Podcasts about paying

Welcome aboard Kyber Squadron! This week, Andrés explores the connection between Chevron, Net Neutrality, and how that impacts people in the interconnected 21st century. Paying extra to get a message out to the Rebellion would have bankrupted the rebels before the Battle of Yavin, but there is hope in bringing Net Neutrality to your State! Come for the Naboo lore, stay for a rant against Doom and Gloom grifters! Follow us: Threads: @Sithty_Minutes  Instagram: @PaulaBear92 @RBW3000 @General_Leia_The_Pup @aaa__photog Twitch: @Sithty_Minutes BlueSky: @sithtyminutes.bsky.social Discord: Sithty Minutes  Show Notes: Tariffs Episode General Viess The Occlusion Zone Naboo Zorii Bliss FCC Explains Net Neutrality Salt Typhoon Phone Hack White House Press Conference Net Neutrality in the World 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Colorado Net Neutrality California Net Neutrality Washington State Net Neutrality   

Is It Too Late To Invest In AI Agents? AI agents are taking center stage, but is the hype real or are we staring down the barrel of another metaverse-style bubble? In today's episode of The Milk Road Show, Jay and Patrick Scott (Dynamo DeFi) dissect the red-hot AI agent narrative. Find out if you've missed the boat or if there's still time to ride this wave. ~~~~~ ⁠⁠

Federal CIO Clare Martorana's tenure is coming to an end in January and she reflects back on her office's efforts to improve federal technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The guys discuss the Pistons and if they need to make a trade to get people more interested in the team.

Host Danny Kelly is joined by The Athletic's James Maw and Jack Pitt-Brooke to wax lyrical about the performance against Liverpool last night, in particular that of Gray, Bergvall and Kinsky! Plus! We preview Tamworth FC away in the FA cup third round. HOST: Danny Kelly WITH: Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Maw PRODUCER: Tom Fuller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. If you're ready to fully commit to your personal growth and do the work to get emotionally sober (side effects include an 80 percent reduction in drinking),You'll walk away from our call with a clear understanding of how to get the skills you need to transform your life.   —Want daily updates from me? Find me on TikTok @hangoverwhisperer and IG @thehangoverwhisperer     —Click here to TAKE THE QUIZ: Do you have a drinking problem or a thinking problem? Key Insights & Takeaways: Human Superpower: Imagination & Creation Humans live in a world of mental constructs. Time, money, rules, and even identities are creations of the human mind. Meaning doesn't exist in nature—we assign meaning to events and outcomes, deciding whether they are triumphs or tragedies. Manifestation & Attention Manifestation starts with an idea. What you focus on grows, and what you neglect dies. To manifest something new, you must first believe it's possible and give it your attention. Your brain is a tool that finds or creates evidence for what you believe. If you believe you have a problem, your brain will collect proof of that problem. How You Manifested a “Drinking Problem” It started with the idea that your drinking is a problem, and your brain went to work gathering evidence. Over time, your focus on drinking as a problem created a tangible reality with hangovers, conflicts, and negative emotions. Reframing & Manifesting a New Reality To manifest a healthy relationship with alcohol, start by paying attention to small wins where you are already in control. Examples of wins include: Waking up in the morning and not wanting a drink. Going through your day without drinking. Choosing not to drink and drive. Hangover Homework When experiencing a hangover, walk back through your memories of the previous night and find moments when you had a thought or impulse to stop drinking. Those thoughts, however fleeting, are wins—proof that you're capable of making different choices. Paying attention to these positive moments reinforces the idea that you can have a healthy relationship with alcohol. A Success Story: Rehearsing a Different Ending Colleen shares a personal story of noticing a pattern, mentally rehearsing a better choice, and successfully manifesting a different outcome the next time. By reflecting on past wins, you can prime your brain to respond differently in similar situations. Homework Assignment: Take 5 minutes to list all the times and ways you've demonstrated control over your drinking. Include moments when you weren't drinking, times you limited your intake, and any positive actions related to alcohol. Next time you have a hangover, reflect on the moments when you had the thought to stop or reduce your drinking, even if you didn't act on it. Count those moments as wins. Check out the Mindful Drinking course and listen to the episode titled Hangover Homework for a deeper dive into this exercise. Final Thoughts: Manifesting a healthier relationship with alcohol starts with paying attention to the right thoughts. Focus on what's working, notice the small wins, and train your brain to manifest the solution rather than the problem.  

Orlando's Wearing Fuzzy Slippers  LA Wildfires Jessica Alba Getting Divorced Confession: Sister Wants Half of Winning Lottery Ticket Beat The Freaks tWitch's Wife Lying About Drug Use Therapy Thursday: Boyfriend […] The post tWitch Wife Lying & Paying For OnlyFans appeared first on WiLD 94.1.

Turn $50k into $2.5M? It sounds insane, but that's exactly what Zeneca achieved in just two months, primarily by riding the AI agent wave. Join us as Zeneca spills the secrets to his mind-blowing success, revealing his strategy, how he identifies winning narratives, and where he's placing his bets now for even bigger gains. ~~~~~ ⁠

Seg 1 – The Panama ShuffleSeg 2 – The Nicaragua AlternativeSeg 3 - Who's Paying for the WHO?Seg 4 - Globalists Beware

Paddy Gower has slammed “keyboard warriors” claiming the media is getting what it deserves for going “woke” amid mass job losses. TV3 journalist and TV host Patrick Gower spoke to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning following yesterday's Newshub meeting where the closure of Newshub was confirmed. Hosking asked Gower what he would say to those who say “you go woke, you go broke” and claim the media was bribed by the former Labour government. “Get stuffed, and actually go away and, to use the term they use, do your own research,” Gower fired back. Gower agreed the Public Interest Journalism fund had “branding issues” for media organisations because the public didn't understand where the money was going. “But at the end of the day, I'm not going to sit here and listen to sort of people like that say that kind of thing after I've slaved away my bloody life alongside my colleagues, 25 years in my case, putting damn good news out there. “While we've got a trust problem, we need to address it and explain things that we're doing properly. “When it comes to the sort of Facebook keyboard warriors, I ain't got no time for that, Mike. “I'm about the 250 people who lost a job yesterday and actually the millions of other Kiwis that I know that trust me and trust my colleagues.” Patrick Gower and colleagues on their way to learn Newshub's fate. Photo / Alex Burton Gower told Hosking he didn't know how many of the up to 300 people losing their jobs would remain in media. “Who knows? “I mean, even for myself, I've got no bloody idea what I'll do next.” Gower said he hoped a lot of his colleagues would remain in the field, but recognised it was a difficult time for the industry in New Zealand. “It's that simple, mate, not everybody can survive. “But we've got to be optimistic, we can't kind of give in. “I can say for myself, I'm determined to get back out there.” Hosking asked Gower how many of the employees likely saw the closure coming. “It was always a possibility when we came in under the big company, particularly Warner Brothers Discovery when they'd merged ... some sort of shutdown was always possible. “I've survived a couple myself in the last 14 years or we've been very, very close. “So it was always on the cards.” The state of the economy and the recession have had a huge impact on the media industry, Gower admitted. “We often talk about the big structural problems that are behind all of this, but, hey, let's face it, the economy has absolutely tanked, every single dollar virtually has dropped out of the advertising market. “People are really struggling, [advertising] is the first thing that goes when a business is struggling, everybody knows that. “That has just put insane pressure on all media companies.” Gower said he hadn't seen “anything” broadcasting minister Melissa Lee had done so far for the industry. “I haven't seen anything they've done, but at the same time, the media doesn't need a bailout. “So if anyone's talking about some sort of cash bailout, we don't need that. “The media does need to be able to survive commercially. There are ways that we can do that.” Gower said there are issues that both Governments, current and former, have not addressed that could have helped the media. “There are massive structural problems out there that I just don't think the Government's got their head around. “Paying these Kordia fees, television companies, paying fees to another government organisation for something that we don't really need anymore is just plain nuts. “It is crazy, that is literally jobs going out the door every time they pay those fees.” Gower confirmed his show Paddy Gower Has Issues was not funded by NZ on Air, so wouldn't be funded by TV3′s new model. “There's got to be other ways to do television programmes ... we've got to find commercially successful ways of doing this stuff. Stuff where things get paid for by viewers again. We've got to find a way back to that.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get an easy $200 from Melio for making your first payment! (Affiliate link. Terms below) https://affiliates.meliopayments.com/travelonpointsteam Episode Description This week Hyatt is in the news as they killed a long used suite trick that recently moved online. Why did they kill it and should they have? We also go in depth on our pursuits for Hyatt Globalist and why Mark is giving up on the status. The truth is maybe you should too.   In other news a very lucrative Amex Platinum 100K + 15X offer is out and we'll show you how to get it. We also discuss: cool New Year's shows around the world, a possible Capital One lounge change, paying taxes with a credit card in 2025, the "best travel gift", new gift card theft protections and our favorite travel tips and hacks to make your trips better.   Episode Guide 0:00 The perfect travel gift for your family 0:45 Collection of the best travel hack & tips 3:10 Capital One changing lounge guest policy? 5:08 Amex Platinum 100K + 15X offer 6:41 Updated fees and policies for paying taxes with a credit card 8:20 Using gift cards to pay your taxes 9:43 Hyatt kills suite upgrade trick 11:44 New gift card anti-theft technology rolling out 14:10 Reconsidering our Hyatt Globalist status - Is it worth it? 16:35 Why Guest of Honor makes a huge difference in your Globalist calculations 19:15 New Year's around the world - Insane drone shows & fireworks Links Travel tips - https://travel-on-points.com/best-travel-tips/ Cap One terms - https://viewfromthewing.com/capital-one-cutback-no-more-unlimited-priority-pass-guests/ Amex 100K + 15X - https://milestomemories.com/amex-platinum-card-resy-offer-with-100k-bonus-plus-15x-on-dining/ Paying taxes with a credit card - https://travel-on-points.com/pay-your-taxes-with-a-credit-card/ Hyatt trick dies - https://travel-on-points.com/hyatt-suite-upgrade-awards/ Gift card anti-theft - https://x.com/detroitmark/status/1872820289052262823?s=46&t=B9kWNUIY21TRZnc8tXrfRQ Reconsidering Hyatt Globalist - https://travel-on-points.com/is-hyatt-globalist-worth-it/ Drones and fireworks - https://x.com/levi_nagawkar/status/1874271492424556885?s=46  https://x.com/rainmaker1973/status/1874077913852911629?s=46 Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, or via RSS. Don't see your favorite podcast platform? Please let us know! Music: Rewind by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomeday Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

At this time of year, many people hate going to the mailbox or checking their email. That's because the Christmas bills are starting to roll in.Yes, the holidays are behind us, but for many people, burgeoning credit card balances are just ahead. If you think you'll have trouble making those payments, Neile Simon is here with a plan to help you get out of debt.Neile Simon is a Certified Credit Counselor with Christian Credit Counselors (CCC), an underwriter of Faith & Finance.The Growing Problem of Credit Card DebtCredit card debt has surpassed $1.16 trillion, marking a 50% increase in just three and a half years. By 2024, the average credit card debt for individuals carrying unpaid balances reached $7,200. Rising costs due to inflation have pushed many to rely on credit cards just to get by.This growing burden isn't just financial—it also creates fear, anxiety, and helplessness. These feelings do not come from God. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation is the first step toward finding freedom from debt.Do You Need Credit Counseling?If you're struggling with credit card debt, it's essential to ask for help. Neely recommends reaching out for credit counseling if:You have an unpaid balance of more than $4,000.You're struggling to keep up with minimum payments.You feel stuck, making payments with little progress.Debt is causing you stress or sleepless nights.Christian Credit Counselors can provide guidance and support to help you regain control of your finances.Why Choose Debt Management Over Debt Settlement?Christian Credit Counselors take a debt management approach, which differs significantly from debt settlement or consolidation. Here's how it works:Pre-Negotiated Terms: They work with creditors to lower your interest rates (ranging from 1–12% APR) and monthly payments.Debt Snowball Method: Payments are structured to help you get out of debt up to 80% faster, all while honoring your debt in full.Customizable Enrollment: You can choose which accounts to enroll in, and the accounts included will be closed during the program.Free Budgeting Support: Counselors help you create a budget, identify areas to cut back, and understand your disposable income.This approach focuses on integrity and honoring your commitments while providing a clear path to financial freedom.The Biblical Foundation for Debt ManagementManaging debt isn't just about financial freedom—it's also a way to honor God. Neely emphasizes the importance of aligning debt repayment with biblical values. Romans 13:7-8 encourages believers:“Give to everyone what you owe them … Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”Through debt management, Christians can fulfill their financial responsibilities, honor their commitments, and live generously, reflecting God's principles.Take the First Step Toward FreedomIf you're ready to explore debt management, Christian Credit Counselors offers free consultations with no obligation. Their goal is to educate you on your options and help you achieve financial well-being while staying true to your faith.Visit ChristianCreditCounselors.org or call 800-557-1985 to learn more.Managing debt wisely allows us to honor God and live a life of generosity and service to others. Take the step today toward financial freedom and faithful stewardship.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I currently have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA. I'm wondering if I should be investing in both or if I should just focus on one. What's the best approach here?I have an 18-year-old granddaughter with about $16,000 in a custodial account at Edward Jones. When she turns 18 in May, she'll have complete control over this money. I don't know if she knows about it yet. What would be the best way to handle this? Should I take the money out and put it in a high-yield savings account? Or could I put it into a Roth IRA for her?My husband and I own a small business and are 71 years old. We have $23,000 in high-interest credit card debt from the business. We recently paid off a home equity line of credit. Would it be better to transfer that debt to the home equity line with a lower interest rate? Is mixing business and personal debt a good idea? I also haven't paid business taxes yet for this year, so I would like to know if keeping the Visa debt separate as a business expense is better for tax purposes.When withdrawing from my brokerage investment account, how should I calculate the cost basis of the investments I'm selling? I know there are different methods, like last-in and first-out, but I'm unsure which is the most appropriate. I have a CPA but haven't discussed this with them yet. What would you recommend I do?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly PublicationChristian Credit CounselorsOpen Hands FinanceLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Welcome to the Service Business Mastery Podcast! Visit our website for more episodes and insights! www.servicebusinessmastery.com In this episode, hosts Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch are joined by Kevin LeSage, CEO of SearchLight and Jonathan Torrey, Director of Marketing at SearchLight. A cutting-edge analytics platform for the service industry.

Kim Stanley ("Stan") Robinson is one of the world's most acclaimed and popular science fiction novelists, first famous for his Mars Trilogy. For the past two decades, Stan has been telling vivid stories in which climate change is catastrophic yet people invent ways of reversing it. What he imagines is so bold it takes your breath away, then fills you with hope and resolve that you didn't know existed within you.In his Science in the Capital trilogy, a Washington DC thriller, National Zoo animals roam the capital after a massive flood. The Gulf Stream shuts down. Then a tiny U.S. government agency with bold leadership funds massive global climate projects. That plus the election of an inspiring everyman new President saves the day. Two decades later, Ministry for the Future tells a very different heroic tale. Here the protagonist is a new international agency based in Zurich led by an Irishwoman. After a massive heat wave in Indian kills millions, she gets kidnapped by one of its survivors and eventually answers her captor's challenge to do more. She persuades central bankers to back a "carbon coin" that changes the rules of the economic game. Companies now earn money by keeping oil in the ground, slowing Antarctica's melting, and investing in other projects on a scale commensurate with the climate catastrophe. What led Robinson to dramatically rethink his bold ideas for reversing climate change? What can we learn from this about climate economics and the financial rules in capitalism? How might this learning shift us into more constructive moods as we face seemingly insurmountable challenges?Join me in exploring these questions in this new episode of How My View Grew.**Key takeaways**4:00 A DC thriller: the Gulf Stream slows down. Washington floods. Science and government save the day12:00 Stan gets criticized about economics and responds by reading more deeply. The virtues and limits of nationalizing banks.18:00 A new view of money and lessons from the 2008 financial crisis23:00 Paying companies to green the planet, changing the economic game28:45 Stop asking "Is it to late?" Focus instead on better versus worse33:30 Telling good stories that our culture ignores35:00 Stan's message to the Left: get over it40:00 Amiel's reflections**Resources**A reference site for Kim Stanley RobinsonAmiel's essay, "Beyond the false choice between despair and hope"**Subscribe to the podcast**To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.**Share the love**Leave me a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

On this episode, Chris & Koi call some guys up to findout what's considered paying for pussy.

The holidays are behind us, but for many people, burgeoning credit card balances are just ahead. And if you think you’ll have trouble making those payments, be sure to join us for today's Faith & Finance Live, when Rob West will welcome Neile Simon to talk about a plan to help you get out of debt. Then Rob will answer your calls on various financial topics. Faith & Finance Live is a listener supported program on Moody Radio. To join our team of supporters, click here.To support the ministry of FaithFi, click here.To learn more about Rob West, click here.To learn more about Faith & Finance Live, click here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I'm joined by Madison Gammons, a money coach dedicated to empowering women to build wealth and confidence with their finances. Madison shares her personal journey from navigating debt and paycheck-to-paycheck living to paying off $70,000 in debt, growing her net worth by over $400,000, and creating a life of financial freedom. We dive into the key strategies for paying off debt, building wealth, and shifting your money mindset. Madison explains how your beliefs about money—whether rooted in scarcity or abundance—play a huge role in how you handle finances. She also breaks down how to make money management fun, celebrate milestones, and turn your financial goals into an exciting journey rather than a stressful task. If you've ever felt stuck in your finances or unsure how to move forward, this episode is packed with actionable tips, empowering insights, and practical tools to help you take control of your money in 2025! Where to Find Madison: - Instagram: @themadisonj - Podcast: "Busy Getting Better" (Apple Podcast / Spotify) Website: https://stan.store/themadisonj How to Work with Madison: - 1-on-1 Strategy Session: Quick shifts to align your 2025 financial goals  - 6-Month Coaching: Deep dive into money mindset, personal finance, and money manifestation  DM Madison on Instagram to learn more about her offers! *Loved this episode?*   If Madison's insights resonated with you, take a screenshot of the episode, share it on Instagram, and tag us! Let's normalize empowering conversations around money and inspire others to take control of their financial futures. Your feedback also helps The End in Mind reach more listeners, so don't forget to leave a review and share your thoughts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a text1/8/25: Are you still paying for that?....Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1072287757/@gethelpdadpodcast (Tiktok)     gethelpdad@gmail.com.This is podcast Season #4, episode #2Get Help Dad Podcast with Bad jokes and life tips.FYI: You are a great parent!!You can send in your own parenting advice, Dad topics, tell us where you are listening from or lawn care advice to gethelpdad@gmail.com.  We are excited to hear from you.  Please let us know your Name, City/Country you are from.  [PROMO] Check out the author's "personal" best selling book Alone and Unafraid: An Alaskan Dad's guide to watching the kid while the wife is on a long trip.  (in the link below) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1072287757/

JP Richardson is the CEO of Exodus Movement (EXOD), a crypto company that holds 1,900 Bitcoin and pays their employees with the cryptocurrency. He provides a 360 view of the crypto market. He believes the industry will grow with more regulation clarity through means like ETFs. In protecting clients' crypto wallets, JP talks about the ways Exodus secures transactions. ======== Schwab Network ======== Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribe Download the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185 Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7 Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watch Watch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-explore Watch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/ Follow us on X – / schwabnetwork Follow us on Facebook – / schwabnetwork Follow us on LinkedIn - / schwab-network About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Is Crypto AI the biggest investment opportunity of 2025? Our expert guest, Teng Yan, founder of Chain of Thought, thinks so! He breaks down the must-know categories within crypto AI, revealing his highest-conviction trades and the under-the-radar projects he's most excited about. ~~~~~

London-based Chef Andy Beynon is quite something and he's our guest on this week's episode of the Paying it Forward podcast with our host Danni Menzies. Andy landed his first Michelin star just twenty days after opening his debut restaurant Behind in London Fields. He talks about why and how he pays it forward in his local Hackney community, food banks and how he landed that impressive Michelin star.

Some retailers are requiring all customers pay package-protection fees to ease the financial burden of replacing lost or stolen deliveries. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Imani Moise joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss how much the fees are, and what they typically cover. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics discussed on today's show: National Bobble Head Day, Krispy Kreme Pop Tart, Dry Jan, Skinny Jeans, National Pass Gas Day, Trudeau Resigns, Fubo TV, New Odd Electronics, Birthdays, History Quiz, Tipping, Don't Do Drugs, Big Wave Surfer, Paying for Sex, Bird Flu Death, Ancient Smelting, White and Brown Fats, Prison Keister, 5 Sec Survey: Back Up Underwear, Situations You Need Spare Underwear, F My Life Highlights, and Apologies.

This episode examines what men can do to remove the CAPE of deception. In it, men are challenged to stop complaining, change their attitudes, stop procrastinating, and stop making excuses. Paying attention to our mental health as men will help break the cycle. Listen as your host and psychotherapist, Rolando gives you helpful hints to make the change.

Chicago Style Wrestling Academy prospect Sam Eli is doing all the right things in making his rise on the Chicagoland and Midwestern independent wrestling scene. Eli joins Windy City Slam Podcast for the first time to talk about training, working as an extra for places such as TNA and MLW, getting advice from Joe Hendry and Matt Riddle, his upcoming Rocket Pro Wrestling debut match against THE Ryan Matthews, dream matches and more. Plus, Mike reports results from WrestlePunkz and previews Rocket Pro's “Resolution,” ARW Pro and Iron Spirit Pro. Mike Pankow is a 25-year-plus professional journalist and wrestling superfan who covers local Chicagoland wrestling and national promotions like AEW and WWE. If there is something going on in Chicago, Mike knows about it. Enjoy "Wrestling, Chicago-Style" on The Broadcast Basement On-Demand Radio Network! Music by Jason Shaw on Audionautix.com. Get your local wrestling fix every Tuesday everywhere podcasts can be found and always at WindyCitySlam.com!

Ever wondered when the current crypto cycle will reach its peak? Real Vision Chief Crypto Analyst, Jamie Coutts, spills the beans on his prediction when will be the end of this crypto cycle and reveals his top conviction tokens for potentially huge gains. We also talk about how DeFi & AI will be reshaping the crypto landscape this year. ~~~~~

Episode 2272. Keep paying and keep paying. Featuring a cover of Tears of Gold by Violet King. Blunt Talk Podcast is guaranteed TO LIFT. X Fitness is committed to lifting in body, mind, and soul. There is enough depressing news. We won't add to it. Good Inspirational News Only. Free, permanently archived downloads compliments of X Fitness. Blessings & all good things. #peace

Women are continuing to pay between €30 and €70 for their monthly supply of prescribed hormone replacement therapy , despite being told it would be free of charge from the beginning of this month. What has gone wrong here? We discuss this with Sheena Mitchell is Owner of Milltown Total Health Pharmacy and Host of the WonderCare Podcast.

In today's episode of The Milk Road Show, Frank Chaparro, founding reporter at The Block and host of The Scoop, joins us to discuss the 4 factors driving crypto prices in 2025! From Bitcoin's resilience to the surprising Coinbase projections, we cover it all. Plus, learn why ignoring the mainstream media during the holidays might be the best investment strategy. ~~~~~

Paying off debt requires a strategic approach to reduce financial burdens effectively. Start by listing all debts, including balances, interest rates, and minimum payments. Prioritize high-interest debts first using the avalanche method or tackle smaller balances with the snowball method for motivational wins. Create a budget to allocate extra funds toward repayments while maintaining necessary expenses. Consider consolidating debts into one lower-interest loan or negotiating with creditors for better terms. Avoid accumulating new debt by limiting credit card use and focusing on living within your means. Regular payments and disciplined spending are key to achieving a debt-free financial future.

Bio  Brian McDonald, an award-winning author, filmmaker, graphic novelist, and podcaster, is a sought-after instructor and consultant. He has taught his story seminar and consulted for various companies, including Pixar, Microsoft, and Cirque du Soleil.  Interview Highlights 01:30 The Story Spine 04:00 Proposal, argument, conclusion 07:40 Video games – noodles are not cake 11:30 Armature 16:25 Stories in speeches 21:25 Finding your armature 23:00 Tools and weapons go together 25:30 The first act 27:00 Angels 28:00 Brian's memoir 28:45 Paying attention   Connect  ·       Brian McDonald (writeinvisibleink.com) ·       @BeeMacDee1950 on X ·       @beemacdee on Instagram ·       Brian McDonald on LinkedIn   Books and references  ·       Land of the Dead: Lessons from the Underworld on Storytelling and Living, Brian McDonald ·       Invisible Ink: Building Stories from the Inside Out, Brian McDonald ·       The Golden Theme: How to Make Your Writing Appeal to the Highest Common Denominator, Brian McDonald ·       Old Souls, Brian McDonald ·       Ink Spots: Collected Writings on Story Structure, Filmmaking and Craftmanship, Brian McDonald ·       Brian's podcast 'You are a Storyteller'  Episode Transcript Ula Ojiaku Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I'm Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener. Welcome back to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast, this is Part 2 of my conversation with Brian McDonald. In Part 1 we discussed defining a story, why we tell stories, among other things, and in this second part, Brian shares more of his insights around the storytelling formula, Brian's upcoming memoir, and building a story's armature. It's been such an honour to speak with Brian and I hope you find Part 2 of our conversation as insightful as I have. Everyone is a storyteller, everyone has a story to tell, and we knowing how to structure it is key to making it impactful and helping people to get information that heals, that helps them survive, that helps them navigate the conflicts of this world. So, you, in your book, Invisible Ink, you gave us a storytelling formula, do you mind sharing that with us? Brian McDonald So the story spine are seven steps that you need to create a story. So they use it at Pixar, I've worked with them quite a bit so we speak similar language, but they use this too, and I think we basically learned it from the same source. So, they are once upon a time, and every day, until one day, and because of this, and because of this, until finally, and ever since that day. So they are once upon a time, and every day, until one day, and because of this, and because of this, until finally, and ever since that day. And you set up the status quo, this is what happened, this is who this person is, this is what they want, whatever it is, and then something changes. Now you're into the ‘until one day', and the second act, now that would be the first act, the second act would be the body of the story. It's really what people say the story is about, so that's the longest part. That's why it's sort of split in two in a way because of this and because of this. There are some people who will add more because of this, but I don't, and some people don't like that I'm so rigid about it, but what I find is that the hardest thing I teach people is how to simplify. That's the hardest thing. So, adding more details is easy, simplifying is hard, right, and so that's why I stick with the seven and the because of this and because of this. And then, until finally, now you're into the third act, and ever since that day, because the third act is all about the conclusion or the resolution, but the conclusion, but the way I like to think about the three acts is this, and I had been thinking about it this way, and this is something that I don't know where Hitchcock got it, but Alfred Hitchcock talked about it, but I've never heard it anywhere else. So it's proposal, argument, conclusion. That's the way stories work, and those are the three acts. Proposal, argument, conclusion. Now, it's the way people talk. That's why it works. So the proposal is, let's say, I say Saturday I went to the best party I've ever been to in my life. That's my proposal. Everybody knows what comes next. My proof, this happened, that happened, this star was there, this blah blah blah, whatever it is, whatever my argument is, that this is the best party in the world, right? And then the conclusion, often stories are circular, so you'll come back around to the beginning again. So, that's the best party I've ever been to, then I talk about it, and then I say, oh, what a great party, oh, that was the best party I've ever been to, whatever it is, it's the way we speak, that's why it works in stories, because it's natural. It's the way a legal argument is constructed. Your honour, my client is innocent. Then the trial, which is all proof, and then the conclusion as you can see, my client is innocent, that's the conclusion of that argument, but the resolution is, do they go to jail or not? And that may or may not matter to your story, depending on the story you're telling. So therapists say, well, we tell ourselves the story that I'm not good enough, we tell ourselves the story that I'm not attractive enough or whatever it is, and that's not a story, that's a conclusion that you have derived from stories, it's not a story, that's a conclusion. The conclusion is I'm not worthy, I'm not smart, whatever it is, but there are stories that made you think that or feel that, that's where the stories are, and so the problem is if you have different definitions for stories, I found this when I'm collaborating, if I'm working for a studio or a video game company or something, if we have a different definition for story, then we are miscommunicating from the very beginning of the conversation.  So they maybe will say, well, we should do this, and I say, well, that doesn't fit the story, well, I think it does, oh, well, we're not talking about the same thing. So the thing is, people can take my definition or leave it, that doesn't matter to me, but they ought to have a definition, and it ought to get results consistently, and then you can make sure everybody's on the same page. Ula Ojiaku What I'm hearing you say is it's important to take time to define the terms being used because that makes things easier when you're collaborating with people. So how do you then approach it? Brian McDonald It depends. Sometimes I come in and my job is to lecture, and that is to give them that shared definition and understanding of story. So sometimes that's my job. If I come in on a specific project to help on a specific project, that's usually because either they've heard me lecture before, or they've read my books and we already have a shared definition. So that's usually how it works, most of the time. Ula Ojiaku What would you advise when you're getting into a new collaboration with people, would you say, take the time to define the terms and what exactly generally would you say? Brian McDonald Yeah, if we're talking specifically about story, I think I would give them the definition. I would probably let them struggle with the definition of story first, because I think that's an important part of the process, because people have to know they were given something, because it sounds obvious when you say it. So we will fool ourselves and think, oh, I knew that, so the struggle is really important, so I would let them struggle, make sure they understood that they got something, oh, now I have a definition, and sometimes just having a definition elevates what you're able to do. Just having the definition. So, then I would break down story, I would break down armature, which I haven't done yet I don't believe in the concept of interactive stories, I think that's a misnomer, because once you interact with the story, it becomes a game. I don't think they can occupy the same space. Now, the word story comes from the word history, where it comes from, comes from the word history. A story has happened. So for instance, if you and I were somewhere and we had some crazy adventure, as it's happening, it is not a story. It's only a story when we're done and we tell people about it. A video game is happening in the moment, the same way as any other experience. It's an experience, but it's not a story till it's done, and you're telling people that, and so I just don't think they occupy the same space. Now they have a lot of the same ingredients, and that's what fools people. So for instance, it's sort of like, I would say you can use eggs and flour to make noodles or cake, but noodles are not cake, and so because you can have characters and settings and scenes and a lot of the same ingredients as a story, I think people think they're the same thing, but they are not, and that's what's interesting to me is that video game people desperately want their thing to be story, and I don't know why. It's like, no, you have your own thing. They have scenarios. In the old silent movie days, they didn't have screenplays, they didn't write screenplays. So, Buster Keaton would say, get me a fire truck and I'll make a movie, and he would then make it up, Chaplin did the same thing, he would make it up, they didn't write them down. Sometimes Chaplin would shoot and then say, okay, everybody has a week off while I figure out what happens next. He didn't know, so the reason they started writing screenplays, one of them was to budget. Well, what do you want? I'm going to need a truck, I'm going to need this, I'm going to need that. Okay. So they knew how much it was going to cost to make it, that's one of the reasons they started doing it. So you'll see on old silent movies scenario by, so it would be like, what if a guy robs a bank and this happens so that's the scenario. Video games have a scenario, and anything can happen in that scenario because the player has some agency, and that's like being in real life. Being in real life is not a story, it's just not, it's a story later, but I think that when we are experiencing a story, it feels like the present, and so I think it's confusing, and people will argue with me and they'll say, but have you played this video game or that video game or this one? And I'm like, you're not actually arguing. There's a little bit of story, and that stops and then there's gameplay, they don't occupy the same space, they're just close to each other. You have to switch from one to the other, I just don't believe they can occupy the same space, and I think technology has fooled us to thinking that that's the case, because you don't need technology. If there is such a thing as interactive stories, you could do that without technology. Choose your own adventure books were that, so you don't need it. Everybody remembers them, but how many people ever tell the story of a choose your own adventure book? You ever heard anybody say that? No one does, because it wasn't really a story, it was a game. There's nothing wrong with it being a game, I think that's totally fine, but I don't study games, I work with game people. There are people that study games and that's their whole thing. I get that, and there's game theory, and there's a bunch of stuff I don't know, but they seldom study story, and I do know that. So when they say, well, this game has a story, I'm telling you, it doesn't, because that's my field of study. And then an armature. So, I used to work in creature shops in Los Angeles. So I moved to LA in the mid 80s, and my roommate was a special effects makeup artist. And so my first jobs in LA were working in creature shops because he could get me these jobs, and this is before CGI and computers and stuff, so things had to be built. My roommate was working on the movie Predator when I moved there, I remember, it was called Hunter, I still have the script, it was called Hunter at the time, and so they were doing some reshoots. They had gone on location and shot the movie without having a design for the creature. So they came back and they were doing some shoots in studio and stuff with this creature, I remember that vividly. Anyway, but they had to build these things, and so I would work on these movies, I worked on a zombie movie and a movie called Night of the Creeps and all, but you had to make things, and I would watch these sculptors, amazing sculptors, sculpt these little mock cats of whatever the creature was, and they were, I'd never seen in real life, somebody really able to sculpt something that was so amazing, and I was 21 years old, it was amazing to see, and they would make though this wireframe skeleton before they sculpted the clay, and I asked why, I didn't know, and they said, well, we have to make a skeleton, an armature. In fact, the wire is called armature wire. We have to make this armature because clay can't support its own weight, and so after a little while, could be a day or two days or sometimes a few hours, it'll collapse upon itself. So you need to make this skeleton, and I thought, oh, that's really interesting. It's something I'd never thought about, and then when I thought about it in terms of story, I realised that a story has an armature. It holds everything up. Everything is built around this armature. It ends up being one of the most important parts, like with the clay, but it's not anything anybody notices, except when it is in there, it's the thing that makes it work, it's the thing that makes it stable, and the armature for a story is your point. What are you trying to say? What's the survival information you're trying to convey? So, some people would call it a theme, it's a mushy word, people don't quite know what it means. So I usually start with armature, then I use theme interchangeably, but I start with armature because it's a visual idea that people can sort of wrap their brain around, where theme is, I think, almost too intellectual. And the way I like to think of it is this, that a story doesn't have a theme. This is what you always, you hear this, stories have a theme, this story has to have a theme. Stories don't have a theme, stories are a theme, stories are a manifestation of the theme. If you are telling the story of King Midas and you're saying some things are more important than gold, then the story is a manifestation of the illustration of that theme. Ula Ojiaku So if a story is a manifestation of a theme and an armature is your point you're trying to make, so what is a theme then? Brian McDonald Well, theme and armature are the same. It's just that theme takes a long time for people to wrap their brains around, it's too intellectual. I think a lot of terms for storytelling and writing and all of that were made up by people who weren't practitioners, but observers, and so their words are often not very helpful. So it's like, well, theme's not a helpful word. I struggled with the idea of theme for a long time, even though I knew what a theme was, I was lucky because of the things that influenced me would always have a strong theme, and so I knew instinctually how to do it. It was a while before I understood what I was doing, and the word theme completely confused me because it was something I thought I had to put in my story, I had to fit it in there, but it's not that way. Ula Ojiaku So if I said a theme is the point you're trying to make, or a theme is the message you're trying to pass across would that be wrong? Brian McDonald You know, the interesting thing about having a point, is that when we talk, we have no problem with the concept, and in fact, when somebody's talking to you, and it's clear they don't have a point, you lose interest fast, you also don't know what to listen for. So one of the things that often comes up is people will talk about I think mood, for instance, is a trick of literature. So, because you can paint pretty pictures with words and you can do these things, I think that's a trick and has nothing to do with storytelling. It's almost a special thing, and so sometimes people will say, well, what about mood, because you're so into story, what about mood? I go, well, here's the thing, nobody talks in real life about mood. So if I say to you, hey Ula, I have something to tell you, a clear blue sky, seagulls in the distance, the sun beating down on me, salt air coming off the ocean. Okay, I'll see you later. You'd be like, I didn't tell you anything, but if I just add one sentence, if I say my trip to Mexico was amazing, clear blue sky, now you know why you're listening. That changes everything. Armature does the same thing. If you know why you're telling the story, it will all fall together in a different way, and people know they're in good hands, they feel it, they won't know why, but they'll understand why they're listening. Ula Ojiaku People in other disciplines have to give presentations and already is an established case that storytelling helps with engaging people, and when you know the point you're trying to pass across, it's a great starting point to know what message you're trying to pass across to the audience. What advice would you give to leaders? What can they bear in mind to about weaving in stories so that it's engaging without losing the message? Brian McDonald I've helped people write speeches and I've had to give speeches on different things that were not necessarily story related. And in fact, when I was at the creative agency I was at, we would often be asked to help people write speeches, and all the writers would follow basically the rules that I laid down about how that should happen, and we could do it really quickly and the CEOs were always amazed at how quickly we could do it, but they usually have a story, they just don't recognise it. Most people don't recognise the stories that they have to tell because they take them for granted, and so often we would pull that out of them and say, that's your thing, but I once heard an interview, this is pre-pandemic. So pre-pandemic, there were a lot of people, who were against vaccines, even then, and I heard this doctor talking on the radio and the doctor said, because people were afraid, they were like, well, wait, if my kid gets the vaccines, gets immunised, this leads to autism, that's what they thought,  and the doctors were like, all the research from all around the world does not bear that out, that's not true. So, and they kept trying to provide data that showed that this wasn't true, and I remember listening to this going, they're not going to win with data because we're not wired for data. The reason those people believe what they believe is because they have a story. I knew somebody this happened to, I heard of a person this happened to. You can only win with another story, you're not going to win with data. So the thing is, you find a story, a human story about whatever you're talking about, because there is one, and when you find it, that's what people will latch on to. We're not wired for all that other stuff, we're not wired for charts and graphs, and that's not the way it works. We're wired for stories and we want to know, hey, how is what you're telling me going to help me, that's what we want to know, and so there is a story there, there always is, they just have to find it. How does this thing connect with me? Steve Jobs was good at this, and I've worked with tech companies making pieces for them, and if they have a product, they often want to give you the stats, like it does it's this, and it does this and it does this and it has this many whatever, but do you remember there was a commercial, at least here I don't know if it was everywhere, but there was a commercial for facetime, and when it first came out, there was a commercial for it and the commercial was just people on the computers, or on their phones, connecting with other people. So there was a guy who obviously was stationed somewhere, a military guy, and he sees his wife and their new baby over the thing, somebody seeing a graduation, I think is one of them, all these things that connected people. Now you got, I've got to have, that because you're giving me emotional information. I don't know anything about technology, so you're not going to impress me with technology, you're going to impress me with how is this going to impact my life for the better. So they told you those little stories, those little vignettes, and it was a powerful commercial. So an armature should be a sentence, so it should be something you can prove or disprove through the story. It has to be a sentence. So a lot of times people go, well, revenge, that's my theme, that's my armature. It's like, it can't be. Revenge is sweet, can be. Revenge harms the avenger, could be. It can't be friendship, friendships are sometimes complicated, friendships are necessary, something like that. So companies can have armatures, they're often looking for their armature. What's interesting is that Nike's armature is if you have a body, you're an athlete, and when you have a strong armature, it tells you what to do. So, if you have a body, you're an athlete, which they sort of contextualised as ‘just do it', but the armature is, so they did an ad with an overweight kid jogging. It's just one shot of him jogging and having a very hard time doing it, but doing it, and that's better than having a star. A lot of times clients used to come to us with the agency and go, we got this star and this song. It's like, yeah, but what are you saying, because it won't matter. That was a very powerful ad, that kid just jogging and just doing it, and you were like, it was more impressive than the most impressive athlete, you had empathy for him, you had admiration. It was amazing, it's an amazing ad, and it's simple, it doesn't cost a lot of money. It doesn't have any special effects. It doesn't have any big stars. What was interesting is that Nike changed ‘just do it' for a while to ‘be like Mike', to be like Michael Jordan, be like Mike. Well, guess what? You can't be like Mike. If you have a body, you're an athlete. I can do that, but I can't be like Mike, so they went back. They had to go back, that went away. If you have a strong armature, it's amazing, what it does is sticking to your armature has a way of making your stuff resonate and be honest in a very specific way and feel polished, and so if somebody is giving a talk and they know their armature. I gave a talk, at the EG conference. I was flattered to be asked because James Cameron had spoken there, Quincy Jones had spoken there, they asked me to be there and they said, well, what do you want to talk about, and I said, well I'm a story person, I want to talk about story. They seemed bored by the whole idea of me talking about story and they said, well, what are you working on? Well, I had just started working on a memoir that's not out yet, but I had just started working on this memoir, and they go, tell us about that, and it was a memoir about my brother's murder, and they said, well we want you to tell us about that, what you're going to talk about in your memoir. So I thought, okay, I didn't want to talk about it really, but I didn't want to pass up this opportunity. It was a high profile talk, there were going to be high profile people in the audience, it was an honour to be asked to do it, so I did it. So when I prepare for a speech, or a lecture or anything, the first thing I do is I try to get into that venue as early as possible when there's no one there, and I walk on and off the stage, over and over again, because one of the things that throws you as a speaker sometimes is not knowing how to get on and off the stage. You might trip, so I just do it a bunch of times so I know how many steps. Then I sit on the stage, I just sit there, because I want it to become my living room, so I just sit there, it could be 20 minutes, just taking it all in. I ask them to turn the lights on the way the lights are going to be on during the talk, because sometimes it throws you when you're like, oh, I can't see anybody, or I can see the first two rows, I'm getting rid of all of those things. Then I go into the audience and I sit in different sections. What can these people see? What can these people see? What can these people see? I do all. So that's the way I prepare, and then I do all the tech stuff. Well, the EG conference didn't really let me do that. I got to go on stage for a couple of minutes, but I really didn't get to spend much time up there. I had my PowerPoint. So I had some slides and I had notes, and they said, okay, this is what time you're going up. I go, I've got to know if this is working, my slides and my notes and they didn't let me do it on stage, we did it backstage and I go, it's going to look like this. Fine, I get out there, the monitor on the stage is different, and I don't have my notes. I don't have my notes. I had seen people at this conference when something went wrong, they would stop their talk, they would go talk to a tech person. It took the air out of the room, it sucked the air out of them. So I was like, I'm not doing that, I'm up here without a net now, I'm just going to do this. Here's what saved me. I knew my proposal and I knew my conclusion, which were the same. All I had to do was prove that proposal. So as I'm up there, I had prepared some things, but I'm essentially making things up, that I know will do the job because I know the armature. Now this is not to brag, this is about how well the technique works. I got an immediate standing ovation. Some of those people, they know what they're looking at, some of those people are pretty big deal people, and so they came up, I'm friends with some of them now, like we've got to hang out, I've got to pick your brain, and I was sort of the celebrity of that thing, and there were people who went to the EG conference every year, and I heard from people that it was either the best speech they'd heard, or in the top five speeches they'd heard at that conference, and some serious people had spoken at that conference before. So, but that was just the technique, it's nothing special about me, I just knew the technique, and everybody can learn it, and when I've taught it to people like a guy I used to work with, Jesse Bryan at the Belief Agency, we helped the CEO write a speech, and he's a shy guy, but we found his armature and we said, this is your armature, this is what you have to do this about, and he did it, and we heard back from people who worked with him. It's the best speech he's ever given, he was comfortable, he knew what he was saying, he knew what he was doing up there and he believed what he was saying, because that's key. It's key to believe what you're saying. So it doesn't matter whether you're writing a story or whatever, it always helps. For instance, a lot of times people will write an email to somebody and in the email, there's like 10 or 15 things to pay attention to, and then when that happens, a lot of things don't get addressed. So if your armature is your subject, and everything is dealing with that, and then if you have more to say, that's another email. This one's just about this, now, all of a sudden, I've told people that, and I know other people I've worked with who've told people that, and all of a sudden, people are responding to their emails differently, things are getting addressed that weren't getting addressed, because they started with their armature. Because there's too much to pay attention to. Is this for me? Is this for somebody else, especially if it's a group email, who's this for? Am I supposed to do this? But if it's one thing, hey, Brian, take care of this thing. Oh, okay.  One thing about point, which is interesting. So I've been teaching this a long time now and I don't usually get new questions, but one day somebody had a question I'd never heard before. So I'm talking about having point, and somebody says, what's a point? And I thought it was pretty self explanatory, but I try to honour the question, and so I answered and I talked about armature, talked about having a point, knowing what you want to say and all of that, and anyway, he got it, but afterwards, I went, what is a point? I have to actually know that. So I looked it up, a point, the definition of a point, one of the definitions is the tapered sharp end of a tool or a weapon, and I'm like, that's exactly what a point is in a story, because you can weaponise. As a matter of fact, I actually don't believe that you can make a tool without also making a weapon. I think that they always go together. When we harness fire, that's a tool, but it's also a weapon. A hammer is a tool that can also be a weapon. Writing is a tool that can also be a weapon. Storytelling is a tool that can also be a weapon. I don't think you can make one without the other. It's just what you decide to do with it. Ula Ojiaku It's like different sides of the same coin, really. Brian McDonald Yeah, the tapered sharp end of a tool or weapon, and that's what a point is. Ula Ojiaku So what led to your updating of the Invisible Ink? Could you tell us a bit about that, please? Brian McDonald Well, it took me six years to get the book published. I wrote it and it took forever to get published, it took a long time. And so, I learned more, and when the book was finally going to get published, I thought, well, I know more now than I did then, when I wrote this book. Do I amend the book? Or do I put it out the way it is? Well, I had been teaching, and that book was essentially what I had been teaching, and I knew it worked for people, and I knew it resonated with people, so I went, well, you know, this is fine. I'll just put this one out and then later I'll know enough new stuff that I can put that in the book, and so that's what I did. I started teaching things that weren't in the book, and there were enough of them that I thought, okay, this is enough new stuff that I can justify a new book, and also I changed some of the language a little bit, there was some gender stuff in Invisible Ink that, as the years went on, rubbed people the wrong way, and I understand that, and so I'm like, let me adjust that. It took me a while to figure out how to adjust it, but once I figured that out, because I wanted to be honest about the things I was observing, but the world moved on and I didn't want to be stuck. Now in another 10 or 20 years, there might be stuff in the book that people go, I can't believe you wrote that, but there's nothing I can do about that, but as long as I'm around to make changes, I'll make those changes. So that was a less of it than really I had more to say and I found ways of being more clear and over the years I've gotten questions, like people didn't know how to build a story using an armature, so I started teaching that more and so that's in the book, and also I talk about first acts more because I think the first act is so important and it's actually getting lost, particularly in Hollywood. I was told by an agent I had not to write a first act, because they want to get right to the action, but the first act in a story, there's a lot of work it's doing, and one of the things it does is it creates a connection between the audience and the protagonist. So the difference is this. If I say there was a terrible car wreck yesterday. Oh, that sounds terrible. Was anybody hurt? Yeah, your best friend was in a terrible car wreck. Ula Ojiaku That changes everything. Brian McDonald Everything. That's what the first act does. Oh, I know this person this is happening to. You eliminate that, you get all the spectacle and all that other stuff, but you don't care. That first act makes people care. So I focused on that a lot, and I talk about how to build a story from that armature, how that helps your first act, and how to build the rest of the story using that armature. So that's why I've changed the subtitle to Building Stories from the Inside Out, because that's more the focus of this book Land of the Dead is my favourite of my books right now, because most of what I teach, in some way or another, used to be taught, a lot of it was common knowledge up till about the 1920s. So all I've done is do a lot of studying and reading and all of that. The Land of the Dead has things in it that I haven't read other places, and I feel like it's my contribution, in a different way, to storytelling. I think I've added some vocabulary to storytelling, broadly speaking and there's one thing in particular in that book, angel characters, I talk about angels, not in a religious sense, but in a story sense and how they operate in stories, and I don't know if anybody's ever talked about it. They may talk about it somewhere, but they don't talk about anything I've read about story, and there's some other things too in The Land of the Dead I think I've added to the vocabulary, so I feel proud of that. I feel like I put my handprint on the cave wall with that book. We'll see, I don't know, people like what they like, I like that book, and The Golden Theme I liked too, but those two, I think those two for me, they're actually in a way, opposite books in a way, that one is about the underworld and the information and the lessons we get from the underworld, but they're both, I think, positive. Some of the reviews with Land of the Dead talk about how it's strangely positive, given what it's about, and I'm proud of that. There's just a lot of things, I'm very proud of that book, and the memoir, which will be out who knows when, it takes a long time, it's graphic, so it's being drawn and that takes a long time, so hopefully it'll be out in another year or so. Ula Ojiaku Looking forward to that. So where can the audience find you if they want to reach out to you? Brian McDonald Well, they can go to my website, writeinvisibleink.com They can do that. They can follow me on Instagram, which is @beemacdee Those are the places where people usually find me and they can write me from the website, and my classes are offered there. So I teach zoom classes. Ula Ojiaku Do you have any final words for the audience? Brian McDonald I would say, to pay attention to the stories around you, pay attention when people talk, if you learn how to do that, you will learn everything you want to know about storytelling, because it's in the natural world. So you'll learn when you're bored, why you're bored, when you're engaged, why you're engaged, and it's hard for people at first, but if they can learn, I say, observe stories in their natural habitat. So, the problem is when people are in a conversation, they're in a conversation and it's hard to observe and be in a conversation, but if you practice it, you can do it, and it's really interesting to hear somebody talk and they'll talk in three acts, they'll have a proposal, they'll have an argument, they'll have a conclusion and you'll hear it, and the reason I think that's important is because until you teach it to yourself, you will think, oh, what did Brian say, or I think Brian's wrong about this, or this is his take. When you observe it yourself, you're teaching it to yourself. You don't have to listen to me at all, teach it to yourself. It'll prove itself to you, and then that comes from a different place when you start using it. You're not following my rules and quotes, and so I think that's really important that people have ownership over it and that they know that it's theirs, and they're not painting by numbers. Ula Ojiaku Thank you, Brian. Pay attention to the stories around you. This has been an amazing conversation and my heart is full, and I want to say thank you so much for the generosity with which you've shared your wisdom, your experience, your knowledge. Thank you. Brian McDonald Thank you. Thanks for having me. Ula Ojiaku My pleasure. That's all we have for now. Thanks for listening. If you liked this show, do subscribe at www.agileinnovationleaders.com or your favourite podcast provider. Also share with friends and do leave a review on iTunes. This would help others find this show. I'd also love to hear from you, so please drop me an email at ula@agileinnovationleaders.com Take care and God bless!     

We preview this week's regular season finale matchup between the Packers and Bears in Green Bay. Starting with an update on the injury report, we get into key matchups and what we expect both teams to do on each side of the football. Later, we make our X-Factors and score predictions!   X: @LombardiLegends Instagram: LombardisLegends Facebook: @LombardisLegends YouTube Channel: @lombardislegends   Intro/Outro Music – Green And The Gold (West Coast Packers Anthem) (feat. Joey G). Played with permission from Young Trav and Joey G - Support them (@youngtrav_951 and @jhussle714 on IG): young-trav   Support our sponsors! @leapspirits: Paying homage to the iconic end zone celebration that was created by a Green Bay legend, Leap Vodka is inspired by the best attributes of the world's finest vodkas. #CelebrateLikeYouScored #TakeTheLeap. Visit https://leapspirits.com/ to find it in a restaurant or retail store near you! 40% alcohol by volume. Distributed by Capitol-Husting Company – Milwaukee, WI & Noelke Distributors – La Crosse, WI. You must be of 21+ or of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly.   @rehablabwisco and @drsam.wagner: Rehab Lab clinics and practitioners work with world-class athletes both in and out of season, as well as patients who simply want to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle. We help athletes get healthy and stay healthy, and assist in taking their skills to the next level! Regardless of the sport, Rehab Lab staff look to provide our athletes an edge over their competition.   We take this same approach with all of our patients. Everyone at the Rehab Lab is treated like world-class athletes because we believe that life is a sport and you deserve the best we have to offer. Whether you do CrossFit or Barre, Running or Golfing, or if you just want to be able to work without pain, we take our proven methods and put them to work for you. Our goal is to get you back to 100% and doing what you love faster than anywhere else in the world.

Want to know how to make $100 a day in 2025, all while working from home? We brought the queen of side hustles, Jackie Mitchell, back on the show to share how her money-making journey has been going. Jackie set a goal to make $100 a day to save up for a down payment. She did just that, making close to $11,000 in total in her one-hundred-day side hustling stretch. Now, she's bought a house, still side hustling, and saving a TON of money. How's she doing it? Jackie reveals the easiest and most profitable side hustles from her $100-a-day challenge. Some side hustles made her $500 for just three hours of work, while other more casual tasks paid her anywhere from twenty to twenty-five dollars per hour while she was hanging out at home. But what has she done with that extra money? Today, Jackie shares the huge money moves she's made to put herself in a FIRE position early on in life. She's got a big goal: pay off her new house in her thirties! Can she do it? With these side hustles, it's looking likely. Plus, she shares how she pays for trips, holiday gifts, and more with her easy work-from-home side hustles anyone can sign up for. In This Episode We Cover The $100-a-day work-from-home side hustles you can do entirely online  One side hustle that paid Jackie over $100 per hour and how she found it The time-consuming side hustle that is NOT worth the money  Paying off your mortgage early vs. investing and why Jackie is going against FIRE advice  Budgeting hacks Jackie and her husband use to spend just eighty dollars a week on groceries (seriously!) Why Jackie DOESN'T want to retire early (but WILL still reach financial independence!)  And So Much More! Links BiggerPockets 299 - Food Spending Eating Away at Your FI Plans? Here's How to Eat for Cheap w/Budget Bytes BiggerPockets Money 590 w/All the Hacks' Chris Hutchins  BiggerPockets Real Estate 955 -  Real Estate vs. Stocks, the Ultimate Wealth-Building Debate w/The Motley Fool and Chris Hutchins Jackie's TikTok Jackie's Newsletter r/beermoney Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-595 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email advertise@biggerpockets.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the “right” way to build your real estate portfolio? Once you've taken down your first rental property, should you focus on paying it off? Or should you buy more properties, even if it means taking on even more debt? You'll want to hear where we stand in today's episode! Welcome back to another Rookie Reply! Today, Tony and Ashley are digging through more of your recent real estate-related questions. First, we'll discuss paying off your mortgage versus using that money to buy more rental properties. After that, we'll compare the pros and cons of FHA loans and show you an easy way to estimate closing costs. We'll also cover some other low-money-down loans that you may have never heard of! Finally, are you struggling to fill vacant units? Tired of apartment tour no-shows? Stay tuned because we've got a strategy that makes “serious” applicants stick! Looking to invest? Need answers? Ask your question here! In This Episode We Cover: Whether you should focus on paying off your mortgage or buying MORE rentals The pros and cons of getting an FHA loan for your rental property The “hidden” closing costs you CAN'T afford to miss (and how to calculate them!) The best ways to put low money down on your next property Finding “serious” applicants for your rentals (and lower vacancy rates!) How to save time by streamlining your rental application process And So Much More! Links from the Show Ashley's BiggerPockets Profile Tony's BiggerPokckets Profile Join BiggerPockets for FREE Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group Real Estate Rookie YouTube Sample Closing Disclosure NACA USDA Eligibility Map Ask Your Question for a Future Rookie Reply Grab “The Book on Rental Property Investing” Find Investor-Friendly Lenders Real Estate Rookie 261 – How Nancy Rodriguez from ‘Love Is Blind' Hit Financial Freedom BEFORE Fame Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-505 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email advertise@biggerpockets.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robach and Holmes cover the latest news headlines and entertainment updates and give perspective on current events in their daily “Morning Run.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Key Takeaways-The way you perceive yourself significantly influences your actions and outcomes.-Your beliefs shape your thoughts, which in turn create feelings that drive your actions. Understanding this chain can help you identify areas where you may need to change your beliefs to achieve desired outcomes.-It's crucial to recognize that you are not your thoughts. By separating your identity from your mind, you can take control of your thinking patterns and make conscious decisions about how you want to feel and act.-The concept of "ruling" your mind involves guiding your thoughts with awareness and agency-Paying attention to how you speak to yourself can reveal your true beliefs about your identity.Join The “Now” Newsletter: https://now.katierichardson.com/newsletterAbout Katie Richardson:Katie, once a girl who just liked to have fun, transformed into a globally recognized designer and entrepreneur. With expertise in woodworking, welding, drawing, and sewing, she crafted her own path. Despite initial doubts and imposter syndrome, Katie defied expectations by establishing Puj, a business that now boasts its products in 2,000 US stores and 26 countries, delighting over 1 million customers worldwide. Her greatest aspiration is to inspire women across the globe. Renowned shows like the Ellen Degeneres Show, Rachael Ray Show, Today Show, and Entrepreneur Magazine have featured her, while influential figures like Martha Stewart, Matt Damon, Camilla Alves, Mario Lopez, Robert Downey Jr., Kourtney Kardashian, Bill & Giuliana Rancic, and Pam Beesley have embraced her products. Today, Katie is a coach, mother of four, wife, author, and powerful speaker.Connect with Katie:Website: https://katierichardson.com/CASE STUDIES: https://now.katierichardson.com/casestudyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-richardson-creatorApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-working-now/id1515291698BuzzSprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1847280Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kV8cL7eTZ70UAXMOtcBbrNewsletter: https://now.katierichardson.com/newsletter

FF: Government expenses & Tax savings  The US government spent $367 billion that it did not have JUST IN NOVEMBER! Paying interest on the $36+ Trillion debt took 62% of our payments that month. Interest is now more than every budget item other than Social Security. And they are still spending more than they have. This is unsustainable & anything that cannot go on forever will not go on forever. www.RealPowerFamily.com Info@ClearSkyTrainer.com 833-Be-Do-Have (833-233-6428)

Want to know the crypto alpha before everyone else? In today's episode of The Milk Road Show, we are joined by Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster. We talk about how Farcaster is becoming the frontier of crypto, where AI agents, token deployments, and groundbreaking experiments are reshaping the landscape. Dan reveals the untapped opportunities on Farcaster, not just for investors, but for anyone looking to capitalize on the future of crypto. We also explore the intriguing relationship between Farcaster and Coinbase's Base, and get Dan's take on Elon Musk, Twitter, and the future of decentralized social media. ~~~~~

This week on Sinica, I welcome back Michael Cerny — formerly of the Carter Center and now a Ph.D. student at Harvard — and Rory Truex of Princeton University to discuss a new working paper they've co-authored. They undertook a large-scale survey of foreign policy professionals at U.S. think tanks to ascertain whether there is a "consensus" on China policy, as is often claimed, and whether people working in think tanks feel pressure to take on more "hawkish" positions on China policy. We also introduce a new segment called "Paying it Forward."5:04 – What motivated Michael and Rory to write their paper together 7:30 – Groupthink vs. consensus10:08 – The methodology: combining surveys and interviews, and the sampling frame 14:35 – Trying to avoid leading questions 17:58 – Creating the “China Confrontation Index” 20:25 – Different levels of acceptance of the labels “hawk” and “dove” 23:33 – The issue of preference falsification 25:43 – Mechanisms behind disparities in perceived pressure 29:01 – Tying in Rory's previous research on self-censorship 32:42 – How Michael and Rory decided on interviews 34:10 – What Michael believes were the most important and robust findings36:09 – The distinction between the beliefs of think tankers vs. elected officials, and why people tend to believe there is a bipartisan consensus on China 40:34 – Pressure on hawks 42:35 – Specific policy questions44:18 – Feedback on the paper so far, and what Michael and Rory may tweak in a subsequent draft 49:47 – The possible role of personality in hawkishness or dovishness 51:58 – Discussing Mike Mazarr's concerns about the potential parallels between current Chinese discourse and the lead-up to the Iraq War 55:06 – Advice to younger professionals entering the foreign policy/China field New segment: Paying It Forward:Rory: Michael Cerny and Edi Obiakpani-Reid Recommendations:Rory: Edi Obiakpani-Reid's Sinobabble podcast about Chinese historyMichael: Jeffrey Ding's Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic CompetitionKaiser: Imperium by Robert Harris See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In our first episode of the new year: 0:33 Retirement Income Strategies 2:53 Navigating Social Security Decisions 5:43 Understanding Withdrawal Strategies 12:13 The Importance of Flexibility 14:46 Seeking Professional Guidance 19:36 The Power of Lump Sum Payments 22:49 Control Over Your Money 25:00 Evaluating Investment Options 32:13 Considering Annuities 37:12 Building a Sustainable Portfolio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this compelling episode of Money Talk with Tiff, Tiffany Grant sits down with financial expert Hurley Fox to discuss the weighty topic of financial stress among business owners. With the current economic climate, small business owners are under increasing financial pressure, making this conversation particularly timely. Hurley and Tiffany delve into defining financial stress, identifying its signs, and actionable strategies to alleviate it. From understanding the importance of clean data to building a reliable financial team, Hurley offers invaluable insights applicable to both personal and business finances. Tune in for practical advice and learn how to make your finances work for you, not against you.Check out the full show notes: https://moneytalkwitht.com/podcast-show-notes/financial-stress-for-owners/Takeaways Financial stress can manifest in various ways, such as sleepless nights and constant anxiety. Understanding your financial situation and documenting it can significantly alleviate stress levels. It's crucial for business owners to have a strong financial team for support. Personal financial health directly impacts business performance, so they should be aligned. Paying yourself first ensures personal financial needs are met and reduces stress. Knowledge of accounting basics empowers business owners to make informed decisions. Resources MentionedHurley Fox on LinkedInFox and Partners Official Website: foxandpartners.comConnect with TiffanyWebsite: Money Talk with TiffSocial Media: @MoneyTalkWithTSupport this PodcastCopyright 2025 Tiffany Grant

In today's episode of The Milk Road Show, we sit down with Dan Romero, one of Coinbase's first employees and now co-founder of Farcaster, a decentralized social network. Dan shares insider stories from Coinbase's early days, lessons from past crypto cycles, and his predictions for the future of blockchain tech. ~~~~~

We go through the top 5 product-market fit lessons I've learned from speaking to well over 100+ founders on this show over the last 3 years.These are the top 5 things you should keep top of mind going into 2025.Why you should listen:Small teams outperform larger ones in early stages.Paying employees well is needed to build A+ teams.Go all-in on fundraising to do it faster. Mind your burn rate to maintain flexibility.Creating undeniable value is essential for growth.Keywordsproduct market fit, startup strategies, fundraising, small teams, value creation, entrepreneurship, founder insights, business growth, early stage startups, team dynamicsSend me a message to let me know what you think!