Podcasts about nooks

Thomas' English Muffins are so famous for their nooks and crannies that the recipe that produces those iconic features is a closely guarded trade secret. Only a select group of people know it, and as you'll hear in this week's show, when one of those people took a job at a competitor, all hell broke loose. This story comes from our friends at Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell's excellent podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. In this episode, the show's senior producer Ben Naddaff-Hafrey examines the beloved Thomas' English Muffin.This is part one of the story -- head to the Revisionist History feed to hear part two, in which Ben attempts to reverse engineer the coveted Thomas' recipe.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, host Chad Burmeister engages with Jeff and David Bush, leaders at BDR.ai, to explore the transformative impact of AI on sales and customer experience. They discuss the rapid evolution of AI technologies, the importance of leveraging platforms like LinkedIn for business development, and the balance between automation and personal touch in sales interactions. The conversation also delves into ethical considerations surrounding AI deployment in the workforce, emphasizing the need for transparency and adaptation in a changing landscape. Takeaways AI is rapidly transforming the customer experience and sales processes. The importance of simplifying AI concepts for clients to enhance understanding. AI can significantly increase lead generation and communication efficiency. LinkedIn remains a powerful tool for B2B sales and prospecting. Persistence and consistency in sales outreach are crucial for success. AI can automate repetitive tasks, allowing salespeople to focus on high-value activities. The integration of personal touch in AI interactions can enhance customer engagement. Ethical considerations in AI deployment are becoming increasingly important. AI tools can provide better responses than some human sales teams. The future of sales will heavily rely on the effective use of AI technologies. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI for Sales and the Bush Brothers 01:12 Transforming Customer Experience with AI 04:20 AI in Lead Generation and Communication 08:58 Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Development 13:06 Balancing AI Automation with Personal Touch 21:04 Ethical Considerations in AI DeploymentProudly brought to you by Nooks.ai and BDR.ai, we share proven strategies and cutting-edge technologies that enable sales teams to dramatically accelerate outcomes. Learn how to leverage AI, automation, and conversational intelligence to 5X, 10X, or even 100X your impact. The future of sales is here—let's build it together.

  Wow, did you know that the secret to Nooks' sales success is a surprising ratio of BDRs to AEs? They're breaking the mold and it's paying off big time. But how are they doing it? Find out in this podcast episode and prepare to be amazed. Stay tuned for the unexpected twist that's revolutionizing their sales strategy. Want to transform your outbound sales game and see genuine connections with prospects? Discover the solution that will boost your productivity and help you achieve these results. Let's dive in and revolutionize your outbound sales strategies. AI and Human Touch: The New Sales Edge Hannah Willson, CRO at Nooks, reveals how blending advanced AI tools with genuine human engagement is transforming outbound sales. By leveraging intent signals and AI-driven prospecting while maintaining authentic connections, sales teams can build stronger pipelines and accelerate growth. This is Hannah Willson's story, this week's special guest: Hannah Willson's introduction to the world of leveraging AI in outbound sales strategies stemmed from her role as the CRO at Nooks. It was her hands-on experience in coaching sales teams and her deep understanding of the challenges in pipeline development that propelled her towards exploring modern shifts in sales tactics. Witnessing the evolution of intent signals and the potential of AI-driven approaches, Hannah recognized the immense impact of integrating advanced technology with human-to-human engagement in sales. This realization kindled her commitment to embracing innovative sales techniques, positioning her as a trailblazer in navigating the dynamic sales landscape. Hannah's journey serves as an inspiring example for sales leaders, encouraging them to adapt and thrive in the ever-evolving sales domain through strategic utilization of AI and cutting-edge sales methodologies. Sales is changing so much right now. We have technology that we never had before. It's the organizations that are really leveraging that technology and still leveraging the human element that are the ones that are really accelerating over others. - Hannah Willson About Hannah Willson Hannah Willson, the Chief Revenue Officer at Nooks, boasts an impressive 20-year sales career, with a decade at a major publicly traded company and another decade at startups in the Bay Area. Her current role sees her driving outbound sales strategies using Nooks' comprehensive AI platform, including parallel dialers, AI bots for sales coaching, and AI prospector tools for automated list building and research. With her transition from being a long-time customer to now leading Nooks' sales team, Hannah brings a unique blend of firsthand experience and strategic leadership to the table. Her expertise in modern pipeline development and the fusion of technology and human touch in sales makes her a sought-after voice in the outbound sales landscape. In this episode, you will be able to: Master AI for outbound sales in order to revolutionize your approach and skyrocket your results. Cultivate a thriving calling culture that can transform your sales team's performance and boost morale. Embrace the human element in modern sales, a key to forming genuine connections and closing more deals. Harness intent signals for pipeline development that can supercharge your lead generation efforts and drive conversions. Unveil social selling best practices for B2B sales that can unlock new opportunities and expand your client base.   The key moments in this episode are: 00:00:00 - Challenges in Pipeline Development 00:03:16 - Hannah's Background and Nooks 00:05:10 - Hannah's Athletic Experience 00:07:21 - Shifts in Modern Pipeline Development 00:12:29 - Building a Calling Culture 00:13:34 - Importance of Building a Calling Culture in Sales Teams 00:15:34 - Importance of Sales Channels and BDRs 00:17:22 - Human-to-Human Engagement in Sales 00:18:22 - The Future of Sales and AI 00:21:55 - Evolution of Intent Signals and AI-Driven Approach 00:26:05 - Importance of Preparation for Sales Calls 00:26:56 - Addressing Pipeline Development Issues 00:28:53 - Leveraging LinkedIn for Pipeline Development 00:32:33 - Social Engagement Challenges and Solutions 00:38:12 - Reimagining SDR-to-AE Ratio 00:39:02 - Importance of Hiring the Right Model 00:39:53 - Connecting with Hannah 00:41:03 - Favorite Movie and Personal Insight 00:41:44 - Podcast Closing and Call to Action Timestamped summary of this episode: 00:00:00 - Challenges in Pipeline Development Hannah discusses the difficulties in modern pipeline development, emphasizing the changing landscape and the need for organizations to leverage technology and the human element to accelerate their pipeline building efforts. 00:03:16 - Hannah's Background and Nooks Hannah shares her sales background and her recent role as CRO at Nooks, a comprehensive AI platform for outbound sales. She highlights Nooks' capabilities and her personal experience as a customer before joining the company. 00:05:10 - Hannah's Athletic Experience Hannah reveals her collegiate swimming experience and draws parallels between swimming and sales, emphasizing the importance of repetition, practice, and continuous improvement in both disciplines. 00:07:21 - Shifts in Modern Pipeline Development Hannah discusses the evolving strategies in modern pipeline development, highlighting the ineffectiveness of traditional methods and the increasing reliance on technology. She emphasizes the importance of leveraging technology while still maintaining the human element in sales efforts. 00:12:29 - Building a Calling Culture Hannah addresses the challenges of building a calling culture within sales organizations, emphasizing the time-consuming nature of cold calling and the reluctance of reps. She highlights the benefits of technology in simplifying the cold calling process and the importance of setting a productive and efficient calling culture. 00:13:34 - Importance of Building a Calling Culture in Sales Teams Hannah reflects on the fun and camaraderie of sales teams in the past and emphasizes the need to continue fostering a positive and engaging work environment, especially with remote teams. 00:15:34 - Importance of Sales Channels and BDRs Hannah discusses the importance of utilizing multiple sales channels and the role of BDRs in self-sourcing deals. She emphasizes the need for a combination of different channels based on the organization and buyer preferences. 00:17:22 - Human-to-Human Engagement in Sales The discussion delves into the significance of real human-to-human engagement in sales, particularly at events, through cold calls, and on social media. The emphasis is on genuine connections and meaningful interactions. 00:18:22 - The Future of Sales and AI Hannah highlights the importance of human-assisted AI in the sales process, where technology assists in gathering data and providing suggestions, but the human touch remains essential for meaningful engagement. 00:21:55 - Evolution of Intent Signals and AI-Driven Approach The conversation delves into the shift from old-school intent models to modern AI-driven approaches, emphasizing the depth and richness of intent signals and their impact on generating high-quality pipeline for sales teams. 00:26:05 - Importance of Preparation for Sales Calls Preparation is key before a discovery call or cold call to prevent hang-ups. Having all information in one place helps customize emails and improve engagement. 00:26:56 - Addressing Pipeline Development Issues New CROs should prioritize pipeline assessment. Looking at inbound and outbound segments helps identify and fix pipeline issues. 00:28:53 - Leveraging LinkedIn for Pipeline Development Consistent LinkedIn engagement and authentic, personalized posts from SDRs and customers can drive inbound leads and improve sales engagement. 00:32:33 - Social Engagement Challenges and Solutions Many reps struggle with posting and commenting on social media. AI tools like Flypost help streamline content creation and humanize engagement with prospects. 00:38:12 - Reimagining SDR-to-AE Ratio Nooks has a unique SDR-to-AE ratio based on pipeline generation and conversion rates, challenging traditional ratio-based structures. Tailoring team size to pipeline economics has been successful for Nooks. 00:39:02 - Importance of Hiring the Right Model Hannah discusses the importance of hiring the right model for their organization and how they constantly monitor and replicate successful models. They focus on investing in SDR organization to make them more productive using technology. 00:39:53 - Connecting with Hannah Mario asks Hannah the best way to connect with her. She suggests reaching out to her on LinkedIn and emphasizes the importance of a personalized connection request referencing the podcast. 00:41:03 - Favorite Movie and Personal Insight Hannah shares her all-time favorite movie, Elf, and how it always makes her laugh. Mario highlights the importance of mentioning Elf when reaching out to Hannah, providing a personal touch in sales interactions. 00:41:44 - Podcast Closing and Call to Action Mario thanks the audience for listening and encourages them to leave a 5-star rating and review for the podcast. He also promotes the use of FlyMSG to increase productivity. Reimagining Team Structure for Results Nooks challenges traditional sales models with a unique SDR-to-AE ratio, tailoring team size based on pipeline generation and conversion rates. This innovative approach, combined with a focus on hiring the right talent and investing in productivity tools, has fueled their sales success. Building a Winning Sales Culture The episode emphasizes the importance of cultivating a vibrant calling culture and using multiple sales channels. Consistent preparation, personalized outreach, and embracing technology like AI-driven coaching and content tools empower teams to create genuine connections and drive better results. The resources mentioned in this episode are: Connect with Hannah Willson on LinkedIn and mention specific insights from the Modern Selling podcast to start a meaningful conversation. Download FlyMSG at flymsg.io to save 20 hours or more in a month and increase productivity with a free text expander and personal writing assistant. Give the Modern Selling Podcast a five-star rating and review on iTunes to show support and help others discover the valuable content. Reach out to Nooks for more information on their comprehensive AI platform for outbound-related activities, such as parallel dialer, AI bots for coaching, and AI prospector tool for automated list building and research. Watch the movie Elf for a good laugh and a fun time. Enjoy unlimited access until May 30th     Enjoy unlimited access until May 30th     Enjoy unlimited access until May 30th  

In this week's episode, we take a look at the major self-publishing platforms that I use, and examine the pros and cons of each. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Doom of the Sorceress, Book #8 in the Dragonskull series, (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store: DOOM50 The coupon code is valid through June 24, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this summer, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 253 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 30th, 2025, and today we are looking at the current major self-publishing platforms and what they offer indie authors. Before we get to our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing projects.   So let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Doom of the Sorceress (book number eight in the Dragonskull series, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That code is DOOM50. And as always, we will have the coupon code and the links to the store in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through June 24th, 2025. So if you are setting out on summer travels this summer and you need an audiobook to listen to while you're in the car or plane, we have got you covered. So now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. Ghost in the Corruption (as I mentioned last week) is now out and available at all the ebook stores: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and Payhip. It is selling well. So thank you all for that. Now that Ghost in the Corruption is finished, what am I working on next? Well, back in 2023, I finished the Dragonskull and The Silent Order series back to back, so I declared Summer 2023 to be my Summer of Finishing Things. Well, it looks like Summer 2025 is going to be the Super Summer of Finishing Things because I intend to finish three series back to back.   First up is Shield of Power, the sixth and final book of The Shield War series. As of this publishing, I am 26,000 words into it, which puts me on Chapter 6 of 29. So I think it's going to end up being around 100,000-110,000 words long, and I am hoping it will be out in June, though it might slip to July depending on how things go. Once that is done, the next one up will be Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest, which will be the third and very definitely final book of the Stealth and Spells Online trilogy. Believe it or not, I have been working on Final Quest on the side for so long that I passed the 100,000 word mark in that book this week. In fact, it's been a side project for so long that I don't remember how long I've been working on it, and I had to look up the metadata to check that I indeed started chipping away on it on October 18th, 2024. So I am very pleased that I'm nearly done with the rough draft and because of that reason, if all goes well, it'll come out very quickly after Shield of Power, since I think the rough draft will end up at about 125,000 to 130,000 words or in that neighborhood. Once Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest is finished, I will then write Ghost in the Siege, which will be the sixth and final book of the Ghost Armor series. I am 1,500 words into that and hoping for that to come out in August or September, if all goes well. Once The Shield War, Stealth and Spells Online, and Ghost Armor are finished, I will finally be free to return to the Rivah and Nadia series. I realized that through all of 2024 and the first half of 2025, I had five unfinished series at the same time, and that was just too much for me to keep track of as a writer, and I think it may have been too much for the readers because it was too much of a wait between the different series as I worked my way through them. So five series at the same time is too much, so hence the Super Summer of Finishing Things. Going forward, I've decided that three unfinished series at the same time will be my maximum, which after the Super Summer of Finishing Things will be Cloak Mage, Half-Elven Thief, and a new epic fantasy series that I will set in the realm of Owyllain.   In audiobook news, Brad Wills started working on Shield of Battle this week and Hollis McCarthy started working on Ghost in the Corruption, so hopefully before probably about July or thereabouts, we will have those audiobooks available for you to listen to. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:03:49 Main Topic of the Week: Self-Publishing Platforms for Ebooks [Note: Information in this Episode is Very Likely to Change]   So now let's move on to our main topic for the week, which is the main self-publishing platforms for ebooks. Today we will do a brief overview of the self-publishing platforms I currently use: Amazon/KDP, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and Draft2Digital/Smashwords. The reason I wanted to do this is because there are many scammy platforms for self-publishing out there, but fortunately there are also many legitimate ones. Today we'll compare several of the most popular ones for ebooks. Just to make things easier for comparison, we'll be using the term platform to discuss both retailers and aggregators and we're not going to talk about options for self-publishing print or audio formats today. We're going to focus solely on ebooks.   First of all, what should you look for in a publishing platform? The first thing is to make sure you retain complete ownership of your content in all formats. Some of these scammer ones try to claim all rights to anything you try to post or sell through them, so that is definitely a red flag to watch out for. Make sure that you understand any exclusivity requirements of any programs that you sign up for such as KDP Select, such as if other formats like audio are also included in their requirements, how long exclusivity lasts, et cetera. If the platform requires exclusivity, that is definitely something to pay attention to. Make sure you do your research carefully to understand how pricing, royalties, and payments work on each individual platform. Sometimes some of them will pay quarterly, some of them pay monthly, and some of them pay you last month's royalties at the end of the month. Some of them like Amazon run like two months behind.   Finally, and this is a big one, you should not have to pay any money in order to upload your work. If they are asking for money upfront, it is probably a scam. Now, there are some aggregators that don't take a percentage and instead charge you a yearly fee. I'm not talking about them in this podcast episode because I don't use them, but they are out there. One example would be Book Funnel, which does charge a yearly fee for you to use but provides a valuable service in being a backend for running your own store on like Payhip or Shopify, and there's a couple of other useful services in that way, but they're not a storefront and they don't take a percentage of any royalties. They just charge a yearly fee. So they're not the topic with this episode.   All the platforms I've talked about today do not have any fees in order to upload. Reputable sites like Amazon or Kobo will instead take a percentage of each book's sale. It's also good to have a few realistic expectations before you start using self-publishing platforms, and one of them is that the platform is not a marketer. For example, many people complain that KDP doesn't showcase their books and they get lost in the millions of books available. However, none of these services are promising that you'll make the front page of their site just by publishing there. It's a common delusion among new indie authors that when you publish your first book, that's all you have to do and people will flock to it. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.   In fact, since Amazon makes a small fortune off book ads, it's not in their interest to give away screen space for free, and this isn't to knock on Amazon, that's just the way the retail industry works. For example, if you go into a Target or a Walmart or another big box retailer, note the products that are prominently displayed on the aisle displays or the endcaps of the aisles. They didn't just get there randomly. The manufacturers of those products paid big money to Amazon and Target and Walmart and the other big box retailers to have their products featured there. In many cases, online commerce is no different.   Getting your book uploaded onto a platform is just the first step. Promoting and marketing the book is up to you and strategies for those will vary based on which ones you choose to use. For example, if you choose to make your work exclusive to just one platform, it's not a good idea to run Facebook ads in countries where that platform either doesn't exist or where it's not terribly popular. Today we're going to be just focusing on comparing the platforms, not how to best to market from them. So what are the options?   #1: First up is the most common platform people use and it's the 800 pound gorilla in the self-publishing space, and that is Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. And what are the pros and cons of KDP?   Pro: They are the biggest force in ebook publishing in many countries, including the United States. Some authors find that as much as 80 to 95% of their ebook sales come from Amazon, even if they are not exclusive with Amazon. For myself, it's usually about 50 to 60% of my sales on any given month are from Amazon and the rest come from the other retailers.   Heavy readers are generally very familiar with the Kindle Store interface and Library setup, and many readers are kind of locked into Amazon because they own Kindle devices, subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, and have large Kindle Libraries. So those are all the pros of publishing with KDP.   Cons: If you're expecting a large portion of your sales to come from the print version of your book or if print sales are very important to you, be aware that many bookstores and libraries either can't or won't buy print books from Amazon, so you should find an additional platform for the print version such as Ingram Spark or maybe Barnes & Noble's print division. One big concern about going exclusive with Amazon is that you're losing readers who don't have Kindle books in their countries, people who are boycotting Amazon for a variety of reasons, people who are locked into another platform such as Apple or Kobo, or people who want to self-archive their ebooks since Amazon doesn't allow that anymore. If you're already wide, you'll have to look carefully at what percentage of your sales are non-Amazon and if this percentage is an amount you'd be comfortable risking losing in order to be exclusive. Occasionally authors do complain about the customer service available to KDP, especially if it's urgent. For myself, I've not personally had any huge problems with KDP customer service. That said, I think you should expect a lead time of about one to two business days on anything you ask because I usually go through the email form.   Does KDP offer a subscription service? Yes. Kindle Unlimited (KU) readers pay a set amount and can read an unlimited number of books each month, although they're limited as to how many they can have in their library at any one time. Promotions happen regularly, usually based around big sales like Prime Day, and it can make a subscription as cheap as $0.99 for a three month period. Some also receive free subscriptions by buying certain Amazon products such as a new Kindle or Kindle Fire.   The downside of being in Kindle Unlimited is the exclusivity. You can't be in KU without being exclusive with Amazon, or at least the specific book in question has to be exclusive. Not all of your books have to be exclusive, and many authors such as myself will usually put one series in KU and then make sure everything else is wide. You must agree to be exclusive with them for ninety days and that time period is renewable.   What does KDP pay in terms of royalty? For $2.99 to $9.99, they give you 70% of the sale price. Under $2.99 and above $9.99, it's 35%. So that is sort of an encouragement from Amazon to price your ebooks in the $2.99 to $9.99 range. Currently I price new novels at $4.99 and do short stories at $0.99 cents.   What do I do? I have all of my titles available through KDP. I have a smaller portion of my collection exclusive through KDP Select/KU, and I have only recently increased that amount of Select titles due to the economic downturn. I suspect that KU users are likely to hold onto their subscriptions while cutting other expenses because honestly, KU is a pretty good deal for readers and the monthly subscription costs is about the same as one tradpub frontlist ebook, but with a KU subscription, they could read thousands of books for the same price. The value of KU is really very strong for frequent romance, LitRPG, science fiction, and fantasy readers. There's a strong population in the KU subscriber base often referred to as binge readers. They care more about variety, discovering new books, and the ability to read a lot over the ability to read specific authors or stories.   So overall, I think if you are self-publishing and even if you don't like Amazon very much or don't plan to go exclusive, it's still in your best interest to publish your ebook with them, even if you are wide and intend to do all the other retailers just because Amazon really is the biggest ebook platform out there at the moment. #2: Now, the next self-publishing platform we're going to look at is Barnes & Noble Press, which as the name implies, belongs to Barnes & Noble. The Pros: some people are never, ever going to let go of their Nooks or they already have a large personal ebook library through the Nook so they feel locked into that platform. These readers are the majority of people buying ebooks through Barnes & Noble, but fortunately that group tends to read a lot. There's also a lot of trust in Barnes & Noble as a brand, and that inspires people to continue buying from them.   In fact, for a while in the indie author space at the end of the 2010s and the start of the 2020s, it was a regular prediction that Barnes & Noble was going to go out of business soon, but then the company was bought by a private equity firm, and while private equity firms often have a deserved bad reputation for stripping a company of assets and then selling it off at a bargain basement price (such as the fate of Red Lobster), that does not seem to be the case of what happened with Barnes & Noble and the company really has been strengthening in recent years. So they may be here to stay for a while.   The downsides of publishing with Barnes & Noble Press is that Barnes & Noble is relatively a minor player in the ebook market, though usually in the top four of most indie author ebook sales if they're wide. They have shifted their focus to selling print books instead of Nook devices, especially in the retail space.   Do they offer a subscription service? They do not. However, nothing about Barnes & Noble requires exclusivity, which is nice, and the royalty structure is pretty good. It's 70% over all titles over $0.99. So if you want, you could price your ebook at $0.99 or $19.99 and still make 70%, which you couldn't do with those prices on Amazon.     #3: The next self-publishing platform we'll look at is Kobo Writing Life, which is the ebook platform to publish on Kobo, which is owned by Rakuten. Pros: Kobo is strong in the international market and will help you to reach readers in many countries. Based on my sales data, in Canada and Australia, Kobo is significantly bigger than Amazon for ebook sales. Kobo has also had a surge of recent media attention in the US as people seek out alternatives to Amazon and Kindle devices.   The Con of Kobo, and this is a fairly small one, is that their US market share is still fairly small compared to Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some of the others. But as I mentioned, they're a lot stronger in Canada and Australia, and they do reach a lot of different countries, more than Amazon does.   Does Kobo have a subscription service? Yes, Kobo Plus. Kobo Plus is significantly less expensive than Kindle Unlimited, and there's an additional tier that allows you to add audiobook content to the plan. The library isn't quite as extensive as KU though, though. I should note that in the years since Kobo has been introduced, I'd say about half of my revenue from Kobo (sometimes 60% of my revenue from Kobo) comes from Kobo Plus and not from direct ebook sales. So it's getting to the point where the majority of their ebook revenue I suspect, is coming from Kobo Plus and not direct Kobo sales.   Do they require exclusivity? No, which is another strong selling point for Kobo Plus. For their royalty structure, ebooks over $2.99, you get 70% and any books over below $2.99, you get 45%, which is a more generous term than Amazon in terms of the royalty rate for below $2.99 and above $9.99.   So what do I do? I currently use it as one of the platforms for my ebooks. It's been a pretty strong seller for me consistently over the years, and every Kobo book that I have is also available in Kobo Plus, which probably explains the revenue split I was talking about earlier. #4: The next platform we'll look at is Draft2Digital/Smashwords, which we'll do as one because Draft2Digital and Smashwords are in the process of merging. Draft2Digital is technically what's called an aggregator, where you upload your book and then they can publish on a variety of different platforms for you, and in exchange, they take a small cut of the sales. Draft2Digital is, in my opinion, probably the most effective way to get your ebooks through Apple and Smashwords. Apple does have its own direct uploading service, but I've never used it because there are a bit too many hoops to jump through.   Draft2Digital does, as I mentioned, have a way to publish on multiple storefronts at once while managing uploads and sales reporting through just one interface. They're not a storefront in and of themselves, although since Draft2Digital does own Smashwords, Smashwords essentially acts as their storefront for them. Although Draft2Digital lists Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble as an option, most authors will upload to these sites separately, and in fact, that's what I do for myself.   The Pros of Draft2Digital is that it's a definite time savings using Draft2Digital to publish across multiple platforms, especially with platforms like Apple that are more difficult or time consuming to learn. This is also a convenient way to make your work accessible to library platforms like Overdrive/Libby, Hoopla, and Bibliotheca, if that is important to you. Library sales have never been a huge priority of mine, but I've never been opposed to them either, so I usually just flip those switches on and then don't think about it again.   The Cons for Draft2Digital are that there was a period after the Smashwords migration where they received complaints about customer service and difficulty in setting up tax information, though I think that is mostly ironed out now.   One potential hazard for Draft2Digital with a very specific subset of writers is that if you are a writer of, shall we say, very hard erotica, the sort that ends up in very restricted categories on most stores, you will probably have trouble publishing through Draft2Digital. This is not, however, a problem that's unique to Draft2Digital. Amazon has what is called the “erotica dungeon”, where if you publish certain kinds of, like we said, very harsh erotica, your book isn't searchable on the Amazon store. You can link to it directly, but it will never show up on any search results. Kobo in particular has had problems with erotica.   Back in the 2010s, Kobo was also distributing ebooks to some British retailers, and these British retailers suddenly got upset when they noticed that these kinds of hard erotica were showing up on their store pages, which was not a good look for the company. And so there was a kerfuffle until that was all sorted out. My frank opinion with that is if you are writing these kinds of erotica, the big stores and Draft2Digital will never be on your side, and so you are better off pursuing a sort of a Patreon/running your own store on Shopify or Payhip strategy, but that is a bit of a digression.   So in terms of royalties, Draft2Digital takes 10% of the book's retail price per copy sold, which is in addition to whatever amount is taken by the specific storefront. So you are paying a bit of money in exchange for convenience for just uploading your book to Draft2Digital and having it push out the book to all the different stores for you.   What I do is I use Draft2Digital for Apple mainly because for a while I was using Smashwords, but Smashwords in the 2010s was a bit more persnickety than is now, and you needed to prepare a specially formatted doc file to publish on Smashwords and sometimes getting it through the Smashwords processing onto Apple was a bit of a pain. Draft2Digital took epub files, which are much easier to work with, and after a while I switched over all my Apple publishing to Draft2Digital entirely. So that's why I use Draft2Digital for Apple and for various library services that tend to be a minor amount of sales. Because of the difficulties on publishing direct to Apple, I do find that that 10% is good trade off in terms of selling books on Apple for me.   #5: Now onto Google Play's ebook self-publishing platform, which is, I think its full name is the Google Books Partner Center, which lets you publish books to the Google Play Store for sale on Android devices.   The Pros are that for writers interested in the international market, Google Play is another strong choice for a platform since the international mobile device market is very Android heavy. The iPhone (Apple) tends to be concentrated mainly in the US and a few of the wealthier countries like the UK and Canada, but Android has a much more international reach in general than the iPhone. Google Play also has some interesting promotional options for ebooks, such as offering the buyer a chance to subscribe to a specific series.   The cons are that some authors report that their sales reporting doesn't always consistently generate reports, and others are annoyed that it only generates a CSV file, (which isn't that much of a hardship for people who are familiar with Excel).   For myself, I found that there is a bit of a reporting lag on Google Play where it will sometimes take as long as five or six days for sales to show up on the dashboard, though usually it's only a delay of two days, though sometimes during the month you'll get these bigger lags and sometimes processing new material on the Google Play Store can be slow, and it can sometimes take two to three days for things to appear, though it usually gets worked out in the end. Does Google Play have a subscription service? It does not, nor does it require exclusivity, which is another point in its favor. And the royalties, the data is quite nice here. It is 70% for all price points in the countries listed on their support page, which only excludes a handful of countries like India, South Korea, and Japan (because of currency conversion regions or other local laws).   So those are the ebook publishing platforms that I currently use, and because I use them myself, I would recommend them. Hopefully that is helpful to you as you are looking for places to self-publish your book as you set out to become an indie author.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the backup episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

Brendan Baars is a boulderer from Grand Rapids, MI, who has spent the past seven years developing a new bouldering area called The Nooks in Ontario, Canada. We talked about what a day of developing looks like, his go-to gear, how his big toe saved his life, the untapped potential in Canada, the reward of establishing and sharing new climbs, undone projects, the logistics of visiting The Nooks, his upcoming film The Developer, and much more.Mad Rock:madrock.comUse code “NUGGET10” at checkout for 10% off your next order.Rúngne:rungne.info/nuggetUse code “NUGGET” for 10% off storewide, and use code “SHIPPINGNUGGETS” for free shipping.Arc'teryx:Women's climbing clothingMen's climbing clothingCheck out the NEW Kragg Collection.The GRINDS Program:thenuggetclimbing.comEnter your email to get a free PDF and log sheetBecome a Patron:patreon.com/thenuggetclimbingWe are supported by these amazing BIG GIVERS:Michael Roy and Mark and Julie CalhounShow Notes:  thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/brendan-baarsNuggets:(00:00:00) – Intro(00:02:10) – Capentry(00:05:52) – Steven's cabin(00:07:06) – Intro to climbing(00:10:03) – Weekend warrior(00:17:14) – Discovering The Nooks(00:20:51) – Goldmine(00:23:12) – “This is sick”(00:28:50) – Years of potential(00:34:47) – Summer & bugs(00:38:22) – Weather(00:40:01) – A new avenue & a sacrifice(00:50:02) – Sharing The Nooks(00:55:10) – A day of developing(00:57:01) – Custom backpack(01:01:51) – Big Toe(01:09:07) – Rope systems & ladders(01:12:30) – The Developer film(01:18:25) – Rock type & style(01:20:47) – Elliot Lake(01:33:39) – Logistics & amenities(01:36:42) – Guidebook & KAYA(01:39:06) – The Croc Block(01:41:54) – Top Nooks Boulders(01:47:56) – Hard projects(01:51:31) – More Nooks info(01:54:38) – The Canadian frontier(01:57:43) – Wrap up + EXTRA teaser

summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, Chad Burmeister speaks with Matt Slotnick, co-founder and CEO of Poggio, about the transformative role of AI in sales. They discuss how Poggio helps organizations leverage account intelligence to improve sales efficiency, reduce time spent on menial tasks, and ultimately drive revenue growth. The conversation covers the importance of effective research methodologies, the impact of AI on sales processes, and the long-term benefits of maintaining account intelligence within organizations. takeaways AI is becoming integral to sales processes. Account intelligence can enhance organizational competency. Salespeople often waste time on research tasks. AI can automate menial but important tasks. Effective use of AI can lead to significant revenue increases. Understanding customer needs is crucial for sales success. Data sources for account intelligence are diverse and critical. Sales conversations should be informed by deep insights. AI can help create concise and relevant sales materials. Persistent account intelligence can benefit the entire organization. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Poggio and AI in Sales 02:43 The Role of AI in Sales Efficiency 08:48 Real-World Impact of Account Intelligence 14:26 Data Sources and Research Methodologies 20:25 Creating Effective Sales Conversations 26:33 Long-Term Value of Account IntelligenceProudly brought to you by Nooks.ai and BDR.ai, we share proven strategies and cutting-edge technologies that enable sales teams to dramatically accelerate outcomes. Learn how to leverage AI, automation, and conversational intelligence to 5X, 10X, or even 100X your impact. The future of sales is here—let's build it together.

Are your voicemails disappearing into the void?Tom Alaimo reveals when to leave voicemails, when to skip them, and how to craft messages that actually drive a response. Learn why traditional approaches fail and discover a simple framework that integrates voicemails into your multi-channel strategy.Get practical scripts and tactical advice for using voicemails to complement your emails, boost response rates, and move deals forward.You'll Learn:How to craft 10-second voicemails that capture attentionWhen to leave voicemails (and when to skip them entirely)Strategies for using voicemails to drive action in other channelsThe Speakers: Leslie Douglas and Tom AlaimoIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Nooks and GongLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

This week on Have Kids, They Said, Nicole is joined by a very special guest, Sara, aka Rich's better half, who steps in while he's out. The episode kicks off with birthday madness: Are kids' gift expectations getting totally out of hand? Nicole and Sara weigh in with personal stories, including Nicole's hilarious (and slightly terrifying) tale of why 3-year-old Parker escaped from a hibachi restaurant. The duo also dives into the struggle of convincing their daughters that they are still cool. (Legitimately. Probably. Maybe?) They discuss the etiquette and practicality of gift registries, both for birthdays and housewarmings: helpful or too much? Weekend sports get the spotlight next, with both moms discussing their roles on the sidelines...Are you a full-on Mama Bear when your kid is in the game? Or more of a Zen Zone cheerleader? Things get real when Sara introduces the world of Black Shower Girl Tok (check out the creators' handles below!) and insists everyone join immediately. That spirals into some next-level oversharing (yes, from both of them), childhood flashbacks, and Emmy's questions that lead to a few stories from Nicole and Sara's teenage past. 

In today's episode:Una Panoona Banka attempts to do away with the Patriot ActGisele Fetterman wonders where the man she married is - a retrospective on the FettermenThom Tillis attempts to thwart Trump's nominee for US Attorney for the District of ColumbiaDon Bacon attempts to kill the Big Beautiful Bill formerly known as Mike Johnson's PackageGood news and bad news on election integrityThe company that produces the cloned version of Signal on Mike Waltz's phone was "hacked"India and Pakistan are totally at war and it'll totally lead to NOOKSIsrael bombs the Houthis just as Trump says he's not bombing the Houthis and the Houthis say they're not bombing eitherGood Twin vs Evil Twin and the narrative manipulations surrounding kinetic conflictThe National Intelligence Council releases a report on Tren de Aragua that makes quite clear Maduro has nothing to do with itMaduro visits Putin for Victory Day and signs a treaty of cooperationThe 2025 Democracy Playbook by Norm Eisen describes the subversion of President Trump, as expected.Connect with Be Reasonable: https://linktr.ee/imyourmoderatorLinks, articles, ideas - follow the info stream at t.me/veryreasonableHear the show when it's released. Become a paid subscriber at imyourmoderator.substack.comVisit the show's sponsors:Diversify your assets into Bitcoin: https://partner.river.com/reasonableDiversify your assets into precious metals: reasonablegold.comJoin the new information infrastructure - get Starlink: https://www.starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-1975306-67744-74Other ways to support the work:ko-fi.com/imyourmoderatorDonate btc via coinbase: 3MEh9J5sRvMfkWd4EWczrFr1iP3DBMcKk5Make life more comfortable: mypillow.com/reasonableMerch site:https://cancelcouture.myspreadshop.com/https://cancelcouture.comFollow the podcast info stream: t.me/veryreasonableYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imyourmoderatorOther social platforms: Truth Social, Gab, Rumble, or Gettr - @imyourmoderator Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/be-reasonable-with-your-moderator-chris-paul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, Chad Burmeister interviews Matt Darrow, co-founder and CEO of Vivun. They discuss the significance of the name 'Vivian', which means 'lever' in Finnish, and how it relates to the company's mission of creating AI sales engineers that provide leverage to organizations. The conversation explores how AI is transforming the customer journey, the importance of human interaction in sales, and the misconceptions surrounding AI deployment. Matt shares insights on leveraging AI for sales efficiency, ethical considerations in AI, and the critical role of data management in maximizing AI's potential. Takeaways The name 'Vivian' means 'lever' in Finnish, symbolizing the leverage AI provides. AI is transforming the customer journey by making prospects more informed. Sales teams must adapt to faster-paced customer interactions due to AI. Human interaction remains crucial despite the rise of AI in sales. AI can automate top-of-funnel processes, increasing efficiency. Misconceptions about AI stem from a lack of understanding of its various forms. The LLM should be viewed as a tool, not the core intelligence. Data management is essential for effective AI deployment. Sales professionals need to embrace AI tools to enhance their success. Ethical considerations in AI deployment are becoming increasingly important. Chapters 00:00 The Meaning Behind Vivun 02:04 AI's Impact on the Customer Journey 07:02 Leveraging AI for Sales Efficiency 09:30 Misconceptions About AI Deployment 14:12 Navigating Ethical Considerations in AI 19:02 The Future of AI in Sales 22:18 The Importance of Data Management for AIProudly brought to you by Nooks.ai and BDR.ai, we share proven strategies and cutting-edge technologies that enable sales teams to dramatically accelerate outcomes. Learn how to leverage AI, automation, and conversational intelligence to 5X, 10X, or even 100X your impact. The future of sales is here—let's build it together.

Want to know why your cold calls aren't converting to meetings?Chris Ritson reveals the most common cold calling mistakes that sabotage sales opportunities before they even have a chance. Learn the exact frameworks top performers use instead, and walk away with 4 proven cold call scripts that are booking meetings right now.He gave actionable alternatives to each mistake, plus ready-to-use talk tracks for consistent cold calling success.You'll Learn:Critical mistakes that derail cold calls and how to avoid themProven cold call frameworks that consistently book meetingsTalk tracks for multi-threading and voicemails that increase response ratesThe Speakers: James Buckley and Chris RitsonIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Nooks and GongLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

Mary Stone discusses how Violets and Pansies bring joy to our gardens and pots in the cool seasons of Spring and Fall. She revisits bits of Vicki Johnson's story, shared in Episode 202, of how pansies grown by her mother, a Swiss giant pansy in particular, inspired her to start gardening. Mary explains the differences between Pansies and Common Blue Violets from the Viola genus, as well as how and where to plant them. She clarifies the differences between short-lived perennials, biennials, annuals, and perennials. The episode concludes with her reminiscing about her mother's influence on her gardening journey and encouraging listeners to share their own stories about gardens and nature by emailing her at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.Related Podcasts and Posts: Ep 202. Pansies Bring Vicki Johnson's Garden StartEp 18. Walking & Plalking, Queens & BachelorsQueen Anne's Lace Anomaly – Blog Post Ep 51 Plants for Nooks and CranniesFavorite Plants Between Steppingstones - Blog Post8888I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast PageThank you for sharing the Garden of Life,Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer                                        AskMaryStone.comMore about the Podcast and Column: Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.comDirect Link to Podcast Page

summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, Chad Burmeister speaks with Stephanie Middaugh, Customer Success Manager at Luster.ai. They discuss the transformative role of AI in sales, particularly through Luster's predictive enablement platform, which aims to enhance sales training and efficiency. Stephanie shares insights on how AI can help sales teams do more with less, the importance of critical thinking in leveraging AI tools, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI deployment in sales. The conversation also touches on emerging AI technologies and their potential impact on sales roles. takeaways Luster.ai aims to stop sales reps from practicing on customers. Predictive enablement helps identify skill gaps in sales reps. AI can enhance sales efficiency and productivity. Sales training should be personalized to individual needs. Automation should not replace critical thinking in sales. AI tools can help in preparing for important sales calls. The ethical use of AI requires skepticism and caution. Sales roles may evolve but not be replaced by AI. Personalization in outreach is key to better conversion rates. Emerging AI technologies can support real-time sales interactions. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Lustre.ai and AI in Sales 02:24 Understanding Luster's Predictive Enablement 10:11 The Role of AI in Sales Efficiency 17:24 AI's Impact on Sales Roles 28:13 Emerging AI Technologies in Sales 31:30 Ethical Considerations in AI Deployment Learn more about AI for Sales with Chad: LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12811259/ LinkedIn Personal Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadburmeister/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAIforSalesPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ai4sales Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theaiforsalespodcast/ Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/saleshack The AI For Sales Podcast is sponsored by our proud partners: BDR.ai | https://www.bdr.ai/ TruVersity | https://www.truversity.com/ Proudly brought to you by Nooks.ai and BDR.ai, we share proven strategies and cutting-edge technologies that enable sales teams to dramatically accelerate outcomes. Learn how to leverage AI, automation, and conversational intelligence to 5X, 10X, or even 100X your impact. The future of sales is here—let's build it together.

Mary Stone shares a heartwarming story from her dear friend Vicki Johnson, a garden writer and photographer, about her gardening start, which grew into a passion and career. It stemmed from her mother's love for gardening, which blossomed in her late-season of life, and the special delivery of pansies. Vicki's story includes the how-to of traditional pansy-growing methods. Mary concludes by encouraging listeners to share their gardening stories and reflect on the beauty and miracles of nature.Related Posts and Podcasts: Ep 54. Sharing Comfort & Dividing Perennials Sharing Comfort & Perennials - Blog PostAnother story featuring Vicki JohnsonEncouraging Indoor Spring Blooms - Blog Post  Ep 196. Encouraging Indoor Spring Blooms of Hope Ep 51. Plants for Nooks & CranniesFavorite Plants between Steppingstones - Blog PostThe Old Farmer's Almanac - How to Grow Pansies: The Complete Pansy Flower Guide8888I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast PageThank you for sharing the Garden of Life,Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer                                        AskMaryStone.comMore about the Podcast and Column: Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.comDirect Link to Podcast Page

Dan Lee, (@_dan_lee_, CEO Nooks.ai, @JoinNooks) talks about agentic AI vs. AI assistants, their differences, and we explore ROI in this space vs. GenAI and common paths to adoption.SHOW: 913SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #913 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwNEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS" SPONSORS:Try Postman AI Agent Builder TodayCut Enterprise IT Support Costs by 30-50% with US CloudSHOW NOTES:Nooks.ai websiteNooks Founders on Forbes 30 under 30 for AITopic 1 - Welcome to the show, Dan. Give everyone a quick introduction.Topic 2 - Our topic today is AI Agents vs. Assistants. Let's start there. Many out there are hearing the terms and will often think an AI Agent is equal to an AI Assistant. What's the difference?Topic 3 - One of the big problems I've seen with AI adoption vs. hype is the ROI. GenAI hit the scene and brought AI into the mainstream, but the world is quickly moving on to Agentic AI. I've mainly seen this play out because the ROI on “chatbots” just isn't there most of the time and also everyone is still scared for data leaks/privacy and hallucinations.Topic 4 - We'll get into Nooks.ai in a bit but before we do, I wanted to point out that your company started prior to the big breakout of GenAI. How did you see the market back then and has LLM's and transformer models in general changed your approach to AI Assistants?Topic 5 - When taking customers through the adoption process for AI Assistants, what are the typical steps? How do you go about getting consensus and buy-in from the various orgs in the company? Are there common hurdles folks need to consider?Topic 6 - With Nooks, you've decided to conquer the domain of sales and sales prospecting. What was your thoughts here in deciding where and how to remove friction from sales? Is this decision and thought process transferable to other areas? Any universal considerations?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Peter Mollins is VP of Marketing at Nooks. Nooks just raised Series B funding in October. Woop!With Nooks you can boost pipeline with AI assistants that automate the busywork of dialing, coaching, and prospecting, so sales reps can focus on the human side of selling.Here's what we cover:Your recent funding round - what did it take to get there;How do you incorporate customer research at Nooks and what have been the results;How do you incorporate customers in your marketing;Oh my gosh you need to try to sell to Jim Hard*ss, your AI coaching assistant;Peter asks me his burning question.Peter on LinkedIn: ⁠www.linkedin.com/in/petermollinsNooks: www.nooks.aiFor more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show. Music by my talented daughter.Anna on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠furmanovmarketing.com

Send us a textIn this ABM Done Right Podcast episode, Peter Mollins (a 2X guest on the podcast and CMO of Nooks) joined Eric Gruber to discuss the "signals" that GTM teams should pay attention to that go beyond intent data. 

Winter is here, but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy a meal outdoors. Portland's heated patios, fire pits, and other amenities make dining outside a year-round endeavor. Today, we're listening back to a conversation with host Claudia Meza and producers John Notarianni and Giulia Fiaoni to share with you the best spots to eat, drink, and be merry throughout the city.  This conversation first aired on Nov 22, 2023 Bars and restaurants discussed in this episode: Dear Sandy Multnomah Whiskey Library  Lay Low Tavern  Bar Nina (formerly Les Caves) Driftwood Room  Clyde's Prime Rib   The Sapphire Hotel  Huber's The Pope House Bourbon Lounge The Rambler  Maui's  The Vern The Nest Lounge Interurban Eem  Luc Lac Tiny Bubble Room  Nostrana Binks  Timberline Lodge  The Fireside  RingSide Steakhouse  The Knock Back  Become a member of City Cast Portland today! Get all the details and sign up here.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Portland, and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sunday, December 22nd, 2024Micah 5:2-5aHebrews 10:5-10Luke 1:39-55Phil Aud+The Fourth Sunday of Adventwww.allsoulsknoxville.comAll Souls Substack865-214-6682100 W 5th Ave., KnoxvilleSundays @ 10:30amSupport the show

In the fast-paced world of tech entrepreneurship, Daniel Lee stands out with a remarkable story of resilience, innovation, and vision. Co-founder of Nooks, an AI-powered platform transforming the productivity of sales teams, Daniel recently announced a $43M funding round, bringing the total raised to $70M. Nooks' top-tier investors include Kleiner Perkins, Lachy Groom, Stifel Venture Banking, and Tola Capital.

For salespeople, end of the year feels like reaching the end of a marathon. You feel exhausted, yet, you know you have another marathon coming up.In this Daily Sales Show epsiode, we're going to focus on all things mindset setting so you can go into 2025 feeling refreshed, motivated, and ready to crush quota. Kaylee Chappelow, experienced AE and SDR, is joining us to share her key strategies for setting your mind up for success at the start of each year, quarter, and month. Most importantly, she'll talk about the impact of having an abundance mindset. You'll Learn:How to set your mind up for success in 2025The importance of having an abundance mindsetKaylee's top tips for going into 2025 on a high noteThe Speakers: Jed Mahrle and Kaylee ChappelowIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Nooks and SendsparkLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

The AI advances of 2024 reshaped the way we do things, and those who learned to adapt and harness that power came out on top. What changes can we expect in 2025?Nia Woodhouse and Richard Smith shared insights into what sales reps should be doing to prepare for the coming year.From research strategies that will inform your point of view on customer challenges, to specific things you can improve in email and phone outreach today, following their gameplan will better prepare you for successful outreach in the coming year.You'll Learn:Specific actions you can take now to impact 2025 resultsActionable techniques you can leverage for booking more meetingsHow to shift your point of view for a better understanding of your prospects' needsThe Speakers: Will Aitken, Nia Woodhouse and Richard SmithIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong, Maildoso, Sendspark and Nooks

The unique mindset of prospects at the start of the year creates an ideal window of opportunity. So as the new year approaches, it's time to revisit those leads that went cold or didn't convert in 2024. Guest experts Salman Mohiuddin and Krysten Conner are joining us to share their top strategies, templates, and talk tracks that will help you re-engage your pipeline and begin 2025 strong. You'll learn which deals to prioritize for re-engagement, effective techniques to revive leads without "just following up," and when it's time to move on from a deal that just isn't going to happen. You'll Learn:How to reconnect with leads that ghosted, went cold, or didn't convertEffective re-engagement strategies beyond the basic follow-upHow to know when it's time to move on from a stalled dealThe Speakers: Will Aitken, Krysten Conner and Salman MohiuddinIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Salesloft, Nooks and AlignedLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

The Hon. Sue Gordon, President of Gordon Ventures, Member of the Defense Innovation Board, and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Sean Blackman, Co-founder and CEO of Nooks, return for part two of our unclassified discussion on the challenges new entrants face in the defense innovation ecosystem. They examine obstacles for small businesses, including allies and partners, such as navigating classification rules, the clearance application backlog, and streamlining compliance processes. Mr. Blackman shares how Nooks simplifies these steps for businesses, and Ms. Gordon discusses the need to modernize outdated policies and foster collaboration between government, industry, and academia to create an ecosystem that balances security, drives innovation, and attracts top talent. Nooks: https://nooks.works/ To receive updates about the conference please join our mailing list here: https://www.emergingtechnologiesinstitute.org/sign-up http://emergingtechnologiesinstitute.org https://www.facebook.com/EmergingTechETI https://www.linkedin.com/company/ndia-eti-emerging-technologies-institute https://www.twitter.com/EmergingTechETI

If you're not using ChatGPT to maximize your selling time, you're behind. In a recent Salesforce report, more than 80% of salespeople use generative AI to some extent. But where do you start? And how do you know what will be actually useful?Well, sales expert Daniel Disney, is joining us to share the top 5 immediate tactical GPT prompts you can use to improve every area of your sales process. He'll even teach you how to create your own and will share live examples!You'll Learn:The importance of understanding ChatGPT's security and accuracyThe top 5 ChatGPT prompts to use in your sales processHow to create your own promptThe Speakers: Jed Mahrle and Daniel DisneyIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong, Nooks and SendsparkLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

LinkedIn is an incredible way to get to know your ideal buyer. But if you don't know the ropes, you could be scaring your prospects away.Stephanie White and Elric Legloire joined us to share the best practices for leveraging LinkedIn to study your ideal customer profile, find the ones you want to sell to and position yourself as the one who can bring them the solutions they need.LIsten and find out why it's sometimes better to watch, listen, and learn, and not always reach out with your pitch. And when it's the right time to reach out, you'll know exactly how to do it and earn their business.You'll Learn:How LinkedIn can help you learn more about your prospects and tailor your messagingWhy you should be following, but not pitching, some of your ICP on LinkedInWays to maximize the results of your LinkedIn prospecting effortsThe Speakers: James Buckley, Stephanie White and Elric LegloireIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Zoominfo, Aligned and Nooks

Securing a place in the defense intelligence sector can be an uphill battle for small companies, universities, and other organizations aiming to participate in national security and intelligence-related projects. Today, we're exploring the unique challenges faced by these innovative players as they navigate stringent security requirements, costly infrastructure upgrades, and the complex world of classified projects. Unlike large defense contractors, these emerging entities often struggle with limited budgets and resources, hindering their ability to contribute groundbreaking ideas to national security. Our guests, the Hon. Sue Gordon, President of Gordon Ventures and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Sean Blackman, Co-founder and CEO of Nooks, offer insights into overcoming these obstacles and share the work currently being done to help small innovators bring their vision to the defense landscape. Nooks: https://nooks.works/ DIB Report: Lowering Barriers to Innovation: https://innovation.defense.gov/Portals/63/2_%2020240118%20DIB%20LBI%20Study.pdf To receive updates about the conference please join our mailing list here: https://www.emergingtechnologiesinstitute.org/sign-up http://emergingtechnologiesinstitute.org https://www.facebook.com/EmergingTechETI https://www.linkedin.com/company/ndia-eti-emerging-technologies-institute https://www.twitter.com/EmergingTechETI

Automation, tech tools, and AI are rapidly changing the way we do business, and outbound is no exception. The way you're doing things now won't work in the near future, so you need to get ahead of the game.Jason Bay, has helped countless organizations build sustainable, future-proof outbound strategies and he is joining us to share his proven methodology for creating sales organizations that don't just survive – they dominate, well into the future.Whether you're looking to elevate your outbound game, or you're a sales leader looking to transform your organization, Jason will give you actionable insights for every sales pro.You'll Learn:A concrete framework to future-proof your sales approachStrategies for building and maintaining an evergreen pipelineTactical steps to implement a "long game" mentality across your teamThe Speakers: James Buckley and Jason BayIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Zoominfo, RB2B, Nooks and Outbound SquadLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

To get the most out of discovery you need strong research, great questions, and a point of view.As a top-performing AE who made President's Club 5x, Brian LaManna has developed a unique discovery framework that does all that and more and he's sharing it with you.He's also breaking down his process that gets to the heart of prospects' pains, giving away some of the tactical resources he's developed to help you avoid common discovery mistakes, and showing how to structure discovery meetings – with agenda examples you can steal. You'll Learn:How to run a kick-ass discovery process that sets your deal up for successWhat two relevant observations you must research before the callThe questions you need to ask, and the ones to stop askingThe Speakers: Will Aitken and Brian LaMannaIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong, Nooks and Aligned

This time of year, people are in a different mental place. There are end-of-year goals to check off, to-do lists piling up, time off to be taken, and so many distractions. This is no time to slack off on prospecting. But how do you find ways to engage prospects during such a busy time, driving urgency and closing more business before the calendar year ends? In this Daily Sales Show episode, Tom Alaimo will talk about the keys to staying top-of-mind this season. From direct communication strategies to setting realistic timelines to creative deal setup, Tom will share how you can stay productive and bring in revenue during the holidays.You'll Learn:Cold call openers that create actual conversations with buyersHow to nail your value proposition every timeEffective ways to ask for the meetingThe Speakers: James Buckley and Tom AlaimoIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Zoominfo, Aligned and Nooks

Selling to technical buyers is a different ball game than selling to marketing and sales pros, and requires a unique approach.In this Daily Sales Show episode, industry experts, Rod Baptista (SaaS) and Brandon Lecoq (Cyber Security) will share their proven strategies for engaging those on the technical side of an organization. You'll learn how to tailor your pitch, capture attention, and effectively position your offerings to capture the interest of these high-value, tech-savvy decision-makers. Whether you're new to selling in the technical arena or looking to refine your technique, you'll gain practical insights and actionable tactics to enhance your sales game and book more meetings.You'll Learn:Key factors that influence technical buyers' decisionsEffective prospecting strategies to grab their attention and secure meetingsTalk tracks and email templates for engaging technical prospectsThe Speakers: Will Aitken, Rob Baptista, and Brandon LecoqIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Nooks and ZoominfoLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

As sellers, it's our job to be persistent - but there's a fine line between persistence and annoyance.We broke down the science of following up without being annoying, crafting personalized outreach sequences that keep you top of mind, and leveraging multiple channels to land more deals.Watch and learn actionable strategies for handling objections, tracking key metrics, and using social proof to re-engage even the most hard-to-reach prospects.You'll Learn:How to understand the fine line between persistence and annoyanceStrategies to create a follow-up cadence that adds valueThe psychology of timing and how to use it to your advantageThe Speakers: Jed Mahrle and Tom AlaimoIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Aligned and Nooks

Cold calling remains a solid way to connect with prospects, yet the path to success is often paved with rejections and objections. So how do you navigate these challenges and turn a "no" into a "yes"?Listen as industry experts, Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson, (the gurus behind We Have a Meeting), as they share their insights and strategies for overcoming common cold call roadblocks. You'll learn how to transform real-world objections into opportunities and they will also guide you through the psychology of rejection, helping you build the mental toughness required to persist and succeed in cold calls.You'll Learn:Techniques to develop a resilient mindset and maintain persistence in the face of rejectionEffective responses to the top objections and deflections, with live role-playsStrategies for seamless transitions – from addressing objections to securing meetingsThe Speakers: Leslie Douglas, Jack Frimston and Zac ThompsonIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong, Nooks and Outbound SquadLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

Skylar Werneth hasn't missed quota since joining Nooks. He's sourced 124 qualified opps in 2 quarters. AJ Aminrazavi has consistently hit quota and filled his leads list as a Thoropass full-cycle AE. We're bringing them both on to share their EXACT process on the Daily Show! Listen LIVE as they demonstrate the prospecting steps they take each day to efficiently fill their leads list for max positive outcome.You'll Learn:The pattern-interrupting cold call opener that's working in 2024What creative prospecting strategies make you stand outHow top reps structure their dayThe Speakers: James Buckley, AJ Aminrazavi and Skyler WernethIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: AlignedLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM

Welcome to Dark Work Daily! Tune in to explore the secrets of resilience and perseverance needed to unlock your full potential.

Today's episode welcomes Sahil Mehra, Head of Strategic Sales at Nooks - an AI-Powered Parallel Dialer & Virtual Salesfloor powering the best SDR and BDR teams. They help train the team, boost conversion rates, and multiply connect rates all while having fun in the Nooks platform. Sahil also has 6 years of experience running a go-to-market agency for B2B tech companies.Sahil's path to his previous agency started by working as an SDR, AE and Sales Leader in multiple tech startups. Over the years, he realized that all early stage startups suffer from the same GTM caveat - they don't have a recognisable brand.This becomes a huge inefficiency for revenue teams, as your sellers are seeing unfavorable engagement metrics across the sales process and get stuck building trust from 0. A big part of building a known brand is working with those who your ICP already trusts - that's why Sahil took a full-cycle sales approach with his clients to make sure they close logos that bring much needed credibility to new brands.If you blindly follow every LinkedIn thought leadership post when tweaking your GTM motion, you're very likely to fail. A huge portion of content has one single goal - explain why you're in pain and position a product as the solution. This often leads to people investing in methods that don't work in their market. Tune into the full episode to learn more on how to build an outbound motion that works in 2024!KEY INSIGHTS:01:07 Why early-stage startups have bad sales metrics03:10 Oversimplification of outbound sales04:45 Why most GTM advice doesn't work for you06:58 More tools =/= more results11:01 Building a cold calling culture14:10 Remote vs in-office sales 18:45 Email only won't cut it in 202422:28 The future of outboundConnect with the guest, Sahil MehraConnect with the host, Kevin WarnerCheck out Nooks

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/ultraviolet-light-reveals-scientists-hidden-bible-passage-1500-years-later (for Luke) Unique passages: https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/pages/UniquePassages  Bibleref.com commentary on Mark 6:5: https://www.bibleref.com/Mark/6/Mark-6-5.html  Thanks Biblehub.com's parallel chapters tool.   Words of Jesus ("All the Red Letter Scriptures") https://www.jesusbelieverjd.com/all-the-red-letter-scriptures-of-jesus-in-the-bible-kjv/    Parallel Passages in the Gospels https://www.bible-researcher.com/parallels.html#sect1     The Eye of the Needle (crossword/sudoku feedback): https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-25583,00.html#:~:text=The%20%22Eye%20of%20the%20Needle,in%20order%20to%20enter%20heaven   Camel needle w/Aquinas citation (of Anselm of Canterbury)-- Anselm of Canterbury as cited in Catena Aurea, Thomas Aquinas, CCEL Edition. https://classictheology.org/2021/10/12/through-the-eye-of-an-actual-needle-the-fake-gate-theory/    The Widow's Mite: https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/the-poor-widows-mite/    Miracles of Jesus reference list: https://sunnyhillschurch.com/3301/the-37-miracles-of-jesus-in-chronological-order/ LINK BIBLEREF.COM MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 8 SECTION (“Can't” do miracles in hometown- keyword absolute for lookup)   Welcome to the Popeular History Podcast: History through Pope Colored Glasses. My name is Gregg and this is episode 0.21f: Sayings of the Savior Part VI: Messages from Mark.   All of these aught episodes are made to let us build our Pope-colored glasses so we can use the same lenses when we look at history together. If you're lost, start at the beginning!   In previous worldbuilding episodes, we looked at quite a few of Jesus' words: the sermon on the mount and the sermon on the plain, plus all the Parables and miracles on our list, and his sayings closely tied to all those.   All that made for a good start, but if we're going to look at the sayings of the Savior, we should be comprehensive to avoid cherry-picking. So we spent the last of these worldbuilding episodes going chapter by chapter through the first gospel in order of appearance, the Gospel of Matthew, up until things caught up with where our rosary themed tour of the New Testament will carry on when we get to the next mystery. I am aware that what was once upon a time supposed to be a couple quick background episodes introducing my listeners to, well, all of Catholicism has ballooned wildly into wheels within wheels, but hey, I wouldn't have it any other way.   Anyways, next up in the traditional ordering is the Gospel of Mark, so that's our mission today. We'll go chapter by chapter, glossing over what we've already discussed and focusing on the Sayings of the Savior, since, you know, that's the deal here.   MARK 1 opens with a description of Jesus' cousin John the Baptist, and you'll never guess what John does to Jesus when He shows up. Actually you probably will because I was trying to set you up with a fake out where John refuses to baptize Jesus but it turns out that initial refusal is in Matthew but is absent from Mark's generally sparse account. Anyways, we get Jesus' first words in Mark only after he's baptized and had an express version of the temptation in the desert. Sometime after John was arrested, we're told Jesus preached a message that sounded a lot like what John had been saying,   MARK 1:15 “The time has come,” … “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”   GREGG Of course we just got a bit meta, since “Good news” is where the word Gospel comes from. A very “Begun, the Clone Wars have” moment. This urgent call to repentance has been a consistent refrain throughout Christian history, with the good news bring that repentance really can lead to reconciliation with God. Shoutout 0.1 if you need a refresher on why such a reconciliation is needed in the Catholic perspective.   Having begun to declare the Good News, Jesus the Christ soon picks out folks to help him, starting, like all good missions, with a pun. Talking to two fishermen, the brothers Simon and Andrew, Jesus says   MARK 1:   Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men   GREGG When I covered this section in Matthew- we're deep in parallels here- I stuck with my usual NIV translation. Not because I'm an NIV snob, but because the New International Version is the one that shows up first on biblegateway.com and it's good enough, especially when I'm doing a LOT of scripture quoting like I have been with this series.   But because the NIV went for inclusivity, they translated the line as “make you fish for people”, which simply isn't as smooth a pun. I did check with my toddler-level skills and it looks to me like the pun is present in the Greek, so it's worth calling out. Jesus' humor is often downplayed, which is a shame.   If you're wondering why I'm going on about this, well, honestly, Mark is short and we've already covered most of what's there in Matthew. So we might as well take our time. There's plenty there, to be clear, I don't want angry letters from scholars whose primary focus is Mark saying I'm dismissing it offhand.   Alright, enough dilly dallying, what's next? Jesus calls more fishermen–the sons of Zebedee, James and John–but His actual words and possible new pun are not recorded. The next time he speaks he's talking to a demon in one of the healing miracles we discussed in 0.20, followed by another miracle–the healing of Simon's mother in law–later in the same chapter. Then, after assorted other miracles, Jesus goes out to pray by Himself in what's described as a quote unquote “desolate place”. When His disciples track Him down and tell Him everyone is looking for Him, He says   MARK 1:38 Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.   GREGG Though Jesus' disciples did in fact say no to Him on a downright alarming number of occasions, they went along with His plan this time, and another montage of undescribed healings and exorcisms finishes off with the healing of a grateful leper who ignores Jesus' command to tell no one. Mark 1 concludes with Jesus getting mobbed with requests for miracles as a result.   Chapter 2 opens with the healing of the paralytic who had been let in via the roof–a great bit of drama, but something we already covered under our review of miracles. After that, He called His tax collector disciple, who we got to know as Matthew in the Gospel of, well, Matthew, but who's listed as Levi here and in Luke. Using different names in different contexts was absolutely a thing,  but both Matthew and Levi are Hebrew names so the usual Greek vs Hebrew divide doesn't seem to be the culprit here, and what's more neither Mark nor Luke explicitly identify Levi with the apostle Matthew, though the inference isn't a terrible reach over all.   In the end, our main hook in this particular series is the actual sayings of the Savior, and this calling is carried out with a simple “follow me”, so perhaps we shouldn't dive into it too much.   After taking out a section of parables we covered in 0.21c as part of a SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP, we arrive at Mark 2:23, notably without leaving the SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP room because you can also follow along in Matthew 12 and Luke 6. As a reminder if you're rusty on Jewish customs, the Sabbath rest begins Friday at sundown and continues through the day on Saturday. Picking grain as we're going to see here would be considered working on the day of rest and therefore a violation.   MARK (2:23-2:28, NIV)) 23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.   24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”   25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?   26 in the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."   27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.   28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”   GREGG this section is one of the earlier signals of what would become a core piece of Christianity: its distancing from the Law of Moses. There are still aspects of continuity, for example most Christians including Catholics actually do still maintain *a* day of rest, just Sunday rather than Saturday and they'll generally skip the night before business though some of that has carried over in the form of vigil practices, as we'll see when we get there.   Anyways, I've always thought those last couple lines were pretty baller, and it turns out they're one of the few bits unique to Mark, so let's go ahead and hear them again:   QUOTE The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. END QUOTE   This bold claim lies at the heart of what will in time lead to the followers of Christ being seen as a religion separate from Judaism, which is fair enough but also don't sleep on just how much that takes, given there's such a thing as secular Jews and Jewish atheists. There have been other messiah movements in Jewish history; though they fizzled out it's not much of a stretch to imagine a world where Christianity is still seen as part of a wide tent Judaism, indeed there is still a common heritage. But there are absolutely differences as well, principally, of course, centered around Jesus, the Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath.   That other part   “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”   is the context for the start of the next chapter, serving as a good reminder that, while convenient for finding your place, chapter and verse divisions are not part of the original texts of the Bible, so it's important to not treat them as fences where you have to stop. You see, in Mark 3 we have the healing of the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath:   MARK 3 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone.” 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.   GREGG I mean, it's a bit of a false dichotomy perhaps, are those really the only two options? But obviously I'm siding with Jesus here, mark me down as pro-healing when one can heal. And yeah, we actually already covered that exchange when we talked about the miracle in our miracles roundup, but the words are important there and Mark is short so forgive me for fitting it in here too.   Mark 3 continues with Jesus dealing with crowds now that word is getting around due to His miracles, and simultaneously He's ordering demons not to share the apparent secret that He is quote “the holy one of God”. We don't have his exact words in commanding the demons here so there's more room for interpretation than usual but the general take on these sort of passages is that it's tied to His time not having yet come to be revealed as the Messiah. Of course, unless I missed something, the specific instances where Jesus talks about His time having not yet come are in the Gospel of John, so reading that into Mark is something most modern scholars wouldn't go for- especially since the general consensus is Mark came first by a fair stretch- but that sort of quibble wasn't much of a barrier for most of the history of Christians reflecting on Scripture, so the traditional interpretation is what it is and I don't think it's too much of a reach.   After telling assorted demons to hush up, Jesus appoints the Twelve Apostles starting in verse 13, no direct quotes there so no need to tarry though interested folks are always welcome to check out the naming differences between the Gospels.   Starting in verse 20 we have the house divided parable, covered in our parables series a few episodes back, then in verse 28 we hit “the unpardonable sin” section, and believe it or not it's not being a weeb, it turns out it's, well, let's let Jesus explain:   MARK 3 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin."   GREGG When we covered the parallel text of this in Matthew 12–seriously, over 90% of Mark is parallelled in Matthew–I focused on the idea of the sin against the Spirit as being despair. But Mark's telling has a bit of context that has lead to another popular interpretation, especially among–Catholics cover your ears– *whispers* Protestants.   MARK 3 30He said this because they were saying, "He has an impure spirit.”   GREGG Using that verse, which at a glance is simply explaining why Jesus said what He said, the passage is taken to mean that rejecting Jesus as the Son of God slash Savior slash Messiah is the sin against the Spirit being referred to here. And though I called out Protestants specifically a minute ago, it's not like that interpretation is unheard of within Catholicism, typically it's a both/and sort of thing, accepting the despair angle and the “ya'll need Jesus” angle. Nor are the two interpretations unrelated, as someone wholly given to despair will have a hard time accepting Jesus' offer of salvation.   Of course, when I speak of accepting Jesus' offer of salvation, now I really AM getting into the fundamental faith vs works discussion. That's faith and works in the context of salvation from sin. We'll be getting into it in more detail in future episodes, but as an overview all major forms of Christianity agree that faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ is fundamentally necessary for salvation. The disagreement comes in whether anything else plays any role- “anything else” being summed up under the umbrella term of “works”, or it might help to rephrase the question as whether our actions have any meaning when it comes to our salvation.   For Catholics, the answer is yes, while for most Protestants, the answer is no. Generally speaking when there are fights about it, Protestants will take the position that your works having meaning, as Catholics argue is the case, means that you can save yourself through your works. Some people do think that, of course, but not Catholics, at least not Catholics who know their onions, as the Catholic Church condemned that position as a heresy over thousand years before Protestantism became a thing. However, the Church is far from perfect, and in the time of Martin Luther, whose teachings are typically seen as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation, it's clear that some within the Church were comfortable blurring the lines for financial gain.   I've got more on faith vs works and Catholicism vs Protestantism planned for future episodes, and I don't want to bury that conversation where no one will look for it, so let's leave that there for now and get back to Mark, with chapter 3 verse 31 to 35   MARK   31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG Thanks to the Marian doctrine of Our Lady's perpetual virginity we discussed back in episode 0.14, the surprising fact that Jesus doesn't immediately attend to his family members isn't the most discussed aspect of this passage when it comes to Catholicism. No, that would be the fact that Jesus' brothers, the Greek term is Adelphoi, show up. Generally these are understood as Jesus' half brothers, via his earthly father Saint Joseph from a previous marriage.   As for the question of whether Jesus just kind of blew off his family here, half brothers or cousins or full brothers or whoever was there with Mary, while I can see how you might get that impression, it's not like His every action is recorded. It's entirely possible that He checked in with them after making a quick positive observation- one that I don't want to lose in the rest of this analysis so I'll repeat it:   MARK 3 “35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG   Anyways, as is the custom with Mark, we're on to the next scene in a hurry, launching into Mark 4 with the next verse as a classic transition:   MARK 4 1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.   GREGG I'm not going to go into detail about what He taught by the lake here, because Chapter 4 is made up entirely of miracles and parables we've already covered in 0.20 and earlier in 0.21, respectively. We've got the Parable of the Sower, then the Lamp on a Stand, then the Growing Seed and the Mustard Seed, capped off by Mark's account of Jesus calming the storm at sea.   Similarly, Mark 5 is a string of by-now familiar miracles- and if any don't seem familiar you know by now Miracles are in one of the 0.20 episodes, right? The Gerasene Demoniac, the Bleeding Woman, Jairus' Daughter, they're all there, and in Mark 5 too.   Mark 6 give us a bit more food for thought on Jesus' local life and family dynamic. A sign of how things hit differently at home, it's worth a long quote:   MARK 6:1-6 6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.   “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.   4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.   GREGG Many of Jesus' sayings have become proverbial, and while it's not in the level of turning the other cheek, “a prophet is not without honor except in his own town” has some popularity. It does seem to speak to a common truth of celebrities.   I do like the touch that He was unable to do any miracles there except for the miracles which He did do, which evidently still failed to impress. Of course, the idea of Jesus being *unable* to do miracles is theologically interesting, since He's, you know, God. Of course, God does seem to have had some trouble dealing with iron chariots back in Judges 1:19, so maybe there is some precedent.   But we've got our Pope-colored glasses on, so not only is Jesus God but God is omnipotent, so it's fair to ask: what gives? It could be that old favorite, the translation issue, but I admit my personal Greek skills are basically at the naming barnyard animals level, so I decided to bring in an expert to verify. An expert by the name of bibleref.com, linked in the show notes. Their commentary on the passage notes that in the parallel passage in Matthew, it simply says Jesus “did not” perform many miracles in his hometown, which isn't as controversial though of course it's always fair to ask why God doesn't just fix everything for everyone since he's all good and all knowing and all powerful. But that popular question isn't where we're at today because apparently it's not a translation issue, Mark 6:5 does specifically say Jesus *could not* perform the miracles in the Greek according to the commentary. But it goes on to note that there can be multiple senses of inability, like how you can't touch the ball when playing soccer, or football for my non-US listeners, and yeah, I'm not counting goalies. Anyways, obviously you can physically touch the ball, but you cannot in the sense that it's against the established rules of the game. If that's the sense, it makes some sense that Jesus quote unquote “can't” perform miracles in His hometown because His miracles are supposed to draw people to Him and they aren't having that effect at home. At least not much, keep in mind he did do some miracles there according to Mark, so in any event the whole “can't” thing definitely isn't absolute.   Of course, I personally find it awful to think that God would play games with our salvation- hence my quasi-universalism. I get respecting our free will, but I also know He's omnipotent and isn't going to give up on us, no matter how much we try to give up on ourselves if there's another chance we can get He's going to give that to us. But we have to accept at some point, so don't think I'm downplaying the urgency there.   Anyways, let's get back to Mark 6, now in Verse 8 where He's sending the disciples out in pairs with the following instructions:   MARK 6:8-11   8 Take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.   9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.   10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.   11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”   GREGG As you should by now have come to expect, these instructions do have a parallel in Matthew that we covered in the last worldbuilding episode. But it's not as close a parallel as you might think. Often, as we've talked about before, parallels in the synoptic gospels are so close that you'd get dinged for plagiarism, with maybe a word being changed here or there. But here, it basically reads like two different people were told to write down a speech shortly after they finished hearing it. Which, I mean, matches tradition, for what it's worth. The most obvious difference is that Mark's telling skips Matthew's bit about only going to Jewish households, forbidding visits to Gentiles or Samaritans. Though as we've seen Mark's Jesus was already laying the groundwork for some serious reframing of Mosaic Law by taking on the title of Lord of the Sabbath, I think on the whole it's more likely that in Mark's account that's simply taken as a given and perhaps left off for brevity rather than this being a separate incident or its absence being a sign that the disciples were to ignore those cultural barriers at this stage.   The rest of Mark 6 is taken up by his narrative of the death of John the Baptist, where, unusually for the Gospels, Jesus is offstage, and then there's two banner miracles, the Feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water.   Which brings us to Mark 7, which has Jesus… let's see… excoriating the Jewish authorities… then calling a woman a dog… and let's not forget giving someone a wet willy.   Don't believe me? Let's go.   MARK 7   1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' 11But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)-- 12then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”   GREGG Note that while there's a close parallel between these passages and Matthew 15, Mark is apparently much more concerned with explaining Jewish custom to his audience, suggesting the intended audience is not Jews themselves.   The rest of the chapter we've covered before, from the Parable of the Heart of Man to the two miracles that give the tibits I teased earlier. Jesus calls the syrophoenician woman a dog in the runup to healing her servant, and he totally heals a deaf guy via wet willy at the end of the chapter. But I already covered both of those in 0.20c, so check them out there for more.   So that means we're on to Chapter 8, which opens with… another miracle! Turns out Jesus did a lot of those! Who knew?   That's the feeding of the four thousand, but you know the drill, we're skipping that and on ahead to verse 12, where Jesus is responding to a group of Pharisees asking for a sign.   MARK 8:12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it."   GREGG Ok. Remembering that by a sign here they mean a miracle, we've got the guy known for working miracles getting annoyed at requests for miracles. Why? You'd think He'd be all about that. Is it another sort of hometown situation, where folk's lack of faith is an impediment?   Well, kind of sort of. But not quite.   In the parallel passage from Matthew 16, which I admit I kind of glossed over last time because I was excited to get to the Papally significant Matthew 16:18, Jesus calls those asking for a sign “a wicked and adulterous generation”, which can help explain why Jesus is refusing the request–after all even in Mark's shorter version their motives are implicitly questioned, with Jesus asking why they're asking for a sign.   The typical interpretation goes that Jesus is refusing the request for a sign because the Pharisees have the wrong *motives* in asking. Unlike those in His hometown, they seem to believe Jesus can work miracles, but they just want to see a show, they aren't interested in Jesus' message beyond that. And Jesus for His part, is interested in signs *for the sake of* His message, He isn't there to entertain.   These various passages that show Jesus specifically not working miracles could be taken to suggest some embarrassment by the authors about Jesus' miracles not being as renowned as they would like, forcing them to give explanations for why that's the case. I can definitely picture some neckbeard arguing if God wanted to make everyone believe he'd make miracles known to all and be undeniable. Which is a reasonable enough thought except unless God removes free will, there's never going to be such a thing as undeniable anyways.   In the next few verses, Jesus warns against the teachings of the Pharisees and Herod. Though technically the “teachings” part isn't spelled out in Mark, so it could be He's actually meaning to go in another direction with things than He does in Matthew's version, though I think their teaching or at least their general influence is His most likely target. Let's hear it and regroup after.   MARK 8 14-15 14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.   15"Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”   GREGG Certainly He isn't talking about literal bread, as is evidenced from His reaction. Also, it's interesting that Mark warns against Herod's yeast specifically, while Matthew leaves Herod off in favor of tossing in the Sadducees to accompany the Pharisees. If Mark is the rougher, earlier version as most scholars currently argue–and as I'm inclined to believe looking at the two side by side these last few months–then it seems like one can argue Matthew's account has been modified to perhaps be a little more authority-friendly in this case, keeping in mind the Herodians were the client-kings in charge of the area in Jesus' day. Check out 0.13 on the Hasmoneans for more on that.   After a miracle interlude–healing the blind man in a two-step process where the miracle is evidently incomplete at first–a fairly intriguing Mark-only one that is arguably sanitized out of other accounts, but one we already covered so I'm not getting back into it today– anyways after that we hit Mark's account of Peter's testament, you know, with the binding and loosing and the keys and all that. Except actually *without* all that in Mark's version.   Here's the whole exchange as Mark tells it:   MARK 8:27-30 27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?” 28They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah.” 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.   GREGG Like I said, not a key in sight. Peter does give the critical answer, but none of what would become the principal text for the Papacy is presented here. And again, if you consider Mark as the older account, as most scholars do, it's fair to raise an eyebrow at that. Yet in the end, one way or another, we have a Pope, and I do think there's something to be said for the unifying force of the role. After all, if no one is Pope, then everyone is Pope. But I digress.   Of course, poor Peter can only wish he were simply downplayed in Mark 8. The reality is he does pop up again later in the chapter, in a familiar but unflattering way:   MARK 8:31- 31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”   GREGG So there you go. If you want to make a case for the Pope not always being right, there's an easy one. Not everyone gets called Satan by, well, God. Of course, there's a surprising amount of room where you can accept Papal Infallibility *and* the idea that the Pope isn't always right, but we'll get to that in time.   The chapter finishes with Jesus reflecting on what his stated fate means for his followers, and it's, uh, not the cheeriest image. It bleeds into chapter 9 so don't put your Bible down too quickly If you're following along.   MARK 8:34-9:1   34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. CHAPTER 9 1And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.   GREGG Goodness, Jesus, it's hard for me to keep my running joke of treating the Crucifixion as a spoiler when you're literally telling your disciples to take up their crosses before it actually happens. Oh well.   Mark 9 continues with The Transfiguration, but like I mentioned in our Matthew discussion, that's it's own mystery of the rosary that we haven't gotten to yet, so pardon me and I'll skip that here too.   After that, we have a miracle- the boy with an unclean spirit that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. So on to verse 30, where we have more talk of the upcoming Passion:   MARK 9:30-32 “30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.   GREGG Jesus was speaking pretty plainly here, so it's not immediately clear why the disciples didn't understand what Jesus meant, but it's probably related to the way Jesus keeps telling folks either to talk or not to talk about things. There's definitely a focus on pacing the spread of the Good News throughout the Gospels, especially in Mark, and it seems like a supernatural barrier to the Apostles' understanding here would fit in with that.   The fear of asking is more easily explained: if someone you know is really good at making predictions and you're pretty sure they just predicted something awful, you may well be hesitant to confirm that with them.   Being hesitant to talk about stuff with Jesus carries us into the next few verses, where Jesus apparently puts His omniscience to good use in a wonderfully passive-aggressive way:   MARK 9: 33-35 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”   GREGG The first will be last is one of Jesus' recurring themes, and the whole “I'm-pretty-sure-I-heard-you-but-since-you-won't-confirm-I'm-just-going-to-respond-indirectly approach reminds me of dealing with the drama of children, though I suppose a lot of things remind me of interacting with children these days given my current life situation, and that approach is not necessarily one that exclusively applies to children. Either way, Jesus does bring children into the conversation as His next move.   MARK 9:36-37 36He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”   GREGG That passage is one of the more often-remembered portions of the Gospels, in part because it's in all three synoptics [air horn], but also in part because it's a handy pastoral lesson to push back on folks who might complain about the presence of children in worship services. As they say, if no one in your church is cryin', it's dyin'.   Next up we have some verses you might wish had been left off if you've ever gotten tired of hearing “in Jesus' name” a lot:   MARK 9:38-41 38"Teacher," said John, "we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.   GREGG Personally I'm thankful for that passage, because I'm a big supporter of ecumenism and cooperation, and “whoever is not against us is for us” is an immensely helpful sentiment in that context.   For the next section, where Jesus gets pretty intense, there are several verses that simply aren't present in my go-to NIV version, presumably for bible nerd manuscript reasons. Now, the point of the Sayings of the Savior series is to make sure we cover *everything* Jesus said in the canonical scriptures, and those verses are speaking lines for Jesus, so that won't do. Thankfully the King James version has us covered, so I'm going to switch to that for those verses.   So you can tell the difference easily, I'll be switching to a guest narrator as well. Lebron James hasn't responded to my calls, so the King James Version of the King James Version will have to wait, but my brother has come in clutch for podcast purposes. PJHERE MARK 9:42-48 42"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [NIV leaves off verse 44 “44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [NIV leaves off verse 46 “46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, NIV leaves off verse 48 “48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV]   GREGG So yeah, by “verses” I kind of meant “one verse used as a refrain”, but it's officially verses 44, 46, and 48, so I am technically correct, which I'm told is the best kind of correct.   Thanks to the reference to “leading little ones astray”, the great millstone imagery has had some use in response to the sexual abuse crisis, though the most commonly cited of these evocative instructions is plucking out the eye, thanks in no small part to the frequency of admonitions against pornography in the online era. Cutting off the hand is also referenced, while I think most folks if they're being honest won't even necessarily recall cutting off the foot is among the scenarios mentioned.   Anyways, Jesus finishes this section with a few salty verses that initially bear a strong resemblance to Matthew 5:13- the salt of the earth bit from the Sermon on the Mount. I'm thinking I might have actually pointed these verses out when I was going over that due to the similarity, but just in case, here they are:   MARK 9:49-50 49Everyone will be salted with fire 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”   GREGG “Have salt among yourselves” is an unusual turn of phrase, the typical interpretation of this Mark-only phrase is that Christians are supposed to bring out the best in one another, the way salt brings out the best in food.   We're now entering Mark 10, which- surprise surprise, has close parallels to Matthew 19 and 20. I'm not going to give the Matthew sections as a side by side, partly because we've already covered them independently, partly because this episode is already going to be one of my longest despite Mark being the shortest Gospel. But it's worth giving it a thorough treatment since scholars tend to think it's the oldest and also because if I'm going to go all-out it might as well be with the shortest of the bunch. You know, for efficiency.   Anyways…   MARK 10:1-12 1Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3"What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”   GREGG This version of Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce notably does not include the exception for adultery we saw in Matthew's account. Additionally where Matthew focused on Eunuchs for the kingdom–and other kinds of Eunuchs–Mark concluded with that extra condemnation of divorce, with remarriage as adultery.   In the next passage, the conversation changes direction:   MARK 10:13-16 13People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.   GREGG We'll meet the Church Father who was allegedly one of the children in this scene as we go about our big timeline, once we get through this worldbuilding and go into that. But for now, it's time for one of the most inconvenient passages in the Gospels, at least if you're rich.    MARK 10:17-31 17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.'” 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” 28Then Peter spoke up, "We have left everything to follow you!” 29"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”   GREGG There is a surprisingly thorough and ranging discussion of the whole “eye of the needle” bit in the digital edition of the British newspaper The Guardian, in the Nooks and Crannies section of their Notes and Queries page. Which I think makes it the most random thing I've cited here, but hey, it's got it all so let's get a sampling going:   First, the original query: The Guardian.com “I recently read that one of the gates into Jerusalem was named "The Eye of the Needle," and was quite tricky to negotiate, since it was quite small. Does this mean that when Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven," He meant that, far from being impossible, it was merely tricky?” Dara O'Reilly, London, UK   GREGG The first reply is a fairly representative take on the gate theory:   GUARDIAN The interpretation that seems to make sense is this. The "Eye of the Needle" was indeed a narrow gateway into Jerusalem. Since camels were heavily loaded with goods and riders, they would need to be un-loaded in order to pass through. Therefore, the analogy is that a rich man would have to similarly unload his material possessions in order to enter heaven. Rick, Brighton Uk   GREGG But then the plot thickens, as William Elsom of the UK is having none of it:   GUARDIAN No. The failure is in the translation. The original word that should have been translated was "camella" which means rope. (presumably Greek, but I am open to this being corrected.) "It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" makes more sense as a comparison. William Elsom, UK   GREGG There's something of a scholarly telephone game going on in the background, as basically every “mistranslation” take offers a variation on the root word and apparent correct meaning. Which is fairly normal for translations especially when there are different alphabets involved, but still, I chuckled.   GUARDIAN I am currently studying the Aramaic language and indeed the word "gamla" (transliterated) does mean both "camel" and "thick rope." Assuming the original manuscript with that teaching of Jesus was recorded in Aramaic and later translated to Greek, the translator may have been familiar with only the "camel" definition of the word. I have not been able to find any reliable information on a city gate called "The Eye of the Needle." -Xakk, FL USA   GREGG As much as I hate agreeing with someone who spells Zach Xakk–though presumably that's a choice his parents made– anyways as much as I hate to admit it, this overall take seems the most likely to this non-Aramaic specialist. The general meaning is still the same, it's not something you're going to get done.   It's also worth noting that at least as of the return from the Exile, if the Book of Nehemiah is to be believed, there was no “Eye of the Needle” gate in Jerusalem. And I can state that with confidence because as longtime listeners will recall, I had a whole special episode devoted to the topic from July 2020 entitled “Literally A Detailed Description of the Gates of Jerusalem and Who Fixed Them in the Time of Nehemiah”, which, despite being exactly what it says it is, has been a pretty popular episode. In any event, it *could* be that an Eye of the Needle gate was established at a later point, though really the whole gate thing feels like wishful thinking on the part of the rich or the would-be rich to me.   Of course, as you might expect, there are also literalists who agree it's wishful thinking and would rather cut to the chase. Plus people like my man David:   GUARDIAN The translation is irrelevant. We all know in our hearts we cannot love money above God.   David Porter, Orangevale, US   GREGG Let's conclude with my favorite take:   GUARDIAN “Blessed are the cheesemakers?” Mike Conn, San Francisco,    GREGG After the second Gate-Gate scandal we've come across in this show (shoutout Samson if you've forgotten), we arrive at Jesus' third prediction of His own death in Mark   MARK 10:32-34 32They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33"We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”   GREGG Mark gives no record of the Apostles' reaction to this third prediction, unless the next verse is the actual reaction, which is a hilarious thought because it would be shockingly tone deaf. But yeah, it's the very next verse without any transition except the word “then”, so you can certainly read it that way:   MARK 10:35-45 35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.   GREGG It turns out James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, have massive… cojones. But in the end their reward is understood to be martyrdom–perhaps not what they had in mind, they certainly seem to have had more of an earthly kingdom in mind.   In any event, here we have more of the “first will be last” motif popping up, and Scriptural background for why the Pope is considered, at least in theory, the “Servant of the Servants of God”.   Mark 10 finishes up with the healing of the blind Bartimaeus, so it's on to Mark 11, with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem:   MARK 11:1-11 1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'” 4They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.   GREGG We'll talk more about Palm Sunday in the future, for now just know that this scene is the basis for that. It's also a sign that Jesus is approaching the end of His earthly ministry, though we've still got another couple chapters for today after we finish this one.   We'll skip verses 12-14 as that's the cursing of the fig tree we covered under miracles--and that's right, it's a non-healing miracle. At least His target is a tree and not a human as happens in some of the apocrypha.   Which brings us to Mark's version of the scene with the moneychangers in the Temple:   MARK 11:15-18 15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'” 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.   GREGG Mark's somewhat abbreviated account leaves off Him making a whip, which is a loss, but hey, the core is there. As a reminder, and yes, I'll say this every time, just remember when someone asks “what would Jesus do” that flipping tables is absolutely a valid option.   Then, we're back to the fig tree, seeing the result of the curse on the way out, and this is extra special because this is actually an extended Mark only reflection. Including another King James specific verse that the NIV leaves off. Let's hear it!   MARK 11:20-26 20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” 22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Of course, when I said “Mark exclusive”, that may have been a bit of an oversell, because while the now-proverbial “faith to move mountains” doesn't appear in Matthew's fig tree discourse, it does line up closely to another section, Matthew 17:20, several chapters before Matthew's fig tree. As for the rest, the sentiment is overall familiar, but worth repeating so I'll say it again:   MARK 11:25-26 if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Next up we've got an attempted trap that Jesus turns around, Bugs Bunny style.   MARK 11:27-33 27They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?” 29Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30John's baptism--was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” 31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32But if we say, 'Of human origin' . . . " (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."   GREGG Mark 12 opens with the Parable of the Tenant Farmers, which I personally prefer to call the Parable of the Bad Tenants since I think just calling them farmers ignores the amount of murdering they do in the parable. But anyways, we're not covering it here, ‘cause parable. So on to Verse 13:   MARK 12:13-17 13Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.   GREGG This tax exchange, which we saw in Matthew and we'll see again in Luke (SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP AIRHORN?) is intended to be a sort of sting operation, with the expected result being Jesus objecting to the tax and therefore being guilty of rebellion against the Roman government. But I don't think Jesus even needed to tap into His omniscience here, they were acting pretty suspicious with the leading flattery and line of questioning. Plus, what does God ultimately need money for?   In the end, of course, everything we have ultimately comes from God, so while I mentioned it with Matthew it's worth mentioning again now- when we give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's, God gets everything.   Next up we've got Jesus fielding yet another insincere question from religious authorities, this time from the Sadducees:   MARK 12:18-27 18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” 24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”   GREGG That last bit– “You are badly mistaken!” is a Marcan flourish that helps emphasize Mark's generally less Pharisee-slash-Sadducee–friendly stance, underlining the intensity of Jesus' disagreement with them.   The next section is the part about The Greatest Commandment which we used to open the Sayings of the Savior, so check out 0.21a for that. Then we have a theological question apparently designed to further undermine the Credibility of the Teachers of the Law. This time around, it's Jesus who picks the fight,   MARK 12:35-40 35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' 37David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight. 38As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”   GREGG “The large crowd listened to him with delight”, we're told, as Jesus excoriated the religious establishment of His day. Sounds like a political rally almost. No wonder He was condemned as a revolutionary.   The last scene in Mark 12 is one we haven't seen before- it's one of the few passages in Mark not paralleled in Matthew- and it's one of my favorites:   MARK12:41-44 41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.”   GREGG This scene is generally called the Widow's Mite, not because “mite” was the term for small copper coins in ancient Judea–though they would retroactively be called mites–and not because the mite was the term for small copper coins in 17th century England where the King James Bible was produced, though they would pick up that name, but rather because the King James translation used a Dutch term for some small denomination coins that had originally been picked up for Biblical use by William Tyndale.   For once, I'll spare you a deeper rabbit hole, and move on from the names of coins to the lesson of the coins.   I mentioned before this passage is one of my favorites. While I appreciate the challenge behind Jesus' admonition to be perfect that we saw in Matthew, here we see that if all you have isn't much, God still sees the effort and meaningful sacrifice. There's something comforting in that for extremely inadequate folks like myself.   On the other hand, there's the lesson that giving out of your abundance may be mathematically and physically helpful but it's not spiritually significant. It's the right thing to do, of course, but an even better thing than giving your excess is to give beyond just your excess.   “But I need the rest”, you might argue. And it's certainly true, you may well have just reasons for keeping some aside. It would be irresponsible of me to sell all my worldly possessions and go live in a cave, as even if my wife signed onto it we've got kids too young to voluntarily renounce the world, it's our responsibility to care for them.   So, where's the line? When do we go from taking care of our responsibilities at home to hoarding?   Well, if you have any money, you should be giving. It doesn't have to be all you have, especially if you've got responsibilities to those in your household, but it should absolutely be more than nothing, and everything is best.   Ultimately Christians are not to see money as theirs to use how they see fit, as something they've earned. That simply isn't a Christian mentality. Money is a means by which you can help others–those you have primary responsibility for first, like your children, and those in need should be prioritized urgently as well. The Church speaks of the “preferential option for the poor”.   I'm not saying you need to become a shell of a human, doing nothing for yourself and allowing your own mental and physical health to collapse- though certainly some saints lives point in that direction. But putting yourself first is something that needs to be balanced against your ability to be a blessing to those around you.   This isn't the last time I'll bring up this sort of thing by any means, and it looks like I avoided one tangent only to go into another, so let's get back to Mark, now in Chapter 13, which opens with a prophesy of the destruction of the Temple, then flows into a description of the End Times– keep in mind from the Christian perspective time has not only a beginning but an end–that parallels Matthew.   It's understandable to want to read this as being written after the actual historical destruction of the Temple in 70AD, but as I argued in my chat with Garry Stevens last June, it's not like it was hard to see such a calamity coming during Jesus' life, Rome was already in control of a rebellious Judea with the Temple as a potential center of nationalist resistance. And that's of course if you discount the possibility of actual prophecy, which, remember, we're making our Pope-colored glasses, so Jesus actually prophesying Is the most straightforward explanation. Either way, a post 70AD dating for Mark is really pushing the outward edge of scholarly dating for the work, keeping in mind scholars tend to argue it's the oldest of the Gospels.   Without further ado, here's a long quote, going from Mark 13:1 to 27.   MARK 13 1As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2"Do you see a

As life and business partners, Jonathan and Stephanie Fields have gone through many different phases of life together. From moving cross country to Colorado to recently becoming empty nesters, exploring various parts of the world remains constant. Road trips like this allow them to find the time and space to experience new things together – no matter where they are in their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As life and business partners, Jonathan and Stephanie Fields have gone through many different phases of life together. From moving cross country to Colorado to recently becoming empty nesters, exploring various parts of the world remains constant. Road trips like this allow them to find the time and space to experience new things together – no matter where they are in their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

80% of reps lose deals because they aren't comfortable involving multiple decision-makers. In this Daily Sales Show episode, you'll learn how to become one of the few people who master the art of looping multiple stakeholders in on any deal. Come find out when, where, and how to leverage multi-threading to speed up your sales cycle and win more deals.You'll Learn:How to multi-thread your way to a higher win rateHow to identify top stakeholders and involve them earlyEffective strategies for looping in big decision-makers The Speakers: Leslie Douglas, Krysten Conner and Jason BayIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Magical and Nooks

“Work smarter.”That's the advice anyone can tell you about cold calling – but what does it mean? In this Daily Sales Show Episode, you'll get a 6-step repeatable process you can use to work smarter on cold calls from research to meeting booked. Join us to learn how to generate info about prospects, personalize your research, accurately block cold call sessions, and turn more calls into meetings.You'll Learn:Critical research strategies you can implement todayCold call personalization tacticsTop call-blocking strategies that save timeThe Speakers: Leslie Douglas and Hamish StephensonIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Vidyard, Zoominfo and Nooks

Brian LaManna and Salman Mohiuddin have been in the prospecting trenches for years. In this Daily Sales Show Episode, they aren't just giving away their top prospecting strategies… they'll show them in action so you can see the best way to implement them into your outreach. Come learn how to book more meetings and improve your outreach potential with two pros who've found the best methods for prospecting at scale. You'll Learn:How to diagnose and prevent burnout in your careerSigns you're burnt out – and strategies to deal with it Tactical tips for reducing stressThe Speakers: James Buckley, Brian LaManna and Salman MohiuddinIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Gong, Nooks and Vidyard

Shara Davoodi is a record-breaking account executive.In this Daily Sales Show episode, he'll show you why it's important to understand and leverage the power of cold calls as a tool.Come learn how Shara uses cold calls to keep the pipeline full and build lasting relationships with prospects at all stages of the sales cycle.You'll Learn:Strong openers that pave the way for a convoMastering the art of casual conversationTips for wrapping up the call effectively The Speakers: James Buckley and Shara DavoodiIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsor: Nooks and Zoominfo

We all tend to do a spring clean of our physical environment, but not so much our mental environment. It's time to spring clean our brains! **The Fuck the Cobwebs Workshop is happening this Saturday! Tickets are £15, and you also get an invite to my monthly private community Zoom hangout - The Rebel Social! Click here for more information!**   About Meg & The Daily Pep! I'm Meg and I'm the host of The Daily Pep! and The Couragemakers Podcast and founder of The Rebel Rousers. I'm a coach, writer and all-round rebel-rouser for creative and multi-passionate women to do the things only they can do and build a wholehearted life. When I'm not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free Letters of Rebellion to my wonderful Couragemakers community or hosting workshops/group programmes, I'm usually covered in paint or walking my wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin. Website | Instagram | The Couragemakers Podcast | Letters of Rebellion | Rebel Creators

Staying in control of the conversation with a new lead is hard.Watch cold call master, Ronen Pessar, break down the 3 phases of a call you need to control–and how to do that.Leave with concrete systems for using openers, transition, and follow-up to increase your cold call success rates.You'll Learn:Openers that set you up to book that meetingTransitions to seamlessly guide the convo to “next steps”Follow-up steps you should never skipThe Speakers: Maria Bross and Ronen PessarIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join here:https://hubs.la/Q01yLCGf0Follow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their game:https://hubs.ly/Q01tLYNJ0Explore our YouTube Channel:https://hubs.la/Q01N39ks0Thank you to our sponsor: ZoomInfo, Nooks and Magical

More deaths and mayhem. A quick visit to Mother Death. An interrupted interlude for Lucky and Miriam. Delilah gets even more angry (yeah, we didn't know it was possible either!) Zippy puts more fingies in even more crevices. Edwin goes fishing!And hey, has anyone seen Posey?This episode features swears, dead bodies, reanimated dead bodies, fingering (but not that. It's worse,) abusive relationships, and lots of gagging noises (but not that. It's worse.)It's gross. You'll love it. Listener discretion advised.Support the show

Yoli Ray who is an empowerment, self-love and visual identity coach. and work with clients who are struggling with self-doubt or feeling unfilled and want to love themselves and their life.Here's where to find more:www.yoliray.comwww.instagram.com/therealyoliraywww.facebook.com/therealyyoliray___________________________________________________________Welcome to The Unforget Yourself Show where we use the power of woo and the proof of science to help you identify your blind spots, and get over your own bullshit so that you can do the fucking thing you ACTUALLY want to do!We're Mark and Katie, the founders of Unforget Yourself and the creators of the Unforget Yourself System and on this podcast, we're here to share REAL conversations about what goes on inside the heart and minds of those brave and crazy enough to start their own business. From the accidental entrepreneur to the laser-focused CEO, we find out how they got to where they are today, not by hearing the go-to story of their success, but talking about how we all have our own BS to deal with and it's through facing ourselves that we find a way to do the fucking thing.Along the way, we hope to show you that YOU are the most important asset in your business (and your life - duh!). Being a business owner is tough! With vulnerability and humor, we get to the real story behind their success and show you that you're not alone._____________________Find all our links to all the things like the socials, how to work with us and how to apply to be on the podcast here: https://linktr.ee/unforgetyourself

It never rains in LA, so when it does, the boys are DEPRESSED. Tune in to hear some puke stories, Will and Liam's absurd Super Bowl picks, and Week 3 of Cracker of the Week. Does Liam finally get on the board, or does Will demolish yet again? FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS: https://www.flowcode.com/page/almostfridaypod SUBMIT CHARACTERS HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdh4-t1h_F7STZ6xRK2Ai5idy0FZni8psQMluBltbKtPL8wbA/viewform SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: 100% DEPOSIT MATCH UP TO $100 WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD THE PRIZEPICKS APP AND USE CODE “FRIDAY” https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/FRIDAY DOWNLOAD BETTERHELP AND GET YOUR FIRST 3 MONTHS OF ONLINE THERAPY FOR FREE WITH CODE “BEERS” Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE at Fitbod.me/ALMOSTFRIDAY DOWNLOAD THE GAMETIME APP AND USE CODE "FRIDAY" FOR $20 OFF  (00:00) Ads (01:26) Angelology (08:15) Puking at the Airport (13:29) Deer Antler Spray (22:55) Super Bowl Picks (27:10) Cracker of the Week (37:25) Sean Stephens KIDNAPPED (41:04) Emily Was Followed (47:08) Characters (59:17) Announcer Fired On Live TV (1:04:13) Another Character

Though it's only February, 2024 has bequeathed a lot upon the aunties already. Kulap shares a spooky Christmas Eve tale with Su, which results in her learning a very important lesson about limits and self-care. Meanwhile, Su is worshiping at the altar of a new king. Not only is he super handsome, he's been sharing important messages about Asian American identity. And that's even hotter. PS, friendly reminder that, while we may seem like we know what we're talking about, we're of course not doctors!  We want to hear from you! Drop us a message on Speakpipe. Subscribe to the Add to Cart newsletter for juicy extras. Please note, Add To Cart contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.  To see all products mentioned in this episode, head to @addtocartpod on Instagram. To purchase any of the products, see below.  Ku is listening to (and freaked out by) the podcast “Otherworld” Add some swag to Lunar New Year with Ronny Chieng's red envelopes  Charles Melton's Critic's Choice Awards speech moved Su to tears He also wrote this incredible Variety op-ed  Add to Queue: May December (starring Charles Melton) and Past Lives He's the face of Good Light's new Taste of Space Lip Milk  The Parents Are Human card game aims to help children of immigrants connect with their parents Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsorsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Mary are discussing: Bookish Moments: gifting books to little ones and accessing our TBR Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how the endings of books could make or break our feelings about the book as a whole The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  1:22 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 2:26 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 4:27 - Photo Clip Lights 7:06 - Our Current Reads 7:24 - Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (Mary) 7:29 - @maryreadsandsips on Instagram 8:33 - Starling House by Alix E. Harrow 9:50 - Fabled Bookshop 10:25 - Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsen (Kaytee) 12:42 - Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore 12:58 - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 14:43 - Malagash by Joey Comeau (Mary) 19:28 - In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (Kaytee) 19:47 - The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune 19:51 - Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune 19:59 - The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune 22:10 - A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers 24:05 - Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross (Mary) 24:12 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 25:13 - CR Season 6, Episode 19 27:44 - Fairyloot 29:34 - OwlCrate 30:01- PangoBooks 30:30 - Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan (Kaytee, Amazon Link, no longer on Bookshop) 34:44 - Fable app 35:49 - Deep Dive: Endings That Affect How We Feel About A Book 35:53 - Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan 36:30 - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles 36:42 - The Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 38:43 - The Sentence by Louise Erdrich 40:58 - Amor Towles The Lincoln Highway Q&A (very spoilery!!) 42:19 - Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam 43:48 - Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie 43:52 - Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 46:25 - The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson 46:26 - Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Junon Dawson 52:05 - Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross 52:27 - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 53:57 - Meet Us At The Fountain 54:10 - I wish I was better at timing my days off for when I'm reading an amazing book. (Mary) 55:54 - I wish for a bookish book nook. (Kaytee) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is brought to you by our anchor store, Fabled Bookshop in Waco, TX. Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!