Podcast appearances and mentions of paul here

Do you struggle with feelings of unworthiness? Does it hold you back from reaching your goals?    Today I am joined by Paul Summers Jr, the author of “Hide and Seek: A Dad's Journey From Soulless Addiction to Sole Custody”   He had reached out to be a guest on the podcast, and after a short discussion we decided to do a coaching call to address the feelings he was having around promoting his book. Feelings of not wanting to be a pushy sales guy, or being sensitive to critical feedback.   We do a demo of parts work, to get to the root cause of where these feelings come from, and Paul was able to heal some old wounds in the process.   I want to thank Paul for his courage and vulnerability. I think it will help for others to see how deep work leads to feelings of peace and positive productivity.   So without further delay, please enjoy this episode with Paul, and share it with a friend!   Buy The Book Here! https://amzn.to/4bTjQot   Connect with Paul Here: https://www.paulsummersjr.com/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_summers_jr/ Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or you can stream it from my website HERE. You can also watch the interview on YouTube. Subscribe So You Don't Miss New Episodes!   Need help applying this information to your own life? I got you!   Here are 3 ways to get started:   Free Guide: 30 Tips for Your First 30 Days - With a printable PDF checklist Grab your copy here: https://www.soberlifeschool.com   Follow me on the socials for daily inspiration: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arlinaallen TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/arlinaallen   Private one-on-one coaching: https://recovery.soberlifeschool.com/coaching             Need Help Applying Sobriety Practices Into Your Life?    Here are 3 Ways I Can Support You On Your Journey To Your Highest Potential Grab Your Free Guide: How To Quit Drinking: 30 Tips For Your First 30 Days Connect with me for free sober coaching tips, updates + videos on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok Join Sobriety Reset - 30 Day Bootcamp To Living Alcohol Free To find out more about Arlina and her private coaching program, head over to https://recovery.soberlifeschool.com/coaching     The Reinvent Self-Esteem Course - Join A Live Class To Rebuild Self-Esteem And Create A Life You Love Private one on one coaching - Set Up A Call To See If Coaching Is Right For You!       Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-one-day-at-a-time-recovery-podcast/id1212504521   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4I23r7DBTpT8XwUUwHRNpB   Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a8eb438c-5af1-493b-99c1-f218e5553aff/the-one-day-at-a-time-recovery-podcast          

Paul Leenderste is the Founder of The Root Cause Institute and Author of The Root Cause of Cancer. Paul and I discuss many things including how he opened his home for many years to help those with Stage 4 cancer find healing. All the healthy eating, fresh air, cleanest water available and time in nature wasn't what cured the people coming to Paul's home. Tune in to hear Paul talk about how he discovered the root cause of cancer, how he helps people heal now and what nourishes his body-mind-soul. Connect with Paul Here: https://www.rootcauseinstitute.com/ Get Dr. Kelli's FREE Nourishing Products & BioHacking Tools Course   Follow us on IG https://www.instagram.com/the_nourished_soul_podcast Connect with Kelli https://www.instagram.com/dr_kelli Visit https://www.nourished-soul.com

“Pressing Towards The Prize~ Philippians 3:12-21.Theme Chpt. 3 “Christ Our Goal” Philippians 3:12-21 12 Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already [e]attained, let us walk by the same [f]rule, let us be of the same mind.17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. The Christian Life shown in A Metaphor of An Olympic Marathon Race Pursuing the Prize 3:12-13 A Good runner Never Looks Back 3:13 This Race requires Spiritual Stamina & Consistency 3:15-17 Some have dropped out of the Race 3:18-19 Knowing Our citizenship will Cause us to win the Prize 3:20-21 1.)Pursuing The PRIZE…3:12-13 “The measure of a persons desire is the Pursuit” Vs. 12)Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me “Grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasps me”- JB .Phillips “PRESS ON”- the Greek connotation means ‘an urgent chasing after towards a FIXED Goal or Point' This is in the continuous present tense I am DOING this NOW, I am chasing after this NOW…I am PRESSING Towards  this NOW “That I May Lay Hold of” The idea here is Paul is not just satisfied with the pursuit…HE will NOT be satisfied until  he has laid hold of, apprehended, GRASPED ( taken a hold of) that PURPOSE Christ has intended for Him 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 2:8-10 1.)Pursuing The PRIZE…3:12-14 “The measure of a persons desire  is in  the Pursuit” Vs. 12)Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me “, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has LAID HOLD of Me”….speaking of His Damascus Road ENCOUNTER of Christ…yet MUCH More!!.....  (TWO Things) I Cor. 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. TWO Things………… a)Phil. 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, b)Eph. 3:1-13 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. MYSTERY (Mysterion- Moo-stay-dion..Grk.)derived from a word meaning to ‘shut the mouth'…a secret counsel, purpose, or understanding…of God…something hidden from men…only coming from divine revelation or illumination from God's Spirit…requires an initiation understand my insight …(synesis—soon-es-is) literally a running or flowing together of Knowledge & understanding…a quickness of apprehension which precedes ACTION! “To Have an APOSTOLIC CALLING, Is To Have An APOSTOLIC ENCOUNTER” 1.)Pursuing The PRIZE…3:12-14 “The measure of a persons desire is in the Pursuit” Vs.13)Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, Count ( logizomai )is to reckon, account, suppose , consider after deliberate  & careful Thought …refers  back to vs. 12…Paul realizes he has NOT attained perfection yet (some were haughty at Philippi & thought they did!)…sinless perfection!? …vs. 2 was the past fact that had happened with Paul…Here is referring to PRESENT Process of his pursuit Phil. 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, LUKE 14:25-33 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish'? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Apprehended ….But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me.(JB. Phillips)…like verse 12 Job 17:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is like the shining [a]sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. Psalm 84:2 My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. I Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith Lay hold of eternal life II Peter 1:5 giving all diligence 2.) A Good Runner Never Looks Back..Vs. 13,14 Vs.13)Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, but one thing I do What is your ONE Thing!?...sums up His Christian conduct & purpose in the NOW…the greek implies LIMITING & ISOLATING oneself to a fanatical Focus…NOW he has gone from contemplation(‘Count' vs 13) to ALL OUT ACTION Mode! forgetting those things which are behind Forgetting  grk….completely forgetting, to neglect, EMPHATICALLY forget & neglect (obliterate the memory!!)…Here Paul in His metaphor about a runner in a race is referring to that Runner NOT even looking back AT ALL or paying a bit of attention to runners behind him as he races toward the goal….VERY good picture of our Christian RACE…just like a racer impedes his progress with this distraction so likewise we will be hindered in our progress for the prize IF we are looking at our past sin ,shame & failures…. Luke 9:62  But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”….Genesis 19:26 Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the [a]author and [b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. reaching forward… (EPEKTEINO) A stretching forward…a reaching forward in an INTENSE athletic motion (hence comparison to a marathon race) 14 ) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I press toward the goal (kjv=Mark) only used here in NT LITERALLY  “ I Pursue down upon the target”……concepts of a watchman (Phil. 2:4)& shooting target shown here For the Prize…A prize (brabeion-grk. Derived from the word for an umpire who gives the prize) bestowed or deposited  in connection with the games…it could be monetary… here used as a metaphor for spiritual  incorruption & eternal life of the upward call  literally “of The upward calling” is A CALL from Heaven TO HEAVEN ( (NOT our earthly life's calling here)…our eternal reward   2.) A Good Runner Never Looks Back..Vs. 13,14 14 ) I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 3:1,2 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. “The prize is bound up with the calling ; promised when the call is issued, & given when the call is fulfilled”~M.R. Vincent I Cor. 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. “This goal continually moves forward as we press on ,but never out of sight”~A.T. Robertson Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. II Tim. 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Hebrews 6:1..I Cor. 4:16-18…II Peter 1:3   3.)This Race Requires Spiritual Stamina & Consistency… 3:15-17 15-17Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already [e]attained, let us walk by the same [f]rule, let us be of the same mind.17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern This IS a Marathon Race  …Cross Country MemoriesJ “Mature/Perfect”  Grk. =Telios complete, perfect, mature, of full age finished, ‘wanting nothing'…Col.1:28, Col. 4:12,II Tim. 3:16-17,Hebrews 5:13 Contradiction, Sarcasm !?(vs. 12 Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected) Vs. 12 Paul was speaking of a TOTAL FINISHED PERFECTION ( received in Heaven)…here in vs. 15 he speaks relatively…where though some may have reached maturity (Himself included)there is STILL Growth & Development to be obtained…this speaks of well rounded Christian Character NOT Christian Infancy “Have This Mind” in other words KEEP thinking like the above phrase I Cor. 2:6 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.   3.)This Race Requires Spiritual Stamina & Consistency… 3:15-17 15-17Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already [e]attained, let us walk by the same [f]rule, let us be of the same mind.17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern IF and if in anything you think otherwise…Epaphroditus had made Paul aware of some in the church who were teaching sinless perfection was needed…he said God would take care of the issue Psalm 139:23-24 Search Me & Try me… Jn. 7:17 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. “otherwise” a negative use of the word…as some in Philippi thought they had ‘arrived' spiritually, with no further growth needed!? Vs. 16) Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already [e]attained, let us walk by the same [f]rule, let us be of the same mind….meaning ‘Keep on Keepin' on…keep doing the same things consistently that MATURE saints do LITERAL….to walk in a straight row….walk  prosperously,,,to turn out well, to direct ones life..TO LIVE Vs. 17) 17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern Together or jointly as the church Be Imitators of (me) Paul as he follows Christ (Not Christ here)…of how I walk the Christian Life…I Cr.4:16, 11:1…Hebrews13:7 “Note” = Mark = fix your attention on intently.. Ps. 37:7 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. JAMES 1:4-5 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be [a]perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 4.) Some have dropped out of the Race Vs. 3:18,19 18-19 )For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. Professed Christian Greeks, possibly had walked with the Philippian church in times past but fell into Epicurean tendencies…Epicureanism taught satisfying physical desires was the highest aim of man (sex, food drink)…GAL. 5:13 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Romans 16:18 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord [a]Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. They thought Lightly of God's Grace Romans 6:15 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord [a]Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. Jude 1:4 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord [a]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.(see vs. 12,13) I Jn. 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.   5.) Knowing Our Citizenship will cause us to Win the Race(Prize) 3:20,21 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Citizenship is In Heaven …commonwealth…literally ‘The commonwealth of which the Saints are citizens is FIXED in the Heavens' Eagerly wait……An Intense Yearning & eager anticipation…totally FIXED on what one is waiting for , with a total ABOUT face from inferior things(see running for the prize) Hebrews 9:28 so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him. so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him   Vs. 21)Transform/change …to fashion a new,Refashion.. Matthew 17:2 He was transfigured before them…a change in the body from what's on the inside to an outward expression of that…the change that will take place at the Rapture or 2nd Resurrection Col. 1:22 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— WORKING = energeia …energy…power in operation I Jn. 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Romans 8:23 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. I Cor. 15:42-48  So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also a   CONCLUSION: This RACE that our Christian Lives is compared to requires Patience & Persistence On Being Persistent: Obstinately refusing to give up or Let Go To Be Insistently Repetitive To Commit to being Indefinitely Continuous 07/25/22  

The time has finally come, Paul Burgess and I have launched Health Talk Radio, a podcast that aims to educate the world about health.But not just any health, Paul and I are disgusted by what the mainstream media and many of the worlds top authorities and their advice on how to take care of yourself. If you want to thrive in life, look and feel a decade younger no matter how old you get, then tune in each week as we bust the most common myths, and get down to the actual root cause of disease and poor health.We wont tell you what you want to hear, we will tell you what you need to hear, if you have a chance at thriving.For many of us, if we don't make changes, and begin to put our health first, we will become statistics.Do you want to be a warning or an example to those who are following you?If you choose “example” then you're in the perfect place as we begin a journey together of great vibrant and electric health.Every single Monday you can expect an all-new episode, and as you listen in, please drop us some feedback on topics you'd love for us to discuss.Thanks for tuning in, we hope you enjoy Episode one.- Michael & Paul Here are the links we've mentioned during the show.…Connect with Michael Morelli:www.michaelmorelli.comInstagram: @morellifitConnect with Paul Burgess:Schedule a Complimentary 30-minute CallMinerals Link (Discount: PBFML): https://www.upgradedformulas.com/Instagram: For Paul Burgess https://www.instagram.com/paulburgess.uk/ 

Paul and Craig talk about Craig's newest project: his book Conscious Life Conscious Death! Transcript Transcribed by AI (not 100% accurate) [00:00:00] This is the two guys talking Fresno podcast, the podcast with two guys talking about Fresno. Your hosts are Craig sharp, a lifelong Fresno who loves his community, even though it drives him bonkers and Paul gin, a transplant Freston, who's lived in Fresno for more years than he has it. And he wouldn't live anywhere else. It's time for two guys to talk Fresno. Here's Craig and Paul on the two guys talking Fresno podcast. Paul: Here we are long time. No, see Craig. I know, Craig: but I'm wearing the same shirt today. One of those pictures, I only have two shirts. So I guess the odds are that I'd be wearing the same shirt Paul: I do too. I'm wearing my Fresno Grizzlies Like this is an old school, Fresno baseball. T-shirt from way back when, and it's perfectly comfortable. Oh, it's the perfect, [00:01:00] t-shirt perfectly Craig: new crying. You cry when you first feel that first hole or see that the seams are starting to go. Paul: Yeah, I've got a couple that I still have the hole in, but I'm still keeping them anyway because it just feels so nice to wear. So, but then with two guys talking Fresno, I can act like this is theme oriented rather than comfort, so right. Have Craig: you planned Paul: it ahead? Yes, exactly. So we haven't done a lot of podcasts lately, but here we are back and we're going to jump back into it. Craig: That's good. Yeah, we both needed a little break last year was, uh, not only COVID but politics and all that stuff. And I think we were just worn out. Paul: Yeah, I think, I think we needed that debrief time. Everybody needed that. And then it kind of ran its course. And I, I think we got through the election and that guy wasn't reelected and we all kind of yeah, Craig: yeah. [00:02:00] Until January. Paul: Yeah. It's not to say there wasn't craziness in the midst there, but, uh, and still is, but the good news is we're going to get back to talking a little bit more about Fresno. We had to talk COVID we had to talk politics and now we can talk forever. Craig: Yeah, well, we had to some of our, uh, great, uh, listeners or Watchers, you know, commenting saying more Fresno stuff, more Fresno stuff. So that was a good reminder for us. And we do listen to your comments or read your comments and, and take that to heart. And that's what we started for. So you just brought us back to where we meant. Yeah. Paul: And if people have ideas, post them on our Facebook page or send us an email through the website to guys fresno.com and let us know what you'd like for us to talk about, because we are getting back to being two guys talking about Fresno. And today, Craig, I'm really excited because we're going to talk [00:03:00] to a great Fresno author. He's fairly new to the, uh, the, the title of author, but it's been coming for quite a while, but he's very well known by presidents, Craig: right? Well, we will see you're turning the tables on me. Paul: I wrote my book. I got to be a guest on the show and today our very, very special guest is author Craig Sharpton. Welcome to the show, Craig. Craig: Thanks Paul. It's a, it's an interesting process. That's for sure. Paul: Go ahead. Craig: Well, I always, you know, I, every time someone becomes an author, I always say there's, you know, 98% of the people are working on a book and there's a few that, that actually get it to be a product. And I always admired that people. So, uh, but I've got to say, it's, it's a weird feeling. When you say you're one of them, you see your baby in [00:04:00] print. It's very strange. Isn't it? It Paul: sure is. And the book is called conscious life conscious death. It's a, that's an intriguing title for sure. Do you have it with you? Can you hold it up? Craig: I said, so lighthearted comedy, a little, Paul: little tome conscious life, conscious death.

On the TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, my True Love gave to me: 12 NAKED TWINKS, 11 Off-Key Singers, 10 Flaming Buttholes, 9 Penis Piercings, 8 Hairy Beavers, 7 Fucking Fanboys, 6 Strippers Stripping, 5... COOOOOCK RIIIIIINGS... 4 Dancing Whores, 3 Butt Plugs, 2 Vibrators, And a Dildo from Bad Dragon Websiiiiiiiite! Thank you, thank you. *BOWS* Welcome to our 12 Days of Christmas Special Edition episode of the Character Collective Podcast. Today's Secret Santa pairing is between Eli and Felix and Gracie and Paul. Eli and Felix are a sexy mix from the Chaos Divide series by Kristy Westaway Gracie and Paul are Daughter and Dad from the NUSA series by PJ Silva Get NUSA Earth by PJ Silva to play with Gracie and Paul HERE. Subscribe/like/follow/favorite... do the thing because we two writers and our characters need to know you like us. Please like us! Haha. Share too, because sharing is caring... or something like that. Visit Kristy at www.kristywestaway.com Visit Kai at www.kaiparker.com and www.pjsilva.com Thank you to the following for making this podcast episode look and sound a little better! Podcast logo art by @jayiisnthome www.freesound.org: unwrapping parcel.wav by handmadebooks Christmas Bell 1.wav by erickvillegas1986 Christmas Intro by DDmyzik --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/charactercollective/message

Welcome to the Recruitment Hackers Podcast. A show about innovations, technology and leaders in the recruitment industry brought to you by Talkpush, the leading recruitment automation platform. Max: Good morning, everybody and welcome to the Recruitment Hackers Podcast with max  from Talkpush. Today I'm excited to be welcoming Paul Noone, who is CEO for HireIQ and someone who is in technology. And I've, we both focus a lot of our energy on the call center and the BPO market and service this industry, which is always hungry for automation and innovation. So we both love this industry and we can exchange our thoughts on this topic.Paul, thank you so much for joining me on my new podcast. Paul: Hey, thanks Max, I'm thrilled to be here actually. Max: So our audience, some of them will recognize HireIQ. And some of them will probably recognize you, but they probably don't know the history of how you ended up starting this business, or how you ended up with HireIQ.Perhaps you could walk us through that journey. Paul: Yeah, I'd love to. HireIQ is an interesting technology and we're very focused on the call center. And because the call center has this outsourcing process that's associated with business process outsourcers.Most of the organizations don't realize that, while Fortune 500 organizations, anybody with a product or service has a requirement to support through call centers or through service locations, they also do a lot of outsourcing. So they're organizations like BPOs, the large ones in call centers are Teleperformance and Alorica and Atento and Sutherland and 24[7].And those are the organizations that we help with  in the talent acquisition, part of this, you know, max, you and I probably talked about this before, but recruitment is the term that we use. But we're in sort of a special place in recruitment. We're in the engagement with the candidates, the acquisition of all the data that we aggregate as much data as we can in a shorter period of time.And then we provide it to the recruiters in such a way that they can quickly make a decision, because we're talking about maybe 10 interviews for every hire, we're really known for our efficiency. And then we're also known for the AI associated with how we do that. How do we tell whether a candidate it's going to be particularly good at this particular role in collections or in sales? Or in support?We do a whole lot with that. I actually got here about six years ago through the investors. So I had just, I was working with another technology company on disaster relief, and just sort of an interesting aside, Max, we had built a product around disaster resource management and that's where these large scales or, when you guys experienced the typhoons and we have the hurricane season from June through November and, being able, you know, the shift in technology, the shift to phones, being able to locate all of the things that you need when a disaster strikes is a really interesting use case.So we had gone pretty deep into that and acquired some large customers, the U.S Red Cross, but we were looking to move from the Red Cross division of emergency management and we were looking for additional investment. So I was on sort of a roadshow talking to investors and ultimately a lot of people made the decision that it, and it's a function of that market. But, without disasters, if you have a good year, meaning no disasters, you're getting no money into that particular part, the Red Cross every now and then they literally go almost to zero. So they actually need engineering, Max: Pure disasters once in a while. Paul: And oddly, when you're in that business, you start to hope for bad things to happen. So there was something wrong, but the investors didn't buy. Max: I think it's not just the disaster people. I have a feeling that a certain class of politicians also relying on a good disaster once in a while. Paul: Well, so there's politics in there, the weird thing about funding ,and how funding shifts, and things like that.I think that actually is what scared investors away, Max, and it's a shame in some ways. That what we were doing was, you know, enabling, with the Red Cross, for example, we found a billion dollars worth of resources that had been sort of lost, and it hadn't literally been lost. It was in firehouses and it was in other locations.And that sounds like an inventory management issue, but it's not when something bad happens in one part of the state. And then you realize that through a quick app, you can find it. Where everything is: shovels clubs, protective eyewear, and N95 masks, for example. Imagine that you put in an application, you find a billion dollars worth of resources, really through crowdsourcing your own people.Anyway, that app is lovely but the investors didn't think it was an investable market at the time. And so I just finished this and I had met with the investors here and I called them back and said, you know, so we'll probably shut this down. And they said, great, because we have something we'd love to share with you.And they brought me into HireIQ. I have a background in call centers. I was with Genesis as they were starting out on sort of the part of the first team. I want to say pre-revenue, but I want to say Genesis is a $2 billion organization right now, 20 years ago when I was with them we had less than $10 million in revenue. So building that to a public company and then moving on, but coming here was lovely in that the technology was solid. But it was  a function of focus. We were trying to do too much. By focusing on call centers and BPOs in particular, we ended up, turning into, from being a typical technology company where we might be losing money quarter after quarter to being one that was profitable, really understood what we were doing and then have been very zeroed in on that use case around language proficiency, around understanding our customer's needs and really, more than anything else, making sure that they're succeeding.So closing that loop and making sure that they succeed. Max: Your star product is the product called Audiolytics? Paul: Well, so Audiolytics is really the technology that underlies the audio processing that we do. So at the heart of what we're doing is, the origin story really comes around. While I submit my resume in a recruiting, in an interview process, what that does is it strips out my personality and my voice.It strips out the narrative. I moved from the disaster resource management effort into HireIQ, why did that happen? All of those things that you get to tell people in an interview process. So the origin story is really about how do we add a narrative to what's a two dimensional piece of paper that's supposed to represent me.And so with that, we started to create a platform that would say not only here's the resume and here's some qualifiers about me, but here's my voice. Max: It used to upset me so much when I started on my career and I would go and socialize, go to a bar anywhere and someone would ask me, so what do you do?And, you know, I didn't want to tell them my job title and the company I worked for, because I didn't feel like it represented anything about me. And it would always come up with some weird answer I would say, oh, what do I do? You know, I roller skate or, you know, or something, just so that I could come out and shine and that wasn't a social environment in a work and job search context.Also, what do you do? Should be the first question or rather who are you? rather than a resume. Paul: Tell me about your expense in this particular business is an open ended question that a lot of our customers ask, but asking open ended questions, which is an old interviewing technique and a valuable one really allows people to tell them more. To talk to the narrative. Tell me about your experience in this particular world. Tell me about your understanding of customer support. Tell me your understanding. Tell me about an experience that you had with your boss that may be positive or negative, but being able to do that and being able to do it asynchronously when, you know, we could collect lots and lots of those became really the most important thing.But Audiolytics is actually the parsing of that. The audio data in order to get a really good and different understanding. So Max, what it doesn't do, is it doesn't convert voice to text and then parse it that way. But, it literally is looking for tone. So it's in these frames of voice, it's saying that's a positive, that's a negative, that's a happy emotion, that's a sad emotion. We're looking for things that we know are important for a good employee, but are particularly important when you're dealing with call center agents. That they're engaged, they're alert. They're more active than passive. They're not expressing boredom. Which is really interesting when you can pick up boredom because when a recruiter gets this information, they're going to see an Audiolytics score that says, you know, this person is probably not someone you want to spend a lot of time with.And I would say more than anything else we're not dispositioning customers. What we're doing our best to do is to give them an idea of priority. Talk to Max. He's got a great score. He's good with language. He's got good scores with data entry and even chat. Max: I didn't know that your technology was able to detect boredom. That's remarkable. Would it be influenced by geography and how do you factor that in? Because you live in Atlanta, people are supposed to speak a little bit more slowly, perhaps have a drawl. You don't, but nonetheless, you know, would the software, not pick up on the intonation and think maybe somebody from the South is bored?Paul: So it's really interesting. What you're doing is, so engagement doesn't necessarily have anything to do with dialect. And in fact, the tool itself is just sort of mentioned there's no conversion. It's listening for something that would be appropriate for the cohort of folks who are taking it ,interestingly enough.It's actually self adapting, because the same tool is used for engineers and salespeople and support people — all should have a different dynamic in their voice. And so it actually has to adjust based on the people who are taking the interview. The people who are successful in expressing themselves in that interview, as well as the questions.The questions and the people are really the dynamic that you're looking for, but boredom might be expressed differently by an engineer, or by somebody from, a Latin expression. But, the cohort itself helps to define that. And so ultimately you have not only our recommendation, but you also have the answer.So what's interesting about it is how closely we track to what a good recruiter would do. In the initial testing, after we did the machine learning on it. So can we in fact pick these up at a high rate? So can we, in fact, identify that Max is more happy than sad? Can we identify that when he's taking this test he's more bored? When we do that, we match Max almost 97% against a recruiter who would be listening to those particular things. So imagine that the technology itself is so wildly accurate in a lot of ways. But you know, to that end, that's what Audiolytics does. We're really sort of the platform is HireIQ, and it's a whole series of ways to basically create a recipe of assessments to understand more about you more about whoever you're interviewing — at speed. So we're trying to get the recruiting experience to be three, three and a half minutes. So you don't spend a lot of time with these individuals unless you're really digging in on them. And then with the candidate experience should be less than 20 minutes.Max: So the questions are not picked from a standard list. Since you're working with open answers, you don't have to use the same questions with every customer. Paul: No, in fact, they're different in virtually every customer.  There are some that seem to be universal people do want, need, to understand what your experience has been with customer support.So, if you're going to be in that customer support role, you're going to have to have some experience in sales, right? That has come up. Max: Yes. For me, it's like a yes or no answer. Have you worked in this industry before? That's usually how they ask that question in a chatbot environment. Paul: So that would be a bad question for us.What we're always going to do is ask a question that asks you to elaborate on something because we do in fact, need enough content to understand the profile. We need to have enough of Max telling us about Max to understand where Max's orientation is in terms of sharing, communicating. For the question, is he too verbose? Meaning he may be struggling with answering a particular question and trying to overanswer a question, or is it too short, meaning maybe he doesn't have the skills to think through and is that enough for this particular customer? So there are all kinds of metrics, there are cohort determined, sort of thresholds. It's really fascinating. And now we've done about, you know, close to 5 million interviews with it. So we have a really good base of understanding of how effective it is when matched with outcome data.So it's really fun stuff. Max: Does it replace, let's say the first phone call? I mean, if you're going to look at the standard recruitment process to hire it replaces the first phone call. Paul: So really what it's designed to do is give you a complete understanding. So we have customers who might do it for the engaged at the front end.We have customers for who it represents the entire interview process. So  once they've engaged, they've completed it. They have the scores, they meet thresholds. Then it's appropriate literally for the recruiter when they engage with them to close them.  You've probably experienced this, particularly with BPOs is that there's a real machine, there's a supply chain and with the attrition rates that exist, what you're working your best to do is fill training classes. And what we're doing, of course, is trying to identify people who are going not only achieve the right goals, the metrics that they're looking for, but we're also looking for folks who have an orientation, which would suggest they're going to stay longer.So that's one thing that we're doing, but because there's such a speed element, to this we are really careful about, trying to do as much as we can in a shorter period of time, giving you a complete understanding so that that particular recruiter can sell when appropriate and be restrained also when appropriate.So somebody does, you know, in the U S we have to answer, we have to give everybody the same interview experience. So that means that if you answer the first question horribly, Max, I still have to give you an opportunity with the next 7 questions I'm supposed to ask in an interview. It's a fair interviewing process, even if you disqualief yourself right out of the gate.And so one of the things about being able to acquire this information, offline and, online, as opposed to in front of somebody, it gives that particular person, the ability to advance quickly through that particular candidate and prioritize who to sell and who to, again, disengage with.Max: I understand the benefit for the candidates to do a short interview and a short assessment and get through those things faster, but it sounds like it's more than just, you know, I mean are you doing it because you get dropouts when ,people are held up more than five minutes? Or is it at the request of your customers? What's the driving force behind keeping it just two or three minutes long?Paul: Oh, I'm sorry. So the interview itself for the candidate will be as much as 20 minutes, but we're trying to keep it under 20 minutes, really because there's a falloff Max. 20 is about the cutoff. If you've seen some of the older, you know, The 1950 based assessments that had a lot of triangulation, right.You're asked one question one way and then seven questions later, you're getting the same question phrased differently in order to validate that the first question was like the second question and your answer was consistent throughout. And if you know that that's going to be an hour and a half, you really start to wonder, is there an easier way to get a job? For this wage.. Max: But time is speeding up, right? People have a lot shorter attention spans. They have multiple conversations going on asynchronously with five friends at the time. And so I expect that the 20 minutes would already be beyond the comfort zone for some people who are remote.Paul: It's very, very close. And you see what we're trying to do. It answers that question: is it enough? What we're trying to do is the open ended questions seem very much like what a typical interview would be. So tell me about yourself. Tell me about an experience that you had. What would your last employer say about you?Those kinds of open ended questions are the things that seem conversational. And allow you to expand upon yourself, but in fact are dense with data for us to help make a decision. And so the tone, the tempo, and in fact, the content is even important, but only when you know that that petitioner has an alertness and an engagement that pleasantness that you're looking for now go back and listen to those questions.Is there even more data that we can mine there? And that's why on average, it's about three and a half minutes. Because some you're just going through they didn't meet any of my language proficiency thresholds or whatever. And now we can spend a little bit more time with the particular person that I want to hire.And that would extend, you know, that's when you advance candidates and things like that, but it really is. I agree with you. I think what you're asking in that question is how do you give the candidate an opportunity to advance themselves, to tell their story? And not be too efficient in the process, that would eliminate me being able to tell enough about me. And so I think this is sort of the best of both worlds. Max: Yeah. I get the sense that 20 minutes would be annoying if I'm sitting at home and I'm applying to 10 different jobs, but yeah. If I had a sense that this company could be a fit, they are interested in me, then, yeah. 20 minutes is no problem, easy. And certainly easier than traveling physically to sites. So, have you seen the same thing as we have at Talkpush over the last few months? We've seen an increase in the volume of job seekers, an increase in volume of candidates. And how has that played out for the rest of the recruitment funnel?Is it,  becoming a problem where it just means we have too many candidates and not enough jobs to offer? What kind of dynamics does that create for your business? Paul: Well, I think for both of us, what I would say is: volume is important because volume breaks process. The more, you know, we got to a point in the U.S, our unemployment rate was down to 3%, you know, at times probably lower than that in certain places.So it was in fact hard to get enough people to interview, you know, recruiters spent most of their time trying to pull people out of other companies. And then in a matter of weeks, as we all know, it went from, you know, less than 3% too, you know, a lot. And then we're talking about 52 million people at its height, out of work needing to quarantine and work from home. So all of a sudden the opportunity to interview was greater, but the importance of identifying somebody who was really looking for that job and really engaged and would do a good job with both the hard skills and the engagement that we're looking for.What everybody's looking for, to be committed to that particular role, over the long term that became even more important. So a 100%, I agree with you that the volumes changed. And I would say, you know, in the first, because of the way we're set up and because of the way people leverage boards, that we might've seen a doubling in the first month, which probably created some concern on our part. There was actually a cost every time somebody does an interview with HireIQ, rather than it being a, you know, we do a lot of processing…Max: and because we're doing processing servers, AWS, bills go off, Google bills, come up. I had all of that happen as well. Paul: Yeah. So, that sort of evened out a little bit. And while I would say we're up. We're also going into that season, which is a ramp, right? So we're looking for a lot of holiday seasonal workers right now. So I would say we're probably, closer to where we were maybe a little bit higher, but not as dramatically higher as we saw in the first quarter after the quarantining.And we're seeing some alleviation of that. I think we're seeing some go back to physical work, but, the other part, Max's you may have an opinion on this as well, is that I don't know that a lot of people were willing to let go of their jobs. So are people artificially staying where they were highly mobile in the first quarter? All of a sudden now they're thinking, you know, it may not be as easy to get a job in the next place. So, there may be a false sense of  retention taking place at the same time. Max: Well, yeah, I guess when things heat up again, we'll see whether all those new hires in the BPO sector from the last six months, are meant to stay in those industries.I guess it really depends whether they like working from home. If they like putting on a headset and getting in front of a camera, and working on Slack, maybe it'll work out and maybe they won't to go back into the field. Like, I do not have a crystal ball for that, but, I think that some companies are making a shift towards hire anywhere and opening the talent pool so much that they're going to be able to build a very unique group of people which have defining traits, which if you remove the geographical constraints and you say, now I can have such a broader group to choose from. Then you can create new constraints.You can say, I only want people that think that way, or that have this hobby or that are very meticulous or, you know, you can be very specific and that could create, you know, some very bizarre groups of people and  that could give the economy some lift perhaps.Paul: So Max, this is an interesting thing. I absolutely loved the whole train of thought. So I have  a couple of data points on this. I had a company at one point in which I did a lot. The company had lots and lots of training, and we started to do a model, which we were trained from anywhere this go to meeting in a WebEx type zoom.It was technology, but we were sharing screens. Let's configure it this way. Now this is how you do this. This is how you do that. And one of my employees came to me and said, do you mind if I do some work? So his passion, interestingly enough, was kimonos. So he did he sold, these beautiful kimonos. He invested in them. And what he wanted to do was be able to go to these shows in Asia where all of the best would be there, he'd be able to sell his kimonos. They'd also be commercial. I said, Sam, Do you think I care where you go to a meeting or a virtual training takes place, go do what you want to do.And by the way, then being skewed 13 hours is in your best interest. Now go spend a day there and carve out the two hours you need for that particular training. Just make sure that it doesn't affect your ability to do that particular piece of work, but I just so loved this and that whole concept of displacement.If we can, and  it's happening more and more in some of our customers. Assurion one of the groups that I heard speak recently, they're doing gig work now, Max, meaning you can opt in to when you're available, you know, you've got to schedule, but sometimes it's via social media, they'll say we've got surge paying.You've got a surge wage based on how much people, how much traffic we're going to have, you know, based on, on questions, we need to answer about the Assurion products. That to me, being able to opt in, to be able to do what you're passionate about and have that feed your work day is something that I think is really important.And I think that's where you get energy, you get energy by, you know, middle of the day being able to take, you know, take a swim in a pool. I get energy. I did something recently where I went out and I hit golf balls. First time since March, I used to play golf all the time. I'd say 10 years ago.I went out and, Max, doing something physical, like that, changed, I swear it changed my brain chemistry. So I think this whole concept of displacement is one of those things that's also going to enable people to do and maintain their passions. And because of that, we may be in, you know what we're doing with call centers and delivering work to location. I literally think that's the future. I don't think  the future  like I thought the future was cell phones. As soon as you don't physically have to go pick up those yellow slips, you don't have to answer a physical phone. You don't have an extension that's tied to a location. God, the world changes and in such a great way.Max: Yeah, you were telling me how you got to enjoy more time with your family in recent weeks. Somebody was telling me recently, an article about this reverse migration, which is happening, where people are leaving the cities, and going back to where they came from, to their hometown because of this pandemic and supported through the technologies of remote work. We are seeing basically these shifts happening everywhere and people spending more time with our family. So, on a bizarre way, family values, family traditions  we'll see a resurgence as a response to this crisis.Paul: Well, I don't want to be overly optimistic. Look, I think everybody's been through a trauma. And so, one of the things that I'm doing as a CEO, I'm sure you're doing it is giving people some room. Right? I want people to make sure that they... look, I have an employee who has three kids at home, all under the age of 10, who she's starting zoom meetings with, in three different rooms for children.There's a kindergarten class going on. There's a second grade craft class. There's a third grade class, all her room, she and her husband are working at the same time. It is insane what we're piling on people at the same time.Max: And the bandwidth. Paul: That's exactly right. So that's the other thing right? We didn't talk about this, but it's interesting. I read an article last night about why this is different. And this particular article was why New York city would never be the same. Because just as you said, there's an exit, maybe a million people have left New York city. The rates, the rental rates, the buildings that are empty relative to where they were.But, we saw something like this in 2001, with 911, we saw something, you know, we've had these, national crises in the U.S. 2008. And the contention was why this is different than those other times is because bandwidth exists right now. Bandwidth exists like it's never existed before.So now you have private equity guys that don't physically have to be in New York City, because it doesn't matter that you're physically there to run into somebody because that person may in fact not be there. So when people were telling me, and in fact, during this period, they said, they'd be traveling. I said, well, that's good that you're traveling. Are people willing to meet with you? Which is the other side of the equation, right? It's one thing for you to be willing. It's a second part altogether once you land in a city, are people willing  to meet with you? That will change. There's no question, but, I think some of the positive of that and believe me, I'm sure if you're a real estate magnet in New York city, you're super concerned about this. But, I think the freedoms that it provides for individuals is particularly engaging. It's an interesting thought. Let's put it that way. Max: Oh, if you're, if you're a real estate magnet in the suburbs, well, you're doing well. Anyway, we're going to a more realistic conversation because that will alienate my audience 100%. Paul: But the other part to that, but I would say, listen,  the thing that I get excited about is the options it provides. The reality is I think so you can follow those kinds of things in any direction.The reality is we need human interaction. You and I like to do what we do. I want to meet you. I want to run into you, I want to see you compete at a technology showcase. Those kinds of things stimulate me. So I don't think there's any chance that we don't go back to some more normalcy and sooner than later, more 2021.But I think taking a moment and understanding the lack of distraction. Which really is the way I described it early in this was, there was no sports. There were no, you know, the activities themselves that would typically take me off center or off of focus were gone. And so now I had family to focus on.Now I had what's next for the business. Now I had what's best. So I think the lack of distraction helps us to focus. Max: Yes. I see. I think that you were talking before we started the interview about the fact that, you're going to look for a different type of worker the call center worker working from home needs to be self motivated, autonomous and so on.If someone is now at home unemployed and is able to find, well, by force needs to find employment of that sort and then by force needs to build certain life habits around that. And then actually it gets through it and realizes, oh, this works. I can put in 5- 10 hours of uninterrupted work in a day if need be.And now you've unlocked something in him or her that they can carry for the rest of their lives, potentially that sense of autonomy and that ability to manage your day. That becomes something you can keep Paul: It's a freedom and it's magnificent. So rather than your work being dependent on your relationship with your employer or your boss in front of you, you're focused on becoming valuable, is your ticket to the next role that you have or greater responsibility or in frankly being as engaged in your passions and things outside of work could in fact, energize that in a way that we might not be able to today. I promise you, nobody's complaining about the lack of traffic.Max: Well, one thing, one thing I do complain... I still hear some people ask me, Max, you've got so much experience working with remote teams, distributed teams. How do you check on them? And like you just totally missed it. You don't. You're rethinking about what your job is as manager. But that question still comes up so often.Paul: Here's how I keep in touch with them. I engage with them on how do we make what you're working on better? How can I help? And then they'll tell me. Max: Yeah,  there are certainly a few ways.I'm sure some, some of my employees will listen in and think that's too engaging. But, it's great to see how your business has evolved over the years. I hope that we can be part of this bright future. And have more of these partnerships as we've had with some of our customers where they integrate your assessment platform with our, conversational chatbots and engagements to take care of the whole workflow.So if anybody's listening you want to match our two technologies. They work very well together and thank you very much, Paul, for joining me today. Paul: Maxm I love it. And I appreciate  your engaging in conversation with this. I love Talkpush, I always have, and I love in particular the fact that you're doing what many other people would be required to do.So being able to get out in front. Engage those people to make sure that they stay in touch and then keep that information about them. Just, you know, in a way that really becomes a system of record for employment. So, we're thrilled to be working with you. Thank you very much for your time today. And, we're partners, so anything that we can do to help you we're available.Max: Thanks. Paul, we'll both continue burning resumes and replacing them with conversation. Paul: There's a whole discussion about bias and all of the other things that we really should talk about it some time. But, I think the answer is engagement and we're both doing everything we can to enlighten people about who they're talking to and why they'd be a good fit.Okay. We've got the topic for our next interview, it will be about bias. Maybe we'll wait a few months for that one. Paul: And so we'll give people some time.Max: And the topic may be a little bit less dangerous in a few months time. Paul: Yeah. I think there'll be more light at that point.Max:  Great. Thanks Paul. TPaul: Thank you, max. That was Paul Noone from HireIQ, a company, which has figured out how to measure the empathy, warmth, and care of a voice and allows employers in the call center industry to evaluate those voices in a scalable way. If you liked the interview and you'd like to hear more about some of the movers and shakers from the high volume recruitment industry, please subscribe to our podcast and share with your friends.

Life has this dreadful habit of happening. Almost always these goings on require money to solve. The financial foundation we advocate is designed to help you cope with financial crises when they happen. When you have no debt, sufficient short-term insurance, an emergency fund, medical aid and dread and disability cover, you have some tools in your time of need. Unfortunately life doesn't sit around waiting for us to have our ducks in a row before causing drama. Sometimes you have to do the best with what you've got. In this episode we offer some ideas about what to do when life happens before you're ready to cope with it. We talk about dealing with emergencies when you have debt and no emergency fund.  We have no elegant solutions, but hopefully a few of the strategies can help you navigate a tricky time with grace.  Good luck! Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Keith According to the national credit act (NCA), debt should be repayable at any moment by a borrower without any penalties. If a loan at the outset has a, say, 16% interest rate over its life, then the lender is not allowed to capitalize the entire life of interest over the life of loan so that early repayment penalizes you. As far as I can tell, that is illegal. NCA gives the borrower the power to ask for the full and final settlement account at any moment. Hence, if you are 2 years into a 10 year loan, they cannot go and add 8 years of interest into the loan's capital amount. This would, surely, be illegal. Gregg I was listening to a program on TV where the panelist said we need to be aware when buying equities through Easy Equities, they are on the balance sheet of the brokerage. If the brokerage goes under, you are not guaranteed of getting all your funds back. Can you explain what this means? Perhaps explain using an example. If I buy Satrix 40 ETF – does it mean if I sell them that EasyEquities may not give me my money and that I have no direct claim from Satrix itself because the ETFs I bought are lying on EasyEquities balance sheet? This sounds like a risk. Is it one worth being nervous about? I would assume that as an Easy Equities user yourself, you've done your homework?  I am considering buying through them directly onto the US Market, which is one of their offerings. I want to make sure that I can quite comfortably do this at almost zero risk.  Dario Could you guys please talk about how EasyEquities functions as a platform i.e how they are able to provide fractional shares and are there any other good alternatives? I am asking this because I bought some STXNDQ without looking at the buying price. before logging off I decided to have a look and quickly cancelled the order as there was a 9% difference between the delayed price and buying price. Mariette My parents are 78 and 72 years old. My dad gets R14,500 pm from pension, so a lot of the extras fall on myself and one of my 4 sisters.  I took out life cover on my dad's life (after not such great advice from a 'financial advisor') which costs me a pretty penny every month. The idea is that if something should happen to him, my mom can use that amount (R500k) to offset the 50% loss in income from my dad's pension fund.  My dad had all his investments with Old Mutual and after all those years had a measly 2% growth.  He immediately took that money (about R450k) and put it in a 7-day notice account with FNB (6.3% repo related interest). He is dependent on the interest from that investment to cover expenses that are not covered by his pension. He doesn't want to take any risks, especially with big institutions.  My mom has a buy-to-let property she bought with some inheritance money and try to save R1000 pm from the income. This can be done in a TFSA, but not sure if it will make such a big difference at their age. What would you suggest they do to stretch their savings a bit?  My first suggestion was to move from FNB to Capitec, take R370k and put it in a fixed deposit (8.55% interest) and the rest as an emergency fund with Thyme Bank (10% interest).  Also to try and reinvest as much as he can and not make use of the full R1000 extra from the increased interest rate. I'm not sure if my dad will go for an income-generating ETF, it's too unknown and too big a risk for him. Paul Here's a list of his spreadsheets: The spreadsheets list my investments; their TER; their individual holdings (i.e. Naspers, BHP, Apple, etc.); how much (%) each investment is of my total value; to tracking what they have been doing on a monthly basis; my monthly expenses; SA inflation, my monthly savings (+-40%); retirement target and how far I am away from it; the amounts from every formal salary slip I have ever received (I can tell how much money I have made over my 14 year working career and my subsequent retirement contributions); to a breakdown of individual index funds for comparison purposes; to the monthly updating Rule of 300; as well as all the graphs in between. My company retirement fund (which I contribute 27.5% to each year) has increased by about 18% this year, which is great, after the bloodbath of last year. Should I get an RA or just leave my money in investments?  My understanding is that an RA is just tax delayed, but with having investments at least you have an accurate representation of what you should get out of your investments as the tax is taken constantly. An additional benefit (or negative depending on how you look at it) to the RA is that the money cannot be touched by anyone until it matures. What is your opinion? Stephen I had a legacy Sanlam RA which, after listening to your podcast, I started investigating the charges. To cut a long story short I decided to take the penalty and move it to 10X.  The problem I have with 10X though is the lack of visibility into what sectors they are investing. I think this is important to know so that you don't over-invest in certain sectors in your TFSA and Taxed portfolios. I then moved the RA from 10X to Easy Equities.  My reasons were: Strategy visibility Everything under a single solution Hopefully future functionality to build my own Reg 28 compliant portfolio. However, my question is why do these products all tend to overlap equities? Personally I'd prefer purely Satrix 40 for local instead of the overlap in the different sectors. For international I'd prefer Satrix World with an element of Satrix Emerging to capture the entire market. My EE RA is a small portion of my retirement as my main funds are within my work fund (Sanlam) and I'm maxing that out at 27.5% (any contributions above the standard 15% does not incur costs). I'm more prone to go aggressive on my RA and also simplify the approach. I'd prefer to stick with EE and have a custom Reg 28 RA based on Satrix products without penalties for not using Sygnia products. I'm hoping they release the functionality in the near future.  Do you have any connections at EE to find out if this is on their roadmap and by when? Eric I have a TFSA that I max out yearly. The only ETF that I have is the Sygnia S&P500. Although I've had some great growth over the last 2 years, I'm concerned that due to the market being at record highs, growth may start to stall & taper off in 2020.  To counter this, would it be a good idea to keep the initial S&P500 investment and start investing any new money into something like the Ashburton 1200? Maybe contribute toward a 50-50 split between the funds or contribute until a 50-50 split is reached? I'm very aware that there may be duplication of the same companies / regions if I choose these funds so is there maybe another fund to counter the exposure to the US market?  

In this week's episode It may sound drastic, but getting rid of one of your worst clients could be transformational for your business. Paul's done it and the results were ASTONISHING How are your sales team selling? Special guest Scott Tyson of Auvik talks about how to increase revenue by adopting a simple sales process, how to trust your team and when it's time to walk away from a potential customer Also in this episode, there's a brilliant question answered about how to reach business owners on Facebook... details of a video service for MSP websites... and Paul explains how you can link personal goals to your business goals Show notes Out every Tuesday on your favourite podcast platform Presented by Paul Green, an MSP marketing expert Here's the website for the service MSP Videos, that produces excellent video content for websites The special guest talking about how to run a world-class sales operation is Scott Tyson of Auvik who also mentioned Sandler sales training and the Frankly MSP podcast Thanks to Murray Thorpe from network and AV solutions specialist Cablers Ltd for the question about reaching business owners on Facebook Here's the link to Paul's Facebook group for MSP Marketing Find out more about the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule) Paul mentioned Next week's guest will be Louise Towler of IndigoTree, who will be explain the essential ingredients for a great website The email address for show feedback or any questions is hello@paulgreensmspmarketing.com Episode transcription Voiceover: Made in the UK, for MSPs around the world. This is Paul Green's MSP Marketing podcast. Paul: Here's a look at what's coming up on this week's show. Scott Tyson: There's no good going into a Mercedes dealership looking for a sports car and the guy comes out and says, "I've got this great station wagon for you to buy." Paul: We're also going to look at how the actions that you take or don't take every single day directly affect the lifestyle that you have. And I've got a question from an MSP owner about how to reach business decision makers on Facebook. Voiceover: Paul Green's MSP Marketing podcast. Paul: Now some will see this as controversial. You should fire more clients. And my reasoning for that is the 80/20 rule. Basically, input and output aren't equal. And it was Alfredo Pareto who was an Italian economist and I think in the 19th century, and he one day standing on his balcony, probably having an ice cream or

No One: Chopz and Paul: Here is what we think about Game of Thrones...

Here's the Rumble website! Rumble Drinks can be found just about everywhere - John first tasted them on the ferry. Be sure to watch Paul's inspiring video. April is organ donation awareness month. It takes 2 minutes to sign up to be an organ donor. This decision costs you nothing yet it could give someone else everything. Sign up to be an organ donor today! Here's Paul's pitch on Dragons Den, a fascinating show which Andrew never watches. Looking for more information on Cystic Fibrosis? Want to donate to help more people like Paul? Here's a great place to start. Here is Sam's meditation app we referred to. It's a great way to start your day.

How many cake decorating videos does it take to disrupt the platform economy? Would forcing constraint on platforms generate better content? How do we reconcile unlimited access to an infinite library when we’re being pummeled by bad content? Endless scrolling is the opium of the people: This week Paul Ford and Rich Ziade discuss how platforms like Spotify, Netflix, and Youtube have turned into an inescapable hellscape of unfocused content. We talk about being disappointed with the infinite media libraries of our dreams, and the potential for platforms to redeem themselves by constraining content, while looking at how smaller creators are already doing that. Paul also reveals his utopian dream of a centralized platform of curated cake-making content.   4:45 — Rich: “I go to the track, and I go View Album, because I’m wondering if I’ve stumbled on an artist that I want to really dive into… then I go to the album, and I want to like it so I’ll give the album a full listen. There’s so much shit. I get through the first [few] tracks of the album and then the waves break the glass in my house and flood, taking the table and me and the chair, and I go to the next thing.” 5:45 — Paul: “You know what I’ve noticed is the truly talented young artists just produce EP after EP, for years, and then they’re like ‘oh, I’m gonna do this album now.’ They don’t jump to the album. It’s a high risk game. 80% of it is gonna be trash unless you know what you’re doing.” 8:30 — Paul: “With the pure algorithmically defined entertainment that Netflix specializes in, there’s this thing called Dinotrux. It’s dinosaurs that are trucks because they know that little boys like trucks and dinosaurs — little girls too! Have you seen Dinotrux? It’s so bad.” 10:00 — Paul: “It must have been very exciting though at first where it’s like, ‘I’m doing a new thing, a Netflix standup special,’ and then a month goes by and it’s just not as cool for the comedians. Now you’re like, ‘I’m doing a Netflix special!’ and your housekeeper says, ‘so am I!” 12:30 — Paul: “We have a developer/designer here named Darrell and he made a playlist expiration tool. It’s called Dubolt. It’s quite good, you seed it with a few tracks and parameters and you get a very good playlist back.” 13:30 — Paul: “So we’re hitting a point in the glut where we’re realizing that emotionally and intellectually it’s not that satisfying to keep waiting and searching. You saw this when cable TV suddenly had five thousand stations and nobody could figure out what to watch.” 14:00 — Paul: “There’s always the great simplifying agent, which in our industry is often Apple, [saying], ‘you don’t want all those choices.’ Now the problem that Apple has — which is the problem everybody who creates a successful minimalist approach has — is that everybody starts adding stuff to it.” 15:00 — Paul: “We’re in the glut. There’s very little quality in a glut. There’s no sense of quality. Literally, it’s just this tsunami of content coming in and we’re all just like, ‘wow, that’s a lot of content!’ You thought it was what you wanted.” 15:25 — Paul: “We measure creativity by how people respond to constraints.” 16:50 — Rich: “When I see a Netflix Original Series, I just assume — and I could be surprised — I assume it’s bad.” 16:55 — Paul: “Compare Netflix and Youtube for a minute. What do both of them solve? They solve distribution. Suddenly they were like, ‘oh my god, we can put moving pictures in a rectangle on a screen and we can get it out to millions and millions of people.” 17:20 — Rich: “There’s a phenomenal quote by the Chief Content Officer of Netflix. They said, ‘what’s your strategy?’ and he said, ‘we have to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.’” 19:10 — Paul: “Here’s a thing I think a lot about: Cakes. Cake making is a whole scene on Youtube. There’s probably 30 million people… who watch and subscribe to cake content where people smear things with fondant. Very charming people. They sell spatulas. That’s how they monetize. I sort of look at Netflix as being very well set up to capitalize on these nascent expanding scenes in a way that Youtube can’t. You’ve got thirty, forty, fifty cake-making personalities but Youtube doesn’t really bring them together.” 20:50 — Paul: “It’s a promise that everyone is roughly equal on the platform, which is weird because you walk down the street and there’s a giant picture of a Youtube celebrity painted on the side of a wall in Manhattan.” 22:00 — Paul: “Netflix is weird because it’s all about subjects and I almost think it should be more focused around verticals. Like channels, or something on Netflix where you can go over and participate as opposed to these ‘movies for people who like cats and have no hair!’ I think Netflix is totally primed to do that.” 24:10 — Paul: “The whole system is set up where the platforms make it challenging to create real utility. The ways that you focus by making products that allow them to access the media and give them new powers and understanding — the platforms are not set up for that. They’re set up for continual delivery of a single experience which is usually a rectangle of video. They’re focused around the media, not the actual usage of the media to do things.” 24:50 — Paul: “Youtube is just a big open hole that anybody can throw their trash into, and sometimes people are like, ‘that’s not trash! That’s good!’” 26:00 — Rich: “For the consumer, I’m worried about them. The motivation on the creator side is to just pour more and more on my head. For the consumer, that’s led to a terrible state. Everything’s garbage. Most things are lousy.” 26:25 — Paul: “Even when you have a lot of money and you do everything right, the odds are that it’s gonna be pretty bad.” 28:35 — Rich: “You know what the most popular piece of advice is now? [Companies are] telling the person: Leave your phone outside the bedroom. Take a book with you. Pause and think! Think deeper!” 29:10 — Paul: “It’s always been crappy bestsellers and big stupid movies with car chases. That’s been the baseline for a long time. It’s not surprising that in an era of digital glut we just end up with more. Not better, but more… Do you try to build the new platforms where there are more constraints and more creative work? That’s a way to address this but you are climbing a very high mountain.” 32:20 — Paul: “Constraints matter, but platform economics take over. You have to choose how to live in this world, because it’s being done to you.” A full transcript of this episode is available. LINKS Dubolt by Darrell Hanley Is Netflix the Next HBO? Platform Economy Longform Rheo.tv Longreads And for His Next Act, Ev Williams Will Fix the Internet Track Changes is the weekly technology and culture podcast from Postlight, hosted by Paul Ford and Rich Ziade. Production, show notes and transcripts by EDITAUDIO. Podcast logo and design by Will Denton of Postlight.

Are you a Jesus or a John? A Mary or a Martha? A Peter or a Paul? Here at Church Drunk we have decided that it's time to pick a side! Because there are only two kinds of people in this world: those who see everything in black and white, and namby-pamby fence-sitters who have no idea what they are talking about!

Paul Provencher has been in the real estate business since 2003. Today, he often averages between 3-5 deals in his business, and 100% of all his leads come from direct mail marketing campaigns. For everyone who says direct mail is dead, then it's time to let Paul prove you wrong!   Key Takeaways: Who is Paul and what does his business look like today? Alex has been needing to spend more money on his direct mail campaigns. Is Paul seeing the same thing? Paul averages about 3-5 deals a month and the only thing he's doing is direct mail. What's Paul's marketing budget? What's Paul's most profitable direct mail list? What research should people do when trying to understand their targeted market? What does Paul's team look like today? How often does Paul follow up on his leads? Paul offers some final tips and advice for those who want to get a leg up on their real estate business.   Mentioned in This Episode: FlipEmpire.com Flip Empire Private Facebook Group Connect with Paul Here    Ask Alex A Question: Have a question you want featured on an upcoming Flip Empire Show? Head over to the Ask Alex page, and record your question. We've made it super easy for you, so let us know what challenges you are having, and Alex will answer it personally!   Did you get your FREE Online Course? Text the word EMPIRE to 67076, and we'll send you a link to get instant access to the “5 Ways To Scale Your Real Estate Wholesaling Business To Six Figures (In 6 Months Or Less)” video module training course.   Subscribe To The Flip Empire Show, and Leave a Rating & Review!