Podcasts about Johnno

How can you tell where the real innovation in publishing is happening right now, and why is it emerging from the indie side first? How do you market your own book when you've spent 35 years marketing everyone else's? John Bond talks about Going Indie and what he's learned about authors who last. In the intro, my thoughts on writing with AI, Charles Dickens and encouragement for the 3-year-old dancing to K-Pop at the wedding, UK copyright law, The end of an era — Hugh Howey; Notre Dame, Paris; Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn John Bond is the co-founder of Whitefox, a premium publishing services agency, and has over 35 years in traditional publishing, from bookselling to marketing and management. He's also the co-author of Going Indie: Publishing Your Book Your Way, with James Silver. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why 2012 was a watershed moment for publishing in the UK Whether the snobbery around self-publishing has finally gone How to co-write a book with someone, and why there's no formula The pride swallowing involved in getting endorsement quotes for your own book The shadow economy of indie sales that no industry chart measures The hallmarks of writers who build a long-term career You can find John at wearewhitefox.com. Transcript of the interview with John Bond Jo: John Bond is the co-founder of Whitefox, a premium publishing services agency, and has over 35 years in traditional publishing, from bookselling to marketing and management. He's also the co-author of Going Indie: Publishing Your Book Your Way, with James Silver. So welcome back to the show, John. John: Thank you, Jo. Thanks so much for having me. Jo: You were last on the show in 2022. You've been on a couple of times, but just set the scene. Tell people a bit more about you and your long background in publishing. John: I suppose I could say I started as a marketing manager at Penguin back in the early 1990s in London, and that role eventually evolved into running sales and marketing, as it often does. I did that at Penguin and at HarperCollins. Then I ran one of the publishing divisions at HarperCollins, including 4th Estate, and published Hilary Mantel and Jonathan Franzen and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and others. I left that in 2011 and set up Whitefox in 2012, and it's a classic startup story. It was somebody I worked with at HarperCollins. We sat around a kitchen table, came up with an idea for a business, which was Whitefox, and that's grown into the creative agency that it is today. Jo: So back then, did you think, “I can do this better”? Was that the impetus, “I can do publishing better than Penguin and HarperCollins”? John: No, I thought we would solve a problem. There's something very attractive about that whole startup mentality and beginning something from scratch. I mean, I was in my early 50s. I'd had a long career in traditional publishing. On the plus side, I knew a lot of people, and I thought I could get meetings, people would reply to my phone calls or my emails. On the downside, I didn't necessarily have the energy of a 20 to 25-year-old. I knew a lot of people and I knew quite a lot of things, and I also knew what problems something like Whitefox could solve. We set up with this idea that if we could galvanise and organise the diaspora of freelancers in the publishing space and make them available to anybody that wanted to make a book, that that would be quite a powerful thing. These incredibly creative, wonderful people who were below the radar and were not particularly valued or managed or utilised properly. I thought if we could access that and make that available not just to traditional publishing people who know about these people, but to individual authors, businesses, brands, people that wanted to make a book, and if you added a layer of our expertise from traditional publishing, that could be quite powerful, I suppose. That's what I was thinking back then. Jo: It's funny, though. You said these wonderful freelancers who were not particularly valued or managed or utilised properly. That could also apply to a lot of authors in traditional publishing. John: Totally. Totally. But if I'm honest, I don't think I was thinking about that. What's really evolved since we started, even in that 2011, 2012 period, is so much has happened to independent writers, indie authors. The whole ecosystem has become much more vibrant, and what is accessible to those writers is much greater. I'd like to think we've played a part in that. What that's done is put power back into writers' hands, and that quickly became apparent in the business as a byproduct of what we'd set up. Jo: Yes, and 2012 I do think in the UK was a pivot point, because I got into self-publishing in 2006/2007 when the Americans did with the beginning of the Kindle and the iPhone. Really the American ecosystem grew first. I happened to be in Australia, and so I think I was able to escape the negativity of the vortex in the UK, which took a number more years to embrace self-publishing as a force to be reckoned with as opposed to an embarrassing thing in the corner for vanity press. Do you see 2012 as a changing point in UK publishing? John: I think we'd just come out of the Kindle moment, hadn't we? There were all sorts of conversations going on about how that was going to change things forever. I think no one quite knew what the upshot of that was going to be, but we knew that it was incredibly disruptive. In 2012, Penguin, as it was then, before Penguin Random House, had offered to buy Author Solutions for $115 million, presumably seen as some kind of defensive measure as to what the market was going to evolve into. I think it felt like a real period of change. In the UK, James Daunt took over running Waterstones, and he was then ultimately going to run Barnes & Noble. It felt like a bit of a watershed. I think we were lucky in that sense, that maybe in the UK and in London, what we were creating coincided with an opening up of opportunity and creativity, and people wanting access to more tools to be able to do things themselves. Getting this idea that you invest in your own talent and what that could mean for your ability to do things quicker, better. Some of it was happenstance, but lucky for us. As you say, we then became aware that in a sense a lot of these things had come to fruition earlier on the US side. In London, that whole idea of setting up something that wasn't a traditional rights-owning model, but where you wanted to be working with people creatively, felt actually really exciting and timely. Jo: And when you started to work with independent authors, probably a couple of years after that, you started to work with a lot more indie authors and things really started to change in terms of the business side. Did you feel any of the snobbery from the traditional industry? Like you mentioned, you have a lot of contacts, a lot of connections. I came to your wonderful launch party and there were just people from all over the industry. I wondered if you got any kickback, or if anyone raised their eyebrows a little bit at who you were choosing to work with? John: Oh, definitely. And I would say I really think that's gone. You may think differently, Jo, but from my perspective, I think there has been such an evolution in the nearly 15 years that we've been going. So any of that residual snobbery, looking down your nose at people that were going DIY, producing multiple books, learning from every single publication. We've spoken about this before. I remember you sat on the panel of a FutureBook conference in the UK, which was run by a trade magazine, with this idea of looking at the, in quotes, “digital future of the business.” It felt like there were a lot of things being talked about, but not a lot of action on the traditional side. I suppose some sort of awe that there was some magic going on with people who were making a success of self-publishing. But then quite a lot of people looking down their noses at things that shouldn't get through the gatekeepers. I do think that's gone. Or if it's not completely gone, I can see it on the way out of the door, because there's no room for that when agents are struggling to sell books to publishers because publishers are looking at the next indie author, the next Freida McFadden, the next Sarah J. Maas, the next Rebecca Yarros. So whoever it may be, or wherever they're publishing, whatever they're doing now, wherever they may be, knowing that a lot of those people will already be publishing and be on not their first, second, third or fourth, but potentially their 10th or 11th book. It's a race to see who can help those authors, as a traditional publisher would see it, amplify what they're doing. I think the idea that there's an us and them, if it did exist then, which it certainly did in certain publishing quarters, is gone. I used to go to those conferences, like the FutureBook Conference, and certain publishers would talk about publishing, and when they meant publishing, they meant a really tiny area of quite literary, traditional imprints. That's what publishing meant. They didn't even mean publishing to mean educational publishing, or children's publishing, or academic publishing, and certainly not Kindle or POD or whatever. So I think that's had to change for very good, sound, commercial, economic reasons. Jo: Yes, you're right. I definitely have heard, as we go to similar events sometimes, and you do hear agents used to talk a lot more about finding books very occasionally in a slush pile, or doing courses so you could meet people and do pitch events and all this. Now it's often build an audience on BookTok or whatever, and sell lots of books, and traditional publishing as an amplifier, as you said. That's how I always hear them pitch it now, the question of— What can traditional publishing still do when indie authors can do so much? It does seem to be, well, we can amplify you, we can get you into traditional press, we can get you in traditional bookstores, we can help you with film and movie deals, that kind of thing. So that's really interesting, because that's actually changed quite a lot. They don't now seem to say, “Oh, well, we can make sure we pay you,” or, “We are editorial success as such.” John: I think they don't say editorial success or quality or indeed marketing, because that was what used to be said. I think there's an understanding that a lot of indie writers are better marketeers of their own books than traditional publishers, and if you go into the publishing machine, then you'll get your slot. It lasts for a certain period of time and then that moves on to another book. Whereas obviously if you're writing your own book and you're marketing your own book, you're able to do that yourself 24/7 wherever you are in the world, and you will know more about your readers and your audience and how that evolves than a traditional publisher would. What they probably mean now is, as you said, as much as anything, distribution, or even physical distribution. Because to be part of that process, I think that is still where a large conglomerate is able to wield some muscle, with this idea that if you physically want to see your book in bricks and mortar retailers in X outlets around the world, that's potentially easier to do if that is your aim, via a traditional publisher. So it is constantly evolving, because it used to be that marketing was the silver bullet, and I don't think that's the case anymore. Jo: No. We'll come back to marketing, shall we? Struggling with marketing. So let's get into your book. You recently co-wrote Going Indie with James Silver, Publishing Your Book Your Way. Obviously you already knew a lot about indie authors, so I wonder, what did you discover in the process of researching the book and the interviews you did? And I was one of your interviews. Did anything come up that surprised you, since you're already pretty embedded in the world? John: I would say some of it was reinforcing what I knew. So how everything is so intertwined, how in some ways unlinear everything is. People are doing lots of things in a different order to the way that traditionally writers would perceive this relay race of a manuscript gets passed to an editor, an editor passes on. That's just not how it is or needs to be anymore. I still think there is—not even a misconception—but I think there's a received wisdom that when you're talking about self-publishing, you're talking about fiction. The majority of books that Whitefox produces are not fiction, they're non-fiction. Some of them are quite mainstream, some of them are quite niche. That idea of connecting to your audience and your followers, and being slightly more scientific about how you find readers in your non-fiction niche, I think is still unspoken about in a way, in that genre fiction tends to be what people automatically assume the conversation is about. This probably doesn't surprise you, but I was pleasantly surprised to have it confirmed to me quite how much swapping and sharing there is of skills and knowledge in that space. I'm not saying indie writing is egoless at all, but there's quite a lot of sharing of knowledge and what works, and collaboration, which I think is great to see. Again, if you've, as I did many years ago, come out of corporate conglomerate publishing, traditional publishing, there's less of that by the very nature of the kind of organisation. And look, we just talked about marketing a little while ago. I do think this whole idea that the cutting edge of experimentation, it's not traditional publishing, it's indie writers. They are looking at not just how to find readers, but how to fulfil orders, how to make commercial sense of what they're doing from the absolute outset and get-go of what they're doing. And just how now the lines are blurring between what would be classified as traditional digital publishers and the writers who are doing their own thing, or doing their own thing on behalf of a few other writers. Those lines have completely blurred. There used to be this traditional hardback, paperback, X number of books a year, a year after hardback there's a paperback. This is the model we have been doing for centuries, and people doing things on their own. I think that's blurring massively, and the Venn diagrams of people's areas of expertise are just overlapping massively. Jo: Well, I think you're right there, and certainly the hardback special editions with sprayed edges and foil. A lot of us now are doing that first and not putting out the other, or putting out the rest of it at the same time. I dare say probably there are more indie authors with sprayed edge hardbacks than there are traditionally published authors. John: I'm sure that's right. And what's interesting is if you go to a traditional book printer, they are loving the direct communication with writers, that's not coming through traditional channels and traditional relationships. It's great business, it's interesting. I think that's something that's even developed in the last couple of years, that cutting out of some of the middle men required. Jo: Yes, and in terms of supporting freelancers and small publishing houses and printers and stuff, the other thing I've heard is that indie authors pay upfront, or they pay quickly, compared to some of these big publishers who are asking for long lead times and steep discounting. So actually a lot of these independent businesses are doing better under indie author work than they were under traditional. John: I think that's right, and that's what I mean also about the sharing of information and this collaborative idea of sharing creative knowledge. I mean, I'm making it sound like a kind of 19th century cooperative, which it isn't. I'm not suggesting that for a second. It's this idea that there's a lot of people learning a lot of things and there's a keenness to share some of that information, because if you've developed your own readership for your unique creative product, some of those learnings are very exciting. The printers I've spoken to love working on those kinds of things, because they are also being challenged to come up with new ways of developing ever more innovative physical product. Jo: Yes, I think it's a fun, creative time for sure. Things like Kickstarter, which you came on and talked about crowdfunding years ago, and I've obviously done. I think, what am I on now? Seven? I've just done my seventh. John: Wow. Jo: It's so much fun. But now what's happening is traditional publishers are arriving on Kickstarter and all that kind of thing. So we really see a blurring. Let's come back to your book, so Going Indie. You co-wrote it. Now obviously there are lots of positive sides of collaboration, but in terms of any challenges with collaboration and co-writing and the writing process of doing this? Because I've done this several times and I've found it very challenging. So tell us about the collaborative writing process. John: We thought a lot about it before we took it on. What I would say, having done it, is I am assuming there is no formula for how you do this. At Penguin I worked with a married couple who were crime writers, and they wrote books together. They merged their names so it appeared to be one name. I could not tell you, and they didn't share what that process was, whether they were writing different chapters or … I don't know. So I can only speak from my own experience. James is an established journalist. He's great with deadlines. He was very good at chivvying me along when I needed to be persuaded to hit the deadlines that I'd promised. I write blogs, I write newsletters, I write content for our website, but this is my first book. I've never written anything of this length. So in a way it started with the structure. It started with this idea that we would play to what we perceived as our respective strengths in terms of writing. We absolutely were not each writing every third word or anything like that. It was a process of trust in different parts. I thought, James had done some research and will be better at writing that. He deferred to me on areas that he took to be my areas of expertise. We did every interview for the book together. We went over the notes from those before they became part of the interviews for the book. And some of the book's elements are diagrammatic, so those are very easy to collaborate on. I think we tried to be professionally, creatively constructive with each other. So it was raising an eyebrow rather than shouting at each other if we didn't agree about something. A lot of it was down to the editing, and I don't know what your experience was like with a co-writer, but a lot of it came down to: here is something which is quite baggy. How do we, between us, make this as tight as we possibly can? I don't mean copy editing or proofreading. I mean the actual sort of, how do we get this into a pithy, usable, practical but discursive book? We didn't ever set out for this to be a pure reference book at all. We wanted to take a snapshot of what was going on. So a lot of it was genuinely trying to do some research and get people to feed into what was going on from lots of different perspectives, which is why we wanted to get mainstream traditional publishers, we wanted to get agents, we wanted to get indie writers, we wanted to get people who have all sorts of experiences and perspectives. That's what makes it what it is, which is, here's what we think are some of the interesting discussion points of what's going on now. Jo: It is a fantastic snapshot. I think it's really interesting—and obviously you also have seen my book, Successful Self-Publishing, which is on its fourth edition—this is one of the difficult things with snapshot type books. So have you already thought about that? I know this one has just come out, but have you thought, “Oh no, in five years we have to do it again”? John: Well, I think we thought we're going to have to address AI, which we do in the book, and we really tried to caveat that with saying, look, so much may change so quickly, and here we are talking about what we know now. We obviously tried to set the context for where we are now, and we tried as much as possible to make something which would last as long as we can. I think what we did think was, we have tried to make it as international a perspective as possible. But at the same time, we are a London-based agency, and a lot of the views will be from people based in the UK. So I think what I would like to explore is something that looks at potentially somewhere like the US, where I think there'll be different people that would perhaps have different perspectives on different things. So I think we thought about potentially there being future iterations of the book, but not yet. Jo: Not yet. This is the challenge with non-fiction, of course. On that, I would say what you just said around the US and stuff, the successful UK authors all use the same systems as the US. So I wouldn't say that the US … I mean, we all have the US companies we all use. I say Kobo is obviously Canadian, but I would say that we use the same ways of doing things. Obviously you might interview a different author, but … John: That was all I meant. I meant interviewing. Because we've interviewed agents and authors and publishers and they are largely UK based. So it was the idea that maybe there are some perspectives on things rather than systemic. Jo: Differences. John: Yes. Just that. Jo: So then I guess another challenge, we've kind of nodded to it so far, is marketing. So let's talk about the challenges of getting this book out in terms of publishing and marketing. Because you've been on the inner circle side, trying to do that for other people's books, but your own book, this is a whole nother thing. So tell us about that. John: Well, how do you do it, Jo? I mean, honestly, I've loved some of it. I get how you become completely obsessed with your book and trying to make sure that you can get it into the hands of the people that you want to get it into the hands of. We've got some great endorsement quotes, which was a task that, how can I say this? I would call it pride swallowing. The idea that you really try and get people to say nice things about your book and, if they don't reply, you think, “How much do I pester them? How much do I annoy them by asking them again nicely?” And the absolute sheer unadulterated joy when they come back with something positive that you can use and utilise in some way. So that whole process of waiting for feedback, I suppose, and hoping that people are going to like what you've done and help you spread the word for it. We had a launch event, we've given books away. We've published the book as ebook and POD. I think one of the great things about that is it's enabled us to be completely adaptable and make changes right up until the last minute. That drove everybody in my team completely crazy because we were making changes up until the last minute. So, is the book definitely going to be available on publication date? What's it going to do? You know, all of that kind of stuff. Also, just getting this idea that I suppose you can never stop. Is that a very obvious thing to say to a writer? It probably is. You just can't stop, because if you go, “Right, well, I've done it,” complacency is the enemy. Just as soon as you've got that quote, or someone said that they're going to give you an opportunity to talk about it on a platform, it's just another day and you've got to keep thinking about how you can spread the word and tell people that it exists. Jo: Yes, well, I think that's right, and particularly non-fiction, which unless it's very timely and you must get it out right now. But other than that— Most books you just have to keep marketing for years. Then just as you say, when do you stop? Well, you kind of never stop unless you want to, unless you want to retire and just give up, basically. Dean Wesley Smith, who's a big writer in the US and a kind of a mentor of mine in past years, he talks about it as this massive sea of books. And when a book arrives, he pictures it coming down and landing on the water. So the day you launch, it's landed on the water, and then it begins to sink. Then there are all these other books coming down. It's like this rain of books, and your book is sinking as soon as it lands. And your job is to keep it afloat somehow. John: Keep it afloat. Jo: Yes. John: I think you're right, and it's such an interesting perspective for us, who work with a lot of people who have one book. You know, they've spent 10 years writing it. It's their life story. It's their memoir. It's their self-help book. It's their book that accompanies them on their speaking journey, or whatever. Then there are the people who are writing constantly and can't stop writing because they're exercising that creative muscle all the time and wanting to get better, and wanting to improve and learn and understand why this works and why that hasn't worked. Just getting a glimpse into what it must be like for that person for whom writing is not a hobby. I kept saying to myself, “This is not something you're doing as a hobby.” I want this book to be of value to people, and if I'm investing that time and effort into something that I want to get out there, you've got to commit to whatever it is you need to do to make sure you're not sinking. Jo: Yes. John: I will now not be able to get that image out of my head. Jo: Yes. I know there's people listening who don't have a mind's eye, which I always find fascinating, but for those of us with a mind's eye, you can now picture that and you will never forget it. The other thing, I guess, is that, having done a lot, over 40 books now, the inevitable thing is you cannot keep pushing all of those books back up to the surface. So when you do get the bug as such of writing, the most interesting thing for all of us is always the next book. It's always like, ooh, the next thing I'm doing, I'm very excited about. So you do have to pick your battles on marketing. So have you got the bug, do you think? Are you thinking of other books in general? Because as you said, you must be, I guess, in your 60s. John: I am. Jo: You could retire. John: I am. You were talking about that long career. I could. I mean, I really love doing it, and I would love to do more. I think one of the things that surprised me was just how many ideas came up while we were doing the book about tangents that one could take it. I have no desire to write a novel. I don't want to do that. I wouldn't be very good at that. I do think there are some interesting spaces around where there's a kind of intersection of creativity and learning, and how you can develop books that would help people who are trying to achieve different things in different sectors of publishing. So without getting too granular about it, this book doesn't really address brands who want to become publishers, and I think that is something that our business has developed into working with, not just individuals, but businesses and brands. I think there's definitely spin-offs of this book which are not about repeating what we've done so far. And this whole idea of what you've been doing for a long time, what we've been doing since 2011, 2012, it's evolving now at such a speed. I mean, who would have known what was going to come out of TikTok? As you talk about TikTok to Shopify, that whole kind of new ways of finding readers, of taking books to market. As you said, Kickstarter, crowdfunding. There's all sorts of things that I think will emerge, because in a funny sort of way traditional publishing at the moment feels quite conservative with a small c. I mean, the bestsellers. Dan Brown is number one in the bestseller list this week in the UK as I speak, who has been a bestseller forever. And obviously new writers come along the whole time, but the market feels a little bit as if it's waiting now for innovation. I think if that innovation's going to happen, it's probably going to happen in the indie space before it happens in mainstream publishing. So people are coming to us and thinking, does that represent a trend? Does that represent something which could be a way of looking at something a little bit deeper, doing some research around and creating something which is not a long book, not a massive thesis, but something which is indicative of something which could be useful for people. Jo: Just coming back on the Dan Brown is in the bestseller list. I think this is completely to do with the way that traditional publishing measures things. For many years, more than a decade, probably since the beginning of Kindle, certainly the beginning of Kindle Unlimited, there is a shadow economy, I call it, or a parallel economy. I would say that almost zero of my own personal sales are measured by any industry standards. Anyone who makes any money from Kindle Unlimited or Kickstarter or Shopify, or selling direct in any form, or selling books at conventions, none of this is measured by any traditional things. As you know, the New York Times list, for example, does not include Amazon sales in their bestseller list. So you've got indie authors in the UK who are incredibly successful who have to decide, say, someone like LJ Ross, for example, decides, “Okay, I'm going to set up a proper imprint with Gardners or whatever so that I can get in bookstores so that I can hit a Sunday Times list or something.” So I would say that seeing things like Dan Brown on a bestseller list has almost no meaning in the shadow indie economy. John: No, you're absolutely right. We're not even able to see audiobook sales. Jo: Yes, audio. Any kind of borrows, like Spotify. John: No, you're completely right. I suppose I was making a broader cultural point, that it doesn't feel like there's an enormous amount of innovation going on or risk taking within what I would call mainstream trade publishing. And there doesn't seem to be the need to be, because there will be more consolidation. Small companies will be bought by big companies, so there's growth through acquisition. There's still a hope that something will take off that is a surprise, and there's still an enormous reliance on established brands who, even through the traditional metrics of how you measure them, are probably selling less, but still at the top of the pile. I suppose that's what I was meaning. Jo: Yes, and I agree with what the industry looks at as signals. It's just, as we said, a lot of these signals are invisible. So coming onto innovation, at London Book Fair this year there were a lot of sessions on AI, and you mentioned AI briefly, and there is a chapter in Going Indie on generative AI. And of course there's a lot of negativity and drama and lawsuits and this, that and the other. But at the same time, at London Book Fair, a lot of traditional publishers talking about using it, and of course they always say, “Oh, we use AI only in marketing and business, not with the creative or editorial.” Everyone makes this distinction. What are your thoughts on what's happening and where's it going with AI? Is a lot of this stuff not happening in public and just going on behind closed doors? John: I think so. We do have a chapter in the book on AI. We've generated summaries of every chapter using AI, which we explicitly said in the book as well. We've got our Ten Commandments of what we think are useful guidelines. I think that there has to be an enormous amount being done, whether it's experimentation or speeding up for efficiency's sake, or things that slow you down, within mainstream publishing. There has to be more than just the guardrails around the creative process. And clearly when we're talking about metadata, book description, cover copy, presumably royalty calculations, presumably if you're trying to grow your newsletters. There has to be an enormous amount of activity going on. We're driven by the market, so we do not commission. Writers come to us and they either want to work with us and we want to work with them, or that doesn't happen. So we're in a sense seeing what the market is seeing, and that is a whole range of things. As I've said before, there's a lot of sweeping generalisations out there, which if you look back to that Kindle moment, we were talking a little while ago about what was going on in 2010/2011, about the enormous broad brush strokes that were being perceived as a result of Kindle. Kindle has affected some areas of publishing, it's affected some not at all. I think it will be absolutely fascinating when the sweeping generalisations stop and there becomes, I suppose, even more transparency. The thing that people are looking for, isn't it? A little bit less opaqueness as to what is really being done. Because everybody's being so careful about what they say they're doing and what they're not doing. I suppose ElevenLabs is the one where people are openly engaging on the audio side. I mean, everyone is being so careful and cautious. Jo: Me too. John: What do you think? We spoke a bit about AI within the book, and I'm interested to know what you think. Jo: Well, I've obviously been openly talking about it since 2016. I openly talk about using it, and I've got my Patreon community where we talk about how we're using it, and tips on how to use it. But then, because I have been writing and publishing since 2007, 2008, I'm very strong in my creative voice. I'm very strong in my understanding of what I consider to be my level of output, and what I publish under my own name is what I publish under my own name. John: Totally. Jo: So the problem is for people who are less confident, I think, in what they're doing creatively perhaps. I know some people feel like they're scared it will take over or something. When you're as strong-minded as me, it's not taking over anything. John: It's not going to take over anything. And the other side of the coin is how many people are finding Whitefox using ChatGPT. Jo: Mm. John: I'm thrilled that we are emerging, through very detailed briefing of AI, as something that is worth engaging with. Jo: Positive marketing. John: Yes, exactly. As you say, I think there's a lot of negativity, and I think it will settle down eventually. I think less hysteria. Jo: Yes, hopefully sooner rather than later. So as we come to an end, you've been in the publishing industry a long time and seen a lot of people who have disappeared, but also those who've lasted. I wondered if maybe you could comment on those who last, because I definitely feel like I'm in my 50s now, and I want to keep doing this. I'm pretty obsessed with— What are the hallmarks of people who have a long-term career? So reflections on that. John: Oh, that's such a good question. I think there's some common characteristics and themes. So I think authenticity, I think this idea of being continually curious. I think there are people who can't help but create, and this idea that once you've sort of expelled once, that's enough. I think there's people that just can't stop creating, whatever you do with it. But this idea that the more you do, the better you get, the more you evolve and keep an open mind. I think there's definitely entrepreneurial writers who love this idea of keeping their readers engaged, and how that conversation is something that evolves and that collaboration evolves, is fascinating. I think if you love that, and you listen, there's always an opportunity to keep building on what you do. I love the writers who we work with. I can think of a writer who we're working on his fourth novel at the moment, and he is a bundle of positivity. No matter the trials and tribulations, the things that have gone wrong, his expectations definitely not being met with his first book. He definitely has this idea that he wants to keep writing, he wants to get better, and he is getting better. It isn't a journey that has a beginning and an end. It's something that will continue for as long as he wants to write. Every single book that he has published, he has learned and gained confidence, gained a network of connections that he's utilised himself now to not make the first half a dozen mistakes he made on the first book. Who knows where it will end up? But certainly the satisfaction he's getting, and the sales he's getting, are growing as he becomes savvier and quicker to make the right choices and decisions. So I think that's my honest answer to that. I think there are definitely people who think, “Phew, I have really wanted to do this book. Now I can rest easy. I've done my book.” Then there are people who really, whatever their objective, whatever the definition of success is from the get-go, just can't help creating. I do love that and respect that. I don't think our book falls quite into that category, because I think it's a slightly different thing. I think there are people who are still making a success of what they do and redefining that as they go on, and who are really open to ideas and input from different people and are not closed off. I love working with those people. Jo: So where can people find Going Indie and everything you do online? John: Well, Going Indie is available online at all good bookshops. It's available at Amazon and anywhere you buy books online as ebook and POD. Our website is wearewhitefox.com, and you'll find information about not just our book there, but a lot of other things that we're doing on that site. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, John. That was great. John: Thank you so much, Jo. It's been a pleasure. The post Going Indie, Publishing Innovation, And The Challenges Of Book Marketing With John Bond first appeared on The Creative Penn.

A well-rested Billy Brownless kicks us off with the All Sports Report - with a tribute to Port Adelaide's long-time boot-studder... and his very interesting name. Channel 7 Chief Footy Reporter Mitch Cleary joins the boys with all the headlines before Round 23, then Big Kev and Johnno battle it out in the Hump Day Quiz. JB has a story about his two missing Logies, then 2024 Gold Logie winner Larry Emdur calls in - as Billy runs through some of his less successful shows. North Melbourne AFLW star Libby Birch is in studio as they attempt to do the Premiership three-peat this season, and Billy closes the show with a joke about sneezing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Notes: This week on Zed Games Zahra, Caroline, and Tom do battle talking; "Xbox PCs" and game trading, EA heads to the Middle East, and more in the week in #GamingNews. Zahra takes a hike with the team into the Australian bush and its soundscape in 'Big Walk' by House House. Tom dives into the surprisingly deep 2D fighter 'Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game' from Gameplay Group International. AND DON'T FORGET next Thursday (13 August) we will be hosting the RADIOTHON SPECIAL Indie Dev Night in the deep depths of the Lost Souls Karaoke at Netherworld from 6 - 9pm featuring many local games and devs (with an EXCLUSIVE poster available). So come see us and play/break some games! Timestamps and Links: 00:00 - Welcome to Zed Games 02:22 - #GamingNews 09:13 - Big Walk from House House 24:12 - Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game from Gameplay Group International 30:42 - Radiothon Special: Indie Dev Night - details in notes below Radiothon Special: Indie Dev Night @Lost Souls Karaoke, Thursday, 13th of August, 6-9pm Super Pain Toad Carnage by Cosmic Black Studios Super Pain Toad Carnage is the toad killing game you've been waiting for! SPTC is a survivors-like, bullet-heaven about eradicating the 'Pain Toads' that have taken over the outback! Upgrade your ute, Unlock new weapons, Slaughter this new scourge on the outback! You'll Meet the Devil at a Crossroads by Mark Higgins Tabletop story game where a major event or decision changes everything for the characters involved. Often with tragic consequences and always leaving a lot for the players to mull over. Toil & Trubble by Disparity Brew up some mischief in a witchy life sim with a small but troublesome difference. Mozentum by stillzen.dev Procedural grabbing, swinging and momentum-based movement mechanics all wrapped in a stinky, Australian themed, spiritual adventure aesthetic. Untitled Frog Brawler (Unannounced) by BYTEr BARE-KNUCKLE your way through rooms of enemies, clobbering their limbs off to keep your heart from exploding in this MELEE-ONLY BOOMER-SHOOTER. Claw your way back with experimental upgrades to kill those who stuck that BOMB IN YOUR CHEST. Doubtbound by Moontail Games Set out on an adventure to defeat the Mad Monarch, collecting powerful Hex Cards and battling dangerous encounters along the way. Doubtbound is a social deduction RPG for 3 to 5 players where one party member is secretly working against the group. Play with friends or AI companions, turning every victory, reward and decision into a question of who can be trusted. Pigs In A Row by James (Jay) Orevich Match-3 Tabletop Card Game. Line up 3 Pigs In A Row of the same colour to clear a chore off the to-do list and earn yourself a sweet treat! Work together to race against the clock to complete all your chores for the week before the board fills up with work and you lose. Super Robot Survivors by Johnno and Pete A survivor game with missions - not just survival. Rescue astronauts, repair reactors, and hack terminals - while surrounded by hundreds of enemies. Every run is a chaotic, ten-minute showdown. Produced and recorded by Zahra for Zed Games at 4zzz in Fortitude Valley, Meanjin/Brisbane Australia on Turrabul and Jaggera Country and edited by Tobi for podcast distribution via 4zzz Podcasts (@4zzzpodcasts) for Creative Broadcasters Limited.

Episode Notes: This week on Zed Games Zahra, Hazel, and Peter talk the week in #GamingNews. Peter then puts on his collector dungarees and nostalgia goggles in the charming 3d platformer 'Teeto' from Eat Pant Games and Zahra gets polyglotty to play the iconic and beautiful linguistic puzzler 'Chants of Sennaar' from runDISC. Timestamps and Links: 00:00 - Welcome to Zed Games 01:48 - #GamingNews 10:52 - Teeto from Eat Pant Games w/ Peter 17:08 - Chants Of Sennaar from runDISC 22:26 - Radiothon Special: Indie Dev Night, Thurs 13th Aug - Games and links in notes Upcoming Events Indie Dev Night @Lost Souls Karaoke Thursday 6-9pm; 13th Aug, 15th Oct, 12th Nov. Radiothon Special: Indie Dev Night is on for 13th of August, Thursday Super Pain Toad Carnage by Cosmic Black Studios Super Pain Toad Carnage is the toad killing game you've been waiting for! SPTC is a survivors-like, bullet-heaven about eradicating the 'Pain Toads' that have taken over the outback! Upgrade your ute, Unlock new weapons, Slaughter this new scourge on the outback! You'll Meet the Devil at a Crossroads by Mark Higgins Tabletop story game where a major event or decision changes everything for the characters involved. Often with tragic consequences and always leaving a lot for the players to mull over. Toil & Trubble by Disparity Brew up some mischief in a witchy life sim with a small but troublesome difference. Mozentum by stillzen.dev Procedural grabbing, swinging and momentum-based movement mechanics all wrapped in a stinky, Australian themed, spiritual adventure aesthetic. Untitled Frog Brawler (Unannounced) by BYTEr BARE-KNUCKLE your way through rooms of enemies, clobbering their limbs off to keep your heart from exploding in this MELEE-ONLY BOOMER-SHOOTER. Claw your way back with experimental upgrades to kill those who stuck that BOMB IN YOUR CHEST. Doubtbound by Moontail Games Set out on an adventure to defeat the Mad Monarch, collecting powerful Hex Cards and battling dangerous encounters along the way. Doubtbound is a social deduction RPG for 3 to 5 players where one party member is secretly working against the group. Play with friends or AI companions, turning every victory, reward and decision into a question of who can be trusted. Pigs In A Row by James (Jay) Orevich Match-3 Tabletop Card Game. Line up 3 Pigs In A Row of the same colour to clear a chore off the to-do list and earn yourself a sweet treat! Work together to race against the clock to complete all your chores for the week before the board fills up with work and you lose. Super Robot Survivors by Johnno and Pete A survivor game with missions - not just survival. Rescue astronauts, repair reactors, and hack terminals - while surrounded by hundreds of enemies. Every run is a chaotic, ten-minute showdown. Produced and recorded by Zahra at 4zzz in Fortitude Valley, Meanjin/Brisbane Australia on Turrabul and Jaggera Country. Audio and Cover Image edited by Tobi for podcast distribution for Creative Broadcasters Limited.

Reverend Rodney Henderson John 7:25-52

Over the past year, one retirement video on YouTube pulled in 3.7 million views. The title: "Sell These 5 Things Before You Retire." We thought it was worth a conversation — not to tear it apart, but to react honestly. Do we agree? How often do we actually see this play out with real clients? Let's get into it.   Helpful Information: PFG Website: https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/ Contact: 813-286-7776 Email: info@pfgprivatewealth.com   Disclaimer: PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.   Marc: Do a little reaction conversation this week here on the podcast. Over the past year, one retirement video on YouTube pulled in 3.7 million views. The title was Sell These Five Things Before You Retire, so we thought it was worth a conversation, not necessarily to tear it apart, but just to react to it honestly. Do we agree? Do we not? Let's dive in this week here on Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick.   Welcome in once again to the podcast. This is Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth. Find them online at pfgprivatewealth.com, that's pfgprivatewealth.com, and we're going to talk about this video this week, guys. I want to kind of break down these couple of sections here. Now, we can throw a link into the descriptions for folks if they want to go check it out, but this video, as I said in the teaser, got just under four million views last year for the five things you should sell before you retire. I wanted to get your guys' take on this. First of all, how are you doing this week, John?   John: I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I was telling Nick earlier, I started trying to give my kids something to do this summer, and I have them working out, because they want to get better at gymnastics, so I put together a program and told them it was time they learn a language. We started doing some Portuguese, so it's interesting listening to them try to pronunciate the words, but it's been fun.   Marc: Nice. Nice. That's very cool. Very good. Good job parenting there, sir. Absolutely. What about you, Nick, buddy? You doing all right this week?   Nick: Yeah. Yeah. I have visitors in from out of town for a bit, so that's always fun, but they're easy. We've been having a good time enjoying the new house.   Marc: Well, you're a good guy in that regard. You were saying it's going to be a bit that they're staying. See, I was brought up with the rule and I live by the rule of, house guests and fish, same timeline, three days. After three days, they've got to go.   John: Nick is having home-cooked meals I think daily, and I think they're just helping out around the house, so he's probably very comfortable right now.   Marc: Okay. Nice. Nice.   Nick: Yeah. There is a net gain in the scheme of things for me.   Marc: Okay. All right. Fair enough.   Nick: Yeah.   Marc: That adds to the equation, right?   Nick: It definitely helps. It definitely helps.   Marc: Look, you're always planning, right? You're always doing the math on the situation, right? Well, let's talk about this video this week. 3.7 million views on this, so let's start with the first one. I'm going to get your guys' reaction to it. The oversized house. The house that was perfect for raising a family isn't always the right house for retirement. Certainly, this one's kind of understandable. Selling it can free up some significant equity, especially in today's market, depending on where you're at, right, so what's your thoughts on this being one of the five things you should sell before you retire? Whoever wants to start.   John: I can jump in on this. I think, like we say with everything, it depends, but this could be, depending on the outflows of the house, the maintenance, property taxes, insurance, just how big it is, one of those spots where it could make sense, if you're ready, just to kind of start eliminating some of your to-do lists and outgoing cashflow and stuff like that, where this is definitely a spot where we see a lot of people say, "Hey, is it time to downsize, and what does that look like for me? If I downsize, what else can I do with the extra cash flow I now have? Maybe I pocket a lump sum balance, that I could do something else with it."   Marc: Yeah. I mean, especially again, depending on where you're at, you could make some good cheddar on that, right? Unless you were going to buy another house, Nick, right? Because then it might cost you more.   Nick: Yeah. Yeah, it's tricky too, because for example, right now Florida's in the news quite a bit from the perspective of property tax and potential property tax reform, but one thing that does happen here is a homestead exemption, and property taxes can only go up by a certain percentage each year. We will see instances of somebody maybe looking to downsize the house locally and maybe move out of state, so there are opportunities to essentially kind of carry over. There's some portability in the state of Florida on property taxes, but if you shift to another state, that isn't necessarily the case, and if somebody, especially the way that taxes have, or, I'm sorry, values on homes have gone up here in the area, if you've been in your house for 15, 20 years locally and are looking to sell and shift elsewhere and maybe go to a state that has a state income tax, and then you start to factor in ... If you're selling your home for ... There's something to downsizing size, but what we also have found is that people that are, if they're selling their house for 800,000 to a million dollars, they don't want to buy a 200,000 dollar condo. They want to buy a 600 or 700,000 dollar condo. That's just easier to handle and maintain, and then when you start to tack on some of those other expenses, a lot of times in can end up being actually pretty close.   Marc: Got you.   John: Yeah, and to jump in with that, you definitely want the downsize to be worth it. It's not worth it if it's 100,000 or something like that. You really want to make sure, if you're downsizing to either free up some cashflow or get some type of lump sum balance to do something else with, you want to model it to make sure it makes sense, because Nick mentioned the pitfalls, property taxes. You've got realtor fees, things like that. You want to really itemize, "Hey, what is this expense going to be, and what is the benefit of it?"   Marc: Okay, that's a great point, so that's the first one. The second one, second point on here, guys, of this video, was financially supporting adult children. I kind of roll with this one too, right? This is the hardest one for every parent because everybody's going to be a little bit different. The argument is, some people feel like they've got to help their grown kids out, and others say, "Heck no," right, so how do you feel about that, first of all, and second of all, how do you approach that with clients?   John: Yeah, I'll let Nick take this one so he can be the bad guy.   Nick: Yeah, I'll go first, and I'm not a parent, so that's my disclaimer. We see this more and more, and one of the things that we hear about this quite a bit are that, and we agree to a certain extent, is that the barriers to entry on certain assets or kind of landmark acquisitions in the lives of people that are in their late 20s, early 30s, dependent upon where you are, and this area is one of them, they are harder to achieve. Granted, and people that have had assets or substantial assets over the last 10 years have gotten some massive appreciation and have really benefited, where people that don't have assets haven't been able to participate. Dependent upon what it is, as long as it's not having a material negative impact on the plan of our clients, we do tend to be pushing them in the way of, "Hey, let's kind of cut some of this stuff off," especially if it's an ongoing monthly sort of support, if there's not any sort of major medical or whatever and it's just like a failure to launch scenario. Up north we used to have basements. It's like, if somebody's kid is in the prototypical, in the basement for the last 10 years and they need to get out, then we may have some gentle nudging related to that.   For example, one instance I've seen is people helping with IVF, for example, which can be really expensive, and their kids want to start a family and they don't have the money to start a family, and that's been a gift that, giving some money to help that sort of thing. Something like that makes a ton of sense, if they can afford it. For them to buy a motorcycle or something, that maybe if they were just kind of ... The kid maybe worked more or had some sort of plan or was making good income, and it wasn't just to make them happier because they felt guilty, that's a different sort of conversation.   Marc: All right. John, you want to stay away from being the bad guy on this one, or are you good with that?   John: No, I can jump in here with some thoughts. No, we see it a lot more often recently. I'll tell you that home purchases, home prices have skyrocketed, so I've seen a lot of clients where it's like, "Hey, I'm going to help them with a down payment." It goes back to everything we always say, "Just make sure you can afford to do it and it doesn't hurt your plan," because your kids have time to adapt, and the last thing we want for our clients, it's where it's like, "Hey, I need to go back to work or I need to do ... I can't now enjoy my retirement. I can't go on vacation because now I've basically been funding my children, at this point." I mean, there's certain things you have to assist with, and we get that, but we've also seen scenarios where we've had some clients that just continue to assist kids pay just unsecured debt for running up the credit card bill, and that's where it's a situation where you've got to weigh out what you're doing, but your kids can typically adapt, where, once you're at a certain age, it's hard to go back to work even if you have to. Just make sure take care of yourself first so you have the ability to help others.   Marc: Well, you're right. Yeah. It's like the whole airplane thing, right? Make sure your mask is on before you try to help the others, kind of thing. I get it, right? As a parent, we all want to try to do something for them, but to your point, don't overextend yourself. Don't risk your own retirement, because you can't finance that, right? You can't finance retirement.   Nick: Yeah, and not only that, but sometimes going to the well once is maybe one thing, and we can model it and show it, but we've also seen instances of, it's the third time, fourth time. John mentioned revolving debt, credit card debt, "Oh, they learned their lesson this time," et cetera, et cetera, and especially when that's-   Marc: "They helped me once. Maybe they'll help me again." Yeah.   Nick: Yeah, exactly. There's definitely some ... Unfortunately, sometimes the kids will take advantage of that.   Marc: For sure. Yeah, good point. All right. Number three, expensive toys that become expensive burdens. I think we've all probably been there as you get closer to retirement, too. You're making more money, right, so you've got the boat, the RV, the classic car, something, right? At some point, maybe you don't own things. Things own you, as the saying goes. Thoughts?   John: I'll say I feel like my house owns me right now so I can relate to some of this stuff. Yeah, here in Florida, we see this quite a bit with boats, where clients have boats, enjoy it. As they get into retirement, maybe early on, they're enjoying it, maintenance, all this stuff. Then it kind of turns into, "I'm not really going on the boat as much." What we normally do, even with our younger clients that still have it, we'll model selling it and offloading those expenses. That's a big one we see here, and then when COVID hit, kind of backtracking six years now, the whole RV craze, where we couldn't travel too much, and all of a sudden everyone started buying RVs.   Marc: Yeah, that's a good point.   John: I've seen a lot of RV sales lately, the last couple of years.   Marc: Yeah, that's a great point. Travel trailers and the whatnot. Yeah.   Nick: Yeah, and I'll say the thing with, especially with boats, tends to be all of the ancillary expenses related to it.   Marc: Bust out another thousand, that's what it stands for.   Nick: Yeah, yeah, but-   John: I like that one.   Nick: Especially here now, I mean, we've seen where even on a boat that's paid off, between fuel, dock fee, the power, regular annual maintenance, somebody might be running between 25 to 35,000 a year, and when they realize, when you factor in a safe withdrawal rate, hey, essentially you've got withdrawals from five to 600,000 dollars of your assets that are dedicated specifically to your boat. Do you love it that much? The reminder with people that it's not always all or nothing, where maybe it's like, "Hey, let's just have an exit plan." Say, "Hey, you've got five more years of this. Enjoy it, use it to its maximum, really look to have a great time with it, and if you end up after the third year just kind of really slowing down and not really using it as much, that's a sign for you to shift. You can always join a boat club and try that and not have to deal with the other maintenance related.   Marc: That's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point. Well, we're talking about these things that they, again, this video is saying, "Hey, sell these things before you retire." I want to get to the last two here, guys. Number four, and this is interesting, the second car. Without a commute, now, again, you're thinking that the concept is you're in retirement at this point, right? Two cars sitting in the garage may be costing more than they're worth in insurance, maintenance, so on and so forth. Is it worth asking the question, John?   John: Yeah, so in the video, I'll go from my own experience and plan the last 20 years, but in the video he talked about, hey, it worked out for some of his clients. I'll tell you, I see the reverse, where most, and I'd say most people, I think, like having the second car and the autonomy, doing their things.   Marc: The freedom. Yeah.   John: Yeah. We just had a meeting, Nick and I last week, where it said, "Hey, we have one car, but we want another one," and we were like, "Let's put it in the plan." It worked, and maybe to kind of find an in between, it's like, hey, you have your main car, and maybe you find kind of a used car that's good quality, safe, everything like that, but it's not as expensive as the other one. This one here, I would say more often than not, I think it's okay having the second car if you can afford it, unless someone really just doesn't drive. I'll pick on my parents here. My mom hates driving, but I'll tell you, she has her car, because if she wants to go to her sister's house, she's not waiting for my dad. I'll tell you that.   Marc: Yeah, exactly. No, the freedom thing comes ... I mean, it's a huge piece of it, for sure. Nick, any thoughts there?   Nick: Yeah, there's no way that I would tell somebody to sell a car and hang out. That's one of those things that I wouldn't touch. I mean, I've seen it where we've had some clients kind of make that decision maybe late 70s, early 80s, but really early on in retirement there's already a sense of purpose and autonomy, changes that are happening by shifting out of work and all that.   John: People are together all day now.   Nick: Yeah, yeah.   Marc: Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. "I've got to get in the car to get away from you." Yeah.   Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Needing to escape, and that's not anything that's-   Marc: I think, maybe depending on where you live, too, right, guys? I mean, in some places, if you can walk to everything you want to do, then great, but again, depending on where you live, I mean, here in North Carolina, where I live, no, there's no way. It's miles to get to anything, right?   Nick: The other thing I would say, too, is maybe the one thing, one conversation that we have had with people is, where maybe it's a couple that's used to getting a new car every three years, each of them, and maybe shifting to kind of having the one car that's a little bit higher end, and then, second car, maybe just holding onto it longer or keeping the costs down over a longer period of time, something like that.   Marc: That's a good point. Yeah.   Nick: Can make a whole lot of sense.   Marc: Well, Nick, you touched on the identity piece, and that was the fifth piece of this. This one can't be sold on eBay or gotten rid of, right? The argument is that clinging to that professional title or your sense of former self can hold you back from discovering what you want to do or be in retirement. I guess it just kind of, we'll wind it out like that. How do you guys help? Because that's probably the biggest challenge, right? How do you reframe and rebuild who you are, when you get to this new phase?   Nick: Yeah, and I can kind of start with this one. We're big believers in the fact that people need purpose, and oftentimes throughout their, in theory, working age years or raising a family years, whatever it is, there's oftentimes the purpose needed, whether it's raising kids, whether it's being part of helping to raise grandkids, whether it's work and only work, if you didn't have kids. My wife and I, we don't have kids, and from the standpoint of our work and the things that we do, other things like volunteering and stuff like that, people need purpose, and shifting that mindset of, the outward perception of people showing value or acknowledging your value through things that you do shifts to be more internal, where you don't get sort of that automatic response that you might with a job or from your kids doing well in school, or different things like that. It can be a tough transition for people.   Marc: Well, John, I guess I would ask you this final question. Maybe something for folks to ask themselves is, "Does this still serve my new life or my old one?" Right? When you get into retirement, when you're thinking about the questions that you've got to deal with, would you say that's a pretty good way of looking at that?   John: Yeah, I do. I think it's kind of starting with, going back to the plan, you start with, "Hey, what are my goals? What am I trying to accomplish?" You can look at that from a personal time standpoint. "What are my priorities? What do I enjoy doing now? What are some of the bucket list things?" All comes down to just identifying what you want to focus on to maximize your retirement and what you guys like to do.   Marc: Yeah. At the end of the day, right, you've got to ask yourselves those tough questions, right? "Does this still serve the life I want or the old life?" With 3.7 million people watching this video, that was for a good reason. It touched on something real. Retirement isn't just about what you've accumulated. Sometimes it's also about what you're willing to let go of. Right? We also kind of hit this phase now, and it's become very trendy as well., to declutter, but I think as you get older, you do kind of want to do some of that. You're kind of like, "I don't need all this junk anymore," and so you need to kind of think about some of those things when it comes to your financial life. Not just the monetary pieces, but also just the other factors and things that go into it. As always, if you've got questions, you need help on how to do that, because it's our first retirement most of the time, right?   Most of us don't retire more than once unless you're Favre or Brady or somebody like that. You've got to get it right the first time, so reach out to a team that helps people all the time get to and through retirement. Reach out to John and Nick and the team at pfgprivatewealth.com, that's pfgprivatewealth.com, and get started today with a consultation. Do a 15-minute chat by simply calling 813-286-7776, 813-286-7776, or go to pfgprivatewealth.com. That's going to do it this week for Retirement Planning Redefined. Don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple or Spotify or whatever podcasting app you enjoy. For John and Nick, I'm your host, Mark. We'll see you next time.  

Today we're trying something a little different. We're going to walk through a real retirement story in chapters — and as each new detail comes in, we're going to react to it the way a financial advisor would. Fran is 62, she figured a lot of this out on her own, and she's only now sitting down with a professional for the first time. Let's see what we find and what we might do differently from here.   Helpful Information: PFG Website: https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/ Contact: 813-286-7776 Email: info@pfgprivatewealth.com   Disclaimer: PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.   Marc: Today we're trying something a little different. We're going to walk through a real retirement story in chapters. As each new detail comes in, we're going to react to the way a financial advisor would for Fran. She didn't plan to retire at 62, and here's what happened. So let's talk about Fran's story.   Hey everybody, welcome into the podcast. This is another edition of Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth. And if you need some help, got some questions, want to reach out to the fellows, give them a jingle, or I guess not a jingle, but find them online at pfgprivatewealth.com. That's pfgprivatewealth.com. Of course, you can call them at 813-286-7776. We'll have details in the show description below if you'd like to get ahold of them. And we're going to talk about this kind of a retirement story here today, guys. Kind of break this down a little bit, so we'll get started in just a second. But Nick, how are you my friend? You doing all right?   Nick: Yeah, doing pretty well. Thanks.   Marc: Good, good. Good to have you here. Good to chat with you as always. And John, how are you, my friend?   John: I'm doing okay. Summertime started for the kiddos, which means I get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes.   Marc: Oh, there you go. Little extra sleep is always good. Exactly.   John: So it's good, yeah.   Marc: Well, let's dive in. Let's start with this chapter breakdown. So guys, we've got this story again, kind of a real case study here. So who is Fran? Whoever wants to do the setup here. Tell us a little bit about the story here.   Nick: Yeah, so I'll go ahead and start. So Fran, 62 and single, spent 30 years teaching in public schools kind of up north and decided wanted a change. So about five years ago, she moved south, rented a home, picked up a full-time admin job at a local office, and kind of did it from the standpoint in the sense of it wasn't something that she loved or had always wanted to do. It was just kind of stabilize, get a job, earn some income, and be able to cover bills and figure out what she wants to do.   Marc: Gotcha. And that's fairly normal, right? A lot of people are going down to Florida, doing this snow bird thing. And so for a first time situation, somebody walking in, like you're reviewing this case for somebody who's coming in saying, "Hey, I'd like to talk to you about getting some help." What's a couple of things from just the story setup that stands out to you?   Nick: Yeah. As somebody who kind of helps people plan for a living, I start to twitch a little bit just from the standpoint of it seems like the decisions being made are a bit on a whim and there's not necessarily kind of a broad based strategy put in place. So for example, seeing somebody that had retired as a public school teacher, most likely there's a pension involved. And we'll learn that she had waited on the pension a little bit, but was there an opportunity to take something sooner or not? Obviously with her being under the age of 65, then there's going to be costs associated and probably substantial costs associated with healthcare. So that's something that would factor into the job opportunity that she was looking for.   In this case, she had rented a home, which in situations like this oftentimes does make sense dependent upon where she's coming from, but we don't know if she had sold a previous house or had rented before and then came down to rent as well. So we've got kind of variability and costs associated with a home. And then just getting a better understanding of what other sort of assets are in play and/or what's the game plan, maybe like post 65 are all things that would help us from a planning perspective.   Marc: All right. So let me jump in and do the next piece for you. Kind of a turning point here in the story. A few months ago, guy's, Fran's office restructured. She was offered a new role, more training, longer hours, not much more pay as a single person whose paycheck covers everything, taking on more of roughly the same didn't make a lot of sense so she walked away and unfortunately she got let go, not exactly by choice but not exactly against her will either. So I guess when somebody lands in Fran's position, retired before they planned as well, Nick, as you mentioned, what's the most important thing to get some clarity on? How do you proceed in a situation like that? Now you find yourself without a job.   Nick: Yeah, this tends to be a tricky one and we've kind of run into this where, and it seems like it's happening more. We've seen this more in the last 12 months where people in their early 60s with the expectation of working a few more years and are sub 65, so have to deal with cost of healthcare and that sort of thing have been downsized, and there's substantial difficulty whether they're like a quote unquote highly trained or more specialized position, or in like France position, somebody that had done that previously and had shifted into a role that was maybe not as dynamic as had been and the other way. And so again, kind of having to adjust to whatever's going on and the situation being dictated to her versus maybe being in the driver's seat and having more options on what to do as she moves forward.   Marc: Yeah, that's the risk I think, to your point about not planning, is you're not in the driver's seat, or the catbird seat, right? You're kind of reacting to things on how they go. To that point, what she did next is started drawing Social Security right away at 62, right? So locked that in that early. So you're taking that what, 30% haircut right off the bat there?   Nick: I believe so.   Marc: Yeah. So she also picked up a part-time job at a gym she goes to. Nothing too demanding, keeps a little extra money coming in. So her monthly picture is now looking like 1,450 in social security, about 800 from the gym job, but 1,600 going out in rent before anything else. So how do you react now?   Nick: Yeah, see that's kind of the tough thing at that point, what do we have? 2,250 in income coming in from the social security and the job and a huge percentage of that is just going out just to cover rent.   Marc: Yeah, not utilities, just rent. Yeah.   Nick: Right. Not utilities, not food, not car insurance, not gas, a lot of different things.   John: No vacations.   Nick: Yeah, no vacations, not doing the things that maybe she wanted to do. And so this makes us rewind a little bit even further back, and in retrospect kind of look at as an example. So a conversation with somebody like Fran that we would have probably had if we had met her early on, knowing how dynamically an extra few years of working at a job that has a pension related to it, like a teacher.   So we might have had discussions and kind of doing some projections on maybe even a couple extra years as a teacher and then spending summers in the south, what that could have done to kind of ease her way into it and maybe break up the monotony of what she had been doing over a period of time, making sure that she really understood the impact of taking Social Security at 62 would have.   It's like in this scenario, she doesn't really have a whole lot of other options unless she would have found another full-time job. And what we start to kind of see is that if at that point in life, if somebody's kind of let go and after a few months they haven't had an opportunity to find another position, the freak-out factor really starts to kick in and they want to have something coming in no matter what and ... Go ahead.   Marc: No, I was going to say to that point, you mentioned the Social Security, right, or excuse me, the pension earlier, she's just basically getting by with what she has. What she hasn't touched, and I guess that's where it gets more interesting and I wanted to kind of tee that up since you mentioned that earlier. She hasn't touched that teacher's pension, which she hasn't started yet. 1,100 a month is going to be available but at 65, so you still got a three-year window there, right? But also the 403B with about 210 grand in it that she hasn't touched. So now you can kind of start to factor some of that stuff in. So I guess right now she's basically living paycheck to paycheck. So now you get a bit more of the fuller picture. How does that start to shift some things?   Nick: Yeah. And one of the things that we will see is that people, their normal reaction will oftentimes be to avoid using any sort of investments just because they like the idea, or there's like a psychological aspect of not touching their money, where taking Social Security at 62 is still touching your money. It's just kind of in a different way. So kind of laddering these things together and knowing that she had some money kind of set aside, we probably would have looked at potentially supplementing the income for a year, maybe two years with the money in the retirement account.   Letting the Social Security grow a little bit more, then kicking that in and then having the pension kick in where then that would give an opportunity to take a little pressure off the retirement funds, and stop withdrawals for a few years and let that grow back. Because not only does somebody lock in a lower amount when they take Social Security early, but now they just have less money for things like the cost of living adjustments to kind of compound on in the future and that sort of thing. The big takeaway of what we see here is the fact that there wasn't necessarily a retirement plan put together from a financial aspect.   Marc: Right. I mean, she's 62. Even a little planning a couple of years ahead of time might have helped a lot, right?   Nick: Yeah. Yeah. There definitely would have been an impact on what could have happened. And the thing that also happens when we have this sort of conversation, anytime anybody's going to make a substantial career change, like somebody like a teacher, for example, they have some of the best job security there is, and kind of being in the private world and shifting from being a teacher to the private world, it can be a little bit of a culture shock.   And just understanding that you can be let go and/or the dynamics in play can be substantially different. And so just that predisposition to what sort of field she was in probably didn't necessarily lock in the risk taking of uprooting, moving, and even how delaying that a couple of years could have had most likely a pretty substantial positive impact on the plan, and maybe freed her up to be able to not have to work part-time for longer or have all these other variables that she's not in control of.   Marc: Yeah. And I think ultimately for me, like what I see on stuff like this is she figured out a lot of parts on her own, and that counts for something sure, but the difference is always like instead of doing it, reacting at that moment is doing a little bit of planning just goes a long way, right? I mean, you could still build one even in this situation, but ideally the sooner you can, the better. We're not talking necessarily 10 years out, although that'd be great too, but don't just wait until the last minute and then just react to stuff.   Nick: Yeah. And the reality too is that in the short term, even though there's a lot of moving parts kind of in that range of losing the job and shifting to part-time and taking the Social Security, really where the pinch will be felt is 10 years down the road when inflation really starts to kick in, things are feeling more expensive.   Marc: That's a good point. It feels that way now, right?   Nick: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And so it's like that thought process of like, well, hey, the increases I'm getting on my Social Security, and maybe for her a pension, aren't really keeping up with where things are going, maybe she didn't have the opportunity to work for very long at the gym even and can't find any other job and she's just now her lifestyle, her expenses, John mentioned the opportunity to be able to travel, do the things that she wants to do. Some of those things may have been taken away, and some extra more kind of detailed planning to ... Because those are the sorts of things that we would show as situations that could happen for somebody and making sure that there's contingency plans and plan B, plan C if, hey, if these things happen, where can we go? How can we adjust?   Marc: Yeah. I mean, stress testing different scenarios is a huge part of going through the retirement planning process with an advisor so that you can ... I mean, she probably wasn't expecting to lose that administrative job and having to go to the gym job, right? So life always throws things at us, so you want to make sure you got a strategy and a plan in place before you pull the trigger and go moving, or retiring, or whatever the case is, especially if you're getting close to it, especially again, 60, 62, that kind of thing.   So as always, if you got questions, need some help, reach out to the guys. If her story sounds anything like something like you're facing or could be facing, make sure you take the action now and start talking with qualified professionals and see, just sit down, have a conversation. They're complimentary often. Most places do that, just to kind of see if they can help you out and if it's going to be a good fit. So reach out to the guys, have a 15-minute chat, pfgprivatewealth.com. That's pfgprivatewealth.com or call 813-286-7776. And that's going to do it this week for Retirement Planning Redefined for John and Nick. I'm your host, Mark. We'll see you next time here on the podcast. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. We'll catch you later.

A daily low dose of aspirin could significantly reduce the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that increases the likelihood of developing certain cancers.   In this episode, we explore the findings from the landmark CaPP3 trial, hear from a participant living with Lynch syndrome, and discuss how genomics could help shift healthcare from treatment to prevention.  Our host, Sharon Jones is joined by:  Dr Katie Snape, Principal Clinician for Population Health at Genomics England  Professor Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University  Drew Hyde, participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme (CaPP3)  Links:  Listen to: How can genomics help us understand cancer?  "I think knowing is always a good thing. And obviously, I wish I'd known earlier, and then, I could have taken more measures earlier on. So I think knowledge is definitely a good thing. And it would be great if more people could be tested or could find out if they were carriers at an early age, I think."  You can download the transcript or read it below. [00:00:00] Sharon: Welcome to Behind the Genes. In today's episode, we'll explore the research which shows how a low dose of aspirin can halve the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome. We'll hear about the real-life impact of living with the condition, and look at how genomics can help shape a more preventative approach to care in the future. [00:00:20] I'm Sharon Jones, and to help us unpack all of that, I'm joined by our guests, Dr. Katie Snape, principal clinician for population health at Genomics England; Sir John Burn, professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University; and Drew Hyde, a participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme, which is also known as the CaPP3 trial. [00:00:42] So to start with the basics, Katie, can you walk us through what cancer is in simple terms? [00:00:50] Katie: Sure, Sharon. So, our body is made up of cells. Those are the building blocks that, that make us as humans and other creatures and plants. And our cells need to keep dividing throughout our lifetime as our bodies are growing and working normally. [00:01:06] And so we need to have processes in place in our body where our cells can divide, but then also stop dividing when we don't need them to carry on dividing. What happens in a cancer cell is basically that cell becomes abnormal, and it doesn't follow the normal checks and balances and rules of cell division. [00:01:23] So it starts to divide and grow uncontrollably, and it can start to invade other tissues and obviously, that can cause serious consequences. [00:01:33] Sharon: We'll hear a lot more from Dr. Katie Snape in this episode. But before we move on, I just wanted to flag that there was an episode of our Genomics 101 explainer series with Katie dedicated to helping us get to grips with how genomics can help us understand and diagnose cancer. [00:01:47] Do go and check that out. We'll put a link to that in the episode description. [00:01:54] So the World Health Organization estimates between 30 to 50% of all cancers are preventable. So, Katie, when we talk about cancer being preventable, what does that actually mean? And what's an example of cancer prevention that people might already know? [00:02:11] Katie: Yeah. So some cancers are due to chance or just mistakes happening as our cells copy. [00:02:19] Other cancers are because there has been damage to the genetic information within the cell that can be caused by certain things that can cause damage to DNA. So for example, a sort of obvious answer would be skin cancer. Skin cancers can be caused by sunlight, the, the UV light in the sun, and particularly if we burn our skin or, or get sun damage to our skin, increases the chance of us developing a skin cancer. [00:02:44] So you can think of lots of other examples such as cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and so we know that there are a number of different risk factors that increase the chance of our cells developing damage and becoming abnormal cells and growing uncontrollably. So when we talk about prevention, we might think, well, could we reduce some of those risk factors and therefore reduce the chance of those cells getting damaged and becoming cancer cells? [00:03:10] So I gave the example of skin cancer. We might put sun cream on if we're going out in the midday sun, for example. That reduces the damage of the UV light onto our skin cells. Or we might help people to go into a smoking prevention programme or, you know, other risk factors, such as we know that being very overweight can increase the chance of cancer. [00:03:31] We might help people get into more exercise regimes or improve people's diets. So those are the sorts of things that we might do sort of for environmental risk factors. But we also know, particularly in this context, that sometimes people are born, they carry genetic changes within their cells that they're born with, that are inherited, that run through families, and those can also increase the chance of some cancers developing. [00:03:56] And for those people at higher genetic risk, then we might look to other ways that we might reduce that risk. We can't change the genetic changes in their cells, but we might be able to put things in place to reduce the risk for those individuals, and that might be medication, it might be surgery, or there could be other things that we might be able to offer. [00:04:15] Sharon: Yeah, and with that in mind, is there anything more, you know, that you can share about some of those risk factors that someone is more likely to develop cancer? [00:04:25] Katie: Yeah. So actually, the, the biggest risk factor for developing cancer is age. The older we get, the more times our cells have divided, the more chance there is of a copying mistake that, that, that can cause that cell to become abnormal and start growing uncontrollably. [00:04:41] And that's why cancer becomes more common the older we get. We obviously can't change our aging process. Then, as I've said, sometimes we're born with certain specific inherited factors that increase the risk. That might be one big high-risk genetic factor, such as having a cancer gene that's important for, for that process of cell division that isn't working properly. [00:05:04] Or it could be that we have multiple lower genetic risk factors that can kind of add up together to increase the risk. And those often interplay with some of those environmental factors that we've talked about, like smoking, for example, or weight, or alcohol or other things like that. So most cancers are due to aging, and then there's a sort of interplay of genetic factors, but environmental factors as well. [00:05:30] Sharon: That's really interesting to understand. And the focus of this podcast is sort of looking at kind of Lynch syndrome and what findings have come out around aspirin and having a low dose of aspirin. So I want to kind of explore what Lynch syndrome is and, and then bring in Drew to talk about his experience of having Lynch syndrome and how he got involved in the trials themselves. [00:05:49] So from what I understand, Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that can make some people more likely to have the chances of developing into bowel cancer. And Drew, this is your opportunity to sort of talk about what that's been like living with Lynch syndrome. And, you know, I'd like to understand more about your story and how it came about that you discovered that you had Lynch syndrome, and to share with our listeners your journey. [00:06:13] Drew: Yep. So in my case, I discovered I had the colon cancer before I discovered I was a Lynch syndrome carrier Basically, at the age of 50, I noticed some change in my health. You know, I was becoming a little bit more tired. My bowel movements had changed or whatever. So, I went to the GP and the GP basically said, "Well, you're probably too young for cancer, so let's look at other alternatives." [00:06:37] And I had blood tests and I had low iron, so I was on iron tablets for three months and whatever. Then eventually I went back and finally the GP said, "Well, let's try a colonoscopy." And the colonoscopy revealed that I did actually have colon cancer. And then very quickly I had surgery and, uh, then following that, I kind of asked the question, "Well, why me?" [00:06:59] You know, I'm only 50, 51. Yeah. You know, why me? [00:07:02] Drew: And basically, I was told, "Well, it's probably genetics." And then I was referred to, you know, St George's and Katie and I had the test and discovered that I was actually a Lynch syndrome carrier, and that's why, you know, I'd got the colon cancer at the age of 50, so. [00:07:17] Sharon: I mean, that's quite a journey. I mean, how did you feel when you're already on one pathway and then having to kind of find out more, you know, what was your experiences? What was the impact on your life? How did you, how did you feel? [00:07:27] Drew: I think I was lucky in that I had a very good surgeon. I had surgery very quickly, so that was the first hurdle. [00:07:32] Then I had to go on to chemotherapy, and the chemotherapy obviously is far worse than any surgery or anything else that comes before or after. But having got through that, then I went through the St George's onto the Lynch syndrome system. So, the most important thing then really was to basically identify what that meant for me, but also because it was an inherited characteristic, what it meant for my family. [00:07:57] One thing that was interesting, and I say, you know, the, the GP was saying, "Well, you're too young to have cancer," is that there wasn't any history of cancer in my family, you know, looking at older relatives. So, you know, to be fair to the GP, that wasn't an obvious marker. So basically, yeah, it was let's, you know, find out what it means now going forward. [00:08:21] Sharon: So, can you just take us back to when you were diagnosed with Lynch syndrome? What sort of guidance were you given at the time about managing your cancer risk? [00:08:30] Drew: Well, following the surgery, I was given various statistics which were fairly grim on what your percentage survival rate were in three years, five years, 10 years based on the surgery, whatever. [00:08:39] And that was kind of a bit harrowing. But, you know, assuming I'd get through five years, I felt it was, my chances were quite good. As for myself living with, living with Lynch syndrome, that, you know, I was aware that having had the colon cancer, I then had increased risk of other cancers. So since then, I've been on a screening programme, and I have colonoscopies or gastroscopies every year or two years. [00:09:04] So that's been very good. So, I believe now that if any other cancers were to appear, I would probably know very early on because they would be detected through a screening process before they got to a point where they would be, you know, maybe too difficult to resolve, so. So that's-- I think the screening programme, has been very, very good. [00:09:23] The main issue for me was what it meant for my family, being a genetic thing. So very quickly, my children, who were teenagers at the time, were both tested, and they went through some counselling with Katie beforehand, you know, about what it would mean for them to get a positive or negative result. [00:09:42] Unfortunately, my daughter was tested as negative, but my son was tested as positive, so he's now on the same cancer screening programme, and has colonoscopies every two years. So yeah. The mystery really, though, is where I inherited it from because my father died when I was very young. My mother was in a care home at the time, and I wanted to get her tested. [00:10:07] And at the time, her GP wouldn't test her on the basis that she was unable to give consent. But fortunately, I had power of attorney, and we could persuade him to do the test. But she tested negative. So I'm assuming I inherited it from my father's side. But most of my grandparents on that side of the family lived into their nineties without any apparent cancers. [00:10:32] So it's still a bit of a mystery how I inherited it, but what was important for me was to know which side of the family I'd inherited it from because obviously with cousins and whatever on different sides of the family, I wanted to be able to tell them what the situation was. My brother also tested negative, which was a positive. [00:10:54] So at the moment, it's just my son and I that have the defective gene. [00:10:59] Sharon: I'm sorry to hear that about your son, but does it- [00:11:01] Drew: Well, well, I mean, he, you know, he has to go through a colonoscopy every couple of years, which, you know, obviously is not a pleasant experience. But at least he knows that, you know, the first sign of any problem, the medics will be aware of it, and he'll be able to react. [00:11:16] Sharon: Has it changed your outlook on life, having this window in possibly knowing stuff or not knowing stuff? How has that affected you and, and your son as well? [00:11:25] Drew: I think knowing is always a good thing. And obviously, I wish I'd known earlier, and then, I could have taken more measures earlier on. So, I think knowledge is definitely a good thing. And it would be great if more people could be tested or could find out if they were carriers at an early age, I think. [00:11:42] Sharon: Yeah. That is really important. And moving into about the trial more broadly, scientists have known that there's been a link between cancer and aspirin for some time, with fewer cancers observed in people who take aspirin. So coming to you, John, could you share a bit more about the history of inherited cancer research and how the focus of Lynch Syndrome came about? [00:12:02] Because this isn't new, is it? [00:12:06] John: No, absolutely, Sharon. And in fact, this story, my story in this space begins 40 years ago when I was one of the geneticists who set out to try and find the genes that we've just been talking about. At that time, the group of patients who were the most obvious to begin with were young people with a condition called familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP for short. [00:12:26] And they'd get thousands of polyps in their bowel, and the only way to treat that was to actually remove the whole bowel when they reached adulthood, which is a fairly extreme intervention. And I was running, I was setting up a registry. We were trying to find the gene at that time, and we'd just found it, in fact, but we also were trying to find all the families. [00:12:44] And I'd taken over responsibility for all the genetic services in the north of England, in the North East and Cumbria. And we'd, I'd started identifying families with FAP, and we went to visit one of those families, and this was the kind of light bulb moment for me because I walked into the room and mum had had her colon removed, and her son, Jonathan, had just had his first colonoscopy at the age of 12, and it was clear. [00:13:07] And I was about to give them the good news, but as I walked in, I noticed that he had little bumps on his forehead called osteomas, little bony bumps. His mother had them just the same, and it was one of the features of this condition. So I knew he had the gene even though he hadn't yet got the polyps. [00:13:21] Sharon: Wow. [00:13:22] John: And it made me think, wouldn't it be nice if we could do something to prevent these things happening rather than just waiting for an operation? And as it happened at the time, I was leading the English end of a big study, which you'll probably be aware of, which we're, we're, we were doing the vitamin study on women with spina bifida babies, and we were just about to identify folic acid as a way of preventing spina bifida in pregnant women. [00:13:45] So I had these two thoughts in my head. Maybe we could set up a trial like this folic acid trial, and then one of my friends in Edinburgh said, 'Have you seen this paper from Melbourne?' Gabriel Kuhn had just done a big study looking at people with colon cancer. It seemed that people who took a lot of aspirin didn't seem to get as much bowel cancer in Melbourne as those who didn't. So that was the design set up. [00:14:08] We were applying to Europe for a concerted action, so we had to think of an acronym that began with CA. So I, I came up with Concerted Action Polyp Prevention. But then in 1993, just as we started that trial, we were involved in finding the first of the genes for Lynch syndrome. We had a big family in Northumberland where there were lots of people like Drew's family, and there were three generations of cancer in the family. [00:14:31] So CaPP2 was immediately born in my head. In 1999, we had our first recruit, and we recruited until 2005. We found, in total, 1,000 people in 16 countries to join in, and we gave them two aspirins a day or two dummy tablets. Two aspirins is quite a big dose, but back in my day when I was a junior doctor, we used to give many more tablets of aspirin to people with arthritis. [00:14:57] So two tablets wasn't such a big deal. Nowadays, it's seen as a very high dose. And it worked. Basically, to cut to the chase, when we looked in 2010, the people who were getting the aspirin were getting less bowel cancers. In fact, it was a 50% reduction. So the people who took two aspirins had half as many bowel cancers and fewer cancers of other types as well. [00:15:19] We realised, although, at this point, immediately we saw that it was working, we knew we'd need to do another trial to see whether a smaller dose of aspirin would be just as effective. So CaPP3 began, and the great news is that what we'll be reporting in the journals in the next few days when it gets published, is that the people who were taking  CaPP3 aspirin in any dose were tracking exactly the same as the 600-milligram group in CaPP2. [00:15:46] So we're pretty sure that it works. We're pretty sure that the small dose is just as good. And the great news was that we had fewer side effects in that group. And so in fact, no one had to go to hospital for a transfusion or anything, you know, like that. Whereas in the 600-milligram group, we had a few people who needed treatment because, as you know, and everyone knows, if you take aspirin, there's a higher chance of having an ulcer that causes a bleed. [00:16:10] And that was always the anxiety. But people like Drew were courageous enough to take the chance because they knew we needed to know the answer to this. And of course, when you compare it to the risk of getting cancer, taking an aspirin is a relatively small risk. [00:16:26] Sharon: So, what were your kind of considerations when you were designing the trial, having that knowledge? [00:16:32] John: Well, the first thing is it has to be fully informed consent, which means that you have to explain to people what that risk is. The important thing about aspirin is that doctors have a much worse opinion of it than it deserves because if you work in a hospital, you'll often see people coming in who've had a bleed. [00:16:48] It's not always caused by the aspirin. The thing is, if you're coming with a bleed and you're on aspirin, everyone blames the aspirin. Right. About half of them would've happened anyway. In fact, the, the irritation of the stomach is much more of a problem in older people So in fact, the average age of the people in CaPP2 and CaPP3 was about 45, 46 when they started. [00:17:08] Drew was a little bit older, but, but people in that sort of middle age group are much, much less likely to get into trouble than people in their 70s and 80s. And it's people also who've had a history of ulcers that have a bigger problem. We also knew that if you had a stomach infection called H. Pylori, which is itself a risk factor for cancer, and about one in six people carry that bug, and we knew that if we fixed that with antibiotics, that would significantly reduce the risk of bleeding as well. [00:17:37] So it was a manageable risk. It was something we could share with people. They knew they were taking a bit of a chance. But actually a good way of putting it in terms of the risk, for people in middle age, the risk of a low dose of aspirin is about the same as the risk of having a colonoscopy, which is very small, but it isn't completely without risk. [00:17:56] Sharon: Yeah, and Drew, kind of like hearing this sort of incredible, like, backstory about how we've got to these trials and where we are today What was your experience like as a kind of participant of this trial? [00:18:08] Drew: I understood I was going to be on 100, 300, or 600, but wouldn't know for at least three years, or was it five years? I can't remember. [00:18:15] And then sometime later in the post we got these packs, and it was ... I remember at the time thinking it was like a rather dull advent calendar - ... in that you'd have the days of the week- ... with the little, with the little windows, and you'd, you'd pop the tablets out three times a day and take them. [00:18:31] So I did that. I think, you know, I, I don't think I ever missed a day or whatever. Initially, I thought I must be on a really low dose, because I didn't actually notice any side effects. You know, I remember saying to my wife, I said, "Oh, I think I must be on the lowest dose, because I don't see any side effects." [00:18:46] It was a surprise years later when I was told actually I'd been taking 600, so. [00:18:51] Sharon: Wow. [00:18:52] Drew: It was quite an easy experience really. [00:18:54] John: We had a lot of problems. We had to pack the aspirin in six-month packs, because it was very expensive to pack this stuff up. It cost... We got the aspirin free from the Bayer company, but it cost us more than a million pounds to actually put it in, in the packs to satisfy the regulations. [00:19:10] Uh, and a lot of people complained that the packs were a bit big and awkward, but that was just, you know, a constraint. But it was not that big a deal once people got into it. But we did get a lot of complaints about the size of the packets, which we couldn't do anything about that. [00:19:24] Drew: They came regularly through the post, and, you know, so every three months or whatever I got another supply, and I just carried on taking them. [00:19:30] Yeah, so. [00:19:31] Sharon: What was going through your mind when you were kind of waiting for this potential outcome, Drew? Because you, like you say, it was, you know, it was a long time taking part. What was... Especially as you were opening your, you know, your package a day, knowing exactly what you were going to get. [00:19:44] Drew: Well, I, I kind of knew it would be a long-term thing. [00:19:47] I think I was committed for five years initially. But I carried on taking the aspirin for another probably five years after that. So yeah, I was just sort of happy to take the aspirin and then sort of wait to see what the results would be. As I say, that I didn't really notice any side effects, so I wasn't really worried that it was having any detrimental effect on me. [00:20:09] So I was curious to see what the, what the results would be. [00:20:12] Sharon: Yeah. John, the trial has provided like the evidence that, you know, low-dose aspirin can prevent bowel cancer. But are there any challenges that still exist with translating this research into clinic and ultimately patient care? [00:20:26] John: Well, yes, and I'm going to hand back to Katie, who's actually leading the charge on, on getting it into practice as well. [00:20:32] But just to say that I, I'm actually now literally on my other computer finalising my bid to go back to Cancer Research UK because we want to go for three more years. Wow. We said that we would follow people for 10 years after they'd finished their ... or after they'd started, so, you know, for at least 10 years. [00:20:50] So the last person to join didn't finish until 2024, so we won't get to that person. It's Robin and one of my patients. We won't get to Robin's 10-year anniversary until 2029. Oh, yeah. By which time, obviously, Drew will be even further on. But that will give us at least 10 years of follow-up because we know that there is this delayed effect, and that was seen right back at the beginning when people looked, for example, the nurses study in America, where they followed 86,000 nurses and just asked them if they took aspirin. [00:21:18] And nothing happened for 10 years, but those who were taking aspirin for more than 10 years saw a benefit. So in the general population, it probably takes that long to kick in. And so we need to keep going for just a while longer. It's not as expensive now because we're not giving people aspirin anymore. [00:21:33] Sharon: Yeah. [00:21:34] John: But one of the reasons we g- we made Drew's dose blind was because we wanted to know what the side effects would be when you didn't know how much you were getting There's a danger if you're getting a higher dose, you're more likely to complain. And actually, it did work out that the people on the lowest dose had the fewest side effects, even slight side effects. [00:21:51] The only thing we can't escape from is if you're taking aspirin, you get bruising more easily because it blocks the platelets, which are the little tiny blood cells which plug up little holes in your blood vessels when they leak. The good news is we now know that platelets turn out to be right, a major factor in triggering cancer. [00:22:09] And so the aspirin, by blocking the platelets, is actually reducing the risk of cancer, but also reducing the risk of cancer spreading in the body. So this is new research, and we've got another big research project in collaboration with a team in Cambridge who are, uh, pursuing this. Also, the other exciting news is that my other partner, Ruth Langley, is running a big trial of people with cancer, and those who are given aspirin as part of their treatment have less likelihood of getting spreading cancer later on. [00:22:39] So the aspirin is clearly doing something good at many levels in the system. Surprisingly, and we think it might be partly, partly because we used to have a lot of salicylate in our diet, which is what aspirin's made from. And we think that maybe we're putting back something that the body actually was used to having. [00:22:57] Yeah. But modern diets don't contain any, any salicylate because of the way we prepare our food. So it may well be that a little bit of aspirin's a good thing for everybody, but obviously, that's a choice that each person will have to make. [00:23:09] Sharon: Yeah. I mean, it's a real powerhouse of a, of a drug essentially, which you're finding out more about its benefits as, uh, as research goes on. [00:23:18] So Katie, can you just give us a bit of a broad overview of Genomics England's new adults program, which is kind of looking at this sort of area of work and, and what, how can it benefit people? [00:23:29] Katie: Yeah. Thank you, Sharon. So, the adults programme at Genomics England is being funded by government, and the government wrote about it in the 10-year NHS Health Plan, the Life Science Sector Plan to run a large-scale genomics population study. [00:23:44] So looking at how we can obtain genetic information from people in the population and look at more proactive and preventative healthcare, and can we generate evidence on where, how, and why the NHS should start applying genomics into kind of more population health measures. So, there's sort of two sides to this. [00:24:05] So the first is thinking about pharmacogenomics, which is basically about how genetic factors influence how we respond to drugs. So lots of people have had experiences of having side effects from drugs, we've just been talking about that with aspirin, or for drugs not working so well for them. And we know that there are certain drugs that genetic factors can influence whether you should take the drug at all, or if you do, what dose you should take, whether it's going to work for you or not, whether you might be more likely to get side effects or adverse reactions. [00:24:34] So part of the programme's looking at that. And then the other half of the programme will be looking at sort of is, are the genetic factors relevant for sort of serious and high-risk conditions in the adult population? So we could take bowel cancer as an example of that, a common condition, breast cancer, you know, common cancers or cardiovascular disease. [00:24:58] We know there are certain genetic factors for some people that have significantly increased their chance of developing those serious adult onset conditions. Can we find those people in the population and then put measures in place to prevent that? So, you know, even just thinking about Drew's story, he didn't have a family history of cancer. [00:25:16] The first time that he knew he had Lynch syndrome, he'd already developed bowel cancer. And we know that many people that have Lynch syndrome or other high-risk cancer genes are unaware of their status in the population, and so, um, the idea of this program is to really look at, well, if we were to, to look for some of these very high-risk genes in the general population, could we then put measures in place to reduce the chance of them developing the serious condition as a consequence? [00:25:44] So instead of Drew presenting with his bowel cancer, we'd actually already picked it up, despite the fact he doesn't have a family history, and we'd offered him, let's say, aspirin if we'd known the information at the time, and we could maybe have prevented him from developing bowel cancer. [00:25:58] So it's really exploring looking at that a little bit more. [00:26:02] Where can we get genetic information in the population? Where might there be a really well-evidenced, like all the work John's done over 40 years, is really well-evidenced now. Yeah. Yeah. Where are there these opportunities for us to turn the dial on some of these common adult onset conditions? [00:26:20] Sharon: What other challenges do you think with getting this out there do you see? [00:26:25] Katie: Uh, I think there's, there's lots of challenges. I think it's a really com- ... complex programme of work. The first thing is that the risks might be different for people in a population than have a family history. So where I've worked for, for years, and John as well in, in clinical genetics, we've seen the highest risk people, the people with lots and lots of cancer in their family because they're the people that are presented to healthcare services. So we've worked out the risks based on that population. It will be really different when we move to the population setting. We'll find fewer people, and the risks might be lower because there might be other factors that are giving them a lower risk. But that's not to say the risk is zero. [00:27:05] It's probably still raised. So then what we need to do is we need to consider, okay, well, what can we do to intervene, taking into account this change of context from people that we found through clinical services to people that we see in the population. And aspirin is a great example of this. [00:27:22] So, you know, if we find that someone has a Lynch syndrome gene, then taking aspirin, unless there's a really good reason for them not to take aspirin, is almost certainly going to be low cost to the NHS and really significantly reduce the chance of them developing bowel cancer with a low risk profile. So where are those opportunities? [00:27:41] And that isn't clear cut, and that's why we need a large scale research programme that can try to help the NHS answer some of those questions, so it can decide how best to spend its money in, in the people that are most likely to benefit from it with the least amount of risk or harm to them. [00:27:58] Sharon: That makes sense. And, and so, you know, going to you, Drew, what are your kind of thoughts on some of the challenges that Katie's highlighted? And is there anything else that you think needs to be improved in better supporting people living with inherited risk of cancer in the future? [00:28:14] Drew: In the brief sort of 10, 15 years or whatever since I've been s- suffering, awareness has increased greatly. [00:28:21] I mean, for example, my GP now knows about Lynch syndrome, whereas I don't think she did when I was first diagnosed, and I think there is a little bit more awareness out there, but I still think it's a lot less than there would be for, say, for breast cancer. So for example, when a high-profile personality reveals they've got breast cancer, you often get information about inherited risks. [00:28:44] You don't seem to get that with colon cancer. You know, when it's announced that so-and-so has died or is whatever, you don't get that same, you know, it, it might be a genetic thing. I mean, when I was first told people that I had bowel cancer, the response I got usually was, "Oh, poor diet, was it?" [00:29:04] And I always felt a bit upset, that, you know, actually my diet was fairly healthy. And that was the assumption that people had. So I think anything that gets the message out there that there is a risk, an inherited risk, I'm not sure what the statistics are now, Katie, is it one in 400 people might be a Lynch syndrome carrier or something like that? [00:29:24] You know, it's relatively high for something that is, if you know in advance you're at risk, you can do something about it. But like me, you know, I waited until it was too late, because I didn't know, and then had to have the surgery, so anything that promotes the message that there is a risk. I know some people don't want to know about their genetic makeup. Obviously, that's a choice. But I think to give people, as many people as possible, the choice must be a good thing. [00:29:54] Sharon: Yeah, absolutely. And I think one thing I've noticed through this thread is the sort of theme of funding and what gets funding and the amount of time it takes to, to kind of get that funding. [00:30:05] Is there anything you wanted to add around the kind of funding model, around why some things get funded, you know, uh, more prominent, like Drew's point, obviously, talks about if someone high profile kind of comes forward and says XYZ, that gets the spotlight shone on it, and there might be research going that direction compared to s- to, to other cancers. [00:30:23] John: So maybe I could speak at that. So partly because of my experience, I've now been made chairman of the grant committee at Cancer Research UK for prevention and population research. And there is a real drive to push more resource into prevention for the obvious reasons. [00:30:39] Katie: Yeah. [00:30:39] John: And also, it's got to be remembered, it's very difficult for the drug companies to fund this because it takes such a long time that the drug's- Mm [00:30:46] out of its patent before they actually get to use it. So, it's very difficult from a business point of view to fund research into prevention. But they are keen to help us, uh, but we really need sort of central government and the charities to focus on prevention if it's going to make a difference. [00:31:02] And just on Drew's point on diet, I mean, diet is still important even if you have Lynch syndrome. In our CaPP2 trial, the people who were overweight were more than double the risk of cancer. So it's not like an either/or. If you've got a higher genetic risk and you have a bad diet, then that's, you know, is going to contribute. [00:31:21] But the other exciting thing is, of course, we now have medical ways of treating obesity in, in people. So, one of the interesting areas is whether we should be, in the same way as we are for other high-risk populations with overweight, we should be giving overweight people with Lynch syndrome, help to lose weight because that will also reduce their risk. [00:31:41] It's also worth just dropping in at the last moment here is that this is also a good news story in terms of treatment and further prevention. We now have a new class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors, which specifically target the types of cancer that Drew had and are much more effective in curing them And also, we've just been given funding to do a project called LynchVax, which I'll be helping with, but it's led by David Church in Oxford. [00:32:05] And this is developing a vaccine against cancers in people with Lynch syndrome. The great news is it'll probably work alongside aspirin because we know the aspirin is enhancing the immune response. So the two together may make this a curable condition. [00:32:18] Sharon: That's actually incredible. I mean, that, it gives so much hope for people. [00:32:23] And I just wanted to find out if you had any more kind of reflections as we close, because we're going to come to the end of our podcast today. If there's anything more that you wanted to share, anything that has been missed, or anything that you want our listeners to know, and I think I'm gonna come to you, Drew, first, because you're the person who's had to sort of live through this and, and go through this journey along the way. [00:32:41] Drew: I think just basically, if you're not sure, get tested. Obviously, there are financial constraints. I'm sure that running a DNA test is quite an expensive business. But I think if you've got any history of bowel cancer in the family, you've got any concerns about your health, speak to a GP and see if you can get tested as quickly as possible. [00:33:00] And then, to get a better message out there that there are risks of inherited colon and other similar cancers, so. [00:33:11] Sharon: Yeah, so it's getting that, messaging out, um, for people to understand more and make those informed choices. And Katie? [00:33:18] Katie: I mean, I would say that the power of, of our, you know, NHS and our academia and, and our healthcare system has been collaboration. [00:33:26] Sharon: Yeah. [00:33:27] Katie: There's so many moving parts. There's commissioners, there's funding, there's the evidence, there's research, there's healthcare implementation. The UK's a really amazing place to work in genomic medicine, and I think that's partly because of the amazing collaborations that we have, and the way that we can translate research into healthcare as John's team have done with this amazing study. [00:33:48] So let's all keep working together, please. [00:33:52] Sharon: Absolutely. And John, it feels like this is your lifetime's work. [00:33:58] John: Well, I've become aspirin man, it wasn't intended. But Katie's done fantastic work in her role as chair of the Cancer Genetics Group in the UK, so we've now implemented a, [00:34:06] we're the first in the world to really make this an absolute directive to the GPs and all, to all doctors to say, "People with Lynch syndrome need to be offered aspirin." And so that's a great step forward. But we also need to get it into the British National Formulary, and I'm working with their team so that the GPs are empowered to do this. [00:34:24] It's actually part of their care package. But I would just say we've still got a long way to go. We've now got a national list of all the people with Lynch syndrome, like Drew, to make sure we offer them all a colonoscopy, but there are only 14,000 people after several years of really pushing. [00:34:40] Sharon: Right. [00:34:40] John: We think in the national population in all ages, it's about 1 in 300. That's a lot of people. That means there's about 150,000 people like Drew in the country, and we've only found 10% of them. So we can't just rely on family history for all the reasons Drew explained. You know, I mean, Drew's dad probably died of Lynch syndrome, but we don't know because we've lost that record. [00:35:02] So now we're checking every bowel cancer to see if it might be caused by Lynch, and that programme is now kicking in, and we're picking up a lot more gene carriers as a result of that. But there's still a long way to go to get co- get people aware of Lynch syndrome, to think of it when someone presents with a cancer, not just of the bowel, but in the womb, in the kidney, in other parts of the body. [00:35:23] It's not just the bowel, but that's the most important group. [00:35:26] Sharon: Yeah. [00:35:26] John: So there's still a long way to go. [00:35:28] Sharon: Where you've come to now is still an incredible achievement, even though we've still got a long way to go, and I don't think we should ever lose sight of that. So we're going to wrap it up there. Thank you to our guests, Katie Snape, Professor Sir John Burn, and Drew Hyde, for joining me today as we discuss cancer prevention. [00:35:48] If you'd like to hear more like this, please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app, and thank you for listening. I've been your host, Sharon Jones, and Behind the Genes is produced by Deanna Barac, Florence Cornish, Sophie McLachlan, and Dave Howard at Bespoken Media.  

313. In the weeds with Mike and Johnno. Something a bit different this week. Johnno makes songs with AI for amusement. He did one for me and it cracked me up. So I wrote one and he put that through the machine and it teared me up! Anyway here we are and there's a couple at the end for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.

Award-winning Australian author, poet and essayist David Malouf died last week at the age of 92, he  spoke with Richard in 2014.The first son of a Lebanese family, David spent his early years in South Brisbane, his vivid memories of life as it was then are captured in his classics, Johnno and 12 Edmondstone Street.Although his father played representative rugby league and was a champion boxer, David pursued a life of letters and during his career he published numerous highly-awarded novels and collections of essays.This episode was first broadcast in March 2014To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Cath is entertained by Penny Tangey’s tale of murder, motherhood and caffeine as a group of unlikely sleuths solve a crime at the local library. + Michaela talks to Lisa Hannett about the fierce and fantastical women of Norse mythology who star in her riveting new book “Yet She Lives”. Guests:Penny Tangey, author of “What Rhymes with Murder?” and a number of books for younger people including “As Fast As I Can” and “Music Camp”, Associate Professor Lisa Bennett, author of “Yet She Lives” and “ Viking Women: Life and Lore” and “The Fortunate Isles”. Lisa writes under the pen name of Lisa Hannett. Other books that get a mention: David Malouf’s “Remembering Babylon”, “Johnno”, “An Imaginary Life” and “The Great World”. INSTAGRAM @simonandschuster@thamesandhudsonauSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cath is entertained by Penny Tangey’s tale of murder, motherhood and caffeine as a group of unlikely sleuths solve a crime at the local library. + Michaela talks to Lisa Hannett about the fierce and fantastical women of Norse mythology who star in her riveting new book “Yet She Lives”. Guests:Penny Tangey, author of “What Rhymes with Murder?” and a number of books for younger people including “As Fast As I Can” and “Music Camp”, Associate Professor Lisa Bennett, author of “Yet She Lives” and “ Viking Women: Life and Lore” and “The Fortunate Isles”. Lisa writes under the pen name of Lisa Hannett. Other books that get a mention: David Malouf’s “Remembering Babylon”, “Johnno”, “An Imaginary Life” and “The Great World”. INSTAGRAM @simonandschuster@thamesandhudsonauSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here I go again, in my thoughts about listening to the master teachers in my life, the children. As we continue to experience rapid changes in technology, I realize every day it is my grandchildren who will be teaching me the changes in this computer world we now live in. And so I listened to the comments collected from computer children, ages 10 to 15. These are students who spend an average of 10 hours a week working in their computer labs at school and home.Why do you like learning from a computer?John: Computers are patient. They never yell at you.Josh: You can work at your own pace. don't have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up.Joy: If you get sick of it, you can turn it off.How does working on the computer make you feel?Jared: I feel like I'm in charge of everything. Matthew: I feel like I'm the boss. I can control it.What do you like most about computers?John: You can use your imagination to program games.Stephen: I like the technology. I've always been interested in electronics and I like to be on the cutting edge of what's new.Do you think computers will ever replace school?John: No, teachers have feelings. You can't have a conversation with a computer.Aaron: If you worked with a computer all day, you wouldn't know how to get along with people.Do you like being able to learn things without anyone helping you?Michelle: It builds your confidence to be able to learn something by yourself.Joy: I feel smart when I configure things out myself.How do you feel about knowing more things about a computer than your parents?Alan: It's nice to have your parents ask you questions instead of you always asking them. Joy: We get to teach them for a change.How can a computer help your parents? Jamie: It can help them with business and taxes.Kara: Maybe make them less cranky because they would have more free time.Josh: They could do things quicker and have more time for other things.Joey told his father that he needed a computer for his homework. His father said, “You don't need a computer. When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he studied by candlelight in a log cabin.” “Yes, I know, dad.” And he thought for a moment…”And when he was your age, he was the president of the United States.” We parents and grandparents learn each day from the children.Warm thought: Our computer broke down and we had to think. Have many warm thoughts on these warm spring days!Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie Over a Cup of Tea, written by Dr. Luetta G. WernerPublished in the Marion Record, April 16, 1998.Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast,Spotify,Stitcher, and Overcast. And don't forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I'd greatly appreciate it.Till next time,Trina

301. In The Weeds with Johnno Woods and Trev Warner. This week we have a look at road rage. Johnno tells us about his run in which resulted in injuries to him and time off work then Mike and Trev get into the subject.

Chris, Johnno, Ryan and Dale from the Pirate join the Pod fresh from winning the Perth Gamefishing Marlin cup to talk Metro Billfish, Metro Swords, triple hookup Shortbill Spearfish and much more

Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!--Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingBugged Out is one of the UK's best-loved and most enduring club brands. From humble beginnings in Manchester, through Sankeys, Cream in Liverpool, fabric and The End in London, right the way through to their enormous 30th birthday at the 15k capacity Drumsheds in London, this is a promotion that has consistently done things right in terms of the music and the vibe. Johnno Burgess is one of the co-founders, and also the former editor of the legendary Jockey Slut magazine which originally launched the night that became Bugged Out. We discuss the history of the event with its many successes and occasional failures, the changing landscape over the last 30 years, how they booked Daft Punk for free, and we also get into the golden era of the dance press and how it looks in the current era. This is a great conversation with a relatively unsung hero of UK dance culture. Get involved! Grab the new Bugged Out book here--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EP. 63 JOHNNO WILSONActor | Writer | ComedianMargie had the best time catching up with her longtime student Johnno Wilson. Their relationship spans more than a decade, and this episode feels less like an interview and more like two old friends sitting down to talk shop, life, and fatherhood. Johnno most recently appearing in the critically acclaimed Season 2 of Twisted Metal (Peacock), High Potential (ABC), and Watson (CBS).  His upcoming projects include Larry David's new untitled HBO series, Season 2 of BAD MONKEY (Apple TV+), and Zach Cregger's highly anticipated RESIDENT EVIL feature film, which begins shooting this winter. A Groundlings Theatre alumnus, Johnno is based in Los Angeles.  In this episode, Johnno and Margie dive into the current audition landscape, navigating self-tapes, the importance of having a strong reader, and the ongoing journey of finding—and trusting—your own voice.@johnnowilson

Johnno Burgess joins Chris Hawkins to talk about his life and career through music, the success of Bugged Out and his latest book. How to DJ is a Listening Dog Media production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to The Football Pod Club - it's the second episode of our winter series, and we're delighted to have sat down for a brilliant chat with Padraic Joyce to chat about his phenomenal playing career, being an intercounty manager in 2026, and Galway's pursuit of Sam Maguire.CHAPTERS(00:30) - Padraic Joyce joins The Football Pod Club(02:00) - Killererin GAA - then and now, and the power of the club(12:00) - Captaining Ireland, AFL poachers, should International Rules return?(25:00) - Tralee Superstars and Sigerson Cup memories (32:00) - ‘98 & ‘01, Galway's breakthrough, ‘Johnno' and the barren years(44:00) - Being an intercounty manager - who Padraic learned from and Galway's journey(53:00) - All-Ireland final defeat in ‘24 and impact of the new rules in 2025.(01:03:00) - Secret sessions with uncle Billy before the 2004 County Final(01:06:00) - Paddy Joyce and his impact on his son, Padraic.(01:11:00) - 25 years on from Galway's last All-Ireland in 2001.All of that and so much more across our time with Padraic Joyce, recorded in Killererin GAA's clubhouse in North Galway at the start of November.The Football Pod Club on Off the Ball…in partnership with AIB. Proud supporters of the AIB All-Ireland club championships for men's football, hurling, ladies football and Camogie. Because we believe support is what gets you the life you're truly after.Keep an eye out for Episode 3 of the series, which drops on Wednesday, December 17th.Ep. 4 will be recorded and released in mid-January around the All-Ireland Club Finals - and as always, The Football Pod is available to watch on Off the Ball's YouTube for free and to listen in on ‘OTB GAA' and The Football Pod podcast feeds.

Funding is being sought by any means necessary to order to combat a "treacherous walk to school" in Ennis. It follows concerns raised by the Principal of Holy Family National School for children walking from the Ballaghboy Halting Site on the Quin Road. There's no cycle lane, hard shoulder or footpath for a 550m stretch between the halting site and Johnno's Bar, and the cost of installing the latter is estimated to be €350,000 , but Clare County Council says funding isn't currently available. Ennis Fianna Fáil Councillor Clare Colleran-Molloy says a solution is needed before there's a fatality.

We first met Johnno Johnson at the Kenworth Klassic when he travelled down from Dalby just over 12 months ago. Apart from being a lovely bloke, we were taken with his beautiful factory Gold Nugget SAR still sporting its 2-Stroke Detroit power. Bruce finally got up to Dalby and sat with Johnno to record his history and check out his past with trucks, trials and tribulations. Humble people like Johnno make Copy Southbound what it is and the passion he still has for the industry is what keeps it alive.

When was the last time you felt at peace? Does joy feel distant for you right now? Is life wearing you down? If so, this sermon’s for you. Because John teaches us something profound: Real joy in this life is always tied to truth. Not circumstances, not emotion, not success, but when we are walking with God’s presence, in truth. Do you know what the difference is between happiness and joy? If you’ve been at GraceLife for a while you might. Happiness is circumstantial. Happiness depends on what happens. It’s a conditional emotion. But joy is not happiness. Joy survives a bad medical report, a lost job, a catastrophic life event, or even what seems to be unanswered prayer. Happiness is fragile. But Joy isn’t. Joy endures when circumstances change, sustains you when everything falls apart. But most of us have confused the two. We talk a lot about wanting joy, but most of what we chase isn’t joy at all. It’s happiness dressed up like joy. We chase the next moment, but all it takes is one hard day for it to disappear. And then we are confused, perplexed, even bitter when it seems Joy is elusive, unattainable, or unsustainable. If you’ve lost your joy, its not because life got harder. Perhaps it’s because circumstances have tested your anchor, revealing your drift from the presence of God, from truth, or, if you were anchored to the wrong “truth” to begin with.

When was the last time you felt at peace? Does joy feel distant for you right now? Is life wearing you down? If so, this sermon’s for you. Because John teaches us something profound: Real joy in this life is always tied to truth. Not circumstances, not emotion, not success, but when we are walking with God’s presence, in truth. Do you know what the difference is between happiness and joy? If you’ve been at GraceLife for a while you might. Happiness is circumstantial. Happiness depends on what happens. It’s a conditional emotion. But joy is not happiness. Joy survives a bad medical report, a lost job, a catastrophic life event, or even what seems to be unanswered prayer. Happiness is fragile. But Joy isn’t. Joy endures when circumstances change, sustains you when everything falls apart. But most of us have confused the two. We talk a lot about wanting joy, but most of what we chase isn’t joy at all. It’s happiness dressed up like joy. We chase the next moment, but all it takes is one hard day for it to disappear. And then we are confused, perplexed, even bitter when it seems Joy is elusive, unattainable, or unsustainable. If you’ve lost your joy, its not because life got harder. Perhaps it’s because circumstances have tested your anchor, revealing your drift from the presence of God, from truth, or, if you were anchored to the wrong “truth” to begin with.

Have you ever been duped? Maybe you gave money to someone in need, only to find out later you were manipulated? Maybe you trusted someone who promised they’d have your back, but when you needed them most, they were gone. Have you ever been conned, promised opportunity, partnership or love & instead you were left empty & embarrassed? Few things are as discouraging as realizing you’ve been deceived. It makes you angry, embarrassed, and jaded. But what about when the lie isn’t about money or friendship—what if it’s about God? John knew how destructive spiritual lies could be. That’s why in his letters, he didn’t treat lies as small problems. He warned believers not to tolerate them, enable them, or even greet those who spread them. Because for John, truth and lies are not competing opinions—they are opposing kingdoms. One builds life; the other destroys it. One belongs to Christ; the other to the deceiver. This is the war every believer is in—whether we realize it or not. That’s why this series through 2 and 3 John matters. These short letters show us that the nature of truth is never abstract or subjective; It’s the only way to spiritual life. It guards us from lies, unites us in love, and gives us courage to follow Jesus no matter the cost. So this week, we’ll focus on the fight John highlights most urgently: Truth versus Lies.

Have you ever been duped? Maybe you gave money to someone in need, only to find out later you were manipulated? Maybe you trusted someone who promised they’d have your back, but when you needed them most, they were gone. Have you ever been conned, promised opportunity, partnership or love & instead you were left empty & embarrassed? Few things are as discouraging as realizing you’ve been deceived. It makes you angry, embarrassed, and jaded. But what about when the lie isn’t about money or friendship—what if it’s about God? John knew how destructive spiritual lies could be. That’s why in his letters, he didn’t treat lies as small problems. He warned believers not to tolerate them, enable them, or even greet those who spread them. Because for John, truth and lies are not competing opinions—they are opposing kingdoms. One builds life; the other destroys it. One belongs to Christ; the other to the deceiver. This is the war every believer is in—whether we realize it or not. That’s why this series through 2 and 3 John matters. These short letters show us that the nature of truth is never abstract or subjective; It’s the only way to spiritual life. It guards us from lies, unites us in love, and gives us courage to follow Jesus no matter the cost. So this week, we’ll focus on the fight John highlights most urgently: Truth versus Lies.

Biblical truth isn’t just some kind of philosophy or just another abstract idea. It’s the only spiritual voice that matters. It matters in every area of life. It strengthens us, protects us, & gives us courage to follow Jesus no matter the cost. It shapes leadership, exposes lies, fuels joy, and demands courage. Today, we start a 4 week mini- series on 2 & 3 John. we will uncover how these short letters still speak powerfully about truth into the life of the church today. They were written to a church wrestling w/faithfulness under a wave of false teachers twisting truth for personal gain. We’ll start w/truth & leadership. Have you ever noticed how quickly a single leader can change the course of a group? One coach can take a losing team to the championship. But one corrupt CEO can sink a company overnight. One faithful teacher can change a student’s life. But one irresponsible Dad can cause decades of dysfunction in his kids. One courageous missionary can transform a village. But one false-teaching influencer online can lead millions astray. Why? Because leadership will always do one of two things, it will either amplify spiritual truth or magnify spiritual lies. That’s why John’s short letters aren’t just personal notes—they are lessons in leadership. In 2 John & 3 John, we see both the beauty of truth-filled leadership as well as the ugliness of self-centered leadership. The question we face is this: What kind of leadership will I offer, and what kind of leadership will I choose to follow?

Biblical truth isn’t just some kind of philosophy or just another abstract idea. It’s the only spiritual voice that matters. It matters in every area of life. It strengthens us, protects us, & gives us courage to follow Jesus no matter the cost. It shapes leadership, exposes lies, fuels joy, and demands courage. Today, we start a 4 week mini- series on 2 & 3 John. we will uncover how these short letters still speak powerfully about truth into the life of the church today. They were written to a church wrestling w/faithfulness under a wave of false teachers twisting truth for personal gain. We’ll start w/truth & leadership. Have you ever noticed how quickly a single leader can change the course of a group? One coach can take a losing team to the championship. But one corrupt CEO can sink a company overnight. One faithful teacher can change a student’s life. But one irresponsible Dad can cause decades of dysfunction in his kids. One courageous missionary can transform a village. But one false-teaching influencer online can lead millions astray. Why? Because leadership will always do one of two things, it will either amplify spiritual truth or magnify spiritual lies. That’s why John’s short letters aren’t just personal notes—they are lessons in leadership. In 2 John & 3 John, we see both the beauty of truth-filled leadership as well as the ugliness of self-centered leadership. The question we face is this: What kind of leadership will I offer, and what kind of leadership will I choose to follow?

What a weekend! None of us have gotten as much sleep as we'd like with the Tour Championship on, but Tommy Fleetwood....what a star, and the entire golf world was celebrating his first win. Wonderful. Mark describes the final couple of holes as Tommy playing for his life, as he's not sure how another capitulation would have impacted him. As impressive as the win was, and as consistent as Tommy has been, Mark makes the point that - as with Jon Rahm and LIV last week, he doesn't believe that Tommy should be the Tour Champion, as Scheffler as 'without any shadow of a doubt' been the best player this year. Mark says both LIV and the PGA have this wrong. Nick and Mark discuss options to make it fairer.The new boss of the PGA has been talking about his plans, and one word in his comments has jumped out to Mark, he explains why and we discuss.The Ryder Cup selections will be this week for the US and Keegan Bradley has a big decision to make. Nick and Mark both have a view on what he should do, and explain why.This weekend Mark is playing Royal Melbourne, and he's hoping he is welcomed given his recent comments about the preparedness of the course for the Australian Open, however he is cheering for it to look incredible come December.Our new segment for BMW is a Touch of Class, and this week Nick O'Hern inducts Tommy Fleetwood as our inductee, not for his play, but for his press conference afterwards. We listen to what he said. It was indeed a touch of class from Tommy.Mark has bought something on Temu. Apologies. We tried to stop him but he was determined to show off this $3.50 purchase.After the turn Nick lists the Top 5 'Chokers' in golf......or does he? Top 5 for Betr, and as much as we loved Tommy winning he was responsible for our Betr multi failing so we're a bit dark on him at the same time.Lots of feedback for Southern Golf Club. Feedback on Rahm's title, some good news for Mark re: Monty, a whack for Nick and Mark from Billy, and a whack for Dan from Johnno. Brutal.Hardly know where to start with the PING global results, there has been some massive results - Tommy the big one, but an 'oh so close' result for Minjee in Canada, and plenty of other results to run through.And for watchMynumbers Marks masterclass today, inspired by Patrick Cantlay, is on the importance of having your weight in the right spot.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-31-25 - Cobra Killed By 1yr Old Baby In India Has John No Longer Fearing Snakes - Turns Out Women Get Concerned About The Looks And Size Of Their Genitals As Much As Men AreSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

07-31-25 - Cobra Killed By 1yr Old Baby In India Has John No Longer Fearing Snakes - Turns Out Women Get Concerned About The Looks And Size Of Their Genitals As Much As Men AreSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We've got yowies, paranormal happenings and a potential abduction by extra terrestrial beings this week for you, amigos. First up, Mike got in touch with me a while back to share his yowie and paranormal stories, and while I was talking to him, he told me a cool story that happened to his mate Johnno, so I asked if I could speak to Johnno myself and get his first hand version of the story. I spoke to Johnno recently and he shared his yowie encounter and then unexpectedly dropped a whole bunch of fascinating experiences on me. So I've got Mike first and then Johnno in this episode, and both have some really cool and freaky stories to share. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christian ; Follower of GOD Servant of CHRIST        GOD Provides / JESUS Saves GOD is Love Patreon https://bit.ly/3jcLDuZ

We went on the road toVegas Unstripped at the Palms, and it's chaos in the best way. Champagne was sabered, Sam got iced, and we ate... everything. From escargot donuts to foie gras ice cream, this episode is a love letter to Vegas' best chefs.On Today's Menu:Culinary highlights from Partage & Le Club with Chef Yuri SzarsewskiGolden Steer Steakhouse's expansion to New York & more with Amanda SignorelliBourbon Steak's new menu & local focus with Josh SmithSoul Belly BBQ, BURGERSMITH, Pepper Club, & Midtown Project with Bruce KalmanSteve Kestler of Aroma Latin American Cocina breaks down his Latin fusion hits & must ordersWild Fig BBQ serves up smoked beef cheek tacos & Daniel Schneider goes through their meaty menuKim Owens of Main St. Provisions chats seasonal dishes & Spring changesTSP Baking Company's mystery cupcake challenge with Kari GarciaQuestions, comments, hate mail? Email us at cheers@eattalkrepeat.com!Thanks for tuning into today's episode! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show, & make sure you leave us a 5-star review. Visit us at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eating Las Vegas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eat. Talk. Repeat.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on social:Twitter/X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatTalkRepeat⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatingLasVegas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AshTheAttorney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@EatTalkRepeatLV⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@JohnCurtas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ &⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AshTheAttorney

Patrick discusses the challenges of parenting in today's world filled with varying influences and ideologies. He offers insights into balancing the pursuit of affluence with spiritual growth and shares advice on providing meaningful support in difficult family situations. Additionally, Patrick highlights the benefits of homeschooling and the relationship between wealth and virtue. Claudia - My son is confused about his gender. I’m concerned about the influence of his friends. What can I do? (01:02) Elizabeth - My sister-in-law was a former witch, and she needs help. How can I change her mind about the Catholic Church? (06:24) John - No requirements or credentials are required to teach at a private school in California. (13:29) Claudia (email) – Thank you for telling us about The Walton’s! (19:37) Margaret - Can someone look at their abundance and wealth as a cross or is that just playing the victim’s role? (23:06) Karen (email) – What are plenary indulgences and where can I get them? (33:41) Sam - Can I use someone's suffering and offer it up for them if they can't offer it up themselves? (39:13) Jerry - Catholics Schools performing are better. I also have a Crucifix in my school, and it works. (41:47) Mark - I know we have to be not attached to riches, but being rich is not bad. (44:02)

Ever wonder what other people talk about with their financial advisors? A new survey of nearly 400 experienced advisors reveals the biggest concerns, challenges, and financial goals their clients are facing today. From retirement planning to healthcare costs to working longer than expected, we're breaking down the key takeaways and how they compare to what we see in our own client conversations.   Helpful Information: PFG Website: https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/ Contact: 813-286-7776 Email: info@pfgprivatewealth.com   Disclaimer: PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.     Marc: Ever wonder what people are talking about with their financial advisors? Well this week on the show we're going to discuss a new survey of nearly 400 experienced advisors revealing the biggest concerns, challenges, and financial goals that their clients are facing. We'll see how that compares with what the guys see here on the show. Let's get into it this week on Retirement Planning - Redefined.   Welcome to the podcast, everybody. Thanks for hanging out with John and Nick and myself as we talk investing, finance and retirement. And guys, we're going to share this survey. We'll put a link into the show descriptions as well for folks that want to check it out, but want to run some of this information past you guys and see does that correlate with what you're seeing, do you think it's accurate, not accurate, and just spitball and talk a little bit about some of the stuff out here.   The survey was done of nearly 400 experienced advisors all with around 20 years or more of a business, practicing business, so interesting. They didn't really say exactly the age bracket of all the people they were talking to, so there could be some folks that are not necessarily retirement age. They could be younger as well as older, but I want to run down some of this stuff and just get your guys' take on it.   How you doing this week, John?   John: I'm doing well. Daylight savings is messing with me a little bit, but I'm adjusting pretty well. And one of my kids, actually both my kids, they're testing for an honor belt in karate.   Marc: Oh, nice.   John: So they're excited.   Marc: They're going to whoop on you. Be careful.   John: It's funny you say that. They're running around the house kicking me now. It's like I wanted to get them into some self-defense stuff, but now I'm getting kicked.   Marc: So now you got to walk around with some pads on.   John: Pretty much.   Marc: Make sure you're not getting beat up too much. Very cool. Well watch the shins, man. They'll get you in the shins.   Nick, how you doing, buddy?   Nick: Good. We're staying busy.   Marc: He's like, "Good." Well, let's break this down a little bit, guys.   John: That's the sound of a guy that's in the middle of planning a wedding.   Marc: Right? That's what I was just thinking. He's like, "I got to make another decision. I don't want to make a decision." Let's jump into this and we'll see if we can make this easy for you this week, Nick.   So seeking out a financial advisor, the first part of this survey, advisors in the survey said 52% of their clients have sought out financial advisors to help with the retirement planning. About 34% surveyed were just looking for somebody to build wealth with. And in an era where everybody can call themselves a financial advisor, does that strike you as interesting? What do you guys think about that, 52% looking for retirement planning versus 34 just looking for some sort of wealth building, whoever wants to start?   John: Yeah, those numbers seem accurate to me. Well, I guess I'm a little surprised it's not more looking for help with retirement planning.   Marc: Okay.   John: I'd say the majority of our clients are retirement planning based, "Hey, I want to make sure my plan's good. I want to make sure I don't outlive my money." As far as building wealth, that does come up quite a bit, and Nick will jump in as well, but I'd say most of our clients are looking for retirement planning and just making sure they're on track and making sure that they're making the right decisions.   Marc: And it's two different mindsets too, right, Nick? I mean, so you need to decide what it is that you're looking for. I mean, not to say that you couldn't work with a retirement planner who also can help you with some of the wealth building, but it is a different skillset as well. If you're just looking for someone only to help you build the wealth, that's a little bit easier, I would think.   Nick: Yeah, and I would almost, if I were to say maybe put that in other words, we talk with people at the three phases of money as far as their life goes are accumulation or growth, distribution, taking their money in retirement and then transfer when they leave money. And so I would say from that initial, that wealth building, that's most likely accumulation focused. And because so many people accumulate their money while working in their 401(k)s and that kind of thing, I think it tends to be a little bit of a different conversation and it's those people that as you get closer to retirement. So without having ages, it does make it, the numbers are interesting, and I agree with John, I would've thought maybe it'd be a little bit higher from the standpoint of the retirement planning side, but-   Marc: Well, I mean, if you're just trying to grow the money, again the market's been, obviously we haven't had a prolonged downturn, and it's been choppy here lately, but we haven't had a prolonged downturn since '08, '09, so there's a lot of information out there about saying it's a little bit easier to build the wealth. But the preservation stage, which retirement is a little bit more complicated. There's more things going on than just the portfolio.   But with that in mind, check this out. Over half of the survey of financial advisors said the average client asset minimum was 760,000. I found that to be good. I know different areas are going to be more or less depending on the economic state of the area, but when you often hear that people aren't doing a very good job saving for their retirement future, three quarters of a million dollars is not bad.   Nick: It's definitely interesting to see the numbers and how they've changed over the last five to seven years where, and you mentioned it earlier where we've had a long prolonged period of time with the market going up, and so there's quite a bit of people meeting with us or ending up with more money than they had thought that they would or that sort of thing. There's a little bit of concern with that that only lasts for so long and that there's some correction and all that kind of stuff to happen. But absolutely, definitely that puts most people in the wheelhouse of where they need to be to have a successful retirement.   Marc: I mean, it's not bad. John, do you guys have a minimum? I mean, I know different advisor firms do different things. You can't service everybody. There's only so many hours in a day. So you'll hear something where somebody says, "Well, we work with people with 250,000 who have saved or more in assets," or some or a million or whatever. Do you guys have a breakdown?   Nick: We don't have a set minimum that we advertise or market.   Marc: Okay.   Nick: I would say that the majority of the people that meet with us tend to have what many institutions have as their minimum. So in other words, a lot of places will tell people, like you referred to that, they're looking to work with clients that have 250,000 or more just from an efficiency standpoint of trying to make sure that they can service their clients and that sort of thing, and so we end up above that with most clients. But the reality is, is that the conversations that we have with clients are really we don't keep that rule set in stone because for us, it's more of a relationship-based.   Marc: Individually based kind of thing? Okay.   Nick: Yeah, and really it's something we're looking for people that are serious about planning. I would say if you were to draw a line between what we were talking about earlier where a growth or retirement planning in a more broadly focused strategy, so they're focused on that. They're serious about it. We reference like, "Hey, we don't want to convince you that you needed an advisor. We want you to know that you need one and we want to interview for the job," kind of concept.   Marc: No, that makes sense because I mean if you're giving suggestions and someone's not willing to take them, you're just wasting each other's time versus... Yeah.   Nick: Exactly, and we found that that'll waste more time than in theory working with somebody that maybe isn't where they're going to be yet. And also-   Marc: It needs to be a reciprocal relationship.   Nick: For sure. Communication's super important for us because we've also found that we've had people come in that maybe are under that 250, but their parents are wealthy and they ended up being a teacher or something that maybe didn't allow them to save as much money as some sorts of jobs, and they're going to inherit money and they need assistance that way. So I'd say we're pretty comfortable with our process and how we approach that sort of thing and really look for it on a relationship basis, communication basis, and how we all get along.   Marc: That makes sense. And it's got to be a two-way street. I mean, when we do the podcast, it's not designed to turn every listener into a client if they're not already a client, but it is designed to say, "Hey, if it's the right relationship field going both ways, then we're happy to help if we can." That's pretty cool. So that's a good way of looking at that.   John, check out some of these top concerns. Let me know what you think here. So no surprise, number one, outliving their assets, 38% of the people surveyed. That's pretty much always number one, right? Outliving your money.   John: Yeah.   Marc: 31%, generating reliable income streams, a pretty high number as well.   John: Yes.   Marc: Okay. Then it drops off to a pretty stark, down to 12% for a future stock market crash. Now with some context here, this survey was completed at the end of last year, so it was December of '24. Do you think that number's gone up recently?   John: I would willing to bet that number's gone up. I think we were talking about the market, the last real big downturn was '08, and I think in the last 10 years, we've only had two years of the market being down, the S&P 500. I think it was, what, '22 and 2014, I believe.   Nick: I'd almost say that's a leading indicator that there's going to be, it's one of those things. Once people get that comfortable, that's usually when it comes.   Marc: I mean, it's been a while, right? So because nobody's worried about it whenever it's riding high. We only seem to worry about it whenever we're in the middle of it falling a little bit. But the one that really surprises me is all the way down to 8% for healthcare costs. Now if you guys are focused more on helping people with retirement planning and strategies, that to me, again depending on the ages of the people that answered this survey, healthcare costs at 8% seems awfully low because it's pretty costly, and we need to be having those conversations when we're, especially as we're getting older.   John: Yeah, for sure. This one, it is very important, and I think it's same thing we're talking about the stock market where it's been doing well. And when you're healthy-   Marc: It's great.   John: ...you think you're going to be healthy for a long time.   Marc: You don't think about it. Right, exactly.   John: You don't think about it all. It's back of your mind. I'll tell you where we see a lot of people concerned about it is if they had to do some care for their parents. Then it becomes top of mind of like, "Hey, this was a lot that I just went through." And taking care of them or seeing, whatever, if they have to go into a facility, and then in turn that's where we see the most of our clients that are concerned about healthcare costs is if they had to take care of a loved one.   Marc: Nick, according to the survey on that topic, advisors that were surveyed in this, were saying that clients should be more concerned about healthcare costs at around 54% unanticipated healthcare cost. Will you agree with that as well? Because I mean, obviously it comes out of the blue, it can totally derail the whole strategy.   Nick: Yeah, I think part of that is, from an advisor perspective, the whole concept of long-term care, obviously I'd say many advisors have a good grasp on long-term care, but I think it's become increasingly difficult for advisors to help clients plan for that with insurance or certain products that are out there. If we went back 10 years and from, let's just call it 2015 back through maybe 2005, that was the golden era per se for clients to be able to secure a reasonably priced policy from a long-term care perspective. So I think maybe that ties into the concern that advisors have is that at the end of the day it's a really expensive problem that clients can have, but it's also an expensive solution that a lot of clients are reticent to spend on something that may not be an issue, especially in a state like Florida where all of the insurance, people have serious insurance fatigue here.   Marc: Oh, I'm sure.   Nick: So it's a funny thing. The one time I actually answered a soliciting call earlier this morning was from State Farm calling me to, and they asked me if they could shop my car insurance for me, and I said, "Sure, let's try it." And sure enough, it was going to be $1,400 a year more than what I'm currently paying.   Marc: Thanks for the help.   Nick: And she laughed too, and she's like, "Well, can I call you in six months?" I was like, "You can try."   Marc: You can try.   Nick: I don't think you guys are going to come down that much. And so it's just crazy with what people are paying here. And so I think, long story short, I think that really ties into it as well for advisors.   Marc: And I'll hit you with this last one, John. I'll let you start and then I'll let Nick jump in if he wants to. And again, this survey was completed at the end of last year, so you can't take the current market downturn into this conversation. But according to the survey, an average of 63% of clients age 55 or older intended to work to 65 and beyond. 63% of people wanted to continue working up to 65 or beyond, yet only 30% of those clients are actually still doing it. So I guess my question is, does this surprise you that people want to keep working longer? And if so, what are some of the main reasons why you guys are seeing people want to work into their older ages?   John: It doesn't surprise me. I think with the shift really since COVID of being able to work remote, I've seen a lot of people that sit there now thinking like, hey, I work from home. I can travel still and log in. And it's given them a comfort of just saying, yeah, I'm making good money. I can continue to do this.   Marc: Feather than nest some more, right?   John: Yeah, so it's just building up the nest egg and allows them maybe to feel comfortable doing some more travel that they otherwise maybe wouldn't have felt so comfortable doing. We talked about the fears of outliving your assets, so I've seen a lot of that. And then there's a lot of studies out there saying, just keeping sharp of mind. So I've seen that where people are like, "Hey, I don't want to retire because I want to stay active. I want to have a purpose and continue to do things." So I think I'm not surprised by that number.   Marc: Interesting.   John: Because we're having more conversations of people wanting to work longer because they enjoy what they're doing. And with Zoom, it's become very easy to continue to work longer.   Marc: Well Nick, I'll give you this last piece here. 48% of those people feel like they don't have enough saved to live on through retirement. I mean, you're talking about half. So half of the people surveyed don't think they have enough, so that sounds like it just comes back to just not truly having a plan or even really knowing what it is that you've got. They've probably never sat down and really pulled this stuff together so they don't feel confident.   Nick: Correct. I think you nailed it there. The uncertainty of not having a plan and not knowing and understanding what things look like really oftentimes causes procrastination, and then all of a sudden it's 5, 7, 10 years later and there could have been a couple of small tweaks or a couple of small adjustments. I mean, in reality, there's been so many times when within 30 minutes if John and I meeting with somebody the initial time, we can tell three to five things that they could do that wouldn't have a significant impact on their life, but would have a significant impact from a positive perspective on their overall planning. And so whether it's informing themselves and holding themselves accountable or working with an advisor, which we have found, and there's been a ton of studies that have found that having that partner to help guide them through the decision-making process, that there's significant value there and the average rates of return and all that kind of stuff show that because of the decision-making.   Marc: Well, think about what you're going through with the wedding planning stuff. So there was a thing a couple years ago we were talking about, some of the most stressful events we can do in life, one of them was planning for a wedding. One of them was planning for retirement, right?   Nick: Yeah.   Marc: There's a lot of decisions to be made. And so having somebody to lean on I think goes a long way into removing some of that stress because it does get overwhelming. And at some points you're just like, ah, screw it. I don't even know what to do anymore. So being able to talk with guys like yourselves and say, "Okay, look. Here's some thoughts we had," or, "Here's what we were afraid of," or whatever the case is, it gives you that sounding board to bounce some ideas off of and maybe get some reassurance.   Nick: Yep, fully agree.   Marc: Yeah, and so are you having that same problem from the wedding standpoint?   Nick: Right now we're interviewing planners-   Marc: There you go.   Nick: ...and the prices have gone up, so it's-   Marc: But you're looking for help, right, because it's a lot.   Nick: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.   Marc: John, you don't want to be the wedding planner?   John: No, no. I did that 12 years ago-   Marc: I got you.   John: ...and I want no part of that.   Marc: I got you. Well, all right, guys, good conversation as always. Thanks so much for hanging out. So at the end of the day, I mean you find these surveys are pretty interesting. And I think a lot of this stuff comes back fairly similar each time, is that people are looking for some assurance. They're looking for some clarity in some of these situations, so that's the point of running through the planning process is finding out what do you got, where do you stand and how's it working for you, and do you need to make some changes?   Often people feel like we're going to have to do some major overhaul, and it scares them. But a lot of times when you run through the planning process, many people are in better shape than they realize. You just need some tweaks here and there. So if you want to have those conversations for yourself, reach out to John and Nick and get started today at pfgprivatewealth.com. That's pfgprivatewealth.com. Get yourself onto the calendar for a consultation and a conversation.   And don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple or Spotify, whatever podcasting app you like using. Retirement Planning - Redefined is the name of the show with John and Nick, and we'll see you next time here on the program. Thanks, guys. Take care of yourself.

Finding what you love doing beats chasing money every time. Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with John Sacco, owner of Sierra International Machinery, a trailblazer in the recycling industry. Starting as an agri-packaging business, John transformed the company into a recycling equipment powerhouse, moving from marketing Italian made machines, to designing their own balers and conveyors, and now offering a comprehensive range of recycling equipment with renowned service quality. He's been a lifelong industry advocate. Serving as past ISRI chairman and creating the "Repurposed" docuseries on Prime Video, a series showcasing how 75% of new American steel comes from recycled materials. Activities that help companies recruit talent by highlighting the environmental benefits of an industry often misunderstood by policymakers and the public. It's a great conversation revealing how critical recycling is for disaster recovery, processing debris, and supplying rebuilding materials. Listen in to hear why John believes finding your passion, as he did at age 59, brings more satisfaction than any bank account.     SHOW HIGHLIGHTS We explore Sierra's transformation from a leader in agri-packaging during the 60s and 70s to a pioneer in recycling machinery, sparked by the introduction of an Italian machine in the 1980s. John discusses the significance of Sierra's involvement with trade associations like ISRI, now REMA, emphasizing the role of advocacy in correcting industry misconceptions and celebrating milestones such as serving as chairman. John and I delve into Sierra's innovative marketing approach, highlighting their docuseries on steel recycling that unexpectedly gained popularity on Prime Video, enhancing the industry's image. He addresses the broader industry challenge of attracting and retaining talent, drawing parallels to Mike Rowe's advocacy for essential yet undervalued jobs. We highlight the environmental advancements in the U.S. steel industry, including its leadership in recycling and the significant role of recycled aluminum in the automotive sector. John shares advice on prioritizing passion over profit, emphasizing personal growth and the rewarding aspects of the journey, including attending industry conferences and personal milestones. He reflects on Sierra's collaborative team effort in expanding product offerings, driven by customer needs and market opportunities, while maintaining a strong reputation and high-quality service.   Contact Details LinkedIn - John Sacco (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sacco-8a8a1b10/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Sierra International Machinery GUEST John SaccoAbout John TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) John: And there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is, you know, I've done it and that's kind of why I've also done a lot in regards to the docuseries on our industry and stuff like that. Dave: Good morning John. How are you today? John: Doing good. Doing good, that's awesome, not bad. Dave: How are you today Doing good? John: Doing good. That's awesome, not bad. How are? Dave: you doing Dave. That's good, I'm doing great Now are you a? Native of California. John: Yeah, I was born and raised in Bakersfield, California. Dave: Oh, wow, Okay. So did you grow up around the scrap business? John: Well, actually I grew up more in the agri-packaging side of Sierra. We used to have a company called Sierra Bag and we used to supply agri-packaging products. We were at one point the leader in selling bagging and ties to the cotton industry. Years ago in the 60s and 70s, there used to be over 2.2 million bales a year of cotton grown in the San Joaquin Valley and we used to sell the bagging and use bags and make potato bags and onion bags. We had the recycled materials facility but I really wasn't involved with that. I was more involved during the summers as a kid working in the bag plant. Dave: Okay, so how did the transformation then go on your end to where you get more involved in the recycling space. John: Well, it started when my dad had found a machine out of Europe, out of Italy, and he thought that the market in America could use these machines. Which he was right. And at 19, by late 1985, his partner, 42 years, a buddy of his, who he met during World War II, was, he was ready to retire, he had some health issues and he was just ready to call it quits. And so, in early 1986, what he did was sold the Jagger packaging, bought his partner out and had me start marketing the machines. So, not knowing a whole lot about Ferris and non-Ferris, quite frankly, I was forced to learn it kind of on the fly and getting involved with selling the equipment. Dave: Okay, and did you get involved with the company right after you graduated from USC? John: I did. For two years I was on the agri-packaging side, traveling around to potato sheds, onion sheds, selling the products that we had, and then in 85, started going to the cotton gins. Also, we held a at the time a patent on the cotton module which when they harvested cotton in the field they'd make these big well, for lack of a better word a big log of cotton before they sent it into the cotton gin and we had a tarp for it into the cotton gin and we had a tarp for it. So when it if it rained because the harvesting of cotton was late September, early October and so if it rained it could ruin the grade so we had this cotton module cover and we had a patent. So we sold a lot of those throughout America to the cotton industry. Dave: Okay, and then it was shortly after that that you got more involved in the recycling machinery. John: That's correct. Yeah, when my dad sold all the agri-packaging in 86, all of that went away. So that was when he wanted me to market the machines, because I had taken marketing at USC. So I just basically said, hey, market these machines. Dave: That's what I've been doing ever since and there's a little more to it than that because at some point you all started developing your own machinery. Is that correct, that's? John: correct. We you know our clientele base also was in need of two-ram balers for the processing of non-ferrous materials, you know, aluminum, copper, and also in the fiber industry for paper. And so we decided to start building two-ram balers and hired an engineer who was at the time unemployed and got involved and built a plant down in southern Georgia and expanded today. So we finished, we opened up in October of 2008 and building two ram balers and conveyors for the metal side and also the waste sector. So that's grown nicely over the years. Dave: That is great. And then you guys have expanded your product offering. Then beyond that to other aspects, right? John: That's correct. Yeah, so you know, for recycled materials facilities we offer a wide variety of products from 2-ram balers, conveyors, shears, shear balers, portable balers, grapples and material handlers, so it's a wide variety of equipment that can go into a lot of different aspects of the waste sector and the recycled material sector. Dave: Okay, and then at some point, you became involved in the Trade Association. Was it ISRI then, or was that? John: Yeah, it was ISRI back. It was in the late 1990s that I got involved and you know I got involved, I enjoyed and it was fun for me on a personal level and then in two I was elected to be secretary-treasurer of at the time it was ISRI. It's now REMA, the Recycled Materials Association. So I did that stint, you know, as secretary-treasurer and you move up to chair, and I was chairman in 2011, 2012,. But have stayed involved with the Trade Association because I believe in having a strong voice for an industry in the states and in, you know, in the nation's capital. You know policymakers don't really know what we do and there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is you know there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is, you know, I've done it and that's kind of why I've also done a lot in regards to the docu-series on our industry and stuff like that. Dave: Okay, I can't believe that it's been 12 years ago. 13 years ago I guess that you were the chair. I think that's when I first met you in San Diego, I think on the aircraft carrier at a social function. John: Yeah, when we met on the aircraft carrier, that was 2010. Excuse me, that was 2000. Yes, it was 2010. And that was the final night party of ISRI at the time on the USS Midway, and at that party I was officially at that moment, the chairman of ISRI. So yeah, as long as it was, it does seem just like yesterday, david, and it was a great party. But yeah, it just seems like yesterday. Yeah, the sound of it is a long time ago. Dave: Wow, yeah, the time does go by. Now I'm curious, as your product line expanded, I'm curious was that more of a case of you just saw an opportunity and that's kind of what drove it, or was it more your customers coming to you saying, hey, we really need help in this area. Would you guys develop something? Or is it a mix of the two? John: Well, it's a little bit of everything. I have a great team here and the people at the time who was on the team, you know, said well, we should get involved with this type of equipment because we have a need for it. You know our customer base asked for it and you know I won't take the credit for it and you know it's I won't take the credit for it because in the end it's a team here at Sierra and you know I have a brother involved who's my partner now, his son, my nephew's involved and so over the years it's just it's about discussing what we can do, how we grow. How do we you know you got to grow your revenue. How do we grow it? And by adding different products into the mix. And then the manufacturer out of Italy, the Tabarelli family, they have a wide, they had the material handler. So we just started just a couple years ago starting to really, you know, push into that market and you know we'll gain our traction. It takes a little time but it's a team effort here and it's just a lot of people have. You know my general sales manager has been with us since 1988. And you know he has a lot of great ideas as well. So, as a team, we've worked together to develop the products we needed to come into the market. And what's really unique is when you deal with our company. There's, like I say, a wide variety of equipment that you can handle or you can purchase from Sierra and that we service. So we have the ability to sell a lot of different machines, yet we have the ability to service each and every one of those machines with the same intensity. So it's been good. Dave: No, that's excellent. With the same intensity, so it's been good. No, that's excellent. Do you? Is it that aspect of that ability to you know service, all that equipment? Is that one of the main reasons your clients choose you? What's the feedback you receive from your customers, as far as you know why they end up choosing you? John: Well, there's a lot of reasons. We have built, you know, a really good reputation and we work on it every day to improve. In our service department we carry the parts and we have the technicians, but we also have a very high quality piece of equipment. Series repurposed season one, season two really tells the story of our industry and, as the former chairman of israel, now rima, I keep advocating for the industry with what I do with our social media and you know, when you have two seasons on prime video, people notice that. So there's a lot of things involved. We have good people, we try to do the right thing at all times and that's our motto the Sierra way is the right way. It's not fancy. So I think there's a lot of things that we do that enhance our image and you know people like to do business with us because of all the above. You know, is it just one thing? You know, one customer may like the service, one customer may like our advocacy, which I've heard. A lot of people like our equipment per se, and there's just a lot of things that go into it. So I think it's multifaceted, dave, and it's just not one item. We try to just try to build everything we do, improve our marketing, our brand, improve our service. You know that's our motto is to try to get better every day. We don't want to be the best, we just want to be better, because being better is a journey that every day, if you come in the office and you say how can we be better, you don't rest on what you did yesterday. So it's, you know, we got a good culture, we got great people. You know our technicians also are a great face to the company, our salespeople as well. So I think it's just a multitude of things. Dave: Well, that's an insightful answer. I appreciate that. As far as that docuseries, I've always been curious what's the story behind that? Did you just wake up one day and say you know what I want to be on TV, or was it a little different than that? John: Oh, it's a lot different than that. Interesting how it all came about. A gentleman I've worked with Darren Doan for over a decade on creating content and stuff we've done together. We had this idea back I don't know 22, early 22, to do a thing called the Sierra Summit. We were going to bring in Mike Rowe and the top 100 metal processors in America have this big event and the Ukraine war broke out and what happened with that is a lot of processed steel out of Europe was handled through in Ukraine and our supplier of the Shears, portable balers, had a supply chain issue plus a pricing increase. That was dramatic. And so we decided well, we better keep our powder dry and not spend this money for the summit. And so about a month later things you know, the steel market for europe started settling, and I don't know. I just had this idea of doing this docuseries on steel making being made from recycled steel and start changing the narrative, because I got tired of hearing the word junk, waste, trash. And I think that was one of the biggest obstacles to our industry. And I don't know, I've been in front of the camera with my social media posts, so being in front of a camera didn't bother me. But telling the story of a steel mill using recycled steel as the raw materials coming from out facilities like our own here at Sierra was a fun thing. So I thought, well, you know, we could put our equipment in this, we can tell the story. We're going to advocate for the industry, we can get this out there. I never had any intention of getting it out to Prime Video. My whole intention was to tell a fun story in a cinematic way that people would like and find entertaining and educational. And it turned out to be just that. And so we did season two, where we actually what we learned from season one. So then we weren't focused on the output of rebar at cmc and the construction projects needing rebar, so we showed a lot of projects that had rebar. And where did the rebar come from? So you backtrack it all into the recycled materials and so, uh, it just kind of grew from that. I don't mind being in front of a camera, you know, wanting to be in front of a camera or not minding it, or I think are two different things, but the fact is that I enjoy creating the content. It's fun for me to get into a steel mill. It's fun to tell the story, to talk to people and you, you know, when I released the series, there's so many people who've used it to show their families what they do. You know there's so many people who don't understand what our industry is about. And then you got schools and you know companies using it, even like SAB they were season one. They used it for recruiting and safety and telling their story and CMC is the same as well as telling their story of how their steel mill is really the foundation of infrastructure, because you have to start with rebar and any hospital and school and manufacturing plant. You've got to start with rebar in any hospital and school and manufacturing plant and you know you got to start with rebar and rebar comes from recycled metal, so it's a good story and they've been able to educate people to draw, you know, to attract and retain talent. Our industry isn't the sexiest, so it's shed a light on our industry that our industry actually is doing more to reduce CO2 emissions than any other industry in the world today and it attracts people who want to do something good for the mother earth and have a good paying job at the same time. Dave: That's awesome. Did that surprise you when, like CMC and some other companies, use that as like a recruiting and education of themselves? John: No, that was part of my sales pitch to them. Dave: Okay, okay. John: I knew, for whatever reason, why I knew that our industry has we have an image problem this I know, and it was still there. And attracting and retaining talent is a struggle, and it's not just our industry. If you talk to any facility, any company in America today, they all have the same issues. You know, I've just finished filming at the Toyota Motor Plant in Troy, missouri, where they make cylinder heads and their number one issue is attracting talent in the mechanics. They can't find them. And steel mills same thing. Every industry in America is struggling to find talent, and so I know that if you don't tell your story, if you don't make your company look cool, who wants to come to work for you? Dave: Yeah yeah, it seems like Mike Rowe is kind of on a similar mission from a little different perspective, really trying to encourage, you know, more people to come into the trades. John: Well, mike Rowe, yes, and you know, look, mike Rowe is an incredibly successful human being and you know, he has to show. You know, dirty jobs and I think kind of that's what we are. We're dirty jobs but we're networked. You know, I don't say we're essential. Essential is a COVID word that the government used to pick winners and losers. You know, you go to the hospital, david. Do they take your essential science or do they take your vital science? Sure, they take your vital science, right. So our industry is vital for the health of the nation. You don't build a hospital with us, right? You know, if you build a hospital, expand a hospital, you got to start where, on the ground floor, you have to start with the foundation, and that starts with rebar that starts. That comes from our industry. You want to build a school? Same thing. You want to build a highway. You know the steel used in the highway. You know, when you think this, 75% of all new steel in America is made from recycled steel Three quarters, that is a monstrous percentage and it's only growing. And you know another thing that is vital to national security is a vibrant steel industry. Okay, you don't build Navy ships with plastic. You don't build a military without steel, right? So you better have a very vibrant and strong steel industry, at the same time saying that America's steel industry is the cleanest steel industry in all the world. Over 75% of our steel mills are EAS electric arc furnace steel mills that use recycled steel to make new steel. Well, why is that important One? We're producing the steel a country needs for our infrastructure, for our military, healthcare, education and our farming and food industry. We also do it in the cleanest way, because recycled steel at EAF reduces CO2 emissions in the 60 percentile. And now that there's more micro mills coming online, more straight line casting of products and steel mills, with the new mills coming online, which reduce the energy consumption and reheating and continuous casting, so you're actually starting to see the numbers improve versus the BOF furnaces that you see that are heavy in China and India and Russia and Europe, south America yes, there are new EAFs going to those parts of the world, but their main steel production comes from the integrated steel mill that uses coking coal and iron ore, which is far greater pollutant, gives us far greater CO2 emissions. So not only is our steel industry vibrant in the United States, we are the cleanest in all the world. So we really are leading the way and I think people. That's kind of why I want to tell the story because people don't. You know we did man on the streets. You know you get me started on this, but you know people don't know steel's the most recycled item in America today. People don't even know what a steel mill is. They don't even know where new steel comes from. You drive a car. You don't have any idea. The majority of the metal in that car comes from recycled steel or recycled aluminum, for that matter. So people don't know this. So it's been kind of fun telling the story with Repurpose and we're getting ready to. We just finished filming everything we need for season three of repurpose. It's going to be on aluminum recycled aluminum and our focus will be on driving the auto industry okay, because you know this, david, that you cannot build an aluminum motor block transmission housing or casings differential casings with virgin aluminum I did not know that. Dave: And it has to be made from recycled aluminum. John: So see this. People don't know this and why is that? because of the alloys, the strength of the material. To take virgin aluminum and then make all, put in all the additives to make the motor block the strength, you, um, you can't do it. So they use recycled aluminum, and you know toyota is a big user. And also recycled aluminum, you know it goes into the light weighting of um automobiles, which gives you much greater miles per gallon and you know produces co2. So again, people don't know this and so I'm enjoying telling the story and getting it out there. Dave: I can tell you have a real passion for the education and helping change or improve the image of the whole industry. John: Well, I think that our policymakers, like in California, we have a real problem in the state of California the automobile shredder they want to deem it hazardous waste facilities and that's just not fair. It's not accurate to recycle for recycling in its own right, but it's hugely detrimental to the raw material supply chain for our industry here in america. That makes all these products that we need. You know we talk about when you take it in the life of an automobile, what do you do with it? And the end of life of an automobile. When you shred it, you gain the, the steel, the aluminum, the copper, stainless and plastics. And what do you do with that? You recycle it and that gets repurposed into new steel, new aluminum, new copper products, new stainless, and it's so. You know. It's just detrimental because our image, because I'll guarantee you, if you walk the halls in Sacramento and you told people, do you know the car you drive that has aluminum transmission housing, that has the aluminum motor block can't be made with virgin aluminum, they wouldn't know that. And this is part of the education process and I think once people know more about what our industry is, they'll realize how vital we are and that's really been a lot of fun for me and you know season three, as we're getting ready to do it gonna use. You know our facility here in bakersville is. You know where we process aluminum? We bail it in the bailers we make. And it's a lot of fun to be able to say the bailers we sell, that process that bail aluminum, are made from steel that comes from recycled steel from ssab. That we did in season one. So it really shows the circularity of our industry and what real sustainability really is. You know it's a buzzword and people, quite frankly, just have no clue what it really means. So I'm trying to bring out the real identity of our industry and try to really change the narrative because it needs to be changed. Once we were heroes during world war ii by supplying the mills with all the metals they needed to fight tyranny, and now we're the bad guys. Dave: Um, that's, we got to get back to being the good guys again I agree, could I mean I, you know just general building anything in California has become more challenging and regulatorily limited. Do you think somebody could even put in like a new shredder operation today, or would it just take? Them Wouldn't even be able to do it Because it's considered hazardous waste Is this considered hazardous waste? John: Yeah well, it's just the process. Nobody, you know, it's just a really crazy process, but you know you reminded me of something. So we have these just absolutely horrific, devastating fires in LA right, and we saw the whole Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the Pasadena area just devastated. What industry is going to rebuild those neighborhoods? Dave: Yeah, the steel industry. John: Well, so when you clean up these neighborhoods and we have a new piece of equipment down there processing the metals and sending it down to a company at Long Beach to process, it's our industry that's going to rebuild these neighborhoods. We're cleaning it up because what's what is left after the fires? Metal products, and all these metal products are being processed and going to be repurposed and sent to mills, steel mills, aluminum copper foundries, and all this new material that they're making from that raw material is what's going to go into rebuilding these neighborhoods. And you can't rebuild a neighborhood without us because we're the raw material suppliers for all that stuff that goes into the housing from the rebar, from the foundation, steel stuff. Now you're going to see a lot more steel being used in the manual in the building of houses in this area because of the fire. What about appliances? You don't build appliances with plastic. Easy-bake ovens aren't how you build refrigerators and ovens and toasters and coffee pots. And all the copper that's going to go into the electrification of these neighborhoods will have 36% recycled copper content into it. All the window panes that'll have aluminum windows and brass, you know, forurposing in it, getting into the consumers to make new products so you can rebuild, wow that's. I haven't thought about that for a second. Dave: Yeah. John: You know. And so the policymakers need to hear this. They need to understand that this is what we do. They need to understand this the most vital. Because, let's say, we don't exist in California. Well, what would you do with all that material? Can't ship it to China. China doesn't take containers of steel anymore. They don't buy bulk loads of steel anymore from the West Coast of the United States. They don't. That's just a misnomer. People, oh, you're sitting in China. They don't, that's just a misnomer. People, oh, you're sitting in China. No, we're not. And people think that, again, it's the ignorance Not calling people ignorant in a negative way. They just don't understand what we do. They don't understand where our materials are going, and I like to say CO2 emissions have no borders. So if Our materials are exported to an EAF steel mill somewhere maybe Malaysia, vietnam, korea, japan, if you will Well, our materials are also going into EAF. So what is that doing? It's reducing CO2 emissions. So our raw materials, be it used here in the US or be it used anywhere in the world, is actually helping to reduce the CO2 emissions in the world. Sure, actually helping to reduce the CO2 emissions in the world? Sure, you know, aluminum reduces CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the 90 percentile, copper's in the 80 percentile. You tell me an industry that's doing that today. You can't the recycled material industry. It's our raw materials that we process. So this is why this narrative, this is why these type of conversations, hopefully are heard by people who will now understand. Wait a minute, I've got this industry all wrong. Dave: Yeah, yeah. No, that's your your passion for trying to educate as many people as possible. It really shows through and you can see it really. It really drives you, so I appreciate it. Well, I can't wait to see season three. I can't believe how the time has flown by. Just wrapping up, I have just three remaining questions. John: Yes, sir. Dave: One is in your role with Sierra. What gives you the most satisfaction and enjoyment? John: Great question. Well, I think we have some great people here and I enjoy the people in the company I've seen in our, for instance. This is an example only and this is, you know, this could be had in every department, but we just have some really high quality people who really are fighting for the same cause. You know fighting, I call it fighting for the same right. And you know I get great satisfaction seeing these young kids who are growing. You know are technicians, for instance, who are growing, who've committed themselves to this culture and you see them growing and they're growing in their abilities and they're growing in their pay scales and you see their cooperative nature and how nature and how they have the can-do spirit. That gives me great pleasure. I enjoy doing this content as well. This gives me great pleasure making the REAP series. So those are my answers to that. Dave: That's great. That's not surprising. So the second of the three is imagine if you had a time machine and you could go back and give some advice to the 25-year-old John. What advice might you give with the benefit of hindsight? John: look, I didn't find what I really loved doing until I was about 59 years old. I'm 63, okay, so find what you love doing, that that beats money all day long. Yeah, and the money I just think, chasing money. You know it's great. You know I mean sure it's. You know I've done well, I'm not gonna begrudge it. But I think the one who smiles and is happiest wins the game of life, not the one with the biggest bank account. I look at Warren Buffett a guy worth just oodles and oodles. I've never seen that dude smile. He is just a grumpy old man. That's my perception of him, my point. And maybe he is a gregarious guy in person, but God, his persona is just grumpy. And my point to you is money doesn't buy happiness. Sure, it makes misery more tolerable, as my dad used to say. But I would tell a 25-year-old me stop chasing money and find happiness through what you love doing. Dave: A great answer. So the last question is is there anything that we did not discuss today that you wish we had? John: Well, no, I you know, I think, david, you know your, your company, with what you do, with your IT desk and helping with consulting. You know that's important. You know there's so many facets of our industry that people can improve upon, and I guess what we didn't talk on are areas in which how can an individual who sees this and is in the recycled materials industry capitalize on stuff that they don't know exists and what you do? I mean, I get what you do and so how do people really, where do they go to learn more about this industry and how they can improve their business? You know there's a lot of things that can be done. You got to be careful how you say this, because you know taxes are burdensome, especially when you live here in California. How can you have a legitimate business concern that can reduce your taxes legally? Because you know avoiding taxes is one thing, evading is illegal. You go to jail for evading taxes, and so you know it's hard because I'm not an accountant and I don't understand the whole time. But there's so much more, I think, for people to learn about our industry and I think, david, with what you're doing, with your setting up companies that are exporters, to understand the benefit of the laws that are out there for companies that export. People need to learn more about that, and I think that's you know. I wish I could have touched more on it. I don't know it like you do, but it is something that I think that's what I would say is to help people learn. There's other avenues to make your business grow and save some of your money, and when you save legally on taxes, you're saving money, so you can invest that in your company. Dave: No, I appreciate you mentioning that. And you know, my most satisfying part of my role is helping our entrepreneurial clients, you know, increase their after-tax income. It's really just. It's such a privilege to be, you know, kind of in the stands watching these amazing entrepreneurs do their magic. And you know, we have scrap metal clients who have, you know, the last decade have, you know, increased their business 10X. And I'm not saying that's because of the IC disc, it probably has little to do with it, but it's just a great. It's just very enjoyable to see the best and the brightest entrepreneurs, just, you know, do their magic. So that's why I love, why I'll be at the REMA conference in May. I can't spend enough time with those people. It's a blast. Well, john, thank you again for your time and I look forward to seeing you in San Diego in a couple of months. John: I presume, yes, sir, I'll be there. I'll be coming for my son's graduation at TCU, so I'll arrive. I'll miss some of the governance you know, as a former chair you're always involved with that but I'll be there for the show and I'll have my. My son is will be a graduate and I will have no more kids going to school. Dave: That's awesome. Well, that's also a landmark event. Well, hey, john, thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it, Thank you. Special Guest: John Sacco.

In this podcast Bible study we are on Exodus 24.  This chapter in Exodus is not filled with amazing events or miracles.  It is not a chapter that is necessarily memorable like chapter 20 and the giving of the Ten Commandments or like Exodus 40 when God actually came down the first time to dwell among His people in the Tabernacle.  But, Exodus 24 is amazing in its own right.  For example there are two verses that challenge us right from the “get go” and seem to provide contradictions to the Bible.  They are … and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Exo 24:10-11) They saw God?  Huh?  This is impossible.  God says … But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Exo 33:20) Or what about these two verses written by the disciple John … No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (Joh 1:18) No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. (1Jn 4:12) So in Exodus 24 the word says that they saw God but by God's own words this can't be along with the words in John's Gospel and in his letter of 1st John.  So, what is going on?  How can this be?  In this lesson we will again consider the Hebrew of Exod. 24:10-11.  We will find that there are two separate words that are translated as “they saw.”  Taken together and the fact that Hebrew words have no definitions like English words, the result is they did NOT SEE God.  What they experienced as a VISION.  The Hebrew is exact and precise.  We will get into this in detail in the lesson. These verses in Exodus 24 are a clear example that simple Bible reading does not make us “BIBLE LITERATE.”  I have heard one pastor say to me that he urges his congregation to read the Bible using the schedule of reading the Bible in a year.  You can find this as this link - https://bibleinayearonline.com/  This pastor's goal was to help his congregation become Bible literate.  In his church there are no Bible studies.  The only teaching is just the pastor's sermon on Sunday for 40 minutes or so.  The problem is just reading the Bible once or twice completely and listening to a sermon once a week does NOT make one Bible literate.  As one trusted scholarly source has commented … Knowing how to study the Bible is important, because determining the meaning of Scripture is one of the most important tasks a believer has in this life. God does not tell us that we must simply read the Bible. We must study it and handle it correctly (2 Timothy 2:15). (From GOTQUESTIONS.org link https://www.gotquestions.org/study-the-Bible.html) The Bible is a book that is not merely for reading. It is a book for studying so that it can be applied. Otherwise, it is like swallowing food without chewing and then spitting it back out again—no nutritional value is gained by it. (From GOTQUESTIONS.org link https://www.gotquestions.org/why-read-Bible.html) So the real definition of BIBLE LITERACY is … (numbers relate to the links o the references below) Biblical literacy refers to a person's ability to understand and apply the Bible, including its overarching story, key characters, events, themes, and literary elements. It's about comprehending the Bible's message and how it relates to one's life and faith. [1, 2, 5, 6] Beyond the basics: It also involves understanding the different literary genres and forms within the Bible, such as poetry, prophecy, and history, and how they contribute to the overall narrative. [3, 7] Examples: The Bible Literacy Project provides a course that uses a textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence," to teach the Bible narrative and its impact on history, literature, art, and culture. [8] Current trends: The Church of God International reports a decline in Bible reading engagement in the United States, with statistics showing a drop from 50% in 2011 to 38% in 2024. [9] [1] https://www.logos.com/grow/biblical-literacy/ [2] 

1 John 2:7-8 - The old covenant law was a law of love. In what sense is that renewed in the New Testament? How is it a new law? It is shown in Christ but how can it be shown in us?

Shop Hake! "Sarah" McBride, sorry. LONG convo with Shawn: The Bible! 1 John: No need that anyone teach you! The Hake Report, Monday, November 25, 2024 AD TIMESTAMPS * (0:00:00) Start * (0:03:11) Hey, guys! * (0:05:21) New Hake SHOP * (0:12:08) Rep. "Sarah" McBride "husband" died * (0:25:57) Supers, Coffee, Hake growing? * (0:29:48) SHAWN, FL: Think on these things. "Word of God" * (0:41:16) SHAWN: Perfect peace? Thoughts. Deception. * (0:48:16) SHAWN: Songs, music, promises. * (0:51:26) SHAWN: Deceptions? Thoughts. Bible. * (0:58:21) SHAWN: Why do you care? * (1:11:30) SHAWN: Jerusalem the center, Noah's Ark, Blood * (1:20:16) SHAWN: The word so deep * (1:21:11) Whew * (1:22:11) Reading 1 John 1-2 * (1:31:38) Coffees, Supers Ya Mum: un-mod me! * (1:34:37) Coffees: Popcorn: Interpreting, other mess * (1:43:00) JOSEPH, CA, 1st: Blaming God, Suffering * (1:47:32) KELLY, OR: 1970s auto-mechanic book * (1:50:30) Mary Rice Hopkins - "Walk Like Jesus" LINKS BLOG  https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2024/11/25/the-hake-report-mon-11-25-24 PODCAST / Substack  HAKE NEWS from JLP  https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2024/11/25/storm-bert-floods-uk-hake-news-mon-11-25-24 Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/show VIDEO  YouTube  -  Rumble*  -  Facebook  -  X  -  BitChute  -  Odysee*  PODCAST  Substack  -  Apple  -  Spotify  -  Castbox  -  Podcast Addict  *SUPER CHAT on platforms* above or  BuyMeACoffee, etc.  SHOP (new!)  -  Spring (old!)  -  Cameo  |  All My Links  JLP Network:  JLP  -  Church  -  TFS  -  Nick  -  Joel  -  Punchie  Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

Author and poet* Dr Laura Jean McKay joins Liz and Ben for two of Terry Pratchett's short stories about intelligent animals: “Hollywood Chickens” (1990) and “From the Horse's Mouth” (1972). In 1973 Hollywood, a truck full of chickens overturned on a busy highway, depositing a population of chickens on the verge. A decade and a half later, scientists try to piece together the story of how they developed and evolved in pursuit of a very specific goal... In the town of Blackbury, rag and bone man Ron is amazed to discover that his carthorse, Johnno, can talk. Will their relationship be forever changed by the adventure they share together? These stories don't share too much in common beyond being about animals, but they are a nice sample of Pratchett's writing from two interesting points in his career: towards the end of his early phase of children's stories for newspapers, not long after his first novel was published; and at the height of his early fame - the year, in fact, that he published five novels. You can find “Hollywood Chickens” most readily in A Blink of the Screen, and “From the Horse's Mouth” in A Stroke of the Pen. Do you have a favourite Pratchett short story? What do you think of the way he writes animals? Should we have inserted an ad for Maggi noodles into this episode? What are your best horse pun names, and how would you get to the other side? We'd love to hear from you whether you're a horse, chicken, human or have mutant powers: join the conversation for this episode via email, or by using the hashtag #Pratchat81 on social media. Dr Laura Jean McKay (she/her) is an author, poet* and an Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University. Her novel The Animals in That Country - “like Thelma and Louise with a woman and a dingo” - has won multiple awards, including the Arthur C Clarke Award. Her latest book is the short fiction collection Gunflower, published in 2023. You can find Laura as @laurajeanmckay on Twitter and Instagram, and find out more about her books on her website, laurajeanmckay.com.au. * Even if she doesn't know it. You'll find full notes and errata for this episode on our website, and you can hopefully still get tickets for Guards! Guards! at the Roleystone Theatre in Perth, which opens on 22 November 2024. Next episode we're back on track to crack the Clacks in the most recent Discworld board game: Clacks! If you have questions about this game recreating the race between Moist and the Grand Trunk company, get them in to us ASAP by tagging us or using the hashtag #Pratchat82 on social media, or emailing us at chat@pratchatpodcast.com.

The Gospel of John | No Competition Sermon Notes

The Gospel of John | No Middle Ground Sermon Notes

The passing of the legendary ‘Johnno' has cast a long shadow across Mayo, the West of Ireland and the GAA world this week.Mike is joined by Edwin McGreal, Martin Carney, Andy Moran and Stephen Drake to talk about John's life and his legacy, and why he will always be remembered as both one of the great Gaelic football managers and a gentleman.

The passing of the legendary ‘Johnno' has cast a long shadow across Mayo, the West of Ireland and the GAA world this week.Mike is joined by Edwin McGreal, Martin Carney, Andy Moran and Stephen Drake to talk about John's life and his legacy, and why he will always be remembered as both one of the great Gaelic football managers and a gentleman.

The Smiling Assassin. From his record breaking 364 games at the Bulldogs, he regularly cut teams apart with 558 goals... all with a gigantic smile.  This episode is all about positivity, good energy, hard work, following your passions and your dreams and not reaching the ultimate glory, but still being content.  Plus, some motorsport, media, being an entrepreneur and more. Oh, and Gary Moorcroft's mark as well as getting hit by a golf cart.  This one, will put a smile on your dial! Johnno is now doing amazing things off the field, together with his wife Donna, they have developed the Zena Sport Female Impact Vests, head to Zena Sport NOW and check them out! A huge thanks to Johnno, as well as Stef Rezzara from Hot Shot PR for making this episode possible! ***  Follow the Howie Games on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehowiegamespod/  Follow the Howie Games on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehowiegames See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Smiling Assassin. From his record breaking 364 games at the Bulldogs, he regularly cut teams apart with 558 goals... all with a gigantic smile.  This episode is all about positivity, good energy, hard work, following your passions and your dreams and not reaching the ultimate glory, but still being content.  Plus, some motorsport, media, being an entrepreneur and more. Oh, and Gary Moorcroft's mark as well as getting hit by a golf cart.  This one, will put a smile on your dial! Johnno is now doing amazing things off the field, together with his wife Donna, they have developed the Zena Sport Female Impact Vests, head to Zena Sport NOW and check them out! A huge thanks to Johnno, as well as Stef Rezzara from Hot Shot PR for making this episode possible! ***  Follow the Howie Games on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehowiegamespod/  Follow the Howie Games on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehowiegames See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Want to know who our Valentine's are this year? You guessed it--Brendan Rooney + Johnno Wilson! And the boys are here to chat with us about this special V-Day day and share plenty of love. We open up about our secrets to a great relationship, and what we do to celebrate the occasion. Plus, Anneliese and Johnno finally tell us about the moment Johnno proposed--and it will make your heart MELT.  Have the ladies ever been swingers?!? What do Christy and Anneliese look for in their partners? Is Johnno actually good at improv? Tune in now!  Follow Brendan @thebrendanrooney on Instagram. Follow Johnno at @johnnowilson on Instagram and TikTok. Follow us at @BigNameBitches on Instagram and TikTok, and subscribe on YouTube. Follow Christy Carlson Romano at @thechristycarlsonromano on Instagram and @christycarlsonromano on TikTok. Follow Anneliese van der Pol at @anneliesevanderpol on Instagram and @anneliesevdp on TikTok. You can watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube. Mocktail Recipe: ‘If You Like Pina Coladas…' 2.5 Bailey's Non Alcoholic  5 Chunks of Frozen Pineapple 0.75 oz Lime 0.75 oz Simple Syrup Place all ingredients into a blender and blend with some crushed ice. Garnish with two pineapple fronds.  Find our mixologist LP O'Brien @lpdrinksdc on Instagram, and check out her website at https://www.lpdrinks.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Want to know who our Valentine's are this year? You guessed it--Brendan Rooney + Johnno Wilson! And the boys are here to chat with us about this special V-Day day and share plenty of love. We open up about our secrets to a great relationship, and what we do to celebrate the occasion. Plus, Anneliese and Johnno finally tell us about the moment Johnno proposed--and it will make your heart MELT.  Have the ladies ever been swingers?!? What do Christy and Anneliese look for in their partners? Is Johnno actually good at improv? Tune in now!  Follow Brendan @thebrendanrooney on Instagram. Follow Johnno at @johnnowilson on Instagram and TikTok. Follow us at @BigNameBitches on Instagram and TikTok, and subscribe on YouTube. Follow Christy Carlson Romano at @thechristycarlsonromano on Instagram and @christycarlsonromano on TikTok. Follow Anneliese van der Pol at @anneliesevanderpol on Instagram and @anneliesevdp on TikTok. You can watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube. Mocktail Recipe: ‘If You Like Pina Coladas…' 2.5 Bailey's Non Alcoholic  5 Chunks of Frozen Pineapple 0.75 oz Lime 0.75 oz Simple Syrup Place all ingredients into a blender and blend with some crushed ice. Garnish with two pineapple fronds.  Find our mixologist LP O'Brien @lpdrinksdc on Instagram, and check out her website at https://www.lpdrinks.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices