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This week I'm talking customer research with Eteinne Garbugli. Eteinne is the author of a book called Lean B2B, and after learning that his book included our Sales Safari customer research framework, I offered to talk with him and answer some of his remaining questions about the methodology.In the next 30 minutes, you'll hear Eteinne and I talk about:- the surprising origin of Sales Safari itself- what we really mean when we say "customer pain" and the many forms it can take- why strategically choosing an audience is actually a lot more straightforward than most entrepreneurs make it ...and a whole lot more.In the full interview, we also talked about a bunch of other topics related to entrepreneurship and some of ay-tenne's favorite lessons in The Tiny MBA, but you're here for the Sales Safari so I'm jumping straight into that here on the podcast feed!This is some of the most in-depth information we've ever published about Sales Safari outside of our paid courses, so I'm excited to share it and hope it helps you understand and reach your audiences.Ready? Here we go. 

Konnitchiwa from Tokyo - and thanks for listening to episode #35 of this podcast. Which is for everyone for whom professional development means more than just leaps on the career ladder. Which holds also true for today’s guest Jenna Davis from Canada, who lives in Düsseldorf in Germany now. She was having a very well paid marketing job, turned a winning contest into travel blog and started working with tourism boards. Today, she combines lots of her experience in being a Content Creator, Marketing Manager as well as the Founder & Community Explorer of the expat website Life in Düsseldorf – a community website with almost 7k followers. Jenna will talk us through this exciting journey on how she turned her passion into a job, while marrying this passion with success. She shares how she figured out her path by more and more finding out what it is NOT that she wants to do and how she went through panic attacks while constantly working 5 times harder than others. What pushed her, how she faces reactions of people who do not understand how she could follow that route and made it through cultural differences living abroad, you will hear in this episode. Based on her experience, she shares her recommendation for expats arriving in Germany and for people who have an idea they want to bring it to life, even besides a paid job. We also talk about self-doubt, cultural shocks and following the own gut feel. Ready? Here she is!

The fresh new year is coming SO soon. This is such a fun part of the year. With a new year, we all have a clean slate and an exciting new future. Most of us are leaning forward in anticipation! As I prepare to teach even more women about how to kick dieting to the curb and embrace intuitive eating, I'd love to take a chance to respond to the two biggest (and most common) questions I get asked. Ready? Here they are: "Is intuitive eating healthy?" and its companion question, "How can I eat whatever I want and still be healthy?" Have you ever wondered these things? If so, you're in good company! These are good questions, and it's worth taking the time to explore the answers. As I share more, I hope you're able to consider whether intuitive makes sense for your life and needs! But FIRST... Have you signed up for the Food Freedom and Body Confidence Challenge? It starts with a workshop that covers the 4 simple steps of intuitive eating, and then follows up with 4 easy, daily challenges that give you a chance to practice intuitive eating. (You'll find out just how fun and easy it is!) It's free, it's fun, and you can sign up today at: www.caitlinball.com/challenge Back to the two big questions! Before we can determine if intuitive eating is healthy, we have to define what "healthy" even is. And honestly -- true health is about your WHOLE being. It's not just vital signs, numbers on a scale, or your level of physical stamina. In fact, the World Health Organization shares that: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Wow! Too often, when people talk about health they're only taking a limited amount of data into account. Ultimately they are often talking about (and promoting) some form of diet or exercise that will impact your physical body, but not much else. (Or worse...will have a negative impact on your emotional or social wellbeing.) Intuitive eating, on the other hand, covers the WHOLE picture! Rather than just focusing on calories, workouts, or lists of food that you're "allowed" and "not allowed" to eat, intuitive eating considers your whole being. You learn about meeting your needs, what makes you feel good, and how you can best care for yourself. My clients are often shocked but just how comprehensive intuitive eating work is! So...is intuitive eating healthy? According to the World Health Organizations definition, it IS! In fact, it's likely healthier than any diet or regimented plan you've attempted in the past. The second question gets at the root of how intuitive eating can be healthy for you, since it literally means you can eat anything. So many people voice the concern that they'll only ever eat donuts or candy if they try to eat intuitively. After all, isn't that what we all really want?!  I go more in-depth on releasing restrictions around food in this episode (https://caitlinball.com/2019/09/intuitive-eating-101-letting-go-restrictions/), but I still want to touch on this here. Its a hot topic! Here's the truth of the matter: You will NOT want chips and cookies all day, every day. Yes, you might eat quite a few of them at first. But that part of the process is for your mental wellbeing. Giving yourself freedom physically helps you release the rules, stress, and tension you're mentally holding. As you release stress around food (and being to eat the foods you've formally restricted), you'll eventually get to point where you recognize that those foods truly ARE allowed. And as you accept that, you're able to take those foods off their pedestal and simply accept them. Again -- think of health as being physical, mental, AND social. Some steps you take in intuitive eating may emphasize one area (like mental health) first, but they come full circle and have a positive impact in other areas as well.  Another big positive mental impact of practicing intuitive eating? Improved body image! If you're constantly berating your body, that is NOT healthy.  Think of criticizing, shaming, or otherwise critiquing the body of a child in your life. That would be awful, and the child would suffer. You're surely not doing that to a child, but you're often doing it to yourself. And in the same way a child would suffer under that treatment, you do too! Your mental and emotional wellbeing is compromised, and that often comes through in the way you treat your physical body as well. You might overexercise, overeat, under-eat, or do other things that don't express love towards your body. Intuitive eating allows you to begin treating your body with respect. Your body deserves to eat food that allows it to feel good, it deserves to have fun with movement, and to be dressed comfortably. Movement can feel good, and clothes can fit right when you practice eating intuitively! And back to our big question of health: Learning to respect your body is healthy for your mind, body, AND physical self. Intuitive eating also addresses your emotional wellbeing. If you tend to deal with stress or emotions by practicing emotional overeating, you're not helping your emotional or physical health. Although emotional eating is a coping mechanism, when taken too far it can take a negative toll on our wellbeing. Learning to address your emotions without the use of food (or in a more productive way with food) is a powerful step towards living a more holistically healthy life! (I dig into this here: https://caitlinball.com/2019/03/episode-22-feel-your-feelings-instead-of-eating-them/.) Another amazing tool that intuitive eating brings to the table is the chance to begin caring for yourself with love. Self-care is a huge part of intuitive eating, and can encompass a whole variety of things. Journaling, reaching out to professionals who can help with your specific needs, and moving in ways that feel good all count. So does making time for yourself, practicing small acts of self-care, and more. As these things come together, they form one of the biggest pieces of the intuitive eating puzzle! Many of my clients are surprised at how much self-care and self-love work takes place in intuitive eating. Many of them return to old beloved hobbies, begin practicing new forms of movement, and otherwise reconnect with themselves from a place of love and care. This often has a ripple effect. They find they want to do things that make them feel good. Instead forcing themselves to go to the gym from a place of body hatred or anger, they find joy in choosing to perform some form of exercise that genuinely feels good. They find themselves dressing in ways that make them feel wonderful. They start choosing food from a place of self-care, rather than stuffing emotions or "punishing" themselves or their bodies. Self-hatred or loathing will never create a strong foundation for true health. Intuitive eating addresses that, and helps you learn to make healthy decisions from a place of self-care and compassion. Finally, intuitive eating helps you get back in touch with your own body's wants and needs. You'll learn what foods feel good for you, and which foods you may want to eat less of. These choices don't come from a place of restriction or diet rules, but from a place of checking in with yourself. Your body knows, and it will let you know, if a certain food or menu item isn't going to make it feel that great. Maybe you'll decide to skip it all together, maybe you'll just have a bit, but you'll be able to do so from a place of self-love and self-care. That makes all the difference! Now, I would say that when I was dieting, there were diets that helped me discover things about what my body likes or doesn't like. For example, years ago when I had done Whole 30, I learned that less processed foods and more vegetables made me feel really good. When I started my intuitive eating journey, I was eventually able to use that knowledge to inform what made me feel good. The difference? When I was dieting, I was following rules from a place of needing to make myself "better". As an intuitive eater, I was able to use self-care and self-love to determine what would make me feel my best. It's an important shift! If you've been a dieter in the past, you can take what you've learned and utilize it! It's incredible how making food choices that are about self-love (rather than weight loss or physical appearance), feels completely different. Most diets address only one element of health, and often even have a negative impact on other areas! In my opinion, intuitive eating is truly the healthiest way to eat and live. It positively touches ALL elements of your health, and it helps you approach your relationship to yourself (and eating!) from a place of love.  

Shine Jesus Shine In my teens I was involved in what was called a “Make Way!” march. I hid behind a drumkit on a flatbed lorry one Saturday afternoon, while we banged out Christian songs as people marched behind singing. It was a great event that brought all the churches of the town together. I don’t know how many people got saved though. What I do know is that the next morning one of my friends asked me about it in school. “Yeah, that would have been me you saw.” “Oh it wasn’t me, it was my dad. He came home saying, ‘I was trying to get into the bookies to place a bet and I couldn’t get in. I was blocked by your mate Jon Petts on the drums and everybody singing Jesus wants me for a **** sunbeam.’” I have been involved in many forms of street evangelism. They have ranged from super-cringe to not so cringy. Sometimes I cringe unnecessarily because I just feel awkward. Don’t judge, I’m human. What is evangelism? Evangelism is, “The spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness,” and can take many forms. Today I want to set you free from any awkward or uncomfortable stereotypes and release you to let others know about Jesus in a way you are called to. Engel scale The Engel scale was developed by James F. Engel, as a way of representing the journey from no knowledge of God, through to spiritual maturity as a Christian believer. Some have criticised it as too linear and simplistic but it does help us understand that although there is a decisive moment when someone chooses Christ, there is a journey leading up to that decision. And a journey afterwards too. Here’s one version taken from greatcommission.co.uk: Mark 4 Jesus told this story which has been made famous by Church children’s workers around the world. I’ll warn you, it’s not gripping, there’s no suspense and the ending is pretty predictable. But at least there is a happy ending. For some. Ready? Here’s my short version: A farmer sowed some seed. Some fell on a path, some in rocky places, some among thorns and some on good soil. The seed in good soil grew and reproduced. The End. Not much of a story in a literary sense. No twist at the end. No suspense. Really Jesus? You’re telling me that if a seed hits good soil it grows better than other seeds in rocky, thorny places or on a path? This is not earth-shattering news. We all know this! You’re telling people who live in a farming community. What are you really telling us? Let’s break it down. The Farmer Jesus said, 14 The farmer sows the word. You are the farmer. Yes, God sent Jesus, the Word, but in this context, we’re talking about anyone who proclaims the gospel. And all disciples are called to do that. We’re told to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. So first up, this story is about you. May I say this kindly, if you’re not sharing your faith with anyone around you, you’re not a Christian. Now let me qualify that in two ways. Stay with me. A Christian is a Christ-follower. And if you are following Christ, you’ll be doing what he tells you to do. And he told his disciples clearly to go and make disciples. By definition, Christians share Christ. But before you get too uncomfortable, it’s not always all about preaching to your neighbour over the garden fence or handing out leaflets in the street. You could do both of those things and be a lousy Christian. You could do those things and not be a Christian at all. A Christian is a changed person. You share Jesus automatically when people see that change. Or if you meet them for the first time and they don’t know what you used to be like, they will see a difference. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come in. you’re a new creation. If this is genuinely true of you, if you have fully surrendered you whole life to the Lordship of Jesus, something changed on the inside of you that will show on the outside.

Hey guys, time for the last piece of our foundation. Let's put it all together using what we've learned the last two episodes and make a flight plan. (00:09) This is Thomas J and you're listening to rocket science MLM. Here's the science. How do real MLM'ers like us who have full time jobs, families and a million other things vying for our time, grow a profitable home business, recruit A players into our downlines and create extra income to achieve escape velocity from our nine to five without sacrificing the very time we are trying to get more of and do it without bugging friends, family and coworkers or posting endlessly on social media. That's the critical question, and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Thomas J and welcome to my journey to build a better MLM vehicle with rocket science. (00:48) I've titled this part of the blueprint, the flight plan. We have built our foundation over the last two episodes and today we finish it up. If you want to go grab a copy of the blueprint that I'm using, head over to www.rocket sciencemlm.com. If we take what we've learned about ourselves and about our target customer, now we can make an offer. This is not the same thing as our product. We need to create an offer. Yes, you still want to sell your MLM product, but we can't just put it up front. For one, Facebook doesn't like it. Even if you get your ad approved, you won't get any traction on Facebook. Second, your MLM probably doesn't allow you to do that anyway. We have to create a step by step path to your product, and it has to make sense and it has to be worth it. That's why I'm calling this part, the flight plan. (01:42) Here's a quick analogy. The Cassini spacecraft launched from Earth, October 1997. Its mission was to orbit Saturn, to study the planet, its moon, and those famous rings. It also had a probe, called Huygens, that landed on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Now the flight path to get from Earth to Saturn was not simple. Cassini traversed the 1 million miles by using four gravitational assists with two fly pasts of Venus, one of earth, and finally, Jupiter. Basically, the spacecraft left earth and spiraled around the sun flying further and further out into the solar system. Each time it flew by a planet, those fly bys or fly pasts. The aircraft gained speed using the gravity of the planet to pull it faster. It's kinda like this. If you're on skates and you grab a car bumper as it drives by and then the car turns a corner, you keep going straight flying faster down the road. That's a simplistic way to look at a gravitational assist. (02:51) It's basically the same thing though. But the point is this. The Cassini spacecraft had a very specific flight path. It used gravity of each planet to gain momentum and finally reach Saturn. If any of these steps were skipped or the aircraft missed those momentum bumps of the planets, it wouldn't have got to Saturn. We have to do the same thing. We have to create momentum through certain actions or smaller products to get people to reach our final product or final destination. This is nothing new. In the marketing world, we call this a value ladder. The most common example that I can think of is your dentist. Have you seen those specials for a free cleaning, or maybe a free x-ray? That's the start of the value ladder. They get people in, and once they have you in the chair, they offer you something else. Maybe it's discount teeth whitening. Then they might schedule your next cleaning to bring you back. If they keep going, you might find out you need fillings, root canals, implants. They might lose money on that first part, but make a lot of money in the end. You're not immediately going to jump into spending thousands of dollars with a dentist you don't know. No, you work up to it. They get you in, they develop a relationship with you through those steps, through that value ladder of smaller products that aren't that big a deal that you can pull out your wallet and spend 50 bucks, spend $100. Once they've developed that relationship, then they can offer the bigger products of thousands of dollars. (04:26) It's the same with our product, or our two products really, because the opportunity is a product too. Nobody's going to click on an ad to join your team. They want to get to know you first and see what you have to offer. If you can't progress them through an offer, they won't join you. So how do we make our flight plan? How do we make an offer that leads to customers or team members and as part of that flight plan, how do we make our final destination more attractive, or how do we add more value to it? The Cassini not only reached Saturn, but it also had the probe to study Titan, it's moon. It was a bonus mission, or a way to make the overall mission more valuable. We have to remember our last two podcasts. Who are you? What do you have to offer? What little extras can you add to the equation? Can you offer some type of expertise in the area of your sale? If it's weight loss, can you make a workout plan or a diet plan? If it's the opportunity, can you offer trainings to help your prospect even if they don't take you up on the final offer? (05:29) Also from our last episode, who are you helping? What can you do to help the person that wants the product? Another way to think of it is what other problems do you create that you can also solve? For example, if your final product is your MLM opportunity, you create a new problem for the person that takes it. That new recruit needs to find people. They need leads. So, if you can offer an automated way to get leads, that makes your potential new much more comfortable in joining you. (06:00) I don't know if this really fits here, but I wanted to tell you about the total opposite of what I'm talking about. It's always bugged me, but now that I have a podcast, I can get into a little rant. So, if it's okay, can I get something off my chest? Hopefully, you said yes, or you're hitting the 30 second skip right now. Okay. There was this VP of sales that we had a while back, and he was kind of bigger than life. He really did make you want to work harder and everybody just tended to soak it up. Well, he had this idea one day to help us sign up our two people that we needed to get going. It was really simple. In fact, probably the most straightforward and simple pitch that I've ever heard. Ready? Here it goes. Okay. First you had to think of a person you would call if you got that flat on the highway at 2:00 AM, or think of that person that just you really, really want to work with and call them. Then they get on the phone and you say, get out your credit card. (06:59) Of course, you were supposed to say it with lots of energy and excitement. The problem was that it actually worked for a few people in the company. They signed up people in 15 minutes. Oh, I mean it was so annoying to hear that. Number one, I didn't know anybody that would just pull out a credit card and charge $500 without knowing what it was for. And number two, I didn't want someone that would blindly spend $500 if they don't care to spend the money, they won't care to build a team. Sorry. That always bugged me. Glad I could get it off my chest. (07:32) But hopefully you get the difference. There's no special words to sign somebody up right away. You need to provide value in lots of it. You can charge for it. Sure. But you need more than what your MLM is offering. You need a unique offer for a specific person. You need a way to warm up a prospect and give them a way out if they don't want to take it. In the next episode we'll start automating all this, and we'll also start talking about how to build that offer and what it actually means. We'll take our foundation from the last three episodes and start building. We start building rockets. With our ground control in place, the rocket can take us where we want to go. If you followed along, and have done the hard work, you are now ready. I'm gonna start laying out the flow of funnels that I use and hopefully have some fun explaining them. If you have enjoyed this podcast so far, hopefully we're just getting started, but could you please leave a review? Go ahead and drop our view. If you want to see what I have planned, maybe jump on the mailing list for any of the new happenings. Head over to www.rocketsciencemlm.com. Send me an email if you have any questions, and I'll answer questions later on in a future podcast, or maybe I'll bring you on if you're doing some cool things with the stuff we're learning together. All right, well that's about it for now. See you later.

Darlings, in challenging times, it's so vital that we show up for ourselves so we can meet the world from as grounded a place as possible, and be most useful to our communities.If you are experiencing sadness or any related feel, i hope you can be reminded that although the feeling is most certainly real, it doesn't define us, nor is it a static thing. Hence why people tend to deal with grief in different ways.It´s ok to step back. To be more tender. To not get it all done. To do what you need to do to feel better.One thing i would add though, is that if you feel ready, try to find a way to move - it might be a physical movement, or offering yourself space to welcome in a new energy. It doesn't mean you're not still grieving or sad, or rejecting one feeling for another. It means you're opening up and being receptive to new ones. Shifting your state to something that's hopefully more helpful. I hope that you are able to navigate things in ways that you feel supported. For me, upping my practice of self care is really important. So, i'm offering some suggestions of what you can do right now to take care of you! Ready? Here are 15 self care ideas to shift your state! ….and if you enjoy this episode, i’d love it if you could share it with someone you care about and, if you feel generous, give me a review in Apple Podcasts! - it really helps other like-minded good people find the show and means the world to me to get a gauge on what you think, so i can make more content that is hopefully as helpful as possible for people. Links + more goodies in the shownotes! dionne ❤️ *********** I love to hear from you, requests for show topics, thoughts, etc, so please reach out to me. All the links will be in the shownotes → https://dionne.space/podcastepisode/38 And if you want more free resources from me to support you to be more you, consider subscribing to my Digest - a weekly love note of inspo for your insides (and inbox!) at → https://dionne.space/digest

In this episode, Teri talks about the Alexa Skills that were winners in the 2019 Webby Awards. The Webby Awards are awards that are given to people, organizations and companies that are doing incredible things on the web. With the explosion of voice technology, the awards added ten new categories just for voice. Teri is going to highlight the winning Alexa skill that is available in Canada as well as those that got honorable mentions. Ready? Here we go! And the Honorable Mentions were!#1 ALIEN: Offworld Colony SimulatorIt’s by 20th Century Fox and was one of the honorable mentions in the best user-experience category.It is a turn-based exploration game that challenges you to escape from the sectors of a locked down Weyland-Yutani Space Colony. The objective of the game is to escape as many colony sectors as possible before being trapped by the colony’s quarantine protocol, or falling prey to security hazards. #2 Bedtime ExplorersThis is by Kinderling Kids Radio.It is a soundscape type of exploration for children to be used primarily when they are getting ready for bed. It has very soothing music and voice, and gives kids the option to explore different animals or magical places in a soothing and calming way. It keeps the kids entertained and allows them to settle down for the evening.#3 Big SkyIt is by Philosophical Creations and it was an honorable mention in the productivity category.It is the go-to weather skill. It has more detailed weather forecast and information than the built-in weather forecast in Alexa.It uses the Dark Sky API, to give hyper-local for hour-by hour weather forecasts tied to your actual street address.#4 ChompersIt is by Gimlet Media and was an honorable mention in the health, fitness and lifestyle category.It’s a great skill that helps you get your kids to brush their teeth. You simply say, “Alexa, start chompers”Kids hear jokes, riddles, stories, fun facts, silly songs and more, that keep them giggling and brushing for the full two minutes that dentists recommend. To help your family build good brushing habits, Chompers counts the times you brush and celebrates your streaks.#5 Sleep SoundsIt is by Invoked Apps LLC and it was an honorable mention in the health, fitness and lifestyle category.It plays calming sound loops to help you fall asleep faster, sleep better, relax, meditate, or drown out distracting noises.There are several sleep sound skills, so one has to look out for this one by Invoked Apps, by listening right after you say, “Open Sleep Sounds”. It will say, “Welcome to Sleep Sounds by Invoked Apps”#6 Song QuizIt is by Volley Inc. and it was an honorable mention in the games and entertainment category.It is a great game.When you say, “Open Song Quiz”, it asks you for a decade of songs and you have to guess the name and artist of the song based on a short clip that it plays. You can also choose a number of players.#7 Suggest a BeerIt is by Dabble Lab and it was an honorable mention in the food and drink category.It is available in Canada but the content isn’t Canadian.It can suggest a beer to you, and it has more than 5,000 different beers, but they are all American brewed craft and specialty beers. It can suggest a random beer or a beer by state.And now for the winner skill that is available in Canada… drum roll please…Headspace: Guided Meditation for EverybodyIt is by Headspace and it won in two categories, Health, Fitness and Lifestyle, and People’s Voice.Headspace is meditation and mindfulness made simple. It’s very soothing, has a great voice and talks you through how to meditate and how to be more mindful with lots of different exercises and meditations that you can do.It’s great for relaxing, feeling calm, and winding down if you are feeling anxious.List of resources mentioned in this episode:Flash Briefing FormulaALIEN: Offworld Colony SimulatorBedtime Explorers Big SkyChompersSleep SoundsSong QuizSuggest a BeerHeadspace: Guided Meditation for EverybodyOther Useful resources:Voice in Canada: The Flash BriefingComplete List of Alexa CommandsReviews of top Alexa Skills in CanadaAlexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in CanadaTeri Fisher on TwitterAlexa in Canada on TwitterAlexa in Canada Facebook PageAlexa in Canada Community Group on FacebookAlexa in Canada on InstagramPlease leave a review on iTunesShopping on Amazon.ca See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you feel overwhelmed, tired, or burned out? If so, you’re in the right place! Today I’ll give you practical strategies for how to deal with that sense of being overwhelmed. You’ve got this! We all deal with overwhelm. If we don’t handle it correctly, we can run ourselves into the ground and burn ourselves out. Sound familiar? As a leading lady, I’m sure you’ve been there and know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s why I’m so excited to share these practical strategies with you today! Ready? Here we go! Close your eyes, stop what you’re doing, and breathe. Focus on what’s in front of you right now. On a sheet of paper, make a list of everything that’s swimming around in your head. Review each item and decide whether you personally need to do it, or whether you can delegate it. Prioritize all the things on your list that you have to do, and list deadlines. Take a break! Do the next task with as little distraction as possible. Use your “no” muscle to say no to any requests until you can include them on your list. It doesn’t sound too bad when you break it down that way, right? Try these steps, and I promise you’ll feel better, start breathing easier, and break out of that sense of being burned out and overwhelmed.   In This Episode: [00:53] - Jevonnah welcomes listeners to the show and introduces today’s topic: practical strategies to help you deal with overwhelm. [01:47] - Today’s listener shout-out goes to Tanya Hargrove! Want a shout-out in a future episode? Leave a review on iTunes for a chance to be featured. [03:44] - It’s your time! If you’re ready to thrive financially from what you already know, sign up today at jevonnah.com. [04:32] - We all deal with overwhelm, Jevonnah points out, then shares the first of her simple strategies that can help. [05:32] - Jevonnah talks about the second of her powerful strategies. [05:56] - The next two of Jevonnah’s strategies involves making a list and delegating from it. [07:20] - Next, prioritize your list, write down the deadlines, and take a break! After that, flex your “no” muscle. [09:24] - Jevonnah reviews the tips that she’s covered today.   Links and Resources: Jevonnah Ellison Jevonnah Ellison on Facebook The Coaching Course Ask Jevonnah a question Thrive Mastermind Jevonnah Ellison’s Thrive Summit 2019

You are in for a real treat, I do believe. As you are about to hear in this week’s PODCAST, it’s one of the most basic principles of proper biblical interpretation, the ground rule of hermeneutics. Ready? Here it is: “The Bible is the best commentary on itself.” Ever heard that before? Well, you’re going to get a classic example of that rock-solid (pun intended) truism right now. Let’s start with this: Peter, it seems, was obsessed with  stones and rocks. And that for a very good reason. Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. God bless you richly as you listen.

Boom, what's going on, everyone? Steve Larsen from Sales Funnel Radio.   I am excited for this episode. Well, to be honest, I'm actually freaked out. This is my 2019 goal.   I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million-dollar business.   The real question is: how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   What's up everyone?   Hey, so every single year I do this, and it's the scariest thing I do every single year. This is my fifth year in a row of doing this.   If you wanna see the past goals I've made year by year, you actually can find them on the youtube channel. You go to salesfunnelradio.tv,  and it'll take you to the actual youtube channel. If you want to check it out there - you can see the playlist of my previous years' goals.   Well, every single year I do this. And I remember the first time I ever did this. I was in this place of desperation. I was going into the army. In fact, you can see I have a shaved head. There's almost no fat on my body for some of those videos in there.   I remember sitting back and just thinking, “I'm tired.” guys. I'm tired of not having what I wanna have. I need to start doing things that are more drastic. And that's kind of what I was going through in my head at that time.   So I grabbed my computer, and I literally had traded funnels for the computer I was using. Actually no, not at that time. I don't even know that I really knew what a funnel was when I made that first video.   When I think back about it. I was taking a lot of traffic courses. Yeah, okay, that's what it was! Wait a second, so at the time what was going on, I was probably at business try, let's see, that was around number eight or nine, maybe ten.   I was a traffic driver for Paul Mitchell.  I’d had my first thousand dollar day, and it blew my mind. I was like "Holy Crap!" I was working with another guy at the time, we split the check, but still, $500 in a single day for me, I had never done that. And I was super blown away, guys. That was nuts. Absolutely insane for me.   We were living on a grand a month, basically, I believe. Something like that, anyways. It was hardly any money. And I was tired of it.   We’d been married for three years by that time and I was sick of being poor.   You can actually hear me in the very first thing say that: "I'm tired of being poor. "I'm tired of not having the things I'd like to have. "I'm tired of not having a lifestyle."   And honestly the biggest internal reason? I was tired of feeling like I couldn't provide for my family. I was sick of all of it.   I was like, I need to start doing bigger things. I need to start doing big, drastic things in my life that are the big disruptive activities that literally catapult me to new levels.   So the new goal that I made, the huge big goal that I made that very first video, five years ago, again you can see it, and you can see the progression year by year, which is crazy. I never thought I was starting a thing by doing this. But you can see, the big goal, I wanted to just do an extra thousand dollars a month.   I was like, “If I could just do,” and I didn't know how. I was like , “If I could just do a thousand dollars a month that would radically transform our lives.”   ...I mean, we would eat a little bit better. We would eat more. We could actually eat in general. I was just sick of it. I gotta be honest with you guys.   Looking back on what's happened in the last five years, first of all, is ridiculous. I didn't really figure out the game for the first two years doing these videos.   Then two years ago I was like, “Oh snap, the pattern's everywhere”... and then this last year, I decided to actually test the pattern, and I left my job. Scary, scary, scary stuff.   But when I think about it and the things that have propelled me, I actually wrote this on my window. It says Play Angry. I'm not an angry guy, but when I remember back to what life was like before I started doing this stuff…   I worked my face off, guys. I worked so freaking hard. I know the reason why stuff has happened really well in the last, especially two years. It's 'cause I worked really freakin' hard.   I only took two days for Christmas, and that's not necessarily a badge of honor. I actually wanna change that, and that's part of what I want to talk about for my goal for this upcoming year, but I work hard. I work really hard. I just get after it.   Nine times out of ten, I have no idea what the plan totally is. I'm just taking action. I'm just doing stuff.   So as I look back at the things that have really kept me moving forward, like, “Yes, there's this strategy, that strategy... Remember to do this before that...” That's great, and it's helpful.   But 80% of it is just me remembering the crap that I was going through and what life was like without having known or doing the things that I'm doing now - which sucked. I mean, “Oh my gosh, life was hard.”   ...So I'm excited for this. I'm not gonna lie, I'm actually nervous about this. I hate posting these videos. It's one of the reasons I do it: I hate it. It freaks me out. I don't want to tell you all my goal.   I don't wanna account for every previous year every single January. I hate New Year's resolutions, I think they're stupid. Why am I gonna do that once a year?   At the end of every single month I think through the goal, what I'm doing next month, I make sure that all the things and activities I'm doing are heading me to that target more closely. I'm not doing that once a year, that's stupid. So, anyway, I guess an effort for me to accept a little more of that resolution thing is to do this.   If you guys have never seen me do one of these episodes, or declare my goal publicly - what I do is I account for the last year.   It's not to throw mud in anyone's face. It literally is so you can go back and watch:   Year #1: Here’s Stephen when he had no money and was completely broke.   Year #2:  Still broke. He still hasn’t figured it out.   Year #3: Still broke, but it’s a lot more breakeven.   Year #4: Wow, lotta cash coming. Oh, my gosh.   Year #5: Stephen left his job... Holy smokes, why? What did he learn?   I'm trying to be super freakishly transparent in a way that’s not that popular anymore. It's not me saying, "Woe is me. Look how weak and vulnerable I am." No, no, no, no. Not at all. That’s NOT the point.   I'm trying to do is document everything I'm doing on the way so that you can see my journey.   Being broke was one of the most painful things I've ever been through in my life. And it almost had nothing to do with the money. It had everything to do with my feelings of inability. It wrecked my brain, guys.   It sucked, I don't want to feel like that. That's something that I'm really afraid of. I'm open to talk about that...   So I worked my face off, and after applying a few of these patterns, things really started to work. And then things really started working.   Anyway, so at the beginning of this I always go through and account for last year, and then tell you what my goal is going to be this next year, fiscally.   There's really only two, maybe three goals that I ever set. EVER. Anyway, so I'm gonna go through the fiscal goal for this upcoming year, and then my plan to get it. Which I'm really pumped about.   There's something that I, this episode is a little bit different than the previous ones that I've done where I just kind of say the goal. I want to tell you what I'm trying to do and... there's a gap, guys. There's a hole…   Literally two days ago, I realized that it was starting to appear in me. And I think I know how to fix it, but I'm freaked out about this one area, and I'm gonna solve it. It's just been really challenging.   So anyways, I'm excited about this though…   'Kay, so here it is, okay?   # January 1st, 2018, I left my job. And just to be clear, I had NO team. I had NO additional revenue at all. I had absolutely zero. I didn't have a product. I wasn't running any funnels, I didn't have a script.   Guys, I left with nothing.   I'm actually shocked how much hate mail I got by leaving ClickFunnels. Which is stupid, by the way. That's my choice, no one else's.   But when I left ClickFunnels, the reason I did it was because I had been coaching so many people in the Two Comma Club coaching program at ClickFunnels, that I started seeing these patterns of what was making somebody successful and what wasn't.   There were these holes and these gaps. And I was learning how to do is fill in those holes. Regardless of the product, the price point, or the industry that anyone was in, I was able to go through and figure out, "oh my gosh, this is how you fix it!"   I’d create my own framework and drop it in front of them, and BOOM!   I helped create a lot of millionaires in that program. Literally. A lot of hundred-thousandaires, which is still really good, and tons of people made money for the first time in their life on the internet.   I started getting better and better, and better, and better, better.   I'd already been doing the Two Comma Club coaching program for over a year at least, probably almost a year and a half by the time I left ClickFunnels.   So there were two reasons why I left ClickFunnels:   Number one:  I just knew in my bones I'm an entrepreneur. I just know that, and I'm trying to be more true to myself. I'm trying to find me. And I know that I'm an entrepreneur.   So the longer I stayed at ClickFunnels, regardless of how amazing it is over there and regardless of how dumb it looked for me to leave, and how cushy and amazing and plush and secure that job was... it wasn't me. So I left.   I had to grow some balls and just do it.   So number one, I had to get out of there.   That was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in my life. Okay, literally. And it still hurts. It’s hard that I only live like three miles away from ClickFunnels, 'Cause I just wanna go in sometimes, and be like "What's up? You all are awesome! Hey, can I just hang out for a bit?"   I tried really hard not to be that kid that just won't leave. You know what I mean?   So I just didn't show up for the first three months. 'Cause I didn't want to be like "What's up guys, how you doing? Hey, remember I said I left, but I'm not leaving. How are ya?  So I left... and really made sure I left.   Number Two: The second reason was that I’d become very confident in the frameworks I was producing. When I was coaching, I knew that if people just did it, they would make money - eventually.   There might be some in-between things that they need to fix, which usually had to do with their personality and NOT my framework. But eventually, it would work.   A lot of good marketers do this, guys. You gotta think about this, right? I started asking myself the question…   I remember this was June 2017, and I started asking myself the question: “What is something huge, like really big, like the biggest thing I can think to have to go through to prove that I know this stuff?”   Straight up, I don't know, what's the word, prowess.  I was trying to, not as a "look at me," but it was to prove to myself and others that I wasn't just building funnels in the corner.   I knew there was more. I knew there was more. And I knew that my frameworks worked. So I started asking myself the question: “What's something that's so big that it would be hard for people to not notice me?” You know what I mean?   Again, it's not like an out of a "look at me!" mentality. But it represented so much - because of all the crap I had gone through. And all the stuff that had gone on in my life up until that point.   I was like, “I need a crucible.”There needs to be this big event. What's the craziest thing I could fathom going through to prove to myself that I could do it? Almost like going full circle and healing parts of me that weren't healed about what I had gone through. You know what I mean?   ...And then especially, “How can I prove to myself that what I am teaching?” I know it works!   If I go to the gym and I'm like "Hey, I wanna lose weight," I will never hire someone who's overweight, right? I don't want to be a hypocrite and be the guy who's teaching stuff that he hasn't done…   And that really got in my head, and it started giving me a complex. I knew that what I was teaching worked because I was seeing other people do it. But I hadn't done it. And to me that's freaking blasphemy. It's like, it's so stupid.   I'm never gonna hire somebody who's broke to teach me how to make money...   I follow the principle of the guy who has the biggest cheese. Sausage number one man. Right, who's the guy, who's the lady, who's the person out there who has done it so much, right, and they can teach it so well because they are speaking from experience?   I wanted to be that kind of person. I wanted to prove that my frameworks work.   So I thought to myself, "Self, what if you left your job with no assets, no income, no funnel?”  Like, this is freaking extreme! I know it is. And I'm not recommending that anybody do that.   For me, and where I was, that was the right answer.  I was like "That's insane." And I went back and forth for a few months like, "Are you kidding? That's stupid, dude! Why would you do that? You're gonna leave?" And like, “Yeah, but it's the ultimate, it does work."   How do I know?   Because I jumped out of a moving airplane with no parachute and built it on the way down.   Again, scary, risky, risky like crazy. That's risky.   And so anyways, I'm super proud. I obviously wish I had made more this year. Who doesn't wish that? But I'm really proud that it worked. And that I knew the frameworks and the models and the formulas to make the game work so well that I could do that.   And again, not like a beat on the chest, “Look how great I am!” But you see what I'm saying?   It was really important for me to prove to myself that I could do that, and for whatever reason, me and my personal development and growth needed that.   So anyways, what I'm gonna do really fast is I wanna walk through what happened last year,  what I'm gonna do next year, and how I'm gonna do it.   ...And then there's something that's kind of freaking me out a little bit and I'm trying to figure out how to solve it. And I think I have the answer but I'm not quite sure.   Anyways, let me pull in my whiteboard here. My trusty whiteboard. Okay, check this out. Here it is. Let me just make sure there's no glare. Let me look over here at the camera. Alright…   So last year from January 1st to December 29th at 9pm mountain time... (I held off a little bit to record this episode 'cause I was trying to flet December end out)... I did $850,000. Well, $850,353, and 87 cents - which is cool.   Last year, if you watched the video for 2018's goal, I was like "I'm gonna go make a million bucks." And like, I saw that and I was like, “Crap!” You know. I was like, “Yeah! No!” Like, “Yes! No!” Superbad. I was like, “NO!” … because of THAT.   So I'm super stoked, I did 850 grand out of the gate:   No team No funnel No product No system   The only thing I had been doing was publishing = big lesson in that.   I had done 100 episodes of Sales Funnel Radio at the exact date that I left ClickFunnels, I believe. The show hadn't even done 100,000 downloads when I left ClickFunnels; we're now at 250,000 downloads of Sales Funnel Radio. Last I checked, but it's growing by almost 2,000 a day now. Which is awesome. So that's cool, right? That's me accounting, being totally open and really vulnerable.   When I left ClickFunnels, I followed my own formula and made 200 grand really fast out of the gate. And then, I got freaked out, guys.   January and February what happened was, there was a lot of cash that came in. And I’d built funnels for revenue, but I hadn't built systems for a business. So I was the business. And it was hell, I'm not gonna lie, guys. It was so nuts.   March came around, which was Funnel Hacking Live, and I turned off pretty much every revenue stream because I was like, "Shut it down, shut it down! I need to go set up this stuff.  I gotta go put these things together.”   So I started putting together all these systems and all this stuff like, support. And then Coulton moved down. And I started putting all these people together because I couldn't handle the speed that the revenue was coming in.   I couldn't fulfill fast enough which is scary because the people were like "Oh, it's a scam!" And “It's not a scam, I just can't keep up.”   Trey Lewellen went through a similar thing when he sold that many flashlights. You know what I mean? Crazy, crazy, crazy.   So I slowed everything down…  and a lot of March and April was a lot of more biz building which was exciting, but it freaked me out, guys. I was trying to keep it cool but man, I was so scared because there wasn't a lot of revenue coming in.   At the beginning where it was like 40, 50, 60 grand a month, somewhere like that, it was like like 10, 15 grand, and I was like "We're gonna die in a gutter. Maybe this was a stupid mistake!" You know, "What have I done?"   So, I was so scared, but I knew the process and I just kept true to it and kept blocking out the noise. And when I turned everything back on, we were back up to 50 grand, 70 grand, and then, five months in a row of hundred, hundred, hundred.  I was like, “Holy Crap!”   Last month in December we didn't hit the hundred. It's funny man, people go on holidays and everything just kind of shut down. It was totally a slow season, I didn't know that. But I'm so stoked though.   And then what also happened, is we were pulling in so much money there that again, I had to stop things and slow things down.   A lot of December for me has been business building and systems building. So I've been building these things that’ll make it so that I can move faster in 2019.   So here's the sting, guys. Here's the sting…   I did 850 grand, collected. Check this out. Man, I was so pissed off when I saw this.   I was just quickly running through my accounts receivable,and we're getting another big chunk of cash again either today or tomorrow. Okay.   Check this out:   Collected = $850,000. To Collect, (meaning the business is there, we're just collecting it still) = $156,000   Man, that's a million dollars!   That's six grand over a million bucks. No, no, no no no!   I was so mad when I saw that. I ran downstairs to my wife and I was like "Look,  that + that  = that’s over a million! What! Like why didn’t I set up more systems?”   Anyway, it was super cool, BUT like, a massive slap in the face.   When I tell you guys the market will always tell you what to do - it just did! I was like "No!" The market's saying: “Stephen, you don't have the systems in place yet to collect enough of the money upfront in some areas of things that you provide.”   There's some really high-end stuff that I go and I do. I just get so excited about doing the thing I didn't have everything set up  - which is stupid.   ...but how would I have known unless I looked. Unless I listened to the market. Unless I was willing to fail... you know what I mean?   So was it a failure? “No, but Yeah.”   By the numbers, yeah. Was it really? No.   Did I do something really risky? Yeah. Did it work? Barely. You know what I mean?   So I'm excited guys, I can't describe to you the feeling of accomplishment that I have with this.   If you guys have been following me at all, I mean there's been many, many moments where, I'm not gonna lie, a little man-tear happened, okay. It flexed on the way out so it's still manly, it's cool.   ...But there was a little bit of a tear there and I was like "Man, you're crazy, Stephen. In fact, you killed Stephen. You're Steve now." A lot of you guys are asking me what you can call me; you can call me, whatever....   But anyway, this journey, this year has been of insane growth in many areas. I've learned:   What did work   What didn't work   Where I should tweak stuff   Where I need to go next   I know what to go build next.   ...And I know, because of pain. I couldn't have foreseen some of the things that I need to go fix, which is why I needed to leave ClickFunnels. You see what I'm saying?   I would NOT have known, "Hey look, when you move into this area watch out for this and this and that."   I wanna be the ultimate litmus test for what I'm teaching people.   So, risky? Totally. oh my gosh, yeah, yeah. Not that risky though, because of what I do and what I did. Don't compare yourself to me if you're like "I'm NOT willing to leave my job."  Yeah, then don't. I'm not telling you to, okay? But what I'm so stoked about was, “That would've been a million dollars. No! Dang it!”   ...Because I, technically, have two businesses, I didn't get a Two Comma Club award this year for my stuff, but both of them, we got the stuff to make 'em work really well, you know? It's freaking close.   Anyway, so I'm being open with you guys about what happened, and what didn't.   I’m trying to be the ultimate guinea pig on a lot of the stuff and test guru's material out.   And Russell Brunson's is the closest material that I've ever found where it's like ready out of the box, you know? It's not that way for other guru's stuff.   I want to be long-term. I want to have the reputation like that for my material. Not like, "Yeah, when you go to that person's stuff, it's great and it's really helpful, but you still need X, Y, and Z to actually use it."   I don't want that. I don't want that. That's why I made OfferMind and I made that event because it was me going through and showing the framework.   I have a very framework, systems-focused brain. And I love going in and pulling those things out and showing:   Look, this is how I did it   This is when it worked   This is when it didn't work.   ...and being that kind of person.   So anyways, going forward, my goal for next year - which is scaring the crap out of me. Which solves half my problem I'm gonna get to in just a moment here. My goal for next year, though?   If you watch the pattern, a lot of what I've done for these goals is the first year was $1,000 a month. Then it was $3,000 a month. Then I think is was $5,000 and then $10,000.   This last year was a million bucks - which is $82,000 a month.   This year, though…   Man, I'm telling you guys, I don't totally know all of the path on how to get there, but I see enough of it that I think it's gonna work. It’s scaring me to death. Ready? Here we go. You can see that, right? Yeah, okay. Four million dollars.   I've tripled the goal almost every time.   And that's where I've gone from one to three, you know. Then this to that. Four million, though, that's the goal! Gosh dang it, that's really freaky to say to you guys.   I know the systems that are gonna be in place. I gotta have more of them. A lot of what I need to set up in order to actually make that happen.   I gotta have a better phone sales system. I'm noticing that that's a big issue of mine. I don't have that many closers. And there's not much of a system and a script set up for that stuff.   This year for me has been a lot about the methodology I use and I teach that you need to enter into and design a new ocean with a single product.   Once the idea has been proven then you go and you can develop all the things inside of the value ladder to go explode it and expand it and actually plant your stake there.   Okay, so for this year…   I’ve  accidentally kind of become the category king in two different categories. One of them was purposeful; the other was completely accidental.   The business I lead with, my major, major passion, is Offer Creation. Just since OfferMind, collectively, those who attended, they've made hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. A lot of money.   I know this stuff works.   It's NOT one person is just killing it, that's a lot of people. And a lot of people who have never made money ever.   I continually get a lot of people that are like, "Man, I made my first 10 grand ever. 10, 30, 30, 30!" And I'm like, "Yeah! What's up?”   Pretty sure you guys made more money collectively than I did - which is awesome and I've very proud about that, actually.   I made more money doing the thing than teaching the thing. That's also very important to me as well. I focused on that a lot of this year.   So what I'm pumped about, you guys, is that I have gone in and I've developed these two businesses.   I have a front end business and I have a back end business:   #1: I teach offers, and I help people create their offers. I build off a lot of 'em, and a lot of people are in need for that. That's one of the major missing loops I was seeing in what I was coaching in the Two Comma Club coaching program.   And so I was like, “I'm gonna go be the offer guy.” And because of Russell Brunson and Myron Golden and Alex Charfen, and a lot of guys that I was being super vulnerable and open with…   They were like "Stephen, dude, you geek out about offers more than anybody we've ever seen in our entire life; go be that guy. There isn't a guy for that. Go be that guy."  I was like, sweet. So I'm the offer guy.   I've proved out the idea into that market.   How did I do that? By OfferMind.   Now that I've got that, I have a product up here. There's actually gonna be a second one up at the top. And then there's a whole bunch of cool front ends.   So on top of all these, proving the idea in front of the market, that's a lot of what this year was about. It's not so much about cashing out. It was about me proving out the systems and the things that I was teaching -  that they work.   If you look at Alex Hormozi, Brandon and Kaelin Poulin. If you look at, a lot of those people that blew up and made 10 million really quick, it's because the year prior, they actually went in and proved out their systems. And then scaled hard with a sales closer team and a phone team, which is what I'm gonna do.   A lot more sales positions, a lot more money up front scenarios, so I don't have this happen again.   The very one at the bottom says: An Assistant. I don't even have an assistant. It's literally two of us that are full time. I have two content teams  and now, we're building an internal funnel-building team. Which is really exciting.   For me to increase my speed, I cannot be the only one building my funnels anymore.   So anyways, guys whatwhat I'm trying to say when I'm teaching you guys right here is like, there's a lot of entrepreneurs that fail at this part of it. This is where they die.   They will remain the solopreneur; they cannot build the team.   They don't know how to scale, they don't know how to put the systems in place. I am excited to crack that code. I will will win at it, and I'm really, really pumped about that.   Now the thing that's freaking me out, just so you guys know: major growth in my life has come from scenarios that I don't know how to solve but walk forward anyway.   I didn't know how to build a funnel the first time I told someone I'd build one. Was it lying? No, because I knew it was possible, and I knew I'd figure it out. So I youtubed like crazy, you guys.   I remember the first time I asked ClickFunnel support how to change background color inside the editor. Okay, seriously, you guys are way further ahead than I was when I started, okay?   I got to the Funnel Hacking Live event the first time with no money. I had to bootstrap my way there. That's a crazy move. That's a big bold move.   I created the original Two Comma Coaching Program and ran the FHAT Event, which is crazy. A lot of successful people came from that event. For me to say yes to that was a scary thing.   I had to replace Russell Brunson on stage for three straight days, That freaked the crap out of me. Yeah, I was excited but I was scared to be totally honest with you.   Leaving my job! WHAT? Okay, that's nuts.   And so what I've noticed is that I suck at willingly manifesting personal growth. I'm not good at it. Almost no one really is. 'Cause when we start feeling pain the natural inclination and all of our justifications say "Back off, Stephen, why you gonna feel that pain?"   What propels me forward, and what I've been trying to figure out is what the next absolutely freaky goal is? What’s the experience?   I have a hard time willing those kind of experiences into my life, anyone does.   Like, basic training. Man, I couldn't get out of that. Right, I couldn't get out of, and I did those things for that reason.   I did door to door sales because it scared the crap out of me, and I knew I'd learn like crazy in the middle of that environment.   I'm trying to find the next environment. You see what I'm saying?   My  goal is four million dollars. I know I'm gonna hit that. It's a goal, it's scary 'cause I've never hit it, but I know I'm going to. I know that this next year I'll probably have at least three Two Comma Club Awards.   ...cause I got a lot of products that are in the hopper and they're all gonna tie together and reference each other, it's gonna be awesome.   BUT the thing that I'm trying to figure out is: How can I architect freaky big things and environments I can't get out of? And I don't know how else to do that except for a big goal that feels freaky to me that I've never done before.   And is it bigger than other people's? No. Some peoples are bigger than mine, I totally get that. But I'm on a journey and a comparison of me versus me. And to me, that scares the crap out of me.   I gotta build crap I've never built. I gotta build stuff I've never done. And I gotta push forward that way.   Anyways, what I'm saying is, the thing that I'm trying to figure out... Guys, this sounds so opposite. Completely opposite than what a rational individual would do.   I did not have an option when I left ClickFunnels, other than to make money work through funnels - because my back was against the wall, and I knew that. And that's one of the reasons I was doing it.   I could learn at a really slow pace by studying others, which is good to do for a while. I could learn at a really slow pace by consuming tons of content, which is really good to do for a while, until you're trying to figure out what you want to do   BUT, then, I don't know another way except burning the boats.I voluntarily try to find ways to put my back against the wall and cut all options out.   For the last five, six years there's been a lot of scenarios like that. Bam, bam, bam.   I'm 30 years old, I don't want there to be too much comfort in what I do. My goal could freak me out, but I know I'm gonna hit it. I know I'm gonna hit it. So, what can I orchestrate in my life to make it where I don't have an option but to move forward?   ...And that's the thing I've been trying to solve and it's really been freaking me out. I don't know how to solve that right yet. Because I don't wanna get comfy.   I'm not saying I'm not gonna go experience and have fun times doing a few things, you know what I mean? I'm gonna enjoy life, and I am a happy guy, but when it comes to personal growth and business and moving forward, frankly, I want to be big. And I know that…   Hopefully you guys know what you want? Don't be apologetic about it.   ...But how can I orchestrate the next ridiculous scenario in my life where I don't have an option? Where I will figure it out, out of desperation.   Which sounds crazy. Almost a masochist, I promise I'm not. But you see what I'm saying?   I have never learned more about myself than in those scenarios. I've never learned to love me more than in those scenarios. I've never learned to fill in the blanks faster, with more aggression, applied aggression, good aggression, right, than in those scenarios.   So like, man, I left the job, right? And everyone talks about that, and okay, done.   I'm trying to figure out what the next freaky thing is? And I can't.   I think there's a combination of some physical aspect, so I've been saying like, “Man, sometime I'm gonna try and choke out Russell Brunson in jiu jitsu.” Which is freaking scary 'cause that dude's like, all-American killer. That's cool, but my back's not against the wall.   There's no scenario yet where my back's against the wall. My back's not against the wall yet for this years goal, which freaks me out.   Most entrepreneurs just glide into the night when they hit some kind of a phase like this and I don't wanna be that way.   That's the real thing. That actually freaks me out more than the four million. I know how to hit that. I know the processes and the systems. I know exactly what I'm building. I'm almost done with my high-ticket thing that I've been building and putting together, and it's so awesome and there's nothing like it, and it comes from this perspective that has been very unique for me - because not many people do the stupid move I did by leaving my job.   Which is ultimately awesome, but you know what I mean?   Anyway, I'm really pumped about it, but I know I'm gonna hit that goal. I know exactly what my products are gonna be in my value ladder. I've got people building that stuff for me now.   My internal funnel-building team that I dream-lined out; I've already approached them, and they already said yes. Now I'm just gonna run through the process of it.   I'm gonna treat it just like I do my content team, so I'm gonna babysit it the first few funnel-builds to really document the system, and then keep moving forward. You know what I mean?   But like besides that, where's my next level of:  "Oh crap Stephen, can you do this” coming from? And that, my friends, has been one of the greatest accellerents to anything that I've done ever.   So I'm really pumped about it, but also scared to death 'cause I don't actually know the answers yet. I'll figure it out, and I'm gonna keep looking for it. It's exciting, exciting stuff. So anyways guys, that's my goal. I collected $850,000   I still have $156,000 too collect   I'm gonna do four million this next year.   Honestly ,I feel like I'll do four million this next year running at the pace that I am, but anyway. I know I think at least we'll do three; four is the stretch. Which again, freaks me out, but I see where to go for it. I'm pumped about it.   Watch how I'm launching my stuff moving forward to watch how I'm doing that. It's a balance between what I'm doing publicly and behind the scenes in my actual company. It's this next piece, though: How can I orchestrate a little bit more fear for me personally?   To be freaked out for the sake of: let's put your back against the wall and see what you're made of, Larsen? You know what I mean?   Anyway, so I'm psyched about this, guys. Thanks so much for sticking with me. It's a little bit of a longer episode, but I just want you to know that's my goal.   I challenge each one of you guys to post your goal publicly.   It’ll freak you out; it usually scares people. And a lot of the audience that is following you, that you might not even know about, even if you don't feel like you have a following, someone's watching you, they'll follow up with you. A lot of you guys did with me. They were like, "Stephen, you gotta hit the goal, man!" I'm like "I know, and I think I'm going to!" And I thought I was, and then I didn't freaking collect on some of it - “Dang it. Dang it man! Gosh!”   Anyway, whatever…   Thanks for following the journey. Appreciate it.   Again:   I challenge all of you guys to go in and post your goal, whether on the comments of this post or somewhere, but get open and real with what you want. Get unapologetic about it, and move forward. Because no one wants what you want more than you do. Stop waiting for permission.   Alright guys, see you later, bye!   Aw, yeah!  Hey, obviously a funnel's already dead if you can't even get anyone to opt in, right?   So I spent four hours teaching an audience how to get high opt-ins; when they work, when they don't work. If you want access to that members area where you can watch those replays, just go to freeoptincourse.com to create your free members account now.  

In this episode, Teri does a countdown of the 2019 Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada.Teri went into the Canadian Amazon Skill Store and sorted the skills by top reviews which means that they are the skills that you the users have rated as the top skills. Teri had done a similar countdown months ago and interestingly some of the skills are still in the list, but there are some new ones, and the skill that takes the number one spot is actually brand new.Before we proceed, one small caveat: Teri selected the skills based on how interactive they are and not just sound effects. He decided to sort the skills this way so you can see Alexa at her best. With that in mind, time to countdown the top ten! Ready? Here we go! The Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada!#10 AnyPod by Harrison Digital MediaAre you looking for a great skill to listen to podcasts on Alexa? It was the number 10 skill six months, so it’s holding steady. This is the best skills for listening to podcasts through your Alexa devices. Their description reads, “AnyPod lets you play any podcast. Enrich yourself with thousands of comedy, drama, music, tech, news, education, and pop culture audio programs” Once you open the skill, you can play a particular podcast title. You can say, “Next or Previous” You can say, “Fast forward two minutes” You can say, “Rewind thirty seconds” It also keeps track of where you are in your podcast.#9 Skyrim Very Special Edition by Bethesda Game StudiosThis is a new skill on the list. It has some mature content so it when you first start it, it will ask you if it is okay to start the skill based on the fact that it has some mature content. It’s an interactive game where the user explores Skyrim using the power of their voice. It has various quests, the user goes into dungeons, and they have different weapons and spells. The user encounters different people. It’s given in Alexa’s voice which means it is a text to speech type of a skill which can be a bit tiresome and difficult for a user to continue being engaged with it. The timing of the way she says sentences and phrases can be heard to understand.#8 TED Talks by TED ConferencesIf you’re interested in TED Talks, this is the skill for you. This was the number 8 skill six months ago. It’s a catalogue of all TED Talks and they describe as, “Explore TED's vast library of inspiring talks and ideas worth spreading by world-renowned speakers and thought leaders from around the globe. You can play the latest TED talk, play random TED talks, or search for talks by topic or by speaker name. You can also play talks that are funny, inspiring, persuasive, courageous, or jaw-dropping. New TED talks are available every weekday and are always free to the world!”#7 Work Smart Live Smart with Beverly Beuermann-King by 5 Star BriefingThis is a new skill on the list. It is the first of two flash briefings that are on this list of 2019 Top Skills for Canada. This skill is all about giving you tips on how to work and live smart. It’s description on Amazon reads,“Would you like to live your life with less stress and more happiness? Discover how to take small steps towards a healthier, happier, less-stress you. Stress is a powerful force in life. It can bring about illness, destroy relationships and cause chaos. There is not a one-size-fits-all coping strategy for dealing with stress. Our goal is to put a plan together that helps us to deal with the sources of stress, take care of ourselves during those stressful time and allows us to reach out to those around us for support. The Work Smart Live Smart flash briefing focuses on helping you to Harness Your Energy and Build Your Resiliency!”#6 Voice in Canada Flash Briefing by Voice in CanadaThis is the other flash briefing on the list and it’s by Teri Fisher. It is the number one flash briefing in Canada. It’s all about providing you with tips, tricks, the latest news, deals, and all types of information related to using your Alexa device in Canada.#5 True or False? by labworks.io ltdThis skill as on the list last time and it’s a fun “True or False” trivia game. There are a lot of different topics that you can pick from. You can pick from a random topic and it will go ahead and ask you “True or False” questions. You can play against other people (multiple players) or you can choose a particular topic. You can also learn some interesting facts from playing this game.#4 Would You Rather for Family by Voice GamesThis was the number one rated skill 6 months ago. It’s a game where the user is asked whether they would rather do one of two different things, activities or choices. There are different categories, either random questions/topics or Disney questions/topics. You can play along with multiple players and see how you do. It’s a very fun game.And now the top 3!#3 Escape the Room by Stoked Skills LLCDo you like escape room kind of games? Then you’re really going to enjoy this. This skill is holding strong at the number 3 spot for the last six months. This is just like all of those escape rooms that are becoming more and more popular except you’ll be doing it through voice. You’re given the option of working through a couple of different rooms then you’re presented with a scenario, and you have to look around, inspect things, use objects and figure out how you get out of the room. It’s very fun. The scenarios can be a bit challenging.#2 Yes Sire by Volley Inc.It was still at number 2 six months ago. This is a really fun game. Its description on Amazon goes, “Needy peasants. A backstabbing nobility. A king who is never satisfied. Nobody said that running a feudal fiefdom would be easy. But with this Alexa game, it is bound to be entertaining. Are you prepared to make some of the hardest decisions of your (soon to be short) life? You sit as a medieval lord of the realm, presented with an ever-expanding array of difficulty choices. Make good choices and stay in power as long as you can!”You go through making decisions about things that are happening in the kingdom, and you have to balance your level of influence and wealth, all of which if it keeps track of, and maintain those at certain levels so that you don’t end up being executed or running out of money. It’s all based on decisions in terms of running the kingdom. The voices are done by voice actors which makes the game very engaging and takes the user’s experience to a whole new remarkable level. And now for #1 of the Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills… drum roll please…#1 Storyflow - Interactive Stories by getVoiceflow.comThey are brand new on the list and have been skyrocketing tremendously. Their description reads, “Storyflow brings adventures to life using professional voice actors, sound effects, and custom content made just for Alexa. Storyflow adventures play aloud on your Alexa device, and let you make decisions which will affect the outcome of the story. Turn left? Press the red button? It's up to you! You will be prompted by the other characters in the story when it's time to make a choice. To get started, launch the Storyflow skill and choose your story. If you already know the name of your story, just say "Alexa" followed by your story name to jump right in”They are choose-your-own-adventure type of stories which are incredibly done. The immersive experience through sound effects, voice artists and so much more, are the best on the skill store. They started out doing interactive stories, then they created a platform that allowed them to produce more stories and when they saw how the use of the platform was, they decided to put the platform out to the public to use as platform for creating stories or any other type of skill. The platform is called Voiceflow.List of resources mentioned in this episode:Teri’s Live Health Broadcast at the Alexa ConferenceTeri’s Live Flash Briefing Workshop at the Alexa ConferenceVoiceflow Founder’s Interview on Alexa in CanadaOther Useful resources:Voice in Canada: The Flash BriefingComplete List of Alexa CommandsReviews of top Alexa Skills in CanadaAlexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in CanadaTeri Fisher on TwitterAlexa in Canada on TwitterAlexa in Canada Facebook PageAlexa in Canada Community Group on FacebookAlexa in Canada on InstagramPlease leave a review on iTunesShopping on Amazon.caThe Alexa Conference, presented by VoiceFirst.FMuse promo code ALEXAINCANADA for 20% off See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hi, this is jethro, host of transformative principal! You can reach me @jethrojones on twitter or at http://transformativeprincipal.org/ Today is episode 253 and I am so excited about what I am going to share. My school is rocking and rolling in an amazing way! We are positively impacting kids not just academically, but socially, as well. It’s fantastic. In fact, I’m much more proud of our soft skills growth than I am of our academic success, because today, kids can learn anything anywhere! Much of that growth is happening in Synergy, which I will talk about later. But first, everyone is always asking, how do we get our schools to change. You’re listening to this podcast because that is what you want to know! In the fall listener survey there were about 90% of my listeners so far who said they wanted to learn more about the school change process. Well, I’m going to tell you the secret. Ready? Here’s my four-step process guaranteed to bring about school change: Vision Communication Empowerment of faculty, parents, and students Continuous improvement First, vision. Where there is not vision there is death. Do you want to be “just another school?“ No! That’s why you’re listening to some guy in Alaska describe how his school has dramatically changed over the last 18 months If you go back to episode 1001 of Transformative Principal you will see how we did a ton of stuff at my last school. The same is happening here, with one notable exception. Everything that we are doing is centered around a vision for personalized learning. If it doesn’t have to do with personalizing learning for our students, I don’t touch it. Our vision is clear. We are going to give kids what they need when they need it. That is personalized learning. Our vision is clear: if something doesn’t contribute to personalizing learning, we don’t waste time on it. Whatever training we do goes back to personalizing learning for our students. We have a ton of new stuff happening in our school this year. Why? Because we are personalizing learning. Math - project-based learning Science - switching between 7th and 8th grade teachers each quarter-long unit to give kids choice and voice in their learning. So, let’s talk about how all these things happened. Step 2: communication When I got hired, I came up and met the staff at the end of the school year. I talked at length with a few of them, and started communicating over the summer more extensively. There was a lot going on. When I got to the school, I met with every teacher I could to ask, “What should we start, stop, or continue doing?” I got a lot of feedback from that. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to talk with parents, yet, but those that I did shared some of their concerns. The biggest thing that I learned in my four months’ research was that there were a lot of problems. It was tough coming into the school. I did a survey at the end of the school year, and when I asked a question about culture at the school, only 2 responses were something positive. All the others were negative. ALL the others were negative. This was tough for me. As a side note, one of the ways you measure culture is through little things, like how many people sit together at district-wide professional development. At our PD on Monday, we had the biggest group we’ve had sitting together. It’s working. We also had a school district strategic vision and big push from the school board and superintendent to personalize learning for our students, which is what I really wanted to do in education anyway! After all this research, we needed a direction. Many teachers responded to another survey that they wanted to be known for something. They had different ideas, but they desperately wanted to be known for doing something that no other schools were doing. So, with their input, I created a vision for where Tanana would go in four years. Here it is: We would fulfill our school district’s strategic vision by becoming the most personalized school in the district. I announced to the teachers at the start of the year and then reviewed it again. I help monthly meetings with parents to explain where we were going to go in the future. Part of the challenge was that we would only have students for 2 years. Step 3: empowerment of faculty, parents, and students This one is really exciting. I could write a whole book about this! In our four year plan, there are outlines, and there is room for growth. There is room for personal accountability. I learned long ago that a leader’s job is not to cap the top end, but rather to help light a fire under someone else. Through this process parents and students and teachers may feel like they have a little too much power. The reality is you always have that power. It’s ironic that this piece is called empowerment, when we take that power away ourselves and think that we need permission to do good things. We don’t. Throughout this whole process, teachers and students have been given great latitude to make their own decisions and do things how they think is best. They are the people with the most information about what works for them, so why should I, as the principal, who doesn’t know a lot of what is going on, be making all the decisions. I do my best to teach them good principles, and then I let them govern themselves accordingly. One of the other things that I have learned is that if I am running the ship, when I turn my back the ship crashes. There are initiatives that are happening solely because I am in charge of them. This is a recipe for disaster! This will not continue if I am not working my tail off to make sure that happens. I need to distance myself from that so other people can take ownership. Right now, synergy is in that camp. But it is a school-wide effort and not many people have the capacity or opportunity to see all that there is to be seen! Even still, I need to move that away from me, and give more opportunities to others. *What is Synergy? You’d probably call it project based learning. And that would be pretty accurate. But it’s not exactly that. Synergy is a time for students to learn without limitations. Synergy is a time when students bring all their skills and knowledge together to do something that leaves an impact. I made a little video to explain it to my students, and I’d like to share it here. What makes synergy so awesome? It’s all driven by kids. They come up with the ideas. They do the work. Teachers are very much guides on the side supporting them. It’s so exciting to see what kids are creating. I’m working on a list that shows everything that kids are doing in Synergy, but it isn’t quite done, yet. Kids are writing novels, making scale models of battleships, organizing a step team, finding ways help homeless youth, raising awareness about LGBT issues, decorating our school, writing uplifting messages on origami to give to others, upcycling, organizing after-school programs (sports and chess) for a neighboring school, creating a smoothie company, a locker decorations company, a vinyl decal company, and so much more. It’s exciting! I can’t believe what I get to witness every week with these kids. Stay tuned for more to come about this exciting chapter in our school. Step 4: Continuous improvement This is where it gets really exciting for me. Nothing is ever good enough. Good is the enemy of great. I want my school to be amazing, and it is never going to be if I settle for anything. For me, change and improvement is exciting and fun. For others, change is scary and challenging. So, how do we make this happen? We constantly evolve in every area we can. It means that I have a critical eye, and that means critical for the things that I want to have happen, too. Synergy is a good example of that. It started way back when I was a teacher and has been evolving ever since. It has different names in different schools, but the base idea is the same. You might call it Genius Hour or 20% time. I’ve called it “special projects,“ “tutorials,” “advisory,” and now “synergy.” What is important in whatever process you are evaluating, is that you continually evaluate how things are going. You can’t settle for anything, anytime. There are challenges with this. But this is where it goes back to the vision that you have for your school. If you don’t have that vision of what we are doing, the improvements can be seen as changes, and that doesn’t help anyone!!! People don’t like to change for change’s sake. They are willing to improve and grow, but they need to do it with an eye toward a vision of some sort.  

How to Handle Every OFF-SEASON with Ease When you begin to think about the business side of competing or even your relevance as a competitor, you probably would be reluctant to take an off-season. But the real question that you should ask yourself is, is taking off-season important? Really, is it important? If it's important, how should you handle it? Let's find out with Lauren Dannenmiller.   Lauren Dannenmiller is an IFBB Bikini Pro, who triumphed over the 2017 NPC Nationals Bikini Championship. She is a Business Partner, a Contest Prep and Lifestyle Coach at Team Cosmic Bodies, a company that lay focus on Bikini prepping and fitness coaching.    Today, we're going to dive deep and talk to you about how she handles her off-season and the possible physical and mental changes during that time. Lauren will also share her experience being in-season versus off-season and how the attention that she gets while in-season is affected.    Finally, she will give you tips on how to set boundaries when your partner adds up not just as your business partner but a coach. Ready? Here we go!   Takeaways Hard work, consistency, and determination will take you where you want to go Ensure you are ready to compete Get your willpower high Take a break to evaluate and work on yourself You never know what's going to happen at each show Taking time off gives you longevity in the sport The more shows you do, the easier it gets Your time will eventually come Be patient, it takes time to get anything that you want Don't give up, keep pushing  Competing should not be the only thing that you do Put your posing under control before doing any national shows Plan out your season   Important questions [00:07:14] When did you get your pro card? [00:10:06] Why exactly do you compete? [00:16:05] How did you start your fitness journey? [00:18:31] What is your team's mission statement? [00:21:48] How do you set the boundaries with your partner? [00:26:46] How were you able to stay lean the entire year that you competed? [00:32:09] How did you handle your reverse and what was your step by step process, stepping off of stage? [00:41:37] How exactly did you prep your mind going off-season? [00:44:13] Exactly how did you adapt to off-season when it came to nutrition though?  [00:47:04] How did you handle post-show blues?  [00:49:56] Do you feel like you received less attention in the off-season than when you're in-season?  [01:03:55] What does being a professional in the sport mean to you? [01:10:03] What advice would you give to someone wanting to become an IFBB bikini professional in the sport? Grab your Bikini Diarie's Honorary Tee to support the podcast https://naiymafit.com/shop/ Use code: bikinidiaries for 20%off    FOLLOW ME, Na'iyma Thompson @Naiymafit Naiymafit.com Join TEAM BOSS BODIES use code: bikinidiaries for 15% off your package    FOLLOW Lauren YouTube: Lauren Dannenmiller Instagram: @laurendannenmiller Team Cosmic Bodies @teamcosmicbodies   Apply Here

Two weeks ago, I did a countdown of the top flash briefings in Canada. Today we are going to tackle the top ten Amazon Alexa skills in Canada, based on average customer ratings, of course! Before we proceed, one small caveat: I selected the skills based on the categorical meaning of the word. These are interactive skills and not just sound effects. I decided to sort the skills this way so you can see Alexa at her best. With that in mind, time to countdown the top ten!Ready? Here we go! The Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada!#10 AnyPod, by Harrison Digital Media.Love podcasts? This podcast-player skill has thousands of them! So, what’s cool about it? There are no buttons to fiddle with: your voice is the remote. To get started, you can ask Alexa to open AnyPod. After the greeting, you can dive right into your favourite podcast by asking Alexa to play it. You can also pause, fast forward, or rewind. This is the perfect skill to podcast away those 30 minutes you have free.#9 Word of the Day Quiz, by Volley Inc.Does this skill sound familiar? A couple of weeks ago, when I went over the top ten flash briefings in Canada, I spoke about “Word of the Day,” a flash briefing that, true to its name, teaches you one nugget of vocabulary per day. This skill is the flash briefing’s more inquisitive twin: it’ll quiz you on the word you just learned. If you are afraid you may choke on the quiz because you don’t know the word you’ll be quizzed on, fret not! The skill and flash briefing are intertwined so that the skill can take you to the briefing’s same word episode.#8 TED Talks, by TED Conferences.Feel like learning a little more after that last skill? Then, this skill is for you. TED Talks gives you access to some of the best speakers out there. You can search for talks by subject or by speaker name. If you’re in the mood for a surprise, you can also ask for funny, inspiring, persuasive, courageous, or jaw-dropping talks. The choice is yours.#7 TP-LINK Kasa, by TP-LINK.This skill is perfect if you are already hooked into the TP-LINK smart home ecosystem. Once connnected, it allows you set and handle your TP-LINK smart home devices. The smartphone app is just as polished as the skill. Here’s one interesting stat: TP-LINK is the only smart home device manufacturer on the “Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada” list.#6 Feel The Pressure, by Drew Cosgrove.Bored of the same old board games on game night? This skill might just be the perfect antidote. In this trivia game, you go through a series of questions, most of them based on a letter of the alphabet, and, if you get 10 correct answers in a row, you win. It sounds deceptively simple, but don’t get overconfident, some of them are doozies.#5 True or False? by labworks.io Ltd.As the skill’s description notes, this is the perfect ice-breaker for parties. This skill has all the features to make it a knock-out party game. It’s delightfully simple; it supports a multiplayer mode; and it packs quirky, conversation-starter facts. There’s one downside, though. Sadly, and not that we don’t love hearing her, but the game is entirely spoken in Alexa’s voice. It would have been nicer to have a human touch behind this amazing game.#4 Voice in Canada, by Alexa in Canada/Voice in Canada.This is the only flash briefing that made it into the skills’ list. As you know, this is my flash briefing, so I won’t waste too much digital ink on it. If you are unfamiliar with it, here’s a short description: Discover top Amazon Alexa and Echo tips, tricks, skills, reviews, news, and deals and how to get the most out of Alexa’s voice-first service so you can have the time and freedom to make your life more organized, relaxed, stress-free, entertaining, and fun! Thanks again to all you listeners for making it the top flash briefing in Canada!And now the top 3!#3 Escape the Room, by Stoked Skills LLC.Remember those text-based games that were a sensation in the 1980’s? They’ve made a comeback. But now, you use your voice to get out of nooks and pick up ammo. Here’s the developer’s description: You are trapped in a room. It’s up to you and only you to escape. Search your room, pick up items, and solve puzzles to find your way out. There are three rooms to choose from and more being added. The skill will track your stats and how fast you complete each room.#2 Yes Sire, by Volley Inc.Art thou a gamer, Alexa? With a cast of theatrical voices, this medieval-inspired game will transport you to the past. Here’s its description: Needy peasants. A backstabbing nobility. A king who is never satisfied. Nobody said that running a feudal fiefdom would be easy. But with this Alexa game, it is bound to be entertaining. You sit as a medieval lord of the realm, presented with an ever-expanding array of difficulty choices. Make good choices and stay in power as long as you can!Let’s just say, if you want to keep your head, you better make the right choices.And now for #1 of the Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills… drum roll please…#1 Would You Rather for Family, by Voice Games with alt Inc.Here’s their description: Would You Rather for Family is a simple but addictive game where you make a choice between two lighthearted and silly situations. Will the rest of the world agree with your decision? You have to try the skill to find out! Enjoy hundreds of fun, family-friendly questions to keep all ages entertained for hours.The game comes in three editions: Standard, Disney, and Harry Potter. The game itself is a hoot, but sometimes I noticed there was a small hiccup where the game would not select the edition I had picked.And finally, honourable mention goes to…On a final note, I do want to give a shoutout to Invoked Apps, LLC and to Voice Apps, LLC. They didn’t make the top ten Amazon Alexa Skills list, but it was not because of a lack of quality; on the contrary, their skills are top notch. However, because their skills are ambient-sound oriented and are not interactive skills in the complete sense of the term, they were not included on this list. Nevertheless, you should definitely check their skills in the Alexa Skills store, they are incredible. Perhaps I’ll do a list of the top ten Amazon Alexa skills in Canada, but specifically for ambient-sound skills in the near future? Comment below if you’re interested!List of resources mentioned in this episode:Top Ten Flash Briefings in CanadaAlexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in CanadaTeri Fisher on TwitterAlexa in Canada on TwitterAlexa in Canada Facebook PageAlexa in Canada Community Group on FacebookAlexa in Canada on InstagramPlease leave a review on iTunesShopping on Amazon.caThe Alexa Conference, presented by VoiceFirst.FMuse promo code ALEXAINCANADA for 20% off See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With all the awesome guests I’ve had over the past few weeks, I had not had the chance to do a solo show in a while. Today, I want to focus on what I think is the prime real state of audio technology. I’m talking, of course, about flash briefings! And what better way to dive into them than by going over the best ones. Here is a list of the current top ten flash briefings in Canada, based on average customer ratings! Time to countdown the top ten!Ready? Here we go! The Top 10 Flash Briefings in Canada!#10 Easter Egg Daily, by LME Skills.The first of the flash briefings on our list is all about Easter eggs, and these Easter eggs are fun little nuggets of entertainment. When enabled, this flash briefing provides you with short statements or questions (in Alexa’s voice) on what you can say to Alexa, like “Why are there so many rainbows?” for example. There are lots of other fun tidbits that you can learn about through the flash briefing. The Easter eggs are curated from the Things to Ask Alexa archive, on the Love My Echo site.#9 Today in Canada, by Freeacademy.Are you interested in what happened on in a particular day in Canadian history? Then the second flash briefing in our flash briefings list is for you. Today in Canada will tell you about something that happened on the particular day in Canada’s history. This one is also in Alexa’s voice.#8 The Canadian Press Hourly News Updates, by The Canadian Press.This is a news flash briefing with a twist: unlike other news flash briefings, this one has two feeds. As per their description: Get a 60-second or four-minute update from Canada’s national news agency − breaking regional, national and world updates, including sports news, weather bulletins and more. You can chose if you want to subscribe to one or both feeds. The four-minute feed is better produced, including a snazzy jingle which I believe makes for great audio branding by The Canadian Press.#7 Word of the Day, by Volley Inc.This flash briefing is for word aficionados, people wishing to become walking dictionaries, or for anyone looking to improve their vocabulary. According to their description: Word of the Day’s host teaches you a useful word, its definition, spelling, and an example of how to use it in a sentence. In other words, fun! Or should I say amusing, enjoyable, entertaining… To boot, the briefing updates daily and is narrated with a fresh sense of humour.#6 CBC News, by CBC.Let’s start with their description: CBC News brings you a Canadian perspective on what’s happening here, and around the world right now… wherever and whenever you want it. Every hour, every day, we are there with the best of CBC journalism, so you can hear and feel the world change, and know why it matters to you. And just like their description, the flash briefing oozes with professionalism: they have an anchor who sets up the stories and adds all the flavour of your usual radio news show. On a lower note, there have been a couple of times where the briefing was not available.#5 BNN Bloomberg Flash Briefing, by Bell Media.As you might have come to expect from the Bloomberg brand, this flash briefing is all about news. And just news. It fact, it is so direct it doesn’t even have time for any audio branding. It does have a human touch, however. The news is read by a human narrator. Let’s hear it from them: Get the latest business headlines and breaking financial news from the Business News Network Bloomberg every hour. That sums it up pretty well!#4 GaryVee 365, by VaynerMediaHere’s their description: A series of daily motivational quotes, phrases and sayings from Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia. Listen to Gary talk about Hustle, Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem, Empathy, Optimism, Gratitude, Patience, Legacy, Culture and more. One small note, though: you may not want to start the briefing around children. On this briefing, we get Gary Vaynerchuk as we’ve come to know and like him, without filters. Having said that, if you are looking for some inspiration from one of the top entrepreneurial minds around today, check this one out!And now the top 3!#3 The Daily from The New York Times, by The New York Times Company.I can honestly say this is the best produced flash briefing I’ve come across. It’s NPR-style radio. It’s informative and entertaining. What separates it from the pack is its use of dialogue and commentary. And, following the trend of the other top flash briefings on the list, it also includes a solid audio branding. Here’s their description: This is how the news should sound. Fifteen minutes a day, five days a week. Only what you want to know and none of what you don’t. Hosted by Michael Barbaro. Powered by New York Times journalism. Ready by 6 a.m. Enjoy this one!#2 Hashtag Trending, by ITWCThis briefing is also incredibly well produced. Their site describes them as providing “updates on the trending technology news from top web sources like Google, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Product Hunt, and more. This skill contains one podcast feed that is updated every weekday and is about two minutes in length.” And they do this pretty efficiently, too. One of a variety of hosts starts by announcing the top three headlines from the day before, and then they break each of them down. Overall, it’s a great way to stay up to date on technology.#1 Voice in Canada, by Voice in Canada.As you of course know, this is my own flash briefing and I won’t dwell too much on it. I just want to note that, like the other top flash briefings on the list, Voice in Canada packs the three ingredients for what I believe makes a successful flash briefing: it has a recognizable audio branding (i.e. jingle), and a human touch (i.e. recorded audio and NOT Alexa’s voice) – in this case, me! Last but not least, I want to thank all the people who have rated it and made it number one.From the bottom of my heart, thank you.List of resources mentioned in this episode:Voice in Canada: The Flash BriefingTeri Fisher on TwitterAlexa in Canada on TwitterAlexa in Canada Community Group on FacebookAlexa in Canada on InstagramPlease leave a review on iTunesShopping on Amazon.caThe Alexa Conference, presented by VoiceFirst.FMuse promo code ALEXAINCANADA for 20% off See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

  What conversations can we have in email? When do we need to transition them into meetings? How can we make meetings more productive, and less of a waste of time?  Like Startups, Most Meetings Fail: This week Paul Ford and Rich Ziade chat about the inefficiency of frequent meetings. We discuss what makes a meeting fail within the first few minutes, and provide strategies that can be deployed to make them successful (like defining a leader). We also complain about the neverending email thread, and the disconnect between our daily lives and the design of Google Calendar. Rich shares his best excuses (Ed note: lies) to get out of a meeting!  3:45 — Paul: “There’s the Two Pizza Rule for Amazon where no team should be bigger than what you can feed with two pizzas.” 4:00 — Paul: “I think there are three good meetings. There is, ‘hi, let’s all get in the room as higher primates and get a sense of each other.’ You need to see and understand the people who are going to be working with you on something. There’s the kickoff. Then there’s the ‘we went away and did some work and we wanted to show you that work and get your discussion within about a half hour.’ Then there’s the standing process focus meeting in which you know what you’re going to do, it’s about a half hour long, and it’s just more efficient to […] find out what the tasks are and walk away.” 6:10 — Rich: “This is free for all our listeners. It’s the opposite of saying ‘this is a waste of time.’ Ready? Here’s the sentence: ‘You don’t really need me for this.’” 6:30 — Paul: “The calendar is this territory that belongs to you.” 10:35 — Paul: “Let’s be honest. Calendering software is terrible. The way that we’ve arranged the weeks so that they’re verticle stacks from top to bottom, that’s now how humans think about things.” 11:00 — Paul: “Time really works like a slithering snake. It goes from left to right.” 11:50 — Paul: “95% of meetings fail within the first six minutes.” 13:37 — Rich: You know what the worst invite is? The preface is this: ‘We all gotta get into a room.’ You get in a room and you realize the email thread was way more productive than us getting in a room.” 15:00 — Paul: “I’ll tell you what I like. Email or meetings? Neither. They’re both terrible.” 18:30 — Paul: “My brain works that way. Business brains don’t work that way. They talk and talk… My brain works in 8.5 by 11 inch paper, top to bottom. I can’t get that in business, and I accept that. I always feel a little bit like a space alien.” 20:40 — Rich: “If there isn’t a clear path to failure, then that meeting is useless.” 20:50 — Paul: “What favour are you doing anyone by hiding the fact that you’re secretly a compulsive lunatic who needs them to do things?” 21:00 — Rich: “The three legs of a stool are ‘what is the thing?’, ‘who’s responsible for the thing?’, and ‘when are you gonna get the thing?’” A full transcript of this episode is available. LINKS Jeff Bezos Meeting scheduling tool The ‘two pizza rule’ is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ secret to productive meetings Jeff Bezos explains his famous one-character emails Track Changes is the weekly technology and culture podcast from Postlight, hosted by Paul Ford and Rich Ziade. Production, show notes and transcripts by EDITAUDIO. Podcast logo and design by Will Denton of Postlight.  

How are you? Hoje o podcast foi inspirado pela pergunta de uma leitora e aluna de longa data, a Patricia Infanti. Como dizer aquele termo que todos nós conhecemos, "Não é uma brastemp", em inglês? Não perca! Se você está recebendo este episódio por email, clique aqui para ouvir o podcast no site. Transcrição How are you? You're listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy! As I said in the little intro above, today's topic came from someone from the Inglês Online community! Patricia sent me an email wondering how to say "Não é uma brastemp" in English. The English idiom I would use to say that immediately came to mind - and I can tell you that the one I thought about is one possibility. There are other ways to convey the message of "Não é uma brastemp" but you're about to hear my choice. Ready? Here it goes: it's nothing to write home about. Nothing to write home about - it's a metaphor, right? Basically, it means you wouldn't take the time to sit down and write a letter to tell your family about it, because whatever it is, it is not that great. It's mediocre... Or just not as good as it could be, or not as good as you expected. You bought a new mobile phone because the last one you had was stolen, let's say. Everyone knows about your stolen phone so when your friends first see you call someone up on the new one, they ask you if you're happy with the new phone. And you look at it and think "Meh.." and then you say "It's nothing to write home about, but it does the job". True story, by the way. That happened with me. It's not the best phone you could have bought. It's a replacement phone, you're a bit short on cash and therefore you ended up buying a cheap, no-frills model that will allow you to make and receive calls but not much else. You knew that, though. That's what you were going for. It's not like you're disappointed, but you know your new phone is nothing to write home about. And you know how I used the word "meh". That's something people say when they want to convey this feeling - the feeling that whatever they're talking about is nothing special. Nothing to write home about. It's not great, it's not horrible either. It's just... meh. So you may ask someone if they liked this big, much-hyped blockbuster movie and they look at you and say just "Meh. After so much hype I was expecting a lot more." Now, back to the first idiom. I'm sure you can think of something in your recent past that you could describe as nothing to write home about. Maybe something you bought and it was satisfactory. Average. It would be boring to talk about about it, really since there's nothing interesting to mention..! What is it? In my case it would be some strawberries that I bought in the supermarket the other day. I was looking forward to eating them, I can tell you that. They looked bright red and juicy, but when I took the first bite, it was like I was eating strawberry-flavoured water, or something. They weren't bad, but the flavour was barely there. If someone had asked me "So how are the strawberries? ", I would have said "Hmm.. nothing to write home about". For a short answer, I would have said "Meh". Have you felt like saying "Meh" recently? What was it? Let me know in the comments and talk to you next time!   Key expressions it's nothing to write home about meh   Vocabulary no-frills = básico, sem nada de especial much-hyped = algo sobre o qual foi feito barulho, estardalhaço no sentido de promoção the flavour was barely there = quase não tinha sabor  

In this episode I interview David Trotter: filmmaker, author and marketing strategist who is passionate about telling inspiring stories and creating resources that motivate people to take positive action. He’s an award winning filmmaker who has produced and directed three feature length documentaries including Mother India, In Plain Sight, and Set Free Posse. His first scripted feature film The Road to Edmond will be released in late 2018. He lives in Orange county with his amazing wife Laura and their two great teenage kids. Find out more about him at his website: http://davidtrotter.tv   Show Notes 00:00: Opening “Just wanted to give you the 411 on my very first podcast. David Trotter and I went deep pretty fast, diving into spiritual philosophies and religious backgrounds. Even though this isn’t a religious podcast show, it will address spirituality and we’re definitely going to chat with people from many different belief systems.It was a great conversation where our topics ranged from his conservative Christian background, to doing a film on LGBTQ subject matter, and then, we lightened it up for a bit before we dove into the topic of gun control. I think it was a really great first show and I’m so glad to share this deep dive with you. Ready? Here we go…” Stacey   1:24 Introduction/ Intentions of Podcast “This show is based on my book An Unconventional Life: Where Messes and Magic Collide. It’s a collection of 21 chapters of the unique ways we’ve lived and traveled, and the crazy things we’ve done, to the wisdoms we’ve found in the mundane. Where we’ve crashed and burned hard and the creative ways we’ve risen from the ashes This show is all about talking with extraordinary souls who look at life through a different lens. Influencers and shapeshifters. People who not only see things differently but say it through their art of living. My heart in this is that when we hear from people who look at life differently it adds to our vocabulary, our toolbox, our options, on how we can see things, say things, do things, and live our lives.” Stacey   4:15 -  Introduction to David Trotter “Filmmaker, author and marketing strategist who is passionate about telling inspiring stories and creating resources that motivate people to take positive action. He’s an award winning filmmaker who has produced and directed three feature length documentaries including Mother India, In Plain Sight, and  Set Free Posse. His first scripted feature film The Road to Edmond will be released in late 2018. He lives in Orange county with his amazing wife Laura and their two great teenage kids.” Stacey   6:00 Dave’s Recollection of meeting Stacey   8:34 - When people ask you what do you do? In Dave’s own words.   13:37 - The spiritual conversation. Dave’s journey. “I started sensing a calling into ministry and became a pastor in full time ministry for over 10 years.” Dave   15:38 The biggest issue for me. Homosexuality. “How I felt at the time was that anything different than a marriage between a man and a woman is less than God's best, which is what I would articulate. My heart would sink. I knew the relationship would be cut off and there would be no further dialogue.” Dave   16:00 A Radical Change “Being out of ministry for 10 years has given me the opportunity to have dialogue and conversation with people who are in same sex relationships, people wrestling with theological issues, spirituality and faith in general. As I had more space it allowed me to question things. As I have been exposed to other ways of seeing the bible, other ways of seeing God - it has allowed me to then take the step to say these are key issues, and I would love to create a film that asks those questions in a way that is humorous, pushes the envelope, and would ultimately cause some controversy that would result in conversation. This becomes The Road To Edmond.” Dave   19:30 - More thoughts on Christianity as a former pastor, and Dave’s progressive film The Road To Edmond   25:44 - Growing past the rewards “The point that you’re rewarded for a thought that you have is the point that it’s tempting to stop growing. When you have a life that’s supported by a certain philosophy, you’re sort of motivated to not grow past that thought. That's why I always admire people who are willing to say ‘gosh there was a reward here and I could have stopped at that point because I had a big audience or a bigger paycheck at that thought. A sense of community and acceptance at that thought. But I’m willing to let all of that go, I’m willing to risk all of that for this thing that’s inside of me that’s pulsing so strong, or the conflict inside me that’s so strong that I have to wrestle with even if it means my philosophy changes.” Stacey   30:00 - On God as Love “I reached a point where I was like you know what? I just want to love people. I don’t want to leave anybody out. I don’t want to spend my energy trying to save people when I really don’t see them as broken. I see all of us as made from a God of Love and Love made us so we are Love.” “The breakdown really isn’t that were broken and need to be fixed the breakdown for me is that we are incredible and we get spiritual amnesia about that. We are this beautiful light but sometimes we don’t recognize that within us.” Stacey   33:40 - Dave’s current journey - being in the middle. “The Road to Edmond is a spiritual act, it is a spiritual process, and a spiritual gift that I’m trying to give to the world. The heart that’s embedded in this film is a heart of genuine questioning that’s not meant to tear down but meant to create an environment of safety in the midst of the laughter.” Dave   34:58 - On asking questions and moving beyond to find your tribe “I think the hardest part for the people who are asking questions is the possible loss of community and firm ground.” Dave “I felt like I was coming out of the christian closet, and I’m coming out as a human. Who loves people, and loves God, and the price tag was community.” Stacey “The two biggest issues that are addressed in this film -  are the two big issues in our world today which are: LGBTQ and ultimately who’s in and who’s out in terms of Heaven and hell.” Dave   42:40 Dave’s favorite part of making a film   45:02 Getting through the grind + Coming back to ‘The Why’ + success strategies for time production + EA   48:12 -Entrepreneurial grit + External vs Internal motivation factors   54:20 External Internal Motivation test   57:29 - Dave’s favorite quote ‘The five P’s’ doing the work in your life to live ready   1:00:20 - On Preparation “You can’t cram for stressful moments. What happens when you’re in a stressful moment, or a tragedy or a hard time is you live the readiness you have.” Stacey   1:00:56 Tapping the humanitarian in Dave: his two hot button issue and what we can do to move the world forward in a healing way.   1:03:45 - Stance on Gun control and boundaries in crossing lines   1:08:27 - Wisdom we can glean from recognizing there are no guarantees that we have the day, learning to embrace the moment “I can either live in fear or I can have richness that says wow isn’t this life great...  There is a richness that comes with the mortality and a wisdom - and wanting to take care of issues like violence, but at the same time knowing that it’s an illusion if I think I can control all of that..” Dave 1:11:48 The Concept of living The Unconventional Life “ There is something so powerful when I came to the conclusion that I could do whatever I wanted in life. And you remind me that on a daily basis. I can go where I want to go. I can do whatever kind of work I want to do.” Dave “Some people would say the reason I can do this is because of my own privilege. Because of the education that I’ve had, the color of my skin, the country that I live in. Some people don’t have this same freedom. But I think that so many of us live with cultural restraints that we just assume hold us back. You can live however you want to live, and that’s the beauty of an Unconventional Life.” Dave   “You can find a way to make a living You can raise kids in all kinds of different ways You can travel in different ways You can create different things   I can create a book I can create a film I can create a website ANYBODY can” Dave   1:15:52 The ‘right’ way to live VS. living in Possibility “Part of what came from my religious construct were two messages that were in opposition to each other. One was that there’s one right way to live and believe. The other one is that anything is possible. You know, I don’t know how good my aim is at hitting the center of that target every day in every thought in every way. So when my brain opened up to: there are so many great ways to be a wife, so many great ways to be a mom to, teach your kids,  to still have our own spirituality that makes you a peaceful happy person, when I realized that… I think this lives inside of us, you know, in that same way the whole oak tree lives inside of the acorn- everything it needs lives inside of that except for the environment it’s going to grow in and the elements. That was inside of me. That’s inside of you. I believe that’s inside of everybody. To find their way to live their happiest, healthiest, most peaceful life. I believe that.” Stacey   1:17:37 Thoughts on Humanism “It’s about taking the healthiest parts of your psychology and anything that’s possible and you’re building your life on that.” Stacey   1:18:25 What discerning God’s will looks like for me “One of the biggest problems I found in conservative Christianity is: What is God’s will for my life?” Dave   1:20:57 - Closing/ Where to find Dave Website: davidtrotter.tv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dtrotteryou Twitter: jdavidtrotter Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jdavidtrotter Instagram: jdavidtrotter   (Music: www.bensound.com)

Hurry, hurry hurry! Step right up,step right up! Who'll be next? Only costs a nickle! So hurry, hurry, hurry! He's unbelievable! He's amazing! He's elec-trifying! He's Electric Edward! Here he is, folks . . . your opportunity to experience, first hand, the wonder of the new Age of Electricity! Yes! That ethereal fluid that flows through the earth like a great dragon! Step right up, folks, and grasp the lightning from the sky . . . if you dare try! Feel that primeval power for yourselves! Produced for you upon this stage by means of a harmonious blending of beauty and efficiency. . . a gracefully woven sphere of gleaming copper wire which we set to spin inside a perfectly circular ring of magnets! Touch the lightning from the sky! If you dare try! Step up,step up and take him by ythe hand. . . if you can! Who'll be next? Who'll be next? Only costs a nickle! These elemental bolts will make your hair stand on end! your eyes will bug out, your body will tremble violently all over! It's wonderful!! So . . . who'll be next? Hi, there, young man! Only costs a nickle! Thanks, son! Now . . . all you have to do is . . .step up to Edward here . . walk up to him, that's right! Now, grasp him firmly by the hand and say, “Hello, Edward!” while I pull this switch! Ready? Here we go! (SFX Voice: “Hello, Edwa . . .” cut off by a loud crackling burst of humming electricity) There were a few seconds of electrical humming and crackling, an eerie blue light of jumping sparks, and the strong tang of ozone.

When you live in close proximity to someone, particularly a spouse, eventually that person will annoy you. What do you do with this irritation? Is it avoidable? Is there a way to short-circuit the process and not be so easily frustrated? Billy & Joy serve up some ideas in this episode, so have a listen! Talk about this: Today's question is REALLY high on the vulnerability scale - Perhaps it's good for an awkward date night (episode #11) - but this question is WORTH the awkwardness...three ground rules: Ask sincerely Listen without being defensive If necessary, close by apologizing Ready? Here you go… ask your spouse, “When are you most likely to you feel that I am annoyed by you?” Also remember… We are on Facebook! If you like the page you’ll receive more consistent updates and be able to share episodes with others. Connect with us @BetweenParentsPodcast Have you left a review on Apple Podcasts (formerly know as iTunes)? This is SUPER helpful in helping others find our show. Along with Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and Stitcher, and TuneIn (the fun way to listen if you are using Amazon’s Alexa), Between Parents is now on SoundCloud! You can chat back with us on Twitter @between_parents or on Instagram @betweenparents Thanks for listening and sharing this podcast with your friends!

We mean it, give it up! If you do, it’ll make your life a whole lot easier and much, much happier! We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress, and suffering– Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on the things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go: Thanks for listening! Denise & Emily    

The human brain fascinates me. How this lump of tissue between our ears has the ability to control everything in our lives – our thoughts, our actions, our behaviours. It’s incredible! And it’s for this reason that I believe it is crucial we learn to understand the brain and how to look after it in the best way possible if we want to truly look, feel and perform like a badass. Because, as we all know, you can have all the information in the world written down in front of you… The blueprint to being a millionaire. The recipe for getting the body you want. The steps to optimal health. But many of just end up… getting in our own way. And becoming caught up in a whirlwind of procrastination, shiny object chasing, brain fog, unproductivity and self-sabotage that leaves us stuck and unable to do the things we know we ‘should’ be doing. How to Build a Badass Brain So I wanted to share my thoughts on how to build a badass brain and overcome all these things. For ease of reading/listening, I’m going to approach this in two parts. Firstly, here in this post I’ll go more into the neuro-scientific side of things to explain how to access parts of the brain that allow us to thrive and achieve greatness. Then next week I’ll go more into the physiological side of things that will give you some epic info on how to give your brain exactly what it needs to perform optimally from that perspective. By the end of these two parts I want you to have a greater understanding of the inner workings of your brain, how to get out of your own way to achieve what you want in life as well as how to fuel that bastard and make it physiologically immense. I know that sounds like a tall order, but let’s give it a good fucking go anyway. Ready? Here we go… Triune Brain Theory I’m going to use the neuro-scientific principle of the Triune Brain theory developed by Dr Paul Maclean to explain some of the shizzle going down in our brains. This is the theory that we, as humans, are actually operating within a three brain system in our everyday lives. These three brains have been given a variety of names over the years, but I know them as the reptilian brain, the mammalian brain and the human brain. The Reptile This is the most basic of our brains and its only requirements are survival and reproduction. It is constantly on the lookout for immediate danger and how it can stay safe, obtain food and, once these are satisfied, continue the species going. Think how a reptile lives. As soon as their eggs hatch, a reptile is fully able to go out into the world by itself. There is no connection, no ‘upbringing’ period and a mother will even eat its offspring if she was that desperate for food. Your brain has this at the very basic level – a primitive need to survive, be safe, eat, excrete and reproduce. The Mammalian This is the ‘next brain layer’ or ‘second brain’ that we, and all other mammals, have been blessed with. It’s the home of emotion as well as social, family and tribal connection and the reason why, in stark contrast to the reptile, a mammal would sacrifice itself in order to protect its young. This is all down to a part of the ‘mammalian brain’ called the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC), which has more opiate receptors than any other part of the brain. This large number of opiate receptors means we get a huge ‘buzz’ from feeling connected socially. So our brain has been wired up for us to literally become ‘connection junkies’ in order to have this innate desire to hang around in tribes and, as a result, stay safe. The Human Now this is the part of the brain that makes us human. It is what allows us to start moving away from basic ‘survival mode’ and towards self-actualisation, considering and striving for goals and generally tapping into ‘consciousness’. It’s also the brain we access when achieving that all so elusive ‘flow state’ where we just seem to get shit done and everything aligns purposefully. A key player in the human brain is the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC), which is the only part of the brain that is considered to be ‘the mind’. Once we’re in ‘the mind’, we’re able to think clearly, behave ‘logically’ and take actions that align with some future goal or desire without having to think about basic survival. The Problem? The problem (or potential problem, at least) is that this is a hierarchical system! We all want to be in that human brain where we can make awesome, logical decisions, be ‘in flow’ and consistently grow and develop the Self. But we need to satisfy the more basic brain before you’re able to ‘access’ the higher ones. And many of us are attempting to achieve goals in life while constantly being pulled back into the more primitive brains by perceived ‘threats’ making an appearance in our lives and the environment around us. There’s A Gunman in The Room! Think about it… You’re in line at the bank and all of a sudden a dude breaks in with a gun and holds it up to your head. In that moment, it’s going to be pretty difficult to do anything other than think about the bullet that could be making its way towards your brain at any moment. Forget creating and growing an awesome business. Forget spending time on nurturing healthy relationships. Forget preparing your healthy smoothie. Your focus is on dealing with that threat of this douchebag with a gun to your head. But we are, unknowingly for most, going around trying to do things in our lives with perceived threats going on that constantly pull us back into our more primitive brains and keeps us more concerned with ‘survival’ as opposed to growth. That bill you keep ignoring and aren’t sure how you’re going to pay. Seeing the ‘state of the economy’ on the news and worrying you’ll lose your secure job. The judgment you’ll receive from others if you do anything that will distance you from your current circle of people. These are all threats that pull us back into reptilian or mammalian brain and prevent us from accessing the ‘logical’ human brain. So these ‘threats’ – these little aspects of our lives that seem so menial – create just as much havoc in our brains as having a genuine, real-life dude pointing a gun at our head everywhere we go. Why Does ‘Threat’ Occur? In simplistic terms, the brain is wired up to asses our environment, identify patterns within that environment, create predictions based off those patterns, come up with a response for the prediction and then create movement to carry out the response. Assess – identify – predict – respond – act. If any part of this chain is hindered or unable to be carried out, we see it as threat. A reduced ability to predict what will happen in the future means we move into threat. An inability to create an appropriate response to the environment, again, means we move into threat. The reduced ability to predict whether the gunman is actually going to pull the trigger leaves us in threat. The inability to create an appropriate response to a prediction of losing a job in the ‘bad economy’ leaves us in threat. The inability to create a response to being cast out of our social group or ‘tribe’ leaves us in threat. Perception is the Key It’s key to point out at this point that I have used the term perceived threat at several points. It’s very rare that we are actually under threat in the present moment. That we actually have a tiger chasing us or a person pointing a gun at us. Yet we still create these predictions of potential threat and react as if we are experiencing the actual threat throughout most of the day. So it’s our failure to satisfy this prediction and response mechanism of what might happen in the future that keeps us being pulled out of our human brains. The Pre-Defined Reaction to Threat Once our brain recognises a threat, we cannot help but react in one of three ways: Fight Flight Freeze Whether it be the bill we can’t pay, the fear of social exclusion or a genuine gun to our head, we always will react to threat in one of these ways. We will fight it, run away from it or freeze and hope it goes away. Either way, it stops us from acting ‘logically’ and accessing the part of the brain that considers long term goals and puts us in a happy, stress-free flow state. The New ‘Meta Goal’ This then leaves us in a position of needing to eliminate threat before being able to access the human brain and really being able to grow, achieve and self-actualise. It doesn’t matter how many goals you set, how hard you meditate, how many vision boards you do, how many books you read, how many ‘productivity systems’ you put in place… Because if you continue to ignore these ‘threats’ manifesting in your life then you will continually ‘self-sabotage’ and choose safety over growth. I’m not saying we consciously choose to self-sabotage. It’s just simply how your brain is wired up! So the new ‘meta goal’, if you will, that enables us to access the human brain and begin striving and achieving all our other goals, is to identify, understand, minimise or completely eliminate the threats in our lives. How to Control ‘Threats’ The first step to controlling all these threats in our lives is to understand and be aware of them. Simply reading this blog or listening to the podcast episode is (hopefully) enough to start your understanding of what’s going on in your brain. After reading or listening to this you now know that threats are there, what they are, how they work and what it is that you’re looking out for. So what in your life is acting as the ‘gunman in the room’? The thing that keeps pulling your focus and energy and is stopping you from consistently doing what you know you ‘should’ be doing to achieve what you want to achieve? Is it a prediction that you’ll blow all your money if you leave your job to start the dream business? Is it a prediction that you will become isolated from your social circle if you’re required to stop drinking and eating bad food with them in order to take control of your health? Is it an actual dude with a gun to your head!? (In which case, I give you permission to stop reading and go deal with that J ) Now Respond to Your Predictions! Whether our threats are real or perceived, we still need an appropriate response in place in order to eliminate the shit storm that comes with them. So once you’ve explored what’s going on in your own head and what’s pulling you back into your more primitive brains, it’s time to start thinking of some logical responses to your predictions. This means we can satisfy your reptilian and mammalian brains. And convince them that what we’re doing (the bigger goal we want to reach) is cool and we won’t be endangering our survival or connection to a tribe if we carry on. The thought of losing your job or a client, regardless of the state of the economy, is much less daunting and debilitating if you knew for certain you were guaranteed to get a new one. How else could you cover your bills and prevent losing your house, etc. while still giving you time to work towards your dream? Can you communicate what you’re trying to do with your ‘tribe’ so they understand and get on board? Or where else can you go to engage with a new tribe? How can you kick the shit out of that dude with a gun to your head? And Create AIR with Your Goals Once you are in the human brain, achieving goals in all areas of our lives becomes so much easier. Remember that Pre-Frontal Cortex from earlier? We use our right PFC (commonly referred to as ‘the right brain’) for more creative tasks and dreaming up goals and visions. While the left PFC then comes along and looks at more logical steps to actually move forward to achieve the goal or vision. You come up with the goal, work out the steps necessary to achieve it, and, because you’re no longer in threat, you find it easier to actually go and do the shit that you need to do. Personally, I like to use AIR with goal setting. Or more specifically… Attention – Intention – Repetition. Where are you applying your attention? What is the specific goal or task to focus on? Why are you doing it? What is the reason behind achieving this goal? How will it serve you? And how can you create repetition of what needs to be done to create habit? Repetition Stems From Enjoyment Now I know that repetition and habit building is easier said than done. So many of us commit to various things that require habit, yet end up falling off the wagon at some point along the way. Habit creation is done via a part of the brain called the Basal Ganglia (BG). Once we’ve repeated something enough times it begins getting ingrained into the BG, which means it becomes almost automatic and an automatic response. This can take a long while. But there is a way to ‘hack’ (sorry, I hate that word) our ability to store new habits in the BG. And that’s through enjoyment. When we actually enjoy a new habit… it sticks. So rather than trying to use willpower and force yourself to do shit you don’t really want to do because someone told you it’s the ‘best’ way to do it, ask yourself: How can I make this enjoyable for myself? Maybe you’ve been told the ‘best’ way to build your business is by using Facebook ads. But if you absolutely hate the thought of messing around with those things and would find more joy doing it a different way, then that is your ‘best’ way. It works in any area of life – health, nutrition, business, spirituality, relationships, anything! Because you will never build a life you love by forcing yourself to do things you loathe. The Take Away I know this has been a long post. But I really wanted to get across to you just how powerful this stuff can be for helping you get out of your own way and be successful and happy in your life. And to be fully honest, it’s very difficult to do this work of threat identification and understanding on yourself. Because it’s hard to see a threat for what it really is, think logically and truly understand it when our brain is in that fight/flight/freeze mentality. (By the way, approaching life from a position of threat elimination is an underlying factor throughout my coaching process. It’s always easier to see and think logically about other people’s threats than our own!) Regardless of all this, the key things I want you to take away from this is that it is extremely difficult (and nigh on impossible) to achieve a long-term goal with our truly desired result while in threat. So the way to truly living a life on your terms is to understand and process the threats or perceived threats showing up in your life. And to focus on enjoyment when it comes to building happiness bringing habits in our life. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Is the “Future You” looking forward to meeting you? What can you see, when you see your future? Every 2 weeks we upload an episode of the podcast to the World Wide Web. Here’s episode 211! The fifth stage of Momentum, we call: Modify. When I looked that word up in the dictionary, I knew how important it was to what you’re working on. Ready? Here’s the definition: “make partial or minor changes to (something), typically so as to improve it or to make it less extreme.” So, as you think about what YOU need to be doing differently, are you willing to make a “partial” change? You see, one of the things we hear from people who think they’re interested in Get Momentum is that they don’t have time to commit to the program AND that they need to make changes in less than a year. Well, the Get Momentum Leadership Academy requires a minimum of 2 hours of study a month, and the program takes a year to complete. Does anyone else se the irony? It’s as if those big changes you need to have made a year from now will somehow just “magically appear.” I’m here to tell you, they won’t. In this episode, you'll learn… Is it really worth it to take a little step to make a big change? To identify the things you KNOW you need to change. How to regain up to 2 hours a day - every day. What to DO with that saved time (Hint: Not the same old things!). I have a challenge for you that could change your life! Please do leave us a question, an idea, a prompt below, so we know what YOU think of this ‘cast. If you need to be at your best, you need this podcast. I promise you’ll get ideas you can use right away. Subscribe or Review the Your Best Just Got Better Podcast in iTunes! Can you believe there are more than FIVE years of the Your Best Just Got Better podcast? Where are you in the listening line? If this is the first episode you’ve ever listened to, welcome! If this is the 211th episode you’ve listened to…Thank you…Thank you! Please share the subscription with one friend! Click here to view the show notes online Click here to subscribe in iTunes Click here to subscribe in Stitcher Radio

What's up? No episódio de hoje, falo sobre aquelas palavrinhas do inglês que podem ser pronunciadas de duas maneiras: com ênfase na primeira sílaba, ou com ênfase na segunda. Tudo depende do uso. Ouça já! Transcrição What's up? This is the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven't yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglês Online podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thank you for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening. So here's what I want to talk about today: the pronunciation changes in words that can be nouns or verbs. Here's an example: the word i-m-p-a-c-t. IMpact, or imPACT. Have you noticed that there's a difference? Words like IMpact, or imPACT. INcrease, or inCREASE. OBject or obJECT. One is a noun, the other is a verb. With the noun, the stress is placed on the first syllable: OBject. With the verb, the stress is placed on the second syllable: obJECT. So which one is IMpact? It's a noun, like in this sentence: The behavior of parents has such a big IMpact on a child. Now let's use the verb imPACT - here's an example: Your donation will impact our organisation's results. Your donation will impact the results. As a noun again: your donation will have an impact. So in order to help you get used to this, let me give you a string of short examples with both IMpact and imPACT. Ready? Here they go: low-impact exercises are easier on the body. Our CEO's speech had no impact on employees. Recession has had a huge impact in our economy and lots of shops are now closed. Now, technology will continue to impact our lives in the future. Loss of vision will usually impact someone's independence. Plot twists generally impact the way a story unfolds. So, in case the difference in pronunciation doesn't come naturally to you - how are you gonna know? How are you going to learn this? Well, I suggest you do what I've done and get a move on with your listening. You could sit down and do focused activities to try and memorise, or internalise, the different ways to pronounce impact - but listening to comprehensible English as much as you can is, hands down, bar none, without a shadow of a doubt, the most efficient, fastest way for these things to become natural to you. Let's take another one: progress. I said PROgress, which is the noun. By the way, it's PROgress in the UK. Technology has brought a lot of PROgress to our lives. We've made a lot of PROgress on our reports. PROgress is a good thing. Now, listen to this: as they got to know each other better, their relationship proGRESsed. Mary didn't speak any French last year but she has since proGRESsed to an intermediate level. This disease usually proGRESses through various stages. Here are a few others: there was an INcrease in sales last year. The purpose of our courses is to inCREAse knowledge in our staff. Don't inSULT me! Sorry, what I said wasn't meant as an INsult. You need a PERmit to park your car in this area. We can't perMIT this behavior in our school. I'm studying a few different SUBjects now. We can't subJECT our employees to poor working conditions. So, tell me: have you noticed the different pronunciations of these words before? Do you say them right most of the time? Is this new to you? Can you give me a few examples of how you'd use them? Let me know in the comments, and talk to you next time!   Key terms pronunciations of progress, increase, object, etc.   Vocabulário get a move on with = comece logo a fazer hands down = definitivamente bar none = de longe (neste caso)

It’s pretty easy to “never deal” with anything heavy, or anything that makes you feel vulnerable in life. You can always find a way to distract yourself, or hide from the tough stuff. Maybe you’ve been coasting through your emotional adult life and perhaps medicating any and all issues and scary feelings that might come up – or numbing them with drinks, tv, or constant distractions. Maybe you’ve never allowed yourself to become vulnerable to another person – you’ve kept it very superficial, and you just kind of “pass the time” in your life – but never venture past the top layer. It all feels fine until one day you suddenly “wake-up” and realize you don’t know who you are, what you want, or even whether or not you like yourself. Maybe something in your life comes to a head, like you finally meet someone you want to be in love with and that makes you totally clingy because you feel so reliant on their liking you, or maybe you’ve been through a break-up and you suddenly realize you feel shattered – like you have nothing, to you, solo. This window of clarity might force you to realize you’ve got some work to do on yourself so that you can actually figure out who you are and what you want. And with that work, grow to like that person, and be happy with who that is. If you’re staring at the vast ravine of what you don’t know quite yet – and realizing you’ve been asleep at the wheel of your life for years, I know looking at the amount of work you have to do can feel totally overwhelming. So if this sounds like where you are right now– this is a podcast for you. Firstly, know that you have been gifted with an amazing opportunity. Right now you get to choose who you want to be. Which is really awesome and shows that you have what it takes – already – to become who you want to become. That you even have this awareness about yourself is the key to the change itself. So what I am going to give you are some steps/tools to help you move through this time efficiently. There are 10 of them and if you want to read them, I will also post the blog version on TeaspoonOfHappy.com so keep an eye out in the next couple days. Ready? Here we go! This is a blessing in disguise and you're about to enter the best time of your life!!! This is for you, Justin. Thanks dude for suggesting this to help others!! I hope this helps you, as well. xo! Sarah May B.

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios. Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.   Hello everyone! How are you? Welcome to another Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for September 2011. En el nivel básico este mes hemos practicado un poco de pronunciación con los sonidos vocales. No voy a repetir lo mismo porque los sonidos están en el cuaderno de septiembre. Pero si podemos practicar los plurales. Yo voy a decir los sustantivos en singular, y tú dices el plural antes que lo digo yo. Ready? ¿Listos? One photo -  two photos One glass – two glasses One city – two cities One key (una llave) – two keys One man – two men One party – two parties One baby – two babies One week – two weeks One child – two children Very good! ¡Muy bien! In the intermediate section this month we practised the past continuous tense. The past continuous, sometimes called the past progressive, is used to say that something was happening around a particular time in the past Repeat the examples: I was having lunch at 2 o’clock. What were you doing when I phoned? They weren’t sitting in the restaurant when we arrived. We can use the past continuous and past simple together. When this happens, the past continuous is used for the longer action and to provide background. The past simple is used for the shorter action. Listen to the examples: We were driving along when suddenly a dog ran out in front of the car. The driving was the long action and the dog ran out was the short action in the middle. She sent me a text message while I was waiting for her. Listen and repeat the following examples of the past continuous: Sofia broke her arm shile she was skiing. When I arived, they were talking about football. This time last week we were walking along 5th avenue in New York eating a hot dog. When I left home, the sun was shining, the birds were singing. It felt good to be alive. I looked out of the car window and I saw that we were driving past Big Ben. When I saw Sandra she was drinking Guinness! I met my girlfriend while I was travelling around Australia. When I got home my son was drinking my whisky. He told me that his wife was having an affair. While I was waiting for the train, someone stole my iPod. Next we practiced So am I and Neither am I So am I significa yo también. We can also say “I am too”. So does she means “she does too”. So has he means “he has too” etc. Neither am I and nor am I significan yo tampoco. We can also say “I’m not either”. Listen and repeat the examples: He’s Spanish, and so am I. She’s from Buenos Aires, and so am I. I was angry, and so was my wife. I can’t speak French, and neither can he. I hate swimming, and so does she. ‘I’ve forgotten his name.’ – ‘So have I!’ 'She's learning Chinese, and so is her husband." ‘I’ve decided to lose weight, and so has my wife.’ I can’t drive, and neither can my wife. ‘I love travelling.’ – ‘So do I.’ Julie won’t be at the meeting, and nor will Stuart. ‘I bought an iPhone.’ – ‘So did Gary’. ‘He’s tall and really attractive.’ – ‘So is his brother.’ ‘You look tired.’ – ‘So do you.’ ‘We weren’t surprised.’ – ‘Neither were we.’ The hotel was terrible, and so was the food. In the advanced section this month we practised some more phrasal nouns. Many people say that if you take enough vitamin C at the onset of a cold, you'll often recover faster. Onset here means at the beginning. – el comienzo – Yu sometimes hear people speaking about the onset of an illness, when the illness first started. Outbreak can be translated as brote - The World Health Organization website is a useful resource for tracking the outbreak of diseases worldwide. You should take precautions against the outbreak of flu. Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals with the arrangement and style treatment of elements (or content) on a page. Layout often means deseño and it’s common when talking about web page design, the page layout. It can also be used when talking about the inside of a house, for example. What’s the layout of the living room? I like the way the flat is laid out. – Me gusta la distribución del piso. The word outlet can mean salida, mercado, punto de venta and válvula de escape. - An outlet store is a brick and mortar or online retail store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Playing tennis was a good outlet for her. - Jugar al tenis le servía para relajarse Take-off is the phase of flight in which an aircraft goes through a transition from moving along the ground, or taxiing, to flying in the air, usually starting on a runway. To take off is the phrasal verb – What time does the flight take off? And also the phrasal noun – Please get ready for take-off. Warm up is another example of phrasal verb and phrasal noun. Don’t forget to warm up before the match. A good warm up before exercise can help prevent injury. Now I’m going to read the Student Banking text from the monthly newsletter, el cuaderno mensual,  and I want you to guess the word when I pause. Now, this is quite difficult so you may want to do the gap fill exercise in the newsletter before you listen, read it again now or just listen to the text two or three times. Try to remember the vocabulary and repeat it after me. Ready? Here we go! Nowadays there is a wide…… choice of financial packages on offer for students, and it is……. advisable to talk to someone about the best….. deals available. Many banks have employees who specialize in student finances, they are called…… consultants, and they can advise you on how to make provisions for your needs during your…. course. Now is the time to work out your probable… spending on food, accommodation and…. books; and if you have any… savings, you should decide whether to draw them out. Credits cards are a mixed…. blessing. It’s easy to misuse them and find yourself unable to keep up with…. payments. However, don’t be disheartened with all this. Your earnings as a…. graduate should enable you to clear your…. debts with in a few years. In the Business English section, we practised vocabulary of office stationary and equipment. Listen to the words in Spanish and try to say the English translation before I do. Then repeat the words to practise pronunciation. sujetapapeles - paper clips papelera - wastepaper basket tijeras - scissors archivos/carpetas - files/folders maletín - briefcase goma - rubber (uk) / eraser (us) perforadora - hole punch archivador - filing cabinet grapadora - stapler sacapuntos - pencil sharpener Mansion Business is our complete business course in CD Rom. Mansion Business es un completo y moderno Curso de Inglés Comercial con material relacionada con el mundo de la empresa y los negocios. Mansion Business contains business expressions and vocabulary, listenings and dialogues, reading texts and business functions like making presentations, speaking in meetings, describing market trends and lots more. There are 4 review tests to maximise learning, and over 120 hours of lesson time. The course level in Mansion Business is intermediate to upper intermediate, and you can buy this CD only from La Mansión del Inglés for 34 euros plus postage. So, if you need English for Business, you need Mansion Business. To order your CD, go to mansioningles.com, click on the CDs icon on the right side of the home page. Allí puedes ver todo el contenido del CD y bajar la primera lección gratis para probar sin compromiso. Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye! Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de septiembre aquí. Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí. Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí.    The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.            

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios. Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises. Hello everyone! How are you? It’s good to be with you again, and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for June 2011. Este mes en el nivel básico, hemos practicado algunas colocaciones con los verbos. Escucha y repítelas. I live in a flat – Espera, ¿Cuantas palabras hay en esta frase? Escucha – I live in a flat. – Pues hay cinco palabras. I - live – in - a - flat. Nota como se juntan las palabras liveina – liveina- Repite: Liveina – I live in a flat. I work in an office ¿Cuantas palabras hay? Escucha I work in an office – Aquí hay cinco palabras y se juntan cuatro palabras workinanoffice. Repite: workinanoffice – I work in an office. I work in an office - I have children. Repite: I have two children – I have three children. I have one child. I study economics repite: I study economics. I study law . Law – derrecho – I study medicine – medicina - I study medicine. I speak French – I drive a Mazda  - I read e-books – I sometimes read e-books. - I like animals – I go to the cinema – I watch television – I listen to music. No olivides la preposición ‘to’ con el verbo ‘listen’ – listen to music. Repite: Listen to music. I like listening to music. I like listening to rap music. I like listening to hip hop. También en el cuaderno mensual habían frases para traducir. Escucha a las frases en español, e intenta traducirlas al inglés antes que yo. Ready? ¿Listos? María no habla alemán. - María doesn’t speak German. ¿Le gusta su trabajo a Peter? - Does Peter like his job? Leo gana mucho dinero. - Leo earns a lot of money. ¿Que hace la hermana de Dave? - What does Dave’s sister do? - What does Dave’s sister do? Su hija (de ella) ve la tele en la cama. - Her daughter watches TV in bed. Mike lleva gafas. - Mike wears glasses. ¿Cuantos años tiene la abuela de Debbie? - How old is Debbie’s grandmother? - How old is Debbie’s grandmother? Simon es el hermano de Andrew. - Simon is Andrew’s brother. Lo siento, no tengo la dirección del correo electrónico de Suzi. - I’m sorry, I don’t have Suzi’s email address. - I’m sorry, I don’t have Suzi’s email address. ¿Como están sus (de ella) padres? - How are her parents? - How are her parents? ¿Donde trabaja el marido de Sandra? - Where does Sandra’s husband work? Su tio (de el) no esta casado. - His uncle isn’t married. - His uncle isn’t married. La gente en Inglaterra comen muchas patatas fritas. - English people eat a lot of chips. ¡Muy bien! Very good! In the intermediate section of this month’s cuaderno, we practiced clothes vocabulary. I’m going to describe some clothes and you say the item of clothing I’m describing. Ready? Here we go. You wear these on your feet when you do sport, go running, or want to dress casual – trainers Ok, this clothing accessory is worn around your waist and stops your trousers from falling down – belt You wear this in the winter on top of clothes to keep you warm when you go outside – coat Men wear this to look smart, especially if they work in an office or have a formal job. The jacket and trousers are the same colour – suit This accessory is worn around the neck in winter – scarf These are blue trousers, originally worn by cowboys and made from denim – jeans You wear these on your feet to go out in the street – shoes Underwear that you also wear on your feet but under your shoes – socks You wear these in the summer, when it’s hot and you do sport, because it’s uncomfortable to wear long trousers – shorts You wear these in bed. They usually match, which means the top part is the same as the bottom part – pyjamas Next, worn by ladies, this is an item of clothing that can be short in the summer, long in the winter and elegant for special occasions – dress You bear these on your feet when you play football on grass, sometimes when you ride a motorbike or do heavy construction work. Ladies wear these ‘high shoes’ in the winter – boots Often worn by sportsman, this comfortable item of clothing has trousers and a jacket. The Spanish word is chándal – tracksuit This is winter wear for the top half of your body. It should keep you warm and is often worn over a shirt or a T-shirt. Other names for this are jumper and pullover – sweater Moving on to intermediate grammar and the wonderfully exciting subject of gerunds and infinitives! Aren’t they awful? How do you know? How do you know whether to use a gerund after the verb agree or an infinitive? How do you know if the verb surprise is followed by to see or seeing? Well, I’m afraid you just have to study each individual verb and learn which group it belongs to. There’s no easy way. The verb agree. I agree, he agrees etc. Agree is followed by the infinitive. Repeat: I agreed to see him. They have agreed to let us do the presentation. She agreed to give me a lift. The expression to be happy is also followed by an infinitive. Repeat: I was happy to see you finished the project. I’ll be happy to discuss it tomorrow. We’re very happy to be invited. I’m happy to help you. The gerund is used after prepositions. For example, the verb to arrest – detener - is often followed by the preposition FOR. He was arrested for stealing. Repeat: He was arrested for stealing. He was arrested for hitting his neighbour. She’ll be arrested for not paying her taxes. When to be used to has the meaning estar acostumbrado/a, the verb following it is a gerund. For example,  I’m not used to getting up early at the weekend. Repeat: I’m not used to getting up early. She’s used to working long hours. He’s used to paying for everything. Surprise is followed by the infinitive. He was surprised to discover that he’d passed his final exams. I was surprised to get the job. Repeat - I was surprised to get the job. She was surprised to see me. He’ll be surprised to hear the news. The expression to be worth – W-O-R-T-H – to be worth + a gerund means vale la pena. It’s worth doing – vale la pena hacerlo. It might be worth taking the DVD player to be repaired. Is it worth getting a new one? Repeat: Is it worth getting a new one? It’s worth phoning the shop. It’s worth asking them. Do you think it’s worth trying? One thing that it is worth doing is going to mansioningles.com and practicing more gerunds and infinitives. You can find them in the intermediate course and also in the grammar section. If you want to study our courses and material without connecting to the Internet, you can buy a complete CD of La Mansión del Inglés for 24 Euros. Go to mansioningles.com and click on the CD icon on the right side of the homepage. Food and eating out was the topic of our advanced section of this month’s newsletter. Listen to the descriptions of some food vocabulary and try to say the word before I do. Ready? A sauce added to a salad is a ….. dressing Another word for a main dish is ….an entrée A small dish at the start of a meal is ….an appetizer also sometimes called a starter or a first course. Remember that we speak about courses in English and not plates. A plate is the thing you put the food on. So primer plato is the first course, Segundo plato – second course etc. We had a three-course meal, a four-course meal. And we say that Paella is a typical Spanish dish, not plate. Lasagne is an Italian dish. If you like your steak cooked just a little, or poco hecho in Spanish, you ask for it to it to be…..rare – R-A-R-E. I don’t like to see a lot of blood on my meat so I ask for it to be cooked a little more than rare, which is… medium rare. There’s still some blood but not too much. Cook it a bit more and you get to… medium. Sometimes I like my steak medium. Some people don’t like to see any blood at all so they ask for it to be bien hecho or….well done. I know that there may be different words in Argentina, Mexico and other Spanish–speaking countries, but I think you get the idea. So what do you call layers of alcohol-soaked sponge cake with fruit, custard and whipped cream? It’s …trifle. I don’t like trifle very much, but my dad does, and when I was growing up my mum made a trifle nearly every week. I got sick of it! A small herb, like an onion, that is often added to potatoes, - in Spanish cebollinos -  is called …..chives. Chives are great mixed in with mash potatoes, by the way. And if you add sausages you get a tasty Irish dish. A kind of soup usually containing fish and vegetables is called….chowder – C-H-O-W-D-E-R - sopa de pescado. Clam chouder es crema de almejas. All this talk of food is making me hungry, and it’s nearly  time for dinner. So, moving quickly on the next part of the advanced section where we practiced some food idioms. Take what he says with a pinch of salt, means he may not be telling the truth. Be careful he’s probably lying. Take everything he says with a pinch of salt. If you are full of beans, estas lleno de vida. Beans could be frijoles, alubias, judías, habas - green beans are judías verdes - but to be full of beans means you have a lot of energy and you are very lively. Your daughter’s full of beans today. Where does she get her energy from? Ok, how do you say Eres la niña de mis ojos in English? You are the apple of my eye. Repeat: The apple of my eye. Or, as Stevie Wonder said, “You are the sunshine of my life”. The expression as warm as toast, obviously means very warm – like toast! You’re feet are as warm as toast. Your hands are as warm as toast. As you know, the English tend to put butter on their bread and not olive oil, but if you know which side your bread is buttered, you’re careful not to upset people who you know can help you, you don’t act in ways that would lose you other people's approval, or lose you an advantage. Hmmm…Pepe’s just got another promotion. He get’s on very well with everyone at work. He knows which side his bread’s buttered. What do you say in Spanish when someone is taking your photo? We say “cheese” because if you say cheese you’re smiling. “Come on, give us a nice big smile, say cheese!” “If you pay peanuts you get monkeys” You should give people the salary they deserve. To pay someone peanuts – cacahuetes – means to pay them very little. - Don’t take that job, you’ll be working for peanuts. We say something is selling like hot cakes if it’s selling very well. In some countries, you say que se vende como pan caliente, o como churros, o como rosquillas. The new Apple iPhone is selling like hot cakes. If people are like two peas in a pod they are very similar. You can tell immediately that they’re brothers. They’re like two peas in a pod. They’re two of a kind. They’re so alike. And to be as cool as a cucumber means to be clam and unruffled – in Spanish, sereno – He took the penalty and scored to win the championship. I really don’t know how he stayed as cool as a cucumber under all that pressure. Something is a recipe for disaster if it's going to cause trouble or serious problems. Asking your mother to stay with us for a week is a recipe for disaster. Smoking, drinking, eating badly and not exercising is a recipe for disaster. And finally, if something is your cup of tea, it pleases you or makes you happy. This expression is more commonly used in the negative. I’m sorry, but rollerblading is not really my cup of tea. Can’t we go shopping instead? In the Business English section this month, we looked at some works using in banking. I’ll read the definitions to you and try to say the words before I do. The difference between credits and debits in a bank account is…the balance The money paid to a bank for the bank's services etc are called…bank charges The local office of a bank (in Spanish: surcursal) is called ….a branch. Repeat: Where’s your nearest branch? A type of bank account from which money may be taken at any time, and which usually pays low or no interest is called a current account (in the UK) and a checking account (in the US). What’s the opposite of credit? The opposite of credit is…..debit – with a ‘d’. Debit is a noun and a verb. You have a debit in your account of 500 Euros. We need to debit your account for the amount of 80 Euros. A bank account which pays you interest on your money is called a… a deposit account (in the UK) and a savings account (in the US) Mansion Business is our complete business course in CD Rom. Mansion Business es un completo y moderno Curso de Inglés Comercial con material relacionada con el mundo de la empresa y los negocios. Mansion Business contains business expressions and vocabulary, listenings and dialogues, reading texts and business functions like making presentations, speaking in meetings, describing market trends and lots more. There are 4 review tests to maximise learning, and over 120 hours of lesson time. The course level is intermediate to upper intermediate, and you can buy this CD only from La Mansión del Inglés for 34 euros plus postage. So, if you need English for Business, you need Mansion Business. To order your CD, go to mansioningles.com, click on the CDs icon on the right side of the home page. Allí puedes ver todo el contenido del CD y bajar la primera lección gratis para probar sin compromiso. Money lent to you by a bank that must be repaid with interest – in Spanish un préstamo – is called ….a loan – L-O-A-N – a loan. Deficit in a bank account caused by taking out more money than is paid in (in Spanish: descubierto or sobregiro) is….an overdraft - an overdraft. The expression to put money into a bank account is to….make a deposit or simply to deposit money into an account. Excuse me, I’d like to make a deposit of 200 Euros. I’d like to deposit 200 Euros. You can also use the phrasal verb to pay in. Can I pay this into my account, please? I’d like to pay in some money. The opposite of to make a deposit is to make a withdrawal or to withdraw money. To take money out of an account – to withdraw money. I’d like to make a withdrawal. If you give an instruction to a bank to make regular payments to a company or a person (in Spanish: domiciliar, orden permanente de pago) it’s called …..a standing order, in English. It’s common to pay your rent by standing order and your telephone, gas and electric bills also. And finally, if you need to see a record of transactions in your bank account, in Spanish you ask for un extracto de cuenta. In English, you ask for…a statement. A bank statement. Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us, you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of nearly 13,000 fans. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit. You can sign up for our cuaderno mensual and see all the previous newsletters and podcasts by clicking on the link on the Mansion Ingles home page. Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye! Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de junio aquí.  Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí. Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí.  The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.    

It’s time for everyone’s favorite game show, Living or Dead?! Here’s how the rules work: I’m going to name some celebrities and it’s up to you to tell me if they’re still living or if they’re dead! Ready? Here we go! Rodney Dangerfield (Answer: Dead. Though he may still be moving around a bit.) Andy […]

That's a pic of Jane!Can you believe we're on chapters nine and ten of Pride and Prejudice? Me either!And, once again, I find myself all hot and bothered by Darcey. Ah well...Before we get to that, today I'll talk to you about some (that's the part) and a (that's the part).Links to: , Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's , check out on Site.Ready?Here we go...As always, Pride and Prejudice is narrated by . Intro music provided by GarageBand.com which connected me with "Chasing Hiro."