Podcasts about Jeb

In this podcast Jeb and Ryan are joined by former Braves RP Chad Durbin and discussPlaying Under Jim LeylandEarly careerPostseason/ World SeriesPitchers and Arm InjuriesAnd More!If you like what youre hearing dont be afraid to like, comment, follow, subscribe and rate our show as it helps us a ton!

This week Jeb, Steaky & Deeboi give us all some FM26 save updates....Those eagle-eared of you might realise this is a very solo update but leads to an interesting discussion about #fm26 Steaky also brings us an excellent quiz to finish proceedings!VIVA LA FMT!

In this pod Jeb and Ryan are joined by Brady Penn to discussBradys new job- Braves injuriesWalt Weiss Hire- 2026 Expectations And More! If you like what youre hearing then leave a like, comment, subscribe and rate our show as it helps us out a ton!

Jeb Johnston has been a celebrity hairdresser, a bartender, a musician, a personal trainer, and a nutrition coach — and somewhere in all of that, he went through multiple rehabs, jails, and a $150,000 treatment facility almost featured on NBC. What came out wasn't a neat story. It was something more useful: a coach who stopped needing to be right and built a model that finally made sense of all of it. In this episode we dive into:• Why the decisions we think we're making are rarely actually ours• The three-part framework that goes way beyond macros or mindset• Why your biggest weakness and your biggest strength are the same thing• The one differentiator that will separate thriving business owners from those who disappearWhen You Already Know the Answer But Can't Get There• You've read the books, hired the coaches, and still make the same choice at 9pm you swore off at 9am — not because you're weak, but because your nervous system beat your logic to the punch• We find options with logic, but decisions are always emotionally driven — until you understand that, no strategy sticks• Self-awareness without integration is its own trap — once you've seen the pattern, you can't unsee it, but you're still acting against it• The shift isn't more information. It's getting regulated enough to access the options you already haveThe Framework That Changes How You Coach (And How You Live)• Internal conflict, nervous system intelligence, strategic skills — Jeb's three-pronged approach doesn't start with strategy. It starts where the person actually is• The urge to fix is the resistance point most coaches hit. The post-it on Jeb's therapist's screen: "Wait, why am I talking?" Sitting in the question longer than feels comfortable is the skill• Before you can coach someone, you have to live inside their perspective — not assign your framework to it• The behaviors you most want to change exist because they're your biggest strengths in the wrong context. Stop going to war with yourself.What Gets Built When You Stop Starting Over• Jeb's clients don't leave with before-and-after photos. They leave saying their marriage got better, they're more present with their kids — and the weight loss followed quietly• Krysta shares how rewiring one belief — "putting myself first gets me everything I desire" — changed her calendar, her coaching, and her business. A canceled call now means a Pilates class, not two more pieces of content. The business didn't suffer. It grew.• Don't blow it up. Evolving doesn't require burning it down — the version of you that's outgrown your old model already has everything you need• In a world of funnels, automation, and AI, relationships are what will separate the people who thrive in the next five years from those who go awayWhether you're a coach hitting a ceiling, a business owner tired of tactics that don't feel like you, or someone circling the same health patterns no matter how much you know — this episode is the permission slip to stop outsmarting yourself.Follow Krysta:⁠@thekrystahuber⁠⁠@thefyx.officialpod⁠⁠@thefitnessfyx⁠@thespreadmktg Connect with Jeb:Instagram: @jebstuartjohnstonPodcast: Food on the Mind, Awaken Genius — foodonthemind.comEmail: jeb@foodonthemind.com — he means it when he says reach out

In this pod Jeb and Ryan go overSpencer Schwellenbach NewsRotation DiscussionInjury BugBullpen TalkDylan LeeAnd more!

Here's a question that'll frustrate every salesperson reading this: What do you do when you prospect, set the meeting, block the time on your calendar, and then... your prospect no-shows? That's the challenge Emily Weissmueller faces every single day. Emily is a former elementary school teacher who pivoted into K-12 edtech sales eleven years ago. She works with special education administrators, and like so many salespeople in 2026, her meetings are primarily virtual. She's doing everything right: prospecting consistently, securing appointments, sending calendar invites. But when it's time for the meeting? Hit or miss. Sometimes they show up. Sometimes she's sitting there waiting while nobody logs on. If you've ever stared at a Zoom room alone wondering if your prospect forgot about you, you know exactly how this feels. And if you're wondering whether confirmation emails help or hurt, you're asking the wrong question entirely. The Virtual Meeting Paradox Let's be honest about something: Virtual meetings are throwaway appointments for both sides. When you had to drive four hours to meet someone in person, both parties had serious skin in the game. You invested time, gas money, and effort. Your prospect blocked their calendar knowing you were making the trip. Neither of you would casually blow that off. But virtual meetings? They're low commitment on both ends. No one's driving anywhere. It's just a calendar block that can easily get bumped by the next urgent thing that pops up. And when you're selling into education like Emily is, where everything moves infinitely slow and decision-makers are incredibly risk-averse, you've got even more working against you. The question isn't whether to send a confirmation email. The real question is: How do you stack the deck so heavily in your favor that prospects feel obligated to show up? The Commitment and Consistency Framework There's a principle in human behavior called commitment and consistency. When people commit to something, they typically feel compelled to follow through. Otherwise, they feel guilty. And guilt is actually useful because you can leverage it to reschedule when someone doesn't show. But the goal isn't to make prospects feel guilty after they no-show. The goal is to engineer so many small commitments throughout the process that they show up in the first place. Here's the system that works: Step 1: Confirm Verbally When You Set the Meeting When your prospect agrees to meet, always repeat it back: "Okay, so I've got you on Thursday, January 26th at 2:00 PM. Did I get that right?" When they say yes, that's commitment number one. You're putting it in their brain. You're making it real. Then say this: "Let me grab your email and I'll send you a meeting invite for your calendar just to make it convenient for you." This does two things. First, it confirms you have the right email. Second, it gets another yes. That's commitment number two. Step 2: Send a Meeting Invite That Actually Helps Most meeting invites are useless. They say "Meeting with Jeb Blount" or "Sales Call" and include seventeen different international dial-in numbers that nobody needs. Here's what your meeting invite should look like: Title: Emily Weissmueller (Company Name) + Prospect Name (School Name) - Why We're Meeting Location: Virtual Meeting (then paste the meeting link, nothing else) Notes: Keep it simple. Here's the meeting link. If it's a phone option, include just that number. Then add: "If anything changes, here's my direct number and email." When your prospect looks at their calendar the morning of the meeting and sees this, they know exactly who you are, why you're meeting, and how to join. You own the moral high ground. Step 3: Send a Video (This Is Non-Negotiable) The next morning after you set the meeting, pull out your phone and record a 20-30 second video. Look at the camera. Smile. Sound excited. "Emily, this is Jeb at Sales Gravy. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me. I'm so excited to spend time learning about you and your mission for helping these kids. Just want to confirm our meeting is on January 26th at 2:00 PM. The invite is on your calendar. I can't wait to see you." Send that via email. Now think about what you've just done. You've made it personal. You've shown effort. You've demonstrated that you actually care about this conversation. It's exponentially harder for them to no-show because they can see you're a real human who invested time in this relationship. This philosophy is about going the extra mile to demonstrate that you're different, that you care, and that this matters. Step 4: Leave a Voicemail the Day Before The afternoon before your meeting, when you know your prospect is likely gone for the day, call and leave a voicemail. "Hey Emily, this is Jeb. I'm so excited to meet with you tomorrow. I've been thinking about your school and the ways we might be able to help. I can't wait to learn more about what you're trying to accomplish for these kids. Just a reminder, our meeting is at 2:00 PM tomorrow. All the info is in your calendar. If anything changes, give me a call." You're doing the heavy lifting. You're reminding them. You're expressing genuine interest in their world, not just your sale. Step 5: The Morning-Of Email (Optional) Here's where the A/B testing comes in. Some salespeople swear by the morning-of confirmation email. Others think it gives prospects an easy out. My take? Test both approaches and track your show rates. Do half your appointments with the morning email, half without it, and see which converts better. Even a 2-3% improvement in show rate compounds significantly over a year. If you do send the morning email, make it about them: "Emily, I'm really looking forward to our conversation today at 2:00 PM. I can't wait to learn more about your mission and see if there's a way we can support what you're building." Play to their heartstrings. People love talking about themselves and their work. Make it easy for them to want to show up. What to Do When You Send a Confirmation Email Now, if you're going to send a confirmation email, there are specific scenarios where it's absolutely required: You're driving four hours to meet someone in person You're bringing executives or your boss to the meeting It's a final presentation or closing meeting with a major opportunity Multiple stakeholders are coordinating calendars In those cases, you're not just confirming—you're protecting your time and theirs. You're making sure you don't waste an executive's schedule or drive across the state for nothing. But for a standard first appointment? The video and voicemail sequence will outperform a confirmation email every single time. The Real Problem: Systems, Not People No-shows aren't a people problem. They're a systems problem. When you build a repeatable prospecting system that includes verbal confirmation, calendar invites with clear details, personal video, and day-before voicemail, you engineer commitment at every stage. You're not hoping prospects remember. You're not relying on their calendar notifications. You're building a runway that allows them to land in the meeting because you've made it nearly impossible for them to forget or blow you off. And when someone does no-show after all that effort? You own the moral high ground. You can call back with confidence: "Hey, I know things come up. I sent the video, left the voicemail, and had everything on your calendar. Let's get this rescheduled because I'm genuinely excited to learn about what you're working on." That conversation is dramatically different than calling back after sending one email and hoping for the best. The Efficiency Multiplier Think about what happens when your show rate improves by even 10%. If you were setting ten appointments per week and six were showing up, that's a 60% show rate. Bump that to seven showing up, and you're at 70%. That's one extra conversation per week. Four extra conversations per month. Forty-eight extra conversations per year. If your close rate is 20%, that's nearly ten additional deals per year just from improving your meeting show rate. That's the power of sales execution at the highest level. Your Action Plan If you're struggling with no-shows, implement this system immediately: For every appointment you set: Confirm it verbally when you schedule it Send a detailed calendar invite with clean formatting Record and send a personal video the next day Leave an enthusiastic voicemail the day before A/B test the morning-of email and track results Track these metrics: Total appointments set Show rate percentage No-show rate Reschedule success rate After 30 days, analyze what's working and double down on it. The Bottom Line Virtual meetings are easy to ignore. That's just reality in 2026. Your prospects are busy, distracted, and constantly reprioritizing. Your job isn't to guilt them into showing up. Your job is to build a system that makes showing up feel like the obvious, natural choice because you've demonstrated care, invested effort, and made it personal. Stop sending one confirmation email and hoping for the best. Start building commitment through repetition, personalization, and genuine interest in your prospect's world. That's how you fill your calendar with meetings that actually happen. That's how you stop wasting time staring at empty Zoom rooms. And that's how you build a sales career based on systems, not hope. Meetings happen by design, not by luck. Build the runway. Land the meeting. Close the deal. Ready to Master the Complete Prospecting System? The tactics in this article are just the beginning.

Here’s a question that’ll frustrate every salesperson reading this: What do you do when you prospect, set the meeting, block the time on your calendar, and then… your prospect no-shows? That’s the challenge Emily Weissmueller faces every single day. Emily is a former elementary school teacher who pivoted into K-12 edtech sales eleven years ago. She works with special education administrators, and like so many salespeople in 2026, her meetings are primarily virtual. She’s doing everything right: prospecting consistently, securing appointments, sending calendar invites. But when it’s time for the meeting? Hit or miss. Sometimes they show up. Sometimes she’s sitting there waiting while nobody logs on. If you’ve ever stared at a Zoom room alone wondering if your prospect forgot about you, you know exactly how this feels. And if you’re wondering whether confirmation emails help or hurt, you’re asking the wrong question entirely. The Virtual Meeting Paradox Let’s be honest about something: Virtual meetings are throwaway appointments for both sides. When you had to drive four hours to meet someone in person, both parties had serious skin in the game. You invested time, gas money, and effort. Your prospect blocked their calendar knowing you were making the trip. Neither of you would casually blow that off. But virtual meetings? They’re low commitment on both ends. No one’s driving anywhere. It’s just a calendar block that can easily get bumped by the next urgent thing that pops up. And when you’re selling into education like Emily is, where everything moves infinitely slow and decision-makers are incredibly risk-averse, you’ve got even more working against you. The question isn’t whether to send a confirmation email. The real question is: How do you stack the deck so heavily in your favor that prospects feel obligated to show up? The Commitment and Consistency Framework There’s a principle in human behavior called commitment and consistency. When people commit to something, they typically feel compelled to follow through. Otherwise, they feel guilty. And guilt is actually useful because you can leverage it to reschedule when someone doesn’t show. But the goal isn’t to make prospects feel guilty after they no-show. The goal is to engineer so many small commitments throughout the process that they show up in the first place. Here’s the system that works: Step 1: Confirm Verbally When You Set the Meeting When your prospect agrees to meet, always repeat it back: “Okay, so I’ve got you on Thursday, January 26th at 2:00 PM. Did I get that right?” When they say yes, that’s commitment number one. You’re putting it in their brain. You’re making it real. Then say this: “Let me grab your email and I’ll send you a meeting invite for your calendar just to make it convenient for you.” This does two things. First, it confirms you have the right email. Second, it gets another yes. That’s commitment number two. Step 2: Send a Meeting Invite That Actually Helps Most meeting invites are useless. They say “Meeting with Jeb Blount” or “Sales Call” and include seventeen different international dial-in numbers that nobody needs. Here’s what your meeting invite should look like: Title: Emily Weissmueller (Company Name) + Prospect Name (School Name) – Why We’re Meeting Location: Virtual Meeting (then paste the meeting link, nothing else) Notes: Keep it simple. Here’s the meeting link. If it’s a phone option, include just that number. Then add: “If anything changes, here’s my direct number and email.” When your prospect looks at their calendar the morning of the meeting and sees this, they know exactly who you are, why you’re meeting, and how to join. You own the moral high ground. Step 3: Send a Video (This Is Non-Negotiable) The next morning after you set the meeting, pull out your phone and record a 20-30 second video. Look at the camera. Smile. Sound excited. “Emily, this is Jeb at Sales Gravy. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me. I’m so excited to spend time learning about you and your mission for helping these kids. Just want to confirm our meeting is on January 26th at 2:00 PM. The invite is on your calendar. I can’t wait to see you.” Send that via email. Now think about what you’ve just done. You’ve made it personal. You’ve shown effort. You’ve demonstrated that you actually care about this conversation. It’s exponentially harder for them to no-show because they can see you’re a real human who invested time in this relationship. This philosophy is about going the extra mile to demonstrate that you’re different, that you care, and that this matters. Step 4: Leave a Voicemail the Day Before The afternoon before your meeting, when you know your prospect is likely gone for the day, call and leave a voicemail. “Hey Emily, this is Jeb. I’m so excited to meet with you tomorrow. I’ve been thinking about your school and the ways we might be able to help. I can’t wait to learn more about what you’re trying to accomplish for these kids. Just a reminder, our meeting is at 2:00 PM tomorrow. All the info is in your calendar. If anything changes, give me a call.” You’re doing the heavy lifting. You’re reminding them. You’re expressing genuine interest in their world, not just your sale. Step 5: The Morning-Of Email (Optional) Here’s where the A/B testing comes in. Some salespeople swear by the morning-of confirmation email. Others think it gives prospects an easy out. My take? Test both approaches and track your show rates. Do half your appointments with the morning email, half without it, and see which converts better. Even a 2-3% improvement in show rate compounds significantly over a year. If you do send the morning email, make it about them: “Emily, I’m really looking forward to our conversation today at 2:00 PM. I can’t wait to learn more about your mission and see if there’s a way we can support what you’re building.” Play to their heartstrings. People love talking about themselves and their work. Make it easy for them to want to show up. What to Do When You Send a Confirmation Email Now, if you’re going to send a confirmation email, there are specific scenarios where it’s absolutely required: You’re driving four hours to meet someone in person You’re bringing executives or your boss to the meeting It’s a final presentation or closing meeting with a major opportunity Multiple stakeholders are coordinating calendars In those cases, you’re not just confirming—you’re protecting your time and theirs. You’re making sure you don’t waste an executive’s schedule or drive across the state for nothing. But for a standard first appointment? The video and voicemail sequence will outperform a confirmation email every single time. The Real Problem: Systems, Not People No-shows aren’t a people problem. They’re a systems problem. When you build a repeatable prospecting system that includes verbal confirmation, calendar invites with clear details, personal video, and day-before voicemail, you engineer commitment at every stage. You’re not hoping prospects remember. You’re not relying on their calendar notifications. You’re building a runway that allows them to land in the meeting because you’ve made it nearly impossible for them to forget or blow you off. And when someone does no-show after all that effort? You own the moral high ground. You can call back with confidence: “Hey, I know things come up. I sent the video, left the voicemail, and had everything on your calendar. Let’s get this rescheduled because I’m genuinely excited to learn about what you’re working on.” That conversation is dramatically different than calling back after sending one email and hoping for the best. The Efficiency Multiplier Think about what happens when your show rate improves by even 10%. If you were setting ten appointments per week and six were showing up, that’s a 60% show rate. Bump that to seven showing up and you’re at 70%. That’s one extra conversation per week. Four extra conversations per month. Forty-eight extra conversations per year. If your close rate is 20%, that’s nearly ten additional deals per year just from improving your meeting show rate. That’s the power of sales execution at the highest level. Your Action Plan If you’re struggling with no-shows, implement this system immediately: For every appointment you set: Confirm it verbally when you schedule it Send a detailed calendar invite with clean formatting Record and send a personal video the next day Leave an enthusiastic voicemail the day before A/B test the morning-of email and track results Track these metrics: Total appointments set Show rate percentage No-show rate Reschedule success rate After 30 days, analyze what’s working and double down on it. The Bottom Line Virtual meetings are easy to ignore. That’s just reality in 2026. Your prospects are busy, distracted, and constantly reprioritizing. Your job isn’t to guilt them into showing up. Your job is to build a system that makes showing up feel like the obvious, natural choice because you’ve demonstrated care, invested effort, and made it personal. Stop sending one confirmation email and hoping for the best. Start building commitment through repetition, personalization, and genuine interest in your prospect’s world. That’s how you fill your calendar with meetings that actually happen. That’s how you stop wasting time staring at empty Zoom rooms. And that’s how you build a sales career based on systems, not hope. Meetings happen by design, not by luck. Build the runway. Land the meeting. Close the deal. Ready to Master the Complete Prospecting System? The tactics in this article are just the beginning. If you want to learn the complete methodology for filling your pipeline with qualified appointments that actually show up, join us at an upcoming Sales Gravy Live Event. You’ll get hands-on training in prospecting, qualification, objection handling, and closing from Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy team. Don’t leave your sales success to chance—invest in the skills that separate top performers from everyone else.

Hi gang!We're back!This week, Rich and Dee are joined by the returning Jeb. As you may know, Jeb hasn't played a lot of FM26. Can Rich and Dee reignite the flame within him? The burning hot FM fire? The spicy tactical BBQ? The temperate trequartista tandoor?Anyway.We're also got a little network save update and we take a confession from the community.Good.VIVA LA FMT!Our links:https://linktr.ee/fmtpodhttps://twitch.tv/richowensfmhttps://twitch.tv/jebaroohttps://twitch.tv/deeboiplayshttps://twitch.tv/the_steak_bakeCupburger: ⁠https://www.cupburger.org⁠#FMT #FootballManager #Football #Soccer #FM26 #FM

S2E131 - Clotheslined FreewayRetro's gone guns blazing and something electric is happen on the streets of Night City. Power stealing goons and undercover NCPD litter the battlefield and some of the crew are unsure if they should draw iron. It's time to take what they need, and leave everyone else out to fry.Can Retro take out 3 dudes on his own?Will Vivi, Ioanna or Vendell even shoot?When was the last time Jeb took a joy ride?Only the dice will tell.More info can be found here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/NoLatency⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out out Patreon!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/nolatency⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Even more information and MERCH is on our website!Get a 10% DISCOUNT on the ⁠⁠Official Rtalsorian Store⁠⁠ Using Our Promocode: ⁠⁠NOLATENCY⁠⁠BlueSky & Twitter: @nolatencypodInstagram: @nolatencypodFind @SkullorJade,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @Miss_Magitek⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @Binary_Dragon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  @retrodatv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on twitch, for live D&D and more.#cyberpunkred #actualplay #ttrpg #radioplay #scifi #cyberpunk #drama #comedy

Show less Jeb and Blake kick off Season 5 of In Search Of... by researching UFO COVERUPS! Links:  UFO Crash at Roswell Catalina UFO Footage and Reddit discussion of same Twilight Zone - A Small Talent for War Malmstrom UFO Incident Obit for Col. Donald Burggrabe Peter Gersten "the UFO Lawyer" Raymond Fowler Col. Robert Friend - and obit Jesse Marcel Sr. NASA Lifting Body Northrop Flying Wing Doak VZ-4 (not a saucer!) Avrocar Jupiter II (Lost in Space) Nimoy Fashion Alert! UFO Crash Sites in New Mexico:   There is a lot of Top Secret in this episode: Col Donald Burggrabe Raymond Fowler Peter Gersten Donald Ritter Jesse Marcel Sr. Col Robert Friend And was the model UFO in this episode a guest star from Lost In Space?

In this pod Jeb, Ryan, Jose AND BEN are back together and discuss HSK InjuryNL East Division TalkAndruw Jones TalkHall Of Fame Discussions And More!If you like what youre hearing and want more make sure to like, comment, follow, share, subscribe and rate our show as it helps us out a ton!

I'm not sure if you noticed this, but there is a massive gap between what salespeople and leaders know and what they actually do. I’ve written 18 books and trained hundreds of thousands of salespeople. I can’t tell you how many times someone comes up to me and says, “Jeb, I read Fanatical Prospecting. Great book. But that stuff doesn’t work for me.” Or they’ll say, “I tried that objection handling technique you taught, but it didn’t work, so I went back to what I was doing before.” Here’s what they don't understand: The problem isn’t the technique. The problem is that they gave up too soon. The brutal truth is that most people fail to implement what they learn.  The Skate Park Lesson A couple of weeks ago, I was traveling for business, working with one of my clients' sales teams. One afternoon, I decided I needed some exercise, so I went for a walk. Along the way, I came across a skate park where kids were riding their skateboards and doing tricks. There was a bench nearby, so I sat down to watch for a while. Close to me was a group of young guys, probably 13 or 14 years old. They were huddled around a phone watching a YouTube video of someone doing a particular trick on their skateboard. They watched it, talked about it, and then one of them threw his skateboard down and attempted the trick. He immediately fell off and failed. The next kid tried, and he failed. Then the next one and the next one. All of them failed to do the trick.  So what did they do? They went back and watched the YouTube video again. Then they threw down their boards and crashed and burned, but this time, slightly less dramatically than the first time. They repeated this process over and over. Watch the video. Try the trick. Fail. Watch again. Try again. Fail a little less badly. Until finally, one of them nailed it. When he landed the trick, they all erupted. Clapping, fist pumping, and cheering. And once one kid got it, the rest of them started getting it too. They practiced until they had the trick nailed down, then went back to YouTube to find another trick to learn. At that point, I got up and headed back to my hotel. But as I was walking, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d just witnessed. Too Often, We Give Up too Soon How often do we do the exact opposite in business and sales? We read a book, watch a video, listen to a podcast. We hear about a technique or concept that sounds really good. And we think, “Yeah, I’m going to try that.” So we give it one shot. Maybe two if we’re feeling ambitious. And when it doesn’t work perfectly the first time, we say, “Well, this doesn’t work for me,” and we give up and never try it again. Or worse, we read the book, feel really good about the concept, then put the book down and never even attempt it at all because we've already convinced ourselves it wouldn’t work for us before we even tried. But here’s the thing: Those kids at the skate park didn’t look at that trick and say, “This looks hard, it probably won’t work for me.” They looked at it and said, “We’re going to figure this out.” They understood something that most adults have forgotten: Just because you read about something or see someone else do it, doesn’t mean you’re going to master it on the first try. The Homemade Yogurt Failure Paradigm  As I was walking back from the skate park, this lesson reminded me of something that had happened to me over the holidays. I’d seen something in my news feed about making homemade yogurt. It looked interesting, so I bought some milk, studied the recipe, and made an attempt. And I failed. My concoction didn’t turn into yogurt at all. My immediate reaction was, “Well, this isn’t going to work; it must be a bad recipe.” I gave up after one failed attempt. But after watching those kids at the skatepark, I realized the giving-up-too-soon trap I'd fallen into. So when I got home from my trip, I went back, reread the recipe, walked back through my steps to figure out what went wrong, and tried again. This time it worked, and I actually made yogurt. The recipe wasn’t the problem. My execution was the problem. And I only figured that out by trying again. The Human Overconfidence Fallacy  Here’s the lesson: We are all susceptible to this human fallacy of believing that we can read something, watch something, or hear something once and then immediately do it perfectly. When it doesn’t work the first time (or even the second time), we conclude that the technique is flawed, or it won't work for us, or our situation is unique and different. But the truth is, we gave up too soon, before we gave the technique a fair shot. That’s just being human. We’re wired for overconfidence, instant gratification, and immediate results. When we don’t get them, we move on. Why This Matters in Sales  Let me bring this back to sales, because this pattern will absolutely kill your results. You read a book on prospecting, learn a new cold calling technique, watch a sales training video on objection handling, or attend a conference or training and learn new ideas. Then you try it. Maybe it feels awkward, or the prospect reacts differently than you expected. Maybe you stumble over the words, or you get shut down and rejected. So you conclude it doesn’t work, and you go back to what you were doing before, which, by the way, wasn’t working either. That’s why you were looking for something new in the first place. Here’s what you’re missing: Sales is and always has been a numbers game. Statistics and the law of averages matter. Even the best techniques don’t work 100% of the time. You have to use them enough times to see the patterns and to understand what’s working and what needs adjustment. The Iteration Process Those kids at the skate park weren’t just repeating the same failed attempt over and over. They were iterating. They’d try the trick, fail, and then make a small adjustment. They’d watch the video again, notice something they missed the first time, and then talk to each other about what went wrong and what to try differently. That’s the process: Try, fail, learn, adjust, try again. But most people skip the “learn and adjust” part. They just try, fail, and quit. Let me give you a sales example. Say you’re trying a new prospecting email template. You send it to ten prospects and get no responses. The try-fail-quit people conclude the template doesn’t work. But a try-fail-learn-adjust-try again high performer would ask:  Did I send it to the right prospects?  Was my subject line compelling?  Was the timing right?  Did my call to action make sense?  Should I test a different version? They’d iterate and test different variables until they figured out what worked. That’s what separates top performers from everyone else. They don’t give up after one attempt. Instead, they iterate until they succeed. The Success Leaves Clues Principle Here’s something else those kids understood: If someone else is doing something successfully, that means it’s possible. When they watched that YouTube video, they didn’t say, “Well, that guy is just naturally talented.” They said, “If he can do it, we can figure out how to do it too.” This is the “success leaves clues” principle. If someone else is making something work, that’s proof it can work. Your job is to master their patterns and believe that you can make it work too. When you read a book like Fanatical Prospecting, and you see examples of people who built massive pipelines using these techniques, that’s not fiction. Those are real people who learned how to execute these strategies. When you watch a training video and see someone handle an objection smoothly, that’s not magic. It is someone who practiced that response dozens or hundreds of times until it became natural. The clues and evidence are there. The only question is: Are you willing to put in the practice and endure the failures until you get there yourself? The Practice Paradox Here’s the paradox that trips people up: The techniques that work best often feel the most awkward at first. That’s because they’re different from what you’ve been doing, and anything different feels uncomfortable. For example, when I teach salespeople to slow down and use silence in negotiations, they hate it. It feels unnatural. They want to fill the silence with words. But the ones who push through that discomfort and practice using silence close bigger deals at better margins. When I teach salespeople to ask for referrals using a specific framework, they feel like they’re being pushy or scripted. But the ones who practice the framework until it becomes conversational generate more referrals than they ever thought possible. The discomfort is temporary. The results are permanent. But you have to get through the discomfort in order to get to the results. 5 Keys to Mastering New Sales Skills So, how do you actually implement what you learn? Here’s what I recommend: First, commit to practicing any new technique at least twenty times before you decide if it works. Not once. Not twice. Twenty times minimum. That’s how long it takes to get past the awkwardness and start seeing results. Second, track your results. Don’t rely on your feelings about whether something is working. Write down what happened each time you tried the technique. Look for patterns and notice what’s improving. Third, iterate. If something isn’t working after multiple attempts, don’t just abandon it. Adjust it. What needs to change? What variable can you test differently? Fourth, find someone who’s making it work and learn from them. If you’re struggling with a technique that others are using successfully, reach out to them. Ask questions. Watch how they do it. Fifth, be patient with yourself. You’re not going to master anything instantly. Give yourself permission to be bad at something new while you’re trying to master it. Your Homework this Week Here’s what I want you to do this week: Pick one technique you learned recently – from a book, a podcast, a training – and commit to trying it at least twenty times this week. Track what happens each time. Notice what’s working and what’s not, make small adjustments, and keep at it. Because here’s the truth: The techniques work. But you must put in the work before they will work for you.   Those kids at the skate park didn’t give up after the first fall. They kept going until they nailed the trick. That’s what separates winners from everyone else. Not talent, luck, or some magical gift. Just the willingness to try, fail, learn, adjust, and try again until you get it right. And remember, when it’s time to go home, make one more call. Because that one more call is one more rep, one more attempt to get better, and one more step toward mastering your craft.   One way to become a stronger sales professional and leader is the OutBound Conference. OutBound is the biggest, baddest sales and leadership training conference on the planet. At Outbound, you'll learn from the world's top sales and leadership experts and network with other high performers just like you. To reserve your tickets, go to OutboundConference.com 

I'm not sure if you noticed this, but there is a massive gap between what salespeople and leaders know and what they actually do. I've written 18 books and trained hundreds of thousands of salespeople. I can't tell you how many times someone comes up to me and says, "Jeb, I read Fanatical Prospecting. Great book. But that stuff doesn't work for me." Or they'll say, "I tried that objection handling technique you taught, but it didn't work, so I went back to what I was doing before." Here's what they don't understand: The problem isn't the technique. The problem is that they gave up too soon. The brutal truth is that most people fail to implement what they learn.  The Skate Park Lesson A couple of weeks ago, I was traveling for business, working with one of my clients' sales teams. One afternoon, I decided I needed some exercise, so I went for a walk. Along the way, I came across a skate park where kids were riding their skateboards and doing tricks. There was a bench nearby, so I sat down to watch for a while. Close to me was a group of young guys, probably 13 or 14 years old. They were huddled around a phone watching a YouTube video of someone doing a particular trick on their skateboard. They watched it, talked about it, and then one of them threw his skateboard down and attempted the trick. He immediately fell off and failed. The next kid tried, and he failed. Then the next one and the next one. All of them failed to do the trick.  So what did they do? They went back and watched the YouTube video again. Then they threw down their boards and crashed and burned, but this time, slightly less dramatically than the first time. They repeated this process over and over. Watch the video. Try the trick. Fail. Watch again. Try again. Fail a little less badly. Until finally, one of them nailed it. When he landed the trick, they all erupted. Clapping, fist pumping, and cheering. And once one kid got it, the rest of them started getting it too. They practiced until they had the trick nailed down, then went back to YouTube to find another trick to learn. At that point, I got up and headed back to my hotel. But as I was walking, I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd just witnessed. Too Often, We Give Up too Soon How often do we do the exact opposite in business and sales? We read a book, watch a video, listen to a podcast. We hear about a technique or concept that sounds really good. And we think, "Yeah, I'm going to try that." So we give it one shot. Maybe two if we're feeling ambitious. And when it doesn't work perfectly the first time, we say, "Well, this doesn't work for me," and we give up and never try it again. Or worse, we read the book, feel really good about the concept, then put the book down and never even attempt it at all because we've already convinced ourselves it wouldn't work for us before we even tried. But here's the thing: Those kids at the skate park didn't look at that trick and say, "This looks hard, it probably won't work for me." They looked at it and said, "We're going to figure this out." They understood something that most adults have forgotten: Just because you read about something or see someone else do it, doesn't mean you're going to master it on the first try. The Homemade Yogurt Failure Paradigm  As I was walking back from the skate park, this lesson reminded me of something that had happened to me over the holidays. I'd seen something in my news feed about making homemade yogurt. It looked interesting, so I bought some milk, studied the recipe, and made an attempt. And I failed. My concoction didn't turn into yogurt at all. My immediate reaction was, "Well, this isn't going to work; it must be a bad recipe." I gave up after one failed attempt. But after watching those kids at the skatepark, I realized the giving-up-too-soon trap I'd fallen into. So when I got home from my trip, I went back, reread the recipe, walked back through my steps to figure out what went wrong, and tried again. This time it worked, and I actually made yogurt. The recipe wasn't the problem. My execution was the problem. And I only figured that out by trying again. The Human Overconfidence Fallacy  Here's the lesson: We are all susceptible to this human fallacy of believing that we can read something, watch something, or hear something once and then immediately do it perfectly. When it doesn't work the first time (or even the second time), we conclude that the technique is flawed, or it won't work for us, or our situation is unique and different. But the truth is, we gave up too soon, before we gave the technique a fair shot. That's just being human. We're wired for overconfidence, instant gratification, and immediate results. When we don't get them, we move on. Why This Matters in Sales  Let me bring this back to sales, because this pattern will absolutely kill your results. You read a book on prospecting, learn a new cold calling technique, watch a sales training video on objection handling, or attend a conference or training and learn new ideas. Then you try it. Maybe it feels awkward, or the prospect reacts differently than you expected. Maybe you stumble over the words, or you get shut down and rejected. So you conclude it doesn't work, and you go back to what you were doing before, which, by the way, wasn't working either. That's why you were looking for something new in the first place. Here's what you're missing: Sales is and always has been a numbers game. Statistics and the law of averages matter. Even the best techniques don't work 100% of the time. You have to use them enough times to see the patterns and to understand what's working and what needs adjustment. The Iteration Process Those kids at the skate park weren't just repeating the same failed attempt over and over. They were iterating. They'd try the trick, fail, and then make a small adjustment. They'd watch the video again, notice something they missed the first time, and then talk to each other about what went wrong and what to try differently. That's the process: Try, fail, learn, adjust, try again. But most people skip the "learn and adjust" part. They just try, fail, and quit. Let me give you a sales example. Say you're trying a new prospecting email template. You send it to ten prospects and get no responses. The try-fail-quit people conclude the template doesn't work. But a try-fail-learn-adjust-try again high performer would ask:  Did I send it to the right prospects?  Was my subject line compelling?  Was the timing right?  Did my call to action make sense?  Should I test a different version? They'd iterate and test different variables until they figured out what worked. That's what separates top performers from everyone else. They don't give up after one attempt. Instead, they iterate until they succeed. The Success Leaves Clues Principle Here's something else those kids understood: If someone else is doing something successfully, that means it's possible. When they watched that YouTube video, they didn't say, "Well, that guy is just naturally talented." They said, "If he can do it, we can figure out how to do it too." This is the "success leaves clues" principle. If someone else is making something work, that's proof it can work. Your job is to master their patterns and believe that you can make it work too. When you read a book like Fanatical Prospecting, and you see examples of people who built massive pipelines using these techniques, that's not fiction. Those are real people who learned how to execute these strategies. When you watch a training video and see someone handle an objection smoothly, that's not magic. It is someone who practiced that response dozens or hundreds of times until it became natural. The clues and evidence are there. The only question is: Are you willing to put in the practice and endure the failures until you get there yourself? The Practice Paradox Here's the paradox that trips people up: The techniques that work best often feel the most awkward at first. That's because they're different from what you've been doing, and anything different feels uncomfortable. For example, when I teach salespeople to slow down and use silence in negotiations, they hate it. It feels unnatural. They want to fill the silence with words. But the ones who push through that discomfort and practice using silence close bigger deals at better margins. When I teach salespeople to ask for referrals using a specific framework, they feel like they're being pushy or scripted. But the ones who practice the framework until it becomes conversational generate more referrals than they ever thought possible. The discomfort is temporary. The results are permanent. But you have to get through the discomfort in order to get to the results. 5 Keys to Mastering New Sales Skills So, how do you actually implement what you learn? Here's what I recommend: First, commit to practicing any new technique at least twenty times before you decide if it works. Not once. Not twice. Twenty times minimum. That's how long it takes to get past the awkwardness and start seeing results. Second, track your results. Don't rely on your feelings about whether something is working. Write down what happened each time you tried the technique. Look for patterns and notice what's improving. Third, iterate. If something isn't working after multiple attempts, don't just abandon it. Adjust it. What needs to change? What variable can you test differently? Fourth, find someone who's making it work and learn from them. If you're struggling with a technique that others are using successfully, reach out to them. Ask questions. Watch how they do it. Fifth, be patient with yourself. You're not going to master anything instantly.

S2E129 - SAY NO MOREThe crew are bringing street justice to the NCU. Vivi and Retro get their revenge on their least favorite professor, Ioanna tries to keep her distance . On the roof, Jeb and Vendell do their best to stay away from Vivi in the Dean's office, sowing a mans mouth shut. That'll teach him.Can Jeb hold back his blood lust?Will this satisfy Retro's bad grades?Is Vivi really going to sew the Dean's mouth shut?Only the dice will tell.More info can be found here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/NoLatency⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out out Patreon!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/nolatency⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Even more information and MERCH is on our website!Check out JEFFERY BALDINGER on JAN 31st in LA @ The Cat's Crawl.PROMOCODE JEFFERY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.nolatencypodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get a 10% DISCOUNT on the Official Rtalsorian Store Using Our Promocode: NOLATENCYBlueSky & Twitter: @nolatencypodInstagram: @nolatencypodFind @SkullorJade,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @Miss_Magitek⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @Binary_Dragon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  @retrodatv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on twitch, for live D&D and more.#cyberpunkred #actualplay #ttrpg #radioplay #scifi #cyberpunk #drama #comedy

Buying a home isn't one big payment—it's a series of cash moments that catch people off guard and create unnecessary stress. In this episode, Jeb and Josh break down exactly how much cash you really need beyond the down payment, what each cost is for, and when the money is actually due. From earnest money to inspections to closing, this walkthrough replaces uncertainty with clarity so you can move through the process with confidence. If you want fewer surprises and more control when buying a home, this is required listening. FREE Online Workshop - Your Guide to Buying A Home In 2026Ready To Become A Homeowner? Start HereJoin Rate Watch – we'll watch rates for youEmail: info@theeducatedhomebuyer.comConnect with Us

Deliverance from Stupidparty Land seeks to explain the inexplicable, to place landing-strip beacons on the fading yet undeniably attractive runway flying us permanently away from snake-pit USA 2018—illuminating how as-yet-undiscovered trends can secure deliverance for a splintered, exhausted electorate that now simply lacks the fire power, the will power, to disrupt the seemingly irreversible trend into a dystopian future. How did the US voluntarily arrive at the doorstep of its own demise? This homemade manmade Handmaid's Tale, where falsehoods and transparently mean-spirited claptrap trump facts and common decency—subverting naïve yet positive innocence into a malignant supremacist and myopic nationalistic agenda that is now in inflaming the planet's already rising temperature of self-harm? All this to cloak the true aspirations of the identified malevolent Oligarchs, who no longer lie quietly waiting. The first book in this trilogy (Math v. Myth) exposed the blatant myths that now overshadow reality. The second book (Who is Jeb!!!) uncovered the horrible histories of the Bush dynasty—revealing how America, beginning with the JFK assassination, began its descent from being a force for good, to now having zero moral authority. Allies hold us in contempt; enemies nurture us. We must understand the problem in order to visualize and actualize the solution. Since I fear the solution is unlikely to be enacted organically, we must prepare to seek a ballot-box-inspired intervention from a higher power—we must seek deliverance from our own collective folly, not from the heavens but from our own homegrown saviors, whom we created in the image of own inescapable delusions.https://amzn.to/4pEXhuyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

In this episode of the Programming Lines podcast, we chat with Jeb Baugh about his journey to becoming a political content creator. Jeb shares his views on the America First movement, its differences with MAGA, and his perspective on topics like immigration, the conservative movement, and political figures. We also delve into controversial subjects such as the Epstein files, the impact of Charlie Kirk's death, the significance of demographic changes, and historical figures. Tune in for an insightful and candid discussion on current political landscapes and ideologies.#ProgrammingLionsPodcastJeb's IG: https://www.instagram.com/jeb.baugh/Shop GSD Affiliates:

Hi gang!FMT is back again and we;re repeating ourselves in a really good way!This weeks episode is class for 3 reasons:1) STEAKY IS BACK, meaning it's the first full FMTeam line-up in AGES,2) Ledley Kings League is back, and3) tangents. So many tangents.Thisa week, the gang are drafting 5-a-side teams based on past and present Premier League players. Rich and Jeb are old hands at this, Dee and Steaky are LKLV's.Who did the best job? You decide! Vote in our twitter poll, let your voice be heard and your chosen winner crowned.It's good to be back.VIVA LA FMT!Our links:https://linktr.ee/fmtpodhttps://twitch.tv/richowensfmhttps://twitch.tv/jebaroohttps://twitch.tv/deeboiplayshttps://twitch.tv/the_steak_bakeCupburger: ⁠https://www.cupburger.org⁠#FMT #FootballManager #Football #Soccer #FM26 #FM

In this pod Jeb, Ryan and Jose are joined by Grant McAuley of the Marietta Daily Journal joins the guys to discuss * Braves Offseason So Far* Potential Targets/Needs* His Journey to Becoming a Writer* Vintage Card CollectingAnd More! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jebmaize.substack.com

Jeb and Jack meetup with Amy Laboda for coffee, bagels, and conversation about flying. All this and more on Uncontrolled Airspace Podcast. Recorded Dec 11, 2025. (28:07) [#770] {3} [UCAP1116]

Here's a question that keeps salespeople up at night: How do you build a powerful personal brand without stepping on your company's toes? That's the question Taylor Deadrick asked me during a recent live event. Taylor works for Insperity (a fantastic company that handles all our HR and payroll at Sales Gravy, by the way), and she wanted to know how to establish her own brand while staying aligned with her employer. If you've ever felt this tension, you're not alone. The fear of conflicting with your company's brand holds too many salespeople back from building the authority they need to win more deals. Let me show you how to build a personal brand that actually amplifies your company's message instead of competing with it. The Only Real Conflict You Need to Worry About Here's the brutal truth: The only way you'll conflict with your company's brand is if you assert that your own opinion is that of your employer, or what you're posting, saying, or writing conflicts with their core values, their marketing message, or the way they go to market. That's it. That's the line. If you start trying to speak for your company or post things that contradict their values, you've got a problem. But if everything you do supports those core values, you're going to be just fine. Think about it this way: Your company hired you because you aligned with their mission. Now your job is to amplify that mission through your own authentic voice and expertise. The mistake most salespeople make is thinking their personal brand needs to be separate from or independent of their company. Wrong. Your personal brand should be the human face of your company's value proposition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xi5PHIrBts Your Personal Brand Is Bigger Than Your Logo Your personal brand isn't just what you post on LinkedIn. It's not your profile picture or your witty headline. Your personal brand is the confidence you show when you hop on a microphone and ask a tough question. It's your smile and the way you treat people. It's whether you're kind, whether you invest in yourself, whether you show up with expertise that actually helps people solve problems. Your personal brand is the human being who walks into businesses every day and shows up for those businesses. That's the most important part of your brand, and that's the part that builds trust and causes people to buy you. Everything else (your LinkedIn posts, your content, your online presence) is just an extension of that core identity. Authority: The Secret Weapon of Personal Branding When I think about building a personal brand, I think about one word: authority. Authority is your expertise. It's what you know that helps other people win. And here's the beautiful thing: When you build authority in your space, you're not competing with your company's brand. You're reinforcing it. Let's use Taylor's situation as an example. She works with small and medium-sized businesses, helping them grow by taking HR and payroll off their plate so they can focus on what matters. That's exactly why we came to Insperity in the first place. If Taylor builds her authority around understanding the problems small business owners face, if she becomes known for helping companies break through growth barriers, if she consistently shares insights about the challenges her buyers deal with every single day, that authority doesn't conflict with Insperity. It amplifies everything they stand for. When you focus on your expertise and how you help people, your personal brand becomes a magnet. You create leads. When prospects research you before a meeting, they see someone they actually want to talk to. You're building trust before you ever shake hands. The Five S Framework for Building Authority In my book The LinkedIn Edge, I walk through what I call the Five S's for building your personal brand, especially on LinkedIn. This framework keeps you aligned with your company while establishing your unique authority. The key is sending the right message to the marketplace about the expertise you bring, your authority in solving specific problems, and how you can help people win. When you focus there, everything else falls into place. Your content should showcase the patterns you're seeing with your buyers, the problems you solve consistently, and simple frameworks they can use right away. That's what creates familiarity. That's what warms up the room before you ever make a call. Think of LinkedIn as your familiarity engine. When you show up consistently with practical insights, every outreach gets easier and every conversation becomes more productive. Know Your Company's Social Media Policy Inside and Out Before you post a single piece of content, take a hard look at your company's social media policy. Understand what they allow you to say and what they don't. Know those boundaries cold. This isn't about limiting yourself. It's about operating with confidence. When you know exactly where the guardrails are, you can create boldly within them. Most companies have pretty straightforward policies: Don't share confidential information, don't speak on behalf of the company without authorization, and stay aligned with core values. Follow those rules, and you'll be fine. The salespeople who get in trouble are the ones who never bothered to read the policy in the first place. Your Brand Is What You Do, Not Just What You Post Here's what too many people forget: Your personal brand is built in the trenches, not just on social media. It's built into every discovery call where you ask better questions than your competitors. It's built in every proposal where you demonstrate that you truly understand your buyer's world. It's built in every follow-up where you add value instead of just checking in. The online stuff matters, but it only works if it's backed up by real expertise and genuine care for your customers. You can't fake authority. You earn it by doing the work, studying your industry, understanding your buyers, and creating your content. When you combine that real-world expertise with a consistent online presence, you become unstoppable. You're not just another rep. You're the person buyers want to work with. The Bottom Line Stop worrying about conflicting with your company's brand. Instead, focus on amplifying it through your unique voice and expertise. Your personal brand should make your company look good. It should attract the right buyers. It should build trust before you ever pick up the phone. Stay aligned with your company's core values. Know their social media policy. Focus your content on your specific expertise and the problems you solve. Show up consistently, both online and in person. That's how you build a personal brand that becomes a magnet. That's how you make every conversation easier and every deal more likely to close. And that's how you become the salesperson everyone wants to buy from. Your brand is your authority. Now go build it. Want to learn the complete system for building authority on LinkedIn? Check out Jeb's latest book, The LinkedIn Edge, where he breaks down the Five S framework and shows you exactly how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a lead-generating machine.

Here's a question that keeps salespeople up at night: How do you build a powerful personal brand without stepping on your company's toes? That's the question Taylor Deadrick asked me during a recent live event. Taylor works for Insperity (a fantastic company that handles all our HR and payroll at Sales Gravy, by the way), and she wanted to know how to establish her own brand while staying aligned with her employer. If you've ever felt this tension, you're not alone. The fear of conflicting with your company's brand holds too many salespeople back from building the authority they need to win more deals. Let me show you how to build a personal brand that actually amplifies your company's message instead of competing with it. The Only Real Conflict You Need to Worry About Here's the brutal truth: The only way you'll conflict with your company's brand is if you assert that your own opinion is that of your employer, or what you're posting, saying, or writing conflicts with their core values, their marketing message, or the way they go to market. That's it. That's the line. If you start trying to speak for your company or post things that contradict their values, you've got a problem. But if everything you do supports those core values, you're going to be just fine. Think about it this way: Your company hired you because you aligned with their mission. Now your job is to amplify that mission through your own authentic voice and expertise. The mistake most salespeople make is thinking their personal brand needs to be separate from or independent of their company. Wrong. Your personal brand should be the human face of your company's value proposition. Your Personal Brand Is Bigger Than Your Logo Your personal brand isn't just what you post on LinkedIn. It's not your profile picture or your witty headline. Your personal brand is the confidence you show when you hop on a microphone and ask a tough question. It's your smile and the way you treat people. It's whether you're kind, whether you invest in yourself, whether you show up with expertise that actually helps people solve problems. Your personal brand is the human being who walks into businesses every day and shows up for those businesses. That's the most important part of your brand, and that's the part that builds trust and causes people to buy you. Everything else (your LinkedIn posts, your content, your online presence) is just an extension of that core identity. Authority: The Secret Weapon of Personal Branding When I think about building a personal brand, I think about one word: authority. Authority is your expertise. It's what you know that helps other people win. And here's the beautiful thing: When you build authority in your space, you're not competing with your company's brand. You're reinforcing it. Let's use Taylor's situation as an example. She works with small and medium-sized businesses, helping them grow by taking HR and payroll off their plate so they can focus on what matters. That's exactly why we came to Insperity in the first place. If Taylor builds her authority around understanding the problems small business owners face, if she becomes known for helping companies break through growth barriers, if she consistently shares insights about the challenges her buyers deal with every single day, that authority doesn't conflict with Insperity. It amplifies everything they stand for. When you focus on your expertise and how you help people, your personal brand becomes a magnet. You create leads. When prospects research you before a meeting, they see someone they actually want to talk to. You're building trust before you ever shake hands. The Five S Framework for Building Authority In my book The LinkedIn Edge, I walk through what I call the Five S's for building your personal brand, especially on LinkedIn. This framework keeps you aligned with your company while establishing your unique authority. The key is sending the right message to the marketplace about the expertise you bring, your authority in solving specific problems, and how you can help people win. When you focus there, everything else falls into place. Your content should showcase the patterns you're seeing with your buyers, the problems you solve consistently, and simple frameworks they can use right away. That's what creates familiarity. That's what warms up the room before you ever make a call. Think of LinkedIn as your familiarity engine. When you show up consistently with practical insights, every outreach gets easier and every conversation becomes more productive. Know Your Company's Social Media Policy Inside and Out Before you post a single piece of content, take a hard look at your company's social media policy. Understand what they allow you to say and what they don't. Know those boundaries cold. This isn't about limiting yourself. It's about operating with confidence. When you know exactly where the guardrails are, you can create boldly within them. Most companies have pretty straightforward policies: Don't share confidential information, don't speak on behalf of the company without authorization, and stay aligned with core values. Follow those rules, and you'll be fine. The salespeople who get in trouble are the ones who never bothered to read the policy in the first place. Your Brand Is What You Do, Not Just What You Post Here's what too many people forget: Your personal brand is built in the trenches, not just on social media. It's built in every discovery call where you ask better questions than your competitors. It's built in every proposal where you demonstrate that you truly understand your buyer's world. It's built in every follow-up where you add value instead of just checking in. The online stuff matters, but it only works if it's backed up by real expertise and genuine care for your customers. You can't fake authority. You earn it by doing the work, studying your industry, understanding your buyers, and your content. When you combine that real-world expertise with a consistent online presence, you become unstoppable. You're not just another rep. You're the person buyers want to work with. The Bottom Line Stop worrying about conflicting with your company's brand. Instead, focus on amplifying it through your unique voice and expertise. Your personal brand should make your company look good. It should attract the right buyers. It should build trust before you ever pick up the phone. Stay aligned with your company's core values. Know their social media policy. Focus your content on your specific expertise and the problems you solve. Show up consistently, both online and in person. That's how you build a personal brand that becomes a magnet. That's how you make every conversation easier and every deal more likely to close. And that's how you become the salesperson everyone wants to buy from. Your brand is your authority. Now go build it. Want to learn the complete system for building authority on LinkedIn? Check out Jeb's latest book, The LinkedIn Edge, where he breaks down the Five S framework and shows you exactly how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a lead-generating machine.

In this essential Alternative Allocations podcast episode, Tony and guests dissect the 2026 outlook, offering crucial insights for financial advisors navigating commercial real estate, private equity secondaries, and private credit. Discover the macro themes shaping these dynamic sectors, from new cycles in real estate to the growing need for liquidity in private equity. Tune in to equip yourself with the knowledge to identify opportunities in the evolving private markets landscape. *********** Anant Kumar is a managing director and head of research with Benefit Street Partners, based in our West Palm Beach office. Prior to joining BSP in 2015, Mr. Kumar worked in the capital markets advisory group at Lazard Frères and the leveraged finance group at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Kumar received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago, a Master of Science from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University in India. Taylor Robinson is a Partner of Lexington Partners, primarily focused on sourcing, negotiating, and executing secondary transactions. Taylor joined Lexington Partners in 2008 from JPMorgan, where he was in investment banking and leveraged finance. Aside from his investment focus and other Firm responsibilities, he is a member of Lexington's ESG steering committee and Franklin Templeton's global Stewardship & Sustainability Council. ​​Jeb Belford, equity owner and Managing Director, is the Chief Investment Officer of Clarion Partners. He is chairman of the Firm's Investment Committee, and a member of the Executive Board​. From 2013-2021, Jeb was the lead Portfolio Manager of the Firm's open-end core fund, with overall responsibility for fund management and portfolio strategy. From 2005-2012, Jeb was the Portfolio Manager for the Firm's value-add investment platform. Prior to becoming a portfolio manager, Jeb was a senior member of the Firm's Acquisitions Group, completing investments across a broad range of strategies. His background includes all key aspects of portfolio management, including acquisitions, financing and sales totaling over $20 billion in all property types and risk strategies, in markets across the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. Jeb joined Clarion Partners in 1995 and began working in the real estate industry in 1984.​​ ​************ Resources: 2026 Private Market Outlook Executive Summary Anant Kumar | LinkedIn Taylor Robinson | LinkedIn Rick Schaupp | LinkedIn Alternatives by Franklin Templeton Tony Davidow, CIMA® | LinkedIn

Hi gang!HAPPY NEW YEAR!FMT are BACK for another instalment of dutty podcastin'.On this weeks eposide, the gang take a dive into the world of FM appropriate music. What song is Rich playing to fire his team up? What is Dee spinning when his side are down at half time? What's Jeb whacking on when his team win?We also see the return on the classic FMT community one save challenge - Yokohama FC aren't going to manage themselves...This weeks episode was inspired by our very own Sweet Dee's 26 in 26 song challenge WHERE HE'S RELEASING 26 SINGLES IN 2026 - the incredible first installment Avalance is avalible to stream NOW!Go listen to that, then this and then that again.In that order.VIVA LA FMT!Our links:https://linktr.ee/fmtpodhttps://twitch.tv/richowensfmhttps://twitch.tv/jebaroohttps://twitch.tv/deeboiplayshttps://twitch.tv/the_steak_bakeCupburger: ⁠https://www.cupburger.org⁠#FMT #FootballManager #Football #Soccer #FM26 #FM

Happy New Year! As we welcome in 2026, I wanted to focus on some of my favorite guests of 2025. Bigfoot encounters, UFO sightings, ghost stories, my cryptid countdown, and more! For Bigfoot sightings, we have Jeb Scruggs of Squatch Hunters International telling the story of a Bigfoot he and his wife encountered in New Hampshire; Josh from York, Pennsylvania recounting his experience with a possible Bigfoot in the woods near the fort he and his friends had built; and my buddy Josh Diaz retelling a story told to him by a friend where two men spotted what seemed to be baby or juvenile Sasquatch playing on a lonely road in the Mohawk Valley on New York one cold winter night. Then Oscar from the Induced Fear podcast tells some ghost stories involving his fiancée, his friends, and a scary encounter with a UFO he had while driving home one night. Lastly, my friends from Slice of the Paranormal share their stories: Steven sees a triangular UFO, Ryan has some ghostly encounters, and Christy sees some unexplained lights in the woods around Centralia. Plus a little skit at the end from me and Rebecca from our time on Assateague Island. I hope you all had a great year, and I wish you all a healthy, prosperous, and spooky 2026!Chapters:1:35 - Cryptid Countdown: My favorite cryptid episodes from 20257:09 - Jeb and his wife run into a Sasquatch while hiking Mount Kinsman in New Hampshire18:12 - Listener Josh recalls seeing a strange animal in Pennsylvania that he believes may have been a sasquatch27:23 - My buddy Josh tells the story told to him of two men driving home from work one snowy night and encountering two baby Bigfoot38:49 - Oscar tells of ghosts haunting his home involving his fiancée and friends, and a UFO that seemingly buzzed his car one night52:15 - Slice of the paranormal recount their encounters with ghosts, UFOs, and strange lights in the woods#2025 #happynewyear #bigfoot #ufosightings #ghoststories Links!Follow us on Social media!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanduntold/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanduntoldWebsite: https://www.oddanduntold.comEmail me! : jason@oddanduntold.comMerch Store: https://oddanduntold.creator-spring.comThe Jersey Devil | Contemporary SightingsThe Hat ManThe Not DeerThe Loveland FrogmanThe Mantis Man of New JerseyBigfoot Sighting in New Hampshire with Jeb ScruggsBigfoot Sighting in Pennsylvania with JoshParanormal Campfire Chat | Oxbow Lake and Bigfoot BabiesTrue Paranormal Encounters | Ghosts, UFOs, and Sleep Paralysis with Oscar from Induced FearReal Ghost Stories & UFO Sightings | Halloween Special with the Slice of the Paranormal PodcastCheck out Riversend, the band behind "Moonlight," our awesome theme music!Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1yIwfeu2cH1kDZaMYxKOUe?si=NIUijnmsQe6LNWOsfZ2jPwRiversend Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiversendbandRiversend Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riversendband/

Quaranteam - Dave In Dallas: Part 11 Cleanup: The Air Force arrives with a mop. Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Dave's second quandary was his position, nearly on the middle of the pad, left him seriously exposed. Applying the aggressiveness taught by Carter, he knew Liv had him protected to the right, so he closed with the occupied building, moving to the far corner. A quick look showed him there were again two doors, like the other building. And two men emerging from the far door. Turning their backs to him as they followed a third man who was just rounding the opposite corner. That put him out of Dave's sight, but into Liv's. As the men receded, Dave fired into their backs. Neither was at a sprint, so they fell forward without the dramatic tumbling of the earlier target. A simultaneous rifle crack announced the death of the lead in that trio. He paused. Dave couldn't hear any sounds coming from the building. He remained wary, uneasy. How many more will it take? He waited. An eternity later, the door on one of the smaller buildings slowly opened. Two hands held high and outward came into view, followed by the woman they were attached to. She moved slowly. She was too far away for Dave to read her facial expression but she was giving all the big outward signs of surrender. Two more women exited another of the smaller buildings. One was an average build, the other rotund. The latter's feet seemed reluctant to move. Great. Don't know if there's anyone left in the big building, and now I have unknowns coming in from the houses. Other women began issuing from what must be the dwellings. Eight in all. As they neared, most had curious, guarded expressions on their faces. The big one had a look like she rarely smiled, ever. "Alright, that's close enough! Just stop where you are. Pick a leader and send her forward." There was a brief discussion which resulted in a medium height brunette walking towards him. The third woman out glared daggers into the back of the brunette's skull. The angry one argued hard with all of them, but none seemed interested in anything she had to say. Dave waited until the brunette reached easy speaking distance. "Stop right there. What's your name?" "Sandy." "How many of you are there?" "I don't rightly know." She looked thoughtful. "All the men were in the community building. Us women and our kids were in our homes. Jeb, the man that bound me to him, came in awhile ago with a new woman. She was out, like from the shot he gave me before." That confirms they're using the QT serum . "If he bound you to him with that shot, why are you awake?" "Oh, that was a few weeks back for me. I knew him a little bit before lockdowns started. Then he just shows up and says he has this safe place to stay and we can both be safe from the virus runnin' round, but I have to take this shot and sleep with him. He's been an okay guy, and I ain't had no boyfriend in several months anyway. 'Sides, he didn't tell me that I couldn't be with anybody else after that. Which sucks, but mostly he's been okay. Only been an asshole a few times, but that's pretty fair for most guys I've met. No offense." Dave smirked. "Sandy, how many men are there in your community?" She stopped, looking off to the side, thinking. "Well, there was the ten that left saying' they's gonna raid a rich man's house for somethin', never told us what. Now we know why. They were out collectin' poon like we's just a bunch a deer and no tag limit." Sandy paused. "Is that why you're here? You come to scoop us up and make us your whores?" "No, ma'am." We killed more than ten, so that can't be all . "If you ladies were bound to these men, we'll need to take you to the people that hand out the vaccine to see what they can do for you. But ma'am, please, how many men total are there?" The far door of the community building opened slowly, and a woman stepped out. It was the one Dave had seen inject one of the women right before she got raped. "Get over with the others. Is anyone else inside?" The woman shook her head no and moved swiftly to join the pack. "Oh, right. Well, after the ten left, all six of the others took off saying' they could do just as good somewhere else. But only three of them came back, including Jeb. As soon as they's back they took the nurse, that's the woman that just came out, well they took her and the two women bound to two of the guys that didn't come back and a bit later those women are out cold again. I thought the whole shot thing was permanent, but maybe not if the guy's dead? I hope so, 'cuz we're about to be in a bad way aren't we?" Thirteen. Thirteen men here. Dave counted off in his head. He thought they'd taken out thirteen, but he wasn't going to make assumptions. Especially when one part of his brain was parodying an old farcical movie about how many bullets had been fired from a gun. An 80's flick set in the 50's. "Alright Sandy, is there anyone else left in the houses?" "Just the kids, and some unconscious women. The men said they'd gotten them; reassigned?" She looked frustrated. "Guess I still wasn't good enough to keep that asshole by m'self." Dave deliberately gave Sandy an appraising look. "I think that has more to do with his greed than your looks or personality." "Well ain't you sweet?" Sandy licked her lips and looked Dave up and down. "Easy, I meant every word I said, but I already have several partners. Those six that left attacked my house." Sandy's face dropped. "I don't know if I should hate your guts for killing Jeb, or thank you, for the same thing." After a pause she spoke again. "You should be careful of Debbie. Her husband brought her here for some kinda rebel nation shit. She's already pissed he came back with some hot blonde from a rich man's house. But not so mad at him she's just gonna let you killin' him slide." "Is she the rather large woman that looks like she sucked on an entire lemon tree?" "That's the one." "How 'bout we settle on neutrality for now? Look, let's get all of you back in your homes and warm. I'll need to call the authorities to make sure you all get taken care of before that serum starts doing ugly things." Sandy walked back to the assembled throng. Another debate broke out. Debbie leading a third of the group in angry objections. Then she turned to face Dave. "Where's our men? What gives you the right to come bargin' in here?" She headed for the far end of the building. Several others followed, more than just the ones that had agreed with her. Dave knew things would turn ugly as soon as these women saw the dead bodies. His fastest route into the open yard space was behind him. He sprinted the way he'd come, entering the yard through the gap just as the women began kneeling near selected bodies. By the women's placement, some of the men must have sprinted from the building's edge. Instead of a clump near the corner, there was a line of a few reaching towards the tree line. Dave felt a cold turn inside. Rationally, he could see the line ended well before the trees, suggesting Liv had taken all of them down before they got close. But could one have gotten through? That thought was interrupted by Debbie leaving the line of dead, beginning to search the yard and moving as quickly as her thick legs would carry her. Dave moved to get clear of the gap and the bodies just beyond it. Several of the other women left the line of dead as well. They slowly swarmed about the open space while Debbie made a beeline for the gap. Then she noticed a body in the grass. Fury returned to her face after a brief look of relief. Then she paused. Her chest was already heaving from exertion. When she faced Dave, the anguish was obvious. "You fucking coward! You shot 'em in the back! You shot my husband!" She began a slow charge at him. Dave sorted through his options. The only sure way he had of stopping this woman was his weapon, but he had no desire to shoot an unarmed woman grieving her husband. He could outrun her easily, but he needed to stay in the area. For a moment, Dave's brain played an image of him making short sprints and the woman chasing after him like some schoolyard game. Not helping dammit . Dave took a few steps backwards, bringing him near the back wall of the community building. He noticed the dryer vent again, which meant the pile of pipes wasn't far. He'd have to be careful if he backpedaled any more. Falling on his ass would not engender obedience or respect. Debbie's tirade ended in a screech as she reached into her pocket. Her hand came back out with a small revolver. Shit. Shit. Shit. Dave brought his weapon up faster than her and pulled his trigger. Click . No round fired. The weapon jammed. Shit . Dave dove sideways and backwards just as Debbie fired. He felt a smack on his shoulder as he fell. His hand landed on the pipe pile. He grabbed and rolled away from the wall as another shot spanged off the brick. As he rolled, he swung one arm, releasing one of the two rods he'd snagged. He threw one leg out and came up from his roll, facing Debbie as she recovered from the rod that hit her. Her motion and his brought them in close proximity. On instinct, Dave snapped out with the remaining rod, striking Debbie's wrist. She shrieked in pain as she dropped the pistol. Dave followed up with two strikes to her knee before stepping back into a ready stance. Debbie cried out, but still managed one step forward before the side of her head exploded. Dave turned from Debbie's corpse to scan the area. All of the other women were on the ground. Clearly, they'd done the math in their head and figured out he had a partner in the trees. "Don't make us shoot anyone else. We only came here because we were attacked. The people that attacked us and another house are now all dead. We've done what we came for. We are not leaving you hanging. We know you've been given Quaranteam doses so your lives are bound to these men. There is a way to free you from that bond." Dave decided a bit of vague spitballing could be useful here and played it fast and loose based on what he'd learned in the past 24 hours. "Well, not exactly free you, but transfer that bond to someone else. This time, you will have a choice in that bonding. But, I will not countenance any threat to myself or my partner. And as you can see, she is very protective of me as well. You can also see she is a damn good shot. I want all of you to gather over here, in the lee of this building, while I get someone here to help." The women got up, moving slowly so as not to provoke Dave or his hidden partner. Once they were all clumped together, he pulled out his cell phone. Time to call Detective Verratti. Chapter 13; Cleanup. October 29, 2020 8:20am "Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean you and Olivia are at the compound? Didn't you say you and your special forces friend; Carter? That the two of you were heading to the compound?" On another call, Dave would have switched ears by now. The burning in his left shoulder threatened to make that shift a very painful decision. "No, detective, I simply said we." "Dammit, professor, why the hell wouldn't you take the trained spec-ops guy on something; oh, fuck." "Exactly. Carter and his wife have been dead for two months now. Carter was the security expert in our prepper community. He ran us through many drills on how to protect ourselves and those around us. Olivia is an excellent long-range shot. She proved it again today. Took out half the compound with her sniping. Shot one that was coming at me with a.38, when my gun jammed." "Okay, okay. Damn. Look, I contacted the Air Force when you sent me the text saying you were there. As soon as the liaison red off the coordinates, whoever was on the other end of the phone got pissed. If I overheard correctly, they gathered a small force and headed that way by chopper. I think they lifted off about twenty minutes ago. Expect them in less than an hour. If they arrive in the same mood their boss was in, keep your head down. I know I'm already in deep shit. After getting shouted at over the phone, the Air Force liaison went into my boss' office and shouted for ten minutes straight. Professor; I'm sorry I got you into this." Dave signed off that call, then texted Liv. -Sling your rifle, come into the glade with pistol drawn. He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and waited. Half his energy was devoted to ignoring the pain in his arm. The adrenaline and other wonderful bio-chemicals the body produces during high stress situations all drained out in the past ten minutes so nothing got in the way of his arm screaming at his head for doing damn fool things. On the plus side, the bleeding had stopped. Mostly. As long as he didn't move it. The blood that had come out was enough to stain most of his sleeve, but not significantly impair his thinking from blood loss. Liv emerged from the tree line with all the charisma of a warrior queen. As Dave requested, her rifle was slung cross body, and her 10mm pistol was in her hands, held low, as her eyes scanned her surroundings. She took a bit of extra 'dwell time' when her eyes passed over the assembled women. Liv strode purposefully across the ground, halting at a position within easy talking range, yet too far to make them both a single target. Dave looked her over, examining her face and posture. Concern for the psychological impact of this on Olivia was uppermost in his mind. Great time to be worried about that, huh? After all the fighting is done. Genius . He snapped himself back to reality. There would be time later for self-recrimination. Liv's visual scanning kept lingering on Dave's left shoulder. "We need to treat that. It'll be tricky to do while maintaining security." "There's an Air Force team on their way. Detective Verratti said they may be unhappy, but I'm sure they'll have a medic. Or at least a first aid bag." "How long?" "Less than an hour. Sounds like forty minutes, most likely." "That arm shouldn't wait that long. You need stitches." "Got any in your back pocket, Liv?" Dave hadn't meant to get testy, but the pain was eroding his 'nice function' and the conversation felt like it was spiraling already. The flat look from Olivia carried a tinge of hurt, and forgiveness, and her own self-restraint. "Sorry, Olivia." She nodded in response, her eyes once again on their charges. One of them stood and moved slowly towards Dave. Livy squared her shoulders to the woman, but made no other change in her focus. When the woman was halfway to him, Dave recognized her as the lady that came out of the building as he spoke with Sandy. The one Sandy identified as a nurse. "Sir, would you let me look at your wound? I'm a nurse." Liv looked at him cautiously, then gave him one slow blink. Dave restrained himself from chuckling. From her, the slow blink meant anything from 'sure' to 'don't make me say I told you so'. Dave nodded at the woman. She approached slowly, then cautiously brought one hand up to examine his wound. She pulled back on the shirt to ascertain the extent of the injury. "I can treat it temporarily for now. You need stitches; which we don't have. And a painkiller. All they have here for that is alcohol, marijuana and meth. None of which I would recommend." Dave chuckled. With her finger so close, his shaking caused her to jab the side of the open gash. Dave flinched and gritted his teeth. "Oh, I'm so sorry." The nurse jumped back, pulling her hand back to her chest. Her other hand clasped the offending one closely, like she was putting it in time out. "It's okay, ma'am. I'm the one that moved suddenly." "Parker. My name is Parker." "Dave." "Well, Dave, you've got a decent flesh wound that will make a good reminder scar once it heals. You need to get stitches as soon as possible. Like today. Wait too long and it won't do any good. In the meantime, I can bandage it up. I'll need to go inside to get some clean cloth, though." Her eyes held the obvious question of whether he would let her. "How did you wind up here?" "I was on a transport from the vaccine center on my way to my Oracle designated partner when the bus got hijacked. Fifteen of us were diverted from someone we'd chosen to these guys that made their choices just by looking at us. They went in order, so whoever had priority got first pick, and so on." That matched what Verratti told Dave. More importantly, she didn't hesitate and there was no sign of falsehood in her eyes or face. Carter taught him to be careful who you trust, but you have to trust someone. There was a haunted look in her eyes, but no deception. "Liv, can you escort this nurse inside so she can get something to bandage me with?" The young brunette that had known him longer than anyone left alive gave him a funny look. "Or maybe you escort her, so you can sit down and put your arm on a table while she does her work. Should be easier for both of you that way." The nurse's face immediately took on a restrained, but amused look. "Don't say it, let's go," said Dave with a sigh. He followed her back around to the front of the building. She entered through the first door. It opened into the kitchen area. In short order, she scooped up the first aid kit and led Dave into the dining space. The room still smelled of the recent nonconsensual ruttings. Parker visibly flinched when the smell hit her. She came to a dead stop when she saw the body lying against the wall. The look on her face suggested her desire to not be here, and not be reminded of the events of this morning and her part in them, was warring with her professional instincts. Dave watched as she composed herself and ushered him to take a seat with just a hand gesture. Dave sat so Parker's back would be towards the body. As she tended his wound, he searched for visual clues. The man was older, at least fifty, likely over sixty, judging by the condition of his skin. Prominent wrinkles and liver spots, and a leathery look of someone that spent much of his life with a heavy tan. A distinctly aquiline nose and patrician features shouted 'man of money' even more so than his silk pajamas. Necessarily, Parker - more specifically her face - lay in Dave's line of sight as he looked about. Underneath the mien of professional concentration lay clear signs that removing the visual cue of the dead body was barely tamping down her anxiety. When she reached into the kit to find the scissors; so she could trim the excess off the bandage; her fingers first brought out the razor. The way she stared at it was unsettling. She paused to wipe away newly forming tears before finishing with Dave's gauze. As she neatly placed each piece of unused equipment in the kit, he gently took her chin in his right hand, turning her head to look directly at him. "Parker, you've had to make some tough choices here. You did the best you could with what you had. You're an ER nurse, right?" He recalled that tidbit from the detective's discussion. Parker nodded in affirmation. "Okay, so your training and experience is to do everything you can to get your patient that next heartbeat, to take the next breath, and another, and another. Just keep them going, and let someone else do the fancy work once you're sure the patient is alive right?" Her face contorted further as she nodded. "But I didn't. I didn't keep her alive. They took her outside ;” Parker's voice trailed off as she wept, her chest heaving. "An older blonde woman, probably in her mid-forties right?" She nodded, still weeping, not looking at him. "Her name is Natasha, and she's alive." Parker's head snapped up. Her eyes were wide in astonishment and hope. "But; how?" "I killed those men with a silenced pistol. She's hiding in my truck. Actually, I need to check on her. My partner had some spare clothes in there. Hopefully she found them." "Can I see her? Please? I just ;” The wild, desperate look in her eyes was impossible to deny. Dave gave his arm a few careful motions, testing out the pain level for various directions and ranges. It gave him an excuse to delay answering and drew her attention back to occupational concerns. "Yeah, we can do that. First, I need to touch base with my partner though." Gesturing he said, "Let's go." Parker quickly rose, snatching up the first aid kit. She deposited it back in its secure place in the kitchen before exiting, with Dave right behind her. She glanced over her shoulder several times to check that Dave was still with her as she walked around the building and straight towards Olivia. Over the last few steps, she veered off, giving Dave and Liv enough space to talk privately while she remained close by. Dave filled Livy in on what was happening. "Maybe you should escort her though, in case Natasha has not found your clothes. Besides, it would give you a chance to move about instead of standing here, getting cold." "Are you sure she saw me well enough to be comfortable when I approach? You, she got a good look at. And vice versa." Liv added a wink. Dave looked at her, his face flat and unimpressed. "Oh come on, David, you have nine women at home, came out here to dispense some justice on the assholes that attacked us, and picked up a groupie." "For crying out loud, Liv. She's not; Okay, fine, I'll escort the nurse. That woman's been through enough trauma without being exposed to your humor." Liv gave him an enigmatic smile as he walked away with Parker. Dave pointed to the gap in the trees he'd used for entry and exit previously. Once inside, the nurse stopped him. "David, I; I'm not sure if anything can be done for her." "What do you mean? "I mean, I; um, I'm not sure how much I can say. She needs something that I'm not sure is possible anymore." "You mean you couldn't extract any more semen from the dead guy's balls?" "How the hell did you know that?! That's confidential information! No one's supposed to know!" "Parker, these guys attacked my house. We killed three of them. The bodies were on my back deck and driveway with their balls cut off. Later, we get here and I see you jab the old guy in the balls with a syringe and the shot changes color. You're reassigning these women from the dead guy to the attackers using the dead man's cum, right?" She hung her head. "It was the only way to keep them alive." "And as long as they're alive, there's hope. There's a chance to fight another day, right?" She raised her head again, eyes watery, looking as if she really wanted to believe in the thin reed he offered her. "But, what about her? She's bound to that guy, and I couldn't get any more cum out. Depending on when she last slept with him, she's got a week or two before this stuff eats her up from the inside. It'll be like what they wanted to do to her, but in slow motion." Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Parker, I want you to consider something, and this is not a knock on you, but the conditions. You are an ER nurse, working under field conditions. If we take his body back to a hospital, or the vaccine center, do you think maybe a lab tech with precision equipment and ideal conditions could manage to eke out enough semen to let her switch partners?" She smiled again, taking a shaky breath. The suggestion relaxed her enough to acquiesce when he motioned her down the trail. "I don't know. I don't know, but it's worth a try. We have to move fast though. There's a time limit on how long we have to get it done." "Then we'll make sure when the Air Force gets here with their chopper, Natasha and the dead body are on the first bird out." Parker said no more as they walked. Dave only spoke to guide her on the path. When they got into visual range of the truck, Parker's steps took on an extra urgency, like she wanted to run, but held herself back. Dave signaled for her to fall in trail behind him and wait when they neared the truck. "Natasha? Natasha, it's David. I'm here with the nurse. The compound is secure now. The Air Force is on its way. We came to check on you. Did you find the clothes in the truck?" A blonde head slowly peeked over the dashboard, only one eye visible. That one eye held enough wariness for a dozen faces. The head scanned about carefully, never spending much time away from Dave and Parker. "All of the attackers are dead, Natasha. They can't hurt you." Her head cleared the dashboard and moved towards the passenger door, the same side Dave and Parker stood several feet away from. The door opened at a glacial pace. Then two legs clad in grey sweatpants stepped down. Natasha stepped clear of the door, wearing a thin white shirt, grey sweatpants that threatened to fall off, and a look of nervous hope and apprehension. Dave tried to ignore what the cold was doing to her nipples. Rigidly holding his eye contact on her face, he said, "Parker here is an ER nurse. How about letting her examine you? And then join the rest of the women. The ladies abducted with you are all; asleep, but there are women that were captured previously, like Parker here." Natasha glanced quickly at Parker. "They captured you too?" "Nearly two months ago. Our transport was hijacked after we'd already had our injections. We were on our way to our Oracle match partners when the attack happened." Natasha's wariness fell in the face of shared trauma; and the knowledge of traumas she'd been spared. She closed the distance and hugged Parker. The nurse initially stood shocked, unresponsive, her arms limp at her sides. Slowly, her hands rose, clasping onto Natasha's shoulder blades before she began shaking with sobs of relief. Reluctantly, Dave stepped in. When he spoke, he used the softest tone he was capable of. "Ladies, we need to get back. I'd rather not walk back into the clearing after the Air Force folks arrive, armed. That tends to make them nervous." He pitched his words softly, but firmly. Parker nodded in acknowledgement. The two shared a look that communicated; something. Then Dave noticed the older blonde still had nothing on her feet. "No socks in the bag?" he asked. Natasha shook her head no. Dave sighed, walked in front of her, turned his back to her and crouched. "Come on." He lowered his weapon to dangle from its sling. "What?" "Get on my back, I'll carry you." "Uh, are you sure about this? With your arm like it is?" Parker queried. "My back can carry the burden without straining my arm muscles." After a brief pause, he heard her moving hesitantly before her weight rested on his back. Her arms came around his neck. Then he hooked his hands under her knees and stood carefully. With Parker following behind, Dave navigated the path quickly. He maintained a slightly stooped posture that Carter had taught as the best way to carry a ruck. It worked quite well for carrying a person, too. The trio made good time through the woods and emerged from the tree line very deliberately, so as not to startle Liv, who was still on guard. The smile on the brunette's face when Dave emerged with Natasha on his back was unmistakable. Dave studiously ignored it. Once they were over soft grass, he lowered Natasha to the ground. He was uncomfortable sending these two to huddle with the rest of the women, but he wasn't sure what else to do. Until the moment he was ready to open his mouth. "Liv, take Parker and inspect the houses. Check on the women that got imprinted. Keep an eye out for kids or other adults. If it's just kids, reassure them the best you can. Keep them where they are if possible." Parker spoke up. "What if we bring; Natasha?; with us. I think my spare shoes would fit her. I can get her a jacket too." Dave looked at Liv, questioningly. She gave a short nod in response. Dave shrugged his agreement. After a long backwards look at Dave, Natasha followed the other two, leaving Dave on guard over the women huddled against the building. Most of them wore some manner of jacket and long pants. A few were in pajama pants and thick housecoats. All remained quiet, barely even talking amongst themselves. One brunette, a bit older, kept glancing at Dave. After several minutes, she rose and slowly approached him. As she got closer, Dave had a strange sense of recognition. Like he should know who she was, but couldn't place her. "Hi, um, I just wanted to say thank you. I've been stuck here for over a month. Several of us have, including the nurse that was with you earlier." Her dark eyes gleamed as she continued. "Listen, I know we'll need new partners soon. I think you should know that a few of the girls are already discussing the possibility of getting paired with you." Dave stiffened. His spine, not his cock. "Well, that's very flattering, but I didn't come here for that. Hell, I already have nine partners. My house is getting kinda full. I know the CDC guy that showed up a month and a half ago said I could wind up with twelve or more, but, uh, I could be just fine with stopping where I am. So, thank you, but no thank you. I mean, unless you specially match to me and don't have anyone else nearly as good a match." Her eyes widened. "Oh, no. No, I wasn't speaking personally. I mean, I appreciate what you've done, but not that far. The others just asked me to come over, sort of as a spokesperson. You know, use my fame in the hope that would help get your approval." It was the mild gravelly tone in her voice that finally did it. "Oh. Oh, shit. Aurora Hensley?" Dave shook his head. "Sorry, I knew I recognized you, but my brain just didn't place you until after you spoke for a bit. How the hell did a star like you wind up here?" Miss Henley tried to grin to cover up her grimace, but it didn't work. "Please, call me Rory. Lockdown stopped production on my show. You may have noticed we don't have a new season out." Dave nodded. "Yes, a few of my partners grumbled about it." "Ah, but not you, huh?" she said with a real grin this time. "Oh, I've watched some re-runs with them a few times. It's just that cop shows are only a fifty-fifty interest for me. Mostly, the ones I like get into the crime lab stuff, and yours didn't have that. No offense." Dave shrugged with the last statement. She examined him coyly. "Ah, so the fact that the two leads were women has nothing to do with it?" The words were accusatory, but something about her tone suggested she was playing with him. "Naw, not particularly. The story is well executed I think. It's just a type that only sometimes grabs my interest. I did appreciate that the show featured two female leads, without pounding the fact in the viewer's face. It stood on the writing and acting, and didn't beat some political drum." "Well, thank you. I think." She smirked at him. "Sorry for dodging, it's just; it hurts you know?" A shadow passed over her features, causing Dave to place a hand on her shoulder. He also forced himself to scan the group again, making sure no one was using his distraction to do something. He kicked himself for his obliviousness and made sure he kept his focus where it needed to be, without sacrificing the conversation. "Look, I know this is all still fresh, so if you don't want to talk about what these guys did to you here, you don't have to. I'm sure they'll have profess--" "Oh no, not that. I mean, I might, but honestly, you wiping them out is already a big help. That's why I came up to thank you." Then Rory grinned slyly again. "It's also why some of them want to thank you." "Well, with the vaccine, that's a rather permanent thing. They need to take some time to think it over first, and use the matching system, um, Oracle." "True, very true. You know, it's tempting to come at you like a rescued princess, just like the others. But in truth, I have a friend I was on my way to meet when our transport was hijacked. He's been a good friend for years, but we never dated or anything. He showed up as a reasonable match, so I was supposed to be with him. I'm going to call him as soon as I can to see if he's still interested." "More than likely, he'll be thrilled to hear you're alright." "Yes, probably. He's a good man. The girls like him." As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Rory grimaced like she'd been stabbed and the wielder was twisting the knife in her guts. Dave got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I, uh, I have to go." She turned away briefly, then turned back. "No, wait." She took a few deep breaths before continuing. "The reason I came over in the first place." She paused for a hiccupping sob. "Um, look, I can never express how much I appreciate what you've done for me here. If you need anything. Anything at all. I know people. People in entertainment, and in politics. Just call me. I'd be glad to help." With tears in her eyes, she turned back towards the wall and walked swiftly, managing not to run. Rory's rushed return and obvious emotional turmoil was greeted by consternation among the small crowd of women. Two took the time to stare at him, worry clear on their faces. Quiet conversations started up and rapidly turned internal. The women clustered around Rory, wrapping her in hugs. When they finally parted, they began speaking again, in low tones, and long periods in which all were silent. It was quite some time before Liv, Parker, and Natasha came around the right side of the building. All appeared in good spirits. Natasha now sported a denim jacket over her white T-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes on her feet. As they approached, Dave noted that Natasha was no longer grabbing at the waist band of the sweatpants to keep them up, so some solution had been found. The jacket was of sufficient length to conceal whatever that had been. Likewise, it was likely she had socks to go with the shoes, but there was no visible gap between pants and shoes to confirm that deduction. The relaxed look on her face would have to do. Parker spoke first when they came within a reasonable speaking distance. "Sixteen women are in imprinting sleep in the houses. I checked their vitals, and nothing appears amiss. Except that they're all blondes." "I told the others while we were out, Drew, the man we were paired to, only had blondes in his; team." Natasha spoke slowly, not quite reluctantly. "It was a fetish of his. Though there was variety, of a sort. Cheerleader, businesswoman, that sort of thing. I was the 'older woman' blonde. One is a teenager, just barely survived to get injected. I; I knew him before this, or at least, I thought I knew him. We went to many of the same charity dinners and such. He was so cordial in public." Parker hugged Natasha around the shoulders, a supportive measure to remind her that problem was in her past. Then Olivia spoke. "A few houses had kids. They are awake and hungry. A little worried, but not frantic. I was thinking we could get a meal going in the main cafeteria instead of separate little meals in each house." "Sure," Dave replied. "That's a good plan. First, we'll need to get the body out of there." "Body?" Liv asked. "Drew, the man all those women are partnered to. These guys were re-imprinting the women to themselves in the cafeteria space." Dave kept his voice carefully neutral. "How the hell does that work?" "We're not supposed to know, but what I saw here and at our house, I made some good guesses that Parker confirmed. You and I are probably going to spend a lot of time explaining ourselves, so the less I share the better." Liv's nodding reply carried an undertone of expectation that, once all this blew over, Dave had better spill what he knows. A small traitorous part of Dave's heart took that as a possible indication that Liv wanted to know a way out of the bonding effects of the serum. Dave's brain was pretty convinced that was B S, though he would certainly ask if she wanted out later. The idea of keeping any woman bound to him against her will made him physically nauseous. Doing that to his Livy Bean was unacceptable in the extreme. "Tell you what," Dave continued, "You stay here for a few minutes. I'll haul the body out of the cafeteria and around to this side of the building. Then, Liv, supervise getting breakfast going in the cafeteria; and I mean supervise, you maintain control and security, someone else cooks. Parker, you can escort the kids from the houses to the cafeteria." Still facing the nurse, he asked, "Who would you recommend do the cooking?" "Sandy and Rory are pretty good. Together they should be able to handle breakfast for all the kids." "OK, sounds good. Wait 'til I get the body moved around to this area before you get moving." All three women nodded. Dave immediately stalked off, eager to get things in motion before the military arrived and brought everything to a halt while they took their time coming to the same conclusions Dave had already arrived at. The kids needed to be fed. He went around the right side of the building for once, since it provided the shortest route to his destination. As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by the older man's corpse lying flat on the floor, up against the wall, his silk pajama pants still pulled down to his knees. That was the first thing to fix. Doing his best to avoid touching the corpse (or another man's naked body), Dave took hold of the waistband near each knee and pulled them up and over the man's hips. That done, he stopped to consider the best way to get the body moved. Rigor. Rigor mortis had set in. None of the man' joints would move. And he'd been left on the floor, jammed into the corner between wall and floor for hours. There were two options Dave could see: grab and lift by the man's shoulders and drag him with his heels on the ground. A little awkward, but doable. The downside there was the chance his pajama pants cuffs could snag on something and come all the way off. Hell, even part way was undesirable. The second option was to get this guy onto Dave's shoulder like a two by four. A one hundred and fifty pound two by four. Sure, no problem. Mentally retracting all the curses he'd flung at Carter during upper body workouts, Dave went to work. First, he knelt beside the corpse. Then he lifted the torso so it lay on his shoulder. The next part was tricky. Silk didn't give a lot of traction to grab with. Neither did flesh. It took three tries that quickly returned to the floor-kneeling position when the body began to slip before Dave managed to successfully gain his feet on the fourth attempt, the body securely balanced on his left shoulder. And every single time he used his left arm for anything, a serenade of pain accompanied the act. He'd had experience getting through doorways with lumber or pipes on his shoulder, so while it was cumbersome, Dave managed the maneuver just fine. Though he had to use his left arm to operate the door. He couldn't avoid whimpering as he forced the injured limb to comply. Once outside, it was quite easy to make the brief trek around the building and dump the body in the grass a reasonable distance from the line of dead pointing towards the trees. He also picked up the staccato sounds of a chopper, low, and building quickly. Parker was halfway to the houses and Liv had disappeared into the cafeteria building with Rory and Sandy when their heads turned, picking up the sound. Figuring it was the safest course of action, Dave walked to the middle of the open space he'd fought in, away from others, his hands away from his body and his weapons slung on his back or holstered. He knew Olivia had the presence of mind to do the same. One Blackhawk landed to Dave's left, on the other side of the unused building. A second landed beyond the community building, presumably beyond the first house and to the left of the others. The third Blackhawk landed to Dave's right, well clear of the community building. The rotor blast was strong, but not overwhelming. The moisture in the air guaranteed no dust blown around, and the cold snap was too recent to kill off any grass, so at least there was no debris kicked up by the artificial cyclone. Troops began to disgorge from the chopper the moment the wheels touched grass, running straight out, hunched over, weapons in hand. Dave slowly turned to face them, his hands clearly away from his body. "You David Belsus?" The voice was pissed, loud, and behind him. Oops. Of course the team leader was on the first chopper that landed. Hadn't Carter harped something about leading from the front? "That's me." A short, strongly muscled man stepped around into Dave's field of view. "You blew my fucking op, dammit. Hunting these boys down was my job." "Considering the number of women enslaved to these fucking animals you clearly aren't doing your fucking job!" "Don't piss me off asshole. I'm willing to consider you're one of the good guys, for now. Fuck with me and I'll throw you in a hole so deep, you'll water the rice paddies in China when you pee." Dave wisely shut the fuck up. Carter had told him there were two very important times to know in the military; when to shut up, and when to shut the fuck up . This seemed like the latter. "You got the wanna bees at your house. A few real troops here. You got lucky, Boy Scout. Stand down and let us do our jobs." Before the short, powerfully built man turned away, Dave noted the nametape on the man's uniform; Barnett. The two chevrons upside down on the top of his rank insignia meant he was a Technical Sergeant; an E-6, a middle level NCO. "Sergeant Barnett?" Dave called to get his attention. The little bantam turned, one eyebrow cocked. "The kids in this place haven't been fed breakfast yet. My partner is inside the community building with a few women who've been stuck here for over a month. They're getting something cooked up while the nurse moves the kids. You think you can let that plan roll forward? Otherwise, you'll have some cranky kids to deal with soon. "Is she armed?" "My partner?" Dave got a nod in response. "Yes, she has a slung rifle and a holstered pistol. If you go in cautious, and announce yourself, there shouldn't be a problem. Or you can send me in ahead of you." "Sure, fine. Just know if you try anything stupid, my two partners behind you will drop you in a heartbeat." "I think we understand each other." Dave stepped off deliberately, at a steady pace, getting around the corner of the building with Sgt Barnett two arm's lengths to his right. He could hear the soft footsteps in the grass of two more people behind him. Barnett wasn't bluffing. Dave reached the door of the cafeteria space. He knocked twice, then slowly opened it. "Hey, Liv? It's me, I'm coming in. There's some Air Force folks with me. Keep your weapons holstered and your hands visible. These folks seem a mite twitchy." Olivia stood in the Archway between the dining side and the kitchen side. The sounds of pans and utensils and sizzling meat were quickly joined by the aroma of bacon. Dave's stomach grumbled. Two voices behind him tittered. Seems his guards and executioners heard him. They guffawed when Barnett's stomach responded. "Should we let you two get a plate boss?" The laughing voice behind Dave almost had a Tinkerbell fairy quality to it. Great. My erstwhile executioner leaves pixie dust in her wake. Liv kept quiet. Verbally that is. Her eyes were laughing though. Laughing loud enough to make up for the silence of her lips. "No, they're cooking for a bunch of hungry kids. Leave 'em alone." Barnett paused, looking between Liv and Dave, and sizing them up. "You two, one at a time, very carefully, place your weapons on that back counter. You're closer, young lady, so you go first." Liv sighed, staying stony faced. Dave widened his eyes and nodded his head, with a slight tilt towards the counter. With an exasperated exhale, she unslung her rifle, touching only the sling, and only with her thumb, laying it on the counter. In doing so, she now had her back to the archway leading to the kitchen. She deliberately used her left hand to remove her pistol. Liv then placed it beside the rifle. Her combat knife came next. Placing it with her firearms, she stepped away from the counter and faced the others. "Boot knife." Barnett said flatly. "Excuse me?" Liv asked blankly. "Remove the knife from your boot and place it on the table." Liv pursed her lips, rolled her eyes, and then complied. Tinkerbell tittered. "Step over there." Dave waved his arm towards the opposite corner from where Liv had been, along the wall separating the kitchen space and the dining space. Olivia moved as indicated, her eyes locked on the two behind Dave. "Okay, now you." Dave walked to the counter. He unslung his SMG, again, using only his thumb, and placed it beside Liv's rifle. With open, deliberate motions, his pistol quickly followed. "Don't make me say it again." "I don't have any knives. Never been any good with 'em." Liv snorted. "You shittin me? You came in here with no knife? Better a weapon you're only mediocre with than no weapon at all." Dave just shrugged. "You're doing a great job of convincing me you merely got lucky; twice; rather than win by skill and teamwork." Dave elected not to rise to barb. "Stand over there with your girlfriend." Dave turned and walked along the wall. He took the opportunity to look at the two guards. One was a wasp waisted, svelte brunette with her hair back in a bun. The other; fucking well looked like Tinkerbelle. Pale skin, silky blonde hair in a braid that wrapped around her head like a home-grown crown. Give her a pair of wings and no one would even blink if she claimed to be the fictional character. Well, Tinkerbelle never carried an M4 with a daylight scope. Sure as shit would have given that saucy wink though. Once Dave was beside Livy, Barnett spoke to the two of them. "You will both get a full debriefing at headquarters. For now, let's start with the disposition of the corpse of one Andrew Bilk. He was a very rich man, and someone wants an accounting of his death. Starting with where his body is." "Out in the grass. The goons in this camp had his body on the floor, up against the wall there" Dave pointed, "since we had kids coming in soon, I thought it best to get him out of here, so I carried him out into the grass near the other bodies. He's the one in the silk pajamas." "Silk pajamas? That should be easy to distinguish." "Oh, uh Sergeant Barnett? There is a time critical element here. The blonde lady we rescued first, Natasha, she was bound to the rich guy; Bilk you said? Anyway, she needs to be re-partnered. I don't know the exact timeline, but he died around or just after midnight. Problem is, the nurse around here couldn't get any more semen out of the rich guy's nuts, so her only shot is if a lab geek can eke out enough for her. She and the body need to get back to Dallas fast." "Right. Okay, Silvia?" The brunette focused on Barnett. "Yes, sergeant?" "Find this Natasha woman, get her and the silk clad corpse on a chopper and send them back now." "Yes, sergeant." She slipped out the door like vanishing smoke. "Also," Dave interjected, "in the houses are several women that the nurse, Parker, was forced to re-pair from the rich guy to one of these clowns. That was this morning, so they're all in imprinting sleep at the moment. The ones that imprinted later might be able to recognize which redneck imprinted which blonde." Barnett raised an eyebrow. "Apparently, the rich guy had a fixation with blondes." Tinkerbelle ran a hand down her side, giving her body a little wriggle as she did so. "Alright, I'll let lab techs and medicos sort that mess out. We've got a convoy of trucks enroute to haul these folks back to Dallas." As Barnett spoke, the sound of rotors could be heard. As the sound built, the door opened and five kids went straight to the nearest table. Parker followed in after them. "Oh, hey Dave. Listen, some Air Force woman pulled Natasha away. I think they just left on a chopper." Dave nodded. "Are you the nurse that used the Dead Man's Switch on these women?" Barnett asked. Parker stiffened. "Yes, I am. It was either that or let them die." "Relax, I'm not your judge or your jury. I'm just trying to establish a few facts and identities. Do you think you can remember which woman paired with which man?" "Not all of them, but some. The first was the one with the enormous" she suddenly remembered there were kids in the room, "uh, assets. The boss man took her for himself." "Okay, that's fine. Uh, Jessie, think you can find a notepad for ;” "Parker." "Parker here to write down what she remembers on the pairings this morning. The ones from before should be able to tell us themselves." The short blonde exited with haste. Parker checked in with the kids before approaching the sergeant. "Can I check in with the kitchen, to see when their breakfast is ready?" "No need," said Rory, passing through the arch with a plate in each hand, "breakfast is served." Sandy was right behind her, carrying three plates, one in her left hand, and two more up her left arm. The kids cheered. Sandy also had silverware in her right hand. She set that down first. Unburdened, Rory came across the room to Dave. "Listen, Parker mentioned being paired increases a man's metabolism. We made some extra. Would you like something?" "What if the kids want seconds?" "We made enough in case the older two ask for seconds, and still serve a couple of adults." "Like me and the sergeant here?" Rory grinned, "Correct. Why don't you two sit, and I'll bring out two more plates." "I appreciate that, Rory, but Liv hasn't eaten either. Neither has Parker, or you, or ;” "I know, I know, I've got five more servings in here. Sandy and I can make more shortly." "You don't ha--" "Hush. I want to." She leaned in close. "It helps keep my mind off other things." Immediately, Rory exited to the kitchen. Sandy followed after. As they passed through the arch, Jessie, the little blonde Air Force attack pixie came back bearing a portfolio containing a yellow legal pad and a pen. She handed that off to Parker and found herself an out of the way spot along the wall. Dave watched as Parker took a seat several spaces down from the children. After staring blankly at the page for almost a minute, she began writing at a steady pace. Absorbed in watching her, Dave was surprised when Sandy brought him a plate and silverware. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. A perfectly worthy American breakfast. As he ate, Dave noted his companion / captor's face. The man's fair skin was as unpale as possible without adding descriptors like 'sun-kissed'. His jet-black hair strongly suggested an eastern or southern European heritage. That presumption was supported by the darkening along his jawline. Clearly a man that had to shave twice a day to remain within military regs. Unless of course, he went undercover, in which case he could grow a partial disguise in short order. Liv caught his eye as she returned from the kitchen. She took a seat next to Dave, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before digging into the scrambled eggs on the plate of food she'd carried in. She giggled at his pro forma protest when she stole a piece of bacon off his plate. Liv, on one side of Dave, missed the small grin on Barnett's face over the exchange. Her partner saw it though. Another enlisted woman came through the door carrying a sizable hardcase, the kind that usually has thick foam padding inside. She proceeded directly to the counter and swiftly stowed the weapons in the case. Then she carried the case back outside. "We're going to cycle the civilians through here for some breakfast before we entrain for Dallas," Barnett said. "When you're through here, meet me out on the lawn space where we started. Both of you." "You got it." Barnett took his plate and silverware through the kitchen archway. Shortly after, Dave heard the outer door to the kitchen open and close. Dave took a few more minutes to finish his meal. Liv spoke as he arranged his silverware on his plate. "Before you go, you should talk with Aurora. I think you two have something to share." Dave looked at her flatly. "She'd bonded, Liv." The young woman's smile broadened. "Not quite what I meant." Then she grew serious. "Just talk to her. Really, I think it could be good for both of you." She smirked when Dave walked away, fixing her with a wary eye. He found the sink, with a dishwasher beside it. Quickly, he rinsed his plate, placing it in the dishwasher. Rory and Sandy both objected, but he waved them off. Dave went ahead and rinsed the plate and silverware in the sink as well, along with a few cooking utensils. After drying his hands, he approached Rory. "Olivia said we should talk. She didn't say what about. Is this just her idea, or something you want to discuss?" Rory looked downward and swallowed. She looked back up. The haunted look in her eyes tugged at Dave's heart. Sandy noted their faces and suggested they step outside for a private conversation. Rory took his hand and led Dave out of the kitchen's heat and into the cool damp outside. Following her example, he leaned one shoulder against the wall, facing her. He waited for her to speak. "When we were surveying the houses; checking on the women and kids; Liv was asking me how I got here, what I dealt with getting here and being here. Honestly, she was just trying to make conversation. She didn't know what that would lead to." Dave waited again as Rory screwed up her resolve. Hopefully, his eyes were communicating support and patience. He could try speaking words of comfort or support, but the moment seemed too fragile to withstand him saying anything. "One of her questions was why didn't I try to escape after we were captured, before we were imprinted. Or why didn't we try signaling for help once we were stuck here. I can't speak for the others, but; I was not in a good place mentally when I was captured." She paused again, but not as long this time. Her shoulders came inward though, like she was trying to shrink; or hide. "Casey, the man I was supposed to partner with after getting my vaccine shot, is a good friend. He; spent time, when he could, talking to me by Zoom after; after ;” Rory shook with silent sobs. In Dave's heart, he knew what was coming next. The cold hand that gripped him, sapped the joy out of moments with his new family. His brain kept trying to reject the knowledge. Finally, she looked him directly in the eyes. Her composure shattered. "I had two daughters. They were both teenagers." As her tears poured out, Dave stepped in closer, wrapping his arms around her, his own visage twisted with the shared pain. He said nothing, merely held her for several minutes. When her shaking subsided, he waited a bit more. Finally, he took a deep breath and brought his mouth near her ear. With a shaky voice, he said, "My son's name was Eddie. He was twenty-three years old." Her arms around him tightened. Neither spoke. Several minutes later, Rory pulled her head back, an empathetic look on her face. She kissed Dave on the cheek and went back inside. Dave took a few minutes to collect himself. Feeling reasonably steady, he walked around the building. Liv and Barnett were there, waiting. "Okay, so here's what's happening. Most of these people are going back by truck. The convoy is nearly here. You two have a date with Air Force Intel, DPD, and possibly the FBI. You're going back in a chopper, now." Barnett paused, giving Dave a moment to process what he'd said. "Is that white pickup about three hundred meters back along the entry road yours?" "Yes." "Keys." "Excuse me?" "Gimme your keys. I'll have one of my people drive it with the convoy. We'll have it waiting for you when the intel boys and detectives decide to loosen the thumbscrews." Dave pulled his keys out and tossed them to the sergeant. "What about our weapons?" "They'll be in your vehicle." Dave nodded in acknowledgment. Jessie, the little pixie blonde, motioned for Dave and Liv to follow her. She led them to the nearby chopper and walked them through the seat harness mechanism. Two other Air Force personnel took seats on either side of the pair. Jessie returned to Barnett as the rotors began to move. Two minutes later, Dave watched the ground recede. Air Force personnel were scattered all over the compound. As of yet none of the kids had been in the big grassy area where the bodies lay. Just as the nose dipped and turned, Dave caught sight of military trucks edging down the dirt road into the camp. To be continued in part 12, Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts, for Literotica.

Here's a question that keeps salespeople up at night: How do you ask for more compensation when you're getting competitive external job offers without sounding like you're issuing an ultimatum? That's the question posed by Brady from Arkansas. Brady's been getting legitimate job offers from recruiters, and he's wondering how to leverage these opportunities into better compensation at his current company without burning bridges or coming across as disloyal. If you've ever found yourself in this position, you know it's a delicate dance. You want to be paid what you're worth, but you also don't want to destroy the relationships and goodwill you've built. So how do you navigate this conversation? The Right Way to Have the Conversation If you're getting external job offers from legitimate companies with strong brands, the key is in how you frame the conversation with your boss. Here's the approach: "I really like working here, and I want to stay at this company. I love it. But I've got another company out there that's a good company. They're a great brand, they're well known, and they're making this job offer to me at a significantly higher level of compensation. It's hard for me to say no to that. I feel like I need to bring this to you before I make a decision because I like working here." Notice what you're NOT saying. You're not walking in with an ultimatum saying, "If you don't give me this, I'm leaving." Instead, you're saying, "I want to stay here. I like it here. I'm just in a situation where they're offering me enough that it's turning my head and I'm looking their way." This approach keeps the door open for a productive conversation about what might be possible without threatening your current employer or damaging your relationship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDppNt7jRsc When Loyalty Actually Matters Now, before you go schedule that meeting with your boss, you need to ask yourself a hard question: Do you owe this company some loyalty? If you were down on your luck, lost a job, and they came along and gave you something that saved you, you probably owe them some loyalty for that. Not forever, but there's a little bit of honor in not just jumping to the next place immediately. You also need to think about your resume. If you've just got there and a year later you're jumping to another place, that's on your resume. And believe it or not, even in today's world, that still means something. I won't hire people who jump from job to job every year. I don't care how good they are because they're probably going to jump again. So think long term: Am I demonstrating to a future employer that I'm worth investing more money in? The answer is yes when you gave them three years of your life, performed at a really high level, and now you're going to leverage that to go level up elsewhere. Speaking Your Boss's Language Here's what most salespeople get wrong when asking for more money: They forget to speak the language their boss understands. If you walk into your sales leader's office and say, "I want to make more money," you know what they're going to tell you? "Go sell more." And they're right. If you've got a great compensation plan with no limit on how much commission you can make, the answer is simple: crank out more sales. So before you ask for more base salary, ask yourself: Do I have a limit on how much commission I can make? If the answer is no, then your first conversation should be about getting bigger opportunities. Try this approach: "I can sell. I'm hitting numbers, but I'm not making the money I want. What can you do to give me bigger accounts, bigger opportunities, bigger customers? Give me better leads. What can you do to get me in a situation where I can earn more?" This is speaking the boss's language. You're showing that you want to produce more, not just get paid more for the same work. If you get shut down in that situation, then you have another conversation. The Commission vs. Base Salary Play If you're a baller and you've proven you can sell, here's a move most salespeople never consider when negotiating compensation: Ask for a higher commission percentage instead of a higher base salary. I honestly don't care about base. I think a base matters when you're getting started, and it's nice to have, but I would much rather have a higher commission percentage than a higher base. Here's how you position it: "In the open market, I can take a similar job and make $400,000. I want to make the same thing here. Now there's two ways we could do this. One is that you can increase my base salary. Two is you give me a higher commission rate, and I think the commission rate should be this. I think I'm worth that." What you're basically saying is that your cost of sales is going to be variable. They only pay you if you sell it, so their carrying costs stay the same. In my company, the people who don't take a base salary make more than double in commission what people who do take a base salary bring home. There's a massive difference because the people saying "pay me more commission" are saying "I'm willing to put skin in the game in order to make more." Now, this doesn't work if you're at a massive company with a thousand salespeople and rigid HR policies. But if you work for a smaller organization where people can make decisions, have an honest conversation around this approach. You might even propose a tiered structure: "You can pay me your base commission on everything up to the quota you gave me. But once I cross that quota, I want my commission to roll up so that if I get over this number, the rate scales." That's a conversation most entrepreneurial leaders will entertain because it's putting your money where your mouth is. What Money Can't Buy Here's the thing most people miss when they're chasing the next big paycheck: There's always money out there you can chase. You have an obligation to yourself and your family to make as much as you possibly can in sales. But there's also the value of working in a place that values you. There's more than just the money. There's the freedom, the flexibility, and the opportunity to be part of something that gives you purpose. I had somebody come to me recently and ask this question, and I said, "This job that you're moving to that's going to pay you all this money, suddenly you're going to have someone who's micromanaging and telling you what to do every single day. In your current role, you're not making as much money, but you call the shots on your day every single day. Nobody even messes with you. Are you willing to sign up for that?" They said their wife told them the exact same thing. Maybe that's a sign that having the freedom and flexibility is more valuable than making a lot of money but being miserable because everything you do is being micromanaged. The Bottom Line When it's time to ask for more money, remember these principles: Bring the conversation to your boss before making a decision. Frame it as wanting to stay, not threatening to leave. Consider what you owe in loyalty. If they gave you a chance when you needed one, factor that into your decision. Speak your boss's language. Ask for bigger opportunities before asking for more base pay. Consider the commission play. If you're confident in your abilities, asking for higher commission rates can be more lucrative than base salary increases when looking at total compensation. Weigh the intangibles. Money isn't everything if you're trading freedom and fulfillment for a micromanaged existence. The best compensation conversations happen when you approach them with confidence, gratitude, and a clear understanding of your value. That's how you get paid what you're worth without burning bridges along the way. Want to learn more about leveraging your personal brand to create more career opportunities? Check out Jeb's newest book, The LinkedIn Edge, and discover how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a powerful career and sales tool.

Here's a question that keeps salespeople up at night: How do you ask for more compensation when you're getting competitive external job offers without sounding like you're issuing an ultimatum? That's the question posed by Brady from Arkansas. Brady's been getting legitimate job offers from recruiters, and he's wondering how to leverage these opportunities into better compensation at his current company without burning bridges or coming across as disloyal. If you've ever found yourself in this position, you know it's a delicate dance. You want to be paid what you're worth, but you also don't want to destroy the relationships and goodwill you've built. So how do you navigate this conversation? The Right Way to Have the Conversation If you're getting external job offers from legitimate companies with strong brands, the key is in how you frame the conversation with your boss. Here's the approach: "I really like working here, and I want to stay at this company. I love it. But I've got another company out there that's a good company. They're a great brand, they're well known, and they're making this job offer to me at a significantly higher level of compensation. It's hard for me to say no to that. I feel like I need to bring this to you before I make a decision because I like working here." Notice what you're NOT saying. You're not walking in with an ultimatum saying, "If you don't give me this, I'm leaving." Instead, you're saying, "I want to stay here. I like it here. I'm just in a situation where they're offering me enough that it's turning my head and I'm looking their way." This approach keeps the door open for a productive conversation about what might be possible without threatening your current employer or damaging your relationship. When Loyalty Actually Matters Now, before you go schedule that meeting with your boss, you need to ask yourself a hard question: Do you owe this company some loyalty? If you were down on your luck, lost a job, and they came along and gave you something that saved you, you probably owe them some loyalty for that. Not forever, but there's a little bit of honor in not just jumping to the next place immediately. You also need to think about your resume. If you've just got there and a year later you're jumping to another place, that's on your resume. And believe it or not, even in today's world, that still means something. I won't hire people who jump from job to job every year. I don't care how good they are because they're probably going to jump again. So think long term: Am I demonstrating to a future employer that I'm worth investing more money in? The answer is yes when you gave them three years of your life, performed at a really high level, and now you're going to leverage that to go level up elsewhere. Speaking Your Boss's Language Here's what most salespeople get wrong when asking for more money: They forget to speak the language their boss understands. If you walk into your sales leader's office and say, "I want to make more money," you know what they're going to tell you? "Go sell more." And they're right. If you've got a great compensation plan with no limit on how much commission you can make, the answer is simple: crank out more sales. So before you ask for more base salary, ask yourself: Do I have a limit on how much commission I can make? If the answer is no, then your first conversation should be about getting bigger opportunities. Try this approach: "I can sell. I'm hitting numbers, but I'm not making the money I want. What can you do to give me bigger accounts, bigger opportunities, bigger customers? Give me better leads. What can you do to get me in a situation where I can earn more?" This is speaking the boss's language. You're showing that you want to produce more, not just get paid more for the same work. If you get shut down in that situation, then you have another conversation. The Commission vs. Base Salary Play If you're a baller and you've proven you can sell, here's a move most salespeople never consider when negotiating compensation: Ask for a higher commission percentage instead of a higher base salary. I honestly don't care about base. I think a base matters when you're getting started, and it's nice to have, but I would much rather have a higher commission percentage than a higher base. Here's how you position it: "In the open market, I can take a similar job and make $400,000. I want to make the same thing here. Now there's two ways we could do this. One is that you can increase my base salary. Two is you give me a higher commission rate, and I think the commission rate should be this. I think I'm worth that." What you're basically saying is that your cost of sales is going to be variable. They only pay you if you sell it, so their carrying costs stay the same. In my company, the people who don't take a base salary make more than double in commission what people who do take a base salary bring home. There's a massive difference because the people saying "pay me more commission" are saying "I'm willing to put skin in the game in order to make more." Now, this doesn't work if you're at a massive company with a thousand salespeople and rigid HR policies. But if you work for a smaller organization where people can make decisions, have an honest conversation around this approach. You might even propose a tiered structure: "You can pay me your base commission on everything up to the quota you gave me. But once I cross that quota, I want my commission to roll up so that if I get over this number, the rate scales." That's a conversation most entrepreneurial leaders will entertain because it's putting your money where your mouth is. What Money Can't Buy Here's the thing most people miss when they're chasing the next big paycheck: There's always money out there you can chase. You have an obligation to yourself and your family to make as much as you possibly can in sales. But there's also the value of working in a place that values you. There's more than just the money. There's the freedom, the flexibility, and the opportunity to be part of something that gives you purpose. I had somebody come to me recently and ask this question, and I said, "This job that you're moving to that's going to pay you all this money, suddenly you're going to have someone who's micromanaging and telling you what to do every single day. In your current role, you're not making as much money, but you call the shots on your day every single day. Nobody even messes with you. Are you willing to sign up for that?" They said their wife told them the exact same thing. Maybe that's a sign that having the freedom and flexibility is more valuable than making a lot of money but being miserable because everything you do is being micromanaged. The Bottom Line When it's time to ask for more money, remember these principles: Bring the conversation to your boss before making a decision. Frame it as wanting to stay, not threatening to leave. Consider what you owe in loyalty. If they gave you a chance when you needed one, factor that into your decision. Speak your boss's language. Ask for bigger opportunities before asking for more base pay. Consider the commission play. If you're confident in your abilities, asking for higher commission rates can be more lucrative than base salary increases when looking at total compensation. Weigh the intangibles. Money isn't everything if you're trading freedom and fulfillment for a micromanaged existence. The best compensation conversations happen when you approach them with confidence, gratitude, and a clear understanding of your value. That's how you get paid what you're worth without burning bridges along the way. Want to learn more about leveraging your personal brand to create more career opportunities? Check out Jeb's newest book, The LinkedIn Edge, and discover how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a powerful career and sales tool.

How Do Top Performers Stay Motivated When Sales Gets Hard? You know the feeling when you close a big deal. The rush. The quiet satisfaction of updating your pipeline. Maybe a quick high-five with your manager. And then, almost immediately, it fades. You're back to cold calls that go unanswered, emails that disappear into inboxes, and prospects who promised they were interested suddenly going silent. In sales, rejection isn't a side effect of the job. It is the job. That reality is exactly why most people don't last in sales. And it's why the people who do last tend to get paid very well. Over the past quarter, we talked with some of the most consistent sales leaders in the business. Here are four moments from the Sales Gravy Podcast that reveal how top performers stay motivated and close more deals, even when the work feels heavy. Find Your Carrot and Make It Specific Will Frattini, VP of Sales at ZoomInfo, keeps a small Christmas ornament on his desk. His daughter gave it to him when she was five. That ornament is his carrot. During a recent podcast conversation, Will explained that when sales gets hard, that ornament reminds him exactly why he keeps pushing. Not in an abstract or inspirational-poster way, but in a deeply personal one. It represents his family, his responsibility, and the future he's building for them. That distinction matters. Many salespeople say they're motivated by family, freedom, or financial security. Those values are real, but on their own, they're often too broad to sustain sales motivation during a brutal stretch of rejection. When you're fifty dials deep with no connects and another demo just canceled, vague motivation doesn't hold up. Will doesn't just think “my family.” He sees a moment, a memory, and a tangible reminder of what's at stake. That specificity gives his motivation weight. Top performers anchor their sales motivation to something concrete and emotionally charged. A down payment they want to make by a certain date. A trip they want to take without checking their bank account. A milestone that matters beyond quota. The more specific the carrot, the more powerful it becomes when sales gets hard. How to define yours: Write down one specific outcome you want to achieve in the next six months. Not “hit quota,” but the real-world result that quota enables. A number. A purchase. An experience. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day. Work With Customers Who Actually Value You One of the fastest ways to drain sales motivation is closing deals with customers who make you miserable. On an episode of Ask Jeb, Jeb broke down how companies grow faster by focusing on the right customers, not just more customers. When you're behind on quota late in the year, it's tempting to take anything that looks like revenue. Any company that shows interest. Any prospect willing to meet. You convince yourself that a deal is a deal. Then January arrives. That customer floods your team with support tickets, questions every invoice, demands exceptions, and slowly erodes the satisfaction of the win you celebrated just weeks earlier. Consistent performers learn to protect their energy. They get ruthless about fit. Not just company size or industry, but values. They ask questions like, “What do you value most in a partner?” and they listen carefully to the answer. Some buyers want constant responsiveness. Others value expert perspective and challenge. Some want efficiency and minimal interaction. None of those preferences are wrong. But only one aligns with how you actually sell. When sales gets hard, motivation comes easier when you're pursuing customers who respect your approach instead of fighting it. How to clarify your ideal customer: Look at your three favorite customers. The ones your entire team enjoys working with. What do they share beyond surface-level traits? How did they behave during the buying process? Those patterns matter more than any firmographic filter. Slow Down Before You Create Your Own Problems When pressure builds, speed starts to feel productive. You rush contracts. You promise timelines without checking internally. You say yes to custom requirements because slowing down feels risky. On an episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount, Jr. shared one of the most painful stories we heard this year. A $1.4 million deal with a pediatrics practice unraveled after someone rushed the process and placed the client into an early adopter program without a test environment. The result was catastrophic. The client's live system crashed, HIPAA was violated, and the company lost not only the deal but $600,000 in annual recurring revenue. Top performers understand something most reps learn the hard way: smooth is fast. They build guardrails around high-risk moments. Before sending a contract, they align internally. Before committing to timelines, they check with the people who actually do the work. Slowing down at the right moments builds trust. It prevents chaos. And it preserves sales motivation by keeping you from spending the next quarter cleaning up mistakes made under pressure. How to build a slowdown system: Identify the three points in your sales process where you tend to rush. Proposals, negotiations, technical commitments. Create a short checklist for each and make it mandatory. Use AI to Think Faster, Not to Stop Thinking Sales demands constant context switching. Pipeline reviews. Prospect research. Discovery prep. Follow-up. Objection handling. The mental load adds up quickly. Victor Antonio recently shared an example of a window company using vision AI to diagnose broken window seals from photos. Instead of sending a technician, customers submit an image. The system verifies the issue, checks inventory, confirms warranty status, and schedules service automatically. AI hasn't changed what strong salespeople do. It's changed how quickly they get to the work that actually matters. Top performers use AI to handle tasks that drain energy but don't require judgment. Research summaries. Organizing notes. Drafting frameworks. That speed preserves mental bandwidth for conversations, strategy, and relationship building. Used correctly, AI supports sales motivation by reducing friction, not replacing effort. How to use AI without dulling your edge: List the tasks you repeat weekly that consume time but not insight. Let AI handle those. Keep anything involving trust, nuance, or decision-making firmly in your hands. Why This Matters for Sales Motivation Sales has always been hard. Cold calling was hard decades ago, and it's still hard today. You still have to find people, start conversations, build trust, and ask for commitments. What separates average reps from consistent performers isn't resilience alone. It's structure. Top performers know exactly what they're chasing and why it matters. They protect themselves from bad-fit customers. They slow down when it counts. And they use tools strategically to preserve energy for selling. They still get rejected. They still lose deals. They still have months where nothing goes right. But they don't drift. They don't panic. And they don't quit when the work gets uncomfortable. That discipline is what sustains sales motivation long after the initial excitement wears off. If you want a clearer target to aim at when sales gets hard, download the FREE Sales Gravy Goal Guide. It will help you define the goals that actually keep you focused, disciplined, and motivated—especially when rejection starts piling up.

How Do Top Performers Stay Motivated When Sales Gets Hard? You know the feeling when you close a big deal.The rush. The quiet satisfaction of updating your pipeline. Maybe a quick high-five with your manager. And then, almost immediately, it fades. You're back to cold calls that go unanswered, emails that disappear into inboxes, and prospects who promised they were interested suddenly going silent. In sales, rejection isn't a side effect of the job. It is the job. That reality is exactly why most people don't last in sales. And it's why the people who do last tend to get paid very well. Over the past quarter, we talked with some of the most consistent sales leaders in the business. Here are four moments from the Sales Gravy Podcast that reveal how top performers stay motivated and close more deals, even when the work feels heavy. Find Your Carrot and Make It Specific Will Frattini, VP of Sales at ZoomInfo, keeps a small Christmas ornament on his desk. His daughter gave it to him when she was five. That ornament is his carrot. During a recent podcast conversation, Will explained that when sales gets hard, that ornament reminds him exactly why he keeps pushing. Not in an abstract or inspirational-poster way, but in a deeply personal one. It represents his family, his responsibility, and the future he's building for them. That distinction matters. Many salespeople say they're motivated by family, freedom, or financial security. Those values are real, but on their own, they're often too broad to sustain sales motivation during a brutal stretch of rejection. When you're fifty dials deep with no connects and another demo just canceled, vague motivation doesn't hold up. Will doesn't just think “my family.” He sees a moment, a memory, and a tangible reminder of what's at stake. That specificity gives his motivation weight. Top performers anchor their sales motivation to something concrete and emotionally charged. A down payment they want to make by a certain date. A trip they want to take without checking their bank account. A milestone that matters beyond quota. The more specific the carrot, the more powerful it becomes when sales gets hard. How to define yours: Write down one specific outcome you want to achieve in the next six months. Not “hit quota,” but the real-world result that quota enables. A number. A purchase. An experience. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day. Work With Customers Who Actually Value You One of the fastest ways to drain sales motivation is closing deals with customers who make you miserable. On an episode of Ask Jeb, Jeb broke down how companies grow faster by focusing on the right customers, not just more customers. When you're behind on quota late in the year, it's tempting to take anything that looks like revenue. Any company that shows interest. Any prospect willing to meet. You convince yourself that a deal is a deal. Then January arrives. That customer floods your team with support tickets, questions every invoice, demands exceptions, and slowly erodes the satisfaction of the win you celebrated just weeks earlier. Consistent performers learn to protect their energy. They get ruthless about fit. Not just company size or industry, but values. They ask questions like, “What do you value most in a partner?” and they listen carefully to the answer. Some buyers want constant responsiveness. Others value expert perspective and challenge. Some want efficiency and minimal interaction. None of those preferences are wrong. But only one aligns with how you actually sell. When sales gets hard, motivation comes easier when you're pursuing customers who respect your approach instead of fighting it. How to clarify your ideal customer: Look at your three favorite customers. The ones your entire team enjoys working with. What do they share beyond surface-level traits? How did they behave during the buying process? Those patterns matter more than any firmographic filter. Slow Down Before You Create Your Own Problems When pressure builds, speed starts to feel productive. You rush contracts. You promise timelines without checking internally. You say yes to custom requirements because slowing down feels risky. On an episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount, Jr. shared one of the most painful stories we heard this year. A $1.4 million deal with a pediatrics practice unraveled after someone rushed the process and placed the client into an early adopter program without a test environment. The result was catastrophic. The client's live system crashed, HIPAA was violated, and the company lost not only the deal but $600,000 in annual recurring revenue. Top performers understand something most reps learn the hard way: smooth is fast. They build guardrails around high-risk moments. Before sending a contract, they align internally. Before committing to timelines, they check with the people who actually do the work. Slowing down at the right moments builds trust. It prevents chaos. And it preserves sales motivation by keeping you from spending the next quarter cleaning up mistakes made under pressure. How to build a slowdown system: Identify the three points in your sales process where you tend to rush. Proposals, negotiations, technical commitments. Create a short checklist for each and make it mandatory. Use AI to Think Faster, Not to Stop Thinking Sales demands constant context switching. Pipeline reviews. Prospect research. Discovery prep. Follow-up. Objection handling. The mental load adds up quickly. Victor Antonio recently shared an example of a window company using vision AI to diagnose broken window seals from photos. Instead of sending a technician, customers submit an image. The system verifies the issue, checks inventory, confirms warranty status, and schedules service automatically. AI hasn't changed what strong salespeople do. It's changed how quickly they get to the work that actually matters. Top performers use AI to handle tasks that drain energy but don't require judgment. Research summaries. Organizing notes. Drafting frameworks. That speed preserves mental bandwidth for conversations, strategy, and relationship building. Used correctly, AI supports sales motivation by reducing friction, not replacing effort. How to use AI without dulling your edge: List the tasks you repeat weekly that consume time but not insight. Let AI handle those. Keep anything involving trust, nuance, or decision-making firmly in your hands. Why This Matters for Sales Motivation Sales has always been hard. Cold calling was hard decades ago, and it's still hard today. You still have to find people, start conversations, build trust, and ask for commitments. What separates average reps from consistent performers isn't resilience alone. It's structure. Top performers know exactly what they're chasing and why it matters. They protect themselves from bad-fit customers. They slow down when it counts. And they use tools strategically to preserve energy for selling. They still get rejected. They still lose deals. They still have months where nothing goes right. But they don't drift. They don't panic. And they don't quit when the work gets uncomfortable. That discipline is what sustains sales motivation long after the initial excitement wears off. If you want a clearer target to aim at when sales gets hard, download the FREE Sales Gravy Goal Guide. It will help you define the goals that actually keep you focused, disciplined, and motivated—especially when rejection starts piling up.

In this conversation, Jeb Fuller shares his extensive experience in real estate, focusing on his journey from being a certified commercial appraiser to becoming a successful investor. He discusses the importance of valuation, education, and the transition from residential to commercial real estate. Jeb emphasizes the significance of mindset, experience, and building strong relationships in the industry. He also provides insights into investment strategies and the current market landscape, highlighting the need for adaptability and continuous learning.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Here's a truth that'll make you uncomfortable: Getting rejected isn't the real problem. The real problem is that you're not doing the work upfront to lower the probability of rejection in the first place. That's the insight that hit when Wendy Ramirez, a leading Mexican sales expert and author of Lo que nadie habla de las ventas: Estrategias para no ser llamarada de petate or What Nobody Talks About in Sales: Strategies to Avoid Being a Flash in the Pan, joined this week's episode about handling rejection on Ask Jeb on The Sales Gravy Podcast. After forty years in sales, I've been rejected yesterday, I'll get rejected tomorrow, and I've been rejected so many times that I almost don't even feel it anymore. But that doesn't mean you can just "let it roll off your back" like some sales trainers tell you. If you're struggling with rejection, you're not alone. And more importantly, you're not broken. There's a biological reason it hurts so badly, and there are concrete techniques you can use to handle it. The Biology of Rejection: Why Your Brain Is Working Against You Here's what most sales trainers won't tell you: Rejection is supposed to hurt. It's baked into your DNA. Forty thousand years ago, human beings lived in small groups around campfires. If you got kicked out of the group and walked away from that campfire into the dark, you were in danger. You were part of the food chain. There were things out there hunting you, rival tribes fighting over scarce resources, and being alone meant you probably weren't going to pass on your genes. So human beings who avoided rejection were more likely to survive. This fear of rejection became an evolutionary advantage, and it's still with us today. That's why selling is so hard. It's why most people don't want to go into sales. Walk into the accounting department and ask if anyone wants to make cold calls with you. They're going to look at you like you've got four heads because nobody wants to be in a profession where you have to do something that unnatural. This avoidance of rejection serves us really well in most of our life. You need to get along with your family, your coworkers, other people in the world. Knowing where the line is that would get you rejected is super important to being able to work as a team. But in sales? It's killing your performance. The Truth About Objections: You're Creating Them When people reject you or give you an objection, what they're expressing is their fear. They're expressing their fear of moving forward, their fear of change, their fear about whether or not you'll do what you say you're going to do. And here's the brutal part: Most of the time, you created that fear. The easiest way to deal with an objection is to do good discovery and do a good job in the selling process. When salespeople make the mistake of not doing any discovery, they don't have any ammunition. So the rejection sounds like this: "Your price is too high." That's the only way a person really knows how to explain it. If they don't like you, they'll say, "We need to go think about this." Think about it this way. If you do a great job of building the relationship, asking questions, listening, getting all of their pain and aspirations on the table, and then telling their story back to them in the context of how you can help them solve their problems, then you've earned the right to ask them. When you ask and they give you an objection, you know what to do because you already have that information. You're just bringing back and putting on the table the things that they already told you. The worst rejections I've gotten? They're usually when I lost a deal because I didn't do discovery. And then I found out after the fact that I missed something I shouldn't have missed. It's not so much the rejection that hurts. It's the shame and the gut punch that I didn't do my job as a salesperson, and therefore I created the environment that made that objection so big that I couldn't get past it because I had no information to work with. The Ledge Technique: Your Magic Quarter Second Let's get practical. You're on a prospecting call, you're engaging another person, and they hit you with an objection which feels like rejection. What do you do? Use a technique called the ledge. Neuroscientists would call it the magic quarter second that allows your executive brain (your prefrontal cortex) to get in control of your emotional brain (your limbic system) and that little structure inside your brain called the amygdala that triggers the fight or flight response. The ledge is just something you've memorized that you say automatically whenever you get that particular objection. The thing about prospecting objections is that we know every potential one. They're not surprising. People are going to say, "I don't have any time," "I'm not interested," "I'm already working with someone," "Your prices are too high," "This is not a good time for me," "I'm not the right person." So if someone says, "I'm too busy right now," I just say, "I figured you would be. And that's exactly why I called." That's all I say. The reason I have that memorized is because when they say that, rather than getting consumed by the fight or flight response, I know exactly what to say. In that magic quarter second, my brain that's smart takes over and says, "This is not a threat. This is just a person who says they don't have enough time right now, and you know exactly how to handle it." Relating: The Slower Form of the Ledge If you're in a slower type of objection (let's say you're asking someone to buy from you), use a form of the ledge by relating with them. When someone gives you an objection, they're expecting conflict because we're just human beings. If I tell you no, I'm expecting you to come back at me. So they give you the objection and they're ready for it. If you punch back, they're going to punch back. Everybody loses. But instead, if you relate to them, you lower the temperature. You get on their side of the table. You show empathy without agreeing with them. Here's what that sounds like in practice: Someone says, "This is more than I wanted to pay." You could say, "Well, look, it's really not that expensive and you're going to get so much out of it." Or you could say, "I totally get where you're coming from. It sounds to me like you're someone who makes really good decisions with their money." You're not agreeing that the price is too high. You're agreeing that they're a person who makes good decisions with their money. You're lowering the conflict level and increasing the collaborative level. You're diffusing them and breaking their pattern. Then you can go into, "When you say it's a little bit more than you wanted to pay, how do you mean? What does that mean to you?" But you always start with relating to them. The One Basic Truth About Objections Here's something you need to understand: In every sales conversation, while facing every objection, it is the human being that has the greatest emotional discipline that is most likely to have control over the conversation. And if you control the conversation, you can handle the objection. This is called relaxed assertive confidence. When you demonstrate this behavior, it almost acts like a magnet. People lean into you. And emotionally (because emotions are contagious), it causes them to respond in kind. When you come off as relaxed and confident, suddenly they lower their conflict level and they become more confident in you as well. There's nothing that handles objections better than pure old confidence. Persistence Always Finds a Way to Win Let me leave you with this: Persistence always finds a way to win. Always. In the US, 44 percent of salespeople only face rejection once before they give up. 78 percent give up after asking twice. 91 percent give up after asking only four times. But on average, it takes eight asks to get someone to say yes to you. So think about that. The statistics are in your favor. The more you're persistent, the more you keep asking, the more likely you're going to get what you want. The more you face rejection, the more likely you're going to get what you want. The inspirational part? Doing that is really hard. It takes discipline, and discipline is defined as sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. The easiest, fastest way to put on that emotional armor and dive into objections and rejections is to know exactly what it is that you want. So that in that moment when your brain is saying to you, "Run, don't do this, don't face it," you remember that on the other side of that rejection is the one thing that you want more than anything else in the world. And you're willing to go through it, around it, under it. No matter what it takes. You're willing to do whatever it takes to get that thing that you want. That's when rejection stops being the problem and starts being just another step in your process. Ready to transform your prospecting approach and fill your pipeline? Grab a copy of The LinkedIn Edge, Jeb's latest book on combining LinkedIn, AI, and proven outbound strategies to sell more and close bigger deals.

Here's a truth that'll make you uncomfortable: Getting rejected isn't the real problem. The real problem is that you're not doing the work up front to lower the probability of rejection in the first place. That's the insight that hit when Wendy Ramirez, a leading Mexican sales expert and author of Lo que nadie habla de las ventas: Estrategias para no ser llamarada de petate or What Nobody Talks About in Sales: Strategies to Avoid Being a Flash in the Pan, joined this week's episode about handling rejection on Ask Jeb on The Sales Gravy Podcast. After forty years in sales, I was rejected yesterday, I'll get rejected tomorrow, and I've been rejected so many times that I almost don't even feel it anymore. But that doesn't mean you can just "let it roll off your back" as some sales trainers tell you. If you're struggling with rejection, you're not alone. And more importantly, you're not broken. There's a biological reason it hurts so badly, and there are concrete techniques you can use to handle it. The Biology of Rejection: Why Your Brain Is Working Against You Here's what most sales trainers won't tell you: Rejection is supposed to hurt. It's baked into your DNA. Forty thousand years ago, human beings lived in small groups around campfires. If you got kicked out of the group and walked away from that campfire into the dark, you were in danger. You were part of the food chain. There were things out there hunting you, rival tribes fighting over scarce resources, and being alone meant you probably weren't going to pass on your genes. So human beings who avoided rejection were more likely to survive. This fear of rejection became an evolutionary advantage, and it's still with us today. That's why selling is so hard. It's why most people don't want to go into sales. Walk into the accounting department and ask if anyone wants to make cold calls with you. They're going to look at you like you've got four heads because nobody wants to be in a profession where you have to do something that unnatural. This avoidance of rejection serves us really well for most of our life. You need to get along with your family, your coworkers, and other people in the world. Knowing where the line is that would get you rejected is super important to being able to work as a team. But in sales? It's killing your performance. The Truth About Objections: You're Creating Them When people reject you or give you an objection, what they're expressing is their fear. They're expressing their fear of moving forward, their fear of change, their fear about whether or not you'll do what you say you're going to do. And here's the brutal part: Most of the time, you created that fear. The easiest way to deal with an objection is to do good discovery and do a good job in the selling process. When salespeople make the mistake of not doing any discovery, they don't have any ammunition. So the rejection sounds like this: "Your price is too high." That's the only way a person really knows how to explain it. If they don't like you, they'll say, "We need to go think about this." Think about it this way. If you do a great job of building the relationship, asking questions, listening, getting all of their pain and aspirations on the table, and then telling their story back to them in the context of how you can help them solve their problems, then you've earned the right to ask them. When you ask, and they give you an objection, you know what to do because you already have that information. You're just bringing back and putting on the table the things that they already told you. The worst rejections I've gotten? They're usually when I lost a deal because I didn't do discovery. And then I found out after the fact that I missed something I shouldn't have missed. It's not so much the rejection that hurts. It's the shame and the gut punch that I didn't do my job as a salesperson, and therefore, I created the environment that made that objection so big that I couldn't get past it because I had no information to work with. The Ledge Technique: Your Magic Quarter Second Let's get practical. You're on a prospecting call, you're engaging another person, and they hit you with an objection that feels like rejection. What do you do? Use a technique called the ledge. Neuroscientists would call it the magic quarter second that allows your executive brain (your prefrontal cortex) to get in control of your emotional brain (your limbic system) and that little structure inside your brain called the amygdala that triggers the fight or flight response. The ledge is just something you've memorized that you say automatically whenever you get that particular objection. The thing about prospecting objections is that we know every potential one. They're not surprising. People are going to say, "I don't have any time," "I'm not interested," "I'm already working with someone," "Your prices are too high," "This is not a good time for me," "I'm not the right person." So if someone says, "I'm too busy right now," I just say, "I figured you would be. And that's exactly why I called." That's all I say. The reason I have that memorized is because when they say that, rather than getting consumed by the fight or flight response, I know exactly what to say. In that magic quarter second, my brain that's smart takes over and says, "This is not a threat. This is just a person who says they don't have enough time right now, and you know exactly how to handle it." Relating: The Slower Form of the Ledge If you're in a slower type of objection (let's say you're asking someone to buy from you), use a form of the ledge by relating with them. When someone gives you an objection, they're expecting conflict because we're just human beings. If I tell you no, I'm expecting you to come back at me. So they give you the objection and they're ready for it. If you punch back, they're going to punch back. Everybody loses. But instead, if you relate to them, you lower the temperature. You get on their side of the table. You show empathy without agreeing with them. Here's what that sounds like in practice: Someone says, "This is more than I wanted to pay." You could say, "Well, look, it's really not that expensive, and you're going to get so much out of it." Or you could say, "I totally get where you're coming from. It sounds to me like you're someone who makes really good decisions with their money." You're not agreeing that the price is too high. You're agreeing that they're a person who makes good decisions with their money. You're lowering the conflict level and increasing the collaborative level. You're diffusing them and breaking their pattern. Then you can go into, "When you say it's a little bit more than you wanted to pay, how do you mean? What does that mean to you?" But you always start with relating to them. The One Basic Truth About Objections Here's something you need to understand: In every sales conversation, while facing every objection, it is the human being who has the greatest emotional discipline that is most likely to have control over the conversation. And if you control the conversation, you can handle the objection. This is called relaxed assertive confidence. When you demonstrate this behavior, it almost acts like a magnet. People lean into you. And emotionally (because emotions are contagious), it causes them to respond in kind. When you come off as relaxed and confident, suddenly they lower their conflict level and they become more confident in you as well. There's nothing that handles objections better than pure old confidence. Persistence Always Finds a Way to Win Let me leave you with this: Persistence always finds a way to win. Always. In the US, 44 percent of salespeople only face rejection once before they give up. 78 percent give up after asking twice. 91 percent give up after asking only four times. But on average, it takes eight asks to get someone to say yes to you. So think about that. The statistics are in your favor. The more you're persistent, the more you keep asking, the more likely you're going to get what you want. The more you face rejection, the more likely you're going to get what you want. The inspirational part? Doing that is really hard. It takes discipline, and discipline is defined as sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. The easiest, fastest way to put on that emotional armor and dive into objections and rejections is to know exactly what it is that you want. So that in that moment when your brain is saying to you, "Run, don't do this, don't face it," you remember that on the other side of that rejection is the one thing that you want more than anything else in the world. And you're willing to go through it, around it, under it. No matter what it takes. You're willing to do whatever it takes to get that thing that you want. That's when rejection stops being the problem and starts being just another step in your process. Ready to transform your prospecting approach and fill your pipeline? Grab a copy of The LinkedIn Edge, Jeb's latest book on combining LinkedIn, AI, and proven outbound strategies to sell more and close bigger deals.

Jeb and Jack fly over to Opa-Locka Florida to meetup with "172 Drew" Poley who is there for his day-job. Out on the windy ramp of Atlantic Aviation they talk about aviation, their airplanes, and Cuban food. All this and more on Uncontrolled Airspace Podcast. Recorded Dec 10, 2025. (9:41) [#769] {3} [UCAP1115]

In this pod Jeb and Ryan discuss a diverse variety of topics from* Robert Suarez Signing* Mike Yastrzemski Signing * Braves Bullpen/Rotation Plans* Braves Shortstop Delima And more!If you like what you're hearing make sure to like, comment, subscribe, rate and share as it helps us grow and lets us know we're doing a good job! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jebmaize.substack.com

In this episode, we're joined by Jeb Blount, Founder and CEO of Sales Gravy and one of the most influential voices in modern sales. Jeb is the bestselling author of seventeen books—including Fanatical Prospecting, Sales EQ, People Follow You, The AI Edge, and his newest release, The LinkedIn Edge.   With decades of experience advising top global organizations and their executive teams, Jeb breaks down how emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills shape every customer-facing interaction. Widely regarded as a leading expert on prospecting, sales, leadership, and customer experience, he shares actionable insights that help professionals at every level communicate more effectively, build trust faster, and win more opportunities.   Tune in for a masterclass on elevating your sales game, strengthening relationships, and leveraging the human edge in an AI-driven world.  

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview the legendary sales expert and bestselling author Jeb Blount. Jeb shares stories from his upbringing in small-town Georgia, where being the smallest kid in school taught him grit, hustle, and the relentless work ethic that would later define his career. He talks about finding confidence through public speaking, his early ambition to become a lawyer, and the surprising moment—thanks to “Rudy” himself—that pushed him to write his first book and eventually build Sales Gravy into a powerhouse sales training company.Jeb also breaks down how elite performance in sales mirrors elite athletics, why founders must embrace selling before they can scale, and how persistence—not perfection—is the real engine behind long-term success. From cold calling alongside his clients to the evolution of Sales Gravy's earliest customers, he offers a candid look at the mindset and habits that sustain high-impact sales careers. Join Jeb Blount as he delivers both practical lessons and an inside look at the drive that built one of the most trusted brands in sales development today in this episode of The First Customer!Guest Info: Sales Gravy, Inc.http://www.salesgravy.com/The LinkedIn Edgehttps://jebblount.com/product/the-linkedin-edge/Jeb Blount's LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jebblount/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

Blake and Jeb go In Research Of PAST LIVES with Leonard Nimoy. Subjects include reincarnation claims, past-life regression therapy, and some truly baffling Nimoy wardrobe choices. Link to YouTube Episode (while it lasts) Topics we cover include: Nimoy wandering a Los Angeles graveyard in a strange quasi-military sport coat, and Blake's detective work tying the filming location to Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights. The famous Pollock twins case from Hexham, England, where two girls were said to be the reincarnations of their deceased sisters — and how later research complicates the story. Dr. Lucia Capacchione's art-therapy / inner-child work and how the show uses regression narratives to explain modern psychological problems. Playwright A.J. Stewart (Ada F. Kay), who became convinced she was James IV of Scotland and wrote Falcon: The Autobiography of His Grace James IV King of Scots as if from the king's own perspective. Whether past-life regression therapy produces evidence of reincarnation or just vivid, therapist-shaped fantasy, and why skeptics are so wary of hypnosis-based "memories."   NFA (Nimoy Fashion Alert): Cemetery Detective Work: Using the 2nd NFA shot, I was able to decipher the tex on the dark tombstone. It is a lot darker in real life with a modern shot. That "Find a Grave" entry includes the exact location where Nimoy was standing for this episode's cemetery shot. Jeb asked for an animated gif of the woman in the castle with secret doors: The cover of Robert and Loy Young's book about reincarnation: The twins at the heart of the British (Hexham!) reincarnation story: And I can't help but scream - DON'T GO NEAR THE EDGE!!! This episode is such a cliffhanger. Deeper reading & sources mentioned: Pollock twins case write-up at the Society for Psychical Research's Psi Encyclopedia Psi Encyclopedia on famous past-life claims (including A.J. Stewart / Ada F. Kay): Ada F. Kay / A.J. Stewart biography (reincarnation claim & Falcon background) Evergreen Cemetery (Los Angeles) – history and the Japanese "Garden of the Pines" section Lucia Capacchione and inner-child / expressive-arts therapy Skeptical overview of past-life regression therapy (Harriet Hall, Science-Based Medicine): General background on past-life regression and why psychologists consider it pseudoscientific

What Does a Perfect Bowling Game Have in Common With Top-Performing Sales Reps? Walk into a bowling alley on a Friday night, and you'll see a scene that looks like pure recreation. The crash of pins, the rumble of conversation, the squeak of shoes on the approach. But beneath all that noise is something far more serious: discipline, repetition, emotional control, and the relentless pursuit of mastery. That's the real game. And it's the exact game top performers play in sales. Selling rewards consistency, mental toughness, and the willingness to execute the fundamentals long after everyone else has checked out. When you break the sport of bowling down frame by frame, it mirrors what we teach every day at Sales Gravy. Fanatical Prospecting. Emotional control. Owning your process. Staying steady under pressure. Winning one shot at a time. Each frame reveals a truth about the way elite sellers think and operate. Frame 1: The Approach — Fanatical Prospecting In bowling, the shot starts before the ball ever moves. The routine is deliberate: same steps, same breath, same commitment. That's where consistency begins. In sales, your approach is prospecting. It's the moment you decide whether you're a professional or a hobbyist. Pros don't wait for a pipeline crisis. They build a non-negotiable daily rhythm of fanatical prospecting, exactly the way Jeb teaches it. “One more call. One more conversation. One more connection.” That mindset is your approach. That's the discipline that separates a bowler stepping onto the lane with purpose from the one sitting at the bar making excuses. You pick a target, commit, and move. Frame 2: The Lane — Owning Your Sales Process A lane looks the same every time, but it rarely plays the same. Oil patterns shift. Friction changes. Conditions evolve. Your sales process is no different. You can't control a buyer's internal politics or shifting priorities, but you can control how you move through your process. You can control your cadence, your discovery, your follow-up, and your commitment to advancing every opportunity with intention. Average sellers blame the lane. Pros read it. They ask better questions. They recognize where deals stall. They adjust without abandoning the fundamentals. The arrows exist to guide the ball; your process exists to guide you. Ignore it, and you drift straight into the gutter. Frame 3: The Ball — Your Message and the Triangle of Trust A bowler's ball is drilled to fit their hand, weighted for their style, and chosen for the conditions. Your ball is your message—your story, your questions, your ability to connect what you sell to what the buyer actually cares about. When you balance logic, emotion, and values, the ball rolls true. Most sellers throw the same generic pitch at every buyer. Pros tune their message. They refine their openings. They speak the buyer's language. Hit with too much emotion and no substance, you lose credibility. Hit with pure logic and no emotional relevance, you miss the pocket of influence. The goal is simple: strike emotion first, let logic clean up the rest. Frame 4: The Pins — Prospects, Objections, and Physics Pins obey physics. They aren't out to get you. Prospects are the same. Some fall quickly. Some require finesse. Some need a second shot. This is where many sellers unravel emotionally. They take objections personally. They turn one “no” into a story about themselves. Objections aren't judgment. They're feedback. “We're happy with our current vendor.”“Call me next quarter.” Objections are indicators, and tell you where your angle is off. Pros adjust. Ask a different question. Reframe the problem. Bring a story that hits harder. Then take another shot. The frame isn't over until you quit. Frame 5: The Shoes — Mindset and Emotional Control No one bowls in street shoes. You'll slip, lose balance, and go down hard. Your mindset is your pair of bowling shoes. Without emotional control, every call feels unstable. Every objection knocks you off center. Every tough moment spirals. Pros prepare their mind before they prepare their day. They visualize tough conversations. They decide how they'll respond to setbacks before they happen. They choose composure over reaction. A confident mind produces a confident delivery. Buyers feel both. Frame 6: The Equipment — Tech as an Amplifier, Not a Crutch Pros carry multiple balls, tape, tools—gear that helps them adjust and stay consistent. None of it bowls for them. Sales is full of tools too: CRMs, AI, sequencing engines, dialers. But tools only multiply effort. They never replace it. Weak sellers hide behind technology. Pros use it to increase conversations and stay organized. Tools help you understand the “oil pattern” of your territory. But at the end of the day, it's still you, a buyer, and a conversation. No technology closes deals for you. Frame 7: The Team — Culture and Accountability Bowling looks individual, but leagues win seasons. Behind every high average is a team pushing each other, challenging complacency, and celebrating progress. Sales is the same. Great cultures are built around coaching, accountability, and emotional safety. Teams share insights, review calls, and collaborate on tough deals. When someone hits a strike, everyone feels the lift. When someone struggles, the team rallies. You're competing, but you're not competing against each other. You're competing against your potential. Frame 8: The Scoreboard — Metrics and Truth The scoreboard doesn't lie. It doesn't care how busy you felt. It only reflects execution. Your sales scoreboard measures the same: dials, conversations, opportunities created, conversion rates. These numbers are feedback tools. High performers study them. They adjust mechanics, behavior, and cadence based on the data. You can't manage what you don't measure. Frame 9: The Follow-Through — Closing with Composure A bowler's follow-through is controlled and deliberate. The ball is gone, but the motion stays disciplined. Closing requires the same composure. Many sellers execute well early in the cycle. Then, at the moment of truth, they flinch. They rush. They soften.  Pros stay steady. They recap value clearly. They ask directly and confidently. They handle final concerns without panic. Closing is the natural output of a disciplined process. Frame 10: The Final Frame — Finishing Strong with Follow-Up The tenth frame separates casual bowlers from champions. Tired, under pressure, and out of margin for error, pros sharpen their focus. In sales, the tenth frame is follow-up. It's the week after the demo. The stalled proposal. The buyer who goes quiet. Most sellers mentally check out and tell themselves the wrong story: “If they wanted it, they'd call me.” Pros don't buy that lie. Deals are won in the follow-up—professional, relevant, value-driven persistence. That's where reliability is proven. The Game That Never Ends Sales doesn't have a perfect 300 game every time. Some days everything strikes clean. Some days, you grind for spares. Some days, the ball finds the gutter no matter how good your form feels. The separator is what you do next. Pros study the lane. They adjust their feet. They breathe. They get back on the approach and commit to the next shot with the same intensity as the first. So as you head into your day, think like a bowler playing the long game. Lace up your mindset. Respect your process. Choose your message with intention. Read your buyers the way pros read the lanes. Lean on your team. Track your scoreboard. And never cheat the follow-through. The pins are set. The lane is open. You've always got one more frame. Step up with purpose. Roll with confidence. And when in doubt, make one more call. Ready to take your sales game to the next frame? Build discipline, track your process, and crush your goals with the FREE Sales Gravy Goal Guide. Start mastering your results today.

What Does a Perfect Bowling Game Have in Common With Top-Performing Sales Reps? Walk into a bowling alley on a Friday night, and you'll see a scene that looks like pure recreation. The crash of pins, the rumble of conversation, the squeak of shoes on the approach. But beneath all that noise is something far more serious: discipline, repetition, emotional control, and the relentless pursuit of mastery. That's the real game. And it's the exact game top performers play in sales. Selling rewards consistency, mental toughness, and the willingness to execute the fundamentals long after everyone else has checked out. When you break the sport of bowling down frame by frame, it mirrors what we teach every day at Sales Gravy. Fanatical Prospecting. Emotional control. Owning your process. Staying steady under pressure. Winning one shot at a time. Each frame reveals a truth about the way elite sellers think and operate. Frame 1: The Approach — Fanatical Prospecting In bowling, the shot starts before the ball ever moves. The routine is deliberate: same steps, same breath, same commitment. That's where consistency begins. In sales, your approach is prospecting. It's the moment you decide whether you're a professional or a hobbyist. Pros don't wait for a pipeline crisis. They build a non-negotiable daily rhythm of fanatical prospecting, exactly the way Jeb teaches it. “One more call. One more conversation. One more connection.” That mindset is your approach. That's the discipline that separates a bowler stepping onto the lane with purpose from the one sitting at the bar making excuses. You pick a target, commit, and move. Frame 2: The Lane — Owning Your Sales Process A lane looks the same every time, but it rarely plays the same. Oil patterns shift. Friction changes. Conditions evolve. Your sales process is no different. You can't control a buyer's internal politics or shifting priorities, but you can control how you move through your process. You can control your cadence, your discovery, your follow-up, and your commitment to advancing every opportunity with intention. Average sellers blame the lane. Pros read it. They ask better questions. They recognize where deals stall. They adjust without abandoning the fundamentals. The arrows exist to guide the ball; your process exists to guide you. Ignore it, and you drift straight into the gutter. Frame 3: The Ball — Your Message and the Triangle of Trust A bowler's ball is drilled to fit their hand, weighted for their style, and chosen for the conditions. Your ball is your message—your story, your questions, your ability to connect what you sell to what the buyer actually cares about. When you balance logic, emotion, and values, the ball rolls true. Most sellers throw the same generic pitch at every buyer. Pros tune their message. They refine their openings. They speak the buyer's language. Hit with too much emotion and no substance, you lose credibility. Hit with pure logic and no emotional relevance, you miss the pocket of influence. The goal is simple: strike emotion first, let logic clean up the rest. Frame 4: The Pins — Prospects, Objections, and Physics Pins obey physics. They aren't out to get you. Prospects are the same. Some fall quickly. Some require finesse. Some need a second shot. This is where many sellers unravel emotionally. They take objections personally. They turn one “no” into a story about themselves. Objections aren't judgment. They're feedback. “We're happy with our current vendor.” “Call me next quarter.” Objections are indicators, and tell you where your angle is off. Pros adjust. Ask a different question. Reframe the problem. Bring a story that hits harder. Then take another shot. The frame isn't over until you quit. Frame 5: The Shoes — Mindset and Emotional Control No one bowls in street shoes. You'll slip, lose balance, and go down hard. Your mindset is your pair of bowling shoes. Without emotional control, every call feels unstable. Every objection knocks you off center. Every tough moment spirals. Pros prepare their mind before they prepare their day. They visualize tough conversations. They decide how they'll respond to setbacks before they happen. They choose composure over reaction. A confident mind produces a confident delivery. Buyers feel both. Frame 6: The Equipment — Tech as an Amplifier, Not a Crutch Pros carry multiple balls, tape, tools—gear that helps them adjust and stay consistent. None of it bowls for them. Sales is full of tools too: CRMs, AI, sequencing engines, dialers. But tools only multiply effort. They never replace it. Weak sellers hide behind technology. Pros use it to increase conversations and stay organized. Tools help you understand the “oil pattern” of your territory. But at the end of the day, it's still you, a buyer, and a conversation. No technology closes deals for you. Frame 7: The Team — Culture and Accountability Bowling looks individual, but leagues win seasons. Behind every high average is a team pushing each other, challenging complacency, and celebrating progress. Sales is the same. Great cultures are built around coaching, accountability, and emotional safety. Teams share insights, review calls, and collaborate on tough deals. When someone hits a strike, everyone feels the lift. When someone struggles, the team rallies. You're competing, but you're not competing against each other. You're competing against your potential. Frame 8: The Scoreboard — Metrics and Truth The scoreboard doesn't lie. It doesn't care how busy you felt. It only reflects execution. Your sales scoreboard measures the same: dials, conversations, opportunities created, conversion rates. These numbers are feedback tools. High performers study them. They adjust mechanics, behavior, and cadence based on the data. You can't manage what you don't measure. Frame 9: The Follow-Through — Closing with Composure A bowler's follow-through is controlled and deliberate. The ball is gone, but the motion stays disciplined. Closing requires the same composure. Many sellers execute well early in the cycle. Then, at the moment of truth, they flinch. They rush. They soften.  Pros stay steady. They recap value clearly. They ask directly and confidently. They handle final concerns without panic. Closing is the natural output of a disciplined process. Frame 10: The Final Frame — Finishing Strong with Follow-Up The tenth frame separates casual bowlers from champions. Tired, under pressure, and out of margin for error, pros sharpen their focus. In sales, the tenth frame is follow-up. It's the week after the demo. The stalled proposal. The buyer who goes quiet. Most sellers mentally check out and tell themselves the wrong story: “If they wanted it, they'd call me.” Pros don't buy that lie. Deals are won in the follow-up—professional, relevant, value-driven persistence. That's where reliability is proven. The Game That Never Ends Sales doesn't have a perfect 300 game every time. Some days everything strikes clean. Some days you grind for spares. Some days the ball finds the gutter no matter how good your form feels. The separator is what you do next. Pros study the lane. They adjust their feet. They breathe. They get back on the approach and commit to the next shot with the same intensity as the first. So as you head into your day, think like a bowler playing the long game. Lace up your mindset. Respect your process. Choose your message with intention. Read your buyers the way pros read the lanes. Lean on your team. Track your scoreboard. And never cheat the follow-through. The pins are set. The lane is open. You've always got one more frame. Step up with purpose. Roll with confidence. And when in doubt, make one more call. Ready to take your sales game to the next frame? Build discipline, track your process, and crush your goals with the FREE Sales Gravy Goal Guide. Start mastering your results today.

Planning to apply to law school? Host Tasha (formerly at Boston University and USC) chats with IvyWise law school admissions expert Jeb (formerly at Columbia Law School) to reveal what you should be doing in each year of undergrad to maximize your chances of getting into your top-choice law schools.

In this pod Jeb, Jose and Ben are joined by Erin Nicole the host of ‘Chop House Tea' and Braves influencer on Tik Talk to discuss all thing Braves and her journey of growing her Tik Tok Brand! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jebmaize.substack.com

The corruption of the feckless, unelected, black-robed, tyrannical, inferior, federal district trial court judges continues with the infamous Judge James "Jeb" Boasberg continuing to rule from the bench as if America itself was governed at his unaccountable whim. Articles of impeachment have been filed against Boasberg, and the Senate has sent a letter demanding his suspension during these impeachment proceedings--but will it make any difference to Boasberg's conduct? And what of all the other corrupt federal judges on the DC Circuit, and throughout the Article III federal judiciary. 

In this pod Jeb, Ryan and Jose talk about the recent moves of resigning Raisel Iglesias and Joel Payampas and trading for Mauricio Dubon. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jebmaize.substack.com

MTG is suddenly concerned with toxic politics as her feud with Trump continues. Raffesnperger pulls investigators from working with SEB. The Southern Surge Eludes Georgia. Jeb! praises Kemp's Georgia Match Program.  State Rep Esther Panitch crosses the aisle in Sandy Springs race. Senate continues looking at ways to eliminate income tax.

Jeb Terry - President and CEO of Cosm - explains "Shared Reality" and what their venues add to the sports fan experience.   Jeb describes Cosm as "the next best thing" to being at a live event, and gives a thorough breakdown of the business model that is in many ways similar to a traditional venue with tickets, concessions, and partnerships.   He also explains the strategy behind expansion and how they are selecting new markets both domestically and internationally.   Timestamps: 1:10 - Shared Reality 6:15 - Jeb's background as an NFL player 10:40 - Cosm partnerships 16:10 - Expansion strategy 22:45 - Key learnings 25:00 - Rapid Fire Questions   For more insights, visit our LinkedIn page or learn more about Navigate at https://nvgt.com/.

Here's a question that'll mess with your head: What do you do when you're making seven figures in sales, crushing every goal, and suddenly … you just don't feel the same motivation anymore? That's the question Matthew Feit from Toms River, New Jersey, posed on an Ask Jeb episode. Matthew's living the dream that most salespeople chase their entire careers. He's at the top of his game financially. He's proven everything he set out to prove. And now he's stuck in this weird limbo where the fire that got him there has gone cold. If you're shaking your head right now, thinking this is a champagne problem, you're missing the point. This is one of the most dangerous positions a high achiever can find themselves in, and it's costing top performers their edge every single day. The Jim Story: When Achievement Becomes Your Enemy Let me tell you about Jim. Years ago, when I was living in Florida, I had this sales rep who was an absolute monster. Top of the ranking report. Presidents Club. Rolex on his wrist for winning. Then one day, his director of sales wanted to put him on a performance improvement plan. In sales, a PIP means you are a dead man walking. I drove up to Jacksonville thinking there had to be some mistake. When I sat down with Jim, I realized the problem wasn't his ability. The guy was still incredibly talented. The problem was he'd won everything there was to win, and he just didn't have the next goal driving him anymore. Here's what I learned: The things we do in sales are hard. They're repetitive. We deal with difficult people. It takes massive discipline, which is simply sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. But when you don't know what you want most anymore, that discipline evaporates. Jim's answer surprised me. He wanted a Harley-Davidson, but his wife wouldn't let him buy it. So I worked out a way to structure his commissions so he could get his Harley while still bringing home the money his wife expected. Suddenly, his sales went through the roof again. He had something driving him. The Cognitive Dissonance of High Achievement Here's what's happening with guys like Matthew and what happened with Jim: They've got this level of cognitive dissonance. Part of them is a stone-cold high achiever who needs to be achieving. The other part is saying, "I don't feel it anymore. I don't have that juice." When you're younger or earlier in your career, you're sketching out goals constantly. I remember having a goal book where I wrote down everything I wanted. One of my goals was a house on the inter-coastal waterway in South Florida. I achieved that goal. Then one day I'm sitting there going, "Well, what do I do now?" It's easy to get comfortable when you don't know where to go next. But comfortable is the enemy of excellence in high-performance sales cultures. What Do You Really Want? I hit the same wall this year. Twenty years building this business, book number 17 coming out, and I'm asking myself the same question Matthew asked: "What now?" I finally figured it out. My wants aren't things anymore. Maybe in my 20s and 30s it was about what I was going to own, but today it's different. It's about what I want to accomplish and who I want to work with. I realized I want to work with people and companies I know I can help. That are a challenge for me. Where I can watch them grow and enjoy seeing them succeed. Who really want to work with me and see me as part of their organization, not as a vendor. As a result, I've been rearranging my world so I can be very picky about what I'm going to do, who I'm going to work with, and who I'm going to speak to. I want to do things that give me joy and fulfill my purpose, which is to help people sell more. That's why I believe God put me here. The Twenty Year Vision When I was a little older than Matthew, I looked at my life and asked: "What are the next 20 years going to be like?" I had won every award you could win in sales. I was operating at the top level of a Fortune 200 company. I had the accolades, the money, all of it. So I asked myself that simple question. What happened over those 20 years completely changed my life. Everything shifted. I wrote my first book when I was 38. It wasn't great. But it was my story, and it was the beginning. I made a goal to write five books in five years. Twenty years later, The LinkedIn Edge is book is number 17. Here's the thing: When I was 38, I didn't know exactly where I'd be at 58. I just knew I was going to make a massive impact over the next 20 years as I pursued my purpose. It was simply about helping people. Stop Thinking, Start Doing Matthew mentioned wanting to write a book about his journey and helping other people. That's a perfect path for someone at his level. Here's my advice: Sit down and look ahead. If you were looking at yourself 20 years from now, what would you want that person to look like? It's not so much about what you want to achieve. It's about who you want to be. Don't wait for the perfect vision. I didn't have some crystal clear picture of where I'd be today. I just knew I needed to change and make an impact. The journey gets you there, but you have to start moving. For Matthew and for anyone else who's climbed every mountain in their current world: You have everything it takes to do whatever you want. You know that already. But if you get more time to just sit in your vacation home, you're going to go out of your mind in no time because you'll know you're not living up to your potential. The question isn't whether you should keep pushing. The question is: What are you pushing toward? Answer that, and the fire comes back. Ignore it, and you'll keep wondering why success doesn't feel like it used to. The best part? Once you reconnect with your purpose and set new goals that actually matter, you'll discover that all those skills that got you to seven figures become even sharper. You're not starting over. You're leveling up. Jeb Blount is the author of 17 books, including the groundbreaking classics Fanatical Prospecting, Sales EQ, Objections, and Inked. In The LinkedIn Edge, co-authored with Brynne Tillman, Jeb teaches sales professionals how to leverage LinkedIn to build their personal brand and fill their pipeline with qualified prospects.

Every sales professional has a horror story that still makes them break out in a cold sweat years later. The deal that imploded spectacularly. The customer interaction that went sideways in ways you couldn't predict. The moment you sat in your car afterward in complete silence, questioning every decision that led you to this career. These moments feel intensely personal and isolating. But the truth is, every rep who's lasted in this profession has been there. On an episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Ashley Blount and I collected nightmare sales stories from our years in the automotive and telecommunications industries, plus stories from the sales community. We found 16 tales that prove no one faces this alone. Here are some of the most terrifying. Smelly Dave: The Angel of Death This sales horror story comes from the automotive industry, posted on Reddit by someone who still sounds traumatized. Dave started at the dealership after Sears closed. We found out he'd been the “Angel of Death” at several franchises—Sears, Future Shop, RadioShack. Every place he touched eventually shut down. Dave was in his early 40s, wore the same shirt with the same coffee stain on it every single day, and smelled terribly. Customers would flee after test drives, refusing to come back into the building with him. On one occasion, a customer was dry heaving. Management tried to delicately bring up the hygiene issue, but Dave wouldn't listen. One day, the manager was told to drop off a sold vehicle to a customer, and Dave drove the chase car. As they returned together, the smell in that enclosed space was so unbearable that the manager walked into the boss's office afterward and apologized for whatever he had done to deserve that punishment. The boss laughed, called Dave in, and fired him on the spot. The Bluetooth Incident That Still Haunts Ashley Ashley had been selling cars for a few months when a sweet older couple came into the dealership. The husband was retiring, probably late 60s, and they were one of those rare couples who were actually pleasant to work with. He picked out a lime green Ford Fiesta for his retirement car. They completed the test drive, finished all the paperwork, and Ashley sent the vehicle back to get ready for delivery. When delivering a new vehicle, you always get in with the customer to help them connect their phone to Bluetooth and walk them through all the features. Since it was a couple, the husband was in the driver's seat, his wife was in the front passenger seat, and Ashley was sitting in the middle of the back seat. They got his phone connected to the Bluetooth, matched the code, and turned up the volume on the car. He went to open his phone. The most explicit, obscene audio you can imagine came blasting out of the speakers. Dead silence in that vehicle for what felt like forever. Ashley wished them well, exited the car, and walked back inside, mortified. When asked how it went, she told them the story and muttered, “I don't really want to follow up. I'm not sure that's appropriate.” The Telecom Contractors Who Started a Gunfight I had door-knocked a large hair salon and built a relationship with the salon owner, who also owned the building. He helped me get in the door with all four of his tenants. Because he was switching, they all switched. I closed three to four months of quota on this one deal because of what he did for me.  Installation day arrives. At 6 a.m., my phone rings. I try to sound as awake as possible with my gravelly morning voice, and the owner immediately screams, "Jeb, what the f**k?" He explains that our contractors came out the night before, got in a huge argument, waved guns at each other—he swears one of them shot at the other. Then they came back in the morning and dug a trench that cut every single internet line to the building. Every single one. No internet on the salon's busiest day, and all the other stores were out, too. I arrived at 6:45 a.m.

Every sales professional has a horror story that still makes them break out in a cold sweat years later. The deal that imploded spectacularly. The customer interaction that went sideways in ways you couldn't predict. The moment you sat in your car afterward in complete silence, questioning every decision that led you to this career. These moments feel intensely personal and isolating. But the truth is, every rep who's lasted in this profession has been there. On an episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Ashley Blount and I collected nightmare sales stories from our years in the automotive and telecommunications industries, plus stories from the sales community. We found 16 tales that prove no one faces this alone. Here are some of the most terrifying. Smelly Dave: The Angel of Death This sales horror story comes from the automotive industry, posted on Reddit by someone who still sounds traumatized. Dave started at the dealership after Sears closed. We found out he'd been the “Angel of Death” at several franchises—Sears, Future Shop, RadioShack. Every place he touched eventually shut down. Dave was in his early 40s, wore the same shirt with the same coffee stain on it every single day, and smelled terribly. Customers would flee after test drives, refusing to come back into the building with him. On one occasion, a customer was dry heaving. Management tried to delicately bring up the hygiene issue, but Dave wouldn't listen. One day, the manager was told to drop off a sold vehicle to a customer, and Dave drove the chase car. As they returned together, the smell in that enclosed space was so unbearable that the manager walked into the boss's office afterward and apologized for whatever he had done to deserve that punishment. The boss laughed, called Dave in, and fired him on the spot. The Bluetooth Incident That Still Haunts Ashley Ashley had been selling cars for a few months when a sweet older couple came into the dealership. The husband was retiring, probably late 60s, and they were one of those rare couples who were actually pleasant to work with. He picked out a lime green Ford Fiesta for his retirement car. They completed the test drive, finished all the paperwork, and Ashley sent the vehicle back to get ready for delivery. When delivering a new vehicle, you always get in with the customer to help them connect their phone to Bluetooth and walk them through all the features. Since it was a couple, the husband was in the driver's seat, his wife was in the front passenger seat, and Ashley was sitting in the middle of the back seat. They got his phone connected to the Bluetooth, matched the code, and turned up the volume on the car. He went to open his phone. The most explicit, obscene audio you can imagine came blasting out of the speakers. Dead silence in that vehicle for what felt like forever. Ashley wished them well, exited the car, and walked back inside, mortified. When asked how it went, she told them the story and muttered, “I don't really want to follow up. I'm not sure that's appropriate.” The Telecom Contractors Who Started a Gunfight I had door-knocked a large hair salon and built a relationship with the salon owner, who also owned the building. He helped me get in the door with all four of his tenants. Because he was switching, they all switched. I closed three to four months of quota on this one deal because of what he did for me.  Installation day arrives. At 6 a.m., my phone rings. I try to sound as awake as possible with my gravelly morning voice, and the owner immediately screams, "Jeb, what the f**k?" He explains that our contractors came out the night before, got in a huge argument, waved guns at each other—he swears one of them shot at the other. Then they came back in the morning and dug a trench that cut every single internet line to the building. Every single one. No internet on the salon's busiest day, and all the other stores were out, too. I arrived at 6:45 a.m. to a foxhole-sized trench and abandoned equipment everywhere. My heart sank. I escalated straight to the senior VP—two levels below the CEO. It wasn't elegant, but the problem got fixed. I still use that hair salon to this day/ The $1.4 Million HIPAA Violation One sales rep had a pediatrics practice ready to purchase his product for $1.4 million. They had already negotiated terms. The last step was to follow up with references, and then they were going for the signature. Someone on the sales operations team had the brilliant idea to put them in an early adopter program without a test server. They crashed the client's entire live system, and one of the consequences was sending bills to the wrong addresses, which violated HIPAA law. This cost the pediatrics practice not just money but also reputation with its patients.  The deal was completely killed, and the practice announced that it was leaving for a competing system. The rep also lost $600,000 in annual recurring revenue. The sales rep did everything right and watched it all disappear because of a decision someone else made. The VP Who Sabotaged Everything Ashley worked on a high-volume account for multiple years. Hitting the mark on everything. The CEO and entire organization loved the work. Then renewal time came, and one of the VPs started making everything difficult. Meetings became confusing. Clear agreements would somehow transform into something else. Ashley would leave meetings questioning whether she was interpreting things correctly. Her team felt it, too. Was this actually happening, or were they all going crazy? Eventually, this VP went out with someone from Ashley's company and admitted the whole thing. She was intentionally making everything difficult because she wanted to work with a friend at another firm. Nothing against the work. Nothing against Ashley. Just personal preference dressed up as professional obstacles. Ashley still won the account. The VP found another job. But the psychological warfare of working on an account where someone is actively sabotaging you—not because of performance but because of hidden agendas—takes a serious toll. The First Door Knock That Went Horribly Wrong Sales horror stories aren't always about lost deals; sometimes they're about getting chased out of a building. Ashley was doing her first day of field sales training with a senior rep. They found new construction, talked to someone on-site, and were directed to the owner's main office. The gatekeeper walked them straight back to the owner's office. He seemed pleasant enough at first. They introduced themselves and mentioned the new building. The minute they started talking about their services, he flipped like a switch. He started screaming at them to get out, demanding to know why they were soliciting, how they made it all the way back to his office, and who let them in. He chased them out of the building in front of all his employees, yelling the entire time. His office was in the literal back of a shotgun-style building, so it was a long walk of shame past everyone. They got in the car and sat in silence. Finally, the senior rep looked at Ashley and said, "They're not all like that. I promise." A brutal first lesson in field sales. When Sales Goes Wrong: What The Best Reps Do These sales horror stories all share something important: Sales will always put you in situations you can't predict or control. You can do everything right—prospect well, qualify hard, deliver value—and still watch a deal unravel for reasons that make no sense. What matters is how you respond. The best reps don't disappear or point fingers. They show up fast, escalate when needed, and take ownership even when the problem isn't their fault. They fight for their customers and for the relationship. If a story like this brings up your own nightmare deal, take it as a good sign. It means you care about your work and take your commitments seriously. That's what defines a true professional. The pain doesn't last. The customer who had the Bluetooth issue still bought the car. The salon owner stayed as a client. Ashley won that renewal. What once felt like failure becomes proof that you stayed in the fight, and that's what the best reps do. You're Not Alone  The worst part of a nightmare scenario is feeling isolated. But every rep has a story that still makes them cringe. What matters is what you do next. Process it, learn from it, and bounce back stronger. Knowing every other sales professional has their own version of disaster can be the fuel that keeps you going. Listen to the full episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast for all 16 sales horror stories and a reminder: Your worst day in sales doesn't define your career. How you respond does. If you've lived through your own sales nightmare, don't let it haunt your next call. Start winning more on cold calls with our free guide, 25 Ways to Ask for the Appointment on Cold Calls, and turn your next “no” into a comeback story.

Jeb Hensarling is the former Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and one of the most influential voices in economic policy during the 2008 financial crisis. He has also joined ProCap BTC as a Senior Advisor. In this conversation, we talk about how Jeb pushed back against the bank bailouts, how those same issues led to the rise of bitcoin, his views on bitcoin, stablecoins, the broader crypto industry, and how technology and innovation are reshaping the financial system today.======================Check out my NEW show for daily bite-sized breakdowns of the biggest stories in finance, technology, and politics: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://pompdesk.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠======================Simple Mining makes Bitcoin mining simple and accessible for everyone. We offer a premium white glove hosting service, helping you maximize the profitability of Bitcoin mining. For more information on Simple Mining or to get started mining Bitcoin, visit https://www.simplemining.io/======================Xapo Bank, the world's first fully licensed Bitcoin-enabled bank, offers military-grade security with an unmatched blend of physical and digital security, as well as pioneering regulatory oversight, so your funds are always protected. Beyond secure storage, they enable you to grow and use your Bitcoin. Earn daily interest in Bitcoin, spend with zero FX fees using a global card, and make instant payments via the Lightning Network for unrivalled access and convenience. Visit ⁠https://www.xapobank.com/pomp⁠ to join.======================Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro2:25 - 2008 bank bailouts & Satoshi6:21 - QE playbook & constant intervention10:39 - Bitcoin as protection & property rights17:11 - GENIUS Act & advice for industry regulation24:36 - How to get lawmakers educated28:11 - Why stablecoins matter for America & bitcoin33:34 - How to think through a US bitcoin strategic reserve38:39 - Opportunities in the intersection of finance and technology43:25 - Choosing optimism & why Jeb is Long America