Podcasts about Overhead

Send us Fan MailDrew completed his first airport operations certification class and Doug is back from a family trip to Denver. We discuss:Overhead bin restrictions?COMAC goes “global”Continued engine issuesES30 flies!One major airline's demand predictionNextTrip AirlinesMailbagJoin the Network! https://www.nexttripnetwork.com/

Lightning Labs built Wavelength to deliver self-custodial Lightning payments without forcing users to run nodes, manage channels, or handle liquidity.Olaoluwa Osuntokun, CTO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, and Michael Levin, VP of Product, join me to detail the design choices behind their Ark implementation.They explain why Ark was selected, how hop hints let every payment use ordinary Lightning invoices, and why the four-endpoint SDK targets AI agents and vibe coders. The conversation covers sub-dust vouchers, unilateral exits, offline payment delivery, and one-basis-point alpha pricing.Wavelength shows that self-custodial Lightning can match the integration ease of custodial services while preserving Bitcoin sovereignty.Timestamps01:28 — Why Wavelength: Lightning Without Node Pain03:00 — Why Ark? 05:28 — No New Addresses: Just Lightning Invoices08:40 — Targeting Vibe Coders & AI Agents13:06 — Lightning Beats Credit for LLM APIs17:51 — Receive Sub-1k Sat Vouchers Seamlessly19:32 — Normal User Spins Up Ark Wallet Fast23:02 — Build Wallets with Just 4 Endpoints24:46 — Telegram Self-Custodial Wallets Already Live26:21 — Offline Payments Still Arrive Automatically29:17 — Drop-In SDK for iOS and Android31:26 — Can Servers Steal Your Funds?33:36 — Wavelength Alpha: Just 1 Bip Fees37:57 — AI Attacks Targeting Bitcoin Services?44:05 — Bug Bounties Shift to Token Spending48:36 — Self-Custody as Easy as CustodialLinks: https://x.com/roasbeehttps://x.com/MichaelLevinWavelength Announcement: https://x.com/lightning/status/2079620936567779707Stephan Livera links:Follow me on X: @stephanliveraSubscribe to the podcastSubscribe to Substack

https://rumble.com/user/TheCultureWarshttps://x.com/NewsK365https://buymeacoffee.com/courtpresshttps://www.youtube.com/@NewsK365Email: newsk365@protonmail.com

https://rumble.com/user/TheCultureWarshttps://x.com/NewsK365https://buymeacoffee.com/courtpresshttps://www.youtube.com/@NewsK365Email: newsk365@protonmail.com

https://rumble.com/user/TheCultureWarshttps://x.com/NewsK365https://buymeacoffee.com/courtpresshttps://www.youtube.com/@NewsK365Email: newsk365@protonmail.com

https://rumble.com/user/TheCultureWarshttps://x.com/NewsK365https://buymeacoffee.com/courtpresshttps://www.youtube.com/@NewsK365Email: newsk365@protonmail.com

https://rumble.com/user/TheCultureWarshttps://x.com/NewsK365https://buymeacoffee.com/courtpresshttps://www.youtube.com/@NewsK365Email: newsk365@protonmail.com

Traditional business vs network marketing — which business model actually gives entrepreneurs the better opportunity to build income, freedom and long-term success?In this episode of The ME Show, Ali Mehdaoui sits down once again with Mike Maser, ACN Senior Vice President and professional network marketer, for an open and candid conversation comparing two very different approaches to entrepreneurship.Ali comes from the world of traditional business ownership—building companies, creating brands, hiring employees, managing overhead, acquiring customers and carrying the financial responsibility that comes with owning and operating a company.Mike Maser has taken a different path through the network marketing business model, building within ACN's established infrastructure while focusing on customer acquisition, leadership, duplication, team development and creating leverage.So what happens when you put both entrepreneurs at the same table?We break it down.In this conversation, we discuss:✅ Traditional business vs network marketing✅ Startup costs and financial risk✅ Employees vs independent business owners✅ Business ownership and control✅ Overhead and operating expenses✅ Customer acquisition✅ Network marketing misconceptions✅ Direct selling and relationship-based business✅ Building and leading successful teams✅ Scalability and leverage✅ Residual income vs traditional business revenue✅ Time freedom and entrepreneurship✅ Why some businesses succeed while others fail✅ Who should — and should NOT — consider network marketing✅ The future of entrepreneurshipThis isn't about pretending that one business model is perfect.Traditional entrepreneurship has advantages.Network marketing has advantages.And both require discipline, leadership, consistency and the ability to create value.The bigger question is:Which vehicle makes sense for the life and business YOU want to build?Mike and Ali put both models on the table—the strengths, weaknesses, misconceptions and realities behind each one.This conversation is only the beginning.

The Miskatonic Playhouse presents Act 2 of The Overhead Encounter, by Jack TaylorIt's the summer of 1989, on a humid night on a long and remote stretch of road just off of U.S. Route 431. At the Overhead Inn, a group of weary guests are awakened by a series of bizarre phenomena, and quickly realize that an otherworldly threat is lurking just outside their doors.With minimal resources and little chance of escape, the Investigators must uncover the truth behind what is stalking them. Will they succeed? Or is a disturbing mystery doomed to repeat itself?--------- Keeper of Arcane Lore: CosmicAgent Jenson: NewmanAgent Young: PeteJudge Peabody: TheTallTomGillian Reynard: Lady BedevireSound and Video Editing: The Cosmic OutpostMusic and sound by Syrinscape (http://syrinscape.com) ---------Get the scenario here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/444751/the-overhead-encounter?affiliate_id=3500905---------Find us at www.MiskatonicPlayhouse.comSupport us at ko-fi.com/MiskatonicPlayhouse

In dieser Folge ist Alexander Sprogis bei Tim zu Gast. Gemeinsam sprechen die beiden über Produktentwicklung mit einem agentischen Team und über die Frameworks die man kennen sollte. Alex kommt ursprünglich aus der Softwareentwicklung und dem Produktmanagement. Früher gründete er mit Lilith Brockhaus die No-Code & Low-Code Ausbildung und KI-Beratung VisualMakers. Inzwischen baut er unter eigenem Namen seinen YouTube Kanal rund um AI Coding auf. Seine Leidenschaft gilt seit jeher dem Befähigen von Menschen. Heute geht es dabei vor allem um Coding Agents wie Claude Code. Wer einfach drauflos promptet, landet schnell im klassischen Vibe Coding. Viele Ergebnisse wirken gut, sind aber kaum reproduzierbar. Die KI trifft munter eigene Annahmen, ohne dich zu fragen. Alex vergleicht Coding Agents gern mit einem hastigen Junior Entwickler. Der liefert zwar schnell, neigt aber zum Overengineering. Auch Widerspruch legt so ein Agent nur selten ein. Dazu kommt ein Problem namens Context Rot. Je länger eine Session dauert, desto voller wird das Kontextfenster. Und desto öfter verliert die KI den roten Faden. Um dieses Chaos einzufangen, kann man vier Ebenen unterscheiden: Ganz unten steht das Sprachmodell (LLM) selbst, etwa Claude Opus oder Fable. Darüber liegt der Harness, also die Konfigurationsschicht, zum Beispiel Claude Code. Darüber wiederum sitzt das Framework als methodischer Rahmen für die eigentliche Arbeit. Innerhalb dieses Rahmens übernehmen einzelne Agenten oder Skills konkrete Rollen. Genau hier zeigt sich der Kern von Produktentwicklung mit einem agentischen Team. Ein gutes Framework bringt Struktur und wiederholbare Qualität in die tägliche Arbeit mit Coding Agents. Am ausführlichsten sprechen die beiden über die BMad Methode. BMad steht mittlerweile meist für "Breakthrough Method for Agile AI Driven Development" - manchmal aber auch für seinen Erfinder Brian Madison. Das Framework stellt ein komplettes agentisches Team aus neun Personas bereit. Die Business Analystin Mary erstellt mit dir zusammen ein Product Brief. Ein Produktmanager übersetzt das anschließend in ein PRD. Der Architekt Winston plant danach Technik und Stack. Am Ende entstehen daraus Epics und Storys mit klaren Akzeptanzkriterien. Es ist fast vergleichbar mit einem Team, das sich Dokumente zuwirft. Von echter gemeinsamer Arbeit an einem Inkrement (im Sinne von Scrum) bleibt allerdings wenig übrig. Ein sogenannter Party Mode bringt immerhin mehrere Agenten an einem Artefakt zusammen. Alex nutzt BMad selbst produktiv, sieht aber auch klare Grenzen. Für einzelne Personen entsteht schnell zu viel Dokumentation. Ein Project Brief kann schon mal mehrere Seiten lang werden. Ein Architekturdokument wird schnell zu einem kleinen Buch. Wer allein arbeitet, muss all das lesen und pflegen. Bei jeder Änderung fällt zusätzlich noch ein Review an. In kleinen Teams führt das schnell zu Overhead statt zu Tempo. Deshalb setzt Alex das Framework heute nur noch punktuell ein. Parallel schaut er sich längst andere Ansätze an. Als leichtere Alternative gibt es auch 'Get Shipped Done', früher bekannt als 'Get Shit Done'. Es läuft in einer kurzen Schleife aus fünf Phasen. Erst wird besprochen, dann geplant, dann umgesetzt, geprüft und ausgeliefert. Einzelne Unteragenten starten dabei mit einem leeren Kontextfenster. Sie melden am Ende nur ihr fertiges Ergebnis zurück. Ein Befehl namens Map Codebase schickt gleich sieben Unteragenten los. Die analysieren eine bestehende Codebasis aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln. Das hilft besonders bei Legacy Projekten ohne gute Dokumentation. Superpowers verfolgen einen ähnlichen Ablauf, arbeiten aber testgetrieben. Erst entstehen die Tests, dann nur so viel Code wie nötig. So bremst das Framework Overengineering von vornherein aus. Neben BMad, Get Shipped Done und Superpowers fallen in der Folge noch weitere Namen. SpecKit von GitHub gehört dazu, ebenso Kiro von Amazon und AgentOS.

Featured on WGN Radio's “Home Sweet Home Chicago” on August 8, 2026: Aimee Ferrarell, Accessibility Specialist at Access, joins the show to talk about overhead lift systems and how they can assist disabled users have more independence. Frank also talks about the toll caregivers take on when doing their best to help loved ones. To learn more about […]

In this episode Maje Rants about immigration, and how politicians want to stop certain workers from coming to Australia. When Billionaires Get married and Bra Controversies for the Tour de France Femmes.

Budget airline Jetstar has announced that it will begin charging passengers between $25 and $52 to store carry-on bags in overhead lockers from February 2027. According to an official press release, from next year, all bookings will include one underseat bag such as a backpack, handbag or laptop bag. In this podcast, travel agent Tanvi Goel explains the new rules, why they are being introduced and what they mean for travellers.

Budget airlines have built their reputation on low fares, but are they still the cheaper option once all the add-ons are factored in? Jetstar's controversial new policy to charge passengers for using overhead cabin lockers from 2027. On What's Trending, Hongbin Jeong, Nadiah Koh and Nazirul Asrar discuss if it's fair to have a "pay only for what you use" approach that speeds up boarding, or another hidden fee that's pushing budget travel too far.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Connect with us on Instagram: @kiss92fm @Glennn @angeliqueteo @officialtimoh Producer: @shalinisusan97See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On The BIG Show today, we discussed the recent updates with Jetstar's overhead cabin! Connect with us on Instagram: @kiss92fm @Glennn @angeliqueteo @officialtimoh Producer: @shalinisusan97See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The budget airline will dump its carry-on weight limit in favour of a size-based carry-on baggage model. - 格安航空会社ジェットスターは、機内持ち込み手荷物の重量制限を廃止し、サイズに基づいた制限を設ける方針です。Listen to SBS Japanese Audio on Tue, Thu and Fri from 1pm on SBS 3. Replays from 10pm on Tue, Thu and Sat on SBS1. Listen to past stories from our podcast. Download the free SBS Audio App and don't forget to visit SBS Japanese Facebook and Instagram page! - SBSの日本語放送は火木金の午後１時からSBS3で生放送！火木土の夜10時からはおやすみ前にSBS1で再放送が聞けます。SBS日本語放送ポッドキャストから過去のストーリーを聞くこともできます。無料でダウンロードできるSBS Audio Appもどうぞ。SBS 日本語放送のFacebookとInstagramもお忘れなく。

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports an Australian airline is going to charge passengers to use the overhead lockers for their bags.

Budget-conscious travellers will need to think twice before rolling their carry-on case to the airport - from next year. From February next year, Jetstar customers will have to pay to use the overhead lockeer, with prices starting at $23, depending on availability. Consumer NZ Chief Executive Jon Duffy spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

Budget airline Jetstar sparked outrage by announcing that starting February, they will scrap the traditional 7kg carry-on weight limit... Television fans celebrated the long-awaited premiere of Ted Lasso Season 4, while pop culture lovers got a treat as MasterChef royalty Poh Ling Yeow dropped into the studio! Podcasters Matty J & Ash Wicks from the 2 Doting Dads joined the desk to break down the highs and lows of modern fatherhood!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you feel about this?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does paying extra for overhead baggage pass the pub test?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A marketing expert says Jetstar's deciding to charge for overhead carry-on luggage is is just business. From February, all passengers' under-seat luggage can weigh more - up to 10kg - but they'll have to fork out an extra $23 for overhead luggage. Auckland University marketing professor Mike Lee says it's an attempt to separate itself from other carriers. "This will rationalise some of that premium overhead space now - and then, of course, they'll be making a nice little profit on that, hopefully." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jetstar is lifting its 7kg carry-on weight limit, but starting February 2nd, storing a bag in the overhead locker will cost passengers up to $52. Aviation writer Robyn Ironside joined 4BC Drive to break down whether this change is genuinely about speeding up boarding times or just a clever revenue generator.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A marketing expert says Jetstar's deciding to charge for overhead carry-on luggage is is just business. From February, all passengers' under-seat luggage can weigh more - up to 10kg - but they'll have to fork out an extra $23 for overhead luggage. Auckland University marketing professor Mike Lee says it's an attempt to separate itself from other carriers. "This will rationalise some of that premium overhead space now - and then, of course, they'll be making a nice little profit on that, hopefully." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh runs Helix Group alongside his brother in northern Sydney. Before applying a formal management structure, the company operated with overheads at 35 percent and paid $9,000 a month for local accounting. The lack of formal processes forced them to absorb a $160,000 basement variation because they failed to secure written approval from the client prior to excavation. Josh also worked for six years without a holiday, constantly answering his phone.Josh laid off excess in-house staff and hired offshore virtual assistants for estimating and bookkeeping, dropping accounts costs to $800 a month. He established variation approval rules requiring client sign-off before site work continues. By organizing his schedule with a Default Diary, Josh separated site meetings from business development, which helped him secure a 1.1 million dollar cost-plus contract. This structure enabled him to take a two-week unplugged trip to Vietnam while his site foreman managed the active projects.Links & Resources Helix Group Website: https://www.helix.group/

The episode examines margin disparity and operational strategy for MSPs serving regulated industries, spotlighting how compliance-driven overhead can become a structural moat for providers targeting underserved segments. The discussion centers on Trumbull Tech's model, which leverages a minimal-staff, tool-focused approach to deliver compliant services to small client bases (1–50 seats) across legal, financial, and healthcare verticals. The analysis underscores the risk and complexity inherent in regulated environments, noting that as vendors begin to package compliance offerings alongside MSPs, the defensibility of this margin advantage may erode. Trumbull Tech operates with gross margins well above channel averages—reporting 55–60%, attributed to intentional client selection, rigorous cost modeling, a preference for lightweight device management (MDM) solutions over enterprise-heavy platforms like Microsoft Intune, and strict avoidance of fixed, unlimited support contracts. The company's operational approach bundles basic but essential compliance tools, such as BitLocker enforcement, password complexity, password rotation, remote wipe, and targeted endpoint management, tailored specifically for smaller businesses. This model is predicated on the belief that most regulatory mandates can be reasonably satisfied with a uniform, low-overhead stack, thereby avoiding the staff overhead typical of more complex enterprise solutions. Supporting developments in the episode include an account of security intervention using Huntress with a small remote CPA firm, illustrating both the ubiquity of risk (not limited to large organizations) and the practical utility of combining automation with incident response. The conversation also touches on AI adoption hesitancy in small regulated businesses, logistics of relationship-based staffing for stickiness, and the rejection of strict vertical specialization in favor of scalable, stack-based delivery. These elements collectively describe a playbook where risk containment is achieved through standardization and upfront client selection, rather than deep customization. Implications for MSPs and IT providers include the need to critically assess their service models in the context of regulatory risk, operational scalability, and margin management. Overdependence on a specific set of tools or a uniform client profile may limit adaptability as vendor offerings and client expectations evolve. Providers entering or serving regulated markets should recognize that margin advantages rooted in compliance operations depend on active management of client selection, tool stack efficiency, and transparent risk tradeoffs, as opposed to reliance on elaborate enterprise frameworks or unlimited support promises. Attention to practical safeguards, clear lines of accountability, and periodic reassessment of vendor overlap is essential to remain viable as compliance delivery mechanisms evolve. Supported by: OpenTextScalePad

Return on Mission Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startups generate a return on investment for their investors by measuring how much their business generated funds returned compared to investment. For the impact space, one can calculate the return on mission. Here is how to measure the return on mission for your impact startup. Calculate the overhead-to-program expense ratio. See how much of the program cost goes to overhead. Overhead is anything that does not directly drive the cost to produce the product or service. This should be less than 10% in most cases. One can calculate return on mission by dividing a financial investment by the amount of producing the product or service. For example, if an expense is $10K, and the cost of producing a product or service is $1K, then the cost of the expense is 10X. The objective is to determine how much a business expense compares to the cost of providing a service or product. This casts expenses in terms of producing the product or service, which frames the expense in mission terms. Consider calculating the return on mission for your impact startup. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. Let's go startup something today. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.

Scoffs at the latest cost-saving measures by Jetstar, as it's set to bring in charges for overhead carry-ons. From February, all passengers will be able to bring one small under-seat bag weighing up to 10kg, but they'll have to fork out an extra $23 for any overhead luggage. Jetstar says customers were stressing out looking for room in overhead lockers. Australian Correspondent Steve Price told Mike Hosking he isn't buying it. He says it's ridiculous that under a normal ticket, you can only get on the plane and stick something under your seat. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Federal Secretary of the The Flight Attendants Association of Australia Teri O’Toole told Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft this change will provide some welcome relief for flight attendant staff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Miskatonic Playhouse presents Act 1 of The Overhead Encounter, by Jack TaylorIt's the summer of 1989, on a humid night on a long and remote stretch of road just off of U.S. Route 431. At the Overhead Inn, a group of weary guests are awakened by a series of bizarre phenomena, and quickly realize that an otherworldly threat is lurking just outside their doors.With minimal resources and little chance of escape, the Investigators must uncover the truth behind what is stalking them. Will they succeed? Or is a disturbing mystery doomed to repeat itself?--------- Keeper of Arcane Lore: CosmicAgent Jenson: NewmanAgent Young: PeteJudge Peabody: TheTallTomGillian Reynard: Lady BedevireSound and Video Editing: The Cosmic OutpostMusic and sound by Syrinscape (http://syrinscape.com) ---------Get the scenario here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/444751/the-overhead-encounter?affiliate_id=3500905---------Find us at www.MiskatonicPlayhouse.comSupport us at ko-fi.com/MiskatonicPlayhouse

Eric Field of Big Door Home Buyers joins us to share how he has successfully built his real estate wholesaling business! Eric jumps right in by explaining how he got into wholesaling and how he scaled his business! He provides tactical advice on marketing, wholesaling overhead expenses, and estimating rehab costs. Eric shares wholesaling horror stories and his biggest lessons learned from underwriting mistakes. He closes with an outlook on fine tuning his business to further propel growth! If you enjoy today's episode, please leave us a review and share with someone who may also find value in this content! ============= Connect with Mark and Tom: StraightUpChicagoInvestor.com Email the Show: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Properties for Sale on the North Side?  We want to buy them. Email: StraightUpChicagoInvestor@gmail.com Have a vacancy? We can place your next tenant and give you back 30-40 hours of your time. Learn more: GCRealtyInc.com/tenant-placement Has Property Mgmt become an opportunity cost for you? Let us lower your risk and give you your time back to grow. Learn more: GCRealtyinc.com ============= Guest: Eric Field, Big Door Home Buyers Link: SUCI Ep 356 - Frank Montro Link: SUCI Ep 253 - Jeff Nydegger (Kendall Partners) Link: Never Split the Difference (Book Recommendation) Guest Questions:  02:05 Housing Provider Tip - Do not skip final walkthroughs and do them on closing day! 03:37 Intro to our guest, Eric Field! 12:33 Starting a wholesaling business. 22:03 Effective marketing strategies. 30:45 Overhead expenses for wholesaling. 34:13 Crazy wholesaling stories! 41:39 Eric's biggest underwriting mistakes. 51:26 Tips for estimating construction costs. 54:16 Business outlook for Big Door Home Buyers. 55:28 What is your competitive advantage? 55:45 One piece of advice for new investors. 56:10 What do you do for fun? 56:24 Good book, podcast, or self development activity that you would recommend?  56:50 Local Network Recommendation?  56:26 How can the listeners learn more about you and provide value to you? ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of Straight Up Chicago Investor 2026.

In this AMA episode, I answer Tennis Tribe member questions with simple doubles strategy rules for drop shots, overheads against lobbers, and cutting down double faults.I also share how I think about building a second serve you can trust, as well as starting and recovery positions at the net.Drop shot rules and the best place to hit drop shots fromWhy your drop shot doesn't have to land shortThe best overhead targetsWhen letting a lob bounce makes senseThe causes of double faults at club levelThe easiest way to simplify your 2nd serveMembers only: How to develop a reliable 2nd serve that doesn't get attackedMembers only: Where to start at the net and how to move during your partner's baseline rallyLearn more about all my upcoming camps and Rally Trips at thetennistribe.com/camps/. -----**Join the #1 Doubles Strategy Newsletter for Club Tennis Players** New doubles strategy lessons weekly straight to your inbox**Become a Tennis Tribe Member**Tennis Tribe Members get access to premium video lessons, a monthly member-only webinar, doubles strategy Ebooks & Courses, exclusive discounts on tennis gear, and more.Learn More & Sign Up Here**Other Free Doubles Content**Serve Strategy CheatsheetReturn Strategy CheatsheetServe Strategy 101 - Video Course

A rather common sight across North Dakota during the summer months is a large hawk with broad wings and a wide, rounded tail soaring high overhead. Although there may be other species, the odds are good that it would be a Swainson's, red-tailed, or ferruginous hawk.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you still fixing every problem your team brings you because it feels faster than teaching them how to fix it themselves? Maybe you're proud of how low your overhead is, but could that low overhead also be a growth ceiling? Today's featured guest spent seven years knocking on doors selling dry cleaning before he ever thought about digital marketing. He built his agency to serve home service businesses, ran it solo for three years, and is now in the middle of the transition most agency founders dread: building the systems and the team that let the work happen without him in the room. In this conversation, he and Jason work through the Evolution Framework, what the door-to-door years gave him that no formal sales training could, and what the next move looks like from the manager stage. Billy Scott is the founder of Grow Marketing, a digital marketing agency serving home service businesses. Before the agency, he spent seven years as a door-to-door salesman for a pickup and delivery dry cleaning service, growing the route to 1,500 customers and $25,000 a week in billings before realizing his ceiling was someone else's decision. He taught himself digital marketing through online courses, launched Grow Marketing six years ago, and ran it as a solo operation for the first three years. He is now building out his team and working toward the Architect stage, with a focus on getting his sales process documented well enough to hand off. In this episode, we'll discuss: Lessons from seven years in door-to-door sales Is low overhead something to brag about? What the next move looks like for Billy Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. What Seven Years at the Door Actually Built Billy will tell you he would not trade the door-to-door years for anything, and for good reason. Standing at a stranger's door with a pitch they did not ask for and a credit card form to fill out on the spot before you leave: that is the highest-friction version of sales that exists. You learn rejection, you learn to read people in seconds, and that being liked is not the same as being trusted. Building that trust takes consistent, repeatable interaction, not a clever line. The psychology Billy took from those years mapped directly onto digital marketing. A website has the same window a door-to-door pitch does: seconds to earn enough interest for the person to keep going. That kind of pattern recognition, built through years of in-person rejection and course correction, is what makes Billy a strong founder-level salesperson. Now the next challenge is not closing more deals. It is building a system around what he does instinctively so someone else can eventually do it without him in the room. The Low Overhead Trap For the first three years, Billy ran Grow Marketing alone and measured the health of the business by how little it cost to run. Five hundred dollars in monthly overhead felt like discipline. What it actually was: a ceiling. He hit forty hours a week of capacity and had nowhere to go. He could not take on new clients or grow revenue. He had built a system that was perfectly designed to stay exactly where it was. The shift came when he and his wife had an honest conversation about what they actually valued, which was time. Low overhead is only an advantage when it does not limit what the business can become. The moment it becomes a point of pride rather than a strategic posture, it starts working against the founder instead of for them. Billy recognized it, made the hires, and has been working through the cost of that transition ever since. Where the Bottleneck Is Right Now and What the Next Move Looks Like Billy is clear about where he is: Manager stage, trying to reach Architect. The work in front of him is structural. Every sales call needs to be recorded. Every client interaction needs a documented process. Every time he solves a problem his team brings him, he is making himself indispensable in a way that compounds against the business rather than for it. He initially thought he needed to hire "another him". However, this instinct is worth challenging: two visionaries in the same room produce ideas, not execution. What Billy actually needs is someone who can manage themselves, understands the outcome without needing every step handed to them, and who can learn the methodology from the stories rather than from being told what to do. The sales handoff system is the starting point: record every call, build a folder, use AI to extract the framework from what you already do naturally, then shadow and be shadowed until the system exists outside your head. The bottleneck does not move by working harder inside it. It moves when the work that only you can do becomes the work that almost anyone trained well enough can do. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

How's your backlog right now? In Part 6 of the Construction Accounting Series, Eric sits down again with CPA Kathe Barrington to unpack what backlog really is, and what it isn't. They dig into why committed-but-unstarted jobs belong on your WIP the day you're awarded, how to use backlog to forecast labor, equipment, and cash, and why a backlog that looks great in aggregate can still leave you with a nine-month hole in the schedule. Kathe lays out the ideal backlog-to-revenue ratio, the red flag of growing backlog with compressing gross profit, how client and project-type concentration creates fragility, and who needs to be in the room for the monthly backlog review. If you want backlog to function as a real planning tool, not a vanity number. This conversation is the blueprint. What You'll Learn What backlog actually is - remaining contract, remaining cost, and remaining gross profit to complete Why letters of intent and verbal awards should NOT count as backlog Why unstarted-but-committed jobs belong on your WIP the day you're awarded (and what bank & bonding are looking for) How to translate a WIP snapshot into a month-by-month forecast of labor, equipment, and cash How far out you should be forecasting labor (hint: 6–12 months minimum) The ideal backlog-to-revenue ratio - and why 3–6 months makes Kathe nervous How backlog profiles differ between GCs and subs, and what that means for planning The aggregate-number trap: why jobs bunched up at the same finish line signal trouble When you can tighten margins as you scale - and when compressing gross profit becomes dangerous Client and project-type concentration risk - diversification as insurance How often to review backlog (monthly, with the financials) and who belongs in the room The questions that should drive the conversation beyond the numbers How to use backlog data when the market shifts - lessons from 2008 and COVID The three questions Kathe asks first when she takes on a new client's books   Connect with Kathe LinkedIn: Kathe Barrington, KB CPA Facebook: Kathe Barrington / KB CPA   The Construction Accounting Series with Kathe Barrington This is Part 6 of an ongoing series. Catch up on the full run: Part 1 — Ep. 357: WIP Reports Made Simple: The Key to Stopping Hidden Job Losses Part 2 — Ep. 359: How to Use Your WIP to Protect Cash and Grow Profitability Part 3 — Ep. 364: Why the Field and Accounting Are Both Right (Physical Progress vs. Financial Reporting) Part 4 — Ep. 368: Underbillings Bad. Overbillings Better: The Cash Flow Truth Construction Owners Can't Ignore Part 5 — Ep. 377: Why Your Jobs Look More Profitable Than They Are: Indirect Allocations and Overhead in Construction  

Nothing like getting a steak right when all hope is nearly lost, we discuss knee problems from excessive training, overhead pressing problems that don't make much sense, and perhaps the champion of woke personal trainers has arrived. ALL LINKS: https://swolenormous.com

Sun, Jul 5 4:29 PM → 5:40 PM BlackBerry fire Radio Systems: - Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System

Sun, Jul 5 4:30 PM → 5:40 PM Blackberry bushes fire Radio Systems: - Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System

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In this episode, I sit down with Sam and Ulli, co-founders of Brand Partners, a two-person Munich-focused recruitment business they built from £20K in savings while navigating a non-compete, a second child, and the blurred lines of working with your partner every day.From Ulli taking an interim TA role to keep the lights on, to hitting £298K in revenue with just £2K a month in overheads, this episode covers the real numbers, the deliberate choices, and the trade-offs that most husband and wife business owners never say out loud.We get into how they split roles, why they stay 90% contingent, how their community of 250 senior marketing leaders became a genuine BD engine, and what it actually takes to protect a marriage when your business is also your life.Connect with Sam and Ulli here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sambrand11/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulli-brand/-------------------------Watch the episode on YouTube: -------------------------Podcast Sponsors: Claim your exclusive savings from our partners with the links below:Sourcewhale - Check Out Sourcewhale & Claim Your Exclusive Offer Here.Atlas - Check Out Atlas & Claim Your Exclusive Offer HereRaise - Check Out Raise & Claim Your Exclusive Offer Here.-------------------------Want more content like this?The Wednesday Debrief is our free weekly newsletter for recruiters who take their craft seriously. Join 7,000+ subscribers here: https://newsletter.recruitmentmentors.com/-------------------------Get in touch with me:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hishemazzouz/-------------------------

Tiff and Dana address one of the most popular topics for Dental A-Team consultants: overhead! They talk about what it entails, where to start when looking to reduce it, critical questions to ask yourself about needs versus wants, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Tiff (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for listening. We say this every time, but we love what we do and we love bringing you so much valuable information. And the fact that Kiera can do all the podcasts she does blows my mind. ⁓ but she is a busy bee over there, and the fact that we get to do these as well is just really, really fun for us. It allows all of the consultants here on our team to really feel like we're giving back to you guys. So with that, I have Dana here with me today, and   Dana, gosh, we have been podcasting together for a really long time. I can't even put a number to it. And I remember, I don't know if you remember, but I remember I remember where I was sitting. I remember the thought process. And I remember it was me, you and Britt on a call on a Zoom link. And it was the first time marketing had said we want to do video with the podcast. And I was like, what? And video like was not, it was just like up and coming.   I didn't understand it. It was on Instagram. I was watching I was like, why am I watching you talk? Like the a podcast is to listen. Why am I watching you talk? And now I mean it's very normal and that's how I watch them. And I feel like I feel like it was like YouTube came back around, you know. But anyways, I remember that day vividly. ⁓ I don't remember what we were talking about, but I remember being like, I have to like do my hair. I'm gonna be seen.   DAT-Dana (01:23) Yeah. Yeah. I know it was   funny because we always could see each other, right, in those early days, but it was just like we weren't creating the video content for it. And I remember thinking exactly like who's gonna want to watch   Tiff (01:33) Yes.   DAT-Dana (01:35) us who's gonna want to watch us do this thing but then I see my kids literally like watching people play Minecraft and it's like their favorite thing and I'm like wouldn't it be more fun to actually go play? So I do feel like there is definitely this like niche of people like wanting to watch and like you know get a glimpse in of like the podcast world and just different worlds in general and so I agree with you. I remember the three of us just kind of being like who's gonna want to watch us talk to each other but hey we're so glad you're here.   Tiff (01:37) Yeah.   Yes.   It's true.   Yeah.   DAT-Dana (02:05) Yeah.   Tiff (02:06) Yes, I agree. And the three fur podcasts are hard. So hard when there's so many people virtually. And yeah, I r I remember the shock. I wish I could remember what the ⁓ podcast actually it was probably I bet you it was probably one that we did for Kiera. We probably it bosses day or something, yeah, 'cause if there are multiple of us. Anyways, that was that popped into my head this morning as I I always have to now have like prep for podcast time so I can like   DAT-Dana (02:12) Yeah.   Like Boss's Day or something like that. Yeah.   Tiff (02:35) just tame my hair or get my ring light just right. And I'm like, gosh, I remember the days that we did not have to do this. And then we have c new to Dental A Team consultants come on and I'm like, we're gonna podcast. And they're like stressed and I'm like, I get it. I just I get it. I saw them go talk yourself in the mirror for a bit first. You'll get used to it.   DAT-Dana (02:50) Yeah. Yeah.   I know   I remember in the early days I would always have to reframe my podcast because I'd see podcasting on my schedule and I'm like, ⁓ like I gotta get on. So then I just started reframing it. It was like time with Tiff, time with Britt, time with Kiera. And it's how I like kind of learn get over the like of the podcasting space. So I totally feel it when new consultants are like, I have my first podcast today.   Tiff (03:12) I love that.   Yeah,   yeah, and they all come to you, right? 'Cause I'll all schedule it and then they're like, Dana, what do I do? That's so cute. Yeah. I love the reframe. That actually like goes I think hand in hand with what we're talking about today. ⁓ but I think you can do that with anything and I have to remind myself, even like gosh, when I get up in the morning, I got up this morning and I went from for my walk and I was like, ⁓ this sucks and I was like, No, you get to be in the morning sun.   You get to move your body before anybody else in the house is awake. Like I think that's the part that's the hardest is like everybody else gets to sleep, you know? But you that reframe is so powerful. And we can look at a schedule and think I I look at my schedule and I'm like, shoot. This is so busy. Or gosh, I'm I'm like   So long today, and I have to reframe it often and be like, gosh, no, actually I get to do something really cool. And I get to wake up and go for a walk and I get to do these things or I get to go to an office and I get to be boots on the ground with other people. So I love that you mentioned that reframe, Dana. That was really smart. So today's reframe, which I love, I think this is one of the most popular conversations that we have. We get a couple of things here at Dental A Team. ⁓   We love everything that we get, but the most common, most popular things are systems, which we will help you with systems, I promise you. And there are thousands of podcasts I think that just Dana and I have done on systems and operations manual. So go look them up. We're not doing that today. And the second, which I actually really have grown to truly love, ⁓ is overhead cost reduction and and overhead analysis. And so many practice owners and leaders come to us and they're like, gosh.   what does overhead even mean? I know I had a conversation with a client last week that has been in the dental like consulting world for years and years and years. And w his question was what does that even what does it mean? Like overhead can mean so many different things to so many different people and so many different consulting companies. And for the sake of today's conversation and the sake of forever with Dental A Team know that when we say overhead, we are talking about top of the line   Whatever I always say if someone were to purchase your practice, what are the expenses they'd be taking over? Anything outside of that, your pay, your taxes, your debt, your debt will follow you typically, right? You can lump it into the loan, ⁓ but it's not overhead top of the line expense. So your debt, meaning your scanners, ⁓ your school debt, anything like that is outside of quote unquote overhead. So when we talk about overhead, it's top of the line and that had to that that   explanation, I think it can just vary. It can vary depending on who you're talking to. So today we wanted to reframe that, Dana Go. No, I love it.   DAT-Dana (06:08) and I don't want to interrupt you, but I think too just   just to be clear on overhead too, anything that you run through the business, right? Again, that's not something absolutely with your CPA, you structure it how you want. But understand that that's not an expense that somebody is going to take on when they take over the bracket.   Tiff (06:25) Yes, I love that. Thank you. Good clarification. so with this kind of reframe, every everybody's like reduce overhead, reduce overhead. And I totally agree. And a lot of a lot of companies, a lot of people, ⁓ a lot of strategists will come in and they're like, okay, what can we cut? And we for sure, like, we'll come in and look at what if there's space to make cuts, but our biggest piece is always we're not gonna spend a lot of time on it today because we've got a million other podcasts about it.   I think I just did one actually with Kristy not that long ago, but the first place we're gonna look is your collections. A lot of people will say, I need to over I need to produce. And I love the statement, you can't outproduce your problems. So if you're producing, producing, producing, producing, but you're still feeling like there's an issue. And if you're meeting the financial, like you're meeting your goal, your production goal, but you're still cash flow short, then there's an issue in your collections. And so look at your collections and Dana.   I would love to hear quick snippet, what are the areas that you tackle when it comes to overhead and it comes to collections? And then I want to talk about the reframes and the other pieces.   DAT-Dana (07:33) Yeah, so you're exactly right. The first thing I'm gonna look at is the collections number. I'll look at the total, like what is the total percentage and like what profit point do we need to get to when it comes to collections? And then the very next thing I'm gonna look at is your AR because honestly and truly I've been able to get practices out of cash flow crisis, out of really feeling that pinch simply by going after already produced   ⁓ monies. And so I think that those are usually the things that I look at. Okay, what are we collecting? What does our profit point need to be for healthy AR?   Right. And and obviously we're gonna talk about is that possible? How do we get your schedule to get you there? But then the very next thing I'm gonna look at is AR. Is there money that I can just quickly tackle that's already been produced that's gonna help the collections problem? So I'm looking at the total collections, collections percentage, and then what's sitting in AR, because if I can tackle that and make a really quick difference, ⁓ sure, we can budget things, we can line item your PL, we can we can chop where we need to, but those things are often the fastest, easiest, quickest fixes.   and like you said, you like outproducing the problem. If I can fix AR and then we can create systems that it doesn't happen again, oftentimes we don't even have to really touch production, right? Because we're already producing pretty well in a lot of these cases. So those are that's kind of where I start.   Tiff (08:46) Yeah.   Yeah, I love that. And it's something that makes such a massive difference. Knowing one, knowing your numbers, knowing what your numbers mean. So knowing your overhead, knowing your outgoing expenses is massive. And then looking to see, okay, well, if these are my outgoing expenses, what do I need to collect in order to profit? Right. And then if we're not collecting that, is it because production isn't where it needs to be? So what's our what's our bare minimum?   And is collections meeting that or is production meeting that so that collections can meet our bare minimum. If production is or is way above and our collections is just tanked, like I saw somebody the other day that was like 83% collections. They're like, we gotta produce more. And I Yeah, absolutely. If we want to maintain 83% collections and get your overhead in line, you for sure have to produce more. But also we can tackle your collections and get your collections up to that ninety-eight percent that it should be or above, and really not have to work   you harder as the provider work our numbers harder and get that collections up. It also kind of flows into Dana, I think the capacity that we just recorded a podcast. So probably the podcast ahead of this one I would assume is is about capacity. And I think that capacity conversation flows into this one really, really well. So all right, collections.   Go do it. We will harp on that for days, but go do it. If you need help with it, you're not sure, you don't know how to analyze it, you need help with your numbers, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. We are honestly and truly here to help you. We will provide you as much information as we possibly can to get you on the right track. Now, something else that we like to do within that, and we talked about this on capacity, we talked about analyzing ⁓ fee schedules, right? But then we also need to analyze expenses. So when we're really looking at things and we're saying, okay.   Great, this is my overhead. I like to think, okay, does it have to be my overhead though? So a lot of people will look at staff cost, the employee cost. I actually I look at it, I kind of glaze that, you guys. I don't, I don't like to touch the staff cost unless it absolutely is extraordinary and there's maybe team members that are taking advantage or you're feeling like there's something culturally wrong in your practice, then I'm gonna say, okay, great.   Let's really take a look at this and make sure that we're being efficient with our time. We're not in overtime. We're not in those spaces. But I'm gonna kind of glaze at that unless there's a red flag somewhere else. And then I'm gonna look at those other expenses as well. And something that I really love to do is to analyze what do we need versus what we have. It reminds me of when Brody was little, we'd go to the store and he'd be like, Mom, is this a want or a need? Is it on your list? Is you have are you getting it because you just want it and it sounds exciting?   Or do we actually need this? And Dana, I love the conversation that you have around. I'm gonna say like analyze your vendors, analyze your contracts with vendors, but I love the conversation around ⁓ the wants versus needs when it comes to scanners, when it comes to mills. And I love I I miss the conversation actually. I miss the conversation of negotiate with your labs. And I miss that conversation because   I think that the mill has become such a bandwagon thing. It's been around for so long and it's such a bandwagon thing that everybody's that jumped into. But I love your your like evaluation of is it necessary? Is it actually going to save us the time and the money and get us the results that we want? And I would love, Dana, for you to talk through some of that and how you help your clients decide. Because I'm not against the mill, I'm not for it. I'm for it for the practices that it works.   And I'm for making sure that it's going to work and it's gonna do its due diligence. So what how is that conversation for you, Dana, when you talk to your practices about it   DAT-Dana (12:44) Yes. I love this conversation too, too. I   think first and foremost, I always want to know when when somebody wants to purchase something big like that. So whether it's a new scanner or whether it's a mill, like why.   Why do we want to purchase it? Is it because we have a scanner that we constantly use and we're constantly pulling and we never have it in the like appointment times that we need? So then we need to talk about adding another scanner. Is it that like we need another tool to show patients, but like could we just do IOPs a little bit more until we've got the budget set for the scanner? I'm not saying no to scanners. I'm not saying no to mills. I'm just saying, why do we want it? Is it the right time and is it going to do what you anticipate it's going to do as far as your budget goes?   Because I think we can talk about scanners and what's going to add so much more to my production. Okay, well, it is, but when are we going to use it? How often are we going to use it? Who's going to use it? How are we mapping it out to make sure that it really is putting more production on your schedule and it really is reducing your lab fees? Right. Scanner is a great tool for negotiating with a lab, but are you going to do that? Are you going to do the negotiations? Are you going to send them enough work to make it worth having the scanner?   Same thing with the mill. I'm always asking like why, right? And I know that kind of the mill is the hot spot or the mill is like the next big thing. And I think sometimes, you know, I hear a lot from doctors, well, it's gonna buy me back a lot of time. Well, it's only gonna buy you back time if you're going to let your assistant, right, help design and do the actual milling. If you're not gonna let that happen, then we're actually using more of your time than and sometimes it's not will you let them, it's do you have the capacity within your assistant team right now to be able to allow them.   Tiff (14:07) Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   DAT-Dana (14:21) to do those things because maybe we're short staffed in that area or maybe assistants are really hard to find. Well then maybe now's not the time to bring on the mill because it's actually going to use more of your time versus less of your time. And then you know all of these purchases typically come with either a large payout, right? Or a decent size loan that we're paying every single month. And so I like to kind of reverse engineer with my practices so they know cold hard facts how many crowns they have to do every single month.   to make that loan payment worth it or make that payout out of their emergency fund or their growth fund or wherever they're pulling that funds from. Hopefully not their emergency funds, but sometimes right, doctors get wild on us and it feels like an emergency to get that.   Mill. So knowing exactly how many crowns you have to do every single month. And then I'm saying, okay, let's go back through the last year. Let's see, did we even do as many? Because if we didn't do as many, then now's not the time. Let's get to that many crowns every single month, then take a look at the mill. Because so often we think, hey, the mill is going to save me on lab fees, but you have to do so many of them for it to save you on lab fees. And again, I'm not pro mill. I'm not like I'm neutral when it comes to mill. I think it's a great tool, but it's not the best tool for every   Tiff (15:25) Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   DAT-Dana (15:35) practice at that exact time. I think you really have to look   At and crunch things when you decide to make those purchases and really look at it as is it truly going to give your time back? Is it truly going to give you your lab fees back? Is it truly going to up your patient experience or up your diagnosis or whatever it is? Because that is when it makes it worth it. So I just like to like have the conversation, review the numbers together, and kind of say, hey, like this is the reality of the purchase. I, you know, I am.   Totally understand the like purchase in the feels, right? I get that. I've done it. I'm human. I think we've all been like, but this is gonna feel so good when I have it. But I think look at the numbers and make sure because these things can really hit your these these debt services can really hit your profit points if it's not set up correctly and you don't know kind of the benchmarks you have to hit to make it help with profit versus hurt.   Tiff (16:11) Yeah.   Yeah.   Absolutely. I think it's so beautiful. And a follow-up to that too is if you already have the mill, you already have the scanner, you already made the purchase or the laser, Dana, as you were talking, I was like, the lasers, the lasers. There's so many there's just so many really cool tools that dentistry has that makes us feel like we've got to jump on it to be the most progressive, to be the most exciting, to stay up with the times, to to not fall behind. And really they're just fun and exciting. It's like   ⁓ Canva and you know we only had Photoshop and then Canva came out and then we had, you know, all of these different opportunities. And it it can be easy to jump on board with them. So if we already have jumped on board, we didn't have this conversation, or maybe we did, and then gosh, we're just falling a little bit short. This is the overhead analysis as well. This all flows into that overhead analysis. So as you're looking at your overhead and you see those   those loans under on you have your bottom you have your top line and you have a bottom line. And at your bottom line, when you see those other loans in there and you're like, gosh, Def, Dana, I just I'm not using the scanner as much as I thought I did. I know both of us have I all of our consultants are really, really fantastic at having conversations like this that say, okay, great, why? Dana, you said something earlier, you said it asking more questions, right? Like I want to know, I want to know why you want it.   what it's gonna do for your practice and then reverse engineer it. And we are really great at pulling out the why for anything. So if you're not, if you bought it and you're not using it, we're gonna say, well, why aren't we using it? Is it because it's not the tool that we needed or we wanted and or we don't have the patient base for it or is it because we're not trained, we're not holding accountabilities. And ultimately, if this thing isn't working for your practice, it's not doing what you wanted it to or gosh, you just hate it. You don't like it. You don't want to use it.   This is a conversation with the company that you can have. You can call the company and say, Hey, what can I do? How can I how can I get out of this? I've had ⁓ I've had doctors that have had this conversation with them and they do have like a smaller buyout, right? They're like, Well, we'll buy it back from you, but you're gonna it's kind of like taking a car in and you you're you know, you're under.   So you you owe a little bit more on your car and then you owe on the car that you're buying. So it kind of sucks because you do have to pay that out, but could getting out of that contract early, sending the equipment back, save you in the long run because you haven't paid that total balance. Or a lot of doctors will call and they're like, yeah, absolutely. I have a doctor actually who's looking for one that might buy it from you.   And so you can you can sell this equipment as well if it's not working for you. So I don't ever want doctors to really just feel so stuck in the decisions that either they've made or that they want to make and you have that kind of decision paralysis. So as we're going through that looking at ⁓ cost control and overhead control.   Part of the conversation as well. So there's the projecting side and really looking at do I do I need this? What can it do? And then there's the evaluation side of is this working for me? And Dana, I think that same conversation when it comes to like marketing. Are is my marketing ROI coming in? Is it getting me what I what I thought it was going to? There's magazines investments, there's all of these like hottie-totty ⁓ marketing efforts that are coming around right now. They're trying to like really reinvent a lot of wheels.   And projecting and seeing, does this fit my avatar? Is this gonna work? Gosh, your telephone company, I know our like cable and internet. We don't even have cable, but it's the same company, right? And I'm like, why are we paying for cable and internet? And it just jumped like $90. And I'm like, what the heck? It's a call and a conversation with your vendors and looking at, okay, am I getting the most value for what I'm spending? And that I think Dana helps us to calm the storm.   Because what happens typically is we're like, okay, I gotta produce more in order to afford my life. And it's just like personal, right? I gotta work more in order to afford the lifestyle that I want. Well, maybe the lifestyle that you want can be had with less debt or less stuff, you know, and really evaluating your quote unquote lifestyle in the practice and out.   DAT-Dana (20:43) Yeah, I agree with you because like dental offices, do we have to spend money? Do we have expenses? Yes, absolutely. Let's make sure those expenses are doing what we need them to do and and we have an ROI on those expenses. And I do feel like just doctors highlighting like, don't forget those bottom of the line things because oftentimes it's like, hey, my payroll's in line, my rent's in line, my marketing is in line, everything's in line, but I don't have any profit at the end of the month. And I think don't forget to take a look at oftentimes I think there's an impression of doctors that like those below the   aligned things are like fixed expenses and oftentimes they are variable expenses that we can do something about it. We can make changes like you said, sell it or start using it, right? Or incorporating a way for it to help us produce or collect more. I think just don't forget those bottom of the line things and don't look at them as hey, those are fixed things, right? A lot of times those items aren't. We can either move the needle as far as using them or move the needle as far as offloading them.   Tiff (21:15) Uh-huh.   Yes.   DAT-Dana (21:42) Right. I just had a conversation with the practice. Like, why do we have two scanners? Right. Like, why do we need them? Walk me through it. If if you can walk me through why and it makes sense, totally keep your scanners, utilize them, have it help you. Right. But if we don't need them, then let's not have that sit there every month and pull from that profit that you so desperately need.   Tiff (21:45) Mm-hmm.   Yeah, I love that conversation and I think it's something that's a piece of value that the consulting team brings to our clients that I think is totally undervalued. I know I have clients that are like, Teff, I wanna buy this thing. And I'm like, Okay, cool. Like, tell me why. How are we gonna afford it? Great. I have a doctor that was like, I like this scanner better, but I bought this scanner before I knew that this scanner was better. And I was like, Awesome. Well it sounds you want that scanner. He's like, Yeah, I'm gonna get it. And I said, Cool, what are you gonna do with that scanner that you don't like?   Because that one is still being paid on. It's still in your office. And he's like, okay. So it's like we have this innate ability, right, to see things very, very cleanly. I had a conversation just last week with a client that was like, Tiff, what do I do? And it was like a personnel thing, right? I said, Listen, my job and the and the superpower that I have for you is to be very black and white in business. I'm not emotionally attached to what's going on in the practice. I I love you, I love the practice, I love the team.   And I I have emotions towards you, but I'm able to separate it out and say, hey, do this, don't do this, or these are the black and white opinions that I see. These are the pros and the cons that I can see. I'm not emotionally attached to one scanner is better than the other. I'm emotional, I'm not emotionally attached to the money that's coming in or going out. I am neutral and I'm able to say it is or it isn't. And so that value, that ROI is not always really easy to see.   in the numbers until you look backwards and say, gosh, actually I sold that scanner because of or I didn't buy that and gosh, I'm so happy. Or I was able to invest in my team because I could see my shortcomings or my accountability faults or the accountability that Dana was able to give me so that I could give my team like those spaces are just so   valuable in this overhead analysis is huge. And I know you and I do it often. I know the rest of the consulting team does. Gosh, Kristy, Kiera likes to say she's like a truffle hunting ⁓ little, you know, little piggy out there finding the dollars. And that's how she does it as well. And Nikki and Pam and all of you know, Diana, every one of us are out there looking for those dollars from that black and white kind of business mindset because it's easier for us as a pulled out   Peace, right? And Dana, I just think that is a space that doctors, I can't imagine making those kinds of decisions by myself, right? Even just as simple as purchasing a mill. Like because it's so it's like walk walking into Louis Vuitton with a credit card with no limits and expecting me to not leave with a purse, right? Because in my head it's paid for, it's done, it's it's good.   But then on the flip side, I've got expenses and other things and they've always got just gotta have that person who can be that sound mind.   DAT-Dana (24:58) Yeah. Yep. I agree with you.   Tiff (25:00) All right, Dana, so overhead cost analysis. ⁓ I would say, and I think Dana, add anything you can think of. My pro thought process is figure out your bottom line first of all. Figure out what are your costs, your fixed costs that aren't changing. If someone were to purchase your practice, then then look at what's left over. How much debt do you have? what do you want to be making? Are you paying yourself and are you paying yourself what you want to be making?   And are you saving money? So what do those buckets look like? That to me is your is your bare minimum. You have your bare minimum of this is what it takes to keep my practice open and my employees paid. And then you have your bare minimum of this is what I want my practice to look like. So I like to add that fluff in there. I know Dana does as well. We have our bare minimum and then we have our bare minimum. And our our second bare minimum is the number that I work from ⁓ and tack on a little bit extra. So overhead analysis, look at what your numbers are, look at what your   DAT-Dana (25:46) How many? Yeah.   Tiff (25:55) Collecting, always look at collections and then look at what your debt looks like and look at what your spending is. Is there anywhere in there that can be negotiated? Is there anywhere in there that maybe we need to start using a tool a little bit more to get it paid, paying for itself? Just like you want your team to pay for themselves, you want your equipment to pay for themselves as well. Dana, is there anything you can think of that I missed that I didn't add in there as an action item that they can scurry on home to do?   DAT-Dana (26:24) No, I think I think that those are great tools for them to really be able to slice and dice and look at those pieces.   Tiff (26:31) Awesome. All right, guys, go do the thing. Pull up your PLs, pull up month by month, pull up year to date, pull up last year's, and look at what your expenses truly are. And when you get to the point that you want some third-party perspective, some eyes on it, if you're a current client, you should be doing this with your consultant too. So do it. I want you to know how to do it and I want you to do it with your consultant as well. If you're not yet a consultant, you're ⁓ someone who is a listener and you want you're not a consultant, you're not a client.   You're a listener and you want help with this, please reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com There's also a link on our website, TheDentalATeam.com, that you can schedule a consult with us and they'll help you run through a lot of that information as well. We are here to help. So let us know how we can best serve you and how we can help you in the short and the long run. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. All right, guys, and we will catch you next time. Thanks so much.  

The hosts discuss Jerry installing iOS 27 beta on an iPhone 15 Pro Max and watch, reporting strong stability, snappy performance, and minor reported edge-case crashes, while noting Siri AI requires newer hardware due to RAM constraints and that others find the new Siri improved. Joe shares a fresh issue deploying an MDM configuration profile to disable Siri: users still received "unable to use Siri" prompts because "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" could remain enabled, requiring removing the profile, turning it off locally, and reapplying; Apple Intelligence also wasn't fully disabled. Sam describes improving client offboarding by building a monday.com form that feeds Zendesk tickets, and the group compares running lean teams, using subcontractors and Foundation as pay-as-you-go helpdesk support (including an optional branded phone line). They also cover business uncertainty, tax-law changes affecting S-corps, and handling time-consuming "I've been hacked" client calls.   00:00 Show Kickoff Banter 00:35 iOS 27 Beta First Impressions 01:42 Installing Live and Siri AI Limits 04:40 MDM Glitch Disabling Siri 07:52 Advising Clients on Apple AI 10:16 Offboarding Workflow in Monday 12:25 Solo Juggling Without the Team 15:49 Jerry Business and Tax Updates 19:05 Hacked Device Panic Call 20:51 Explaining Normal iOS Mac Features 22:46 Clean Bill of Health Limits 24:07 Lean Teams and Overhead 28:51 Using Outsourced Helpdesk 29:58 Onboarding Big Client While Away 34:56 Pricing and Custom Phone Line 37:57 How to End Free Calls 41:56 Defining Success and Boundaries 45:23 Wrap Up and Outro

¿Es la sentadilla realmente el mejor ejercicio para piernas? En este episodio hablamos a profundidad sobre la sentadilla libre, considerada por muchos como el rey de los ejercicios de fuerza y desarrollo muscular. Analizamos sus principales beneficios, las diferentes variaciones como la sentadilla High Bar, Low Bar, Frontal, Zercher y Overhead, así como las ventajas y desventajas de cada una. También exploramos cómo la sentadilla ayuda a desarrollar fuerza, masa muscular, estabilidad, rendimiento deportivo, densidad ósea y funcionalidad para la vida diaria. Además, desmontamos algunos de los mitos más comunes relacionados con las rodillas, la profundidad del movimiento y la seguridad del ejercicio. Si quieres entender por qué la sentadilla ha sido utilizada durante décadas por atletas, fisicoculturistas, levantadores de potencia y entrenadores de todo el mundo, este episodio es para ti. #SentadillaLibre #EntrenamientoDePiernas #Fuerza #Hipertrofia #Fitness #CoachEli #EntrenamientoFuncional #Musculación #Powerlifting #SaludYRendimiento #eliarevalopodcast #vospodes #mycoacheli #gorillazbarbell #MetCon #indianapolis #jcfit #USArmy

Advice from my dad that I can't get out of my head. Learn how to cut costs quickly to reduce stress. #ThePitch #INICIVOX #VirtualMentorship

What does great leadership actually look like? Can you make a difference even if you're in the middle of the hierarchy? "If you think you're too small, you've not spent the night under a bedsheet with a mosquito." In this episode, educator and Deming practitioner Balaji Reddie explains why W. Edwards Deming was far more practical about leadership than many people realize. Drawing on both The New Economics and Out of the Crisis, Balaji shares stories and examples that bring Deming's 17 principles of leadership to life. From creating trust and joy in work to understanding variation, coaching people, and improving systems, this conversation challenges conventional management thinking and offers a clear path toward transformation. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.2 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm continuing my discussion with Balaji Reddie, who is an educator and trainer in the teachings of Dr. Deming and quality management generally. And the topic for today is Principles of Leadership. Balaji, take it away.   0:00:27.9 Balaji Reddie: Good morning. Thank you so much, Andrew. We had left our last session with that, we'd be dealing with this. And of course, Dr. Deming gave us the outline of Profound Knowledge and he gave us 14 points. He also gave us the deadly diseases and the 16 Obstacles. So people often talk about the diseases, but very often they forget the obstacles. And there are 16 of them which he highlighted for us. And if you think that they're outdated, they're as relevant as they ever were. So you need to keep revisiting those. I think if you start working on removing the obstacles, it's like you're taking your foot off the brake rather than pressing on the accelerator.   0:01:11.3 Balaji Reddie: So you're removing the things that actually stop you before you actually take things forward. But nevertheless, we start with point number 14 where he says, take action to complete, to make the transformation. And he says that there should be a critical mass of people that you need to educate and train and get them on the same page as you are. I'm gonna quote Hazel Cannon here, who is current president of the British Deming Forum. And she talks about the time when she was very young and she attended the Deming four-day seminar, I think in Birmingham. And at the end of those four days, she was overwhelmed as you normally are when you hear how the man speak. And he spoke... He wanted you to make drastic changes. It's not just tinkering here and there.   0:02:08.2 Balaji Reddie: And so she went up to him and she said, "I'm really taken up by what you just said." And then she made a statement, "I'm too small to make these changes in my organization." I believe she worked as a lab assistant in a chemical manufacturing company. They used to make chemicals for cosmetics. So she said, "I'm too small." And Deming just interrupted her and said, "Never think you're too small. If you think you're too small, you've not spent the night under a bedsheet with a mosquito." So make a change where you are and take it from there. So I would like to now quote Dr. Deming from Out of the Crisis. This is Plan for Action: Take action to accomplish the transformation. So he writes there, there are three points and then I'll come to what he writes below that.   0:03:01.8 Balaji Reddie: So he says, "Management in authority will struggle over every one of the above 13 points, the deadly diseases, and the obstacles. They will agree on their meaning and on the direction to take. They will agree to carry out the new philosophy. Management in authority will take pride in their adoption of the new philosophy and in their new responsibilities. They will have courage to break with tradition, even to the point of exile among their peers." So he talks about courage. He talks about courage of conviction. And then he says, "Management in authority will explain by seminars and other means." So I think he leaves it to people of the ways and means. And now today there are a lot of means of doing that. DemingNEXT is one of them. And he says, "To the critical mass of people in the company why change is necessary and that the change will involve everybody."   0:04:00.9 Balaji Reddie: Now he writes something very interesting. He says, "This whole movement may be instituted and carried out by middle management speaking with one voice." So he gave instructions. Why are people saying that he did not tell us what to do? It is just that he expected maybe a lot. And now let's get to that middle management and what he expected. He says here... Let's see here. I'm coming to chapter four now in The New Economics where he says, "A System of Profound Knowledge. The aim of this chapter: the prevailing style of management must undergo transformation." So we just heard that, that what we need to do. And he says, "A system cannot understand itself. The transformation requires a view from the outside. The aim of this chapter is to provide an outside view, a lens that I call a System of Profound Knowledge.   0:04:59.7 Balaji Reddie: It provides a map of theory by which to understand the organizations that we work in." Then he says, "The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding the System of Profound Knowledge." Then he says that "the individual, once transformed, will set an example." So setting an example, I believe, is doing the right thing under adverse circumstances, when you stick to your principles despite the fact that there is an easier way out. As they say, choosing a path between good and bad is easy, you choose good. But good and better, you need to make the right choice. And that needs profound knowledge. "So be a good listener," he says, "but will not compromise. Continually teach other people and help people pull away from their current practice and beliefs and move to the new philosophy without a feeling of guilt about the past."   0:06:02.7 Balaji Reddie: So he explains to us what was needed here, right? And he says this is what we actually need to do. Now I'd like to, I mean, I'll be referring to a document. I don't know how we're gonna get this to people, but for the Principles of Leadership. All right, I think I'll have to send this over to you later, but we will do that. So in the Principles of Leadership, just come to them. I am quoting again from both Out of the Crisis and The New Economics. So you will find this there when he speaks about what needs to be done. Modern Principles of Leadership. And he says, "The modern principles of leadership will replace the annual performance review. The first step in a company will be to provide education in leadership." So that would be introducing people to profound knowledge from what we just heard. Then he said, "The annual performance review may then be abolished." Of course, that will take time. "Leadership will take its place, and this is what Western management should have been doing all along."   0:07:12.6 Balaji Reddie: So he says, "The annual performance review sneaked in and became popular because it does not require anyone to face the problems of people. It is easier to rate them, focus on the outcome. What Western industry needs is methods that will improve the outcome." And he says, "Suggestions follow." So first, institute... The first principle. "Institute education in leadership: the obligations, the principles, and methods." And so I think introduction to the System of Profound Knowledge will help. And then after profound knowledge has been sort of brought to the notice of... Of bringing to the notice of the people then you get into perhaps teaching them about 14 Points, et cetera.   0:07:57.8 Balaji Reddie: Comes the second principle. He says, "Ensure more careful selection of people in the first place." So choosing the people, he says again, now here's where it requires you to understand the purpose of what you're doing, purpose of your organization, purpose of the people you're looking out for and making this change. Because when you know your purpose, you know the aim, then you can choose people in the right way. And I believe he said this somewhere, it's a combination of education, training, skills, and experience. So we need to combine these four factors in choosing the right people. Then he says, after selection of the people, ensure better training and education. So we fine-tune all of their... He says a complete background. He said their aspirations, their goals.   0:08:54.2 Balaji Reddie: I kind of borrowed this idea from a company here in India where they had this thing called roles, responsibilities, and objectives. And they used to meet once in a month, but once in a year they used to decide. So the top management, the HR, would sit down with each and every employee and say that, "In this calendar year, this is what we intend to do and this is what we expect from you." And in turn, they used to ask the employee, "What do you expect from us? Because this is what we want from you." And then the employee had a chance of putting forth what he or she wanted, the management, what help they needed. And I think this is where we have to be... It's a give and take. And they didn't just meet once a year; every month they would meet and the question was, "How are we doing?" not "What have you done?"   0:09:51.1 Balaji Reddie: So I think it wasn't a traditional appraisal. If there was any appraisal, it was appraising what top management were doing or intended to do and not so much the employee. I thought that was a good move. So that's what we need to do here: better training and education. Principle number four states: "A manager understands and conveys to his people the meaning of a system. He explains the aims of the system. He teaches his people to understand how the work of the group supports these aims." Now, here's where, you know, when you talk about, say, hiring people in the first place, when you bring in new employees, I believe that there should be a special session by people inside the company who have stayed the longest, who served the company the longest, especially during their bad days. Because the employees need to know what really happened and how the company survived and how we were resilient, we came back despite all the problems that we had.   0:11:00.7 Balaji Reddie: And the historical perspective, especially if there's someone who's in touch with the founding members, that would be a great boon. I know nowadays we talk about the older companies, obviously none of the founders are there, but if there is such a person, exchanging those ideas with the young employees would definitely make a difference. So they would then understand the purpose, the aims, and how your work supports these aims. I think it's the best way to do that. But what I see right now in companies and I'm being very specific about this, because today when new employees join the company, they have an orientation, they have onboarding, as they call it, but that's done by a rookie, someone who's just joined the company and is just making...   0:11:46.8 Andrew Stotz: [0:11:46.8] Following a checklist?   0:11:48.1 Balaji Reddie: Exactly. Like a PowerPoint presentation. They don't talk about the history of the company. And I think there has to be an emotional connect before there is a logical or an intellectual connect. That emotional connect, I think, then makes you feel that pride and you feel good about coming to work and you say, "Oh, I did not know." So I believe this fourth principle is important in that sense, in the way to do that. Now, he says that... Principle five says he helps...   0:12:19.7 Andrew Stotz: By the way, do you know what chapter are you in?   0:12:23.9 Balaji Reddie: Oh, I have combined.   0:12:27.9 Andrew Stotz: Okay.   0:12:29.4 Balaji Reddie: I took some of the text... Okay. If you want to see here, this is management of people, all right? In that chapter. So I've taken... There are 14 principles there, management of people. In the new edition of The New Economics. It appears...   0:12:48.2 Andrew Stotz: So chapter six.   0:12:50.2 Balaji Reddie: Chapter six, yeah. That's chapter six...   0:12:51.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep.   0:12:52.6 Balaji Reddie: All right. And he talks about pictorial effect of transformation, and then he talks about management of people, role of a manager of people. So there were 14 there, but in Out of the Crisis, the first three which were there, he did not include here.   0:13:10.0 Andrew Stotz: Okay. I just just asked...   0:13:11.0 Balaji Reddie: So I just included those. Yeah. No, so that when people read the book, they could read it clearly, right? So, yeah. So he says now principle number five, which in Economics is principle number two or three, right? He says "he helps his people to see themselves as components in a system, to work in cooperation with preceding stages and following stages toward optimization of the efforts of all stages towards achievement of the aim." So we want optimization, not compromise. So you need to sit together. Just if I were to ask a simple question to you, Andrew, and without thinking, if I were to try to answer this question... Okay. I presume you know how to make a cup of tea.   0:13:58.7 Andrew Stotz: Yes.   0:14:00.1 Balaji Reddie: So what is the first step?   0:14:02.7 Andrew Stotz: For me, boil water.   0:14:04.6 Balaji Reddie: Boil water. And what if I say that's not the first step?   0:14:12.0 Andrew Stotz: Well, first of all, I think you probably have more experience with tea than I do, but I have more experience with espresso, probably. But anyways, go ahead and tell me.   0:14:20.9 Balaji Reddie: Okay. The first question is, whom am I making a cup of tea for? So what I just tried to convey is it's not natural to think about the customer. And so the first step is, for whom is the cup of tea? If it's the person...   0:14:30.8 Andrew Stotz: Grandma.   0:14:40.7 Balaji Reddie: That's right. If she's diabetic, then you would not need sugar. So you gather the ingredients accordingly. If he wants black tea, you don't take milk, right? And that's the point he's trying to say here. When you look at different stages, every every person has a customer. So the first question is, who is my customer?   0:15:07.1 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:15:07.4 Balaji Reddie: And that part of profound knowledge, understanding psychology, I mentioned this last time, is empathy. The word empathy captures this. So you go to the next process as, "Whom am I doing this work for?" and sit down with that person and say, "What do you expect from me? How may I help you?" And that's what decides what you're gonna do. So this this fifth principle here, that he helps his people see themselves as components, I think this is important. The next process is your immediate customer, and the rest of them are customers in a very oblique sense. But what you do is critical to the next person in line, right? So you always spend extra time with that person and of course the other people down the line who your work is gonna be impacting over a period of time, right? But these are the... This is the first step you find out. So who's my customer? So that's principle five.   0:16:09.0 Balaji Reddie: Principle number six: now this comes under psychology again, that a manager of people understands that people are different from each other. He tries to create for everybody interest and challenge and joy in work. Now, if you look at the theory of knowledge, what exactly did he give us when he brought that component of profound knowledge into play? He says that theory is a statement that conveys knowledge by relating cause to effect. So I repeat, theory is a statement which conveys knowledge by relating some cause to some effect. It fits without fail all the observations of the past and helps us predict the future with the risk of being wrong.   0:17:04.7 Balaji Reddie: So I'm gonna repeat this whole statement again. Theory is a statement which conveys knowledge. How? By relating some cause to some effect. It fits without fail all the observations of the past and helps us predict the future with the risk of being wrong. So no amount of examples can establish a theory, and even one example can lead to either abandonment of the theory or modification of the theory. That's what he kept saying. Now, how does this work? So he says it's a system of learning, and all of us have this built in, right? Now, he came from the school of Clarence Irving Lewis, Mind and the World-Order. And if you read that book, Lewis says all knowledge is a priori, it's based on what you already know.   0:18:00.9 Balaji Reddie: For example, let me take this example here. Now, suppose I were to start describing the road to my house. Now, you've not been here, but if I start saying that the road bends towards the left and then there is a command you get to see, now you start constructing a picture in your head based on what you have already seen. It's not the same. That's your theory, right? And then when you actually visit, you say, "Oh, it's the difference between theory and what I actually saw," and then you change your theory. So theory is... It's natural. All of us think naturally like this. And that's why he says here that people are different from one another and we need to celebrate those differences. All of us are born with the system of learning, but not all of us learn the same way.   0:18:49.8 Balaji Reddie: There are some who learn by watching, there are some who learn by doing, there's some who learn by reading, there's some who learn by writing. For some people, one word is enough. You utter a word and they say, "I got it." And for some people, you have to repeat the statement maybe 10 times, 11 times, and then the 12th time you repeat it, they say, "Okay, I got it." Now, is that wrong? We're just different, right? And that's why he says here that we need to understand the learning process of people. And when you understand the learning process of a person and then put that person in the right job, you'll have to stop that person from working. That was his definition of joy in work. People enjoy their work when they realize it resonates with them.   0:19:40.4 Balaji Reddie: And how does that resonance come in? When you under... And because this is so difficult to do, we just throw the responsibility on them by saying, "Here's the target." So the target actually distracts them when actually you should be working on understanding their learning process. So it's a lot of hard work. And sometimes people are motivated enough to discover it themselves, which is great, but we need to create that atmosphere for them to enjoy their work. So interest, challenge, et cetera, he tries to optimize. Now, here's the key. This is beautiful. He tries to optimize family background, education, skills, hopes, and abilities of everyone.   0:20:21.7 Balaji Reddie: So this is not ranking people, very clear. It is instead recognition of differences between people and an attempt to put everybody in a position for development. I think this is one of the most important principles in getting things done. When I teach this to the HR students in my college, I keep saying that I don't think you should call this science as human resource management, because the definition of a resource is obtain it, shape it, use it, and throw it away. We don't wanna do that. I think we should change the title of that department to Department of Learning, because that's what exactly this is all about, and it's learning in both ways where you are trying to understand their process of learning and in effect, you're trying to understand how the company is going to be learning.   0:21:17.0 Balaji Reddie: So you put this in... So this principle, he says, combine all of these things: family background, education, hopes, I love that word. Because if you see one of the things that people talk about, customer satisfaction, I think Deming was the only person who said customers should be happy. Not just satisfied, happier, right? Now comes the next principle. "He is an unceasing learner." So you can never say, "I know it all." Unceasing learner, he encourages his people to study. And I think this fits Dr. Deming himself. He made no excuses to learn. "May I not learn," he would keep repeating that. And I remember Bill Cooper getting irritated and said, "The last time I met you, you said this, and now you're saying this. I got that on tape." He said, "Well, you got this on tape now." He said that, "I do, I learn. And as I learn," he said, "that could have been under different circumstances that I said that, but I'm saying this."   0:22:22.4 Balaji Reddie: And so you keep learning. And he encourages his people to study. The word is study. And he provides, when possible and feasible, seminars and courses for advancement of learning, encourages continued education in college or university for people that are so inclined. So I think this bit is in many places getting to be a part of the systems in most companies. I've seen that happen now, which is a good sign. But it doesn't end there, there are a lot of other things to do. This was the Principle 7 in the list of 17. Now comes Principle 8, and this is so difficult to look at. He says "he's a coach and a counsel, not a judge." You judge people, they shut up.   0:23:15.4 Balaji Reddie: So he says coach and counsel. When they need help, guide them, show them the path. Sometimes maybe you need some help in doing that, well, go ahead. So that was principle number eight. Principle number nine says "he understands a stable system. He understands the interaction between people and the circumstances that they work in. He understands that the performance of anyone that can learn a skill will come to a stable state." Now, this is amazing. He said this way back in the 1950s when he was in Japan teaching them the control chart, where he took one example where he says that further training to the worker and the process was still in control. And he says, "I think he's reached the limit of his learning. He perhaps needs to be taken to another process or maybe given something more challenging so that we can develop the learning process."   0:24:17.6 Balaji Reddie: So he was speaking about this way back in the 1950s, which today you can say comes under understanding psychology through variation. And he says, upon which furthest the lessons will not bring improvement of performance, and a manager of people knows that in this stable state, it is distracting to tell the worker about a mistake, because he says you'll actually then demotivate someone. So these three principles...   0:24:44.1 Andrew Stotz: Because a mistake may be just normal variation, or are you saying... Okay. Yep. Okay.   0:24:51.0 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. I mean, it could be anything, right? But if you are highlighting that when he's already reached a stable state, it could just work in a detrimental way, the opposite direction.   0:25:05.4 Andrew Stotz: Ultimately you've reached your goal. A steady state is fantastic.   0:25:07.4 Balaji Reddie: A steady state. And then now you say if you want him to... Anything better here, I think you need to move him out from there, since maybe he needs to be given something either more challenging or whatever it is. But use of psychology and variation together. If people are saying that he spoke about this in the 1990s, he actually spoke about this in the 1950s in Japan. And I have proof. If you go and check Elementary Principles of the Statistical Control of Quality, the series of lectures that he gave in Japan, you will see this in one of the chapters, very clearly stating what needs to be done.   0:25:47.9 Balaji Reddie: Now we come to the next principle, which is... I don't know how to explain this, but it's amazing. He says that "the leader has three sources of power: authority of office, knowledge, and personality and persuasive power, tact." So authority, that's your title, knowledge, and personality. Now, personality, persuasive power, and tact is more of a personal thing. It is something that is an attribute. Authority is the title you're given. I think the only thing that you can really work on is your knowledge. And he says that a successful manager of people develops knowledge and personality and persuasive power, does not rely on authority of office. He nevertheless has obligation to use his authority, a source of power, for him to bring changes. He says that maybe some drastic changes to equipment, to materials, to methods, and to reduce variation.   0:26:55.0 Balaji Reddie: So he attributes this to a gentleman, Dr. Robert Klekamp, or Klekamp, I don't know how to pronounce that. So he says, "He in authority, but lacking knowledge or personality, must depend on his formal power. He unconsciously fills a void in his qualifications by making it clear to everybody that he's in position of authority, his will be done." So I think he said if things needed to be done and if he's being guided the right way, then he has to bring his authority into power. I think this brings me to one of the interactions he had with... Was it James McDonald at Ford? When he made him stand up and asked him, "What is your job?" And he said, "I'm vice president, manufacturing," and he sat down. Deming said, "Stand up. That's your title, not your job." And then for the next half an hour, he grilled him on what his job was. And after half an hour, he still didn't get an answer. He said, "You don't know what your job is. Do you think other people in the company know what their jobs are? I think you're running a mess here."   0:28:02.2 Balaji Reddie: So Jim McDonald, instead of feeling insulted, took it in a very different way. Though he said, "I did feel that I wanted to resign and just walk out of there," but he said, "I knew this man was onto something." And that kind of thing of authority of office, I think he did not like if people used it for the wrong reason, but he wanted them to develop knowledge, personality. Personality, well, I think again, on the soft side, persuasive power tact. Not all of us have that, but I think we are living in a knowledge economy, so knowledge would be the key here. And he also says that if you're in a position of authority, use this to get the right work done.   0:28:47.3 Balaji Reddie: Then next he says "he will study the results with the aim to improve his performance as a manager of people." So when the system is not getting what it's supposed to do, then he does not put the blame on the people. He says, "I have... I may be going wrong somewhere." I'd like to share an example of my father in Japan. My father was in Japan in 1964, I said this last time. And he was on this Asian Overseas Technical Scholarship, AOTS. And they run these courses even today. They have three-month, six-month, nine-month, and one-year courses. And from what I remember my father telling me, it's integrated in the sense, I think he was there for six months. So during the morning sessions, they used to have classroom training, sitting in a classroom. And in the afternoon, post-lunch, they would go and work in a company, and that was like their intern. And so it was a combination of theory and practice taking place almost every day.   0:30:02.4 Balaji Reddie: Now, what happened there was on the first day... And that's where he started working with Showa Electric, and said they were called the interns. So on the first day, he was taken to the company and was introduced to his supervisor. The supervisor took him on the shop floor and introduced him to the team that he would be working with. And then, while he was leaving, that supervisor said, "I just need to tell you this, that we also form what is called as a quality circle." And this was... The quality circle movement started in 1962, so '64, the quality circle. And so my father said, "I don't know what you're talking about." And he said, "Well, this is something new. So would you like to be a part of it?" Because quality circle is voluntary, not mandatory. They make you a part of the quality, so if you want to be a part of the quality circle. It's not imposed on you.   0:31:05.0 Balaji Reddie: So my father said, "I need to talk to my teacher, my sensei, at the class." He said, "Yeah. You can talk to him." So he went back to the class the next day in the morning, he asked the teacher, the sensei, that this is what they said. He said, "Oh, it's a very good system. You can become a member of the quality circle." So on the second day, he said, "Yes, I'll be a member of the quality circle." "Great," he said. Now, on the third day, his actual work started. Now, they used to make television screens, CRO, et cetera. And one of the steps there was soldering. They had to solder. And the soldering was the dip soldering. You had to take the printed circuit board and dip it into the solder bath and take it out. Of course you were to... There was a technique.   0:31:52.8 Balaji Reddie: And so his job was that. His first job that he was assigned is to do soldering on these PCBs. And so the supervisor himself sat with my father and demonstrated 10 to 15 times how to do it. Then he told my father, "Now you do it." And then he was guiding him, and he made him make around 10 pieces until he said, "Okay. Now you're getting it right." Okay. Now he said the ground rules. If by any chance you press it down too hard or you keep it too long because of the extreme heat, there will be a superficial crack on the PCB. And that would not be something that affects the customer right away, but over a period of time, it can result in the board cracking and the radio not working. So when you see a superficial crack, you're supposed to pull the cord. There was a cord there. And when you pull the cord, the supervisor will come and help you. Fine.   0:32:56.1 Balaji Reddie: Now my father started doing his work, and his fifth or sixth piece developed a crack. Now, he said, I don't want to sound derogatory, but the Indian in me caught up. Should I report this? What would he think? I hardly left this man alone, and his fifth piece is a rejected piece. And he said, I did not want to pull that cord. But then... He said that, he told me, "Please pull the cord," I decided, let me go ahead and pull it. So when he pulled the cord, a red lamp went on there, and there's a big siren that went on. And the supervisor came running and turned off the siren and turned off that lamp and said, "What happened?" My father showed him the crack. So he said, "Okay, no problem." He put it aside. He demonstrated to my father 10 times again how to do it. And then he made him do it 10 times till he said, "Ah, see, you did this." And he got it right. Now he said, "Let's continue production."   0:33:58.8 Balaji Reddie: Now they went away and now my father got it right. After an hour or so, or maybe two hours, they had their tea break. And they were sitting around a table. Now, this was the quality circle. So the supervisor got up and started speaking in Japanese. Now, this was my father's third day there, so obviously he did not understand what was going on. The only thing he knew that they were referring to him because they could not pronounce his name properly. So instead of Reddie, he was being called Leddie. So Leddie-san, Leddie-san, Leddie-san. So my father said, "I knew he was talking about me." And he said, "I felt so ashamed, I was looking down at my cup of tea rather than looking up." And then when I looked up, he said, all of them were looking at him in admiration and the thumbs up sign. And he was wondering what the hell just happened.   0:34:51.0 Balaji Reddie: And at the end of it, when that supervisor stopped speaking, they all clapped. They clapped. And as they dispersed, each one came and held his hand and they went away. And now my father told the supervisor, "What did you tell them? Did you tell them I made a mistake?" He says, "Yes, yes, I did tell them that." He said, "Then why are they complimenting me? Why are they... Why did they clap? Why did they clap for me? Why are they shaking my hands?" He says, "They're shaking your hand, they're clapping, and they're complimenting because you pulled the cord." So he said, "What do you mean?" He says, "Well, we have a saying here, here in Japan, if after explaining to a person 10 times how to do something, if the person still makes a mistake, then there's something wrong in the way I explained it." So this bit over here is he will study results with the aim to improve his performance as a manager. Don't blame the other guy. What am I doing wrong?   0:35:54.0 Andrew Stotz: You hired him, you train him.   0:35:56.4 Balaji Reddie: Yep. So when Jack Welch used to say, "Sack the bottom 10% of the people every year," and he called them dead wood, well, I would say when you hired them, they weren't dead. You killed them. So that was principle number 11. Now principle number 12 is where he combined both variation and psychology together. He said "he will try to discover who, if anybody, is outside the system, in need of special help." So he draws a normal curve. I'll pass on this document to you so you could share it along with the podcast. And he says here that people belong to the system. These are people who need not be ranked. But a person outside the system on the lower side needs special help. People outside the system on the higher side, well, we need to take the system to that level to improve the system.   0:37:08.4 Balaji Reddie: So he talks about that. He says this can be accomplished with some simple calculations. If there be an individual with figures on production or on failures, special help may be only simple rearrangement of work. It might be more complicated. He in need of special help is not in the bottom 5%. He's clean outside that distribution. So he's trying to use the understanding of variation in a very different sense to understanding people. And he says that we try to reduce that variation in performance between people. That's the job of the system. So this is principle 11 and 12.   0:37:51.0 Balaji Reddie: Now you come to principle 13: "he creates trust." And that creates trust, I would believe, it's a two-way process. And he creates an environment that encourages freedom and innovation. That is the environment where people are unafraid to make mistakes. Because we learned that theory is not the opposite of practice; it's a guide to better practice. And we need all of us working together. And that trust, I think, has got a very funny meaning in my country. I keep joking about this. In India, trust is we will lie a little less to each other. But that's not what this is. We need to be straight honest with each other. And honest is you can only do that by example. Like what happened in my case. I remember when we had installed the ERP system in our company, and there are interlocks. And I remember there was a backlogged order. And I knew that because when we did not deliver the order on time, I negotiated with the customer and I got the delivery date postponed.   0:39:08.0 Balaji Reddie: Now I was trying to test the ERP that month. So I said, let me see if the ERP can capture this because it should show it as a backlogged order. But it showed it as an order that was to be delivered on the new adjusted date. And I said, "How did that happen?" Because that should not have changed. And so I called my assistant. I said, "This should be in backlog. Why is it showing me as a spillover order?" And he said, "No, I changed the date." I said, "Why did you do that?" And he said, "No, because the finance guy will get angry with me." And I said, "That is my problem." I said, "When I told you you're not supposed to change that date..." And I removed his administrative powers in changing the date so that he could not change the date in the system.   0:40:01.7 Balaji Reddie: I removed his powers. And he apologized profusely and said, "Please let me." I said, "No." So till the day I resigned, I kept it. I said, "You're not gonna be doing this because it's not a question..." I said... If I had succumbed to that Andrew, they would have lost my trust. They would have thought that, "Oh, Balaji just talks. He doesn't walk the talk." I said, "No, you're not supposed to do this. We are trying to go by a system. Let's go by the system." So I think you can only create trust through example, through demonstration, if I may say so, and especially under adverse circumstances that you need to demonstrate this.   0:40:46.1 Balaji Reddie: Principle number 14: he says "he does not expect perfection." I think that even he said it in principle of variation. Principle 15: he says "he listens and learns without passing judgment on him that he listens to." This is an extension of the previous points. Principle number 16: he will hold an informal, unhurried conversation with every one of his people at least once a year, not for judgment, merely to listen. The purpose would be development of understanding of his people, their aims, their hopes, and their fears. This meeting will be spontaneous and not planned ahead. So there should be no bias, like an audit.   0:41:41.5 Andrew Stotz: Right.   0:41:42.2 Balaji Reddie: And lastly, principle number 17: "he understands the benefits of cooperation and the losses from competition between people and between groups." So these were the 17 principles of leadership, the beginning of transformation. I think there can be nothing more to do than this. He was so clear in what he wanted us to do. I wonder why people say that there was no method.   0:42:16.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. He definitely outlined a lot of stuff there. One of the questions I had for you on that list is, what do you say to people that say that he's kind of a dreamer? The idea that you can sit down with your employees and have this time and everybody's so busy and just talk about your fears and your goals and all that stuff where we live in this age of, we've gotta get the result, we've gotta be focused. How do you respond to that?   0:42:51.1 Balaji Reddie: Well, I say give this a try. All right? You've done it your way, right? You've done it... Let's just forget about it, and you're seeing what's happening. You want a change, you gotta do something different. So why don't you go by what this man is saying? And if you say that, you know, a dreamer or whatever, well, I'd like to quote John Lennon here: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."   0:43:16.8 Andrew Stotz: Yep. Yep. Yep. And what do you say for people that feel that you gotta have these targets and goals and KPIs to get the most out of people? And when we think about what Deming's talking about, we're talking about this intrinsic motivation. But it's scary for people to think. It's a lot more comfortable to have these goals and structures than what you could argue is a little bit more unstructured. And how do we balance that? And obviously Deming wasn't saying don't have goals.   0:44:02.1 Balaji Reddie: Yeah, yeah. I think Henry addresses this very well in his 12-day course where he has a specific section on goals, et cetera. And he talks about how Deming said that there are some things called facts of life. Facts of life is, okay, we need to turn out, we need to generate so much of revenue this year because we need to pay for all our salaries and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then we need to have some money for the future. So we need to make so much of money this year. Now that's not a goal, that's a fact of life. But when you are bringing that number out and showing that to everyone, please also indicate to them how we intend to achieve that. Don't just leave it to them and say we need to do this.   0:44:54.4 Balaji Reddie: Okay. I'll give an example here. I don't want to sound... It may sound a little self-serving, but okay, take it in the right spirit. I remember when we had our first strategic meeting at my company, and my boss... Okay, was... He said... I think 20 of us sitting in the room and he said, "Last year, our target was 30 million and we're getting there and we're doing a great job. So this year we're gonna aim for 45 million." Now when he said that, I just put my hand up and he said, "Yes." So I said, "Why 45 million?" And he just stared me down and he looked up at everyone and said, "That's it. Meeting dismissed." He just walked out. These are those days when you had... You know the OHP? You know the overhead transparencies, the projector?   0:45:56.9 Andrew Stotz: Oh, yeah. Overhead transparencies, yep.   0:45:58.8 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. So he had the transparencies, and he just took them and walked out. And all the guys came to me, "Are you mad? You're questioning the owner of the company? Are you nuts?" And I was thinking, "God, what did I say wrong?" And then we started going back to our cabins, and when I sat down at my desk, the phone rang, and it was boss. And he just uttered one word, "Come." So when I was walking towards his cabin, I was thinking to myself, "Nice company, nice friends." And then I knocked on the door, and he said, "Yeah, yeah. Come in." He said, "Sit down." And then he said, "Shut the door." He said, "What the hell were you trying to do today? Are you trying to mock me?" I said, "Please, why would I want to mock you, boss? I wouldn't want to mock you. I just wanted to know why 45 million."   0:46:52.9 Balaji Reddie: He says, "All right." And so he took out what is called the blue book, where we have the yearbook, what happened in our country in the last one year. We have these books that get written, right? So he said, "Look, this is growth in our country in industry. This is our... Sector that we are in, and we are in the organized sector in this industry. And the year-on-year growth for the last five years has been this, and this year the expected growth is so much. And can I expect at least 3 or 4% of that growth?" I said, "Of course, why not?" He said, "That, son, is 45 million." So I said, "Why didn't you tell me this? That's all I wanted to know." He said, "You think these asses..." He was referring to my other colleagues... "Would understand?" I said, "Boss, if I can understand, they can understand. It's one and the same." "Okay. Let's meet tomorrow."   0:47:52.1 Balaji Reddie: So the next day we met again. And he said, "Yesterday, when I uttered 45 million, this genius asked me why, and so I'm gonna tell you why." And he went on to explain. After he finished explaining, my sales guy... Sorry, my marketing guy got up and he said, "I have something to share." "Okay, please come forward." He put the transparency. And he had listed there the top 10 selling items in my company based on revenue, based on profits, and based on quantities. Top 10 for each. There were three products that were common to all the three. So obviously he was sending a message to us, that we had to attain our targets, at least by focusing.   0:48:44.8 Balaji Reddie: The moment he showed that, he underlined these three, the sales guy put his hand up and said, "Yes." "That second product you underlined, our competitor is selling it as a package with another product, but we don't seem to have that on our list." So the R&D guy got up and said, "Could you tell me what the part number..." And he says, "It's part number so-and-so." He said, "Hang on, I've already developed that." You know what was happening, Andrew? We were talking to each other. And that meeting went on for three and a half hours. And at the end of the three and a half hours, all of us knew how to attain 45 million.   0:49:23.8 Andrew Stotz: I thought you were gonna ask a question on the second day, "Hey, boss, so 45 million, why is there no market share gain of our business that we're growing faster than the industry?"   [laughter]   0:49:41.4 Balaji Reddie: So anyway, but this was... This is what I think goals should be transparent in this sense, that why are we giving you this number? And more importantly is the discussion that happens is how are we gonna do this? It just doesn't happen by itself, right? And if you leave it to people, they start distorting numbers, right?   0:50:03.8 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:50:04.2 Balaji Reddie: As Brian Joiner said, "Distort the data, distort the system, or distort both."   0:50:12.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And we're working on a growth plan for my coffee business.   0:50:19.0 Balaji Reddie: A growth.   0:50:19.6 Andrew Stotz: And really what it comes down to is three things. Number one, are we as the owners gonna hire more salespeople? Because salespeople bring in revenue.   0:50:36.3 Balaji Reddie: Right.   0:50:37.0 Andrew Stotz: Number two, are we as the owners going to develop together with the rest of the team a higher value-added offering...   0:50:50.6 Balaji Reddie: Wow.   0:50:50.8 Andrew Stotz: That we can bring more value than what we're bringing right now, which would bring potential customers to us and allow us to sell more easily. Or are we as the owners going to buy another company?   0:51:07.8 Balaji Reddie: Oh, okay.   0:51:09.2 Andrew Stotz: So those are the three things. And Dale and I have been discussing each one of those in a lot of detail, testing out and debating and discussing. But those are the type that... When it comes to growth, that's just... We know the growth we can produce with no change. And that's in line with the inflation rate or whatever the economic growth, for sure. But as long as we don't lose people on our team or something like that. But to go to our team and say, "How are we gonna grow faster?" Well, that whole point is we can see. Also the other thing is that we can see bigger about the industry sometimes. Sometimes they see something at a small level that they bring back to us and think, "Whoa, wait a minute, that's something valuable." And yeah, so we're getting ready for our final decisions on where we're gonna go with that. But yeah, without that type of change, we're not gonna reach the type of growth that we want to get. And really our idea is 5x growth in five years.   0:52:19.9 Balaji Reddie: Okay.   0:52:20.5 Andrew Stotz: And in order to do that, we have to have a completely different level of quality, service, product, thinking. And so, yeah, it's fun... It's challenging. Anyways...   0:52:32.9 Balaji Reddie: Right.   0:52:33.2 Andrew Stotz: So how do we wrap this up? What is it you want people to take away? You've shared a lot of different stuff. What would you like them to take away from it?   0:52:42.0 Balaji Reddie: Yeah. One, I'm trying to shatter that myth that Deming did not tell us what was to be done. I think he was very clear and we need to reread and reread. And we have to take these as guidelines. You may come up with your own method, but see these as a guideline by and large to put you on the right path. And once you do that, you may develop something which works for you, and that's what he wanted. But let us not just say that he only philosophized about things. I think he was very clear in his head. He just wanted us to do things our own way because nobody understood our problems better than we ourselves. And he was just showing us how to understand things around.   0:53:32.6 Balaji Reddie: He wanted us to know, to understand what we do not know. Through these principles, we can address some of the gaps. Perhaps we were getting a few things wrong. So point number 14, take action to accomplish the transformation. I think it begins with leadership. So point number seven comes into the picture. It begins with training and education. Point number six comes into the picture and it also brings in point number 13, which is learning and development. And education and training is different from learning and development. Training can be very company specific and you can measure the outcomes of training, but you cannot measure the outcomes of development because that takes time.   0:54:19.8 Balaji Reddie: So you need to have some things going in your favor. And for that you need to choose, and he told us how to do that. And yes, he wanted top management to be a part of this because he said those in authority need to do this. But that one sentence that middle management can commence, it can commence there, is a telling statement. So he knew it was possible.   0:54:45.0 Andrew Stotz: That's great. And I like that. Commence. That there's... It's not necessarily gonna be completed by middle management, but middle management can start right now, right where you are. So that's a great way, that's a great way to end with the start. So, Balaji, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute. And it's an interesting discussion and I'm enjoying it very much. And for listeners out there, remember to go to deming.org and also there, jump on DemingNEXT to continue your journey. This is your host, Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, and that is: "People are entitled to joy in work."   0:55:32.1 Balaji Reddie: Oh, yeah. Andrew, I think saying thank you on behalf of the institute, I am also a part of the institute.   0:55:38.5 Andrew Stotz: Of course. Of course. You are. I appreciate it. Okay.

Read my new book, "The Price of Becoming." www.LearningLeader.com/Becoming This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world has the hustle and grit to deliver. My Guest: Scott Harrison is the founder and CEO of charity: water, a non-profit that has raised over a billion dollars and funded tens of thousands of water projects to bring safe drinking water to millions. He previously spent a decade as a New York City nightclub promoter before a dramatic career shift led him into humanitarian work. Key Learnings Scott started a charity: water with $20 from a birthday party. Then $15,000... Twenty years later: over a billion dollars raised, 21 million people served. He says it should be 10 to 100 times more. The cure for water already exists. We're looking for water on Mars while 700 million people drink dirty water on Earth. We solved this hundreds of years ago. We just haven't implemented it. 25% of the money sitting in American donor-advised funds would give every human on Earth clean water. That's parked philanthropic capital. Already tax-benefited. Just waiting. The goal is always 10X what you're doing. If we raised a million last year, we want ten this year. If we raise $100 million, we should raise a billion. The opportunity is always orders of magnitude larger than the moment. Show, don't bullet. Scott shows 210 photos in a 45-minute keynote. No PowerPoint. Single images. A story unfolds frame by frame. Be early to the technology. First charity on Instagram. First to hit a million Twitter followers. First to use VR. The question is always the same: how does this new thing further the mission? The 100% model: solve for the cynic.  Public donations go to one bank account that funds only water projects. Overhead is raised separately from entrepreneurs and business leaders. Then track every donation to a specific village. Don't be mid. Scott's 11-year-old daughter says nobody wants to be mid. Excellence is a core value. There's a lot of mid out there. Design everything. The fact cover sheet. The PowerPoint. The website. The package. "We're always dating." If the message comes in an ugly package, you're at a disadvantage before you start. Treat the donor like a Michelin three-star guest. If a restaurant can think that carefully about a meal, you can think that carefully about a donor who can save a million lives. The Goldman Sachs partner who changed Scott's paradigm. Before making an eight-figure ask, Scott asked a partner: "How does it feel when people ask for a lot more than you expected?" The expected answer was irritated, offended, put off. The actual answer: "I feel flattered that they think I would be that generous." People are generous. The well is there. You just have to drill deep enough. Scott has spent 20 years asking for too little. That might be his next obsession. People give to people, not causes. A dynamic leader who transfers their enthusiasm gets the donation. The cause doesn't. Most of the donations Scott and his wife give are to people, not topics they were already passionate about. Talk 10% of the time. When Scott meets a donor for the first time, he wants to know their whole life story. Their marriage. Their kids. What they wanted to be when they grew up. Be genuinely curious or don't bother. Hire for integrity, humility, curiosity, and energy... 16,000 applicants for 36 roles last year. Energy matters most. Someone who can get you fired up about pickleball, Patagonia, or a new running shoe is exactly who you want on the executive team. The dinner test for hiring: Can you imagine having this person at your home for two hours at dinner? And wanting to keep them for another hour? Get the whole life story. Scott wants the arc from the beginning to the present in an interview. If someone can't tell their own story coherently, they probably don't know themselves yet. The 11-year-old with the piggy bank. He told his parents he was going to fund a whole village. They told him to set a realistic goal. He went knocking on doors. He came back with $10,000. Scott's experience lab in Nashville. A 60-minute immersive tour. A 100-degree room with a treadmill where you carry a 40-pound water vessel. Microscopes that show you parasites. A VR film that ends in celebration. The "give shop," not the gift shop. 53% of visitors donate. 10,000 visitors. $3.9 million raised in year one. Scott's champagne moment: a single billionaire who picks water. The water sector doesn't have one. Republicans and Democrats agree on it. Atheists and people of faith agree on it. Everyone has to drink. Reflection Questions What is the 10X version of your current goal? Where are you asking for too little because the smaller ask felt safer? Who in your work or life is the Michelin three-star guest, the customer, donor, or partner who deserves your most thoughtful experience design?  When was the last time you went 10% talking, 90% genuinely curious about someone else's story?  More Learning:  #290: Scott Harrison – Redemption, Compassion, & The Transformative Power Within Us #680: Scott Galloway - Don't Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Talent #682: Will Guidara - Adversity is a Terrible Thing to WasteAudio Chapters 00:00 The Price of Becoming - Pre-Order Now! 01:18 Welcome Back, Scott Harrison 02:56 From a $20 Bill to Over $1 Billion Raised 04:59 Why the Goal Should Always Be 10X (or 100X) 07:54 Storytelling: How to Get People to Care About a Problem They Don't Feel 10:30 Being Early to Instagram, Twitter, and VR 16:10 Radical Transparency: The Bank Account That Built Trust 19:51 The Beauty of a Healthy Obsession 21:22 Drilling Deep for the Artesian Wells of Generosity 25:04 What It Feels Like in the Room When Generosity Breaks Through 27:01 "Nobody Wants to Be Mid." 30:56 Design Everything: We're Always Dating 32:13 Treat Your Donor Like a Michelin Three-Star Guest 35:39 Selling With Integrity: Talk 10%, Listen 90% 39:15 16,000 Applicants for 36 Jobs: What Scott Looks For 43:12 The Power of Vulnerability in Hiring 45:39 Inside the Nashville Experience Lab 50:34 The Champagne Question: A Billion-Dollar Vision 52:10 The 11-Year-Old Who Raised $10,000 Door-to-Door 54:25 EOPC  

This episode is a deep dive into the overhead, one of the most avoided and undercoached shots in tennis. Steve and Dave break down the mechanics, the mental barriers, and the drills needed to build confidence and competency at the net, making the case that without a reliable overhead, a player's entire net game is compromised.The conversation covers everything from grip, swing path, and the quarterback position, to situational drills and the optical illusions that cause players to move too slowly on a lob. The message is clear: you have to love overheads, chart overheads, and practice them before and after every session if you want to be a complete player.

Most dentists haven't touched their fee schedule in years. In this episode, Craig and Peter break down why a simple 10% fee increase doesn't just add 10% to your bottom line, it can boost profit by 25-33%. They cover the real math behind fee increases, why the fear of losing patients is almost always worse than the reality, and the exact steps to implement a smart, consistent fee strategy in your practice. They break down why many dentists quietly sabotage their own profitability by keeping fees artificially low while inflation, payroll, supplies, and lease costs continue climbing in the background. The result? Practices work harder every year just to maintain the same margins. Peter and Craig also unpack the psychology behind pricing, scarcity, and patient perception, and why dentists massively overestimate the risk of losing patients after a fee increase. They explain why small pricing adjustments create exponential impact on profitability, how overhead changes the math entirely, and why many practice owners are unknowingly building businesses with shrinking margins despite growing production. Lastly, the conversation explores why successful businesses across every industry normalize annual price increases while dentists often treat pricing emotionally instead of strategically. They share practical ways to implement fee increases smoothly, communicate value more effectively, and build a healthier business without adding more stress, hours, or clinical workload. If you're producing more every year but keeping less of what you make, this episode is for you. DESCRIPTION The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 439 HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak In this episode, Peter Boulden and Craig Spodak discuss one of the most overlooked growth levers in dentistry: strategic fee increases. They break down why regular fee reviews are essential for long-term profitability, how inflation silently erodes margins, and why many dentists avoid raising fees out of fear rather than data. From pricing psychology and patient retention to overhead management and operational efficiency, this conversation offers a practical framework for increasing revenue and profitability without sacrificing patient trust or adding more production pressure. TAKEAWAYS Many dentists undercharge while operating costs continue rising Inflation quietly erodes practice profitability every year Small fee increases can create massive profit improvements Dentists often overestimate the risk of patient pushback Scarcity and pricing psychology influence patient perception Higher production does not automatically mean higher profitability Overhead determines how much production actually matters Strategic pricing is more powerful than simply working harder Successful industries normalize annual increases without emotional attachment Fee reviews should become a regular operational process Practices with healthier margins create more freedom and optionality Sustainable growth comes from smarter systems, not endless production CHAPTERS 00:00 The Importance of Fee Increases 02:48 Understanding Business Psychology in Dentistry 05:49 The Need for Scarcity and Pricing Strategy 08:49 Calculating Profit Increases from Fee Adjustments 11:36 The Impact of Overhead on Profitability 14:21 Action Steps for Implementing Fee Increases 17:20 The Psychology of Patient Retention 20:19 Learning from Other Industries 23:11 Preparing for the Future of Dentistry REFERENCES Bulletproof Summit The Patient Experience: The Ultimate Metric For Success

“Would you like to see someone get kicked in the head? Just head over to the monitor...”Spurs 1-1 Leeds. Marcus and Vish reacted live to an eventful encounter at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Plus, Vish explains why he is now backing Spurs for Premier League survival.Get your Ramble World Cup watchalong tickets hereFind us on Bluesky, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and email us here: show@footballramble.com.Sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon for ad-free shows for just $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate us on your podcast app. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League season and every day throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup.No cliches. No ex-pros like Peter Crouch or The Rest is Football. Just the funniest football conversation out there. Your guardian for the season, daily not weekly. Stick to the Ramble, totally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.