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Reach Sharon McCullough at http://www.expertevents.comReach Kris Parsons at parsons-pr.comTRANSCRIPTDiane Dayton  0:02  This is changing the rules, a podcast about designing the life you want to live, hosted by KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world.KC Dempster  0:12  Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Changing the Rules. I'm KC Dempster. And I'm here with Ray Loewe in the wonderful and continually morphing Wildfire Podcast studios in Woodbury, New Jersey, that every time I come in here, there's been something different added or moved or whatever. And it's kind of like, what are we going to see today?Ray Loewe  0:35  That's because Wildfire is a company on the move. Yes. Okay. Yes.You know, and again, let me make my comment. I'm gonna let you get a word in edgewise here, because our experience with Wildfire has been a wonderful one.KC Dempster  0:49  They should have a mute button.Ray Loewe  0:51  Well, okay, well, you can mute me just hit me with that hammer you have. But But I think one of the wonderful things that happened is that they have all the experience that allowed us to go from knowing absolutely nothing to where we are now, which is two steps above nothing. But But, but we do have a podcast every couple weeks, and we are on the air. And we do actually get wonderful people to come in and talk with us. And we got a couple of them today. Okay, and what else does everybody need to know about Changing the Rules?KC Dempster  1:24  Well, Changing the Rules, as our wonderful introduction said, Is this is about creating the life that you want, and then living it to the fullest. And what we do with Changing the Rules podcast is we bring interesting people in who are doing interesting things, because we want to provide fodder for the people who are or want to be the luckiest people in the world. Because maybe there's something that they hadn't thought of that that we talked aboutRay Loewe  1:54  Fodder?KC Dempster  1:55  I knew you were going to give me a hard time on that.Ray Loewe  1:58  How about a role model?KC Dempster  1:59  Well, that's that's too, but fodder goes beyond that.Ray Loewe  2:04  Well, we have two people sitting here we have Sharon McCullough, we have Kris Parsons back again, she just keeps coming back all the time.Kris Parsons  2:12  I love it so much.Ray Loewe  2:13  And they're  two people that work together in a very interesting business during these times. And I think the way they've handled it is a really interesting role model for people that want to be the luckiest people in the world.KC Dempster  2:28  Are you sure it's not fodder?Kris Parsons  2:29  I was just gonna say maybe fodder,Ray Loewe  2:32  Mater Mater doesn't work, you know, father gets all the credit. So anyway, we all have a lousy sense of humor Will you know, I'll concede to that. But let me introduce Sharon McCullough. Sharon, just say hi.Sharon McCullough  2:46  Hi.Ray Loewe  2:47  And Kris Parsons. Just say hi.Kris Parsons  2:49  Hi, not Hello, hi.Ray Loewe  2:53  Okay,Kris Parsons  2:53  We're changing the rules, Ray. We're changing the rulesRay Loewe  2:56  well, and I expect that so. So let's start by talking to Sharon a little bit first, because everybody knows who you are Kris. So So Sharon, and I had the opportunity to meet and talk a little bit before this interview and, and Sharon used to work for my alma mater. Okay, University of Pennsylvania. And explain a little bit about what you were doing with Penn because it's the crux of what you're doing now and where you're going, I think,Sharon McCullough  3:27  Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. I started working at Penn when I was 20. I guess, 2, by that point. And I had a wonderful 12 years there good experience. I spent a lot of time at the Wharton School. And one of the things that I look back on and question myself on is, after all those years at Penn, where I could have taken classes for free. And I was at the Wharton School and then started a business. Why didn't I Why didn't I do that out then I didn't. But I sort of muddled through with getting started. But my time at Penn was was wonderful. It was a great place to be, a great place to work, lots of energy, I got wonderful experience kind of thrown into the deep end of the pool at a job change when I got put on the committee as part of my role in the events office for development to help plan the 250th anniversary for Penn. Wow. So that was coming out of that I knew that this was event planning was what I wanted to do. I subsequently switched to the Alumni Affairs Office, which gave me good perspective on big development events versus big alumni events. The budgets are significantly different. So I learned a little bit more about finding some corporate sponsors and some funding and making those alumni programs. Well done. And after 12 years, I got the entrepreneurial bug and decided to start Expert Events and purely grassroots, I got a client and then bought a fax machine and ran it from my house for a while and finally moved to center city where I was for 20 years. And then with the way the world is now two years ago, where it doesn't matter where you are to work, and I go to my clients, as opposed to having them come to my office, I gave up that center city space at the end of the lease and moved back home. So I'm able to I do a lot of traveling or did before COVID.Kris Parsons  5:33  You had to pivot,Sharon McCullough  5:33  I had to pivot. That's the that's the industry where to industry words, pivot and hybrid. And I think we talked a little bit about that last week.Ray Loewe  5:40  Yeah. And and so let's define for everybody what you mean, when you talk about event planning, because it's really everything and anything andKC Dempster  5:50  People think weddings, but it goes so much farther.Ray Loewe  5:52  Yeah. So what does it take? What does it take, you know, you're looking at helping a charitable organization, raise money. And that's primarily where you center most of your activity.Sharon McCullough  6:05  Higher Ed and nonprofit. Yeah.Ray Loewe  6:06  Okay. So So what kind of events are you doing? And then what is the what are the some of the pieces that go into this?Sharon McCullough  6:13  Well, there are a lot of pieces. And I think, again, going back to Penn and taking all the experience that I had there, which was a lot of communications and publications work, the alumni constituency building piece, supporting fundraising, looking at all of that, and working with my clients to you know, when we get on board, the first thing I do with people is get everybody around the table that's going to touch whatever event or series of events, we're going to plan and make sure that everybody's on the same page. Because especially in large organizations, that's sometimes really difficult. And setting goals for what they want the events to do for them and fundraising is whether it's a direct line fundraiser or not, fundraising is always the primary goal. But there are others, like how much media coverage are you looking for? Are you going to sit? What do you when you wake up after it's over? How do you know when you were a success if you weren't, if you don't know what you were trying to achieve. And so setting those goals down, and then throwing out every event idea in the known universe, I work with a lot of colleges and universities on major anniversaries. After the 250th s at Penn, I worked with Columbia on launching their 250th. And I've done the centennial at Pace University. And that's where we start each time, you know, what do you want to get out of this? And then let's throw out every idea in the book, you know, from? How are you going to license a new logo to put it on the teddy bear that you're selling the bookstore? To? What do you want the events to do? And and then measure up those events against the goals their people's ideas against the goals, and try to keep people from spinning their wheels so that if they don't answer the goals, let's not spend time on it. You don't want to do it. Right. And, you know, massaging that a little bit as we go along.Ray Loewe  8:11  Yeah, I'm sure that's especially difficult because you're dealing often with volunteer boards.Sharon McCullough  8:16  You got that right.Ray Loewe  8:17  Yeah. Well, I know what they're like. Yeah. And, you know, to one thing, when somebody is getting paid to do something in another zone, it's kind of hard to fire that volunteer sometimes you know, when Right, yeah.Sharon McCullough  8:28  And I and I've been in that, you know, position where I serve on some boards. And I think, oh, boy, you know, I got a board meeting coming up. And I haven't even looked at this stuff. And then I think, Well, you know, that's what you're kind of dealing with people along to do. And it is hard. It is hard when you're a volunteer and those people do incredible work for all the organizations that I work for.Ray Loewe  8:50  And during your career here. You aren't necessarily all the events for every organization, but you were doing with the big ones that somebody had to focus on. Right?Sharon McCullough  8:59  Well, that's right. And I look back again, at my my time at Penn, I was an event staff person. And there are loads of people at Penn that do events across all the schools and centrally but when it came to the 250th they still hired an outside consultant for the major pieces of that because all of us had our roles that we do year in year out annually the reunions, this and that and these blips in the scale are where I really focus my marketing for the business because I don't want to come in and step on the event planners that are on staff on their toes. But on the other hand, I want to be a support to them. When big things like inaugurating a new president or launching a capital campaign. Those kind of things come along. You still have to maintain your regular job. Yeah. So having an extra pair of hands and and we bring a whole support group of people, my staff and I learned a long time ago that the best way To get the best people is to work in partnership with people that don't do that support what I do, but don't necessarily I don't do it. So that's when I started working with Kris. And I have some fundraising consultants that we bring in where that level of support is needed speech writers, AV techs, that can be consultants, as well as providing the actual services at the event.Ray Loewe  10:27  Okay, so you did this for 28 years on your own right. And you had offices and how many cities?Sharon McCullough  10:35  Well, three, Philadelphia is obviously my home base, I live here. But I have office use in Manhattan, a graphic designer, that's another partnership that that we bring in with people. I worked with her. She redesigned the Wharton alumni magazine for me when I was the editor. And so I've known her for a long time. And she has beautiful office space three blocks from Penn Station. So that's, that's a great base for me when I've got a lot of New York clients. And I also have one in Virginia.Ray Loewe  11:10  You know, being a Wharton alumnus, and I get that magazine every month, I guess I really had to look at the artwork now and pay attention, right? Well,Sharon McCullough  11:17  you should. But what you really need to do is go back about 30 years and pull one of those out of the archives. Well, so those are the ones I was working on.Ray Loewe  11:25  30 years ago I was a Wharton alumnus too.  So anyway, so let's get rid of this time stuff. So. So anyway, you did this in your own way. And you built this pretty good business, helping a lot of organizations raise money. And then I think March 16, is an interesting day this year. Yes. Tell us about March 16,Sharon McCullough  11:47  well, probably a week, or maybe 10 days ahead of March 16. Kris and I are both working with a client in Philadelphia, and we had the the hard meeting with them that just said, you know, it was a it was a very, very food focused tasting event for about 600 people, lots of lots of touching, yes. A and, you know, in an indoor space. And we just looked at each other and said, Well, you know, we can't do this. And so what are we going to do, and I've been working with several different clients who have approached it very differently. Some, you know, kind of just dug in, and the smaller organizations had to focus on what they do day to day. And that was the priority, then their staff was the next priority. So most of those organizations just pushed a year, you know, just said, Okay, we're not doing 2020, right. And some organizations said, Well, you know, we've got to get out there with something. And so I've been working, mainly consulting with some AV partners who have really approached the whole thing in a bigger way. And Kris and I are working now with that same group that had to cancel on that the event that got moved to 2021. And we in fact, even moved it a little further than exactly a year we moved from March to June of '21.Kris Parsons  13:14  So we couldn't be outside.Sharon McCullough  13:15  And we're still looking now at only outdoor venues. So we don't have to hopefully, back up again, no matter what happens. But most groups I'm working with now we're working on parallel tracks, you know, if I'm working on a big conference, that'll happen up in Providence, Rhode Island, also, next year, and to basically be ready to take it all virtual, because it is a conference and it's panels, and we could shoot those in advance, and maybe getting them to look at regionalizing that a little more so that people don't have to get on airplanes and try to travel. So you've got it, just think around all the angles, and trying to get it off the ground. Again,KC Dempster  13:59  it's a challenge to your creativity, really,Kris Parsons  14:02  it's really talked about Changing the Rules, we've had to do a lot because you really have to look at things in a completely different way. And one of the things you know, I do the PR with Sharon is the communication. A lot of people did really panic when when this COVID hit and just stopped talking to their customers, their constituents. And so what Sharon and I did was talk to them and say, Look, you just can't stop the communication. You have to keep reaching out letting everybody know what's going on, you know, sharing with them that you're trying to figure it out to but don't let go of them and especially now because with online and virtually that's what everyone's doing. So you're better off talking to them more that way trying to figure out what the next steps are. Right.Ray Loewe  14:43  You know, when when we look ahead, okay. Hopefully, you know we have a virus now. Vaccine. All right. We don't sweat the little thing. You know, but but hopefully we have a vaccine And hopefully it's going to allow us to open up a little bit. But we don't know. And we don't know if there's going to be another COVID. Somewhere along the line, we've kind of learned our lesson. We've also learned that we have tools in terms of the internet and Zoom and, and all of these other things in the background. So when you think and when you work with larger organizations, where's the thinking going now? What what are some of the innovations that are going to come in?Sharon McCullough  15:29  I think the important thing is to take those, if you are going to do your event, in a virtual format, that you totally, you do have to totally rethink it. You know, people walk into a gala in a ballroom and you have cocktails and you sit down and you have a bit of program, and then you have some dessert, and then you dance, it's three or four hours out of your life. And people you know, you get dressed up, it's a nice evening out, it's fun. Well, if you're going to do that, and expect people to sit either at their desk or watch their TV in their living room, it has to be a very different event, the recommended is 45 to 75 minutes, that's what you can capture with that. So if your CEO got to speak before, for 10 to 12 minutes, which is still too long, they get two or three. And you're you've got a really that's where Kris comes in with that as well getting you know, directing the messaging. And my my one thing that I always hold out, that's absolutely the most important with any event that you do, no matter how you do it, is that if you're not delivering your message and mission, you've you've missed the whole point. So making sure that you're condensing those events, so you don't have multiple ways across the course of a whole evening. To do that, that you've done it in a concise way that's entertaining. And that those that event, just like a stage managed event in a ballroom has to never have a second, that's missing. Right, right, because you're gonna lose them.Ray Loewe  17:04  You know, when when? What do you do about things? So when you look at the old style event food and drink at dancing, we're probably major parts of this, and you probably throw in a silent auction to where you can do the silent auction probably online. But what do you do about the food and the booze and the other stuff? And how do you keep keep people interested?Sharon McCullough  17:28  Well, I think that it is definitely harder. But the good thing, from from these organizations from their standpoint is Yes, they're going to spend a lot more money on the technology. And and you don't do it via Zoom, you do there are much more professional, high net net on that to be able to do, but you do have to engage them. And that's where corporate sponsorship comes in. I know that the Preservation Alliance for instance, in Philadelphia, I didn't work on it, but their recent event, when you signed on, they they partnered with DiBrunobrothers, and at the level you signed on for, that's the the kind of size goodie box that you got delivered to your house, from DIBruno's. And I think that's, that's what people have to do. We've, we've talked with alumni groups that you know, send, you know, sign up with a winery and send three or four bottles of wine and do just small audience specific events. And I think that, that those are all excellent ideas, and that, that they were very well done. To do that down to you know, a cooking demonstration or whatever, you know, you're going to send people the ingredients, and they can they can join in and, and do that there's all kinds of creative ideas that you can do to engage your audience. And the real upside of the whole virtual piece, I think will continue once we can even go back to big time, hundreds of people in a space, because it does allow you to have those hundreds of people, but also reach out to the thousand that you know, maybe halfway across the country that aren't going to get on plane and come to your event but great for Penn reunions, or any schools reunions that you know, you get to the evening dinner and the President's going to speak you didn't you didn't show up for you 40th reunion because you weren't gonna come to Philly from California. But you could still get the messageRay Loewe  19:34  I didn't show up and I'm in Philadelphia. I hate to admit that but but but anyway, you know, I think what your clients are going to see here is the value you bring to the table. And it's not the same old same old at this point. It's going to be brand new creative stuff and, and we're getting near the end of our time, but I do want to ask one question, you know, and take this down now to my level over Hear? Because I'm worried about how do I get together with my family? How do I create interesting things now, so that I can bring my sisters from Denver and from Chicago into a picture where we can't get together anymore. And I understand there's two ways now that you can ship meals to people, you can do all kinds of great, and this isn't what you do, but it's part of the change part of the technology that's been there.,Sharon McCullough  20:31  Oh absolutely. They're, they're all good. I mean, I think that's a that's a side of this industry, that's that seeing a nice increase in business, to be able to, to do that there's also technology is so wonderful now that you know, you can get your whole family to video, something there, even these, these websites that you set up to, you know, send little tribute videos, everybody could contribute to that. And then, you know, everybody could see it in their own homes and feel like, you know, you could still do the do the Zoom up, which you probably do at the family level. But you can then you know, click on somebody's computer that's going to pull up that video, and you can all watch it together and see everybody's good comments.Ray Loewe  21:17  You know, Kris, Kris has got me doing a coffee demo for my friend for Christmas, you know, and, and, and I, you see incredibly interesting things happening with this change. So everybody looks at it initially and says what a downer. And I don't think it's a downer at all. I think the creative people are going to probably prosper from this, I think your business is going to boom, because you have the technology expertise along with the event planning expertise. And you're going to be able to bring that to clients to don't otherwise know what to do.Kris Parsons  21:46  And the nice thing about Expert Events, Sharon's Expert Events is that she is willing to to sit with everybody and have a consultation, sit and talk to them and say, you know, what is your situation and analyze some of your current events, how they are because you're right, it's gonna be a change. And if you call her she'll kind of help you assess the situation and figure out how to go forward.Ray Loewe  22:07  Well, well, we are at the end of our time, unfortunately, yeah. we'll have you back some time. And we'll continue this discussion. Also, Sharon pops on every once in a while to our coffee and cocktail conversation kind of a thing. AndKC Dempster  22:21  Which they're on Thursdays, coffee in the morning, cocktails in the afternoon, and you can go to our website, theluckiestpeopleintheworld.com. And right on that homepage, there's a button to push to register. So it's easy as pie.Kris Parsons  22:35  It's free.Ray Loewe  22:36  And if you want to meet people like Sharon, she's not there every week, but she pops on often. And often. You can say hi. And you can get great ideas, whether it's family or professional. So once again, thanks for being with us, Sharon. Thanks for Kris comment, bringing them back.Ray LoeweYeah. And KC, sign off for us.KC Dempster  22:56  Okay, well, thank you, everybody, for listening. We will be back in a week with another wonderful and interesting podcast and enjoy the weather while we have it.Ray Loewe  23:07  So thank you, everybody.Diane Dayton  23:10  Thank you for listening to Changing the Rules, a podcast designed to help you live your life the way you want, and give you what you need to make it happen. Join us in two weeks for our next exciting topics on Changing the Rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world  

There are so many people with the words, "I can't" as a major part of their vocabulary. It's an easy answer and an easy excuse to fail. Those two words come from a society trained to be followers versus critical thinkers. I've been saying this to myself and my kids for over a decade. If we can change those 2 words to 3 words, everything changes. Do you know what the 3 words should be? You guessed it (it's in the title). "How can I?"Why should you do this? The answer lies in the questions we ask our brains. Do you realize that most people make more statements than questions. This puts our brains on filing duty versus solving duty. It's a shame too because our brains are a nearly unlimited resource for solving difficult problems. Read the book, "Think and Grow Rich", and you'll see this more clearly. Let me explain what this change does in your brain. When you change the period of "I can't" to a question mark of "how can I" and your brain receives the words as a challenge to solve versus a statement of conclusion. To be successful entrepreneur, you need to learn how to think critically and to solve interesting problems. Let's make this clear with an example that happened last month with my daughter on the way to cleaning the first of 5 offices Saturday. Christianna currently shares a bedroom with her 3-year-old brother Kasey. She desires to get up earlier than him, but realizes an alarm clock won't work as it will wake him up too. She said this to her dad in the car. "I CAN'T get up on my own because of Kasey". I said this to her. "That's true. Let's change the statement to a question. HOW CAN I get up on my own without waking Kasey? This intrigued Christianna, but also let her know that she was about to undertake a long process of learning! My son Kenny was with us and he was smirking as he's already been through this many times with dad. I charged her with a thinking assignment while we cleaned. She had to come up with 10 possibilities of how she could wake up without waking Kasey. It was so much fun. We had a dinner picnic in between the 3rd and 4th offices in a park. Christianna came up with 6 ideas. Kenny and I added 4 others. We talked them over. Here they are!Move my brother out of my roomSleep downstairs on nights that I need to get myself up at a certain time.Will myself to get up through neurolinguistic programming (NLP) the night before.Sleep with earbuds and an alarm.Wake up to just light alarm, facing away from baby.Go to bed early enough to naturally awake at your time. Buy (or invent) a vibrating alarm. Be woken by feel vs sound or light. Setup contraption to dump cold water on your head at the wake up time. Put earmuffs or noise reduction earphones on baby or ear plugs.Buy sleep number bed and setup program for head to rise at wake up time. As a team, we put our brains to work to narrow down the list of 10 to the best viable option for her. She decided. Some of the ideas were super funny and we laughed them out of contention. Others were unrealistic. Ultimately, we settled on our Top 3. They were the vibrating alarm, moving Kasey out of the room, and going to bed early. Christianna asked her brain more questions and she decided that the best solution to waking up before Kasey without waking him was to buy a watch with a vibrating alarm. She was amazed at how simple the solution was. You see, she had lived with "I can't" so long that she never tried to solve it. Once I changed her statement to a question, everything changed!Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website

Study Notes Ed Underwood The Bible, The New Testament, and the Gospels “And so he [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive their eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant” (Hebrew 9:15). We’re all born with questions in our heart that the two most basic sources of human knowledge—reason and experience—cannot answer: Who am I? Why am I here? Does anyone care about me, I mean really? History seems out of control, where is this world headed? God in His grace has provided another source of knowledge—revelation—to answer the questions of humanity concerning meaning and significance in life. The Bible claims to be God’s special revelation to the beloved centerpiece of His creation—men and women, boys and girls. Though God demonstrates that He’s there through the general revelation of His creation (Psalm 19:1-6) and has given every human heart the knowledge that He exists (Romans 1:18), His special revelation is His more direct communication to humanity. This may involve dreams, angels, and visions, but we receive special revelation primarily and most clearly through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2) and in the written words, paragraphs, and stories in the 66 Books of the Bible. Many people, even sincere Christians, struggle as we read through the Bible. We may be familiar with a few of the stories and we may have heard sermons about a number of passages. But we find it difficult to put the pieces of the Bible together and feel lost when we’re trying to read through an entire Book of the Bible. What we need is the big picture of the Bible—a broader understanding of how the Bible is put together and how the events, people, and places connect. This is what Bible students call a synthetic study of the Scriptures. We’re dedicating two years to a synthetic study of the Word of God—all 66 Books. And it begins today with this overarching sentence on the Bible: The Bible is God’s masterpiece written to rescue us by revealing God’s Son—Jesus Christ. The Bible contains 66 Books, 27 of those comprise the New Testament, which begins with the 4 Gospels— historical books that provide an accurate and variegated picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ. I. The New Testament is the Good News that completes the awesome story begun in the Old Testament of God’s majestic and merciful plan to rescue people and Creation from consequences of human sin (Romans 1:16-17). A. The Bible is divided between the 39 Books of the Old Testament and the 27 Books of the New Testament. The God of the Bible is the Creator and Redeemer of His creation. He is personally and intimately involved in the lives of people and is moving history according to His plan. The Cross of Jesus Christ—the Son of God’s substitutionary death for the sin of humanity that defiled creation— is the central event of history from God’s perspective. There is a progressive revelation in the Scriptures, meaning that the story and the message unfolds over time. The Old Testament anticipates the work of Israel’s coming King—Messiah—by telling the story of God’s chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The New Testament announces the birth of Messiah and reveals Him as the Son of God who came to take away the sin of humanity. It puts Jesus’ death in perspective and records the beginnings, teachings, and future of the church—those who have received God’s resurrection life, eternal life, by believing in His Son. Jesus Christ claimed to be the Key that unlocks the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-46). The Bible ends by claiming that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelations 22:13) and His announcement that He is coming again (Revelation 22:20). B. The title, “The New Testament,” transliterates the Greek words, He Kaine Diatheke, which literally means, “The New Covenant.” The term “Diatheke,” or Covenant, characterizes a last will and testament that is ratified when the testator dies. It is a binding covenant or legal contract that blesses the recipients when the benefactor dies. The New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ (Luke 22:20) and a person enters into that covenant relationship when he or she comes to God on His terms—belief in His Son (John 6:47). This covenant, or testament, is the unifying theme of the books of the New Testament (1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 8:7-13; 9:15-17). 1. The New Testament is a collection of books that tell one story — the story ofJ esus Christ and His church. They were written from about AD 40-96 in Koine (“common”) Greek. They were separately distributed among the churches of the early church and gradually collected together. 2. The Structure of the New Testament helps us understand the Big Picture! II. The Bible was not written merely to be understood. It was written to change our life by persuading us to believe in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and trusting Him and His Word in ways that will instruct us and give us enduring and encouraging hope. A. Enduring Hope: The New Testament presents the Gospel of Christ, the Good News that when Jesus came the first time it was to deliver us from sin (Romans 1:16-17). B. Encouraging Hope: The New Testament presents the Hope of the Church, the Promise that when Jesus comes again He will rule and reign in His Kingdom (Revelation 22:20).

Hebrews 3:1, who am I? Why am I here.

I'm finally opening up about my own story of becoming a mom on the podcast...sharing some of the struggles I faced that I kept a secret from family & friends and other things about motherhood. Some Things You'll Learn In This Episode: Who am I ? Why did I start this podcast for mothers ? What I really thought about being a mom... How my own childhood shaped my perception of motherhood. Shame about motherhood Maternal Mental Health What's coming up this month on the podcast and more....   Click Here to access the ressources & notes from this episode  Subscribe to the Citrus Love Newsletter  Join the Citrus Love Facebook Community HERE

This episode features a wide ranging conversation about the enneagram between Drew Moser and your host, Matt Brough. Drew covers some of the basics but also goes deep, especially in the areas of how our distinctive personalities effect our decision making. Drew speaks about his work as helping people navigate the big questions in life, such as Who am I? Why am I here? And Where am I going? Drew's latest book is The Enneagram of Discernment: The Way of Vocation, Wisdom, and Practice Matt Brough also shares about his upcoming book Let God Send: Crossing Boundaries and Serving in Christ's Name. Visit letgodsend.com for more details.

My long time friend, Dr. Mark Pitstick, and I had a wide-ranging chat on the nature of reality, the purpose of life, what awaits us after our physical body dies, and new develops in the field of technology, in particular, the SoulPhone, that will provide "proof" that we continue after our physical body ceases to function.Mark Pitstick, MA, DC, has over forty-seven years’ experience and training in hospitals, pastoral counseling settings, mental health centers, and private practice. His training includes a premedical degree, graduate theology/pastoral counseling studies, master's in clinical psychology, and a doctorate in chiropractic health care. He also has provided suicide prevention counseling and education to many people.Mark became aware of clairaudient experiences at age ten and has since been blessed with numerous miracles, revelatory, and spiritually transformative experiences.After working in hospitals with many suffering and dying adults and children, he was motivated to find sensible, evidence-based answers to the questions that many people ask: “Who am I? Why am I here? What happens after I die? Will I see my departed loved ones again? Is there a God? If so, why is there so much suffering? and How can I best live during this brief earthly experience?”Mark has written numerous books. On his website, you will find documentary films, CDs, and experiential workshops that address all of these questions and help you survive and even thrive through life’s biggest changes and challenges. Further, his work helps you discover how to enjoy the greatest life you have envisioned—no matter what your current circumstances.Mark is also the Director of the SoulPhone Foundation.You can find Mark at: https://www.soulproof.comSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/grief2growth)

The secret to breaking down limits is in making connections - getting to know the links between mind and spirit, spirit and body. Once you've stepped over those barriers, you can excel at your highest potential. Seamus Fox has been involved in the fitness industry for almost 15 years as a personal trainer and coach, in which time he has helped impact the lives of thousands through his love for health and fitness. He has worked with and coached premier league footballers, professional boxers and countless others to help them achieve the goals they want. His first business, FF Fitness, has impacted lives across Ireland and beyond. He is also the co-founder and owner of Elevate, a company that mentors personal trainers and coaches to build a profitable business in the fitness industry, and he has earned multiple awards including Young Businessman Of The Year in 2016.  On this episode of the Abundantly Clear podcast, Malorie and Seamus pull back the curtain on the mindset gap that keeps making money, serving people and nurturing your spirit separate from each other, the perpetual process of self-examination that leads to incredible growth (both personally and in business), and nurturing a healthy relationship with spirituality in a rapidly-changing world. Tune in for an unexpected twist on a typical episode with one of the most unique minds in fitness. You’ll Learn   Why, for all their passion, personal trainers frequently struggle to run an efficient, profitable business How Seamus got started on the path towards conquering the idea that he doesn't deserve all the good things he strives for What is beginning to change in up-and-coming entrepreneurs to make them more interested in their own consciousness   And much more! Favorite Quote “For me, it's just a constant stage and a constant progression of always looking to improve and always looking to learn more and always looking to go on more of the spiritual side of things and ask myself deeper questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What's my real purpose? What is the path? All those types of things. For me, it's always about self-discovery, because I approach where I'm at in myself and my business and in life as, I still don't really know enough or there's still more to learn. There's always progression.”  - Seamus Fox  Connect with Seamus: The Mindset Junkie Podcast Facebook (Join the Mindset Junkie group!) How to get involved Malorie has become an expert in helping people remove their mindset blocks, so they can experience the growth in their business and decrease in stress they desire. Check the site to learn more, download a freebie and stay connected. If you liked this episode, take a moment to subscribe on Apple Podcasts and post a review, or visit us here - and be sure to check out episodes 57, 63 and 24 to hear more from Malorie’s clients!

There is something so satisfying about solving a puzzle and especially when it comes to spiritual questions. Knowing our purpose helps us move forward when we feel stuck. Join us for a new sermon series to help answer some of these puzzling mysteries like who am I? Why am I here? Does God really love me? The answer is YES! More than you know.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is it that I'm supposed to do in this life? These are the questions we begin to answer on this episode of the Awaken Your Business Podcast. If you are ready to show up in your life more of who you are, allow Tim to discuss how you can bridge the gap between science and spirituality. So who is Tim?Tim Freke is a philosopher and author of 35 books, translated into more than 15 languages, including a Sunday Times bestseller and Daily Telegraph 'Book of the Year'. He is one of ‘The 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People’ on the 2020 list in Watkins Magazine (# 50). He has been nominated for Mind, Body and Spirit ‘Author of the Year’ 2020 in Kindred Spirit magazine. He is the founder of ‘Unividualism’, which combines evolutionary science and deep spirituality to offer a visionary new understanding of the nature of reality and the purpose of life. He now leads experiential
 Deep Awakening retreats internationally.If this has rattled your interest to know more, reach and and connect with Tim using the links below:https://www.youtube.com/timfrekehttps://www.facebook.com/TimFreke/https://timfreke.com If you are looking to collaborate with other heart-driven CEO's, feel free to jump into the community and introduce yourself here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/connectcontributecollaborate/Take care now!

In this exciting Part 1 of #YourCoaching Journey we have explored everything from dreams, to purpose, self-assurance, authenticity, trust and faith and so much more. We dived deep into negative routines and habits, limiting beliefs, assumptions and interpretations; seeing our daily patterns in a different light. Who am I? Why am I here? - common and yet difficult questions to answer. Nevertheless, with each new episode we managed to offer some insights and reveal, through examples and clear steps, that each and every one of us has the ability to become aware of our constant need to grow and improve. We like to believe that what we have created here in these 27 episodes is the next best thing after working with a professional coach. The evergreen quality of each topic makes it that much more important, as you revisit it each time when you have new questions or simply need some reassurance. And so we have reached the end of Part 1 and while awaiting the new and fresh content after the summer, here are 5 important REMINDERS that you may want to even guide yourself with for a while. We know a challenge is always a good incentive: Choose one of the 5 reminders and stick with it for a month. Thank you for listening and don’t forget to share, you never know who might need to hear this.

There is something so satisfying about solving a puzzle and especially when it comes to spiritual questions. Knowing our purpose helps us move forward when we feel stuck. Join us for a new sermon series to help answer some of these puzzling mysteries like who am I? Why am I here? Does God really love me? The answer is YES! More than you know.

There is something so satisfying about solving a puzzle and especially when it comes to spiritual questions. Knowing our purpose helps us move forward when we feel stuck. Join us for a new sermon series to help answer some of these puzzling mysteries like who am I? Why am I here? Does God really love me? The answer is YES! More than you know.

William Lane Craig asks, "Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?" Modern man has tried to answer those questions without reference to God, but the answers that came back were not exhilarating, but dark and terrible.But do our wishes determine what is true? Do our fears determine what is true? Or is reality what is true?The Absurdity of Life Without God | William Lane Craighttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqNTT0E_T70Support Paulogia athttp://www.patreon.com/paulogiahttp://www.paypal.me/paulogiahttps://teespring.com/stores/paulogiaPaulogia Audio-Only-Version Podcasthttps://paulogia.buzzsprout.comFollow Paulogia athttp://www.twitter.com/paulogia0http://www.facebook.com/paulogia0https://discord.gg/BXbv7DSSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/paulogia)

Introductory episode. What is "There Will Be Bourbon" about? Who am I? Why should you listen and subscribe? Find out now.

Episode: What am I? Why am I here? Why do I exist? In this episode, co-host Amy Hughes talks to Joshua R. Farris about the existential crisis-inducing subject of theological anthropology. Farris has written […]

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Just because someone is busier than you doesn’t mean they’re more important  Being busy isn’t an achievement Ask yourself: “What is my mission? What is the thing I came here to do?” – Greg McKeownOnce you’ve identified your mission and your important tasks, you can focus on them without having FOMO“Instead of the fear of missing out or FOMO, you start to have the joy of missing out or JOMO” “When you’re sleep deprived, the executive function of your brain goes down so you can’t discern properly between what’s important and what’s not important” – Greg McKeownTop performers tend to sleep 8.4 hours per nightYou don’t become successful and then become disciplined, you become disciplined and then you become successfulEvery day you should be writing out your to-do list and then prioritizing itCreate a new list every day, what was important yesterday isn’t always important todayTwo questions you need to ask yourself: Who am I?Why am I here?If you never ask yourself those questions, the stuff on your to-do list could be completely wrongeval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'podcastnotes_org-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',122,'0','0']));Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgGreg McKeown is a public speaker, leadership & business strategist and New York Times Bestselling Author. Do you feel busy but not productive? Like you're overworked but under-utilised? Do you struggle with information overload? Success breeds options & opportunities, which often undermines the things that lead to success in the first place. Today Greg teaches us the art of Essentialism; how not to fall into the undisciplined pursuit of more, how to avoid the trivial many and instead focus our attention onto the vital few. This podcast could change your life, don't miss it. Sponsor: Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (Enter promo code MODERNWISDOM for 85% off and 3 Months Free) Extra Stuff: Buy Essentialism - https://amzn.to/3bSd8jy Check out Greg's Website - https://gregmckeown.com/ Subscribe to Greg's Podcast - https://link.chtbl.com/zXR5Fdfq  Take a break from alcohol and upgrade your life - https://6monthssober.com/podcast Check out everything I recommend from books to products - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

I find myself doing less and less in front of the computer right now.  Maybe I don’t have the mental space? Maybe I’m too stressed?  Whatever it is, I’m struggling with the idea of spending a day online for the upcoming Toastmasters District  Conference. Why should I? Why should you? INTRO Are you interested in building … Continue reading "Attend Your Toastmasters District Conference" The post Attend Your Toastmasters District Conference appeared first on Toastmasters 101.

Today I'm jamming with Julian Guderley! His podcast GreenPlanet BluePlanet was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the "top 10  Podcasts that will help you grow in 2020". We dive into Julian's quest to identify, interview & collaboratively empower the key players in the regenerative movement and how our personal wellbeing is essential to this movement.Make sure to visit #PLANETARYPURPOSE Journaling Prompts:Who am I?Why am I here?What does it mean to be me? 

Molly speaks with two-spirit artist and Gender Reveal grant winner Elijah Forbes (he/him). Topics include: “What does being a man mean, and how attached to those meanings am I?” Why cis people prefer tragic trans stories to happy ones Censorship in trans and two-spirit art Navigating healthcare systems as a trans Indigenous person Plus: Why indie trans patreons always trump Disney Support Elijah’s work on GoFundMe as well as patreon.com/twospiritgroup, and join him at facebook.com/twospiritgroup and indigenouscomicscollective.com. You can find Elijah on social media @paintedturtleco and at paintedturtleco.com, where you can hire him for illustration work. You can also find Molly on recent episodes of the What The Trans!? podcast and Dear Prudence podcast. We’ve got all sorts of merch that raises money for trans designers & LGBTQ orgs! Browse our shirts, stickers, mugs and more at bit.ly/gendermerch.  Support Molly’s new full-time gender detective gig!  Pledge any amount at patreon.com/gender to receive our weekly newsletter. We also appreciate donations via PayPal or Cash App. Questions? Comments? Feelings? You can reach at genderpodcast.com or on Twitter or Instagram. Join the Gender Detectives Slack at bit.ly/genderslack2. Do you have gender questions that you’d like answered on the show? Submit questions anonymously via this Google form. Submit a piece of Theymail: a small message or ad that we’ll read on the show. Learn more about Molly’s trans-focused equity consulting company at Sylveon.co. Logo: Ira M. Leigh Music: Breakmaster Cylinder Sponsors: YOU! Thank you!

Episode 11: In this episode the host, Angie Gust, continues discussing John Travis’s 12 dimensions of wellness, focusing on the 11th dimension, life meaning. The idea of a meaning filled life intersects with several of the other dimensions of wellness  --feeling, thinking, communicating, sensing, to name a few and at its root are these fundamental questions: "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?" "What do I want?" "What contribution do I want to make during my time here?"  As we don’t want to wait until the late stages of our life to contemplate this issue, it might be good to consciously set aside time to reflect on what a meaningful life might look like for us. In terms of the environment, Angie discusses the large impact plastic is having on climate change.   References Bruggers, J. Jan 24, 2020 Booming Plastics Industry Faces Backlash as Data About Environmental Harm Grows. Accessed 1 February 2020 https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16012020/plastics-marine-oceans-climate-change-oil-gas-carbon-emissions Buettner, D. (2012). The blue zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Geographic. Center for International Environmental Law. Plastic and Climate: The hidden costs of a plastic planet. Accessed 4 February 2020 https://www.ciel.org/plasticandclimate/ Goodreads. Mother Teresa quotes.  Accessed 29 January 2018 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1139478-people-are-often-unreasonable-irrational-and-self-centered-forgive-them-anyway Seventh Day Adventists.  Living a healthful life.  Accessed 1 February 2019 https://www.adventist.org/en/vitality/health/ Travis, J. W., & Ryan, R. S. (1988). The wellness workbook. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press.   UN News. Accessed 2 February 2020  https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055871 UN News. UN chief outlines solutions to defeat ‘four horsemen’ threatening our global future. Accessed 2 February 2020 https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055791 UN News Jan22,2020 Geopolitical tensions. The climate crisis. Global mistrust. The dark side of technology Accessed 2 February 2020   https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055791    

Duke Preston shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his goals and challenges as Director of Player Engagement for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Duke is a former University of Illinois offensive lineman who was drafted in the 5th round by the Buffalo Bills in 2006. He also played for the Dallas Cowboys. After the NFL, he initially worked for the Notre Dame Athletic Department and football team before Lovie Smith hired him to the Bucs.Duke has a unique perspective since his father, Raymond Preston, played for the San Diego Chargers for nine years. Duke played in the NFL for 5 years and now he has been with the Bucs front office for the past 5 years.Duke mentors the rookies in helping them make the adjustment to the NFL. He asks his rookies to answer the following three identity questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? The answers to those three questions tell Duke a lot about the player’s identity, maturity, motivation and likelihood of success in the NFL.Duke is a big part of the Bucs pre-draft evaluation process in that he interviews prospects at the all-star games and NFL Combine. He uses a unique approach to find out about a prospect’s mindset and whether he has a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. In this Pro Mindset Podcast, he shares a lot of nuggets about how he gets to know players and their motivations so he can assist the organization in drafting the best and most-likely-to-succeed players.

II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:29; Mark 12:29-31By: We live in a day and time where people are searching to answer some vital questions. Who am I? Why am I here? Many lives are full of busy-ness without much depth and meaning. We are beginning a new series that will lead us to biblical answers about our identity and purpose. If you are born-again, you are a new creation. Old things have passed away and new things have come. Take a journey with me into discovering who God says you are and embrace your God-given destiny.

In this episode the host Jason B. Godoy shares with you the national holidays that you can celebrate every year on 1/15 along with the a special New national holiday for the first time ever on 1/15/2020. The host Jason also shares his most recent personal experience of trying to meet with an friend out in Los Angeles to record an interview episode for the podcast. Jason connects this experience back to times in his life where he failed to have a clear sense of direction because he never had any big dreams. At the end of the episode you will hear a series of 4 questions: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? What do I plan on doing with that? These are the 4 questions the host uses to cultivate his vision, reconnect with his life and get clear on his purpose for doing what ever he is doing in that specific moment. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wakeupwithwonder/message

In this podcast, Anand discusses with his audience, the deep longing to find out what’s really going on and the desire to answer the fundamental questions: Who am I? What am I? Why am I here? ‘And when we realise that there is a longing that arises from there which is to know, that is mumukshutva, to really know, and to go to that fundamental level of ourself…’  

Who the f* am I? Why am I here? What are we trying to accomplish? My name is Chris, I'm 5'8 and a tad portly, and I'm 2,000+ days sober. Ever since I've stopped drinking and snorting my way through life, I've become less and less of a prick and subsequently faithful as fuck to Jesus. Not bible-belt judgmental asshole Jesus... but more like the guy that knows I'm an imperfect human asshole and loves my shit (and yours) anyway Jesus. I'm done sitting on the sidelines and am thirsty to help people that are struggling and literally fucking dying from alcoholism, addiction, and suffocating castrating fucking grief. Join us. Let's fucking do this. And as always, let us fucking pray. facebook.com/pondoffsanonymousinstagram.com/pondoffsanonymouspondoffsanonymous.com

Who am I? Why have I started this Podcast? What can you expect? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/networkofentertainment/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/networkofentertainment/support

Let’s pose a few questions that are the framework and reason I’m doing this. Who am I? Why am I doing this? Am I doing it right? What in the fuck is life?

I Why does God become flesh? What's His purpose in this? To make an old age cease and a new age start. As Beginning and End, God Himself starts His work, ends old age. It proves He's conquered Satan and the world. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. II Each time God works in flesh, a new battle does start. Without God's new work, the old cannot end. And the fact that the old work has yet to conclude shows war with Satan is not yet complete. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. III Only when God Himself comes and does a new work can mankind break free from Satan's control. If God didn't come to work, there wouldn't be a new start, new life. Man would be doomed to the old age under Satan's stronghold. IV With each age led by God, a part of man is set free. God's work takes them towards the new age where they're free. With each age led by God, a part of man is set free. All who follow God share in His victory. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. The Beginning and the End is God. He's the Sower and the Reaper. from "The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)" in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In the 1980s, Cuba responded to the threat of AIDS unlike any other country in the world: by isolating all who tested positive in sanatoria. New and deadly pandemics loom in our future. Armed with 40 new and unpublished interviews of Cubans connected to the HIV epidemic, we revisit the Cuban quarantine to interrogate the role isolation and quarantine should play in confronting infectious disease worldwide. (0:00-10:20) Series intro: Who am I? Why should you listen to my podcast? Why should we care about HIV in Cuba? (10:20-15:45) From Mariel to Los Cocos: on Gay life in Cuba (15:45-21:15) Interview with Dr. Miguel Rojas-Sotelo (21:15-39:45) Historical overview of the Cuban epidemic (39:45-48:30) Cubans criticize the Cuban response. SOUND CREDITS: Mob Noise (11:53): from user FillMat on FreeSound.org MUSIC: Intro: Artist: Chad Crouch Song: Algorithms URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chad_Crouch/Arps/Algorithms Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (10:00) Artist: Frank Guerrero y Su Grupo Aché Song: "Fui Yo" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Frank_Guerrero/En_Beta_01/02_-_Frank_Guerrero_y_su_grupo_Ach_-_Fui_Yo Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: ccCommunity Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Artist: Blue Dot Sessions (3:20) Song: "Li Fonte" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Architect/Li_Fonte Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Music for Video Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (24:10) Song: "Order of Entrance" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Architect/Order_of_Entrance Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Music for Video Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (29:05) Song: "Cast in Wicker" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Aeronaut/Cast_in_Wicker Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (35:50) Song: "Heliotrope" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Aeronaut/Heliotrope_1250 Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Music for Video Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Outro: Artist: Milkshake Daddy Song: "Super Sloppy Space Junk" URL: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Milkshake_Daddy/Aquatic_Ape_Hypothesis/08_Super_Sloppy_Space_Junk Comments: http://freemusicarchive.org/ Curator: Oddio Overplay Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: http://creativecommons.org/licenses

We've collectively and individually been going through some huge changes for at least the last five years (if not longer). Not just a change in hair color... but big, sweeping shifts where we force ourselves to let go of who and what we THOUGHT we needed to be... to finally being to honor the full embodiment of our Divine Self, from love (and beyond ego). This seems to be a new challenge and is tripping up many, as we begin to ask ourselves, "If I have a blank slate and can BE and DO whatever from that blank slate, what would that look like? Who am I?" Why this has come up... and some things that can be done to help movement into this new paradigm!

On this episode, you'll hear about the instability of someone who had dealt with an identity crisis. Who am I? Why don't they like me? Questions that matter to someone lost in a false identity. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theconfessionsofalayd/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theconfessionsofalayd/support

I wake up on the road in intense pain. I don’t know what’s happened. Who are these people? Where am I? Why is my right shoulder killing me? But it’s only when I get home from the hospital that the extent of my injuries start to emerge. I can’t read, I can listen to music, I can’t be around my family. What's happening?Production creditsWriter and producer: Sarah AllelyCo-Producer: Olivia RosenmanSound design: Ariana Martinezhttps://brainonnature.com/2019/09/05/the-accident-episode-1/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When we feel empty inside, we often try to put on a facade for those around us. We chase happiness to fill us up, but when we catch it, it slips away and leaves us empty again. This week, Pastor Jarrod explains what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah have to teach us about (re)building lasting joy and how that differs from chasing happiness. In this series, Pastor Jarrod has been exploring each Book of the Bible to see how each approaches the biggest questions of life such as Who am I? Why am I here? Where do I find meaning? Where do I find purpose? To listen to more on this series, visit us at GraceOC.com/series

For today’s episode I am focusing on the energy of the houses ruled by the fire signs Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. There are a few questions to consider when listening; Who am I? Why am I the way that I am? Who do I want to be? How can I know myself separate from those around me? Enjoy!

Who am I? Why am I making this podcast? What is it about? Find out! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When you're working in the financial industry, most approaches are very cookie cutter. But if you want to be your own person, how do you really break out of the mold? How do you start your own practice to emphasize where your passion in finance is really at, and do so successfully? In this episode, Aaron Hattenbach, founder of Rapport Financial shares his journey from working for bigger financial service firms to having his independent service firm which to date has now managed over 500 million in client assets. Schedule a Meeting with Aaron: https://rapportfinancial.com/ ------ Automated Transcript Below: Dean Soto 0:00 Hey, this is Dean Soto, founder of freedom in five minutes.com. And we're here again with another freedom in five minutes podcast episode. Today's topic, is this going independent as a financial advisor. That and more coming up. Alright, cool. So we have a really cool show we had we actually been talking right before this a lot. And I'm like, oh, man, we gotta we gotta save this content for the actual show. But I'm here with Aaron Hattenbach, man, is this gonna be awesome. So Aaron, he is the founder and managing member of Rapport Financial. It's a boutique independent advisory firm, with a decade of experience in wealth management in the wealth management industry, having managed over 500 million in client assets. That's crazy man. Aaron works with young tech professionals in the early stages of wealth accumulation, as well as high net worth clients, with a particular focus on physicians and business owners. So without further ado, man, I'm so glad you're here with us, Aaron, how's it going? Aaron Hattenbach 1:17 Happy to be here. It's going well, for a Monday. Dean Soto 1:22 Well, it's cool. So one of the things that piqued my interest about you so so obviously, I have my claws out there trying to find really interesting podcast guests. I've reached out to several, you know, CFPB, sort certified financial planners, financial advisors, things like people like that. And there's one thing that is very different about you, when it comes to financial services in general. And that is, right off the bat, you you can tell that you are you, you have your own way of doing things, you you, you kind of have broken the mold. And we can go into this a little bit. But it seems to me in when you're doing any type of financial advising any securities, anything's like that. It's very cookie cutter people are very much on the defensive, because there's so many regulations and so on. And so when I saw you, I was like, Oh, my gosh, this guy's doing content this guy's doing like, just, he's teaching other people how to run their firms and things like that, I need to have this guy on this on the show, because that is one of the hardest things to do in your industry. So all that being said, I want to get your entire background, you used to work for these big Merrill Lynch, bigger financial services firms. And now you are your own person, and it was not an easy ride. How did that happen? Give us a little bit of background on your entire story. Aaron Hattenbach 2:54 Yeah, so Dean, I started working right after the financial crisis graduated from from Brandeis in 2009. And really, this all came from an experience working at the attorney general's office on a case against some of the largest financial institutions and lenders that essentially contributed to the major mortgage meltdown that we saw, and I felt a passionate need to work on the side of the consumer and financial services, not on the side of the sales side, selling the institutions, and creating products, I really wanted to help shelter individuals, families, high net worth individuals across the gamut, and educate them really. So my passion is financial education. And I felt that I needed to start my own practice in order to emphasize that without limitations. So to backtrack to that to 2010. I started with Alliance Bernstein, they're very large, firm publicly traded, it worked for a couple of independent firms, one of which is hopefully going to go public, and I can cash out my stock at some point. And then found myself at Merrill Lynch and the advisor training program, built up a decent practice for myself. But I continue to find the same issues where I wanted to really be a holistic financial planner, cover everything that's beyond investing, because quite frankly, I think there's this misconception that, that building a portfolio is what an advisor gets paid for. I think in order to earn 1%, on a portfolio, you have to be doing full financial planning, and that, that covers retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, stock options, planning, looking at an employer benefits package. So what I did was I saw this trend at the large institutions that were focused primarily on portfolio management, and recognize that the future of financial planning and wealth advisory for that matter, is helping people with everything personal finance related, and if you're not doing that, you're going to lose clients, or you're going to have clients that are going to question what you're charging them. So I created Rapport Financial back in early 2017, with only a few clients and with a vision that I was going to go well beyond the investing in helping my clients, but specifically focusing on young tech professionals that were from age 22 to 23, to 35, in the accumulation phase of life, trying to accumulate for a home purchase to start a family for a number of goals that quite frankly, in in this economy where the price of goods are going up, wages are staying stagnant, was becoming I think, less and less of it over reality. And so I wanted to show people that through a full financial planning process that I created, that they can attain these goals and a time window that is feasible, and not have to be waiting decades to to eventually, you know, be a homeowner. Yeah, it's, it's worked out really well. I really love my client base, I pick who I want to work with. And, you know, I cover everything from my clients even as far as if a client is going off on their own and creating a marketing consulting business, how to negotiate compensation, how to, you know, position themselves, with with the with, with, with strength, so they're, they're going in there and saying, you know, what, I don't need this opportunity. I like it. But here's what I'm worth. And so, there's so much more than just the investments, and that's what I get excited about is, I can actually make an impact on people's lives beyond picking ETFs and funds. Dean Soto 6:52 I love that man. It's it's, it's definitely something that is different, because I've had a couple of clients in the financial services realm. And, you know, it's, it is a very, like, we like I said before, it's very, it's a very defensive industry, they that you you can, that you had your you have your standard cookie cutter, typically focused toward like what we talked about prior to the podcast toward baby boomer type, folks, and anytime you wanted to go any do anything that was outside of the box, you have to go and get it through compliance, right? content, it can be a whatever structure, you want to do it just tons of having to go through compliance when you're working with a big business. So like, so I can see how easily that can be frustrating if you're working for a bigger company like that. What were some of the pitfalls, that or it's not pitfalls, but like what is something that you just did not expect once you left? The big companies that that you feel what it that pretty much every single financial advisor is going to run into? Aaron Hattenbach 8:10 Yeah, so I think advisors are trained on how to advise, right? Very, very plain and simple. I'm not going to get into the nuances of what a financial advisor does, I think, you know, it's very, very well publicized. But we're not taught how to own and run a business. We're not told how to hire employees, how to select vendors, how to really create a business from scratch. And I think that is the challenge for any entrepreneur is you might have an area of expertise, and a knowledge base. But if you haven't started a business before, you're in for quite the experience. And I know that you know this Dean. So when I started this business, I had done months of preparation. And in fact, probably about five or six years of preparation in my head. And in collecting documentation that I thought would be used fault. I created a dropbox folder that I knew at some point I was going to tap it when I was writing. And and it really token a conversation with a client of mine who was working with me since 2010. I'm only 32 years old now. So that's that's saying a lot that he stuck with me for 10 years, and hopefully, many, many years to come. But he said to me, I'm not moving my account and the relationship, you must be starting your own practice. And so that gave me the confidence that I don't think I don't think anybody is ready necessarily to start a business. Yeah, but there's no perfect time, you're not going to have everything mapped out. It's not all going to line up like a puzzle. But I think what I found in running a business for the past two and a half years, and even going back to Day One is you need to be willing to adapt, you need to be willing to constantly put time and resources into learning. And and I quite frankly, I'm constantly looking at my business and poking holes in it and saying, Where can I improve the client experience? How can I improve the infrastructure of technology? What can I outsource on a day to day basis, that is not my core competency. And quite frankly, also is compliant. Because I it's I you know, as much as compliance is talked about working at Maryland, Morgan Stanley, I still have a compliance department that I outsource. And I'm still subject to the same regulations, it's just a very different experience in terms of, you know, day to day, if I send a client an email or a personal note, I don't have to run it by someone to, you know, in order to get this to the client, I can, I am my own compliance officer, in fact, but I do still have to be subject to the same regulations. But I would say, you know, in a nutshell, being your own boss, setting up the infrastructure, really making a lot of decisions in a short time window and saying, Okay, well, you know, I'm going to do the best that I can do. And then the other thing to do is, is I kept all my contracts very short in nature, because I realized that if I made a mistake and selected a vendor that that wasn't appropriate for the business I was creating, if I did a month to month model, where I may be paid a little bit more instead of an annual contract and that I was locked into, at the very least I could get out of that and select a different vendor that made more sense for my business. So there are a number of things that I did and including, I would say, reading a lot of kids this articles, you know, I given back to that that blog, in recent years, because ultimately, I relied almost exclusively on kids, this is content. And I feel like there's there's enough content out there that if you're an advisor, and you're saying, You know what, I feel stuck, I'm not Merrill Lynch, or Morgan Stanley, I'm never leaving the sandbox, or I'm going to move from Merrill the Morgan because I don't want to go independent, I would challenge them and say, there's so many resources out there on the internet, and so many people that are willing to help that all of those pain points and all those reasons to not go independent. I can respond with here, here's what I think and give them the tools and show them how they can empower themselves. It's really, really neat. And this didn't exist, you know, 10, 15 years ago. Now, there are technology providers, we're talking dozens for every category that are that are built for the independent advisory channel. I mean, I can build a better tech stack than Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley has internally that is cool, and do so cheaper, and have and have the ability to say, you know, what, if I don't like what they're doing anymore, there are 10 more competitors that I can go to. Dean Soto 12:51 Oh yeah, I love I love that. Because like, because it's, it's, it's it's riding the wave of well not really the wave, but actually, you know, like, breaking the mold, and then just riding the wave of, of the fact that things are changing. I mean, you could have just sat there and complained and just been like, well, I'm just this is what I do. I you know, I was trained as an advisor, and I'm just going to, but you took on the entire the entire business, which involves marketing, involves bookkeeping involves it involves, like you said, still involves compliance. But how can I do compliance where I'm still flexible in in various ways? And how can I give? How can I, with where I, where you're at right now? How could you do what Merrill Lynch does, but do it faster? Do it more in with with a more caring touch with your clients? Because that's one of the things about you is you actually go after you you are I shouldn't say go after but you are, you will definitely take on different type of client than your traditional advisor. Traditional advisors go after boomers who Aaron Hattenbach 14:07 Yeah, boomers is an older and younger, that are that are retiring or nearing retirement, and have accumulated enough and assets to work with, quote unquote, a traditional financial advisor. Yep. What's interesting is, I noticed, in my time working at Merrill working in Hightower, working at concentric, that a lot of my peers were looking for financial advice. They didn't trust automating all of their finances. So you've got a lot of these robo advisors, which I think provide a great product, but they're not in comprehensive planning service. Yeah, um, you know, they're not going to tell you how to max out your employee benefits package. Yeah, they're not going to tell you to fund an HSA, when you have a high deductible health care plan. They're just there. They're intended to fill a gap. But they're not necessarily there to cover everything personal finance related. Yeah. So I saw a gap in a really in need in my field where advisors were not gearing their practices towards young professionals that are high income earners, what I call Henry's high earners, not rich yet. Yeah, I didn't come up with that term. But as an - Dean Soto 15:20 That's an awesome term. Aaron Hattenbach 15:21 Yeah. But being here in the Bay Area, you know, incomes are, are substantially higher than the median income in the country. And people here have to face high cost of living. But what I've noticed is with with some simple tweaks, and putting them through my five step process, I can get them from a point where they feel like they're not saving anything to where they're maxing out their retirement accounts, they have monthly ACH is going into their investment accounts. And they feel like they're in a position now, where they financially have a understanding of what the future looks like and why they work. Yeah, like, I challenge my clients. Why? Why are you working? Like, what is it that you're working for? Is it the money? Is it the passion? Is it a combination of the two, but at the end of the day, if we plan ahead, and we we build a full plan for their finances, which I do for them using incredible technology, that, quite frankly, I think, is on par if not better than some of these larger institutions. Um, I think I can provide the same level if not more, of a of a comprehensive planning service at a lower cost, too. So that's the other thing is that I think financial planning in general, comes with a high ticket cost, right at a high, high price. How can we lower the costs so that people that aren't high income earners, but really need my services, I can sit down with them, build them plan in a couple hours of time. And now they can sit down and every year and say, Okay, here's our plan of action, here the things I can do to improve the efficiency of my overall financial livelihood. And then at the end of the day, they start making better decisions totally. Dean Soto 17:11 And what what better way to what better way to keep clients and to grow with them? Because I know, in I mean, in my industry, when people when people work with me, like, my goal is to make them more money or save more time. But usually, the making them more money is is the one that people they they're like, Oh crap, why would I not keep on going? Aaron Hattenbach 17:38 Right? That takes a precedent. Dean Soto 17:39 Yeah. And so like, for you, your immediate, you know, if even if they're not making a lot right now, every little time they're making more than they would have, they're like, why would I not keep on working with Aaron, like, I'm just gonna continue as they start becoming rich, because they're Henry's, as they start becoming much more it building different egg, acquiring different assets becoming their portfolio actually growing, getting better jobs, or building bigger businesses, whatever it is, you're the first person they're going to go to, because you've already proven with these small things, as it keeps growing, that you are that you know what you're doing, and you're you're always building their best interest. Aaron Hattenbach 18:25 Right. And the whole thing is the trusted advisor capacity where I think I go beyond the traditional financial advisor. And there are there are many advisors, I know that do this, it does follow the same kind of narrative, which is, you know, they get invited to their clients, weddings, they become kind of a pseudo member of the family. But really, what it comes down to is like, I think you can't have three 400 clients and do this, you just can't, because clients are going to move to new cities, they're going to start families, you know, they move to a new city, you've got to make sure that they buy renter's insurance, and they're renting, or they buy homeowners insurance, that they're purchasing, helping them getting a mortgage and pre qualified. I mean, there are so many touch points in my clients lives where I want them calling me and I've essentially built this practice. And I've, I've trained them, in essence to call me anytime they have a major life event. Okay. So if you have a kid, we need to look into life insurance, right? So there's just so many ways I can help the client and this is my passion is the educational component. And then, as one of my clients put it recently, a hand holding, like knowing that you're not going into this experience, and and going on one website and doing some research and questioning the decision you made, because you were short on time, or you didn't have a second opinion from someone who does this full time. Yeah, right. And at the end of the day, it's like, I look at myself, as a general practitioner, physician in finance, Oh, I love that. That's where my job is if my job is really to diagnose, and then if I I'm not the expert on that subject matter whether it's insurance, mortgage, I have resources, I have people I can that I trust that I would go to for insurance and a mortgage myself. And I can connect them with my client. And I can also be involved in the process and make sure that my client is aware of everything, right from that financial standpoint. And it's really, I think it's one of those business models that it doesn't pay as much as advising two or 300 clients and putting them into mutual funds and meeting with them once a year to check in on them. But I do think that this is the future for my generation, they're going to want this hand holding Yeah, they're going to be willing to pay a premium for it. And I really firmly believe that if you don't migrate your business towards this, this more white glove level of service, you're going to get caught with your pants down. And I certainly would rather be ahead of the curve, make a little bit less, but know that I'm a fiduciary. And that I'm building a sustainable long term business that I can bring other advisors into, and feel good about what we're doing. Right like and make a good living eventually. Dean Soto 21:10 Yeah, I love it. So so with with all of this, it kind of leads into the fact that not only are you helping your clients, but you're actually helping other advisors, do what you're doing and and start, because really, this is the way that you're doing this is a is a new model, Aaron Hattenbach 21:31 a new blueprint, Dean Soto 21:32 it's totally a new blueprint. And you're spot on with that with the hand holding. I mean, my father in law doesn't want any hand holding, you just like, take my money, give me return. And back for me. I'm like, and everyone that I know, that's of my age, or younger, is there like, you know, I want someone that's a little bit of a mentor, and a little bit of have some coach? Yeah, Coach were great making decisions. They're also saying, you know, you should do this as well, because, like, it's just because it's I don't, I don't you know, for me, I like that hand holding so. So how are you training other people? How are you? How are you building up these other advisors, like advisors who are really given their new different type of client, right? Aaron Hattenbach 22:25 Sure. So advisors come to me at different stages of their careers, I'm finding most of the advisors that want to work with me, on an ongoing basis are advisors that have worked in the industry for a decade or two, they've primarily worked at at large institutions like Merrill Lynch, Morgan, Stanley, UBS, and plenty of other firms for that matter, and they have a large client base, but they are now realizing that, you know, for a number of reasons, it could be headline risk, you know, a major financial firm has a huge lawsuit, or, or a, you know, you can even point to the Wells Fargo opening up of fraudulent accounts are opening up of accounts that clients had not, you know, had not approved. So, I think a lot of advisors are finding that the institutions that they've relied on for name brand, and and and that power has kind of dissipated post 2008 2009. And I think, you know, it rightly so, right. Yeah, these institutions lost our trust, and got bailed out by by the government. And so, you know, it's really interesting, the ones that come from these institutions, what I have to do is, is basically overcome their obstacles and fears of growing independent, yeah. teach them about the infrastructure that's available to them. And what I'll do is, after this podcast, I'm happy to provide you with a couple of links for your listeners, for various, you know, whether it's finance, tech solutions for CRM, and billing and all that. I think it's an educational process. And if the advisors is experiencing so much pain at Morgan, or Merrill, or UBS or Raymond James, whatever, they're going to want the education. Yeah. And if they want the education I have, and I can teach them, why it makes sense for them to go independent. You know, what, it's going to end up costing them annually to run their practice based on what they're looking for, because no advisory practice is the same. Yeah, this is what I found. And I'm not going to say, hey, my model, and the way I work is the right one for every single advisor that I consult with. Now, of course, now I get to know them understand what they're looking for, what are they specializing in? where their clients, what services they provide? What do they charge? You know, I have a whole list of profiling questions that I have to rely on in order to get a comprehensive intake of who that advisor is, and what they're looking to do with their business. And ultimately, at the end of the day, it's educating and it's basically telling them here are the different vendors that I think makes sense. And then also coaching them on how to negotiate because they've been a big enterprises that have done the negotiating for them. So, you know, say Salesforce is offering you this financial services cloud for two grand here. Well, you know, you should know that they have sales people that have quarterly goals do. So if you can get them at the end of the quarter and say, hey, look, you know, $2,000 will read for me, but I can I can do 1400, well, a lot of this stuff is negotiable. And so I think you have to be your own advocate, you have to not just accept the answer as is. And it's ultimately it's like going back to school, again, you've got to go and you've got to embrace it, and realize that you're making an investment in not just your business, but your clients futures. And yeah, for me, this is, this has been really exciting. It's something that I added to my practice after doing this for two and a half years. But in addition, what I've done is I've taken the best of Maryland's the best of Hightower, the best of Bernstein, the best of like working in these different models within wealth management, and said, okay, because I've been exposed to all these different technology vendors, now I do have the ability to say to you, okay, well, your reporting needs are more extensive than mine, here are the reporting platforms that work. So that's been in essence, what I am, is I'm, I'm an advisor consultant on the side, and I do this not because it's going to make me a ton of money, but because I want to pay it forward. And I do feel like there are so many advisors that are capable of doing this, and just with a little more education and knowledge, they can, they can go off on their own, and they can not just build a practice that they're proud of, but a practice that they can eventually, you know, give to the next generation. Yeah. And, and set up and set up a practice that, that is sustainable, long term, and isn't reliant on an institution, it's, you know, it's, it's cool, you're setting up a legacy for yourself. Dean Soto 27:12 I love that it's instead of instead of, you know, working and building somebody else's legacy, which was like a big, you know, the big Merrill Lynch or whatever you're, you're spot on like, you can, you can totally give that to the next generation. Now that it's now that it's becoming possible. And you're showing that this is actually becoming possible to be to that it's much, much easier now than it was 10 years ago, to become an independent financial advisor. Aaron Hattenbach 27:41 There's just so much I think, because of the growth and if you look in financial services, right now, across the map, outside of wealth management, you know, most areas of financial services are experiencing a slowdown, because of technology out there, the fees are going down your tech companies doing direct listings and avoiding an investment bank. But what's really interesting is the one area that is expanding and expanding at an amazing clip, is this rush to independence. And you're seeing, I get emails every day about, you know, firms that are leaving a big, or teams that are leaving a big, firm and going independent. And it's like this has been going on the past 10 years, you're seeing the RIA channel, the registered investment advisory channel, grow double to double digits, and you're seeing the Merrill Lynch's Morgan Stanley wire house model, really just trying to hold on for dear life. And and they're also I think, really, I think, not geared towards the next generation. And the advisors are in their 50s and 60s, the average age of an advisor in those models. And ultimately, what they're doing is they're not setting up the next generation of their client tells kids and grandkids with a service model that's going to run with them. And so for me, it was okay, I can't be at a firm that is not going to really embrace the fact that a the next generation of wealth is looking for a different experience, different fee structure. And they're just holding on for dear life and trying to just keep keep the boat, you know, sailing, right, I'm for lack of a better analogy, I wanted to be ahead of the curve and recognize that the next gen of wealth is coming to me with with a different, a different service need. And if those big firms were not going to embrace it, I was going to create it. But what's interesting is Merrill Lynch and Schwab have created digital monthly subscription models in the last couple months, which I did two and a half years ago. Yeah. And it just it boggles my mind that they're now rushing into this. And, you know, who knows how their how that how that, you know, how the actual service model works? But it's just like, too little too late. Dean Soto 30:03 Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, and and the Met, it would be hard to get a resonating message from one of those big firms to the younger generation? Aaron Hattenbach 30:17 Well, I mean, I'll give you an example. I use Google Apps for a lot of a lot of my client intake. And it just feels like there's so many cool free ish, bringing tools available to advisors. And because those firms, unfortunately, for them, they they have to go through their public companies. Their their approval process is lengthy. Yeah, it all has to be built internally, you know, they're not able to use the best of, of technology tools that someone like me or another advisor has available Dean Soto 30:51 and and Aaron Hattenbach 30:53 open architecture model. It's Yeah, we I compared as it's like, you know, Apple and Android, right. So but, you know, in many cases, people love Apple, it's a closed architecture system is it's great, it's safe. But there are people that prefer more customization. And, you know, I would say, my model makes a lot of sense. And a lot of independent firms models make a lot of sense for people that are not looking for that very, like simple, I would say, archaic way of managing wealth, which is charge a person on a whim, and and set up a quarterly meeting, it's purely based on the portfolio returns. Dean Soto 31:36 Yeah, no, I love that, man. I love it. I love it. And it definitely is. Even with, with utilizing those apps and the free the freemium type apps like that, it's what it's what my generation and and younger generation are used to. Right, and you're speaking the language, just even in something like that. So. So that's, I mean, I love it and actually kind of corresponds with so I always ask the five minute mindset shift question like the five minute like, strategic business decision that people can make that you that, that that you made, that changed the trajectory of your business? And and so in your five minute one, because you're so thorough, and you actually do the questionnaire, when I said to podcast, get you talk about your five minute mindset shift question is, it is based actually on questions, and asking your client questions, whether it be someone who's your financial advising or somebody, you're trying to help become an independent advisor. Can you talk more about that? Aaron Hattenbach 32:50 Sure. So I don't go into any meetings without an agenda in advance. For my existing clients, and then for prospective clients, they book a time with me on my calendar, a tool, countless booking appointments. But I send them this financial planning checklist that I'm happy to offer to your listeners as well. And the checklist is really meant to gear the client for a conversation that is going to expand upon the investments. And so this checklist has a series of items that think of it as you know, an intake form when you go and see a doctor like. So in this case, you'll have your previous three years of tax returns, disability benefits, coverage, 401k, and other retirement accounts. And it goes on and on. So really the point of that being I want the prospective clients and know that like this call is going to go beyond just talking about my investment philosophy, or what you're looking for in a portfolio. Yeah, that's secondary. Primary to me, is the number one question I ask is, what are you looking for in a relationship with a financial advisor? Yeah, advisor, financial planner, investment advisor, there's so many monitors and names for what we do. But at the end of the day, it's not about me, right? When I am sitting down or having a zoom call with a prospective client, I need to know what they're looking for. If I can provide a service that matches what they're looking for, then let's move forward in the process. Let's, let's have you contact a few of my clients and ask about their client experience for reference checking, and then continue through my five step process. But if they're looking for something where they're like, hey, I want to be hands off entirely, I don't want to participate in this. I just want my portfolio manage, then I'm out there advisor. Yeah. And I have to recognize that and see that for what it is. Yeah. So I started off every call with that question. And I I completely shut up. Like I asked them this question. And I hope bit before the call, they've reviewed the checklist and the questions, and they've given it some thought, as far as what they're looking for. Dean Soto 35:09 I love that. Aaron Hattenbach 35:10 Right? Because in essence, it's like any other service that you that you look for out there. You're the consumer, you're empowered. Yeah. And you have so many different options. Well, why should I work with this service professionals? Yep. Because I like trust, and feel that their service model resonates and speaks to me, right? Yeah. So if they're looking for a comprehensive financial planner, that is going to help with budgeting that's going to help with with selecting of health insurance policies, and then their employer plan, then my firm is going to be the right service provider. But again, that they're looking for just a portfolio manager to babysit their money. Don't get me wrong, I can do that. But I get so much more satisfaction out of really building a full financial puzzle for my clients, and putting the pieces together. And also, what I what what I found is my clients need to be participants in this process. Yeah. And they're unwilling to complete intake forms, and complete some of the homework that I asked them in order for me to give them the best advice, then it's going to be more of a hassle for me, if I have to chase them down and remind them to do something that is actually going to benefit them. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, some people quite frankly, don't want to put in the time. And kind of where I go back to the advisor, consultant practice. If I see that the advisor wants to independent, but they're unwilling to put in the time, then it's like, Is that going to make for good consulting client? For me? Probably not, yeah, I would rather make less money and have an advisor. That is that is a go getter that is committed to this, that is saying, I've got both feet out the door. I'm not dipping my toes in the water, I am convinced that this is the model I need to pursue. That's a good client, someone that is just looking for an answer to one or two questions is probably not ready to go independent. And I seen that so much. I know. It frustrates me because it's like these people are like, being successful at a wire houses is hard. I mean, one out of 100 advisors eventually becomes a million dollar producer. Yeah. So it is not for the faint of heart and the success percentages at these firms. We're talking in the the low single digits. Okay. So the fact the matter is, these are these are talented people that have the ability to both build trust, and they understand capital markets, and clearly have been able to build rapport with their client base. Yeah, yeah. But but the final step of the process is, you know, building a product of building a practice that you're proud of, but also that you feel you're giving your clients the best possible service offering. Yeah. And I just firmly don't believe that cross selling my clients, and making commissions on a variety of products is in my clients best interest? I just I don't I don't subscribe to that model. And I think, probably 80 to 90%, if not more of advisors don't as well. Dean Soto 38:32 Yeah. But but but to have to actually build something around that belief. You have to be able to put in the work. Aaron Hattenbach 38:44 It's what what it comes down to is your any life transition, whether you're taking a new job moving to a new city, getting married and starting a family. None of this stuff is easy. Like you can you can read books and and arm yourself with a ton of knowledge. But at the end of the day, it's Do you feel confident enough to be able to know that you can make a mistake or two, and it's not going to be Armageddon? Yeah. And what I realized is, when I took my clients and set up my own firm, sure, they had to be very patient, there were documentation issues, there were process issues, but they knew that they were getting somebody that was going to always look out for their best interest. And they were willing to be an early adopter, like the by the first year model of a car. Yeah, right. It's like the people are buying Tesla's right, you have to be a believer in the product and be willing to put up with some of the potential mishaps. But the service the offering is, is so much better, that it makes up for some of the small hiccups along the way. And that's what I would say to most advisors considering independence is you got to be okay with the fact that is not going to be perfect. On day one, certainly not perfect on day 365. That you're you're going to become a better advisor, by owning your own business. I really think I firmly believe that. And for me, it, it was probably the best decision I made in my life was finally going off on my own. And I think that there are too many advisors out there that don't buy into the process. And I would suggest the following. Had I not had all those experiences at those other firms, I wouldn't have been equipped with the knowledge, I would have been going in dark, I would have been just as scared and concerned about compliance, and an operational infrastructure and, and and all the things I don't know, that I'm not aware of right, like the fear of the unknown. And so what I've said to advisors is sure, you can read my 26 steps article, you can read a ton of stuff on the internet. But at the end of the day, when you're making a decision about probably the most important asset, your business. It pays to actually work with someone, it's a knock, but this one, for sure. And so I'm not trying to like be an advocate, you can go to another advisor consultant know who does the same thing that I do, it's just a matter of I don't think this is something that you go out alone. Dean Soto 41:19 Yeah, no, it's it's, it's totally, I mean, you don't you don't go to school, you know, you don't you don't, you don't try and become an advisor in general without actually being mentored in some way, you know, and just any business, I was, gosh, this even just this year, I spent a lot of money, on advice on mentors for my business for people who, who guide me into places that I just don't know. Because, you know, if I looked at my time, I'd be spending a lot more in opportunity cost than spending the money that the capital that I'm spending that I'm giving to my advisor, mentor [lus, you by even just by doing that you get not only gain all the knowledge, but you have somebody who's going to watch your back. And then at the same time, you are also now part of their network. So if something does come up, that you need something, now they're the ones who are that who can introduce you to a whole bunch of people or if they have, if you I'm sure if at some point in time, you're going to end up mentoring and a financial advisor that sets up their own practice that specializes in something that you don't, and you go up well, here's some clients that I think would be better for you. Aaron Hattenbach 42:40 Absolutely, absolutely. I think I think it's like the benefit doesn't just end with the consultation. It extends and had a number of advisors reach out that were even at smaller firms that were like, Hey, I'm gonna rip off the band aid, like, well, you don't have to rip off the band aid. And my suggestion is you don't, you don't wait until you leave the firm to start your own firm. Yeah, for for compliance purposes, you can't go and register your license, and set up your own RIA while you're working for another company. But you can certainly educate yourself on all the infrastructure, think about the business you want to build, build a business plan, marketing plan, value proposition and start really compiling all of your, your template form documentation. And that will take time. And so what I tell advisors who are like, well, I'm about to leave, I'm going to spend another month there, but I'm committed to leaving, and, and then I'll get started with you, I say to them, that's going to be too late. Like I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But when you leave, you know, you want to provide the best possible transition for your for the clients that are entrusting you with their money. Yep. And that are committed to you as a client. That's that speaks volumes, right? So you better put in the time, while you haven't yet. Really setting everything up for success. Because like I said earlier on the podcast, they're going to be things you're not aware of, they're gonna be mistakes that you make that are inevitable to being a business owner. Yep. But if you convince yourself that you have to wait until you have a clean break to get started with at least some of the educational process, yeah,you're going to be too late. Dean Soto 44:29 Well, and you were like, even with, like the template forms, I mean, their systems, their systems that we're in a large organizations that you don't, you don't even you take, you take for granted. Exactly, you don't realize how many things, different template forms different, different little processes that are there, that if you, if you took the time to set up while you were at the firm, they if you would be you that would cause tremendous chaos, if you're if you had no income coming in, or if you had clients who were like, okay, now I'm Aaron Hattenbach 45:03 ready, I'm ready. Me, it's embarrassing. If If you go to a client who is committed to working with you and moving their, their business, they're moving their their, their, their accounts, or their relationship to you. And you show to a meeting without the right documentation. Yep, that's amateurish. And so what I tell advisors is, you know, get started with learning about what the process looks like, it may take several months for you to get approval from the state regulators, which you know, that's three months, four months of potential downtime with no income, no clients, and by the way, the longer those clients stay at your predecessor firm, the more likely they're not going to move with you. Because they're going to say, like, what's been going on the past few months, like, you know, you can't, you cannot legally work with a client, unless you are registered with with the firm, right? As a independent advisor, investment advisor representative affiliate with an RA, or if you're, you know, registered as a, you know, working for a broker, dealer, whatever you may be doing, but the point being like, downtime and silence and not advising your clients, because you're legally not allowed to is a tremendous risk to your your enterprise. And so what I say to them is spend a few months, I spent five or six years compiling documentation, thinking about like, about my process, like obsessively thinking about the client experience standard that I wanted to create. And even then, two and a half years later, my practice looks a lot different than it did when I started. It's just it to me, it's like you've got it, you've got to embrace it, and you've got to fail fast. And you have to be willing to put out the resources, ultimately, say you're spending a few thousand dollars working with someone, well, they're going to save you thousands of dollars in negotiation, negotiating contracts. And in time, in so many ways that it's like, you're going to get multiples of what you spend. So I can't emphasize this enough, I just feel like advisors just need to be more open minded and less concerned about, you know, the fears that they've created the narrative they've created in their head that going off on their own is going to expose them to so many risks. And and these ultimately these firms are, they're lowering payouts. They are are telling advisors if you don't sell four or five different services, we're cutting your payout? Yep. And so it's about selling the enterprise. Yeah. And what happens is when you sell the enterprise, your client associates you, as a relationship manager at Merrill Lynch, or Morgan Stanley, and not as their advisor. And so then the clients never going to leave that institution. Yep. And good luck setting up your own practice, once you've sold your clients, a mortgage credit cards line of credit securities based loan, your clients are going to be like, Well, you've talked, you've talked about the institution for the past 10 years. Dean Soto 48:13 And I now leave, why would I? Why would I leave? Aaron Hattenbach 48:16 Right? And then advisors come to me saying like, what's the narrative that I can create, to get my client to move their assets? And it's like, well, if you've sold your clients on the enterprise, and your clients have four or five different service offerings, you the institution can be very hard. Yeah. And I'm not I'm not a magician, I can't wave a wand. Dean Soto 48:35 Yeah, I mean, in just in, in moving things. It's hard even if the client loves you, and is willing, it's like, man, I have, I'm tied up in all of that. Aaron Hattenbach 48:46 All of that. And I'm getting discounts on my mortgage, because I've got five different services. Yeah, you can't compete with that on the independent side. What I can do on the independent side is say, hey, look, I'm not captive having to provide your mortgage from the event, because I'm at Merrill, we can go shop around and hire a mortgage broker to go shop around for the best rates. Yeah. And ultimately, you know, that alone, I think, is worthwhile in terms of giving the client access to the the, you know, services of other institutions that may be better equipped, that maybe providing a better price, you know, so yeah, I would just say, like, for advisors that have sold their clients in the enterprise, it's, it's very hard for them to ever go independent. And if they do, it's, it's a one time thing. And you better put in the hours, you better hire someone to really help you navigate the complexities. But for an advisor that has worked at one of these firms, and is looking to go independent, don't go at this alone. Yeah, right. Go to go to kids to start calm. I don't get paid anything from kid says, I think he's his blog is the best in the industry, it's won many awards. It's ultimately actually was ranked higher than the Wall Street Journal in terms of influence on financial advisors, which is saying a lot. Yeah. And if you want to get free education, go there. But at the end of the day, you know, don't go out this process alone. It is, you know, you're risking your business. Dean Soto 50:21 Yeah. But the best option is going with you. So how can people actually work specifically with you? Aaron Hattenbach 50:31 Well, Dean, you're far too kind I, you know, I'm learning every day. So you know, I'm not the best for everyone. But my suggestion is if advisors interested in working with me, they go to my website, rapportfinancial.com, there is a button to contact me and they can actually access my calendar. And I would encourage them to go to the prospective client meeting and select 30 minutes time where we can learn more about their practice what they're looking to accomplish. They can ask me any questions as far as you know, my service model for advising advisors, financial advisors, and you know, I do offer to a limited amount of advisors, the ability to retain me for a certain amount of hours. You know, this isn't my core business, it's just something I love to do in helping other advisors accomplish what I was able to do two and a half years ago. And so if they're looking for help on the tech marketing, business strategy, compliance, operations, practice management, really it covers the gamut and they're going to get 10 years of experience running businesses for within multiple advisory models. So you know, I think they're going to get a good mentor that is going to help them select the right vendors and and build a practice they're proud of all while saving some tone in the in the process and not hitting their head against the wall trying to figure all this out. It's it's a lot putting an entire business together I wrote this in my 26 steps article and quite frankly 26 steps was probably only half of what it took to create this business so um, I wish I hadn't gone at it alone I would have hired someone with the experience and would have prevented some money lost some mistakes and you know, what if i think i think we're shorten up my ramp up period to getting my clients on board and and operating so they can contact me they can go to my website and schedule 30 minutes of time they can also go to my homepage and there's an intake form where they can send me an email goes to the info that gets forwarded to my my email address but yeah, I'm would recommend going to my website, that would be the first step. Dean Soto 53:03 I love it man so yeah, so go check out if you want to connect with Aaron and if you want to have that mentorship or if you just want to you if you even just want to see if that if Aaron would be right for you with you know 30 minute call go check out rapportfinancial.com so report as in building rapport RAPPORTfinancial.com and head down to the opt in form and connect with their and he is if you can't tell he is one a wealth of knowledge and he freely gives out a lot of value and actually cares cares about the people that he works with if you can tell just through what he's been sharing right now so just go check that out once again it's rapportfinancial RAPPORTfinancial.com and go connect with Aaron. Also have that in the show notes as well as in the blog posts and and other places where we syndicate the actual publishing of this podcast episode so but all that being said, dude, Aaron, thank you so much for being on man. This has been this has been pretty awesome. Aaron Hattenbach 54:17 Yeah, this is a pleasure. I really enjoyed it and you know have to do some more podcasting I guess right? Yeah. Dean Soto 54:24 Yeah, for sure. That's I mean, that's one thing that that you have you have you're definitely a wealth of knowledge and and can bring so much value to everybody in the financial advising financial services industry. So that would be that'd be awesome. So Aaron Hattenbach 54:42 well, really appreciate it was it was enjoyable and we'll be in touch.Thanks, Dean. Dean Soto 54:46 Yeah, no problem. So go check out Aaron last time at rapportfinancial.com or RAPPORTfinancial.com. This is Dean Soto with the freedom in five minutes podcast. This this is the end of the episode but it is not the end of the podcast because we will see you in the next freedom in five minutes podcast episode.

Who am I? Why am I here? These are the big questions that are tackled by this fun kids movie. Discover God’s purpose for your life.

Who am I? Why am I here? These are the big questions that are tackled by this fun kids movie. Discover God’s purpose for your life.

What this podcast all about? Who am I? Why am I qualified? How is it different? Why should anybody listen? All good questions...

Click here to buy: https://adbl.co/2Fm7h9q 'Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?' On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He's an A&R man, she's an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel. But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love. When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice - fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago - starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won't settle for his mother pushing him aside once again...

#22 Dana Pierce shares her inspiring journey in a raw, honest and real conversation about how we have and are working through our own shadows and embracing the big questions like: Who am I? Why did they not love me? Do I love myself?Find more about Dana and let her guide you on your own self-love journey https://danapierce.com/IG: @danapierce

Meet Salt Freedom, the "Rock Star of Brand Media!" Salt is a badass woman of God who is taking on the mission of helping to answer the question, "Who am I? Why am I here?" She helps her clients and my listeners understand a purpose driven life. From bullied child, mislabeled Rebellious teen to abused partner and federal agent searching huge ships, Salt has transformed herself and her life. She is now a Christian branding coach, podcaster, mother and wife and so much more. Hear her inspiring story and experience her brilliant mind at work. Be sure to subscribe and grab my free gift at: https://heal.helenhillix.com/freegift

Who the heck am I? Why is the #15 special to me? Find out in this episode where I'm interviewed by JD Packer! We take a bunch of your questions and cover a lot of great topics along the way - ultimately explaining who I am and why I do what I do! Be sure to download this episode and share it like CRAZY! Thanks for listening :) - Parker 

Can you really control your weight? There are two schools of thought on this: one believes that nothing is within our control and the other believes everything is within our control. But what if the truth is somewhere in the middle? Annie and Lauren explore just how much control we have over our weight and provide helpful perspective on an age-old question. What you’ll hear in this episode: What studies say about how much genes influence weight What studies say about how much genes influence height Twin Studies, The Secrets of The Eating Lab and The Minnesota Starvation Experiment How we adjust our eating when we feel we are being observed The two camps: we can control all the things and we can control none of the things How much control do we really have over our weight? How your body responds to decreases in calories Ideal weight vs ideal weight range What happens when you try to “pause” on an escalator Process versus outcome goals How weight range relates to body composition Getting clear on your goals How your pre-disposed body type relates to your weight How to find your weight range     Resources: 53: Secrets From The Eating Lab: Dr. Traci Mann Secrets From the Eating Lab Episode 9: Two Sisters, Two Bodies: Growing Up Together In A Body Obsessed World Episode 4: What A 70-year-old Starvation Experiment Taught Us About Dieting Body Respect Learn more about Balance365 Life here Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or Android so you never miss a new episode! Visit us on Facebook| Follow us on Instagram| Check us out on Pinterest Join our free Facebook group with over 40k women just like you! Did you enjoy the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Play! It helps us get in front of new listeners so we can keep making great content. Transcript: Annie: Welcome to Balance365 Life Radio, a podcast that delivers honest conversations about food, fitness, weight, and wellness. I'm your host, Annie Brees along with Jennifer Campbell and Lauren Koski. We are personal trainers, nutritionists and founders of Balanced365 together we coached thousands of women each day and are on a mission to help them feel healthy, happy, and confident in their bodies on their own terms. Join us here every week as we discuss hot topics pertaining to our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing with amazing guests. Enjoy. Welcome back to another episode of Balance365 Life Radio. Before we dive into today's topic, I want to share a super sweet review we got on iTunes last week from Blonde Lauren, which I promise it's not our Blonde Lauren. She says "This podcast is nothing short of life-changing. With all the negative information and images thrown at women in regards to our bodies this podcast is like a ray of sunshine. I listen to this podcast religiously as I walk the neighborhood and it always puts a smile on my face and helps me conquer the day. Jennifer, Annie and Lauren are so relatable and I feel like we were really friends and I just love that." Thank you so much. To everyone who takes the time to drop us a note in our email inboxes or leaves us a review on iTunes, we read them all and they all mean so much to us. Okay. Let's talk about today's episode. We have been talking about this topic in a roundabout way on previous podcasts, but we wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the topic. Can you control your weight? A lot of fitness professionals think you have all the control while some of them think this is a losing battle, why even try? On today's episode, Lauren and I discussed how much control you really have over your weight and I think you might be surprised. Enjoy! Lauren, how are you? Lauren: Good. It's us again. Annie: It's just us again, poor Jen is having some audio difficulties and she wanted to be here, but we are sticklers for sound quality on our podcast and it just wasn't gonna cut it, right? Lauren: Yes. She likes to compare her sound now to my sound when mine wasn't working because she thinks it was terrible. Annie: Well, you know, we've had this, I think we've talked about this on the podcast before, but sound quality. And I thought when we started this podcast, like you would just plug in a microphone and hit record and then you just piece it together. Lauren: I feel like it should not be this hard. It's really fun for us. Annie: It's really hard and especially because you and I have both moved and, maybe Jen's even moved, but when you move, like then you're changing a different recording location and that can affect the acoustics and so, yeah. Lauren: And then the technology on top of all that, sometimes it just does not work out. Annie: Yeah. But we're not complaining Lauren: It might sound that way. Annie: We actually, I really enjoy the podcast. I really, really enjoy doing it. But it's just been a little bit more difficult than we anticipated. So, and especially getting the three of us together in three time zones, like, you know. Lauren: There's always some disaster. Annie: Always. Lauren: The morning of recording. School's canceled or sick, a kid is sick or the heat went out, but we always figure it out. Annie: Yeah. We piece it together. Lauren: Yeah. Annie: We're scrappy in a good way. So we're talking about a really interesting topic and it comes up pretty frequently in our community and that is, can you control your weight? And I think it's really interesting because it seems like there's kind of varying answers to that question and it kind of depends on who you ask. But there's this idea that we can control everything, right? And we can absolutely control our weight. We have total control. On the other side of the spectrum there's this like, "No, you don't." There's people that say you don't have any control at all. You don't need to bother with trying to control your weight or manage your weight. It's just, it is what it is and you're just stuck with it. Whatever it's at and we wanted to dive into like what the real answer is. Do you have any control of your weight? And it's something that we've kind of, I feel like, talked about in a roundabout way with various guests on the podcast, but we haven't specifically addressed like this. Lauren: Right. This one question. Annie: Yeah. And on paper it seems to boil down to simple math, right? Which I think is where we get kind of the, "Yes, you can control everything about your body and your weight." It's "Eat fewer calories than you consume and weight loss will happen," right? And you'll get the desired outcome. And we have- Lauren: And we talk about that too, right? Like we talk about its weight loss does come down to calories in versus calories out, but that's not the whole story. Annie: Right. And we have professionals in our industry that will say that you just need dedication and self control and commitment and then you can have the body of your dreams, right? Like, whatever, whatever body you want, which I think is where we see a lot of the, I don't know if this is still a thing, I don't actually read these sorts of magazines anymore, but at one time, health and fitness magazines used to have like a celebrity on the cover of their magazine. It was like, here's the Jennifer Aniston Diet, or here's the Jennifer Garner diet or whatever. And I used to think like, "Oh, if I just eat what she eats, if I work out, like she works out, then I will then look like Jennifer Aniston. Lauren: Right. And, I can't remember her name. Do you remember the actress's name from that movie? Zack and Miri? Annie: I don't even know that movie. Lauren: Okay. It's a funny movie. I can't say the whole name of it because it's not appropriate. But she was on the Ellen show and, they were showing a picture of her own magazine and talking about like what she eats or whatever. And she was like, you know, it doesn't matter what I eat, this is genetics. Like, this is what I would look like regardless. I would look pretty similar to this. Annie: Right. Lauren: So, you know, people are congratulating her and she's like, "I didn't do anything special. This is just how I'm built." Annie: Yeah, exactly. But you're jumping ahead of the outline. Lauren: Oh, I'm sorry. Annie: Okay. I guess we can sign off now. No, we'll use that as a great segue because it does, it sounds really easy on paper that if you just do what she's doing or, you know, I think, yeah, I get questions, you know, like about my arms. Like what, what arm workouts are you doing? Lauren: Yeah. Annie: It's genetics. Like, maybe years of softball has played into this but it's where I carry my fat. It's how easily I build muscle. And, I think, it's known that our genes control or have an effect on our weight, but it's a little bit, we've been a little bit gray on how much control. Lauren: Right? So we have, like you said, the two camps, the "you have total control" and "you have no control." And surprise surprise, we fall somewhere in the middle. Annie: Yeah. And if you listen to Traci Mann's podcast, which if you haven't listened to it, we'll link it in the show notes. It is a wonderful podcast. She is just a wonderful woman professionally and personally. She's just a good human. She wrote the book The Secrets of the Eating Lab and inside there she compared, she shared a study and it compared the weight of more than 500 adopted children with their biological parents and their adoptive parents. And so this, the idea behind the study was that if learned eating habits, if you could just willpower and self control and you know, do all the things, if learned eating habits have more of an impact on weight then the children should have a weight that mirrors more like their adoptive parents and if genetics had more of an impact, then it should, their weight should be closer correlated to their biological, their birth parents. But what they found was that the children's weight correlated strongly with the weight of their biological parents and not all with the weight of their adoptive parents, which I think is fascinating. Lauren: It is fascinating. Annie: And additionally, a study also she shared in the science, studies, Secrets from the Eating Lab, study from the Secrets of the Eating Lab. They did a study of identical twins that were raised in separate homes, which I think is like interesting enough that there's twins that were raised separately enough to study. Lauren: Can we get the story behind that please? Annie: But there is, there were enough studies, as a way to make sure that they didn't share the same eating environment. Right. So it was a way to tease out that environment was a role in this study. The study looked at 93 pairs of identical twins raised apart and then a 154 pairs of twins raised together. And the results showed that the weights of the twins, whether they were raised together or apart were highly correlated, which again goes to show that our genetics, our biology has a large impact on our weight and those studies and in addition with some other studies what largely contributed, to scientists concluding that our genes account for about 70% of the variation in people's weight. Lauren: Right. Which is huge. Annie: Which is, yeah, which is huge and I don't know, some of you may be listening in and think that that's way more than you anticipated and some people will be like, "Oh maybe I have a little bit more control than I thought." Like it kind of depends on where you fell on that spectrum. If you were like, I can control all the things and, and get whatever body I want if I just have enough self willpower and dedication and self control, this might be shocking news for you. On the flip side, if you were like, I don't have any control, I'm stuck. I come from a long line of people that look like x, y, z. This is just as is what it is. You might have a little bit more wiggle room than you thought. Lauren: Right. So you have about 30% of your body weight is in your control. Annie: Yeah. Lauren: Is what this is basically saying. Annie: And what I think is interesting about this is, Traci Mann also shares, I mean obviously we're not researchers, we're not scientists. So we're pulling this information because we are evidenced based. We don't want to just feed you information because it sounds convenient or because it works for our philosophy or our brand. But for reference she also compare us that genes play about an 80% role in height. And I think that's such an interesting study because you don't see anyone being like, "Oh, I just wish I could, if I just had more self control or willpower, I'd be taller." Lauren: I could get taller. Annie: Yeah. But so often we see people talking about their weights like that. Like, "Ah, I just, I need to quit being lazy or I just need to get my butt to the gym. And then I, you know, I'd get rid of this, you know, fat on my hips or whatever," you know, but you don't hear people talking about their weight or their height, like they do their weight, but it's pretty comparable in how much control we have. Lauren: Right, right. A little less in height. But still really close. Annie: Like you're not over there trying to be taller. Lauren: No- Annie: I mean, maybe heels. Lauren: It's interesting that both of my parents are relatively tall and both of my sisters are, well, they're all like more average size and I am smaller. Don't know where that came from, but it did come from somewhere. Annie: Yeah. Well, and you know, we kind of talked about this, how genetics in the two sisters podcasts where we had Janelle and Jen, cofounder Jen, had her sister on and they have very different body types and they were just, they had a really beautiful story about how Jenelle looked like all the women on one side of the family. And Jen looks more like all the women on the other side of the family. And I just, I think there's a lot of beauty in looking at your family tree and like seeing that. It's not just like body parts, it's like seeing your grandmother, your aunt, your sister, like elements of them. And I think that's just beautiful. Lauren: Not to throw a wrench into this discussion either, but now there is, sort of, more relatively new study called epigenetics, which is like how your environment can turn on or off certain genes, which is also really interesting and I'd love to, I haven't looked into this yet, but I'd love to kind of look into that too that aspect and that might be the 30% that you can control, right. I'm just making that up, but it's something to consider. Annie: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. That is, I've never, I don't even think I've heard of that term, to be honest. So I'm curious to learn more about that. Lauren: You know, it's relatively new. I think it's, they're learning more and more about it but there is some studies out there. Annie: Fascinating. Lauren: Yeah. Cause we have, we have a lot of genes and different things determine which genes get turned on and which genes don't. Annie: Yeah. Lauren: Just a little side note. Annie: Interesting. And I feel like I'm now distracted by that. Lauren: I'm sorry. Annie: Refocus. So our genes, just to recap that first point there, our genes have accounted for about 70% of the variation in people's weight. So, again, that's just saying that our biology, our genetics make up a lot of, determine a lot of how we weigh or what we weigh. But that doesn't mean that you're totally out of control. But additionally, our genes can even control how much weight we gain. And this was another study from the Secrets From the Eating Lab that there was even studies where participants were fed the same amount of calories, and the twins gained varying amounts of weight for it. So for example, pairs of twins that were overfed by a thousand calories. Again, if this boiled down to just math, if it worked out on paper, you know, a thousand calories equals this percentage of pounds of body mass gain a week, they should have all gained the same amount of weight. But what happened, pairs of twins that were overfed by a thousand calories a day gain to anywhere from nine to 29 pounds. So in other words, we aren't in conscious control of how our bodies use calories or energy, which I think is fascinating. And you know, if you're listening to this and you feel like I hear this a lot, women comparing like what they eat to their girlfriends or what they eat to the men in their lives and it's like, "Oh, I feel like I look at a Snickers and I gain weight" or you know, "My husband has trouble." I just met with a personal training client yesterday and she actually is having trouble putting on weight and I'm sitting here on the opposite end of the spectrum. Like, I have no problem putting on weight, it seems. Lauren: Right. Annie: And so I just think that that's again to show that our genes can even control how easily we gain weight, lose weight, put on muscle mass, don't gain muscle mass. Lauren: It's super interesting too because we are still learning about how all of this works. Like even now, researchers are still asking questions and they still don't know everything about how all these genes play into weight and metabolism and metabolic rates do differ between people. I think it's, it's not as significant as maybe some people have been led to believe, like if someone has a fast metabolism but it can differ a little bit. Annie: Right. Lauren: Which is what's happening probably with, you know, your client who can't gain weight. Annie: Yeah. And there's so many factors to be considered like environment and like what they do for their, what their, like, habits are, and how their relationship with food and their relationship with exercise. So it's like oftentimes multifactorial. But in the studies of these two are really interesting, especially because we've talked about, we have another podcast, The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, you know, studies like that just aren't even allowed anymore because they're considered unethical. Like, and it can be hard to study people's eating habits. And Traci Mann talks about this in her book because the minute people think that their eating habits are being studied, they change their eating habits. They like get all self conscious and they start doing different things that they wouldn't normally do if they didn't think that they were being watched for eating. I mean, I do that when, like, when I'm out and I feel like, you know, all of a sudden I'm at this nice restaurant or whatever and I think people are looking at me, I'm like, "Oh, I better put my napkin on my lap and not spill and use the right fork and put my fork down between every bite. Breathe. Not just inhale all my food. Annie: Anyways, getting back to our genes. Lauren, this is something you've talked about a lot in our workshops and our podcasts and our program, but that your body has a pretty kick butt weight regulation system and that can often override conscious efforts to change your weight. So for example, you cut calories, your body may in response slow your metabolism, resulting in fewer calories burned or you ramp up exercise and your body secretes hormones to increase hunger, which happens to me all the time. Like I exercise, I actually get hungrier. And so I often eat more and you've talked about that before, that your body's like pretty smart like that. Lauren: Yeah. Well your body, its main goal is to keep you alive, right? And so when you cut calories or you're not eating as much, or cut calories drastically, I should say, because that's what most fad diets do, your body thinks that you're starving. It doesn't know that you are doing that on purpose and that you're going on a diet. And so it does everything in its power to help conserve what energy you have and get you to eat more calorie dense foods. So that's another big reason why you crave high energy foods when you cut calories, you know, because your body wants that energy. Annie: Exactly. And many dieters, I know I've experienced this, I'm sure you have too, have maybe experienced a feeling like your body doesn't want you to lose weight. Like you're fighting against your body and it usually looks like something like this. You cut calories, you experience some excitement and exhilaration of initial weight loss and that's followed by an increased drive to eat and/or not move as intensely as you have been, which leads to weight regain because you go back to eating the food you were eating or not moving as much. And then that's followed by guilt and maybe even this sense of hopelessness. And that's something that Linda Bacon talks about in Body Respect, which is another wonderful book if you haven't read that and she just note that that's because you can only cheat biology so long. Like as you were talking about, your body is trying to, it cares about you a lot. it wants to keep you alive. Lauren: And that's like the unconscious part of ourselves. I think it's the reptilian, it might be the reptilian part of the brain, right, that controls that. And so you literally don't have control over those things. Annie: Right. And Linda Bacon has this, I think it's really kind of refreshing, it feels like it just takes the pressure off of me personally. But she has the quote in her book, again, Body Respect that "Diet failure is no more a sign of gluttony or lack of character than breathing deeply after exertion indicates lung failure or shivering in the cold weather evidences weakness." Like that's, this is the desire to eat, the desire to not move as intensely, the weight regain, that is all what exactly what we would expect from someone that's dieting, that's trying to cut calories. This is what your body is made to do and it's trying to do this because it's what it thinks is best for you. And it's a normal and expected response. So, I guess what we're just kind of boiling this all down to say is that you might not have as much control as you, some people lead you to believe. And what we talked about in the Traci Mann podcasts was that you have a little room, a little wiggle room, and one of the things that she suggests, because I know some of you might be listening and thinking like, "Crap, I wish I had more control over my weight" and we don't want you to feel discouraged from making changes if that's what you decide. But Traci Mann really encourages people to have a weight range versus a specific weight. And, I think that that's a really great idea because so often we hear women that they have this like ideal weight and that ideal weight is pulled out of thin air. It might be their pre-pregnancy weight, the weight when they got married, the weight they graduated high school. It might not even be realistic. And to think that your body can sit at one stable weight throughout the day, the week, the month, the year is just not attainable. That your weight ebbs and flows throughout again, the day, the week, I mean, if I weighed myself in the morning versus night versus Monday versus Friday versus the first of the month versus the end of the month, I would probably get six different body weights. Right. And it could range, you know, and you know, fluctuate five, six, seven pounds. And that this is normal and especially seasons of life, you know, if you're, you've got to, you've just given birth or you know, maybe it's winter and you're not as active, you're not outside as much. Your schedule is really busy because you're an accountant and it's tax season and you're working more and not hitting the gym as much. It's normal. And for this reason, a range seems to be a lot more realistic versus maintaining a single number throughout the year. Lauren: Yeah. So if you just kind of are aware but also going with the flow, like if your weight is up five pounds or down five pounds and just being okay with it instead of again pulling back that pendulum cause that's going to start that extreme pendulum swing over again. If you can just, like Jen says in our workshop that we do, in her Mario Kart example, if you can just move the wheel slightly to the right or to the left instead of extremely turning right or left, you'll be much better off. And also, Traci Mann also talks about this weight range. So there's a certain weight or there seems to be for people a certain weight that is dependent, like we said on many different things that if you go below that, that's when all of those biological changes start happening. Like your appetite increases and your metabolism starts to slow down to conserve some energy. So instead of, she says there's a weight range that your body is comfortable at and you can make changes to get to the lower end of that weight range. And so that's where you have, that's where you can control. So you can't control exactly what rate, but you can control where in that range you say. Annie: And the beautiful thing about that weight range is when you find it, you'll often find that it feels effortless to maintain or that you don't have to work near- Lauren: or close to Annie: -as hard. You have the perfect analogy in our workshop, that we share every now and then about riding an escalator. And when you're dieting hard, when you're trying really hard to maintain a weight that's below that range, it often feels like you're riding, trying to go up a down escalator and like, you're working, working, working, working, working. And the minute you want to take a break or rest or hit pause, it's like you're right back to where you started. And the idea is that when you find that range, you can move it around, give or take a little bit, but it's not like exerting all of your effort, all of your brain power, all of your energy to achieve this weight, either above or below that range. Because she also found in that book, she also found that the opposite was true to that getting people to gain weight out of their range was also equally as difficult as trying to get them to live below the range. Lauren: Yeah. Annie: Yeah. So with that being said, another suggestion we have in addition to the weight range versus a specific weight is to focus on your health behaviors versus weight. And, we've said this for a while, that your weight is not a behavior and for so many reasons we can't always control our weight and trying to do so is really, really difficult. And one of the things Jen talks about too is a lot of this can boil down to are you valuing your weight or are you valuing thinness or are you valuing health? And, you know, and again, no judgment Annie: There's been, I spent a lot of my life valuing thinness. I wanted, I didn't care if I was healthy, I wasn't even thinking if I was healthy or what I was doing, the behaviors I was utilizing, the tools I was utilizing to get to a certain weight was healthy if it was sustainable. I wasn't really even concerned with that. I just was so focused on getting that weight or getting that look, my body to look a certain way that I kind of forgot about health unfortunately. And again, I could just, I have a girl crush on Traci Mann, I could just talk about her all day but at the end of that podcast, she encourages that if you're eating balanced meals most of the time, not getting too full, you're not under eating, you're exercising a little bit throughout the week, you're managing your stress that whatever weight you find yourself at doing those things is good enough. And I think that, like, gives me like a, almost, I can almost breathe like a big deep breath, like a sigh of relief. Like I don't have to do all of these things and then I'm validated by reaching that goal weight that like, "Okay, I did enough." It's like, well, let's focus on what, like, actually our behaviors are and if those encourage health, then we're on the right track regardless of what we weigh. Lauren: Right. When I was at my thinnest, my behaviors were not healthy. Annie: Right. Lauren: And when I was at my heaviest, my behaviors were not healthy. Annie: Right. Lauren: So, you know, focusing on those healthy behaviors, I have settled in the middle. Annie: Yeah. And, you know, one of the ways, we've talked about this before, one of the ways, I think the easiest ways to kind of what we're talking about almost is process versus outcome goals. And a lot of times women have outcome goals. They want to be the size eight. They want to be the size four, they want to be 130 pounds, 150 pounds, whatever it is. And those are all outcome based goals, which are fine. But I think what's really, really a key is to, if that's a goal of yours, to also think about how you're going to get there and write goals around the how. So okay, you want to run a marathon? Like how am I going to get there? You want to drop 10 pounds, how am I going to get there? The how is the behaviors. Lauren: Right? And if you're in our Balance365 program, you'll notice that that's how we set up our program, right? So when you're checking off your habits, that is a process based goal. So you're checking off whether you had that, you know, half plate of vegetables or quarter plate of vegetables or whatever your goal is, you're going to check off if you did whatever your movement goal is. And those are process goals and not outcome goals. Annie: Yeah. And those are things that we can control more often than not. Lauren: Right. Annie: Versus our weight. Like I can do all the right things and for whatever reason, still not hit that goal weight. And I see that happen a lot. We see that happen a lot where women are exercising, they're eating some more fruits and vegetables, they're getting more sleep and they step on the scale and their weight hasn't budged and they feel like deflated. They're like, "Ugh, this was worthless. I didn't do anything. I'm not any further along towards my goal." And it's like, "Wait a minute, you're exercising, you're eating fruits and vegetables, you're sleeping more, you're doing all these really great things for your health and your body. Like, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater just because you didn't lose a pound." Lauren: Right. Annie: The last point I want to make when it comes to, can you control your weight? And I just, this has been absolute ultimate freedom for me is to accept the body type you have and work with it, not against this. And we oftentimes make the comparison between Jen's body and my body because Jen and I are pretty close in age. We've both had three babies. We're both personal trainers. We're about the same height, but there is probably, I don't know what she weighs now, but, there's probably about 50 pounds, 40, 50 pound difference between the two of us and for Jen to look like me or for me to look like Jen is just, like, ridiculous to think that that could happen. That's kind of what, going back to what we were talking about it at the beginning of the podcast about, you know, to think that I could just diet like Jennifer Aniston and therefore look like Jennifer Aniston is just absurd. Right? Lauren: Right. Yes. Annie: But honestly, this has given me, accepting my body type has given me so much peace of mind and like, I can just own my big thighs and my broad shoulders and I don't feel like I have to, like, whittle them down because I'm not, like, I'm not going to, I can, again, like Traci Mann says, I can maybe be a little bit heavier, a little bit lighter within that range. I'm still going to have thick thighs. Like it just, you know, and for a girl that her first diet and exercise book was Thin Thighs. Like, that's all I've ever wanted was the long lean legs. My mom had long, beautiful lean legs and I was like, "Why didn't I? Why did I get my dad's legs?" But now that I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to have thick thighs and that's just the way it is and this is what works for my body and Oh, guess what? They can actually be a really powerful asset in the gym. And these are some aspects that I like about them." I don't love everything about them. That's okay. But again, like I don't love everything about my kids all the time. I still love them. Lauren: Right. Annie: It's like, it doesn't have to, like, you don't have to love every single aspect of your body to love it as a whole, which is something we've also talked about. But, making peace with like, "Okay, I've got a big nose or I've got small hands or big trap," I don't know, whatever it is that you feel like you've been working to fight, like, making peace with that has been really, really impactful in my body acceptance journey. Lauren: Yeah. And one thing I want to circle back to because, I was going to mention this too and you mentioned it and I think it can be really powerful for people, is taking your body type, right? Cause like we have mentioned multiple times in this podcast, you can change a range of your body, your body fat, your weight, but you're not going to change your body type, like that is not going to change. So looking at your body type and think you can think about like, okay, so what is with this body type? Like what am I going to be good at? What does my body type give me an advantage in? And like for Annie, that's like weightlifting and powerlifting and being strong and so you can look at what is that for you. And it might help with this acceptance piece and this body love piece because it's not all about what you look like, but at the same time being, having your body help you be good at something can be really empowering too. Annie: Yeah. That's, we say when you look at your body like an instrument instead of an ornament. Lauren: Yeah. Annie: You know, what? Like, okay, what does, you know and being grateful for what my body does allow me to do or can help me do, can also be really, really special. But, I think that that's, you know, there's a lot of ways you can work on self love and body acceptance, but, that has been really, really powerful for me to just say like, "This is my body and it's, you know, maybe not what I've spent a lot of my years working towards. But like it's, it's still pretty great. It's not better or worse than any other type of, than your body, then Jen's body, than Jennifer Aniston's body, like this is my body and I'm going to take care of it the best way I can, like, thick thighs and all. Lauren: And you know, it's, it's funny because there are a lot of women out there who idolize your body type. Annie: I know. Yeah. That's been, so people, the funny thing is, is this happens to me a lot, which I love, I'm appreciative, but women will comment on the things that like I feel the most self conscious about. You know, like, oh, I, you know, or the funny thing is about my arms. I'll get a lot of comments about my arms. And it's like, well, if you look at the back of my arms, they're covered in stretch marks and it's, which I'm fine with. I again, I've made peace with, it's like I had stretch marks way before pregnancy. I had stretch marks on my arms and my hips when I hit puberty, I just, you know, just genetics and growing and- Lauren: I do too, I have them on my legs. Annie: Yeah. And I think it's just so interesting. And I do this to other women. Women can see beauty in my body or find appreciation in my body or aspects of my body. And then the same elements on their body, they hate on, they berate themselves, they have shame about, and it's like, "Hey, you know what? We all have a lot more in common than we probably think we do stretch marks and cellulite and pimples and gray hairs and wrinkles. And should I keep going?" Lauren: All of it. It's all normal. Annie: It is all normal. If you have a body, you probably have a lot of that or all of it. Some of it. If you have none of it, then that's cool too. Lauren: That's fine too. We love all bodies. Annie: We do. We are pretty inclusive here. So anyways, so I just want to recap. You know, it boils down to what Secrets from the Eating Lab Traci Mann showed, that Linda Bacon and Body Respect has done some extensive research on is that our genes and biology play a pretty big role in our weight. And it's not as simple as you can control it all and you can have the body you want. It's not as simple as you don't have any control at all. It's somewhere in the middle. And what we would encourage you to do is find the weight range that you can live your best life at, your healthiest life at, where you aren't working tirelessly to, you know, maintain a certain weight that's above or below that weight range that allows you to do the things, the activities, the behaviors that you want to do and feel good about yourself. Lauren: Can I add one more little thing? Annie: Absolutely. Lauren: Can we talk for just a second about body composition changes? Because this is a hunch I have because I don't think any studies have been done. I asked Doctor Traci Mann on that podcast, and I don't, I don't know of any studies that have been done, but this weight range seems to be not totally, like it's weight, right? It's not just like a fat percentage range, right? Like we have seen people change their body composition and their weight stays the same. And, so I was talking with someone in our Balance365 program last week, who was worried about working to, she wanted to lose weight for many reasons and different reasons, health reasons, and just not feeling comfortable in her body, right. And, but she was put off by this whole weight range topic. Like "Should I even bother?" Was like the kind of talk we were having. And one thing is acceptance, doing your healthy habits, your behavior-based goals. And then also I think for a lot of people, something really important is building muscle, is keeping your muscle. And I know Annie you have experienced with that, even more than I do if you want to just talk about that. Annie: Yeah. Well, my weight range, has, I guess since since I've quit dieting, which has been six, seven years, it's been a process of over the course of six, seven years, has stayed probably within 10 pounds. But I think, I've also had, you know, some babies in there, my body composition within that 10 pounds has changed pretty dramatically. And, you know, I attribute, so when Dr Traci Mann is talking about a weight range, I feel like that is absolutely me. For me to drop below my, that 10 pound weight range, it takes a lot, a lot of effort and I cannot sustain, I've tried it many times, just more just as an experiment. I've had some performance goals that I've had a hunch that maybe if I were a little bit lighter doing things like Crossfit, gymnastics would come more easily. I just can't do it. Like, and I shouldn't say I can't, I'm not willing to, to make the sacrifices and the changes that would go along with achieving that weight loss, at least not in this point in time. And I say that very objectively, I'm not, I'm not emotionally tied to my weight anymore. But my body composition has changed quite a bit. And I would say, although my weight is in the same range, my body looks different. I have considerably more muscle and less fat. Lauren: And I would echo that too. I'm about almost a year and a half postpartum and I am sort of getting to the lower end of my weight range. Like I can just tell based on my past experiences and you know, and, but my composition is different because I have not been working out as much as before I got pregnant. Right. Because I had a baby and a lot of things have changed and I've been doing the minimum exercise that, you know, I've just been doing what I can and that's good enough for me. But I know that if I want those body composition changes, it's not going to be me losing more weight. It's going to be me adding more muscle, pretty much. Annie: Yeah, absolutely. Which, you know, just in my experience when a lot of women come to me and they say they want to lose weight or they want to look more muscular or they want to look like they lift, that's something I hear common. You know, I just, I want to look like I lift, I want to have more muscle. What they mean is they want more muscle, less fat, not even necessarily weight loss. They and that's, you know, to each their own. But that's me, that's, you know, I really don't care what the scale weight says. I want to be able to do the things that I want to do in the gym and do the activities that allow me to play with my kids and go skiing and, you know, have the stamina and the energy and do fun tricks to with the kettlebell. Lauren: Yes, that's the best part. Annie: One arm push ups maybe eventually. But yeah. So, but I think that's just getting clear on what you really mean, you know, when you're talking about like, if the scale said x amount of weight, would that really change anything if you look the same or, you know? Lauren: No. Annie: Yeah, it wouldn't. Yeah, that's a good point. Lauren: Yeah. So I just wanted to add that little caveat because I've heard people in the interwebs, I've read conversations about this being a negative thing, right? This set weight range and it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be a negative thing. One, It gives you a lot of freedom, right? When you realize, like you had said, it's not all on you, like you can try as hard as you can try, but you're not going to change your body type. But also you can, even though if you may not be able to change your weight any further, you can change your body composition if that's a goal of yours. Annie: Absolutely. And yeah, I really side on the, like, if you feel like you've been dieting and your body is really, like, fighting you because it's, you feel like you're hungry all the time or you don't have a desire to get up and move or exercise because you don't have any energy or your sleep is crap. Like these are things that we would expect and that's normal. And to me that's like, "Oh good. It's not me. It's everyone. It's, like, I'm not just lazy. I'm not just weak. I don't need more self self discipline or willpower." Like, that's, you know, I think that's honestly, I think that that's as a fitness professional, I think that's a lazy excuse to tell a client like, "Oh, this is your fault. You know, you did this, you just need to be more dedicated. You just need more willpower." It's like, if that's the only solution or the only answer I have for someone that's coming to me with some goals, that's like, I'm not a good coach. Lauren: Right. And this is where, you know, education comes in, right? Because for that specific, you know, for that personal trainer, it may be easy for them, right? Because that's their genetics and that's their weight range that they can easily maintain. But that doesn't mean that that's true for everyone else. Annie: Or fitness and food are their profession. And- Lauren: and they work tirelessly. Annie: They work tirelessly to be in the gym and they get a lot of movement because they're, you know, in the gym, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM working and helping people exercise and their environment is curated to support those goals. You know, that's, I would try to be really cautious about how I talk about my exercise because, you know, I find myself just with my job in the gym multiple times a week. So it's easy for me to show up 30 minutes early and get a quick workout. It's not like that for everyone. You know, I have a little bit of a leg up just because of my profession. Lauren: Right? Annie: Yeah. All right, good talk. This was good. Lauren: Good talk. Annie: Good chat. Lauren: We got a little off track, but- Annie: Well, let's, no, you know, sometimes it goes sideways but I think- Lauren: Hopefully they enjoy the conversation. Annie: Yeah. Well yeah, I mean if they made it this far. Lauren: Congratulations to you! Annie: You win! If you want to continue the discussion, if you want to, you know, revisit the podcast with Traci Mann, we did ask her like, "Okay, how do you find this weight range that's right for you?" And really what she's offered was trial and error. It was like, it's really person specific. There's no, like we can't offer a flow chart, you know, like, is this, you know, is this yes or no? That would be really cool if we could, but if you want help navigating and exploring like "Am I in a weight range that's comfortable for me?" Maybe it's a little bit higher than you thought or you want to move to the lower end of that weight range and you need some help with your habits and your behaviors. Please join us in our free Facebook group Healthy Habits Happy Moms, we'd love to help you. There's a lot of really great women in there, we're in there. Lauren, Jen and I are in there often answering questions and we'd love to see you in there to continue with the discussion. Yeah? Lauren: Yes, please. Annie: Yeah. Alright. Thanks, Lauren. We'll talk to you later. Lauren: Alright, bye.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.Galatians 5:13–15 NIVWhen we develop insecure relationships with both God and people, we end up experiencing spiritual and emotional decline, which leads to intellectual contention within communities, causing us to bite, devour, and destroy each other. In order to overcome the destructive superficiality that corrodes our communities and relationships, we must make an effort to discover the answers to these three questions:Who am I?Why am I here?Am I worthy of being loved?Join Russ Ewell and others as they discuss how the moment we discover with God the answers to these questions is the moment we are able to built intimate and personal relationships with each other. This is how groups and organizations, especially churches, can be sustained and thrive. If you have topic ideas, movies, music, documentaries, articles, or books for the show email us at podcast@deepspirituality.net

Who am I? Why this podcast? Why listen?

Have you ever asked yourself the BIG questions? Who am I? Why am I here? What is life all about? Tune in as Doyle attempts to tackle those big questions by sharing his insights discovered through years of study and info revealed through personal readings given to folks. Call in live to join the discussion, ask question or get a free mini-reading. NOW Enrolling! Are you ready to fine tune your INTUITION! Check out this brand-new opportunity to explore your intuitive, psychic, mediumship, and energy healing abilities. Beginning February 7! Learn more about it here: https://bit.ly/2TihXtK Text BQPODCAST to 22828 and get your FREE Gift by signing up for my weekly newsletter sharing intuitive tips while taking a positive approach to a more empowered life. Or sign up at https://blissfulquests.com and explore private readings or life coaching info.

The three soul searching questions that have driven humanity are: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Are there answers to these guiding questions? The Apostle Paul under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration says, YES! Listen to the discussion and visit the blog post on identity at: https://hillcities.org/how-men-answer-the-question-of-identity/

Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Have you ever asked those questions before? If you haven't, I promise your life will be richer if you address these questions head-on.

My search for the Holy Grail has ended! I have found banana cream Frosted Flakes, or have I? Why we eat bacon and a good old fashion country music food fight! The post Return of the Creature from the Pink Slime Lagoon! appeared first on Food of the Day Podcast.