Podcasts about implementing

Episode Summary Auditing your expenses can dramatically improve financial awareness, helping you identify money leaks and understand your true living costs. In this episode, the hosts present a structured four-step framework aimed at facilitating regular expense audits, which ideally should be conducted annually. The discussion includes practical strategies for tracking subscriptions, variable expenses, and distinguishing between required and discretionary spending. By adopting a calculated approach to expenses, you can effectively mitigate lifestyle creep while ensuring every dollar serves a purpose. Key Tactical Takeaways Conduct an Annual Expense Audit: Establish a routine to review expenses at least once a year to stay on top of spending habits and identify areas for improvement. Categorize Every Expense: Break down expenditures into necessary (fixed costs) and discretionary (variable costs) categories for clearer insights. Use a Value Matrix: Assess expenses based on their joy and necessity to inform which should be retained, reduced, or eliminated. Track Subscriptions and Variable Costs: Pay attention to recurring payments, particularly those related to entertainment and services like streaming or software. Calculate the Long-Term Impact of Small Savings: Remember that cutting small monthly expenses can significantly affect your financial independence number over time. Core Rules & Formulas Rule Explanation Annual Expense Audit Review all expenses once a year to prevent overspending and identify leaks. Categorization of Expenses Differentiate between Required (fixed) and Discretionary (variable) expenses. Value Matrix Implementation Organize spending into High Joy/ Low Joy and Essential/ Eliminate quadrants. Prioritize Necessary Expenses Always account for essential bills, including utilities, groceries, and housing costs. Evaluate Impact of Expenses Each $100 cut from monthly expenses reduces your FI number by $30,000 and if invested can generate $60,000 over time (20-year horizon). Tools, Accounts, or Strategies Mentioned Tool/Strategy Link/Description Expense Audit Spreadsheet Download here     Value Matrix Framework Framework for analyzing the necessity and joy of expenses. Resources & References ChooseFI Episode 009: Travel Rewards Framework Expense Audit Spreadsheet: Download What To Do Next Join the Expense Audit Challenge: Participate in the community challenge to gain insights and support while auditing your finances. Download Your Bank and Credit Card Statements: Begin your audit by gathering statements from the last few months. Categorize Your Expenses: Use the expense audit spreadsheet to identify necessary vs. discretionary spending. Reflect on Your Findings: After auditing, identify any hidden expenses or subscriptions that can be cut, and share insights with the community at choosefi.com/login. Conducting an Effective Expense Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide Understanding the Expense Audit Definition: An expense audit is a systematic review of your expenditures to identify unnecessary spending and money leaks. Goal: The aim is to clarify how much your life actually costs. Importance of Regular Expense Audits Frequency: Conduct an expense audit at least once a year to keep track of spending habits. Long-term Tracking: Monitor for lifestyle creep, which can happen gradually and affect your financial health over time. Action Steps to Begin Your Expense Audit Gather Financial Data: Download your recent bank and credit card statements (last 3 to 4 months). Check statements for variances and patterns in spending. Categorize Your Expenses: Separate them into categories such as housing, transportation, food, entertainment, and miscellaneous. Include all necessary and discretionary expenditures. Identifying Money Leaks Subscription Services: Track all recurring subscriptions and evaluate their necessity. Variable vs. Fixed Expenses: Distinguish between fixed permissible expenses (mortgage, insurance) and variable spendings (dining out, entertainment) to identify areas for improvement. Implementing a Value Matrix Categorization: Create a value matrix to differentiate between: High Joy (essential to happiness) Low Joy (non-essential) Essential (required for daily living) Eliminate (unnecessary expenses) Analyze Each Category: Assess each item in terms of value and joy to decide if it should remain in your budget.

Teachers know great professional development when we see it. It resonates and makes sense. It is actionable, preferably right away. Implementing ideas from PD improves our practice and our students' learning. We know it when we see it—but what is the best way  to plan for it? And how do organizers, participants, and school leaders know it made a difference?This episode focuses on the Project Zero Classroom Summer Institutes that our guest, Jim Reese, helped coordinate for many years. Before listening, we recommend our first interview with Jim for an overview of Project Zero and its mission.Jim lives in Washington, DC. After a long career teaching in international and U.S. schools, serving as Director of Studies and founding the Professional Development Collaborative at Washington International School, he now works as a consultant. He has long been affiliated with Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education.Guiding Question: “What are some ways to make the learning experiences at professional development conferences more apt to be integrated into the teaching practices of participants?”Main Topics:How PD conference organizers can ensure better participant follow through in applying their learning to their  practices How teachers can make the most of conferences and design a pathway to carry their learning into their classroom practices How school administrators can support their teachers attending PD conferences to make the most of their learningWhat professional learning might look like going forwardRelated Resources: Greg Moncada Episode 94 interview on “Appraising Teacher Performance”Harvard Project Zero Website Jim Reese Episode 81 interview on “Fostering Lasting Change in Schools”Justin Hardman Episode 65 interview on “Teacher Professional Learning” Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers (WISSIT) WebsiteJim's Contact Information: LinkedInRecorded April 14th, 2025.Categories: PD | Leadership | Trends Support the show Remember to access our Educators Going Global website for more information and consider joining our Patreon community at patreon/educatorsgoingglobal!Email us with comments or suggestions at educatorsgoingglobal@gmail.com Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.Listen on your favorite podcast app: connect from our share page.Music: YouTube. (2022). Acoustic Guitar | Folk | No copyright | 2022❤️. YouTube. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEmg_6i7jA.

What does it take to successfully acquire and lead a 50-person, employee-owned sign company that defied the odds for 20 years? Aaron sits down with Wade Halma from Valley City Sign, a mechanical engineer who entered the signage world via finance. They dive into the counterintuitive pitfalls of buying "too perfect" equipment, why building an in-house engineering team is a game-changer, and how to implement true lean manufacturing beyond the buzzwords.

In this episode, we look at asset location, how to decide which investments belong in taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts, how where we live shapes the opportunities available to us, and how capital ultimately expands our choices.SponsorsGelt - Taxes Done RightMasterworks - Invest in multimillion-dollar artwork offeringsDelete Me – Use code David20 to get 20% offInsiders Guide Email NewsletterGet our free Investors' Checklist when you sign up for the free Money for the Rest of Us email newsletterOur Premium ProductsAsset CampMoney for the Rest of Us PlusShow NotesThe Hidden Healthcare Infrastructure Americans Cross the Border to Find—Kogod School of BusinessFARMWORKER SERVICE CENTER PROPOSAL AND ACTION PLAN FOR THE CITY OF CALEXICO AND IMPERIAL VALLEY by JAVIER MORENO—CalexicoLocation as an Asset by Adrien Bilal and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg—PrincetonIt Is Not Climate Denial But Adaptation Denial That Holds Us Back by Mathis Wackernagel and Peter Raven—SSRNThe Overlooked Edge: The Case for Asset Location in Managed Portfolios—MorningstarRevisiting the conventional wisdom regarding asset location by Sachin Padmawar and Daniel Jacobs—VanguardAsset location for equity by Sachin Padmawar and Daniel Jacobs—VanguardThis powerful strategy can create more spendable wealth by Tom Lenkiewicz—J.P. MorganAsset location strategies for tax efficient investing—BlackRockWhat would Yale do? Implementing after-tax asset allocation by Frances Walsh and Patrick Geddes—BlackRockRelated Episodes540: Beyond Munis — New ETFs for Tax-Efficient Bond Investing506: Should You Retire Early and Live Outside Your Home Country? With Joshua Sheats425: How Profits Motivate ChangeMasterworks DisclosuresListeners get priority access to Masterworks at https://www.Masterworks.com/davidArt correlation and appreciation data based on repeat-sales index of historical Post-War & Contemporary Art market prices and S&P 500 annualized return (includes dividends reinvested) from 1995 to 2025, developed by Masterworks. There are significant limitations to comparative asset class data. Indices are unmanaged and a Masterworks investor cannot invest directly in an index. Content creator (the “Endorser”) receives cash compensation from Masterworks, LLC (“Masterworks”). Endorser is a client of Masterworks. Masterworks can only make and accept sales after an offering statement has been filed, and “qualified”, by the SEC. Any offers may be revoked before notice of qualification. Indications of interest involve no obligation. Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. For further disclosure on Regulation A Offerings, Risks of Investing, Performance Metrics, Art Market Data, and more visit the offering documents filed with the SEC and Important Disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most money stress isn't about income, it's about how money flows. In this episode, John Kennedy, CFP® breaks down the difference between spending up and spending down, why budgeting often feels frustrating, and how small system changes can create real clarity. He shares a simple framework for managing cash flow and building habits that actually stick. If you've ever felt like you're earning enough but still wondering where your money went, this episode will help you reset the way you think about spending.   Resources mentioned: Free Financial Online Course: YourMoneyStory.app Live Webinar on Feb. 17th - Your Money Flows: Bringing Order to Your Daily Budget    00:09 The Real Problem: Money Psychology 02:14 Spending Up vs. Spending Down 05:21 The Power of Cash Flow Management 05:57 Implementing the Three-Account System 08:15 Join Our Free Online Course

Running a dental practice can feel like an endless cycle of putting out fires, reacting to problems, and repeating the same frustrations day after day. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt sits down with Christina Burn, Director of Operations at ACT Dental, to explain why most of these daily issues stem from a lack of clear systems, not people. Together, they break down how systems create predictability, reduce stress, improve team accountability, and support long-term growth. You'll learn where to start with systems, how to build them with your team, and how to keep them relevant as your practice evolves. To learn how to stop firefighting and start creating predictability, listen to Episode 1007 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Most recurring daily problems in a dental practice are caused by missing or unclear systems rather than individual team performance.Systems create predictability, which leads to less stress, better patient experiences, and more consistent outcomes for doctors and teams.Practices should aim to be systems-driven instead of people-dependent to avoid burnout and constant staff additions.Effective systems start with a clearly defined “why” that connects directly to patient experience and team success.The best systems are created collaboratively during dedicated team meeting time, not by the doctor alone or outside of work hours.Systems should be specific, step-by-step, and written clearly so anyone in the practice can follow them when needed.Systems must be treated as living tools that are reviewed, updated, and improved as the practice grows and changes.Snippets:00:00 Introduction and Welcome00:08 The Importance of Systems in Dentistry01:28 Meet Christina Burn: Director of Operations02:30 Common Issues in Dental Practices03:23 Creating Effective Systems05:52 The Why Behind Systems09:58 Implementing and Refining Systems13:22 The 80% Approach to System Development16:02 Specificity in Systems20:32 Living Systems: Continuous Improvement25:11 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsGuest Bio/Guest Resources:Christina Byrne is the Director of Operations at ACT Dental, where she oversees coaching alignment, system development, and operational consistency across practices nationwide. She works closely with dental teams to help them build scalable systems that improve predictability, accountability, and long-term practice performance. In this episode, Christina references ACT Dental resources including the Analyzing...

Implementing fees without alienating clients is a key challenge for contractors like us. Things become exceedingly difficult when trying to balance a normal full-time workload and "incentivize" clients to send their files on time.What are the options we have to shuffle jobs around to accommodate a client who "needs it tomorrow"? Angelina Gurrola and Charles Commins provide solutions you can use in your own business.Key moments:(00:00) Defining Late and Rush Fees(06:35) Enforcing Fees Without Alienating Clients(12:13) Including Fees in Proposals and Contracts(15:38) Client Choices and Boundaries(22:00) Transparency and Trust in Client Relationships(27:53) Preventing Late Submissions and Rush Jobs(35:54) Percentage vs. Flat Rate Rush FeesResources mentioned in the show:Charles was Non-Employee of the Week (week 38)Thanks to Chad Parizman and Alejandro Ramirez for their contributionsSee flowers sent instead of paying a Rush Fee__________________________Our Panel:Angelina Gurrola is a podcast producer, manager, and strategist offering full-service launch and monthly management packages to creative businesses & brands.She helps her clients connect more deeply with their audience, disrupt the status quo, and create a profitable ecosystem of content through values-aligned support, systems, and accountability.A former music producer & current DJ, Angelina resides in Chicago with her cats, hobbies, and a growing vinyl collection.Website: https://wildwavepodcasting.comThreads: https://www.threads.com/@_angelinagurrolaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelina-gurrolaCharles Commins is the host of the award winning It's All Cobblers To Me podcast, founder of podcast production company, Vibrant Sound Media and co-runner of the largest UK podcaster community, MIC's Podcast Club.From Warrington, Charles spends most of his time running - be that for exercise or simply chasing his two kids around!Website: https://vibrantsoundmedia.com______________________________Tools we used:*Riverside.fm to RECORDWe used Riverside to record this episode and create video shorts for marketing the show.*PodChapters for CHAPTERSPodChapters allows us to create chapters, incorporate them into the MP3 and RSS feed, and include chapters in the show notes.*Captivate.fm for our podcast MEDIA HOSTWe...

@Michael Kerr and @Andy Farquharson dive into #employeeownershipAndy founded @abettermonday  and hosts the @alternativeexit podcast. They discuss;Why Employee Ownership is such a viable exit strategy for small business owners The benefits of EO for;How EO has the potential to bridge wealth disparities and enhance productivityThe conversation also covers what's needed to increase the number of successful EO transitions, including;The importance of engaging employees in the ownership transition processThe need for a supportive regulatory framework, and The cultural shifts required for successful implementation. Key takeawaysEmployee ownership can sustain small businesses and local economies.There is a significant productivity increase in employee-owned businesses.Employee ownership requires a cultural shift within organizations.Education and access to data are crucial for employee engagement.Employee ownership can help bridge wealth disparities in communities.Transitioning to employee ownership needs capital and management expertise.The regulatory environment must support employee ownership models.Employee ownership is viable for various types of businesses.Engaging employees early in the ownership conversation is essential.Local investment can enhance the success of employee-owned businesses.Chapters00:00 Exploring Employee Ownership as an Exit Strategy03:15 Andy Farquharson's Journey to Employee Ownership08:04 The Benefits of Employee Ownership for All Stakeholders10:33 The Role of Benevolent Owners in Employee Ownership15:33 Addressing Wealth Disparity and Worker Disengagement19:11 Implementing the Owner Operating System24:10 Common Misunderstandings About Employee Ownership26:24 Engaging Owners in the Employee Ownership Conversation29:44 The Importance of Open Communication in Business Sales30:36 Aligning Incentives for Employee Engagement32:35 Preparing Businesses for Sale: Cultural Changes34:25 The Psychological Barriers of Exit Planning35:04 The Challenge of Business Improvement36:25 Employee Ownership: A Fit for All Businesses?39:48 The Continuum of Employee Ownership Models42:00 The Role of Small Business Owners44:39 Engagement Levels in Employee Ownership45:25 Bringing European Employee Ownership Models to Australia47:19 The Impact of Employee Ownership in Regional Communities49:27 Key Conditions for Successful Employee Ownership51:00 Top Priorities for Small Business Policy54:18 OTO outro 15-4-25.mp3@kerrcapital  Thanks for listening. Visit the Owner To Owner Podcast website to subscribe, listen back, or check out any resources or information mentioned on the show.Search @ownertoownerpodcast on your favourite podcast player to subscribe and listen to the episodes.Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.auwww.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au

In this episode, Dr. Shari Simpson speaks with Laura Varn about the unique challenges and opportunities of building HR from the ground up in the manufacturing sector. Listeners will learn about the importance of establishing a strong culture, the role of HR in startups, and practical strategies for engaging hourly workers. Laura shares insights on how to create a people-first environment that fosters growth and compliance while addressing the specific needs of the manufacturing workforce.   Listener Takeaways Understand the critical role of HR in shaping company culture from the start. Learn how to effectively engage hourly workers in a manufacturing setting. Discover practical strategies for implementing benefits that resonate with employees. Explore the importance of leadership visibility and communication in HR initiatives. Gain insights into the value of stay interviews and pulse surveys for employee feedback. Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction to the episode 00:34 – The excitement of building HR from scratch 02:26 – Where to start when building HR 03:58 – The importance of HR in startups 04:58 – HR's role in manufacturing environments 06:06 – Culture as a strategic lever 07:04 – Leadership's role in shaping culture 09:15 – Creative benefits in manufacturing 10:54 – Approaching skills development in manufacturing 12:57 – Learning from past HR challenges 15:16 – The importance of marketing in HR 16:27 – Building cohesive teams across departments 18:01 – Creating a culture of feedback 20:33 – Implementing stay interviews for engagement Guest(s): Laura Varn is the founder of Laura Varn and Associates, specializing in helping organizations build practical HR foundations that support growth, compliance, and a healthier culture. HR in manufacturing, building HR, company culture, employee engagement, manufacturing workforce, benefits strategies, leadership in HR, skills development, feedback culture, HR startups

The opposite of quitting is recommitting. And sometimes that means you need a spelled-out roadmap to help you define what steps you can take to recommit to recovery. Today's episode is different. I'm not speaking in theoretical terms or giving advice I wouldn't follow myself. I'm sharing exactly what I would do if I was trapped in an eating disorder right now. The actual steps. The concrete path forward. The golden nugget roadmap I would follow myself. Whether you're experiencing a relapse, stuck in your recovery, or wish you could go back and tell your younger self what to do—this episode is your clear, actionable guide. In this episode, you'll discover: The 6-step roadmap I'd follow if I was trapped in an eating disorder today Why relapse is normal and doesn't mean you've failed Step 1: Recognition and acceptance—how to get out of denial faster Step 2: Immediate outreach—breaking the isolation that keeps you stuck Step 3: Implementing structure—what to do RIGHT NOW to support yourself Step 4: Investigating triggers—what's really driving this beneath the surface Step 5: Developing a crisis response plan—how to create lasting recovery Step 6: Reconnecting with your WHY—the values your ED is violating What I wish I could tell my younger self 15+ years ago Why recovery isn't about perfection—it's about progress How to recommit to your best self starting TODAY If you're in the trenches, if you've relapsed, if you're struggling—this roadmap is for you. Not theory. Just honest, practical steps. THE 6-STEP RECOVERY ROADMAP STEP 1: RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTANCE The hardest step: Admitting where you are is no longer where you want to be. If I was relapsing today, I know I'd experience a strong pull toward denial. I might tell myself: "I'm just being more careful about what I eat" "I'm having a few bad days" "I can handle this on my own" What I'd do instead: ✅ Name what's happening - Get out of denial faster ✅ Ask myself: Am I skipping meals? Preoccupied with food thoughts? Anxious around mealtimes? Weighing myself? ✅ Practice self-compassion - Not excusing the behavior, but acknowledging eating disorders are complex illnesses, not personal failures ✅ Say to myself: "This is really hard. I don't have to do this alone." This step creates the foundation to move forward in ACTION instead of sitting in denial. STEP 2: IMMEDIATE OUTREACH Eating disorders thrive in isolation. My counter-attack would be CONNECTION. What I'd do: ✅ Contact someone I trust - In my case, my mom. I'd say: "I'm struggling with my thoughts and behaviors. I need support." ✅ Get professional help immediately If I had a treatment team: Contact them and say "I'm experiencing relapse. I need an appointment ASAP." If I didn't: Call primary care doctor, get a referral, look into local ED treatment centers ✅ Get accountability - Schedule meals, keep appointments with myself, check in with someone Key truth: Don't wait until things get "bad enough." Early intervention makes a tremendous difference. Breaking isolation doesn't mean everyone needs to know. It means strategically connecting with people who can provide support. STEP 3: IMPLEMENTING STRUCTURE What I'd put in place immediately: ✅ Regular eating patterns - Have a plan ready, no reinventing the wheel during vulnerable times. Use the same meals daily to reduce decision fatigue. ✅ Clean up social media & entertainment Unfollow accounts that trigger comparison or food obsession Avoid shows glorifying thinness or dieting Curate recovery-supportive content Join communities like Her Best Self Society (HerBestSelfSociety.com) ✅ Set clear boundaries with exercise - Temporarily pause formalized exercise, focus on gentle movement (This requires support—I couldn't do this alone) ✅ Document thoughts & feelings - Not to be perfect, but to increase awareness of patterns and triggers. Rebuild trust with body and mind. Structure = support. Not rigidity, but safety. STEP 4: INVESTIGATING TRIGGERS Eating disorders aren't just about food or weight. What's really happening beneath the surface? Questions I'd ask myself: ❓ What changes in my life have happened recently? (Transition, loss, increased responsibility, relationship change) ❓ What emotions am I struggling to manage? ❓ What am I trying to numb, distract from, or control? ❓ What needs aren't being met right now? ❓ What external pressures am I responding to? ❓ What beliefs am I believing about my worth, body, or identity? The truth: Eating disorders flare during periods of change and loss of control. Understanding triggers helps you heal beyond just the behaviors—you learn to process emotions in healthier ways. STEP 5: DEVELOPING A CRISIS RESPONSE PLAN Lasting recovery requires more than just putting out fires. What I'd create: ✅ Coping strategies - Tools to use when urges arise ✅ Relapse prevention plan - Document early warning signs, high-risk situations, actions to take ✅ Support system - Who to call, when, and why The sustainable plan is about building a life where: The eating disorder becomes less necessary and less powerful Recovery feels like moving TOWARD something meaningful Not just running away from illness Work with someone to determine exactly what support you need and put that planning in place. STEP 6: RECONNECTING WITH YOUR WHY The most important step: Remember what the eating disorder is stealing from you. What I'd do: ✅ Identify the values my ED violates The ED promises control, safety, worth. But it actually undermines: freedom, joy, creativity, authenticity, relationships, purpose. ✅ Compile a list: What has this ED taken from me? Holidays ruined Relationships lost Moments with loved ones missed Energy wasted Dreams on hold Future opportunities destroyed ✅ Ask: What present moments is it stealing RIGHT NOW? What future opportunities will be destroyed if I don't fix this? ✅ Dream beyond the disorder - What do I want my life to look like? Who is my BEST self? If I could go back 15+ years and tell my younger self: "You're gonna go through this godawful period, but on the other side is MAGICAL. You'll experience things you never would've allowed—wonderful relationships, contributions to the world, PURPOSE. Start dreaming NOW of the vision beyond this disorder." KEY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE

Protect your insulation business from liability and ensure you get paid for every job with expert legal strategies designed specifically for contractors. Learn why a handshake isn't enough and how a proper contract can save you from expensive litigation. On this episode of the R-Value Podcast, IDI expert Ken Allison interviews Karalynn Cromeens, Managing Partner of The Cromeens Law Firm and host of the "Quit Getting Screwed" podcast. Construction law expert Karalynn Cromeens joins the show to discuss the critical importance of written contracts in the residential insulation industry. She explains why "managing expectations" is the number one defense against lawsuits and how specific contract language can limit liability, especially for spray foam applicators dealing with pre-existing building defects. The discussion highlights the dangers of working without a signed agreement—even for small or pro-bono jobs—and provides actionable advice on how to structure warranties to avoid the "never-ending punch list" that delays final payment. Beyond contracts, the conversation shifts to dispute resolution and the financial side of running a contracting business. Karalynn shares candid advice on why settling fast is often better than being "right" in court and why you should trust your gut when a potential client raises red flags. Listeners will also learn about the legal necessities of change orders, the protection offered by incorporating as an LLC versus a sole proprietorship, and how to effectively leverage liens and demand letters to ensure payment. Inside this episode... 02:05 – Karalynn's background in the industry and the mission of the Subcontractor Institute. 05:21 – The importance of a clear Scope of Work to manage homeowner expectations and avoid "HGTV" standards. 07:08 – Distinguishing between punch lists and warranty claims to finalize jobs and get paid faster. 10:04 – Limiting liability for spray foam contractors when facing poor building conditions or incorrect substrates. 16:32 – Why settling a dispute quickly is often cheaper and less stressful than winning in litigation. 22:14 – Implementing cancellation fees to protect your profit if a homeowner breaches the contract

When your biosimilar analytical data shows 1.4% high mannose against a 6% reference product specification, you face limited options: process temperature shifts that compromise titer, kifunensine supplementation that requires extensive regulatory justification, or 12-18 months to reclone and revalidate. Media supplementation offers an alternative pathway—tuning glycan profiles through formulation adjustments rather than cell line or process re-engineering.In this episode, David Brühlmann presents the experimental development of a media supplementation strategy that achieved 2.8-fold increases in high mannose glycans across multiple CHO cell lines. Drawing from research published in the Journal of Biotechnology (2017, 252:32-42), the discussion covers the mechanism of raffinose-mediated glycan processing arrest, the experimental variables that initially obscured the effect, and the process development considerations for implementing media-based glycan tuning.The episode examines N-glycan biosynthesis in CHO cells, regulatory comparability requirements for biosimilar glycosylation profiles, and the experimental framework for evaluating media supplementation as a glycan control strategy.Highlights from the episode:The unexpected link between dietary raffinose and reduced athletic performance, and its connection to bioprocessing (01:11)A clear primer on the importance of glycosylation for biosimilar drugs and regulatory approval (02:43)Common challenges when glycan profiles don't match reference products, and why high mannose glycans matter (04:19)A review of industry strategies (temperature shifts, enzyme inhibitors, cell line reengineering) and their pitfalls (05:33)Mechanistic insights into how raffinose alters glycan processing in CHO cells (07:05)Key experimental findings on raffinose concentration, osmolality control, and practical lab troubleshooting (09:48)Application stories and regulatory considerations for implementing raffinose-based media adjustments (13:47)Closing thoughts on process optimization, regulatory impact, and what to expect in Part 2 (15:11)Strategic insight:Implementing raffinose as a media supplement is straightforward, regulatory-friendly, and cost-effective. It does not involve genetic engineering or enzyme inhibitors and is easily sourced as a GMP-grade material. For programs approaching submission with glycan comparability gaps, media-based tuning offers a process optimization pathway that maintains existing cell lines and manufacturing platforms while addressing critical quality attribute specifications.Listen to this episode of the Smart Biotech Scientist Podcast to learn David's best strategies for rapid, regulatory-friendly glycosylation control.If you want to transform your glycoengineering workflow, keep an eye (and ear) out for the next episode of the Smart Biotech Scientist Podcast. Your path to regulatory success might be as simple as a pinch of raffinose.Resources: Journal of Biotechnology, 2017, volume 252, pages 32 to 42Next step:Need fast CMC guidance? → Get rapid CMC decision support hereSupport the show

In the latest episode of the Plant-Based Podcast, we breakdown some of the confusion generated by the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans with Dr. Kevin Klatt. Dr. Klatt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.He received his PhD in Molecular Nutrition from Cornell University and completed his clinical dietetic (RD) training at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. His research focuses on using both preclinical models as well as human intervention studies to better understand nutrient metabolism, signaling and requirements.In addition to research, Dr. Klatt is a current Associate Editor at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and a Section Editor of the graduate-level nutrition textbook, Biochemical Physiological and Molecular Aspects of Human Nutrition (fifth edition).Dr. Klatt dissects some of the big ticket changes to the DGAs, including the recommendation to increase protein and saturated fat intake, confusion around processed foods, and inconsistencies between the revamped pyramid model and the actual recommendations.ResourcesKevin's Substack on the DGAs: The Influencer's DGAs & The Rancher's Pyramid Twitter BlueSky Instagram Bonus PromotionCheck out University of Guelph's online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate. Each 4-week course will guide you through essential plant-based topics including nutritional benefits, disease prevention, and environmental impacts. You can also customize your learning with unique courses such as Plant-Based Diets for Athletes and Implementing a Plant-Based Diet at Home. As the first university-level plant-based certificate in Canada, you'll explore current research, learn from leading industry experts, and join a community of like-minded people. Use our exclusive discount code PBC2026 to save 10% on all Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate courses. uoguel.ph/pbn.Support the show

⭐ Connect w/ Coach, Costin & a community of real estate investors: https://www.coachcarson.com/rpm-pod-ep474 ⚒️ Costin's CapEx Planning Spreadsheet:  https://www.coachcarson.com/cap-ex-planning-pod

Transformative leadership takes center stage as we welcome L. Michelle Smith, a dynamic force in executive coaching and cultural communication. With extensive experience as a Fortune 100 advisor and an upcoming book titled "10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church," Michelle blends science and cultural insights to inspire leaders toward meaningful change. We dive deep into the foundational concepts of call and response, a powerful framework traced back to African traditions and prevalent in both spiritual and secular contexts. Through our conversation, we explore how these cultural practices can foster resilience, accountability, and hope in leadership, proving that effective leadership isn't just about authority but about connection and collaboration. Join us as we uncover the strategies that can elevate our leadership game and reshape organizational culture for the better.Exploring the intersection of culture, science, and leadership, the conversation delves deep into the transformative power of embracing one's roots while striving for excellence. L. Michelle Smith, a seasoned executive coach and author, draws on her extensive experience in communications to highlight how cultural frameworks, particularly those of the Black church, can inform and enhance leadership practices across diverse organizations. As she recounts her journey of growth, Michelle emphasizes the importance of acquiring skills and experiences along the way—advice from her father that resonates throughout her narrative. By incorporating principles of positive psychology and neuroscience, she reveals how understanding the human mind can lead to more effective leadership. The discussion pivots around the concept of 'call and response'—a practice rooted in African traditions and prevalent in Black church culture—showcasing its relevance as a leadership model that fosters engagement and accountability. With rich anecdotes and strategic insights, this episode encourages leaders to adopt a holistic approach to development, one that is as much about emotional intelligence as it is about professional competency.Takeaways:Effective leadership intertwines science and culture, fostering trust and connection in organizations.L. Michelle Smith emphasizes the importance of collecting skills and tools throughout one's career journey.The concept of call-and-response serves as a powerful framework for leadership development and community engagement.Gospel music exemplifies how hope, perseverance, and resilience are integral to effective leadership practices.Implementing cultural traditions from the Black church can create more emotionally intelligent and innovative leaders.Humility in coaching involves asking powerful questions that allow clients to discover their own answers, rather than providing solutions.Links referenced in this episode:https://www.lmichellesmith.com/nosiloscommunications.comculturesouppodcast.comhttps://www.lmichellesmith.com/callandresponse/Mentioned in this episode:My friend Dr. Noah St. John calls this 'the invisible brake.' He's giving our listeners a free Revenue Ceiling Audit to help you see what's REALLY holding you back. You'll also get a FREE 30-day membership to Noah Bot, giving you access to Dr. Noah's 30 years of experience to help you reach your next level. But hurry, because there are only 50 available this month. So if you're tired of being stuck at the same revenue level and want

In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke shares his recent webinar, "Strategies For Implementing Data Solutions For Gym Chains," presented alongside Pablo Viñaspre, Founder and CEO of FitnessKPI. This in-depth session examines proven strategies for successfully implementing data solutions across multi-site gym operations. Bryan and Pablo discuss how operators can adopt and scale analytics to improve member retention, enhance pricing strategies, and uncover new revenue opportunities. Designed for multi-site executives and industry leaders, this conversation provides practical, actionable guidance to help transform data into consistent, measurable business performance. One Powerful Quote: 15:58: "Focus beats sophistication always."  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:04: Bryan opens the discussion by reframing data as a business decision challenge — not a technology project but an operating model transformation. 10:20: Bryan and Pablo address the paradox of "more data," highlighting common implementation pitfalls, governance challenges, and the tendency to focus on reporting errors instead of driving action. 15:33: Bryan and Pablo discuss the importance of focusing on the key drivers that materially impact outcomes. 22:01: Bryan and Pablo speak on finding the balance between company-wide consistency and local autonomy with avoiding over-governance that slows execution. 27:12: Pablo outlines a realistic game plan for data implementation that prioritizes action and measurable results. 34:21: Pablo shares his three core takeaways: addressing technology limitations, maintaining focus, and committing to action. 36:45: Bryan closes with his perspective on the future of data implementation and forward-thinking leadership within the fitness industry. Bullet List of Resources: https://fitness-kpi.com/ Guest Contact Information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pabloviñaspre/ https://x.com/PabloVinaspre https://www.bryankorourke.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankorourke/ http://www.fittechcouncil.org/ https://www.youtube.com/user/bko61163

For the 108th episode of the CIO podcast hosted by Healthcare IT Today, we are joined by Michael Archuleta, CIO at Mt. San Rafael Hospital and Clinics, to talk about their decision to select and implement Oracle! Mt. San Rafael Hospital and Clinics recently changed their EHR, so we kick this episode off by discussing the process they went through to select a new EHR. Then we talk about the key things that led them to their decision to go with Oracle Health and their new Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent. Next, we discuss whether IT or clinical was the driving desire for AI. We then dive deeper into what implementing Oracle looks like by discussing the timeline and what Archuleta is doing to ensure it’s a success. Moving outside of the EHR, we discuss the other areas Archuleta is working on or keeping an eye on and why. Next, Archuleta gives his input on different critical access hospital IT efforts that others may not appreciate. Lastly, Archuleta passes along the best piece of advice he’s been given in his career. Here’s a look at the questions and topics we discuss in this episode: You recently decided to change EHRs, tell me about the process you went through to select a new EHR. What were some of the key things that led you to choose to go with Oracle Health and their new Oracle Health Clinical AI Agent? Who drove the desire for AI, IT or clinical? What does the timeline for implementation of Oracle look like, and what are some of the things you’re doing to make sure it’s a success? Outside of the EHR, what other areas are you working on or are keeping an eye on, and why? What’s something about critical access hospital IT efforts that others may not appreciate? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given in your career? Now, without further ado, we’re excited to share with you the next episode of the CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today. We release a new CIO Podcast every ~2 weeks. You can also subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today podcast on any of the following platforms: NOTE: We’ll be updating the links below as the various podcasting platforms approve the new podcast.  Check back soon to be able to subscribe on your favorite podcast application. Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Stitcher Podcast Radio TuneIn Spotify iHeartRadio Amazon Music Thanks for listening to the CIO Podcast on Healthcare IT Today and if you enjoy the content we’re sharing, please rate the podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. Along with the popular podcasting platforms above, you can Subscribe to Healthcare IT Today on YouTube.  Plus, all of the audio and video versions will be made available to stream on HealthcareITToday.com. We’d love to hear what you think of the podcast and if there are other healthcare CIO you’d like to see us have on the program. Feel free to share your thoughts and perspectives in the comments of this post with @techguy on Twitter, or privately on our Contact Us page. We appreciate you listening! Listen to the Latest Episodes

SummaryIn this episode, Patrick Patino interviews Shaun Jardine, a proponent of value-based pricing in the legal profession. They discuss the importance of understanding client value, the disconnect between clients and law firms, and the need for lawyers to empower themselves to say no to difficult clients. Shaun shares insights on the significance of pricing policies, the shift from billable hours to value-based pricing, and the role of technology in enhancing legal services. The conversation also touches on the metaphor of penguins as a symbol for change and the necessity for lawyers to embrace new practices to thrive in a competitive market.About ShaunShaun Jardine is an international keynote speaker, consultant, and non-practising solicitor, and a former CEO of a Top 250 UK law firm. He is the founder of Big Yellow Penguin and helpsprofessional services firms move beyond the billable hour to client-focused, value-based pricing. With 35+ years' experience, Shaun created the 8-P Point Plan™ and has worked with law firms in the UK and internationally to embed practical change. He is the author of Ditch the Billable Hour! and Ditch & Switch!, sharing proven frameworks and real-world pricing examples. Shaun also founded Legal GiGZ to bring order to the fragmented legal events world—creatinga single global directory for in-person “business of law” conferences so law firms, suppliers, speakers, and organisers can plan smarter, avoid date clashes, and maximise ROI. His message is clear: firms don't sell time—they deliver outcomes. In an AI-driven world, the focus should shift from SaaS to Outcomes as a Service (OAAS).https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunjardine/ https://www.bigyellowpenguin.co.uk/https://legalgigz.com/TakeawaysLawyers should charge for the value they create, not the time spent.Clients value different things, and understanding this is crucial.Empowering lawyers to say no can improve firm dynamics.Many firms write off a significant percentage of their booked work.Implementing change in pricing can lead to increased profitability.Clients are looking for outcomes, not just legal forms.Technology can streamline legal services and improve client experience.Change management is essential for law firms to adapt and thrive.Best practices from other industries can be applied to legal services.Standing out in a crowded market is vital for success.

In the News NASA is Delaying its Next Major Moon Mission Tesla Shifts From Cars to Chips Comcast is Implementing a Bold New Strategy Google Launches Free SAT Practice Tests For Students Via Gemini: Microsoft Rolls Out New Windows 11 Features for Paint and Notepad Apple is Rolling Out New Version of its  AirTag Meta Plans to Test New Subscriptions PSA Warning Parents of AI Toys Cloud Storage Payment Scams and Fake Renewal Warnings ASML Holding (ASML) Plans to Cut about 1,700 jobs, France Fires First Shot in Europe's Tech Sovereignty Fight   ITPro Series with Benjamin Rockwell The Myth of the ‘Simple' Tech Problem From the Tech Corner AI's Insatiable Need for Cash Data Centers are Facing Widespread Public Backlash Nvidia's $100 Billion OpenAI Deal Hits the Brakes Technology Chatter with Benjamin Rockwell and Mark Brownstein TT Nature Smart Bird Feeder

Some machine shop owners talk about people-first leadership. Few are willing to put everything on the line to prove it. In this episode of Machine Shop Mastery, I sit down with Gary Poesnecker, founder of Spectrum Machine & Design, whose leadership was tested when the world shut down. Faced with collapsing demand during COVID, Gary made a decision most owners wouldn't: he borrowed over $1 million to keep his team employed and protect the tribal knowledge inside his shop. That moment didn't happen in isolation. It was the result of decades of experience across precision grinding, machine rebuilding, offshore oil equipment, and ultimately high-risk aerospace manufacturing, where a single part can be worth hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of dollars. Gary shares how starting in a garage, working two full-time jobs, and getting fired shaped his views on culture, loyalty, and responsibility. We dig into the realities of AS9100, NADCAP, model-based definition, managing extreme risk, and why refusing high turnover has become a strategic advantage. This conversation is about what it really takes to build a high-stakes manufacturing business — and what it means to lead when the cost of failure is measured in both dollars and people. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... (0:00) Why culture, turnover, and tribal knowledge matter more than most shops admit (1:03) Introducing Gary Poesnecker and Spectrum Machine & Design (3:08) What Spectrum Machine & Design does today and why aerospace is different (6:28) Gary's early machining background and learning precision the hard way (8:07) Why you need to register and come see us at IMTS 2026! (10:08) Lessons from machine repair, offshore oil work, and complex systems (14:18) Working two full-time jobs to fund the shop and ease into ownership (15:46) Getting fired, witnessing bad culture, and deciding to lead differently (18:00) Hiring the first employee and committing to long-term loyalty (23:43) Transitioning from toolmaking into aerospace production work (27:36) COVID, lost demand, and the decision to pivot to survive (33:45) Check out Phoenix Heat Treating for outside processing (34:51) Borrowing over $1M to protect payroll and keep the team intact (36:34) Recruiting and training young talent through technical schools (42:25) Building a culture people choose to stay in (44:23) Implementing systems and ERP to gain visibility and control (47:36) Managing risk on extremely high-value aerospace parts (50:20) Current challenges around systems, lean, and process discipline (51:29) What makes shop ownership worth it despite the pressure (52:30) Advice for owners growing through complexity and specialization (53:25) Look to Hire MFG Leaders to make your next hire (55:17) Where to learn more about Spectrum Machine & Design Resources & People Mentioned Come see us at IMTS 2026! Check out Phoenix Heat Treating for outside processing ProShop ERP Look to Hire MFG Leaders to make your next hire Connect with Gary Poesnecker Connect on LinkedIn Spectrum Machine & Design Connect With Machine Shop Mastery The website LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Subscribe to Machine Shop Mastery on Apple, Spotify

Rural planning advisor Ben Kettle joined me on Ditching Hourly to share his transition from hourly billing “nonsense” to risk-based project pricing. LinksBen's website » https://areteruralplanning.co.uk/Chapters(00:00) - Ben Kettle (00:20) - Meet the Guest: Ben Kettle (00:36) - Ben's Background and Career Journey (02:57) - Challenges with Hourly Billing (09:01) - Transition to Fixed Fee and Value-Based Pricing (13:23) - Implementing the New Pricing Model (25:48) - Client Reactions and Success Stories (34:08) - Conclusion and Future Plans ----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like:Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time?Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space?Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal?Book a one-on-one coaching call with me and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning.Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to: https://jonathanstark.com/callI hope to see you there!

In this engaging episode of MSP Business School, host Brian Doyle takes listeners through a comprehensive exploration of Technology Business Reviews (TBRs) and their evolving role in the MSP industry. TBRs have shifted from data-heavy presentations to become more strategic and client-focused, addressing clients' growing needs around cybersecurity, compliance, and risk management. Brian Doyle delves into a structured approach to Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), breaking down the process into four distinct phases. Each phase targets specific aspects of technology management—from setting a solid foundation in Q1 to addressing security and risk in Q2, examining health and assets in Q3, and culminating in a year-end summary. By consistently updating scorecards, roadmaps, and strategic plans, MSPs can provide clients with a clearer view of progress and maintain transparency and trust in their business relationships. Key Takeaways: Brian Doyle emphasizes the need for MSPs to transition TBRs from sales meetings to strategic planning sessions to better engage clients. Implementing a quarterly QBR cadence helps in systematically addressing security risks, assets, and compliance, ensuring consistent client engagement. The joint strategic plan is crucial for aligning technology goals with business objectives, providing clarity on project impacts and fostering better decision-making. Regular feedback loops, such as CSAT and Net Promoter Score surveys, are vital for maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders in client organizations. Documenting risk assessments and client decisions is essential for liability protection and demonstrating value in MSP services.   Show Website: https://mspbusinessschool.com/ Host Brian Doyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandoylevciotoolbox/ Sponsor vCIOToolbox: https://vciotoolbox.com

Could a more formal COO-level approach to office management be the catalyst for sustainable growth in your practice? Today on Everyday Oral Surgery, Dr. Stucki is joined again by Dr. Roger Levin, CEO of Levin Group. Dr. Levin argues that the office manager should adopt the responsibilities of a Chief Operating Officer (COO), moving beyond merely putting out fires to proactively creating systems and checklists that ensure smooth and efficient practice operations. He suggests that a great office manager grants surgeons freedom to concentrate solely on clinical excellence, patient relations, and referring doctor relationships. Ultimately leading to a significant boost in practice income and overall satisfaction. Tune in to the first episode in an upcoming series on the office manager. Today, Dr. Stucki and Dr. Levin delve into the reality of the office manager, break down the job description of the COO, outline the job responsibilities, and discuss the difficulty of managing both up and down. They talk about the responsibility of implementing systems to improve customer service, studying referral patterns, and dealing with all regulatory responsibilities. To hear more, don't miss out on yet another impactful episode with Dr. Roger Levin. Key Points From This Episode:An introduction to today's guest and topic: a mini series on the office manager.Understanding the reality of office managers. Three things surgeons should be doing: clinical excellence, patient relations, and referring doctor relations.They look at the landscape of the dentistry business and why office managers may be essential.Dr. Levin breaks down the job description of an office manager: the COO. Why a solid office manager has the freedom to build a great team. Outlining the office manager's job responsibilities and identifying the optimal balance.The hard part of the role of an office manager: managing up and down.Implementing and creating systems to improve customer service as an office manager. Studying referral patterns of referring doctors. Dealing with regulations and making sure all regulatory activities take place properly. The only caveat to today's discussion. Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Dr. Roger Levin — https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-levin-69ab744/ Dr. Roger Levin Email — rlevin@levingroup.com Levin Group — https://levingroup.com/ Office Manager Practice Mastery Program — ‘Performance reviews' — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16060478/ Everyday Oral Surgery Website — https://www.everydayoralsurgery.com/ Everyday Oral Surgery on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/everydayoralsurgery/ Everyday Oral Surgery on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/EverydayOralSurgery/Dr. Grant Stucki Email — grantstucki@gmail.comDr. Grant Stucki Phone — 720-441-6059

edited picture from Lars H Knudsen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-shot-of-a-llama-7845603/ Published 2 February 2026 e541 with Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on AI with local Claude (and Clawdbot, Moltbot & openclaw), collaborative agents, 25 cent physical microtransactions ( quarters ), invisibility cloaks, LEGO SmartPlay and a whole lot more. Michael and Michael get things rolling with a series of intriguing innovations in local AI.  First up is a local instantiation of Claude via Ollama – see notes below for the installation instructions if you care to give this a shot.  Then, the team checks out Trae for it's orchestration capabilities. Michael M makes the mistake of trying out one of these innovations while recording the show and nearly crashes his machine.  Then a discussion on the startup Humans& and how this company is planning for how human + digital combinations will power the future.  The post from Thomas Ricouard illustrates how agents are collaborating with one another.  Michael and Michael stay at the surface level on the whole clawdbot —> moltbot —> openclaw story which has been rapidly evolving this past week while still marveling at the speed of movement. Switching then to the makers making things, there is a fantastic example of how to enable the original microtransaction for current software.  How?  Implementing the hardware mechanism for accepting a quarter to allow the game player to continue.  Next, from MIT, a significant improvement on the umbrella by using a quadcopter and computer vision tracker to create a flying mobile shelter that protects the user from the elements.  And then, a story about an invisibility cloak from Duke in the news this week, which harkens back years – check the show notes below for prior discussions on this capability. LEGO has announced a new innovation – the SMART Play system, replete with SMART Bricks, SMART Tags and SMART Minifigures.  It will be so intriguing to see how this fits in with the LEGO robotics, FIRST LEGO League and more.  The longer arc going back to LEGO Serious Play may provide some hints. Michael and Michael wrap things up with another long arc from the show – Doom running on a plethora of devices and screens.  This time?  Doom on earbuds.  Check out the links and discussion for more. Are you considering trying out openclaw.ai ?  Why or why not?  Have your openclaw (or other) bots

Summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, host Chad Burmeister speaks with John Rood, founder of Proceptual, about the critical importance of AI governance in organizations. They discuss the challenges posed by shadow AI, the ethical considerations in AI governance, and share success stories of implementing governance frameworks. The conversation also touches on misconceptions about AI implementation, the balance between automation and human touch, and the skills needed for future AI governance professionals. Takeaways AI governance is essential for organizations to avoid significant risks. Shadow AI is a growing concern as employees use unregulated AI tools. Implementing governance frameworks can enhance customer trust and compliance. Ethics in AI includes bias prevention, transparency, and explainability. Many organizations struggle with AI implementation due to lack of strategy. Automation should complement human efforts, not replace them. Future AI governance will require professionals who understand workflows. Large organizations tend to have better governance practices than smaller ones. NIST and ISO frameworks provide valuable guidelines for AI governance. Continuous training and awareness are crucial for effective AI governance. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI Governance 02:16 The Importance of AI Governance in Customer Experience 05:34 Challenges of AI Governance in Organizations 07:47 Success Stories in AI Governance Implementation 09:55 Ethics in AI Governance 13:31 Misconceptions About AI Implementation 16:57 Balancing Automation with Human Touch 21:35 Future Skills for AI Governance Professionals 23:13 Ecosystem of AI Governance Technologies 25:21 Advice for Aspiring AI Governance Experts The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth. Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

Many organisations are experimenting with AI and AI agents. But far fewer are seeing real, measurable impact. The challenge isn't ambition, it's readiness. As we explored in the first episode of this series, the challenge for most businesses isn't ambition - it's having the right foundations in place.In part two of our series on AI in the workplace, journalist and author Kamal Ahmed is back and joined by Ben Kus, Chief Technology Officer at Box, to examine what it truly means to become AI-ready. Moving beyond hype and headlines, this conversation focuses on the practical requirements organisations must address adopt AI safely, effectively, and at scale.Ben outlines five essential steps every organisation should take to prepare for agentic AI. Together, they unpack why the strongest strategies are built on solid data foundations, clear governance, and purposeful experimentation - and why these are crucial to deliver ROI.Now knowing what AI can do for the modern workplace, this conversation will give leaders a clear roadmap from experimentation to lasting impact with agentic AI.This episode is brought to you in partnership with BoxGet the latest AI news here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of "The Free Lawyer," host Gary welcomes Jen Gillman, founder of Gillman Strategic Group, to discuss the disconnect many lawyers feel between external success and personal fulfillment. Jen shares her journey from practicing attorney to legal recruiter focused on helping rainmakers find the right firm fit. She introduces her “Six Pillars to Becoming a Happy Rainmaker” framework, emphasizing self-care, boundaries, and legacy. The conversation explores practical strategies for lawyers to achieve both professional success and personal happiness, highlighting the importance of intentional career choices, coaching, and redefining success on one's own terms.Jen Gillman is the founder of Gillman Strategic Group, where she helps rainmakers find their exact right, perfect-fit firm and law firm owners navigate strategic mergers. As a former practicing attorney herself, Jen understands that professional success doesn't always equal fulfillment—and she's on a mission to change that.After earning her J.D. from NYU School of Law and B.A. from Brandeis University, Jen practiced law for 12 years before transitioning to legal recruiting.Unlike traditional recruiters who find lawyers for firms, Jen finds firms for lawyers. She helps partners identify what they truly need to be fulfilled, whether that's better resources, growth opportunities, or work-life balance, and then matches them with firms where they can thrive.Jen is the creator of the “6 Pillars to Be(coming) a Happy Rainmaker” framework and author of the forthcoming The Happy Rainmaker: A Little Tale About a Lawyer Who Found Success and Happiness Too. She shows up for her clients as part agent, part therapist, and part cheerleader, because successful lawyers deserve to be happy too. Learn more at happyrainmakers.com.You can purchase The Happy Rainmaker here: https://amzn.to/3Nfkne3Jen's Career Transition Story (00:03:32) The Candidate-Focused Recruiting Model (00:05:33)Holistic Support for Lawyers (00:07:01) Difference from Traditional Recruiting (00:09:23) Honesty and Advising Against Moving (00:10:58) Why Successful Lawyers Feel Unfulfilled (00:13:02) Six Pillars to Becoming a Happy Rainmaker (00:16:08) Deep Dive: Defining Boundaries (00:21:12) Deep Dive: Designing a Legacy (00:24:31) The Future of Legal Practice (00:27:21) The Value of Coaching and Outside Guidance (00:29:08) Where to Find the Six Pillars & The Happy Rainmaker Book (00:30:28) About The Happy Rainmaker Book (00:30:45) Implementing the Six Pillars at Any Career Stage (00:32:22) First Steps for Unfulfilled Lawyers (00:34:00) Final Advice: Small Steps MatterTake The Free Lawyer Assessment (10 minutes, completely free):https://www.garymiles.net/the-free-lawyer-assessmentWhat you'll get immediately:✓ Your Professional Freedom Score (out of 300 points)✓ Breakdown across Internal Authority, Sustainable Excellence, and Authentic Practice✓ Personalized action plan in your inbox✓ Specific steps you can take this weekWould you like to learn what it looks like to become a truly Free Lawyer? You can schedule a complimentary call here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-callWould you like to learn more about Breaking Free or order your copy? https://www.garymiles.net/break-free

We are witnessing the creation of the "obnoxious victim". When a parent rewards a tantrum just to "avoid a scene," they aren't fixing the problem, they are teaching a lesson in manipulation. The child learns that the goal isn't to get what he wants directly, but to provoke a reaction from the person holding him accountable....The child is the Left in Minneapolis.SPONSOR: Lear CapitalThe best way to invest in gold and silver is with Lear Capital. Get your FREE Gold and Silver investor guides from Lear Capital. And, receive FREE bonus metals with a qualified purchase.Call them today at 800-707-4575 or go to: Nick4Lear.com-----SPONSOR: Young America's FoundationJoin me in Nashville on February 6th for the Freedom at 250 Rally and our first ever MTA meet-up. This rally is part of YAF's nationwide Freedom at 250 tour commemorating America's 250th birthday, inspiring the next generation with the principles of freedom, and preparing young Americans to lead in media, culture, law, government, and beyond.Use the discount code NICK for 50% off your registration: YAF250.com-----Well, it's almost Valentine's Day. You know what that means...coffee mugs with innuendos for your spouse.Order by February 1st to get yours in time for Valentine's Day: https://shop.nickjfreitas.com/s/Valentines2025-----GET YOUR MERCH HERE: https://shop.nickjfreitas.com/BECOME A MEMBER OF THE IC: https://NickJFreitas.comInstagram: www.instagram.com/nickjfreitas/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickFreitasVATwitter: https://twitter.com/NickJFreitasYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NickjfreitasTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nickfreitas3.000:01:51 How Green Beret training prepared Nick for the world of politics.00:04:13 Understanding asymmetric warfare and calculated tactics used in modern protests.00:09:08 Why rewarding a child's temper tantrum creates dangerous future behavioral patterns.00:15:45 How activists use escalation and perceived victimhood to manipulate public opinion.00:20:20 Exploring national divorce and why one side must provide consistent discipline.00:24:31 Implementing a unified front of tenderness and discipline to restore order.00:27:12 Confronting the messy reality of dealing with violent and petulant insurrectionists.00:31:41 Why we must prioritize rational thinking and discipline to save our country.

"Almost everybody will overestimate how much they can grow in one year. At the same time, they underestimate how much they can grow in five." In this episode, Heather talks with Jay Papasan about why doing more isn't the answer, how relentless productivity can actually work against you, and what happens when you commit to the one thing that truly matters. This is a conversation about focus as a skill, boredom as a feature of mastery, and the quiet, intentional choices that make everything else easier (or unnecessary). If you're tired of spinning your wheels and ready to aim strategically instead of swinging harder, this episode will reframe how you approach your goals, your time, and yourself. What to listen for: ✨ What "the one thing" is, and how it applies to life roles and responsibilities ✨ How addiction to productivity is harming us and how to choose aligned priorities ✨ Training your brain to narrow its focus so that you make the most of your actions "You get to pick where you're aiming the tool. You ask the question, 'What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?'" ✨ Why doing tasks earlier in the day helps bypass resistance and distraction ✨ Implementing the essential practice of "goals before phones" to stay on track ✨ Working with the human element when accountability doesn't work "What would your world look like if every day, before you look at your phone, you had to look at your goals? When people are reminded of their priorities, they're more likely to keep them." ✨ What happens on the other side of being strategically focused and intentional ✨ How to make peace with the boredom of success that's required for mastery ✨ Getting honest about how suffering and self-sabotage are serving you (or not) About Jay Papasan: Jay Papasan [Pap-uh-zan] is a bestselling author who has served in multiple executive leadership positions during his 24-year career at Keller Williams Realty International, the world's largest real estate company. During his time with KW, Jay has led the company's education, publishing, research, and strategic content departments.  Jay is also CEO of The ONE Thing training company Produktive, host of The ONE Thing podcast, and co-owner, alongside his wife Wendy, of Papasan Properties Group with Keller Williams Realty in Austin, Texas. He is also the co-host of the Think Like a CEO podcast with Keller Williams co-founder, Gary Keller.  In 2003, Jay co-authored The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, a million-copy bestseller, alongside Gary Keller and Dave Jenks. His other bestselling real estate titles include The Millionaire Real Estate Investor and SHIFT. In September 2025, Jay will celebrate the launch of his first solo title, Rookie Real Estate Agent.  Jay's most recent work with Gary Keller on The ONE Thing has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide and garnered more than 500 appearances on national bestseller lists, including #1 on The Wall Street Journal's hardcover business list, and has been translated into 40+ different languages.  Every Friday, Jay shares concise, actionable insights for growing your business, optimizing your time, and expanding your mindset in his newsletter, The TwentyPercenter. Connect with Jay: Website: https://jaypapasan.com Facebook and Instagram: @jaypapasan The ONE Thing book: https://the1thing.com *** For those of you who are ready to stop feeling drained, overextended, and out of alignment… join me for a one-on-one Time & Energy Audit, a focused session designed to help high-achieving women uncover what's draining them, clarify what truly matters, and create a simple plan that fits their life. We'll pinpoint your biggest time + energy leaks, identify the top areas to focus on for quick momentum, and map out exactly what to let go of so you can reclaim your energy, your time, and your joy. Ready to make your time work for you without adding more to your plate? Book a Time & Energy Audit: https://heatherchauvin.com/audit Apply for the next Coaching Cohort: https://heatherchauvin.com/apply Not ready for 1:1? Join the membership (cancel anytime): https://heatherchauvin.com/membership

In this episode, George is joined by Luke Bonner, a former Division I and professional basketball player, about his journey in basketball and his current work in youth sports. They discuss the importance of early specialization, the integration of technology in coaching, the challenges of the college basketball system, and the significance of enjoyment in youth sports. Luke shares insights on load management, the constraint-led approach to coaching, and innovative drills to enhance skill development. Chapters:00:00 – Introduction to Luke Bonner and His Basketball Journey02:30 – When Elite Players “Know” They're Good04:30 – Early Specialization vs. Multi-Sport Development06:45 – Learning from Soccer: Data, Movement, and Engagement08:45 – Constraints-Led Games to Keep Kids Engaged11:00 – Rethinking the College Basketball Grind13:15 – Load Management, Locking the Gym, and Long-Term Planning15:30 – Coaching Young Players with CLA Principles18:00 – Gamifying Basketball to Teach Teamwork and Skills22:00 – “Less Is More” in Player Development27:00 – Transformative Tip Level up your coaching with our Amazon Best Selling Book: https://amzn.to/3vO1Tc7Access tons more of evidence-based coaching resources: https://transformingbball.com/products/ Links:Website: http://transformingbball.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/transformbballInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/transformingbasketball/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transformingbasketballFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/transformingbasketball/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@transforming.basketball

Baseball America national college reporter Jacob Rudner is joined by Coastal Carolina director of analytics Matt Pepin to discuss the state of exit velocities in college baseball and whether or not it's time for the NCAA to look into the ball it uses. Rudner and Pepin also break down Coastal Carolina ace and top college pitching prospect Cameron Flukey from a data standpoint.(1:56) Welcoming in Matt Pepin(3:50) Digging deeper on college exit velocities(7:09) Are some players hitting the ball harder than they should?(9:35) Breaking EVs down by percentages(11:23) Changing the ball(17:17) What makes Cameron Flukey great?(19:13) Taking a closer look at Flukey's fastball(20:49) Flukey's curveball improvement(21:23) Targeted areas of growth over the offseason(22:28) Implementing data into development at Coastal(25:22) What people miss when studying Flukey(26:00) Flukey's slider and changeup(28:35) Coastal draft sleepers(30:38) Team USA alums to watch(31:42) Final thoughtsOur Sponsors:* Check out Aura.com: https://aura.com/remove* Check out Progressive: https://www.progressive.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/baseball-america/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams sit down with Kelley Koliopulos for a conversation every dealer should be paying attention to, especially if your sales and service departments feel busy… but the results don't match the effort. "The blind spot that dealers have is that they're still making money… but there's going to be a ceiling there." – Kelley Koliopulos This isn't another "business as usual" discussion. It's a candid look at what's quietly changing inside dealerships right now, and why the stores that adapt will pull further ahead while others fall behind. From fixed operations to BDC structure, the conversation challenges long-held assumptions about how dealerships operate, staff, and retain customers. "Anybody could have a great idea. But what dealers want and need in 2026 and beyond is some continuity." – Sean V. Bradley They explore why retention is becoming the real battleground in automotive, what happens when the right people aren't in the right seats, and how technology like AI can either be a powerful advantage, or a costly distraction, depending on how it's implemented. "AI can't fix or answer every question, so you still need that human element." – Kelley Koliopulos If you've noticed service traffic slipping, customer loyalty weakening, or your BDC struggling to gain traction, this episode will hit close to home. It doesn't just point out the problems dealers are facing… it forces a hard look at why they're happening! This one makes you rethink how your dealership is actually run.   If you're attending NADA 2026, be sure to stop by the Dealer Synergy Booth [#3315W] for Prizes from us and to enter CallSource's Bourbon Dealer Giveaway at: https://callsourceauto.com/giveaways/   Key Takeaways: ✅ People-Centric Solutions: The current dealership climate requires a strong focus on recruiting and retaining quality staff, while also providing them with the tools and training necessary to excel. ✅ Innovative Fixed Operations: Fixed operations now require more strategic approaches in communication and engagement with customers to enhance retention and service conversion rates. ✅ BDC Strategic Integration: Properly setting up and managing a BDC is pivotal for handling leads effectively, driving more traffic to dealerships, and improving overall sales performance. ✅ Leveraging AI and Technology: While AI can improve efficiencies, it cannot yet fully replace human involvement in complex problem-solving scenarios, especially in service departments. ✅ Focus on Customer Retention: Using data-driven methodologies to retain customers through consistent follow-up is crucial, particularly as competition from independent service centers intensifies. About Kelley Koliopulos Kelley Koliopulos is a seasoned automotive industry expert, currently working with Call Source, where she primarily focuses on analytics and improving dealerships' fixed operations. Kelley's impressive career spans roles from F&I to dealership marketing with AMSI, and her vendor-side experience includes positions at Call Source and Call Revu. Her expertise centers around using data to refine processes and enhance efficiencies within the automotive sector.     Unlocking Efficiency: Overcoming Dealership Challenges with BDC Solutions Key Takeaways: High-level dealership operations can benefit significantly from a well-designed Business Development Center (BDC) strategy, optimizing both sales and fixed operations. A combined approach utilizing human resources and AI in service departments can enhance customer retention and satisfaction significantly. Outsourcing BDC services can be a more cost-effective, strategic, and results-oriented decision, delivering superior outcomes compared to traditional in-house setups. Navigating Dealership Dynamics: The Power of a BDC The automotive industry is a space brimming with potential, yet awash in complexity. This is especially evident when examining the intricate operations within a dealership. As Kelley Koliopulos and Sean V. Bradley discuss in their engaging conversation, pulling the right levers - particularly in terms of business development - can make all the difference. As highlighted, a dealership's success lies not just in selling cars but in crafting a seamless, customer-centric experience that persists long after the sale. "For every OEM dealership, there's 12 independents right in their back door," Kelley states, emphasizing the fierce competition that demands dealerships maintain exceptional service levels. The conversation initiates by exploring the fundamental issues within sales and fixed operations, where optimizing human resources and understanding the potency of a BDC play crucial roles. Sean underscores the critical role of a precise BDC framework: "If you are not a BDC architect with real BDC experience, this is not going to be easy." He highlights that the apparent complexity of creating a BDC can be simplified if one has the foresight to leverage external expertise effectively. It's all about recognizing which elements facilitate the operational efficiency and concentrating on those. Enhancing Customer Retention through Strategic Service BDC Implementation Among the many challenges dealerships face, customer retention remains a top concern, especially when analyzing fixed operations. Kelley artfully points out that maintaining service customers is pivotal for long-term success. Despite dealerships increasing their revenue by raising labor rates, she warns, "There's going to be a ceiling there," suggesting dealerships can't rely solely on price hikes for sustained growth. The conversation touches on significant research revelations: client retention decreased from 41% in 2018 to a mere 29% in 2025. This stark statistic signals the pressing need for dealerships to reassess their service strategies. Implementing a robust Service BDC could potentially reverse this trend. By restructuring service departments to better handle inbound and outbound calls efficiently, dealerships can drive transactional growth and enhance customer loyalty. Highlighting the collaborative potential of AI and human effort, Kelley asserts, "AI can't fix or answer every question. You still need that human element." Therefore, an outsourced BDC like Call Source becomes valuable, where the marriage of technology and human interaction meets customer needs, bolstering satisfaction and ensuring service longevity. The Economic Advantage of Outsourcing Your BDC Dealers frequently grapple with whether to manage BDC operations in-house or to look outward for solutions. Sean and Kelley underscore a prevalent misconception: many feel the latter is more costly. Conversely, with a closer look, outsourcing often emerges as the more economical and effective solution. "I think the perception is that it's cheaper to bring it in-house," Kelley notes, but as Sean aptly counters, when factoring in all associated costs, investing in an external BDC can unburden dealerships, reduce costs, and ultimately increase sales. Outsourcing offers none of the egocentric challenges of internal management and training, providing instead immediate expertise and scalability. "Not only do we have the agents that are making all the dials… but once they got a live person, they have a strong road to the appointment process," Sean adds, emphasizing the dynamic advantage offered by Dealer Synergy's proven model. This approach ensures leads are converted efficiently, and potential sales pitfalls due to insufficient follow-up or lack of expertise are circumvented entirely. Embracing a Virtuous Cycle of Learning and Growth The enlightening exchange between Sean V. Bradley and Kelley Koliopulos underscores the essence of thriving in today's competitive dealership landscape: seek clarity, apply strategic foresight, and choose partnerships that propel efficiency. As dealerships navigate an era characterized by digital transformation and shifting consumer expectations, aligning operations with services like those offered by Dealer Synergy and Call Source could serve as a definitive competitive edge. Ultimately, it is the prudent application of an expert-built BDC that enables dealerships to thrive — cultivating not just profitable enterprises, but vibrant, enduring legacies. By focusing on strategic partnerships and adopting a robust BDC framework, dealerships can unlock greater efficiency, higher sales, and improved customer satisfaction — key pillars paving the way for enduring success in the automotive industry.     Resources + Our Proud Sponsors:   ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Automotive Sales Mastermind Facebook Group with over 29,000 automotive professionals worldwide. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group is the go-to community for car salespeople, BDC agents, sales managers, general managers, and dealer principals looking to increase performance, income, and leadership skills. Inside the group, members collaborate daily on automotive sales strategies, lead handling, phone scripts, closing techniques, CRM best practices, dealership leadership, and accountability systems. Learn directly from top automotive trainers, industry mentors, and high-performing sales leaders who are actively winning in today's market. If you're serious about growing your automotive career, increasing car sales, and building long-term success, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! ➼ Dealer Synergy: Dealer Synergy is the automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm, with over 20 years of proven dealership success nationwide. We specialize in helping car dealerships increase sales, improve processes, and build high-performing Sales, Internet, and BDC departments from the ground up. Our expertise includes automotive phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, lead handling strategies, BDC workflows, Internet sales processes, management training, and accountability systems. Dealer Synergy partners directly with dealership leadership to align people, process, and technology, ensuring consistent results and scalable growth. From independent dealers to large dealer groups and OEM partnerships, Dealer Synergy delivers measurable performance improvements, stronger teams, and sustainable profitability. ➼ Bradley On Demand: Bradley On Demand is the automotive industry's most advanced interactive training, tracking, testing, and certification platform for car dealerships — built to develop top-performing teams across Sales, Internet Sales, BDC, CRM, Phone Skills, Leadership, and Management. In addition to LIVE virtual automotive training classes and a library of 9,000+ on-demand dealership training modules, Bradley On Demand now includes AI Phone Roleplaying and Coaching to help salespeople and BDC agents practice real dealership conversations before they ever get on the phone with customers. This AI-powered roleplay technology strengthens phone scripts, objection handling, appointment setting, lead follow-up, and closing skills, while providing measurable coaching feedback for continuous improvement. Bradley On Demand empowers dealerships to train faster, coach smarter, improve call performance, increase closing ratios, and sell more cars more profitably — all through structured, trackable, modern automotive training.  

Aubrey Masango host Andisa Ramavhunga, Group Chief Advisor at Ntiyiso Consulting to explore the frameworks, the mindsets, and the tools that turn strategy into reality. Tags: 702, Aubrey Masango show, Aubrey Masango, Bra Aubrey, Andisa Ramavhunga, Strategy implementation The Aubrey Masango Show is presented by late night radio broadcaster Aubrey Masango. Aubrey hosts in-depth interviews on controversial political issues and chats to experts offering life advice and guidance in areas of psychology, personal finance and more. All Aubrey’s interviews are podcasted for you to catch-up and listen. Thank you for listening to this podcast from The Aubrey Masango Show. Listen live on weekdays between 20:00 and 24:00 (SA Time) to The Aubrey Masango Show broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk between 20:00 and 21:00 (SA Time) https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk Find out more about the show here https://buff.ly/lzyKCv0 and get all the catch-up podcasts https://buff.ly/rT6znsn Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfet Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keywordsanimal chiropractic, business growth, pricing strategy, ideal customer, self-care, veterinary collaboration, practice management, supply and demand, compassion fatigue, professional developmentSummaryIn this podcast, Dr. Kaitlyn Lackey reflects on the significant lessons learned during 2025 as an animal chiropractor. She discusses the challenges of scaling her practice, the importance of setting appropriate pricing, understanding supply and demand, identifying her ideal customer, and the necessity of self-care and community support for practitioners. Through her experiences, she aims to provide insights that can help others in the field avoid common pitfalls and enhance their practices.TakeawaysBeing a business owner is challenging and requires continuous learning.Setting your prices based on your worth is crucial.Avoid competing on price; it leads to burnout.Understanding supply and demand is essential for practice growth.Identifying your ideal customer helps tailor your services.Self-care is vital; no one else will prioritize it for you.Community support is important for mental health in practice.Niche down to attract the right clients.Your practice should reflect your values and interests.Implementing learned lessons can save you from future headaches.

In this episode, Hannah discusses the themes of grit and motivation, emphasizing the importance of consistency in pursuing goals. She shares personal experiences and practical strategies for overcoming challenges and regaining motivation after setbacks. Key techniques include acknowledging feelings, practicing gratitude, engaging in movement, and utilizing breath for emotional regulation. Hannah encourages listeners to implement these simple yet effective strategies to foster resilience and maintain motivation in their lives.takeawaysConsistency is key to achieving goals and dreams.Acknowledging feelings is essential before moving forward.Gratitude can transform your perspective and motivation.Movement, even in small ways, can boost your mood.Breathwork helps in regulating emotions and responses.Simple strategies can lead to significant changes in motivation.Building healthy habits is crucial for resilience.Recognizing the privilege of being alive fosters gratitude.Feeling down is normal; it's how you respond that matters.Implementing these techniques can lead to a more motivated state.

Trees are a major cause of power outages. They're also a wildfire risk—when branches hit a conductor, a small spark can become a big blaze. Lynn Petesch of Overstory joins thinkenergy to talk trees, exploring how AI, satellite imagery, and vegetation intelligence help utilities prevent outages and reduce wildfire threats. Including Hydro Ottawa, who saw a 44% drop in tree-related outages since partnering with Overstory. Listen in for how we work together to keep the grid safe in an era of extreme weather.   Related links  Overstory: https://www.overstory.com/ Lynn Petesch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnpetesch/  Trevor Freeman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-freeman-p-eng-8b612114  Hydro Ottawa: https://hydroottawa.com/en    To subscribe using Apple Podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinkenergy/id1465129405   To subscribe using Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7wFz7rdR8Gq3f2WOafjxpl   To subscribe on Libsyn: http://thinkenergy.libsyn.com/ --- Subscribe so you don't miss a video: https://www.youtube.com/user/hydroottawalimited Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydroottawa Stay in the know on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HydroOttawa Keep up with the posts on X: https://twitter.com/thinkenergypod ----- Transcript: Welcome to thinkenergy, a podcast that dives into the fast, changing world of energy through conversations with industry leaders, innovators and people on the front lines of the energy transition. Join me, Trevor Freeman, as I explore the traditional, unconventional and up and coming facets of the energy industry. If you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas for topics we should cover, please reach out to us at thinkenergy@hydroottawa.com, Hi everyone. Welcome back. Today on thinkenergy, we're going to be talking about trees. Yes, you heard that correctly. Trees. I know this is a show about energy, but there's actually a very real connection between our electricity grid and those slow growing, majestic givers of shade, lumber, fruit and so many more benefits. Honestly, who doesn't love trees? But I'm not just kicking this episode off in my capacity as a tree hugger. Let's take a look at this through a utility lens, and I will use Hydro Ottawa as an example. Hydro Ottawa service territory includes some very rural and very forested areas. Even our urban territory has a fairly extensive tree canopy. As a result, Hydro Ottawa trims about 60,000 trees each year. Why? Because trees contracting power infrastructure is a big problem. Tree interference remains a leading cause of power outages for us. Strong winds force them onto our wires. Heavy snow or freezing rain builds up and weighs down branches, breaks limbs, and increases the risk that part of a tree may touch a line, and in some extreme cases, heavy storms can even send trees or branches crashing into our poles, damaging the poles. The struggle between power lines and trees, which, again, don't get me wrong, we all love trees, has been going on for years. There is a constant struggle between trimming enough and getting the right trees trimmed and maintaining as much tree coverage as we can. In 2022 we identified a disruptor in this dance, the solution came through a partnership with Overstory, a company that uses satellite imagery, infrared technology and artificial intelligence to help utilities manage vegetation and trim trees more efficiently. And the timing could not have been better. Just days after we started working with Overstory in the spring of 2022 the derecho hit Ottawa. Our Ottawa based listeners will remember this storm well. It was monumental in the history of our city, and indeed for us as utility, winds reached 190 kilometers an hour. For our non-metric listeners, that's nearly 120 miles per hour. The storm ripped through poles houses and cause considerable damage to our city's urban forests. Overstory played a crucial role during the cleanup and in helping us level up our vegetation management strategies moving forward, we realized that the insights we got from Overstory would help improve our proactive approach to tree encroachment and hazard identification, and this is essential in this era of extreme weather events. We know that climate change is causing more frequent and more extreme weather events. According to Climate Central, the number of weather related power outages in the United States increased by 78% between 2011 and 2021 and severe weather accounted for over 1000 outages across Nova Scotia just in the year of 2024 we want to keep you connected during these heavy storms, and that's why we're looking to organizations like Overstory. So what does Overstory do to help us keep the lights on? Well, without giving away too much, because we're going to get into the details shortly, Overstory through a detailed analysis of the scans they do of our entire grid, identifies high risk areas, which we can then prioritize and better focus our resources when it comes to vegetation management, this level of monitoring and focus reduces the risk of trees from coming into contact with our poles and disrupting Your connection to the grid, the results speak for themselves. Since partnering with Overstory, we've reduced vegetation related outages by 44% and that's only part of the story, as we'll discuss further, Overstory also plays a crucial role in helping utilities prevent wildfires in high risk areas across North America, similar to extreme weather, wildfire frequency and intensity is also increasing, in part due to climate change expanding cities and many other factors. And when wildfires do happen, these stories are heartbreaking. What many people don't realize is that lots of wildfires are sparked by trees making contact with power lines, and that is why Overstory plays a key role in tagging areas where those fires are most likely to ignite and spread, making it easier for utilities to prioritize trimming work and vegetation management in those areas. To dive more into how Overstory is helping us here at Hydro Ottawa and. And other utilities helping us identify and act to mitigate risk associated with vegetation. I'm really excited to have Lynn Petesch on the show today. Lynn is Overstory's, Head of Customer Success, and has spent the past 10 years building customer facing teams with a specific focus on technologies that tackle the climate crisis. She began her career working for the United Nations and the diplomatic service of her home country, Luxembourg, before moving into the tech sector to really work in environments where she could drive impact more quickly and at greater scale. Lynn Petesch, welcome to the show.   Lynn Petesch  05:34 Thank you. Thanks for having me.   Trevor Freeman  05:36 Okay, so let's start at the very top with a high level look at what Overstory does and how the organization came to be.   Lynn Petesch  05:45 Yeah, let me tell you about Overstory. I mean, we are a vegetation intelligence platform. We use remote sensing and AI to give electric utilities, including Hydro Ottawa and others, a clear, system wide view of their risk. They always do it because they want to address three things, or sometimes more, but kind of, there's always a few goal posts, and it's either improving reliability, reducing wildfire risk, if that is if they're in an area where there is a concern, and or improving operational efficiencies. So Overstory very much becomes a decision-making tool for their programs were used mostly by the vegetation management people, operations people, wildfire mitigation teams, and they each time they want to either use a program that exists, prioritize it, reshape their work. They might be preparing for storm. They might be working on a wildfire mitigation risk so the company, more broadly, was founded in 2018 by Anniek Schouten and Indra den Bakker. This was back in the Netherlands, and they were leveraging, or getting really interested in satellite imagery, and were very initially using it for deforestation purposes. So, the climate resilience DNA has always been with us. But like any startup, we were looking at that kind of target audience that was most interested in what we had to offer. And pretty quickly, we landed on the electric utilities. They had the most pressing need to use remote sensing at scale to solve very big problems, honestly. And so we pivoted into that space of electric utilities, and then in 2020 Fiona Spruill, who's our CEO right now, she joined us. She shaped the company into what it is today, and that is really around building safer and more reliable operations.   Trevor Freeman  07:33 That's great, and I want to dive into some of the details. Our listeners will know that we talk a lot about grid modernization here and talk a lot about better intelligence of what's happening on the grid in all aspects, and something we haven't really talked about, and I'm excited to talk to you about today is the sort of vegetation management side of it. So really excited to get into the details. But before we do that, I'm always really curious to understand, you know, the people behind the conversations. How did you get into this area of, you know, high tech vegetation management? I touched a little bit on your bio in the intro, but give us a sense of, you know, how did Lynn come to be in the space that you're in right now?   Lynn Petesch  08:12 Yeah, I wouldn't say I grew up thinking I was going to work in this space, but I love working in it now. So actually, right out of college, I went to work for the United Nations, but then in the last 15 years, I started working at high growth tech companies, startups, and I've always been focused on leading and building CS operations, which is basically the customer success teams. They're the ones that are in front of the customers, implementing these software programs, kind of working very closely with customer solving problems. And about four years ago, I decided that I did want to focus the rest of my career on solving the climate crisis more broadly. And I remember very clearly that I came across Overstory. And there was two things that really resonated with me. One was hearing that utility caused wildfires could be as thing of the past, like they are preventable. And the other thing was learning about this world where vegetation is the biggest cause of outages, which is, you know, I did not know before. And so I think, you know, having these very clear goals is very compelling to kind of work on something where it's so easy to understand what the big problems are. So I joined Overstory, and for the last couple of years, I've been building a team that gets really deeply embedded in these utilities, specifically with the vegetation management and the WiFi mitigation teams. And we work on their programs. We understand their programs, we help them reshape their programs. We roll out, obviously, the software element that is Overstory. It's been very fun and rewarding work   Trevor Freeman  09:40 That's great. And I really love, you know, talking to people from a variety of areas that they touch on climate change and the climate crisis. And I think there's a bunch of us who share that passion of wanting to do something. I spoke with a group of you know, recent grads about what is a green. In career. What is it? What does a career in climate change look like? And really it looks like whatever you want it to look like. There are so many aspects that touch on this. So kind of neat to hear how that was your passion, and then you figured out where it made sense for you to enter into the climate sphere. So that's great.   Lynn Petesch  10:15 Yeah, I guess when I was young, I thought you had to be a scientist to work on time, yeah. And I think now anyone can find an angle on how to contribute to it. And I think it needs everyone to help contribute.   Trevor Freeman  10:24 Yeah, any job can be a green job if you care about it and if you make it that okay. So let's get back to Overstory. Tell us a little bit about the evolution of the company. You talked about it kind of founding about seven years ago. Tell us how it's evolved and progressed over those seven years.   Lynn Petesch  10:41 Yeah, so when we started working with utilities, I think at that point, everyone was kind of assessing whether satellites could be kind of good use case for analyzing vegetation. We're now talking about 30 centimeter imagery. So the resolution of satellites has become incredible. You can really see branches. You can detect species of trees. You can see if they're healthy or not. So initially, that was kind of our m-o we really were the leading provider to find out, where are the trees, how close are they, in terms of proximity to your network, so to the conductor, which is the risk. You know, we're looking at the terrain. If you're looking in the mountains and in Colorado, you have very different terrain than maybe in Ottawa. So detecting tree species has been really interesting, detecting the health of trees, how that decline is furthering. A lot of utilities are experiencing a lot of tree decline die off right now. So that was how we started. And then we started working with the really big utilities. And you had to think about this problem at scale. Now, we might be scanning with satellites, hundreds, 10s of 1000s of miles at a time, and some of these utilities, they might have 1000s, if not 10s of 1000s, of trees that could pose a risk to their network. They might have had a really big, large weather event, a storm that knocked over some of their system. So at that point, it all becomes about that decisioning tool. Everything starts becoming a prioritization, and I think that's now where we're really leaning into is making not just surfacing the data, but making it very actionable. Utilities have a lot to deal with. They deal with very tight budgets, they deal with crew constraints. They might have an aging workforce, their regulatory pressure, they're really vulnerable to storms. Increasingly, there's a lot of wildfire exposure. So everything becomes a decision of, where should I focus my intention? Where can I get the biggest bang for my buck? What should I do? What should I not focus on? And that decisioning is where we really want to be a key player in.   Trevor Freeman  12:44 Absolutely. And looking forward, I know I'm kind of we're jumping the gun here. We haven't gotten into the details of what you do. But looking forward, what is your vision for, kind of the future of this space and how it's going to continue to evolve? Are you mature as a company yet, or as a sector, or is it still a lot of growth to happen?   Lynn Petesch  13:01 Yeah, I think vast majority utilities are now leveraging remote sensing. It could be lighter, it could be drones, it could be satellites. So that has become a pretty established tooling within the sector. I think what our vision really is, is providing utilities that shared resilience, first picture of risk. So you know, we imagine a world where you can, kind of like, see the emerging risks, and you can start becoming proactive. Being proactive in the space of vegetation management has been really challenging. You never know where the next tree is going to fall. And over the last couple of years, customers suddenly have access to this risk across their territory so that they can start being proactive about it. As a matter of fact, that was a key use case, also with the team at Hydro Ottawa, is to start launching these proactive programs. And I think when we think about it, we get very excited about the world in which anyone from the field crews to the vegetation managers to the operation folks to the execs, to the regulators, the community partners who think about the safety of their communities, the regulators all have that kind of shared view of risk. Just imagine, they all understand the same risk. They operate off the same sheet, and they make the same data driven decisions that could solve a lot of problems, because now the data is often scrambled across different people. Certain people have access to it and certain people don't.   Trevor Freeman  14:25 Great. Okay, so let's get into the specifics here. I want to actually talk about specifically what you what Overstory does. How do you find we've kind of talked about vegetation management, obviously, you're supportingHydro Ottawa and other utilities in our vegetation management programs. How do you find and tag high risk vegetation? What is high risk like? What do you actually do on a day to day basis?   Lynn Petesch  14:47 Yeah, that's the part that I deal with the most often. So excited to get into specifics. Implementing with Overstory is actually pretty easy. I mean, when we start working with a customer, we need to know where is your grid. So we need to understand where your power lines are. Planning. We need to understand the main configurations of them. How tall are the poles, etc, so we can really compute that whole focus of where the trees in relation to your power lines, to your conductors. That's all ultimately that we're focusing on. Increasingly, we're all seeing focusing on the ground. I'll be talking about that as well. We then task these satellites over your territory. We do that during the leaf on season, so that will be the summer, essentially. And then we run all these models. So we are first needing to understand, where are the trees, what is their height, what is their health? An unhealthy tree is much more likely to fall and cause damage to your power lines. We're looking at the fuels on the ground. We can help you determine what type of equipment you might need to attack certain types of vegetation. And we always compute it to that risk to the conductor. And we look at your right of ways. Now, I think the interesting part about your question is the what is high risk? And that is, can be very different across different utilities, and I think that's the maybe the unique part with Overstory is that we can configure it to your standards. So every utility has very unique components. If you're on the West Coast and you're concerned about wildfires, your tolerance to risk will be very different. And if you're on the East Coast, where you're mostly concerned about not causing too many outages, including that you might have specific trimming specifications. The crews running around with chainsaws, they know exactly how far out they need to trim, how much they can trim, and there's a bit of a risk tolerance thing. So we built very configurable risk frameworks for all of our utility partners, so high means one thing to hydro Ottawa means something different to a customer in California that is facing a very different type of risk.   Trevor Freeman  16:49 So you're out there assessing, essentially, just for the context of our listeners, you know, we've got power lines that run overhead. They run through residential neighborhoods, commercial areas, but also forested areas, treed areas where there's lots of vegetation near our equipment, your company really gets an understanding of the the interaction between the vegetation and our lines, and says, these ones are too close, or this is a tree that's, you know, not healthy, and could come in contact with your lines based on your analysis. So help us, like, let's paint that picture a little bit more detailed. How do utility companies take the information that you are coming up with, that your analysis is coming up with, and use that to run a vegetation management program more effectively? What does the utility do with that information?   Lynn Petesch  17:37 Yeah, so we always center it around four main use cases. One is optimizing a program that already exists. It's creating a targeted program for you. It's quantifying your work and risk reporting. And I'll dive into each and every one of them a little bit to illustrate a bit more what that could mean. So when we think about program optimization, a lot of utilities, they have existing vegetation management cycle. They might have a regulatory obligation to visit their territory every four years, for example. Now, a lot of times they've been doing their program the same way for the last 10 maybe 20 years, but the conditions in their territory are different, right? I mean, the things we're seeing, the storms are heavier. There's more tree decline that we're seeing right now. So they know they need to adapt and they need to adjust it. But it's big programs with lots of budgets attached to it, a lot of crews running around. So starting to think about how you can start pulling a socket that you're meant to trim forward, or starting to tackle an area where you say, is more residential, there's fewer trees, focusing on your high risk areas. First re managing these programs is one key component that we work with a lot of companies on. And thinking about Oklahoma, Gas and Electric, for example, that they have a budget, and they can only do that much with the budget, and it was really about reinventing where they can get the biggest impact. The other one, the second use case, is this targeted program creation, and I'll use the Hydro Ottawa use case for that. You know, they had suddenly a view about where are all of their hazard trees? Hazard trees are these trees that are declining, they're dying, or they're dead, and they could have an impact on your system. Now, suddenly you know where they are, so you can start building a targeted program about dedicating some time and budget and crews to actually going and addressing those trees that has a big impact on your reliability and on reducing tree cost outages. And there's many others, sort of like hotspotting, is a very common term about starting to become proactive and doing something for a specific program. And the third one is work quantification. And I think there, when you think about it again, there's large contractors that are running around, managing your territory. And now we utilities, for the first time, often have that data to actually assess how much work there is. So that's really helpful in terms of negotiating your contracts, getting better bids. Some utilities say it's really hard to find contractors that want to work on their system, because it's very hard to estimate how much work there is, or they might have a budget to mow certain vegetation along a transmission corridor. Just knowing how much vegetation there is is a really helpful tool to address it and prioritize it in the right way. And then the fourth use case is the risk reporting, and that is about getting that baseline view about your risk and tracking it year over year. And this is really where we want utilities to have that data to report it out to their boards, insurers, regulators, and often it's used to defend your budgets, secure your budgets, or really have some data to kind of back you up on what the problems are that you're facing.   Trevor Freeman  21:05 Great. So you talk about data, and you know, each of those use cases that you mentioned, or strategies that you mentioned really are about getting the right information in the hands of the right people to make decisions and sort of more efficiently and effectively make decisions, but it's a lot of data. And so Hydro Ottawa has over 6000 kilometers of lines. You know, this, of course, as our partner, we have a big territory, and we have a fairly treed territory. That's a lot of data points. You're collecting a lot of data from your satellites. You're doing analysis on that. How are you doing that analysis? Is it, you know, AI is kind of a buzzword, and every sector right now, and the utility sector is no different. Are you using some form of AI or machine learning analytics? What are you doing in terms of, you know, crunching the numbers and coming up with the right actions?   Lynn Petesch  21:59 Totally, yeah, AI is a buzzword, but it's also very exciting. I think utilities have really embraced it already. They're using it for demand forecasting. They're using it for customer service. They're using it for asset planning. I mean, at the core, Overstory has been using AI to turn remote sensing data into operationally useful intelligent about their vegetation. So when you say yes, Hydro Ottawa has that many 1000s of kilometers of overhead lines, we need to a rank it to them. This is your worst circuit. This is your worst area. This is the area where you have the most hazard trees, for example. So we can really rank order on a span level, from the worst to the best, right? So that could be one thing, it's still an overwhelming amount of data. So where we started by using AI to kind of predict that whereas the trees How tall are, they were and they were relation to the conductors. Now what we're really excited about, or kind of leaning into, with AI, is how to intelligently, kind of assess and prioritize risk. So not every hazard tree has the same impact. If a hazard tree falls on a line where more houses are dependent on you will knock out the power of more people. So it's always a prioritization exercise, and leveraging AI for that is what is most exciting to us right now. And I think it's important to note that we also don't just want it to be a black box. All of the models we've built, they're always validated by certified arborists and kind of our utility partners. And I think at this stage, this is very important, because every tree that we find exists in the real world, and so validating this, AI in the with ground truthing, has been really important for us to also build that trust in the technology.   Trevor Freeman  23:42 That's great. And I do think it's helpful for our listeners to kind of understand the context before this, this work is sort of done, you know, in the absence of a tool like yours, it's, it's sort of done. You know, there's a degree of manual effort here. There's a degree of patrolling the lines. There's a cycle of vegetation management. So if you've done a line this year in three years or four years or five years, you want to be looking at it again. This takes a little bit of that, I don't want to call it guesswork, but it takes a little bit of that manual effort out of the equation, and really focuses efforts in the right way. And it's only with the tools that you know you folks are using that you're able to do that volume of analysis and get that pinpoint accuracy. So that's fantastic. Let's, let's get into kind of the success of it at all, like the big picture. We've obviously talked a couple times here that you're our partner here at Hydro Ottawa, so I know that the success that we're having with you, but you know, tell us some of the great success stories with other utility partners. Are you, you know, are you actually reducing weather related outages? Are you seeing the impact of using the overstory tools and methodology to support utility partners?   Lynn Petesch  24:58 Yeah, I mean weather related outages can mean many things. You have trees knocking over, like the pole might crack, etc, you know, those there's a lot of things that can happen during a storm. And I've heard a lot of stories about side of some of the storms that Ottawa has experienced in the past years, where, you know, you could have had anything, and they're just heavier, and that the consequences are really strong, but what we can impact is the tree cost outages, right? And that we've proven with Hydro Ottawa, where, within a year, by focusing that targeted program on going to an area where you had a massive amounts of these trees that were dying off and they at any point, was just a little bit too heavy wind could be toppled over and fall on the line, we had a 44% reduction in tree cost outages. That's a real, tangible number. You can see, I'm thinking about utility as well. In the on the East Coast, a co op that runs through very rural areas. In those areas, you have a trees outside of the right of way that are toppling over on two lines. So tree cost outages are a huge issue for them, and it's really impacting their safety and safety those key, key KPIs that utilities are always tracking and by us just giving them a rank order of which has a tree they had so many of them, which has a tree to even go to first, because if that has a tree were to fall on a line, a ton more people are going to be out of power than if the other one were to fall the line, you will have, like one rural cabin that will not have power. And that led to a reduction of something around 90% of tree cause outages is to 70% it's still a long way to go, but it was a really tangible number that you can see, and it shows that if you then do that proactive work, you have real impact on your tree cost outages. And it's if I think about our customer in California, Pacific Gas and Electric, for example, it's a lot around helping them understand where they don't need to go. So it's kind of doing something of a visual inspection and actually skipping certain spans, that can be itself a really big use case. Because right now, if you don't have an understanding about where your risks are, you might be spending trucks to roll for hours around areas where there is not really any tangible work to be done. So redirecting them to the right areas is where we've seen a lot of success there, and that obviously leads to budget wins, right? You'll be saving a lot of money by doing that. And those are kind of the use cases that we chase and that we kind of help prove the cases on.   Trevor Freeman  27:29 Absolutely, yeah, there's, there's only so many resources you can you can throw at this, and making sure that we prioritize and focus those resources in the right spot is absolutely critical. You were just talking about the West Coast, and you mentioned this earlier. I know wildfires is is an area that is obviously of great interest for your organization. We're fortunate here at Hydro Ottawa, and that we haven't really had to deal with that much. But anybody who's you know following the news knows this is a major problem for us. So how, what is your role in helping those utilities prevent wildfires? Maybe give us, like, a very quick primer on why utilities are a factor when it comes to wildfires first, and then how your organization is supporting that.   Lynn Petesch  28:13 So unfortunately, utility cost wildfires tend to be the most catastrophic wildfires because they're critical infrastructure, and we've obviously seen that happen across the world, in in the US recently, again and again. But utility cost wildfires, as I said at the beginning, are also the actual wildfires that are preventable. So that's really where we're lying to lying into a lot of the forests right now. They've become Tinder boxes. That is obviously because of fire suppression policies? That's because of forest management techniques that have been leveraged in the last couple of 100 years that are slowly changing at different paces? Canada's had some, unfortunately, some really bad fire seasons recently as well. And so where overstory wanted to place itself as a net prevention space to even not add to the point where you have a spark, because there's a lot of tools out there that focus on mitigation and what is, what do you do when you see that first plume of smoke coming up? And so we've landed in kind of really focusing on the prevention side, so that utilities are hopefully in the future, not the ones that spark any of those catastrophic wildfires we've already always been looking at that the vegetation that could touch your conductor, right? That's I've been speaking about that a lot, but now we're really excited for the first time, and we recently announced that we launched a fuel detection model. So that's us looking at the ground fuel conditions, and those are actually usually the key contributors to the spark that spreads the fire. We're now providing that to utilities as a much higher resolution than ever before. For me, it's interesting because I've spent a lot of time looking at trees, and now I'm going into the field and I'm looking at the ground, and it's a new perspective. But yet again, we could just, you know, we don't want to overwhelm our customers. A lot of maps and showing the fuel conditions, necessarily, we can really help them identify those spans where a single failure would have the greatest consequence. So yet again, it's about how to make that data that, you know, there's a lot of wildfire risk map out there, but make it a very actionable list of spans that if they were to tackle those they are very proactively reducing the risk of igniting a fire. And as a result of the protecting their communities.   Trevor Freeman  30:29 Got you so it's not just about the overhead trees, branches, etc, contacting the line. It's, you know, if a switch goes, if an insulator pops, if, if something happens that will cause sparks. What's happening on the ground below that line, and how do we make sure it is able to withstand sparks? That might happen.   Lynn Petesch  30:49 Exactly if you have dry grasses, if you have sagebrush, if you have certain types of fuels, they're just much more likely to spark a fire and then spread, spread out without there even be any any trees you have these prairies along Texas that can blow up in a fire very quickly, and the fires can spread to tremendous sizes. And so understanding the fuels on the ground is really important.   Trevor Freeman  31:15 Super interesting and fascinating work to get involved in. As you mentioned, this is obviously an area of, I don't even know if I call it growing concern anymore, great concern for for the utility industry and all of us. Yeah. So with the technology that's, you know, we talked about AI a little bit ago, it's literally growing before our eyes. It's really evolving fast. Do you see your technology evolving along with it. What's what's kind of next for your organization? You talked about getting into sort of the ground vegetation management. What comes next? How do you see it evolving as AI and tools evolve?   Lynn Petesch  31:52 Yeah, I mean, if we see that the future is where we want to support a grid that is much safer and reliable, as I mentioned, we also want to make it sure it's resilient to the climate and the economic pressures that there are. So our initial focus and our continued focus, and where we have a lot of our expertise has been with vegetation. Now we're starting to look at the ground fuels, then that naturally evolves into looking at the asset vulnerabilities. So you know, the actual polls, and if there's any failures potentially on those as well as further weather exposures, right? It becomes, then about the soil moisture. It comes about the wind speed. It becomes around the rain, precipitation, etc. So there's a myriad of things that we can start looking at and that we want to start looking at in order to get that more holistic view of risk, and go beyond just vegetation right now, where we're investing most heavily in is that wildfire risk. There's also the resolution that we see with satellites right now is at 30 centimeter that may drop down to 15 or 10 centimeters, so the resolution will get higher. There's other sources that we're exploring already flying, sometimes aerial imagery that is at that five to 15 centimeters, then you would really start seeing soon, you can start seeing a leaf on a on a tree. It gets really impressive. There's lighter there's lots of other kind of remote sensing technologies that we're looking to leverage in the future. And then, as a company as well, we're starting to, obviously expand internationally. We started working with utilities in New Zealand that have very similar problems and various regulatory changes. They also have a problem with wildfire risks. So that is, that is another angle that at Overstorey We're chasing right now.   Trevor Freeman  33:35 Yeah, I'm glad you brought up that. You know, understanding of other assets beyond just vegetation, has kind of been running through my head of we talk about, and I think we've talked about it here on the show. If we haven't, I should do an episode on that, like a digital twin, a digital twin of our grid, and really having a good understanding of not just, you know, a line drawn on a map of, Hey, your circuits run this way, but really physically, what's happening out there, and being able to sort of model that interact with it in a digital way, to understand, if we do X, Y and Z, what happens. So the technology that you guys are using to really get good imagery and understanding of what's out there, well, I think what I'm hearing from you is could potentially be leveraged in that next level to understand, what pulls do we have? What health are they in? What you know, what's happening with that conductor? Is it sagging too much? Is it in good health? Like there's, there's all this opportunity that's really fascinating to hear.   Lynn Petesch  34:31 Yeah, already. Now, when we look at transmission corridors, we look at the sag of these lines, and the terrains are also really challenging, something to look at. So there's a lot of factors that need to be taken into account. And that can only expand as we want to look at risk more beyond just the vegetation element.   Trevor Freeman  34:48 Very cool. Well, Lynn, very interesting to hear this. I'm really glad you came on the episode or the show today to talk to us. Fascinating to hear what Overstory have to I know that we're super excited to be. Working with you here at Hydro Ottawa and excited for what comes next. We always end our interviews with a series of questions, so I'm going to dive into those and here we go. What is a book that you've read that you think everyone should read?   Lynn Petesch  35:13 I was thinking about an author more than a book. My favorite author is Jonathan Franzen. If I would recommend one book, it'd probably be Corrections, his most famous one, I believe. But they're like, these chunky, 800-900 page books where you kind of get immersed in these families and you feel like you know them at the end, and they kind of, I think about them for like, months afterwards. They're really good reading, at least for the winter when it's cold and you spend a lot of time inside. So probably Jonathan Franzen books, yeah.   Trevor Freeman  35:41 Yeah, we're we're recording this just before the holidays, and I think we'll be releasing the episode after but winter is such a great time to curl up with a book, and it's awesome to have a good recommendation of a nice thing.   Lynn Petesch  35:53 It'll be called in January.   Trevor Freeman  35:56 Absolutely. So same question, but a movie or a show?   Lynn Petesch  36:00 Yeah, I'm not a big movie buff, but I recently rewatched What's Eating Gilbert Grape, seen it with Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, and I always felt like Leonardo DiCaprio should have received an Oscar for that performance back when he was 14. But, yeah, it's a beautiful movie. awesome.   Trevor Freeman  36:20 Awesome yeah, that's a bit of a blast from the past, but you're right. That is a fantastic one. If someone offered you a free round trip flight anywhere in the world, where would go?   Lynn Petesch  36:27 French Polynesia, because it's so far I've never been a friend who went. I'm sure it's very expensive to go there, so it'd be great for someone too. Yeah, no, that's a place I'll go one day.   Trevor Freeman  36:41 So, yeah, fantastic. Who is someone that you admire?   Lynn Petesch  36:45 Yeah, that's a it's a tricky one, because I was thinking about, like, people, you know, in, I know, family, etc. But like, if I were to think about a, and it's a little left field, about a public persona, and also a bit of a blast from the past, I'll think about Tina Turner. She's been my icon since I'm a kid, I was always listening with my dad to Tina Turner. And I think the word that I've probably most used in today's episode was like resilience. And I always think about her as like possibly the most resilient woman in the world who reinvented herself and her career in her 40s and 50s, and is this complete power woman, you know, always done everything at her own terms. So get so much energy from not just her music. I've seen so many documentaries about her, and she's always been this kind of woman that I know, filthy with energy and kind of like drive. So I'm a big, big fan of Tina Turner.   Trevor Freeman  37:38 That's fantastic. I have to say, that's never come up on the show before, and now I need to go and dive down a rabbit hole of like, learning about Tina Turner listening to some music.   Lynn Petesch  37:47 Yeah, she's great woman.   Trevor Freeman  37:48 Yeah, good answer. Last question, what's something about the energy sector, or let's expand that to kind of the climate sector that you're really excited about?   Lynn Petesch  37:59 Yeah, I'm gonna take a very high level. But I think the thing I've always been following the most is, like, that broad topic of the energy transition, and I think the recent changes, or like, kind of the way we talk about it, has become a lot more interesting, because it used to be this kind of fluffy, big kind of vision, and now we're in that phase where it just has to be very practically implemented, and we're trudging along with it, no matter the political climate, etc, there is kind of a move forward. And I actually really liked the way that, I think, when I first started learning about it, or getting interested in it, it was always about renewables, and now it's around just sort of like needing to build a system that is both, like low carbon and climate resilient. And there's something in that, like way we talk about it now that I find really interesting. There's immense amounts of innovation in it. So yeah, I'm just enjoying following what's happening on that and how we are. We're moving that direction, no matter what's happening right now. So that's exciting.   Trevor Freeman  38:55 Yeah, okay, when I know my listeners are probably roll their eyes, because I say this all the time, but it's a very exciting time to be in this industry, and very exciting to kind of see the evolution of energy and how we're interacting with it, how it's impacting our society. And we really feels like we're at an inflection point. And very great to have you working on one aspect of it that people probably don't think about a lot. So thanks very much for what you're doing.   Lynn Petesch  39:19 Yeah, exactly. When you start working for Overstory, the one thing that happens is, wherever you go, you see trees and power lines. And I have very keen eye for, unfortunately, trees that are in poor health right now. So that's one of the professional things I've developed.   Trevor Freeman  39:35 Carry like a spool of red ribbon around you can, like, tie on the at risk trees and just so someone could come along. Lynn, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Really appreciate it. It's been great chatting with you.   Lynn Petesch  39:45 Thank you so much.   Trevor Freeman  39:46 Take care. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the thinkenergy podcast. Don't forget to subscribe. Wherever you listen to podcasts, and it would be great if you could leave us a review. It really helps to spread the word. As always, we would love to hear. From you, whether it's feedback comments or an idea for a show or a guest, you can always reach us at thinkenergy@hydroottawa.com..

To check out the complete video replay go to:https://LeadDeck.ai/sprintsInteractive Real Estate Work Session: Lead Generation and Effective Follow-upsIn this episode, Josh conducts an interactive work session focused on lead generation and follow-up strategies. The session begins with a change in plans from a deal sprint to a collaborative working session. Josh provides a step-by-step guide to implementing his lead-generation strategy using a simple one-page document. He emphasizes the importance of having more conversations to close more deals and addresses various audience questions about using platforms like Bold Trail, Zillow, and Lead Deck for effective lead management. The episode includes real-time examples of outreach to expired listings, cash offer request leads, and For Sale by Owner listings. Additionally, Josh showcases how he prepares for appointments by organizing relevant information into a Google Drive folder for easy reference during client meetings. The episode highlights practical tips, real-time problem-solving, and the importance of being persistent and efficient in real estate lead generation.00:00 Introduction and Session Plan00:31 Implementing the Work Session01:16 Using Scripts for Outreach01:45 Engaging with Leads and Handling Responses07:49 Filtering and Organizing Leads10:40 Real-Time Demonstration and Q&A20:16 Maximizing Efficiency and Effectiveness26:12 Leveraging Institutional Buyers31:37 Miscommunication and Its Impact32:19 Humorous Misunderstandings33:12 Strategies for Effective Communication33:28 Handling Client Interactions36:22 Managing Expired Listings39:42 Using Lead Deck for Messaging50:01 Preparing for Client Appointments01:01:21 Concluding Remarks and Next StepsNext best step? Go here: https://LeadDeck.ai/deals

Want to Start or Grow a Successful Business? Schedule a FREE 13-Point Assessment with Clay Clark Today At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com   Join Clay Clark's Thrivetime Show Business Workshop!!! Learn Branding, Marketing, SEO, Sales, Workflow Design, Accounting & More. **Request Tickets & See Testimonials At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com  **Request Tickets Via Text At (918) 851-0102   See the Thousands of Success Stories and Millionaires That Clay Clark Has Helped to Produce HERE: https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/testimonials/ Download A Millionaire's Guide to Become Sustainably Rich: A Step-by-Step Guide to Become a Successful Money-Generating and Time-Freedom Creating Business HERE: www.ThrivetimeShow.com/Millionaire   See Thousands of Case Studies Today HERE: www.thrivetimeshow.com/does-it-work/  

Key Takeaways: - Joy in the workplace stems from meaningful control and empowerment. - Leadership should focus on shepherding rather than managing. - Healthy challenges must be balanced with care to prevent burnout. - Building trust and clarity is essential for fostering joy. - Implementing practical strategies can help create a joyful workplace culture.Read Post

When we talk about Tier 2 support, we usually talk about the support we offer students. Today, we're talking about the ways we support the adults in our building to implement Tier 2 with fidelity...and maybe even a little enthusiasm. Back with us again are our colleagues Dr. Billie Jo Rodriguez and Noah Van Horn.Billie Jo is an Associate Teaching Professor and the School Psychology director of clinical training at the University of Oregon, a nationally certified school psychologist, and a doctoral board-certified behavior analyst. She has over 20 years of experience supporting students with diverse needs and helping schools implement increasingly intensive function-based supports. Noah is a nationally certified school psychologist and PBIS coach for Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, OR. He is also a trainer and PBIS coach for the NWPBIS Network. In addition to his work leading district initiatives to support PBIS, he is a lead trainer for district professional development on topics ranging from Tier 1 practices to more intensive, individualized support.For more information about the resources shared in this episode, check out the following links:Expert Instruction - Ep. 54: Mythbusters - Student Behavior is More Significant Now Than EverTiered Fidelity InventoryOverview of Tier 2 SupportCooking with Fidelity: How Smart Adaptations Improve Tier 2 OutcomesTier 2: A District-Level Systems Guide

In this episode of the ASC Podcast with John Goehle we discuss the latest news in the industry. Instrument Decontamination and in our focus segment we discuss Balancing Physician Satisfaction with Patient Safety Through EHR Hard Stop Optimization   This episode is sponsored by Surgical Information Systems,    Notes and Resources from this Episode: VMG health survey AAC Leader Expectations for 2026 https://1863187.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/1863187/VMG%20Health%20ASC%20Leader%20Expectations%20for%202026%20Survey.pdf Beckers- Red flags in Hospital/ASC Joint Ventures https://www.beckersasc.com/asc-transactions-and-valuation-issues/red-flags-to-watch-in-asc-hospital-joint-ventures/?origin=ASCE&utm_source=ASCE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=0573H1191845C8E Prepare for the CAIP Exam with our 2 day On-Demand Virtual Conference: Infection Control 101 – Training for Infection Control Coordinators in ASCs (September 2024 Recording) Infection Control 201 – Advanced Training for Infection Control Coordinators (September 2024 Recording) INFORMATION ABOUT THE ASC PODCAST WITH JOHN GOEHLE ASC Central, a sister site to http://ascpodcast.com provides a link to all of our bootcamps, educational programs and membership programs! https://conferences.asc-central.com/ Join one of our Membership Programs! Our Patron Program: Patron Members of the ASC Podcast with John Goehle have access to ASC Central - an exclusive membership website that provides a one-stop  ASC Regulatory and Accreditation Compliance, Operations and Financial Management resource for busy Administrators, nurse managers and business office managers.  More information and Become Member The ASC-Central Premium Access Program A Premium Resource for Ambulatory Surgery Centers including access to bootcamps, education programs and private sessions More Information and Become a Premium Access Program Members Today! Important Resources for ASCs: Conditions for Coverage: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&node=42:3.0.1.1.3&idno=42#se42.3.416_150 Infection Control Survey Tool (Used by Surveyors for Infection Control) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107_exhibit_351.pdf Updated Guidance for Ambulatory Surgical Centers - Appendix L of the State Operations Manual (SOM) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_l_ambulatory.pdf https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/updated-guidance-ambulatory-surgical-centers-appendix-l-state-operations-manual-som Policy & Memos to States and Regions CMS Quality Safety & Oversight memoranda, guidance, clarifications and instructions to State Survey Agencies and CMS Regional Offices. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Policy-and-Memos-to-States-and-Regions Other Resources from the ASC Podcast with John Goehle: Visit the ASC Podcast with John Goehle Website Books by John Goehle Get a copy of John's most popular book - The Survey Guide - A Guide to the CMS Conditions for Coverage & Interpretive Guidelines for Ambulatory Surgery Centers 

In this episode, we're sharing a conversation from the Builder Stories podcast where host Eric Fortenberry, the Founder and CEO of JobTread, interviews Kyle! Kyle shares his origin story, how he got started in marketing, and why he ultimately narrowed his focus to serving remodeling business owners. The conversation covers the evolution of Remodelers On The Rise, from early marketing coaching to a full business coaching platform focused on financial clarity, sales process, leadership, and community. You'll also hear Kyle's perspective on why implementation is so difficult, the value of peer groups and in person events, and how remodelers can build a business that supports both growth and life outside of work! ----- Ready to streamline your business and increase profits? Visit JobTreadto see how their all-in-one construction management software helps remodelers and builders simplify estimating, scheduling, job costing, and invoicing. ----- Explore the vast array of tools, training courses, a podcast, and a supportive community of over 2,000 remodelers. Visit Remodelersontherise.com today and take your remodeling business to new heights! ----- Takeaways JobTread simplifies construction management for remodelers. Effective marketing and sales processes are crucial for success. Leadership development is key to managing a growing team. Community support can significantly impact business growth. The Rise Conference provides valuable insights and networking opportunities. Prioritizing work-life balance enhances personal and professional success. Understanding financials is foundational for remodeling businesses. Implementing a structured sales process can improve profitability. Coaching and mentorship are vital for overcoming business challenges. Focusing on fewer goals leads to greater progress.  ----- Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Builder Stories 03:07 Kyle Hunt's Entrepreneurial Journey 06:26 Transitioning to Remodelers on the Rise 08:48 Finding Early Clients and Building Trust 11:37 The Evolution of Coaching and Business Support 14:16 The Importance of Leadership in Business 16:50 Balancing Personal and Professional Life 20:33 Overview of Remodelers Community and Resources 23:21 Peer Groups and One-on-One Coaching 27:15 The Rise Conference: A New Beginning 30:10 The Value of Networking and Community 31:19 The Power of Peer Groups and Networking 34:15 Key Takeaways from the Rise Conference 38:12 The Importance of Finding Your Tribe 39:59 Overcoming Implementation Challenges 46:59 Building a Cohesive Team 49:45 Common Struggles in Remodeling Businesses 53:29 Success Stories and Transformations 55:23 Work-Life Integration and Prioritization

https://bit.ly/4aazkY7

280. Implementing the ONE Lifestyle Change that Improves All Aspects of Health with Sue Becker   Isaiah 61:1 AMP “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed and commissioned me To bring good news to the humble and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up [the wounds of] the brokenhearted, To proclaim release [from confinement and condemnation] to the [physical and spiritual] captives And freedom to prisoners,”   *Transcription Below*   Sue Becker is a gifted speaker and teacher, with a passion to share principles of healthy living in an encouraging way.  She is the co-owner of The Bread Beckers and founder of the ministry, Real Bread Outreach, all dedicated to promoting whole grain nutrition. Sue has a degree in Food Science from UGA and is the author of The Essential Home Ground Flour Book. Sue is a veteran home-schooling mom with 9 children and 13 grandchildren. She and her husband Brad, live in Canton, GA. Through her teaching, countless families have found improved health.   Sue's Instagram: @suebreadbeckers Sue's Website Sue's Podcast   Questions and Topics We Cover: You've supplied us with the knowledge, so now let's move on to the wisdom, which is learning how to apply what we now know. What equipment and grain do we need to get started so that this is possible to incorporate into our lifestyle? Once we mill the grain, how long do we have to use it before it loses its nutritional benefits? How long does it typically take to experience benefits from this lifestyle change and what health benefits can we expect to experience?   Related Episodes from The Savvy Sauce: 14 Simple Changes for Healthier Living with Leslie Sexton and Vasu Thorpe 26 Practical Tips to Eating Dinner Together as a Family with Blogger and Cookbook Co-Author, Rachel Tiemeyer 33 Pursuing Health with Functional Medicine Specialist, Dr. Jill Carnahan 129 Healthy Living with Dr. Tonya Khouri 205 Power of Movement with Alisa Keeton (Revelation Wellness) 212 School Series: Benefits of Homeschooling with Jodi Mockabee 256 Gut Health, Allergies, Inflammation and Proactive Solutions with Emily Macleod-Wolfe 261 Edible Theology with Kendall Vanderslice 270 Female Sex Hormones, Periods, and Perimenopause with Emily Macleod-Wolfe 275 Raising Healthy Kids: Free Tips with Emily Johnson   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:45) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   Thank you to the Sue Neihouser Team for sponsoring this episode.   If you're looking to buy or sell a home this season, make sure you reach out to Sue at 309-229-8831. Sue would love to walk alongside you as you unlock new doors.   I'm thrilled to get to be back with Sue Becker as my guest today. Make sure you go back and listen to part one, which we recorded last week. She was incredible explaining the one nutritional difference that will change everything. And now today, we're going to learn all of the practicals of how to actually implement this into our lifestyle.   Here's our chat. Welcome back to The Savvy Sauce, Sue.   Sue Becker: (1:45 - 1:46) Thank you. It's so good to be with you again. I can't wait to share even more.   Laura Dugger: (1:46 - 1:52) Well, last time you shared just incredible testimonies of the powerful difference that one nutritional change can make. And you root everything even back in the Bible, and God has really led you on this journey. So biblical passages about bread or grain or wheat appear hundreds of times throughout the Bible. But do you have any specific ones that come to mind that God has highlighted in your own life?   Sue Becker: (1:53 - 11:48) Yes, for sure. Shortly after, you know, I think I mentioned there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death. And we don't necessarily relate that to bread, but it certainly does describe what happened, you know, when the steel rolling mills displaced the local miller.   And then one, another one is Proverbs 23, verses 1 through 3, I think somewhere thereabouts. You know, white bread has always been around. The wealthy, the royalty, they wanted fluffier bread and they found a way.   And they knew that they could make these sieves, if you would, out of reeds, and they would sift the bran and germ out to produce fluffier bread. But only the wealthy could afford that. Two reasons.   Only the wealthy could afford servants or slaves or bakers, you know, to bake their bread for them. That was the royalty. But then also the poor people, when they sift the bran and germ away, they lose about 25% of the flour.   So, for 100 bag of grain or, you know, 100 pounds of grain, you are going to end up with 75 pounds of flour, 25 pounds of bran and germ. They couldn't give that up. You know, they couldn't just throw away, discard that food source.   So, they ate what was called dirty bread or peasant bread or whatever that we now pay extra money to get back to. But, you know, when I started milling and I read Proverbs 23 in a different light, because what happened with the steel rolling mills, when the white flour came on the scene for the first time in the history of the world, which you won't read about this in a history book, white bread, white flour became food for rich and poor alike. And that's why we began to see sickness and disease.   The wealthy had it. And, you know, the royalty had it. But Proverbs 23 says, “Be careful when you sit down to the king's table. Do not crave his dainties and his delicacies.” And I always thought that might be things like, you know, squid or, you know, eyeballs or foods that caviar, you know, things that we couldn't afford. But dainties and delicacies to me now describes white flour, fluffy things, bread and pastries and cakes.   So, God says don't crave his dainties and delicacies. They are deceitful food. And it even says put a knife to your throat lest you be given the gluttony.   We talked last time about bread. People thinking, you know, gaining weight. Well, you know, the white flour dainties and delicacies.   Yes, they lead to gluttony. So that was one that really came to mind. And then, of course, Isaiah 55 verse two. “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for what does not satisfy?” And so, I always thought, oh, Lord, I didn't know it wasn't bread. You know, I didn't know that's what I was spending my money on.   But just a few weeks ago, I was thinking about that verse again in a little different light. Like He was saying, why are you spending your money for that which is not bread? We're spending all this money moving away from bread on food, the keto, the fat, the all these the meat.   You know, we're spending our money on all these things that aren't bread. They don't satisfy like bread does. So that was a little different light.   Yes, on the one hand, what I thought I was spending my money on. I didn't know it wasn't bread. But then now all these anti-bread, anti-grain diets.   Why are you God saying, why are you spending your money on all of that on and your earnings for what does not satisfy? So that was a little different light on that picture. And of course, then Haggai chapter one, verse five says, “You sow much, but you reap little you eat, but no one is full. You drink, but you never have enough. And he who earns wages, earns it to put it in a bag with holes in it.” And you may be going, how does that relate to bread?   We spend all this money on food, and I air quotes “food stuff” that is taking our health away, making us sick. To me, that's a bag with holes in it. Because then what do we spend the rest of our money on health care, medicine, whatever.   So those were some, some pretty profound scriptures that God showed me. And 1 Timothy 4:1-3. It says that the Holy Spirit declares that on the last day, some will turn away from the faith and pay attention to deceitful spirits.   And listen to these doctrines of demons. This is the scripture saying this misled by the hypocrisy of liars who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and have a clear knowledge of the truth. That's pretty powerful.   That's pretty powerful because you can grill yourself a steak. You can eat an apple all by yourself. You can eat fruits and vegetables all by yourself.   You're not going to make one roll. You're not going to make one piece of bread. Bread was made to be shared. And even the word companion means with bread. Did you ever think about that? So, um, that's, that's pretty powerful that in the end times and, you know, wherever you are with that, but we have to believe that there are teachings that are teaching us to for, you know, to not eat foods that God created to be shared and bread is at the top of that list.   So those are some powerful bread scriptures that that have just ministered to me. There's, there's just so many, you know, and Jesus John 6:35, I typically sign my book that way. Jesus says, “I am the real bread of life. And he who comes to me shall be satisfied” in Isaiah 61. That's a verse the Lord gave me so many years ago. And, you know, most people know it, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel, you know, and I'll never forget.   I had the great privilege of sharing the gospel one time, which is not something I normally do. And at a women's homeless shelter in Atlanta, and I saw in seven or eight people after I shared gave their life to the Lord. And I was like, oh, this is what I want to do.   I don't want to talk constipation and poop anymore. And surely it's not important. And I really got kind of down about it.   I was like, yes, I want to go share the gospel. This can't be important. And a couple of days later, after that wonderful, glorious experience, I mean, I literally wanted to go hand tracks out on the street corner.   I just wanted to be one of those people. And I was supposed to be going to speak at a women's Bible study, giving my what my children lovingly call mom's poop talk. And I got up and I was like; I didn't want to do it.   And I just cried out to the Lord. I was like, I don't want to talk poop anymore. There's so much more in me besides this.   And surely this can't be important. And again, cried out to the Lord. Again, just turned to my regular Bible reading.   And my verse of the day on my calendar was Isaiah 61, one through three or four, whatever it is. The spirit of the Lord God is upon you. He's anointed and qualified me to preach the gospel.   And I was like, yes. And it says to bind up and heal the broken heart. And I was like, yes, that was those ladies.   I know this is what you want me to do. And then it said, proclaim Liberty to the captives. And in my Amplified version in parentheses, it said spiritual and physical.   And what God spoke so to my heart, he goes, the message that I'm sending you to speak today is to set my people physical captives free. He said, my people aren't spiritually captive. Their physical captives held in captivity by every kind of sickness, disease, snotty nose, constipation, irritable bowel, diverticulitis, whatever.   Big ones and little ones, you know, health issues. And that I got up and I just renewed my passion. And I was like, okay, Lord, this is what you've called me to do.   So that was that was the real game changer. It kind of a game changer for me. I was beginning to see the unimportance of it.   And now, after all these years, I mean, when people hug you and with tears in their eyes, sorry, and tell you that you that you're teaching save their life. Now, I know what God was talking about. And I still love to share the gospel.   I still love to teach the word. And I know God's anointed me to do that as well. But this is definitely where God has called me.   And another time when I was out speaking, he shared and I was, you know, kind of questioning. And it says in Matthew, when the multitudes, when Jesus saw the multitudes coming to him to heal him, you know, to seek healing. It says he had compassion on them because they were harassed, distressed, bewildered and helpless and dejected like sheep without a shepherd.   And it said, and then he goes on to say, and he's telling his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. And he spoke to me then and he said, the laborers are few. There's not many out there at that time.   There were not many people out there teaching what I teach, teaching other things, maybe, but not about the bread, real bread. So those have been some life-changing scriptures that have just given me a heart and a passion to keep going. And then, of course, it's the bread stories that just come.   Laura Dugger: (11:49 - 12:19) So it's incredible. So profound. And I'm with you.   I love the Amplified version. Yes. You've supplied us with so much knowledge today and last week.   But now I'd love to move on to the wisdom portion, which is learning how to apply what we now know. So Sue, if we're just getting started, what equipment do we need? And then how is that going to be possible for us to incorporate it into our lives?   Sue Becker: (12:20 - 17:03) So like I said last time, I think we ended with keep it simple. Grain mill, top of the list. I once heard a lady.   She taught a little bit on milling, too. And she said, “I tell everybody you want to change the health of your family. Start with a grain mill.”   And like I say, over and over, I have never seen one dietary change make such profound and extensive, immediate, noticeable, across the board health benefits. So start with a grain mill and you don't have to have a barn. You don't have to have a live by a creek and a gristmill and all of that.   It will sit right on your counter. And still today, after 34 years of milling my own grain, my grain mill still has prime real estate on my counter. And it's the most valuable kitchen tool in my kitchen.   I love the Wonder Mill particularly. We do sell other mills. The NutriMill is a great mill as well.   I like the stainless steel milling heads because they're fast, they're very clean, and they just get the job done very quickly. Stone mills have gotten very trendy and popular. We sell those as well.   They're slower, might be better for a smaller family. They do, you know, have a broader spectrum of from pre-cracking, cracking the grain to very fine flour. And that's why some people are attracted to that.   But if I want cracked grain or coarse ground grain, I just use my blender, which I don't think too many people don't have a blender. You know, we all have blenders. So that's an easy fix for me.   And it's just, to me, the micronizing or the stainless steel milling head mills, the Wonder Mill, the NutriMill, they're just so easy to use. Put them together. I mean, they just snap together, turn it on, pour the grain in.   There's no calibrating, no, you know, adjusting the milling heads and everything. They're just easy, and they're fast, and they mill a lot of flour at once. So if you have a large family like mine, you know, I milled 12 cups of flour in less than a minute by the time I've got my other ingredients ready.   So that's top of your list. And then you're going to have to have some kind of grain. So, like I said, that was the next thing people go, where do I get grain?   And I'm like, well, I guess we need to sell grain, too. So we sell just about every kind of grain or bean here at Bread Beckers. We sell it in food-grade plastic buckets so that it is storable.   You want to keep your grain protected from moisture and bugs and, of course, rodents. So it's grown outside, so there could be bugs undetected in your grain that you might buy in a bag or something like that. But it's really important to protect your investment.   Hard wheat is going to be your grain for yeast bread. So we have hard red and hard white. We do sell also kamut and spelt.   Like my sourdough bread I've got working on right now is a combination of kamut and red wheat, which is one I really, really like. But those are more ancient grains. Those are in the bread-making category of wheat, so you could do that.   And then if you know you're going to make cakes and cookies and things like that, I highly recommend getting some soft wheat. Well, we get ours is grown in Montana, but they have to irrigate to make it soft wheat, so it is grown. We do have a soft red wheat that is grown here in Georgia that we sell and then a soft white wheat that we also sell.   And that's good for your cakes, cookies, brownies, biscuits, things like that. And then corn, mill your own corn. You've never tasted cornbread until you mill your own.   These are just easy quick bread recipes. You can find them all in my book, The Essential Home-Ground Flour Book. So that's it.   And then, of course, basic list of getting started items. Beyond that, you might already have oil. We use extra virgin olive oil.   That's just my oil of choice. There's some other sunflower seed oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil. Those are good oils.   I just don't need another oil. We import our olive oil from Greece, and it is truly extra virgin olive oil. Unfortunately, the olive oil industry is not very reputable, so you have to know what you're getting.   And we actually were able to visit the olive oil factory and I guess you call them orchards, the fields, two years ago. And that was really great. It's Creighton Mills.   It's a fifth-generation family-owned olive oil company and very, very reputable. And so we know that what we're getting is truly extra virgin. Yeah, you had a question?   Laura Dugger: (17:04 - 17:13) Yeah, just with that, because it is such a corrupt industry, can you elaborate a little bit more about what's special about that?   Sue Becker: (17:13 - 21:07) Yeah, so to be labeled or designated extra virgin olive oil, it has to have a percent acidity. And I do have a podcast on my Sue's Healthy Minutes, “The Fact About Fats”, and I explain what that means. It's not a pH, but it's a percent acidity of 0.8%. And that's a measurement of the, and I'll go into more detail in my podcast, but simply it's just a measurement of the amount of oxidation of those fatty acids that are found in the olives that has taken place. So, 0.8 means that it's a measurement of how much there. And so, it has to meet that requirement to be extra virgin olive oil. Anything less than that is just better and better, you know.   So, our olive oil, excuse me, from the Isle of Crete is where our olive oil comes from in Greece. The basic one we have, the Agrelia, they guarantee that it's 0.8 or less. Most of the time it's 0.5. Then we have one that's 0.2 and so on. And we do have a certified organic. The problem is, and I know not everybody's going to run out and get their olive oil from us, but here's what you want to look for. You want to look for an olive oil that is bottled in the country of origin.   Because the disreputable oil companies, when they bring the olive oil in in barrels and take it, it might be checked there at the dock or whatever. But then when they take it to their factory and bottle it, no one pays attention there. So, they are mixing it with other oils oftentimes.   We used to sell oil that was labeled extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. We had it tested and the results came back that it was less than 1% olive oil. So that tells you it's, you know, the oils you're buying on the shelf, chances are if they're bottled here in America.   Now that I know California makes some. There's actually an olive oil company in South Georgia around Vidalia. They've learned that olives will grow there very well.   And so there's some reputable companies in the United States. So, you know, you just need to know your company. But typically, if it comes from another country and bottled here, you might need to be cautious about that.   So, yeah. So that's what you need to look for. So, I love olive oil.   Contrary to what people try to say that they are selling other oils, olive oil has a perfectly fine smoke point. And you can fry in it. I stir fry in it.   I fry my doughnuts in it. You can take it up to 400 degrees without any issues at all. I do use coconut oil from time to time.   If I'm trying to make something non-dairy, you know, I'll use it in place of butter. But then I also use real butter. So those are my fats that I look for.   And like I said, there's, you know, grapeseed oil is fine. Avocado oil is fine. I think we do sell an avocado oil.   But I don't need a lot of other. Those three, olive oil, coconut oil, and butter are just fine. Yeah.   Okay. And then raw unpasteurized honey. I sweeten my bread with honey and bake with honey if honey will work.   And in most places it will. Where it gets a little tricky working with honey is cakes and cookies and brownies, things like that. I tell people things that have more sugar than flour, you might want to eat in moderation.   And that's where, you know, some alternatives, less refined sweeteners. And we use honey granules and sucanat products for brown sugar and white sugar. So those are just some simple things.   Laura Dugger: (21:08 - 24:17) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   With over 28 years of experience in real estate, Sue Neihouser of the Sue Neihouser Team is a RE-MAX agent of Central Illinois. And she loves to walk alongside her clients as they unlock new doors.   For anyone local, I highly recommend you call Sue today at 309-229-8831. And you can ask her any real estate questions. Sue lives in Central Illinois and loves this community and all that it has to offer.   When unlocking new doors with her clients, Sue works hard to gain a depth of understanding of their motivations and dreams and interests in buying and selling their home. And then she commits to extensive market research that will give them confidence in their decision. Sue truly cares for each of her clients and the relationship she forms with each family along the entire home buying or selling process.   This was absolutely our experience when we worked with Sue and her team. The house that we desired at the time was actually not even on the market. But Sue had a connection and was able to ask those homeowners if they would be willing to sell.   She was timely in her response as she walked us through this whole process. And she helped us sell our home with the right offer coming in hours after it was listed. We kept saying she thought of everything.   And Sue's continued generosity was astonishing. I remember one afternoon after we had settled into our new home and she was knocking on the door dropping off a goodie bag for our family that came from the local bakery. Our daughters also loved getting to know Ms. Sue as she assisted us in finding truly our dream home. So whether you're looking to buy a home for the first time or looking to upgrade or downsize or making the big decision to move to an assisted living from your home of many years Sue will be there to help you navigate the big emotions and ensure the process is smooth and stress-free and that the new doors to be unlocked are ready and waiting for more memories to be made. So, call her today at 309-229-8831 or visit her website at sueneihouser.com.    Thanks for your sponsorship.   I'd love to go into a few of the other ingredients but first if we're even just thinking of the grain ideally we would get to come and visit you and get it from you. We've gone through all the steps.   But if we live elsewhere, two questions. How would we start a co-op so that we could have grain or how do we find out if one's already in our area? And then also are there any fear of glyphosate or any other issues with grain?   Sue Becker: (24:17 - 32:44) Oh wow, that's a loaded question. So, first of all, let's just say if you don't live close to us, we ship buckets of grain every day. UPS, we do.   But the shipping is quite expensive. UPS does not care about the cost of the product. They care about the weight.   And so, once we get it boxed up in the box that we have to ship it in, it's 49 pounds. So, it can cost anywhere from $25 to $30 just in shipping for that bucket of grain. Our grain prices are still very competitive, a lot less than a lot of people out there.   And we do carbon dioxide package our buckets of grain. So, we guarantee that they are bug free. You don't have to put your grain in the freezer.   You don't have to put diatomaceous earth or bay leaves. We've already done it. That's what the carbon dioxide gas has done.   And once it does its job, it's done its job. It doesn't matter now if you open the bucket and go in and out, in and out, in and out. But we realized back, I think I shared our Joseph vision of providing God's people with grain.   Way back, we started something called co-ops. As we traveled and spoke, people would ask that very question. Okay, great.   I'm buying the grain from you now, but what do I do when you leave? You know, I'm in Richmond, Virginia. I'm in Miami, Florida or Orlando, whatever.   So, we developed co-ops. And you can go on our website, breadbeckerscoop.com, and find co-ops in your area. And what that is, we have a coordinator, some person that kind of handles and facilitates the ordering.   If you join a co-op that's the closest to you, you'll get on, you know, there's no cost to join. And you're never obligated to order. If you don't need to order in that cycle, that's fine.   We deliver to each area four times a year. I'm sorry, three times a year, every four months. And so, you'll get an email saying your ordering window is this month.   So, you order, say, in August for a September delivery or June for a July delivery. And everybody's on a schedule. We have them grouped together.   And then you can order as much or as little as you want. And it greatly reduces the shipping cost per bucket. And you typically get a discount for ordering with the co-op as a group.   So that's a great advantage of a co-op. If you can't find one in your area, then email support@breadbeckers.com, and we'll send you the information of starting a co-op in your area. Pretty much all you have to do, because it's pretty streamlined, when people order they just go online, order, and pay us.   But then it's put together as your co-op. And you just have to facilitate the delivery and then making sure everybody knows to come get their product from you. But that's the way it works.   So that would be a great opportunity to get grain and whatever. And like I said, we ship anything on our website you can get through the co-op, most everything, really, really saves on shipping. And then we have certified organic grain here.   And, of course, it can have no chemical, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers used at all. Contrary to what you may read and hear and see on the internet, wheat is not genetically modified, not at all. Now it was approved for testing and trials last year in August, but up until that point none at all was here in the United States.   And it's still in the trial and testing. I'm praying that it never comes out on the commercial market. But right now, there is no genetically modified wheat, especially that we offer or that's offered out there commercially.   That being said, that means wheat is not roundup ready. If it was sprayed with glyphosate, it would kill the plant. Now, non-organic farmers can use it on their soil to kill, you know, whatever's been growing.   So pre-planting, then once they harvest it, they can use it after harvest. So, there is an issue with, you know, using glyphosates in our non-organic farming techniques. It is very uncommon, contrary to what you hear people say, for a wheat farmer to use roundup or glyphosate as a desiccant to harvest their grain.   It's very, very uncommon in the United States. Colder climates where there's a chance they might lose it to bad weather or whatever, they may. But even still there's other things they prefer to do instead of that because that's expensive.   It's not cheap. You know, you're talking 30,000-acre farms, these, you know, big wheat farmers. So, it's very, very uncommon.   And you can even find that information on the USDA website, that it's less than 3% ever use it like that. Now, like I said, there are other crops and farmers that use it pre and post harvest, but we're very comfortable with our grain suppliers. Most of our wheat comes from Montana.   It's cold. And they still practice pretty traditional farming methods, tilling things under and planting cover crops and things like that. But if you're really, really concerned, then buy certified organic.   I mean, you know, for the price difference, yes, I think it's like $12, but that's for 42 pounds of grain. So, you know, but like I said, we are very comfortable with our farmers, with our suppliers. Our oat supplier says that they spot check and make sure that, you know, no glyphosate is used even on their non-organics.   I think the problem with there, and people are going to say, oh, yeah, but they tested all these cereals and these oat products and found that they all had residual glyphosate. You've got to remember; those are your big food companies. Those are your big pharma, your big, the other pharma, F-A-R-M-E, you know, M-A.   There's no telling, you know, what they do. But, you know, glyphosate use is a significant issue. I want people to understand that.   But it's more in the farming techniques of desiccating after harvest, instead of used to farmers after harvest, the stubbles all there and corn stalks are all there. They would till it all under and then that would decay and, you know, help nourish the soil. Now they're going in, and this is non-organic farming, they're going in and spraying the fields and then just using seed drills.   Not as prevalent, I don't believe, with wheat, but it is used a lot with soybeans, corn, what else, cotton. Cotton is really bad. And there's not a lot you can do.   I mean, we just have to stay informed. But I hate it when I see people passing on misinformation about making it sound like it's just a blanket procedure that's done of desiccating these massive wheat fields, you know. And I've seen pictures; people will show them dead in the field.   Well, the wheat turns very golden and dries out, you know, before harvest. And then once they harvest it, it dies right there in the field. So, it's just kind of a misnomer.   But when in doubt, buy organic. So there. But, you know, I tell people if you're going to avoid toxins and glyphosate the way it's being used in our country today, you would basically have to never leave your house, go naked and probably never eat any food at all, you know.   And think about like lawns and golf courses and things like that. If you live around that, you're being exposed a good bit. So, wheat is actually detoxifying.   So, it passes through the body absorbing toxins. So, I think you're safe with wheat and, you know. But again, buy organic if you're concerned.   Laura Dugger: (32:45 - 32:57) Love that explanation. And then because I think of the other ingredients and bread and even the offerings that you have, what should we be aware of when it comes to salt and emulsifiers?   Sue Becker: (32:58 - 36:23) Yeah. So salt is something I studied later, you know, after I, you know, I, it made sense why they started, you know, separating the bran and germ from the flour too. So, the flour wouldn't spoil, but I'm like, salt doesn't spoil.   Why would they refine salt and do some digging and do some research and you find that natural mined mineral salt has trace minerals that we need, but it's the sodium chloride that makes the salty flavor. So, they, they have learned that they can extract those trace minerals out of the mind mineral salt and sell that to other industries for minerals and leave us with the sodium chloride and it's perfectly salty. So why not do that?   And then so that it will rain, well, it will, you know, “when it rains, it pours” the, you, you're probably too young to know that slogan, but that was a big one when I was growing up. They heat treat the salt so that it does not readily absorb moisture. So the crystals are harder so that when it rains or it's humid, it will pour unlike your unrefined salt that will tend to clump up if it's humid.   So that's what started happening to our salt. And I didn't believe this, but I did just a few weeks ago, go to the store because I haven't bought salt in years. Cause I get it.   We sell Redmond's natural mined mineral salt that comes from Utah, but I went to the store and sure enough, they put anti-caking agents sometimes in some of the brands of salt, dextrose, which is a sugar. Who would have thought that? And just know that you know, the heat treatment is makes it where it doesn't readily absorb moisture.   So that's why you tend to hold fluids when you eat a lot of salty foods. So, it's trying to help your body be able to utilize it. And while we're on salt, I hear a lot of people, they'll ask me, can I make the bread without salt?   My doctors put me on a low salt diet. First of all, that's concerning, but I want to say to you, just getting rid of processed foods, it will greatly diminish your sodium intake from bread to they have, you know, when things are so denatured that they, you know, they smash it, they cook it, they boil it, they take all this out and that out. Well, then it's flavorless.   So, they have to sweeten it and salt it to make you want to even buy it again. So, if you look at ingredient or not ingredient labels, but nutrition labels on processed foods, and I'm talking canned fruits, vegetables, bread products, and all these things, you will see that the sodium levels are much higher than the potassium levels. Well, in nature, that is not the way it is in, in your fresh fruits and vegetables.   Your potassium level is typically twice your sodium level where, so read your labels on your food and you'll see that sodium is typically twice the potassium in processed foods. So that's what I encourage people. You know, you can make bread without salt.   You probably won't like it. It'll be kind of tasteless. If you need to read, if you feel more comfortable reducing the amount of salt, then do that.   But most importantly, quit eating processed foods. That's going to greatly reduce your salt intake and then use a natural mind mineral salt that your body can utilize. So that's salt.   What was the other thing?   Laura Dugger: (36:24 - 36:25) Emulsifier.   Sue Becker: (36:25 - 40:36) Raw unpasteurized honey is what I use. I recommend. And then the emulsifier.   I think you must be talking about lecithin. Lecithin is totally an optional ingredient. You can make great bread without lecithin, but I'm going to tell you, you can make really great bread by adding a little bit of lecithin to your bread dough.   It's a natural emulsifier. It is what's called a phospholipid. It has an acetylcholine that is what it's made of.   And it, it, what it does in your body, it breaks down fat and cholesterol into small enough particles that can get through your capillary wall and into your bloodstream and into your cells and your tissue. It is found in any type of unrefined food that has oil. So, your eggs, your milk, your oils, your unrefined keyword, unrefined oils, and guess where else?   Grains and beans. It's in the, the germ portion of your grains and beans. And that is the nutrient that even without adding it to your bread, it is there already.   And that's the nutrient that I discovered brought brings down cholesterol, blood level cholesterol, because, and somebody kind of argued when I said that one time and I'm like, no, no, no, no. I didn't say cholesterol was bad. Cholesterol is not a bad guy.   I like the way one biochemist puts it. She said, it's just the pig that got stuck in the barn door. It actually does.   It gets stuck in our blood vessels because its big fat molecules are typically big. We need that lecithin in unrefined foods that have oil grains being one of those. And one of the most nutrient dense ones is, is your grains and beans and sources of lecithin, so it breaks those down into small enough particles so that they can get out of our blood and into our tissues and our cells where it is so needed.   Cholesterol is a precursor of just about all your sex hormones, all your anti-inflammatory hormones that your body can make. If it has lecithin it helps vitamin D be converted. The sunshine be converted to vitamin D and our body and it makes; it's a part of the fat and protein layer of every cell in your body.   The cell membrane of every cell in your body. So, it's very, very important to get that cholesterol out of the blood into the cell. So that's lecithin okay.   That was a lot of information. What does it do to our bread? The very same thing it does in your body.   It breaks the oil down. You've all heard the saying oil and water don't mix. Well, it breaks the oil down so that it is small enough particles.   So, it will go mix into your dough a little better and it will make your dough very smooth, very silky. It will make your bread so very soft. And it's the same.   It's the reason they use it in the food industry. They put it in salad dressings so that oil and vinegar will, will mix and stay mixed a little bit better. They started using it in the margarine industry because they're mixing milk and, and milk fats and water.   So, they put the lecithin in there. Now I'm not saying don't eat margarine. That's not what I said.   They put it in Reese's peanut butter cups. That's what makes that chocolate so smooth and creamy. I'm not saying don't eat Reese's peanut butter cups to get your lecithin, but I'm just explaining that's what it does.   It's in your body and outside of your body and your food, and it will make your bread and rolls so soft. And we actually learned when we had a bakery years ago that it helps your bread retain moisture. It keeps it from drying out so quickly. But it's one of those things in Haiti and Tanzania, they don't make bread with lecithin that's an expense that we don't need. But if you want some really, really soft bread and really help my tortilla dough be really smooth and silky and make those tortillas just press out really well. So that's, that's why we use it there.   You can use an egg has lecithin as well. I use both an egg and lecithin, and I have really, really soft bread. So just depends on what you're going for.   I don't typically put it in my sourdough cause that's a different texture. And I don't typically put oil in my sourdough bread.   Laura Dugger: (40:36 - 41:26) So yeah, it just depends on what you're doing there. Okay. That's so good to know.   And with the fresh milled grain, I know that it loses nutritional value each day. And I think you've recommended don't let it go more than three days. You'll have to discard it if you don't use it in that time.   And it makes me just wonder, then I'm going to link to a previous episode that we did on preparing food for our family, because one of the practices I'm thinking of was whatever you're making, make double and freeze half. So, Sue, I'm curious then with the nutritional value, if the freshly milled grain that we use as the flour is used in our baked goods or our bread, but then we put it in the freezer to be consumed at a later time. Does that compromise any of the nutritional value?   Sue Becker: (41:27 - 45:57) Right? Not in, not that I have read and studied what we have to know that as soon as that grain is milled into flour, then now you've exposed the nutrients, the oil and all these to the air and oxidation begins to take place. You might not see it in flour, but you've all seen it in a banana or apple.   You cut it, it starts turning dark right away. So, there's a lot of discrepancy and different viewpoints out there on how long that flour until the flour spoils. Well, that would be kind of like that apple is not spoiled, but definitely oxidation has taken place.   So, years ago, I read some information that in the first day, you can lose as much as 45% by the third day, maybe as much as 90%. I don't, I don't have that information anymore. You know, I never thought I'd be speaking and teaching, so I don't quote it a lot, but I did contact a university, and they said most of the oxidation is going to take place in those first few days after milling.   So exact numbers they didn't give me. But now I will say this, I would never throw flour away. So, I'm not going to say it's bad for you.   And some people say six months to a year is the shelf life of that flour. You're not going to lose your protein. You're not going to lose your fiber.   It's still probably the most nutrient dense flour that you can use and buy. But I will say this, your best bet is once the bread is baked from everything I have studied, the nutritional loss is minimal. So, if you need to make bread ahead, have a baking day, then bake your bread, freeze your bread or whatever you need to do so that it, most of the time, my bread will last for five or six days.   Well, I say it won't mold in that time. Most of the time we eat it before then. So that would, that would be your best bet.   Also storing bread, you want to either freeze it or leave it at room temperature. You don't want to store bread at refrigeration in the refrigerator. It will dry it out and cause it to go stale.   Now, of course, if you have meat or something like that in there that needs to be refrigerated, of course, refrigerated muffins, little higher moisture. So, if you're not going to eat those in the, in a day or two or three, they, they might mold. So put them in the refrigerator.   I have learned a little trick with storing muffins, put a paper towel in the container, either the bag or the container that you're storing them in. It'll really keep them from turning gooey. And of course, always let your bread muffins, whatever completely cool before you package them.   But I never throw flour away. If typically, I travel with a grain mill or with bread, if I'm going on a short trip where I'm not taking my mill or whatever with me, then I'll, I'll take bread with me camping. Our family used to camp one.   Can't take my milk. We did more primitive camping, can't tent camping, can't take my mill with me. So, I would mill up a pail of flour to make pancakes and, and things, you know, while we were camping.   So, we would camp a week. I'm certainly not going to go home. I can't use this.   It's older than three days. So, it's not going to hurt you to go that long, but it's, it's the best is mill the flour, bake your bread, mill your flour when you're ready to do your baking and then freeze or store or whatever. But sometimes that's not always possible.   We went snow skiing a few years ago and we did take the bread machine. We went with my daughter and her family and we took, we opted to take the bread machine and we just milled flour and put it in a pail and we made bread every day. So, we couldn't take both.   So, we did it that way. So certainly there's, there's, there's options. So, yeah, but I never throw flour away.   And if I, if I happened to over mill and I have, you know, some charts that show you about how much grain to mill to get, how much flour. So, I rarely over mill, but sometimes you mill and go, Oh, I can't, you know, emergency have to leave. I would bag it, put it in the refrigerator and just try to use it, you know, as first before you use other things.   Or if I have a little bit leftover, I'll keep it in the refrigerator and use it to dust my countertop or whatever, when I'm rolling my bread or dump it in my, you know, with a big batch of bread I'm using and just not worry about it. But 90% of the bread, no more than that, probably 99% of the bread I eat. I mill the flour, make the bread or the muffins or the pancakes or whatever.   Laura Dugger: (45:57 - 47:00) So I'm so grateful for that clarification. I definitely have information. So that is awesome.   I just wanted to let you know, there are now multiple ways to give when you visit TheSavvySauce.com. We now have a donation button on our website and you can find it under the donate page, which is under the tab entitled support. Our mailing address is also provided.   If you would prefer to save us the processing fee and send a check that is tax deductible, either way, you'll be supporting the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and helping us continue to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ. Make sure you visit TheSavvySauce.com today. Thanks for your support.   So, let's say we've gathered our ingredients. We've made our first recipe. How long does it typically take to experience the benefits from this lifestyle change?   And just to recap, what are some of the health benefits that you may experience?   Sue Becker: (47:01 - 58:28) Well, bowel issues are going to be corrected pretty quickly. For me, constipation was my issue. It was done first day, I ate bread.   Like I said, poop the next morning. A lot of people go, oh, constipation is not my problem. I'm going five times a day or 10 times a day.   So that's more irritable bowel, spastic colon or chronic diarrhea. That may take a week to 10 days to correct, but we've seen people very quickly correct those bowel issues. So, bowel issues are probably the number one, the fastest that you might see.   And I, I, you, I love this story that I tell on a lady, and I used to year. I've been telling it for about 20 years. And I used to call her an older lady, but I'm older than she is.   Then she was then when I called her an older lady. So, this very young lady, she was the mother of a customer of ours. And the customer was her and her husband were missionaries and they were here on furlough.   And she came into the store. Her mother lived in Boston, I believe. And she said, Sue, my mother's having a terrible time.   She it's been on steroids for 10 years for her bowel issues. That you should never do that. And she said, but every time they try to wean her off, she has horrible issues.   She now has bleeding bowels. She can't sleep through the night. She's getting up five times in the night to go to the bathroom.   She can't leave her house. and I hear this a lot. I've had a fella gave testimonies, construction worker.   He goes, “Do you know what? The number one thing I have to find out when I go to check on the job, I have to know where the port-a-john is. I, cause I have to go.”   So anyway, back to this story. They, you know, And she was going to go to the hospital. And that was right about the time.   The gluten-free stuff was coming out. And she said, so she's been told maybe you need to go gluten-free. And she came in and, As a missionary budget, limited budget.   And I said, “You know what? Our ministry will give your mother a grain mill.” She was going.   The daughter was going to spend two weeks with her. And she goes, I'll teach her how to make bread. She thought about it for a minute.   And she goes, I do not know how to make gluten-free bread. Just give me a bucket of red wheat. It can't hurt her.   She's already got bleeding bowels. and if it makes it worse, we'll just stop. She emailed me and said in five days of real bread, her mother was sleeping through the night, no longer having the bowel episodes.   In two weeks while they were there, everything had normalized and her mother had her life back. That's pretty amazing. So, you're gonna see bowel issues correct pretty, pretty quickly.   We've seen that so many times. And then for me, sinus congestion, when your bowels are moving. And we talked about toxins in your colon, sitting in your colon.   We talked about the cancer relationship. But another thing that a lot of people don't realize, what's dumped in your colon and your bowels to be eliminated every day is the stuff your body doesn't want. It's toxic waste, whatever.   And if it's not eliminated every day, it's gonna sit there and get absorbed into your body. And one of your body's reaction to toxins is to make mucus so you can blow it out your nose or cough it up. You know, think about it logically.   When we get sick with a cold or a flu, that organism has made a toxin that our body is trying to get rid of. So, we make all this mucus and that's why you get congestion and you sneeze and you're coughing, you know, so your body can get rid of it. Well, what I learned when I realized I was no longer congested, I started studying.   I was like, how is this happening? Well, that's what I learned, that now that my bowels were dumping and eliminating toxins out of my body every day, I was no longer getting that toxic response of the excess mucus. My body was doing what it needed.   I no longer needed the antihistamines and the decongestants. So that was a big one for me. Of course, the wart story is pretty amazing.   People laughed at me when I told that in the beginning. I knew that it was the bread, that one of my children's warts that he had had for three years went away in the first month. And I discovered that it was the vitamin E that protects every cell in our body and from lots of things, but from being compromised by oxidation.   And if your cell is compromised, it is more susceptible to viral invasion. Viruses are caused by warts. So now that our body, the richest food source of vitamin E is wheat, but it has to be freshly milled.   So now our body was now getting this abundant source of vitamin E, which by the way, we had our bread tested. And one slice provides 100% of your daily vitamin E need. Wow.   Now, I don't necessarily agree with the daily requirement, but still one slice, which no amount of vitamin E was ever put back in enriched bread. But anyway, so I knew that this was the vitamin E protecting the cells and making us less susceptible to viral invasion. And my son's warts went away that he had had for years and in just the first month.   So, we tell that, I would tell that story. And we have now hundreds of wart stories, hundreds of wart stories. The most profound one was lady heard me speak at a homeschool show.   I only have 45 minutes to speak at a homeschool show. And I'm like, woo, a lot of information in that. So, I talk really, really fast.   And sometimes I share this and sometimes I don't. I started to skip my wart story. The Lord, the Holy Spirit just had me stop, tell my wart story.   And I finished that day a little earlier than normal. I never finish early. And I just said, well, you know, does anybody have anything to share?   Two people shared their wart stories. Unbeknownst to me, mom was in my class, walking down the hall to go to another class because there's lots of workshops at these shows, you know. And the Lord told her to come in mine.   There, when I left the room, she was standing outside and told me that. She with tears in her eyes said that she had been praying that God would send her an answer that her daughter had over 500 warts on her. She had had them for, since she was 12 years old, she was now 17.   They had had them all burned off, which they didn't treat the virus. So, they all came back, of course. They had been on different medications.   She goes; they currently have her on ulcer medication saying that maybe it's caused by stress. Okay, so she follows me back to our table where we're making bread. She eats the bread.   She goes, it's delicious. She goes how much is a mill? I told her and she goes; I've paid more than that for one prescription drug that didn't work.   What have I got to lose? I like to cook. We have to eat.   We'll see. Two and a half weeks, two and a half weeks, every wart on that child's body was gone. She had her life back.   She was ashamed. She was embarrassed that she had these nasty patches of warts on her. She wouldn't wear shorts.   She wouldn't swim in public with her friends because she was embarrassed and ashamed. And so that's more than just a wart story. And I tell that the wart story because, I mean, like I said, we have hundreds.   One little girl prayed that God would take her wart away and they heard about the bread and it went away, you know? And because here's my thought. If this bread can improve your resistance to a virus that causes warts that you've had for five, some people 10 years, what other viruses will it protect you from?   That's important to know. And that's what I saw with our, we rarely had colds. We rarely caught flus, you know, from other people.   Not saying we never did, but when we did, we got well very quickly and typically, you know, faster than others. Skin issues. Had a mom in here the other day just say that her, she said, we call your bread, the miracle bread.   Her son had eczema all behind his ears and on his arms, all cleared up. I had another young man come from; he had heard me speak. His wife heard me speak at a conference in Missouri.   They were traveling through, they came to a class, and he came up and said, “Can I hug you?” And I was like, “Well, sure, yeah, go ahead.” And he said, “My wife heard you speak.”   And he said, “what you didn't know is I had this rash on my body and it was stinging. It was burning. Doctor after doctor, medication, steroids, nothing ever helped.”   And he said, “It feels, it felt like fire ants burning me. Had it for years and nothing worked.” His wife heard me speak.   I don't know if she thought, made the correlation with pellagra. I don't know. But anyway, she bought the mill, bought the mixer.   She didn't say anything to me. And he said, within a month, the rash was completely gone. But here's one thing he said.   He goes, “It was so painful. I had gotten to the point where I wanted to die.” That's pretty significant.   And talk, you know, and now within a month, what doctors couldn't fix, the bread did, the nutrients, the B vitamins, the vitamin E, whatever else was in that bread cured his skin issues. And we hear psoriasis, people with psoriasis, it completely goes away in a matter of a few months. Depression, anxiety.   One little girl struggled with depression, and they told her to go gluten-free and it got worse. She was so fearful. She couldn't even sleep in her bedroom.   She had to sleep on the floor in her parents' room. And the mom with tears in her eyes said, within, they decided to not go gluten-free and to try freshly milling. And the little girl is happy and excited and has her life back.   So, I could go on and on and on. And we, you know, just the health of children is powerful to me. And we've seen heart disease.   God says in Psalm 104 that he gave man bread to strengthen and nourish the heart. We've had people say, I mean, well, one lady in particular, this was years ago, I wish I had taken her name to follow up with her, but she said her husband in one month and all she changed was the bread, came off the heart transplant list. She said, the doctor says he's not out of the woods yet, but his heart muscle is functioning so well, can't justify being on the heart transplant list.   And, you know, I read the works of Dr. Wilfred Schutt, world renowned cardiologist. Do you know what he used to treat heart disease? Vitamin E.   And in his book that has nothing to do with milling your own grain and making your own bread, do you know what he attributes heart disease to? When the white flour came on the scene and they started taking the bran and germ out of our flour. He said, we lost the most potent antithrombin, blood thinning and vitamin E for the strength of the heart muscle.   So yeah, we've seen a lot in 35 years or 34 years. It's been amazing. And people write and say, “I know you must get tired of hearing this.” I never get tired of hearing testimonies and stories. And I call them “it's the bread stories” because they tell me it's the bread that's all I've changed and this is what I've seen. And so, and it's, yeah, it's powerful.   Laura Dugger: (58:29 - 58:56) Well, I love because even before we recorded this conversation, we prayed that God would do more than we could ever ask or imagine. And I feel like that's what he has done with bread too. There's still so much more, but you're just to encapsulate a few things, the improved energy, the supported hormones, the ailments that are corrected, there's so much.   And if we want to get started, then can you remind us of your website and what our first step could be today?   Sue Becker: (58:56 - 1:00:59) Yeah, first step, buy a grain mill, buy some grain, start milling your bread. And if you're scared of yeast bread, then make muffins and make pancakes. Machines help, you might all have a mixer that you can go ahead and use to make your yeast breads, but muffins, pancakes, coffee cake, three of my basic ingredients, I mean, my recipes that I started with, that's a wire whisk in a bowl.   You don't need to knead; you don't need to worry about letting it rise. Buy the tools that help you make this a lifestyle. Bread machine, you might see the Zojirushi bread machine behind you, that, I mean, five minutes, mill the flour, five minutes, dump it in, all your ingredients, come back to a baked loaf of bread.   You know, push the start button, come back to a baked loaf of bread. Mixer, for my family, the mixer worked very well because I would mix up dough to make six to nine loaves of bread or six loaves of bread at a time. And I did that twice a week, interspersed with muffins, pancakes, and all of that.   So, keep it simple, get a grain mill, get some grain and get a recipe book that you enjoy and just dive in. You won't be sorry. Go to breadbeckers.com.   You can find a lot of information. Go to our YouTube channel, Bread Beckers YouTube channel. Lots of videos and how-tos and classes, our getting started classes on there.   There's a couple of videos, a basic list of getting started items where I explain to you the hard wheat, the soft wheat, the red wheat, the white wheat, and those things. And I highly recommend, it's a long video, it's three and a half hours long, but it's called Real Bread, the Staff of Life. You can watch it in segments.   Pause me if you need to come back later, but it's very profound information. It's 30 years of studying and research and gleaning the scriptures and science and textbooks. And then Instagram, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.   And then of course, Sue's Healthy Minutes podcast. You will be blessed by all the information there as well as the testimonies that are shared.   Laura Dugger: (1:01:00 - 1:01:19) Incredible. We'll add all of those links in the show notes for today's episode. And Sue, as you remember last time, we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge or insight.   And so, as my final question for you again today, what is your savvy sauce?   Sue Becker: (1:01:19 - 1:04:32) So what I want to encourage people today is seek the truth. Use your common sense that God has given you. I want to read a quote by a doctor that promotes healthy living, but I want you to listen to what he says.   Here's the quote. “Damage to the gastrointestinal tract from the overuse of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil or Aleve, acid blocking drugs, we talked about that last time, like Prilosec or Nexium, combined with our low fiber, high sugar diet leads to the development of celiac disease and gluten intolerance or sensitivity and the resultant inflammation.” Did you hear that?   I absolutely agree with that. All those things cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract and lead to allergies and things like that. “This is why,” now there's where I want you to listen and use your common sense.   “This is why the elimination of gluten can be a powerful way to prevent and reverse this and many other chronic diseases.” Next sentence. “The biggest problem is wheat, the major source of gluten in our diet.”   Did you hear wheat or gluten listed in his causes? No, you did not. He is making an illogical conclusion to his own truth that he just presented.   Wheat didn't cause that. Wheat can actually cure that. And you asked me about a verse that has meant so much to me and powerful, profound verse in the scripture, Deuteronomy 24:6.   In that scripture, it's the law. Sometimes you get bogged down in Deuteronomy. I will never forget when I stumbled, didn't stumble, but I was reading this verse and what God showed me.   In that chapter or in that verse, God gave a law for what you could take as a pledge when someone borrowed something from you. In those days, if someone was gonna borrow something, they would leave you with something of value of theirs as a pledge. I'm gonna return what I borrowed from you or I'm gonna pay you back or whatever.   Listen to God's law. He says, “Do not take a man's upper millstone as a pledge for you would be taking his life.” That is pretty profound.   Someone in the early 1900s took our milling stones, took our mills out of our home and we've been losing our health and our life ever since. Wheat is not the biggest problem. Wheat is the answer.   Freshly milled, of course. So contrary to popular belief, everything you read on the internet is not true. So, dig into God's word, find the discrepancy from what you're hearing in the world and what God's word says and let his truth rule and reign in your life.   That would be my advice.   Laura Dugger: (1:04:33 - 1:05:03) That is so good again, Sue, and thank you for getting mills back in our home and thank you for being my returning energetic and intelligent and faithful guest. You're so humble in your approach and you'r

Don't get to the end of this year wishing you had taken action to change your business and your life.Click here to schedule a free discovery call for your business: https://geni.us/IFORABEDon't miss an upcoming event with The Institute: https://geni.us/InstituteEvents2026Shop-Ware gives you the tools to provide your shop with everything needed to become optimally profitable.Click here to schedule a free demo: https://info.shop-ware.com/profitabilityTransform your shop's marketing with the best in the automotive industry, Shop Marketing Pros!Get a free audit of your shop's current marketing by clicking here: https://geni.us/ShopMarketingProsShop owners, are you ready to simplify your business operations? Meet 360 Payments, your one-stop solution for effortless payment processing.Imagine this—no more juggling receipts, staplers, or endless paperwork. With 360 Payments, you get everything integrated into a single, sleek digital platform.Simplify payments. Streamline operations. Check out 360payments.com today!In this episode, Lucas and David are joined by Ruth Wisniewski, Senior Director of Customer Success at Vehlo. Ruth shares how her team at Vehlo elevates client experience by helping shops leverage software to meet their goals, from boosting efficiency to increasing car count. The discussion explores the importance of building a favorite brand through “moments of truth” in the customer journey, and the role company culture plays in delivering exceptional service.00:00 "Vehlo Customer Success Leadership"03:48 "Streamlining Your Shop's Experience"07:40 "Building Culture Around Experience"10:46 "DIY Car Fixer Fails"15:14 "Creative Problem-Solving Improves Outcomes"18:13 "Sales vs. Customer-Centric Approach"20:30 Shady Shopware Setup Concerns25:25 "Customizable Customer Experience at Vehlo"26:56 "Empowerment Through Vehlo's Support"31:08 "Customer Experience: A Guided Reflection"35:50 "Cost of Goods Discrepancy"36:44 "Reading Release Notes Religiously"42:16 "Lion's Mane and Nerve Healing"45:49 "Recovering Without Surgery"47:06 Lion's Mane for Focus?52:14 "Best Banana Pudding Ever"53:18 Raleigh's Amazing Food Scene

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast Ep. 151 - From Daughter to CEO - Navigating Family Business Transitions with Amanda Osmer   In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker talks with Amanda Osmer of Grappone Automotive, a New Hampshire-based family business rooted back to 1924. Amanda shares her journey growing up in a family business, how she eventually decided to be part of it, and the challenges she faced during the transition phase. The conversation touches on the significance of clear communication, inner awareness, and flexible governance. Amanda also discusses the importance of building a strong leadership team, handling multiple successions, and maintaining business integrity. Listeners gain insights into Amanda's dedication to community, the values driving her leadership, and her thoughts on keeping the family business resilient amid industry changes. ·       01:29 Amanda Osmer's Journey in the Family Business ·       03:14 Growing Up in a Family Business ·       07:17 Sibling Dynamics and Family Business Covenant ·       10:10 Amanda's Commitment and Vision for the Future ·       16:22 Navigating Family Business Transitions ·       23:02 Navigating Personal and Professional Boundaries ·       26:07 Implementing the EOS System ·       29:56 Family Employment Policies ·       35:21 Commitment to Community and Integrity ·       39:34 Documenting Family Business History Websites: ·       fambizforum.com. ·       www.chrisyonker.com ·       "Grappone Automotive: The Founding" Book at Gibson's Bookstore ·       Grappone Audiobook on YouTube   Amanda's Bio: Amanda Grappone Osmer is the fourth generation of her family to own and help operate Grappone Automotive, established by her great-grandparents as a single gas station in 1924.  Today Grappone represents four new car manufacturers with sales, service, and retail and wholesale parts departments. They employ about 350 Team Members and are located in Bow, NH. Team Grappone operates in an environment in which the whole person is asked to show up and participate at work with the company's mission in mind: to build lifelong relationships with team members, guests, and the community by serving with integrity, kindness, and respect.  In 2017 Amanda launched Leadership Grappone, a program that seeks out the company's emerging leaders and challenges them mentally, emotionally, and physically over a nine-month period with the goal of uncovering their true leadership potential. Faith and volunteer work are central to Amanda's life purpose, and she has served on many nonprofit and advisory boards in her career.  One project near to her heart is the co-founding of The Dewey School, a nature-based preschool located at Canterbury Shaker Village.  She lives in Sanbornton, NH with her husband, a high school coach and all-around amazing human being, their three children, dog and other critters, and fruit and veggie gardens.          

THE EMPEROR'S IMMUNITY AND MACARTHUR'S SWIFT JUSTICE Colleague Professor Gary J. Bass. Following the surrender on the USS Missouri, General Douglas MacArthur faced the challenge of implementing the Potsdam Declaration's call for justice. A political decision was made to shield Emperor Hirohito from prosecution to utilize his authority for disarming troops and legitimizing the occupation, despite his complicity in the war effort. Conversely, MacArthur pursued swift, vengeful justice against his personal enemies, Generals Homma and Yamashita. Ignoring standard military court procedures, MacArthur established a precedent for the coming trials by rushing their convictions and executions for atrocities in the Philippines, an approach the Supreme Court refused to block. NUMBER 21931 TOKYO

THE IMPOSSIBLE DMZ Colleague John Hardie. Hardie discusses the complexities of implementing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Ukraine, citing disagreements over sovereignty and administration. Regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, he notes Russia is unlikely to return control to Ukraine. He concludes that peace deals requiring Ukraine to cede territory are "poison pills" likely to fail. NUMBER 14 1943 PARTISANS IN UKRAINE

If you want high-dollar procedures done more often in your practice, this is the episode for you. Kiera specifies what needs to be in place, including skillset, morale, and language. This kind of case acceptance goes beyond the everyday appointments, and Kiera explains the difference. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I feel like this is my bread and butter. I feel like this is what Kiera Dent was made to do. And I cannot wait to teach you guys the secret to getting patients to say yes to those high dollar, high ticket cases. We're talking the 20, the 30, the $40,000 cases. But the great news is these principles can be applied to your smaller cases too, because I just think that like how to do this and this is what Kiera's really good at. And I have a practice that ⁓ implementing incorporating these tactics.   has been able to grow every one of their locations, multi-millions every single year. And people look at these practices, they see their stats and they say, how did you get these numbers? And they said, it all started the day we brought Dental A Team into our company. And that's just a huge testament to me, to the work that we do, to what our consultants do. And for anything, it comes from a passion of being able to help more patients get the dentistry that they need and deserve. So I just feel like there's so much fun to case acceptance and ⁓   It's not about selling, it's about words are free. And so let's use our words to the best of our ability. Let's use our words to the best experience for our patient. And let's help all of them have the trust, the clarity and the confidence to be able to say yes to those. You guys, Dental A Team is obsessed with helping you and your teams have more profitable practices, happier practices, happier teams, happier patients. We are obsessed with that. And our mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible.   and doing it in a tactical, practical, let's do this. So I really want you guys to hopefully take this on, take the system, take the tactics and help more patients say yes. And to just be proud of the dentistry you're able to do. Now, step one is you've got to be really, really good at dentistry. I can sell any dentistry. Like I feel like I'm a miracle girl for practices. I feel like there's easy ways to do this. But step one is we've got to have great dentistry. Otherwise our treatment coordinators and   our team and our patients that makes it very, very hard actually for us to want to sell dentistry. So step one of this is going to be you've got to actually do great dentistry. Okay, that's step one. So if you're not good at something, please don't sell it, go get good at it. But also please don't make it worse than it is. You might actually be a great clinician, but you don't give yourself the credit for that. So I'm on a mission to help the best dentists thrive, the best dentists do great dentistry and to help more patients.   So that's step one is I got to make sure that you guys are doing really, really, really good. Step two is getting patients to say yes, especially for these higher dollar ticket ⁓ items. We've got to make sure that we've got dialed in systems. ⁓ I use the example from Disneyland that people can feel perfection. And so does our team feel well oiled? And this means that our hygiene team is teeing up treatment. We're all looking for it. If our associate doctors are not doing this treatment and they're referring to our general doc, our, our owner doctor,   We've got to make sure all the associates and the hygiene team are trained on what to look for, how to present this, how to tee it up. Do we bring them back for consult? Can we diagnose it? What's the process for that? And if you want these high dollar procedures to be done more often in your practice, training your hygienist and your associates is one of the best investments of your time. So everybody's looking for it. We basically become a referring practice to our doctors that do these procedures. ⁓ I really do believe that   everybody. So hygienist looking for it. Hygienist should be the first person and this goes for all treatment planning, but we're going to dive it into these higher dollar ones because there is a little bit different on how we actually present the treatment plan. But all these first steps should be all parts of high case acceptance. Now just also give a little credibility. ⁓ Implementing these processes usually take for just general dentistry, it usually gets you up to a 75-ish percent acceptance rate up to 90.   Now, if we're higher than that, I know we might not be diagnosing as much as we need to, but in general dentistry, we should be cracking pretty high case acceptance. Now for my like 20, 30, 40, $50,000 cases, right around a 35 to a 45 % acceptance rate is going to be the targets we're looking for. And that is dollar for dollar, not one for one acceptance rate. So if that helps you guys, that's what we're going for. ⁓ But step one is do great dentistry.   Step two is believe in the dentistry. And then step three is going to be where everybody is speaking the same language. hygienists should be the first person to tee up all dentistry. They should be the one showing the x-rays, showing the intraoral photos, showing all of that so the patient can absolutely 100 % see what we see. We want that patient to be bought in. We don't want to just try and help them like, okay, like you might have this. We actually speak in the same terms as the rest of our patients.   ⁓ In one practice what we did is we actually had the doctors tell us exactly how they diagnose treatment We as consultants recorded it on our phones and we had the whole team hear it and then we gave them all these recordings and the whole team has to listen to it and this was our fastest easiest way to get everybody up to par like driving into the office driving home from the office like listen to it in the office like you've got Christmas music playing but instead it's it's all the ways that we diagnose and describe this that way everybody says it the same way so the patients hearing it   multiple times in the exact same way. Now when the doctor comes in, there should be a handoff from hygienist to doctor. We call it the I creep. So introduce, compliment the patient, recap the treatment and say something personal. Hygienist, you want a fast exam? This is how you get it done. Doctors, you don't want to do that awkward dance of like, how do I get to know you without getting to know you, but I need to get to know you? This is how you do it. Introduce, compliment, that puts the patient more at ease, recap treatment already discussed, and then something personal about them.   Then doctors, we get them into a yes frame of mind. We're going to say, can I lean you back? Can I do a full exam on you? Yes, yes. You want to actually get them in the frame of mind of saying, yes. It's true psychology. Again, words are free. It's not manipulation. It is genuinely setting the stage to get a patient open-minded. They don't want to be at the dental office already. So how can I help them get into this higher frame of mind? Then after that, doctor's going to comprehensively diagnose. And then they're going to recap with what we call the NDTR handoff.   So next visit, date to return, time needed for appointment, re-care scheduled. This is going to be more for your general procedure. Then we take that, hygiene, then takes ordinal assistant, takes them up to the front office, say the exact handoff. Amalia's amazing up front. Dr. Smith wants to see Kiera back for that crown on the upper right. She wants to see her back for, you know. ⁓   an hour and a half and wants to see her in two weeks and she already has her cleaning scheduled. And then from there, the front office team picks it up. Let's get you scheduled in two weeks. I've got Monday or Wednesday, which works best for you. We need an hour and a half and then we go over financing. That patient has now heard this multiple times of the exact same thing. And that same process, just with a small fine tuning is going to be for these larger cases. Typically larger cases, yes, they are found in hygiene, but oftentimes it's going to be a little bit longer of a   consult if you will, ⁓ because we want to make sure that we have the before and after photos. We want to make sure we build trust with them. This is where having the hygiene team tee it up. This is where we have the perfect handoffs between doctor and hygienist. And then the doctor has to have confidence and clarity. So you've got to work this like pre-treatment build to make sure that the patient feels like they already know kind of what we're looking at. If it's all built up like this, it's very warm, it's very consistent.   everybody's on the same page. Your team feels like your patient feels like your team has their stuff together. And that's what we want. So I would look at this, like how are we doing on pre-treatment? Not even if just large cases, but how are we doing with those handoffs? How is the handoff from hygiene to doctor? How is hygiene teeing up treatment? How is everybody talking about treatment? Are we all on the same page or are we all on different pages? What does that look like? And then from that,   We wanna make sure that we're really, really, really good on visuals. So are we doing scans? Are we doing mockups? Do we have photos of before and afters of the cases? Do we have clear and simple explanations? Do we have ⁓ more like this is information. So if we're doing an all on X case, do we have information about what this happens and what are the steps? And do we have it broken down into really easy steps for them? I actually changed up treatment plans on these larger cases to step one is extraction in place.   Step two is impressions and step three is delivery. Those are very patient friendly. If our case is 45,000, I break it down to step one is, you know, 19 ish thousand and then step two is going to be like 11,000 and then step three is whatever the remainder of that is. This way it's very simple. They can pay in full for some practices or we pay per appointment. Now with these larger cases on AR and also on production and collections to make sure we're not having these huge spikes.   Sometimes it does make sense to have the patient pay as they go. Other practices want a pay in full. Both are totally fine. But what we've got to do and what we also have to realize is when we go into the finances. So typically when I'm presenting like a one to $7,000, I'm gonna schedule them first, I'm gonna present the dollars, I'm gonna talk the insurance as a coupon. ⁓ Here's total treatment, here's your insurance estimate, and then this is the total when I see you on Wednesday. Or if you would...   require a deposit, take the deposit then, and then ask what questions they have. Then we go into financing options, but it's just a very clear, very confident space that we're gonna walk into. Now, if I'm presenting a 20 or 30 or $40,000 case, it's psychology. It's a smooth flow from front to back. It is the confidence that we are gonna do the best for you. Here's what's going on. Let's talk about it. What questions do you have? I wanna make sure that you're very confident moving forward. Dr. Smith is the absolute best dentist.   to create this and to do this treatment for you, like you were in good hands. Notice in there, I edified my doctor. I made sure that I asked them what questions, not do you have questions? The last thing I ever wanna do is have my patient tell me no. I wanna keep them always in a yes frame of mind. Now, we're gonna look at this of cost. I'm not going to plant weeds in my flower garden on purpose. I don't wanna say like, is a big investment for you. Why am I saying that? It's not a big investment. This is an investment.   This is you taking care of yourself. This is you deserving this. Like how exciting is it to be able to eat food that you haven't been able to eat for the last however many years? How exciting is it to smile with confidence? I am going to radically focus on the positives for this. And then I'm going to go after and ask them what questions they have. I don't want to pre-assume question marks that they have. When people come in for these 20, 30, 40, $50,000, they're not going to be sticker shocked to see that it's that amount. Some of them might.   But the general population knows just like I use the example of when we were doing IVF, IVF is $50,000 per procedure. It's not ⁓ a cheap procedure. And the buyer is very educated when they walk into that. So it's not like what 50 grand? You didn't tell me that. It is more a great, this is what it is. What questions do you have? I want to be here as a support. Now for some offices, they do offer financial avenues that some people might not have thought about. For example, polling from a 401k.   For example, a home equity line of credit, going to a bank, you might work with a local bank and having some of those options just so people can see. And I will tell you an IVF, they did actually offer this with us and they put that in our sample, like our folder that we took home with us, just because they wanna make it to where it's easier for us not to have a barrier or a concern. I will say that a lot of times these larger cases are a two-part close, not a same day close. That does not mean that people don't just hand over their credit card and pay you.   80,000 or 150,000 right there on the spot. I've seen it done many times. So I'm not going to assume that people need that, but this will be a tool in my tool belt. Lending Club, Cherry, some of these are going to be better at financing higher amounts. ⁓ And so we're gonna look for that. Sometimes applying for financing in the office through Care Credit, or like I said, Cherry or Sunbit, or some of these others. Lending Club, look to see who you can use. It's going to really help. do know Cherry is a very big fan favorite. ⁓   that does help fund some of these higher ones. A local bank is a great thing and have a direct line to your person that's a loan processor there that can actually help these people get loans. It's a $50,000 procedure. That's like buying a car. There are loans for this and it's not uncommon to do that. And so helping the patient of whatever questions they have. They might have questions about the recovery time. They might have questions of the payment options. They might have questions all the way around. So,   Be really crystal clear in your practice of do we collect in full before we start initial records? If so, it might be a two part close where they've got to go find out their financial options, but you set the followup because again, you're a concierge of these, we're a high end, this is a high end surgery, we are completely changing their world. For my IVF, I had a financial coordinator who talked to me, I had a treatment coordinator who talked to me, I had a nurse who talked to me, there were steps through this whole process to make me feel confident.   Confidence is going to buy these and close these cases for you. Your treatment coordinator being exceptionally confident. They don't have to know all of the dentistry, but they do need to be confident talking dollars, looking for solutions and being confident in the dentistry you do. I will say all the time, people will hear me. No matter what size treatment plan, people are buying the doctor's confidence and they're buying the treatment coordinator's confidence. If you're confident that this is the best dentistry that people are ever going to get, you will close radically more cases.   Also your psychology, what am I thinking? Am I thinking like, that's a big number. If I am, people are going to feel that versus like it's a number, it's a treatment plan. This patient deserves great dentistry. So we really have to make sure and also with payment options, not being over the top on these financial avenues. You offer them 70 different options, they're going to be very confused. I prefer two to three that I'm very confident in. I know the ins and outs of them, things that most people use. I might have a few of these that are just a little bit more.   like unconventional, for example, the 401k or the home equity line. A lot of people don't even think about those as options, but they are viable options. ⁓ And then from there, we wanna just make sure that we are dialed in and we have a very, very solid followup on these if we don't close same day. But practice it, track your stats, look to see how you're doing on it, review your stats with your treatment coordinator and doctor every single week.   record yourself and listen to yourself back. And I know that sounds wild, but this office that we've added multi-millions to five locations, the treatment coordinators literally record themselves and send it to me and we listen to it. I role play with them for years. Every other week we are role playing. We are talking about it. What's going well, what's not going well. What's the psychology, what's the breakdown. I had a treatment coordinator the other day get on with me and she said, you know, Kiera, like 45 grand is like my large case for me.   But what I'm struggling with are these like perio ones where we're charging like 900 for gingivitis and I just don't know how to get through it. And so sometimes also presenting the other side of the coin. What happens if they do nothing? What happens if they start now? A lot of these things, but what I've learned is closing these cases is a finesse. There is clarity on schedule first. There is clarity on being direct in our treatment plans.   There is clarity on having a very simple process of step one, step two, step three. There's a very clear, like very strong correlation of higher acceptance when it's that clear, that direct, that confident. Because if I'm going in for surgery, the last thing I want is somebody who's like wishy washy or we can do it this way or what do you think or what do you want or you know, if you need it or if you want it. No, I need somebody who knows what they're doing. This is a $50,000 case. This is a $20,000 case.   We need to have our ducks in a row. We need to be very thorough. We need to be very confident in it. And we need to present this plan and help more patients. So when we look at all this, number one, we got to do great dentistry. And number two, everyone needs to be speaking the same language. And we need to have the psychology that everybody wants our dentistry. And we're great here. We need great handoffs, that warm handoff of teeing it up from hygienist to doctor. Everybody's speaking the same language. We need to be showing them.   testimonials, this is what it's gonna look like, transformations, this is how your life is going to change, this is how this one patient said. And then from there, we're going to make sure that we also are really, really strong on our how we schedule, how we do our handoffs, how we present the dollars and the financial clarity and the very, very clear next step for them. And then very, very strong follow-up. If a patient doesn't schedule in the office with me, it's two days, two weeks, two months of follow-up. I am going to be very rigid with my follow-up. I'm going to have a follow-up.   And then I'm going to review every single week my progress. I'm going to look at what I closed, what I didn't close, what was said. I'm going to listen to my calls. I'm going to listen to the doctor exams because usually, and I hope every one of you hears this, usually cases are won or lost by one or two words. It's not usually all the rest of it. We've got to have all the other pieces in place. But usually when I listen, I hear one or two words that tips a patient in one direction or the other, like,   It's very small, it's very much psychology, it's very much what you're hearing that's not being said is usually what's winning or losing this. I tell everybody sequence matters on how you present treatment plans. We can have a combination lock that the combinations one, two, three, and we can put three, two, one. I had all the right numbers, but in the wrong order and I don't open it. Same thing with presenting these larger cases. I can have all of the dots, but in the wrong order and I won't close. So this is something of.   realizing that when patients say yes, they trust you, they understand, they feel safe, they feel seen, they feel heard, they feel your confidence, and they feel very confident in their decision that this is the best absolute option for them. So I really hope that you realize that high value, high dollar dentistry is partnering with patients. It's transforming their life. It's giving them the confidence and they didn't have, it's giving them life experiences that they didn't have. And so this is a dialed in of how do we get more patients to say yes?   How do we get more patients to optimal health? How do we make sure that patients are getting the best dentistry with you? Now, if they come to you and they give the objections, time, money, spouse, la-di-la-di-la, those are just to me, top line levers that are telling me of an underlying root problem. And I need to listen for that. I need to answer that. And I need to listen to what's not being said and respond to what they actually need. So this is what I love to do. This is how we help a lot of offices.   ⁓ I'm obsessed, like we said, we role play with people, we help them, we transform them. And if we were able to boost your case acceptance one or 2%, what would that do for your practice, let alone 10, 15, 20 %? This is something we're obsessed with and I hope that you guys just heard some great tips, some great tools that you will go implement in your practice. Case acceptance to me is one of the greatest gifts you can give your patients. Doing great dentistry is what this is all about and helping patients see that and say yes to you is the greatest gift you can give them. So if we can help in any way, reach out.   Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go change lives, go change smiles, go be confident in yourselves and just know I'm rooting for you. I'm here in any way we can help you. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.