Podcasts about Liability

Yacht compliance is not optional — and it is never just paperwork. In this episode of Captain's Chat, Captain Liam Devlin sits down with Captain Wendy Clark, Founder of Plumeria Marine, to unpack the compliance failures that quietly shut down charter programs, expose owners to liability, and put crew at risk. With extensive experience across inspected vessels, charter operations, and marine management, Wendy explains why US Coast Guard compliance is black and white — and why misunderstanding that reality costs owners months of revenue and credibility. This conversation goes beyond theory, covering real-world scenarios involving charter shutdowns, delivery risks, crew safety, environmental responsibility, and the human factor behind most onboard incidents. This episode is essential listening for captains, owners, brokers, managers, and crew who understand that safety, compliance, and leadership are inseparable at sea. What you'll learn Why US Coast Guard compliance leaves zero room for interpretation The paperwork mistakes that can instantly stop charter operations How cutting corners on deliveries creates serious liability exposure Why safety culture must be built before inspections, not after The human factor behind most maritime incidents How compliance protects crew, owners, and the marine environment Guest Captain Wendy Clark  Founder, Plumeria Marine  

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What a year. I sat down with over 100 incredible agency owners—and the insights were unreal. From million-dollar breakthroughs to hard-earned lessons, these founders brought the real talk. In this special year-end episode, I'm sharing the top 5 interviews that stood out most. To everyone who tuned in, shared an episode, or took action from something they heard—thank you. This show is for you, and because of you. Here's to a smarter, stronger, more scalable 2026. Let's go.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service.   AI, Efficiency & the Future of Digital Agencies | with Manish Dudharejia (E2M Solutions) If you're running a digital agency and wondering how the hell you're supposed to keep up with AI, automation, and shifting client expectations—this one's for you. Jason sits down with Manish Dudharejia, founder of E2M Solutions, one of the largest white-label partners for agencies, to break down where the real opportunities are—and what's about to get wiped out. Spoiler: Agencies that don't embrace efficiency will get eaten alive. Whether you're stuck in fulfillment hell or just trying to stay 3 steps ahead, this is a must-watch if you want to grow smarter, not grind harder.   From Freelancer to CEO: How Kriston Sellier Built a Scalable, Human-Centered Agency Kriston Sellier, Founder of Id8, shares how she broke free from the freelancer grind, stopped being held hostage by a single client, and transformed into a confident CEO with systems, a team, and a business that no longer revolved around her. We dig into the moment she realized she wasn't really running a business and how hiring a consultant changed everything (and brought in 25 new clients) This isn't fluff. It's the real path from chaos to clarity—one that too many agency owners skip because they're stuck reacting.   From $1M to $40M: How Chris Dreyer Scaled His SEO Agency with One Counterintuitive Strategy If you're an agency owner stuck managing chaos, wondering how the hell to grow without everything breaking—this is your blueprint. I sat down with Chris Dreyer, CEO of Rankings.io, who scaled his agency from barely breaking 7 figures to nearing $40 million in pure service revenue. And no, it wasn't because of some sexy funnel or overnight hack. It was because he doubled down on relationships. Favorite line from Chris: "You mean to tell me it's not worth $500 to go shake hands with a $125K client?" This isn't theory. It's what the top 1% of agencies are actually doing—and it's probably not what you're doing right now.   How to Build an Agency Team That Sticks & Clients Who Actually Respect You | Colin Hetherington I sat down with Colin Hetherington, founder of Dublin's Common Good and co-founder of Zoo Digital (which scaled to $3M+ with less than 5% turnover). Colin's the real deal—he's built agencies people love working at and clients want to stay with. You'll hear how Colin combined strategy, creativity, and technical execution to create an agency that stood out—and why focusing on team trust and clarity made all the difference. Whether you're scaling or starting fresh, there's gold in this conversation on how to lead without burning out.   Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Asset protection isn't about hiding wealth — it's about keeping what you've spent decades building. In this conversation, R. Kenner French breaks down what asset protection really means and why high-net-worth individuals, especially real estate investors, are prime targets for lawsuits. He explains that without a proper structure, a single legal action can wipe out years of hard work, forcing people to start over at the worst possible time in life.Kenner emphasizes that LLCs are one of the most effective tools for asset protection when they are structured correctly. An LLC creates legal separation between personal assets and business or investment properties, limiting exposure if a lawsuit occurs. By isolating assets into separate entities, investors can prevent one legal issue from spreading across their entire portfolio — a strategy often referred to as asset diversification.A major theme of the discussion is that asset protection is risk mitigation, not paperwork. Kenner uses the “moat around a castle” analogy to show how strong planning discourages lawsuits before they even begin. Proper structuring, documentation, and ongoing compliance make potential litigants think twice, often deciding the time and cost of pursuing a case simply isn't worth it.The conversation also highlights the importance of layered protection, combining LLCs with liability insurance, retirement accounts, trusts, and strategic planning. Kenner stresses that not all attorneys specialize in asset protection, making it critical to work with experts who understand how to design structures that hold up under legal scrutiny. Asset protection plans, he notes, are now more accessible and affordable than ever.Finally, Kenner reminds listeners that asset protection is not a one-time event. It requires regular review as asset values change, new properties are acquired, and risk exposure evolves. The key takeaway is clear: the best time to build an asset protection plan is before you need it. As French puts it, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”Takeaways• Asset protection is crucial for safeguarding wealth.• LLCs provide a legal structure for asset protection.• Proper planning is essential for effective asset protection.• Liability insurance is a key component of asset protection.• Regularly review and adjust your asset protection strategies.• Not all attorneys specialize in asset protection; choose wisely.• Asset protection plans are becoming more affordable.• Understanding your risks is vital in asset protection planning.• A well-structured LLC can limit exposure to lawsuits.• Consulting with an asset protection specialist is recommended.Sound Bites• What is asset protection?• Garbage in, garbage out.• You have to look at all your risks.Listen & Subscribe for More:

“All alpha is excess return, not all excess return is alpha,” says NISA CEO and Head of Investment Strategies David Eichhorn when discussing the use of appropriate benchmarks to measure performance and beta masking as alpha. Eichhorn joins Bloomberg Intelligence's Noel Hebert on the latest episode of Credit Crunch to talk about hedging liabilities and utilizing derivative overlays, targeting high information ratios and being a liquidity provider, and the evolution in liability management. The current rate backdrop and funded status for defined benefit plans, as well as leverage costs for BDCs are also discussed. Pensions & Investments (P&I) rankings were based on U.S. institutional,tax-exempt assets managed internally (covered for overlay) as of December 31, 2024; published on June 16, 2025. NISA paid a standard fee to access the full set of data published by P&I. Other survey participants may have reported overlay strategies on a basis other than notional values and, as such, direct comparison and rankings may not be appropriate. Visit www.pionline.com for more details, including past rankings and methodology.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you thinking about expanding your agency through acquisitions? Buying another firm can be one of the fastest ways to scale, but only if you choose the right partners and nail the cultural fit. Otherwise, growth can quickly turn into chaos. Today's featured guest has been through five acquisitions, each one teaching her a different (and sometimes painful) lesson about what truly makes a merger succeed. In this episode, she opens up about her biggest acquisition missteps, the cultural mismatches that nearly derailed integrations, forecasting errors she didn't see coming, and the identity challenges that arise when two teams collide. Kimberly Eberl is the Founder and CEO of The Motion Agency, a full service marketing and communications shop with offices in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Nashville. While the agency offers everything from creative to content, it is unusually strong in public relations with roughly 20 PR pros on staff. Kimberly has completed five acquisitions, navigated the cultural and financial highs and lows of M&A, and grown Motion into one of the most respected independent agencies in the Chicago market. In this episode, we'll discuss: When acquisitions help agencies scale—and when they backfire. Lessons learned from five agency acquisitions. Why agency owners often misjudge valuation and earnouts. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. From Fired Account Director to Agency Founder Kimberly jokes that she is one of those founders who got fired into entrepreneurship. At her previous agency, the account director role was undefined and impossible to succeed in. The revolving door should have been a clue. She lasted a year before being let go and scrambling to figure out her next move. With no grand plan, she fell into freelancing in 2006. The economy was healthy. The demand came fast. And pretty quickly she reached that moment every accidental agency owner hits. Either say no to work or hire help. She chose to hire. That early decision set the tone for the next decade. Instead of trying to do it all herself, she leaned into building a team and letting the business grow past her personal capacity. Outgrowing a Single-Service Model: Moving Beyond One Specialty Kimberly started as a PR pro. That focus worked for a while, but eventually she noticed how much money she was leaving on the table. Clients wanted websites, creative, content, and she was constantly referring the work away. The big shift happened when she decided to expand beyond PR and bring more capabilities in-house. This meant hiring outside her comfort zone and learning how to oversee work she could not personally do. That decision opened the door to real growth. Many agency owners get stuck right there. They stay in their one specialty because it is safe. Kimberly pushed through that discomfort and built a service mix clients actually wanted. The Reality of Acquiring Another Agency: Lessons from 5 Acquisitions Kimberly opted to add these new services through acquisitions. So far, she has completed five and every one had a different lesson. Her first major acquisition was bold. She bought an agency twice the size of her own. Financially and emotionally, it was a lot. Looking back, she admits she may not do a deal that large again, especially in a specialty she did not personally understand. But she also learned that size does not determine complexity. A one-person agency with contractors had just as many integration headaches as a larger shop. What mattered most was agency culture. Some deals looked perfect on paper but fell apart because the values, expectations, and behaviors did not align. One deal in particular was financially great and culturally awful. She kept one client from that acquisition. Another deal was financially terrible but culturally perfect. Years later, most of those staff members are still with her. Her biggest warning: never ignore cultural red flags during the courting phase. Take time to hang out with the sellers, how they operate, and experience their company's culture. Go to dinner, Travel together. You'll notice small behaviors (snapping over minor problems, chronic lateness, lack of transparency) that won't disappear after the contract is signed. Valuation Mistakes That Kill Good Deals Kimberly also dove into how she approaches valuations and why so many sellers get this part wrong. She focuses on future performance, realistic forecasts, and removing costs that will not continue after the sale. She also pushes back on inflated projections. If an owner claims revenue will double, the earnout should reflect that. Big promises are fine, but they should come with big accountability. One agency she walked away from wanted a valuation equal to twice their gross revenue. They were using cash-based accounting and ignoring profitability. It was an immediate red flag. Kimberly's advice to owners is simple. Build a business that is sellable even if you never plan to sell. Get your financials clean. Use accrual accounting. And be realistic about your numbers. Leadership, Loyalty, and the Hardest Skill — Letting Go As the agency scaled, leadership challenges became just as complex as financial ones. Kimberly admits she is confused about why she is the largest woman-owned agency in Chicago at only seventy people. She is proud of the title, but she wonders why more women are not reaching similar scale. There are no differences in capability, but many female founders still hit a ceiling often tied to loyalty, delegation, or difficulty letting people go. Some owners, especially women, treat their team like family and struggle to make hard decisions around performance. She admitted she has been loyal to a fault at times and is working on finding a healthy balance. Agencies function more like all star sports teams. The roster changes every year. People get promoted, moved, or sometimes released. That does not mean you failed. It means you are adapting so the team as a whole can win. Kimberly is even working on building hobbies outside her agency because she noticed how much of her identity was tied to work. It is a relatable struggle for founders who have poured years into their companies. AI Changes the Work, Not the Need for Agencies Let's be clear, agencies are not going away because of AI. Kimberly certainly doesn't believe that. She treats AI like an intern. Helpful. Fast. But still needing quality control, creativity, and leadership. Clients still want real relationships. They want someone who understands context and nuance. Agencies serving tech-savvy individuals will feel churn from AI, but agencies serving plumbers, service-based businesses, and non marketers will be fine. These clients want to stay in their lane and hire experts for everything else. Marketing evolves, but agencies survive because the business model adapts. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What do you do when a business partnership fails? Do you try to engineer the perfect agreement so the exit is clean, or focus on alignment long before anyone signs anything? The truth is, most agency partnerships fail because owners rush into them without slowing down to see the cracks. Preparing for the worst is not pessimistic. It is how you protect the business you are trying to build. Today's featured guest has gone through failed starts, broken agency partnerships, and overcommitting his time as the owner for fear of losing opportunities. He'll unpack 25 years of wins, mistakes, and hard earned clarity, from building his agency and how the biggest breakthroughs came from leadership shifts rather than marketing tactics. Andy Crestodina is the co founder of Orbit Media, a Chicago based web development and optimization agency approaching its 25th year in business. Orbit has grown to a team of fifty five and more than eight million in annual revenue. Andy is also one of the most respected voices in content marketing, with millions of readers, hundreds of speaking engagements each year, and a reputation for teaching real strategy instead of recycled tactics. In this episode, we'll discuss: Slow, organic for consistent agency growth. What a failed agency partnership can cost you. The hire that gives an agency founder their time back. Learning when "yes" becomes the problem. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. How Slow, Organic Growth Built a 25-Year Agency Andy was working as an IT recruiter in the nineties and found himself bored at his day job. He didn't get to build anything in that position and he had a lot of ideation urging him to do something else. Luckily, the internet offered him that chance. He could build a website and channel his creative energy through that side project. But could he do it full time? He had no resume and no portfolio to present to a potential employer. He realized it was easier to get a client to take a chance on him than it was to convince an employer to hire him. So he and a high school friend started building sites. The first partnership failed fast and then the second attempt grew slowly, quietly, and steadily for 25 years. The secret was not paid ads or cold outreach. It was content. Consistent publishing, useful insights, and a commitment to organic channels long before that became mainstream advice. When Agency Partnerships Go Wrong and What It Really Costs There are many stories of successful partnerships in the agency world, but overall the disaster stories are much more common. As Jason says, you either know the bad partner or you are the bad partner. Andy lived through one of the toughest versions of that story. He had three partners for a while. One of them ran an unprofitable department. Responsibilities were unclear. Values were not aligned. And when it came time to clean up the mess, a poorly written shareholder agreement became a bigger problem than the partner himself. Andy had to mortgage his home and personally lend the company money to buy out the partner. The agreement used the wrong valuation formula. The partner dragged his feet and what should have been a difficult but clean process turned into a long, expensive, emotionally draining separation. Looking back, Andy says something most founders never admit. A handshake would have been better than the shareholder agreement they had. The real mistakes came earlier: saying yes to a partner who did not share the same values, not slowing down long enough to evaluate the deal, and being hungry for growth and ignoring misalignment. The Leadership Hire That Gave the Founder His Time Back Around this time of misalignment between partners was when a long time client turned management consultant stepped in. He saw tension inside the partner group, so he moved to do a 360 review and surfaced the problems that no one wanted to say out loud. Andy was quick to spot that he would be a great addition to the agency, and so eventually, he became the CEO. That single hire changed everything. Andy was doing all the sales and marketing. Meetings all day. Proposals all night. Burning energy on tasks someone else should have owned years earlier. Once his new CEO came on board, he built systems, built a sales process, hired strategists to handle qualification and scoping. Suddenly Andy had 20 hours a week of his life back. He poured that time into content and went right into work. He doubled publishing frequency, launched a conference, wrote a book, held monthly live events, shot videos. The brand exploded. Their reach multiplied. The inbound engine went from effective to unstoppable. This is the founder shift so many agency owners avoid. Letting go. Delegating the work that drains you. Investing your best energy into the work that grows the company, not the work that maintains it. Saying Yes, Saying No, and Protecting Your Energy Andy admits he still overcommits. He still says yes to speaking engagements because he loves the stage and it generates leads, even though the constant travel wears him down. This is something many agency owners have to face. You may want the brand, speaking gigs and reach. But you also want to protect your energy so you do not turn into the hero who disappoints people when they finally meet you. At some point, you have to choose where your yes goes. Andy chose articles, newsletters, LinkedIn, webinars, a conference, and in person events. He let go of podcasting. He narrowed his focus so he could go deeper. That discipline, more than any tactic, is what keeps his inbound engine healthy 25 years later. The Tension Between Culture and Profit How do you balance loyalty to your team with the need for profit and EBITDA? Andy is still trying to figure this out. His team has an average tenure of eight years. Some team members have been there twenty. Andy cares deeply about them and their families. But agencies face moments when bonuses, salaries, utilization, and capacity collide. Where doing right by people and doing right for the business feel like competing priorities. There is no perfect answer. But there is a direction. Take care of your people first. Trust them to help you solve the profit problems. Fix leaks. Raise rates. Tighten scope. Operate like owners. And when the agency wins, let your team win with you. Culture breaks agencies faster than anything else. Profit can be fixed. Culture cannot be patched over. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this last episode of 2025, Justin interviews Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management magazine on the most impactful risks of 2025 and what's expected in 2026. They discuss the difficulty of reporting on the rapid pace of risk change. Morgan and Hilary discuss the most impactful natural events of 2025: wildfires in California and Canada, Hurricane Melissa, and flooding. They discuss the economic risks posed by the unusual tariff changes in 2025 and how supply chains and inflation are affected. These risks are covered in the Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine online now.   Morgan and Hilary will return for the first episode of 2026, launching on January 5th.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:17] About this episode of RIMScast. This is our final episode of 2025, and who better to spend it with than Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management magazine? [:44] We will discuss some of the top risk management stories of 2025 and what they might mean for 2026. They will rejoin us for the first episode of 2026! But first… [:55] RIMS-CRMP and Some Prep Courses. The next virtual prep course will be held on January 14th and 15th, 2026. These are virtual courses. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:12] RIMS Virtual Workshops are coming up. On January 21st and 22nd, Chris Hansen returns to deliver the course, "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US". [1:26] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes. [1:38] RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops. [1:48] The RIMS-CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management is hosted by the famous James Lam. This is a live virtual program that helps elevate your expertise and career in ERM. [2:01] You can enroll now for the next cohort, which will be held over 12 weeks from January through March of 2026. Registration closes on January 5th. Or Spring ahead and register for the cohort that will be held from April through June, 2026. Registration closes on April 6th. [2:20] Links to registration and enrollment are in this episode's show notes. [2:27] On with the show! The annual Year in Risk Review edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine is now available. Visit RMmagazine.com for more information. [2:39] I wanted to dive deeper into some of the pages and the stories that made major headlines in risk management this year. Morgan and Hilary are rejoining us as part of our annual tradition. [2:54] We're not just looking back; we're also going to talk about how these events should be some warning signs and provide some extra insight for risk managers around the world. [3:05] Interview! This is our final episode of the year, and we're going out with a bang with two of my favorite people! [3:12] Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle, welcome back to RIMScast! [3:23] Justin saw Morgan and Hilary, just a month ago in Seattle, at the ERM Conference. Morgan says it was raining the whole time, but it was a good conference. It was well-attended, and everybody enjoyed themselves, and the attendees got a lot out of it. It was a great event! [3:51] Hilary also thought it was great! The turnout was fantastic! There was some great feedback on a lot of the sessions. There were some packed rooms! People seemed pleased with the programming. Hilary didn't see the sun until she left, but she enjoyed the city! [5:12] Morgan and Hilary's goal for attending the ERM Conference is to gather good ideas for articles. They look for presenters who might be good content contributors in other formats. They look to get a sense of what is new and what is emerging. [5:24] Morgan and Hilary talk to members about what they're seeing in practice and what's concerning to them. Morgan says if there's a packed room for a session, it's clearly a topic that's resonating, which bumps it to the top of the list of things to pursue, since there's interest in it. [6:17] Justin notes that Morgan's always there in the sessions with pen and paper. He's old school! [7:36] Morgan says the hardest part of reporting on risk is the breadth of the risks they cover. Everything has a lot more nuance and a lot more effect. This incident happened, which had 57 knock-on effects. [7:47] Morgan explains why distilling that down to something that makes sense in article form is a huge challenge and compares writing about risk to the experience risk managers have with everything they deal with. [8:10] Morgan says that, at the end of the year, spotlighting the year in risk coverage is a challenge. How do you get the entire economic, geopolitical situation down to 200 words? [8:37] Hilary says the velocity of change is a challenge when covering risk. Unlike in everyday news coverage, they have to add an amount of value or takeaways for a reader who is looking to do something about risk. Developing that value, at the speed of risk, is particularly challenging. [9:15] Hilary continues. Crises are compounded now. You can't ignore a lot of those factors that make a crisis a bad issue. Hilary cites hurricanes, rapid intensification, which is a knock-on effect of climate change, lax building codes, and people building more in certain regions. [9:38] Hilary says you have to add so many layers to explain why this crisis is happening now. It becomes a lot more challenging to figure out how it impacts insurance. You have to take into account different exclusions or the way the policies are created. There are a lot of moving parts. [10:04] Morgan says, It's not just your picture. It's the picture of your suppliers and your customers, who might be across the country or around the world. All of their risks become your risks or, at least, will impact your business. [10:33] Justin compliments the digital layout of RIMS Risk Manager magazine. He speaks of how Morgan and Hilary go to RIMS events looking for inspiration for content and content contributors. [11:05] Morgan says, We're only as good as the information we've learned through the people we've met, or what we've read. We're not practicing risk managers. Hearing from experts who deal with it every day is the strongest way to get good content that resonates with our readers. [12:17] Morgan says wildfires were probably the most costly insured loss of 2025. Hilary says that earthquakes were the most costly in terms of the loss of life. The LA fire was the largest single economic loss. There are lots of expensive homes in Southern California. [13:26] Canada has had wildfires raging almost non-stop for two or three years. Wildfires are no longer secondary perils. They're a prime source of loss. Severe convective storms, in the aggregate, probably caused more damage than wildfires this year. [14:04] Hilary says severe convective storms have been in the top 10 for seven out of the last 10 years. Morgan says this was one of the top convective storm years. In natural disasters, you're not looking just at hurricanes and earthquakes, but also fires, floods, and more. [14:32] Hilary talks about secondary factors, like tremendous wind events in California, increasing the rate at which fires spread, making containment difficult. Things were moving fast. A lot of buildings were burning. It took three weeks to put out two of the largest fires. [15:05] Canada faced different challenges. All but two provinces had record, above-average fire seasons. Some fires impacted remote areas where getting people out is logistically extremely difficult. Seventy-something First Nations communities had to be evacuated. [15:35] If you're dealing with areas that are largely only accessible by air, getting communities of people out for long periods is logistically very challenging, with a devastating human impact. They're very different fires. [15:52] Hilary says it was quite a year. Morgan ties it back to the impact of climate change. It starts with drought, and it's exacerbated by winds. Then you've got these weird things that pop up where Mother Nature says, Hey, I've got a weird twist for you! [16:13] Quick Break! RISKWORLD 2026 will be held from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. RISKWORLD attracts more than 10,000 risk professionals from across the globe. It's time to Connect, Cultivate, and Collaborate with them. Booth sales are open now! [16:35] General registration and speaker registration are also open right now! Marketplace and Hospitality badges will be available starting on March 3rd. Links are in this episode's show notes. [16:50] Let's Return to Our Interview with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle! [17:11] Some of the fires Canada experienced this year were zombie fires, also called holdover fires, or overwintering fires. They can live in the soil under the snow until it gets warm, the snow melts, and they reignite. Some of the fires of 2025 were started in 2023. [16:23] Hilary believes those holdover fires were in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, and up North. Holdover fires are most common in the Arctic Circle. [18:43] Morgan and Hilary believe that's a good example of things that will happen more frequently with climate change, affecting a larger number of people than before. [19:15] Morgan says convective storms are tornadoes and thunderstorms. Hilary adds that it has to do with the pressure front that leads to forming them. Outbreaks of many tornadoes in a couple of days wreak havoc in the U.S. Midwest. [20:06] Morgan says the highest intensity of a tornado is EF5. There was an EF5 tornado in North Dakota for the first time in 10 years. It touched down in a place where there were not a lot of people. [20:35] Hilary says we're seeing increasingly severe convective storms and inland flooding losses. Severe storms are flooding areas that weren't thought of as being at risk of flooding. [20:50] The more we build into these plains with high-value properties, the more damaging convective storms are getting. The storms are also getting worse. We're also seeing increasingly damaging hail. That's a severe convective storm issue, as well. [21:27] Morgan says climate change makes things more intense and widespread. Morgan says his favorite climate change after-effect was the attack of the jellyfish this year. [21:57] There were multiple instances of French nuclear power plants being taken offline by giant swarms of jellyfish clogging the coolant intake lines. Europe had a super-hot summer. Water temperatures rose, which increased jellyfish activity and presence. [22:26] There were so many jellyfish, they ended up in places they shouldn't be. France generates 70% of its electricity through nuclear power. If nuclear power plants are taken offline, it's not just a minor annoyance. [22:51] If you're a company during a blackout, you don't care that it was jellyfish. You're still not in business for the time that you don't have power. Suddenly, this climate change effect is now a part of a disaster preparedness plan because of climate change. You have to plan for jellyfish. [24:43] Hurricane Melissa was another storm with widespread flooding and enormous insured losses. Morgan notes that 2025 was a relatively low-activity season from the standpoint of how many hurricanes made landfall. [25:18] Melissa was the most damaging and probably accounted for 90% of economic losses and loss of life. It did billions of dollars' worth of damage. [25:33] There were three Category 5 Hurricanes this year; four is the record, but they mostly went out into the ocean; they didn't do anything. That doesn't mean it's always going to happen. If one storm hits the right place, you're in trouble. [26:07] It was an active storm season for Jamaica. It only takes one storm in your area to be an active season for you. [26:25] Hilary says Melissa is a textbook case of some of the perils of rapid intensification. It got much worse very quickly. The fact that we've seen such a proportion of Category 5 storms is a pattern that is concerning. [26:57] They discussed rapid intensification in the hurricane outlook for the season. Hurricane Erin also occurred this year. It intensified quickly, but it didn't cause a lot of damage. Your lead time is less when a storm intensifies quickly. [27:32] Morgan says it's important to get things in order before storms hit because you may not have the time to do it when it's mid-season. You don't know where or when a storm will hit. [27:50] Wikipedia calls Melissa the costliest storm in Jamaican history, at $10 billion in damage, 102 fatalities, 141 injuries, and 27 missing. [28:38] A Final Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, by its collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada. [28:57] Spencer awards undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D., and Pre-Instructor of Practice Scholarships to students enrolled at an accredited college or university in the U.S. and Canada, and physically studying in either location. No remote coursework eligibility from other locations. [29:14] Including part-time, graduate scholarships to risk management and insurance professionals continuing their education. [29:20] Since 1980, Spencer has invested more than $11.1 million in the scholarship program with awards to over 1,700 students. More than 85% of Spencer's scholarship recipients remain in the industry to this day. [29:35] They've got undergraduate scholarships, full-time Master's scholarships, part-time Master's scholarships, pre-dissertation Ph.D. candidates, doctoral candidates, and pre-instructor of practice scholarships all open now. The application deadline is January 31st, 2026. [29:57] Visit SpencerEd.org/scholarships. You'll find the different application buttons. See the link in this episode's show notes for more information, giving you some extra homework to do over the holiday break, if you are taking a holiday break! [30:14] Let's Return to the Conclusion of Our Interview with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle!  [30:46] Justin mentions that tariffs in 2025 affect 90% of U.S. imports. That's a supply chain management issue and an ERM issue. Tariffs themselves are an issue. [31:16] What Morgan connects most to tariffs is the uncertainty they create, especially in the way they've been implemented this year. Tariffs are promised, then the terms are changed, creating uncertainty. What level of costs will businesses absorb or pass on to customers? [31:50] Morgan says those things make the business landscape unstable. Tariffs in April would be better than 57 different announcements that change the picture every other week and tend to tank the stock market. [32:20] Morgan says Goldman Sachs estimated in September that 55% of the incurred costs have been passed to consumers, depending on the business. Once it impacts your customers, you've got less revenue coming in. It's an unstable environment. [32:47] Hilary contrasts this year's tariffs with past tariffs. Usually, it's a "set it and forget it" situation. Hilary calls this year's tariffs erratic and confusing. The scale and the frequency of change are unprecedented. [33:31] Morgan says you can feel it when you go to the store. That's not helping from a personal standpoint or a business standpoint. Justin speaks of shrinkflation. [33:47] Tariffs are going to affect inflation. Nobody wants that. [34:22] Hilary speaks of alternate supply chains that are in more friendly tariff environments. Some of the items in your products are going to be different. Some of your processes will be different. You don't know if you're also going to be getting inferior products. [34:52] Morgan says it's not as simple as saying just get a new supplier. That's an operational shift from procurement, on. Hilary says, hopefully, you won't have to do product safety testing or environmental impact studies, or reporting around your supply chain. [35:09] Morgan notes that some raw materials may only be available in five countries, like a rare earth mineral. [35:32] Justin asks if this is explored in depth in the Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine. Hilary says we are not talking about rare earth minerals in that issue. Morgan is working on figuring out how we can cover that, perhaps, in 2026. [35:53] Morgan is fascinated by this topic. There are limited deposits of things. The broader point is that if you're affected by tariffs and you're trying to change suppliers or sources, you may not have all the options. [36:12] Hilary says it is a situation where the risk is very much there, but the management or mitigation of it is not necessarily something you can do much about. Only so many places make cobalt. Morgan adds, There are only so many mines out there. [36:31] Justin says, The Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine is out now. This is the last episode of 2025. We're going to have you back to discuss a little bit more in the first episode of 2026. [37:01] Morgan's parting words: "I'm just glad you're listening. I'm glad you're listening. I'm glad you're reading. I'm glad you're here. I feel like it's a privilege to keep writing for you, talking to you, so hopefully, we continue to do that in the new year. Everybody, be safe and happy." [37:14] Hilary's parting words: "Thanks for making it through another year!" [37:18] So, we're going to have you back in January, and we'll pick up there, probably with some cyber and some Data Privacy Day kick-off, January 5th, 2026. [37:35] Special thanks again to Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management magazine and the RIMS Publications Department for joining us on RIMScast. They will rejoin us for the first episode of 2026. That will launch on January 5th. [37:52] Mark your calendar and subscribe to RIMScast through your podcasting app of choice! Visit RMmagazine.com to check out The Year in Risk edition of Risk Management magazine. That's the Q4 edition. This is reporting from the best in the profession. [38:12] You can't get any better than RIMS Risk Management magazine. [38:17] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [38:44] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [39:01] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [39:18] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [39:34] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [39:47] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [39:59] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continuous support!   Links: RIMS Risk Management Magazine: Year In Risk Edition | Feature Article Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making | Virtual Workshop | March 4‒5, 2026 RIMS-CRO Certificate Program In Advanced Enterprise Risk Management | Jan‒March 2026 Cohort | Led by James Lam RISKWORLD 2026 Registration — Open for exhibitors, members and non-members! Reserve your booth at RISKWORLD 2026! The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RIMS Risk Management magazine | Contribute RIMS Now Spencer Educational Foundation Scholarships | Submission Deadline Jan. 31, 2026 RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) | Insights Series Featuring Joe Milan! Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep | January 14‒15, 2026,  9:00 am‒4:00 pm EST, Virtual Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US" | Jan. 21‒22, 2026   Upcoming RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars   Related RIMScast Episodes: "Mid-Year Update 2025: RIMS Legislative and Risk Management News" "James Lam on ERM, Strategy, and the Modern CRO" "The Evolving Role of the Risk Analyst" "Presilience and Cognitive Biases with Dr. Gav Schneider and Shreen Williams" "Risk Rotation with Lori Flaherty and Bill Coller of Paychex" "Risk Quantification Through Value-Based Frameworks"   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: "Secondary Perils, Major Risks: The New Face of Weather-Related Challenges" | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) "The ART of Risk: Rethinking Risk Through Insight, Design, and Innovation" | Sponsored by Alliant "Mastering ERM: Leveraging Internal and External Risk Factors" | Sponsored by Diligent "Cyberrisk: Preparing Beyond 2025" | Sponsored by Alliant "The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience" | Sponsored by AXA XL "Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs" | Sponsored by Zurich "Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding" | Sponsored by Zurich "What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping" | Sponsored by Medcor "How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips" | Sponsored by Alliant   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guests: Morgan O'Rourke, RIMS Director of Publications and Risk Management Magazine Editor in Chief Hilary Tuttle, Managing Editor, Risk Management Magazine   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

In this episode, Michael dives deep into the chaos at Turning Point USA's America Fest. With more than 30,000 attendees, the event revealed a growing rift within the GOP. From Ben Shapiro's scathing critique of fellow conservatives to the controversial presence of rapper Nicki Minaj, the conference exposed the future direction of the Republican Party. Is Turning Point USA a political asset or a liability for the GOP? Listen here then vote at Smerconish.com, and please rate, review and share this podcast! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode I explain the difference between these 2 coverages

In Part 2 of The Utility Trilogy, Vulcan argues that fitness is not a hobby, a lifestyle choice, or a vanity project for Instagram. It is a Moral Obligation. If you are weaker than you should be, you are a burden to your family when disaster strikes.We dive deep into the philosophy of the "Chassis"—the machine that houses your mind. Drawing on Socrates, Plato, and Epictetus, Vulcan breaks down why we must stop "manufacturing our own decay" and start training for the harsh reality of "Winter."In this episode:The Chassis: Why your body is a machine that requires maintenance.The Swamp: Plato's brutal critique of lazy men and lifestyle diseases.The Anti-Hack: Why you can't "pill" your way out of a problem you behaved your way into.Operational Fitness: The difference between looking good and being useful.The Challenge: Stop outsourcing your reps. Pick up something heavy. Build your Utility."It doesn't matter if you have the skill to fix the problem if you don't have the physical capacity to GET to the problem."

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What would you do if the merger you believed would change everything suddenly collapsed? Agency owners often dream of the big exit: the acquisition, the payday, the validation. But if you've been in this industry long enough, you know the story rarely goes as planned. Today's guest lived through the dot-com boom, a merger gone sideways, a rare "un-merger," and multiple reinventions across three decades. Today's featured guest is an agency owner who lived through the dot com boom, a merger gone sideways, an unmerger (a rare event), and multiple reinventions over three decades. He'll talk about his journey and the lessons he's gained in resilience, clarity, and what it means to build a business that lasts. Tom Snyder is the founder and CEO of Trivera, a Milwaukee-based agency that originally launched in 1996 under the name Website Solutions. He got his start back when tables ruled the web, Netscape Navigator was leading the browser war, and you had to explain to clients what the internet even was. Tom's agency grew quickly through the dot com boom, became part of an early multi-agency rollup, unmerged after the dot com crash, and later rebuilt itself around strategic services, recurring revenue, and emerging technologies. Thirty years later, he has seen nearly every high and low this industry can deliver and has the scars and wisdom to match. In this episode, we'll discuss: The roll up that seemed like a dream and the subsequent meltdown. The rare chance to unmerger. Learning to adapt to new technologies. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. The Early Days of the Web: A Front Row Seat to Digital History Tom got into websites before most people even understood what a web browser was. He recalls visiting a friend in 1995 who showed him a website for a local jeweler. The fact that someone in Milwaukee could suddenly sell jewelry to anyone in the world blew his mind. That spark soon became Website Solutions, a one-man shop in his duplex basement that grew into a million-dollar agency within three years. These early days were defined by scrappiness. There were no WordPress installs, no Mailchimp, no Shopify. Agencies wrote their own CMS platforms, email tools, and ecommerce systems. For years, Trivera worked on project-based engagements. Sell a website. Build it. Launch it. Then hunt for the next one. It created a revenue roller coaster that made it hard to grow. Then the breakthrough came when someone asked a simple question: Why are you not offering annual retained services? Once they shifted the model, everything changed. Retainers gave them predictable cash flow, stability during downturns, and the ability to build deeper, longer-term partnerships. Inside the Dot-Com Boom and the Rollup That Promised Millions By the late nineties, agency rollups were happening everywhere. Big groups on the West Coast were buying smaller shops at high valuations, promising stock payouts that would multiply as the group grew. Tom's agency was acquired by one of these rollups. The offer was attractive: $1 million in stock with the expectation that it could balloon into ten million within a couple of years. For Tom, this was more than a payday. It felt like a way to secure better opportunities for his team. Higher salaries, better benefits, more resources. All the things agency owners often think a larger parent company can provide. But as the ink dried on the deal, the dot com crash hit. Internal battles erupted among the agency owners inside the rollup. Some wanted to scale fast and sell. Others were emotionally attached to their agencies and resisted change. As the economy collapsed, so did the plan. When an Agency Merger Falls Apart Tom describes the internal environment as chaos. Agencies within the rollup started blaming one another for the downturn. Some owners viewed Tom's Midwest operation as a weak link and argued it was a mistake to acquire them. Then came the breaking point. At a Las Vegas meeting that was supposed to chart a path forward, Tom learned that he would lose control of his agency. His wife, who served as CFO, would be dismissed. His team would report to another agency owner. This happened on September 10th. The next morning, as they sat in their hotel room trying to process what to do, the news broke that planes had hit the World Trade Center. The world changed, and so did their priorities. In that moment of clarity, they made the decision to walk away and unmerge. How a Rare Un-Merge Saved the Agency Unmerging from an agency rollup almost never happens. But because the rollup was already fracturing, the leadership was surprisingly open to it. They returned most of the shares, let Tom keep a small portion, and released the original agency name. From there, Tom and his wife rebuilt everything from scratch under a new identity. Although it felt like the right decision to make, they were still exiting what was still a financially stable operation to start from scratch, which was a scary but necessary step to take. They brainstormed names that felt Greek or Latin until they arrived at Trivera. The name itself was available only because the previous owner had just let the domain lapse. It felt like a small sign that starting over was the right move. This reset allowed Tom to build the agency the right way. No irrational exuberance, burn rates, or pressure to sell. Just strong culture, smart financial discipline, and an eye on durable business fundamentals. How Adapting to New Technology Helped Survive in Crisis After the dot com crash, new technologies created fresh opportunities. SEO, email marketing, mobile, and social opened new revenue streams that helped Trivera rebound each time the economy dipped. Tom noticed a pattern. Every downturn was followed by a brand new marketing wave that rewarded the agencies willing to embrace it early. One of the most pivotal moments came during the 2009 recession. The agency had lost clients, payroll was tight, and they needed a breakthrough. Everyone was asking about social media at the time, so Tom and his team built an event called Social Media University. They hustled for two months and ended up selling 400 tickets. The sales and sponsorship revenue kept their payroll alive and catapulted them into a new service category. Events like this do more than create revenue. They cement authority, give an agency a story in the market, and in Tom's case, it opened doors to new clients and positioned them for the next evolution of the agency. Letting Go of Comparison to Stay Focused on the Journey Despite the wins, Tom admits there were years he compared his agency to others and wondered why they scaled or sold faster, especially some that got the tools from his very social media event. It is easy to feel behind when you see competitors raising money, getting acquired, or shouting big revenue numbers. However, there's very little one can actually know about other agency's purchase deals. These stories are incomplete. You never know what the real terms were. You never know the headaches behind the scenes. And you definitely never know if they actually took money home. Success in the agency world is rarely a straight line. It is more often a messy, winding path filled with reinventions, hard conversations, and moments when you question everything. So agency owners struggling and watching others reach new milestones should remind themselves that longevity comes from resilience, not a perfect upward curve. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Most men don't need more information - they need fewer lies. The most common lie? "I'm fine." In this Friday Field Notes episode, Ryan breaks down why "fine" is how men drift, how standards quietly erode, and why most men wait until catastrophe forces them to take their life seriously. This isn't an emotional exercise. It's a logical, factual audit of your body, relationships, finances, mission, and integrity - with no stories, no excuses, and no rationalizations. Ryan challenges you to stop protecting your weak spots, identify where you're cutting corners, and draw one non-negotiable line in the sand that you enforce daily. You don't rise to your potential. You fall to what you tolerate. This episode will push you to: Take an honest inventory of your life Cut distractions, excuses, and self-deception Set one standard that changes everything Stop waiting for pain to force change Start today - not January 1st SHOW HIGHLIGHTS: 00:00 - The Lie of "I'm Fine" 01:55 - How Men Drift Without Realizing It 03:02 - Why You Must Audit Your Life 05:21 - Body, Marriage, Finances, Mission 07:01 - Where You're Lying to Yourself 09:02 - You Fall to What You Tolerate 10:41 - What Weakens You Is a Liability 11:23 - One Non-Negotiable Standard 12:13 - Discipline Doesn't Wait 13:14 - Stop Waiting for Catastrophe 15:23 - Audit Your Life Before It's Too Late 17:47 - Iron Council & Final Charge Battle Planners: Pick yours up today! Order Ryan's new book, The Masculinity Manifesto. For more information on the Iron Council brotherhood. Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready

Ray Green answers a thought-provoking question from a friend: Is there a real difference between "play to win" and "play to not lose" people, and can you build an entire team of aggressive risk-takers? In this episode, Ray breaks down why he believes there are two distinct types of "play to not lose" people - Type 1 who are well-intentioned and think through proper risk mitigation, and Type 2 who operate from fear and lack of confidence. He explains why Type 1 people are actually assets who balance out aggressive play-to-win leaders, while Type 2 people are toxic liabilities that drain your organization. Ray shares a personal story from his first CEO role about constantly fighting with his co-founder, who drove him crazy but ultimately made him a better leader by having the confidence to speak truth to power. This is about understanding the balance you need on your team, knowing the difference between healthy defensive thinking and toxic negativity, and why you don't want a team of only one type of person.//Welcome to Repeatable Revenue, hosted by strategic growth advisor , Ray J. Green.About Ray:→ Former Managing Director of National Small & Midsize Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he doubled revenue per sale in fundraising, led the first increase in SMB membership, co-built a national Mid-Market sales channel, and more.→ Former CEO operator for several investor groups where he led turnarounds of recently acquired small businesses.→ Current founder of MSP Sales Partners, where we currently help IT companies scale sales: www.MSPSalesPartners.com→ Current Sales & Sales Management Expert in Residence at the world's largest IT business mastermind.→ Current Managing Partner of Repeatable Revenue Ventures, where we scale B2B companies we have equity in: www.RayJGreen.com//Follow Ray on:YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Send us a textIdentify your biggest growth red flags before they become practice-ending problems. In this Quick Tip episode of the Private Practice Survival Guide, Brandon Siegel breaks down the most common private practice growth liability indicators and how to get ahead of them: cash flow gaps, overreliance on a single payer, rushed hiring, weak financial runway, poor delegation, lack of compliance awareness, burnout, underutilized technology, and a declining patient experience. You'll learn how to assess financial health, protect your operations, tighten up your systems, evaluate risk tolerance, and build a sustainable growth plan that won't collapse under its own weight. If you're planning to scale locations, services, or staff, this episode gives you a practical roadmap to reduce liability, protect profitability, and grow with confidence instead of gambling with your practice.Welcome to Private Practice Survival Guide Podcast hosted by Brandon Seigel! Brandon Seigel, President of Wellness Works Management Partners, is an internationally known private practice consultant with over fifteen years of executive leadership experience. Seigel's book "The Private Practice Survival Guide" takes private practice entrepreneurs on a journey to unlocking key strategies for surviving―and thriving―in today's business environment. Now Brandon Seigel goes beyond the book and brings the same great tips, tricks, and anecdotes to improve your private practice in this companion podcast. Get In Touch With MePodcast Website: https://www.privatepracticesurvivalguide.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonseigel/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonseigel/https://wellnessworksmedicalbilling.com/Private Practice Survival Guide Book

The U.S. government is admitting responsibility in the deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people. Federal filings cite air traffic control errors and a faulty altimeter aboard an army helicopter. The Senate has now passed the ROTOR Act, strengthening helicopter tracking requirements and closing military loopholes.President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday night, pointing to what he called economic gains since returning to office. Trump also teased what he described as aggressive housing reforms and announced a $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” for U.S. service members. Separately, Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base for U.S/ personnel killed in Syria.Lawmakers in the House just passed a Republican plan to bring down the cost of health care, without extending subsidies for Obamacare. The bill would lower premiums and provide subsidies for low income families for out of pocket health expenses. It now goes to the Senate where it's expected to fail without democratic support. In a separate vote, 4 republicans joined Democrats to force another vote on a 3 year clean extension of the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training As a user, do you still use search engines or have completely defaulted to AI? How will this shift reshape the agency world? How will ads work when people are only getting the one answer they need? Most agency owners are still treating SEO like it's 2012 — optimizing keywords, buying backlinks, and praying to the Google gods. But search has already changed. People are asking AI for answers, not Googling for links. And if you want your agency or your personal brand to stay visible in this new era, the rules are completely different. Today's featured guest will unpack the shift from SEO to AEO and why most businesses are invisible to AI without even realizing it. Kasim Aslam is one of the world's leading voices on Answer Engine Optimization. He runs one of the largest AEO communities and leads a six person research team that has analyzed millions of AI citations to understand how large language models choose their sources. He is also the author of The AEO Blueprint and the founder of multiple companies, including a staffing agency, a mastermind, and AEO.co. Kasim has spent the past year deep in the trenches studying how AI crawlers gather, filter, and prioritize information. When it comes to AEO, nobody has more real data. In this episode, we'll discuss: SEO is over. Understanding AEO. Why brands may get lost in LLMs. The quiet Google change that just changed everything in AI citations. The future of ads. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Why SEO Is No Longer Enough: The Rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) To understand Answer Engine Optimization, we must first understand that, despite what some agencies may be saying, it is not the same as SEO. Traditional search engines prioritize links. That is why entire industries exist around buying them. In the world of LLMs, backlinks barely matter. The number one ranking factor for AI citations is schema markup. And only 12.4% of websites have clean, validated schema. In other words, nearly 90% of brands are invisible to AI crawlers, regardless of how strong their SEO is. Schema isn't just another optimization tactic. It is the visibility layer. It is the metadata that helps LLMs understand and categorize your content. If your schema is broken or missing, AI cannot reference you even if your content is excellent. This is the equivalent of having a beautiful storefront on a street no one can find. The second key is social mentions. In the same way SEO relied on links, AEO relies on people talking about you. For instance, a TikTok comment from someone in the agency industry saying Jason Swenk is their go-to agency guy counts as an authority signal. LLMs weigh these human mentions heavily. Finally, a lot of the nuances on AEO are changing every day, but Kasim has learned that the real key is building authority, long-form content. That along with clear schema and personal brand is the future of staying in the conversation. Why Personal Authority Beats Brand Authority in AI Search One of the biggest shifts Kasim highlights is that answer engines prefer individuals. A person can write a book, earn a PhD, share opinions, create content, develop mastery, and build authority in a way brands cannot. That means generalists are in trouble. If your expertise is scattered, AI won't know how to classify you and won't choose you as an authoritative answer. Meanwhile, someone who goes deep in a single topic becomes the preferred answer. It is a shift away from corporate brand authority and toward personal authority. Authority is not spread across a company anymore. It sits with people. Agencies that hide behind a brand name will lose visibility. Personal brands that plant a flag will win. For agency owners, this is huge. You do not need a bigger brand. You need clear expertise tied to a real person. This is exactly why Jason positions all the Agency Mastery content around him. Personalities thrive. Brands get lost. Where LLMs Get Their Data (and Why That Just Changed Overnight) Kasim's research revealed that 21 percent of all AI citations once came from Reddit. YouTube followed at 18.8 percent. These platforms had deep context and raw human conversation, which LLMs love. Then Google quietly changed everything. Twenty two days before the interview, Google cut off 90% of the internet from AI crawlers by reducing search results from hundreds to ten. Because LLMs rely on deep search results (not the top ten), reducing the searchable depth limits the information AI can access - removing platforms like Reddit from the AI training pipeline. AI tools rely heavily on these deeper results for nuance. By limiting access, Google essentially removed Reddit and other community based sites from the AI food chain. This change sent shockwaves through stock prices and visibility, and most people never noticed. Google is protecting the content needed to train AI because only two organizations truly own the global knowledge graph: Google and Amazon. OpenAI and the rest are crawling, not casing, the internet, which means they operate at a major disadvantage. Google is playing statecraft. And according to Kasim, Google will win the AI race. The Rise of Screenless Search and Voice-Driven Results According to Kasim, we are quickly moving toward a screenless world. Eric Schmidt has said the screenless future is years away, not decades. And the younger generation is already there. Over 55 percent of people under 25 use voice instead of text. Voice queries require different markup, structure, and formatting, and only 0.3 percent of websites use voice schema. Meanwhile, 65 percent of all searches end in zero clicks. People are asking, getting an answer, and moving on. That number does not even include the people who have stopped using search altogether and have already shifted to answer engines. This means your future website is not for your audience. It is for AI. Kasim is rebuilding his personal site in Notion because he believes CSS-light, simple, stripped down sites will perform better for AI ingestion. We are entering a world where content is created for machines first and humans last. How Google Gemini Is Rewriting the Future of Advertising Here is a wild data point. When Kasim set up new Chromebooks for his kids, he discovered the default search engine was not Google. It was Gemini. Google owns Chrome. Google owns Chromebooks. Yet they replaced its primary revenue driver on its own device with a product that currently has no ads. This tells you where the company is headed. They are rebuilding a new knowledge graph optimized for answer engines, while competitors still reply on the old search-oriented graph. And the future ad model will be nothing like what agencies grew up on. If one answer becomes the default experience, where do ads go? How are they shown? What are users willing to tolerate? And will businesses have to give away deep content to earn visibility the same way early YouTubers and bloggers did? These questions will reshape the entire lead generation ecosystem. Data, Moats, and the K-Shaped Economy The people who win in this new world are those who own data. Not tool access or workflows. Data. Custom GPTs, custom models, and proprietary knowledge bases become your moat. We are entering a K-shaped economy. Twenty percent of people and businesses will become unstoppable because their productivity will outpace demand. Eighty percent will fall to zero. The middle disappears. That means agency owners must adapt, evolve, and lean into deep expertise. Vibe coding (the rapid, exploratory use of AI tools) and no code platforms are accelerating this divide. Kasim's team recreated a software that normally costs ten thousand a year in a weekend. Entire SaaS categories are about to be wiped out. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

For more, check out The Profit Circle: patreon.com/theprofitcircle

The UFC arrives in AEC. And we're live from the AEC Octagon.In the very first episode of our brand-new Bricks & Bytes Debates series, we are trading PR statements for sparring gloves. We're putting two industry heavyweights head-to-head to battle out one of the hottest topics in construction: Has AI actually solved estimating?In this no-holds-barred contester series, our contenders took the gloves off to represent the extreme Bull and Bear cases for Artificial Intelligence:• In the Red Corner: Mike "Mighty" Powers (Co-Founder, BuildVision), arguing that LLMs have solved the extraction problem and the industry needs to embrace the "Waymo" era of automation.• In the Blue Corner: Luigi "The Stinger" La Corte (Co-Founder, Provision), arguing that estimating is more than just counting symbols - and that without 100% accuracy, AI is still just a student driver.Moderated by the referee of reason, Patric "Praying For Exits" Hellermann, this debate moves through three grueling rounds: - Round 1: The Tech. Can LLMs actually count and measure complex drawings, or are they just guessing? - Round 2: The Accuracy Gap. Is 80% accuracy "good enough" to change the industry, or is "trust but verify" just a nice way of saying "do it yourself"? - Round 3: The Liability. In a world of design-bid-build, who takes the fall when the AI misses a scope gap? Tune in to uncover:• The "Waymo" Strategy: Why waiting for perfect AI is a mistake, and how to leverage the "self-driving" mindset to reduce takeoff times by 90% today.• The Hidden Liability Loophole: Why architects and engineers could solve the estimating crisis instantly by sharing models—and the legal reason they never will.• Symbols vs. Language: Learn the fundamental technical limitation preventing LLMs from reading 2D drawings like a human, and when we can expect "Visual Language Models" to catch up.• The Subcontractor's Dilemma: Why "Design Intent" matters more than counting linear feet, and why subs might actually be wasting time on granular takeoffs.• A "Bribe" for Better Data: One listener's hilarious (but practical) suggestion for how to finally get the Revit model from the design team.Who will deliver the knockout punch? Tune in to decide for yourself.Chapters 00:00 Intro01:48 Introduction to Bricks and Bytes Debates 04:07 Opening Statements and Context Setting 06:51 Technical Feasibility of AI in Estimating 09:57 Practical Applications and Limitations of AI 12:59 Customer Expectations and Accuracy in AI Solutions 15:57 The Role of Human Oversight in AI Estimation 18:43 Future of AI in Construction Estimation 38:23 Navigating the Self-Driving Debate 41:19 The Evolution of AI in Estimating 43:32 Trust and Liability in Construction 46:13 The Role of Liability in AI Adoption 49:22 The Future of Estimators in AI 53:34 Rebuttals and Admissions: A Critical Discussion 59:39 The Current State of AI in Estimating

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Joseph A. Milan, Ph.D., about the core philosophy or mindset for risk managers, the definition of acceptable risk, and how acceptable risk changes, depending on the organization's culture, strategy, or industry. Joseph shares his view on common mistakes and how biases can lead to gut decisions that are the least effective solutions. Justin and Joseph discuss Joseph's upcoming two-day virtual seminar, "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making", on March 4th and 5th, and how participants should prepare for it. Finally, Joseph shares closing thoughts for those in one-person risk departments. Listen for thoughts on how to keep the gut reaction out of decision-making.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:17] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest is Joseph Milan, Ph.D. You know him from the RIMS CRMP Insights Series. [:40] As one of our virtual instructors, he's here to discuss his own risk philosophies ahead of the RIMS Virtual Workshop on March 4th and 5th. He'll be leading "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making". But first… [:54] RIMS-CRMP and Some Exam Prep Courses. The next virtual prep course will be held on January 14th and 15th, 2026. These are virtual courses. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:12] RIMS Virtual Workshops are coming up. On January 21st and 22nd, Chris Hansen returns to deliver the course, "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US". [1:26] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes. [1:38] RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops. [1:48] The RIMS-CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management is hosted by the famous James Lam. This is a live virtual program that helps elevate your expertise and career in ERM. [2:00] You can enroll now for the next cohort, which will be held over 12 weeks from January to March of 2026. Registration closes on January 5th. Or Spring ahead and register for the cohort that will be held from April to June, 2026. Registration closes on April 6th. [2:20] Links to registration and enrollment are in this episode's show notes. [2:25] On with the show! Today, we will discuss facilitating risk-based decision-making with our friend Joseph Milan, Ph.D. He is the Principal at J.A. Milan & Associates and is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado. [2:43] He is a RIMS CRMP Commissioner. You get a lot of his insights from the RIMS CRMP Insights Series. A link is in this episode's show notes. In this dialog, we will get a preview of his upcoming workshop, "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making", on March 4th and 5th. [3:02] But we're really going to get into Joe's risk philosophies, which are the sorts of things the RIMScast audience can use as they develop their careers and as they move into higher positions, ascend the corporate ladder, or become a department of one. [3:20] Interview! I've known him for years, and I'm so glad to finally be saying… [3:22] Joseph Milan, welcome to RIMScast! [3:41] Justin notes that he and Joseph have recorded so many things through the years, but not RIMScast. Joseph says it's great to be back with Justin, and on this medium, and he looks forward to sharing more information with Justin and all the RIMS members. [4:21] Joseph shares his RIMS history. It started in the olden times of 2005 when he got involved in a committee Carol Fox set up, called at the time the ERM Development Committee, now known as the RIMS Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council. [4:46] Then Joseph started helping with curriculum development and in-person professional development, before COVID. [4:58] After COVID, Joseph has been involved not only in delivering seminars but, as a commission member for the RIMS-CRMP, helped develop that curriculum and governance structure. Joseph has been involved with RIMS in different ways over the years. [5:12] There's a good chance that someone listening to this podcast will think, Hey, I know that guy! I recognize that voice! [5:26] Joseph is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver. He's been active in the Risk Consulting Space since 2008, doing projects that range from simple commercial insurance placements to complex ERM implementations. He brings a unique perspective. [6:02] Joseph teaches at the University of Colorado Business School. He helped develop a course on Enterprise Risk Management. ERM is truly becoming a mature discipline. Joseph thinks RIMS is establishing a global presence for ERM. Justin credits Joseph, in part, for that. [7:05] When Justin saw that Joseph was going to host a two-day workshop, March 5th and 6th, "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making", he said, Let's get Joe on the show and end 2025 with a great interview with him. [7:38] Joseph says the course is, in many ways, the pinnacle of risk management as a discipline. If we think about the domains and components of the RIMS-CRMP, the fifth domain within the CRMP is about supporting risk-based decision-making. [8:06] This is a two-day seminar that takes a deep dive into that space. Joseph says it's the most fun, advanced, and interactive. It's the task that requires the best blend between the technical and the so-called soft skills. It's really exciting. Joseph is looking forward to it. [8:28] Joseph hopes a lot of the audience listening to this podcast will take enough of an interest to spend the 14 or 15 hours — it seems like a lot, but it goes fast! There are breaks. [8:52] When Joseph leads a course, he takes questions live. His approach is dynamic and flexible in terms of making sure that people get what they expect from the seminar. [9:05] Joseph says crunching numbers is super important. The assumption for this seminar is that these are advanced practitioners who can do number crunching or hire somebody to do it. The number crunching is important because it sets the foundation for control limits. [9:23] Number crunching sets the foundation for being able to answer questions about risk philosophy. [9:34] Core philosophy is risk philosophy. Risk philosophy comes from definitions of risk appetite and risk tolerance, and being able to operationalize those definitions in simple statements, in plain language, tied to the control limits that come from the number crunching. [10:00] With a good amount of work, within any organization, a risk professional and a team of people dedicated to risk and ERM should be able to put those definitions into action. [10:31] In the context of an advanced risk management or ERM seminar, when we talk about risk, it's always also about opportunity. [10:46] The simplest definition of acceptable risk is that which fits within the risk philosophy of the organization, within risk appetite and risk tolerance, and supports the organization in terms of its pursuit of objectives. [11:04] It's almost always about higher profitability, more money in for-profit companies. Non-profit companies describe it differently. Maybe it's focusing on providing more service, which is a proxy for getting more money. [11:19] It's about remaining a going concern and achieving goals. That's the simple definition: fitting within risk appetite and risk tolerance. [11:52] Joseph says it's constantly about finding balance. It's not just about the most influential senior leader, the risk leader, or the ERM leader. [12:05] It's also about the risk owners within the organization and how they fit into the strategic direction of the organization: growth vs. stability. Maybe it's an organization in distress and is focusing on retrenchment and building up a balance sheet to be able to redirect itself. [12:27] It's in that space that a lot of times, there is an unintentional lack of organizational risk competency. That can contribute to not just conflict, but also misunderstandings about what's acceptable, in terms of taking on risk in pursuit of objectives. [12:49] Communication is something we focus on in the seminar "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making" quite a bit. [12:58] It is in the soft space of actively listening and identifying triggers in terms of perception of risk that have a huge impact on the decisions that an organization takes in risk and opportunity. It is challenging and time-consuming, but done correctly, it's super worthwhile! [13:27] Quick Break! RISKWORLD 2026 will be held from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. RISKWORLD attracts more than 10,000 risk professionals from across the globe. It's time to Connect, Cultivate, and Collaborate with them. Booth sales are open now! [13:49] General registration and speaker registration are also open right now! Marketplace and Hospitality badges will be available starting on March 3rd. Links are in this episode's show notes. [14:04] Let's Return to Our Interview with Joseph Milan! [14:14] Joseph Milan will be hosting a workshop, "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making", on March 4th and 5th. Registration closes March 3rd. Justin says there is nobody better than Joseph to host this RIMS workshop. Joseph has a wide range of experience. [15:14] A risk practitioner may focus more on the traditional space, insurance. Joseph says ERM will not supersede traditional risk management. [16:06] A common mistake is that risk practitioners tend to get distracted by what they think are big numbers, but which pale in comparison to the big picture on the balance sheet. [16:36] A good solution to that mistake is to find influential people in the organization who are plugged into financial planning, analysis, and budgeting, with a long connection to the organization, to help put things in perspective and answer questions about acceptable risk. [17:09] Does it fit within the organization's risk appetite and tolerance? Answering those questions quantitatively can be fairly easy in terms of doing analysis and providing conclusions about expected total losses, frequency, and severity. [17:33] The more important question is, is that acceptable, and does it fit within what executive leadership expects in terms of the stability of the financial performance of the company? [17:44] The mistake is in overemphasizing or overestimating the importance of certain quantitative components of a risk program that oftentimes might not be that important. Conversely, there might be something much less visible that needs more attention. [18:12] You have to know your audience, and you need to know what their emotions are, what motivates them, and what might trigger them. It's a bad idea to follow your gut, but it happens all the time. One of the main reasons it happens is because of emotion. [18:44] If you see weird, irrational things happening, often, it ties back to a personal experience that the President, CEO, or CFO had many years ago. You might have an operator who went through Hurricane Katrina and is super sensitive to that type of hazard risk. [19:11] Justin shares the impact Hurricane Sandy had on his home and on his parents' home, which was destroyed. The flooding gutted the area. Looking back, Justin will always have NatCat insurance. Justin is still traumatized by it. [19:53] Joseph emphasizes communication and knowing your audience. An organization may want to do ERM or take its insurance program to the next level. Some spaces trigger reactions and emotions. [20:31] It takes time to figure out an unwritten organizational culture. [21:18] Strategy impacts the perception of risk, what's acceptable in terms of risk, and what the upper and lower control limits are. Where does strategy come from? Joseph says strategy comes from vision, mission, and execution. [21:42] Strategy comes from various places. It could be external market forces. It could be the result of a merger or an acquisition, or a series of mergers and acquisitions. The executive leadership team may have to look around and ask themselves, Who are we? What are we doing? [22:08] The first company that hired Justin, in 20 years, has been acquired twice, and people who had been lifers are being shown the door. [22:46] Joseph says, In M&A, there is a huge impact on morale. Without a clear communication plan, backed up by action, things can get inefficient and expensive very quickly. [23:17] A Final Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, by its collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada. [23:36] Spencer awards undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D., and Pre-Instructor of Practice Scholarships to students enrolled at an accredited college or university in the U.S. and Canada, and physically studying in either location. No remote coursework eligibility from other locations. [23:53] Including part-time, graduate scholarships to risk management and insurance professionals continuing their education. [23:58] Since 1980, Spencer has invested more than $11.1 million in the scholarship program with awards to over 1,700 students. More than 85% of Spencer's scholarship recipients remain in the industry to this day. [24:15] They've got undergraduate scholarships, full-time Master's scholarships, part-time Master's scholarships, pre-dissertation Ph.D. candidates, doctoral candidates, and pre-instructor of practice scholarships all open now. The application deadline is January 31st, 2026. [24:36] Visit SpencerEd.org/scholarships. You'll find the different application buttons. See the link in this episode's show notes for more information, giving you some extra homework to do over the holiday break, if you are taking a holiday break!. [24:53] Let's Return to the Conclusion of My Interview with Joseph Milan! [25:01] Justin had Jim Swanke as a guest on International Podcast Day, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison's Wisconsin School of Business. He mentioned he has a real passion for being an educator for risk management students. [25:25] Jim Swanke encourages students to lean into technology and AI as a proofreader and a time-saving tool, to help go through contracts, claims, and things like that. That was on the captive insurance side. [25:50] Justin asks Joseph for his take on AI. Joseph encourages students to go all in on it. It's the future. It is not going away. [26:04] Joseph's clients are asking him about AI because they're looking for opportunities to increase efficiency. Is there a way we can reduce the time it takes to do "fill in the blank"? [26:17] When you look at the top risk management information systems, the first and second place, Origami and Riskonnect, are spending a lot of time and money looking for any opportunity to leverage AI to make the broader risk management process more efficient. [26:42] Joseph gives the example of analytics. It takes a couple of seconds to do a multiple linear regression analysis. The hard part is collecting the data to support the analysis. If you can leverage AI to collect, clean, and organize data, that is something you should do, with caution. [27:09] We know that large language models tend to occasionally hallucinate. To have a non-sentient black box to have a hallucination as it's cleaning your data for analysis is a little bit of a scary thing. Fortunately, we humans are still around to check these machines. [27:33] Joseph says the shortest answer is that AI is not going away. It needs to be embraced carefully. The process fundamentals that we have been thinking about, doing, and teaching about for years are the same. They will not change. [28:03] Joseph will be leading the "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making" virtual workshop for RIMS on March 4th and 5th. It's a two-day course with six or more hours each day. [28:32] Joseph says it's a seminar that focuses on the advanced implementation of risk solutions. We will not be doing calculations, analytics, or analysis. [28:50] We're assuming that everyone is showing up with a deep and broad understanding of not only definitions of potential risk and opportunity, but also a solid foundation in the analytical space. [29:02] This is more about thinking about how bias influences individual, group, and social perceptions and recommendations, in terms of risk. [29:17] Participants should bring an open mind and an understanding of the importance of soft skills in the space of supporting risk-based decisions. [29:31] Some of the listeners may already have read this book, but Joseph recommends it again, Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. It is the foundation for the seminar. [29:43] Joseph says, the book takes a deep dive into the "caveman" forces that influence intuitive, gut-reaction decisions, and how gut reactions can be a very unhelpful approach for the systematic, slower decisions that need to be made regarding complex risk. [30:09] Joseph recommends reading the book. He says it will provide you with a much better foundation for the seminar, and it's a book you will keep going back to throughout your career. [30:23] Justin says, It's been such a pleasure to see you again. I've got links to the RIMS-CRMP Insights Series that you did for us. There is plenty of Joseph Milan content here on RIMS.org. [30:50] Joseph's last words for listeners: The first message is to be committed to the hard work that goes into cleaning, organizing, and setting the stage. It's part of being a good risk manager. [31:52] Beyond that, a lot of what we talk about in the ERM space has to do with leveraging existing resources and breaking down silos. Find influential, knowledgeable people in your organization who can help with different cultural components and a lot of the tactical things. [32:14] They might be able to help you find shortcuts as you take on different implementations and initiatives within the risk space within your company. [32:30] Justin says, I look forward to seeing you again, in 2026, virtually, and/or in person. Thank you so much for all your time and for being so generous with your knowledge. [32:46] Special thanks again to Joseph Milan for joining us here on RIMScast. His virtual workshop is "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making". Enrollment closes on March 3rd for the two-day course, which will be held on March 4th and 5th. A link is in this episode's show notes. [33:07] Joseph will also lead the Pre-RISKWORLD two-day workshop, "Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique," on-site in Philadelphia on May 2nd and 3rd, 2026. We will provide a registration link when it's available. Mark your calendar and learn from one of the best! [33:28] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [33:56] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [34:13] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [34:30] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [34:46] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [35:00] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [35:11] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continuous support!   Links: "Facilitating Risk-Based Decision Making" | Virtual Workshop | March 4‒5, 2026 RIMS-CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management | Jan‒March 2026 Cohort | Led by James Lam RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) | Insights Series Featuring Joe Milan! RISKWORLD 2026 Registration — Open for exhibitors, members, and non-members! Reserve your booth at RISKWORLD 2026! The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RIMS Risk Management magazine | Contribute RIMS Now Spencer Educational Foundation Scholarships | Submission Deadline Jan. 31, 2026 RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy | RIMS Legislative Summit SAVE THE DATE — March 18‒19, 2026 Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP Exam PrepJanuary 14‒15, 2026, 9:00 am‒4:00 pm EST, Virtual Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US" | Jan. 21‒22, 2026   Upcoming RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars   Related RIMScast Episodes: "James Lam on ERM, Strategy, and the Modern CRO" "The Evolving Role of the Risk Analyst" "Presilience and Cognitive Biases with Dr. Gav Schneider and Shreen Williams" "Risk Rotation with Lori Flaherty and Bill Coller of Paychex" "Risk Quantification Through Value-Based Frameworks"   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: "Secondary Perils, Major Risks: The New Face of Weather-Related Challenges" | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) "The ART of Risk: Rethinking Risk Through Insight, Design, and Innovation" | Sponsored by Alliant "Mastering ERM: Leveraging Internal and External Risk Factors" | Sponsored by Diligent "Cyberrisk: Preparing Beyond 2025" | Sponsored by Alliant "The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience" | Sponsored by AXA XL "Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs" | Sponsored by Zurich "Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding" | Sponsored by Zurich "What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping" | Sponsored by Medcor "How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips" | Sponsored by Alliant   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model® RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Joseph A. Milan, Ph.D.   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

With a partnership spanning more than 60 years, the Electrical Association and Federated Insurance come together as host Mike Miller and Regional Marketing Manager Jordy Christian discuss best practices for limiting liability and protecting your business when working with subcontractors in the electrical field.   After listening to the podcast you can go directly to the Federated Insurance website:  https://www.federatedinsurance.com/

Bars and other alcohol-serving establishments have been rocked by high premium increases and liabilities, which have resulted in business closures and job losses across America. In this podcast, Leader's Edge writer Russ Banham takes us on a journey through his reporting and shows how a hard market for a specific type of coverage can easily disrupt a centuries-old U.S. industry.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you ever felt like enterprise clients were running your agency instead of the other way around? Buried in endless proposals no one reads, forced into rushed timelines, or watching your margins shrink every time a project drags out? Today's featured guest opens up about how he broke out of that exhausting cycle. Instead of over-delivering just to keep big clients happy, and seeing little return, he made the bold decision to focus on smaller, more committed clients who were ultimately more profitable and easier to build long-term relationships with. He'll share what he learned about sustainable growth, including why productizing your services sounds great in theory but can actually become counterproductive when it only happens externally. He'll also explain the sales shift that changed everything: offering a low-risk, "foot-in-the-door" engagement that qualifies prospects, builds trust, and creates a smooth path into deeper service offerings. Charlie Clark is the founder of Minty Digital, a boutique SEO agency focused on travel and lifestyle brands that originally launched in Barcelona and now operates from London. In this conversation, he'll break down the mindset, systems, and strategy needed to stop chasing validation from big brands and instead build a business where profitability, alignment, and respect come first. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why mid-market clients deliver higher profits than enterprise. How internal productization increases efficiency by 3X. How clear pricing transforms the sales cycle. How AI forced a new level of adaptability in SEO agencies. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. From Struggling Freelancer to Sustainable Agency Growth After a short stint in an agency at age 22, Charlie tried to go solo before realizing he didn't yet know how to grow a business. He assumed he could do it on his own and quickly learned he wasn't ready yet. Instead of quitting, he got a job as a Digital Marketing Manager, where he could make mistakes, learn operations, and understand what actually works inside a business. Moving to Barcelona created the perfect environment for momentum. His one-month stay turned into ten years after he landed several clients within weeks. His first retainer was €500 a month, which he laughs about now, but he admits it took years before he learned how to price correctly and move away from low-margin retainers. Those early years were full of trial and error, but the big breakthrough was realizing that charging more wasn't always the key to profit. Charging smarter was. Real Profit Lives in the Middle, Not the Top One of the strongest lessons Charlie learned was that bigger retainers did not equal bigger profit. Working with enterprise clients, he saw they could easily squeeze margins, the team would end up over-delivering, and on top of it all, payment terms were a nightmare. After years, he realized these clients often cost the agency money when the team over-delivered just to keep them happy. By contrast, the clients who had been with him since the early days, the ones paying between three and six thousand per month, were the most profitable and the most loyal. They bought the same deliverables. They stayed for years. And they matched the agency's internal processes beautifully. Once he realized this, he moved to intentionally pursuing that sweet spot. Not the five figure monthly retainers or the cut rate ones. The predictable, operationally aligned middle where the team can deliver consistently and profitably. For Charlie, this changed everything from sales cycle speed to team alignment to lifetime value. Internal Productization: The System that 3X Efficiency Many agencies think productization means selling rigid packages that make you look less strategic. Charlie took the opposite approach. Internally, his team adopted highly productized systems, templates, and SOPs. They knew exactly what to do for a three thousand dollar client versus a six thousand dollar one, and how much effort each one required. Externally, the offer still looked consultative and customized. Clients saw a broad range of what could be included, but the delivery stayed tight behind the scenes. This improved profitability, gave the team clarity, and dramatically sped up onboarding. The biggest win? It eliminated the "start from scratch every time" problem that slows agencies down and kills margins. How Clear Pricing Transforms the Sales Cycle Before productization, Charlie would spend hours on proposals that often got ghosted. Once he added transparent pricing, clear expectations, and prequalification to the website, the right clients were self-selecting before the call even happened. By the time he spoke with them, they understood the price and the structure. Now he closes clients on the call or even through a single WhatsApp message. This is the power of clarity. It shortens cycles, reduces friction, and saves enormous amounts of time for a lean team. However, transparent pricing attracts budget mismatches, so Jason recommends removing pricing from agency's websites and switching to triage calls and the Foot-In-The-Door model. At the end of the day, there are a thousand ways to create a better sales process. What matters is that it filters, qualifies, and positions you as the advisor. Why a Paid Discovery Offer Builds Trust and Prevents Ghosting Both Charlie and Jason agree that a small, paid upfront engagement solves the biggest challenge in agency sales. Trust. SEO agencies in particular fight an uphill battle here. The barrier to entry is low. There are thousands of one-person shops. Many prospects have been burned before. A small paid engagement builds confidence, shows value quickly, and prevents ghosting. The Foot-in-the-Door offer should be simple, done live with the client, and designed to build the relationship. Not overloaded with deliverables that overwhelm the client and make them feel uneducated. When done right, it leads naturally into a larger project and then a retainer. Charlie's Kickstart product functions the same way. For eight hundred dollars, clients get quick wins and clarity. It works because it gives prospects a safe way to test the relationship and because it positions the agency as a trusted advisor instead of a vendor chasing a proposal. How AI Forced a New Level of Adaptability in SEO Agencies Charlie admitted that two years ago he felt bored with SEO. Then AI exploded. Search interfaces changed. Clicks shifted. And suddenly the industry was moving faster than ever. For many agencies, this uncertainty created fear. For Charlie, it sparked energy. He leaned back in, started speaking at events, ran experiments on AI search, and brought a fresh curiosity back to himself and his team. He described the past year as a sink-or-swim moment for agencies. The ones who coasted struggled. The ones who adapted thrived. Lean teams with solid systems could move faster and deliver more value. In his words, being nimble is now a competitive advantage. Figuring out AI reignited his passion in the business but it was far too much to tackle alone. This is why agency owners should have a community to lean on to try to figure out changes in the industry. Your network will determine your speed of growth. Agency owners who surround themselves with peers sharing what works and what fails will survive the next wave of industry change. The ones who go alone will struggle. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success

This week, Trevor, Tom, and Jenn take a more serious turn as they discuss a tragic death aboard a Royal Caribbean ship—and the uncomfortable questions surrounding alcohol service at sea.We break down what happens when drink limits don't exist, how overserving can spiral into real danger, and if cruise lines need clearer policies and stronger accountability. From Royal's non‑limit approach to how other major cruise lines cap daily drinks, we compare systems, risks, and where responsibility truly lies.This isn't about shaming passengers—it's about safety, transparency, and whether current cruise policies are doing enough to protect guests when alcohol is unlimited but consequences aren't.A thoughtful, honest conversation every cruiser should hear.

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I'm Marty, and today I thought we'd have another Ask Me Anything episode. I always like these because the questions don't come from textbooks, supervisors, or managers, they come directly from real associates and warehouse workers with real concerns. Our industry welcomes so many first time job seekers, and those wanting to change career paths. Some of its rules and regulations just aren't found in other industries and I hope talking about them helps us slow down a bit, and put in the time. Alright, we received three really good questions for today, and honestly, if these three people asked them, I'm confident a hundred others are thinking the same thing, so let's jump in. First up, my boss wants me to work overtime several times a week, even on Saturdays getting ready for the holidays. I want work-life balance, but it feels like all we do is work. First, I want to say, yes, work-life balance is extremely important, and I encourage everyone in this industry to protect that balance. Our mental health, physical health, and family lives matter. But at the same time, we also need to understand the industry we chose to work in. Light industrial, warehousing, distribution, logistics, these sectors live and breathe on production and shipping. That's not just a management saying. It's literally the foundation of how the supply chain operates. Most companies don't schedule overtime because they like spending more money on labor. Technically, overtime costs them more. Time-and-a-half adds up quick. So why do they do it? Because freight keeps moving. Product keeps arriving. Orders keep coming in. Your customers keep shopping. Especially around peak seasons. Here's something I've shared with new associates many times. The supply chain doesn't care what day of the week it is. Transportation doesn't stop. Warehouses don't stop. Retail stores don't stop. People don't stop buying things. Now we absolutely deserve balance, but balance doesn't always mean every week looks the same. Sometimes balance looks like working a few heavier months out of the year, and lighter months later. Some of the best operators, selectors, receivers, I mean the real professionals, use peak season as an opportunity. I had one guy tell me how he plans for his peak season. More hours. more pay. more learning, and more exposure. And remember If you're wanting advancement, leadership looks for who's stepping up. Overtime shouldn't be looked at as punishment, it's opportunity. No, we shouldn't work seven days a week every week of the year. But during heavy shipping periods, stepping up is part of being in this field. And honestly, it's part of being valuable. Nobody likes mandatory overtime, but everybody likes having a job, and that job depends on productivity and meeting the needs of our customers. You're not working more hours because someone likes it, you're working more hours because our industry requires it from time to time. Use overtime as a career tool, not as a pain point. If you want promotions, forklift certification, lead roles, better assignments, full-time status or long-term job stability. Then be the person your boss can count on when the workload is highest. We all get worn out from time to time, keeping our eye on the long-term goal will help us stay focused, we'll get through it. Question #2, why are corrective actions taken so seriously? It feels like you get 1 verbal, 1 written, and then you're terminated. Why so strict? This is another great question. I hear this complaint a lot, especially from new associates. Here's the truth. Yes, many companies use a progressive corrective action system. Verbal, written, and a final or termination. Some use a point system, some use write-ups, but the purpose is the same, behavior correction, not punishment. You've heard me talk about coaching. I prefer that word instead of correcting or warning. Sometimes those coaching's are in regards to Safety. Warehouses are dangerous. Not maybe dangerous. They are dangerous. As we discussed last week, every rule you've ever been told exists because, someone got hurt or something went seriously wrong. Corrective Action can mean Prevention. Corrective action isn't about protecting the company, it's about protecting people. If you get coached on attendance, PPE, equipment rules, dock safety, stacking pallets etc, …it's not because management is strict. It's because it's the right thing to do. OSHA standards are there to protect us. The insurance company has rules. Liability is real and Injuries are expensive for our company and us as individuals. We all know warehouse environment can go from safe to serious in seconds. And Productivity matters too. We are in a productivity-driven industry. Pieces per hour, pallets per hour, inbound receiving time, dock turnaround. Every minute counts. Every delay costs money. So rules are there for productivity and safety.  And please keep in mind, no matter what else you hear, safety is your priority one in any task. Period Ok, Let's be honest. Many corrective actions start because our attendance is inconsistent, or we repeatedly ignore safety instructions. Most write-ups aren't about big dramatic incidents, they're about repeated small behaviors that impact safety or production. If you were running a business with forklift traffic, heavy freight, metrics and deadlines, you would expect consistency too. The good news? Stay safe, follow direction, communicate, and show up on time…and you'll never get close to corrective action. Corrective actions exist to protect careers, not end them. Alright, and I picked this next question because it comes up at least once a month out in the field. Why don't companies offer more training on forklifts and EPJs? I want to learn, but it seems like nobody wants to take the time to train me. This is one of my favorite questions because I've trained a lot of equipment operators and trainers, and I've been on both sides of that frustration. Here's the big picture. There are no quick training courses. Forklifts and rider pallet jacks cause the majority of damages and injuries in warehouses. When a new operator climbs on equipment too early, bad things can happen fast. Certification is not a reward, it's a responsibility. Experience matters. You're not just learning how to drive. You're learning, balance, center of gravity, safety, spotting, loading, rack structure, pallet weight, equipment limitations, battery versus propane rules and about a hundred other dangers. You're learning how to see things before they happen. And that takes time, and experiences. And yes, the sad truth is that companies want trained equipment operators. They need more operators, they want productivity. And they have to have safety. They need people who show up consistently, are safe on the floor, have good work habits, follow rules, can communicate well and take direction. If you want to be trained on equipment, be that person. You earn it by being dependable. Think about it from management's point of view. Who are they going to invest in and spend time training on a forklift? Someone who is absent twice a week, or someone who is early every day? Someone who argues, or someone who listens? Someone who complains or someone who volunteers? PIT or powered industrial trucks are not like video games. Forklifts don't forgive mistakes. Electric rider pallet jacks can be very unforgiving. One accident or incident can change a life. So yes, training takes time. Yes, it's slow. But slow means safe. My advice. And it's a time proven opinion. Be patient. Be present. And be consistent. Ask for learning opportunities, but also show that you're ready for them. If you want to be a forklift operator, start by being a great warehouse employee first. That is what opens doors. Everyone catch how all three of these questions have something in common? The warehouse environment is demanding, it's productivity driven, safety is paramount, expectations are real and experience matters. And I think most of us know that deep down, even when we don't like the answers. But here's the good news! If you, show up, listen, learn, work safely, and treat others professionally. Our industry will reward you. Every single time. You'll grow. The opportunities and pay will come. Because the supply chain doesn't stop, distribution doesn't stop, and operations never stop. So wrapping it up I guess the question is, are you going to be the employee that helps keep it moving? I hope these answers helped someone today. And please keep the questions coming, I love doing these Ask Me Anything episodes, and every time you ask a question, someone else learns as well. Until next time, stay safe, work smart, keep learning, and remember, you are building careers out there.

What happens when machines start telling us what we want to hear—and when users start depending on them for emotional connection? Join us for a live conversation about the psychology and liability of chatbots.We Meet:  Meg Marco is Harvard Berkman Klein Center's Senior Director of the Applied Social Media Lab.New York Times Tech Reporter Kashmir Hill is also the author of YOUR FACE BELONGS TO US.Jordi Weinstock is a Senior Advisor to Harvard's Institute for Rebooting Social Media.  Credits:This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.

Bueno Bueno Podmas Day 10, An episode everyday for 25 days! Follow Ferrny!https://www.instagram.com/only.ferny?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr Buy The Bueno Coffee Hoodie here!https://www.inlandentertainment.com/product-page/bueno-coffee-hoodie More Content On Patreon!patreon.com/buenobueno Call Us To Be On The Show!https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdV8WNMg69TLL4nYttVh_mKAoLRYzRtnCT226InJqh3ixQR5g/viewform Want to send us a gift?PO BOX 311145Fontana, Ca 92331 Follow Us!https://linktr.ee/buenobuenopdc Saul V GomezInstagram -  https://www.instagram.com/saulvgomez/Twitter - https://twitter.com/Saulvgomez_Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@saulvgomez Hans EsquivelInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hans_esquivel/Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@hanss444 RexxInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rexxb/Twitter - https://twitter.com/rexxgodbTik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@rexx.b1 Bueno Bueno EP. 16900:00 – Intro00:14 – Welcoming Fernie Back01:08 – We were almost arrested08:55 – Why Fernie Almost Got Shot in Texas12:19 – No Plan B: Betting on Yourself16:07 – Law of Attraction26:01 – Hard Work vs. Luck Debate33:01 – The Psychology of Clips36:47 – Working Since 16 & Feeling Behind37:26 – Bible Verse of the Day38:27 – Fear Disguised as Responsibility39:04 – Why Moving Far Forces You to Grow40:22 – Houston Party Recap42:22 – Liability vs. Asset in Your Circle43:34 – Loving the Grind Even When It Hurts45:14 – Seeing Your Work Through Someone Else's Eyes46:29 – The Struggle Is the Best Part

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Why do clients keep asking for deliverables they don't actually need? How to get them to focus on the outcome instead of the task list? Every agency owner has had clients show up asking for a website, SEO, or a million social posts, when what they actually need is something much deeper: more leads, more profit, more time back, and a business they're proud of again. Today's featured guest broke down how he built an 11-year-old shop that delivers exactly that. We dig into why small businesses really hire agencies, why "selling SEO" is a trap, and how simplifying complex work can make your agency more profitable, more trusted, and a hell of a lot easier to run. Nico Biggi, Founder of The Gorilla Agency a full-service Oregon digital agency that helps small businesses achieve their marketing goals. After applying to 31 agencies and hearing absolutely nothing back, he decided if no one would hire him, he'd simply build the place he wished existed. Eleven years later, his agency helps small businesses fall in love with their companies again by delivering marketing that feels personal, purposeful, and rooted in truth—not hype. In this interview, we'll discuss: Why clients don't want SEO and what small business are really buying. How radical simplicity makes agencies more profitable. Walking away from big clients to make your agency stronger. How AI is changing client expectations. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Why Clients Don't Actually Want SEO (And What They're Really Buying from Agencies) Nico knows why his clients first reach out and he understands that, in reality, no one wants SEO. No one wants a website. No one wants a content calendar. What they want is for their phone to ring. They want predictable revenue and to stop feeling behind. Basically, they want a business that finally looks and performs the way they imagined when they started it. Hence, when Nico sits with a new client, he doesn't take their request at face value. He keeps pulling the thread: Why do you want that? What are you really trying to fix? What's happening behind the scenes that made you reach out today? By the time he gets to the core problem, the tactical service almost never matches the thing they originally asked for. And that's where trust is built—showing clients the real path to their desired outcome, not the task list they think they need. As he puts it: Services are the toolkit. Outcomes are the reason you pick up the tools. How Radical Simplicity Makes Agencies More Profitable and Improves Client Trust During client meetings, Nico strives to strip away the complexity agencies tend to hide behind. Clients don't want a masterclass in keyword density or a dissertation-length PDF they'll never read. They want clarity. To him, the best operators and the best salespeople think like teachers. Teachers take complicated ideas and make them accessible. They speak in a way a fifth grader can understand, because simplicity builds confidence, and confidence builds buy-in. Inside his own agency, this shows up in the way he trains his team. No silos. No "not my job." Everyone learns how every part of the system works, from content, SEO, design, dev, and strategy. That shared understanding creates respect, efficiency, and a culture where no one feels like they're building in the dark. Everyone in his team is taught that no one is above anyone and they're all running the machine together. It's a mindset that creates accountability among the team and helps the client understand exactly what they're paying for. Why Saying No to Big Clients Can Make Your Agency Stronger Every agency owner has a moment where the "big" client forces them to rethink everything. For Nico, it was early on, when a client offered him more money than he even asked for ($10k a month) and three months later, he fired the client. On paper, it was a dream account. In practice, it drained the team, misaligned with their process, and became the catalyst for rebuilding the agency from the ground up. He spent two years refining every process—on-page and off-page SEO, content creation, design systems, communication workflows—all centered around one thing: making sure clients always know where their money is going and how it's working. Most agencies duct-tape their operations when things get messy instead of rebuilding the underlying, broken system. Nico rebuilt his foundation truly believing that all business owners need is for someone to create systems, truly listen to them, and help them articulate what they do for their clients. Authenticity Converts (And Your Clients Need Your Help to Show It) Nico's wife unknowingly became the perfect case study for modern buyer behavior. Before choosing anything (restaurants, local services, events) she checks: Reviews Menus FAQs Photos Location Details User experience Credibility That's what most customers are doing, and the standard Nico sets for his clients. He wants to work with businesses that engage with clients and answer their questions, show their work with real photos, tell compelling stories, show proof, have a clean, intuitive website. If it doesn't pass what Nico calls "the wife test" — if a business doesn't have clear answers, real photos, social proof, strong UX, and transparent information — it doesn't ship. And the same goes for exclusivity: Nico refuses to work with two companies in the same industry and service area. He wants to make one the best, not compete against himself for small wins. How AI Is Changing Client Expectations and Why It Won't Replace Agencies Nico sees AI from both angles: the opportunity and the threat. On one hand, AI makes clients think everything should be instant and $500. He's already had clients send him AI-generated instructions like they're firing off tasks to a robot. The danger isn't AI itself but rather clients misunderstanding what real strategy, design, content, and user experience actually require. But the other side is where he sees massive upside. AI removes the repetitive, thankless tasks that bog agencies down. It gives teams more room to think, solve, and create. It lets agencies deliver more value, not less, if they use it correctly. AI doesn't replace strategy and, more importantly, it doesn't replace the human connection that actually closes deals. Your network is your edge. Tools evolve but human trust, real expertise, and the ability to guide clients through complexity—that doesn't. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Max Tegmark and Dean Ball debate whether we should ban the development of superintelligence in a crossover episode from Doom Debates hosted by Liron Shapira. PSA for AI builders: Interested in alignment, governance, or AI safety? Learn more about the MATS Summer 2026 Fellowship and submit your name to be notified when applications open: https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr. They unpack the Future of Life Institute's call for a moratorium until there is broad scientific consensus and public buy-in, contrasting Tegmark's precautionary stance with Dean's emphasis on experimentation, competition, and practical policy hurdles. Listeners will get clear takes on p(doom), the limits of FDA-style regulation, unilateral ban risks, and what safe, beneficial advanced AI might realistically look like. LINKS: AMA episode feedback survey form Doom Debates Substack newsletter Sponsors: Framer: Framer is the all-in-one tool to design, iterate, and publish stunning websites with powerful AI features. Start creating for free and use code COGNITIVE to get one free month of Framer Pro at https://framer.com/design Agents of Scale: Agents of Scale is a podcast from Zapier CEO Wade Foster, featuring conversations with C-suite leaders who are leading AI transformation. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts Tasklet: Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (05:43) Cold open and intro (09:21) Opening statements: ban debate (Part 1) (14:49) Sponsors: Framer | Agents of Scale (17:11) Opening statements: ban debate (Part 2) (17:11) Licensing-style AI regulation (26:52) Liability, tail risks (Part 1) (33:24) Sponsors: Tasklet | Shopify (36:32) Liability, tail risks (Part 2) (39:23) Timelines and precautionary regulation (47:03) Defining superintelligence and risk (52:26) Risk-based safety standards (56:28) Current regulations and definitions (01:05:23) Max's doom scenario (01:19:46) P-doom gap and adaptation (01:34:40) National security and China (01:43:57) Closing statements and reflections (01:55:22) Host debrief and outro (02:02:10) Outro

Ever worry about finding yourself in a civil or criminal case as a result of your actions as a nurse?  Join the co-hosts as they welcome Attorney Rachel Giles to help us demystify nursing legal liability, including must-dos, don't-dos, and real-world pitfalls so you can protect your license, your patients, and your peace of mind. (AMSN Members Earn 0.5 CE Hours*) * This episode is eligible for 0.5 contact hours for AMSN members who listen to the episode and submit a completed evaluation through the online library. None of the individuals with the ability to control the content of this episode have any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. The Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses is an accredited provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.   SPECIAL GUEST Rachel Giles, JD, MBA/MHA is a United States Army Veteran, brings over a decade of experience in health law, compliance, federal regulations, and risk management. She is dedicated to delivering innovative conflict resolution, consulting, education, and knowledge, leveraging her unique expertise to help clients and healthcare organizations navigate complex challenges in both legal and operational environments. Rachel is passionate about fostering effective communication and equitable solutions to ensure that every person feels safe and empowered to move forward confidently. Rachel's professional experience includes serving as CEO of Giles Mediation, LLC., where she assist low socioeconomic status clients mediate cases in an attempt to stay out of a long costly court battle. She was the Vice President of Compliance & Administration for AshtonBridge Capital, where she implemented risk management frameworks and compliance protocols across diverse industries such as investment, real estate, and commodity trading. Additionally, her tenure in senior roles at multiple Healthcare Organizations within the Texas Medical Center in Houston highlights her skill in mitigating risks, conducting audits, and driving quality and patient safety improvement initiatives. She is adept at contract negotiation, policy development, and litigation support, making her a trusted advisor to organizations. Academically, Rachel holds a Doctorate in Law with a specialization in Compliance, Regulatory Affairs, and Risk Management, alongside dual master's degrees in Business and Health Administration. Her credentials are complemented by certifications in Lean Six Sigma, Project Management, and Mediation. She was recognized for academic excellence, including achieving top marks in cybersecurity coursework, where she developed actionable strategies for addressing HIPAA data breaches. Her ability to merge research with practical application has been a hallmark of her professional and academic career.   MEET OUR CO-HOSTS Samantha Bayne, MSN, RN, CMSRN, NPD-BC is a nursing professional development practitioner in the inland northwest specializing in medical-surgical nursing. The first four years of her practice were spent bedside on a busy ortho/neuro unit where she found her passion for newly graduated RNs, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional governance. Sam is an unwavering advocate for medical-surgical nursing as a specialty and enjoys helping nurses prepare for specialty certification.    Kellye' McRae, MSN-Ed, RN is a dedicated Med-Surg Staff Nurse and Unit Based Educator based in South Georgia, with 12 years of invaluable nursing experience. She is passionate about mentoring new nurses, sharing her clinical wisdom to empower the next generation of nurses. Kellye' excels in bedside teaching, blending hands-on training with compassionate patient care to ensure both nurses and patients thrive. Her commitment to education and excellence makes her a cornerstone of her healthcare team.   Marcela Salcedo, RN, BSN is a Floatpool nightshift nurse in the Chicagoland area, specializing in step-down and medical-surgical care. A member of AMSN and the Hektoen Nurses, she combines her passion for nursing with the healing power of the arts and humanities. As a mother of four, Marcela is reigniting her passion for nursing by embracing the chaos of caregiving, fostering personal growth, and building meaningful connections that inspire her work.   Eric Torres, ADN, RN, CMSRN is a California native that has always dreamed of seeing the World, and when that didn't work out, he set his sights on nursing.  Eric is beyond excited to be joining the AMSN podcast and having a chance to share his stories and experiences of being a bedside medical-surgical nurse.   Maritess M. Quinto, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, CMSRN is a clinical educator currently leading a team of educators who is passionately helping healthcare colleagues, especially newly graduate nurses. She was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States with her family in Florida. Her family of seven (three girls and two boys with her husband who is also a Registered Nurse) loves to travel, especially to Disney World. She loves to share her experiences about parenting, travelling, and, of course, nursing!   Sydney Wall, RN, BSN, CMSRN has been a med surg nurse for 5 years. After graduating from the University of Rhode Island in 2019, Sydney commissioned into the Navy and began her nursing career working on a cardiac/telemetry unit in Bethesda, Maryland.  Currently she is stationed overseas, providing care for service members and their families.  During her free time, she enjoys martial arts and traveling. 

Pete Hegseth's disastrous tenure as Defense Secretary takes center stage as Dave, Ashley, and Kurt dissect the growing cracks in his support—even among Republicans. From the Venezuela bombing debacle to throwing an Admiral under the bus, the hosts explore whether Trump's loyalty to his embattled cabinet pick has finally met its match. Plus, the crew tackles Trump's pardon spree that would make even past presidents blush: from a Honduran drug lord to white-collar criminals who can apparently buy their freedom. Why does the "party of law and order" keep handing out get-out-of-jail-free cards to the wealthy while demonizing everyone else? The conversation gets heated as they debate inflammatory rhetoric on both sides, the future of Trump's fractured party, and whether Democrats can actually capitalize on Republican chaos this time—or will they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again?

In this episode of the Identity at the Center Podcast, hosts Jeff and Jim sit down with Tobin South, co-chair of the OpenID Foundation's AI Identity Management Community Group, to delve into the intricacies of identity management in the age of agentic AI. They discuss the challenges and solutions related to AI agents, the role of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and the concept of recursive delegation and scope attenuation. Additionally, the conversation covers practical advice for developers and enterprises on preparing for AI-driven identity management and explores the cultural touchstone of coffee from various global perspectives.Connect with Tobin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobinsouth/OpenID Foundation: https://openid.net/Identity Management for Agentic AI (OpenID Whitepaper): https://openid.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Identity-Management-for-Agentic-AI.pdfConnect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comChapter Timestamps:00:00 – Jeff and Jim banter about unopened iPads and conference season05:55 – Introduction to Tobin South and his AI identity background07:00 – How AI has evolved from machine learning to generative models09:00 – The OpenID AI Identity Management Community Group10:30 – ChatGPT's impact on the AI perception shift12:00 – Users vs. Agents: What's the difference?14:00 – Letting the right bots in: AI agents vs. bad bots17:00 – AI impersonation, delegation, and the risk of shared credentials20:00 – Impersonation vs. Delegation – what practitioners need to know23:00 – Governance, oversight, and delegated authority for agents26:00 – Liability and “who is responsible” in agentic systems30:00 – How developers can prepare for agent identity and access management32:00 – Explaining the Model Context Protocol (MCP)36:00 – Enterprise use cases for MCP and internal automation38:00 – Is MCP the next SAML?42:00 – Recursive delegation and scope attenuation explained46:00 – The one key takeaway for IAM professionals48:00 – Lighter note: Coffee talk – from Sydney to San Francisco54:00 – Wrap-up and where to find more IDAC contentKeywords:IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jim McDonald, Jeff Steadman, Tobin South, OpenID Foundation, AI Identity Management, Agentic AI, Delegated Authority, Impersonation vs Delegation, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Recursive Delegation, Scope Attenuation, Identity Access Management, IAM, AI Governance, AI Standards, Enterprise AI, AI Agents, Identity Security

Content warning: this conversation includes discussion of child sexual abuse. Support services can be found further down in these show notes.Lawyer and advocate Judy Courtin discusses her work representing survivors of institutional child abuse and how legal technicalities have long protected powerful institutions.You can visit Judy Courtin's website here.Sign the petition here to reverse the High Court Decision Exempting Institutions from Liability for Child AbuseWe're excited to announce the release of Sherele Moody's new podcast, She Matters. Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.Join our Facebook Group here.Do you have information regarding any of the cases discussed on this podcast? Please report it on the Crime Stoppers website or by calling 1800 333 000.For Support: Lifeline on 13 11 1413 YARN on 13 92 76 (24/7 crisis support phone line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732Blue Knot Helpline: 1300 657 380CREDITS:Host: Meshel LaurieGuest: Judy CourtinExecutive Producer: Matthew TankardEditor: Michael TankardGET IN TOUCH:https://www.australiantruecrimethepodcast.com/Follow the show on Instagram @australiantruecrimepodcast and Facebook Send us a question to have played on the show by recording a voice message here.Email the show at AusTrueCrimePodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a "Shortcut" episode. It's a shortened version of this week's more detailed full episode, which is also available on our feed.Content warning: this conversation includes discussion of child sexual abuse. Support services can be found further down in these show notes.Lawyer and advocate Judy Courtin discusses her work representing survivors of institutional child abuse and how legal technicalities have long protected powerful institutions.You can visit Judy Courtin's website here.Sign the petition here to reverse the High Court Decision Exempting Institutions from Liability for Child AbuseWe're excited to announce the release of Sherele Moody's new podcast, She Matters. Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.Join our Facebook Group here.Do you have information regarding any of the cases discussed on this podcast? Please report it on the Crime Stoppers website or by calling 1800 333 000.For Support: Lifeline on 13 11 1413 YARN on 13 92 76 (24/7 crisis support phone line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732Blue Knot Helpline: 1300 657 380CREDITS:Host: Meshel LaurieGuest: Judy CourtinExecutive Producer: Matthew TankardEditor: Michael TankardGET IN TOUCH:https://www.australiantruecrimethepodcast.com/Follow the show on Instagram @australiantruecrimepodcast and Facebook Send us a question to have played on the show by recording a voice message here.Email the show at AusTrueCrimePodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Would you ever walk away from a "dream job" to start over from scratch? And if you've spent years building a career inside big brands, does it ever feel like it might be too late to launch your own agency? Most people talk about leaving their corporate job to chase something bigger. Very few actually do it, and even fewer jump without a parachute. Today's featured guest is one of those rare ones. After nearly two decades leading social, content, and influencer teams for household brands, he walked away from his so called dream job to start his own shop without any safety net. Today, he calls himself a brand guy who happens to own an agency. Eric Gray is the owner of Maverick Content Studio, a twelve person, social-first agency for Fortune 500 brands. After a long and successful career in corporate, where he spent eighteen years building high performing social and content teams for companies like Universal Parks & Resorts, Eric realized he did not want the future he saw in front of him. He left Universal with two months of savings and zero clients. His story is a blueprint for leaders wondering whether to leave corporate and build something of their own Today his team works with brands like Advent Health, Winn-Dixie, and Travel + Leisure, helping them build audience, loyalty, and relevance through social-first content. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why target Fortune 500 brands? Why most agencies fail at building their own brand. Leaning on the power of personal brands. The hardest challenge of growing a young agency. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Walking Away from the Corporate Dream Job At age forty-one, Eric had success on paper but a growing dissatisfaction in real life. He was leading big teams, holding a prestigious role, and doing work others envied. But he felt stuck inside a corporate machine that limited purpose and impact. Although he's thankful for the time he spent in that world, he didn't believe he was living his full purpose inside an organization with lots of bureaucracy. With the support of his family and his pastor, Eric decided he didn't want to get to his later years wishing he had taken more risks and took the jump to find out what could happen if he bet on himself. Leaving was messy, scary, and absolutely not the playbook move. No freelancing ramp up. No contracted clients. It was no tidy transition. Yet he trusted that his experience and network would open the next chapter. Looking back, it did. Why Target Fortune 500 Brands? Most new agency founders start small. Eric went in the opposite direction. He targeted enterprise brands from day one because that is where his expertise lived. He had already built the blueprint inside Universal Parks & Resorts and believed he could help other brands treat social as more than an afterthought. Eric knew many enterprise brands still underinvest in social. They focus on one big campaign or hero asset while ignoring the loyalty and connection that is built through consistent storytelling. His agency's entire model revolves around what he calls the connection strategy. It is the belief that brands win when they create emotional relevance around the stories customers already care about. Furthermore, large brands have large scopes, which also means you do not need forty clients. You just need the right five. That became a core advantage as they started growing. Building the Early Client List Through Relationships Eric did not cold call or blast DMs. He leaned into what he had spent years building. A strong network with strong relationships. Most of their early clients came from people who had worked with Eric before, or from friends of those people inside other major brands. Big companies talk to each other more than you think. This doesn't mean it was easy for them. They still have a lot of work to do to break through. But if you invest in your network before you need it, it becomes your biggest shortcut when you step into entrepreneurship. Why Most Agencies Fail at Building Their Own Brand But Eric points out that almost no agencies truly build their own brand. They hide behind their walls and hope referrals save them. Others talk about themselves, focusing mainly on their people, process, and portfolio. Meanwhile they tell clients to produce consistent content, invest in story, and build an audience. When Eric launched Maverick, he refused to be another guy who leaves a corporate job and posts the generic LinkedIn announcement. He started building his personal brand alongside the agency's brand from day one, and worked with his wife to make his agency look and feel much larger than its actual humble beginnings from their home offce. Perception matters if you want to enter rooms above your weight class. The Power of a Personal Brand Eric leaned into his background in sports radio and launched the Radical Content podcast. Within a few months he secured major guests like the former CMO of Chick-fil-A, the head of digital for NASCAR, and leaders from Crocs and other major brands. Those interviews became relationships. Those relationships became visibility. And that visibility opened doors for the agency. The agency's channels became secondary to Eric's personal channels. Not because the company brand did not matter, but because personal brand builds trust faster than corporate messaging. Systems, Volume, and Practicing What You Preach Eric put serious resources into his content system. It started rough, with a single producer who did not fully work out. But it evolved into an eight person content ecosystem producing weekly episodes, daily clips, statics, and text posts. He treats his own brand as the test kitchen for the strategies they deploy for clients. When you do that, the content feels authentic and the results are real. For him, if you stay in the background and don't talk about who you are and what you do, you're losing valuable opportunities to build your audience. You should be the guinea pig for everything you sell. The Hardest Challenge of Growing a Young Agency Two types of struggles hit new founders: agency struggles and the first time entrepreneur struggles. On the agency side, Eric is unrelenting on talent. He will not hire someone just because they have experience. Their standards are high, which means the search takes longer. Orlando is growing but not a major market for high level social and content talent. They once received nine hundred applicants for a creative director role. On the founder side, the hardest challenge is mental. Building a company that feeds twelve families is a heavy responsibility. The expectations you have for where you think you should be often do not match where you actually are. That gap can mess with your head. Eric uses a list of personal non negotiables to stay mentally sharp: hard morning workouts, time with faith, reading goals daily, taking short breaks during the day, reviewing priorities, and going to bed on time. The last one is the hardest for him. But like most discipline problems, skipping the basics is usually what leads to feeling off. Why Agency Entrepreneurship Requires a Long Game Mindset For Eric, entrepreneurship is staring the hard thing in the face and moving forward anyway, which is where his non-negotiables come in. For his part, Jason has always treated entrepreneurship as a game. Sometimes you do everything right and still get hit with a bad roll of the dice. The goal is not perfection. It is persistence. The memories you keep are rarely the easy seasons. They are the nights you and your team fought through the hard stuff. For this reason, his advice for agency owners is to have fun along the way. Don't wait until your kids are grown or your agency is sold to live. Make the journey the part you enjoy. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Despite the shocking voicemail that surfaced earlier this week from Kelly Dodd attacking daughter Jolie, Miss Vicki Gunvalson is out in these streets asking for Ms. Dodd's return to RHOC. Heather Dubrow says that's a wrap and that she looks forward to Season 20, but Tamra remains very confused about many things surrounding Season 19 and we cannot say we blame her.  Regardless of the reconciliation heard round the world, Teresa still has one major hurdle to overcome if she wants to ever return to RHONJ… Luis Ruelas. Last, but not least, rumors and nastiness surface yet again that NBC is over all the lawsuits, liabilities and cost and wants to end all Housewives soon. Plus, we share an unedited Part III of everyone's shady AF questions from our live show to which we cannot plead the fifth.  @behindvelvetrope @davidyontef Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Rosso breaks down a study that modeled hundreds of thousands of retirement scenarios to determine which Roth conversion strategy performs best over a 10-year period: • Staying in a traditional IRA/401(k) and taking RMDs • A one-time Roth conversion • A gradual, multi-year conversion strategy RIA Advisors' Financial Guardrails are timeless principles for building lasting wealth and protecting your financial future. Rich also shares insights from decades of experience helping investors avoid common pitfalls and build financial wellness that lasts generations. 0:00 - INTRO 0:19 - The Roth Account Smile 4:40 - Roth Applications for Different Stages of Life 12:41 - Rules Can Save You in a Turbulent World 14:55 - Annuities Should Be Planned, not Sold 15:52 - A Home is a Liability, not an Asset 18:35 - Set Personal Financial Boundaries 20:28 - Debt Control & Savings Priorities 22:05 - Dealing with Student Loan Debt 24:32 - Invest in Yourself 26:37 - Benefits of AI - Look Ahead 28:34 - Setting Good Financial Wellness Standards Hosted by RIA Advisors Director of Financial Planning, Richard Rosso, CFP Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Watch Today's Full Video on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdFmXFB3sW4&list=PLVT8LcWPeAugpcGzM8hHyEP11lE87RYPe&index=1 ------- The latest installment of our new feature, Before the Bell, "Volatility May Precede Santa Claus Rally," is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOnz8np7ps&list=PLwNgo56zE4RAbkqxgdj-8GOvjZTp9_Zlz&index=1 ------- REGISTER for our 2026 Economic Summit, "The Future of Digital Assets, Artificial Intelligence, and Investing:" https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-ria-economic-summit-tickets-1765951641899?aff=oddtdtcreator ------- Watch our previous show, "Fed Regime Change: Is Groupthink Finally Ending?" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvNL-iyGgj0&list=PLVT8LcWPeAugpcGzM8hHyEP11lE87RYPe&index=1 -------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestm entadvice.com/newsletter/ -------- SUBSCRIBE to The Real Investment Show here: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheRealInvestmentShow -------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN -------- Subscribe to SimpleVisor: https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new -------- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #RothIRA #RetirementPlanning #TaxStrategy #IRAConversion #PersonalFinance #FinancialPlanning #WealthManagement #InvestingTips #RetirementPlanning #MoneyMindset

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What if growth doesn't make things easier but actually just raises the stakes? Agency life looks glamorous from the outside, but the real growth usually starts in the messy middle. Today's featured guest just wanted to build something of her own, but quickly learned that growth means the challenges get harder, instead of easier, and that your client and team retention will always be the best measures of success, since it means you've managed to build a business that has a real impact on clients and a culture people never want to leave. She'll share the pressure she felt as the agency got bigger, how she learned to celebrate the little wins, and how she built a culture that has truly worked as a strategic advantage. Elyse Lupin is the president and founder of Elysium Marketing Group, a full-service agency specializing in food and franchise marketing. With more than a decade of running the business, she has scaled from a new mom charging a thousand bucks for her first client to leading a well known, franchise-focused marketing team recognized for expertise, execution, and a culture clients genuinely enjoy working with. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why growth gets harder as your agency scales. 2 metrics that actually predict agency success. How culture became her agency's competitive advantage. The importance of letting go instead of babysitting tasks. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. How Mentoring Can Be the Push You Need Elyse started her agency during what most people would consider the absolute worst time to make a career change. She had a newborn, a mortgage, and a job that drained her every morning as she left her child in daycare. That friction reached a breaking point. A mentor tossed out traditional job options, but Elyse surprised even herself when she said, "I just want to start my own thing." Instead of talking her out of it, that mentor became her first client. It's one of those decisions you look back on and realize how thin the line is between staying stuck and building something you love. In the early days, she charged way too little, as nearly all agency owners do for those first engagements. But like she said, ignorance can be a gift. When you are early and scrappy, you move fast and celebrate every small win because you have no idea what's coming next. Why Growth Gets Harder, Not Easier After eleven years, Elyse said she was shocked by how the difficulty of running an agency evolves. Things do get easier in some ways, but each stage comes with a new complexity level. As the agency grew, so did the pressure to hire better people, keep up quality, retain clients, and juggle new demands that never existed in the early days. You go from hands-on fulfillment to team building to culture shaping to visionary leadership. Each level is a different skill set and none of it is simple. Scaling is not a victory lap. It is a longer, more strategic version of the same game you started with: solve the next problem without losing momentum. For Elyse, it's all about stopping to celebrate the little wins and let herself enjoy watching her team crush new challenges. 2 Metrics That Predict Agency Success: Client and Team Retention A lot of agency owners fall into the trap of measuring success by employee count or top line revenue. Elyse prefers to track retention. She considers it far more meaningful. Clients only stick around if they are getting results and some of her clients have been with her agency since the beginning. Employee retention matters just as much, because no amount of growth means anything if the team delivering the work is burning out or bailing. Even during COVID, when most of their food clients disappeared overnight, Elyse's agency found a way to pivot into B2B, protect the team, and still grow. Not at the same pace, but still upward. That speaks to culture, resilience, and leadership. In the end, what really matters is how happy you are in the business, whether or not your team is happy, and how profitable the business actually is. These are the things that will guarantee you stay in business and not start to resent it. How Culture Becomes an Agency's Competitive Advantage Elyse's agency has a spirit week. costume day. concert tshirt day. team jersey day. They joke about team members hearing her excitement through the office walls. But behind the fun is something serious. A happy team performs better, stays longer, and delivers higher quality work. She also implemented rituals that reinforce positivity and growth. Every Friday on remote days, they kick off with Wins of the Week. Team members spotlight others who went above and beyond, which forces everyone to pause and recognize progress. Then there is Elysium Advancement, a bi-weekly internal training where someone teaches a new AI tool or system. It keeps the whole agency sharp without overwhelming everyone with the nonstop flood of new tech. Finding the Balance Between a Remote and In-Person Team Elyse's agency is in office Monday through Thursday and remote on Fridays. She believes their productivity is higher together, especially since half the business is design focused. Instead of 15 email threads, they solve problems in 30 second conversations. Some teams thrive remote. Others thrive together. The important thing is knowing which one your agency needs. For them, an in-person environment helps them move faster and design better. Letting Go: Building Leaders Instead of Babysitting Tasks Most agency founders struggle with this. Elyse has built three strong department heads who now own their areas. Sure, she still has a hand in more than she probably should, but the structure is finally allowing her to think bigger instead of babysitting tasks. She also knows what her team would tell her to stop doing. Being too loud in the office. Which, as problems go, is one of the funnier ones. The Power of Picking a Niche Years ago, Elyse heard this very podcast's advice about niching down and resisted it. Like most agency owners, she felt her client base was too broad to narrow down. After COVID, she finally made the leap and put a stake in the ground around franchise marketing. She got her Certified Franchise Executive credential, doubled down on franchising events, and made franchise marketing a core part of the brand. And the decision paid off immediately. Franchise systems want a partner who understands their world, their FDDs, their local store marketing needs, and their complexity. Her agency became that partner. And with that clarity came authority, opportunity, and recognition. Niching did not reduce her client pool. It strengthened her position and made her easier to hire. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Send us a textAudit results could lead to False Claims Act liability (FCA). In this episode, Captain Integrity Bob Wade talks through audits and potential FCA liability under the Stark Law. Hear why you should do probe audits, when you need to take corrective action, how to avoid the draconian fines & penalties under the FCA, famous cases involving the FCA, and not-so-funny examples of things that go from bad to very ugly. Learn more at CaptainIntegrity.com

In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Jeff Reihl, Technology Chairman at LexisNexis and former CTO, joins host Boaz Ashkenazy to discuss how one of the world's largest legal information companies executed a dramatic pivot to generative AI. Jeff shares the remarkable story of how LexisNexis transformed their entire 2023 strategy in response to ChatGPT's emergence, leveraging their 160 billion document repository to solve AI hallucination problems that plague the legal profession.From modernizing mainframe systems written in IBM assembly language to implementing multi-model AI strategies using GPT and Claude, Jeff provides a masterclass in enterprise AI adoption. The conversation explores critical topics including maintaining trust and accuracy in legal AI applications, the evolving role of junior lawyers in an AI-augmented world, and how LexisNexis achieved 300% ROI for their customers while dramatically accelerating their own internal processes. Whether you're leading digital transformation at an established enterprise or simply curious about how AI is reshaping professional services, this episode offers invaluable lessons from the frontlines of the legal AI revolution.Chapters[01:40] Jeff's Background and Career Journey[05:54] LexisNexis, RELX, and the Legal Information Industry[07:21] The ChatGPT Revolution and Strategic Pivot[10:17] Solving the Hallucination Problem with RAG[13:26] Liability, Accountability, and the Role of Legal Professionals[16:16] ROI Metrics and Customer Adoption[21:02] Agentic Workflows and Strategic Partnerships[26:18] The Future of Junior Lawyers and Legal Education[29:05] The Future of Work and Software Development[31:33] Framework for AI Integration in Organizations[34:46] Two Words for the Future: Transformative and PersonalizedConnect with Jeff Reihlhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreihl/Connect with Boaz AshkenazyLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/boazashkenazy Email: info@shiftai.fm

#665: If you've ever stared at an insurance quote and wondered, “Is this really worth it?”, you're not alone. Liability and umbrella policies can feel like an expensive mystery, especially when your net worth is growing and your risks are shifting. In today's episode, we dig into a listener's dilemma about soaring liability and umbrella insurance costs, and we explore how to think clearly about protection, exposure, and the parts of your portfolio that may already be shielded. Along the way, we unpack how shifting household risks, driver ages, and asset location change the insurance strategy year by year. From there, we take questions about Roth choices, future tax brackets, and whether it's worth giving up investment flexibility to build a stronger tax triangle. These conversations get to the heart of how we balance risk, taxes, and long-term planning in the FI journey. Listener Questions in This Episode Andy asks: How can I protect my $2 million net worth without paying nearly $950 a month for increased auto, home, and umbrella coverage, especially with a teenage driver in the mix? (01:47) Mike asks: Given our high current tax bracket and expected lower tax rate in retirement, does contributing to a Roth still make sense for us? (25:50) Cindy asks: Should I move my rollover IRA into my new 401(k) so I can start doing backdoor Roth contributions, even if the investment choices are more limited? (39:47) Key Takeaways Sometimes the question isn't “umbrella or nothing,” it's “what risk am I truly trying to insure, and for how long,” especially when a teenage driver temporarily changes the household risk profile.
 You already may have more asset protection than you think. Retirement accounts and primary residences often carry their own layers of protection, which influences how much liability insurance you actually need.
 The Roth decision hinges less on math in isolation and more on your likely future earnings, work style, and appetite for locking in today's tax rates.
 Building a balanced tax triangle gives you flexibility later, especially when future tax rates are unknowable and retirement timing is uncertain.
 Backdoor Roths can be powerful, but only when the tradeoff between investment choice and long-term tax flexibility makes sense for your goals and timeline.
 Related Episode: Episode 649: Umbrella insurance deep dive Chapters Note: Timestamps are approximate and may vary greatly across listening platforms due to dynamically inserted ads. (00:00) Offense versus defense and setting up today's questions
 (01:47) Andy asks about protecting a $2 million net worth
 (12:00) What's already protected and how coverage layers work
 (17:00) Managing short-term risk when a teenager starts driving
 (29:50) Mike asks whether high earners should prioritize Roth contributions
 (35:07) How career trajectory and future tax rates shape Roth logic
( 45:54) Building a balanced tax triangle
 (47:47) Cindy asks about using a backdoor Roth to shift her tax triangle
( 52:10) Tradeoffs of moving an IRA into a 401k
 (54:06) How long Roth dollars need to grow to matter Share this episode with a friend, colleagues, your tax advisor: https://affordanything.com/episode665 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(This is a Replay)This week we cover “Defense Admits Liability Now What” with Mindy Bish.Contact Mindy Bish atWebsite: https://keenantrialinstitute.com/Email: mbish@keenanlawfirm.comPhone: (404) 523-2200

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training AI is changing the agency landscape faster than most owners can keep up with. Tools are popping up daily, clients are asking if rates should drop, and your team is either fired up or freaked out. Today's featured guest talks about what it takes to build an agency that thrives in a world obsessed with shiny new tech, where the edge is not more tools. It is better leadership, human connection, and an incubator mindset that keeps them ahead without drowning in the noise. Michael Davern is the CEO of Incept, an AI-enhanced, digital-first agency that has been around for a decade. Today, his agency blends automation, machine learning, and human-centered strategy to help enterprise clients grow with clarity and smart execution. He is an early adopter who still believes the real edge is human connection and wants to encourage agency owners to really think about who should lead. In this episode, we'll discuss: AI-enhanced vs. AI-first: what actually creates agency value. Leading an agency through rapid AI change. Why human-first agencies win in the long run. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Evolving from a Specific Niche to a Full Service Agency Before agency life, Michael spent years in corporate America and even longer in the music industry as an artist development rep. That career went up in flames when the label collapsed and no one got paid. After a brief return to corporate, he approached his now business partner with an idea to sell text message marketing, and suddenly he was an entrepreneur learning the agency game the hard way. Early on he chased small business clients with $49 starter packages and cheesy platinum tiers. Nobody wanted it. The market did not understand text marketing yet and the value was unclear. Everything changed when an enterprise vendor in the Medicare insurance space let them into their workflow. Overnight texting became a revenue driver. That win opened the door to more enterprise relationships and pushed them to expand far beyond their original niche. What started as a simple vendor relationship ballooned into a full service digital agency. With time, growth came from necessity and opportunity, not a master plan. Michael admits they were often too early to the game, but that curiosity and experimentation kept them alive long enough to get good. AI-Enhanced vs. AI-First: What Actually Creates Agency Value Plenty of agencies slap "AI-first" on their website. Michael prefers to say "AI-enhanced" since "AI-first" implies handing the keys to robots or machines. That is not what his agency does. Instead they use AI to enhance execution. They were early with automation, early with machine learning through the IBM Watson test program, and early with programmatic bidding when DSPs were still new. Those experiments shaped how they work today. Now, they use all this knowledge to save money, time, and drive better results for clients. Clients are not paying for prompts or tools. AI lets the team save time, move faster, and stay in the lab testing new options without drowning in busywork. In Michael's view, agencies are not competing on deliverables anymore. They are competing on thinking. Navigating the AI Gold Rush Without Losing Your Mind There is a tool for everything now and most of them promise the world and deliver nothing. Michael believes the real threat is not AI taking jobs. It is crappy tools cluttering decision making and distracting agency owners from what matters. To keep his team sharp, he sets an AI budget for every employee at his agency. Everyone is encouraged to experiment, explore, and bring ideas back to the incubator. On Fridays, they compare notes. What worked. What flopped. What needs more testing. That culture of curiosity is what keeps them out in front rather than scrambling to catch up. Leadership in the Age of Rapid Change Nineteen months ago, Michael made a call. The company was going all in on AI enhancement. He sat the team down and said, "This is where we are heading." If anyone was uncomfortable, they could talk privately or get help transitioning to a different job. Not one person left. Clarity breeds confidence. When owners waffle or delay, their team feels it. When owners point the ship and support the crew, people dig in. Michael's team embraced experimentation because they were given structure, purpose, and room to contribute. And because of that leadership, his agency now runs on flat rate pricing tied to outcomes. They killed the old hourly model and their clients love them for it. Human-First Agencies Always Win the Long Game When was the last time you met in person with any of your top five clients? That's the type of effort they'll remember. Michael's team meets every top client in person at least quarterly. Their average client lifetime is just under seven years, which is unheard of when the industry average is barely over a year. Real relationships create real retention. When you have shared a meal, a drink, and actual time together, you are not just a vendor. You are a partner. And partners do not get replaced by the next AI First agency trying to undercut your price. The real advantage for your agency will be transparency and the ability to provide a personalized service. AI will give you more time to work on strategy, but you still have to offer the best client experience you can. Ultimately, clients are paying for more brain and less execution, "and doesn't everyone want that?" Michael asks. Choosing the Right Clients and Protecting Your Sanity Another theme Michael returns to is knowing when to say no. Early on, every agency chases whales. The bigger the better. Then you land one and realize it might sink the whole boat. Maturity is learning to pass on the wrong fish or hand them off to someone who is better built for it. Agencies do not need hundreds of clients. They need the right fraction of the market that values what they do. When you protect your focus, your retention goes up and your stress goes down. Michael's agency grows steadily because they stack clients instead of scrambling to replace them. The only clients they lose are the ones who stop paying their bills. Building a Culture of Innovation Without Burning Out Agencies talk a big game about innovation, but most owners are stuck riding a bike with square wheels and they refuse to get off, Michael says. This is the trap most agency owners fall into. They are too busy to innovate, too stuck to delegate, and too overwhelmed to lead. For him, the answer is simple. Get off the bike. Set the direction, and build the space for experimentation, because the future is coming whether you want it or not. Who Should Lead AI Inside an Agency Who should lead experimentation when the owner is overwhelmed? Michael believes someone has to claim the role, plant a stake, and move. At his agency, he oversees the incubator, but several team members drive the work. Your lead developer will experiment with different tools than your creative director. Your strategist will explore different workflows than your media buyer. Give them a budget. Give them a purpose. Give them ownership. The biggest mistake is waiting for someone else to figure it out. Agencies that delay will be crushed by owners who are willing to get to work and figure this technology out. Follow your curiosity. For agency owners stepping into that role, Michael suggests absorbing everything you can and staying curious. And for those who are further down in the ladder but still want to lead experimentation with new technologies: speak up and volunteer. If you're in a culture where that experimentation is not embraced, then maybe it's time to leave. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training If your inbound pipeline dries up tomorrow, do you have a channel that can refill it on demand? Every agency owner needs at least one reliable way to attract new leads when things slow down. Today's guest doubled down on a podcast as his inbound engine, and it paid off big. But launching your first episode is just the beginning. The real growth comes from getting your ideal clients as guests, creating a conversation that builds connection (not just content), and staying consistent long enough to earn momentum. He'll break down how to find the right niche, build authority through partnerships, and turn podcasting into a powerful inbound system that keeps quality leads coming in on autopilot. Chase Clymer is the co-founder of Electric Eye, a Shopify Plus partner agency specializing in conversion rate optimization (CRO) and e-commerce growth strategy. Since 2016, he and his team have been helping direct-to-consumer brands optimize their digital storefronts to drive measurable results. Beyond his client work, Chase also hosts the Honest Ecommerce podcast, where he interviews founders and shares unfiltered lessons on what it takes to grow an online brand. In this episode, we'll discuss: On his strategic partnership with Shopify. Podcasting as a business development engine. The key to consistently booking great guests. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. From Touring Musician to E-Commerce Marketer Before entering the agency world, Chase was a touring musician in a pop punk band. The road life didn't pay the bills, so he began experimenting with photography, design, and digital marketing, all skills that eventually laid the foundation for his agency. Towards the end of his music career, Chase's future co-founder Sean approached him with a few freelance projects. They quickly found themselves with six clients, and a lot of questions about taxes, pricing, and structure. The early chaos of being creators first and business owners second forced them to learn fast, especially when it came to how to position themselves, how to deliver results, and ultimately, how to specialize. As Chase puts it, "We realized if you can validate the results you're getting for people, they're going to be happier to pay you." That mindset led them toward e-commerce, where success is measurable and client satisfaction is tied directly to sales metrics. How Strategic Platform Partnerships (Like Shopify) Accelerate Agency Growth One of the biggest accelerators for his agency was its partnership with Shopify. When the agency first started, they were platform-agnostic, working across WordPress and other technologies. But after joining Shopify's Partner Program, Chase and his team found something rare — an actual human on the other end of the email. That support led to event invitations, collaboration opportunities, and eventually a deep specialization that positioned them as trusted experts. Chase credits much of their success to that early alignment. "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time," and the lesson for him was: pick your ecosystem wisely and go all in. He advises other agency owners to double down on one technology or niche rather than trying to be everything to everyone. "If your roof is leaking, you don't hire a general contractor, you hire a roofer," he says. It's the kind of clarity that will help you see real growth. Does this mean you should only aim to partner with Shopify if you're in the ecommerce niche? Not at all. Chase recognizes that part of their success story came from having found Shopify at its early stages. This allowed the agency to grow alongside them and unlock more opportunities. Using a Podcast as a Scalable Inbound Marketing Channel For many agencies, lead generation is an uphill battle. For Chase, it became a creative outlet that turned into a consistent revenue driver. In 2019, he launched his podcast, Honest Ecommerce, as a way to avoid writing blogs. But over time, it became a cornerstone of his agency's inbound and relationship strategy. Chase now uses the podcast to connect with ideal clients by inviting them on as guests. Instead of cold outreach, he reaches out on LinkedIn to CEOs of brands he admires, offering them a platform to share their stories. That invitation often leads to partnerships, friendships, and often clients. "You're not starting off on your back foot," he explains. "You're building a genuine relationship." Chase also uses the podcast to gain access to industry events. With a media pass, he's able to attend conferences, host panels, and meet prospects in person. Once relationships are formed, his back-end systems, from automated follow-up emails to segmented nurture lists, keep his agency top of mind until the timing aligns for collaboration. Proven Outreach Strategies to Book High-Value Podcast Guests When Chase comes across a brand doing something interesting, he doesn't pitch them services. Instead of positioning himself as another agency trying to sell, he looks to position himself as a platform offering value first. Once a potential guest accepts, Chase sets up a short 15-minute pre-interview call that he personally conducts. He uses this session to walk them through what to expect, answer any questions, and — most importantly — build rapport. As he puts it, "More time in the paint (more reps) makes the second conversation a lot easier." That small investment of time pays off, turning what could be a stiff Q&A into a relaxed, real conversation when recording day comes. This pre-call also helps him assess whether the guest is a fit for his audience and gently coach less experienced founders on how to tell their story in an engaging way. Then, before the episode goes live, he'll sometimes nudge guests to check out a few existing episodes from Honest Ecommerce. This helps them get familiar with the tone and flow of his show. Ultimately, the goal for Chase is always to create a cool piece of content. Anything else that may come from the relationship is a bonus. Why Consistency Is the Real Growth Lever in Podcast Lead Generation Chase believes all agency owners who are serious about making their business a success need to start building the inbound channels that produce on-demand leads. In his case, starting the podcast was the move that changed everything for his agency. However, podcasting will take time to produce results and requires consistency. Many business owners start a podcast and then give up after a couple of months. Publishing your first episode is only the beginning. What follows is a commitment to showing up week after week. "That is half the battle," he says. Podcasting, like SEO, compounds over time. The relationships built and the authority earned don't pay off instantly, but when they do, they create an inbound machine that's difficult to replicate. Pro Tip: Chase also believes podcasting can be a great tool in staying top of mind for clients and being a better strategic partner. He even does bonus episodes with partners and has a separate newsletter for partners he sends once a month with news of what the agency has been up to (attending a conference, launching a new website, etc). It usually produces at least a few referrals. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training If you're one of the many owners concerned that AI will end the agency model, what are you doing to stay relevant? How are you building lasting relationships that help clients see your value beyond executing tasks? Artificial intelligence, automation, and enterprise-level change have everyone in the agency world wondering what's next. However, agencies have managed to stay relevant with past technological disruptions and the answer has always been: you need to adapt. Today's featured guest has scaled his business through seven iterations for over fourteen years by being willing to adapt to change, and the AI era is no exception. He'll unpack how agencies can stay relevant when technology, data, and client expectations are evolving faster than ever. He also talks about the importance of partnership-based client relationships and why soft skills (not just smart systems) are the real differentiator in the next decade. Ben Childs is the President of Digital Reach, a full-stack B2B marketing consultancy serving SaaS, cybersecurity, AI, and data-driven technology clients. With deep expertise in paid media, SEO, RevOps, and digital experience, Ben's team helps enterprise companies integrate their marketing, data, and operations to drive real revenue growth. Since launching in 2011, Digital Reach has evolved through multiple "versions" as it adapted to the changing marketing landscape, becoming one of the most respected players in modern B2B marketing. In this episode, we'll discuss: The soft skills edge that outperforms AI. Why you should start running toward the problem. The power of in-person connections in a remote-forward industry. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. How Agencies Can Stay Relevant in AI Revolution At a recent Ad Week event, Ben heard a fellow agency leader predict that all agencies would be "dead in two years" because of AI. Her point: enterprise companies are developing their own language models and internal data systems, cutting agencies out of the picture. Ben does admit this is true. However, his outlook is more optimistic, seeing several possible solutions. Should agencies be partnering with third-party data providers? Should they adjust their skill set? In his view, the need for strategic expertise and technical problem-solving won't disappear anytime soon. The agencies that thrive will be those who adapt to new tools while deepening their human value—helping clients navigate complexity, not just execute tasks. "The reality," Ben explains, "is that hiring people to help you solve hard problems isn't going away. Business is always changing, and that's a huge opportunity for agency owners willing to think and integrate, not panic." Why Soft Skills Outperform AI in the Agency World As agencies evolve, the differentiator isn't going to be who can use AI faster, it's who can understand and support people better. When it comes to enterprise clients, marketing execution has become table stakes. What truly sets a great agency apart is the ability to navigate organizational politics, manage internal friction, and act as a trusted advisor inside complex companies. "We're armchair psychologists half the time," he laughs. "Our clients know we're good at SEO or paid media. What they really need is someone who helps them get things approved, makes their life easier, and has their back when things get tough." Soft problems will never go away and, Ben argues, may even increase in value when the execution problems potentially become commoditized. Agencies that ignore human connection will lose, just like traditional firms that refused to go digital twenty years ago. In the end, the "people part" never goes out of style. Adapting Your Agency: Lessons from 7 Business Iterations Ben started Digital Reach in 2011 using his grandmother's dresser as a desk and charging $200 a month for Google Ads management. Since then, the agency has reinvented itself seven times—each evolution aligning to new markets, services, and technologies. From scrappy freelancer to B2B consultancy, Ben's philosophy has stayed the same: build, learn, and change before you're forced to. "We're on Digital Reach 7.0 in 14 years," he says. "We'll probably hit version 12.0 in the next ten. You can't just ride your old business idea into Valhalla. Some people will always be better at adapting, and that will never change." WhyPartnership (Not Performance) Determines Client Retention When agencies talk about "partnership," it often sounds like marketing fluff. But Ben explains that true partnership is built on trust and reliability, not just metrics. Most clients don't fire agencies because of poor performance; they leave because of broken trust, poor communication, or lack of understanding. "When clients say, 'You don't get our business,' that's when numbers start to matter," Ben explains. "If they can't trust you when things go wrong, you're done." Ben understands that helping clients solve internal problems like procurement delays or team politics can do more to build loyalty than a great campaign. Running toward the problem, taking ownership, and communicating transparently are the fastest ways to strengthen relationships that last across multiple companies. Build Client Trust Fast by Running Toward the Problem Other than delivering results and making your clients' lives easier, Ben believes another powerful way to build trust is not being afraid to admit your mistakes and being quick to fix them. Honesty builds staying power. When agencies take responsibility for missteps and present a clear plan for fixing them, clients respond with respect, not resentment. Do not avoid the problem. In fact, you should run towards the problem and face the situation head on. You'll get more benefit of the doubt from clients with this attitude. Ben's team once led a client call with bad news—the metrics were down. Instead of hiding it, they explained what went wrong, what they learned, and how they'd adjust. "The client was ready to run through a wall for us after that," he says. "They loved that we owned it." The Power of In-Person Connection in a Remote-Forward Industry As agencies lean more into remote work, Ben calls for agencies to make an effort to meet with clients in person: "In-person will always be in vogue." It'll help your clients understand who you are, rather than just staring at your picture on Zoom, and trying to form a true connection. He encourages owners to set a clear revenue threshold for when to invest in face-to-face meetings—whether that's a kickoff, annual review, or shared conference. When clients meet you over pizza and a drink, it transforms the relationship from vendor to partner. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Could our political past be prologue?   Yale Historian Samuel Moyn offers a progressive prescription for the future.    https://bit.ly/4ra5rgs

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is your agency growing fast but still running without the right structure or leadership team to sustain that growth? If too many people are reporting directly to you, it's a clear sign you've outgrown your current setup. But building that next layer of leadership isn't as simple as promoting your top performers. Without a clear strategy, those well-intentioned promotions can backfire, causing confusion, turnover, and setbacks that stall your agency's momentum. Today's featured guest learned that lesson firsthand. After experiencing a year of costly turnover caused by the wrong management moves, he came away with a better understanding of what real leadership development looks like. In this episode, he'll share what it takes to scale beyond seven figures, the mistakes that nearly derailed his agency's growth, and the key shifts that helped him build a stronger, more sustainable business. Brandon Rost is the founder and CEO of be Marketing, a Pennsylvania-based advertising agency that helps brands grow through creative, digital, and media strategies. Over the past decade and a half, Brandon has built his agency from a solo operation into a multi-million-dollar powerhouse by focusing on relationships, resourcefulness, and relentless problem-solving. He's proof that you don't need to have all the answers when you start, just the willingness to figure it out along the way. In this episode, we'll discuss: How to reinvest profits strategically to scale your agency sustainably. Why promoting top performers doesn't already create effective leaders. The KPI's and systems that improved profit and cash flow. The mindset shift that turns fast growth into longterm success. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Why Being Resourceful Is the Key to Building an Agency Brandon didn't plan on running an agency. At the time, he was managing social media for a corporate job and bartending on the side when a PR firm owner offered him a shot at managing her clients' social accounts. What started as ten small accounts quickly snowballed into a full-time business. Like most early-stage entrepreneurs, he had no idea what he was doing at first. He sent invoices in Word documents, figured out HR and finance on the fly, and said "yes" to every opportunity—then learned how to deliver later. It wasn't glamorous, but it worked. That resourcefulness became his superpower. As anyone who has grown a business can tell you, success comes from resourcefulness - not knowing everything. You don't have to know everything right now. Just figure it out and make it work. Scaling Up: Investing Every Dollar Back In the Agency For the first few years, Brandon kept bartending to cover his bills and put every dollar the agency made back into growth. That discipline gave him the runway to build a real company without debt or short-term panic. He hired his first part-time employee within a year, went full-time around year two, and hit seven figures by year four in 2014. However, crossing the million-dollar mark didn't come with confetti and fireworks. It came with more responsibility, more moving parts, and a steeper learning curve. "Everyone thinks hitting a million feels different," Brandon said. "It doesn't. It just brings on more work." Instead of waiting for that milestone to magically change things, focus on building the right foundation so the business can continue to grow without you doing everything. Make it a point to continue to delegate part of that workload every quarter, and after a couple of years, you'll find you've gotten your freedom back. Learning to Lead and Let Go: Building a Leadership Team Brandon learned the hard way that leading people requires a completely different skill set than landing clients. As the agency grew, he at one point had seventeen people reporting to him and eventually realized it just wasn't sustainable. It was the right moment to create different positions that would oversee different departments. However, his strategy was flawed at first; "We elevated people just to elevate them," he said. "And it set us back a year." He never stopped to ask whether or not those employees were ready or even suited for management roles. As a result, they dealt with a year of turnover followed by slowly getting back on track. The lesson for Brandon was: put the right people in the right seats, and don't assume your best technician wants to—or should—manage others. Leadership isn't a promotion; it's a whole new role. Knowing Your Numbers and Turning Chaos Into Profitability Once the business hit its stride, Brandon turned his focus to profitability. He shared how the agency once got caught in a dangerous cash flow loop of collecting Google ad payments for clients and effectively becoming a bank instead of a marketing firm. After untangling that, his team started tracking key KPIs more closely: AGI (Agency Gross Income) in the 55–60% range Net profit around 10–12% Payroll around 33% of AGI By simplifying operations and separating client media costs from agency revenue, they stabilized cash flow and built a healthier margin. Simply put, what you measure improves and, for Brandon, that meant finally treating the numbers as a steering wheel instead of a rearview mirror. Sales: The Last Most Agency Owners Are Ready to Hang Up Even after 15 years, Brandon still handles most of the sales himself. It's something he admits he should've delegated earlier, but building a sales team isn't as easy as hiring a "radio guy" and hoping they sell. After two failed attempts, Brandon realized the problem wasn't the salespeople but rather the lack of systems. Now, the new plan is to support the team with brand marketing, create a "sales tackle box" full of proven client stories, and build repeatable processes for outreach, follow-up, and closing. You'll always be the best salesperson until you document what's in your head. With the right structure and stories in place, a sales team can finally scale what made the founder successful in the first place. What Scaling Fast Taught Him About Patience and Culture Looking back, Brandon said the biggest surprise was how much patience real growth takes—and how easy it is to lose sight of culture while scaling fast. Whether it was figuring out HR policies, managing team dynamics, or setting boundaries for office events, every new level came with a new layer of learning. He now focuses on balance: growing deliberately, empowering leaders, and making sure the culture that got them here doesn't get lost along the way. "We've learned to grow smarter, not faster," he said. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Summary: In this episode, Dr. Scott Jensen discusses the importance of health freedom, the role of government in health decisions, and the impact of media on public perception. He emphasizes the need for informed consent, the dangers of fluoride in water, and the significance of small-scale farming for food security. Jensen also addresses the implications of liability shields for corporations and the need for transparency in health discussions, including weather modification. His campaign for governor of Minnesota focuses on restoring safety, opportunity, and values, with a strong commitment to health freedom as a fundamental right. Takeaways: Trust should be placed in the constitution, not the government. Health freedom reflects the status of individual liberties. Fluoride in water is a controversial public health issue. Media manipulation affects public perception of health issues. Deregulating small-scale farming can enhance food security. Liability shields for corporations can undermine accountability. Weather modification raises significant public health concerns. Resources Mentioned: Support Dr Scott Jensen for Minnesota Governor Are you registered to vote for the midterm elections? If you don't know, go to Stand for Health Freedom's election page and register now! (scroll to the bottom to find out) Reclaim Vitality, PRE-ORDER NOW ON AMAZON! One Dream on Instagram: @onedream.podcast — DM us your detox questions Follow The One Dream Podcast:

Michael Berry serves up a cocktail of chaos—hazing rituals, liability paranoia, and lawyers who make more money than oil tycoons. Then, the gloves come off in a country music showdown. Who’s got the voice that stops you mid-beer sip?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training How do you ensure the highest possible retention levels at your agency? What reasons do you give employees to stay and develop their careers at your agency? Today's featured guest hires fresh talent right out of college. People his team can train into the sort of workers who grow with the agency. However, young talent tends to be ambitious and likely to move on quickly to the next opportunity. To boost retention, he has created a growth path for employees that are a right fit with the agency. He'll break down how he's learned to hire intentionally and build a culture that grows people as fast as profits. McKay Salisbury is the founder and CEO of FiveStar Commerce, an eCommerce agency based in Orem, Utah. His team manages Amazon, Walmart, and Target Plus accounts for over 450 brands annually. What started as a freelancing side hustle on Upwork has grown into a full-service agency focused on team development, in-person collaboration, and steady internal promotion. In this episode, we'll discuss: How to hire and retain young talent in a competitive market. Why in-person culture drives faster growth and better retention. The career path strategy that turns entry-level hires into future leaders. How to build systems that grow people as fast as profits. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Growing his Freelancer Gigs to a Thriving Amazon Agency McKay's journey began while working at a small Amazon marketing firm, when he started freelancing on Upwork to make a little extra money. Within six months, his freelance income reached half of his salary, and he decided to go all in. Moving into his sister's basement, McKay began full-time freelancing, which quickly evolved into his own agency. Within the first month after quitting his job, he was already matching his old salary. McKay's early days were lean, but the momentum from focusing entirely on client work set the foundation for future growth. Hiring Early and Building Support Systems McKay's first hire came just a month into freelancing full-time. It was a part-time assistant he had previously worked with. That decision to delegate quickly accelerated FiveStar Commerce's capacity. Within five months, he added his first full-time project manager and opened a physical office. Unlike many agency owners who chase remote freedom, McKay found that in-person collaboration gave him structure, focus, and culture. For him, separation between work and home drives productivity. Just like he had learned in college, where studying at the library helped him focus, McKay found it much easier to create great work and culture working in-person. The physical office became the heartbeat of FiveStar Commerce's growth, helping employees feel part of something bigger and creating accountability that can be hard to replicate remotely. Why In-Person Work Still Wins for Training and Culture When it came time to really build his team beyond just a few employees, McKay found it was either difficult or expensive to find the right talent with experience in his particular niche. It wasn't an option for an agency just starting out, so he leaned on investing time on training young talent. It made sense cost wise, and location wise, given they are near two large universities, which provided a supply of fresh talent eager to learn. To make this approach work, the agency had to adapt its environment to support constant learning. A central part of this is their in-person operations, since McKay noticed that even the smallest physical arrangements, like which direction desks faced, could impact how quickly new hires learned and that having trainers nearby reduced hesitation and built confidence. He also observed that remote employees tended to "float away" after 6–12 months. While remote setups can work for certain roles, McKay found that building culture, energy, and loyalty thrive best face-to-face. This philosophy shaped his agency's identity and helped retain young, ambitious team members eager for mentorship. Designing Career Paths that Retain Talent Beyond intentional training, this strategy worked because he paired it with a clear path for career progression. Every employee starts as a generalist learning all aspects of Amazon management, from ads to design to optimization. After 6–12 months, they move into project management roles, and the top performers advance to senior project manager positions. Each promotion comes with a pay increases - typically around $10,000 per year - which keeps employees motivated and invested in long-term growth. This proved to be a great way to increase retention, which is one of the biggest challenges for growing agencies. As McKay puts it, "If you're not giving people a reason to grow, LinkedIn will." Personality Over Experience: Hiring for Potential When hiring fresh graduates, how can you gauge whether or not they'll be a good fit in the long run? McKay looks for personality traits that predict leadership potential—confidence, communication skills, and curiosity. The interview process focuses on how candidates carry themselves, not just what's on their resume. Those who communicate clearly and think proactively tend to rise fastest. This approach ensures that every new hire is a potential project manager within a year or two. McKay views entry-level roles not as long-term positions but as training grounds for leadership. By prioritizing culture fit and growth mindset, he's been able to maintain consistent quality while scaling quickly. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Caleb speaks with George Urvari of Knowledge Tree Consulting and Oriole Landscape. Urvari discusses his forty-year career in the green industry, starting Oriole Landscaping in college and growing it into a $10 million maintenance-focused business by hiring people better than him and focusing on organizational processes. A significant portion of the conversation addresses Urvari's role as a consultant through Knowledge Tree, where he employs a blunt, truth-focused approach based on psychological profiling to help clients improve their businesses, often by quickly identifying and addressing team members who are liabilities rather than assets. Urvari emphasizes the importance of loyalty, strategic thinking, and a data-driven methodology to achieve rapid, sustained business improvement. Connect with George: https://knowledgetreeconsulting.com/ george@ktc.biz  Important Links: Auman Landscape on YouTube Primed For Growth www.companycam/kcpodcast Company Cam- 50% for 2 months! Linktree/AumanLandscape @aumanlandscapellc www.CycleCPA.com  Use code: Auman and save $200 when signing up. LMN Software Save on onboarding! Code: AUMAN