Podcasts about practical guide

Reject the surveillance state. Trash your Alexa. Drown your ring camera. Reject all unnecessary permissions. Turn off any added access where possible. Stop using google for everyday searches. Poison the "AI" well with false information. Stop relying on algorithms so much.THE SOURCES:https://caitcamelia.substack.com/p/disobey-or-diehttps://caitcamelia.substack.com/p/violence-might-be-the-answerhttps://caitcamelia.substack.com/p/a-short-guide-to-practicing-disobedienceBDS movement.organize clothing swaps with your friends.Empower over uberAnnas Archive.DSA READING PARTNERS Read Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Read Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOKSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9/16/26Episode SummaryAnswer Engine Optimization is how your products get recommended when a shopper asks ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini what to buy. Two of my clients are now getting about 7% of their sales from AI, so this is a real channel, even though it's still under 1% of retail traffic overall.In this episode I walk through the two halves of AEO work: on-site, which is the structured data and content that controls how AI understands your products, and off-site, which is the third-party citations that determine whether AI actually recommends you. Then I show three client stores live across all three AI engines. All three got identical on-site work through Datify. Mulberry Park Silks and ReptiChip rank at the top. Healing Home Foods doesn't appear at all. The difference is entirely off-site.Also covered:Why AEO is not SEO, and why unlinked mentions matter more than backlinksWhat's happening to Reddit, and why you shouldn't build your strategy on itThe citation tactics that are actually reachable for a small brand with no PR budgetA five-query test you can run this week to score where your store standsShow LinksEpisode 182 - A Practical Guide to Shopify's Agentic Storefronts - https://jadepuma.com/blogs/the-shopify-solutions-podcast/episode-182-a-practical-guide-to-shopify-s-agentic-storefrontsEpisode 183 - How to Use the Shopify Knowledge Base App for Agentic Commerce - https://jadepuma.com/blogs/the-shopify-solutions-podcast/episode-183-how-to-use-the-shopify-knowledge-base-app-for-agentic-commerceMulberry Park Silks - https://mulberryparksilks.com/Citation - https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-personal-shopper/article/the-best-silk-sheets/Citation - https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/g28686955/best-silk-sheets/Citation - https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/sleep/best-silk-sheetsReptichip - https://reptichip.com/Citation - https://reptifiles.com/ball-python-care-guide/ball-python-substrate/Citation - https://www.smallpetexpert.com/reptiles/best-ball-python-substrate/Citation - https://peteducate.com/best-substrate-for-ball-pythons/Healing Home Foods - https://healinghomefoods.com/collections/raw-crackers/products/pizza-thinsDatify - https://apps.shopify.com/datifyVideo & Transcripthttps://jadepuma.com/blogs/the-shopify-solutions-podcast/episode-194-aeo-for-shopify-stores

Susan Nefzger is an author and Focus & Self-Awareness Coach for executives and writers who has spent decades asking one question: why is it so hard for us to truly know ourselves? Her search began in the 1980s with Dr. Brian Weiss's Many Lives, Many Masters and deepened through the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, all while she built a 30-year career in public relations, including helping launch the Georgia Lottery. In 2015, a writing retreat at Glastonbury Abbey in England sparked her first book, and she's been writing ever since. Her newest book, A Practical Guide to Love & Relationships, invites readers to examine the patterns we inherited before we were old enough to choose them, and to build honest, deep, and conscious connections. A Practical Guide to Love & Relationships by Susan Nefzger: BookshopAmazon.caAmazon.comTo work with Mariah 1-1 as a health, fitness, and mindset client, apply here: ⁠https://becomingher.vip/application

Want to learn more? Check out these related blog posts from James:Is Microsoft Fabric Right for You? A Practical Guide for Power BI Customers | BowdarkUnused Data Is Killing Your Business Performance | Bowdark

In this enlightening episode, spiritual leader John Paledino leads us through a deep exploration of faith, the power of God, and the ways we can overcome fear with God's word. The episode opens with a prayer, framing the subsequent discussion around the themes of spiritual growth, faith, and the confronting of fear in daily life. Through scriptural references and personal anecdotes, Paledino provides an insightful analysis into maintaining faith and drawing strength from God's promises.The crux of the episode focuses on practical ways to challenge fear and anxiety by leveraging spiritual principles rooted in biblical texts such as Ephesians, Isaiah, and Samuel, while contrasting elements of fear with acts of faith. John highlights how fear is a spirit that diminishes our lives and how faith empowers us to overcome such negative influences. This session promises a refreshing take on a life centered on spiritual firmness and understanding, guiding the listener toward a path of peace and fulfillment through divine strength.Key Takeaways:Understanding God's Nature: John emphasizes that God is a constant source of strength, peace, and provision who never leaves us.Fear vs. Faith: Fear is described as a destructive spirit that needs a platform to thrive; conversely, faith drives out fear when anchored in divine love.Scriptural Foundations: Key biblical references illustrate the concepts of perfect peace and strength, encouraging believers to focus on God's word.Practical Guide to Overcoming Fear: The episode outlines steps through which listeners can refuse fear, trust God's promises, and meditate on scripture.The Role of Faith in Daily Life: Faith, grounded in scriptural knowledge and love, is essential for living a life free from fear and anxiety.Notable Quotes:"Fear is a spirit. And I think sometimes we don't recognize that fear is a spirit.""Let the weak say I'm strong, let the poor say I'm rich.""Looking unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.""Faith rests in God's promises. Faith rests in God's faithfulness.""Whose report will you believe? All the promises are yes, and amen."Resources:Scriptural References: Ephesians 6, Isaiah 26 and 40, 1 John 4, 2 Corinthians 10, Philippians 4:8, Hebrews 12:2For more teachings and insights, follow John Paledino's ministry on their official website or visit their social media platforms for upcoming events and sermons.Discover more about spiritual strength and confronting fear with faith by tuning into the full episode. Stay connected for further enriching discussions and spiritual teachings that will empower your journey for growth and wisdom.

In this episode of the HVAC Know It All Podcast, host Gary McCreadie is joined by Eric Ruggles, Director of Engineering at Ritchie Engineering Co., Inc. (YELLOW JACKET), to discuss charging A3 hydrocarbon refrigerants, including R290 and R600A. They compare A3 and A2L flammability, cover ventilation and system purging, and explain safe pinch-off, charging, and leak-checking practices for hydrocarbon equipment. Ruggles brings YellowJacket's product perspective to the discussion of its hydrocarbon charging kit, including the scale, bottle stand, puncture valves, hoses, and pinch-off tool. His guidance connects the kit's features, bottle compatibility, and O-ring setup to the practical steps technicians use when servicing A3 systems.   Key Takeaways How ventilation reduces the flammability risk when working with A2L refrigerants in open or well-ventilated areas. Why A3 refrigerants require a full purge and attention to where discharged gas can collect before a torch is lit. How residual R290 can create a flame at a leak point during brazing if refrigerant remains in the system. The importance of keeping a pinch-off tool clamped on the copper until the brazed joint has cooled. How to leak-check the pinched section before brazing to confirm refrigerant is not escaping. Why removing one O-ring from the bottle valve may be necessary for compatibility with certain refrigerant cylinders.   Noteworthy Quotes "When it comes to A2Ls, ventilation is key." – Eric Ruggles "Recovering is difficult with A3s, just with the flammability concerns and then compressing it back into small canisters." – Eric Ruggles "As soon as you take the tool off, the copper's able to relax and then you can open up." – Eric Ruggles "It should work with every bottle out there." – Eric Ruggles   Episode Highlights: [00:00] - Sponsor Ad: Factory Direct Filters      [00:42] - Introduction to Eric Ruggles & the Focus of the Episode   [03:01] - Difference between A3 Refrigerants and A2Ls [04:22] - How Flammable Is R290 When Working on a Leaking System?  [05:05] - Importance of Fully Purging Residual Refrigerant Before Brazing  [07:58] - Reason Behind Some A3 Systems Now Using Service Ports [10:22] - What's Included in the Yellow Jacket Hydrocarbon Charging Kit?  [13:08] - How Does the New Scale's Auto-Off Feature Work?  [13:48] - The Type Of O-Ring Required for an R290 Refrigerant Cylinder   This Episode is Kindly Sponsored by: Cintas: https://www.cintas.com/hvacknowitall Cool Air Products: https://www.coolairproducts.net/ Factory Direct Filters: https://www.factorydirectfilters.com/ SupplyHouse: https://www.supplyhouse.com/tm Use promo code HKIA5 to get 5% off your first order at Supplyhouse!   Follow the Guest Eric Ruggles and His Company on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-ruggles-28a84424/ Company LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritchie-engineering-co-yellow-jacket-/ Company Website: https://yellowjacket.com/   Follow the Host on: LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-mccreadie-38217a77/ LinkedIn - HVAC Know It All: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hvac-know-it-all-inc Website: https://www.hvacknowitall.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/HVAC-Know-It-All-2/61569643061429/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hvacknowitall1/    Follow the Podcast on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HVACKnowItAll Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LCBJGw0EHG03rdWHxUMce Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hvac-know-it-all-podcast/id1359253455 

In this episode I am once again joined by Leigh Brasington, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of “Right Concentration, A Practical Guide to the Jhanas”. Leigh discusses his new book “Love, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity: The Brahma Viharas – Suttas, Stories, Practices, Hidden Gems” in which he delves into the Pali canon of Buddhist scripture to shed new light on how to understand and practice these potent meditations. Leigh gives detailed descriptions of each of the four brahma viharas. He draws from his decades of teaching experience, as well as scriptural and commentarial literature, to offer his best advice for how to utilise these methods in meditation practice. Leigh reveals how far the brahma viharas can take you towards enlightenment, reflects on the trivialisation of love in today's culture, and I challenge Leigh to retire what I describe as a tired cliché of Western Buddhist pedagogy. … Episode link in bio. Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Why Leigh wrote the book 05:50 - How far towards enlightenment can brahma vihara practice take you? 08:54 - Entering the jhanas with the brahma vhiaras 11:48 - Defining “brahma vihara” 13:41 - Paucity of sutta evidence to link the four attitudes with the term “brahma vihara” 14:12 - The Buddha did not invent the brahma viharas 16:43 - Using phrases is a much later development 18:14 - The pervading practice 19:51 - Ayya Khema's metta practice method 22:32 - Steve's brahma vihara story 25:46 - Real or fake? 28:19 - Brahma vihara as antidote practice 32:25 - Steve challenges Leigh on mudita claims 37:17 - Suttas do not teach mudita as appreciative joy 37:44 - Leigh's disappointment in the English language 39:25 - How to practice appreciative joy 40:43 - Can we retire the cliche? 42:30 - Does the West lack the concept of appreciative joy? 44:13 - Metta, unconditional love 47:27 - Problems with “unconditional love” 47:54 - Trivialisation of love 50:34 - Attachment vs love 53:07 - How to practice metta in daily life 56:43 - How metta reduces personal suffering 59:17 - Less thinking, more loving 01:03:25 - Late night reading and being a night owl 01:04:15 - Karuna, compassion and kindness 01:07:42 - Compassion is active 01:10:40 - Do gooders and dumb compassion 01:14:52 - Compassion burnout 01:20:01 - Does compassion need results? 01:21:16 - Ambiguity of sickness 01:22:56 - Upekkha, equanimity 01:25:28 - Leigh's stories of equanimity 01:32:54 - Equanimity vs apathy 01:36:14 - States, traits, and the equanimity range 01:39:12 - Antidote to freak out 01:43:32 - Bias and practicing equanimity with political enemies 01:45:47 - Exchanging self and other and reducing self clinging 01:49:10 - Will brahma vihara lead you to enlightenment? 01:54:17 - Leigh's mahasiddha story 01:55:49 - The beauty of the metta sutta 01:57:40 - Leigh reads the metta sutta … Previous episodes with Leigh Brasington: - https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=brasington To find our more about Leigh Brasington visit: - http://www.leighb.com/ For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

Most entrepreneurs think we are destined to live a life of stress, burnout, and a busy calendar. Today, we're proving that wrong and revealing how your business can give you the emotional, financial, and spiritual freedom you've always dreamed of.  In this episode, Natalie Ellis and Lori Harder are joined by a panel of prolific female entrepreneurs to talk about how they overcame intense burnout and found purpose, fulfillment, and freedom in their businesses. They break down how to balance seasons of growth with emotional hardships, how breathwork and intentional presence can make waves in your business, and why authenticity matters to both you and your audience.  In this episode, the panel will discuss: (01:28) The Power of Authenticity in Podcasting (06:11) Building Non-Negotiable Social Media Habits (09:21) The IG Account That Got 800K Followers After Three Videos (13:13) Running a Business From Intuition Over Strategy (20:48) Finding Wisdom in Your Deepest Wounds (25:30) When Living Your Dreams Leaves You Lonely (30:20) How Breathwork Reveals What You Need to Find Fulfillment (34:52) How Entrepreneurs Can Balance Massive Growth With Personal Instability (38:40) Advice for High-Performing Women Struggling With Vulnerability (45:58) A Practical Guide to Abandoning Labels that No Longer Serve You (57:03) Why Not Following Your Purpose Hurts the People You Love Sponsored By:  Fora Travel - Visit ⁠https://www.foratravel.com/bossbabe⁠ to learn how to turn your love of trip planning into a business. Resources Mentioned: Instagram: The Kumar Method Lori Harder's Podcast, Earn Your Happy  Sacred Woman by Queen Afua Powerhouse Women with Lindsey Schwartz The CHBT Method in Wellbeing Rituals: Science-Backed Practices for Sustainable Healing and Living by Michael B. Beckwith and Koya Webb  Get Loved Up Embodied Leadership Academy with Koya Webb Connect with Natalie:  Instagram LinkedIn Website YouTube Natalie's Book, The Freedom-Based Business Method

Get ready for WCLC 2026 in Seoul with Lung Cancer Considered hosts Dr. Stephen Liu and Dr. Narjust Florez. From preparing for the flight and beating jet lag to navigating COEX, networking, exploring Seoul's food scene, and making the most of the meeting, they share practical tips to help attendees arrive prepared and enjoy the full WCLC experience.

Most companies spend September and October planning for 2027, but they skip the part that actually matters: figuring out how their teams will execute on it. That's why we're revisiting this episode with Dr. Chuck Bamford, who walks through how to align strategy from the boardroom all the way down to compensation plans, daily activities, and the conversations your reps have with customers. He covers what separates strategy that gets executed from strategy that sits on a shelf, and why most execution failures have nothing to do with the strategy itself. If you're mapping out your revenue goals for next year, this episode is a must-listen before you finalize your plan. Dr. Chuck Bamford is the Managing Partner at Bamford Associates and an adjunct professor of strategy at both Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. He's worked with more than 170 organizations to design and implement strategy that actually drives behavior, and he's the author of many books, including The Strategy Mindset 2.0. Connect with Chuck: LinkedIn Website Resources mentioned: The Strategy Mindset 2.0: A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of Strategy Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 – What it really takes to build strategy that doesn't fall apart the moment it hits the sales floor. 05:01 – Why most CROs treat strategy like a one-time event instead of the ongoing discipline it needs to be. 16:02 – What leaders often overlook when converting corporate KPIs into the specific daily activities their people actually execute. 18:40 – The mistake many CROs make when compensation plans quietly undermine everything their strategy is designed to accomplish. 54:43 – Why narrowing your competitive set to 3-5 competitors dramatically changes how your teams sell. 01:00:52 – A look inside how differentiation dies in strategy decks but comes alive in the three-foot conversation between your rep and a customer. Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management

What separates the aspiring entrepreneur who keeps thinking about starting an online business from the entrepreneur who finally begins?Napoleon Hill called desire “the starting point of all achievement.”In this episode from our Secret Knowledge Revealed series, we explore Hill's famous concept of desire from his best-selling book Think and Grow Rich and applies the teachings to today's aspiring entrepreneur.If you've spent months or years saying you want to start an online business, this episode challenges you to determine whether you're merely wishing for a different life—or whether you desire it enough to change your behavior.Discover how to turn desire into a specific financial objective, define the value you'll provide in exchange, set a deadline, create a plan and begin taking action before you feel completely ready.Because wanting an online business isn't enough.The question is: What are you prepared to do to create it?To have an enjoyable life  in our global, advanced tech society, create value.  To have the business, career, finances and lifestyle you desire, follow a proven path that has delivered in good times and bad.  The path of entrepreneurship. And online entrepreneurship is the fast track for aspiring entrepreneurs.Learn the skills, access the resources and be inspired to live the life of your dreams right here on the Ready Entrepreneur podcastTo find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

How long should you actually steep tea?One minute? Three minutes? Five? And why does a green tea sometimes need only a short infusion while an herbal tea may steep for ten minutes or longer?In this episode of TeaMinded, we take the confusion out of tea steeping with a practical guide to green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong, and herbal tea.You'll learn why steeping time matters, how extraction works, and how small adjustments in time can dramatically change the flavor of your cup.In this episode:• How steeping extracts flavor from tea leaves• Why there is no single perfect steeping time• How long to steep green tea• How long to steep black tea• How long to steep white tea• How long to steep oolong tea• How long to steep herbal tea• Why water temperature changes extraction• How leaf size affects steeping time• Why more tea leaves can sometimes mean shorter infusions• How and why to steep loose leaf tea multiple times• What happens when you over-steep tea• How to fix tea that tastes too weak• A simple experiment for finding your preferred steeping timeAs a general starting point:Green tea: 1–3 minutesBlack tea: 3–5 minutesWhite tea: 3–5 minutesOolong: 2–5 minutes, or shorter repeated infusionsHerbal tea: 5–10 minutesBut these aren't rules.The tea, water temperature, amount of leaf, brewing method, and your own preferences all matter.Start with the guidelines.Then taste.Adjust.And taste again.Because sometimes the difference between a good cup of tea and a remarkable one is only thirty seconds.TeaMinded explores tea culture, loose leaf tea, Japanese tea, craftsmanship, brewing, tea rituals, mindfulness, slow living, and intentional living through the lens of tea.Put the kettle on, give the leaves the time they need, and stay TeaMinded.#TeaMinded #LooseLeafTea #TeaBrewing #TeaTips #GreenTea #BlackTea #OolongTea #TeaPodcast

Ray Madoff (The Second Estate, Immortality and the Law, Practical Guide to Estate Planning) is a Boston College law professor, author, and tax-policy expert. Ray joins Armchair Expert to discuss being a proudly mediocre high school student, reluctantly trading philosophy for law school, and becoming a terrible Wall Street tax lawyer who loved teaching. Ray and Dax talk about America's return to a pre-revolutionary aristocracy, how “salaries are for suckers” among the ultrawealthy, and why $50 trillion in wealth yielded only $28 billion in estate tax. Ray explains why high earners and wealth holders aren't the same, how fair taxation could rescue capitalism, and why the problem is the system and not billionaires themselves.Thank you to our presenting partner Lilly. Lilly's Foundayo™(orforglipron). Advertisement Disclaimer: Please see Indications and Safety Summary with Warnings for Foundayo™(orforglipron) at https://www.foundayo.lilly.com/risk Start your 2 month free trial today: https://youtube.com/premium . Terms Apply. Cancel Anytime.Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://www.allstate.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"It's really that investment to transition from a legacy industry into a future industry…that is aiming to drive more sustainability and manufacturing processes and products overall…One of the things that we fundamentally see as being important in this economic shift, and we say it in this Practical Guide to the Green Economy, is that this transition we believe will favor places that make things.… and we want to make them better and more sustainable." Bethia Burke on Electric Ladies Podcast As communities seek economic growth and manufacturing jobs, a recent study found that manufacturing jobs related to clean energy and using environmentally-friendly practices are helping drive economic growth. What exactly are so called "green jobs," where are they really making a difference? Listen to Bethia Burke, President, The Fund For Our Economic Future, share the findings of their study - and lessons for other communities - in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson, which first aired last year. They also share insightful career advice. You'll hear about: What their study found about "green jobs" and local economies, including job (re)training. What lessons other communities can take from Ohio's experience – including in their Practical Guide to the Green Economy. Why manufacturing based on sustainable business attracts more workers, enhances communities and helps people stay where they are. How the Infrastructure Investment Act, Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act have been huge boosts to Ohio – and how other communities can tap them too. Plus, insightful career advice, such as… "Often we put women in these do-gooder roles, and, these socially beneficial roles, and they take significantly lower salaries because part of what they want to achieve is service and positive societal benefits forward.…(but) ask for a higher salary, even if it is in a social service oriented sector.… I think any woman in any job, whatever she is trying to achieve…take whatever you think your level is, and add at least 20% because you're definitely underselling yourself." Betha Burke on Electric Ladies Podcast Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers.. Read Joan's Forbes articles here. You'll also like: 6 Ways Sustainability Can Help Businesses Navigate Tough Times - with Workiva and KPMG experts. Women's Trillions Drive New Economic Values - with LGT Private Bank advisor Silvia Bastante de Unverhau How Michigan Leveraged the Inflation Reduction Act incentives for Record Economic Growth - with Michigan Chief Growth Officer, Hilary Doe How Energy Policy Can Drive Economic Growth - with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus Nuclear Energy As A Growth Sector - with President of the Nuclear Energy Institute, Maria Korsnick, a nuclear engineer who also ran a reactor. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers.. Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review! Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Show Notes  How to Use AI Without the Internet Turning on You | Laine White of Uptick Marketing AI can save your small business a lot of time. It can also get you dragged into your own comment section. This week Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Laine White, Head of Client Strategy at Uptick Marketing, to figure out where the line actually is. Laine uses AI every day, and she still has real ethical concerns about it, which is exactly why she is the right person to ask. Her rule is simple: use AI to plan, strategize, organize, and analyze. If you are using it to make the content people actually see, either make sure nobody can tell, or be ready for the fallout. We get into why people come for small businesses harder than they come for big corporations, how one angry comment thread turns into a Reddit thread and then into what your neighbor thinks about your business, and what 'burstiness' has to do with why AI captions read as bland. Laine breaks down what captions actually need on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok, why she does not want you generating images at all right now, how a brand kit makes AI design look less like AI, and why ChatGPT keeps quietly editing your photos and giving you away. She also answers the question every business owner is afraid to ask: you already posted the AI thing, people are mad, now what? Laine walks through what to say, what not to say, and why saying nothing is the worst option you have.   _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode Uptick Marketing Infomedia Uncle G's Pizza Uncle G's Pizza on Instagram Saturn Birmingham Cala Coffee Cember Studio Hattie O'Hara on Instagram The Localist episode with Hattie O'Hara Laine's first Localist episode: A Practical Guide to Influencer Marketing DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo The Birmingham subreddit   Connect with Laine White Laine White is Head of Client Strategy at Uptick Marketing, the sister company of Infomedia. She works with small businesses on social media, websites, and strategy, and she has a psychology background that shows up in how she thinks about reputation and word of mouth.  Uptick Marketing Laine on Instagram   Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. Contact Infomedia   Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. Sign up here  

Today's podcast features an interview with Alycia Bayne, Associate Director for Public Health Research at the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. She shares highlights from a resource she recently helped to develop, Practical Guide to Supporting Innovation in Rural Health, published on RHIhub's website. The transcript and a list of resources and organizations mentioned in the episode can be found at: https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/podcast/innovation-guide-sep-2026 Exploring Rural Health is an RHIhub podcast.

What if you want to build an online business but have no obvious idea, no startup capital, no audience, and no influential connections?In this episode, Case explains how aspiring entrepreneurs can begin with the resources already available to them.Discover how to uncover business ideas inside problems you have solved, skills you take for granted, and frustrations customers repeatedly express. Learn how to calculate the true minimum cost of testing an offer, redirect existing resources, use early sales to finance growth, and avoid spending money merely to look established.You do not need investors, influential friends, or thousands of followers to begin. You need one specific customer, one meaningful problem, one useful offer, and the willingness to introduce it to the market.To have an enjoyable life  in our global, advanced tech society, create value.  To have the business, career, finances and lifestyle you desire, follow a proven path that has delivered in good times and bad.  The path of entrepreneurship. And online entrepreneurship is the fast track for aspiring entrepreneurs.Learn the skills, access the resources and be inspired to live the life of your dreams right here on the Ready Entrepreneur podcastTo find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of he Less Stressed Life, I'm joined again by my associate registered dietitian, Jenna De Kok, to continue our conversation about CIRS and mold, this time focusing on the health of your home.After navigating multiple mold exposures herself, Jenna has learned firsthand how overwhelming the environmental side of healing can feel. We talk about what she wishes she had known earlier, including proper mold removal, small particle cleaning, HVAC maintenance, humidity, and when an Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) may be helpful. We also discuss practical ways to support a healthier home without feeling like you have to figure everything out overnight.KEY TAKEAWAYS:

While Jan vacated his desk and took some weeks off in the summer, Nick has been busy working on paper revisions. Time to figure out how to handle the review and process. When is it okay to approach editors about a paper under review? Should you write the response before or after you revised the paper? When can you push back against a reviewer suggestion? Do you always have to get new data if reviewers ask you? How about contacting the editor in between review rounds to approve your approach? Tune in to find out. References Pang, M.-S., & Thatcher, J. B. (2023). A Practical Guide for Successful Revisions and Engagements with Reviewers. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 24(2), 317–327. Lindberg, A., Schecter, A., Berente, N., Hennel, P., & Lyytinen, K. (2024). The Entrainment of Task Allocation and Release Cycles in Open Source Software Development. MIS Quarterly, 48(1), 67–94. Greenwood, B. N., Agarwal, R., Agarwal, R., & Gopal, A. (2019). The Role of Individual and Organizational Expertise in the Adoption of New Practices. Organization Science, 30(1), 191–213. Berente, N., Seidel, S., & Safadi, H. (2019). Data-Driven Computationally-Intensive Theory Development. Information Systems Research, 30(1), 50–64. Gaskin, J., Berente, N., Lyytinen, K., & Yoo, Y. (2014). Toward Generalizable Sociomaterial Inquiry: A Computational Approach for Zooming In and Out of Sociomaterial Routines. MIS Quarterly, 38(3), 849–871. Sting, F. J., Tarakci, M., & Recker, J. (2024). Performance Implications of Digital Disruption in Strategic Competition. MIS Quarterly, 48(3), 1263–1278. Berente, N., Hansen, S., Rosenkranz, C., & Tumbas, S. (2026). Translating Agile Development in Different Institutional Contexts: Dynamism, Pluralism, and Ratcheting over Time. Information Systems Research, https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2021.0352. Seidel, S., Frick, C. J., & vom Brocke, J. (2025). Regulating Emerging Technologies: Prospective Sensemaking through Abstraction and Elaboration. MIS Quarterly, 49(1), 179–204.

️ Grab the FREE INFP Personality Type Tutorial → https://geekpsychology.com/infp▶️ Join a community of INFPs. Check out Evolve → http://evolve.geekpsychology.comHow INFPs Can Stop Replaying Past MistakesStop replaying past mistakes by understanding your INFP personality mental space. Learn to process intrusive thoughts and move forward.Many in the INFP personality community struggle with rumination, often getting stuck replaying past mistakes on a loop. This video explains why your mind categorizes these memories and how to adjust your mental space to stop overthinking. If you feel trapped by yesterday's errors, this breakdown offers a clear perspective on how to shift your focus.I gathered questions from 206 people within the community to address this common pattern of INFP rumination. By learning how your mind constructs these internal representations, you can gain better control over your thoughts. We look at the mechanics of personality psychology to help you break the cycle of negative reflection.Subscribe for weekly INFP personality breakdowns, and comment below if you want me to cover a specific struggle you are facing.Get vidIQ to grow your channel faster! https://vidiq.com/geekpsychology

How long have you been preparing to start an online business?You have researched the business models, saved the advice, tested the tools, planned the brand and imagined the freedom. But if you are being completely honest, what have you done to expose your idea to a real customer?In this episode, Case examines the respectable-looking forms of avoidance that keep aspiring entrepreneurs trapped in preparation: searching for the perfect idea, consuming endless information, changing direction, waiting for confidence, perfecting the brand and treating early setbacks as final verdicts.But this reflection is not about moving too slowly or ignoring legitimate constraints. It is about recognizing when preparation has become protection—and replacing it with a practical action. You do not have to build your entire online business this week. But if you want the life of your dreams, you do have to do something that gives your business idea an opportunity to become real.To have an enjoyable life  in our global, advanced tech society, create value.  To have the business, career, finances and lifestyle you desire, follow a proven path that has delivered in good times and bad.  The path of entrepreneurship. And online entrepreneurship is the fast track for aspiring entrepreneurs.Learn the skills, access the resources and be inspired to live the life of your dreams right here on the Ready Entrepreneur podcastTo find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

Dr. Danny Huerta and Rebecca St. James host part two with Billy Hutchinson, director of Colson Educators at the Colson Center on equipping parents to foster a biblical Christian worldview amid cultural pressures. They discuss, building relational “capital,” treating people as image-bearers, and parenting with an authoritative style. Practical take-a-ways include encouraging a safe space for questions about God, serving others, and meaningful liturgies like prayer and blessings.A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's WorldEquipping Parents for Back To School DownloadA Student's Guide To CultureBuilt For Resilience WebinarAsk Us Your Question via Voicemail or EmailParenting Style QuizSpeak To A CounselorShop our podcast store

Send us Fan MailPFAS doesn't care how experienced you are, how tough you are, or how “clean” the air looks. These forever chemicals are engineered to resist heat, water, and breakdown, which is exactly why they can linger in a responder's bloodstream for years and quietly build across a 20 to 30-year career. Kevin Ferrara lays out the science without the academic fog and connects it directly to what firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs face on real calls.We walk through the four exposure pathways that matter most for emergency services: legacy AFFF foam, turnout gear and its layered materials, PFAS-containing byproducts of combustion from modern fires, and the station and apparatus environment where contaminated dust spreads through living quarters and cab spaces. We also tackle a dangerous myth head-on: the absence of visible smoke doesn't equal safe air, especially during salvage and overhaul when contaminants can still be present and PFAS is odorless, colorless, and tasteless.Then we move from awareness to action with a clear operational framework based on the hierarchy of controls: eliminate and substitute fluorinated foam with fluorine-free alternatives, create clean cab and clean station boundaries, reduce cross-contamination in EMS operations, and enforce practical hygiene steps like on-scene gross decon, shower-within-an-hour policies, and safe laundering that keeps contaminants out of homes. We also explain why PFAS blood testing and biological surveillance can provide baselines, prove whether SOPs are working over time, and trigger earlier screening for kidney, thyroid, and cardiovascular issues.If you want a department-ready PFAS exposure reduction playbook, press play, share this with your crew, and subscribe so you don't miss what comes next. After you listen, will you bring one specific policy change to your next safety meeting and tell us which one? The Energy DrinkFounded by Firefighters. Fuel for Everyone Support the showContact AFSO21's Weekend Wrap-up Podcast - Email us at podcast@afso21.comAs always, keep supporting your local fire and emergency services, stay safe, and keep on listening!

Join me in the meadow today for an episode all about seasonal living! In this episode I share how to live in tune with the seasons from what we eat, to what we read, and how we approach and engage with the calendar year. If you're also yearning to slow down and live a more intentional life, this ones for you. So brew yourself a cozy cup of tea and let's dive on in!

Thinking about incorporating your business? You are not alone. It is one of the most common questions I get from entrepreneurs, professionals, and business owners.In this episode, I break down the key differences between operating as a sole proprietor and running your business through a corporation. I discuss the tax concept of integration, when incorporation can create tax deferral opportunities, and some of the practical considerations that often get overlooked, including bookkeeping, banking, legal documentation, professional advisors, and the ongoing costs of maintaining a corporate structure.Whether you're just starting a business or wondering if you have reached the point where incorporation makes sense, this episode will help you understand the questions you should be asking before taking the leap!RELATED EPISODES:Season 2, Episode 7, "Should I incorporate? A candid conversation with business owner, Erin Romeo, about her journey to incorporation"Season 2, Episode 8, "Incorporation 101 - tackling some of the myths surrounding incorporation, with special guest Phil Guenther"Season 4, Episode 5, "Copyrights and Trademarks - a "tax adjacent" episode with special guest, Luanne Schlosser of Lunova Law"HERE ARE SOME OTHER WAYS TO CONNECT WITH ME:My website! Email: thetaxchickpodcast@gmail.com@tax.chick (IG) LinkedInBe a "Tax Chick VIP"

Where did the personal-development movement begin—and why have ideas about thought, character, purpose and achievement remained influential for centuries?In this episode, Case traces the movement from ancient philosophy and Benjamin Franklin's system of self-improvement through Samuel Smiles, New Thought, James Allen, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, Stephen Covey and the modern personal-growth industry.Discover how industrialization, social mobility and entrepreneurship helped transform self-improvement into a worldwide movement; which messages have survived; and where personal-development teaching can go too far.As the economy transforms to AI driven processes, entrepreneurship is going to become more prominent and important. And those who are driven to be entrepreneurs will need to understand more about success, habits and how to transform yourself, before you can transform your life. This episode also previews Secret Knowledge Revealed, a new Ready Entrepreneur series examining the original ideas behind some of history's most influential success teachings—and translating them into practical principles for aspiring entrepreneurs today.To have an enjoyable life  in our global, advanced tech society, create value.  To have the business, career, finances and lifestyle you desire, follow a proven path that has delivered in good times and bad.  The path of entrepreneurship. And online entrepreneurship is the fast track for aspiring entrepreneurs.Learn the skills, access the resources and be inspired to live the life of your dreams right here on the Ready Entrepreneur podcastTo find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

Our guest was Neil Wattier, author of Built Different Mentally. He is a retired Air Force veteran, and a mental performance coach who recently published the book Built Different Mentally, A Practical Guide to Mental Performance for Young Athletes, Parents, and Coaches.

Planning Library Spaces: A Practical Guide for Library Building Projects (Bloomsbury, 2025) is a book designed for librarians, trustees, local government officials, architects, and interior designers who are designing or planning to build, renovate, or reconfigure library spaces. Most librarians embark upon a library building project with little experience in space planning, architecture, or construction. Written by a registered architect and professional librarian, this is a guidebook for librarians embarking on a library building project. It includes a brief history of library facilities, placing them in the context of public buildings. An introduction to library planning principles and a discussion of library design concepts and trends are presented, including the impact of the 2020 pandemic on library design. Sections on working with architects, building design/construction terminology and the basics of reading architectural drawings provide insight into unfamiliar jargon and visual communication. Extensive illustrations and photographs show examples of library layouts and furniture and equipment, and the final chapter addresses the challenges inherent in a major building project. As library services change, buildings must adapt to accommodate and provide these new innovations. Buildings are living things, and this book will offer guidance to those embarking on a project of any scale or size. Guest: Lauren Stara is a registered architect and a librarian, specializing in library building design. Her past library experience includes everything from front desk clerk to director. As a Library Building Specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Lauren administers grant funds and provides technical assistance and advice from initial planning through construction of public library projects. She writes, consults, and speaks on library design, service design, and future trends in libraries and is coauthor of Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: A User Experience Approach (2020). Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

“People buy things to fill gaps in their life.” Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) unpack consumer behavior in ecommerce. They cover the emotional triggers behind buying, the offers that convert, and the buying journeys online shopping takes today. The real driver of your marketing strategies is the offer itself, not the checkout experience. People buy out of convenience, fear of loss, identity, and scarcity … long before logic enters the picture. Ridge's expansion from wallets into rings shows how one brand layered new customer angles onto a single product. Influencer partnerships, social media, user-generated content (UGC), and paid ads each serve a different role in building trust. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ 

How can you bolster your child's Christian worldview? Danny and Rebecca speak with Billy Hutchinson, of The Colson Center, and he urges parents to be primary disciple makers through intentional teaching and daily practices He gives tips on how to monitor school assignments, assess whether conflicts are occasional or systemic, and even how to request alternate assignments if the school is pushing your parenting boundaries. We also tackle how to address “woke” and LGBT ideologies through our Q & A.A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's WorldEquipping Parents for Back To School DownloadHow The Colson Center Can Help Parents Respond To WokenessTruth Rising Documentary: Chloe Cole StoryAsk Us Your Question via Voicemail or EmailTransgender ResourcesSpeak To A CounselorShop our podcast store

Planning Library Spaces: A Practical Guide for Library Building Projects (Bloomsbury, 2025) is a book designed for librarians, trustees, local government officials, architects, and interior designers who are designing or planning to build, renovate, or reconfigure library spaces. Most librarians embark upon a library building project with little experience in space planning, architecture, or construction. Written by a registered architect and professional librarian, this is a guidebook for librarians embarking on a library building project. It includes a brief history of library facilities, placing them in the context of public buildings. An introduction to library planning principles and a discussion of library design concepts and trends are presented, including the impact of the 2020 pandemic on library design. Sections on working with architects, building design/construction terminology and the basics of reading architectural drawings provide insight into unfamiliar jargon and visual communication. Extensive illustrations and photographs show examples of library layouts and furniture and equipment, and the final chapter addresses the challenges inherent in a major building project. As library services change, buildings must adapt to accommodate and provide these new innovations. Buildings are living things, and this book will offer guidance to those embarking on a project of any scale or size. Guest: Lauren Stara is a registered architect and a librarian, specializing in library building design. Her past library experience includes everything from front desk clerk to director. As a Library Building Specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Lauren administers grant funds and provides technical assistance and advice from initial planning through construction of public library projects. She writes, consults, and speaks on library design, service design, and future trends in libraries and is coauthor of Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: A User Experience Approach (2020). Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/architecture

Planning Library Spaces: A Practical Guide for Library Building Projects (Bloomsbury, 2025) is a book designed for librarians, trustees, local government officials, architects, and interior designers who are designing or planning to build, renovate, or reconfigure library spaces. Most librarians embark upon a library building project with little experience in space planning, architecture, or construction. Written by a registered architect and professional librarian, this is a guidebook for librarians embarking on a library building project. It includes a brief history of library facilities, placing them in the context of public buildings. An introduction to library planning principles and a discussion of library design concepts and trends are presented, including the impact of the 2020 pandemic on library design. Sections on working with architects, building design/construction terminology and the basics of reading architectural drawings provide insight into unfamiliar jargon and visual communication. Extensive illustrations and photographs show examples of library layouts and furniture and equipment, and the final chapter addresses the challenges inherent in a major building project. As library services change, buildings must adapt to accommodate and provide these new innovations. Buildings are living things, and this book will offer guidance to those embarking on a project of any scale or size. Guest: Lauren Stara is a registered architect and a librarian, specializing in library building design. Her past library experience includes everything from front desk clerk to director. As a Library Building Specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Lauren administers grant funds and provides technical assistance and advice from initial planning through construction of public library projects. She writes, consults, and speaks on library design, service design, and future trends in libraries and is coauthor of Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: A User Experience Approach (2020). Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Planning Library Spaces: A Practical Guide for Library Building Projects (Bloomsbury, 2025) is a book designed for librarians, trustees, local government officials, architects, and interior designers who are designing or planning to build, renovate, or reconfigure library spaces. Most librarians embark upon a library building project with little experience in space planning, architecture, or construction. Written by a registered architect and professional librarian, this is a guidebook for librarians embarking on a library building project. It includes a brief history of library facilities, placing them in the context of public buildings. An introduction to library planning principles and a discussion of library design concepts and trends are presented, including the impact of the 2020 pandemic on library design. Sections on working with architects, building design/construction terminology and the basics of reading architectural drawings provide insight into unfamiliar jargon and visual communication. Extensive illustrations and photographs show examples of library layouts and furniture and equipment, and the final chapter addresses the challenges inherent in a major building project. As library services change, buildings must adapt to accommodate and provide these new innovations. Buildings are living things, and this book will offer guidance to those embarking on a project of any scale or size. Guest: Lauren Stara is a registered architect and a librarian, specializing in library building design. Her past library experience includes everything from front desk clerk to director. As a Library Building Specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Lauren administers grant funds and provides technical assistance and advice from initial planning through construction of public library projects. She writes, consults, and speaks on library design, service design, and future trends in libraries and is coauthor of Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: A User Experience Approach (2020). Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever find yourself saying yes to a new collaboration, tool, or project—then months later wondering how you got there? If you run a business (especially with an ADHD-ish™ brain), you're not alone.‍In this episode, I break down why our brains confuse options for opportunities, how dopamine clouds our judgment at the moment of the ask, and share a practical “screen door” filter to make better decisions going forward.‍Dopamine is a talent scout, not a bookkeeper: That rush of excitement we feel with something new? It's all about anticipation—not reality. The cost and maintenance of a new yes don't hit until much later. The trick is to slow the yes.‍Clever ways options pretend to be opportunities:‍The Flattering Ask: feeling chosen and visible can feel like opportunity, but might be just an option that doesn't fit your goals.‍The Closing Door: artificial urgency and manufactured scarcity prey on impulsive decision-making.‍The Adjacent Idea: our shiny new ideas often show up exactly when important work becomes tedious, tempting entrepreneurs to jump ship.‍Why is this so hard for ADHD brains?‍Because dopamine is LOUD and it fires at anticipation, not the actual result. That new offer or collab invitation? It's pure possibility—no fatigue, no disappointment, no downside at first. The evaluation part comes much later, usually after you're already committed.Story Time ‍Diann once bought a high ticket course to “launch a high-ticket course,” and not only never opened it, but kept paying a monthly subscription for three (!) years (ADHD dopamine at work, folks—don't feel bad, you're not alone!

Ever find yourself saying yes to a new collaboration, tool, or project—then months later wondering how you got there? If you run a business (especially with an ADHD-ish™ brain), you're not alone.‍In this episode, I break down why our brains confuse options for opportunities, how dopamine clouds our judgment at the moment of the ask, and share a practical “screen door” filter to make better decisions going forward.‍Dopamine is a talent scout, not a bookkeeper: That rush of excitement we feel with something new? It's all about anticipation—not reality. The cost and maintenance of a new yes don't hit until much later. The trick is to slow the yes.‍Clever ways options pretend to be opportunities:‍The Flattering Ask: feeling chosen and visible can feel like opportunity, but might be just an option that doesn't fit your goals.‍The Closing Door: artificial urgency and manufactured scarcity prey on impulsive decision-making.‍The Adjacent Idea: our shiny new ideas often show up exactly when important work becomes tedious, tempting entrepreneurs to jump ship.‍Why is this so hard for ADHD brains?‍Because dopamine is LOUD and it fires at anticipation, not the actual result. That new offer or collab invitation? It's pure possibility—no fatigue, no disappointment, no downside at first. The evaluation part comes much later, usually after you're already committed.Story Time ‍Diann once bought a high ticket course to “launch a high-ticket course,” and not only never opened it, but kept paying a monthly subscription for three (!) years (ADHD dopamine at work, folks—don't feel bad, you're not alone!

You may believe you need confidence before you can start an online business, publish your ideas, promote an offer, or call yourself an entrepreneur.But confidence rarely arrives first.Yet confidence is an absolute necessity for entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship is a necessity for the new realities of the global economy. The next job you have will be the one you create for yourself.In this episode, Case explains why confidence is necessary for entrepreneurship—and why it is built through preparation, action, evidence, and resilience rather than positive thinking alone.Learn how to separate confidence from certainty, stop treating nervousness as a warning, reduce the size of your first actions, keep evidence of your progress, and become someone with the self-trust to act even when the outcome is unknown. You do not need complete confidence to begin. You need enough courage to take the next action—and allow that action to build the confidence you need for the next one.To find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

Day Break | Fauci Contempt Vote, Trump's Economy Pitch & Michigan's Senate Showdown --- 00:00 - Monologue 19:18 – Pastor Michael Clary, lead pastor of Christ the King Church in Cincinnati, co-founder of King's Domain Ministries, and author of God's Good Design: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality. Clary discusses the difference between pursuing cultural approval and pursuing biblical faithfulness, arguing that Christians are called to prioritize conviction, truth, and godly living over simply being perceived as nice or agreeable. 28:12 – Harry Khachatrian, Toronto-based film critic for the Washington Examiner. Khachatrian discusses rising concerns over antisemitism in Canada, examining recent incidents, the cultural and political climate, and the challenges facing Canada's Jewish community. 38:23 - Monologue 47:28 – Reagan Reese, White House Correspondent for the Daily Caller. Reese discusses a Department of Justice roundtable bringing together officials from seven states to address fraud, examining the effort's goals, the types of fraud under investigation, and the broader implications for law enforcement and government accountability. 57:36 – Noah Rothman, senior writer at National Review. Rothman discusses recent political developments surrounding progressive politics, including Representative Cori Bush's political messaging on Israel and renewed attention to autonomous protest zones, analyzing what these events suggest about the direction of the Democratic Party and the broader political landscape. 1:06:31 – Hunter Lovell, Midwest Regional Communications Director for the Republican National Committee. Lovell discusses renewed Republican efforts to advance the SAVE America Act, examining proposals related to election integrity, voter eligibility verification, and the party's legislative priorities heading into the upcoming election cycle. 1:16:45 - Monologue 1:25:46 – Katie Asher, vaccine researcher and author of The Book of Heaven: A Story of Hope for the Outcasts, the Broken, and Those Who Lost Faith. Asher discusses a Senate hearing examining alleged Medicaid fraud, the oversight of federal healthcare spending, and the broader debate surrounding accountability within government healthcare programs. 1:35:48 – Josh Kraushaar, Editor-in-Chief of Jewish Insider and political analyst for Fox News Radio. Kraushaar discusses the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America within Democratic politics, the organization's positions on Israel, and the ongoing debate over antisemitism and Middle East policy within the Democratic coalition. --- Check out our brand new podcast, 'Forgotten America'... Episode 24 is live NOW at Steve Gruber on YouTube! Link below: https://youtu.be/UrGZQdE62jA

In this episode, Kristen continues her conversation with former second-generation cult member and author Chris Shelton as he shares the emotional aftermath of leaving a high-control group, exposing the lasting effects of coercive control, trauma, and the difficult process of rebuilding his life. You'll Learn: Why leaving a cult is only the beginning of the healing process. How coercive control continues long after someone walks away. The emotional impact of losing relationships after leaving a high-control group. What Chris discovered after researching the organization he dedicated 25 years of his life to. Why Chris now speaks out to help prevent others, especially those raised in cults, from experiencing the same manipulation. Connect with Chris Shelton here: chrissheltonmsc.org   When you purchase Chris Shelton's book through these Amazon affiliate links, you're helping support the podcast at no extra cost to you:   1. Scientology: A to Xenu: An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is All About   2.  What Now?: A Practical Guide to Life After a Cult   Subscribe HERE and get a free 5-day journal to begin closing the chapter on what doesn't serve you and open the door to the real you. Connect with Kristen: Get Kristen's newsletter, packed with tangible tools, resources, and inspiration Watch the episodes on YouTube Follow Kristen on Instagram   Kristen's TikTok   Have Kristen Speak at Your Event  Disclaimer This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is being provided to you to educate you about ideas on stress management and as a self-help tool for your own use. It is not psychotherapy/counseling in any form. This information is to be used at your own risk based on your own judgment. For counseling services near Indianapolis, IN, visit www.pathwaystohealingcounseling.com. Pathways to Healing Counseling's vision is to provide warm, caring, compassionate and life-changing counseling services and educational programs to individuals, couples and families in order to create learning, healing and growth.

Send us Fan MailYou can leave a cult and still feel trapped in your own head and that's the part nobody prepares you for. I'm joined by author, activist, and longtime cult-recovery educator Chris Shelton to talk about his new book, What Now? A Practical Guide to Life After a Cult, and the real work that starts after you walk out the door.We get into why so many people assume leaving is the finish line, even though it's really step one. Chris breaks down how trauma can stay invisible, how “trauma comparison” derails healing, and why recovery timelines aren't a competition. We also talk about the impact on families and friends who are trying to help someone still inside Scientology or another high-control group, including why yelling “it's a cult” can backfire and what a calmer, smarter approach can look like.Chris shares what surprised him most when studying coercive control academically, especially the crucial differences between ethical therapy and Scientology-style auditing. From there, we shift into practical next steps: Maslow's hierarchy of needs as triage, the importance of a real support system, and why boundaries and critical thinking are essential skills for rebuilding your identity and learning to trust yourself again. If you're searching for guidance on cult recovery, coercive control, religious trauma, or life after Scientology, this conversation offers grounded tools and language you can use immediately.Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.Support the showBFG Store - http://blownforgood-shop.fourthwall.com/Blown For Good on Audible - https://www.amazon.com/Blown-for-Good-Marc-Headley-audiobook/dp/B07GC6ZKGQ/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Blown For Good Website: http://blownforgood.com/PODCAST INFO:Podcast website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2131160Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blown-for-good-behind-the-iron-curtain-of-scientology/id1671284503RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2131160.rssYOUTUBE PLAYLISTS:Spy Files Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWtJfniWLwq4cA-eBNXD...

Send us Fan MailHomesickness can hit like a wave, but it rarely means only one thing. When we call every hard moment “I miss home,” we miss what's really happening underneath: exhaustion that turns everything darker, insecurity that makes you doubt yourself, overwhelm from a packed schedule, or that sharp feeling of being the new person who doesn't quite belong yet. Beth talks with her daughter Mya as she prepares for college, and we get concrete about what helps when the emotions spike late at night. We walk through a practical process you can use anywhere: name the feeling, rate how intense it is, and ask the question most of us struggle to answer under stress, “What do I actually need right now?” We also use a feelings wheel to find better words than “fine” or “bad,” and we map common states to real needs like sleep, comfort, connection, reassurance, space, or simply time for the peak moment to pass. We also make an important distinction between typical homesickness and situations where someone feels unsafe or in despair, because those require a different plan and clearer communication. And we talk about the family side of the transition too: why parents have feelings, how sharing sadness can build connection instead of burden, and how support can coexist with growing independence. If you're heading into a big change, listen, share this with a student or parent you care about, and subscribe for more practical therapy tools. If this helped, leave a review and tell us: what emotion shows up first when you feel “homesick”?This podcast is meant to be a resource for the general public, as well as fellow therapists/psychologists. It is NOT meant to replace the meaningful work of individual or family therapy. Please seek professional help in your area if you are struggling. #breakthestigma #makewordsmatter #thingsyoulearnintherapy #thingsyoulearnintherapypodcastIf you or someone you know is struggling with mental health concerns, please contact 988 or seek a treatment provider in your area.If you are a therapist or psychologist and want to be a guest on the show, please complete this form to apply: Podcast Application FormFeel free to share your thoughts at www.makewordsmatterforgood.com or email me at Beth@makewordsmatterforgood.comSupport the showwww.bethtrammell.com

Dr. Rick and Forrest explore burnout: what it is, why it's so common, and what people can do about it. They begin by framing burnout as largely a structural problem that individuals are forced to manage. They unpack the six major drivers of burnout, why some people are especially vulnerable, and how chronic stress affects the mind and body. They then turn to practical ways to recover more effectively, including psychologically detaching from work, finding more effective forms of relaxation, protecting your own self-concept, and reducing underlying vulnerabilities. Finally, they talk about how we can preserve meaning and agency when we truly can't change our circumstances. Key Topics: 00:00: Intro and burnout as a structural issue 7:20: Six major factors of stress and what to do about them 21:57: Mindfulness, relaxation, and recovery 34:11: Protecting your own self-concept and job crafting 41:46: Reduce vulnerabilities and taking care of yourself 1:04:45: Recap Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors If you're ready to simplify the business side of your practice, now is a great time to try SimplePractice. Start with a 7-day free trial, then get 50% off your first three months. Just go to SimplePractice.com to claim the offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Working through frustration and anger at revelations from the Fauci hearings. Critical Theory at work in reaction to the Berlin Pride event attack. And President Trump's joke reveals trans inconsistencies.     Recommendations  Bioethics; A Primer for Christians by Gilbert Meilaender  Death and Life in America by Farr Curlin  Segment 1 – Fauci Hearing  World Magazine  Segment 2 – Attack at Berlin Pride Event  First Things article  AP article on WNBA altercation  Federalist article  Practical Guide to Culture  Segment 3 – Revealing Trump Joke  My Gender Dolls  Economist article  GLS livestream  GLS in person event 

Andrew Burt, CEO and co-founder of Luminos, joins Ben Lorica to unpack Luminos's new report, A Practical Guide to Agentic and Gen AI Risk Evals. Subscribe to the Gradient Flow Newsletter

Most people wait until the pain goes away to start living again. Dr. Sean Pastuch says that's backwards — and that the pain was never the real problem.Sean is a chiropractor, the founder of Active Life, and the author of Live More. Hurt Less. He's spent 20 years getting people out of chronic pain without asking them to shrink their lives — from Olympians and CrossFit Games champions to people who couldn't make it up a flight of stairs without running out of breath. In this episode he breaks down why more than 20% of Americans live with chronic aches and pains, why "eat less, move more, don't do it if it hurts" is the worst advice you'll ever get, and the three identities that have to line up before anything actually changes.WHAT WE GET INTO:• Why compromise — not pain — is the real disease• The small, reasonable decisions that quietly shrink your life• Why nothing actually changes between age 39 and 40• The three identities you have to align for change• Setting floors instead of goals (and why five minutes counts)• What 20 years of clinical work taught him about "excuses"CONNECT WITH DR. SEAN PASTUCH:Book: Live More. Hurt Less.: The Practical Guide to Overcoming Chronic Pain and Living an Active Life - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6T3RXPFInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/drseanpastuchWebsite: https://drseanpastuch.com

Why aren't you living the life you want?You may believe you need more money, flexibility, free time, professional success, or opportunities to enjoy new experiences. But pursuing each of these outcomes separately can leave you feeling as if you are always waiting for your real life to begin.In this episode, Case introduces a new model for aspiring entrepreneurs built around three concepts: alignment, aliveness, and progress.Discover how building an online business can help you create a professional life that reflects your ideas, values, and ambitions—and why taking one practical step today can begin changing how you see your future and yourself. To have an enjoyable life  in our global, advanced tech society, create value.  To have the business, career, finances and lifestyle you desire, follow a proven path that has delivered in good times and bad.  The path of entrepreneurship. And online entrepreneurship is the fast track for aspiring entrepreneurs.Learn the skills, access the resources and be inspired to live the life of your dreams right here on the Ready Entrepreneur podcastTo find more resources, strategies and ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs visit the Ready Entrepreneur website: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/To download a free guide for Preparing to Become an Online Entrepreneur, click here:  https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/start/You can get an exclusive discount on the ebook and audiobook version of Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur's Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business click here: https://www.caselane.net/recastConnect with CaseFacebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur Twitter X: @caselaneworld Pinterest @caselane 

In this episode, Kristen is joined by Chris Shelton, a former second-generation cult member and author, who shares how he broke free from decades of cult indoctrination, exposing the psychological tactics of coercive control and the long journey to reclaiming critical thinking and personal freedom.     You'll learn: How love bombing and emotional manipulation are used to recruit people into cults. Why coercive control makes it difficult to question or leave high-control groups. How isolation and black-and-white thinking reinforce cult indoctrination. What finally prompted Chris to question Scientology after decades of involvement. How critical thinking and self-awareness can help people reclaim their freedom Connect with Chris Shelton here: chrissheltonmsc.org   When you purchase Chris Shelton's book through these Amazon affiliate links, you're helping support the podcast at no extra cost to you:   1. Scientology: A to Xenu: An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is All About   2.  What Now?: A Practical Guide to Life After a Cult   Subscribe HERE and get a free 5-day journal to begin closing the chapter on what doesn't serve you and open the door to the real you. Connect with Kristen: Get Kristen's newsletter, packed with tangible tools, resources, and inspiration Watch the episodes on YouTube Follow Kristen on Instagram   Kristen's TikTok   Have Kristen Speak at Your Event  Disclaimer This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is being provided to you to educate you about ideas on stress management and as a self-help tool for your own use. It is not psychotherapy/counseling in any form. This information is to be used at your own risk based on your own judgment. For counseling services near Indianapolis, IN, visit www.pathwaystohealingcounseling.com. Pathways to Healing Counseling's vision is to provide warm, caring, compassionate and life-changing counseling services and educational programs to individuals, couples and families in order to create learning, healing and growth.

Your blood sugar can look completely normal on paper while your metabolism is quietly unraveling underneath. Insulin resistance often develops a decade or more before a diabetes diagnosis — and by the time it shows up on standard labs, the damage has already been building for years. In this episode, we break down what's actually happening inside the body as cells stop responding to insulin, why this single shift is linked to heart disease, fatty liver, PCOS, cognitive decline, and more, and the early warning signs most people miss — from afternoon energy crashes to stubborn belly fat to waking up hungry at night. We also cover the lab markers that catch insulin resistance years before a glucose test ever will, and a bioregulatory framework for addressing the inflammation, mitochondrial stress, and gut health issues driving it all. Plus, simple things you can start doing today to blunt a glucose spike before it happens. This one's for anyone who wants to get ahead of a diagnosis instead of reacting to one.

Don't resist tough emotions, but don't live there. Provide yourself with more time for REST. Don't stress about productivity at this time. Set FIRM boundaries. Allow space and deal with the withdrawal symptoms. Clear + reset your space. Reflect for future you. Reflect on underlying needs that your choices are compensating for. Show yourself the care + empathy you're saving for your ex. Don't take shit so personally. Allow different timelines + perceptions of the situation to exist. Believe this is all working out for your highest good. Even the painful bits. Focus on controlling YOUR timeline, not theirs.You are worthy of the most amazing, real love. Don't ever settle for less. Read Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don't resist tough emotions, but don't live there. Provide yourself with more time for REST. Don't stress about productivity at this time. Set FIRM boundaries. Allow space and deal with the withdrawal symptoms. Clear + reset your space. Reflect for future you. Read Julie's Medium Blog.Support JULIE (and the show!)Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.Info on War Tax Resistance.Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief FundThe opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the difference between a bundle, a box set, an anthology, and a collection? How can being part of an anthology be creatively interesting and useful for marketing? With Jamie Ferguson In the intro, Amazon Kindle increases the 70% royalty share; audiobook marketing tips (Voices by InAudio); The Builder's Creed [Seth Godin]; Future Vision XPrize; Researching the dark side of travel [Anna Sayburn Lane]; Photos from Bruges @jfpennauthor; Bones of the Deep: A Thriller – J.F. Penn. Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes The difference between bundles, box sets, anthologies, and collections Why a multi-author project means lots of people promoting the same book, not just you How to find and pitch for anthology opportunities, and what editors look for in a contributor Contracts, rights, and royalty splits explained for short fiction Why Kickstarter and special print editions are changing the anthology game Inkwren, the publishing management tool Jamie built for backlists and anthologies You can find Jamie at JamieFerguson.com. Transcript of the interview ith Jamie Ferguson Jo: Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. Just for context too, one of my short stories, “The Dark Queen”, is in the Amazing Monster Tales: Into the Briny Deep anthology. So I'm excited to talk about this today. Welcome to the show, Jamie. Jamie: Thanks for having me, Jo. Jo: Lots to talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing. Jamie: Well, I wanted to be a writer since I was at least six, maybe before then. So it was just something I always wanted to do, but I always did it on the side. I had a year, many years ago, where I was really busy with work, and I just felt like I didn't write anything the entire year, and I thought, “I'm going to give it up.” Then the next year—that was 2011—I started seeing more about self-publishing, and that really invigorated me and made me feel like, “No, why am I giving up something I've wanted to do since before I went to school?” So I got back into a novel I had worked on years before. I went to a writing workshop with Dean Wesley Smith up in Oregon, back in the day, and then I had my energy back. I've been writing ever since. Still on the side, unfortunately, but someday. Jo: Hopefully! Tell us a bit more about what kind of genres you write. Because balancing your own books with also doing these anthologies and things is quite difficult. Jamie: Yes, it definitely is. I'd say I primarily write contemporary fantasy, but I'll write anything in any genre if I'm really excited about it. I also have a soft spot for Westerns. They take a little more time because I like to research all the facts, but those are really fun to write. Creating anthologies on your own is actually quite a bit of work. One of the things I also do is work with two other authors, DeAnna Knippling and Tami Veldura, and create more anthologies with them. That's really fun because then we can each take a different piece. There's also always somebody to talk to, as opposed to doing it on your own. Jo: Let's start with the terminology, because I definitely struggled with this, and I think people still do. We've got bundles, we've got box sets, we've got anthologies, we've got collections—and are these in ebook, audiobook, or print? Can you start by explaining what all of these words actually mean? Jamie: Yes. In my book I actually use the term “multi-author collection” or “multi-author project”, because there are so many different permutations and it does get confusing. From my perspective, I think of a bundle as a collection. It could be a collection of ebooks. Technically it could be a collection of print books, although people generally use “box set” for that—but then a box set can also be a box set that's all ebooks. An anthology, I usually use for something that's a collection of short stories where there's an editor who's actually edited all the stories. I have had stories in anthologies where somebody didn't edit them, and they would technically be called a curator. So it is definitely confusing. I have not done anything with audio collections, but that certainly is another area that I actually think is pretty interesting. Jo: I also think that a single author… so I've done a short story collection, but an anthology is multiple authors. Is that right? Jamie: Yes. Jo: I think when I came into the indie space, there were a lot more multi-author… we all called them box sets back in the day, when it was just ebooks, right? And now we can actually do boxed sets with boxes through things like BookVault. So it feels like the term “box set” has also gone out of fashion. So if people listening are thinking of doing any of this, you do have to figure out what is the thing you might be signing up for. So let's talk about the multi-author projects, as that's where you specialise. What are the benefits for an author to be involved in a multi-author anthology project? Jamie: The biggest benefit is that you are one of multiple people promoting the same project, whether it's print or ebook or whatever. If I put out a short story collection on my own, I'm the one promoting it, and maybe I can get a couple of other people to write about it, but it's really just me. If I'm part of an anthology with 15 other authors, that's 15 other people who are promoting the same project. That's more newsletters, more Facebook posts, maybe something on their Patreons, whatever it is. You get more synergy, and you get more touch points with potential readers. Then hopefully that translates into sales as well. So that's definitely the biggest part of it—the promotion. Then I also personally really enjoy these types of collections because it's just fun to work with other people. There's a nice energy when everybody's like, “Oh, I put this in my newsletter, and I put this here, and I put this here,” and you feel like you're part of something bigger than just your own piece. Jo: What about the creative benefits? Especially with short stories, often people will write them for a collection or for an anthology project. Jamie: Yes. I've definitely written some stories that I never would have thought I'd write, because somebody I knew asked if I would be interested in being in their collection—whether it's an ebook bundle or a print anthology. So at least for me, that's been really fun. One of the ones that stands out is that I was asked to be in a dinosaur collection once, and I was like, “I don't write dinosaur stories.” And then I did. I set a dinosaur story in London, and it was really fun to write, and I never would have come up with that in a million years. Jo: Let's say we've got 12 authors. They've all written short stories, and now it's in this anthology. But what is the market for these kinds of things? Have you found that there is a readership for short story anthologies that carries over to the author's longer work? Jamie: There is. I like to think of it as: if I have a story in a collection or an anthology—whether it's one I'm editing or somebody else is editing—that's one more place for people to find me. A lot of times anthologies will take reprints as well, like your story. “The Dark Queen”—that was a reprint. We asked if you'd be interested in participating in the Amazing Monster Tales series. And I actually really like printing stories again that have already been published, because there are a lot of stories out there that can be hard to find. Or if it's an older book. I have one author I've known for, like, 30 years. I reprinted one of her stories that was originally published in, I think, 1999, and the anthology it was in was out of print. You couldn't find it, and it was a fantastic story. So it's fun to be able to give new life to those stories and give them more opportunities, and also just have more ways for people to find you. Jo: Yes, I definitely think it's a long game. I don't think appearing in a short story anthology in one particular month is going to mean that your whole back collection just sells, right? Jamie: No, definitely not. It's more about avenues to be found. I know there have been some anthologies that have made quite a bit of money, but in general you're probably not going to make as much money, but you will have those extra places for people to find you. Jo: I always feel like yes, there is maybe a small amount of money, but it is more about almost a marketing thing in itself. So let's say an author is listening and they're like, “Do you know, this sounds like a great idea.” How can they pitch for things like this? How do they find out about opportunities, or get noticed to be asked? And what are the expectations for them? Jamie: The biggest thing is networking. There used to be a couple of opportunities where you could make people aware that you had stories that you were interested in potentially having picked up for something. I'm not aware of anything like that now. When I create a collection, I have a mailing list that I send out, and it includes authors I've published before. It includes a couple of extra people who somehow found my mailing list. And I'll publish, like, “Here's what I'm doing.” There are also authors I've met at writing workshops. I've been able to read some of their work, I'll approach them and say, “Hey, I really liked such and such a story. Would you be interested in writing for this?” Then there are a couple of other websites, like Duotrope, and places that advertise markets and calls for submissions. Jo: Yes, I've found them also on small presses that do these kinds of projects. They often put up one call for submission a month or something, and you can write for their particular thing. In general, the short story markets are the places to keep an eye on. Jamie: Yes, definitely. Jo: If an author wants to pitch to have their story as part of an anthology, do you want to know things like platform, or is it just the story itself? Jamie: I personally look at the author's platform. I do make exceptions—there are actually two authors I've worked with a couple of times who don't have websites. They are people I know personally and they are very, very good writers, so I'll make an exception for things like that. But otherwise, if somebody submitted a story to me and I didn't know that person, I would check out their website, I would check out their social media, I would see what else they had done. Part of what you're doing when you're creating a collection is thinking not just about how you, as the person organising this, will promote the collection, but how the authors who are participating will help promote it as well. If it's somebody who has a lot of fans, even if they're not very active on social media, that can help a lot too. There are a lot of different factors, though. Jo: So then talk us through the project timeline. How long do things take, and what sort of involvement do the authors have along the way? Because it's a lot to juggle. Jamie: Yes, it is a lot to juggle. I can give you an example with the Monster Tales series. We'll come up with an idea, and we also like to try to get the artwork done early on in the process. We don't need it that soon, but it's really great to have that taken care of. We'll contact authors. I think for this one we used my mailing list, but we've also contacted a number of people individually that we know who write the style of stories we like. Then, as the submissions come in, we usually wait until we have a nice chunk of them to start going through, and then we'll pick some right away. Sometimes it'll be like, “Oh my gosh, of course we want this story,” and we'll wait to fill out the other slots. Then we'll negotiate sometimes. Sometimes it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story.” And we have to figure out how the word count works. Once we finalise the stories, then usually what happens with that anthology is that DeAnna—who is a very, very good editor—will make the first editing pass, and then I'll make the second. And now Tami's involved, so Tami will make the third, and then we'll iterate. Once all three of us have gone through the first time, then we'll send the story back to the author for edits. So the most the author has to do for most of the process is just wait for us to edit their story, and then work on their edits and get them back. Then, once we get closer to launch, we'll give them information about what we're going to do. For example, we're going to launch the next issue with a Kickstarter. So our authors know that we have a Kickstarter coming, and we'll give them more information as we get closer to the actual launch date. Jo: So how long might an author expect before their work is out there? Jamie: It really varies. I've had some collections published very quickly—let's say a couple of months. Some have taken longer just because somebody ends up having some life issue and things get delayed. So I'd say ideally it would be more like three to nine months. Jo: Yes, I think… depending on the— Jamie: —collection and the complexity. Jo: Yes, exactly. Jo: And you did mention word count there. Just give us a range of what word count you like to get. Jamie: So these days I'm shooting for between 75,000 and 80,000 for the total word count for a collection. That includes the stories, but it also includes the opening, the introduction. For one we're working on now, we're going to have some interstitials, where we have little bits of things we're going to write in between each story. So that's the overall size of the collection. I'll keep track of the word count as the stories come in, and then as we edit the stories, sometimes they grow, sometimes they shrink. Sometimes that's a big enough difference where we're like, “Okay, we need one more story to fill it in.” But that's the target. Jo: And how much for each individual story? Jamie: That varies. I've done a bunch of different things. These days, what I'm advertising is between 3,000 and 8,000 words. I also always tell people: if you're outside this range on either side, just check with me, and if it's something that's really an excellent fit for the book, I'll make an exception. The one that's coming out, I think we have a 1,500- or 2,000-word story that was just amazingly perfect for what we wanted. There was another story, actually I think it was the issue that you were in, that was at least 12,000 words, but it also was a perfect fit for the theme. So I will make exceptions, but within reason. I wouldn't put a novella inside an anthology, because then you'd have a 22,000-word story next to a 3,000-word story, and I personally feel like that's really jarring for the reader. You don't want to go from something super short to something super long. It just doesn't feel like it flows well to me. Jo: No, absolutely. Jo: We'll come back to the making of it because you mentioned some really interesting things there. But just on the contractual side—a lot of indie authors don't necessarily do any publishing contracts for their work, unless it's signing the terms and conditions when uploading on Amazon or Kobo. So tell us a bit about the contract side. What rights are we talking about here? Any red lines in contracts around this kind of thing? Jamie: For contracts, I would recommend people read Kristine Kathryn Rusch's posts on this. She is way more informed about this than I ever will be, so when I have questions, I'll look at her posts. I've asked her a couple of questions. What we're doing for the Amazing Monster Tales… this is the first time that I've actually had authors sign contracts. Prior to this, I've used PubShare, which handles royalty splits and all of that, and that was really great. We want to do direct sales and Kickstarters and have lots of other options. So we did put together a contract this time. I'd have to pull it up, but I think we asked for first worldwide rights in English—I'm getting the terminology wrong here—but that was basically it. Jo: Or, I guess, reprint rights if the story's already been licensed. Jamie: Correct. We have two contract templates, one for original stories and one for reprints. We made sure to make that distinction, because it is definitely a distinction. In the book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch—it's called Closing the Deal… on Your Terms—I highly recommend that for anybody interested in learning more about contracts. Jo: Yes, that's great. And just for people listening: when you said you didn't have contracts before, you just used PubShare. So in that way, the author still retained the rights and you just split the royalties—it was more of a co-writing thing. Jamie: Correct. When you publish stories through PubShare, the author signs an agreement with PubShare, and then I, as the editor or organiser, would also sign a separate agreement. So each of us has an agreement with PubShare. We don't have agreements with each other, if that makes sense. Jo: Yes, so it's very different to move into Kickstarter. So tell us about what you're now moving into. Jamie: Well, Kickstarters are a new world for me personally. I have many friends who have had Kickstarters. I've supported Kickstarters. I watch them. But it's something where I'm very happy to have two partners who have done Kickstarters before. I'm not sure how many Tami's done—I think Tami's done the most at this point. So this is all new to me. But it's very exciting. At this point we have a backlist, so part of the plan, for the Monster series, is to offer issues one through four as part of the rewards when we launch issue number five. That's really exciting, because I never had a backlist like that before. Jo: Yes, and in fact the money is in the backlist, as ever, and those add-ons or bundles as part of Kickstarter are great. So are you going to do special print editions, or is it digital only? Jamie: We are talking about special print editions. You mentioned BookVault earlier—we've been looking at BookVault. Our other anthology series that hasn't come out yet will also launch with a Kickstarter. It's dragon-themed, and Tami actually did the cover work, which is beautiful. BookVault just gives you so many options that we never had before, so I'm very excited about that. Jo: Yes, I think it's a really good idea. I did gorgeous hardbacks for my solo author collection, so I think it's a great idea. So from the publisher side, let's come back to that. You've mentioned you have to write things like an introduction and interstitials, and you're trying to balance the stories. What are some of the other things that people might think about if they want to organise their own anthologies? Jamie: Oh gosh, where to start? There's the basic setting up of the anthology, so you have to define the table of contents. You might get a bunch of stories that are really awesome, and you might have to tell somebody who has a wonderful story—and maybe even who's a good friend of yours—that you're going to pass on it because their story doesn't fit with all the other stories. Every time I have to do that, I feel kind of bad. But being on this side, it's really interesting to see how you can tell which stories fit together and which don't. There's also the editing process, which can be a lot of work. Part of what I like about working with Tami and DeAnna is that DeAnna really loves editing. I feel like I'm a good editor, and I can do it, but for me it's more of a job. For DeAnna, she loves it, so she does the bulk of the editing, which is great. When I do it on my own, I feel like it's a task I have to do. There's lots of cat-herding. Sometimes people take a while to get their edits back. Sometimes they have life events, and you have to delay things because you're waiting on them. There are all the little tiny pieces of organising things—like, if you're reprinting stories, you need to make sure you get the copyright attribution correct. A lot of times I'll have to go and look up where something was originally published. An author might say, “Oh, it was published in this year,” and I'm like, “Okay, actually it was published in this other year, by this other publication first.” So I'm trying to be organised there. henT one of the things that very infrequently—I think it's only happened to me twice—every once in a while, you're in the middle of editing a story and you have to pass on it, even though you've already accepted it, because the editorial vision and the author vision for the story are not the same, and you can't reconcile that. Jo: I think that's really interesting, because so much of what you're talking about there—you mentioned vision—it's almost taste. You're saying which stories fit. It's not just a case of, I don't know, a pirate anthology and then picking 10 stories about pirates, right? You seem to be thinking about this in a more artistic way. So can you talk a bit more about that? How do you decide on a theme, and then how do you know that a story doesn't fit? Jamie: In the beginning, I was not this selective. In the beginning I'd say, for example, “Hey, I'm putting out a collection about fairies. Give me a fairy story,” and that was it. As I've edited the stories, it's become easier to see how things fit. So, for example, if I have 10 stories in an anthology and I have an 11th story, and they have different tones—let's say the 11th story is really funny and all the other stories are very serious—then that would be a fit thing. That's not necessarily taste; it's just that you don't want one funny story if everything else is really dark and scary or serious. As far as picking a theme, the theme could be very broad. With this dragon anthology we're working on, we decided we wanted it to be called A Hoard of Books. So the theme was: has to have dragons, has to have books, and that's pretty much it. And then we were like, “Let's just see what we get.” We were very surprised at what we got. We thought we'd have more serious stories, and it turned out most of them were very light-hearted and really fun. And we're like, “You know what? That actually changes the way we're looking at the whole series,” because we did not expect that. With the monster series, we'll pick a theme. So, for example, the next issue is Monsters in Love, and for those it's more like, let's just see what happens. Sometimes I'll have a more specific theme. The next anthology I'm publishing on my own is called Fairy Bargains, and I wanted people to obviously have fairies, but I wanted there to be something related to the mythology and lore of having a bargain with a fairy—and there's a lot of stuff about that. So for some things like that, when I put out a call, I'll provide information. I might say, “Here's a link to a Wikipedia article. Here's some mythology that might be helpful for you,” just because I want things to stick a little bit more to the theme itself. Whereas with Monsters in Love, there's a very wide range of stories, and that was very fun to work through. Jo: Oh, yes. There's a lot of monster, on the spicy side as well. But were you doing a clean Monsters in Love, as opposed to in lust? Jamie: Yes, this is a clean one. That's pretty funny. But boy, when you give authors the room for these types of things, you get all kinds of stories, and it is super fun to work with those collections. Jo: As you're talking, I definitely want to do more short stories. It's really interesting, because you can actually generally get paid more for a first print—first print rights on a short story—but I often want to just publish it myself. Then I was really happy to be in yours, because it was a reprint anyway. So I was like, well, there's absolutely nothing to lose if it goes in as a reprint. So these things can be really interesting. Talking of the finance from your side of things: you have a small press and you're doing this publishing yourself, but you're paying all these authors and doing a lot of work. So how does it work as the publisher, in terms of these anthologies, financially? Jamie: With the ones we've published so far, because we've gone through PubShare, it's been a royalty split. As the editors, we would take a percentage, and then we pay for the artwork, and of course all of our time. I think what we were doing there was saying 70% of the royalties would be split equally between all of the authors and the stories. So, for example, if I had a story as well, I would get part of the author split—the same percentage as everybody else in the collection—in addition to the editor split. For what we're doing now, we've changed this a little bit, and I believe we said 60% goes to the authors, and then we're going to keep a share of the proceeds for the business because we want to be able to pay for the artwork out of the business account. We want to pay for advertising, whatever we need to do—like setting up our store, or if we wanted to invest in anything, we want to be able to do that as the business, as opposed to it just being us doing this on our own. We're just trying to treat it a little bit differently. Jo: And I know it's so much work—a crazy amount of work. How many anthologies and books do you have to do in a year to make it worthwhile financially? Jamie: Oh, I don't know. I would say, unless you get an opportunity—like, for example, to have an anthology in a story bundle or something like that—you may not break even. But if you're going to do this, do it more for the marketing, do it more because you enjoy it. Now, going forward, I think that will change, because we are looking at Kickstarters, we are looking at direct sales. We're very motivated to try to make this more of a business thing than a fun side project. So, ask me in a year. Jo: Yes, hopefully more. I do think Kickstarter is great for short stories. I actually buy quite a few collections on Kickstarter. I think they're actually really hard to discover through, say, Amazon—it's a place that is quite hard to identify short stories. Whereas I've found I've bought collections on Kickstarter because there's so much more of a sales page—there's so much more rich media that tells me how I'm going to feel about the stuff. I've bought short story anthologies and collections from people I don't know. So I think it's a really good thing to do. There is an audience there. Jamie: Yes, definitely. And it does feel like the anthologies on Amazon don't sell as well—you don't make as much as you used to. I've been doing this for, well, gosh, 10 years now, and I feel like the sales numbers on Amazon in the past year were noticeably lower than they would have been six or eight years ago. So I am very excited about Kickstarter. Plus, Kickstarter just feels really fun. You're not just throwing your book up; you also have all the extra stuff with the page, you have the rewards, and it just feels really exciting. Jo: No, I agree. I really love it. I didn't do it for a long time, and now I just love it. Jo: So, staying with the publisher side of things— Any practical formatting and production tips? Because in these types of projects, all kinds of people just send you different stuff. Jamie: I have a style guide. So whether it's me or it's the group project, once all the edits are complete, I'll do a formatting pass, and I'll make sure I use curly quotes and the same em dash format and everything, just so everything in the book is formatted the same way. Every once in a while there's an author who has something particular that they want, and I can work around that, and that's fine. I also work with a lot of Canadian authors, and I'll let them keep their Canadian spellings. I don't think everybody does that, but I feel like that's their voice in a way, so I don't correct those. I might check some things there. I think the formatting is important—it makes things look better if everything has the same style. Then I use Vellum, which makes things really easy. I love Vellum. Because I publish so many authors at this point, I have a Vellum file where I store their biographies and their links, so when I publish a new anthology I'll just go grab, say, Jo's “about the author” page from that collection and put it into the new file. Then I also track when the last time was that I checked with the author about their biography. If it's been more than a year, I'll check in with them and say, “Hey, do you have an updated biography you want me to use? Here are your links—do you have any different links now?” So that makes it a lot easier from the formatting standpoint. Jo: And you mentioned Vellum—having done box sets on Vellum, you can just drag a whole book in there if you want to do a three-book box set, or three short stories, whatever. It's much easier to just drag things in, and it makes it easier to format. So I would say to people: you don't need to worry too much about that. There are lots of things that can help you. But even with doing the print stuff for the Kickstarter—people have opinions, don't they? So in terms of authors' opinions and managing—you mentioned herding cats—how do you manage all of that side of things? Jamie: I haven't actually had a lot of trouble with that. The authors I've worked with seem to feel like they gave me their story, and then once the edits are out of the way… I haven't had anybody have any issues with the covers. Usually they love the covers, especially for the Monster series. So, no problems there. Jo: Oh, that's good. Well, I would say a tip would be to make sure you're communicating, if you're somebody who's organising. So talk a bit about communication. Jamie: Communication is very important. What I try to do is send regular updates, especially if I'm in the middle of edits or working on something and I'm not ready to launch. I'll send an update email out to the authors and just say, “Here's what's going on, here's what the plan is.” Or if the plan has to change, if the launch date has to change for some reason, I'll let the authors know about that. Actually, with the upcoming Monsters in Love issue, we were originally not going to do a Kickstarter. That was a late decision, so I contacted all the authors and said, “We've changed our plans. We're going to launch this with a Kickstarter. Please confirm that you're okay with this.” One author was not comfortable with the Kickstarter idea, so he pulled his story, and then we found a replacement story for that. But I just feel like the communication piece is really essential. It's really important for the authors to know what's going on. Jo: Yes, absolutely. So, we've talked about how marketing is a good thing, in terms of there being lots of people marketing. How are you effectively marketing these kinds of books, as the premise is quite different to a single author project? Jamie: Right. There's the usual—write a release post, write posts on social. I do additional things, so I'll publish what I call a story spotlight for each story in the anthology. That's just where I talk a little bit about the story, I provide an excerpt, and then I provide the author's bio and links to find them. Those are really great, because they're very quick to put together. The hardest part is getting a short excerpt that shows enough about the story to be engaging. But that really isn't that much time, either. Then those are also nicely evergreen. I've actually searched for authors before, when I'm trying to research them for an interview, and I've found my own spotlight posts and my own interview posts with authors come up at the top of the list, which is kind of funny. I also do interviews with as many of the authors in a collection as are willing to participate. Sometimes people just don't have the time—I don't make this required—but I usually get 80 to 90% of the authors participating. So, for example, this year I'm in a couple of bundles on StoryBundle, and I'm doing interviews for people there. It's also really fun, and you're not paying for advertising—you're just creating something that the authors are excited about and they want to share. So it promotes the collection, but it also promotes the author, which I find really nice. It's a nice networking thing too, and I'm happy if someone wants to interview me. It's like free publicity for each person, in addition to the collection. Jo: I love that you've used the word “fun” quite a lot, which I find amazing. You're obviously a super collaborative person. I've co-written a number of books— I've been part of some collections, and I really think that there are two personalities. One is like me, where we really love the creation stuff and the publishing stuff, but we're hyper-controlling. And then someone like you—you're very collaborative, and you're doing such a great job. To people listening, I would say: if you're more like me, don't organise an anthology. What you want is Jamie, or somebody who actually finds it fun to organise a big group of authors. Jamie: Yes. It is definitely interesting working with other partners in this, because when I publish an anthology on my own, I make all the decisions. I pick the artwork, I pick the theme, I do everything, I decide the table of contents. But when you're working with other people, you do need to negotiate. So we've had a couple of times where it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story, I don't like the story that you want.” And so we have to barter, in a way. Aside from that, it is nice, because you get to split up the tasks. I could focus on things like the organising—I do the Vellum files, I do the final cover and everything. For the Kickstarters, actually, Tami's got more expertise, so Tami's going to be working on the Kickstarters for our collections together. If I had to do all this on my own, it's a ton of work. It's a ton of work. So it is nice to split it up. Jo: And of course, one of the things is managing so many moving parts—and you've actually built a tool to manage all this. So tell us a bit about that tool, and how it might be useful for people with big backlists as well as anthologies. Jamie: I built what I think of as a publishing management application. The original idea is that, for years and years, I wanted a software tool that would do catalogue management, because I was managing my own catalogue, and I was also managing—at this point I've published at least 20 anthologies, so that's a lot of authors. Then last summer, I had an author who I'd published a number of times, who was going to, I think, WorldCon, and she asked if I could give her covers for five anthologies she'd been in, so that she could make some promotional material. I was like, “Oh, sure, I can do that.” And then I was like, “Well, wait a second—is this in Notion?”—because I started trying to use Notion last year—”or is it in a spreadsheet?” It turned out her information was in, like, three different places, and I had to work to pull it together. And then I was like, “You know what? That's it. I'm just going to finally write this application.” So Inkwren manages your stories. As an author, I can manage my stories—I can track which are published, which are drafts, which are just ideas. I can track my publications. From the publisher standpoint, it's really helpful, because I can track each anthology I've published and what I'm working on. I can track the edits, I can track the contracts. I can upload contract templates—so we talked earlier about the original and reprint contract templates that I use. I upload those, and they have placeholders in them. When I generate the actual contract, the author's name will replace the placeholder—I'll have the text “author name” in the contract template, and it'll get replaced by, like, “Joanna Penn” or whatever. So that saves a lot of time. Then I also added in task tracking, because I started to feel like, well, now all my stuff is in one place, but my tasks are somewhere else. So now I can associate tasks with a publication. For example, for the book I'm working on right now, I know which tasks I need to do for the cover, and which for the interior, and everything. I have a template of tasks. Then I can also track tasks related to promotions. For example, the story bundle I'm promoting right now, I have a task for each interview I'm doing with the authors, and I have a calendar view. I can see when I'm going to publish them and know that they're all spread out. It saves me so much time, and it's so much easier. Jo: I do think building tools when you actually need the tool yourself is very useful. Just say the name again, and spell it out for people. Jamie: It's Inkwren. My own personal publishing company is Blackbird Publishing, and I wanted something related to birds and writing. So I came up with Inkwren, which is I-N-K-W-R-E-N, and it's just inkwren.com. Jo: And it is available for other people to potentially buy and use? Jamie: Yes, it is. Jo: Well, I think that's super useful, because it's very hard when people are starting out and they think, “Oh, I've only got one book—why would I need any kind of tool to manage it?” But over the years, your backlist grows, especially with short stories. So I love that you've built this, and there's probably more that you can add over time as you expand the business yourself. So much potential. So we are at the end. Where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Jamie: My author website is JamieFerguson.com. And then, obviously, I mentioned Inkwren earlier. My publishing company is BlackbirdPublishing.com. And then the projects I'm doing with Tami and DeAnna—we have a couple of websites, but the easiest way to find us is our press, which is BorogrovePress.com. Jo: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jamie. That was great. Jamie: Thanks, Joanna.The post Bundles, Box Sets and Anthologies With Jamie Ferguson first appeared on The Creative Penn.