Podcasts about opportunities

Les Brown delivers a fiery message on becoming relentless in pursuit of your dreams. He urges you to release your brakes, outgrow past defeats, surround yourself with energetic people, and refuse to be denied. Life may test you, but if you stay resourceful, creative, and unstoppable, opportunities appear — and you rise.JOIN QOD CLUB. Ready to stop growing alone? Join QOD Club and connect with people who actually get you. Get weekly Monday Mentorship Calls, Wednesday Book Club discussions, and brand-new business, mindset, and social media trainings coming soon. Start your 30-day trial for only $9!GET MY TOP 28 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Click here to get your free copy of “28 Books That Will Rewire Your Mindset for Success and Self-Mastery” curated by yours truly!Source: Les Brown You Gotta be Hungry Les Brown Greatest Speech Hosted by Sean CroxtonFollow me on InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kimberly Brown shares practical steps on how to take charge of your career and steer it with intention.— YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The framework for improving your reputation 2) How to cultivate relationships that advance your career3) How to identify and amplify the one thing that makes you stand outSubscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1116 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT KIMBERLY — Kimberly Brown is a globally recognized career and leadership strategist, bestselling author, and international keynote speaker. As the founder and CEO of Brown Leadership®, a premier learning and development firm, she helps mid-career and senior professionals amplify their brands, accelerate growth, and drive performance. Her bestselling book, Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning Into a Career You'll Love, has empowered thousands to take control of their careers with strategy and confidence. She also hosts the Your Next Move Podcast, where she shares actionable insights on career advancement. A trusted expert, Kimberly's work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, CNBC, NPR, and more. Find her online at kimberlybonline.com and brownleadership.com and follow her (@kimberlybonline) on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. • Book: Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning Into a Career You'll Love• Website: BrownLeadership.com• Website: KimberlyBOnline.com— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Past episode: 686: How to Make Your Next Career Move Your Best Move with Kimberly Brown• Past episode: 1054: Maximizing Your Pipelines and Funnels of Opportunity with Kara Smith Brown• Tool: ClickUp— THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • Vanguard. Give your clients consistent results year in and year out with vanguard.com/AUDIO• Quince. Get free shipping and 365-day returns on your order with Quince.com/Awesome• Taelor. Visit Visit taelor.style and get 10% off gift cards with the code PODCASTGIFT• Cashflow Podcasting. Explore launching (or outsourcing) your podcast with a free 10-minute call with Pete.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A Dafa practitioner in Heilongjiang Province shares his thoughts and observations of how young practitioners are doing in their cultivation in this critical time. Some have strayed from the rich cultivation environment they had when they were younger, others are demonstrating a deep understanding of the {{Fa}} and a commitment to the responsibilities of {{Fa}} rectification Dafa disciples. This and other experience-sharing from the Minghui website.Original Articles:1. Young Dafa Practitioners — Cherish the Opportunity of Cultivation2. Introducing Falun Dafa on a Cruise3. I Finally Learned How to Cultivate and Eliminate My Attachments To provide feedback on this podcast, please email us at feedback@minghuiradio.org

Susan Guthrie welcomes two extraordinary guests whose combined perspectives offer something rarely seen in the world of divorce. Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq., returns to the show alongside author Matthew A. Tower, whose new book Love Wars: Clash of the Parents gives listeners an unprecedented inside look at what high-conflict divorce feels like through the eyes of a child. Together, their insights reveal the emotional reality children carry, the predictable patterns behind high-conflict behaviors, and the steps parents can take to protect their kids from the fallout. Love Wars follows Matthew's journey from ages six to eleven as he navigated two volatile households, emotional unpredictability, parentification, negative advocates, and the relentless pressure to choose sides. His story is raw, illuminating, and at times difficult to hear, yet it is also deeply important. Bill helps contextualize Matthew's lived experience through High Conflict Personality Theory and offers guidance parents and professionals can use immediately. This conversation is a powerful companion to Bill's book Splitting and the perfect next step for anyone committed to changing the emotional climate for their children. Why This Conversation Matters High-conflict divorce leaves a lasting imprint on children, but the full internal experience is almost never visible to parents, courts, or professionals. Matthew's story pulls back the curtain on what children absorb, what they fear, how they cope, and why the conflict shapes them long after the legal case is over. Bill explains how splitting, emotional volatility, and personality-driven dynamics create confusion, fear, and reactivity for children who do not yet have the capacity to regulate intense emotions. He also highlights why professionals often miss what is really happening, and how parents can change the trajectory by lowering conflict, creating predictability, and becoming the steady emotional anchor their children desperately need. Together, Bill and Matthew offer clarity, compassion, and a path forward for families caught in high-conflict cycles. In this episode, you will learn: What children internalize during high-conflict divorce and why they absorb the emotional intensity around them Why parentification is so damaging and how children become emotional caregivers when adults are dysregulated How high-conflict parents recruit negative advocates and why these dynamics intensify the conflict Why kids shut down, freeze, or dissociate when the emotional environment becomes overwhelming How calm, consistent adults like Matthew's stepmother Holly can become a lifeline What courts and professionals often overlook when evaluating children's preferences or resistance What parents can do right now to lower reactivity, reduce conflict, and create safety for their children About the Guests:  Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. - Bill Eddy is a lawyer, therapist, mediator, best-selling author, co-founder, and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP Theory) and has become an international expert on managing disputes involving high conflict personalities and personality disorders. He provides training to lawyers, judges, mediators, managers, human resource professionals, businesspersons, healthcare administrators, college administrators, homeowners' association managers, ombudspersons, law enforcement, therapists and others. He has been a speaker and trainer in over 30 U.S. states and 10 countries. Visit the High Conflict Institute to find out more about Bill, the Institute's wealth of resources for managing high conflict relationships and more of Bill's books!   https://www.highconflictinstitute.com/ Listen to Bill's other episode, "Get Ready to BIFF Your High Conflict Co-Parent" on Divorce & Beyond here:  https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-q3hpd-f87a79 Get your copy of Splitting: How to Protect Yourself When Divorcing a Narcissist or Borderline here: https://amzn.to/3C22aGH Matthew A. Tower - Matthew A. Tower is an author, art director, audiobook narrator, and entrepreneur. He first saw Star Wars in theaters at age three. Love Wars: Clash of the Parents, A True Divorce Story is his debut work of literature. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Versus Books, and published more than 50 gaming strategy guides for hits like The Legend of Zelda, selling over 5 million copies. Get your copy of Love Wars: Clash of the Parents here: https://amzn.to/4oCN15T  Learn more at: https://lovewars.com ===================== Make the Most of Your Listening Experience: If this episode resonates with you, be sure to: Subscribe to Divorce & Beyond so you never miss an episode. Share this episode with friends or loved ones who need hope and healing. Leave a 5-star review to help us reach even more listeners. Follow Us Online: Divorce & Beyond:  https://divorceandbeyondpod.com, IG: @divorceandbeyondpod Meet Our Host Susan E. Guthrie®, Esq. is one of the nation's leading family law and mediation experts, with more than 35 years of experience helping individuals and families navigate divorce and conflict with clarity and compassion. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, a best-selling author, and a sought-after speaker, trainer, and practice-building consultant. Susan recently appeared as the featured expert on The Oprah Podcast, where she shared her insights on gray divorce and the changing landscape of relationships. Her expertise has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Washington Post, NewsNation, and NBC's Chicago Today, among many others. As the creator and host of the award-winning Divorce & Beyond® Podcast, ranked in the top 1% of all podcasts worldwide with more than 3.4 million downloads, Susan brings together top experts and powerful personal stories to help listeners move through divorce and beyond with confidence, insight, and hope. Learn more about Susan and her work at susaneguthrie.com. Divorce & Beyond is a Top 1% Overall and Top 100 Self-Help podcast designed to help you with all you need to know to navigate your divorce journey and most importantly, to thrive in your beautiful beyond!   ***************************************************************************** A Smarter, Simpler Way to Navigate Your Divorce Looking for a clearer and more affordable way to move through your divorce? Check out Hello Divorce. Their guided online platform combines easy-to-follow tools with real legal and coaching support to help you complete your divorce with less stress, less confusion, and far lower costs than a traditional courtroom battle. They have created a special page just for Divorce & Beyond listeners. Explore your options at hellodivorce.com/susan. ***************************************************************************** Opportunities for Expert Guests and Fellow Podcasters Partner with Divorce & Beyond Whether you're a podcaster looking to expand your reach or an expert ready to share your insights, Divorce & Beyond offers the perfect platform to amplify your voice.  Find out more here: https://divorceandbeyondpod.com/guest-opportunities ***************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER:  THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE.  YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTICULAR ISSUE OR PROBLEM

This Week's Panel - ElroyOMJ, InigoMontoya80   Show Discussion - An enchanting discussion of multiple games as Elroy fights off gtasc depression and Inigo fights off Elroy's terrible internet connection. In the end they can agree on two games to play that are none of the games they discussed and definitely not Godzilla on the NES.   Games Mentioned: Elroy - Gigabash, Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES), God of Rock, Who's Your Daddy, DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game InigoMontoya80 – Yet Another Zombie Defense HD, Red Dead Redemption 2, Road to Exotics, Infinity Runner, Aquapark io ----- AH101 Podcast Show Links - https://tinyurl.com/AH101Links Intro music provided by Exe the Hero. Check out his band Window of Opportunity on Facebook and YouTube

Summary:In this episode, Cory Connors welcomes Senator Heidi Campbell to discuss her journey from music to politics, her passion for environmental issues, and her groundbreaking work on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Tennessee. Senator Campbell shares insights into the “Waste to Jobs” initiative, the challenges of implementing EPR in a red state, and why this approach could transform recycling infrastructure across the Southeast.Key Topics Discussed:Senator Campbell's background in music and transition into public serviceThe origin and goals of Tennessee's Waste to Jobs programWhy EPR legislation matters and how it can succeed in conservative statesThe role of Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) in harmonizing recycling effortsChallenges with landfill capacity and the Jackson Law in TennesseeOpportunities for businesses to lead in creating effective EPR modelsInsights from the See Change Sessions 2025 event and collaboration across industriesThe importance of harmonization to avoid 50 different EPR bills for brandsPotential for deposit return systems and why beverage companies resist themHow EPR can create jobs, reduce waste, and support a circular economyResources Mentioned:Tennessee Waste to Jobs initiative and film (nominated for a Nashville Film Award)Circular Action Alliance (current PRO for several states)Tennessee Environmental CouncilSee Change Sessions and OPLN eventsContact:Senator Campbell encourages outreach from individuals and organizations interested in sustainability. Her contact information is available on official Tennessee legislative pages.Closing Thoughts:Senator Campbell emphasizes that EPR is not just an environmental solution—it's an economic opportunity. By building recycling infrastructure and creating jobs, Tennessee can lead the way for other states. Cory and Senator Campbell agree that collaboration between brands, legislators, and communities is key to making circular economy principles a reality.Thank you for tuning in to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors!Chapters00:00Introduction to Sustainable Packaging and Senator Campbell01:51Senator Campbell's Journey into Public Service05:35Insights from Sea Change Event08:13Waste to Jobs Program in Tennessee14:12Engaging with the Community and Future Plans18:08Challenges and Opportunities in Recyclinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap. This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

2 Timothy 4:6–8 (NIV) “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”Legacy isn't something you CREATE at the end of your life — it's something you BUILD in the middle of it.Legacy is when your OBEDIENCE becomes someone else's OPPORTUNITY.1. Legacy is built by DAILY DECISIONS.Proverbs 24:16 A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again. However, in a disaster wicked people fall.Legacy isn't built by PERFECTION; it's built by PERSEVERANCE.2. Legacy is FINISHED through FAITHFULNESS.Legacy isn't built in the FIRST lap — it's PROVEN in the LAST.Hebrews 12:1–2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3. Legacy is ROOTED in FAITH.Psalm 78:4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders.Your CONSISTENCY today becomes your children's CONVICTION tomorrow.4. Legacy is REWARDED in ETERNITY.Your real reward isn't what you ACCUMULATE — it's who youIMPACTED.

Send us a textHow do you build a beverage brand when the margins are slim and you have no outside funding and growth depends on you?You make sales your North Star. Every single day.In this episode of Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford, I chat with Ollie Puddick, founder of Innerbloom, a functional beverage brand that's gone from farmers' markets to over 300 retail doors across Australia and New Zealand in just a few years.Ollie quit his job as a professional firefighter at the end of last year to go all-in on Innerbloom. No safety net. No investors. Just relentless focus on the one thing that keeps the lights on: sales.And he's brutally honest about the mistakes he made along the way.You'll hear:

A compelling discussion on how Gen Z is impacting the world through faith and leadership. This video features insightful conversations with religious leaders and young adults about the challenges and opportunities facing the younger generation. Themes include spiritual growth, societal issues, and personal testimonies about faith journeys. Ideal for those interested in cultural and religious dynamics.

In this conversation, Jim Hayes, founder of Lucerna GlobalCapital, shares why he thinks there is an opportunity in emerging markets. Prior to founding Lucerna, Jim spent 13 years at Fidelity. Jim's last role at Fidelity was covering a number of sectors in the $35Bn Fidelity Series Emerging Market Fund. This discussion highlights the potential opportunities in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In other news, thank you for your support. 763,000 minutes were spent listening to this show in 2025. Let's go!Sponsorship InformationNew Sponsor Alert! Thank you to Trata for sponsoring the show.If you're listening to this podcast, you'll like Trata. Trata is buyside to buyside conversations on individual stocks. Trata makes finding a bull or bear on any stock as easy as clicking two buttons. Over 125 funds globally contribute that collectively cover 2000+ tickers. Trata raised over $3mm coming out of Y Combinator. Before you would track 13Fs, now you can understand what funds are actually thinking. You can join as a lurker or you can join as a contributor and Trata will pay you hundreds of dollars per call. For a free trial, go to trytrata.com/brew OG Sponsor Shoutout!Thank you to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring the show. DISCOUNT INFO: If you use the affiliate link ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fiscal.ai/brew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, you will automatically get 2 weeks of Fiscal Pro for Free and if you find that you want to upgrade, my link will get you 15% off any paid plans. About ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠ is the complete modern data terminal for global equities.The ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠ platform combines a powerful user experience with all the financial data capabilities that professional investors need. Users get up to 20 years of historical financials for all stocks globally that they can easily chart, compare, or export into their own models. And unlike legacy data terminals where it can take hours or even days, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠'s data is updated within minutes of earnings reports. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fiscal.ai⁠⁠⁠⁠ also tracks all the company-specific Segment & KPI data so you don't have to. Like to track Amazon's Cloud Revenue? They've got it.How about Spotify's premium subscribers? Or Google's quarterly paid clicks?They've got all of it.

The Culture of Celebration SeriesIn this second episode of The Culture of Celebration, Jocelynn explores how meaningful, equity-centered celebration goes far beyond seasonal holidays and big events.Real celebration—the kind that builds trust, belonging, and resilience—lives in the micro-moments we notice, honor, and name every single day.As students and educators navigate the emotional highs and lows of the winter season, this episode offers a compassionate, culturally responsive reframing of what it truly means to celebrate one another in ways that feel safe, affirming, and authentically human.This conversation is a continuation of the work we began in Episode 1 and beautifully connects back to your Back-to-School series, “The First 10 Days: Building Classroom Belonging.” It's the perfect mid-year reminder that the roots you planted in August need care, water, and attention in November and December.In This Episode, You'll Learn:Why the holiday season requires deeper care and cultural responsivenessJocelynn highlights how disrupted routines, varied cultural traditions, and heightened emotions make micro-celebrations especially powerful in November and December.What micro-celebrations actually are—and why they matterDiscover how tiny, intentional acts of noticing effort, growth, and courage strengthen classroom culture far more than large events or public ceremonies.How cultural competence shapes our understanding of celebrationWe often assume students want to be celebrated the way we prefer to be celebrated. Jocelynn challenges that lens and offers strategies for honoring cultural variation with humility and intention.The essential role of the AnchorED for Achievement and AAA FrameworksLearn how micro-celebrations reinforce Agency, Empowerment, Community, Hope, Opportunity, and Awareness—core components of your instructional and relational practice.Why this is the perfect time to revisit your Back-to-School workJocelynn invites educators to reflect on everything learned during The First 10 Days: Building Classroom Belonging—identity, voice, norms, storytelling—and use those insights to shape mid-year celebrations with greater care and nuance.Download the free Day 1 lesson & activities at: customteachingsolutions.com/btsfreeHow administrators can support teachers through micro-celebrationsSchool leaders receive specific, actionable ideas for recognizing the adults who hold the emotional and community labor of the school.Practical, ready-to-use micro-celebration routinesTry Joy Journals, “We Noticed” boards, one-word celebrations, shout-out postcards, or 30-second video affirmations—simple ideas teachers can implement tomorrow.Reflective Questions for EducatorsWhat small moments did I notice today that are worth celebrating?Which students thrive with public affirmation—and which prefer quiet celebration?How do my own cultural experiences shape the way I define “care” and “celebration”?What norms around celebration did we build in August? Do they still serve us now?How can micro-celebrations help stabilize or strengthen our classroom culture this season?Related ResourcesBack-to-School Lesson 1 Freebie: customteachingsolutions.com/btsfreeFocus Word Reflection Kit for culturally responsive year-end reflection (Virtual Learning Library + TPT)Connect with JocelynnInstagram: @iteachcustomLinkedIn: Jocelynn HubbardWebsite: customteachingsolutions.com

Connect with Lance Courtney on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lancecourtney Learn more about the Salon Owners Summit & explore the full lineup and agenda: https://www.salonownersummit.com/tickets Enjoyed the episode? Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter or here to learn more about Phorest Salon Software. This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

Jaffe and Razor react to the last week of Bruins hockey. Alex Steeves has given the B's a huge boost in David Pastrnak's absence, what should his role be when Pasta returns? Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt, and Elias Lindholm have all returned from injury and have contributed in recent games, how long can the team sustain their level of play as Charlie McAvoy and others are still on the mend? We preview Bruins vs. Devils, and more!

reference: Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg.52This episode is also available as a blog post at https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/the-right-attitude-turns-difficulties-into-opportunities-for-the-spiritual-aspirant/Video presentations, interviews and podcast episodes are allavailable on the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at www.aurobindo.net  The US editions and links to e-book editions of SriAurobindo's writings can be found at Lotus Press www.lotuspress.com#Sri Aurobindo #yoga #integral yoga #Guru #spirituality #transformation

Featured on WGN Radio's Home Sweet Home Chicago on 12/6/25: Sarah Leonard of Legacy Properties, A Sarah Leonard Company, joins the show to talk about December being a great month for sellers and buyers. To learn more about what Sarah and her team can do for you, go to sarahleonardsells.com or call her at 224-239-3966.

Meet Darrin Stern, the visionary leader behind H+H Americas and the Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival. In this episode of the Craft to Career podcast, Elizabeth Chappell sits down with Darrin to uncover how these two powerhouse events came to life—and why they are transforming the fiber, fabric, and crafting industries. While some claim the quilting or fabric industry is "dying," Darrin shares a very different story. His work proves that creativity, community, and craft are thriving more than ever. H+H Americas has quickly become one of the most exciting annual events for makers, brands, designers, and businesses alike, drawing global attendees to Chicago each year. At this dynamic multi-day gathering, you'll find: Runway shows featuring fabric and fiber artistry Ice-cream socials, happy hours, and community meet-ups Live podcast recordings Classes, panels, and hands-on demos Retail opportunities for customers (Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival) Wholesale and business-focused exhibits (H+H Americas) Although the event is young—just three years old—it continues to grow rapidly as word spreads about the uniquely vibrant energy it brings to the crafting world. Whether you're a quilt pattern designer, a shop owner, a fabric lover, or simply curious about what a major industry event looks like, this episode offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at what makes these shows so special. What You'll Learn in This Episode How H+H Americas began and how Darrin Stern brought the vision to life Why the fiber and fabric industries are thriving, not declining The difference between H+H Americas and the Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival What attendees can expect at the Chicago event—from runways to networking How the show has evolved over its first three years Why these events are becoming must-attend gatherings for both customers and business owners How creators, designers, and brands can benefit from participating Why this is the place to be for anyone in the quilting or fiber world Episode Highlights Darrin's personal journey and what led him to the craft industry A look at how events like these shape the future of quilting and crafting Behind-the-scenes stories from past H+H Americas shows Opportunities for business owners, educators, and influencers The growing excitement around the Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival (the consumer show held the day before H+H Americas) If You've Ever Wondered… Should I attend H+H Americas as a business owner? What is the Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival and who is it for? Is the quilting industry shrinking—or growing? What happens at a major fiber and craft trade show? What opportunities exist for designers, makers, or shop owners? …this episode will answer all of that and more. Tune In Whether you are planning to attend, dreaming of attending, or simply curious about what a world-class craft event looks like, you won't want to miss this conversation. Darrin shares the heart, strategy, and passion behind an event that is shaping the future of our industry.

On today's episode, Dr. Mark Costes is joined by Dr. Dan Briskie and Dave Roehr from Proceed Finance for a powerful webinar originally featured inside DSN. The trio tackles the all-too-common September slump—when production and collections often dip across dental practices.   They share proactive strategies for reactivating patients, encouraging same-day treatment, maximizing team downtime, and using financial tools to help patients move forward with care. If you're looking to keep momentum strong and finish the year with a bang, this conversation is packed with practical takeaways. Be sure to check out the full episode from the Dentalpreneur Podcast! EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.stridedentalgroup.com https://www.truedentalsuccess.com Dental Success Network Subscribe to The Dentalpreneur Podcast

12-4 The Athletic's Mike Silver joins the show with his thoughts on if Robert Saleh could get another head coaching opportunity as well as who he thinks is legit around the NFLSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In just over three years, Harvey has not only scaled to nearly one thousand customers, including Walmart, PwC, and other giants of the Fortune 500, but fundamentally transformed how legal work is delivered. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil are joined by Harvey's co-founder and president Gabe Pereyra to discuss why the future of legal AI isn't only about individual productivity, but also about putting together complex client matters to make law firms more profitable. They also talk about how Harvey analyzes complex tasks like fund formation or M&A and deploys agents to handle research and drafting, the strategic reasoning behind enabling law firms rather than competing with them, and why AI won't replace partners but will change law firm leverage models and training for associates. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @gabepereyra | @Harvey Chapters: 00:00 – Gabe Pereyra Introduction 00:09 – Introduction to Harvey 02:04 – Expanding Harvey's Reach 03:22 – Understanding Legal Workflows 06:20 – Agentic AI Applications in Law 09:06 – The Future Evolution of Law Firms 13:36 – RL in Law 19:46 – Deploying Harvey and Customization 23:46 – Adoption and Customer Success 25:28– Why Harvey Isn't Building a Law Firm 27:25 – Challenges and Opportunities in Legal Tech 29:26 – Building a Company During the Rise of Gen AI 37:24 – Hiring at Harvey 40:19 – Future Predictions 44:17 – Conclusion 

Keep up with the real freight market in today's returning guest, Cody Koehler of A&Z Trucking, discussing how weather swings can explode spot rates overnight, why local conditions matter way more than any national "average", capacity challenges, the slow burn of driver supply adjustment, and the tightening compliance landscape that's about to weed out a huge chunk of non-compliant brokers when the new bond rules hits. We also talk about the importance of carrier partnerships, taking short-term losses to protect long-term contracts, and why transparency keeps your customers locked in even when the market gets chaotic! The freight market's still cyclical, still regional, and still full of opportunity if you're paying attention to the right signals and building your business the right way, so keep listening to learn more!   About Cody Koehler Cody is a 21-year veteran in supply chain/logistics. He has done just about everything in this industry minus holding his CDL (he did drive a yard dog though). In his current role, he oversees the sales and marketing teams for A&Z trucking, a 20-year old brokerage that specializes in produce and reefer freight, as well as cold storage and cross docking.   Connect with Cody LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-koehler-1a922b162/  Website: https://aandztrucking.com/  Email: info@aandztrucking.com  

Amit and Austin come together to take a 30,000 ft. look at the World Cup Group Stage Draw, from a potential Argentina-Spain Round of 32 clash to a bell curvy-opportunity for the USMNT. Plus, Belgium's Group of Opportunity, and the France-Norway-Senegal Thunderdome.

The Book Release Episode: A Moment of Pride, Chris and Alexas Orcutt, The Books of Chris Orcutt, The Nine-Book Series, To Hold In One's Hands, Luck and Opportunity, The Years to Come....in which, like some sort of errant fellow at a ceremony, I raise a toast to Chris Orcutt getting review copies of his first book of his new series out. He's at https://orcutt.net/weblog/ and worth every amount of attention I can bang pans to get.

If the word "cryptocurrency" makes you want to run for cover, it's time to flip that fear into curiosity and courage. Today's episode, "Digital Money Demystified: A Conversation," is your invitation to step into clarity and possibility.Host Jacquette sits down with multifaceted guest Dr. Tonya Evans, author of Digital Money Demystified, to deliver a masterclass that brings humanity into the often-intimidating world of digital money. Together, they reveal that crypto isn't just about technology; it's about access, imagination, and empowerment. They break down the invisible walls of fear, misinformation, and doubt that keep so many from exploring this space, showing how education, security, and diversification can unlock doors to opportunity.This isn't just about money; it's about reshaping futures and closing the wealth gap. So, tune in, trust yourself, and open your mind to a world where possibility becomes power.www.jacquettetimmons.comwww.jacquettetimmons.com/digital-productswww.instagram.com/jacquettemtimmonsBuyMeACoffee.com/JacquetteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learn more : https://nextsteps4seniors.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12-4 The Athletic's Mike Silver joins the show with his thoughts on if Robert Saleh could get another head coaching opportunity as well as who he thinks is legit around the NFLSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Established by Congress and recently made permanent, Opportunity Zones are a tool designed to drive private investment into specifically designated communities that need it most. Shay Hawkins, the tax counsel for Sen. Tim Scott, discusses with Todd Glover and Erica Wright what Opportunity Zones are, what changes they are undergoing, and how cities and investors can take advantage of them.

Tasheena Womack teaches us how to break free from perfectionism, reframe failure and build the kind of mindset that makes you unstoppable. Tasheena founded Simply Tasheena in 2011 as a lifestyle blog that has since partnered with major brands including Disney, Goya®, Hilton, Mazda, and Kodak. With a Master's degree in Organizational Management and Leadership, she has built multiple successful ventures and spoken at over 100 organizations throughout the tri-state area. Tasheena specializes in helping entrepreneurs develop the mindset strategies needed to transform creative passions into sustainable businesses. She strives to empower others with practical tools for entrepreneurial success and personal growth. Tasheena talks about shifting out of fear, treating mistakes as data, creating an evidence file, and taking bold action without waiting for things to be perfect. If you have felt stuck, hesitant or discouraged lately, this episode will clear that fog fast. It is the kind of mindset reset that changes how you move. Key points discussed include: Action beats perfection and waiting for ideal conditions stalls your entire business. Failure is just information and every misstep teaches you the next right move. An evidence file keeps you grounded on the days you doubt your own progress. Simple steps create momentum so do one thing and let the next unfold. Comparison becomes strategy when you use it for learning instead of judgment. Your voice builds your community so show your face, speak on camera and share your real life. Opportunities expand when you negotiate and brands often mirror your confidence. The best is always ahead and your job is simply to keep showing up. Connect with Tasheena Womack Website | Instagram

host: Alyson Stanfield In 2020, Dawn Trimble was laid off from her interior design job during the pandemic while navigating a divorce—and she felt relief. That moment became a turning point. Within months of painting full-time, she launched her first collection, which sold out in days and matched her corporate paycheck. Dawn talks about the practical steps she took to build momentum, what she brought from her design background into her art business, how she thinks about creativity as service rather than self-expression, and why she believes the most important thing any artist can do is simply start. HIGHLIGHTS 01:40 Dawn describes her serene watercolor paintings 03:00 The relief of being laid off during the pandemic 05:40 Creating her first collection and selling out in days 08:00 The three-legged stool business approach 26:00 Wall covering licensing partnerships that surprised her with the size of the first checks 29:00 How she structures her week 32:00 Marketing through storytelling and connection 39:00 The "Memories" collection and her father's dementia 44:00 Her faith, viewing herself as conduit, not source 47:20 Her advice to other artists: just do it DAWN'S ACTION FOR YOU Dawn reminds us that everyone has insecurities and everyone is afraid. But you have to start anyway. As she mentioned, inspiration has to find us working. You can't sit around wishing—it has to be an action. So this week, get into your studio and make something. Let inspiration find you working. To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit https://artbizsuccess.com/trimble-revenue Connect with Dawn and see more of her art: https://dawnmtrimbleart.com

Every great movie has that moment — the hero face-down in the dirt, bleeding, doubting, wondering if they've got anything left. That's not the end of the story. That's the middle. So if you're there right now — business messy, life loud, wondering if you've blown it — you're not failing. You're in your Hero's Journey. In this powerful episode of PivotMe, April unpacks The Hero's Journey — that timeless storytelling arc that shows up in every great movie, book, and… your own life. From Luke Skywalker to Moana to Rocky, this universal path of struggle, transformation, and triumph is the same journey entrepreneurs and leaders walk every day. April walks through the 12 stages of the Hero's Journey and shows you how to identify where you are in your own story — so you can stop fighting the plot and start directing the outcome. This episode reminds every business owner and high performer that the mess isn't the end — it's the middle. Key Takeaways 1️⃣ Every leader is on their own Hero's Journey. Your business, your challenges, your growth — they all follow a story arc. 2️⃣ The 12 Stages of the Hero's Journey (and how they apply to real life): Ordinary World: The comfort zone that starts to feel too small. Call to Adventure: The whisper that says "There's more." Refusal of the Call: The fear that talks you out of it. Meeting the Mentor: The guide who shows you what's possible. Crossing the Threshold: The moment you commit — no turning back. Tests, Allies, and Enemies: The messy middle — growth under fire. Approach to the Inmost Cave: Preparation before your biggest challenge. The Ordeal: The breaking point that becomes your turning point. The Reward: The transformation — confidence, courage, clarity. The Road Back: Integration of lessons into real life. The Resurrection: Final test — choosing differently this time. Return with the Elixir: Sharing your wisdom, leading from strength. 3️⃣ The Hard Middle Is Not Failure. It's transformation in progress. 4️⃣ Knowing Your Stage Brings Clarity. When you can name where you are in the journey, you can stop reacting and start leading yourself through it. Quotes "Struggle isn't a detour. It's the way forward." "Mentors don't give you permission — they give you perspective." "The Ordeal isn't where the hero dies. It's where the old version of them dies." "When you understand your story, you stop fighting the plot and start directing the outcome." Challenge for Pivoters Ask yourself:

Infrastructure equity is no longer just about toll roads and utilities—it's becoming a core part of insurance portfolio strategy. In this episode of the InsuranceAUM.com podcast, Gianluca Minella, Head of Research at InfraRed Capital Partners (a part of SLC Management), joins host Stewart Foley for a wide-ranging conversation on infrastructure's growing relevance for insurers.   Drawing on findings from SLC Management's recent global insurance survey, Gianluca shares insights into how insurers are allocating across core, core-plus, and value-add strategies. The discussion covers inflation protection, regulatory treatment, digitalization, decarbonization, valuation discipline, and infrastructure's role as both a defensive and growth-oriented asset class.   Whether you're focused on diversification, long-term returns, or navigating macro risks, this episode offers timely and practical insight into how infrastructure equity is being used by insurers to enhance portfolio resilience and performance.

Featuring an interview with Dr Matthew Lunning, including the following topics: Reflection on the advances made in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (0:00) Overview of the CAR T-cell therapy administration process (4:40) Opportunities for referral for CAR T-cell therapy (10:05) Selection of a CAR T-cell therapy based on patient characteristics (16:09) Sequencing of CAR T-cell therapy for various non-Hodgkin lymphomas (23:23) Safety regulations and mitigation strategies for adverse events (30:36) Case: A woman in her early 80s with relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma receives lisocabtagene maraleucel (36:16) Case: A man in his early 60s with R/R mantle cell lymphoma receives brexucabtagene autoleucel (43:09) Case: A man in his early 60s with R/R multiple myeloma receives ciltacabtagene autoleucel (49:09) CME information and select publications

Barbara Dooley: Georgia loss of Drew Bobo 'a big blow'. Raheem Morris lost opportunity to prove he should return to coach Falcons. How hanging with Dusty Rhodes goes.

Mike and Steak share thoughts on Raheem Morris' response to Mike asking him why he believes he should be back as the Falcons head coach despite the fact there are calls for him to not return. As they discuss, they agree Morris' decision making in instances like his hiring give reason for the Falcons to move on from him.

#cuttheclutter As Putin begins his 10th visit to India, #CutTheClutter looks at India-Russia partnership & defence cooperation over the years. ThePrint Editor-In-Chief Shekhar Gupta also explains the opportunities & stains for the ties between two counties amid a changing global order & Ukraine conflict. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To read National Interest: https://theprint.in/sg-national-interest/a-plane-tale-from-the-past/544222/ To Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETdminYTJJU

How to Build a Winning Strategy for Your B2B Brand In a fast-paced business environment, marketers, agencies, and consultants must proactively help clients differentiate their brands in the marketplace. One way of doing this is by analyzing the strategy, messaging, and brand positioning, both for their own brands and key competitors. So how can teams conduct this kind of brand research and competitive analysis in a way that's insightful, efficient, and actionable for planning the next steps? Tune in as the B2B Marketers on Mission Podcast presents the Marketing DEMO Lab Series, where we sit down with Clay Ostrom (Founder, Map & Fire) and his SmokeLadder platform designed for brand research, messaging and positioning analysis, and competitive benchmarking. In this episode, Clay explained the platform's origins and features, emphasizing its role in analyzing brand positioning, core messaging, and competitive landscapes. He also stressed the importance of clear, consistent brand positioning and messaging, and how standardized make it easier to compare brands across multiple business values. Clay also highlighted the value of objective, data-driven analysis to identify brand strengths, weaknesses, and gaps, and how tools like SmokeLadder can save significant time in gathering insights to build trust with clients. He provided practical steps for generating, refining, and exporting brand messaging and analysis for internal or client-facing use. Finally, Clay also discussed how action items and recommendations generated from analysis can immediately support smart brand strategy decisions and expedite trust-building with clients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4_o1PzF1Kk Topics discussed in episode: [1:31] The purpose behind building SmokeLadder and why it matters for B2B teams [12:00] A walkthrough of the SmokeLadder platform and how it works [14:51] SmokeLadder's core features [17:48] How positioning scores and category rankings are calculated [35:36] How differentiation and competitors are analyzed inside SmokeLadder [44:07] How SmokeLadder builds messaging and generates targeted personas [50:24] The key benefits and unique capabilities that set SmokeLadder apart Companies and links: Clay Ostrom Map & Fire SmokeLadder Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 In an increasingly competitive B2B landscape, marketers, agencies and consultants, need to proactively find ways to help their clients stand out amidst the digital noise. One way of doing this is by analyzing the strategy, messaging and positioning of their own brands and those of their competitors. So how can they do this in a way that’s insightful, efficient and effective? Welcome to this first episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast Demo Lab Series, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Clay Ostrom about this topic. He’s the owner and founder of the branding agency Map and Fire, and the creator of the platform Smoke Ladder that we’ll be talking about today. So let’s dive in. Christian Klepp  00:42 All right, and I’m gonna say Clay Ostrom. Welcome to this first episode of the Demo Lab Series. Clay Ostrom  00:50 I am super excited and very honored to be the first guest on this new series. It’s awesome. Christian Klepp  00:56 We are honored to have you here. And you know, let’s sit tight, or batten down the hatches and buckle up, and whatever other analogy you want to throw in there, because we are going to unpack a lot of interesting features and discuss interesting topics around the platform that you’ve built. And I think a good place to start, perhaps Clay before we start doing a walk through of the platform is, but let’s start at the very beginning. What motivated you to create this platform called Smoke Ladder. Clay Ostrom  01:31 So we should go all the way back to my childhood. I always dreamed of, you know, working on brand and positioning. You know, that was something I’ve always thought of since the early days, but no, but I do. I own an agency called Map and Fire, so I’ve been doing this kind of work for over 10 years now, and have worked with lots and lots of different kinds of clients, and over that time, developed different frameworks and a point of view about how to do this kind of work, and when the AI revolution kind of hit us all, it just really struck me that this was an opportunity to take a lot of that thinking and a lot of that, you know, again, my perspective on how to do this work and productize that and turn it into something that could be used by people when we’re not engaged with them, in some kind of service offering. So, so that was kind of the kernel of it. I actually have a background in computer science and product. So it was sort of this natural Venn diagram intersection of I can do some product stuff, I can do brand strategy stuff. So let’s put it together and build something. Christian Klepp  02:46 And the rest, as they say, is history. Clay Ostrom  02:49 The rest, as they say, is a lot of nights and weekends and endless hours slaving away at trying to build something useful. Christian Klepp  02:58 Sure, sure, that certainly is part of it, too. Clay Ostrom  03:01 Yeah. Christian Klepp  03:02 Let’s not keep the audience in suspense for too long here, right? Like, let’s start with the walk through. And before you share your screen, maybe I’ll set this up a little bit, right? Because you, as you said, like, you know, you’ve built this platform. It’s called Smoke Ladder, which I thought was a really clever name. It’s, you like to describe it as, like, your favorite SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool, but for brand research and analysis. So I would say, like, walk us through how somebody would use this platform, like, whether they be a marketer that’s already been like in the industry for years, or is starting out, or somebody working at a brand or marketing agency, and how does the platform address these challenges or questions that people have regarding brand strategy, analysis and research? Clay Ostrom  03:49 Yeah, yeah. I use that analogy of the SEO thing, just because, especially early on, I was trying to figure out the best way to describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it before. I feel like it’s a, I’m not going to fall into the trap of saying, this is the only product like this, but it has its own unique twists with what it can do. And I felt like SEO tools are something everybody has touched at one point or another. So I was using this analogy of, it’s like the s, you know, Semrush of positioning and messaging or Ahrefs, depending on your if you’re a Coke or Pepsi person. But I always felt like that was just a quick way to give a little idea of the fact that it’s both about analyzing your own brand, but it’s also about competitive analysis and being able to see what’s going on in the market or in your landscape, and looking specifically at what your competitors are doing and what their strengths and weaknesses are. So does that resonate with you in terms of, like, a shorthand way, I will say, I don’t. I don’t say that. It’s super explicitly on the website, but it’s been in conversation. Christian Klepp  05:02 No, absolutely, absolutely, that resonated with me. The only part that didn’t resonate with me is that I’m neither a coke or a Pepsi person. I’m more of a ginger ale type of guy. I digress. But yeah, let’s what don’t you share your screen, and let’s walk through this, right? Like, okay, if a marketing person were like, use the platform to do some research on, perhaps that marketers, like own company and the competitors as well, right? Like, what would they do? Clay Ostrom  05:32 Yeah, so that’s, that is, like you were saying, there’s, sort of, I guess, a few different personas of people who would potentially use this. And initially I was thinking a little more about both in house, people who, you know, someone who’s working on a specific brand, digging really deep on their own brand, whether they’re, you know, the marketing lead or whatever, maybe they’re the founder, and then this other role of agency owners, or people who work at an agency where they are constantly having to look at new brands, new categories, and quickly get up to speed on what those brands are doing and what’s the competitive space look like, you know, for that brand. And that’s something that, if you work at an agency, which obviously we both have our own agencies, we do this stuff weekly. I mean, every time a new lead comes in, we have to quickly get up to speed and understand something about what they do. And one of the big gaps that I found, and I’d be curious to kind of hear your thoughts on this, but I’ve had a lot of conversations with other agency owners, and I think one of the biggest gaps is often that brands are just not always that great at explaining their own brand or positioning or differentiation to you, and sometimes they have some documentation around it, but a lot of times they don’t. A lot of it’s word of mouth, and that makes it really hard to do work for them. If whatever you’re doing for them, whether that’s maybe you are working on SEO or maybe you’re working on paid ads or social or content, you have to know what the brand is doing and kind of what they’re again, what their strengths and weaknesses are, so that you can talk about that. I mean, do you come across that a lot in your work? Christian Klepp  07:33 How do I say this without offending anybody? I find, I mean jokes aside, I find, more often than not, in the especially in the B2B space, which is an area that I operate in, I find 888 point five times out of 10. We are dealing with companies that have a they, have a very rude, rudimentary, like, framework of something that remotely resembles some form of branding. And I know that was a very long winded answer, but it’s kind of sort of there, but not really, if you know what I mean. Clay Ostrom  08:17 Yeah. Christian Klepp  08:17 And there have been other extreme cases where they’ve got the logo and the website, and that’s as far as their branding goals. And I would say that had they had all these, this discipline, like branding system and structure in place, then people like maybe people like you and I will be out on a job, right and it’s something, and I’m sure you’ve come across this, and we’ll probably dig into this later, but like you, it’s something I’ve come across several times, especially in the B2B space, where branding is not taken seriously until it becomes serious. I know that sounds super ironic, right, but, and it’s to the point of this platform, right, which we’re going to dig into in a second, but it’s, it’s things, for instance, positioning right, like, are you? Are you, in fact, strategically positioned against competitors? Is your messaging resonating with, I would imagine, especially in the B2B context, with the multiple group target groups that you have, or that your company is, is going after? Right? Is that resonating, or is this all like something that I call the internal high five? You’ve this has all been developed to please internal stakeholders and and then you take it to market, and it just does not, it just does not resonate with the target audience at all. Right? So there’s such a complex plethora of challenges here, right? That people like yourself and like you and I are constantly dealing with, and I think that’s also part of the reason why I would say a platform like this is important, because it helps to not just aggregate data. I mean, certainly it does that too, but it helps. To put things properly, like into perspective at speed. I think that might be, that might be something that you would have talked about later, but it does this at speed, because I think, from my own experience, one of the factors in our world that sometimes works against us is time, right? Clay Ostrom  10:19 No, I totally agree, yeah, and, you know, we’re lucky, I guess would be the word that we are often hired to work on a company strategy with them and help them clarify these things. Christian Klepp  10:33 Absolutely. Clay Ostrom  10:34 There are a million other flavors of agencies out there who are being hired to execute on work for a brand, and not necessarily being brought in to redefine, you know what the brand, you know they’re positioning and their messaging and some of these fundamental things, so they’re kind of stuck with whatever they get. And like you said, a lot of times it’s not much. It might be a logo and a roughly put together website, and maybe not a whole lot else. So, yeah, but I think your other point about speed is that was a huge part of this. I think the market is only accelerating right now, because it’s becoming so much easier to start up new companies and new brands and new products. And now we’ve got vibe coding, so you can technically build a product in a day, maybe launch it the next day, start marketing it, you know, by the weekend. And all of this is creating noise and competition, and it’s all stuff that we have to deal with as marketers. We have to understand the landscape. We’ve got to quickly be able to analyze all these different brands, see where the strengths and weaknesses are and all that stuff. So… Christian Klepp  11:46 Absolutely. Clay Ostrom  11:46 But, yeah, that, I think that the speed piece is a huge part of this for sure. Christian Klepp  11:51 Yeah. So, so we’re okay, so we’re on the I guess this, this will probably be the homepage. So just walk us through what, what a marketing person would do if they want to use this platform, yeah? Clay Ostrom  12:00 So the very first thing you do when you come in, and this was when I initially conceived of this product, one of the things that I really wanted was the ability to have very quick feedback, be able to get analysis for whatever brand you’re looking at, you know, right away to be able to get some kind of, you know, insight or analysis done. So the first thing you can do, and you can do this literally, from the homepage of the website, you can enter in a URL for a brand, come into the product, even before you’ve created an account, you can come in and you can do an initial analysis, so you can put in whatever URL you’re looking at, could be yours, could be a competitor, and run that initial analysis. What we’re looking at here, this is, if you do create an account, this is, this becomes your, as we say, like Home Base, where you can save brands that you’re looking at. You can see your history, all that good stuff. And it just gives you some quick bookmarks so that you can kind of flip back and forth between, maybe it’s your brand, maybe it’s some of the competitors you’re looking at and then it gives you just some quick, kind of high level directional info. And I kind of break it up into these different buckets. Clay Ostrom  13:23 And again, I’d love to kind of hear if this is sort of how you think about it, too. But there’s sort of these different phases when you’re working on a brand. And again, this is sort of from an agency perspective, but you first got the sort of the research and the pitch piece. So this is before maybe you’re even working with them. You’re trying to get an understanding of what they do. Then we have discovery and onboarding, where we’re digging in a little bit deeper. We’re trying to really put together, what does the brand stand for, what are their strengths and weaknesses? And then we have the deeper dive, the strategy and differentiation. And this is where we’re really going in and getting more granular with the specific value points that they offer, doing some of that messaging analysis, finding, finding some of the gaps of the things that they’re talking about or not talking about, and going in deeper. So it kind of break it up into these buckets, based on my experience of how we engage with clients. Does that? Does that make sense to you, like, does that? Christian Klepp  14:28 It does make sense, I think. But what could be helpful for the audience is because this, this almost looks like it’s a pre cooked meal. All right, so what do we do we try another I mean, I think you use Slack for the analysis. Why don’t we use another brand, and then just pop it into that analysis field, and then see what it comes out with. Clay Ostrom  14:51 So the nice thing about this is, if you are looking at a brand that’s been analyzed, you’re going to get the data up really quickly. It’ll be basically pop up instantly. But you can analyze a brand from scratch as well. Just takes about a minute or so, basically, to kind of do some of the analysis. So for the sake of a demo, it’s a little easier just to kind of look at something that we’ve got in there. But if it’s a brand that you know, maybe you’re looking at a competitor for one of your brands, you know, there’s a good chance, because we’ve got about 6000 brands that we’ve analyzed in here, that there’s a good chance there’ll be some info on them. But so this is pipe drive. So whoever’s not familiar Pipedrive is, you know, it’s a CRM  (Customer Relationship Management), it’s, it’s basically, you know, it’s a lighter version of a HubSpot or Salesforce basically track deals and opportunities for business, but this so I flipped over. I don’t know if it was clear there, but I flipped over to this brand brief tab. And this is where we we get, essentially, a high level view of some key points about the brand and and I think about this as this would be something that you would potentially share with a client if you were, you know, working with them and you wanted to review the brand with them and make sure that your analysis is on point, but you’ll see it’s kind of giving you some positioning scores, where you rank from a category perspective, message clarity, and then we’ve got things like a quick overview, positioning summary, who their target persona is, in this case, sales manager, sales operation lead, and some different value points. And then it starts to get a little more granular. We get into like key competitors, Challenger brands. We do a little SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, and then maybe one of the more important parts is some of these action items. So what do we do with this? Yeah, and obviously, these are, these are starting points. This is not, it’s not going to come in and, you know, instantly be able to tell you strategically, exactly what to do, but it’s going to give you some ideas of based on the things we’ve seen. Here are some reasonable points that you might want to be looking at to, you know, improve the brand. Make it make it stronger. Christian Klepp  17:13 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, this is all great clay, but like, I think, for the benefit of the audience, can we scroll back up, please. And let’s just walk through these one by one, because I think it’s important for the audience/potential future users,/ customers of Smoke Ladder, right? To understand, to understand this analysis in greater depth, and also, like, specifically, like, let’s start with a positioning score right, like, out of 100 like, what is this? What is this based on? And how was this analyzed? Let’s start with that. Clay Ostrom  17:48 Yeah, and this is where the platform really started. And I’m going to actually jump over to the positioning tab, because this will give us the all the detail around this particular feature. But this is, this was where I began the product this. I kind of think of this as being, in many ways, sort of the heart and soul of it. And when I mentioned earlier about this being based on our own work and frameworks and how we approach this, this is very much the case with this. This is, you know, the approach we use with the product is exactly how we work with clients when we’re evaluating their positioning. And it’s, it’s basically, it’s built off a series of scores. And what we have here are 24 different points of business value, which, if we zoom in just a little bit down here, we can see things like reducing risk, vision, lowering cost, variety, expertise, stability, etc. So there’s 24 of these that we look at, and it’s meant to be a way that we can look across different brands and compare and contrast them. So it’s creating, like, a consistent way of looking at brands, even if they’re not in the same category, or, you know, have slightly different operating models, etc. But what we do is we go in and we score every brand on each of these 24 points. And if we scroll down here a little bit, we can see the point of value, the exact score they got, the category average, so how it compares against, you know, all the other brands we’ve analyzed, and then a little bit of qualitative information about why they got the score. Christian Klepp  19:27 Sorry, Clay, Can I just jump in for a second so these, these attributes, or these key values that you had in the graph at the top right, like, are these consistent throughout regardless of what brand is being analyzed, or the least change. Clay Ostrom  19:42 It’s consistent. Christian Klepp  19:43 Consistent? Clay Ostrom  19:44 Yeah, and that was one of the sort of strategic decisions we had to make with the product. Was, you know, there’s a, maybe another version of this, where you do different points depending on maybe the category, or, you know, things like that. But I wanted to do it consistent because, again, it allows us to look at every brand through the same lens. It doesn’t mean that every brand you know there are certain points of value that just aren’t maybe relevant for a particular brand, and that’s fine, they just won’t score as highly in those but at least it gives us a consistent way to look at so when you’re looking at 10 different competitors, you know you’ve got a consistent way to look at them together,. Christian Klepp  20:26 Right, right, right. Okay, okay, all right, thanks for that. Now let’s go down to the next section there, where you’ve got, like this table with like four different columns here. So you mentioned that these are being scored against other brands in their category. Like, can you share it with the audience? Like, how many other brands are being analyzed here? Clay Ostrom  20:51 Yeah, well, it depends on the category. So again, we’ve got six, you know, heading towards 7000 brands that we’ve analyzed collectively. Each category varies a little bit, but, you know, some categories, we have more brands than others. But what this allows us to do is, again, to quickly look at this and say, okay, for pipe drive, a big focus for pipe drive is organization, simplification. You know, one of their big value props is we’re an easier tool to use than Salesforce or HubSpot. You can get up to speed really quickly. You don’t have all the setup and configurations and all that kind of stuff. So this is showing us that, yes, like their messaging, their content, their brand, does, in fact, do a good job of making it clear that simplicity is a big part of pipe drive’s message. And they do that by talking about it a lot in their messaging, having case studies, having testimonials, all these things that support it. And that’s how we come up with these scores. Is by saying, like the brand emphasizes these points well, they talk about it clearly, and that’s what we base it on. Christian Klepp  22:04 Okay, okay. Clay Ostrom  22:06 But as you come, I was just gonna say as you come down here, you can see, so the green basically means that they score well above average for that particular point. Yellow is, you know, kind of right around average, or maybe slightly above, and then red means that they’re below average for that particular point. So for example, like variety of tools, they don’t emphasize that as much with pipe drive, maybe compared to, again, like a Salesforce or a HubSpot that has a gazillion tools, pipe drive, that’s not a big focus for them. So they don’t score as highly there, but you can kind of just get a quick view of, okay, here are the things that they’re really strong with, and here are the things that maybe they’re, you know, kind of weak or below average. Christian Klepp  22:58 Yeah, yeah. Well, that’s certainly interesting, because I, you know, I’ve, I’ve used the, I’ve used the platform for analyzing some of my clients, competitor brands. And, you know, when I’m looking at this, like analysis with the scoring, with the scoring sheet, it, I think it will also be interesting perhaps in future, because you’ve got a very detailed breakdown of, okay, the factors and how they’re scored, and what the brand value analysis is also, because, again, in the interest of speed and time, it’d be great if the platform can also churn out maybe a one to two sentence like, summary of what is this data telling us, right? Because I’m thinking back to my early days as a product manager, and we would spend hours, like back then on Excel spreadsheets. I’m dating myself a little bit here, but um, and coming up with this analysis and charts, but presenting that to senior management, all they wanted to know was the one to two sentence summary of like, come on. What are you telling me with all these charts, like, what is the data telling you that we need to know? Right? Clay Ostrom  24:07 I know it’s so funny. We again, as strategists and researchers, we love to nerd out about the granular details, but you’re right. When you’re talking to a leader at a business, it does come down to like, okay, great. What do we do? And so, and I flipped back over to slacks. I knew I had already generated this but, but we’re still in the positioning section here, but we have this get insights feature. So basically it will look at all those scores and give you kind of, I think, similar to what you’re describing. Like, here’s three takeaways from what we’re seeing. Okay, okay, great, yeah, so we don’t want to leave you totally on your own to have to figure it all out. We’ll give you, give you a little helping hand. Christian Klepp  24:53 Yeah. You don’t want to be like in those western movies, you’re on your own kid. Clay Ostrom  24:59 Yeah. We try not to strand you again. There’s a lot of data here. I think that’s one of the strengths and and challenges with the platform, is that we try to give you a lot of data. And for some people, you may not want to have to sift through all of it. You might want just sort of give me the three points here. Christian Klepp  25:19 Absolutely, absolutely. And at the very least they can start pointing you in the right direction, and then you could be, you could then, like, through your own initiative, and perhaps dig a little bit deeper and perhaps find some other insights that may be, may be relevant, right? Clay Ostrom  25:35 Totally. Christian Klepp  25:36 Hey, it’s Christian Klepp here. We’ll get back to the episode in a second. But first, I’d like to tell you about a new series that we’re launching on our show. As the B2B landscape evolves, marketers need to adapt and leverage the latest marketing tools and software to become more efficient. Enter B2B Marketers on a Mission Marketing Demo Lab where experts discuss the latest tools and software that empower you to become a better B2B marketer. Tune in as we chat with product experts. Provide unbiased product reviews, give advice and deliver insights into real world applications and actionable tips on tools and technologies for B2B marketing. Subscribe to the Marketing Demo Lab, YouTube channel and B2B Marketers on a Mission, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Christian Klepp  26:21 All right. Now, back to the show, if we can, if we could jump back, sorry, to the, I think it was the brand brief, right? Like, where we where we started out, and I said, let’s, let’s dig deeper. Okay, so then, then we have, okay, so we talked about positioning score. Now we’re moving on to category rank and message clarity score. What does that look like? Clay Ostrom  26:41 Yeah. So the category rank is, it’s literally just looking at the positioning score that you’ve gotten for the brand and then telling you within this category, where do you sort of fall in the ranking, essentially, or, like, you know, how do we, you know, for comparing the score against all the competitors, where do you fall? So you can see, with Slack, they’re right in the middle. And it’s interesting, because with a product like Slack, even though we all now know what slack is and what it does and everything. Christian Klepp  27:18 Yeah. Clay Ostrom  27:19 The actual messaging and content that they have now, I think maybe doesn’t do as good of a job as it maybe did once upon a time, and it’s gotten as products grow and brands grow, they tend to get more vague, a little more broad with what they talk about, and that kind of leads to softer positioning. So that’s sort of what we’re seeing reflected here. And then the third score is the message clarity score, which we can jump into, like, a whole different piece. Christian Klepp  27:48 Four on a tennis not a very high score, right? Clay Ostrom  27:52 Yeah. And again, I think it’s a product, of, we can kind of jump into that section. Christian Klepp  27:57 Yeah, let’s do that, yeah. Clay Ostrom  27:59 But it’s, again, a product, I think of Slack being now a very mature product that is has gotten sort of a little vague, maybe a little broader, with their messaging. But the message clarity score, we basically have kind of two parts to this on the left hand side are some insights that we gather based on the messaging. So what’s your category, quick synopsis of the product. But then we also do some things, like… Christian Klepp  28:33 Confusing part the most confusing. Clay Ostrom  28:36 Honestly to me, as I get I’d love to hear your experience with this, but coming into a new brand, this is sometimes one of the most enlightening parts, because it shows me quickly where some gaps in what we’re talking about, and in this case, just kind of hits on what we were just saying a minute ago. Of the messaging is overloaded with generic productivity buzzwords, fails to clearly differentiate how Slack is better than email or similar tools, etc. But also, this is another one that I really like, and I use this all the time, which is the casual description. So rather than this technical garbage jargon, you know, speak, just give me. Give it to me in plain English, like we’re just chatting. And so this description of it’s a workplace chat app for teams to message, collaborate, share files. Like, okay, cool. Like, yeah, you know, I get it. Yeah, I already know what slack is. But if I didn’t, that would tell me pretty well. Christian Klepp  29:33 Absolutely, yeah, yeah. No, my experience with this is has been, you know, you and I have been in the branding space for a while. So for the trained eye, when you look at messaging, you’ll know if it’s good or not, right. And we come I mean, I’m sure you do the same clay, but I also come to my own like conclusions based on experience of like, okay, so why do I think that that’s good messaging, or why do I think that that’s confusing messaging? Or it falls short, and why and how can that be improved? But it’s always good to have validation with either with platforms like this, where you have a you have AI, or you have, you have a software that you can use that analyzes, like, for example, like the messaging on a website, and it dissects that and says, Well, okay, so this is what they’re getting, right? So there’s a scoring for that, so it’s in the green, and then this is, this is where it gets confusing, right? So even you run that through, you run that through the machine, and the machine analyzes it as like, Okay, we can’t clearly, clearly define what it is they’re doing based on the messaging, right? And for me, that’s always a it’s good. It’s almost like getting a second doctor’s opinion, right? And then you go, Aha. So I we’ve identified the symptoms now. So let’s find the penicillin, right? Like, let’s find the remedy for this, right? Clay Ostrom  30:56 Yeah, well, and I like what you said there, because part of the value, I think, with this is it’s an objective perspective on the brand, so it doesn’t have any baggage. It’s coming in with fresh eyes, the same way a new customer would come into your website, where they don’t know really much about you, and they have to just take what you’re giving at face value about what you present. And we as people working on brands get completely blinded around what’s actually working, what’s being communicated. There’s so much that we take for granted about what we already know about the brand. And this comes in and just says, Okay, I’m just, I’m just taking what you give me, and I’m going to tell you what I see, and I see some gaps around some of these things. You know, I don’t have the benefit of sitting in your weekly stand up meeting and hearing all the descriptions of what you’re actually doing. Christian Klepp  31:59 I’m sorry to jump in. I’m interested to know, like, just, just based on what we’ve been reviewing so far, like, what has your experience been showing this kind of analysis to clients, and how do they respond to some of this data, for example, that you know, you’re walking us through right now? Clay Ostrom  32:18 Yeah, I think it’s been interesting. Honestly, I think it can sometimes feel harsh. And I think again, as someone who’s both run an agency and also built worked on brands, we get attached to our work on an emotional level. Christian Klepp  32:42 Absolutely. Clay Ostrom  32:42 Even if we think about it as, you know, this is just work, and it’s, you know, whatever, we still build up connections with our work and we want it to be good. And so I think there’s sometimes a little bit of a feeling of wow, like that’s harsh, or I would have expected or thought we would have done better or scored better in certain areas, but that is almost always followed up with but I’m so glad to know where, where we’re struggling, because now I can fix it. I can actually know what to focus on to fix, and that, to me, is what it’s all about, is, yes, there’s a little bit of feelings attached to some of these things, maybe, but at the end of the day, we really want it to be good. We want it to be clear. We don’t want to be a 4 out of 10. We want to be a 10 out of 10. And what specifically do we need to do to get there? And that’s really what we’re trying to reveal with this. So I think, you know, everybody’s a little different, but I would say the reactions are typically a mix of that. It’s like, maybe an ouch, but a Oh, good. Let’s work on it. Christian Klepp  33:55 Absolutely, absolutely. Okay. So we’ve got brand summary, we’ve got fundamentals, then quality of messaging is the other part of it, right? Clay Ostrom  34:02 So, yeah, so this, this is, this is where the actual 4 out of 10 comes. We have these 10 points that we look at and we say, Okay, are you communicating these things clearly? Are you communicating who your target customer is, your category, your offering, where you’re differentiated benefits? Do you have any kind of concrete claim about what you do to support you know what you’re what you’re selling? Is the messaging engaging? Is it concise? You’ll see here a 7% on concise. That’s basically telling us that virtually no brands do a good job of being concise. Only about 7% get a green check mark on this, and kind of similar with the jargon and the vague words big struggle points with almost every brand. Christian Klepp  34:55 Streamline collaboration. Clay Ostrom  34:58 So we can see here with Slack. You know some of the jargon we got, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), MQLs (Marketing Qualified Lead), if you’re in the space, you could argue like, oh, I kind of know what those things are. But depending on your role, you may not always know. In something like Salesforce marketing cloud, unless you’re a real Salesforce nerd, you probably have no idea what that is. But again, it’s just a way to quickly identify some of those weak points, things that we could improve to make our message more clear. Christian Klepp  35:27 Yes, yes. Okay, so that was the messaging analysis correct? Clay Ostrom  35:33 Yeah. Christian Klepp  35:33 Yeah. Okay. So what else have we got? Clay Ostrom  35:36 Yeah, so I think one other thing we could look at just for a sec, is differentiation, and this is this kind of plays off of what we looked at a minute ago with the positioning scores. But this is a way for us to look head to head with two different brands. So in this case, we’ve got Slack in the red and we’ve got Discord in the greenish blue. And I think of these, these patterns, as sort of the fingerprint of your brand. So where you Where are you strong? Where are you weak? And if we can overlay those two fingerprints on top of each other, we can see, where do we have advantages, and where does our competitor have advantages? So if we come down, we can sort of see, and this is again, for the nerds like me, to be able to come in and go deep, do kind of a deep dive on specifically, why did, why does Discord score better than Slack in certain areas. And at the bottom here we can see a kind of a quick summary. So slack is stronger in simplification, saving time, Discord has some better messaging around generating revenue, lowering costs, marketability. But again, this gives us a way to think about what are the things we want to double down on? So what do we want to actually be known for in the market? Because we can’t be known for everything. You know, buyers can maybe only remember a couple things about us. What are those couple things where we’re really strong, where we really stand out, and we’ve got some separation from the competitors. Christian Klepp  37:18 Right, okay, okay, just maybe we take a step back here, because I think this is great. It’s very detailed. It gets a bit granular, but I think it’s also going back to a conversation that you and I had previously about, like, Okay, why is it so important to be armed with this knowledge, especially if you’re in the marketing role, or perhaps even an agency talking to a potential client going in there already armed with the information about their competitors. And we were talking about this being a kind of like a trust building mechanism, right? For lack of a better description, right? Clay Ostrom  38:03 Yeah, I think to me, what I like about this, and again, this does come out of 10 years of doing work, this kind of work with clients as well, is it’s so easy to fall into a space of soft descriptions around things like positioning and just sort of using vague, you know, wordings or descriptions, and when you can actually put a number on it, which, again, it’s subjective. This isn’t. This isn’t an objective metric, but it’s a way for us to compare and contrast. It allows us to have much more productive conversations with clients, where we can say we looked at your brand, we we what based on our analysis, we see that you’re scoring a 10 and a 9 on simplicity and organization, for example. Is that accurate to you like do you think that’s what you all are emphasizing the most? Does that? Does that resonate and at the same time, we can say, but your competitors are really focused on there. They have a strong, strong message around generating revenue and lowering costs for their customers. Right now, you’re not really talking about that. Is that accurate? Is that like, what you is that strategically, is that what you think you should be doing so really quickly, I’ve now framed a conversation that could have been very loose and kind of, you know, well, what do you think your strategy is about? What do you know? And instead, I can say, we see you being strong in these three points. We see your competitors being strong in these three points. What do you think about that? And I think that kind of clarity just makes the work so much more productive with clients, or just again, working on your own brand internally. So what do you think about that kind of perspective? Christian Klepp  40:08 Yeah, no, no, I definitely agree with that. It’s always and I’ve been that type of person anyway that you know you go into a especially with somebody that hasn’t quite become a client yet, right? One of the most important things is also, how should I put this? Certainly the trust building part of it needs to be there. The other part is definitely a demonstration of competence and ability, but it’s also that you’ve been proactive and done your homework, versus like, Okay, I’m I’m just here as an order taker, right? And let’s just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it right? A lot and especially, I think this has been a trend for a long time already, but a lot of the clients that I’ve worked with now in the past, they want to, they’re looking for a partner that’s not just thinking with them, it’s someone that’s thinking ahead of them. And this type of work, you know what we’re seeing here on screen, this is the type of work that I would consider thinking ahead of them, right? Clay Ostrom  41:18 No, I agree. I think you framed that really well. Of we’re trying to build trust, because if we’re going to make any kind of recommendations around a change or a shift, they have to believe that we know what we’re talking about, that we’re competent, that we’ve done the work. And I think I agree with you. I think like this, it’s kind of funny, like we all, I think, on some base level, are attracted to numbers and scores. It just gives us something to latch on to. But I think it also, like you said, it gives you a feeling that you’ve done your work, that you’ve done your homework, you’ve studied, you’ve you’ve done some analysis that they themselves may have never done on this level. And that’s a big value. Christian Klepp  42:08 Yes, and a big part of the reason just to, just to build on what you said, a big part of the reason why they haven’t done this type of work is because it’s not so much. The cost is certainly one part of it, but it’s the time, it’s a time factor and the resource and the effort that needs to be put into it. Because, you know, like, tell me if you’ve never heard this one before, but there are some, there are some companies that we’ve been working with that don’t actually have a clearly, like, you know, a clear document on who their their target personas are, yeah, or their or their ICPs, never mind the buyer’s journey map. They don’t, they don’t even have the personas mapped out, right? Clay Ostrom  42:52 100% Yeah, it’s, and it’s, I think you’re right. It’s, it’s a mix of time and it’s a mix of just experience where, if you are internal with a brand, you don’t do this kind of work all the time. You might do it at the beginning. Maybe you do a check in every once in a while, but you need someone who’s done this a lot with a lot of different brands so that they can give you guidance through this kind of framework. But so it’s, you know, so some of it is a mix of, you know, we don’t have the time always to dig in like this. But some of it is we don’t even know how to do it, even if we did have the time. So it’s hopefully giving, again, providing some different frameworks and different ways of looking at it. Christian Klepp  43:41 Absolutely, absolutely. So okay, so we’ve gone through. What is it now, the competitor comparison. What else does the platform provide us that the listeners and the audience should be paying attention to here? Clay Ostrom  43:55 So I’ll show you two more quick things. So one is this message building section. So this is… Christian Klepp  44:03 Are you trying to put me out of a job here Clay? Clay Ostrom  44:07 Well, I’ll say this. So far in my experience with this, it’s not going to put us out of a job, but it is going to hopefully make our job easier and better. It’s going to make us better at the work we do. And that’s really, I think that’s, I think that’s kind of, most people’s impression of AI at this point is that it’s not quite there to replace us, but it’s sure, certainly can enhance what we do. Christian Klepp  44:36 Yeah, you’ll excuse me, I couldn’t help but throw that one out. Clay Ostrom  44:38 Yeah, I know, trust me, I’m this. It’s like I’m building a product that, in a sense, is undercutting, you know, the work that I do. So it is kind of a weird thing, but this message building section, which is a new part of the platform. It will come in, and you can see on the right hand side. And there’s sort of a quick summary of all these different elements that we’ve already analyzed. And then it’s going to give you some generated copy ideas, including, if I zoom in a little bit here, we’ve got an eyebrow category. This is again for Slack. It’s giving us a headline idea, stay informed without endless emails. Sub headline call to action, three challenges that your customers are facing, and then three points about your solution that help address those for customers. So it’s certainly not writing all of your copy for you, but if you’re starting from scratch, or you’re working on something new, or even if you’re trying to refresh a brand. I think this can be helpful to give you some messaging that’s hopefully clear. That’s something that I think a lot of messaging misses, especially in B2B, it’s, it’s not always super clear, like what you even do. Christian Klepp  45:56 Don’t get me started. Clay Ostrom  45:59 So hopefully it’s clear. It’s, you know, again, it’s giving you some different ideas. And that you’ll see down here at the bottom, you can, you can iterate on this. So we’ve got several versions. You can actually come in and, you know, you can edit it yourself. So if you say, like, well, I like that, but not quite that, you know, I can, you know, get my human touch on it as well. But yeah, so it’s a place to iterate on message. Christian Klepp  46:25 You can kind of look at it like, let’s say, if you’re writing a blog article, and this will give you the outline, right? Yeah. And then most of the AI that I’ve worked with to generate outlines, they’re not quite there. But again, if you’re starting from zero and you want to go from zero to 100 Well, that’ll, that’ll at least get you to 40 or 50, right? But I’m curious to know, because we’re looking at this now, and I think this, I mean, for me, this is, this is fascinating, but, like, maybe, maybe this will be part of your next iteration. But will this, will this generate messaging that’s already SEO optimized. Clay Ostrom  47:02 You know, it’s not specifically geared towards that, but I would say that it ends up being maybe more optimized than a lot of other messaging because it puts such an emphasis on clarity, it naturally includes words and phrases that I think are commonly used in the space more so than you know, maybe just kind of typical off the shelf Big B2B messaging, Christian Klepp  47:27 Gotcha. I had a question on the target persona that you’ve got here on screen, right? So how does the platform generate the information that will then populate that field because, and when I’m just trying to think about like, you know, because I’ve been, I’ve been in the space for as long as you have, and the way that I’ve generated target personas in the past was not by making a wild guess about, like, you know, looking at the brand’s website. It’s like having conducting deep customer research and listening to hours and hours of recordings, and from there, generating a persona. And this has done it in seconds. So… Clay Ostrom  48:09 Yeah, it’s so the way the system works in a couple different layers. So it does an initial analysis, where it does positioning, messaging analysis and category analysis, then you can generate the persona on top of that. So it takes all the learnings that it got from the category, from the product, from your messaging, and then develops a persona around that. And it’s, of course, able to also pull in, you know, the AI is able to reference things that it knows about the space in general. But I have found, and this is true. I was just having a conversation with someone who works on a very niche brand for a very specific audience, and I was showing him what it had output. And I said, Tell me, like, Don’t hold back. Like, is this accurate? He said, Yeah, this is, like, shockingly accurate for you know, how we view our target customer. So I think it’s pretty good. It’s not again, not going to be perfect. You’re going to need to do some work, and you still got to do the research, but, but, yeah. Christian Klepp  49:13 Okay, fantastic, fantastic. How do, I guess there’s the option, I see it there, like, download the PDF. So anything that’s analyzed on the platform can then be exported in a PDF format, right? Like, like, into a report. Clay Ostrom  49:28 Yeah, right now you can export the messaging analysis, or, sorry, the the messaging ideation that you’ve done, and then in the brand brief you can also, you can download a PDF of the brand brief as well. So, those are the two main areas. I’m still working on some additional exports of data so that people can pull it into a spreadsheet and do some other stuff with it. Christian Klepp  49:49 Fantastic, fantastic. That’s awesome, Clay. I’ve got a couple more questions before I let you go. But this has been, this has been amazing, right? Like and I really hope that whoever’s in the one listening and, most importantly, watching this, I hope that you really do consider like, you know, taking this for a test drive, right? How many I might have asked you this before, because, you know, I am somebody that does use, you know, that does a lot of this type of research. But how much time would you say companies would save by using Smoke Ladder? Clay Ostrom  50:24 It’s a good question. I feel like I’m starting to get some feedback around that with from our users, but I mean, for me personally, I would typically spend an hour or two just to get kind of up to speed initially, with a brand and kind of look at some of their competitors. If I’m doing a deep dive, though, if I’m actually doing some of the deeper research work, it could be several hours per client. So I don’t know. On a given week, it might depend on how many clients you’re talking to. Could be anywhere from a few hours to 10 hours or more, depending on how much work you’re doing. But, yeah, I think it’s a decent amount. Christian Klepp  51:07 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, this definitely does look like a time saver. Here comes my favorite question, which you’re gonna look at me like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta. Clay Ostrom  51:17 Now bring it on. Let’s go. Christian Klepp  51:22 Folks that are not familiar with Smoke Ladder are gonna look at this, um, and before they actually, um, take it upon themselves to, like, watch, hopefully, watch this video on our channel. Um, they’re gonna look at that and ask themselves, Well, what is it that Smoke Ladder does that? You know that other AI couldn’t do, right, like, so I guess what I’m trying to say is, like, Okay, why would they use? How does the platform differ from something like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude, right? To run a brand analysis? Clay Ostrom  52:00 Yeah, no, I think it’s a great question. I think it’s sort of the it’s going to be the eternal AI question for every product that has an AI component. And I would say to me, it’s three things. So one is the data, which we talked about, and I didn’t show you this earlier, but there is a search capability in here to go through our full archive of all the brands we’ve analyzed, and again, we’ve analyzed over 6000 brands. So the data piece is really important here, because it means we’re not just giving you insights and analysis based on the brand that you’re looking at now, but we can compare and contrast against all the other brands that we’ve looked at in the space, and that’s something that you’re not going to get by just using some off the shelf standard LLM  (Large Language Model) and doing some, you know, some quick prompts with that. The next one, I think, to me that’s important is it’s the point of view of the product and the brand. Like I said, this is built off of 10 plus years of doing positioning and messaging work in the space. So you’re getting to tap into that expertise and that approach of how we do things and building frameworks that make this work easier and more productive that you wouldn’t get, or you wouldn’t know, just on your own. And then the last one, the last point, which is sort of the kind of like the generic software answer, is you get a visual interface for this stuff. It’s the difference between using QuickBooks versus a spreadsheet. You can do a lot of the same stuff that you do in QuickBooks and a spreadsheet, but wouldn’t you rather have a nice interface and some easy buttons to click that make your job way, way easier and do a lot of the work for you and also be able to present it in a way that’s digestible and something you could share with clients? So the visual component in the UI is sort of that last piece. Christian Klepp  54:01 Absolutely. I mean, it’s almost like UX and UI one on one. That’s, that’s pretty much like a big part of, I think what it is you’re trying to build here, right? Clay Ostrom  54:13 Yeah, exactly. It’s just it’s making all of those things that you might do in an LLM just way, way easier. You know, you basically come in, put in your URL and click a button, and you’re getting access to all the data and all the insights and all this stuff so. Christian Klepp  54:29 Absolutely, absolutely okay. And as we wrap this up, this has been a fantastic conversation, by the way, how can the audience start using Smoke Ladder, and how can they get in touch with you if they have questions, and hopefully good questions. Clay Ostrom  54:47 Yeah, so you can, if you go to https://smokeladder.com/ you can, you can try it out. Like I said, you can basically go to the homepage, put in a URL and get started. You don’t even have to create an account to do the initial analysis. But you can create FREE account. You can dig in and see, you know, play around with all the features, and if you use it more, you know, we give you a little bit of a trial period. And if you use it beyond that, then you can pay and continue to use it, but, but you can get a really good flavor of it for free. Christian Klepp  55:16 Fantastic, fantastic. Oh, last question, because, you know, it’s looking me right in the face now, industry categories. How many? How many categories can be analyzed on the platform? Clay Ostrom  55:26 Yeah, yeah. So right now, we have 23 categories in the system currently, which sounds like a lot, but when you start to dig into especially B2B, it’s we will be evolving that and continuing to add more, but currently, there’s 23 different categories of businesses in there. Christian Klepp  55:46 All right, fantastic, fantastic. Clay, man. This has been so awesome. Thank you so much for your time and for your patience and walking us through this, this incredible platform that you’ve built and continue to build. And you know, I’m excited to continue using this as it evolves. Clay Ostrom  56:06 Thank you. Yeah, no. Thanks so much. And you know, if anybody, you know, anybody who tries it out, tests it out, please feel free to reach out. We have, you know, contact info on there. You can also hit me up on LinkedIn. I spend a lot of time there, but I would love feedback, love getting notes, love hearing what’s working, what’s not, all those things. So yeah, anytime I’m always open. Christian Klepp  56:30 All right, fantastic. Once again, Clay, thanks for your time. Take care, stay safe and talk to you soon. Clay Ostrom  56:36 Thanks so much. Talk to you soon. Christian Klepp  56:37 All right. Bye for now.

What does it take to be a leader in the new, unpredictable ever-changing world of work?Dr. Riza Kalidar has thought deeply about this question, as a CEO in multiple different countries, as an academic, and as president of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). But the main cause of introspection came from his own daughter's critique of leadership.The result? A fascinating new book: The Contemporary Leader: The Value of Inclusion in Successful Leadership.In this episode, Paul and Dr Kalidar what is fundamentally different in the new world of work, and what this means to everyone who will lead as work transforms.00:00 Introduction01:16 The Business Case for Inclusion01:39 Personal Journey and Realizations03:24 Historical and Anthropological Perspectives04:28 Challenges and Opportunities in Diversity06:15 Inclusion as a Feeling09:09 The Role of Culture in Leadership11:03 Collaboration and Emotional Aspects16:24 The Impact of Strong Organizational Culture32:57 Sustainability and Resilience41:20 Final Thoughts and ConclusionHumanity Working is a podcast focused on helping individuals, teams and organizations be ready for the future of work by maximizing their human potential.For more information, and access to our weekly newsletter, visit us at humanityworking.net.

It's growth investing, just not as we knew it. Technology is disrupting the traditional signals for growth companies, such as revenue acceleration or addressable market expansion. In this episode, Sean Kenney sits down with MFS portfolio manager Brad Mak to explore what the AI revolution means for the future of growth companies and the potential for bubbles. They also cover current opportunities underappreciated by the market and look forward to what 2026 has in store. Listen in for the signals to help you identify where growth investing is heading.         Distributed by: U.S. – MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc. ("MFSI"), MFS Investment Management and MFS Fund Distributors, Inc., Member SIPC; Latin America – MFS International Ltd.; Canada – MFS Investment Management Canada Limited.; Note to UK and Switzerland readers: Issued in the UK and Switzerland by MFS International (U.K.) Limited ("MIL UK"), a private limited company registered in England and Wales with the company number 03062718, and authorised and regulated in the conduct of investment business by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. MIL UK, an indirect subsidiary of MFS®, has its registered office at One Carter Lane, London, EC4V 5ER.;  Note to Europe (ex UK and Switzerland) readers: Issued in Europe by MFS Investment Management (Lux) S.à r.l. (MFS Lux) – authorized under Luxembourg law as a management company for Funds domiciled in Luxembourg and which both provide products and investment services to institutional investors and is registered office is at S.a r.l. 4 Rue Albert Borschette, Luxembourg L-1246. Tel: 352 2826 12800.  This material shall not be circulated or distributed to any person other than to professional investors (as permitted by local regulations) and should not be relied upon or distributed to persons where such reliance or distribution would be contrary to local regulation; Singapore – MFS International Singapore Pte. Ltd. (CRN 201228809M); Australia/New Zealand - MFS International Australia Pty Ltd ("MFS Australia") (ABN 68 607 579 537) holds an Australian financial services licence number 485343. MFS Australia is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.; Hong Kong - MFS International (Hong Kong) Limited ("MIL HK"), a private limited company licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (the "SFC"). MIL HK is approved to engage in dealing in securities and asset management regulated activities and may provide certain investment services to "professional investors" as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance ("SFO").; For Professional Investors in China – MFS Financial Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 2801-12, 28th Floor, 100 Century Avenue, Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, 200120, China, a Chinese limited liability company registered to provide financial management consulting services.; Japan - MFS Investment Management K.K., is registered as a Financial Instruments Business Operator, Kanto Local Finance Bureau (FIBO) No.312, a member of the Investment Trust Association, Japan and the Japan Investment Advisers Association. As fees to be borne by investors vary depending upon circumstances such as products, services, investment period and market conditions, the total amount nor the calculation methods cannot be disclosed in advance. All investments involve risks, including market fluctuation and investors may lose the principal amount invested. Investors should obtain and read the prospectus and/or document set forth in Article 37-3 of Financial Instruments and Exchange Act carefully before making the investments. For readers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and UAE (excluding the DIFC and ADGM). In Qatar strictly for sophisticated investors and high net worth individuals only. In Bahrain, for sophisticated institutions only: The information contained in this document is intended strictly for professional investors. The information contained in this document, does not constitute and should not be construed as an offer of, invitation or proposal to make an offer for, recommendation to apply for or an opinion or guidance on a financial product, service and/or strategy. Whilst great care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this document is accurate, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors, mistakes or omissions or for any action taken in reliance thereon. You may only reproduce, circulate and use this document (or any part of it) with the consent of MFS international U.K. Ltd ("MIL UK"). The information contained in this document is for information purposes only. It is not intended for and should not be distributed to, or relied upon by, members of the public. The information contained in this document, may contain statements that are not purely historical in nature but are “forward-looking statements”. These include, amongst other things, projections, forecasts or estimates of income. These forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions, some of which are described in other relevant documents or materials. If you do not understand the contents of this document, you should consult an authorised financial adviser. Please note that any materials sent by the issuer (MIL UK) have been sent electronically from offshore. South Africa - This document, and the information contained is not intended and does not constitute, a public offer of securities in South Africa and accordingly should not be construed as such. This document is not for general circulation to the public in South Africa. This document has not been approved by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and neither MFS International (U.K.) Limited nor its funds are registered for public sale in South Africa.  

“Detroit would be a sad place if we weren't all different,” says Hot Sam's co-owner Tony Stovall, opening a conversation that moves like a masterclass in Black Detroit legacy, style, and spiritual grounding. In this Detroit is Different episode, Tony traces his journey from East St. Louis to the Eastside, from a 15-year-old getting his first suit to becoming co-owner of Detroit's oldest Black-owned clothing store, a century-strong institution that shaped generations of our city's fashion identity. “You have one opportunity to make your first impression,” he reminds us, weaving lessons on manhood, mentorship, and the power of loving our people out loud. Tony shares how he and Mr. Green built Hot Sam's through grit, customer devotion, and faith—“Nothing comes between me and my partner but me or him”—and how Detroit's flair impacts the world. This episode speaks to past and future: migration, Motown elegance, Black entrepreneurship, and why keeping the Black dollar circulating is a cultural responsibility. If you love Detroit, if you believe in legacy, if you believe that style is spiritual—this is required listening. Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com

Send us a textA culture that actually protects first responders doesn't happen by accident—it's built on day-one expectations, family inclusion, and leaders who tell the truth even when the news is hard. We sit down with Doug Wyman to map what real organizational wellness looks like and why “Inside the Box” has become a powerful framework for shifting identity, policy, and practice in policing.We start where most programs fail: leaving wellness to HR or EAP and forgetting families. Doug explains how to onboard spouses and partners with the same care we give new hires, and why a 10–15 minute decompression ritual at the door can prevent years of resentment at home. From there, we dig into the mentorship pipeline—how great FTOs set career goals, normalize therapy, and keep officers engaged long after field training. As rank rises, the view widens; without peer networks and rank-specific training, command staff unintentionally import narrow worldviews into complex events like suicide, deepening stigma and pain.The episode unpacks procedural justice for the inside of the house—dignity, voice, clear motives, and follow-through—to counter “administration betrayal.” We name the Man Box and the Cop Box, exploring how rigid ideals make therapy, medication, or simple human tenderness feel like violations. Doug shows how emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and the Four Agreements become everyday tools that change culture one conversation at a time. And we get practical: field officers should carry the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, because at 3 a.m. on a bridge you need the right questions, not another search tab.If you lead, supervise, dispatch, or love a first responder, this conversation offers a blueprint you can use tomorrow—family education, mentorship, internal fairness, and tools that save lives. Listen, share with your team, and tell us what belongs outside the box. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a colleague who needs a better way forward.Go to Doug's LinkedIn website at:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-wyman-6b80852a/details/featured/The Class Inside the Box - Focuses on Organizational Wellness and Post Traumatic growth and is for first line supervisors and command staff. Support the showYouTube Channel For The Podcast

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Will Moreland.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Will Moreland.

This week's episode, Laurie (@anylaurie16) made more on a weekend of shows than she expected. Jackie (@jackiekashian) explains that, in the industry, they call that a "bump." Laurie illustrates that you can be bored without yawning. And hey, to all you sexually active young women comedians, your aunt Jackie wants to ask, "Are you having a good time?" Subscribe to the podcast, and give it a 5-star rating and review to help the show move up the charts. Video for the episodes is on The Jackie and Laurie YouTube channel! Comic of the Week: Juno Men @seattlejuno Become a MaxFun Member for benefits and other great pods:https://href.li/?https://maximumfun.org/donate Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JackieandLaurie Watch the episodes and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@Jackie_Kashian See Laurie on tour: https://lauriekilmartin.com/tour-dates See Jackie on tour: https://jackiekashian.com/tour-dates Watch 'Lauries special “Cis Woke Grief ”Slut on YouTube:https://bit.ly/3zWwgPA Watch Laurie's special “Cis Woke Grief ”Slut on Amazon Prime: https://amzn.to/3NpHlMo Watch 'Jackies special “Looking Back” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZfwWvgMT70 Follow Laurie on social media: @anylaurie16 Follow Jackie on social media: @jackiekashian Recorded and Produced by Kyle Clark : @kyleclarkisrad  Become a member at maximumfun.org/join.

There are financial opportunities in Latin America, silver and more and today we are going to share them with you! We also talk holiday shopping trends and the struggles of retailers in our current economy. We also dive into "confuse-opoly" industries like furniture, mattresses, and healthcare where pricing is intentionally opaque, share personal experiences with overpriced goods, and discuss how margins, supply, and consumer behavior shape retail dynamics. Today we discuss...  Buying a new house and becoming newly attentive to pricing, noting how Black Friday sales have expanded so much that they no longer feel special. How holiday traditions and retail behavior have shifted, with Christmas decorations and sales appearing earlier each year. How perpetual discounts dilute the meaning of sales and reflect retailers' struggles in a weakening, K-shaped economy. Constant "sale" pricing makes it impossible for consumers to know real value, especially in industries like furniture. We share anecdotes about mattress shopping and how identical products are given different names across stores to prevent direct price comparisons. Market charts prompt discussion on growth vs. value investing, highlighting value's long-term underperformance and its historical cyclicality. We compare current market dynamics to the late 1990s tech bubble, noting similarities in speculation and skepticism toward value investing. Latin America's unusually low valuations and strong relative performance this year are examined as a potential opportunity. Emerging markets often struggle with consistency due to currency issues, political instability, and uneven economic development. We emphasize the importance of evaluating assets in relative terms—stocks vs. dollars, gold vs. currencies, and region vs. region. How relative performance charts reveal where capital is flowing, using gold, silver, and mining stocks as examples of cycle progression. Copper miners' potential breakout is highlighted as a key signal for commodity sector strength. Markets ultimately reflect where limited investor capital is being allocated at any given moment. Today's Panelists: Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth Barbara Friedberg | Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance Phil Weiss | Apprise Wealth Management Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moneytreepodcast Follow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/money-tree-investing-podcast Follow on Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTIPodcast For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/opportunities-in-latin-769 

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Will Moreland.

Hey, investors! Scott Carson here, and I've got a juicy deal that's hotter than a Texas summer! If your lazy assets (and maybe your self-directed IRA) are sitting idle, this is your chance to put them to work on a prime piece of Georgetown, Texas real estate. This isn't some long-haul, snail-paced investment – we're talking a six-month or less turnaround, with conservative numbers figuring in a year!This beauty is one of 48 reverse mortgages we snagged from a hedge fund. The borrower's already passed, HUD's got it cleaned out, and we're looking at a clean, well-maintained property needing just a little lipstick and a fresh coat of paint. Texas foreclosures are fast, and we've got the team ready to rock and roll. This is a potential 10% (or more!) return on your money, secured with a first lien.Here's the breakdown on this Georgetown Goldmine:The Deceased HUD Gem: A clean, 3-bed, 2-bath, 1,348 sq ft home in Georgetown's hot 78628 ZIP code. Borrower deceased, heirs not fighting, property in good shape (interior inspection available!), needs cosmetic updates only – no structural nightmares.The Numbers Make Sense: Current legal balance: $185K. Conservative Fair Market Value: $297K. We're picking up the note for just $170K. Add back taxes and foreclosure costs, and we need $176K in funding. That's over $112K in built-in equity!Exit Strategy 1: Quick Auction Cash! With a 90-day Texas foreclosure and a $191K legal balance (after taxes), a quick auction sale is likely. You get a guaranteed 10% return on your $176K, paid out even if it sells faster than 90 days. We're talking $4,400+ interest in under three months!Exit Strategy 2: REO Flip for Bigger Bucks! If it doesn't sell at auction (our preferred scenario!), we take it back as an REO. An additional $20K for rehab (total $196K invested) for light cosmetic work. Potential net profit of $52K+ with ROI up to 20% if we're doing a one-year prepayment penalty.Due Diligence & Timeline: Full collateral file, realtor CMAs, title update, HUD interior inspection, and exterior video are all available. We're aiming for mid-December funding to kick off a February foreclosure and a March/June sale. Fast, efficient, and profitable!This isn't just another podcast episode; it's a real-time opportunity. We're looking for funding in December, so if you've got an IRA or some passive investment cash ($176K) burning a hole in your pocket, and you want 10% or more, let's talk!For the full due diligence package, comps, and all the nitty-gritty details, reach out directly! Book a call with me at talkwithscottcarson.com or text (512) 585-3810. Let's make some money together before 2026 hits!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Everett Swain II. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to: Highlight alternative pathways to high-paying careers without a traditional four-year degree. Showcase how UXD Academy, founded by Everett Swain II, empowers individuals—especially from underserved communities—to leverage AI and design skills for financial and academic freedom. Inspire entrepreneurs and small business owners to embrace AI-driven opportunities. Key Takeaways AI as an Opportunity, Not a Threat AI can amplify human capabilities rather than replace them. Small businesses see 80% positive ROI from AI adoption, making it a major growth lever. Career Without a Degree Over 40% of tech companies no longer require degrees, focusing instead on certifications and portfolios. UXD Academy teaches AI experience design and automation for learners as young as 13. Everett’s Journey Started as a graphic designer, pivoted to UX after self-learning via “YouTube University.” Built UXD Academy to democratize access to tech careers and fight industry gatekeeping. Business Model UXD Academy offers free resources and paid guidance. Created Our Table, an AI experience agency employing top students for real-world projects. Impact on Underserved Communities Programs can transform lives, moving individuals from low-income jobs to salaries of $75K–$140K within 3 years. Focus on youth (starting at age 13) to break cycles of poverty and limited exposure. Future AI Trends for Small Businesses AI agents, automated workflows, and AI-powered customer experiences will dominate in the next 12–18 months. Legacy Everett aims to help 100,000 youth create their own reality through tech education. Notable Quotes On AI’s role:“Think of AI as the smartest intern you know—you can train it to work specifically for you.” On education:“You don’t need a degree for what I do. Over 40% of tech companies don’t care about degrees anymore—they care about your portfolio.” On opportunity:“If you follow what I’m telling you, you can change your life in under a year and a half.” On underserved communities:“For the first time in history, people of color can bridge the gap to academic and financial freedom without a four-year degree.” On legacy:“If I can help 100,000 kids create their own reality, that will be my legacy.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSupport the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Everett Swain II. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to: Highlight alternative pathways to high-paying careers without a traditional four-year degree. Showcase how UXD Academy, founded by Everett Swain II, empowers individuals—especially from underserved communities—to leverage AI and design skills for financial and academic freedom. Inspire entrepreneurs and small business owners to embrace AI-driven opportunities. Key Takeaways AI as an Opportunity, Not a Threat AI can amplify human capabilities rather than replace them. Small businesses see 80% positive ROI from AI adoption, making it a major growth lever. Career Without a Degree Over 40% of tech companies no longer require degrees, focusing instead on certifications and portfolios. UXD Academy teaches AI experience design and automation for learners as young as 13. Everett’s Journey Started as a graphic designer, pivoted to UX after self-learning via “YouTube University.” Built UXD Academy to democratize access to tech careers and fight industry gatekeeping. Business Model UXD Academy offers free resources and paid guidance. Created Our Table, an AI experience agency employing top students for real-world projects. Impact on Underserved Communities Programs can transform lives, moving individuals from low-income jobs to salaries of $75K–$140K within 3 years. Focus on youth (starting at age 13) to break cycles of poverty and limited exposure. Future AI Trends for Small Businesses AI agents, automated workflows, and AI-powered customer experiences will dominate in the next 12–18 months. Legacy Everett aims to help 100,000 youth create their own reality through tech education. Notable Quotes On AI’s role:“Think of AI as the smartest intern you know—you can train it to work specifically for you.” On education:“You don’t need a degree for what I do. Over 40% of tech companies don’t care about degrees anymore—they care about your portfolio.” On opportunity:“If you follow what I’m telling you, you can change your life in under a year and a half.” On underserved communities:“For the first time in history, people of color can bridge the gap to academic and financial freedom without a four-year degree.” On legacy:“If I can help 100,000 kids create their own reality, that will be my legacy.” #SHMS #STRAW #BESTSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.