Podcasts about ICS

A backyard pool is supposed to be fun, but it can also become dangerous in the span of a few minutes. We talk through the safety layers that actually prevent child drowning when distraction, routine, and “we'll be right back” moments collide with open water. If you're a pool owner, a parent or grandparent, or a pool service pro who advises customers, this is a practical guide to building real protection instead of relying on hope.  We start with the first line of defense: a pool fence. We compare removable mesh fencing and more permanent options, then get honest about the weak points we see all the time, like gates that aren't locked, installs that drift out of alignment, and kids who figure out how to climb. From there, we add a secondary layer with smart detection, including an AI camera system like SwamCam that can alert your phone with fewer false alarms than older motion devices. Technology helps, but it works best when it backs up physical barriers.  Next, we get into the habits and equipment that tighten the system: removing pool toys and floaties so kids aren't tempted and the water stays visible, and using safety covers the right way. We talk about automatic pool covers for rectangular pools, why leaving a cover open creates liability for service pros, and what to do immediately if a cover jams. We also break down tensioned pool nets, the “Spider-Man” style barrier that can be extremely safe when fully tightened and consistently used, but dangerous when left loose or half-installed. Finally, we round it out with swim lessons, door alarms, self-closing doors, and simple physical door pins to reduce access from the house.  If you care about pool safety, share this with someone who has kids around water, subscribe for more pool industry insights, and leave a review with the safety step you're adding next.We lay out the safety layers that prevent child drowning in backyard pools, starting with the reality that accidents happen fast and quietly. We share what actually works in the field, what fails in real homes, and how pool pros can guide customers toward safer choices with less liability.• why drowning risk stays high for young children• mesh fencing and wrought iron fencing as the first defense• self-latching gates, locked gates, and common fence failure points• SwamCam AI pool camera as a secondary alert system• removing pool toys and floaties to cut temptation and improve visibility• automatic pool covers, when they fit best, and why pros should always close them• what to do when a safety cover jams or will not close• tensioned pool nets as an ultimate barrier when used correctly• swim lessons, door alarms, self-closing doors, and simple door pins as extra layersJoin the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at Swimmy Pool.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Brand new plaster looks perfect for about five minutes, then reality hits: dust, rising pH, builder timelines, and a homeowner who expects the finish to stay flawless forever. We walk through how we approach a new plaster pool startup using a traditional startup method that is easier to execute, easier to explain, and far easier to defend if anyone tries to pin plaster defects on the startup tech later.We point you to practical resources from the National Plasterers Council, including the NPC startup card and the option to take a startup technician certification course. Then we get into the day-one mindset that keeps you out of trouble: show up as close to fill day as possible, never let the water stop mid-fill, and document everything before you touch the pool. We talk about what “normal” plaster variation can look like, why lighting changes your inspection, and how photos plus written notes protect you when discoloration or mottling becomes a warranty argument.From there we dig into the core water chemistry fundamentals for new plaster pools: tracking pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, metals, and keeping an eye on LSI during the first 28 days. We cover why fresh plaster creates heavy acid demand, how to think about alkalinity targets, and how brushing twice daily with a nylon brush helps manage plaster dust. We also flag common early mistakes like wheeled vacuums, stainless steel brushing, auto cleaners, and adding salt too soon.If you want more startup wins with fewer headaches, subscribe, share this with a pool pro who does startups, and leave a review with your best day-one documentation tip.We break down how to do a new plaster pool startup with fewer surprises and less liability by sticking to a traditional, step-by-step method. We also explain why documentation, photos, and consistent chemistry logs are the difference between getting blamed and being protected when plaster issues show up later.• why many pool pros avoid startups and where the risk really comes from• using National Plasterers Council resources, the NPC startup card, and certification training• traditional startup vs acid or hot startup and why traditional is easier to defend• documenting plaster appearance, lighting effects, and pre-existing conditions• logging pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, metals, and every chemical addition• keeping alkalinity in a safe range and managing pH rise from fresh plaster• dealing with plaster dust and when additives or sequestrants can help• fill day rules like never stopping the water mid-fill• brushing twice daily and avoiding wheeled vacuums, stainless brushes, auto cleaners, and salt early• how disputes usually play out and why records matter even years laterJoin the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.If you want this, I can send this to you. Just email me at David at Swimmingpoollearning.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

The fastest way to kill a good initiative inside your law firm is to bring in too many decision-makers and give them no deadline. In this episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Michael and Jessica Mogill answer listener questions about why good ideas stall inside law firms, when impatience is an advantage versus a liability, and what effective delegation actually requires. Here's what you'll learn: Why reducing the number of decision-makers is the fastest way to eliminate operational friction How setting deadlines and working backwards from a go-live date forces real execution When a high-upside initiative deserves patience and when low returns signal you should move on Why delegating without clear context and constraints puts the outcome outside your control If speed and patience feel like opposites inside your firm, this conversation will sharpen how and when to use both. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:54) Best Time to Be Alive (00:06:04) AMA Setup (00:07:02) Q1: Getting Your Firm to Move Faster (00:09:44) Fewer Decision-Makers, More Speed (00:10:18) Deadlines Force Action (00:14:00) Q2: Impatience vs. Long-Term ROI (00:17:00) High Upside Deserves More Runway (00:20:00) Q3: Delegating With Clear Context (00:23:00) ICs vs. Leaders (00:26:00) Wrap Up Links & Resources: Game Changers Summit 2026 Learn what sustainable growth can look like for your firm at crispcoach.com. Do you love this podcast and want to see more game changing content? Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Past guests on The Game Changing Attorney Podcast include David Goggins, John Morgan, Alex Hormozi, Randi McGinn, Kim Scott, Chris Voss, Kevin O'Leary, Laura Wasser, John Maxwell, Mark Lanier, Robert Greene, and many more. If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: 395. AMMA - Why Consensus Slows Growth and How to Fix It 456. AMMA - Why It's Your Fault If Your Team Isn't Performing 405. AMMA - What it Takes to 10x Everything

The fastest way to create friction in a pool service business is to make good people wait for money they already earned. I sit down with Flavia de la Fuente, creator of Field Pay, and pool pro Brett Murdoch to talk about the messy reality most of us live with: checks piling up in a glovebox, subcontractors billing months late, and “quick” payments through Zelle or Venmo that turn into a recordkeeping nightmare.Try it for FREE at the Growth and Pro with Promo Code: BRETTWe break down what Field Pay is built to do: help pool companies pay technicians and 1099 subcontractors quickly after work is completed, with clean logs that make accounting and profitability tracking easier. Flavia explains how the platform supports the ways field teams actually get paid, from per-job and per-stop payouts to performance-based incentives, and how integrations with systems like Skimmer and Housecall Pro can reduce steps even further. Brett shares what changes once approvals become a one-tap habit and payouts are predictable instead of sporadic.We also get specific about W-2 teams versus 1099 vendors. Payroll still handles taxes and remains your source of truth, but Field Pay can accelerate spiffs and bonuses tied to behaviors you want more of, like five-star reviews, lead spotting, route coverage, and holiday calls. We cover safeguards like roster-based access to reduce fraud and mistakes, plus practical touches like reimbursements and a Spanish-language app experience.If you want a tighter back office, better technician retention, and fewer payment surprises, press play. Subscribe, share this with a pool pro who's tired of chasing invoices, and leave a review so more service companies can find it.We dig into why paying technicians and subcontractors is one of the biggest hidden choke points in a pool service business, and how speed and clarity can change everything from retention to profitability. Flavia de la Fuente and Brett Murdoch break down how Field Pay streamlines approvals, records, and payouts so we can stop chasing invoices and start running cleaner systems.• Brett's origin story in the pool industry and why process matters for scaling• why cash, checks, and late subcontractor invoices create avoidable risk and wasted time• how instant payouts after job completion change technician behavior and job coverage• handling real-world pay types like per stop, per job, route pay, commission-style earnings• using fast “spiffs” for reviews, leads, referrals, and weekend or holiday coverage• where Field Pay fits with W-2 payroll and why payroll stays the tax source of truth• integrations with tools like Skimmer and Housecall Pro to pull completed-work data• cleaner records for profitability tracking, reconciliations, and year-end reporting• roster-based controls to prevent misdirected payments and reduce fraud• pricing tiers and quick setup at Myfieldpay.comLearn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.Myfieldpay.com.you can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Most pool service bids aren't lost because you're bad at cleaning pools, they're lost because you were slower, less clear, or less confident than the next company. We walk through a practical, field-tested approach to bidding that helps you win the right accounts without blowing up your schedule or training customers to expect bargain pricing. We talk about when a photo is enough and when you need boots on the ground, why “first contact” matters so much on platforms like Thumbtack, and how to set up your day so you can actually fit estimates into a working pool route. From there we get real about territory strategy: keeping your service area tight, quickly checking addresses, and knowing when a lead is a bad fit even if you want the work. Pricing is the next make-or-break skill. We share how to find your local market range, why lowball bids leave money on the table, and how to position your pool maintenance business around reliability, proactive equipment checks, and clear communication. We also cover the softer skills that close deals: showing up looking professional, having a vehicle that inspires confidence, answering customer interview questions, and avoiding overpromising on stains or special requests. To wrap it up, we explain why walking back a quote or underbidding a green pool cleanup can cost you far more than the job itself through lost trust and lost referrals. If you got value from this, subscribe, share it with a pool pro who's quoting jobs this week, and leave a quick review with the one bidding mistake you never want to repeat.We break down what actually makes a pool service bid land, from showing up fast to pricing in a way that protects long-term profit. We also share how to handle customer “interview” questions, avoid overpromising, and keep your route tight so new accounts fit your schedule.• choosing boots on the ground over photo-only bids when it matters• responding first and booking fast to beat slower competitors• tightening your territory to protect drive time and route density• checking the address immediately and fitting bids into service days• learning local market rates and staying within a fair range• selling reliability and communication instead of cheap pricing• dressing clean and keeping a professional-looking vehicle and signage• preparing for customer questions about weather, algae, and policies• avoiding overpromising on stains and schedule commitments• never backtracking on a quote and learning from underbidding mistakes• thinking beyond one job to referrals and repeat businessJoin the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at pullgreycoaching.com.And if you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, smoking for learning.com on the banner. Click on the podcast icon.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

What if a blue-green algae could help your cells fight cancer the same way your own immune system does?In this episode of Integrative Cancer Solutions, Dr. K talks with Catharine Arnston, PhD, founder of ENERGYbits and author of the upcoming book Love Your Health to Bits with Algae. Catharine has spent years researching spirulina and chlorella, and she walks through why she sees cancer as a metabolic disease, one driven by damaged mitochondria, acidic cells, and the glucose that feeds tumor growth, a process known as the Warburg effect.She breaks down how superoxide dismutase protects your mitochondria from free radical damage, how chlorella clears the toxins that block your cell receptors, and how the blue pigment in spirulina called phycocyanin can trigger cancer cells to self-destruct while leaving healthy cells alone. If you or someone you love is trying to prevent, treat, or recover from cancer, this conversation gives you nutritional tools you can start using today.Key Takeaways:Why cancer is increasingly understood as a metabolic disease driven by the Warburg effect and glucose-fueled cell growthHow spirulina's superoxide dismutase (SOD) content protects mitochondria from free radical damage as natural SOD levels decline with ageChlorella's detoxifying effect on cell receptors, and why clearing out cell-blocking toxins matters for nutrient absorptionPhycocyanin, the blue pigment unique to spirulina, and its documented anti-angiogenesis effect and role in triggering apoptosis in cancer cellsWhy cutting simple sugars and carbs and increasing movement lowers the glucose available to feed cancer cells, tracked through the glucose ketone index (GKI)Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902Resources:ENERGYbits - https://energybits.com (use code ICS for 20% off) Love Your Health to Bits with Algae (Catharine Arnston's book, releasing February 2027) - https://energybits.com/pages/book-page?srsltid=AfmBOor5uNjCFGbYu2Pv3yVHIfuJviolpRaJgslOJLXRo1N8Wh8GtDceDr. Thomas Seyfried's research on cancer as a metabolic disease Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.

On this episode of Crying Out Cloud, Eden Koby Naftali & Amitai Cohen sit down with John Hultquist, Chief Analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group (ex-Mandiant, ex-FireEye, founder of CYBERWARCON & SLEUTHCON).Drawing on over two decades of tracking state-sponsored adversaries like Sandworm, John cuts through the hype to explain what modern threat intelligence actually does: it keeps CISOs from burning millions of dollars on the wrong technology, spots adversary shifts before static IOCs exist, and bridges the gap between raw binary reverse-engineering and executive decision-making.In this episode, John unpacks how threat actors are weaponizing AI and bypassing commercial costs entirely and traces the real shift underway: adversaries embedding adversarial prompt-injection payloads inside malware to shut down automated SOC scanners.What's Inside:1. The economics of illicit AI: Underground access vs. hijacked enterprise compute2. Malware poison pills designed to neutralize automated LLM triage3. Why firmware and ICS layers are becoming primary targets for disruption4. Behavioral detection models when living-off-the-land means zero usable IOCs5. Lessons from tracking Sandworm and convincing leadership to act before the lights go out

A single pool can hijack your entire day if you don't have a line you won't cross. We're sharing the kind of “only learned in the field” pool service knowledge that saves hours on a route and keeps you from chasing problems that refuse to cooperate.First, we get practical about one of the most common time traps: a pump that won't prime after running dry. We talk through quick checks that actually matter, like lubing or replacing the pump lid o-ring, using an attached spa to help establish suction, and knowing when to stop repeating the same steps. The big takeaway is a hard boundary: if it won't prime fast, shut it down, clean what you can, and come back with time or hand it to a repair tech who can go deeper.Then we shift from equipment to business survival with a clear approach to late payments. We lay out a simple billing rhythm, when to remind, and when it's fair to pause service so you don't end up funding someone else's pool with your own chemicals and payroll.We also cover “mystery algae” that isn't really a chemistry problem at all. Sometimes the homeowner is turning the system off for noise, cutting variable speed pump runtime to save money, or stopping a standalone VS pump during a party and forgetting to restart it. We finish with a few honest strategies for handling chatty customers so you can stay focused and keep your route on track.Subscribe for more real-world pool pro guidance, share this with a tech who needs boundaries, and leave a review with the biggest time sink you've had on a stop.We share field-tested pool service boundaries that save your route when problems, payments, or people start eating your day. We walk through priming failures, late-paying customers, mystery algae tied to pump runtime, and simple ways to keep moving without being rude.• setting a 10-minute limit when a pool pump will not prime• fast priming fixes using spa suction, o-ring lube, and basic tightening checks• recognizing hidden blockages like debris in the suction line• leaving the system off and scheduling a return or referring repairs out• creating a firm billing timeline and stopping service for non-payment• understanding why overdue balances snowball and rarely get “caught up”• diagnosing sudden algae by checking timers, schedules, and customer changes• educating homeowners on variable speed pump electricity use and runtime• preventing shutdowns on standalone VS pumps after parties• using honest exit strategies with chatty customers to protect focus and speedLearn more at Swimmipoollearning.com.If you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, somethingpoollearning.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

A pool cleaner that devours acorns can get stopped by something the size of a couple grains of rice, and once you know why, you start diagnosing faster and wasting less time on the deck. I'm digging into the most common YouTube questions I get from pool owners and pool service pros and expanding them into practical, real-world troubleshooting you can use on your next stop.We start with the Polaris Max and Polaris Atlas suction pool cleaners and the big design tradeoff behind the newer Halo engine. It's far better with long string-like debris than older designs, but small pebbles can jam the mechanism and make the cleaner look “dead” even when suction is fine. I explain what's happening, where it shows up most often (hello, pebble tech pools), and the simple way to clear it and get moving again.Then we shift to a problem that costs people equipment: trying to drain a pool by backwashing. I break down when backwash is safe, why push-pull piston valves and DE grids can get damaged if you run backwash too long, and why a multiport valve with waste mode is the right approach. From there, I walk through pump priming failures, how to check for impeller clogs, why the lid O-ring is not always the culprit, and what lubricant actually belongs on pool O-rings.We wrap with saltwater chlorine generator troubleshooting using the Jandy TrueClear check cell and the fast “bubble test,” plus a clear explanation of borates at 50 ppm for algae control and pH stability. If you got value from these pool maintenance tips, subscribe, share the show with a pool friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.I answer a stack of real YouTube questions with field-tested fixes for cleaners, pumps, salt cells, and water balance. We talk tradeoffs, quick diagnostics, and the little mistakes that quietly damage equipment over time.• Why Polaris Max and Atlas can stop with strong suction• How the Halo engine handles string debris yet jams on tiny pebbles• Why draining by backwashing can damage DE grids with push-pull valves• What to check when a pump loses prime including impeller debris• How to lube a pump lid O-ring correctly with Magic Lube• A simple spa mode test to isolate priming problems• How to confirm Jandy TrueClear chlorine production by looking for bubbles• Why output percentage and pump RPM matter for salt cell activation• Where AI comparisons help and where real-world experience still matters• How borates at 50 ppm help as an algostat and pH buffer• Alkalinity targets and using muriatic acid to keep pH in rangeAre you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at Swimmipoollearning.com. If you don't want to rely on AI specifically and are looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swimmingpolearning.com. If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

The fastest way to burn out in pool service is chasing a number that doesn't fit your reality. We get a constant question from pool pros and new pool technicians alike: how many pools can one person clean in a day, and what's a “good” pool route size if you want steady income without living in panic mode?I break down the variables that actually control your capacity, starting with the one most people ignore: temperament. Some techs move fast and stay in motion, others work methodically and take longer on each stop, and your business plan has to match that. From there, we zoom out to the constraints of your service area. Traffic, parking, and drive time can quietly destroy your schedule, while a tight route with clustered stops can make two to three pools per hour realistic. We also talk pool size, why automatic pool cleaners can dramatically shorten visits, and the customer “optics” problem when you finish too quickly and cameras are watching.Then we get practical with the math: a rule of thumb of roughly 14 to 16 full-service pools per day, plus a solo weekly route sweet spot of about 70 to 80 pools so you still have buffer for flat tires, detours, and the surprises that hit every route. Finally, we tackle hiring, including how to structure employee workloads so one sick day doesn't turn into a route disaster. If this helps, subscribe, share it with a pool pro friend, and leave a quick review so more service techs can find it.We answer the pool-pro question that never goes away: how many pools a single technician can service in one day without cutting corners or burning out. We lay out the real-world variables behind the numbers and share a practical rule of thumb for daily stops and total route size.• temperament and work pace as a core limiter on daily capacity• how traffic, parking, and drive time set the ceiling on pools per hour• why route density matters and how tightening a service area speeds up days• the impact of pool size and automatic pool cleaners on visit length• customer perception when a stop is “too fast” and how to manage optics• a practical daily target of about 14 to 16 full-service pools• a sustainable solo route size around 70 to 80 pools per week• when adding an employee helps and how to avoid getting overloadedLearn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.If you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Trichlor tablets keep pools clear with slow, steady chlorination, so why do they get blamed for “ruining” pool water? We dig into the real chemistry behind the complaints and separate hard facts from pool-store folklore. If you've ever heard that cyanuric acid somehow sticks around after a full drain, or that topping off after evaporation fixes high stabilizer, we walk through why those ideas don't hold up and where the confusing test results actually come from.We also get blunt about what many people are never told at the point of sale: trichlor tablets are trichloroisocyanuric acid, and they add a lot of cyanuric acid (CYA) as they chlorinate. Since CYA doesn't evaporate, it can climb all season, making free chlorine less active at the same reading. We talk through a practical target approach using the common “free chlorine should be about 7.5% of CYA” guideline, and why that can create real headaches for commercial pool operators who must stay under health department chlorine limits.Then we shift into solutions that let you keep the convenience of tablets without letting stabilizer creep take over: small, scheduled partial drains, using less trichlor by supporting with liquid chlorine or cal-hypo, and water “enhancers” like 50 ppm borates, mineral systems, and phosphate remover plus enzymes to help chlorine last longer. We also cover how heavy rain in some regions can provide meaningful dilution that changes your game plan. Subscribe for more straight talk pool chemistry, share this with a pool owner who's battling mystery chlorine loss, and leave a review with your biggest trichlor or CYA question.We clear up the biggest trichlor tablet misconceptions and explain why cyanuric acid readings can confuse even experienced pool owners. We also lay out practical ways to keep CYA and free chlorine in a safe, effective range without giving up tablets.• urban legend behind high CYA after a drain and refill• why cyanuric acid testing gets unreliable at high levels• evaporation removing water but not stabilizer• trichlor tablets containing about 50% cyanuric acid• how rising CYA makes free chlorine work slower• the 7.5% free chlorine to CYA rule and why it matters• how a season of tablets can drive CYA to 200+ ppm• partial drains as the simplest stabilizer control• using liquid chlorine or cal-hypo to reduce tablet use• borates minerals enzymes and phosphate control to extend chlorineJoin the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Dichlor has a reputation problem, and it is mostly because people expect it to behave like trichlor tablets or like a routine weekly sanitizer. We walk through what dichlor pool chlorine actually is, why it dissolves fast, and why its biggest “hidden feature” is cyanuric acid built into every dose. If you have ever fought rising CYA, stubborn algae, or confusing chlorine readings, this conversation gives you a clean mental model: every chlorine type leaves a byproduct, and dichlor's byproduct is stabilizer.We get specific about when sodium dichlor makes sense for real-world pool maintenance. We talk pricing and why many pool service pros stopped using it, then shift into the practical advantages that still make it valuable: long shelf life for an emergency supply on your truck, near pH neutral behavior compared to acidic trichlor, and the ability to raise free chlorine while also adding CYA in saltwater pools or fresh fills that start with zero stabilizer. We also compare dosing strength against liquid chlorine and cal hypo, plus a real usability perk: granular dichlor can shock without the same cloudy water effect many people see with cal hypo.We also draw a hard line between granular dichlor and the powdered “dichlor shock” products that tend to cloud water and feel weaker, and we explain why dichlor is not a replacement for trichlor tablets. The combination approach matters here: trichlor plus liquid chlorine or cal hypo can be a balanced way to manage byproducts, while trichlor plus dichlor can stack cyanuric acid too quickly.If this helped you rethink your chlorine plan, subscribe, share the episode with a pool owner or tech, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.We break down what dichlor pool shock really is, why it quietly adds a lot of cyanuric acid, and how that changes your chlorine strategy. We also share when dichlor is a smart emergency tool, when it keeps water clearer than cal hypo, and why it does not replace trichlor tablets for weekly residual.• what dichlor is and why it includes cyanuric acid• rough CYA impact from dosing and why it matters• price and why many pros stopped using it• long shelf life value as backup chlorine• best-fit use cases like saltwater pools or startups needing CYA• pH neutrality compared with trichlor and surface-friendly handling• broadcast dosing guidance and vinyl pool cautions• spot algae treatments on steps and problem areas• strength comparison vs liquid chlorine and cal hypo• why powdered “dichlor shock” is inferior to granular dichlor• why dichlor is not a trichlor tablet replacement• combination approach and avoiding trichlor plus dichlor CYA stackingLearn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

In this Week 36, 2026 episode of the GMS Weekly Podcast, Ingrid and Henning discuss the latest developments shaping the global ship recycling market, including renewed conflict in the Gulf, surging oil and freight markets, limited recycling vessel supply, changing prices across Pakistan and Bangladesh, and improving fundamentals in India. The biggest challenge for ship recyclers and cash buyers remains the shortage of fresh recycling candidates. The Baltic Dry Index climbed to 3,488, its strongest level since October 2021, with Capesize and Panamax markets also performing strongly. As older vessels continue to generate attractive freight earnings, shipowners have less incentive to sell for recycling. The result is a market where yards still want tonnage, but owners remain patient. Renewed U.S. strikes and Iranian retaliation have also brought Strait of Hormuz risk back into focus. Brent crude moved to around USD 95.70 per barrel, while WTI reached approximately USD 91.60, increasing voyage and import costs while adding further complexity around Gulf-positioned recycling candidates. Pakistan remains the highest-priced ship recycling destination, although sentiment is now softening after the aggressive buying seen during August. Gadani indications stand around USD 500 per LDT for dry bulk, USD 525 for tankers and USD 535 for containers. Several previously secured vessels are now feeding the waterfront, reducing the urgency that drove recent price spikes. Bangladesh also softened this week, with Chattogram indications around USD 475 per LDT for dry bulk, USD 500 for tankers and USD 510 for containers. Previously purchased vessels continue to move through the yards, but no fresh market sales were reported. Local steel remained stable at around BDT 64,000 per ton, while the Taka strengthened modestly against the U.S. Dollar. The Bangladesh market also received the findings of the government inquiry into the fatal recycling incident in August. The inquiry identified shortcomings in safety supervision and gas-testing procedures, including hydrogen sulphide risk associated with ballast-tank work. The legal process now continues, while the wider industry is expected to pay closer attention to atmosphere testing, ballast-space procedures and high-risk work controls. India is moving in the opposite direction, with improving buying appetite, firmer steel prices and a stronger Rupee supporting Alang recyclers. Local plate reached around INR 42,100 per ton, while USD/INR strengthened to approximately 94.49, improving Dollar purchasing power. India also received significant international backing for the proposed inclusion of two Indian ship recycling facilities on the European List of ship recycling facilities. BIMCO, European Shipowners, ICS, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and the World Shipping Council jointly supported the European Commission proposal. Final approval has not yet been granted, but the development adds weight to India's growing position in compliant and green ship recycling. Turkey remains steady, with Aliaga indications around USD 262 to USD 284 per LDT depending on vessel type. Turkish annual inflation eased slightly to 31.51%, while the Lira weakened beyond 48.4 against the Dollar. Turkey continues to compete through EU regulatory access, Basel-compliant recycling and specialist tonnage rather than conventional South Asian pricing. This episode examines what these developments mean for shipowners, cash buyers, ship recyclers, shipbrokers, shipping companies and maritime investors, including why strong freight markets are restricting recycling supply, why Pakistan and Bangladesh are cooling after recent buying runs, and why India is becoming increasingly important to watch. Key topics covered: global ship recycling market 2026, ship recycling prices, cash buyer market, ship demolition market, Pakistan ship recycling, Gadani recycling market, Bangladesh ship recycling, Chattogram recycling market, India ship recycling, Alang recycling market, Turkey ship recycling, Aliaga recycling market, Baltic Dry Index, Capesize freight rates, tanker and dry bulk recycling, oil prices, Strait of Hormuz shipping, maritime sanctions, Hong Kong Convention, European List ship recycling, compliant ship recycling, green ship recycling, vessel supply, steel prices and recycling market analysis. For detailed vessel price indications, market rankings, steel prices, port positions and global ship recycling market analysis, access GMS Weekly through the GMS website or mobile app.

A solar pool cover can feel like magic when your water stays warmer overnight, your chlorine level holds longer, and you stop refilling as often from evaporation. It can also feel like a nightmare when the “bargain” bubble cover starts shedding blue particles into the skimmer, or when a heavy, wet cover turns a normal service visit into a messy wrestling match. I break down what actually matters when you buy a solar pool cover or pool blanket, including why quality beats price and what normal wear looks like after a few seasons. We also get practical about the parts nobody warns you about: the dirt and pollen that builds up on top, the debris that dumps into the pool when you remove it, and the simple rules that keep everyone sane. If you are a pool service pro, you will hear the exact boundaries I set so I am not spending unpaid time uncovering and recovering pools, and so I am not stuck with liability if a reel handle breaks or a cover tears. If you are a homeowner, you will learn how timing matters after chemicals are added, and why leaving the cover off for a couple hours can protect the cover and keep the water cleaner. Then we dig into performance: heat retention that can push water temperature up by 5 to 10 degrees in summer, reduced UV burn-off that can lower chlorine demand, and the hidden risk of algae growth in shaded areas if you do not brush well. We talk fit, gaps, cutting, and why full water coverage drives the best results for evaporation control and cleaner water. If you want the benefits without the weekly headaches, press play, subscribe, and share the episode with a pool owner or pool tech, then leave a quick review with your biggest solar cover question.Solar pool covers can seriously improve heat retention, reduce evaporation, and help chlorine last longer, but they also create real mess and liability if they are cheap, cut wrong, or handled at the wrong time. I lay out what to buy, how to set ground rules with customers, and how to keep pool service smooth while still letting homeowners get the benefits.  • choosing a high-quality solar pool cover to avoid plastic shedding in the skimmer, pump basket, and filter  • realistic expectations on cover lifespan and early failure signs  • color choices and why appearance usually comes second to durability  • why covers reduce evaporation and how that ties to water conservation  • service-day rules so the homeowner removes and replaces the cover  • why chemicals and cover timing matter for cover longevity  • reel pros and cons, breakage risk, and avoiding liability  • getting proper coverage with minimal gaps for heat and debris control  • why many pros do not cut or deliver covers  • handling missed cover removal and setting boundaries  • using an automatic cleaner under the cover to prevent hidden debris and stains  Learn more at swimming poollearning.com.  Click on the podcast icon.  you can learn more at pullgangcoaching.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Podcast: PrOTect It All (LS 27 · TOP 10% what is this?)Episode: Building the Cybersecurity Community: From 120 People to 3,000 at CYBR.SEC.CONPub date: 2026-09-07Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationWork with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/ The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/ This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep122/ The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/ Get your tickets for CYBR.SEC.CON., a two-day cybersecurity conference, here: https://www.cybrseccon.com/ What started with 120 people and a homemade Word flyer has grown into a cybersecurity community of more than 3,000. So what does it take to build a community that can scale without losing its personal connection? In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow sits down with Michael Farnum, CEO and co-founder of CYBR.SEC.Community, and Sam Van Ryder, co-founder and an OT sales expert, to explore the story behind the growth of CYBR.SEC.CON and the community surrounding it. Michael and Sam share how they went from a grassroots cybersecurity gathering to a thriving community while keeping the relationships and sense of connection that made the event special in the first place. The conversation goes beyond conferences. Aaron, Michael, and Sam discuss the challenges facing people trying to break into cybersecurity and OT, why entry-level opportunities can be difficult to find, and what experienced professionals can do to help develop the next generation of cyber defenders. They also share their hands-on efforts to introduce young people to cybersecurity, including bringing 75 high school students into the community, with plans to reach 150. From hiring and firing lessons to career advice, community building, and the future of OT cybersecurity, this episode offers practical insight for anyone looking to grow their career, build meaningful connections, or help strengthen the cybersecurity workforce. In this episode, you'll learn: How CYBR.SEC.Community grew from 120 people to more than 3,000 What it takes to scale a cybersecurity community without losing its personal feel Why conferences can play an important role in cybersecurity careers How to break into OT and cybersecurity when you're just starting out The challenges surrounding entry-level cybersecurity jobs How community and mentorship can help develop the next generation of cyber professionals What CYBR.SEC.Community is doing to engage high school students in cybersecurity Coming September 15 and 16, 2026 CYBR.SEC.CON 2026 brings the cybersecurity community together again on September 15 and 16 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. If you're looking to connect with cybersecurity professionals, expand your network, learn from practitioners, discover career opportunities, and be part of a growing cyber community, CYBR.SEC.CON 2026 is an event worth checking out. Tune in to hear the story behind CYBR.SEC.CON, the people building the community, and why the future of cybersecurity depends on bringing more people into the conversation. About the guests: Michael Farnum is the CEO and co-founder of CYBR.SEC.Community and has worked in IT and cybersecurity since 1994. He founded HOU.SEC.CON. in 2010, which evolved into CYBR.SEC.CON., now attracting more than 3,000 cybersecurity professionals annually. Michael is passionate about cybersecurity community building, workforce development, education, and career development, and is a frequent speaker and podcaster on security leadership and industry trends. Sam Van Ryder is the CoFounder of CYBR.SEC.Community and Director of Strategic Accounts at Dragos. With more than 20 years of experience spanning mechanical engineering and technology sales, including over a decade focused on ICS and OT security, Sam brings deep industry expertise and a strong passion for cybersecurity community building. He is also a co-founder of HOU.SEC.CON., now CYBR.SEC.CON., which has grown into a major regional cybersecurity gathering. Important Links: LinkedIn of Michael Farnum: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfarnum/ LinkedIn of Sam Van Ryder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svanryder/ CYBR.SEC.CON: https://www.cybrseccon.com/ CYBR.SEC.Community: https://www.cybrsec.community/ CYBR.SEC.Careers: https://www.cybrseccareers.org/ CYBR.SEC.Events on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybrsecevents/ Learn more about PrOTect IT All: Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/ The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/ This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep122/ The OT Security Starter Kit: https://protectitallpod.com/starter-kit/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PrOTectITAll Email: info@protectitall.co X: https://twitter.com/protectitall Facebook: https://facebook.com/protectitallpodcast To be a guest or suggest a guest or episode, email info@protectitall.co. Please leave us a review on Apple or Spotify: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/protect-it-all/id1727211124 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Vvi0euj3rE8xObK0yvYi4The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Aaron Crow | Operational Technology & Cybersecurity Host, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

One wrong product can turn a beautiful vinyl liner into a permanent “before and after” photo, and most of the damage is totally avoidable. We walk through vinyl pool care with the mindset every pool service pro needs: protect the liner first, then make the water easy to maintain.We start with above-ground vinyl pool service and the two headaches that show up fast on a route: bargain-kit equipment that is too small for the water volume, and awkward access that makes basic cleaning harder than it should be. I explain what typically comes in those big-box setups, why circulation struggles, and when upgrading to a stronger pump and a properly sized cartridge filter can instantly improve clarity and consistency.Then we shift to in-ground vinyl pools, where chemistry choices matter even more. I break down why pH often drifts down in vinyl liner pools, why trichlor tablets and granular trichlor are a bad match, and how cal-hypo powder can bleach a liner if residue hits the surface. We also cover practical balance targets for pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid, and TDS, plus why metals like copper can stain vinyl quickly.To wrap it up, we get hands-on: a simple Leaf Bone skimmer clip trick for surface debris, how to think about wheeled vacuum heads versus brush vac heads, what automatic pool cleaners I trust for vinyl, and why stainless steel brushes are never worth the risk. If this helped, subscribe, share it with a pool pro friend, and leave a quick review so more techs can avoid liner disasters.We break down how to service vinyl pools without staining, bleaching, or tearing a liner, covering both above-ground and in-ground setups. We share practical chemical and tool choices that keep water clear, pH stable, and the liner protected.  • common above-ground pool service problems like undersized pumps and filters  • when an equipment upgrade makes maintenance easier and water clearer  • access and safety issues when cleaning around tall above-ground walls  • why vinyl pools often hold chlorine well but can drift to low pH  • chemicals to avoid on liners like cal-hypo powder and trichlor  • what to use to raise pH when it gets stubbornly low, including borax  • recommended balance ranges for pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, CYA, and TDS  • how metals and copper can stain a vinyl liner fast  • a simple skimming hack using the Leaf Bone leaf net skimmer clip  • safer vacuuming options like brush vac heads and automatic cleaners  • why stainless steel brushes do not belong in vinyl pools  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  If you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.  If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, somebodypoollearning.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

This show has been flagged as Explicit by the host. New hosts Welcome to our new hosts: Kristoff number9 Last Month's Shows Id Day Date Title Host 4696 Mon 2026-08-03 HPR Community News for July 2026 HPR Volunteers 4697 Tue 2026-08-04 Correcting the Dates of Files Vance 4698 Wed 2026-08-05 ID3 Tags and Vorbis Comments Whiskeyjack 4699 Thu 2026-08-06 Sunshine, Moonlight, Playnite !? operat0r 4700 Fri 2026-08-07 Robert A. Heinlein: The Juveniles Ahuka 4701 Mon 2026-08-10 Elsbeth muses with Lee on her experiences and opinions on AI Elsbeth 4702 Tue 2026-08-11 MakeACopy is an open-source document scanner app for Android Ken Fallon 4703 Wed 2026-08-12 Ebooks and Audiobooks Ahuka 4704 Thu 2026-08-13 HPR Beer Garden 17 - Double DDH IPAs Kevie 4705 Fri 2026-08-14 Free Software Is Wasted On You Teens Trollercoaster 4706 Mon 2026-08-17 Quirks and Customisations Lee 4707 Tue 2026-08-18 UNIX Curio #12 - expr Vance 4708 Wed 2026-08-19 Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1 Whiskeyjack 4709 Thu 2026-08-20 Peertube: my two penneth Kevie 4710 Fri 2026-08-21 Civilization VI Ahuka 4711 Mon 2026-08-24 Second-Hand Phone TrumpetJohn 4712 Tue 2026-08-25 friedcamp interviews part 1: Wim van Gool Kristoff 4713 Wed 2026-08-26 July2026 Community News response, and Future Plans TheDUDE 4714 Thu 2026-08-27 HPR Beer Garden 18 - Amber Ale Kevie 4715 Fri 2026-08-28 friedcamp interviews part 2: Thomas Farstrike Kristoff 4716 Mon 2026-08-31 PocketMod TrumpetJohn Comments this month Past shows hpr3708 (2022-10-19) "Insomnia as a Hobby" by TrumpetJohn. Robert St.Preux said: "Insomnia as a hobby" (2026-08-30 00:56:59) hpr3766 (2023-01-09) "ACER Nitro 5 laptop review" by Bookewyrmm. wevaba6950 said: "A refreshing contrast between enterprise gear and low-power hardware" (2026-08-10 09:19:47) candycanearter07 said: "re: a refreshing contrast..." (2026-08-12 02:54:05) hpr4581 (2026-02-23) "Sharp Intake of Breath City (A.K.A.) How I learnt to stop worrying about the fork bomb" by not_toby. Windigo said: "Fantastic episode" (2026-08-08 16:51:00) hpr4655 (2026-06-05) "Tips for Glasses" by norrist. Archer72 said: "Glasses and age" (2026-08-06 11:41:39) hpr4676 (2026-07-06) "HPR Community News for June 2026" by HPR Volunteers. Archer72 said: "hpr4657 :: UNIX Curio #8" (2026-08-02 19:29:26) hpr4677 (2026-07-07) "UNIX Curio #10 - Checksums and Hashes" by Vance. Whiskeyjack said: "Checksums and HPR4677" (2026-07-31 00:37:40) hpr4678 (2026-07-08) "High Resolution Elapsed Time in Shell Scripts" by Whiskeyjack. Archer72 said: "Reply to Whiskeyjack and candycanearter07 " (2026-08-03 10:12:47) hpr4692 (2026-07-28) "Noise Music Tutorial 2: Using Audacity to Make Noise" by TheDUDE. Windigo said: "Audacity for noise music" (2026-08-06 16:09:59) candycanearter07 said: "re: Audacity for noise music" (2026-08-12 18:55:18) This month's shows hpr4696 (2026-08-03) "HPR Community News for July 2026" by HPR Volunteers. Archer72 said: "Amateur Radio Field Days" (2026-08-02 11:50:11) Archer72 said: "hpr4673 First contact" (2026-08-03 10:16:09) candycanearter07 said: "re: mic issues" (2026-08-03 22:21:42) Th3Dud3 said: "response to Kevin not being able to get cream ale" (2026-08-06 00:12:38) hpr4697 (2026-08-04) "Correcting the Dates of Files" by Vance. Jim DeVore said: "Useful episode!" (2026-08-04 10:53:12) Vance said: "Modifying metadata" (2026-08-07 01:44:51) Henrik Hemrin said: "Exif in digiKam" (2026-08-08 19:20:13) candycanearter07 said: "useful!" (2026-08-10 16:08:18) hpr4698 (2026-08-05) "ID3 Tags and Vorbis Comments" by Whiskeyjack. xmanmonk said: "Great episode!" (2026-08-05 15:19:01) candycanearter07 said: "quirks in hpr" (2026-08-05 15:52:18) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to xmanmonk in HPR4698 - ID3 Tags" (2026-08-06 00:12:26) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to candycanearter07 in HPR4698 ID3 tags" (2026-08-06 00:28:48) hpr4703 (2026-08-12) "Ebooks and Audiobooks" by Ahuka. candycanearter07 said: "useful!!" (2026-08-12 02:30:58) Archer72 said: "Audiobooks and Audible" (2026-08-12 09:06:40) Jack said: "Misleading" (2026-08-12 17:05:21) hpr4705 (2026-08-14) "Free Software Is Wasted On You Teens" by Trollercoaster. Archer72 said: "Brilliant! " (2026-08-03 14:08:08) Trollercoaster said: "One left in my six pack" (2026-08-14 07:53:38) old guy said: ":-)" (2026-08-14 09:24:15) Trollercoaster said: "old guys together" (2026-08-14 13:14:48) candycanearter07 said: "good satire again" (2026-08-14 21:42:55) Trollercoaster said: "Who's talking about satire?" (2026-08-15 07:54:33) Trollercoaster (our of character) said: "Woopsie" (2026-08-16 19:25:41) hpr4706 (2026-08-17) "Quirks and Customisations" by Lee. candycanearter07 said: "cool ep!" (2026-08-30 20:15:40) hpr4707 (2026-08-18) "UNIX Curio #12 - expr" by Vance. xmanmonk said: "Another great show" (2026-08-18 22:22:56) Whiskeyjack said: "HPR4707 Unix curio - dc" (2026-08-19 14:31:02) Vance said: "dc" (2026-08-20 04:47:32) Whiskeyjack said: "HPR4707 Unix curio - Stack Machines" (2026-08-21 16:00:48) Trollercoaster said: "Suggestion for Linux Curio" (2026-08-27 10:42:43) Whiskeyjack said: "Obscure X Window programs" (2026-08-27 16:16:15) candycanearter07 said: "re: Suggestion for Linux Curio" (2026-08-27 18:13:51) Archer72 said: "re: Suggestion for Linux Curio" (2026-08-28 10:07:31) Vance said: "Thanks for the ideas" (2026-08-28 16:39:28) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to Vance on episode research" (2026-08-30 04:14:01) candycanearter07 said: "re: re: Suggestion for Linux Curio" (2026-08-30 12:06:31) hpr4708 (2026-08-19) "Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1" by Whiskeyjack. Archer72 said: "Thanks you" (2026-08-08 10:49:34) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to Archer72 on HPR4708 - PLCs Episode 1" (2026-08-08 17:11:10) Trey said: "Memories of Ladder Logic" (2026-08-19 13:01:41) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to Trey on HPR4708 - PLCs Episode 1" (2026-08-20 02:02:44) Trey said: "Cyber in ICS" (2026-09-02 22:31:51) Whiskeyjack said: "Reply to Trey on Cyber in ICS" (2026-09-03 15:24:51) hpr4709 (2026-08-20) "Peertube: my two penneth" by Kevie. xmanmonk said: "Thanks for the episode" (2026-08-20 19:15:57) hpr4711 (2026-08-24) "Second-Hand Phone" by TrumpetJohn. candycanearter07 said: "interesting!" (2026-08-24 19:17:44) Whiskeyjack said: "HPR4711 - TCL Flip phone" (2026-08-24 22:22:11) hpr4712 (2026-08-25) "friedcamp interviews part 1: Wim van Gool" by Kristoff. Archer72 said: "Interview" (2026-08-26 23:11:49) Laindir said: "Fascinating interview!" (2026-08-26 23:18:33) hpr4716 (2026-08-31) "PocketMod" by TrumpetJohn. Kightlinger said: "I love PocketMods!" (2026-08-31 17:35:43) candycanearter07 said: "analog solutions" (2026-08-31 20:52:55) Mailing List discussions Policy decisions surrounding HPR are taken by the community as a whole. This discussion takes place on the Mailing List which is open to all HPR listeners and contributors. The discussions are open and available on the HPR server under Mailman. The threaded discussions this month can be found here: https://lists.hackerpublicradio.com/pipermail/hpr/2026-August/thread.html Events Calendar With the kind permission of LWN.net we are linking to The LWN.net Community Calendar. Quoting the site: This is the LWN.net community event calendar, where we track events of interest to people using and developing Linux and free software. Clicking on individual events will take you to the appropriate web page. Provide feedback on this episode.

A rule change can sound abstract until it hits the product you were about to buy. We dig into a developing regulatory threat that could limit or block new robotic pool cleaners from being released in the United States, and why the most “modern” features may be the biggest liability. If your favorite cordless pool robot depends on mapping, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth control, or over-the-air firmware updates, this conversation will help you understand what could change and how fast the market can shift once approvals tighten.We connect the dots using a real-world parallel from the drone and camera space, where restrictions reshaped what could be sold through normal retail channels and pushed buyers toward a gray market. That workaround comes with a price: harder returns, unclear support, and warranties that may not apply. We also talk through how broad wording can sweep up more than one brand or country, and why even U.S. companies can feel the impact when key components come from overseas.Then we get practical: if new models stall, do you buy a current-generation robotic pool cleaner now, or wait and risk fewer options later? We explore how innovation solves real pool problems (main drains, ledges, beach entries), why annual improvements matter, and how uncertainty can affect both homeowners and pool service pros who recommend equipment to customers.If you found this useful, subscribe so you don't miss updates, share the episode with a pool owner or pool pro, and leave a quick review telling us what feature you refuse to lose in the next generation of pool robots.We break down a developing U.S. regulatory situation that could limit new robotic pool cleaners from being sold domestically, especially connected models with mapping and wireless control. We compare it to what happened in the drone and camera world and lay out what it could mean for innovation, warranties, and buying decisions.• potential impact of a broad FCC-style security ruling on new robotic pool cleaner models  • how the DJI drone and camera restrictions created a gray market and what that teaches pool buyers  • why Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, firmware updates, and mapping may be the features most at risk  • what a slowdown in new releases could mean for manufacturers, including U.S. brands using overseas components  • consumer reality of gray market purchases, including returns, support, and voided warranties  • the big buying question: whether current cordless models still make sense without future upgrades  • how similar rules could spread to other home robotics like vacuums and robotic lawnmowers  Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Perfect pool service is not “blue water” and a quick goodbye. Harold Evans joins us to argue for something bigger: water that genuinely feels good, smells clean, and makes people want to be in their pool with their family. We get into why balanced water chemistry matters beyond test results, how LSI affects surfaces and equipment, and why “good-looking” water can still be aggressive if the balance is off.We also talk about the business side that separates an average route from a great pool service company. Harold makes the case for using enzymes to reduce the oils and organics chlorine struggles with, which can mean less chlorine use and fewer chloramine problems. Then we shift into operations: documentation, photos, and pool route software that create a clean paper trail. If a customer forgets your recommendations or questions your work later, professional records protect your techs and your reputation.The conversation widens to the pool industry as a whole, including what happened as retail expertise faded at big chains like Leslie's and why confidence erodes when knowledge disappears. We also face the hard truth about labor: this trade takes real skill across chemistry, plumbing, and electrical work, so wages, training, and job fit have to reflect that reality. If you want to run a pool business you're proud of, this is a blueprint.Subscribe for more, share this with a pool pro who needs it, and leave a review telling us what standard you think the industry should be held to.We sit down with Harold Evans to talk about what excellence actually looks like in a pool service business, from water quality that feels good to systems that protect your company. We push for higher standards in the trade through better chemistry, better documentation, and better pay and training so the industry can keep great people.• treating pools as an emotional and therapeutic space for families• prioritizing balanced water chemistry and LSI for comfort and equipment protection• using enzymes to reduce contaminants and cut down chlorine smell• raising pride in the pool industry through education and better execution• documenting every visit with notes and photos to prevent disputes• using routing and documentation software to run a tighter operation• training employees with kindness and keeping them through fair structure and pay• learning from Leslie's decline and the value of real expertise in the DIY market• focusing sales energy on customers who value service rather than forcing DIY conversionsJoin the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swimmingprolearning.com, clicking on the podcast icon on the banner. If you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at PoGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

O Itaú, maior banco da América Latina está com vagas abertas para PMs e GPMS. Saiba mais e inscreva-se aqui.A Arena é assinatura que você precisa para ficar antenado colocando a mão na massa na era da IA. Assine aqui com R$100,00 de descontoDiretamente da 2ª edição do iFood Camp, Arthur bate um papo com Isa Piratininga, Diretora de Inovação do iFood e Bel Araujo, Diretora de Produto e Design, para uma conversa sobre como o a IA está mudando a estrutura dos times de produto e tech do iFood.Chapters00:00 Introdução ao episódio e participantes02:26 Tamanho e composição do time de tecnologia do iFood04:12 Testes de tamanhos de times e aprendizados07:01 Visões sobre o "modelo Spotify" e estruturas de times09:17 Impacto da AI na autonomia e velocidade dos times12:00 Testes com ICs e novos formatos de times18:46 Decisões rápidas e o papel da AI na liderança23:27 Potencialização dos Jet Skis e testes de inovação27:19 Desafios e estratégias na implementação de AI32:38 Segurança, limites e evolução dos agentes de AI36:41 Impacto da AI na rotina e tomada de decisão42:58 Encerramento

A prostate cancer diagnosis can either freeze you in place or push you to act, and Harold Evans chooses action. Harold opens up about learning he has prostate cancer at 71 and why he's determined to turn it into a loud reminder for other men: stop postponing your health. We get specific about prostate cancer screening, what a PSA test is, why tracking the number matters, and how early detection can be the difference between a manageable plan and a much harder road.We also talk about what happens after the lab work. Harold walks through the follow up process that includes a urologist, imaging, and biopsy, then explains the high level choices people often face once cancer is confirmed: watchful waiting in some cases, radiation therapy, or surgical intervention. He shares why he's leaning toward robotic prostate surgery, how PSA can drop to zero when the source is removed, and why he wants clarity and momentum rather than weeks of radiation and uncertainty. Along the way, we touch on lifestyle factors like diet, sugar, and diabetes, plus the value of daily movement as you get older.Then we widen the lens to Harold's legacy in the pool service industry. He explains what he loves about the work, how reputation and modern search can reward high quality service, and why he protects his team by holding customers to a basic standard of respect. The Golden Rule shows up as both a business principle and a way to navigate hard decisions when the stakes are real.If this conversation helps even one person book a checkup, it's worth sharing. Subscribe, send this to a friend who keeps delaying the doctor, and leave a review so more pool pros and families can find it.Harold Evans shares his prostate cancer diagnosis and makes a direct case for early detection, especially for men who avoid doctors and delay testing out of fear. We talk through PSA testing, treatment choices, and why taking ownership of problems matters in your health and in your pool business.• prostate cancer screening and why the PSA test belongs in routine bloodwork• how early intervention changes outcomes and reduces the risk of metastatic cancer• the danger of postponing care and living in the dark about your health• diet, sugar, diabetes management, and why better habits still matter after diagnosis• treatment paths including radiation and surgical intervention plus how PSA changes after surgery• staying active with daily walking and long term movement as you age• pride in the pool industry and building a reputation for high quality service• firing disrespectful customers, protecting employees, and using the Golden Rule as a business filterLearn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.If you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

What makes an analytics or intelligence product indispensable when technical sophistication alone isn't enough to drive adoption, renewals, or sales? Why do POCs stall, why does adoption stay flat, and why aren't prospects nearly as excited about your (impressive) analytics tech as you are?      It's that the value never becomes obvious to the humans in the loop who do the buying, using, and justifying.     In this episode, I provide a framework for identifying the personas (roles) and experiences that can turn sophisticated analytical capability into perceived value. We'll explore the five essential control surfaces you'll need to address in your product and why founders and product leaders need to look beyond technical development (e.g., the delivery of AI models, dashboards, MCP connectors, agentic capabilities, and traditional interfaces).      I also examine the tensions that can emerge when incentives and goals for end users are not aligned with those of management and executive/fiscal buyers. Why does the efficiency ROI you sell to a management champion get read as a job threat to the operator/user whose adoption you need to succeed? I'll answer this, plus the reasons AI can complicate those dynamics, how to prevent your product from creating an Invisible Intelligence Gap for customers, and why one past podcast guest's “shipping the meter” matters much more than another feature. (That will also explain why I don't think dashboards are dead in the age of AI.)      Highlights / Skip to: Short-term stakeholders you shouldn't forget to satisfy (particularly during POCs/Demos) such as legal, compliance, and the game of defense “value be damned” they are playing (4:14) Not every mouth is equally hungry: deciding which personas deserve the most product attention (8:23) End users of your product such as developers, analysts, business users (often ICs) operating your product daily—and why the real bar is whether they would complain to the C-suite if your product went away (9:12) How managers of ICs (e.g., sales directors, customer service managers, VPs of data, etc.) might need something very different than end users, and why the manager's needs might be a threat to those very IC users. The 3-part fix? Making all parties look successful to their superiors; improving the lives of those stakeholders; and arming champions with the evidence fiscal buyers need  (11:08) The unique needs of executive and financial stakeholders who might have the most decision power while using your product the least (15:59) Why “shipping the meter” and the Invisible Intelligence Gap decide whether your product survives the next budget cut (17:07) The “AI Agent” as a “user” of your product: Why I think agents ride in a sidecar attached to humans and what you need to do to enable your customers and their AI agents to be successful (21:23) Why figuring out what control surfaces/UIs/UXs you may need to improve is the easy part if you know what they are a response to (26:37)   Links 197 - Agentic AI Isn't a Moat for Analytics Products.This is. - My episode on viable moats for BI/Analytics products in the age of AI The Invisible Intelligence Gap Behavioral Signals CEO Rana Gujral on “Shipping the Meter” is in Episode 198 Need help identifying the 5 control surfaces in your product and satisfying the human users behind them? Schedule a free discovery call with me

Designing a custom power chip used to mean an ASIC budget and a year of NRE, but Renesas Power GreenPAK lets you configure one at your desk in minutes. In this OnTrack Podcast episode, host Zach Peterson talks with Sidney Chan, product marketing director in the Configurable Mixed Signal Division at Renesas, about how Power GreenPAK folds DC-DC converters, LDOs, and load switches into the same programmable platform engineers already use for power sequencing, reset ICs, and watchdog timing.  Sidney walks through a live camera demo built on the SLG51002, an eight-channel high-PSRR LDO, showing how supply noise turns into visible banding and artifacts on a CMOS image sensor and why clean rails matter for smartphones, automotive camera systems, and even endoscopes. He also covers the wider GreenPAK family, including AnalogPAK, HVPAK, Automotive GreenPAK, and the new ForgeFPGA line, plus what configurable converter architectures could unlock for system-level efficiency. If you select power components from a catalog distributor and requalify every time a rail changes, this is a genuinely different way to approach power management IC design.

A $600 variable speed pump on Amazon can make any pool pro feel like they're losing a pricing argument before they even open their mouth. But the real question is not what the pump costs. It's what happens when it fails, who pays for the diagnosis, and whether anyone shows up to make it right. We dig into how cheap pool equipment, overseas manufacturing, and online marketplaces are reshaping customer expectations and putting pressure on distributors and service companies.Harold Evans joins me to talk about consolidation and pool service roll-ups, and why the “second bite” promise often doesn't match reality. We get specific about what makes the pool industry harder to roll up than businesses like pest control: fewer stops per day, higher cost of goods sold, and thinner margins once you stack venture capital profit demands, corporate overhead, and debt service on top of labor. That mismatch creates pressure that can break culture, weaken service quality, and force companies into tough exits.We also bring it back to what actually wins long-term: investing in technicians, training, and the customer experience. If buyers can get parts anywhere, your advantage is the outcome you deliver, the risk you take off the homeowner's plate, and the trust you earn over years of consistent work. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a pool pro, and leave a review so more people in the pool industry can find the show.We look ten years ahead and ask what happens to pool service when consolidation grows and cheap online equipment resets customer expectations. Harold Evans explains why roll-ups struggle in the pool industry and why the winning move is investing in people and outcomes, not chasing commodity pricing.• roll-ups and consolidation challenges driven by culture and process conflicts• why “second bite” payouts often fail to materialize for sellers• pool industry economics compared with pest control economics• venture capital expectations, debt service, and margin pressure in service models• shifting from selling products to selling trust, talent, and consistent outcomes• repair vs replace thinking to reduce risk and improve long-term reliability• Amazon pricing and generic variable speed pumps changing the sales conversation• warranty support, training, and service infrastructure as hidden costs in OEM pricing• big box retailers and online marketplaces squeezing traditional distributionLearn more at Swimmypoollearning.com.If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, so you learning.com on the banner, click on the podcast icon.And if you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Episode: 3404 The rise and fall of ICS, The International Correspondence School.  Today, International Correspondence Schools.

He sold his pool company from the middle of a world cruise, then came home with a sharper take on where pool service is headed. Harold Evans returns to the Poohway Podcast Show to share the wild logistics of closing a deal while traveling, why Hasa felt like the right long-term partner for his brand, and what he's learned after years of building tools and training for working pool pros.From there, we get practical and opinionated about what actually creates value in a backyard. We talk Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and why balanced water is about protecting heaters, surfaces, and warranties, not just “passing” a test kit. Harold explains why reducing friction matters, how an LSI app helps techs make better calls faster, and why teaching the “why” beats handing out rote habits that break the moment conditions change.We also take on the uncomfortable business side: customers watching service visits on cameras, inflation crushing margins, and the temptation to do less work for the same price. Harold makes the case that chem-only service and every-other-week stops can become expectation traps, especially as DIY pool owners gain access to Amazon parts, AI-driven advice, and endless online info. We close with a bigger industry lens on online education, trade shows, consumer demand, consolidation, and what it takes to stay profitable without racing to the bottom.If you want more profit, fewer headaches, and a pool service business that can compete in the DIY era, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a pool pro friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.We catch up with Harold Evans on how his family business sale came together mid-cruise and why he believes education is still the strongest differentiator for pool pros. We dig into LSI, the real cost of “faster” service, and how DIY tools, Amazon, and inflation are forcing the pool industry to rethink value.• The behind-the-scenes story of selling a pool company while traveling• Why education beats product-pushing for long-term customer trust• What LSI is for and why it is not a sanitation metric• Reducing friction so busy techs actually use water balance tools• Why spending less time on-site can destroy perceived value• The risks of chem-only and every-other-week service models• How inflation quietly erodes profit when rates do not change• DIY customers, AI, and Amazon reshaping parts access and expectations• Distribution inventory pressure and why pros are ordering online more• Online training vs trade shows and why consumer education mattersJoin the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer can learn, definitely learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

מהם אתגרי האבטחה והסייבר בעולמות התעשיה והתשתיות, ומה ההבדל לעומת האתגרי בעולמות מערכות המידע? כיצד הבינה המלאכותית הפיסית משפיעה על תחום זה? לקראת הכנס השנתי של אנשים ומחשבים למערכות תפעוליות, ICS בינואר 2027 מראיין: יהודה קונפורטס, עורך ראשי, אנשים ומחשבים עורך: ניר מטרסו, אנשים ומחשביםSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One small lapse on a pool route can turn into a flooded yard, an angry phone call, or a liability nightmare. We get brutally practical about the most common pool service mistakes we've made ourselves, why they happen, and how to prevent them with simple policies and repeatable checks that hold up when you're tired and the day is hot.We start with the big one: filling a pool for the customer. Turning on a hose feels like good pool maintenance when water is low and equipment is at risk, but it's also one of the fastest ways to end up with an overflow and property damage. We talk through safer options like shutting the system down, using automation timeout mode, communicating clearly with homeowners or tenants, and using tools like a Pool Sentry when you're maintaining a vacant home.Then we move into pool equipment repair realities. A “simple” pump and filter replacement can explode into replumbing, access issues, missing unions, or problems that belong to a licensed plumber or electrician. We share how to evaluate an equipment pad before bidding, when to call in help, and why pride is expensive. We also cover operational slip-ups like forgetting to turn off a timer during a filter cleaning, leaving an automation panel in service mode, and treating algae and dirty filters too lightly until the pool turns into a week-later disaster.If you want fewer callbacks and a tighter pool service business, take these lessons and build them into your route. Subscribe, share this with a pool tech who needs it, and leave a review so more pros can find the show.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

One day a pool product feels like the future. The next day the app is gone, support is gone, and what you paid for becomes a paperweight floating in the deep end. We dig into the real-world side of pool industry acquisitions and “disappearing” brands, including what happens when big companies buy promising pool technology and the execution doesn't match the hype.We walk through Hayward's Fin smart pool monitor and why the marketing and user experience created problems for homeowners and pool service professionals alike. ORP and pH readings can be useful, but confusing “unsafe water” alerts, a recurring subscription, and a hard shutdown of app service can destroy trust fast. From there, we compare Sutro's more complete reagent-based pool water monitoring approach, then zoom in on the practical hurdles that can sink any smart pool monitor: cartridge logistics, calibration time, price point, and the brutal reality of pool seasonality in colder regions.Not every story is a loss. We talk about pool products that simply vanished despite working well, like the Skim Doctor 2.0, and how solar skimmers like Solar Breeze evolved into Ariel and related models while facing heavy competition. Then we get into acquisitions that reshaped the market, including the CMP salt cell system being effectively discontinued, versus buyouts that preserve goodwill, like Pentair keeping Pleatco alive and Fluidra leaving Taylor test kits largely intact.If you've ever wondered which pool brands survive, why great products get killed, and what that means for your pool route or your backyard, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a pool pro friend, and leave a review with the smartest pool product you've ever used.We break down pool industry buyouts and product failures that leave pool owners and pool pros stuck with discontinued gear and dead apps. We also highlight the acquisitions that keep brands intact and protect customer trust.  • Hayward's Fin smart monitor, ORP confusion, subscription pain, and a shutdown that strands users  • Why smart pool monitors still struggle to replace proper water testing  • Sutro's stronger readings with reagent cartridges, calibration time, and seasonal subscription problems  • The Crystal Water Monitor as a more robust evolution of the Fin concept  • Skim Doctor 2.0 as a rare skimmer add-on that worked but disappeared  • Solar Breeze, Ariel, Skimbot, and how competition and implementation shape survival  • Fluidra buying CMP salt cells then effectively discontinuing the full system  • Pentair and Pleatco as a model for keeping a brand alive  • Fluidra and Taylor test kits, what changes and what stays the same  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  If you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Jay Parikh, Executive Vice President of CoreAI at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft, Jay spent over a decade as Facebook's global head of engineering, scaling the company from a few hundred engineers to billions of users, then ran the cybersecurity company Lacework as CEO through its acquisition by Fortinet. In this conversation, he breaks down the five ingredients of great engineering leadership, discusses why he'd rather run two competing bets in parallel than forecast a winner, and explains why company culture remains more important than ever for teams to get right. In today's episode, we discuss: The five ingredients that separate excellent engineering leadership from the rest How to protect your team from large shifts in public perception The mindset shift organizations need to maintain speed at scale How every layer of the organization needs to stay connected to the customer Why Jay runs "brain trusts" of senior ICs with zero managers in the room References Akamai: https://www.akamai.com/ AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ George Conrades: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeconrades/ Mark Zuckerberg: https://x.com/finkd Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ Paul Sagan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-sagan-59654a1/ Tom Leighton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tleighton/ Where to find Jay LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayparikh/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/jayparikh Where to find Brett LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:36 How leadership changes through exponential growth 02:21 The five ingredients that define excellent engineering leadership 07:51 What actually drives culture at a company as it scales 12:05 The physics behind why everything slows down at scale 18:57 The fastest team of Jay's career, and why size mattered 22:44 Why every team should think like an FDE 26:20 Managing a team through wild swings in public perception 29:07 What's different about leading through the steepest S-curve moments 33:58 Why onboarding well means going slow to go fast 37:41 Is AI actually new, or is history just repeating? 41:35 What actually counts as a "big bet" worth taking 45:01 The concrete big bets that reshaped Facebook's entire technology stack 47:35 Why vertical integration keeps being the right call as companies scale 51:46 How being a startup CEO reshaped Jay as a leader 1:01:26 Why Jay overruled Zuckerberg's instinct to skip efficiency

The “single-speed pool pump ban” gets repeated so often it starts to sound like settled law, but the real story is more interesting and a lot more useful if you own a pool or service them. We break down what the Department of Energy (DOE) pool pump regulations actually do, how the Weighted Energy Factor (WEF) works, and why the rule feels like a ban even when it isn't written as a simple prohibition. The biggest shift is product availability: most manufacturers stopped making higher-horsepower single-speed pumps because they can't hit the required energy efficiency levels.We also dig into the part that doesn't get talked about enough: programming. A variable speed pool pump can still run at full RPM, so the regulation alone doesn't magically force lower energy use. The real savings come from smart run schedules that keep circulation steady at low speed, then step up only when you need more flow for a cleaner, spa jets, or water features. We share practical RPM ranges we use and explain why WEF-based savings assume lower-speed operation in the first place.If your current 1.5 or 2 HP single-speed pump fails, we walk through your best replacement options without guesswork: replacing the whole pump with a modern VS model, swapping in a variable speed replacement motor on the existing wet end, and why downsizing to 1 HP can backfire when the pool was built for higher demand. We also touch on commercial pool exemptions, turnover requirements, and what “compliance” looks like in the real world.If this helped clear up the confusion, subscribe, share the episode with a pool owner or pool pro, and leave a review so more people can find it. What pump are you running right now, and what's your biggest question about upgrading to variable speed?We tackle the myth that single-speed pool pumps are “banned” nationwide and explain what the DOE energy rules actually target through the WEF efficiency standard. We also get practical about replacement choices, VS pump programming, and why most homeowners save more by changing how the pump runs than by fighting for an old-style model.  • what DOE regulations really say versus what people assume  • how WEF energy efficiency ratings squeeze out most single-speed pumps above 1 HP  • why you can still buy some single-speed pumps and why big ones are getting scarce  • when a higher-horsepower single-speed might still be sold for water features  • why variable speed pumps can still waste power if programmed poorly  • realistic RPM ranges that balance turnover, cleaners, and lower electric bills  • why you should not downsize a 1.5 or 2 HP setup without understanding pool needs  • swap a VS motor onto an existing pump versus replacing the whole unit  • commercial pool turnover rules and why full-speed operation can still be required  • what to tell customers about longer run time with lower total energy cost  Join the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at Swimmipoollearning.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Jenny is a national cannabis compliance consultant and the founder of ICS Consulting, with more than 17 years of hands-on experience in regulated cannabis and more than 20 years of hospitality experience. She began working in Colorado's cannabis industry in 2009, during the transition from an emerging, largely unregulated market to one of the most established regulated cannabis markets in the country. Her operational experience includes six years operating vertically integrated cannabis facilities in Denver, culminating in her role as Chief Operating Officer of a vertically integrated cannabis operation by 2014.In 2015, Jenny founded ICS Consulting to bring that firsthand operational experience to licensed cannabis businesses nationwide. ICS provides cannabis compliance consulting, fractional compliance services, regulatory compliance support, cannabis licensing assistance, compliance audits, operational readiness, federal readiness, technical writing, and startup support.Jenny's approach is grounded in practical experience. Rather than simply interpreting regulations, she helps cannabis businesses understand how to implement compliance requirements into day-to-day operations and prepare for evolving regulatory expectations.She has also been actively involved in cannabis policy and regulatory work since 2015, including government workgroups, regulatory development, lobbying efforts, and advocacy initiatives at the state and federal levels, including work in Washington, D.C.Today, Jenny works with cannabis businesses across the United States and internationally, helping operators build compliant, inspection-ready, and operationally sound businesses while preparing for an evolving regulatory landscape.

Vacuuming shouldn't be the task that wrecks your whole pool service route, but for a lot of pool pros it's the biggest hidden time sink. We walk through the fastest way to vacuum a pool based on real-world service conditions, from dusty pools that demand deeper cleanup to neighborhoods where suction side cleaners handle most of the daily dirt. We also talk about a simple but powerful move for your service agreement: “vacuum when necessary,” and how that one line can change expectations, protect your time, and still deliver a clean, professional result.We get specific about methods. Manual vacuuming with a hose to the skimmer is still the most thorough option, but it's also the slowest and easiest to bog down with clogs from leaves and acorns. If your accounts already have an automatic pool cleaner, spot vacuuming becomes the faster play and we explain how to do it using the existing cleaner hoses, plus the drawbacks like reduced suction and hoses popping off. From there, we move into dedicated pool vacuum systems like the Bottom Feeder, Hammerhead, Riptide, and plug-in alternatives like the Vac Daddy, including what actually happens when you rely on vacuum bags to catch dirt.Fine dirt is where most “fast” vacuuming falls apart, so we break down micron bag choices (60, 75, 100 and beyond), why a pool can look good and then show dirt again two hours later, and how a cartridge filter assembly can vacuum to a much finer level for that polished finish. We also call out popular “shortcuts” like brushing everything to the deep end or main drain and why they usually fail in practice. If you want faster cleanings without sacrificing quality, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a pool tech friend, and leave a review so more pros can find the show.We break down the fastest ways to vacuum a pool without leaving behind fine dirt or creating callbacks on a busy pool service route. We compare manual vacuuming, spot vacuuming with cleaner hoses, and pro vacuum systems so you can choose the right method for your service area, staffing, and customer expectations.  • using “vacuum when necessary” in a service agreement to reduce wasted time  • why customers equate vacuuming with visible work  • why manual vacuum hose to skimmer is effective but slow  • spot vacuuming by converting automatic cleaner hoses  • when it makes sense to invest in Bottom Feeder, Hammerhead, Riptide, Vac Daddy  • choosing micron bags and why fine dirt returns after vacuuming  • how a cartridge filter assembly captures finer dirt  • why brushing to the deep end or main drain does not save time  • recommending more reliable “bulletproof” automatic cleaners for full coverage  Join the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. If you're interested in my coaching program, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Episode 2000 is a milestone, so we keep it personal and practical: a new coaching member sends a long list of questions, and we answer them straight from decades in the pool service industry. If you're starting a pool service business or trying to scale your pool route, this is the kind of nuts-and-bolts guidance that saves you months of trial and error.We start with the mistake that quietly drains more money than any broken pump: pricing too low. Then we sort profitable work from schedule killers, including why weekly service accounts win and why one-time cleanups and filter-cleaning-only jobs often don't move your business forward. From there, we break down service pricing structures that customers understand, including a hybrid model that includes a reasonable chemical maintenance dose while billing for tablets and specialty products.We also get into the real-world setup: the essential tools you need on day one, what purchases to delay until revenue is steady, and the training resources that actually help with residential pool care and algae control. On the marketing side, we talk Google Ads, door hangers, what to do about gated communities and no-soliciting areas, and why advertising usually beats referrals early on. We even close with a surprisingly important detail most people overlook: picking a pool company name you can live with.If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with a pool pro who's starting out, and leave a review so more service techs can find the show.We celebrate episode 2000 by answering a new pool pro's real questions about pricing, services, tools, training, marketing, and building a profitable pool route. We share the hard lessons that cost money early, then lay out simple systems that keep customers happy while protecting your margin.  • pricing too low as the fastest way to lose profit  • weekly service accounts as the core of a sustainable pool route  • one-time cleanups and filter cleanings as low-value distractions  • three pricing models and why a hybrid structure works  • defining a chemical maintenance dose and billing above it  • setting expectations so customers avoid surprise charges  • using a simple service agreement to prevent disputes  • buying only essential pool service tools at the start  • training picks including residential courses and algae-focused education  • getting first customers with Google Ads, door hangers, and smart targeting  • why early growth usually comes from advertising over referrals  • choosing a business name that will not confuse customers  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com  The coaching program that I mentioned is available at PoolaiCoaching.com  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

A pool pole looks like a simple tool, until you're hauling it across tight side yards, squeezing it into a mid-size truck bed, and holding it for most of your workday. We get specific about what to buy and why, based on real pool service conditions: how short it collapses, how far it truly reaches, how fast it extends, and whether it's quiet enough for early-morning stops without waking neighbors or setting off every dog in the yard. We walk through the practical differences between three-piece and two-piece telescopic pool poles, including why a three-piece can be the best fit when space is limited and backyards are compact. You'll hear why the SkimLite Dually 9018 remains a dependable workhorse, how a little extra length can help you vacuum more of the pool from one side, and where bigger 24-foot options make sense for commercial accounts. We also dig into locking systems: cam locks that are quick and quiet but can wear, versus button-style poles like the SnapLite that click into place with consistent stops. Then we compare standout choices like the Piranha Pro Line Power Pole PPLV8 and the move to carbon fiber pool poles for lighter weight and better control. We talk Primate and Ultimate Pool Tools HyperPole differences, what “feel” really means in your hands, and the unglamorous downside of carbon fiber: theft risk from the back of a truck, plus smart ways to secure or stash your pole. If you want a setup that matches your route and your budget, this will save you time, frustration, and money. Subscribe, share this with a pool pro friend, and leave a review. What pole are you using right now, and what do you like or hate about it?We break down how to choose the right pool pole based on your truck, your routes, and the way you actually work day to day. We compare three-piece vs two-piece designs, button locks vs cam locks, and why carbon fiber can be a game changer if you plan for the cost and the theft risk.  • why a three-piece pole fits better in compact and mid-size truck beds  • maneuvering a shorter collapsed pole through tight side yards and crowded pool pads  • SkimLite Dually 9018 sizing, reach, and why extra length helps vacuuming  • SnapLite button pole feel vs cam lock speed and wear  • when a two-piece pole is faster and easier to manage  • Piranha Pro Line Power Pole PPLV8 as a premier two-piece option and why it's loud  • carbon fiber poles from SkimLite, Primate, and Ultimate Pool Tools and how they differ  • Primate lever lock feel, grip upgrades, and size lineup  • HyperPole comparisons, sizing, and availability timing  • theft prevention, cable locks, and why we keep an aluminum backup pole  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  If you're looking for other podcasts, you just go to my website, swingprolearning.com.  And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Hackers are targeting water, food, energy, chemical, manufacturing and commercial facilities by taking aim at Siemens S7 Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and making use of artificial intelligence in the attacks, U.S. government agencies warned Wednesday. It's the latest government warning about attacks on critical infrastructure as the United States wages war against Iran, which the government blamed for a recent campaign against water and wastewater systems— but doesn't mention in Wednesday's alert. The National Security Agency didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about who was behind the attacks on the PLCs, which are used to control manufacturing processes. The agencies said the attacks were an “active threat,” rather than a theoretical one. The attacks could disrupt critical industrial processes, cause safety incidents or lead to the compromise of sensitive data. Wednesday's alert from the NSA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency makes special note of the hackers using AI-generated exploitation scripts in the attacks. “Using AI to generate exploitation scripts represents an evolution in threat actor capabilities, dramatically reducing the technical expertise and time required to develop working ICS exploitation scripts and malicious tools,” the alert states. “In addition, AI enables adversaries to rapidly leverage additional attack vectors and adapt to defensive measures. Threat actors can easily collect public information about vulnerabilities and weaknesses, find exposed and exploitable PLCs, and use AI-generated scripts to act on that information.” The Defense Innovation Unit has a new, specialized team that's hustling to clear major constraints associated with transitioning proven commercial technologies directly into the military services. “Within one year, we will open co-use classified facilities nationwide, slash cyber authorization timelines by half, and enable agile, end-to-end testing capabilities for young companies desperate to demonstrate,” DIU's Director Owen West wrote in a memorandum unveiling the Bridge Program this week. According to that instruction and a Pentagon press release, DIU's new business unit is charged with “eliminating critical bottlenecks” — explicitly related to security clearances, classified workspace access, and technology testing and accreditations — that have notoriously kept industry-made prototypes from reaching military end users on the frontlines in a timely manner and at scale. DIU's current chief of strategic initiatives, Sarah Pearson, will lead the Bridge Program. Pearson, who formerly served as a Navy officer and technology executive, conceptualized this effort for the unit over the last year. Some of the activities will include establishing a quicker and more reliable tech accreditation portfolio that's enabled by cybersecurity and AI capabilities, and modernizing the military's test and evaluation pipelines. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

CISA warns of hackers exploiting critical MLflow vulnerability ICS operators warned of AI-driven attacks on Siemens PLCs Electronic health record company CareCloud confirms millions affected by breach Get the show notes here: https://cisoseries.com/cybersecurity-news-cisa-mlflow-warning-siemens-plcs-warning-carecloud-confirms-breach/ Huge thanks to our sponsor, Vanta Risk and regulation ramping up—and customers expect proof of security just to do business. Vanta's automation brings compliance, risk, and customer trust together on one AI-powered platform. So whether you're prepping for a SOC 2 or running an enterprise GRC program, Vanta keeps you secure—and keeps your deals moving. Learn more at vanta.com/ciso.

Your suction cleaner keeps getting jammed, stopping mid-week, and leaving the pool floor dirty? We dig into a tool that rarely gets the spotlight but can be the perfect fix for the right backyard: the Polaris 360 return-side pool cleaner. It behaves a lot like a pressure-side cleaner with a debris bag and a wider pickup path, but it runs off an existing return line, so you can get strong debris handling without adding a booster pump.We walk through the practical differences between a dedicated booster pump pressure cleaner and a return-side cleaner, then get specific about what makes the Polaris 360 succeed or fail. Return jet count and placement matter, and so does your ability to redirect flow by plugging a return or installing restrictor eyeballs. We also explain the “back pressure” reality: restricting returns can raise filter PSI a few points, which may be normal on a full-size DE filter, sand filter, or larger cartridge system, but it can be a deal-breaker on undersized filtration.You'll also hear the tradeoffs most listings never mention. Changing return flow can reduce the surface current that helps feed the skimmer, so you might see more surface debris unless you adjust your setup or add a surface solution. And because the Polaris 360 often runs as long as your pump runs, parts can wear faster than a booster-pump cleaner that only runs a couple hours a day.Finally, we share real examples where the Polaris 360 shines: bamboo leaves that fall in clusters and big pod-like debris that instantly clogs suction cleaners. If your pool matches the right parameters, this cleaner can be a night-and-day upgrade. Subscribe, share this with a pool owner who battles clogs, and leave a review with the debris type you're trying to beat.We break down why the Polaris 360 return-side cleaner is a sleeper pick for pools that chew up suction cleaners with heavy debris. We also share the real install requirements, the pressure and surface-flow tradeoffs to expect, and the pool types where this cleaner is an easy yes or a hard pass.  • why the Polaris 360 and TR36P fly under the radar  • pressure-side booster pump cleaners versus return-side cleaners  • return jet placement, plugging a return, and using restrictor eyeballs  • back pressure explained with real PSI examples and safe limits  • why full-size DE, sand, or large cartridge filters matter  • skimmer impact versus reduced surface circulation patterns  • faster wear from longer daily run times  • real-world wins with bamboo clusters and large seed pods  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  and if you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Pool service business growth doesn't require fancy spreadsheets or complicated “business math.” It requires seeing the few numbers that matter and pulling the right levers on purpose. We walk through simple, real-world pool route math using an easy baseline monthly service price, then show how tiny changes compound into big annual gains. If you've ever felt like you're working hard but the profit isn't moving, this breakdown will make the problem visible fast. We start with the most straightforward revenue driver: adding more recurring pool service accounts. Just five additional pools can add roughly five figures to your annual gross, and it often equals only one extra stop per workday. From there, we look at price increases done the smart way, including how a modest $10 monthly bump across a stable route can generate thousands without adding labor, and how combining new accounts plus pricing strategy can push the gains even further. We also talk through the reality of churn and why you should factor in the occasional dropped account when you run the numbers. Then we shift to the profit side: cutting expenses and plugging revenue leaks. We cover how small savings on chemicals and supplies add up when you buy in volume, and why missed billing for small parts quietly drains your bottom line. To keep everything clear, we recommend a simple profit and loss spreadsheet you will actually use, plus a practical framework for upgrading your route over time: the one for one rule, where a great new account replaces a bad one so you earn more and stress less. If you want more pool service income, better margins, and a cleaner route, subscribe, share this with another pool pro, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What number do you want to improve first: accounts, price, or expenses?We break down why pool service is one of the easiest businesses to run by the numbers and how small, repeatable moves can create a big annual profit swing. We share simple formulas to grow revenue, cut waste, and tighten billing so your route pays more without getting overwhelming.  • why recurring pool accounts make revenue math simpler than many service trades  • adding five service accounts and what that does to monthly and annual gross income  • using modest price increases to boost revenue without adding workload  • replacing low-paying accounts with better-priced work when it makes sense  • finding “fat” in expenses through bulk buying and small monthly savings  • tightening billing so parts and small repairs do not fall through the cracks  • using a basic profit and loss spreadsheet to track results  • applying the one for one rule to improve route quality while you grow  Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Some pool jobs are not hard because they are technical, they are hard because one mistake can wreck a surface, flood a schedule, or turn a “quick fix” into an all-day rescue. I'm sharing the moments where pool service pros end up in over their head and how to avoid that trap without stalling your growth.We talk through the Catch-22 of learning in the field and the simplest way around it: partner up and shadow someone experienced. Acid washing is a perfect example, where finesse matters and a seasoned tech can often predict results before the first drop hits the plaster. Pool and spa light replacement is another, especially combo setups where you need a second person to confirm which line you are pulling and to help you troubleshoot when things do not go smoothly.Then we dig into black algae treatment, including the real labor of knocking off heads, the risks of granular trichlor on certain finishes, and why cal hypo options can be a safer alternative on pebble or colored plaster. Finally, we zoom out to the business side: when to refer out big equipment installs, how referral commissions can still pay well, and why focusing on a clean, consistent pool route with a dedicated repair partner can be a strong and scalable model.If you want more practical pool service training and honest guidance from the field, subscribe, share this with a pool pro who needs it, and leave a quick review so more techs can find the show.We break down the pool service Catch-22 where experience is the only real teacher, but the wrong first job can cost you time, money, and a customer. We lay out a practical approach for growing skills safely by partnering, shadowing, and referring out repairs that do not fit your lane.• why some pool work is “learn by doing” but still needs guardrails  • partnering on acid washes to learn process, pricing, and outcomes  • why pulling pool and spa lights often needs two people  • black algae treatment basics, tools, and protective gear  • when granular trichlor is effective and when it can damage surfaces  • using cal hypo options for pebble and colored plaster pools  • recognizing equipment installs that are logistics-heavy and best referred out  • referral commissions and partnering to split bigger install jobs  • insurance limitations for new pool service pros and why they exist  • building a business model focused on maintenance with dedicated repair support  Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  You can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

Your pool water test strip might be telling the truth, but your eyes might not be. We dig into why test strips often feel inconsistent, how lighting and subjective color matching can turn a “real” chemical reaction into a shaky guess, and what you can do to get more reliable results without slowing down your whole pool care routine. We also talk about the growing world of digital test strip readers and smart pool testing devices, and why they're trying to solve the biggest weakness of strips: interpretation. From there, we get practical about where strips fit in a serious pool water testing workflow, especially for busy pool service routes and homeowners who need fast answers for free chlorine, total chlorine, pH, and total alkalinity. Then we hit the important nuances that can change your decisions. Test strips typically read total hardness rather than true calcium hardness, which matters for balance targets. Cyanuric acid is the surprise category where strips can actually help, especially when CYA climbs above 100 ppm and reagent tests get harder to read. We also cover “extra” tests where strips can be genuinely useful, like copper and iron, nitrates, borates, and phosphates, plus the one strip category we don't recommend for saltwater pools: salinity. If you want clearer pool chemistry decisions with fewer bad readings, subscribe, share the episode with a pool owner or tech, and leave a review with your biggest testing frustration.We break down how to use pool test strips effectively without getting fooled by subjective color matching and wide reading ranges. We also share where test strips shine, where they fall short, and how to pair them with photometers or reagent kits for reliable pool water testing.  • the biggest limitation of test strips being interpretation not necessarily the strip chemistry  • why digital strip readers and smart testing devices can reduce guesswork  • how color matching can skew alkalinity and other borderline readings  • total hardness on strips versus true calcium hardness from titration tests  • why cyanuric acid strips can outperform reagent tests at high CYA  • using strips for copper iron nitrates borates and phosphates as quick field checks  • why salinity test strips are unreliable and when a digital salt meter makes sense  • when strips are ideal for fast route work and rainy-day testing  • using test strips to verify weird reagent or photometer results when reagents or tablets go bad  Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. From me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.  Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

We start with some intentionally ridiculous market talk, then get honest about how corporate meetings can reward confidence over clarity. We break down what to do when leadership makes decisions in a vacuum, and how we protect our teams while still surviving the politics. • spotting “corporate nonsense” language and why quiet people often add more value • using AI for real work, including document review systems and Jira automation lessons • defining vacuum decisions through impact and breakage, who gets hurt and who doesn't • staying positive without becoming the future scapegoat, asking questions as CYA • choosing tactics based on who made the call, peers versus executives • disagreeing and committing while building safeguards like feature flags and rollback plans • middle management as the shield, protecting ICs from overload and bad optics • when to plan an exit, and where ethical lines change the escalation playbook Join our Discord by checking the show notes or the description. Join our Patreon today. Share with your friends too. Support the showClick/Tap HERE for everything Corporate StrategyElevator Music by Julian Avila Promoted by MrSnoozeDon't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!      

2026 is shaping up like a split-screen year for the pool industry: pool construction and remodeling cool off under higher interest rates, while the pool service business stays surprisingly steady because repairs and replacements don't wait for “better timing.” I walk through what I'm seeing across the market and why some manufacturers are feeling real pressure even when service pros are still busy in the field.We dig into how a soft building market creates a chain reaction: fewer new projects means fewer equipment orders, which leads to overstocked distributors and retail stores, and that eventually shows up in manufacturer numbers for major pool equipment brands. I also talk about the quieter forces that steer customer buying, like brand recognition from automatic pool cleaners and how product changes can ripple into pumps, filters, and other upgrades down the road.Then we get practical for pool service operators. Inflation, fuel, and chemical costs keep climbing, and while we can often pass costs on, there's a real price ceiling where customers push back or start shopping for discounted service. I share ways to protect profit without relying only on rate hikes, including trimming business “fat,” running tighter operations, and thinking about vehicles, debt, and efficiency like a larger company would.If you want more straight talk on pool industry trends and how to stay profitable in 2026 and beyond, subscribe, share this with a pool pro friend, and leave a review so more service techs can find the show.2026 brings a mixed picture for the pool industry: new pool construction slows under higher interest rates while pool service demand stays steady. I break down what manufacturer sales trends, retail overstock, and inflation mean for your pricing and your profit heading into 2027.• higher interest rates cooling pool building and remodeling budgets  • why manufacturers feel pain when distributors and retailers are overstocked  • how pool service techs drive equipment sales at the point of failure  • Fluidra, Hayward, and Pentair brand dynamics and the role of cleaners as a lead-in product  • post-COVID build numbers returning toward pre-COVID levels and why service remains insulated  • inflation, fuel, and chemical costs and how far price increases can realistically go  • practical cost cutting ideas to protect margin without lowering service quality  • treating a service company like a lean corporation instead of a household extension  If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find this on my website, smallingfullearning.com. Click on the podcast icon icon there on the banner. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolaicoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

What happens when major changes in education law take effect through emergency orders before the courts have reached a final decision? For compliance professionals, staying informed about these developments will be critical throughout the year. In this episode, host Courtney Bullard takes a closer look at the legal and compliance trends educational institutions should be watching, including increased coordination among federal agencies, the newly announced Office for Civil Rights (OCR) K-12 initiative, developments in the courts and Title IX, admissions practices, and the OCR Unified Regulatory Agenda. But with so many headlines and changes happening at once, Courtney emphasizes the importance of not losing sight of the fundamentals. Strong governance, communication, documentation, clearly defined roles, and effective training and resources remain the foundation of a strong compliance program. Tune in as Courtney shares what ICS is watching this academic year and offers practical guidance for staying informed without chasing every headline. Key Points From This Episode: Introduction to today's topic of discussion. How federal agencies are beginning to work together, and what happens next. The newly announced Office for Civil Rights (OCR) K12 initiative. What's happening in the courts: Title IX, the emergency docket, and more. Enforcement and who is doing the investigating. Taking a fresh look at admissions processes.  The OCR Unified Regulatory Agenda. The importance of compliance professionals not losing sight of the fundamentals and basics. Courtney reiterates the Five Pillars covered in the Back to School Webinar. Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Higher Ed Back to School Webinar K-12 Back to School Webinar DOJ: Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia ICS Higher Ed Community Access K-12 Community Access Higher Ed Virtual Certified IX Training K-12 Virtual Certified Title IX Training ICS Blog Courtney Bullard on X  Learn about Becoming a Community Partner

Manufacturing Quiet TuesdaysNational Emergency Management Awareness Month, and a Confirmed Administrator at LastHost: Todd T. DeVoe, CEM Runtime: 11:45 Recorded: August 8, 2026SHOW NOTESAugust is National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and this year it arrives alongside news the field has waited two years to hear. On Friday, August 7, the Senate confirmed Cameron Hamilton as Administrator of FEMA, part of a block of 74 nominations. After two years of acting titles and senior officials performing the duties of, there is a name on the door that stays there.Todd DeVoe uses the occasion for something other than policy analysis. This one is a thank you. Not the conference kind. The real one.He works through the profession person by person. The one-person department that also serves as the planning section, the logistics section, and the PIO. The planner who has read the same evacuation annex forty times, looking for the change that will matter, and who will never be told it worked. The duty officer at two in the morning, with the full picture assembled by four. The recovery specialist is still sitting at a kitchen table over a three-year-old declaration. The exercise designer who wrote a scenario meant enough to embarrass people, because an exercise that everybody passes taught nobody anything. The FEMA staff who stayed through the uncertainty. And the twenty-six-year-old, at their first activation, convinced everyone else in the room that they knew something they did not. They do not. Everybody is reading the same situation report.Then the harder part. This profession's best work is invisible by design. The evacuation goes smoothly, and there is no story. The warning goes out early and the numbers stay low. Success is indistinguishable from a quiet Tuesday. Todd reaches for Marcus Aurelius on the vine that produces grapes and does not go looking for applause, and lands on what Awareness Month is actually for: not asking for credit, but explaining what the quiet costs and who pays for it, so the October budget conversation goes a little easier.The last thank you goes to the families. The empty chair at dinner. The eleven-word activation text that reorganizes a week. The skill of falling back asleep after the duty phone rings at three. And the thing most people miss entirely is being the first responder to the responder who came home from a bad one and could not yet talk about it. There is no ICS position for that. Maybe there should be.CHAPTERS00:51 The Senate confirms Cameron Hamilton as FEMA Administrator02:56 Doc, welcome back. Why a permanent name on the door matters03:07 Awareness Month, year two, and the traction it has built04:08 Thank you, department by department06:13 To the ones who are new: stay06:40 When you do your best work, nothing happens07:05 Marcus Aurelius and the business of manufacturing quiet Tuesdays07:58 To the spouses, partners, and kids09:26 A wildland firefighter son, and both sides of that door09:42 Not a profession in decline. A profession that took a hit and stayed on its feet10:52 Your assignment for the rest of AugustYOUR ASSIGNMENTIt takes about four minutes. Find one person in this field whose work you have benefited from and tell them. Not on social media. Call them, and name the specific thing they did. Then find one family member, yours or someone else's, and thank them for the hours that got taken from them.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEIAEM launched National Emergency Management Awareness Month in August 2025.Auburn, Washington signed its proclamation on August 3.San Bernardino County is running a campaign called Behind the Ready.Senate confirmation of Cameron Hamilton, August 7, 2026, in a block of 74 nominations, 51 to 47. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emnetwork.substack.com/subscribe

Podcast: PrOTect It All (LS 27 · TOP 10% what is this?)Episode: OT Pen Testing: Why Trust, Culture & Hands-On Experience Matter MostPub date: 2026-08-03Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationEffective OT penetration testing isn't just about finding vulnerabilities, it's about building trust. In this episode of Protect It All, host Aaron Crow is joined by Oren Niskin and Reynaldo Gonzalez for an engaging discussion on the evolving role of penetration testing in operational technology (OT) environments. Drawing from years of experience in industrial operations, IT, and OT cybersecurity, Oren and Reynaldo explain why successful OT security assessments require far more than technical expertise. They explore how trust, communication, and collaboration help bridge the gap between security teams and operations, making penetration testing a valuable business tool rather than something to fear. The conversation also highlights the importance of diverse career paths, hands-on learning, and mentoring the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. From network segmentation and risk communication to creating realistic lab environments, this episode offers practical lessons for anyone responsible for securing critical infrastructure. Key Learnings:  Why trust is essential for successful OT penetration testing How IT and operational experience strengthen OT security teams The value of network segmentation in reducing cyber risk Why "doing nothing" is no longer an acceptable cybersecurity strategy How organizations can bridge the gap between safety, operations, and security Practical ways to develop the next generation of OT cybersecurity professionals Key Moments:  07:00 Oren's technology and security approach 15:04 Discussing network security measures 19:16 Building Trust in Business Relationships 26:17 Understanding and planning security architecture 30:16 Network management and rule assessment 33:39 Managing and Assessing Tool Overload 38:39 Analyzing tool overlap and complementarity 48:41 Building a trusting team culture 49:48 Encouraging Open Communication 56:34 Getting into cybersecurity without IT experience 01:04:56 Entry-level ICS training courses Whether you're an OT engineer, penetration tester, security leader, or just beginning your cybersecurity journey, this episode delivers practical insights into protecting industrial environments while building stronger relationships across teams. Tune in to discover why the most successful OT penetration tests don't just identify vulnerabilities they build trust, strengthen teams, and improve security for the long term. About the guests:  Oren Niskin is Principal OT Security Engineer at GuidePoint Security. His 20-year arc runs from the US Navy as a Nuclear Electrician's Mate, to Electronics Technician on offshore drilling rigs, to office OT/IT management, to OT cybersecurity consulting at EY, and now into OT cyber engineering at GuidePoint. He also runs Packets Or It Didn't Happen, a YouTube livestream where he builds a factory-realistic PLC and HMI training kit on camera (the open-source PLC Trainer Kit), aimed at helping newcomers get hands-on with OT for under $500. Link to connect Oren Niskin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orenniskin/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PacketsOrItDidntHappen PLC Trainer Kit (GitHub): https://github.com/oniskin/PLC-Trainer-Kit LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/17708001/ Reynaldo Gonzalez is a recognized cybersecurity thought leader with 18+ years of experience helping organizations strengthen cyber resilience and secure critical infrastructure. His expertise spans cybersecurity strategy, IT/OT security, AI security, risk management, and digital transformation, complemented by a passion for education, innovation, and industry collaboration. Link to connect Reynaldo Gonzalez:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reynaldoglz/ Learn more about PrOTect IT All: Email: info@protectitall.co  Website: https://protectitallpod.com/ep117 X: https://twitter.com/protectitall  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PrOTectITAll  FaceBook:  https://facebook.com/protectitallpodcast To be a guest or suggest a guest/episode, please email us at info@protectitall.co Please leave us a review on Apple/Spotify Podcasts: Apple   - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/protect-it-all/id1727211124 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Vvi0euj3rE8xObK0yvYi4The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Aaron Crow | Operational Technology & Cybersecurity Host, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Tom Verrilli is the chief product officer at Whatnot, a live shopping platform that's become the fastest-growing U.S. marketplace business in history, with over $8 billion in GMV. Before joining Whatnot, Tom was CPO at Twitch and director of product growth at Twitter (during one of the most turbulent periods in the company's history).In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:1. Why Whatnot's product team was founded on the premise “we regret that product management exists”2. How AI is reshaping the PM role3. What Tom looks for when hiring PMs4. The shift toward senior ICs doing the work5. How AI has transformed data science at Whatnot6. Tom's “play the accordion” mental model7. Why “hire great people and get out of their way” fails8. His biggest lessons from his time at Twitter—Brought to you by:WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and moreMercury—Radically different banking, now with Command—Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/this-cpo-regrets-that-product-management—Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0—Where to find Tom Verrilli:• X: https://x.com/tdrobbo• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-robertson-042—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction(02:40) “We regret that product management exists”: what it means and why(08:30) When specialization makes sense, and when it doesn't(15:20) How Whatnot structures its PM org(17:28) What 31,832 PM applications revealed about the function(19:40) How to develop systems thinking(22:10) The shift to senior ICs doing IC work(32:26) Advice for PMs struggling in today's market(35:22) How AI has transformed work at Whatnot(41:14) The data scientist problem(42:48) Which roles are trending up and down(44:48) What the product team of the future looks like(46:29) Why core PM skills are the most durable in an AI world(49:23) How to get the most out of the people you hire(53:32) Navigating the CPO-founder relationship(57:34) Advice for aspiring CPO's(59:16) How to know when to stand firm and when to step back(01:01:38) Play the accordion: balancing strategic vision with fast iteration(01:06:35) Agentic commerce vs. live commerce(01:09:46) Lessons from Twitter(01:13:07) Failure corner(01:15:45) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Whatnot: https://www.whatnot.com• Building, and Whatnot: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-whatnot-tom-verrilli-bwkdc• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv• Why Netflix is betting on systems thinkers—not specialists—in the AI era | Elizabeth Stone (CPTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/netflix-cpto-on-ai-and-the-future• Peter Bailis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbailis• Mike Krieger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger• Anthropic's CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next• Ben Kus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkus• Henry Shi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrythe9th• Hex Threads: https://hex.tech/product/threads• Product management theater | Marty Cagan (Silicon Valley Product Group): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-theater-marty• Grant LaFontaine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantlafontaine• Logan Head on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-head• Emmett Shear on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmettshear• Kara Swisher on X: https://x.com/karaswisher• Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin—Lex Fridman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY• Star City on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/star-city/umc.cmc.2l8p785osmtmiyk64bh6tfde1• For All Mankind on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7• Service NSW Mobile App: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/services/service-nsw-mobile-app• Rudyard Kipling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling• E-fish.com: https://www.e-fish.com—Recommended books:• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062273205• The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310201063• Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution―An Historic Fantasy of Dark Academia: https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021439—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

A bestselling computer book and a mayor's office may seem worlds apart, but Dan Gookin's path connects them through curiosity, clear communication, and public service. I talk with the DOS for Dummies author and Coeur d'Alene mayor about making technical writing useful, challenging industries that resist new ideas, and finding success by improving work others do poorly. Dan also shares why he entered local politics, how transparency and community engagement built public trust, and why responsible leadership often means asking the questions others overlook. We close by exploring political division, religious freedom, social media algorithms, and the need to reduce online anger without losing the internet's benefits. Highlights: 00:06:48 - Why leaving your comfort zone creates growth. 00:11:07 - How doing something better can become a business. 00:12:39 - Why writing for beginners changed computer publishing. 00:27:06 - How transparency concerns led Dan into politics. 00:37:30 - Why responsiveness helped Dan earn public trust. 00:54:49 - How social media fuels anger and division. About the Guest: Dan Gookin is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, having won election in November 2025 after serving on the City Council since 2011. Known as a fiscal conservative, outspoken advocate for government transparency, and a committed budget hawk who asks tough questions, he is often described as “the lone voice of reason” on the council, consistently championing the public and the “little guy” against bureaucracy. Gookin views his public service as protecting individual rights. He prides himself on listening to all perspectives, welcoming alternative viewpoints, remaining open to new information, and never being a rubber-stamp vote. Professionally, Gookin is known as a writer and online trainer. He has been writing about technology since the early days of personal computing, combining his humor with a passion for gadgets to create informative and entertaining books. He authored the groundbreaking DOS For Dummies in 1991—the world's fastest-selling computer book at the time and the title that launched the iconic For Dummies series, now a publishing phenomenon. With more than 170 titles to his credit, over 12 million copies in print, and translations into more than 30 languages, his popular works include PCs and Laptops For Dummies, Android For Dummies, Word For Dummies, and C For Dummies. He maintains two helpful websites, wambooli.com and c-for-dummies.com. He creates online courses for LinkedIn Learning on diverse topics, and in 2020 published Running for Local Office For Dummies. Gookin graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications/Visual Arts and minors in cognitive psychology and theatrical design. He put his creative talents to work as artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse, where he designed sets, lighting, and directed many productions between 1997 and 2002. First and foremost, Dan considers himself a father who raised four boys in Idaho. Gookin resides in Coeur d'Alene with his wife, Brie, along with various children and pets. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking, playing the piano, riding his bike, cooking, gardening, and making lists of things he enjoys doing along with occasionally annoying those who think that they're important. Ways to connect with Dan**:** LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gookin-46995713/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dangookin About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello there, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Michael Hingston, and today we get to chat with Dan Gookin. Do you know who Dan Gookin is? Probably not, but you will by the time we're done. But I will tell you one thing about Dan. He was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November of 2025. I think Dan, you're the first political person as such that we have had on, which is kind of cool. I'm really honored to to have you here, and and we can spend the the whole time picking on on other politicians, but there's no need to do that. I mean, what good does it do? It's a waste of time. But I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset, and Dan, thanks very much for being here. Dan Gookin  01:44 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me on. Michael Hingson  01:46 Well, this will, I think, really be a lot of fun. I'm sorry that you guys aren't getting a lot of snow up there. My brother-in-law has been keeping me posted on the lack of snow, so today here we're expecting a temperature at about 70 degrees. Last week it got up to 39. So I don't know. There's something going on with the climate. Dan Gookin  02:10 Something. Michael Hingson  02:11 Yeah, whatever it is. Speaker 1  02:13 Well, there was a name for that. Michael Hingson  02:15 Yeah, yeah. If if there were enough people, would only believe it. But that's another story. You are right. Well, thanks very much for being here. Why don't we start? Tell me about the early Dan growing up and all that. Speaker 1  02:31 So I grew up in San Diego, California. Good place. I still say San Michael Hingson  02:35 Diego has the best weather in the country. Speaker 1  02:38 They do. It's changed a little bit as everything has, but I escaped from there back in 1991. Went up to Washington State because I was doing some work with Microsoft, and then decided that that was Seattle was another big city. So we kept looking east and finally landed in Idaho in Coeur d'Alene because it's pretty. Michael Hingson  03:01 It's a nice area. So you you did your schooling and all that down in San Diego. Speaker 1  03:06 Yeah, I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication visual arts. That was in 1983. Michael Hingson  03:13 Cool, wow. I've spent many a a day down in San Diego. I lived in Vista for six years, so I'm familiar with the area. Yeah, I liked Vista. Vista was a nice place to be. You Speaker 1  03:24 did a radio show out of Vista. Did you for a while? Yeah, computer call-in show. So that was way back. Michael Hingson  03:32 What did you discuss, or just anything dealing with computers? I Speaker 1  03:36 was editing a magazine, a local computer magazine at the time, and we purchased an hour, and so I would drive from my home in Tierra Santa all the way up to Vista to be in this little tiny radio station, where we would do call-ins. And sometimes people would call in, and I would help them solve their computer problems. And sometimes I had to talk to myself for Michael Hingson  03:57 an hour. And and and did you get answers when you talk to yourself. Speaker 1  04:02 No, but I got really hoarse. Ah, okay. Michael Hingson  04:04 Well, you know, just just checking. Well, that's cool. Well, I guess we could tell everyone that, among other things, Dan is also the author of a number of books, including DOS for Dummies. I still like DOS. Thank you. I I like DOS. I've just always enjoyed it. Although, I have to admit, Windows has progressed a whole lot more. But I always liked DOS. Speaker 1  04:27 Yes, it was good, and and it was its complexity or its a rudeness, I shall say. Yeah, that's a good. Sold the book because you had to type. You had to know the commands in Windows. You can kind of look and point and do all this stuff, but in DOS, you had to know the commands and type the commands, and people wouldn't-they couldn't remember. There were all these options, and so we sold a lot of books doing that. It's still, like I said, I I like it too. I like the command line because it's faster if you know what you have to type. Yeah, it takes less time to type. Than it does to look around, point and shoot with the mouse. Michael Hingson  05:04 Yeah, there are a number of blind people on some list serves that I am part of that every so often something regarding DOS comes up, which is I think kind of cool. Speaker 1  05:15 Yep, hasn't gone away. It's it's still lurking in there somewhere. Michael Hingson  05:19 It is still a kind of the basic underpinning foundation of a lot of Windows, isn't it? Speaker 1  05:25 Well, Windows actually does run on top of it still. If you if you when you start a program in Windows, you're actually issuing a text command. So inside there is a long text command that is issued that gets everything running. It's just that you're configuring that from a graphical perspective, Michael Hingson  05:44 right? Yeah, but but it is still running. DOS essentially runs under Windows, which is which is something that is is relevant. So I guess we could blame that on Bill Gates, Speaker 1  05:57 or credit him. I don't know. Michael Hingson  05:58 Or yeah, yeah, one of the other. Well, so you you graduated, you moved to Seattle. As you said, it is a big city, although you know it's kind of hard to fight Pike's fish market. Speaker 1  06:11 Well, there's there's the fun and charming parts of of Seattle that I really enjoyed. So I mean, I can't say that you know it was a horrible city. The thing I admired about Seattle the most was that Seattle would occasionally not take itself seriously, and I liked that it had a sense of humor and that people there were generally good natured. San Diego was a little bit more uptight, you know, fair weather fans, that kind of stuff, where Seattle was more of a community, and I admired that greatly. Michael Hingson  06:43 And there used to be a lot of rain up there. Speaker 1  06:45 Not as much as people say. That's kind of their reputation. The Pacific Northwest we do have. So I moved from Southern California where you have 360 days of sun a year to Pacific Northwest where you have 180, so it was kind of a shock from that point of view. It's mostly like today; it's overcast. It's just there's no sun, so that's the big difference. Michael Hingson  07:10 And then you moved up to Idaho, and and how many days of sun or not sun are there a year? Speaker 1  07:16 Oh, still about 180. 180. Uh huh. But it's you know so you get used to it after a while, and when the sun comes out, you're all happy, and it's like, look, the sun's out, everything's pretty. Michael Hingson  07:27 Yeah, fair. Yeah. So when you were in San Diego and so on, what did you want to do or be when you grew up? Speaker 1  07:36 So originally, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had the misfortune of being in a hospital, and I said I don't ever want to be back here, and changed my mind and figured I would be a writer. So for years I started writing and submitting things to magazines, trying to work on books and stuff. I mean I wrote a few books, and they say that you have to get about a million words of junk out before you actually are a good writer. So I I worked on that for a long time, and got to the point where I I actually had a reputation with some of the editors in the magazines who would write me back personal notes instead of the generic you know dismissal, and so that was working really well. But then what happened in 1984 was I wrote something for the local computer flyer, and they liked that, and it got published, and that was what really started the career for tech because tech wanted people who knew how to write, so that was good timing. Michael Hingson  08:35 Yeah, so many technical manuals are just so boring. I really wish people would learn how to write more interesting books. Of course, I say that about textbooks as well. I am of the opinion that having a master's degree in physics and having read many a physics book, the and there are so few of them. The best books are the ones where the authors have put some actual personal stories in to draw people in with human interest parts of the science, and I wish more people would do that. Speaker 1  09:03 And that was my point too. It was like these books are dull and boring. And the problem I had because I was writing computer books at the time, I had a computer book literary agent. There is such a thing, and it's it's backwards in that industry though, because the publisher says what they want a book on, and then they have you write the book on the topic, and so I was doing that for many years. But I did not like the fact that they would edit my books to make them dry, and the editors would actually complain to me and say, "There's too much personality in here. You can't have this. It was like it was like they thought that was a built-in feature of the book, and my protest was, "Well, no. Let's make them interesting. Let's use real life examples. Let's have some personality in there. Let's have some interaction with the with the reader. And they didn't like that until DOS for Dummies came around, and the publisher was willing to change the paradigm. Michael Hingson  09:55 Jeez, yeah, it's so unfortunate. They they think they know. Everything there is to know, and the reality is they don't. Speaker 1  10:04 That's the way it is with just about any industry. You know that I think the corporate mentality is kind of to resist innovation, even in the most innovative industries, until something crazy comes along. And I think that's why in Silicon Valley you had all these startups. You know, if you look, if you trace the lineage of a lot of the big companies, they started at other big companies that were unwilling to do the crazy ideas these guys had, and so they went off. I mean, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak left Hewlett Packard and started up Apple Computer, and I'm pretty sure there's probably been some engineers from Apple Computer who've left and started up their own company and becoming Michael Hingson  10:43 well. And Bill Gates is essentially the same way. It's it's he started out doing something, but he attracted people's attention by some of the other things that he did. Speaker 1  10:53 Yep. Michael Hingson  10:54 And that was was very relevant. But I I hear what you're saying. It makes perfect sense because people just don't like to be innovative and don't like change, and and that's unfortunate that we have so many people that just, as much as they talk about the fact that change is everywhere, they don't like it. Speaker 1  11:10 No, it's well, I think yeah, we we get in our comfort zone, and you don't grow out in the comfort zone. So I like to challenge myself and do interesting things like become mayor, and you know you leave your comfort zone. And what what can I do here, or how can I do this better? Michael Hingson  11:26 Yeah, well, and that makes makes perfect sense. Well, what got you started writing about technology? Just because you were writing that that one article there, or those articles that got interest on the part of a publisher, or what? Speaker 1  11:41 What got me started was that I got paid. Ah, Michael Hingson  11:44 good point. Speaker 1  11:45 You know, they they paid me, and then you know, as as someone who was you know using a computer at the time, and they were called microcomputers, and they were really primitive compared to what we have today. Oh yeah, I I used it to write. So, and the the problem with that was that the the documents, the manuals that we talk about, were so dry and boring, and eventually, all of a sudden, it would dawn on me: it's like, well, this is what it's trying to say. So why don't they just come out and say it this way, or why don't they use an analogy and try to explain it in that manner instead of coming at it from this hardcore technical? And that was what really turned off a lot of people, so it motivated me to want to do it better, and that's kind of what I tell the kids, like my kids. I say you should start up a business. That's really the best way to get successful is start up your own business and become famous like that. And they're well, what business should I start up? I said that the easiest way is to find something that you like, something that's being done poorly, and just do it better. Yeah, and that's really a lot of the the creative, insanely genius stuff that's happened throughout the world is just someone who does something routine but does it better. Michael Hingson  12:52 And that's really the operative part about it, and and the real key. I think you're you're absolutely right. Find something that people aren't doing well, and by the time you get creative enough to figure that out, you're well on your way. Speaker 1  13:05 Yep. So that's that's what I did. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah. And so you started going off and and writing a variety of things. What what actually got you to write Dos for Dummies? What specifically? That's first of all, I love the the title of all the Four Dummies books. I think it makes sense. But what got you started in writing DOS for Dummies directly? Speaker 1  13:27 Well, I I knew that there was an appetite out there for beginner computer books, but the publishing industry would not publish beginning computer books because they said beginners don't buy computer books. And I explained to them, well, your problem is you don't write beginner computer books. You write something and you call it, you know, the easy guide to whatever, but the content of it is not written for a beginner. Maybe the first chapter is very condescending and patronizing, and then the rest of it is just technical garbage. So I said you have to keep that tone throughout the entire text. You have to identify who it is you're writing to, as who's a smart person who may just not get it, and explain it to them, and just keep going. And that was the problem. So I I did originally called it the Idiots Guide for DOS, which was based after the Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair. My dad had a copy of that, and I thought, well, what a brilliant idea. Michael Hingson  14:20 Yeah. Speaker 1  14:21 And so the publisher saw me speak at a conference, and where I was bemoaning the fact that the books were so boring, and they kept editing out my personality. And then went to to him, and and he's like, "This is great. Your outline that you have for this book is perfect. Except we want to call it DOS for Dummies. I thought, like a lot of other people, that was condescending and patronizing, but that it's an alliteration, so that's what they go with. And then he said to make it a reference. Don't make it a tutorial because, and this is brilliant, these people don't want to learn anything; they just want to do their job. Yeah, that makes sense. So that was and that was it, and we put a lot of humor in it. You know, people would tell me that they'd read the book on the subway, and you know, you'd see someone laughing reading a computer book. That's weird, but there would just be enough humor, and I'd use Mad Magazine as my inspiration. So it was kind of like us versus the nerds, and and that was what really founded the whole thing, and I tell you what, it caught on. I did not think it would. There was no way we were planning on writing a book that would sell, you know, 8 million copies. We were just thinking, well, this is going to be fun. Let's just do this, get it out of our system, and then go back to writing boring books. Michael Hingson  15:36 Made the publisher very happy. Speaker 1  15:39 Oh yeah, they were printing Gold bricks, yeah. Michael Hingson  15:43 That, of course, was the real key. Well, that started a brand, didn't it? Speaker 1  15:47 Oh yeah, they did. There was no intention to do that, but then they they followed that up with Max for Dummies and a bunch of other titles that were just very popular at the time. AOL for Dummies, you know, Windows for Dummies eventually came out, and that was the King for Dummies book. But yeah, they have and they have it on all topics. I've even so as someone who is you know starting in government, I got Robert's Rules for Dummies, which you know you've been to a meeting, you know they follow Robert's Rules, which is very dry and boring, but it's it's important. And Robert's Rules for Dummies is a good example of a For Dummies book because it explains everything carefully. Lots of humor in there, and so there's a lot of them. Wine for Dummies was another one that I really liked. I thought they did a good job. Golf for Dummies. There's a there's on every topic. There's a For Dummies book. Michael Hingson  16:37 How many of them did you write? Speaker 1  16:40 Only wrote the ones with my names on them, but probably about 40 separate titles. So over the years, most of them have been rewrites. So technology changes. So there have been 16 editions of Word for Dummies, and 13 editions of PCs for Dummies. There were four editions of DOS for Dummies. So you're you're always writing new editions, so all totaled 180 separate titles. But individual titles, without not counting multiple editions, right? About 60. Michael Hingson  17:09 Wow. Speaker 1  17:10 Yeah. Yeah, Michael Hingson  17:10 and I can appreciate that that books like Word for Dummies or even iPhones for Dummies has to change over time. Speaker 1  17:19 Yeah. Well, some of them. I mean, I've been doing a kind of a review on on YouTube. I've been doing short videos highlighting some of the goofy images that I put in the books over the years. And way back about 20 years ago, I think I was updating these titles once a year. They would say, "We need a new version of this. We need a new version of this. And at the time, technology was just. I mean, they were cranking out new stuff all the time. Michael Hingson  17:44 So, who's written AI for Dummies? Speaker 1  17:47 I don't know, but that is a title, so I wouldn't be Michael Hingson  17:50 surprised. Speaker 1  17:51 It should write itself, though. You think about Michael Hingson  17:53 it. Yeah, you you know, they they really should do that. It should write itself. Speaker 1  17:56 Someone told me once that they they they wanted to do a manual in my style, so they directed AI to write something in the style of Dan Gukan, and apparently AI can do that. So, am I going to get paid? I don't know. Michael Hingson  18:10 Well, that's another story, of course. Yeah, but still, it it is a it's a it's a great franchise. It's a great brand all the way around, and I know different people have written different different kinds of books like that, but still, the the fact is we need that in the world, and and I agree with you, especially that it's good to put humor and personality into it. And I really wish more people would do that. I really wish that would go into the the textbook world, but it hasn't yet. Speaker 1  18:37 No, that's that, and that's a different planet. I tried to break into that world, and that academia is is it's different. It is weird. Michael Hingson  18:44 Yeah, there are just not that many people who can get away with it like Richard Feynman did with some of the things that he did in physics, and even there, his his books were a little boring at times. But still, Speaker 1  18:56 he was awesome. His of course, his his autobiography is a lot of fun. Michael Hingson  19:00 Yeah, surely you're joking, mr. Fineman. Speaker 1  19:03 Exactly. Michael Hingson  19:04 Adventures of yeah, it is. I I keep it around. I've got an audio copy of it, and every so often I will go back and read parts of it. It's a it's a great book. Speaker 1  19:14 He's kind of an inspiration to me, especially in the area of government. And one of the parts of his book where he was on the panel that was reviewing textbooks for, I think, the state of California, and he noticed that one of the books was blank; it was empty, and he was the only one on the panel who did it. And I kind of echo that often in government because I'm occasionally the only person who actually reads some of the material they provide. Yeah, and and those kind of moments are classic. I love those. You know, when you can say, "Well, as everyone notices, you know, page 14 is blank, and they all madly flip to page 14, like, "Oh my gosh, how did you find this? Well, I, I did my job. I read the thing. Michael Hingson  19:54 I had a roommate in college, and we at that time we were using the Berkeley Physics series. I don't know. Whether that even still exists anymore, but different professors from Berkeley wrote various books, and the guy who wrote the book on waves, I had a roommate who was reading that book, and he searched vigorously to try to find a single misspelling of a word in the whole book. Wow! He finally found one. He said there really was one in the book. Kind of makes you wonder if that was deliberate, but but he actually found one. But it took him most of the quarter we had the book to find it. But but he did. Speaker 1  20:33 Excellent. Yeah, I got to say that's that's an art form. I used to work in a publishing house, and we would pore over books looking for spelling errors and mistakes and punctuation and all this stuff and of course you don't find them until the book's actually printed. Michael Hingson  20:46 Of course not. Yeah, yeah. Now it's it should be easier, but it's not, and they still don't come out until the book is already published and it's out there, and then you find out what isn't right. Speaker 1  20:58 Right. Michael Hingson  21:00 I suppose that gives the publisher an excuse to republish the book and make more money. Speaker 1  21:05 Well, yeah, it depends. It's if it is selling. If it doesn't sell, then obviously the the mistake's going to linger out there. Of course, with digital copies, they can update it right away, but not with a print book. Michael Hingson  21:17 Yeah, nowadays there's so many print books that are done pretty much on demand, so that if you want a copy, unless it's just something where they're selling literally millions a month, the book is available on demand. Although there's a little bit of a lag time to get it, my book Thunderdog, which is the story of Roselle and me in the World Trade Center, is is still selling pretty well, but it is more printed on demand by Thomas Nelson than now Harper Collins. Speaker 1  21:46 Yeah, Michael Hingson  21:47 and I understand that as long as it's available, I'm not going to complain. Speaker 1  21:51 And they and they they prefer to sell it that way as opposed to printing out 5000 copies they have to store somewhere. So Michael Hingson  21:56 right, yeah, they don't have to pay for storage and they just print it, and so it takes an extra week to get somewhere. That's fine. We can cope with that as long as it's available, and then that's all that really matters. Speaker 1  22:08 Yeah. Michael Hingson  22:09 But you've written a lot of books. How come so many? Because they're not all for dummies. Ah, okay. Speaker 1  22:16 Well, it just you know that was my profession, and that's what I did. And so, and I had a good agent who would find me a lot of work, so yeah, they would come up and they would want me to write a book on this or that, and a lot of it was because at the time in that industry I had a name and a reputation. I'm also very fast, so and that that kind of surprises people. In fact, there's some someone who accuses me of having a ghostwriter, which I do not. It's just I've been doing it so long, and you know, when I started, my agent said that he said the more you do this, the faster you'll get, the better you'll get. So, whereas in the original book, the first book I wrote took about six months to to write. I've written books in less than a month. It really depends. It depends on the topic, how well I know the topic, but also I do a lot of organizing with an outline, and so I will will work with an outline almost until it's down to the paragraph level, and then that makes it really easy to write the book, especially a technology book where there's a lot of cross references, and this sequence, you know, assuming someone's reading it front to back is really important, so you got to make sure that you touch upon things and do it in the right order. And then that's so yeah. I just got really good at it, which annoyed a lot of my fellow authors because as I was writing and I would get faster and faster, the contracts would start demanding the books in a more expedient manner, so other authors would complain to me and say, "You know, I have to write this book, and they're only giving me three months to do it. They're blaming me because I can do it in three months, and they figure everyone can do it in three months. So that was fun. Michael Hingson  23:54 Have you had books that someone asked you to write where you really didn't know much of anything about the subject, and you had to spend more time researching it, or you just spend time researching it, but you still did that very quickly. Speaker 1  24:06 Yeah, when I first started, that was pretty much the case. In fact, I talked with a guy who he had written the like the best-selling DBase three book. So DBase was a database way back in DOS, and it was the most popular database program, and he wrote the number one best-selling DBase three book that everyone who used that that program would buy, and he told me that he knew nothing about it when he signed the contract. So the the process of writing the book involved this intense deep dive into finding out what it is the program does, and then working on that. Of course, in those days, the books, the software came with a manual, so it was possible to go through the manual and see what the thing was capable of, and maybe get a few hints about that. But the books were not just a rephrase. The manual; they were a little bit better, the project oriented, whatever. So there was one one book that I did on a program called Super Card for the Macintosh, and it was the it was the there was no documentation, and I could call up the developer and I could ask him. So that was that was a tool I could use if I had access to the developer. I could call them up and I could say, "Okay, so I'm I'm doing this. What can you tell me that's like a secret or that is not obvious? And they love to share that stuff. Sure, I just write it all down, and then that that'll make the book better. If you could get through the the gatekeepers and get into where the nerds were, then you could get a lot of good information, and they were happy to share it. I did a few books on OS two that were like that, where I finally was able to escape into the lab and ask them. And the the guy they were so friendly, and they're like, "Oh, you got to tell him this, this, this, this. You know, we we couldn't put this in the manual. You have to tell him this, and so you write a great book. But of course, OS two, no one used it, so no one bought the book. Michael Hingson  26:05 Yeah, yeah, OS two was not one of those things that everybody loved. If Speaker 2  26:13 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the unstoppable mindset community. Michael Hingson  26:46 I remember when I was a student at UC Irvine. I wasn't an information computer science major. I was physics major, but several people took ICS one, two, and three, which was a three quarter course, or well, it was a year course, and the the book they used was Introduction to Computer Programming by Ken Ingram. And what was fun about that was that on the first day of class, the professor would come in and he'd say, "Okay, I want you to read chapter one of information of introduction to computer programming by Ken Ingram. It's the textbook we're going to use. I want you to read that before our next class. And of course, most everyone had not touched the book prior to that. And what he didn't say was that that first chapter took up half the book. Speaker 1  27:40 I like it. Michael Hingson  27:43 Yeah, I know. Wasn't that? And I, I, I heard about it. I, I never did get the book, and I didn't get it transcribed into Braille. But I thought that was cute. Chapter one was half the book. Speaker 1  27:53 No one would have suspected chapter one's an easy chapter. It's four pages. Right, supposed to be right. I think it was like Michael Hingson  28:00 180 pages. It was amazing. Michael Hingson  28:03 I'm not sure whether Ingram had a sense of humor or what, but anyway, there you go. But yeah, that that was kind of kind of amazing. So you you wrote all these books and you continue to do that, but somewhere along the line, you got interested in doing things in politics. What was that all about? Speaker 1  28:25 Well, that was frustrating. Not Michael Hingson  28:28 bad, Speaker 1  28:29 because I. So I think a lot of people are kind of interested. They follow politics. If I call up my mom in San Diego, she has to complain to me about you know the mayor of San Diego and what the city council is doing and and it's it's common it's just I think I think the most most people who are active in in their community know a little bit about politics or whatever and in my case I had just moved from the county here near Courtland and then I'd moved into the city, and I had heard that there was someone was buying up properties in my neighborhood, and I thought that was curious, and I wanted to see if this was something that you know are they going to tear down houses? What are they going to do? So I started researching using the the county website to see who was own who owned these properties, and it was a place called the Lake City Development Corporation, and I thought, well, I need to find out what that is, and it turned out that was an urban renewal agency that was formed by the city of Cortland, and I started reading the statutes and I started reading their minutes and finding out what it is they do, and while on the surface it sounded really fun, there were a lot of curious things that I didn't like. A lot of non-transparent things, a lot of things where you know they're spending public money on what I thought were frivolous things, and so I started asking questions. I started coming to meetings, and they're missing. Was that they pushed back, and so I just something triggered me, and I had a red flag, and I just started going after it. We started, we formed a group of people who were all interested in this, and we would meet regularly and go over what was going on with the government. We'd find issues regarding transparency and spending, and lots of interesting stuff. Never really anything nefarious. Never anything that would. But just a lot of stuff that, as we let the public know about what was going on, they would become outraged and they would say, "Wait a second! They're spending millions of dollars on this, and you know, with property taxes so high, and what is this, and why is it affecting me? And and so I went to the city council meetings here in Portland, and I was frustrated because no one else seemed to get it. And I would look at them, and they would have some issue that would come up, and everyone on the council-there were six members on the council-they would all vote in unison, and no one had asked a question. And I would say, "Well, wait a second, why aren't they asking a question about this, or why aren't they concerned about this, or what about the side effects of this? And so I started writing articles for the paper. I eventually did videos and to speak to various groups and such because I was like, we got to hold government accountable. So I ran for office in ran for the city council in 2007, and I lost. And then I ran in 2009, and I lost, but only by like 29 votes. And then I was done at that point. I really didn't want to do it again because running for office is a pain. Michael Hingson  31:33 Yeah. And Speaker 1  31:34 then they had this huge thing where all of a sudden they were going to redo a park without a public vote, and I wanted a public vote. Lots of people wanted to vote on it, but no, they were going to do it, and they didn't care what the public thought. So they made me run. They made me run a third time, and I won. And I've been on the city council ever since. And then, of course, well, since last November when I got kicked up to the mayor seat, which is where I'm sitting Right now, strange journey. Michael Hingson  32:04 Well, yeah, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for transparency, and there's somebody something to be said for somebody who really wants to look out for what what people want and what people are doing. I I got involved. Well, I've not run for public office, but I've been very much involved in political kinds of things because I've been involved in the blindness world since early 1970s, and the National Federation of the Blind has had for well now, gosh, more than 50 years or around 50 years, what used to be called the March on Washington. Now it's called the Washington Seminar, which is a an event that takes place every year, where several 100 blind people descend on Washington and go off and visit legislators. And the idea is to really get them to understand what the needs of blind people are and try to get them to vote on issues that directly relate to issues concerning us, and sometimes they do. Although it's gotten a lot harder to get things passed, especially in the last eight or nine years. But still, that it it has to be done. But I remember, among other things, I was living in Massachusetts when I first started going, and among other things, we we went and saw the Speaker of the House, who was Tip O'Neill at the time, which was kind of fun. And what an interesting, what a charismatic guy! Didn't matter what party he was with; it was a charismatic guy. And we also visited people like Senator at the time Paul Songis, and what was interesting about him was we we talked about our issues, and it was the end of the day, and then suddenly he said, you know, I'm not going anywhere for the next few minutes. Do you guys have time? And we ended up just talking for about an hour and a half about his view of of and our views of what Massachusetts needed to do, not only for blind people but just in general, it was just fascinating. There weren't very many politicians who would do that. Speaker 1  34:08 That's awesome. Yeah, I liked him. I liked Tungus a lot. Michael Hingson  34:12 Yeah, I wish he'd been able to run for president, but he got cancer, and that's that's unfortunate. Yeah, but because I think that he's one of those people who would do what really needed to be done and do it the right way. Speaker 1  34:26 In other words, the people who never win. Yeah, that's unfortunately Michael Hingson  34:31 really the case, isn't it? Speaker 2  34:33 Yeah, Speaker 1  34:33 yeah. Michael Hingson  34:34 But but you got to do that. Speaker 1  34:36 Yeah. Michael Hingson  34:38 So you you know, but you you hopefully you'll make a big difference, and maybe you'll be able to get people to believe in climate change. Oh, did I say that Speaker 1  34:48 this year? Nah, Michael Hingson  34:53 not unless you predict snow when it actually comes. Speaker 1  34:56 That and that and that's the key. Yeah, Michael Hingson  34:59 yeah. No, I understand, but it but it is fascinating. I you know I I enjoy the concept of politics. I enjoy people who really have a vested interest in making government go well, but it is so unfortunate that we don't see that much of it, which is just too bad. Speaker 1  35:18 There are a lot of good dedicated people out there. I think so. Of course, the the problem is is you know, like they say, politics is sports for the uncoordinated, and it's drama for the ugly. But the the thing is, the people who really do a good job, who are out there doing what you want them to do, they don't get the headlines. It's the noisemakers. It's the extremists. It's the people who are going to have some obnoxious opinion because that that gets everyone's attention. You know, the the guy out there who's doing the job, who's putting in the time, representing the citizens, and making his community a better place. You know, you're never going to read that guy in the paper, unfortunately. Michael Hingson  35:59 Yeah, and that's also part of the problem: is that the media looks for all the drama rather than really looking to to represent the the average citizen and what they truly want and need. Speaker 1  36:10 So those don't the actual the things don't make headlines. In fact, it was a it was really funny. There was a guy who was elected to the state house from this county, and one of his campaign platforms, he was going to repeal all the useless laws, all the things that are still on the books. That you know, just we don't need those laws anymore. They're old. They're outdated, and he did that for about a week, and it doesn't make headlines. So here he is, you know, doing this, doing the job that you think they they would want to do and making government more effective, no one cared. I remember there was one year where we actually we cut property taxes here in the city, and I thought, wow, everyone's going to come up and say thank you. No, no one did. So it's like, what's the motivation? If you go, they say, I want you to be I want you to be my mayor and I want you to work to cut that budget and so you cut the budget and then no one says thank you. Michael Hingson  37:08 We got Tom Steyer here in California who wants to become governor and he's talking about all these things that he's going to do. He's going to get electric utility rates lowered by a significant amount. He's going to encourage and bring competition to the electric grid industry, and he talks about lowering housing costs by building a million homes and doing so many things. And every time I hear his campaign commercials, the thing that I keep asking myself is, haven't we learned anything? And no offense to Donald Trump, but Donald Trump made a lot of promises that we're not seeing. Steyer is making a lot of promises that he has yet to say how he's going to pull any of them off. Speaker 1  37:56 Oh yeah, and that's and that's the thing is you got to. There's so much. There's only so much you can do. But you can you when you campaign, they can say anything. Of course, I know they might as well just say free ice cream and ponies for everyone. Michael Hingson  38:07 Yeah, and and that's almost essentially what's happening. And I'm not saying that he'd be a bad governor. I I haven't researched him enough, but the commercials just don't do anything to make me thrilled because he's not saying how he's going to do any of it, and and that's what I really want to know. Speaker 1  38:25 Yeah, I didn't when I when I ran this campaign, I didn't really promise anything that was sexy at all. I said, you know, I'm going to work on a policy manual. I'm going to increase the amount of information and transparency, and it was like nothing that you want to put on a bumper sticker, but I still won. I mean, there were people who were in the race who were promising this and that, and they were going to do this and all this stuff, and somehow I eked it out. Michael Hingson  38:51 Why do you think you won? Speaker 1  38:52 Name recognition, Michael Hingson  38:54 okay, Speaker 1  38:55 and that's and that's pretty much that's a lot of what politics is is is just the the name recognition. You can win on that. I also do have a reputation. I mean, being on council for 14 years and being often called the lone voice of reason, like I said earlier, I'm the one who asked that obvious question. Yeah, and people are in the audience are going, "Well, thank you. Someone's finally asking what what they wanted to ask, and so there was there was that, and and I also, you know, I I do return my emails. I answer the phone calls. I make sure that I'm I'm available. So you know, and I think that that reputation kind of spread itself around that that I would be responsive. It didn't mean that I actually did anything because the you know the powers are really limited. So if someone wanted you know they want to put in a stop sign somewhere, I'll go visit them, and we'll look at the thing, and we'll look at the traffic data, and all this stuff. But there may not be a stop sign there. Still, I showed enough time that I paid attention to them, and I responded to them, and you know, we'll see what we can do. That's the best you can say. Michael Hingson  39:55 And if it didn't happen that there was a stop sign, but there was a good reason for it. I would suspect that you would be the kind of person who would say, "Here's why it didn't happen. Speaker 1  40:03 Right, exactly, and and to explain that for and a lot of people don't understand things like that because it's easy to get defensive with government because sometimes it can be so colossally stupid. Yeah, but but it's just as long as you have that explanation, and sometimes it's it's really it's refreshing because then they hear the answer and they're good with it, so we have a problem here with there's noise on the freeway because they're expanding the freeway, and a lot of people are upset, so they call city hall, but it's not our project; it's the state highway district. So you know, it's like I can do only what I can do, but it's still you know, if you're the only elected official who bothered to reply to them and told them, you know, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to do whatever we can. Sometimes that makes people happy. They may not be happy in the big picture, but at least they got a response. Michael Hingson  40:48 And when you discover something that's relevant, I'll bet you are the kind of person who would then initiate another letter saying, "Here's why it didn't work, or "Here's why it will work. Speaker 1  40:59 Right, and I do follow up. So I did. In that case, I wrote a letter to the governor and said, "You know, is there anything you can do? And then I forwarded the letter on to the person who had contacted me and said, "Okay, this is the best I can do. Let's let's see what he can do. So yeah, Speaker 1  41:14 yeah. Michael Hingson  41:15 I'm I'm curious. You mentioned that property taxes did get lowered once in Cordellane, but nothing. No one ever did anything with that. How come? Speaker 1  41:23 Well, no. It's just we we did. We we kept them. You got you got them lowered. Michael Hingson  41:27 But but why didn't anybody pay attention to that? Speaker 1  41:30 No. Well, see, I'm sure they paid attention to it. We are only one entity on your property tax bill, so there's there's a few. Ah, good Michael Hingson  41:39 point. Speaker 1  41:39 We might have been the the one who kept it down, but the other ones may have kept it up. And then there's all the the formula is really complex, and so it could be that you know their assess property assessment went up, a lot of other things that would have happened that would have affected it. But like I said, I mean we made a big to do about it, saying hey look we worked, we cut the budget. We kept it flat for all you guys, and then no one said anything. But you know that that's it's discouraging, but it doesn't discourage me from continuing to try because I'll always try. Michael Hingson  42:12 You can only do what you can do, but at least at least you're doing it. Yeah. Now, if you want to live in a state where the taxes are very interesting, move to New Jersey, yeah, where we lived, the the taxes every town, every city had its own property taxes. You could live on a street, yeah, you could live on a street where you had a property tax of some amount, and if you walked across to the other side of the street, the property tax would be twice what yours was because the border runs right down the middle of the street. Speaker 1  42:45 That's crazy. Michael Hingson  42:47 We thought it was. Yeah, we thought it was kind of interesting, but we fortunately never had too horrible of property taxes in Westfield. But still, we heard about some other places that had some some horrible property taxes, but you know it's it's what what you have. Speaker 1  43:07 Yep. Michael Hingson  43:08 So you were in the city council for 14 years. What made you decide that you were going to run for mayor? Because you had to do that. You had to make that decision. Speaker 1  43:17 Yeah, didn't want to. You know, wasn't on my on my dance card to like, oh, next step up is going to be mayor. It was more of there was frustration that I had because the the past couple of mayors, good men, good people, but I always wanted to do more. I mean, being on the council, it was frustrating because I wanted a little more leadership out of the center seat wasn't seeing that, and then I worked earlier last year. I called up a bunch of people to see if they'd be willing to do the job. You know, good strong community members who would be provide the leadership and had the name recognition required to do the job, and no one wanted to do it. So I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll see if I can do it. I still have two years left on my council term, so if I lost, I'd still be part of the process. But there ended up being four people in that race, so it was pretty crowded. Which to me, you know, if if you're running if you run unopposed, it's pretty much a sign that people kind of like the way things are going. They're not they're not upset with you. Generally, if you have one opponent, you're considered that you know oh well good you know I get to compete for for the job or someone else is unhappy. But if you have a lot of opponents, it generally means that the public isn't happy with what's going on and they want to see some change. So there were four people in the race. I won with like 38% of the vote, so that's wow, Michael Hingson  44:45 yeah. Well, but clearly you're different than a lot of people. For example, you're a member of the Kootenay County Republican Central Committee, and yeah, and they sued you for defamation. What was all that about? Speaker 1  44:59 Well. So we had an episode here where the first of all the local Republican Party decided that running partisan races wasn't enough; that they wanted to get involved with nonpartisan races. And in Idaho, a lot of the local offices are nonpartisan. So city council is nonpartisan, school districts are nonpartisan. You know, water district, highway district, all these smaller local offices, and we have a community college here called North Idaho College. And the Senate committee decided that they would start to what they call rating and vetting candidates to determine who was the most conservative. And while a lot of Republicans appreciate that and they want to know who the real conservative is. The central committee realized that it was a way for them to exercise political power, because when people would get their recommendations, that would be the person who would win. And so they got power mad, and in my opinion, they hijacked the trustees of our local community college, and pretty much almost ran the thing into a ground. It was the it's the only college a community college in the history of the country that's ever been put on probation for disaccreditation due to board governance. Normally, when you disaccredit a college, you're disaccrediting it because of financial reasons, or something else, but or academics. Never, never has it happened that the board has been so crazy that the the ACL ACCU whatever it is the accreditation agency for community colleges has said, "What we're gonna we're gonna pull away your credentials, and all your students will not be receiving college credit. So, I mean, what what this board did that was endorsed by the local Republican Party, the extremists on the party, they they fired the president for no reason. They they started running up the bills, increasing the athletics budget. The board meetings were just pure chaos. Employees would leave. The local high schools stopped their their co education programs. It was just crazy. Wow! And and a lot of people didn't really understand what was going on. So I did a YouTube channel called Kootenay Rants, and Kootenay is the name of our county. Michael Hingson  47:20 Kootenay, yeah. I said Kootenay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1  47:22 It's no, it's okay. It's it could be either way. Who knows? Up north, they do say Kootenai, so we don't know. But anyway, this really got under the skin of the central committee because I pinned the blame on what was going on at the college on them, which is was justified, and I would not make anything up. Instead, I would just put in highlights from the meetings and say, "Here's what's happening, and here's the crazy stuff. You know, trustees yelling at members of the audience, making fun of them. You know, interrupting people, saying just weird, strange things. I mean, it just-it was odd. It was so bizarre, and so it was easy for me to make these videos. My background is in communications, and I know video production, so I was able to put together these videos on a YouTube channel, and you know, hundreds of people in the county would start watching them, including the central committee that did not like that I was exposing what I consider to be their corruption and their the the fact that I think they were responsible for this and they didn't like that so they accused me of defamation basically mean tweets because I would tweet about them and their nonsense and it was like they they made a big to do out of it because I was running for re-election for city council, so they came to a city council meeting to serve me, and you know recorded it and put it up on the internet and all this other stuff that that was just crazy. But my insurance company fortunately decided to represent me, and they just they thought the the suit was without merit. They don't say frivolous. They say without merit. Without Michael Hingson  49:04 merit. No, yeah. Speaker 1  49:05 And so yeah. And so eventually, now the suit is over, and I figured I would either win in court or it would be dismissed. But the insurance company settled, and I it was against my wishes. I said no. I said don't settle with these people. But the insurance company did settle, and I made sure that, as part of the settlement, that they would not say that I agreed to it, or that I said I was wrong, or I apologized, or anything. No, the insurance company just didn't want to waste any more money, so they decided to settle. They wrote a check. I don't know what it cost the central committee. As a member of the central committee, it has never been reported to the committee how much money they spent on that? Because it's it's pretty much the the Republican Central Committee of Kootenay County is pretty much a tyranny run by one guy and a personality cult, and there are members of the committee. There are some good Republicans such as myself on the committee who do believe in transparency and limited government and all those Ronald Reagan things. But there are these extremists on there who are just nutballs, and so there's a group of us here called North Idaho Republicans who are working to counter their insanity. And we've done a good job, but we need to do more work, and that's the story of the KCRCC. And they sued me for defamation. Michael Hingson  50:21 That's kind of crazy, though. Nevertheless, Speaker 3  50:23 of course. Michael Hingson  50:24 And it's only kind Speaker 1  50:26 of that. I wasn't laying awake. I mean, occasionally someone would call me up and they would say, "So what's the case? What's the what's happening with a lawsuit? And I'd say, "Well, a lawsuit. I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. They're suing me. I mean, it was never really. I was never obligated for it. Michael Hingson  50:39 Yeah. Well, so just out of curiosity, since the Republicans were doing this, where were the Democrats in all of that? Speaker 1  50:47 Well, we don't really have a lot of Democrats. That's Michael Hingson  50:49 what I was wondering. Yeah, Speaker 1  50:51 and so and and I always used to joke. I would say that the the Democrats, the Kootenai County Democrats, are looking for a new meeting location, and if anyone has a spare closet, got it. You let them know. No, they're they're all they're all very nice people. Michael Hingson  51:05 Yeah, Speaker 1  51:05 but they're they are in an extreme minority, and unfortunately, they they do try. So last time they had a body for every seat up for election, but they don't really come close. And it's a lot of it comes down to name recognition, but you also have a lot of red blue state refugees who come here. You have a lot of COVID refugees who came here, and so Idaho is very red. Kootenay County is very red, and it would take a tremendous amount of effort to to have a Democrat win here. We do have Democrats in the legislature, not a lot, but we do have them, and the the National Democratic Party is unwilling to spend a lot of money here because they know they're going to lose. So that's what I hear from them. But they are they are generally nice people. I mean, like you said, you if you wanted to vote for me here and you're a Democrat, I'd happily accept the vote. It's a nonpartisan position. We don't deal with those big divisive issues that you know that you you see on the news. Yeah, we're pretty much community-minded people, and I appreciate anyone who is. I do fight the KCRCC because I don't see them as community-minded, and that's one of the issues. Michael Hingson  52:18 Yeah. Well, it's it's unfortunate that that people are that way, but I I see it all too often in so many different ways. I mean, we face it with even in the blindness world with so many things where there ought to be major improvements and there ought to be defenses of the civil rights of blind people. For example, some of the rideshare programs don't do a lot to train their drivers about the fact that in reality they're obligated to take blind people with guide dogs, and oh, there's there is a fair amount of that, and it's and and the companies aren't willing to do anything about it, and we have to keep fighting it, which is just too bad. But there's just so many stuff, and there are so many people who just have these hidden agendas, or they just what it really comes down to is we don't want anybody telling us what to do, Speaker 1  53:09 right? Michael Hingson  53:11 And that's what it really comes down to. So, do you find that that religion gets into any of it at all, like with the conservative Christian movement or any of that, Speaker 1  53:24 there well, there's I do not like the politicization of the church. Michael Hingson  53:29 Yeah, Speaker 1  53:30 my favorite quote on that is that politics poisons the purity of the church. So I think we should keep the separation of church and state as much as possible, but there are you know politically motivated, politically active pastors, and I just I I think that's that's not the proper role of religion. I know that that there's kind of a battle going on in the far right about you know how much religion or how much that should should should be involved in politics in the public arena. In fact, there's a little across from the Costco up here. There is a little yard sign in front of some business that says "Vote Bible, and I always think that's kind of. I mean, I understand what the sentiment is, and I would always want to think that the people who we elect are good moral people. You know, Adam said that our Constitution is best suited for a moral people. I don't believe that means that there's morality in the Constitution. I believe there's morality in people, Michael Hingson  54:32 right? Speaker 1  54:33 And we do want people who have good ethics and good morals in public office, and it's very obvious when that doesn't happen. But I do not think. I think the purpose of our Constitution and the First Amendment is to ensure that we all have the the right to enjoy whatever religion we want, and we don't want to pick favorites. And so, what I see with a lot of these people is that they want to pick a favorite. Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, Speaker 1  54:56 they they not only want to pick the first religion, but they want. Everyone to go to the same church and the same service and sit in the same pew. Yeah, and that's not going to happen in any church. It's not going to happen in any denomination of any church. And then, and see, that's the other question: is if you know if you're going to insist that this is a Christian nation, it's like okay, but which denomination is it? Catholic? Is it Protestant? Is it Mormon? I mean, I you know you tell me because it's just going to be this incredible knot of worms, which is why I think the genius of the founders was that you know the the clause about religion is is two things: it gives you the freedom to exercise your own religion, and it also restricts the government from declaring that there's a religion. Yeah, and I think the far right kind of misses that when they when they take the message of we like moral people in office, but to dictate the morals to someone else is wrong. Michael Hingson  55:52 You know, I and it was Tolstoy who once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it, and I I see that so often. It's it is so unfortunate, but it is Speaker 1  56:03 there. Yeah. So that is a tough one. Michael Hingson  56:07 So if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I'd Speaker 1  56:12 get rid of the internet in a heartbeat. Specifically, social media. I think the the problem with social media is it amplifies our immaturities, and that is a huge issue. the The solution to that is to make the the publishers responsible for the content. So, in other words, Facebook could be sued for anything that someone puts on Facebook, and that would terrify Facebook, but it would terrify them to the point that they would actually regulate themselves and and start dialing back. I mean, I can say 20 years ago or so, when I whenever I was first on Facebook, I would go on there and I would see my kids, and they'd be playing a ball game or they'd be over at a friend's house. You'd see birthdays, vacations. It was just kind of like it was a social thing. You go on there now, and it's politics, and it's like this person deserved to be shot, and it's just-it's so-it's so extreme, and it's so rude. And you know, some of the stuff they said about me is not very nice, but I think that if we're going to solve one problem in the world, we really need to dial back all the animosity that's on the inter

To be honest, we never imagined we'd need to explain this.  Fair warning: this episode gets a little nerdy.Over the last two episodes, we've talked about why we believe internal pelvic floor evaluation remains the gold standard in pelvic rehabilitation. This week, we're answering the obvious follow-up question:What do we actually gain from performing one?For those of us who were trained to perform internal evaluations—and who use them every day in practice—the value seems almost self-evident. It's become such a fundamental part of how we think, reason, and treat that we rarely stop to ask why. It's also where our profession has focused its education, research, and clinical training for more than 40 years.But recent conversations in our field have challenged us to step back and articulate something we've largely taken for granted.So that's exactly what we do in this episode.We break down the first principles of an internal pelvic floor evaluation: How it reduces uncertaintyImproves diagnostic accuracyHelps individualize treatmentIdentifies findings that might otherwise be missedGives patients understanding and validationThis is why the ability and willingness to perform an internal evaluation - when clinically relevant and with informed consent - has remained the gold standard in pelvic rehabilitation for decades.If you've ever struggled to explain why internal evaluation matters—or simply want to think more deeply about one of the defining skills of our profession—this episode is for you.International Continence Society PaperIn the episode we mention a paper from the ICS that was extremely helpful in listing out many of the areas where we gain information, specificity or new information.  You can review the article in full here: Get in Touch!Learn more at www.pelvicptrising.com, follow Nicole @nicolecozeandpt (www.instagram.com/nicolecozeandpt) or reach out via email (nicole@pelvicsanity.com).Check out our Clinical Courses, Business Resources and learn more about us at Pelvic PT Rising...Let's Continue to Rise!

In this episode we talk about promotions. You want to reward your best people by promoting them to new roles, but when and how? How can you avoid the dangers of bad promotions?  We are here to help! In this episode we answer questions including:When should an individual contributor become a manager?How do you handle an employee that isn't growing with the business?What happens when two people vie for the same role?All of these questions were submitted by listeners just like you. You can submit questions for us to answer on our website TheStartupHelpdesk.com or on X/Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!Your hosts:Sean Byrnes: General Partner, LucidFog www.lucidfog.comAsh Rust: Managing Partner, Sterling Road www.sterlingroad.comNic Meliones: Founder, Startup Coach https://meliones.substack.com/Reminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.Q1: When should an individual contributor become a manager?"We have a great engineer who wants to become a manager. I don't think they'll be good at it or enjoy it, but we don't want to lose them. What can I do?"Promotions are bets on future performance, not rewards for past work. Wanting a great IC to keep producing is natural, but don't promote someone into a role you believe they'll fail at. Management is a different job, not a higher rung on the same ladder.Test the desire before you grant the title:Send them to a management training course. Five days of reports, emotion-management, and conflict-resolution role-play is a filter. It either kills the fantasy or proves they're serious. If they're serious, they'll learn the mechanics (1-on-1s, conflict resolution, the parts of the job nobody romanticizes) before they run a real team.Try a 50/50 split. Keep them contributing while they test-drive managing people. Low risk, high signal.Examine your own bias. Part of you wants the status quo: a great engineer shipping great work. But your job is also to serve their career. Ask what they actually want long-term. Often it isn't "manage people" – it's bigger scope, real decision-making authority, or more visibility. Answer that, and you frequently get more of what you want, too.Build a real IC path. Most people only chase management because they've been taught it's the only way forward. Show them ICs who've grown into the equivalent of VPs and the pressure to become a manager evaporates for the ones who never wanted it. Make being a senior IC as prestigious as being the boss.The trap: creatively forcing people into roles they don't fit. Architect real jobs that solve real company problems. Don't invent a "team lead" title for a team of one.Q2: How do you handle an employee that isn't growing with the business?"One of our earliest employees is great, but is quickly being left behind as the business grows. Their role is shrinking as the company grows. I'd hate to lose them — how can I help?"This happens at every fast-growing company. The job someone was hired for often doesn't exist six months later. Not everyone scales, and that's not a moral failing.Set expectations early and honestly, before it becomes a crisis. Tell the whole team, on a regular cadence: "The job you have today won't exist tomorrow. We'd love you to be first choice for the next one, but it's on you to show us." That conversation, held often, does more than any rescue attempt later.Invest, but keep a close eye on who is already pulling themselves forward. Coaching and training are worth trying. Importantly: people who scale are already training themselves, learning new skills, taking initiative. If you have to supply all the initiative to drag someone forward, it rarely works. You can only pull someone so far, and you shouldn't contort the whole org to meet one person where they are.Be honest that the odds are low. In most cases this ends with letting the person go. Give them a fair chance to find their place, but time is limited, and if they're not climbing this mountain, they're unlikely to climb the next one.The kindest move is often the exit. Help them find their next role. At a bigger company they may be iced out and miserable; as an early-stage specialist elsewhere, their zero-to-one strengths are a genuine asset.Watch where the pressure actually comes from. They may not feel it in the work, but they feel it interpersonally, early. The trigger is frequently the people underneath them: strong reports threatening to leave unless the blocker moves. That forces the hard conversation, and it's never comfortable to tell someone the team has outgrown them.Q3: What happens when two people vie for the same role?"I have two great salespeople who both want to become sales director. There's one opening, so I can promote one — but at the risk of losing the other. What should I do?"Don't assume your best AE becomes your best director. A great AE is a closer. A great sales director is a scaler: coaching, building process, designing the machine. Different job, different skill set. The percentage of great AEs who become great sales leaders is low. Hire (or promote) for the scaler.Retain both, explicitly. Tell each of them, independently, that you want to keep them. For whoever doesn't get the role, ask directly: "If it's not you this time, what do we need to do to keep you scaling with us?"Run a transparent process, and don't stall. Be open about how you're evaluating. Then decide. Moving slowly doesn't preserve the peace; it raises the odds you lose one of them.Don't let fear pick the winner. If you choose based on who might quit, you've handed the team control of the company. Promote the person you genuinely believe will do the job best. If the other leaves, that's unfortunate. You deal with it, the same way you do with engineers or anyone else.Create a second path so "director" isn't the only summit. Strategic account management, a senior IC track, uncapped commission – give a top closer a reason to keep closing instead of elbowing into a management seat they don't actually want. (Fast-growing teams often keep great salespeople selling by not capping commission.)Always be hiring. You may need to backfill at any moment. Plan for it before you're forced into it. And if you ever find an AE who's genuinely a great sales director, never let them go.---The through-line: Every one of these problems eases when there's more than one way to grow. Give people a real IC path and management stops being the only way to ascend. Set honest expectations early and "you're not scaling" stops being an ambush. Build a second summit and one open role stops threatening two great people. Promotions go wrong when the org offers exactly one ladder and everyone's forced to climb it whether it fits or not.