor Charleston how am I the first one. So that's a little bit about what I'm going to talk about. First thing that they may not do well you are. I mean that's one of the things like you know I come up if you're looking for my name or my business but you know you like you're saying if they're looking for your name under your or your business find that to look for contact on an animal and you want to come up there you want to be trained from their face as best you do and that's the harder of the two things that nobody knows you as your or they get your name from somebody else. But people serendipitously finding you that's what you want. Right. Because I'm searching for this. And your result for that. So, one of the first things that I teach people to do is there's a lot of free web sites out there.  that allow you to have free listings where you can put your company logo your Web site pictures it's free to do. You can go out there spend some sweat equity in a six pack of beer watching TV and put yourself out and on as many sites as possible. Now will these sites try to back sell you like oh by subscription of course. But the point being there is ignore them. Put them in junk whatever. But you just-- you're starting to build relevance in multiple listings because instead of your name being just on a Google business listing now it's on mana, now it's on porch, now it's on house. So, your kind of like throwing seven eight fishing lines out there. And what you'll probably find when you do that is not much is going to happen with your business and it shouldn't. Really, it's just getting you out in the world. Now the thing that I learned was that after I keep in mind I was doing this hoping for big expectations I didn't see. And I was like huh. So, I went to phase two. And what I initially did was porch was a company that I had listed on and they had to deal with Lowe's where they had a kiosk in a Lowe's and you could buy any of the windows installed or a fan installed. And here's preferred contractors. Gorgeous Web site. So, I went on porch and just had a bunch of people review me and I had maybe 21 reviews and all of a sudden, I went back to that search for Canter construction and lo and behold those people-- nice people-- that they are in North Carolina were third or fourth on google in my area. I was like OK I see what's going on here. And so, the third phase of this chapter having a little bit of success there was I started to look at my Web site and pictures a little more closely. Now keep in mind I have Google Analytics on the backside of my web site. I look at those all the time to see where people coming from when they get to my website what do they do. The thing that I realized from looking at those business analytics was on my first web I went Wow they're popping in and popping out right. I didn't have my number friends center. It wasn't a you know a beautiful like a spider web of capturing them and to them digging in deeper. So, I cannibalize my first web site came up with a brand new clean slick web site. Same one I had today and started to watch the business analytics again and I started to realize that people were then popping in and searching around. They're spending more time when they do get to my Web site. So little bit of just to backtrack as you get yourself out there and as many places as possible prime you then try to focus on reviews which initially I did poor reviews and we're going to get into the google reviews in a second and then you look at your Web site and you're listing even those listings that I mentioned. You always want to have fresh pictures fresh updates to it you may not cannibalize the whole Web site but Google does backtrack and look at things and it notices when things are updated and says oh well you've updated pictures so it gets back into relevance when somebody's searching for contractor and it can help you down the road saying oh we think you're looking for Canter construction. So, I did that for a little bit and then was still not seeing. I wanted to honestly have those people off the first and think page stuff. My wife always jokes she says Jonah if you had a boat I'm pretty sure you would name it. Never satisfied. And that's so true. And I wasn't. So, what I did next was I shamed myself today for not focusing on this but I had a Google business listing and I started to do what I call the art of asking and not asking for Google reviews is very simple and it had the most immediate and profound effect on my business and the business elite that I ended up getting. You have to keep in mind Google is something that not a hundred percent of people have but almost everybody on earth has a G.M. account right. So, the things that you're looking when you're asking for a favor which is what you're doing when you ask for a review you don't want it to be convoluted and step through hoops or to sign up for something that's junk. Nobody's going to do it. It's going to stop the process. But if you make it one click an easy you're going to get reviews. So, what I started doing was I would do work for clients make sure they were totally happy. Jonah you’re the best thing since sliced bread. Awesome it. And then I would send him a follow up e-mail and say hey for people like you who found me on line or found me through a review of through a referral. Google Reviews are a good way of saying I do top quality work. I'm a good guy I'm honest. All of these things. Do you mind providing me with a five-star review and then I would send them a hyper link for the Canter 5-star review right there in the e-mail. What that would do is boom they clicked that hyperlink they go right to the review and they're typing away 5star sin and done. And it's you have to as a contractor you have to understand that you are asking for a favor so keep it simple but Google who runs one of the biggest if not the biggest search sites. Why was I not kidding reviews from Google to begin with? I look back and I want to hit myself from heaven. But what that did was as a couple of things it kept me in check to make sure that my business was running correctly. I was offering good services good customer service good skilled services to clients because I was I wasn't just done when the job was done and the check was in my bank. I wanted something more. Right. So, it's a good check and balance for contractors to keep them. If you want to grow your business you've got to be good at it. You've got to be the best at it and you do that by being able to ask for as many reviews as possible. So, I asked for these reviews over time. And the next thing I realized was it was quiet. And then the phone started bringing. And then the phone kept ringing and I would pick it up and they'd go yes just Kaner construction. I'm like yes. And they're like "oh yeah, I found you online" and I was just ear to ear smiling because up to that point my life-- 75 percent of my business was referral from realtors, friends, whomever and made a good living on that. And, you know, the 25 percent was, somebody just randomly found you and I don't even know if I got the work from home at that point. Fast forward to the day, 90 percent of my work comes from online and 10 percent is referrals. So, that's an amazing flip. And what happens there is, I talked about the alchemy of it.  Nobody truly understands as SEO and if they do tell you that they're a snake oil salesman in the fold because Google is always changing their spaghetti algorithm of search relevance and results in everything. So you're always chasing a ghost. But if you know where that ghost is going to appear you can try to target yourself to figure out how to be there at that time and so that's where I'd like to recap and say fundamentals here. Get yourself out in as many places as possible cannibalize. Update your Web site. Make sure that you're asking for reviews. Get it. I don't want to say that you ended up like kind of whoring yourself out there but you really have to promote yourself as much as possible on the Internet. And if you know if you have five google reviews don't even act like that's enough. Right. I have. I thought I heard you got fifty-five. Google reviews Yeah and I'm constantly asking every day for people when we close our jobs. Will you give me a review? Give me review because that's free marketing that I don't pay for I don't use Google Ad Words. I don't pay for any of that and never seen any results. Blood sweat equity which is what we all need in Kontra. I found out ways to keep promoting myself to the point where if you are in the geography of Charleston and you look up contractor Charleston now I'm one of the top guys in fact I come up there against commercial giants in the area. I'll be the 4th guy and the biggest thing is up to 5 to refuse you get your revelations irrelevant and you Cito up your pictures so there's constant upgrading of your gear. Your Web site which is really not a big deal. It's not really done take you all the time but these are the little things you know that Google looks for and there are little things that most your kids can do. It's correct. Now it's funny as people who may start say they're in Florida or somewhere else you might get different results because it does look at your area a likelihood that you want so it doesn't mean you'll look up contractor by me but I don't really care about people necessarily Charleson as much as I do about the greater Charleston area right. But the thing that it's a star that shines the brightest about the reviews and I've had plenty of people telling me this is we saw some other contractors and they had four reviews a new head 50 by 5 star reviews. We called you because we're like oh my gosh you can't have any brothers or cousins that are out there. And so that's a that's a testament to a person who does not know you right somebody who finds you organically doesn't know you from Adam right already knows that they don't trust contractors by very nature. You build that trust before they even pick up the phone and call because they look and go wow. People like this guy and seems to do good work. So, there's tons of benefits not only to getting your own leads and whatnot but also in securing deals and in adding a layer of comfort for particular clients that they're trusting you right off the bat because they like what you say you make it easy for them. Yes. And it's you know it's like you're selling yours. You're doing everything for him like I had and I just did that with one of mine because I said you know she was just rain and rain. She says your mom you don't understand how my mom usually throws contractors off the job the first day like she goes. She thinks again pay by the hour or taking too long. Yeah. Now it's true. So, I should never have a contract to you pay by the hour. That's terrible. I know that so I said so. So, she was you know at my house were thinking about selling and I go. So, we got through. You know as I said my mom loves you guys she goes You must love your job or your work. And I go Why did she say that. Because you're doing all the little stuff the meticulous stuff and she said I said you write a review on that which is good. Absolutely. So, you know I did and I provided was the link and a lot of times that will do. I don't have anywhere near 55. But I'll give him the link and I will get this is what I heard you say change it if you are you know just so they can cut and paste it. Yeah, I thought about doing that but I kind of like that kind of off the cuff because sometimes I get reviews that are comical to me but they're a testament to my crew. So, I have a guy named Pete who is a phenomenal phenomenal guy. I pay him a lot of money but he's an OCD neat freak. You'll never find another man like Pete. And somebody wrote this company is awesome and Pete is the cleanest person I've ever met on a job site. But you think about that. You were both laughing and it was funny. But to a client who that's important to that's going to be a selling point to them. Right. Yeah because that's what I hate is when I got to clean up after someone come into work and my house absolutely. So, there's you know when it gets back to the review part of it I think you know people just need to understand how reviews are actually hidden money in it and a great example is and I've done this several times as contractors will get into situations where there's a wall and you're doing some work and you don't know what's behind it. You can't rip it up before your a contract with them. You get into it and you're like hey I'm going to charge 2000 dollars for whatever it is. And you open up the wall and you go oh man this isn't as bad as we thought. Yeah, we can do that two. Whatever. It's only about 15. Hunter Well you know what I do. I'm not greedy. I go back to that client. I go Hey Guy Lady whatever we were going to charge you to I'm going to reduce this to 15 because it's less work. And I think I think you'll be happy with that. And it's a fair price at that one. I don't want to overcharge you. And the look on their face is like oh my god Jonah I would have honestly, I would have never known that. And you could have just taken my money. That's amazing. I appreciate it. What does that build absolute trust that this guy now forming. Oh yeah because the next thing I'd say is hey you know what. Since I saved you five hundred dollars. I'd rather be a five-star review that's worth tons of money to me. So, it's got to be you know in that sense you've got to be a guy that you know you're shifting and understanding that I may be taking 500 dollars out of my pocket but what am I gaining I'm gaining a five-star review or referral and somebody who 100 percent trust me. And if anybody goes Man I need a contract or I'm going to be the first person in their mind. So, there's important. You know having values in this industry and not being shady can get you positive results and not being shady of simply charging people for what they should be charged. And when you see something like that you know help them out. So, you know don't be afraid to charge them. But given the value that they're expecting. Absolutely So that's really awesome. You know all that free stuff that you can do it takes time and it doesn't happen overnight but it does take time but everything works that takes time anyways. It does I mean if you think you're going to get into a business and make a million dollars tomorrow you'll be sadly mistaken. The truth of this business is you need to be able to weather anything that comes out you. I'm building my business so that when the next bottom drops I keep on rolling through it with a smile on my face while everybody else is selling their 80000-dollar trucks and houses on the water and they're screwed. I'll be buying up those properties from them and that's what you're really trying to do is you're trying to futureproof your business and you do that by getting in the trenches and doing this kind of small nuanced work and doing it right so that when it does come time when everybody starts to fold you'll have plenty of guys trying to do work for pennies on the dollar because they're struggling. And I just have work coming in you know. So that's I think that's a you know important value to have. That's really been very very interesting especially with the reviews you've got 55. So that's just that's just being consistent all the time always asking because here's what I read an article not too long ago. And it just blew me away that when you ask somebody for review or testimony that was really astronomically low I'm going to say 50 percent of people actually do it but 90 percent of the people check it. Yes. Yes. And that's why you have to be diligent but not too pushy. I've sent I sin no more than two reviewer a review requests. I'll ask them. Do you mind right. Yeah, no problem. I'll send him an email with a link. Nothing happens I'll send them a follow up e-mail and say hey just want to make sure you got this. Do you mind giving us a review. If I don't hear anything I move on because I'm not going to be pushy about it because it feels forced at that point. But you are right. And for that very fact. Keep in mind what people typically write a review about negatives. They 100 percent write you a negative review but they very rarely will write you a positive review. So back to the 55 google reviews I take that as a testament when people see that some people know that and go wow. I mean it's like when you're on Amazon you buy a product you can see people who are complaining about the shipping of the product and you're like That's not a product review. You can't do that. I don't care. You screwed it up but Binda two and three stars. Those are the ones you're paying attention to because people were looking and they'll write about hey it broke down after two weeks or didn't work out to ship it back it was damaged. Those kinds of things are a valid product reviews. And so, when you have a product that's got a five star review I don't even read all of them like done. So, you are going to buy it whatever. I trust that through the social media aspect of this that that the group hive mentality works and it's a good thing. Any last thoughts on the google reviews and I know the end here just I just want to tell people you know just take what I've told you and put your own kind of spin on it. You may find results in your area depending on your geography north south east west wherever it is may vary. Just keep in mind if you're the best person at doing this and you're doing it without paying a company to do it for you you're going to win. You've got the tenacity. Ruiz is the hundred percent of keeping. And also, just expect that results may vary but they may take some time but they will start to see the fruits of your labor if you will. So, and I also Dave I also like to tell people feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments any kind of feedback I'm a very open book. I like people to respond. I like helping people and I have a couple of different ways you can do that. First you can email me directly. This is my direct e-mail is Jonah jJonahcanter@gmail.com  That's my direct e-mail. Feel free to send me any comments there or if you want to have a more fun aspect of our company and you're on Instagram. I'm a huge Instagram or I love it. I think it's the best thing on earth. You can find me at Chuck town which is my personal account or Cantor construction which is the business account and you can see pictures of us goofing off on the job sites. In general, having some fun. Feel free to reach out and either way you can be a voyeur and just look at the pictures. Or you could feel free to ask me any questions. I am an open book and I want to be able to help people so please do reach out. Cool. That's awesome. Thanks so much for spilling your guts and sharing this. It's really been fun we're going to have you back again. Talk about something else.  That sounds good you know always do it Dave. I appreciate it. Everybody listening.   To connect with Jonah Canter Gmail: jonahcanter@gmail.com www.canterconstructionsc.com www.oceansidesc.com Instagram: @canterconstruction @chucktown (personal account...me being goofy)   There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.  4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com   and she will send you our guest sheet.     Our sponsors  Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money  How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb  Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ 

Hello once again and welcome to another Mansion Ingles podcast. This is podcast number 68 recorded for December 2013. En el nivel básico practicamos el gerundio, las palabras que terminan en ing y también los grupos o familias de palabras - Word families. Tenemos un poco de gramática en el nivel intermedio y también algunas colocaciones con los verbos. We practise some collective nouns at advanced level, and also we help you with what to say in English in certain social situations There's also business vocabulary, as usual, and a translation exercise, all to help you improve your English and take it to the next level. En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podéis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, ve a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal. Ok, vamos a empezar con el nivel básico y el gerundio - The gerund, en inglés. ¿cómo se dice el verbo gustar en inglés? - to like; I like, he likes, she likes, we like etc. Cuando empleas otro verbo después del verbo like, puede ser de forma gerundio o de forma infinitive, pero normalmente, cuando hablamos de las actividades y no del resultado de las actividades, usamos el gerundio. Eschucha y repite: jugar - to play - playing - playing video games. Do you like? Do you like playing video games. I don't like playing video games. Ver - to watch - repite - to watch - Watching TV. I like watching TV. I like watching sport on TV. I like watching football on TV. Do you like watching TV? - Do you like watching football on TV? Do you like studying? -  to study - estudiar - repite: studying - I don't like studying - Do you like studying? ¿Cómo se dice comprar? - to buy - repite: buy - buying - Do you like buying books? - Do you like buying clothes - Do you like buying shoes? To camp - acampar - camping. to go camping - Do you like going camping? ¿Cómo se dice leer en inglés? to read - Repite: to read. reading - reading books - Do you like reading books? - I like reading - I like reading books - My girlfriend likes reading - she likes reading books - she likes reading detective books. Ducharte - to have a shower - Repite: to have a shower. - having a shower - I like having a shower. I like having a shower in the morning. It wakes me up. Me despierta - It wakes me up. - Repite: It wakes me up. A shower wakes me up. A shower in the morning wakes me up. I like having a hot shower in the morning. Board games son juegos de mesa. Repite: board games - to play - to play board games - playing board games - I like playing board games. Do you like playing board games? ¿Cómo se dice acostarte? - to go to bed. Repite: to go to bed - going to bed - I like going to bed. I like going to bed early - Do you like going to bed early? I always go to bed early during the week. Well done! - !Muy bien! También en el nivel básico este mes hemos estudiado algunas palabras en grupo. Las familias de palabras o Word Families. Por ejemplo, si digo short y tall, tal vez das cuenta que tall (o sea, alto) es el antónimo de short - bajo: alto-bajo, tall-short. Entonces, si digo easy, ¿Qué me vas a decir? ¿Cuál es el antónimo de easy? Pues, difficult. ¿y cheap? - expensive. A ver si puedes identificar la familia de las siguientes palabras y decir qué palabra en inglés viene despues de las palabras que voy a decir. Luego, repite las palabras conmigo para practicar la pronunciación. ¿Listos? Ready? football - play             work -  do                  TV - watch father - son                mother - daughter              brother - sister apples, oranges, bananas - fruit  shirts, socks, dresses - clothes  chairs, tables, sofas - furniture 1st - first            2nd - second             3rd - third Ok good, now moving on to the intermediate section, and in this month's cuaderno we looked at some general grammar. For example, the word 'yet' with the present perfect when it means todavía o aún - She isn't here yet. - Todavía no llega. o Aún no llega. Repeat: She isn't here yet. I haven't done it yet. Have you finished yet? - ‘Has the film finished?’ ‘No, not yet.’ ¡Ojo! - Don't confuse yet with already. Both these words are often used with the present perfect. Already means 'so soon' or ya, in Spanish. For example,        Have you eaten your dinner already? - ¿Ya has cenado? - I have already been to Paris. - Ya he estado en París. Repeat: I've already been to Paris. Have you eaten lunch yet? Yes, I've already eaten lunch. I've already done it. Phrases like so do I  and neither do I are used as responses to show a similar attitude or opinion. You can show that you agree or disagree with someone by using So do I neither do I , me too, me neither etc. Listen and repeat: I'm a student- So am I. I'm not married - neither am I - I like football - So do I - I don't like golf - neither do I. I'm not very hungry - Neither am I. Nota que se repite el verbo auxiliar cuando se responde. I'm hungry (el verbo auxiliar es to be) I'm hungry, so am I. I don't like golf (el verb auxiliar es do) Neither do I. Si no hay verbo auxiliar, por ejemplo en I like swimming, usa el verbo do - So do I. También puedes decir me too (yo también) y me neither (yo tampoco). Repeat: I really like Science fiction - me too! - but I don't like horror films - Me neither.  Escucha mi opinión sobre algunas cosas y responde con So do I y Neither do I or Me too y me neither. I love chocolate I don't like negative people I really enjoy going to the beach. I think Brad Pitt is a very good actor. I like Tom Cruise But I don't like Kevin Costner very much I think Keira Knightly is really sexy. Many students of English, including my students here in Valencia, think that will is only used to talk about the future. I will see you tomorrow, they say. Or, I will go to London for Christmas. Well, you can use will to talk about the future, but it can also be used to make offers. You see a beautiful girl with a heavy suitcase. You can say. "Excuse me, I'll help you with that". Your teacher is carrying about 12 dictionaries, some papers and a briefcase. You can say, "I'll open the door for you." Your guests are leaving your house and putting on their coats. You can say, "I'll help you with your coat". Remember to use the contraction I will - I'll. Repeat; I'll - I'll help you - I'll open the door. - I'll get your coat. When you talk about future plans and arrangements, you can use the present continuous tense. Repeat, I'm going shopping tomorrow, I'm flying to Paris next week - I'm having my hair cut on Wednesday. It's also common to use the present continuous when you ask a question about someone's plans. Repeat, What are you doing on Saturday? Are you going away for the weekend? What time are you coming into work tomorrow? Where are you staying in New York? In the vocabulary section, we looked at verbs that go together with several words and expressions. Yo voy a decir las palabras y las expresiones y tú tienes que decir el verbo que puede ir con ellas. Por ejemplo, si digo : money,  someone's life y energy, ¿sabes qué verbo puede ir con las tres palabras? - Pues el verbo save. Podemos decir save money, save energy and save someone's life. He saved my life. Vamos a intentar con otras tres palabras: the bill (la cuenta) the bill, a compliment y attention. ¿Cuál es el verbo? - PAY. Repeat: to pay a compliment. She paid me a lovely compliment; attention - to pay attention. Are you paying attention? Pay attention in class! Pay attention when I'm speaking to you! and to pay the bill. Have you paid the bill? Please, let me pay the bill. Ok, what about these three: your best, the shopping, some work - Es el verbo do. Repeat: do the shopping, do some work, do your best. I must do some shopping this afternoon. I need to do some work this weekend. Don't worry about the test. Just do your best. Here are three more: a game, the guitar, chess (ajedrez). PLAY. Repeat; play chess. Can you play chess? Play a game - Let's play a video game!  Play the guitar. I've been playing the guitar for five years. I wish I could play the guitar. Actually, I wish I could play any musical instrument, but I'm too lazy to learn. Three more: your clothes, planes, a 500 euro note. - Change, because you change planes during a long flight. You change a 500 euro or a 100 euro note, or a $100 dollar bill for smaller money (nota que se dice bill for dollars and note for euros - a $50 dollar bill and a 50 euros note, or a 50 pound note) and you change your clothes. Try these three: a law, the biscuits, a driving test or an exam - pass. They passed a law/a law was passed, Can you pass the biscuits, please? How do you say biscuits in American English? Cookies. Repeat: Can you pass the cookies, please? And you can pass a driving test, pass an exam, pass a test. What's the opposite of pass a test? fail. to fail a test. Repeat: Did you pass? Did you pass or fail? Ok, three more: the truth, a story, him to come in - TELL. Repeat; tell the truth. It's important to tell the truth, You must tell the truth. i hate people who don't tell the truth. Tell a story, let me tell you a story. My granddad was always telling stories. Tell him to come in. Can you tell him to come in, please? Tell her to come in. Tell them to come in.   In the advanced section this month, we looked at some collective nouns. These are expressions we use to describe a group of animals, or several things together. For example, if there are a lot of people together in one place, we can say a crowd of people. Repeat: A crowd of people. There was a crowd of people outside the Apple store. But when there are a group of actors together, we can say a company of actors. Repeat. A company of actors. WAD is used to describe many banknotes. We can say there's a wad of 50 pound notes or He took a huge wad of euros out of his pocket.. A team of experts - many experts together. Repeat: a team of experts. A team of experts advised the governmnent. Moving on to fruit and we can say a bunch of grapes or a bunch of bananas. Repeat: a bunch of grapes. I've brought you a bunch of grapes. Many thieves together are called a pack of thieves. Similar to a pack of dogs or a pack of wolves, and we also use pack when we talk about playing cards - las cartas - a pack of cards. I'm taking a pack of cards on holiday. Finally, a group of lions together is called a pride of lions. pride usually means orgullo, but we also use it for a group of lions (una manada), a pride of lions. Moving on to the next exercise in which you had to choose the best answer in certain situations. For example, someone says to you - "Do you really think the government will cut back even more on the health service and education?" - I wouldn't put it past them. This means, no me sorprendería. Repeat: I wouldn't put it past them. Will they reduce my salary? I wouldn't put it past them. Do you think they'll make more health and education cuts? . I wouldn't put it past them! The next expression was "That makes a change" - Imagine you live in the UK and you wake up one morning and the sun is shinning. Your partner says, "It's a beautiful sunny day!" - You say, That makes a change! The price of tomatoes has gone down. Oh, that makes a change. This cake I made is really nice - That makes a change! The manager has been really nice lately. - That makes a change. I'd rather not if you don't mind. Preferiría que no te importase. Repeat: I'd rather not if you don't mind. Would you like some more dessert? I'd rather not if you don't mind. Can you lend me your camera? I'd rather not if you don't mind. Can you work this weekend? I'd rather not if you don't mind. Serves you right, or it serves you right means te lo mereces. Repeat: It serves you right! I was fined for speeding - Serves you right! I lost 600 euros playing poker - It serves you right! She was arrested for stealing - Serves her right! If you haven't got the foggiest about something you have no idea - ni idea - you haven't got a clue. Repeat: I haven't the foggiest, I haven't got the foggiest. What time does the train leave' Haven't go the foggiest - How  much does it cost? I haven't got the foggiest. When will they be here? Haven't the foggiest. And finally, there was an expression with I bet. to bet means apostar. I bet you will, for example, means I'm sure you will. Someone says "If they offer me the job, I'll take it" you could say "I bet you will" -¡Claro!, como que no! Tiene un cierto significado sarcástico, irónico. "I always dispose of my rubbish in an ecologically responsible way." - I bet you do! If he asks for my phone number, I won't give it to him." - i bet you won't! In the Business English section this month we looked at some more business English vocabulary. Red tape is bureaucracy, papeleo. Repeat, red tape. There's a lot of red tape involved in getting your residency in this country. I couldn't believe all the red tape I had to go through. By the time I'm 55, I'll have retired. That's the future perfect. I will have retired. It's similar to the present perfect, but with will for the future. Will + have + participle of the verb - will have retired. By the time I'm 55 means when I'm 55 or before. El tiempo hasta que comple 55 años. By next Thursday means next Thursday or before. Repeat. I'll have finished this by next Thursday. I'll have seen you before next week. We'll have painted the flat by the time you come. Listen: Our business has really taken off. If a business takes off it becomes successful. imagine a plane taking off. It goes up into the sky. A business or company can also take off. Since we started advertising, the business has really taken off. To implement a change means to make a change. To put a change into action. Repeat: to implement a change - to implement changes. Have you implemented those changes we talked about? When are you going to implement the changes?. We also gave you some more sentences to translate in this month's cuaderno. First, you had to translate from English to Spanish. So,  I'll say the English sentences and you say the Spanish translation before I do. Then, repeat the English sentence after me to practise pronunciation. Ready? I told you I was going to do it. - Te dije que lo iba a hacer.  Repite: I told you I was going to do it. I lost the only friend I had. - Perdí el único amigo que tenía. Repite: I lost the only friend I had They travelled all over/all around/throughout Europe. - Viajaron por toda Europa. Repite: They travelled all over/all around/throughout Europe. It has to be signed. - Tiene que ser firmado. Repite: It has to be signed. The plant grew quickly. - La planta creció rápidamente. Repite: The plant grew quickly. Good, now I'll read some Spanish sentences with my terrible Spanish accent, and you translate to English before I do. Then repeat the sentences after me to practise your pronunciation. OK? Su cara es muy expresiva (ella). - Her face is very expressive. Repite: Her face is very expressive. ¿Por qué no están listos los niños? - Why aren’t the children ready? Repite: Why aren’t the children ready? ¿Quién la plantó? - Who planted it? Repite: Who planted it? ¿Por qué no intentaste pararme? - Why didn’t you try to stop me? Repite: Why didn’t you try to stop me? La vida es corta, ¿no? - Life’s short, isn’t it? Repite: Life’s short, isn’t it? Wonderful! Well done! Well, we've reached the end of this podcast, but we will of course be back next month with another podcast based on our monthly newsletter, our cuaderno de inglés mensual. Remember, you can listen to all our previous podcasts at mansioningles.com and of course on iTunes. And don't forget to check out - check out=mirar, echar un vistazo - check out our new podcast called Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig en lo que hablo con mi amigo Reza sobre el vocabulario, la gramática y la pronunciación de inglés. Puedes encontrarlo también en iTunes.   Si te gustan nuestros podcasts, puedes ayudarnos con una corta reseña en iTunes contribuyendo así a que más personas puedan conocernos y escucharnos. Gracias a todos los que ya han escrito algún comentario. Thank you to all of you who are writing reviews. Thank you very much for listening to this podcast, and for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés. Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés where you can ask questions, make comments and do exercises and practise your listening. Or you can send me an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter where we tweet useful links to improve your English, English slang vocabulary, quotations and much more. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de este mes, y todos los cuadernos anteriores en www.cuadernodeingles.com/ Until next month then, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Take care and bye for now!   The music in this month’s podcast is by Revolution Void, the album is The Politics of Desire and the track is called Outer Orbit.