Podcasts about really you

Andy Conduit-Turner is joined by the writer/director of horror short It's Really You to discuss the film which premiered at FrightFest 2024! Rich Rose is an award-winning screenwriter and director, based in South London. He has an MA in Directing from MetFilm School and is currently developing a number of projects.It's Really You - A priest arrives at a house to perform an exorcism, unaware that he's about to be reunited with an old flame.www.horrorhangout.co.ukPodcast - https://fanlink.tv/horrorhangoutPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/horrorhangoutFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/horrorhangoutpodcastX - https://x.com/horror_hangout_TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@horrorhangoutpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/horrorhangoutpodcastAndy - https://x.com/andyctwritesRich - https://www.instagram.com/richroseart/Audio credit - Taj Eastonhttp://tajeaston.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thehorrorhangout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings, Congregation! And welcome to the new year! To quote Counting Crows- this year will be better than the last. Andrew, Kenon and Jed discuss news and noteworthy events from the year of our Lord, 2022, and talk about what is in store for our future....and it's looking more and more like AI will be in charge. Songs: After Dark by Mr. Kitty Is it Really You? by Loathe & Sleep Token patreon.com/churchandotherdrugs storefrontier.com/churchandotherdrugs churchandotherdrugs@gmail.com

EP301 is with special guest Erik Bickerstaffe of the band Loathe. Caught him in the middle of touring the states to talk about how it's been going, new Loathe music in the works, the song "Is it Really You?" and much more! Cheers! Video: https://youtu.be/rQey_9KAcIA Follow Erik: @kirestaf Follow Loathe: @loatheasone For all things Loathe: https://www.loatheasone.co.uk/ PLEASE check out the Patreon page. Support the podcast and earn exclusive content like full audio interviews from Psycho Las Vegas from acts like Andrew WK, Red Fang, CKY and more. www.patreon.com/rrbg Sponsors! Kill Cliff The premier recovery & energy drinks come from Kill Cliff. Their Mango Tango comes with 25 MG of CBD and it's the perfect way to recover from a hard work out or to work on your yoga practice. Check out their variety of flavors and styles. https://killcliff.com/ Saint Joints Check out our friends at Saints Joints providing the Pacific Northwest with carefully crafted Mixed Strain Joint packs. Featuring artwork from artists such as Skinner. Thunderking Coffee The best coffee in Southern California...period. Roasted in Costa Mesa, they are huge supporters of live music, collaborate with Violent Gentlemen, great people, family owned and seriously the most delicious coffee beans you can get. Pick some up now at: www.thunderkingcoffee.com

1-17-21 More Than...? Really You're Not Kidding!? - Pastor Dan by IR Bible Church Podcast

Ok, but how are you doing REALLY? You’re getting the unedited behind-the-scenes look at our homeschool lives—the academics and routines we’re doing (or not doing), the stuff that’s going well (and what's NOT working), and the self-care solutions that are saving us (when we hold ourselves and each other accountable to making self-care happen!). This is the conversation we’re having every. single. month. on Patreon with our $5 Squad. Join us!   When you join Patreon, you’ll unlock 2 years of patron rewards including an archive of extended interviews, monthly episodes, the Back to School Summit, and a discount code for our Homeschool+Personalities classes. Plus, you get access to our Patreon Squad Facebook Group -- a fun and fantastic community of like-minded homeschool parents. All for just $5/month. Or sign up for an annual membership for about $50!   Loving This Week No LTWs this week--but you get a monthly "LTW Extra" episode when you join our $5 Squad. An hour-long chat about the shows, products, podcasts, books, and more that we're loving!    Books Visit our new bookshop.org store. When you shop with Bookshop, you’re supporting us AND a local independent bookstore of your choice. Woohoo!   Get a FREE guide! Get our FREE High Five Homeschool Guide when you sign up for our newsletter!   Listener Review chemicalhippos, 09/16/2020 "Not only is this my favorite homeschool podcast, it’s my FAVORITE PODCAST. I listen to every episode and have recently started working through the back catalog. I’m a young mom and my kids are still young but I find so much reassurance in Maren and Angela’s stories about homeschooling and raising older kids. They are like the cool older sisters I never had and inspire me to chill out and focus on connecting with my kids instead of forcing them to do workbook after workbook. I also love getting a glimpse into their long and beautiful friendship. It’s a privilege to be a part of. " Leave us a 5-star rating and review here.   More About Homeschool Unrefined We are an inclusive and nonsectarian podcast. We believe Black Lives Matter, and we are LGBTQ+ affirming (for more, read our piece on Romper). We are listener supported and are donating 10% of all Patreon income and product sales to The Conscious Kid, a Black and Brown-led organization that has been instrumental in our own evolution and in leading the way in both ideological and tangible change with their work in “parenting and education through a critical race lens." Read our full ABAR Statement here and on Instagram.     Connect with us!  Visit our website | Sign up for our newsletter. | Support us on Patreon. | Join our closed Facebook group: Unrefined Homeschoolers | Merch Shop Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube Angela on Instagram: @unrefinedangela | Maren on Instagram: @unrefinedmaren Email us any questions or feedback at homeschoolunrefined@gmail.com Visit our Amazon Shop: https://www.amazon.com/shop/homeschoolunrefined We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

We're so stoked to have one of our favourite guests, Rhonda Chang, back on the podcast with Mason today. Initially we weren't sure whether our SF community would be ready to receive Rhonda's wisdom, however, to our absolute delight everyone frothed on her first episode - you can check it out here. We always knew we had to have Rhonda back on to continue sharing her deeply authentic application of the traditional philosophy and practice of true Chinese medicine, or what Rhonda refers to as 'Yi'. Rhonda has a brilliant article explaining the difference between Yi and what many of us know as modern Traditional Chinese Medicine, I highly recommend you check it out here.  Mason and Rhonda discuss: Yinyang wuxing theory and how that relates to the body and organ systems. The qualities of the five elements; Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.  The spirit and body as inspearable parts of the whole, and the importance of holding this view when working to heal dis-harmony in the body, mind and spirit.  Rhonda's classification of  tonic herb. How the practice of Yinyang wuxing is a method of healing, and not a 'medicine'.   Who is Rhonda Chang? For the past 40 years Rhonda Chang has been involved in the study and practice of traditional healing. The journey has been long and tortuous. Rhonda began her studies at the Beijing College of Traditional Medicine. After graduation Rhonda worked as a physician at a number of hospitals in China. In 1986 she migrated to Australia and opened her own treatment clinic.  Rhonda operated her clinic up until 2012, where she felt that government regulation was overly restricting her practice of healing and that the professionalisation of TCM in Australia had subordinated it to modern medicine. Since then Rhonda has focused her energies on writing books and promoting a return to traditional YinYang Wuxing healing principles. Resources:Rhonda Website Rhonda Podcast Rhonda Books   Rhonda's Facebook Group     Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast?   A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Mason: (00:01) Rhonda, thank you so much for joining us again.   Rhonda: (00:05) Thank you for having me.   Mason: (00:07) Absolute pleasure. It was by far one of the favourite podcasts from the community that we've ever had.   Rhonda: (00:15) Nice to hear. Yes.   Mason: (00:16) Yeah. A big feeling of nostalgia for everyone, I think, as they returned to our roots.   Rhonda: (00:24) I'm so glad, actually, a general public and so interest in this kind of talks, which very encouraged.   Mason: (00:35) Good. I didn't know either how, whether our community would be ready or willing to have the conversation, but people who have never studied Chinese medicine have written to me, old friends saying I listened to that podcast and I really resonated. So I'm encouraged as well. So we covered so much of, especially the content in your book, Chinese medicine, masquerading as Yi. And I got to get my pronunciation of Yi.   Rhonda: (01:11) Yes, that's right.   Mason: (01:12) And then what was that? Sorry.   Rhonda: (01:15) I said, I'm calling the Yi, just tried to separate from the Chinese medicine because when you talk about Chinese medicine, when you're using that word or even traditional Chinese medicine, people get confused to this modern Chinese medicine, seems they've taken over the name, so I prefer to call Yi as a..   Mason: (01:35) I agree. It's almost in the long run. It is going to be less energy to just return to a classical word. Like Yi, we do tell people, if we're speaking English, we will refer to classical Chinese medicine as Yi and masquerading Chinese medicine is TCM, but still you're right. But Chinese medicine-   Rhonda: (01:59) It's hard to. Yes. I think this medicine, it's not really about a Chinese, it's about the philosophy. So I called them Yi because of that. Even before the Western medicine come from China, the Yi, didn't have a Chinese there and only the Western medicine got into China and then they try to separate. So they call the CE, which is a Western medicine and the Gong E, Chinese medicine. So that's how the name come from and that's only last the 100 years. So before that it was just Yi. That's what I actually like to go back to Yi.   Mason: (02:38) Huge distinction. That already takes so much of the commodification of this medicine out because Yi belongs to the earth. It doesn't belong to a nation, a civilization.   Rhonda: (02:58) That's right. Very much. It's not about the Chinese. It's about the tradition of the healing. So it's about the earth and the moon and the sun and the us and the oldest class. Yes. So it is.   Mason: (03:11) Just as we go into discussing the concept of what Yi is at its essence and the yinyang wuxing cycle. I just found a quote that you had on your Facebook group, which I encourage those who want to study more yinyang wuxing yi is that the Facebook group?   Rhonda: (03:34) Yes.   Mason: (03:36) A quote from the book of changes, when the sun reaches its Zenith, it will decline when the moon reaches its fullest, it will wane heaven and earth, wax, and wane. They all comply with the regulation of time, let alone people let alone ghosts and spirits.   Rhonda: (03:53) Absolutely. Yes. I love that phrase.   Mason: (03:57) It really sets us up for where we're going to be going today in this continuation of health and harmony.   Rhonda: (04:04) Well, if I'm going into that, it's a lot to talk about it. And that's what I'm writing this, I'm writing this a new course. It's about how the sun positioned the moon and the world. We call that the sun position on earth. We call the (inudiable), which heaven kind of a positioning on earth. And then the moon time circle around which it gives us that sense of time. Isn't it? So the time and the position, how they form that so-called the yinyang wuxing was here and our body with the meridians and the organs. Yes. But I wouldn't go through that because that's a lot of new names that people won't really get it so quickly, but we just talk about Yin and Yang and we'll see how the wuxing. We cut off of how the wuxing concept came from, but we just talk about what is the wuxing now in which we call that Woodfire and Metal and Water.   Rhonda: (05:09) In my other courses, I actually explained how this concept came from. It wasn't just abstract. It was exactly from the sun, the moon and on the impact on us, that's how that happened. But we'll talk about wood, because everything got a Yin and Yang, which we call that Yin is kind of a contraction and Yang is expansion. So everything got Yin a Yang, like a wood. The Yang of the would erect the Yin of the Woodcontract isn't so that bending and that solid. So they go Yin Woodand become solid. So that actually we say everything, just about all wuxing, everything you see it's about wuxing thing, kind of variation and different ways of presenting. So as our body basically have this Woodthing, organs, we call wuxing organs.   Rhonda: (06:15) So your liver is like a Woodso the Yang of the would make you errect isn't it. And so the Yang of the liver makes your body straight and the Yin of the body flexible. So you can bend. And then that's what organs are. Your body also is said, Yin and Yang that, what is the Yin of the body is your flesh, your bones and your muscles and all this material and the Yang of your body is your spirit. So what is spirit and the body do is spirit using your body to perform their desire or their thoughts? like what, we call thoughts. So your body is actually responsible to perform what your spirit wants. And then your spirit actually depends on the body to perform.   Rhonda: (07:23) So if there's no body they can't perform, and if there's not spirit, the body will rot because the spirit makes the body lively. The spirit is a Yang. Anyway, that's in the book. I explain the more detail. So we say what the spirit do for your Woodis... So if your spirit, Yang of the wood, Yang of the spirit, the Woodspirit, I call them a striving tool. What they do is they make you kind of you want to fight. And the stand for yourself strong. The Yin make you flexible and acceptable go along with it. So, but if your Yin is not good, what do you do? You fight? And that if your Yang is no good, you kind of timid.   Rhonda: (08:19) So you can't cope with the problems and hide yourself because you're scared. So that's how everything you got. If you have a problem with your muscles? So if you muscle can't move or tight, always what we say, that you've a Yin problem, isn't it? So if you are muscles can't get you erect, so we say that it's your Yang problem. And you can actually look at all this and then your body too like Kidney. Kidney is Water. Most people can relate to these, isn't it? Because Kidney  really is a Water organ. So what that Water do is that it's got Yin and Yang, which this Yin and the Yang of the organ study, or even in the traditional texts, it hasn't really explicitly describe this insight or Yang side of each organ.   Rhonda: (09:26) They can quite often, you hear people say, this herb's a good for your Kidney  energy, but what is Kidney  energy? So instead Yin and young it's completely different because the Yin of the Water make you sink, isn't it? The Water go down and the Yang of the Water make you go up, you vibrate and so make you move. So what the Kidney  do is reserve, Kidney  reserves your body energy, your heat, because they call the steam, the Water is called a steam. And then they reserves your heat that make things a moving and then transform to wood, because the Water create a wood. But if Water is all frozen, they are hard to create any of these. When they say Yang in the Water, and then the Wood start to grow. So this is the relation of that Wood thing Water create wood.   Mason: (10:27) It'll be warm. We warm up the Water. We create vapour that can rise up to the liver.   Rhonda: (10:31) That's right. It's not that it has to rise up to liver the make the Water runny, so the liver. What they do is that when they evaporate, they go up to the sky. Isn't it? That in the Water. So that's our Lung . That's in organ, that's our Lung . A Lung is like our sky and in the small world. And then the Water rising up where the Lung does like the sky does they can gather the Water. And then when they do it, they give us a rainfall. So they gave a moist to all over the world. And that's what your Lung that's exactly. So Lung get us all the moist from the Kidney  rising. And then Lung also does is a separate from the bad/good, or what do you call it? A turbid and the fresh. So they gave us a fresh rain and that makes your body fresh.   Rhonda: (11:20) We'll talk about Kidney . That's what is in Yin side and Yang side of Kidney . So what the spirit do with the Kidney  Yin and young is your Yang of the spirit to get govern the Water we call that enduring. What they do is because a Kidney  actually is Water. Water really can hold on anything, absorb anything, but then it pushes everything. It can actually destroy everything. How does steam like Metal and the storms and the Water can destroy them, isn't it? But on the other hand, Water is the softest thing. So it actually takes everything. Anybody can go in there. Isn't it? Anything can get into it. So that's the Water. So what happened is if you have good Kidney  energy, you tend to bury a lot of things. You can handle a lot of things. And if you don't have a lot of Kidney  energy, you can't hold on anything. You look at everything you think that's too big for me. So you don't have the Kidney  Yang energy, but if you don't have a Kidney  Yin energy, of course you dry it out. Yes.   Rhonda: (12:42) So that's the Kidney . Kidney is a Water organ. So it's a Yin in nature. So what they most like is a Yang Qi. A lot of people say your Kidney  deficiency very rarely is your Kidney  Water Yin deficient, because unless you don't drink and you drink, you got Kidney  Water really. But if not hold Water, is Yang problem. But sometimes that your Water is that ge a so slow and rotting, but that's complicated. That's not just your Water problem, that's your soil problem because the Water is not bounded. so there're no banks and they flooded everywhere. And of course your problems. It's all linked. That's why we call it the soil.   Mason: (13:28) To spleen, to clean it up. [crosstalk]   Rhonda: (13:36) We get it from the liver, which is the wood, and now we'll go backward. Okay. And what create the Woodis the Water and what creates the Water is the metal. And then that's kind of a people feel very difficult to understand how the Metal create the Water, isn't it? Because of Metal have this nature gather the things. They're kind of a concentrate, isn't and then they separated the pure, the cleaner, so that's what Metal's kind of nature. So if you put a Metal outside and you find in the humid, they all running Water, isn't it? Especially the cold, you can see the Water or running outside. So that's what I do that draw the kind of moist. And then they gave them around Water. So they create Water. That's what Metal create the Water in the nature as well.   Rhonda: (14:27) Like there're stones and you find all the rivers with the stones, because they gather them them and then they make them separate them, clean them and leave them running. So that's what your Lung s, because of your Lung s gathers Qi, air and then gathers moist in the body and in the whole system is actually acting as a gatherer, hold everything together. So that's why you get Qi so you body actually in the one piece rather than floppy. So if you see somebody very floppy, you find themselves can't breathe very well. So what happened is it's a Lung metal. It doesn't work well. So you body is not gathered and it's kind of sloppy. That's what it gets. So that's what the Metal does and middle actually we say in naturally, how does it, they gathering so they're kind of dry, so they liked the Water. And I mean, they, they gathers those moist. They collect the moist and then they`cannot dry. So if you have a Lung Metal indeficient, you don't gather the moist and you get a very high fever because you can have dry cough and the sore throat and a fever start because you body it got too hot. And then if you go to a Lung Metal or Yang deficient or problems, I don't like to say deficient because the most time some people ask me, what's the deficiency and damage. I used two words; damage and deficient. Deficiency doesn't imply you got a kind of a disease. It's not rotten. It just weak in that site. But when you have damage, that means that the function is got something else in there, like a rubbish in there or darkness or there's something blockage.   Rhonda: (16:33) So it's a more damage and that's what Metal does. So when the Yang is deficient, you get a mucus, you cough and you get thick and you body even smell, odors, because your Lung is not giving you fresh, separate the turbid and the freshness. And then in the body, other senses, they use the Lung actually get the things together and the separate them. So then use a large intestine to dispose all the waste. That's what we do the poo, which is our body's kind of waste. And also they dispose from the skin. So that's why in the Nei Jing says that the Lung actually controls your skin. In my book, I actually talk about skin represent all organs as well. So each organ have problems or showing skin as well. But that's one Metal and what created the Metal is soil. We all know, that isn't that? So soil actually got up. People translate this as earth. I don't like to use nice earth because earth is like the whole globe, but soil is just...   Mason: (17:59) Yeah, exactly. I get that.   Rhonda: (18:03) That's soil. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.   Rhonda: (18:04) It is that actually. So the soil, what soil does is soil actually sticky at her [inaudible 00:00:18:13]. So everything gets them to the soul. That's what the soil is nature. So, when the Yang of the soil it's loosening kind of like separately. So when you actually have things into the soil and you'll find that they take everything. They're not like metal. Metal is gathering, kind of consolidate them, but soil just take everything. And now what they do is that process now. So then they process them into whatever. So what it does in your body. The soil does is that you take all the food into the soil, isn't into your soil organ, which we call the Spring   soil. And then what it does is they separate from, I mean, not separate, they process them. So then into all your organs need.   Rhonda: (19:09) So they make into what you need. I mean, people say nutrition, you have to eat certain things. You don't because the soil actually have collect all the information as well, not as collecting, what do you call the food or things. And they collect all information from all of your organs to say what they need. And then it processed food and supply it to make the Yin and the Yang kind of a balance into certain parts of the body. So if your Kidney  need the most, they probably kind of gathers, kind of sorted out most things that supply to the Kidney  and if you kind of wherever you need it, it's actually processed there. So, that's what I call sorting you know, sorting out. So why is [inaudible 00:02:04]. That's what soil does.   Rhonda: (20:06) So if you have problems with the soil, I mean, apart from the food you... Can't take, if your Yang of the Yin soil problem, you just don't want to eat this. You can't take things eat. And then if your soil is not a processing and then not sorting, and you find you eat but you get hot, thick coat all the time, you feel sluggish and you don't have the enough taste of the food. You might have taste of food, sorry. You just don't feel fresh and after eating you just feel heavy. So if you don't really have, if you have a Yin problem of the soil, you do actually have trouble to taste the food because your organs are not really telling your body what they need. Yeah so, that's you just don't know and you can eat, but you just don't know what is right for you.   Rhonda: (21:05) So you don't get the message yeah, properly. Yeah. So the body in the emotional thing as what we call the soil. Soil is the reason, like the reasoning, because of they have all the message coming to you and then it's sorting out thi and then they're sorted out, work out what all this message is about. So I called them the reasoning. And this is, if you have a problem, you know how the people do like that. They have so much things and they just feel their head is too heavy. So they don't know, they can't work out things. So, that's when the Yang problem, when there's a Yin problem you just can't receive. You don't really know the message.   Mason: (22:28) Yeah. You just finished talking about the the reasoning Ju   Rhonda: (22:31) Yeah. Reasoning Ju . Yeah. I called them my Ju.   Mason: (22:34) Will?   Rhonda: (22:37) That's right. That's will. You know, reasoning will, you could say, but I call them a Ju because it's not just the will. It's about more meaning. It's like sometimes it's not what you will, what you wish to do, but it is like inbuilt, you just want to be proud. It's not your will to be your wish to be proud but you kind of that's all your nature is, so we call that Ju it's like, you stand for, you can't help yourself. Yeah.   Mason: (23:14) That Ju being essentially the been the spirit of each organ that you've been talking about.   Rhonda: (23:20) That's right. Yes, and so when we talk about the soil the Ju that's what the spirits actually using the Spleen soil to kind of act in their reasoning. The reasoning took out the Yin and Yang. They ying make you kind of receiving and the Yang make your working out what they all mean. So yeah, that's the soil. And the back after the soil, it's the fire. Yeah. I mean, what goes backward? Because we came from the woods. It's easy to talk this way. Yeah. So, when we say fire. Yeah. That's right fire. Fire is your Heart  . Yeah. Because we say we got all this heat in the body, isn't that where they come from, it's come from the nature and is maintained by the nature. So how you get this heat? It's not, I mean, we say we've got a food and a we burn.   Rhonda: (24:25) It's not true. As soon your spirit goes, you don't burn, isn't it. You don't have the heat. So it's your spirit that actually connect your body with the nature and that with the sun, the moon and the nighttime, that's why you need to cover up because of spirits resting. So it needs you hold on to what you get in the day, so that your time and spirits open. I mean your Heart   actually got a Yin and Yang. The Yang actually release to get the spirit out. So the spirit make your body active and you connect to the world and you're interacting with each other. And the nighttime spirits go inside and they rest. So that's what a Heart   does, Heart   in kind of the ground. So it makes you hold back and the Yang make your rise. So the spirits up, and that's when you're acting.   Rhonda: (25:19) So that's what the Heart   majorly do. That's why we say the house of your spirit. Yeah. That makes your body kind of warm, make your body active. When you're active, you tend to create a heat. Isn't it? So that's because your spirit and the make your active, make you kind of strong and then make your rice heat. Yeah. So, but then of course, if you're done really reserve a lot of heat in the Kidney , when you create this heat, you don't just expense spend it. It's like have a bank. That's in your Kidney , Kidney . I always tell people I say your bank. So if you drink a lot of freezing cold Water, you use your banking savings to warm up that Water and that kind of yeah, drain a little bill. I always say that fill the Waterville that they're heating the Fire   bill is a lot...   Rhonda: (26:14) A lot cheaper than the body's Kidney Water heat bill. Where we got to actually the fire. Yeah. So, that's what a Fire   does. And then if you, I call this a spirit to control your Heart   fire. I called them aspiring Ju. It's like you aspired to do things. You kind of have a lot of desire. You're active and you're bright and you can see your eyes actually kind of light. That's why you actually see something you really like to do. So we said, this is your desire. That's where your Heart   Yang Fire   and the Yin make your ground says, don't go mad, don't go. Like you see something I want to buy all of it, and then you're what do you got the Yin side of that, the aspiring Ju is saying, no be careful with your money.   Rhonda: (27:14) So then ground you down and to make you calm. So when is it make you're active, when it make you calm so that's what it does. Yeah. So if you find that lot of people when we call them a Heart  broken in English. Isn't that? So, so called a Heart  broken is your Yang of the Fire   damaged. Your Heart   Fire   damaged. So then you just look, everything bland. You don't really have any desire. You just lost yourself. Yeah. But when in that kind of cases, what I do is that I use your Kidney , our warm your Kidney . I use a lot of foods. These things make the Fire   actually make the Heart   fire, the body of the Fire   kind of warm. So they're helping, what do you call that aspirant Ju. Your helping your Fire   spirit to, to perform.   Rhonda: (28:06) So, and then also you ground this Fire   into the Kidney s. So then you gave them a support, sort of give them a lasting kind of heat. So gradually they feel back to themselves and that they're running again. So that's how you work with the spirit and the body. Yeah. I mean, people think oh, that's only the spirit, but you work because it's spirit and body inseparable. When is separated the body will die and rot away and the spirit of become ghost. So it's, don't know where to go and lets your journey finish and you know where you go. So, that's a fire. And then what create Fire   is the wood. So we come back to this cycle. So it Woodcreate fire, Fire   create the soil, soil create the Metal and Metal create the Water and Water get back to work.   Rhonda: (28:55) So, that's how every organ is in the body. So then you may say, what about my arm, what my fingers? So your fingers or your arms, it all have this, a five elements as well. So every five organs control every part of the system. Yeah. So if you say you're tense your tight muscle, then we say, okay, maybe your liver WoodYin have a problem. Isn't it? But if you actually have say rash or something on your arm then what we say is a liver WoodYang damage because your liver actually is your blood ocean, it's all of your body blood. And then when liver WoodYang damage, you blood does flow free. So that's why you get the problems with the, what do you call them? That blood problems. When you see the rashes it's always Blood stagnation. Yeah. Stagnation. So we called them liver WoodYang damage. Yeah. Always.   Mason: (30:01) And I really liked in your book, you're taught like you really, you, you were talking about the blood vessels and this really allowed me to drop in to see the liver would medicine to be that Yang is that a erectness of the blood vessel as if we have no yin, we run the blood runs too hot. But as soon as you bring in that Yin and that suppleness and that bend to the vessels, all of a sudden there's more of like a babbling brook and they can cool down.   Rhonda: (30:27) That's how it is. Yeah. That's yeah. That's basic five so-called the five elements and the five organs and then controls your body sickness. Yeah. I mean, any sickness, you give you any kind of example, you can include these five elements in the Yang side and the way you work that out and you can choose your acupuncture points or you can actually using your herbs. And yeah, you'll find.. Because in one of the blog, I think I write about how you recognise herbs. I mean, people, we were educated in the university says all this spirit of herb or they called Shen Nong...   Rhonda: (31:09) You know, like what they translated is he actually carried a little where you had a picture, carry a little basket and go around in the nature and the collecting herbs and the tasting herb's. And it says the three times he almost died and it's all, that's all lies because the Shen Nong is the emperor. How could he actually carry a basket to go around the mountains, asking people? He organised this. But what he did was he didn't really organise these people to go around to see what people using for herb. Because a lot of people don't know enough herbs why does he? How can he get all this message information? In fact, he sent the scholars out who actually going to testing or collecting or watching how animals and all the herbs are growing. And then they separate them into yinyang wuxing nature. And then they can use say I think I saw one of your herbs or two.   Mason: (32:14) That's Eucommia everybody. Yeah.   Rhonda: (32:20) Yeah. And then it says, it's very kind of it's good for your so-called Kidney . And they're also good for your bones and the muscles. Isn't it? So what you do is that if you're actually kind of peeling the skin and you're breaking them, it's got that kind of fine fibre and the really elastic that's what actually works on your liver. It's a give you liver Woodkind of a Yang and Yin because it's a flexible, that outside is a firm is hard and they grow in the cold areas. Yeah. Generally they don't like, like Queensland weather, and yeah they liked the colder places. So what they do is when you actually Yang, you like yin. So they actually kind of warm things. So that's the way they strengthen your bones. So Kidney  controls the bones. So that's why we say that actually help your Kidney .   Rhonda: (33:20) Yeah. Give you the flexibility as well as the strength of the bones. Yeah. So yeah. That's how you're actually watching all the herb. So then when you got this problem, you say, okay, well I'll have this, but of course, a lot of things that have different degrees. I like to use a lot of herbs, which they call the poisonous. It's not because they poison it's because they got strong kind of a yinyang nature. So when we talk about poison is not talking about like a Western terms of poison for more, formaldyhde, benzene, that's absolutely poison. And then you can't get away that not benefit from it. But when we say poison, it's like, they go the strong yinyang nature. So if you like a actonite, fu zi what we'll call it (inaudible). That gives you so much heat. And if you're overtaking can dry up and you die, of course, and you get a spasm and then you kind of, you got rid of all your moist and then you die.   Rhonda: (34:20) It does. But when you're actually eating them properly and processing properly, it just beautiful power. And I use that. And I like, because that gave you absolutely desirable strength to correct the sickness. So if somebody freezing cold, I mean, cold. It's not just you feeling cold, but internally cold, like everything, not running, people get a blue lips and the blue toenails, everything. So that means that you're, there's nothing flowing. Isn't it?   Rhonda: (34:56) There's not enough heat. You use that. It's so useful because I say most of the problems is your lack of a Yang team, the heat, because your body is Yin and most of your problem is the Yang problem. You don't have enough power, enough strength. We all desire power. Isn't it? In every way. So that's actually I like those kind of herbs and also some herbs. I mean, that's most people say my tastes not very good because all my formula is so strong. It's because there's some of the herbs, like a myrrh and frankincense it's got that kind of really terrible taste, but they get so beautiful to clean up your blood, blockage. Like if you had a, it's I called my liver WoodYang herbs it very beautiful to help your blood flow smoothly and it cleaner.   Mason: (35:56) Yeah. That was the myrrh and frankincense, you said? Yes. Yes.   Rhonda: (36:00) So that kind of things. And the myrrh and frankincense.   Rhonda: (36:03) Yeah. So it's that kind of things. And [inaudible 00:36:04] doesn't have any kind of too strong effect. So they don't really hurt at all. I think that you can actually making the little tablets every day having been it's definitely good for you cleaning up, but yeah,   Mason: (36:17) a bit of a tonic.   Rhonda: (36:18) Hmm. Yeah. Oh, it's it's yeah. Well, one we called tonic and I kind of a field. Yeah. What is tonic? Everything is tonic.   Mason: (36:30) Yeah you're right.   Rhonda: (36:31) Everything make your body flow is tonic. And when you need it, it helps you flow. That's tonic, isn't it. But so, there's no bad herb or good herb to me but, some herbs like a Ginseng. I call them because they're so they're strong, they're good. But then at the same time, it doesn't give you any kind of off the balance. Those herbs, so you could say them tonic, actually. Yeah. You can just, long-term taking them. And without any problems, like food, almost like food, they just don't taste as good as food, but then they act like a food. Yeah. So those things you could say are tonic and they actually benefit every parts of your body. And also like a liquorice, that goes your wuxing organs and also help you kind of breaking down any kind of problem, harmonise. It's kind of a soft up of any poisons, anything, any in your body. So you don't call them tonic. Yeah. That's   Mason: (37:34) We could have, we could, because we, we love the tonics here. We love the tonic herbs.   Rhonda: (37:40) Or you could say they're tonics, yeah. I think that's the kind of, yeah.   Mason: (37:44) I think it's a good distinction you make there that anything used appropriately can all of a sudden become a tonic because you're using it within its,you know, within its yinyang wuxing nature. That's right. Yeah. It will bring life.   Rhonda: (38:00) That's right. Yeah. Yes. And especially I would call it. Actonite is a beautiful, tonic is a strong strongest tonic, but of course you got to take a little bit of careful. So you will not really kind of using them. Like you, don't [not, 00:02:20], I mean like some people, if they have a bit of, you got to know the body condition like that. And then you may not talk about it as the general tonic, like, say, you can just eat, but I'll definitely say that's a very strong tonic. Yeah. But some herbs like, like Ginseng I'm talking, it doesn't give you, it doesn't matter what your body condition, you take it, it's always nice. So, I mean, in the modern sense, you say that's tonics, you know? Yeah.   Mason: (38:49) Yeah. But I mean, even with, because we're taught, like, what we were talking about before was with, with the Shen Nong for Everyone, I do encourage everyone quite often, I'll remind everyone again, it's nice to have a few of them the Shennong Divine Farmer Materia Medica. I believe, well, the pronunciation Shennong Ben Cao Jing.   Rhonda: (39:06) Yeah. That's right. Ben Cao Jing. Yeah.   Mason: (39:06) Ben Cao Jing. Ben Cao Jing, I think is how they say it's a translation. I'd like everyone to have a copy or two, if they're interested in that's where we see, as you were saying, the poison inferior herbs, the regular herbs, and the superior herbs.   Rhonda: (39:26) Yes. That's right, yes. Yes. The superior herbs. Yes. There's no damage and there's no problem. Yeah.   Mason: (39:33) But even with the ginseng, I mean, as you said, we call it ginseng or (inaudible), like a tonic. However, there's still always going to be, you know, a time when it's not appropriate or a time when you... So therefore you've needed to put understanding of the herb in order to ensure that it stays a tonic and not harmful, folks. So you're never going to not...yeah.   Rhonda: (39:57) It's like ginseng. I mean, it generally good, but sometimes you're taking them when it's not, so-called, appropriate. It's not really kind of correct to your condition in not, you don't notice anything. You just feel like you waste your can put into the soil, the soil say that's not needed. So it's probably the way or get rid of them as a waste, you know? Like, so that's how, how, how things are, you know, like sometimes like say when you're so thirsty a drop of Water, you appreciate so much, isn't it? But when you don't need too much and you have it, you just feel all "ahh", holding onto your stomach. You think I'll having, 'm drunk , you know? So everything got a kind of, yeah, you got to understand the, the concept of the yinyang wuxing and your body. And then you can actually work them better.   Mason: (40:52) Well, and that's, and that's why, you know, at SuperFeast, that's why we focus on the superior herbs because there are herbs that people can engage with without causing damage to the body. But what I like about them is, as you said with Water, you know, if you're, if you're not thirsty and you're hydrated and all of a sudden you drink a lot of Water, you'll feel something without doing much damage, but you will learn-- you'll also learn something about your body and you'll learn something about the elements. So you've done no damage. And you've learned about how, you know, how to look after yourself, which is, that's what I like about superior herbs as well.   Rhonda: (41:26) Well, that's very important, but that also, when you talk about this herbs, like yeah, individual herbs, you can actually make them like, say superior and inferior or whatever. But if there's herbs, formulas, if you make it into a formula and you can actually balance them all and the benefit, all of the things,you know, like in my book, I've got this RCN formula and which,you know, like the Kidney , Kidney  formula, Kidney  energy yeah. That's, that's basically balances every part of the body and the people taking them, like every daily things, because it, it just help you reserve your heat, helps you reserve your energy.   Mason: (42:19) Well, this is where I like your book. I mean, I've read a lot about the five elements,you know, which I know is even that translation doesn't really do justice to what we're talking about with the wuxing organ or organ system. And what I really, really love about this continue as I, as I learn more and more about the elemental cycle, is that when we think about the liver physical anatomy, the organ, yes, of course I can get my hands under my liver and under my ribs and I can feel my physical organ. But when I drop into my body, when I get out of my head and stop thinking about anatomy, when I drop into my body, I can't think about this reductionist organ. I can't isolate it. I can't feel isolation.   Rhonda: (43:11) Hm!   Mason: (43:11) I can't feel necessarily phase one and phase two. But, when I come, because ,that's a very stagnant system, when I come fully into the yinyang wuxing cycle, I can really get a sense of the quality of Woodinternally.   Rhonda: (43:28) Yes. And then you feel freer thinking, that's why I'm really against this so-called modernised or what they call the modern Chinese medicine because they using this anatomy. And they actually limit your thoughts, because when you're thinking about anatomy and you're thinking about the materials and you don't think about a spirit part, and you don't think about the cooperation and you don't think about, and then if you say "My arm got a problem", or "I've got a rash" and you think about rash rather than thinking about what is going on in the wuxing organs, isn't it. So then you limited yourself and then you try to find the so-called herbs that cure rash. And then when it doesn't work and you're going to find another one, you're going to find another one. And whose is it for?. I mean, individually, you might going to try everything and after a while you just give up, because you're just going to disappointed.   Rhonda: (44:22) Then you go to Western medicine and, but, if you stop thinking that you're thinking about a blood, you thinking about that this rash as a blood not flowing. So then you thinking about a liver with Yang damage and you suddenly thought, "Oh, what actually makes the woot erect?" And you start looking at the herbs and you start looking at a surround you and the food, everything. So you're suddenly free and you have a hope and you do have hope and you can find everything around you to help. So that's how important is you have this kind of concept of yinyang Wuxing.   Mason: (45:05) Yeah. It helps so much in a day-to-day level, too, you know. And as you were, you were talking about, you know, your Kidney  formula that helps bring a flow to every part of the body. If you're waiting for a symptom, if you're waiting, if you're in a, if you're in an anatomical reductionist mindset, it makes it very difficult to be dedicated and feel that what you are wanting is to support Yin Yang transformation consistently through the body, you don't get attracted to maintaining harmony,   Rhonda: (45:37) That's right, yeah. And then also you lose power. You lose your own power. So as you say, if you thinking about yinyang wuxing, you suddenly connect yourself to the whole world, whole nature, and you suddenly feel freer. You don't waiting for the drug company, give you information, what the drugs do or something, and you suddenly thinking, okay, everything surround me. "What things can help me?" And you really do freer and you become active and you become emotionally. You're not going to be too sad, and just waiting there to tell you, then tell you how long you're going to live and what condition you're going through. All that. Yeah, you absolutely can convert that problems. Every problem, all kind of problem. If you're thinking about that nature where you can, a lot of people feel very difficult belief because, I had a patient and then she got home with all the herbs once. And then her son was telling her: "Mum, you just going backyard and collecting all this rubbish and then you boiling up and your drinking.   Rhonda: (46:35) And I said to her, and then, so when he came, I said, "You think you can just go into the shops and buy these little chemical drug and you take, you don't even know what it is. And I said, do you have absolutely any idea what's in there or what they do? You just got to trust. Isn't it? I said, I'd rather trust, nature than trust all those people." Because quite often these drugs, they, they kind of telling you one thing, but it's only about it. You know, you do a PhD for three years, isn't it? Three, four years maximum. And then you, you, you announce something. It says, Oh, I had this, rats test or something. And that developed this, something, something. And then for that life, you're not people don't live like rats in a few years. We'll live like a 70,80.   Rhonda: (47:25) Now people even like, you know, 90 years. You don't know in 20 years down the time, if you actually 30 and 20 years' time, you have a problem with this. It's only about a, what do you call it? A 50's and irreversible, or the problem happens. So I say, I definitely trust nature better because you're part of nature. Really? You thinking a lot of people, I mean, I, once actually there was somebody, I can't remember her name, very famous for, you know, television or radio person. And then she said, "Yeah, I wonder where we come fro. You know, you come from the earth and the heaven, earth, soil, create you. That's what it is." We were kind of almost like isolate ourselves so much from nature. And now we're thinking we come from somewhere else. But if you're thinking about yourself, you do come from nature, whatever the problem you have, it's in the nature. Of course, the chemical things that we created and damage ourselves, but still there's nature way to get you corrected. So you got to look for it. I mean, there's always that.   Mason: (48:42) I love it! Before we go. Just wanted to touch on one last little piece that I think is really important when discussing yinyan wuxing. Yeah. And then I'll let you go. And then I'm going to have to ask you back on the podcast to talk about herbs. Just a little distinction that I think what has happened as a hangover from the colonisation of Chinese medicine and Western medicine thinking is that when we talk about liver Yang Qi and Yin Qi that people, and I'll just speak for myself, I've had to really work, to not relate to, okay, I have Yin Qi I have damaged or low Yand Qi. And now I just need to increase the Yin Qi so that I've got my Yang Qi and I've got my Yin Qi in the liver. I put them on the shelf in my liver and then I'm healthy, cause I've got both those things, but it's a transformation.   Rhonda: (49:39) That's right. That's right. So you can't really just thinking, "Oh". I mean, sometimes it's like that, like say, I eat something really bad and you suddenly get a, you know, like a kind of a diarrhea or even poison feeling. You know, you feel really bad, you just give a big cleanup herb. So, so get the, you know, get rid of the rubbish and the Yang is rising again, and then you fine, and that kind of a single problem is like that. But if it's something a bit deeper and the more problems, like a, almost a little bit of chronic and you can't work on that, you got to think about it, say, okay, you've got to cut him off. Of course, you know, the rotten trees, the rotten fruit, rotten things, you got to cut them off. Otherwise they do kind of affect the tree regrow and sometime they drop off anyway.   Rhonda: (50:28) But other times that you got to cut off. So how do you cut off? It's not operation, you've got to use the herbs. So which I kind of strong and get rid of a poison, you know, like sometimes a little bit of harsh or some herb's a little bit of poisonous even, you know, get rid of the rubbish. And then on the other hand, what you do is that you got to support your body to regrow. Isn't it? Regrow that liver wood. So what do you do? You work on the Kidney , you work on the heat in the Kidney . So you get a Water kind of flow and you get the nutrients grow. So that's when you actually get the liver recovered. So that's how you do. But also sometimes, you know, a lot of people I used to see, because I think I had quite a good practise and I had a lot of people refer, but often you're not   Rhonda: (51:18) People come in with very complicated problems. Very few people come to me just for flu or something. I love those because you gave a few packet, they gone, they finished. But quite often, you get very complicated cases and all mess up. And then some people come to me say, "I can't take any herbs. I take it. I react. You know, I get a very bad feelings, even food, and I'm just sensitive to everything." So what are you going to do with this kind of things is so what we say, your soil, you're not soaking up. Everything is too messy. So what are you going to do? You got to loosen the soil, gets things moving a bit. So you don't really treat the regional problem and you treat the soil, you get the soil loosened, you get all the things sorted out who belong to who, and then, you know, and then you sat working on that side.   Rhonda: (52:07) So it's... Yeah. It's all.   Mason: (52:12) sorry.   Rhonda: (52:13) Sorry. It's all kind of connected interconnected. That's why wuxing can't be separated no, but say, if you have a or you just lack of Water, you pass out, what do you do? You can Water. And that's very simple problems, but once things are connected or complicated, like a flu, some people get a cough, you know, really bad cough. And then in my book, I think I had this case and that it just can't get over it. And then you have all kinds of a Lung herbs it's not working. So what do you do is that you work on the soil because soil create the metal. So you got to actually help them get a soil rising and then get the, what do you call that metal? Get the Lung metal, new metal. So then you work along that way and the school. And sometimes you, you know, your liver problems and you actually work on Lung because the Lung controls the, what do you call Lung Metal controls the liver wood. So you can have use Metal herbs and to chop off some of the, you know,bad wood.   Mason: (53:18) Yeah. Getting rid of some of the putridness.   Rhonda: (53:21) So all these herbs are very real, this philosophy, and this theory in a clinical practise is very, other say, direct help. You can't get away. And when you work on that, it's just so it's freer. Yeah.   Mason: (53:40) That's all we want. Like, that's something again, like you go, well, let's remove the blockage or restore the ability to create so that we are back into, into a flowing of harmony of, oh, what you that's. The other thing I wanted to bring up is that the Qiqua continues to be of a transformation for me because it's like, we're not just trying to restore a Qi.   Mason: (54:03) Patient for me because it's like, we're not just trying to restore a Qi in restoring Qi it is non-stop Qihua so we'll finish on this I think it's a nice distinction.   Rhonda: (54:10) Yeah. What is Qiqua you know if you, actually learned the [mandarin language 00:54:20] , have you heard that, the [mandarin language 00:54:19] this is the one which I have to talk about it, which I'm writing in this course, it's called the [mandarin language 00:54:29] it's the yun it's you know yunqi. You've heard about Yunqi it's like a luck people say it's luck but it's not. It's the sun movement, sun position on earth and the time that created this atmosphere, that's called the Qi. And how this Qihua how this changes is the Yin and the Yang kind of meeting together. If you talk about [mandarin language 00:01:02] I think it's got the oldest, lots of your kind of terms-   Mason: (55:02) Yeah. Correct.   Rhonda: (55:03) which is the time of the earth, you know, like a time movement of the earth, which is time we call the time. And that actually kind of work with the sun position and create these atmosphere, the qi, weather. So this weather changes it's called follow this wuxing cycle, you know, from Spring   to summer and to really hot heat, and then to dampness, and then to, what do you call them? Dry Autumn and try the cold Winter. So that's kind of what they call the little qi. We call the liuqi. This six Qi is the dry is the Metal and the Water the cold is the Water. And then the Spring   is what we call the Wood the you know, in the early Spring   is the wood. And then the rising heat, which we call the [foreign language 00:56:09] , like a main heat, the initial heat. And then there's a, [foreign language 00:56:14] which is called a spreading heat. And this is the six Qi where the Fire   has two parts. One is initial and one is spreading. So this, after all, it's a five qi, this is the circulation of the Qi and that's called a qihua from one transformed to the other. It's called a qihua. Yeah. That's how it is. Yeah.   Mason: (56:40) And if we get into that flow, then we can enjoy life.   Rhonda: (56:43) Yeah because it always says that so-called this qihua is following so-called the season, but in your body actually this qihua actually there's this qihua. I just writing because very confusing one part because they suddenly changed a position and then people can't understand, because it always say day and night is a combined creator something it's like, say, you know, your, what do you call that Water? You know, all the wood, say, for example, your trees, if you only have the daytime, you don't have nighttime it doesn't really go isn't it? So it's actually night and day joined together and then create the wood. So there's certain position, certain time. So that's what we call the [inaudible 00:57:36], which is again too many new terms. [laughing 00:57:36] But that's how the qihua come from. That's how the Qi and how the change, how the transformation is about. Yeah. That's a it's a, what do you call that? It's kind of a field there's for thousands of years I will say I'm reading all kinds of books nobody explained the way, because in the old times, maybe that's just like a common sense.   Mason: (58:00) Yeah.   Rhonda: (58:00) So they don't have to explain a lot of things in detail, but to us now, we,re just lost because they say this, and you're saying, why this come from? Where are they from? You just don't understand it's like when you're using computer, you know, you tap tap and everything come up and you say, how did this derive? And you don't know because we're so used to this. And now we think we're just using them, but we don't really care about the initial. And then you can't develop it. So good mathematics. Mathematician has to go through this from one plus one, or, you know, dividing and plus, they have to go through these steps. So rather than just using computer and to get the result. So this has being a hard work for me.   Rhonda: (58:44) Yeah.   Rhonda: (58:44) I'm trying to explain them the way that we can understand. It's like a one plus one, how this come from and you got to, I mean, there's a result there, but we don't have the steps coming from. So I'm trying to work through this. It's like a, [mandarin language 00:05:02] you know a lot of people say [mandarin language 00:05:05] is like a five, you know, heavenly, stance but really it's the position of the sun because in the book of a change, you know, they say it's position and time, everything is a position time that's what the book of change is about, time and position. That's how you are, you know, because you're born here and in this time, that's crazy if you put your Yin like another place, you'll be different, isn't it?   Mason: (59:36) [Aggreeing 00:59:39].   Rhonda: (59:37) So they'll be all different. Like, yeah. So everything is a position and time. So what is the position? Position is the same position to the earth that gave you the position. If we didn't have the sunrise sundown, you want to have a sense of position. There's no position. It's not everything be the same, isn't it in the back.   Mason: (59:59) [Aggreeing 01:00:03].   Rhonda: (59:59) So that's position and that's what we call the [phase said in mandarin language 01:00:06] and the [foreign language 01:00:06] is the time. So I worked this out and then there's not many people really talk about that directly. So I actually explained everything like that book of change, and also about the [mandarin language 00:06:21] and the, you know, this [inaudible 01:00:22] called the [foreign language 01:00:22] it's all about this time and position, and that's how you treat the people and treat them, you know, choosing your point choosing herb's. So, yeah, anyway.   Mason: (01:00:34) Well, no pressure because I know it's going to take a little bit of time, but well we're waiting, we've got a lot of people that told us they're going to be waiting for that course, but we're patient that's okay. We know. Well, because you've got the step of doing the de-colonisation, which is huge. And, and that's something I really appreciate your time.   Rhonda: (01:00:54) I'm glad that you did because of that took me eight years to get that down. But now I feel thinking back I say what's all that point to talk about how the change should really just working on energy to say how it really is carried forward with real herbs, real medicine, real healing [laughing 00:07:12] but anyway, it is because if you don't really kind of separate yourself from this modern and this [inaudible 01:01:21] you lost yourself, you can't go back to the roots unless you're really careful understand this is, you know, you push this off, then you can clearly know where your role is. Yeah. One so your listeners actually wrote to me and said that she wants to going to study Chinese medicine, you know, like become a practitioner. And she said, "Which of your book should I read?", I said that the first book will prepare you not to get a poisoned by them.   Rhonda: (01:01:49) [Laughing 00:07:52].   Rhonda: (01:01:49) And the second book, give you a clue how the real medicine should go. And now I say, you get this ready and then you go into the course and you might not get yourself too confused and too damaged. Yeah. I mean, at the moment, people has to go through this course to get a qualification to be able to practise. But in the future, I think we're going to have a set up a new practise again, we call the Yi practise which is not governed by this Chinese medicine. So like when Chinese medicine first started, there's no recognition there is nothing, but we were freer, well, alternative healing, but now they've become a complimentary. So it's not really powerful anymore. So we're going to set up a new one, which I call the Yi-practise and we're not going to govern by name so we're going to set up all this our way. [Laughing 01:02:42] That's if I get there anyway,that's the aim, because I want this, the Yi to be stand on it's own again rather than to be kind of a, what do you call set? Like a hot, somehow got to hold on to somebody else to do it because we were independent kind of healing system. Yeah. Can't be combined. It's not the same thing. Yeah.   Mason: (01:03:07) No, it's not. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. It's not some little novelty on the side to be complimentary to western medicine.   Rhonda: (01:03:15) Plus it's very very powerful, it's not really, I would say it's more powerful and the safer than drugs and cheaper really. I mean-   Mason: (01:03:24) So much cheaper.   Rhonda: (01:03:25) Oh so much cheaper. Really you just have a little bit bottle of tablets, the herbal tablets, or you have a package of herb's and people say, oh, $20, $30 a day but then you know how much drugs you're going to take and how much expensive is that? And how much environmental damage and how much really it's what do you call it? Animal tests, all these things go on. It's just terrible really.But anyway, I won't go through that. [laughing 01:03:53]   Mason: (01:03:56) Now we're going to get to that. I mean, just the amount of disease that's going to get prevented because people get into a mindset of continuation and harmony and-   Rhonda: (01:04:05) Yes yeah. And it's powerful really. It's not a yeah. Somebody also wright to me, I think from your course also said you know, before they always thought that, you know, they hear all the talks about how Chinese medicine are not very good and then said that after listening to your podcasts and I realise, actually, I'm so happy that it's powerful kind of a practise. I said it is. Modern Chinese medicine is not powerful because they, they don't have principles you know, they don't have a proper guide and if you have a proper guide this is a very powerful medicine very much.I mean healing. I still try not to say medicine, it's a healing. It's a very powerful healing. Yeah. Very, very good.   Mason: (01:04:57) Alright great.   Rhonda: (01:04:57) So anyway, yes,   Mason: (01:04:59) Everyone, everyone go out and buy Yinyang Wuxing Spirit, Body, and Healing. This book is amazing. It's one of those ones, buy a couple and go and give it. We've had a lot of acupuncturists listen. And a lot of Chinese medicine students listen to the podcast as well and express how much they've appreciated it. [crosstalk 01:05:20] Talk a lot about how, you know, they felt that. They were trying to come back to the roots-   Rhonda: (01:05:27) Yeah.   Mason: (01:05:28) Not knowing how so it's been nice to provide some guidance as well.   Rhonda: (01:05:32) Thank you for your promotion on this [Laughing 01:05:34] because we [crosstalk 01:05:34] we want more people to know [laughing 00:11:38].   Mason: (01:05:39) Well, that's, I mean, when I got into this, I just wanted to see people not degenerate early in life and have space to evolve and become better people. That's like very simple when I was like all right I like Daoists philosophy and I like the herbs that the Taoists were saying like you're saying, "Oh, you know, these are the superior herbs and they can be used like a food to keep everything rolling and in harmony" I was like, "that's a good outlet" But it doesn't stop there because herb's are such a small part. It's this [crosstalk 01:06:11] it's so much more.   Rhonda: (01:06:13) It's all the philosophy and the, even the outlook of life and [crosstalk 01:06:19] everything involved. Yeah and practise as well. Yeah herbs, acupuncture. Yeah, I mean later, maybe while I get my course ready and I can talk to you a little bit more about how acupuncture, how yourself can actually help yourself acupuncture and the knowing a few of the points and the how you can do it. Yeah. Because [crosstalk 01:06:40] yeah, because yeah. Well, for a lot of people, you don't have to know everything about accupuncture. We'll just teach you a little bit, easily point, very easy and the safe points and how you treat the general field problems, very simple ones and all easy ones. But there's also powerful. It's like your tonics.   Mason: (01:06:59) Like a [inaudible 01:06:59] yeah [crosstalk 01:07:03] . Well, yeah. Medicine isn't to be institutionalised and it's never so complicated that you can do all nothing.   Rhonda: (01:07:13) Yeah. Well, for a thousand years in China, medicine healing wasn't the, what do you call it? The institutionalised, wasn't govern. It's the people actually in public, accept you. If you don't work, who's going to see you. And the only way you work, you got the good names and then people will follow you and the people will treasure your skills, you know, and they're always, they call it a scholar physician and then there's also just the technicians. Yeah. I mean, people with a simple problem, maybe you go to a technician and the people actually have a real problem or rich people and they all go to this scholar physicians, and they all know everything about it. You know, like a philosophy, Daoism and Yin and Yang and the wuxing and the book of change all these things and then they become a physician practitioner. Yeah. I mean, scholar, physician. Yeah. So there's a difference in it yeah. But anyway.   Mason: (01:08:15) It's definitely something worth preserving-   Rhonda: (01:08:19) Yes.   Mason: (01:08:19) Even if it rather become the dominant medicine, preserving it so it's present on the earth.   Rhonda: (01:08:24) Yeah. I wanted it to be a dominant medicine because that will be so good for earth. You know, there will be no poisons to create in the river and in the Water system. and then in the air, it's just good for everybody.   Mason: (01:08:40) Well, let's hold that vision will allow our spirits to shine through our organs and help that vision. [Laughing 01:08:46]. Rhonda thank you so much. We love you and we look forward to having you back on the podcast, whether that's talking about the course or I'd love to just go through and talk about many of the herbs, your favourite herbs as well.   Rhonda: (01:09:05) We can actually also talk about some particular cases that you've sometimes you know, you have a people asking, then we talk about how these yinyang wuxing principles actually should guide them into this, the healings and all that. Yeah. I, well, that's kind of a chats. It's good. It's good for my inspiration too, but I keep the acupuncture part I need more time to get my things working out for us. Yeah.   Mason: (01:09:36) We're not going anywhere.   Rhonda: (01:09:40) [Laughing 01:09:40] At school.   Mason: (01:09:40) We'll wait patiently and I'll just make sure everyone goes and jumps on your newsletter list on your website and also Facebook group yinyang wuxing yi, Y-I.   Rhonda: (01:09:52) Yeah. Well, I mean, at the moment maybe people get disappointed because I don't do too much. I just got a feel I'm on the Facebook at the moment are putting on few of, what do you call them? The words at the moment I'm teachng field Chinese classical Chinese words where they come from, what they mean, because this is important for me in the future with the course. If you don't understand the words in that translation, it just doesn't work the same. So eventually I'll be the charts, everything going to be in Chinese. So I want people to know that basic and then later because yeah, you can actually make a translation of charts, but then I feel there's not too many words to learn and if people understand that and they eventually will, you can actually read the Chinese chats, you know, you can go in there to search your own kind of answers for lots of things. So I feel, yeah, that's what I'm doing at the moment. Yeah. My husband doing all this animation and the words [crosstalk 01:11:01] He actually write for me first and as well so I just can, I did a little bit and have a look is right and then maybe I add something up. Yeah. That's all. So we're doing that to get the words going at the moment. Yeah. And-   Mason: (01:11:17) Amazing.   Rhonda: (01:11:18) Hopefully I can get a course of ready soon.   Mason: (01:11:21) Great. We look forward to it. Okay.   Rhonda: (01:11:23) Thank you. Thanks very much .   Mason: (01:11:24) Good bye for now. Speak to you next time.   Rhonda: (01:11:27) Thanks so much. Yeah. Okay. Bye.

This week we speak with Lilia Tarawa, who shares her experience leaving the Gloriavale cult to discover the outside world. Lilia is a writer, public speaker and anti-abuse advocate, known for her viral TED talk and #1 bestselling memoir 'Daughter of Gloriavale: My Life in a Religious Cult'  This episode is sponsored by Rosalind's new single Really You're a Nice Kid. Listeners are advised that this episode contains references to abuse. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we speak with Lilia Tarawa, who shares her experience leaving the Gloriavale cult to discover the outside world. Lilia is a writer, public speaker and anti-abuse advocate, known for her viral TED talk and #1 bestselling memoir 'Daughter of Gloriavale: My Life in a Religious Cult'  This episode is sponsored by Rosalind's new single Really You’re a Nice Kid. Listeners are advised that this episode contains references to abuse. 

Apply to join the Brighter Together Mastermind and get all the details by clicking here.  >>> http://wearebrightertogether.com Have questions about it? Contact Jamie directly on Instagram @JamieMSwanson Sign up for podcast  email reminders here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/email Join the Insider's Telegram Channel Here  >>> http://brightentrepreneurpodcast.com/telegram Transcript: Do you ever wonder if something is missing that you're just not seeing something that needs to fall into place for everything to move forward, the way you want it to, or that there's some hole somewhere and you're not sure where it is or what it is. And you know that once. Everything just comes together. [00:00:18] It's all gonna fall into place and things are going to fly forward. Well, I had two of these experiences this week and I wanted to share them with you because in those moments where you suddenly realize something that you didn't even see, and it's just like, Oh, of course. And the unseen becomes obvious. [00:00:44] It can change. Everything. And that's what I'm going to share with you today. this week has been a little bit of an emotional week for me. If I can be completely vulnerable and honest with you, which I always am. But, with launching the masterminds, I never realized how much those meant to me, because it is so, so deeply aligned with who I am. And I feel so incredibly passionate about them because I know what a huge difference being in a mastermind has made to me personally. [00:01:47] I know I never want to be in business without being in a mastermind again, because I have these experiences where I don't know what I don't know or. Somebody sees an obvious opportunity or pitfall that I didn't even notice that changes everything for me. When I see it. And so I wanted to share a little bit about this week for me one, because I know that when you're doing something new and I know there's a lot of you who have pivoted recently because of all this covert stuff. [00:02:22] And there are others of you who maybe didn't pivot, but are still growing and stuck in that messy middle. And you can get really, really hard. To push past the resistance. It can be really hard to get beyond the anxieties and you just, all the normal stuff that comes from growing a business and stepping outside our comfort zones. [00:02:43] But especially as we go closer and closer to the things that are really truly aligned with who we are, it can be especially hard. And I know for me this week I had. an encounter personally, where I reached out to a friend who is very dear to me and we were discussing kind of what I could do with my photography business that I've stepped away from because it's, beautiful asset it's there. [00:03:10]it, I don't want to just see it disappear and go to waste, but I also feel very, very called to step into this. So we were talking about, you know, some different options I could do with that. And just a number of other things and catching up and talking business. And. He said something to me that totally just blew my mind a little bit. [00:03:33] And it was such a beautiful and helpful comment and it kind of seems so obvious looking back on it. But in the moment it was really, it was really insightful to me. Cause I was talking about how I just am not fully aligned with the photography business stuff anymore. [00:03:50] Like my passion is in helping other entrepreneurs who are building online businesses and I love photographers. It's not that I don't love the people. It's just, I haven't been passionate about photography in longer than I'd like to admit. And I've wanted to do a mastermind for over three years. And I'm so excited about that. [00:04:08] I know that's going to really use my gifts in the best possible way. But I was saying that, didn't want to. Do something with that. Now that would end up being a distraction from the thing that I really deeply feel called to focus on, because one of the biggest things you need to do in order to be successful is focus, focus, and not keep trying all sorts of different things. [00:04:28] You should not be throwing spaghetti against the wall. And hoping something sticks. You should have a clear, focused, intentional plan for success. That's how you grow fast. And I know what that is, and I've got that plan, but I was also stressing a little bit because cashflow is tight right now. Like I have this beautiful mastermind idea and I know it's going to take off, but I was just, I'm just sitting here saying, well, what if this isn't enough? And what if he can't get us through, the next couple of months or whatever it is. [00:04:54] And just honestly, I was just having a little anxious freak out and it's. Not something I needed to be freaking out about, but I was, and I mean, it's a legitimate anxiety would starting over. [00:05:07] It's just, it's been stressful. COVID eight through our savings. And so, you know, I don't have that cushion that I had last year at this time to fall back on and it's causes a lot of anxiety and he said something. So why I used to me his name's Nate. , he's amazing. Yeah. He goes, you know, it sounds like right now, lack of cashflow coming in is actually a bigger distraction. [00:05:30] Then anything else would be, and that may be the best thing you can do for getting your new business off the ground faster and making decisions from a really healthy place. Instead of asking your city stress place is just to figure out how to make some fast cash coming in, whether that's what the photography thing or, you know, whatever else. [00:05:50] And it just seems so obvious after he said it. I'm just like, Oh right. Gosh, that makes sense because it would reduce stress. Although if I'm completely honest, I think the anxiety is less about money and more about the fact that I'm launching something that really is close to who I am and the money just amplifies the stress and the anxiety and whatever else. [00:06:12] But it was such an enlightening and helpful comment to have. And I didn't even see it, it was like, Oh, of course, like that's the distraction. That's what I'm missing. And to have him there to be able to point it out. So clearly to me was super invaluable because then it's like, okay, well, if that's the distraction, what can I do to overcome it? [00:06:36] Like what has brought me money over the last three months? How can I do more of that while growing my audience? I mean, I'm going to be honest, I haven't done any email list, building things at all. I have maybe 76 people, I think yesterday when I looked on my email list and my stats are amazing. A third of the people on my email list are buyers. That's amazing. Now I just need more of them. Like, it's very clear that I just need my numbers to go up and I know that I'm attracting the right people and that, they want what I have to offer. [00:07:10] They're getting real transformation. They're already spreading the word about it, but I know what I need to do. I need to grow my audience and I need to make money. So it's pretty clear path moving forward. I know what I need to do to do that, but it just didn't Dawn on me that, Oh, maybe I should take this training that I created. [00:07:28] And get it out in front of more people and start asking them to opt in to get that. And then following up afterwards with it to make some money and do some more sales. Cause I just need more eyeballs. I just need to get in front of more of the right people because I know that what I have works and converts. [00:07:46] And so now it seems really obvious to me and I wish I would have seen it sooner because. It just gave me a lot of clarity on what my next steps need to be just immediately in terms of list building growth and how that'll tie into my income growth as well. But then, Oh my gosh. On Thursday, Thursday, I was doing a Q and a session with my bright future methods students. [00:08:10] And this is part of why I want to do masterminds because I love working with people more one-on-one and we do them via zoom. So it's almost more like a coaching thing than it is just like a Facebook live Q and a. And I want to play this moment for you because this was a moment where. I was talking with one of my students. [00:08:31] His name is Brian. And, it was just this beautiful moment where he had laid out his framework for helping teach volleyball coaches. And it was a great framework with all of these processes and like all of these really valuable things that. [00:08:47] Are basically how he coaches it's his unique method for running his volleyball teams. He's a college volleyball coach and it was awesome, but I noticed something very good, obvious that was missing. And I want to play this little clip for you. It's of that moment, because I think. [00:09:06] You and others like you, who are listening to this podcast, there may be things that you don't even realize you're good at that you don't even see are opportunities in your business that you're missing. And once you see them, Everything starts to fall into place. And this is something that is absolutely central to Brian success. [00:09:31] And I know that as he leans into it, it's only going to make him more and more successful. And I know he's going to get better and better results for his coaches. And so before I say too much, let me play this clip for you. And you can listen to the conversation on your own. So here it is. Can I, can I also, if there's something else out there, Brian, I don't know if I, if this was in your, you coach B framework. I, I missed it. Yeah. Who are naturally really positive. Really? You've got a wonderful, and I told you that the first time I heard your voice. Yeah. Like it was voice Instagram. I'm like you have a great energy. [00:10:14] You are a people person. And I get the sense that who you are as an empower of other people. And that is part of why you lead so well. And you do have these processes and you have all these things to streamline it. But I think, you're and I could be totally wrong. So just like disregard if it's off, you'll know inside, but my guess is that you are doing something because it's who you are that you might not be teaching. [00:10:44] Because you don't even realize the power of it because it's, you're not doing it. You're being it. You are encouraging your people. You are empowering your people. It's not just the systems. It's how you are giving the feedback. It's how you're validated. And I don't know if that's in your methodology or not. [00:11:03] Well, it's, it's what you're describing is true. Like, I think that that's how I am with my players, coaches, et cetera. So I, so the question is, do you address that in your framework? How do you address who I am in my framework? No, no, no, no, no. The, the empowering part, the part, the things you say, the way you encourage the way you Oh, okay. [00:11:26] I see what you're saying. So basically the way that I teach, the way that I coach. Yeah. Like how, Oh yeah, I haven't talked about that, but that's a great point. So that's a great point. I think your secret sauce is not all of these beautiful processes. They're gorgeous. I think the reason you're amazing is because of who you are and you don't even see yet because it's just you being that. [00:11:55] And so here's, here's, here's how you find that. It start to get really intentional about thinking about how do you interact with your players. And we're good. I'm an empower. You're an empower I can tell. And so you'll see some of that later in the course, because you're going to be like, Oh yeah, of course, of course, Maddie is another one. [00:12:13] She's already doing this and empowering our people, but you are a natural leader and you're helping them become lean. Cause you can take a jackass coach and they can take your process and go through it. And they're not going to have a winning team because they don't know how to lead. It's, you know, it's funny, you said that not to toot my own horn, but my, one of my fingers, one of my players asked me the other day was like, can you give us another motivational speak? [00:12:34] It really helped me. It really made me feel good about myself going forward. And I'm like, Oh yeah, sure. I do that. Like, that's I that's what I do. I start every practice with, like I say something I, I inspire, I do what you say. Like I'm really passionate when I, with anything I do. I'm really passionate. And I think that my, my, my players love that. [00:12:48] And my, and coaches that I work with. Love that too, but I, I don't, I never really. Considered like an added as a factor. That's just what I do. So yeah, in your methodology, is it? No, but it should be, it should be exactly what you're teaching. Like this stuff is great and they need this stuff to be effective, but this is not your secret sauce. [00:13:06] Your secret sauce is knowing how to empower people. And of course you don't see it because it's just what you do because that's who you are. So how can you help people become that if they don't naturally have that in them? Wow. That's really good. Okay. So where do I put that? Like, that place is everything. [00:13:27] If you think about it, like that's well, that's my secret sauce. Yeah. Not that's my zone of genius as you call it like that, that's pretty sick. Okay. So I got it. Where it, where does that go? Like, that's good for that. That would be my unique methodology right there. They're like, that's it. No one can touch that except me, I guess. [00:13:44] Right. [00:13:45] part of why I wanted to share this with you. And the story about my own obvious thing that I was missing is that sometimes we are so close. To our business. We are so far on this, that, and the other thing that we miss, the obvious opportunities and the obvious pitfalls. That may be clear to somebody else who has that experience. [00:14:15] I can see from the outside and say, Oh my gosh, this is obvious. I know you, I know your business. this is what you need to be considering, or this is the distraction, or this is your gift. This is where you need to lean. Yeah. And getting those moments of insight. Are some of the most valuable moments of insight you can get, because sometimes those are the pieces you need to get you unstuck and moving forward and really getting the success that you've been dreaming of. [00:14:47] This is part of why being in a mastermind is so, so incredibly valuable. This is part of what I want to bring to you as a bright entrepreneur, who is probably doing really well on your own. And I know most entrepreneurs are super independent and I know we think we can do it all ourselves, but you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know how to get to where you want to go, or you would be there right now. [00:15:16] And what I have found is that it is more valuable for my business alone. Like literally I can point back to all the different places where I have made my money back time and time again, year after year, I've invested, this is my fourth year in stews mastermind. And every single year I can point to at least one common. [00:15:38] And if not multiples that have made me more than the very expensive. Fee that I pay to be in this mastermind to the point where that is my most important investment in my business year round, I will cut everything else out to stay in this. Now that might seem weird because yes, it's friendships. Yes. [00:15:58] It's conversations. No, it's not necessarily specific content, but the conversations that happen there. The ability to get to know other people and watch them grow in their businesses over years and really get to see under the hood of all of these other people, also growing businesses to see what works, what doesn't to grab the best parts and incorporate them into your business to avoid the pitfalls that they run into and really to leverage the collective experience that. [00:16:33] Is so valuable for growing fast. It's priceless. It's genuinely priceless. And up until now, there haven't been a lot of masterminds that were less than $25,000 a year, or that were open to people who were making less than half a million or a million dollars per year. And so that's a gap that I really wanted to fill now. [00:16:57] I am starting these up. I'm hoping to do them starting the week, the first week of November. And I'm only taking applications for this first round through October 22nd, so that I can curate them and make sure to get back to people and have them ready to go for that first week in November. And I hate for you to miss out and not even know what you're missing out on. [00:17:19] I know that 2020 has been one heck of a hard year, and I know that we y'all want 20, 21 to be, amazing. And I truly believe with all of my heart that joining a mastermind is that right? Best way that you can ensure that you are going to be as prepared as possible and ready to rock 2021. So I'd love to invite you to apply, to be a part of the mastermind. Now I'm not going to take everybody because I really want to make sure that people can contribute. But the main things that I'm looking for are integrity. I'm looking for action takers. [00:18:01] I'm looking for people who are already selling something and know who they want to sell to. And I'm looking for people who are generous and not afraid to share what they know with others who are going to be honest with themselves and honest with the other people in the mastermind. We're going to meet twice a month for two hours each meeting and it's going to be so incredible. I'm so excited. I am so excited for what I know is in your future as you join this mastermind, because there may be things like I talked about in this podcast that you don't even realize that you don't know that could change. Everything for you, or maybe there's something that's very obvious to me or one of the other people in the mastermind that you're doing that is absolutely holding you back from the success that you're after. [00:18:51] And as soon as you realize it and step away from that, things could take off. You just don't know what you don't know because you have limited experience. So when you can surround yourself by other like-minded business owners who can help you get to the next level and scale your business, because you can tap into their experience as well, and you can watch what they are doing in their business. [00:19:18] It's priceless. It's priceless. And I would really hate for you to miss out on this and experience massive FOMO and keep struggling and stay stuck, where you are. And I know that there's a lot of people out there and maybe you're one of them who would love to be a part of this, but know that like money is super tight. [00:19:41] Like I know I am in that boat and I know what a sacrifice this is to be in it. In fact, I have somebody who's like, maybe I can sell my long arm quilting machine because I really want to be in this. And I know that it's expensive, but I know that would pay off. she's trying to say, how, how can I do this? [00:20:02] Because she sees the value. And she knows how much that could help her in her business to have that community, to have that insight with her for the next 12 months. And that's what I want for you. I know that it's hard. I absolutely do. I have a payment plan to help those of you who are pivoting to make it more easy to pair. [00:20:27] But I want you to know that this is a literally the best investment you can make in yourself and your business. And I know personally from experience, I know it's terrifying. I almost puked when, when I got the news that, I was, accepted into Stew's impact mastermind because it was so much money and we were not making a lot of money. We needed every penny and, it was terrifying. It was literally terrifying. And I remember feeling so much fear but. we tripled our business in literally 18 months, and I know without a shadow of a doubt, it's because of the advice and the support that I got in that mastermind. [00:21:05] And that's what I want for you. So my friend, if you would like to consider being in the mastermind, I would love to have you, you apply simply go to, we are brighter together.com and you can get all the details there and apply. Please do so by October 22nd, I'm going to be curating the applications after that. [00:21:26] And if you do apply after that time, I can't guarantee you will be able to get in. For the first round when we are starting that first week of November, I don't have the exact date. if you have questions because I know that this is a big investment and it might not be clear to you, I would love to chat with you about it. [00:21:45] I'd actually really love to have a conversation, not just a quick little message. I do have a link in the show notes that you can use to send me a little message via video. we can set up a time to meet or chat back and forth that way, or you can reach out to on Instagram. My link to that is also in the show notes and we can, I can either talk back and forth there, or we can set up a time to jump on zoom and see if it's a good fit for you, because I definitely want it to be a good fit for you. [00:22:11] I don't want you to regret making this decision, but at the same time, I don't want you to regret not doing it. Because you were afraid or because you didn't think you could afford it. When I know that man, this has changed my life and my business in ways I can't even explain. And I know that that can be the same for you. [00:22:31] In fact, if you want to hear more stories about how valuable a mastermind is in the last episode, I actually had people from the mastermind that I'm in now. Not one that I lead, but one that I pay to be in with Stu McLaren, I asked some of the other people who are in the mastermind to share why they continually invest in a mastermind and what value that brings yes to them. [00:22:51] Especially as a really successful entrepreneur, who knows what they're doing. Of course they know the strategy. Why would they invest in a group like this? If they didn't also see the value. All right. My friend, we are brighter together.com. That's the link to the application would love to consider you for the mastermind. [00:23:09] Do not hesitate in any way to reach out to me personally, I would be happy to have a discussion with you to see if this is something that you should be a part of. And with that, I just want to remind you that we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

Craig discusses problems that businesses can face when remote workers have IoT devices on the network they use to connect to work. For more tech tips, news, and updates, visit - CraigPeterson.com --- Read More: Patch Tuesday (September 2020): Microsoft Addresses 129 Vulnerabilities Ransomware accounted for 41% of all cyber insurance claims in H1 2020 A bevy of new features make iOS 14 the most secure mobile OS ever Don't Fall for It! Defending Against Deepfakes Patient dies after a ransomware attack reroutes her to a remote hospital Lock your doors, people: Verizon breach on unsecured AWS server exposes 14M customer records Time for CEOs to Stop Enabling China's Blatant IP Theft Newly Patched Amazon Alexa Flaws -- A Red Flag for Home Workers 74 Days From the Presidential Election, Security Worries Mount   Respawn point: The inevitable reincarnation of the corporate office   Smart-Lock Hacks Point to Larger IoT Problems   Cops in Miami, NYC arrest protesters from facial recognition matches   7 Ways to Keep Your Remote Workforce Safe   Using Zoom Can Get You Arrested!   Former Chief Security Officer For Uber Charged With Obstruction of Justice --- Automated Machine-Generated Transcript: Craig Peterson: [00:00:00] Hey, we got a new red flag for home workers when it comes to those smart digital assistants that we have in our homes. Yeah, indeed. Not only can it cause problems for us in our homes, but that problem can go right through to the business. Craig Peterson here. Thanks for joining me today, and thanks for all of your messages. I've gotten some great comments. This week had one that I'm going to do another followup on, but it had to do with what kind of router to use at home. I did a whole webinar on this back in March. I'm going to add that back to my list again because obviously, there's still a lot of questions. Many people can't attend these webinars, but I really would suggest when I do come out with them. That you consider attending if you possibly can. I get it. You can't always attend these things that you'd like to attend, but I responded directly anyways, and I've gotten to the point now where I look at it and say, these crappy, sorry for that term, pieces of hardware that you buy from the big box retailers that are given to you by your friends, at the phone company, the cable company, they are not worth it. It is not worth it. You've got to at least go to the prosumer stuff. And that's what I said to him. The prosumers stuff means that you really got to get something like a Cisco Go hardware. Really? You do. Yeah. There's a lot of alternatives out there. Juniper has some stuff. HP has some stuff, but there's only one that has a beautifully integrated ecosystem. The low end of the consumer world nowadays really has to be prosumer and me. I'll let you know if there's something that comes out that I think is as good or better. But, also that Cisco is what I do. My company mainstream has been the number one, installing reseller of Cisco gear in the Northeast US, quarters into quarters. So it's something I like. So just to let you know. Okay. But bottom line, my advice to him was trying to get the Cisco GO stuff. Now you can buy it on Amazon, but there are things that you need that you cannot buy from Amazon. You've got to go to a licensed reseller in order to get the more advanced protection that you get from some of this Cisco software that is available for the go. Of course, as you move up the line, there's better and better software, but at least start there. Let's start the show off here with our first article. You'll see this, of course, in your newsletter that came out this week, and this is something I've talked about a long time in general. And in general, what we're talking about is. The whole internet of things concept, and how many years have we talked about that? It's been at least a decade. In fact, I was going through some of the articles on our website. We're just shutting some of them down because they are so old. But back in 2007, I was already talking about this. So we are 13 years later. And we still have these same problems.  People still aren't taking care of them, and they're still doing things the same way, and they are getting nailed. And nowadays, particularly when we're thinking about workers working from home, and I am going to be in a couple of weeks doing a little sip series about working from home and what are the top things you can do to protect your business. If you have people connecting from home now, I don't mean like they're just connecting from home an hour a week, nor do we're only gonna talk about the people who are working from home pretty much full time, Doesn't matter. There are some things you have to do, things you can't do. And so we'll be going into those with some of the training coming up in a couple of weeks and make sure. You are on my newsletter list. If you want to find out about that stuff, that's just Craig peterson.com/subscribe. So we're working from home. I think we've established that we're starting to see office space deserts now. I went to see my chiropractor this week and massage therapist.  I'm standing outside her office, and she's in this cluster of offices with other people having a little business, and of course, it's a type of business where she can't really do it from home now, can she. She has to actually have her hands on you in order to do some of this stuff. And boy, was it. Oh, a wonderful thing. Cause my neck and my back just it's been really bad after that whole kind of COVID, in bed for a couple of weeks, thing. And. I looked around the parking lot. It was shocking to me. I was there, and this was after lunch. Usually, there are a lot of people who are there in the parking lot, not just for her business. There's gotta be a hundred different office spaces that are in there. There has to be that in this case, when I was, there were three cars in the parking lot, and that was it. So you are talking about these office space deserts. Where the people just aren't going in there anymore. It's just astounding. Some of these big cities like New York City, the whole city is shut down. They're losing all of these restaurants and all of these places where people used to go shopping because people aren't going there. Where are they? They're at home. In some cases, you have to be at home. Think about all of the families or the young kids, where the kids are no longer going into school. They're sitting at home, they're on their computers, hopefully, following the teacher and doing their schoolwork. Now I got to put a side note here. This is the perfect opportunity for you as a parent. To see what your kids are being taught, to look over the shoulder. Now it's amazing to me. I have read quotes from teachers who said they don't want parents looking in because they don't want parents to know what's being taught. Then there are some unions in some of the local school districts that are saying, and it has to do with the privacy of the other children in the class. You use to be able to, as a parent, go and basically audit your school's classroom that your kid was in. So you could go there and sit in the back and just see what's being taught and how it's being taught. And then the teachers didn't like that because heaven forbid a parent question the professional. Now we found out, some of these teachers, in fact, a very large number of them are blatant Marxists, just teaching the Marxists dogma. You can see that now, when you look at all of these fascists marching in the street, it's just incredible. So take that opportunity and watch what your kids are doing. Watch what the teachers are saying and help your kids out. But in many cases, obviously, we can't and get people to watch kids. We can't get babysitters because there's such a high demand for that. So we are forced to work from home. For that very reason, just to make sure that the place doesn't burn down and maybe you can get a few minutes to watch what the teacher's saying. What's really going on there in that classroom. So if you're working from home, what are you doing? We are sitting there on very frequently, our own computers connected again, quite frequently to the network at the office. Now, if you've attended any of my VPN training, that VPN we're designed for businesses to connect to. Networks at different locations, and that's what they're good at. They're not really designed to protect anything other than the data while it's being transported. That actually becomes a problem, and if you use one of these VPN services, it makes you less secure. I go into the reasons why in my VPN course, and we'll be teaching that one again. So keep an eye out. But we're now looking at having people at home using their home computers, which don't have all of the protections in place that hopefully, your business computers had, the medium and large businesses have some pretty decent protections in place, but the small businesses, those businesses under 500 employees, very rarely have the right kind of protection in place. So now you have a personal home computer to the network at the business. What's on that home computer? We've talked about that before. That's a real problem, but now we're asking them the question of what else is on your home network that's connecting to that business network. One of the things is probably your Amazon, Alexa, or your Google home or who knows what other things. We got light bulbs hooked up. We've got all kinds of things hooked up to our home networks. They found a trio of vulnerabilities recently in Amazon Alexa devices, just as they found them in all of these others, a Google home, everything else. Apparently, these vulnerabilities could have led to broader attacks on the home networks because of the way most of us are misconfiguring VPNs. Those attacks can now easily spread over the network to our business computers. So these are vulnerabilities that were made public last week by researchers at Checkpoint. Checkpoint has been in the security business for a long time. They made firewalls. I think they're based out of Israel. They've had some very cool stuff, but we're looking at more than 200 million Alexa smart home devices. I have them in my home, but what I've done is, I actually have five different networks in my home. One of them is for the internet of things devices, so if they are compromised, they cannot get out, and they cannot get to any of the other devices inside my network. Then, of course, I'm using professional gear for my network, not just prosumer gear. I would advise people to look at that very seriously. So next we have a study coming out about the presidential election and how both parties, both sides, are very concerned about some security concerns. So we'll get into that when we get back. Stick around, you're listening to Craig Peterson, and I'll be right back. --- More stories and tech updates at: www.craigpeterson.com Don't miss an episode from Craig. Subscribe and give us a rating: www.craigpeterson.com/itunes Follow me on Twitter for the latest in tech at: www.twitter.com/craigpeterson For questions, call or text: 855-385-5553

“The engineering team has been having trouble loading the ML data onto the Ark’s computer,” Commander Chin said. He was sitting across from the Nikola’s Children Board of Directors. He hadn’t had much experience interacting with the Board, but Commander Chin was now the highest ranking officer not in stasis, and the Board had been demanding daily progress reports. “Some kind of problem with storage. They’ve assured me it’ll be sorted by tomorrow.” Shadow cloaked the three Board members–amorphous dark figures against an even darker backdrop. The Board room had one light on its high ceiling, pointed down at the top of Commander Chin’s head. “The Ark launches in one week, Commander Chin,” said one of the board members. “The rest of Engineering was to board tonight.” It wasn’t clear which of the three dark figures was speaking; Commander Chin always assumed the one in the middle did the talking, because that’s the only one he had ever seen move–a slight nodding motion in response to good news. He wasn’t nodding now, though. “Yes, sir, I know that,” said Commander Chin. He felt the heat of the light beating down on his skull, and felt beads of sweat trickle down his forehead. “They said it was a minor problem, they’ll be able to board tomorrow. The launch schedule shouldn’t be affected.” The middle shadow nodded, and Commander Chin stifled a relieved sigh. “What of Deluge?” came the voice from the darkness. Commander Chin had been waiting for this question. He smiled. “We transferred the payload to the Ark this morning. Doctor Ghani and I personally oversaw its installation. We ran a full system diagnosis afterwards and all criteria registered within expected parameters. Project Deluge is now primed.” The middle figure nodded again. “Excellent job, Commander Chin. When the engineers complete their task tomorrow, they must board with you and the remaining security officers. The compound must be empty as we make final preparations.” Commander Chin nodded. He stood and saluted by crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Thank you, Sir. May the Children be praised!” “The Children be praised,” said the shadowy figure, and Commander Chin marched out of the board room. “Do you remember the one where you stuck a Roman candle in your butt?” Sarah giggled. Heady sighed. “Yep, I remember alright. I still have the scar.” Sarah stopped giggling and gawked at him. “Oooh,” she said. “Can I see?” Her cheeks turned pink and she started giggling again. “How far down does this go, exactly?” Doyle asked. Sarah glanced at him, annoyed at the unwelcome reminder of his presence. “It won’t be long, just chill,” said Sarah. She looked Doyle up and down and shook her head before returning her attention to Heady. “Sarah,” said Heady. “Exactly how deep underground is the compound? I’d like to know, you know, for the video.” “Oh, it’s pretty deep,” said Sarah. “It has to be, to hold the Ark.” She studied Heady in the bright fluorescent light of the elevator. He looked so much better in Officer Thompson’s uniform than Officer Thompson ever had. Sarah found it hard to believe that it was the same uniform at all. “The Ark? What’s that?” asked Doyle. Sarah suppressed the urge to scream. Why couldn’t Shit-for-Brains shut up already? She wished Doyle had stayed behind on the surface. Officer Thompson only had the one uniform, and there was no way it would have fit Fatso. She told them it would be dangerous for Doyle to be inside the compound in civilian clothes, but they wouldn’t listen. Sarah needed to figure out a way to bring Heady to the Ark alone. “I’d like to know what the Ark is too, Sarah,” said Heady. “Oh!” said Sarah. “Well, the Ark is our ship. It’s going to take us to the New Home. Away from all the war, disease, climate change, you know… All the bullshit we gotta put up with here. Plus there’s that whole apocalypse thing.” “The… Apocalypse? New Place?” asked Heady. “Hold up, come stand next to me. Let me get this on camera.” Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She knew this video would never actually get posted, but the idea of Heady asking her to be in it excited her anyway. She sidled up next to Heady. Heady handed his phone to Doyle, who stepped back and continued to film. “I know it sounds corny,” said Sarah, blushing a little. She hadn’t expected to feel so nervous. “But Nikola’s Children got all the best scientists and engineers here working on it. The Ark is totally legit. Dudes came from NASA, Space-X, plus all kinds of companies I’ve never even heard of that do artificial intelligence and stuff. Oh and the stasis chambers–those were a big deal, tons of scientists worked on those.” Doyle’s face perked at the mention of scientists. He lowered the camera a bit and looked at Sarah. “What about a physicist named Kirsten Ghani? She would have showed up about a year ago. Is she still here?” “Um, yeah, I seen her around,” said Sarah, disdain in her voice. “Of course she’s still here. Why would she leave? I don’t know what she’s working on though. Something important I think. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s already in stasis. Almost everyone is by now.” “Hold up a sec,” said Heady. “Ship? NASA? Stasis chambers? Are we talking about what I think we’re talking about here? Like a space ship? A fucking space ship that’s taking you to… Where? Space?” “Yeah,” said Sarah. “Preposterous,” said Doyle. “And the ‘Ark?’ Couldn’t you think up a more generic name than that?” “Fuck you,” said Sarah. “Wait, wait, wait…” said Heady. “What exactly does being ‘in stasis’ mean? Where’s Kirsten?” “On the Ark,” replied Sarah. “I don’t know how it works, that’s what they got all the scientists for. It’s so we don’t grow older while we travel to the New Home… They’re like freezers for humans, or something. Almost everyone’s on board in their stasis chamber already since we launch in a week. Just a handful of us left but we’re boarding tomorrow.” “This is nonsense” said Doyle. He sounded irritated. “Even if I believed all this prattle about space ships and stasis, what about your lives here on Earth? Family, friends, possessions, pets, you’re just leaving all that behind? And where the hell are you even going? The Moon? Mars? Kirsten’s not stupid, she wouldn’t believe any of this crap any more than I do. Where is she?” “We’re not going to the Moon you idiot,” said Sarah. “Why would we need stasis to go to the Moon? We’re going to the New Home, Kepler something.” Sarah scratched her chin for a second, trying to recall the name the scientists had used. “Kepler-1649c. It’s like three hundred years away. And we’re not leaving family or friends behind–the whole compound is going. And the Ark has everything we’ll need to survive at the New Home.” The elevator finally came to a shuddering halt and the doors slid open. Sarah looked at Heady. He was looking back at her with an astonished expression. “Heady, I uh… I think you should come film the Ark with me. That’s why you’re here right? You came to film me… I mean Nikola’s Children. Before we leave. Right?” Heady nodded, but said nothing. His mouth was agape. “Fuck,” said Doyle. “I need to know where Kirsten is. How do I find that out?” Sarah thought for a moment. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to ditch the loser so she could bring Heady to the Ark alone. “Do you know how to use a computer?” she asked. “Follow me.” Sarah took a left out of the elevator and Heady and Doyle followed her down the corridor that led to her security office. If Heady had showed up even a couple weeks earlier, the halls would have been bustling with activity and sneaking two outsiders through the compound would have been unthinkable. But since almost everyone had already boarded the Ark, Sarah felt confident that she could keep at least Heady from getting caught. She wasn’t so sure about the moron in civvies, but that wasn’t important anyway. The two men Sarah had in tow were whispering to one another, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Doyle felt terrified and angry. From his research he knew the cult was up to something colossal and expensive, but he could never have conceived it to be something as outrageously stupid as what that Sarah girl had described. A space ship called the ‘Ark’ with some kind of cryogenic stasis chambers? A three hundred year trip to a new planet? This wasn’t fucking Mass Effect, shit like that wasn’t possible in real life. Right? “This video is going to go so viral!” whispered Heady. “Can you believe this? We’re inside the compound! This couldn’t have gone any better.” The two men trailed behind Sarah, trying to keep out of earshot as she led them through the claustrophobic concrete hallway. “No I don’t believe it. I don’t believe any of it,” Doyle whispered back. “Kirsten would never get mixed up in something so asinine. There has to be something else going on here. And who the fuck is this girl anyway? Why is she helping us?” Heady and Doyle passed between evenly spaced pairs of windowless steel doors on each side of the hallway as they walked. Sarah stopped at one of the doors and waved a card attached to a retractable cord on her belt at a panel on the wall. There was a quiet beep, and Sarah pushed the door open. She ushered Heady and Doyle through into a cramped room. Doyle thought it must be some kind of monitoring center–there was an office chair sitting on the other side of what looked like a metal desk with a grid of embedded monitors. “You, Boyle,” said Sarah. “It’s Doyle,” said Doyle. “Whatever. The computer in here can access the personnel records so you can look up that bitch you mentioned. There’s a spare key card in that drawer.” Sarah gestured toward a cabinet nestled under the console. “The pin is 1234. Think you can remember that, or should I write it down?” Doyle sat down at the console. He opened the drawer and fished through a pile of crumpled up papers and empty soda cans, looking for the key card. His hands wrapped around something slim at the bottom. He pulled out a small black book. Sarah saw what Doyle was holding and gasped. “Give me that!” she yelled. Sarah tried to grab the book from Doyle and knocked it out of his hand. The book landed open and face up on the console. Doyle saw what looked like sketches of some kind, but Sarah snatched it up before he could make out any details. “Oh my God!” cried Sarah. “This is personal!” Doyle scoffed. Did she think he cared about some girly diary or whatever that was? Did she think he’d make fun of her for sitting down here God knows how deep underground writing the names of boys she liked in a little black book when he had just learned that a cult had most likely brainwashed Kirsten with this nonsense about interstellar colonization? Absurd. Doyle felt the edges of his lips curl back in a grin or grimace, he couldn’t tell which–probably a bit of both. He let out a pathetic monosyllable of sad laughter. “Hwah!” “Don’t fucking laugh at me!” yelled Sarah. Doyle leaned forward and put his face in his hands. He stared through his fingers at Heady. Heady had put his hand on Sarah’s shoulder and was patting it, trying to calm her down. Sarah was red-faced, breathing in short loud gasps. How soundproof was this room? Doyle half-expected a platoon of armed guards to burst through the door at any moment. Sarah let out a deflated whimper, spun and pulled the door open, then disappeared back into the hall. The door clunked shut behind her. Heady and Doyle stared at one another blankly. “Shit,” said Doyle. “Heady, make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. If it turns out this Ark thing actually exists, see if you can get it on video. Try to buy me some time on this computer, but be careful. Meet me back here and then let’s take that elevator the fuck outta here.” Heady nodded with a determined expression on his face. “This is gonna be epic sick!” he said. Heady lifted his phone to start recording again and stepped out into the hallway, leaving Doyle alone in the security office. Doyle returned his attention to the cabinet by his legs and managed to find the key card. He scanned the console and spotted what looked like a touch screen displaying a login prompt with a slot for the key card next to it. He inserted the card and entered the pin Sarah had told him. He was in. After tapping through some menus, Doyle found what he was looking for–a personnel list. He used an on-screen keyboard to type Kirsten’s name into a search box and watched dozens of names zip past as it scrolled to her record. Doyle scanned the screen for any mention of her location. If it said she was somewhere on the compound, then maybe he could get to her. His heart sank when he read the last line of her record. It listed her status as a single word in all-caps: ARK. Doyle groaned and started tapping the screen haphazardly, desperate to find anything–anything at all–that could tell him what ARK actually meant. There’s no way it meant what Sarah had described. The idea of Kirsten boxed up like a frozen pizza for delivery on a space ship to another planet was patently absurd. Wasn’t it? Doyle soon found his way to a list of documents that looked like they could be about the Ark. He tapped the first one and it asked him to re-authenticate. He looked at the key card sticking out of its slot, then yanked it out and studied it closer. It wasn’t Sarah’s picture or name on the card–the picture was of a man who Doyle guessed was in his late fifties, and had the name Jeff Jefferies printed next to it. What a stupid name, thought Doyle Tingler. What was Sarah doing with his card? He slid the card back into its slot and keyed the pin into the touch screen. The document opened. Doyle skimmed through the paragraphs of text and diagrams without understanding any of it. His focus zeroed in when he spotted Kirsten’s name. It listed the project that Kirsten had been working on as something named Project Deluge. Doyle was about to abandon the document, as it didn’t appear to contain any further mentions of Kirsten, but he stopped cold when he noticed two words that seared into his mind even stronger than Kirsten’s name. He read the words over and over, hoping he had been mistaken. But there the words were: Nuclear warheads. A sense of dread filled Doyle as he began to comprehend more of the document he had scrolled past. Blast radius diagrams, tonnage reports, target coordinates, fallout projections. Doyle discerned that Project Deluge comprised of at least ten nuclear warheads, to be fired back at Earth once the Ark had launched. What the fuck had Kirsten been doing? Feeling a sense of panic rising within him, Doyle reflexively wheeled the chair away from the console. He felt dizzy. His initial research led him to believe these people were crazy, and everything Sarah had said had confirmed as much. But this catapulted the cult to a level of crazy beyond comprehension. Did they actually have nukes? Had Kirsten actually built nukes for an insane sci-fi cult? A horrifying thought crossed his mind–was launching the Ark code for nuking the planet? Was this some kind of global-scale murder-suicide cult? One that wasn’t content in merely predicting the apocalypse, but intended to be its instigator? Was “stasis” a euphemism for… For… No. Fuck, no. Can’t think like that. Doyle stood up and rushed to the door. He had to find Heady and get out of there. He had to let the authorities know. He had to make them listen. Doyle pulled the heavy metal door open and peeked out into the hallway. Still empty as far as he could see in both directions. He took one last glance back at the office, and his eyes rested on the key card sticking out of the console. He grabbed it and shoved it in his pocket. He ran, searching for his friend in the unfamiliar concrete hallways thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Earth. Sarah led Heady through the hallways toward the Ark chamber. Heady followed a few steps behind and recorded with his phone. “This way, it’s not far,” said Sarah. “The Ark is really big, you can’t even see the whole thing at once. Half is below the boarding deck. Only the top half with all the stasis chambers is sticking out.” “What’s in the bottom half?” asked Heady. “I dunno,” said Sarah. “The computer and engines, I guess. Fuel for take off. Also all the supplies for the New Home, like temporary shelters and tools and stuff.” They came to a junction with a larger hallway. Sarah motioned for Heady to be quiet and they slowed down. Sarah peeked her head around the corner. “Good,” said Sarah. “It’s just Officer Wiebe, he’s a push-over. Wait here.” Sarah strolled around the corner, leaving Heady out of sight. “Wiebe, I’m relieving you,” said Sarah to the gray-haired officer sitting in a chair next to the Ark chamber doors. “Huh? I wasn’t told,” replied Officer Wiebe. This irritated Sarah. “I’m on Ark duty tonight!” she said. “So move it. Or do I need to call daddy and tell him you’re disobeying orders?” Officer Wiebe sighed. “Whatever,” he said. “I need to take a piss anyway.” Sarah watched as the old man walked away down the central corridor. She held her breath when Officer Wiebe paused briefly and glanced down the hallway where Heady was waiting. The moment passed after an eternity, and Officer Wiebe continued on his way down the central corridor. Once Sarah was sure that Officer Wiebe was good and gone, she exhaled and jogged toward Heady. “Holy crap,” said Heady. “I thought I was done for. I guess the disguise worked.” “Come on,” said Sarah as she grabbed Heady and pulled him into the central corridor. “Get your camera ready, that’s the Ark chamber up ahead.” Heady raised his phone and filmed the large double doors that Officer Wiebe had been guarding. Sarah retrieved her dad’s key card from her pocket. The card was one of a handful of spare copies she had “borrowed” from her dad over the past months. At first she had merely wanted to access the Ark’s hard drives; she needed to be sneaky since the Board of Directors wasn’t permitting cell phones or anything else that she could save her videos on to go to the New Home. It seemed fitting that the same key card that allowed her to preserve Heady’s videos would now also help her preserve the genuine article. Sarah pushed the doors to the Ark chamber open, and she and Heady stepped into the control room that overlooked the boarding deck. “Holy shit,” said Heady. A large glass window revealed the boarding deck to be a metallic floor hundreds of feet below the control room. At the center of the impossibly tall chamber was the Ark itself. The visible upper half of the Ark stretched through a hole in the boarding deck past the control room and towered above Sarah and Heady. Sarah looked far below to where a gangplank connected the ship to the boarding deck and saw there was one lit doorway remaining. Following normal procedure, after the next person boarded through that doorway, the ship would raise itself to reveal the next ring of vacant stasis chambers. Normal procedure didn’t apply anymore, though. One more chamber was all Sarah needed. She gripped her dad’s key card tight in one of her sweaty palms, and her own key card in the other. “Come on,” said Sarah. “You’ll get way better footage down there on the boarding deck!” Heady was still filming and staring dumbfounded at the Ark through the observation window. Sarah gave him a gentle shove in the direction of the control room’s elevator that would take them down to the boarding deck. She handed him her key card. “Call that elevator with this,” said Sarah. “I need to, uh… I need to make sure nobody else is down there.” Still looking dazed, Heady tore his eyes from the Ark. He turned to look at the elevator, then looked at the key card Sarah had handed him. Comprehension seemed to wash over him like molasses and he started shuffling toward the elevator doors. Once Heady’s back was turned, Sarah slid her dad’s key card into the launch control panel and tapped its touch screen. She couldn’t stand her dad, but she was grateful at least for his tendency to lose his key cards. She looked up at the Ark and realized that she didn’t even know if her dad was already on it or not. It felt strange to think she may never see him again. She returned her attention to the launch control panel. She decided on a one minute delay–that should be long enough to get Heady down to the Ark before the launch countdown started, which would set off alarms and alert the whole compound. Sarah rejoined Heady as the elevator doors slid open. “Coast is clear,” she said. Sarah followed Heady onto the elevator. He looked like a kid who had lost his parents in the supermarket. That was good, she thought. It will make this easy. She idly traced her finger around the edge of the concussion pistol in its holster on her thigh as the elevator doors slid shut. Commander Chin leaned back in the brown leather chair in his living quarters. He had scheduled an hour of leisure time starting at 21:00 hours and had only missed it by thirty minutes. He looked at the small pile of books on the table next to his chair. He was half-way through a book titled “Discipline and You” that he had hoped to finish before launch. But there was no way he’d finish it before boarding the Ark tomorrow, and the deadline for adding items to his personal storage allotment had passed weeks ago. Maybe he could just skim through the remaining chapters. The few weeks leading up to the launch had been more hectic and stressful than anything Commander Chin had experienced since joining Nikola’s Children three years ago. The level of alcohol consumption and partying that had gone down during the nightly Ark boarding parties had caused Commander Chin and his security team no end of problems. Hard to believe a bunch of science nerds and politicians could get so rowdy. Now that everyone but a handful of guards were already in stasis, Commander Chin had been enjoying his nightly relaxation time immensely. His doorbell sounded as he picked up his book. He sighed, put the book down, then got up and walked to the door. He pressed the comms button. “What is it?” asked Commander Chin. “Just wanted to inform you that Officer Jefferies relieved me on Ark Chamber duty, sir. Was wondering if you had a different assignment for me.” Commander Chin became confused. “Wiebe, is that you?” he asked. He pressed another button below the comms panel and his door slid open to reveal Officer Wiebe. “Yeah,” said Officer Wiebe. “I thought I had Ark Chamber all night, but now that Jefferies took it I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. Any orders, or can I hit the cafeteria?” What the hell was Officer Jefferies doing taking over Ark Chamber? That incompetent wouldn’t even qualify for latrine duty if Commander Chin had his way. Irritatingly, the Board of Directors wouldn’t allow him to fire the Commander in Chief’s daughter, or even transfer her to a different department. He thought he had found an acceptable compromise by putting her on perimeter duty, since the job practically handled itself through drones and sensors, but she even managed to screw that up on a regular basis; plus it meant she would be one of the last to board the Ark, so he was stuck with her straight to the end. He prayed that once they reached the New Home he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore. “I don’t know what Officer Jefferies is up to,” said Commander Chin. “But you need to get back to the Ark Chamber now. She is not authorized to relieve you of that post.” Before he could respond, the radio on Officer Wiebe’s shoulder crackled to life. “Commander Chin, do you read me? I think… They got my… I don’t…” came Officer Thompson’s voice. He sounded disoriented. Commander Chin grabbed the radio off of Officer Wiebe’s shoulder and pulled it to his face, stretching its coiled wire until it was almost straight. “Officer Thompson? Is that you? Report!” He hadn’t heard from Officer Thompson since he went to repair the section nine surveillance camera with Officer Jefferies. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but a sense of dread started to grip Commander Chin as he waited for Officer Thompson to respond. “She shot me, sir,” came Officer Thompson’s voice. “Jefferies, she… They took my uniform. I think… I think she took them into the compound.” Commander Chin’s jaw dropped and he looked at Officer Wiebe, who stared back wide-eyed. “Officer Thompson, please confirm,” said Commander Chin into the radio. “Are you saying there are outsiders in the compound? With Officer Jefferies?” The silence that followed felt like it lasted a hundred years. “Yes,” came Officer Thompson’s reply. Commander Chin dropped the radio and sprinted to his desk where he could broadcast on the compound’s intercom. “All units, head to the Ark Chamber immediately,” he belted into the microphone. The lights in his room and the hallway behind Officer Wiebe dimmed. Klaxons started blaring, red and white lights flashing. That was quick, thought Commander Chin, and he wondered who had triggered the alarm. But something wasn’t right–this wasn’t the same alarm used during their security drills. This alarm meant something different… This alarm meant… His legs suddenly felt weak and Commander Chin dropped to his knees. Officer Wiebe took a step forward. “Sir? Are you alright? What’s going on?” “Go,” said Commander Chin in a strained voice. “Get to the fucking Ark Chamber now!” Doyle moved as quick as he could through the hallways while still keeping quiet, desperately searching each corridor for Heady, or at least some sign that Heady had been there, hoping against hope that he didn’t run into anybody else. Doyle started to get the impression that the hallways were all at slightly different angles, like spokes radiating out from a central location. He oriented himself and started moving toward what he hoped was the center, and eventually reached a hallway that was much wider than the others. By then he had lost all hope of ever finding his way back to the elevator. His only goal now was to find Heady. Once they were together they could formulate an escape plan. Doyle felt terrified alone. The large hallway ended at a set of enormous double doors. There was a key card scanner on the wall next to them. Doyle reached into his pocket. Jeff Jefferies, don’t fail me now, thought Doyle as he waved the card in front of the reader. To his relief, he heard a beep as the doors unlocked. To his horror, an angry voice erupted at him as the doors swung open. “All units, head to the Ark Chamber immediately,” said the voice. Doyle looked up to a small placard above the double doors he had just opened. “Ark Chamber,” it read. Oh, great. White and red lights started flashing in the hallway, accompanied by a deafening alarm. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” mumbled Doyle as he pushed his way through the doors. What he saw on the other side took his breath away. A large window revealed what could only be the Ark. A giant white pillar reaching up from hundreds of feet below to hundreds of feet overhead. Above the window was a large monitor counting down in giant white numbers on a red background. Whatever they were counting down to was happening in ninety-eight seconds. Doyle stepped closer to the window, forgetting the alarm and the countdown for a moment. In awe, he tracked his eyes down the full height of the Ark–from its conical top towering above him all the way down to the floor of the hangar below. Way down there, in front of what looked like a gangplank leading to a lit doorway in the base of the Ark, Doyle saw Heady. Heady had his hands raised slightly, and Sarah was with him. It looked like she was pointing something at him, and they were inching their way toward the gangplank. Doyle squinted and moved closer to the window. Was that her concussion pistol? “Oh, fuck,” moaned Doyle. He glanced around the room he was in, and spotted what looked like an elevator. He looked back up at the countdown. Sixty-two seconds to go. “I mean, that’s probably not what it looks like, right?” Doyle said to himself. Sarah had said they weren’t launching for another week. The documents he saw on her computer confirmed that. It had to be something else. It had to be related to the alarm he had triggered when he opened the doors–like a delayed lock-down or something. If that was the case, he had to act fast if we was going to save Heady. He rushed to the elevator and used Jeff Jefferies’ key card on the scanner next to it. The countdown continued and the sirens blared and Doyle tapped his foot as he waited for the elevator doors to open. Heady backed away from the madwoman pointing a gun at him. “Trust me,” said Sarah. “You’ll love it at the New Home.” “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” said Heady, desperately combing his mind for any idea to stall. “I just, you know, like Earth. All my fans are here.” “Your fans? Who cares about them? You’ll have me!” said Sarah. She briefly pointed her pistol back at herself to make her point before turning it back on Heady. “I’m your biggest fan! And you’ll make new fans. We both will. We can make videos together!” Heady glanced back over his shoulder at the light shining out of the doorway at the base of the massive Ark. The doorway that Sarah was clearly shepherding him towards. “Can’t we talk about this?” asked Heady. “I mean, we can make videos here, too. I’m sure the rest of my crew would love you. I could show you the studio, introduce you on the channel, you could even make your own videos.” Sarah paused, her pistol lowered slightly and she stopped moving toward Heady. “Really? You’d introduce me on your channel? Like as a friend, or… Or maybe as…” “Sure!” said Heady. “I think the fans would love you! We could go to the studio right now!” Sarah shook her head. “No,” she said. “No there’s no point. Earth is doomed. The New Home is the only way. You can make a new studio. You and me. We could be… We could even… I mean, I’m a girl and you’re a boy… Right?” Heady’s panic renewed as Sarah started moving toward him again. He took another step back and heard a metallic thud as his foot made contact with the gangplank. His eye caught some motion behind Sarah. Something was moving near the far wall where the elevator was. It was hard to tell in the dimly lit hangar, but it looked like a man. A man who was running toward them. Heady squinted and looked past Sarah at the figure as it approached at a blurring pace. “Doyle?” Heady said. Sarah smirked and shook her head. “You think I’m gonna fall for that?” Before Heady could answer, Doyle screamed out “Geronimo!” Sarah spun around at the sound behind her. Doyle grunted as he tackled Sarah head-on. Heady dived out of the way as Doyle and Sarah tumbled past him, then watched from the ground as Doyle tripped on the gangplank, falling forward and taking Sarah with him through the glowing doorway into the Ark. Almost as soon as they were through, a metal panel dropped from above and the doorway sealed itself shut. Heady stood up and moved toward the Ark. All signs of the entrance had vanished–the surface where the doorway had been a moment ago was now smooth. “Doyle!” Heady cried, and slammed his fists against the ship. “Dude can you hear me?” The ship started rumbling, then the entire hangar. Heady stepped back from the ship. The rumbling intensified and Heady had trouble keeping his balance. Hot smoke blasted up around the walls of the Ark through the circular gap around it, forcing Heady to retreat further. The hangar floor separated, bisecting along a line that ran the length of the hangar through the Ark. The two halves of the floor moved slowly apart as more smoke blasted violently through the widening crevasse. More and more smoke filled the hangar and Heady found himself lost in a sea of swirling white. A pinpoint of movement appeared above him–a dark, distant circle, gradually expanding. The circle contained stars. The hangar’s ceiling was opening to the sky. A blast of intense heat and a booming explosion knocked Heady over. He scrambled to his feet and ran away from the center of the Hangar as fast as he could, helped by a strong, searing hot wind that buffeted him from behind. The sound was deafening. Then the roaring ceased. The floor stopped moving and shaking. Heady felt numb, and was vaguely aware of arms grabbing his shoulders and men yelling as the smoke began to thin out and blow around him in temperamental wisps. He stared. In the place where the Ark had been there was now a thick column of gray smoke. Heady followed the pillar of smoke with his eyes, up through the gap that had opened in the floor, up through the center of the cavernous hangar, up through the giant hole that had opened to the surface far above, and up into the starry night sky beyond.

Welcome! Craig discusses problems that businesses can face when remote workers have IoT devices on the network they use to connect to work. For more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com --- Read More: Newly Patched Amazon Alexa Flaws -- A Red Flag for Home Workers 74 Days From the Presidential Election, Security Worries Mount   Respawn point: The inevitable reincarnation of the corporate office   Smart-Lock Hacks Point to Larger IoT Problems   Cops in Miami, NYC arrest protesters from facial recognition matches   7 Ways to Keep Your Remote Workforce Safe   Using Zoom Can Get You Arrested!   Former Chief Security Officer For Uber Charged With Obstruction of Justice --- Automated Machine-Generated Transcript: Craig Peterson: [00:00:00] Hey, we got a new red flag for home workers when it comes to those smart digital assistants that we have in our homes. Yeah, indeed. Not only can it cause problems for us in our homes, but that problem can go right through to the business. Craig Peterson here. Thanks for joining me today and thanks for all of your messages. I've gotten some great comments. This week had one that I'm going to do another followup on, but it had to do with what kind of router to use at home. I did a whole webinar on this back in March. I'm going to add that back to my list again because obviously there's still a lot of questions. Many people can't attend these webinars, but I really would suggest when I do come out with them. That you consider attending if you possibly can. I get it. You can't always attend these things that you'd like to attend, but I responded directly anyways. and I've gotten to the point now where I look at it and say, these crappy, sorry for that term, pieces of, hardware that you buy from the big box retailers that are given to you by your friends, at the phone company, the cable company, they are not worth it. It is not worth it. You've got to at least go to the prosumer stuff. And that's what I said to him. The prosumers stuff means that really you got to get something like a Cisco go hardware. Really? You do. Yeah. There's a lot of alternatives out there. Juniper has some stuff. HP has some stuff, but there's only one that has a beautifully integrated ecosystem. The low end of the consumer world nowadays really has to be prosumer and me, I'll let you know if there's something that comes out that I think is as good or better. But, also that Cisco is what I do. My company mainstream has been the number one, installing reseller of Cisco gear in the Northeast US, quarters into quarters. So it's something I like. So just to let you know. Okay. But bottom line, my advice to him was trying to get the Cisco GO stuff. Now you can buy it on Amazon, but there are things that you need that you cannot buy from Amazon. You've got to go to a licensed reseller in order to get the more advanced protection that you get from some of this Cisco software that is available for the go. Of course, as you move up the line, there's better and better software, but at least start there. Let's start the show off here with our first article. You'll see this, of course in your newsletter that came out this week, and this is something I've talked about a long time in general. And in general, what we're talking about is. The whole internet of things concept, and how many years have we talked about that? It's been at least a decade. In fact, I was going through some of the articles on our website. We're just shutting some of them down because they are so old. But back in 2007, I was already talking about this. So we are 13 years later. And we still have these same problems.  People still aren't taking care of them, and they're still doing things the same way and they are getting nailed. And nowadays, particularly when we're thinking about workers working from home, and I am going to be in a couple of weeks doing a little sip series about working from home and what are the top things you can do to protect your business. If you have people connecting from home now, I don't mean like they're just connecting from home an hour a week, nor do we're only gonna talk about the people who are working from home pretty much full time. Doesn't matter. There are some things you have to do, things you can't do. And so we'll be going into those with some of the training coming up in a couple of weeks and make sure. You are on my newsletter list. If you want to find out about that stuff. That's just Craig peterson.com/subscribe. So we're working from home. I think we've established that we're starting to see office space deserts now. I went to see my chiropractor, this week and massage therapist.  I'm standing outside her office and she's in this cluster of offices with other people having a little business and of course, it's a type of business where she can't really do it from home now can she. She has to actually have her hands on you in order to do some of this stuff. And boy, was it. Oh, a wonderful thing. Cause my neck and my back just it's been really bad after that whole kind of COVID, in bed for a couple of weeks, thing. And. I looked around the parking lot. It was shocking to me. I was there and this was after lunch, usually, there are a lot of people who are there in the parking lot, not just for her business. there's gotta be a hundred different office spaces that are in there. There has to be that in this case, when I was there were three cars in the parking lot and that was it. So you talking about these office space deserts. Where the people just aren't going in there anymore. It's just astounding. Some of these big cities like New York City, the whole city is shut down. They're losing all of these restaurants and all of these places where people used to go shopping because people aren't going there. Where are they? They're at home. In some cases, you have to be at home. Think about all of the families or the young kids, where the kids are no longer going into school. They're sitting at home, they're on their computers, hopefully, following the teacher and doing their schoolwork. Now I got to put a side note here. This is the perfect opportunity for you as a parent. To see what your kids are being taught, to look over the shoulder. Now it's amazing to me. I have read quotes from teachers who said they don't want parents looking in because they don't want parents to know what's being taught. Then there are some unions in some of the local school districts that are saying, it has to do with the privacy of the other children in the class. You use to be able to, as a parent go and basically audit your school's classroom that your kid was in. So you could go there and sit in the back and just see what's being taught and how it's being taught. and then the teachers didn't like that because heaven forbid a parent question the professional. Now we found out, some of these teachers, in fact, a very large number of them are blatant Marxists, just teaching the Marxists dogma. You can see that now when you look at all of these fascists marching in the street, it's just incredible. So take that opportunity and watch what your kids are doing. Watch what the teachers are saying and help your kids out. But in many cases, obviously we can't and get people to watch kids. We can't get babysitters because there's such a high demand for that. So we are forced to work from home. For that very reason, just to make sure that the place doesn't burn down and maybe you can get a few minutes to watch what the teacher's saying. What's really going on there in that classroom. So if you're working from home, what are you doing? we are sitting there on very frequently, our own computers connected again, quite frequently to the network at the office. Now, if you've attended any of my VPN training, that VPN we're designed for businesses to connect to. Networks at different locations and that's what they're good at. They're not really designed to protect anything other than the data while it's being transported. That actually becomes a problem, if you use one of these VPN services, it makes you less secure. I go into the reasons why in my VPN course, and we'll be teaching that one again. So keep an eye out. But we're now looking at having people at home using their home computers, which don't have all of the protections in place that hopefully, your business computers had, the medium and large businesses have some pretty decent protections in place, but the small businesses, those businesses under 500 employees, very rarely have the right kind of protection in place. So now you have a personal home computer to the network at the business. What's on that home computer? We've talked about that before. That's a real problem, but now we're asking them the question of what else is on your home network that's connecting to that business network. One of the things is probably your Amazon, Alexa, or your Google home or who knows what other things. We got light bulbs hooked up. We've got all kinds of things hooked up to our home networks. They found a trio of vulnerabilities recently in Amazon Alexa devices, just as they found them in all of these others, a Google home, everything else. Apparently these vulnerabilities could have led to broader attacks on the home networks because of the way, most of us are misconfiguring VPNs. Those attacks can now easily spread over the network to our business computers. So these are vulnerabilities that were made public last week by researchers at Checkpoint. Checkpoint has been in the security business for a long time. They made firewalls. I think they're based out of Israel. They've had some very cool stuff, but we're looking at more than 200 million Alexa smart home devices. I have them in my home, but what I've done is, I actually have five different networks in my home. One of them is for the internet of things devices, so if they are compromised, they cannot get out and they cannot get to any of the other devices inside my network. Then, of course, I'm using professional gear for my network, not just prosumer gear. I would advise people to look at that very seriously. So next we have a study coming out about the. The presidential election and how both parties, both sides are very concerned about some security concerns. So we'll get into that. When we get back. Stick around, you're listening to Craig Peterson and I'll be right back. --- More stories and tech updates at: www.craigpeterson.com Don't miss an episode from Craig. Subscribe and give us a rating: www.craigpeterson.com/itunes Follow me on Twitter for the latest in tech at: www.twitter.com/craigpeterson For questions, call or text: 855-385-5553

It's easy to go through life wearing masks, pretending to be something you are not. Honesty is the best policy. Build your marriage with honest love. A love that is secure in whose you are, and not by your personal accomplishments or the decorative masks you wear. Desire to be supported and encourage by other like-minded women? Join us at Women of IMPACT. http://bit.ly/WomenofIMPACT Certainly not a prideful attitude --- "I've got it all together!" Really??? You don't! Nobody does. You can pretend all you want. But eventually, your hiding place in your heart of pride will be found. You'll be pushed to make a change one way or another. Relationships can't survive on whims and masks. Marriage isn't pretend. It's not playing house. It's real life moving forward or backward. How do you see your marriage today? How is your relationship with your spouse? Is it open and honest, all fears and flaws exposed? Or are you hiding in the swamp of chaotic make-believe? It's time to climb out of your messy hiding place. Honesty is the best policy. The K.I.S.S. ~ Love honestly! When you're honest and sincere in heart, action, mind, and body, there's a commanding truthfulness that fills your life. "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." ~ 1 Timothy 1:5 God wants to see your marriage succeed. He wants to see joy in your heart. He delights in the beauty of love for each other. But you can't envelop yourself in joy and what God desires for you when you are wearing masks, pretending to be someone you're not. There is no sincerity when you can't be you. You must be willing to break the mold of masks. Honesty is the best policy. So what is it going to take for you to break-free of the masks? The party's over. No more masquerade balls. The time to focus on your marriage is now. Make each other a priority! Whether or not you think your spouse will be on board, you take the first step. Begin with a pure heart. Release the masks. Take them off so you can reveal the real you; the you God is designing, flaws and all. Open your heart to what God desires. See His vision for your life and your marriage. It's not about your agenda. God's agenda is the best agenda. So pay attention. Walk by faith. Take each step knowing God is leading you. It's not what you can do, but what God can do through you and in you. Love honestly. And not because you have to, but because you want to. There's got to be this underlying attraction to do what's right in God's eyes regardless of the temptations in this world. Choose to see honesty in love as an open door for your transformation and restoration, forgiveness, and hope. Your love in your marriage impacts the world you touch, both individually and as a couple. Marriage has impact. Don't take it for granted. Be intentional with who you are in the relationship. "Honesty is the best policy!"   #RelationshipBuilders #CreateYourNow #LoveAndMarriage TAKE A.I.M. ~ Action Ignites Motivation  - This is a complimentary (FREE) coaching call with me. You will be able to discuss your specific situation and gain tools and strategies to move you forward. Live. Love. IMPACT!  "One step at a time leads to miles of greatness!"   Subscribe to Create Your Now TV on YouTube. Listen to Create Your Now on Spotify and Pandora. Listen to Create Your Now on iHeart Radio. Click here. The Create Your Now Archives are LIVE!! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here.  http://bit.ly/CYNarchive1 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive2 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive3 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive4 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive5 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive6 Contact me at YourBestSelfie@CreateYourNow.com THE NO FUSS MEAL PLAN Instagram @CreateYourNow @Kristianne Wargo Twitter @KristianneWargo @CreateYourNow Facebook www.facebook.com/TheKISSCoach www.facebook.com/CreateYourNow   PERISCOPE USERS!!! Click here for ANDROID Users / GOOGLE  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.periscope.android Click here for APPLE Users  https://itunes.apple.com/app/id972909677   Read more from Kristianne, a contributor to The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, Thrive Global, Addicted2Succes, and She Owns It. https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-things-to-do-while-waiting-for-success-to-manifest-in-your-life/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristianne-wargo/ http://bit.ly/9amHabits https://journal.thriveglobal.com/how-to-configure-a-sleep-pattern-fit-for-you-d8edd3387eaf#.sniv275c3 https://sheownsit.com/when-failure-is-your-middle-name/   DOMESTIC BEAUTIES (Announcements) 1. Come and let's connect on Facebook - Women Of IMPACT  http://facebook.com/groups/thewomenofimpact 2. Create Your Now ~ Your Best Selfie can be heard on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Pandora! 3. Create Your Now Archive 1 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive1 4. Create Your Now Archive 2 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive2 5. Create Your Now Archive 3 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive3 6. Create Your Now Archive 4 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive4 7. Create Your Now Archive 5 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive5 8. Create Your Now Archive 6 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive6 9. NEW Website! Go check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.createyournow.com 10. Sign Up for The A.I.M. Academy! You will be the first to learn all about it. http://createyournow.com/m-academy-2 11. Schedule a Discovery Call. This is a free 30-45 minute call for those serious about coaching with me. 12. Newsletter and Library: If you desire to get weekly emails, be sure to sign up here so you can stay connected. http://createyournow.com/library   Cover Art by Jenny Hamson   Music by Mandisa - Overcomer http://www.mandisaofficial.com Song ID: 68209 Song Title: Overcomer Writer(s): Ben Glover, Chris Stevens, David Garcia Copyright © 2013 Meaux Mercy (BMI) Moody Producer Music (BMI) 9t One Songs (ASCAP) Ariose Music (ASCAP) Universal Music -  Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) D Soul Music (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Welcome! In this segment, Craig tells you about how police hacked a criminal network and why we are seeing a resurgence of ransomware. For more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com --- Read More: 7 reasons to pay for antivirus software and skip the free versions YouTube TV jumps 30% in price effective immediately Police roll up crime networks in Europe after infiltrating popular encrypted chat app New Mac ransomware is even more sinister than it appears Ransomware is now your biggest online security nightmare. And it's about to get worse Apple's Silicon Macs promise screaming performance TikTok and 32 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data An embattled group of leakers picks up the WikiLeaks mantle --- Automated Machine-Generated Transcript: [00:00:00] Hey, have you been using EncroChat to make sure your communications are secure? It's only thousands of dollars a year and bad guys have been using it. Well, they've been using it until now. the Europeans caught them. They had this thing called operation and it was being run by various police agencies. it's been reported now by major local news outlets. Motherboard has an interesting article about it as well. I have a tech crunch article about it up on my website, but the police secretly took over. Encrochat now was something that was designed to be very, very safe, right? A private communication tool for you to use anywhere in the world [00:01:00] and the way they made this stuff private is they also included the hardware. So the idea here is kind of similar to another company that I've liked over the, over the years.  It's Silent Circle. They have something called the black phone and in the Silent circle's case, they're using an Android device, which makes me a little bit nervous, but it is being run by some of the best cryptographers in the world. And with Silent circle and the black phone, you, you buy their phone and you can send messages back and forth, and it keeps your teams connected and secure. They have an app that works on any Android or iOS device now instead of just having to have the physical device, but they still have the physical device, I believe. Let me see. Let me get on there. Yeah. Silent phone. There you go. Silent [00:02:00] phone deliver secure enterprise. Ready? Silent world, silent manager, or actually that looks like the silent phone is their new product, which is kind of interesting. They've obviously changed their tune a little bit out there. Anyhow. In order to be truly safe. You need new hardware, at least that's the thinking. And the looks like a Silent circle's changed their tune a little bit. I use. Something in order to keep me and my messages safe. We use WebEx teams internally with our own encryption keys, and that's really quite secured meets military-grade encryption, which we have to do because we provide services to military contracts. Cheers. This stuff rolls downhill, right? So if we're providing a service to a DOD subcontractor, we have to be compliant with those regulations as well. So we are, and [00:03:00] then there are some other apps that you can use that are pretty darn good. that worked quite well. Things like WhatsApp, et cetera. But in this case, back to our story here, this was a network that was being used by. Organized crime and the police apparently were able to monitor a hundred million encrypted messages. Sent through this network called Encrochat  and they were discussing drug deals, murders, extortion, plots. Okay. Kind of everything. and I love this article and vice it starts out saying something wasn't right. Starting earlier this year, please kept arresting associates of Mark, a U K-based, alleged drug dealer. Mark took the security of his operation seriously with the gang using code names to discuss business on custom encrypted phones made by a company called Encrochat and for legal reasons, they're referring to Mark [00:04:00] as the pseudonym. Okay. But it goes on and on because the messages are encrypted on the devices themselves. Please couldn't tap the group's phones or intercept messages as authority normally would I still want to encourage chat criminal spoke openly negotiated the deals. In detail and priceless name to customers, explicit references to the drugs they were selling and how much, et cetera, and a motherboard. This is such a great article, but in the same timeframe, police across the UK in Europe started busting these criminals. And in mid-June, they picked up, the alleged member of another drug gang and then millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs were seized in Amsterdam. Hmm, what's going on? Well, it turns out that the messages weren't really secure, these guys were paying thousands of dollars a year to have these security devices and to have secure messaging. [00:05:00] But turns out that, due to this mass hacking operation run by the police, they'd been quietly reading these users' communications for months, and then investigators shared the messages with agencies all around. Europe. It's just an amazing scale. It's amazing what they were able to do. It's amazing that the Encrochat people obviously didn't have any real professionals, security people building this stuff, but, man, good for them. Some of the information and receptive by authorities showed how deeply law enforcement seems to have breached to the alleged criminal organizations. It's just going on and on. The Netherlands, and what they were able to do there pill mill and covered by law enforcement. They were doing this, this goes on for pages. They got all of this great video and then Encrochat  [00:06:00] device here. They've got a YouTube video showing all of it. So if you're interested in this, check it out because it just really, I think reinforces the concept that you're not. Safe online with your communications, no matter what you have to be very, very careful. And if you're using something like WhatsApp, great for you, glad you are. I use what's an app with my, my mastermind, one of my mastermind teams that I'm on. I really enjoy using it. It's simple. It's easy to use. So that's something you might want to look at. And then the other one I use is signal it's called signal S-I-G-N -A-L. Hey, if you want to get information like this from me on a weekly basis, or sometimes even more. Make sure you are on my email list. Just go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. Go there right now, before you forget, and [00:07:00] you'll be getting this stuff. People who are already on my list knew about these things, how to communicate. Privately and securely, even when we're talking about a family gathering. You don't want to run it through China on Zoom. Really? You don't. Okay. So how do you do all of that? No, you know, we talked about that in some of my pieces of training and in some of my newsletters. So I'll make sure you go there. Craig peterson.com/subscribe. And if you have any questions. Make sure you ask, just send me an email. M E@craigpeterson.com. So let's get into ransomware because it is once again, your biggest online security nightmare. You thought the nightmare was over three years ago? No, no, no, no. It is back. And it's back with a vengeance, great article on ZDNet this week. There are so [00:08:00] many IoT devices we're connecting to our enterprise networks. It is getting more and more dangerous. IOT of course is the internet of things. These are things like your lights, your. Oh, everything, right? I just saw a thing or an article talking about major hacks going on with some of these network attacks, attached storage devices, these NAS devices that we're putting on that you might think are more or less commercial when they are not. So this is rapidly ransomware shaping up to be the defining online security issue of the era, frankly. It's a very simple idea. It is so easy to execute right now with increasing sophistication by criminal groups. It has gotten to the point where you can hire a company that writes ransomware and gives you technical support on it. Some of them will even [00:09:00] just go ahead and take a percentage of the money that you get for the ransoms and you don't have to do anything. So the ransomware group gives you the software. Gives you all of the services. If somebody gets the ransomware, they're contacting the ransomware group, they're sending the Bitcoin to the ransomware group. The ransomware group is taking their money off the top and sending you the bad guy. The Bitcoin. So we're going to talk about that even more. When we get back, stick around, you're listening to Craig Peterson and online. Make sure you subscribe right now. Craig peterson.com/subscribe. Stick around. We're going to be right back. --- More stories and tech updates at: www.craigpeterson.com Don't miss an episode from Craig. Subscribe and give us a rating: www.craigpeterson.com/itunes Follow me on Twitter for the latest in tech at: www.twitter.com/craigpeterson For questions, call or text: 855-385-5553

Transcription:Ken Paulus 0:03Caregivers will be put back in a position to drive these big complicated specialty treatments instead of throwing these patients over the wall to us. And I think pharma will move from a sales model to a knowledge model where their job is to put information in the hands of caregivers, health plans, and members to make the right decisions at the right time in the right placeGary Bisbee 0:28That was Ken Paulus, President and CEO Prime Therapeutics, discussing the fragmented nature of today's healthcare system. I'm Gary Bisbee and this is fireside chat. Ken has been a health plan and large IDN CEO and now leads a pharmacy benefit manager with 30 million lives. He's in a unique position to comment on integration between pharma health plans and providers. Let's listen to Ken express the need for an air traffic controller to manage care for the patientKen Paulus 0:57I'm most concerned about fact that today, for any given American, there's really no captain of the ship. There's really no clear advocate or some person, entity-relationship that is air traffic control for a patient in need.Gary Bisbee 1:17Our conversation includes Ken describing the role of the PBM. And its value equation, barriers to quality and outcomes confronting caregivers, the need for physicians to be in charge complicated care paradigms, how Prime Therapeutics work with the federal government to ensure specialized drugs remain available during the COVID crisis, and the importance of developing a long term relationship with the patient. Let's listenKen Paulus 1:42COVID has shown us that we need somebody to focus on that long term relationship and it's just not happening today. Again, with great challenges come great opportunities now that's a big one. And if I was running a health plan business or an IDN right now I’d be running like heck, to solve that problem and fill that void. Our nation needs it now.Gary Bisbee 2:05I'm delighted to welcome Ken Paulus to the microphone. Well, good afternoon, Ken, and welcome.Ken Paulus 2:16Gary, Thanks for the invite. And I really look forward to talking to you today.Gary Bisbee 2:20I've interviewed you in person a couple of times with live audiences. So we're delighted to have you at the microphone. Let's get right into your background if we could. I know you grew up in the Chicago area. What was it like growing up? You had five siblings, six of you in the family? What was it like growing up with that group?Ken Paulus 2:38It was a very special upbringing, in a way. I'm from a middle-class family. My dad was a grocery store manager. My mom ultimately was a homemaker became a teacher, but neither one of them finished college. Kind of a classic Catholic family where they started having a family early both of them had to quit and basically raised the family. It was kind of a values-based upbringing. In even though we didn't have a lot, it was rich and full and positive and supportive and ended up being what gave me a lot of my resilience and in a lot of ways, feeling supported regardless of the circumstances. It's all good. I mean, I say I had a very good upbringing and nothing I look back on in a negative sense, other than maybe I was a little bit of a rebel and got myself into a little bit of trouble as a teenager.Gary Bisbee 3:25Well, there's learning there as well.Ken Paulus 3:28Yes, there is. I have some scar tissue from those days. But I was blessed in so many ways.Gary Bisbee 3:32Right. We were talking before and you indicated you basically worked your way right from the very early days right through school, that that turned out to be a good experience, any lessons learned there?Ken Paulus 3:43It was interesting. My parents didn't finish college. So it was very clear with them that we were all going to college and there is an expectation you go to college and you go to grad school or medical school or law school, so you're not stopping at a four-year degree and I'm thinking, well, who's paying for that? And the answer was you are. And the only way to pay for it was to work basically every free moment. So I had a paper route until I was 13 or 14 and then I became a busboy at an Italian restaurant and believe it or not, was owned by the mafia, and worked there for two or three years. And then when I was old enough to get a real job, I became various jobs within the grocery business because my dad had friends that could give me jobs. And I did everything. I was literally a night crew worker. I was an apprentice meat cutter a couple of summers, I did it all. And I learned a ton the learnings from how and when you saw good management was fairly readily observed if you were willing to observe us and I have to say I learned a lot about management from all of those crazy jobs. It's a good experience.Gary Bisbee 4:52Six siblings in the family. You're all in healthcare. How did that work out?Ken Paulus 4:57Well, it was interesting. My mom in particular had three things that she expected of us and I'll never forget it. And it really rang true for all of us. One was going to college, as I mentioned, the second one was critical. And she said, and both of them actually did this. They said, You really have to do something where you're making a difference. And then the third one was just an oddball thing. They're both smokers. They both quit in their middle-age years. And the third thing was don't smoke, please. And if you don't smoke by the time you hit 21, you get $100. So, I'm like wow, okay, well, that's worth it. And I never got my hundred dollars, but I never smoked so that was good. So this making a difference. Standard and expectation are what I think led us all into the helping profession of healthcare and it's been exceedingly rewarding and I'm so happy I'm in this business. I really love it.Gary Bisbee 5:46Well, after college at Augustana in Illinois, off to the University of Minnesota, the MHA program was the leading MHA program at that time, what got you to the Minnesota MHA program?Ken Paulus 6:01Gary, it was mostly that it was that they were the best in the nation at the time. I think they're still probably top five or so. And I was a science major. I was a human physiology major. But I have an entrepreneurial business streak in me. And I was literally trying to find an industry that married science with business. And healthcare is really the perfect combination away for me. Once I figured out that that's what I wanted to do, and I wanted to work in the nonprofit side of things. Then I just went on the search for the best program and this program in Minnesota was the best program and I have to say, it was an eye-opener and a critical event in my life to open my eyes to a much bigger opportunity set. It really was very possible.Gary Bisbee 6:47What was your first job then out of the MHA program?Ken Paulus 6:50So this 21 or 22-year-old kid, having never stepped foot in a hospital before this point in time has only worked in grocery stores and restaurants. I literally stepped foot into this hospital as a fellow post-graduate school and became an assistant vice president of a hospital that's part of Catholic healthcare West in Los Angeles. And it was quite the experience. I literally remember the first day on the job, the CEO said, Well, Ken all of your direct reports are waiting for you up in the conference room on the seventh floor. Introduce yourself. I said, Okay. I walked into the meeting. There were 10 folks around the table all roughly in the 40s and 50s. mostly women, as it turns out, running departments like occupational therapy and PT and nursing leaders. And I sat down at the head table and they looked at me and the first woman said, well, who are you? And I said, Well, I think I might be in charge of all these departments and they laughed out loud. No, like They laughed and they said, Are you kidding me? They all had 20 years on me. But I will say, Gary, I made one critical move that was probably saved my career. I just said, Hey, listen, I don't know anything about management and leadership. I've really never done it before. So if you all are willing to teach me, I'm willing to learn and I will try not to annoy. And they became just stunningly good leadership group. And they taught me management and leadership, these middle-aged men and women, mostly women and healthcare, taught me how to lead and forever I will be thankful and in gratitude for that experience, it was really special.Gary Bisbee 8:40What took you from that start to Partners Community Healthcare in Boston.Ken Paulus 8:44I had worked in California for the better part of probably a decade or more. And actually, my boss, the CEO, was pinged by a recruiter to come out to Partners Healthcare System, which is a brand new system that was just been formed. And they wanted him to lead the creating the risk-bearing entity partners called Partners Community Healthcare, Inc. and he declined. And he's a California guy, he's not leaving the state. And in an incredible show of support of me, he said, Ken, I hate to even bring this up to you because you are like, my number two, go-to guy. But I actually think this might be a really great job for you. And I don't want you to go I don't want you to take this wrong. I just want you to know that I'm a mentor, and I'm your friend. I think you should at least have a conversation if you can work for the mass general of Brigham in Harvard Medical School and have that on your CV it's probably gonna change your life. I said, Really? You're telling me you think it's a good idea? He said I don't want you to leave. But I think I owe it to you to take a look at it. So I did and next thing you know, I was In my car driving cross country and working at Partners. As probably the fourth or fifth employee hired post-merger, the Brigham in general.Gary Bisbee 10:07Wow, that was a terrific opportunity. What did you learn about managing risk there?Ken Paulus 10:12Oh, gosh, scary. I have so much scar tissue from those days. We built this risk network, this group of physicians and acquired a number of primary care practices, married them in our network to all the specialists of the Brigham and the general and then took full risk, full capitation risk, but with Blue Cross of Massachusetts. And we proceeded to get our hats handed to us. We just got crushed. We lost so much money so fast that we literally had to go to Blue Cross, we said that we just have to tear up this contract. We can't, we can't do it. And we did. They agreed, thankfully, to tear up the contract and start over. And what I learned was we were ill-equipped to take full risk. We've had no data. I had no systems to manage risk. No way to track patients and patient care. The incentives are completely wrong. Our teaching hospitals nationally Brigham wanted to bring everybody into a tertiary center. And that's just doesn't work with a risk insurance business. So we were just upside down in terms of our ability to take on risk and we lost a lot of money. It was quite a learning experience. I never want to repeat it. But again, that scar tissue is invaluable. And there's so much to be learned from the process.Gary Bisbee 11:28Great foundation, though, ultimately, you made your way to become the CEO at Allina in Minneapolis, what caused you to want to tackle a leading health system?Ken Paulus 11:38It had been on my mind Gary for a while that I was looking for a place where the physicians, the hospitals, and all the ancillary services of pharmacy and lab and home care and hospice and all that could all reside under the same roof. And if I had a chance to run a company that had all those pieces in one place, could I do something different and special to really put a dent in what I think are many intractable problems in healthcare. So that's what attracted me. And I think secondly, I'm from the Midwest, I had always wanted to come back to the Midwest at some point. But it was mostly this engaging opportunity of having all the pieces in one place. And it was quite a good ride. It was there for just under a decade, and I really, really liked it. It was good fun. And I think we made a ton of progress.Gary Bisbee 12:26If you could identify one main lesson that you learn to lead a large health system, what would it be Ken?Ken Paulus 12:32It was plus-minus Gary, On the plus side. I think having the physicians as part of the health system was crucial. I can't imagine a day where we'd ever go back or the caregivers, not just doctors, but doctors and nurse practitioners and all the people that take care of patients every day, day in and day out. Having them on the team was critical and crucial. And I think that allowed us to do some things that we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, I think the negative or the downside of at least our idea was we were still so acute care centric, that limited our ability to innovate. And we were hooked on the drug of fee for service medicine. And because of that, all of our profits came from our hospitals. And the more acute, the more complex, the more of a specialty nature of treatment. The more we did, the more we made. And we could not get off that treadmill. And I gotta tell you, I'm a fairly transformative thinker. And I like to find ways to disrupt healthcare. I put my shoulder to that wheel, and I made some progress, but not a lot. And it's just part of how healthcare is delivered that acute care was the center of the universe. That's where all the money was. And it was hard to ever leave that and we didn't really make much progress against that. Unfortunately, you know, for that I'll forever have some regrets.Gary Bisbee 13:59You've got an interesting background and just regionally, Los Angeles, Boston, Minneapolis Midwest, and you had some unrest there in Minneapolis. How do you kind of think about the balance between management outcomes, maybe unions, how would you factor all that in with what happened there in Minneapolis?Ken Paulus 14:20Well, it's interesting in all of the markets have worked in, they've all been very high concentrations of union activity. And I'm very neutral on unions. I think they play an important role in some ways. And I'm not anti-union. I'm not pro-union. I think it's part of the system and it can work. It has worked, and most of the places I've worked, it's been a really good outcome. What's really stunning to me in terms of what's happened here with the racial unrest in Minnesota, and particularly this behavioral issue with the police, is that we're finding as we dig deeper into it, that much of the problem lies with management's inability to To act and to deal with poor performance, and the union's ability, or at least creation of a structure that would keep management from moving out poor performers. And unfortunately, the lead actor in this most recent event was a poor performer with multiple examples of performance issues, and he could not be removed. And I think what it tells me is there has to be a new day with how management and labor work together. And we have to have more of a collaborative partnership model. And both parties need to be held accountable for performance. And we're lacking that today. It's more of an advocacy model today. And I think we have to move to a performance model and it's a real opportunity. And it's also one of the root causes of probably ended up where we are, at least in Minnesota, and how policing takes place here. And it's unfortunate but from every bad circumstance comes an opportunity. progress. I think that's what this is going to prove to be.Gary Bisbee 16:02Well, on a happier note, let's talk about Prime Therapeutics. You recently celebrated your one year anniversary with Prime. Will you describe Prime Therapeutics for us?Ken Paulus 16:13It's a very interesting industry and company, we're in the pharmacy benefit management space. And I've always been in the IDN side of things. I spent some time in the health plan business at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care when I was running the physician side of the staff model. So I know the health plan side, I know a lot about risk and capitation. Having done that, in many places across the country, we sit squarely in the middle between pharma, providers, caregivers, IDNs, if you will, and health plans and we are a construct of a broken system in some ways. The fact that the interest of pharma the interests of providers and caregivers and the interests of health plans are not aligned. And as such, the PBM industry came before and we're in the middle trying to get pharma care to reduce prices, through rebates and other management formularies, passing those savings on to health plans and then working with providers to manage utilization. And it is purely a construct of a system that doesn't work. And in the ideal world, if the United States healthcare system really was efficient, there's no need for us. Unfortunately, we aren't efficient, we're not aligned, the incentives don't really work, and we actually are critical right now to make sure that the cost of medicines does not spiral out of control. So we're a reflection of a broken system that's still compartmentalized and still has incentives that don't deliver the outcomes that our nation needs, which is a stunning thing for me to say as a CEO of a PBM. But that's quite frankly where we are.Gary Bisbee 17:48So why the transition to pharmacy benefits manager to Prime, why did you do that Ken?Ken Paulus 17:54Gary, I had run my course of working in the IDN side of things. And I have mostly worked with physicians and caregivers throughout my whole life. And I've loved it. I've absolutely loved it. But I really needed to see a different side of healthcare, I needed to get out from under the IDN space, and see how others view it. And mostly I'm seeing health care from the payer, and PBM pharmacy management space now. And I'll have to say some of the things I'm seeing I wish I would have known as an IDN leader. The fact of the matter is, we're missing some very important issues on the provider side that you don't see when you're in the middle of it. And now that I'm not in it, it's like, wow, it's very apparent that there's an opportunity. So I absolutely love it. I never thought I would. But it's a great learning experience. I've learned a ton about how this system works. And it's very interesting to see how insurance organizations and health plans view the health care world. It's quite different and quite important.Gary Bisbee 18:56So how does Prime work with the patient? How do you work with blue plans?Ken Paulus 19:02The plans really come to us to work with pharma to stand between them and pharma to make sure that they're getting a reasonable deal. That's basically in a nutshell what we do. So they at Prime we represent 30 million Americans across 23 states 23 blues plans, and our job is to make sure we represent with pharma with pharmaceutical industry, that block of business and we buy and procure and source all of the medications and treatments that pharma represents. we acquire those treatments on behalf of our health plan partners and try to do so to create efficiencies, and it's very effective. I have to say, I know there's a lot of unusual perceptions around the PBM space because it is so opaque. The fact of the matter is in at least in our case, we're transparent PBM we pass through everything to our health plans, which you see is what you get. We don't have a lot of these arcane structures to move money around within the system. And we do play a critical role I can tell you, there are billions of dollars of savings that come through to health plans, and then to employers and then ultimately to patients and members. That wouldn't be there, at least in today's healthcare industry, if we weren't doing our jobs. So very interesting. And it's a critical role that said here, I have to say there's some aspects of this business that are incredibly inappropriate and broken, that create undue friction, and actually, harm quality in some ways. Those are some of the things that I'm very excited about working on.Gary Bisbee 20:37How do you work with the IDNs then?Ken Paulus 20:40That's where I do think that we're creating barriers to the very best quality for patient care. And there are two ways I can see with the IDNs that we should be integrated and working with them. One is what I call the friction model. Our model today is built on creating, you know, I hate to say this but barriers and gates for providers and caregivers to get through to make sure that they follow a formulary so that we can then use that formulary to lever pharma to get a better price. And it's a crazy way to do business. But it's the only way we have right now. So we have a very high friction model that we use with caregivers and patients to put them through these barriers and gates if you will hurdles. And that forces the system to drive to an outcome that again, we can use then to save money. That's one big problem. I'm not a fan of using friction for caregivers and patients. And having worked on that side for 30 plus years, the friction is untenable. We are putting caregivers through so many hoops and barriers that they can barely get their jobs done now. So that's one major problem. I think the other major problem or maybe opportunity, is that what's happening and pharma is the science is stunningly good. I mean, if there's one industry in this world that we actually lead-in, it's this bioscience, this creation of new solutions to pithy, complicated healthcare problems through incredible advances in science. And I think we're gonna look back and say this is the golden era of development. It's like when antibiotics were created back 50 years ago, this whole business of using the genome to unlock opportunities to treat patients in very different ways. It's really stunningly good. What's remarkable about that is that while we're breaking through on a daily basis with science and finding these new solutions, they're very complicated. They're very expensive, and there's no integration between pharma what we do and what caregivers do. I think the second big opportunity is for the health plan and the PBM leaders organizations to work very closely with pharma and the provider side to create partnerships in ways that we don't have today. We're basically buying cooperatives now that's interesting. It's a short term solution to a big puffy, complicated, expensive problem. But I just don't think it's going to deliver us to Nirvana, I think we're going to need a very close relationship with providers. And once we have that, and we bring pharma into the equation, I think two really important things will happen. One is caregivers will be put back in a position to drive these big complicated specialty treatments instead of throwing these patients over the wall to us. And I think pharma will move from a sales model to a knowledge model where their job is to put information in the hands of caregivers, health plans, members, to make the right decisions at the right time in the right place. And boy, if those two things happen, we will advance quality lower costs substantially in our healthcare system. So that's what I'm really excited about those two things, taking unnecessary friction out of the system, and bringing in a partnership level perspective for pharma and providers and what we represent so that we can create a breakthrough. And that's what's exciting about this job.Gary Bisbee 24:20Very exciting. What's your guess, I mean, we talking three years, five years, 10 years for this change to unfold?Ken Paulus 24:26Unfortunately, Gary, I'm 61. And I can't do this forever. I am in a hurry. We have got to show improvement and progress on this in the next three, four years, we have got to put a down payment on this. So for lots of different reasons. One is it's what the healthcare system needs. Two, it will save substantial money. Three, it will vastly improve quality. And I think probably most important, if we don't do it, I just can't imagine how this fragmented healthcare system will survive. I just I'm not seeing it. I just don't think it's working today and we have so much to improve. This is probably my last chance to run a big healthcare organization that could make a difference. I have got to go out in good form, I have got to be able to look back and say I was part of the solution not part of the problem?Gary Bisbee 25:16Well, we're looking forward to that. We have some confidence you will make a difference can let's move on to the COVID crisis. What observations from your current vantage point? What observations have you made about trends that might have already been in occurrence but that the COVID crisis accelerated?Ken Paulus 25:34There really is one big one that has me quite concerned. And you can worry about our inability to track infectious disease and our lack of preparedness and all those things. They're all things that we need to improve. But I have to say I'm most concerned about the fact that there's today for any given American there's really no captain of the ship, there's really no clear advocate or some person, entity-relationship that is air traffic control for a patient in need. And this crisis brought that to bear. I mean, if you are sick during this COVID crisis, you couldn't reach a primary care doctor's office, it wasn't clear who you'd go to for advice on well, do I do this test or not? Do I go into urgent care now or not? It is a fragmented combination of solutions and you had to do the best you could. Do I call telehealth? Do I go drive into my office? Do I go to the ER, it just wasn't clear. And we are in this position where COVID put a light on this incredibly broken system of no coordination. And there's really nobody in charge. So the patient's left to his or her own devices. And man that is just not a way to run a healthcare system. And that's what we've got today. And I think What you're seeing across the nation is any number of approaches to how to manage this crazy thing. And we're, of course, we're not getting much leadership from the government, not that that would have made much difference, but there certainly isn't much leadership from healthcare either. The industry hasn't done a great job and we are very fragmented and we're paying the price the fragmentation right now.Gary Bisbee 27:20Did COVID affect Prime's business model at all or Prime's economics at all?Ken Paulus 27:26Not really, because I think we acted relatively quickly. One of our first worries was the run on the bank for medications and there was one early on. And people were so nervous about getting their medications, chronically ill patients that needed their medications that they were stockpiling. And we had to immediately lay in rules that would manage the supply so that they were 30-day supplies or shorter supplies so that we didn't have patients with years of supply and not having other patients that needed medications and they couldn't get them. So we immediately worked with the government to put in rules and structures to manage the stockpile run on the bank kind of circumstance, and we avoided that, thankfully. So we didn't really run into shortages. It was close. There were some shortages around the hydroxychloroquine run that took place after the President made his comments. But they were short-lived. And I think we've managed through them pretty well. So I think, for the most part, we got through it, and we avoided any really significant problems. Thank God.Gary Bisbee 28:26It's evident that public health is now part of national security. We just never thought about it that way. How do you think about that, Ken?Ken Paulus 28:34I think public health has never gotten it's appropriate do in our system? It harkens back to our earlier comments, scary when you ask question around well, how IDNs work, you know, whatever. Public Health just isn't rewarded. Our nation doesn't really prioritize it. Now, I think we're realizing a pandemic. It's critical. And countries around this globe that are really good at public health has have done a great job of managing and pandemic in an incredibly difficult circumstance. We have no public health assets really, in terms of the scale or the integration or the coordination of public health in this country, we don't have it. So we ended up with our fragmented system which we already know isn't really well-coordinated doesn't communicate, put through the wringer. We have no public health system really to rely on and we ended up with the mess we've got and you get what you pay for. We got what we paid for. We've never prioritized public health. So I think we're gonna have to find a balance in the future between acute care, public healthcare, centricity of a patient, where is the place where cares delivered, acute care can be the center of the universe any longer. It's not even urgent care. It's not even home or maybe I think it might actually be virtual that there's a virtual system and public health has to be tied into that virtual system. So we're all coordinating and gosh, it's going to be so hard for us. Our political parties and our constant bickering back and forth, somehow we're gonna have to break down these barriers. And I'm not sure exactly how that's gonna play out.Gary Bisbee 30:08It is hard to see. But I totally agree with you. We need to get there. Well, let's turn to leadership, you've ideally positioned in the sense that you've led a variety of different kinds of companies. All in healthcare, of course, but when you first became aware of the COVID crisis, what was your first thought?Ken Paulus 30:28I really think my first thought was two concerns, one, protect my employees, and to make sure patients get their medication so we don't cause havoc. And I think those two things I thought oh my gosh, we have got to make sure that those two things are intact. And it's a scary time and critical time.Gary Bisbee 30:51So moving from that to what are the most important characteristics of a leader during a crisis, Ken?Ken Paulus 30:57There's much to be written about this. But for me, the first thing was calm in a storm. I mean, we're in a frightening circumstance, we still are, we don't understand it. And I think leaders must stay calm. We can't panic. I think the second thing for me was very regular, transparent, and high levels of communication. At a time of uncertainty. People need to know what's going on. Even if you don't have the answers. It's okay to say that you don't. I think third, it requires action. I mean, you really have to have a propensity to act. Assuming you're calm. Assuming you're highly communicative. I think you have to have some courage to make some tough calls and move. And I think that's critical. So I think for me, those three things really are like the three legs of a stool to get through a crisis. There's that great line from Rahm Emanuel during the financial crisis that I ascribed to and they were going Through with Obama and Rahm Emanuel going through this process of the Great Recession, and he said, You never want to, I'm paraphrasing, but you never want to let a good crisis go to waste. It's your opportunity to do great things. And that's really what we have here is an opportunity to great things. And the question is, do we have the courage to do it? That's really what's gonna come down to and I hope our leadership does and I hope I do. That's really what we need to accomplish today.Gary Bisbee 32:28Well, it's all about leaders at a time like this. No question about that. Has the COVID experience change you as a leader in any way or as a family member?Ken Paulus 32:37For sure it points to the importance of relationships and in health care, we're in the relationship business. It's critical. You can't optimize health for somebody that that's one of your charges, somebody you're responsible for without a really good trusting relationship. And I think we all now are looking at our relationships differently and realizing how important they are to us. I think that's probably the key takeaway for me, Gary is social distancing has put a spotlight on either the ability to maintain or the importance of those relationships and also the some of the challenges of not having a social connection that is a critical part of the human beings needs. So I do think it's all about relationships and social connection. And if I had to say on health care, the patient relationship or not even before they become patients and individual relationships, that trusting relationship is up for grabs. It will be very interesting to see who owns that for a lifetime. Will it be IDNs? Will it be primary care doctors? Will it be some health care, air traffic controller? Will it be a health plan? I don't know. But somebody is going to play that role. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of disruption in healthcare because nobody has stepped in to fill that void. COVID has shown us that we need somebody to focus on that long term relationship and it's just not happening today. Again, with great challenges come great opportunities. Now that's a big one. And if I was running a healthcare business or an IDN right now, I'd be thinking, we have got to be running like heck, to solve that problem and fill that void. Our nation needs it now.Gary Bisbee 34:23That's a terrific finding. This has been an excellent interview. Ken, thanks so much. I have one last question. If I could. You're a board member. Of course, you sit on the board of Teladoc, but you've been experienced boards throughout your career. What are the key questions a board members should be asking in a crisis like this?Ken Paulus 34:41I think it's really a couple things. One is definitely getting through the acute phase of crisis. We're in that now. And it takes all of those leadership skills that we talked about. I think those are really important and staying steady at the helm, communicating the heck out of it and acting and moving, and having the courage to make some really critical, tough decisions. I think that's really important. actually think the bigger opportunity is envisioning what your organization will look like when this thing's all said and done. And this is one of those unique opportunities to take a completely fresh look. blank sheet of paper, we're going to come out of a crisis, a very changed nation in a lot of ways. And could you do something substantially different, that would really advance your organization, your service, your connection to consumers, whatever. I think this is one of those rare moments in all of our careers where you can basically be bold, and go for it. The second thing I suggest to all leaders of the boards I sit on is to get through the crisis phase. But while you're doing that, put equal time in the recovery phase. And in that recovery phase, it's a chance for just incredible transformation. Take advantage of it, run with it. That's where the action is going to be with this.Gary Bisbee 36:00Well said, thanks, Ken, terrific interview much appreciated Good luck to you and Prime as we move forward.Ken Paulus 36:07Thank you so much, Gary. It's been a pleasure talking to you.Gary Bisbee 36:09This episode of Fireside Chat is produced by Strafire. Please subscribe to Fireside Chat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening right now. Be sure to rate and review fireside chat so we can continue to explore key issues with innovative and dynamic healthcare leaders. In addition to subscribing and rating, we have found that podcasts are known through word of mouth. We appreciate your spreading the word to friends or those who might be interested. Fireside Chat is brought to you from our nation's capital in Washington DC, where we explore the intersection of healthcare politics, financing, and delivery. For additional perspectives on health policy and leadership. Read my weekly blog Bisbee's Brief. For questions and suggestions about Fireside Chat, contact me through our website, firesidechatpodcast.com, or gary@hmacademy.com. Thanks for listening.

(Message 1) “He did a bad thing, but I know he has a good heart.” Really? You may have heard this said before, but it just isn’t true. The evil we see in our world revolves around a heart problem. Their is a criminal within...

John Allen and what is. 0:50 Mothers day spike. 1:40 Making jokes as a defence mechanism. Whew LOL 2:25 Lets start with something right off the bat: I don’t know shit 3:32 Everything I have done is for a little bit of time. 4:20 I hate who I am when I am with other people 5:30 Viewer mail: Love me love please love me. 6:01 GPS locating in brain produces lots of good shit. 6:35 The buddhists...LOL 7:26 Gapped out like an old guy or doing a Joe Biden 8:00 Embarrassing moment for me listening to this part...more embarrassing than usual that is. 8:50 The Buddhists again. 9:30 What the fuck is this? 10:15 True confession: I was a rich kid and I didn’t like to suffer. 11:40 The whole point of parenting is that you are going to get it wrong. Whew LOL 11:50 Every action produces good and bad consequences and whether it is good or bad depends on where you are judging it from. 14:00 Viewer mail: Falling off the wagon 15:00 I'm interested in suffering. 16:18 I was an angry guy what can I say? 16:40 I didn’t have to fix the traffic jam. 17:50 You can't die before your time. 18:30 Why all of you are juicing... 20:00 When I get a grab in the stomach I know something is coming. 20:20 Juicing again 21:20 Attention is love 23:00 The sound of mind. 24:31 Drink a bottle of scotch and your mind will slow down and then shut right down when your head hits the table 24:35 Satori. Bliss. Until you wake up in the empty pizza box. 27:30 The fifth of vodka my mother used to hide in the dishwasher 28:15 In this moment we have everything we need or we would be dead. 30:00 Watch 31:13 The one story in the universe. The hurricane that never ends. 31:30 I want to have a drink 34:10 Where do you feel that anxiety? 35:00 Am I proselytizing? Ya think? Asshole LOL 36:00 Labels 36:30 Looking past the image of your foot. 37:03 Don't think about a Pink Elephant 38:15 Oh oh...Why is he doing this? Is this pretentious? Yikes...What do you think this is? Headspace? 41:28 Be with the tree man...Sheesh 42:00 Joe Biden gaffed. I thought it was a good joke. You ain't black. Come on Man...LOL 44:20 Don’t misunderestimate the Trumpster.  Remember Steve Atwater. 45:20 "I just lost the south for a generation." LBJ on signing Civil rights Act legislation. He was wrong. Its been three generations. 47:35 You survived so many things that you didn't think you had a shot at... 48:27 Boo hoo 48:30 Some advice and a  segue. 50:00 Have I fucked this up? Fifty minutes that's long enough for anybody. 50:19 Didn’t seem to be. Bonus part 2. Really? You have more to say? Lordy 50:35 On the porch after doing some yard work. 52:00 99 percent of people make the dumplings 53:00 The mind is constantly trying to figure shit out. 54:00 The bird singing is technical and adaptive. It had to learn to sing then had to forget what it learned. 55:16 Fuckin' heaven. Maybe I am a hippie. 57:00 Finger waggin' 58:00 Viral cloud of death 59:07 Not here. Not now. No thing

"How about showing Pastor Lopez to his room, Caden?" suggested Mom when the visiting pastor arrived for the weekend. "Sure. You're going to use my room," Caden told the pastor, then led the way. "I left some space in the closet for you, and I cleared out the top dresser drawer." Caden switched on the overhead light in his room. "Oh, I forgot." He picked up a lamp from his desk. "This lamp doesn't work, but Mom said you could use the one from her room. I'll get it." "Maybe I can repair that one," said Pastor Lopez. "I know a little about fixing electric things. Let's have a look." "Really? You sure you want to?" Caden asked. Pastor Lopez smiled and nodded, so Caden handed him the lamp. Caden watched Pastor Lopez tinker with the lamp. Hearing him mumble something in Spanish, Caden grinned. "I'm learning Spanish in school," he said. "Could you teach me some words while you're here?" "I'll be glad to," said Pastor Lopez with a smile. "I was just saying 'this doesn't work' in Spanish. The phrase we use for an appliance that doesn't work is no sirve. In my church in Mexico, we have a saying: El que no sirve, no sirve." Caden repeated the phrase. "El que no sirve, no sirve. What does that mean?" "Literally translated, it means 'He who doesn't serve, doesn't serve.' It's a reminder that if a Christian is not being a servant, he's something like this broken lamp. As Christians, we're called to be servants because Jesus was a servant to us--He left the glory of heaven and came to earth to die for our sins. When we serve others, we shine His light into their lives " Pastor Lopez flipped the switch and the lamp came on. "So they can see how much He loves them." "You fixed it!" Caleb exclaimed. "I've been needing the light from that lamp." He grinned. "From now on it will remind me to be a servant like Jesus so others can see their need for Him." HOLLY F. CEPEDA How About You? Do you think of yourself as a servant? If you trust in Jesus, He's called you to be a servant so others can know what He's done for them. What can you do to serve others? Maybe you can do yardwork for an elderly neighbor, help a classmate who's struggling with schoolwork, or simply listen to someone who needs a friend. When you serve others, you shine the light of Jesus' love into their lives. Today's Key Verse: FOR EVEN THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE, AND TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY. (NIV) (MARK 10:45) Today's Key Thought: Be a servant like Jesus

On this episode, I interview Michael Szafron - Sales and Marketing Consultant and Owner of Autistic Superpowers! On the podcast, Michael talks about his early life and diagnosis of Autism later in life. He talks about how Autism impacted his career and his early career in retail sales and the impact that learning sales scripts had in his professional and personal lives. We also discuss the ups and downs in his career and the importance of his coworkers understanding his autism.  To connect with Michael, please follow him on LinkedIn (Michael Szafron).     Go to our website www.forallabilities.com for information on our software that enables employers to support their employees with ADHD, Dyslexia, Learning Differences and Autism. Thanks for listening!  Betsy     Thanks for listening to For All Abilities today!    Share the podcast with your friends, they’ll thank you for it!   Get our newsletter and stay up to date! The newsletter link is on our website www.forallabilities.com   Follow me   Twitter: @betsyfurler   Instagram: @forallabilities   Facebook: @forallabilites   LinkedIn: @BetsyFurler   Website: www.forallabilities.com   Full Transcription from Otter.ai     Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning into forel abilities. I've got another special guest with me today. And in a minute he's going to introduce himself and he is going to talk about later in life diagnosis of autism and how that's affected his life. Both his personal life and his work life which he has some really interesting insights on that. If you are listening to this podcast please obviously you are listening to this podcast. Please share with your   Friends, please review and rate the podcast, you can do that on whatever platform you're listening to the podcast on. So thank you again, this podcast is all about understanding our differences and understanding our strength is our difference. And that if we all sit inside that imaginary box of the norm, we would have a really boring and unproductive society. So I'm so excited to have Michael here with me today. Michael, please introduce yourself to my audience.   Michael Szafron  1:33   Hey, everybody, I'm Michael saffron. I run a business management consulting company, if I'm the only one in it, and I get to work with a lot of different really interesting things now, but it's been a long journey to get here and I think we're going to go through that with with Betsy.   Betsy Furler  1:52   Yeah. So thank you again for being here. And how I usually start the show is by asking my guests about their childhood. So could you tell us what you were like as a little boy?   Michael Szafron  2:04   Well, I mean, I hear a lot from my parents about how I was. But you know, looking back, you know, my childhood was was quite a bit of a struggle. I really didn't have very many friends at all. I guess when you have like a university vocabulary when you're five years old, you don't make a lot of friends. And it was very interesting. It was very trying. And as I went through, you know, elementary school is probably more grade five, grade six, I really wanted to start having friends. And I couldn't figure out why kids didn't like me or want to talk to me, you're hanging out with me and made fun of me and beat me up and that kind of stuff. So I started really studying what they were doing, what they were saying and how they were agreeing.   And then I still didn't have any friends. But eventually, you know, towards junior high and then getting a little older. I started to get a bunch of people Things that that people, you know, I guess neurotypicals do is standard greetings. How are you? You know, it's interesting because I really don't care about how their weekend was but there's all this chitchat that you have to do with people so that they feel comfortable with you and don't feel that you're that you're strange.   Betsy Furler  3:19   Yeah, that's really interesting. I, I'm a extreme extrovert and an extremely social person. So yeah, some of those things that come so naturally to some people are really difficult for other people. And a imagine as a child, that is extremely confusing.   Michael Szafron  3:42   Yes, it certainly is. But again, you know, you set up sort of goals and, you know, I wanted to be able to interact with people and have and have friends and really not, you know, it was just it was really trying but then eventually, you know, I got in with a group of people In high school, I started doing band and i and i did baseball and, and started having some some, you know, good friends and acquaintances don't really talk to many of those people anymore. But, you know, life got a lot better when I when I got to high school and started finding things to do and it got a lot better.   Betsy Furler  4:20   That's interesting too because I think it is really important for kids really adults to to kind of have a tribe, I kind of have a group of people that they have something in common even if you are a person who's very different different than other children. I think our our society, our educational system in particular is very much set up where the average student or the average kid is the one who everything revolves around. You know, you're not if you're a kid, he's really an outlier. I know one of my sons was very much like this. And he's he's much more adult he was much more adult like, so when you're a six year old and you act like an adult in many ways and you get along really well with adults, you don't really get along that well with other six year old who is who your social circle is and everything about you is based on your interactions with those kids. Um, but I think it's it's great that you kind of found even if it wasn't people that you had a ton of stuff in common with at least something that you some people that you have something in common with in band and in baseball. And so were you. Were you a very good student from an academic standpoint.   Michael Szafron  5:51   I mean, I did okay, I I've also got ADHD. So I really got distracted a lot daydreamed a lot. I mean pretty good at math and science. But if I didn't, if I wasn't engaged in the material, I mean, it takes three seconds for me to check out and be on the beach thinking about something else. So my, I mean, I did pretty well in school, but the things were, I would only do well the things that I liked and the things that I didn't like. I was pretty much checked out.   Betsy Furler  6:20   Yeah, probably didn't care too much about them. Yeah.   And what did you do after high school?   Michael Szafron  6:28   So after high school, I went to university for a year and a half. And it was just, you know, interesting in the 90s. And, you know, my son, my friends, were getting jobs and stuff, and I just, I just couldn't do the school thing, which which was really tough on my parents because they, you know, extreme academics all the way through the family. So my dad taught the university for years so they were pretty upset when I chose after a year and a half to leave and go sell computers at a retail store. Which, in Canada is called future shop I grew up in Canada, it's the same as Best Buy, but actually turned out to be one of the absolute best moves I ever made. One of the really interesting things that really helped me socialize and build a career was going to future shop. I, they took me to another town Calgary and put me in a hotel for a month. And I got to go to sales school. And what's very interesting is going to sales school taught me a bunch of skills that I could relate to the rest of my life. So they have a program called guest, which was great understand, educates carry the sale on tank, and it is an absolutely scripted encounter with another human. So when someone comes in you say Hi, my name is Michael, welcome to feature shop, what brings you in today? And then you listen. And then you go through qualification? You know, what have you seen that you've liked? Where else have you been? What are you using it for? And this script can translate into your Personal life, it can translate into other business, learning a script that you can run your life on. It was a lifeline for who I was and where I wanted to go. And I still use a lot of those pieces today.   Betsy Furler  8:13   That's so interesting because that's I'm a My background is as a speech pathologist. And so as a speech and speech therapy, we often teach scripts to kids who are struggling with, especially with their social communication skills, and kind of go through ideas of Okay, what can you say here? What can you say there? Because really all of us work on scripts, and they just kind of much more natural for some people than others. And that this the, that idea around the sales piece is really that that is fascinating. I'm going to keep thinking about that actually, for my for my own sales cycle, or my own sales process with my company as well. Maybe I need some more scripts around sales stuff that I'm not very good. Double lab. So that's amazing. So you and I want to remind the listeners that you were not diagnosed at this point. You were diagnosed just a few years ago. So at this point you are going through life. What were you thinking about yourselves?   Michael Szafron  9:21   Well, I mean, I because you're looking at the world through your own lens, you don't know that you're really any different. And you're just, you're just trying to adapt and be okay in the world. And it's more of the other people don't know. And they, they think you're a little off and they they're not sure what to think of you. They think of you like a robot like Spock like my you think autistics wouldn't be good in sales and maybe not in the wheel and dealin kind of way but my sales are very scientific, very fact based, very analyzed. You know, and and when you get down through a decision tree, if it's a good deal for them, You support it. And actually, if it wasn't a good deal for them, I tell them to go get something out. Because that's the right thing to do. Right? It was just, I was always just off the curb, it seemed like and as far as you know, relationships and people i didn't i didn't get that it was it was just get there and go do your thing. One of the other interesting things that's happened all my life to is not very good with some with spontaneity. So like even this, this call today, I mean, we've already had about, you know, 300 conversations in my head as I got ready for it, if everything you would say, or I would say, and I still do this stuff now. Like when I was going to have I did that Fight Club event digital Fight Club was Steven. I mean, we probably had, you know, 1000 fights in my head of every possible commutation of conversations that you could imagine. Before I got to that before I got to that moment. So everything thing is always pre rehearsed in your head and it moves very fast. And sometimes that's what keeps you up at night is, you know, going through 1000 conversations. So everything is can from meeting the chair the next day or a customer encounter, or whatever the case may be. So that keeps your head very, very busy a lot of the time.   Betsy Furler  11:18   Right. And that must take a lot of energy.   Michael Szafron  11:22   It doesn't seem to it just kind of goes, I'm just   Betsy Furler  11:27   interesting. And so on off on that topic. And and we didn't discuss this before. We got on the call on the recording. But what about what has happened with COVID-19 with you has that has that changed in everything that we do thrown you off?   Michael Szafron  11:50   Well, not really. So well. I mean, there is an adjustment period and I'm very much into very specific routines, but I already spent a lot of time working at home. Okay, a lot of time processing that stuff. Recently now with one of the oilfield services companies, we actually have a contract that requires that died legally come into the office and do work here. Which is interesting. But it, it didn't need to change my routine that much just because of the way that I was already structured.   Betsy Furler  12:28   Okay, well, that said, so that was good for you. I mean, it was it was it wasn't too too much of a change. Correct. Because I do think about I know with myself and it changed everything about how I do things. And, and I deal with change fairly well, but you know, it was it was quite an adjustment, but I'd never really worked from home. I've never sat in a desk all at a desk all day every day. Until now. I've spent a lot of time driving around and Going to a lot of social events. And so, I'm learning I'm learning to, to not do that now. And so you were so you so back to your career. So you started in sales selling computers and and did you like technology and computers a lot at the time?   Michael Szafron  13:22   Yeah. And because of the environment I was in my father was a computer science professor. So I was I was fortunate to have computers ever since I was probably ever since I can remember there was a computer at home, like, you know, three, four or five years old. We always had stuff and I was in computer science and, and, you know, I learned how to program when I was eight because of my cousin, my father and things. So it was a natural thing to go into.   Betsy Furler  13:48   Oh, that's amazing. But you kind of you kind of fell into it too, or you went a bit against the grain to leave school and go into sales. Although it sounds like that. was a good news.   Michael Szafron  14:01   No, it was a good move. And it was great in the store and following the scripts and it was a great company and they, you know, really nurture young kids. You don't make a lot of money in retail, but it really teaches you a lot of things about business. And I was in Edmonton, and then you know, within eight months, they put me into the manager training program move me down to a little town called Medicine Hat, or they stick a bunch of people and then I was there for about five months and then I was the sales manager the old left bridge feature shop store. And they brought a bunch of guys in that are actually still really good friends till now. And yeah, it was they put the best the best to try turnaround that store and we didn't built a new store. And I mean, that was really, really, really good time. I learned a lot about a lot of things at that time. And then it you know, craziest career paths. A friend of mine calls me up and said, Hey, I got this bootstrap startup. Electronic Medical software company out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, need someone for Edmonton, which is where I was from, do you want to? Do you want to move back and do that? I was like, Sure. So I made the plunge into that startup. And we did well, and there's a bunch of m&a that happened. And then finally, they got sold to the national Telecom. I'm going to give you the real Coles notes version of mine. And then, and then a friend met me for coffee and he goes, Hey, do you want to sell top drives? And I said, That's interesting. What's the top drive? And he goes, you'll figure it out. I'm moving down to Houston. And that's when I got into oilfield and started working for Tesco Corporation. Way, Way at the infancy and miscue were actually with this lady Linda sorry. Who was the founders nice. In Cobra trucking miscue. And I was definitely the oddball in the oil field at that time having worked for medical software and selling computers And, you know, I didn't know anything about the oilfield, but it was amazing how I was able to go to clients and just say, Hey, I'm the new guy. This is what I do. Tell me about it. Guys from enzyme energy really showed me what the top drive was and how drilling worked. And they, they sent me out to rigs and, and all kinds of stuff was was really interesting. And then it really started to snowball. I couldn't figure out why it took two weeks to do a quote. So I ran it down and started a whole infrastructure system for quoting that took only five minutes to create. And they promoted me to commercial manager. And then finally they asked me to move down to Houston 10 years ago, I guess almost 11 years ago, they they moved me down. And I took a global group took over global sales. I traveled the world, you know, more than 35 countries I've been to and done business with everywhere. Very, very fortunate. And then what was interesting There was I had this new boss who was a really great mentor, his name is Fernando. And every time I went to his office, he would always say, you know, being smart is not enough. And I could never figure out what that meant. Notice before I was diagnosed, it was all it was all the soft stuff. So they, they did a 360 where they interview all these people, and you know, my scores were very interesting. So, you know, empathy and understanding and all this stuff was like, Whoa, bottom, bottom basement scores, but, you know, analytical thinking creativity, a bunch of ones were off the charts. They're like, What is wrong with this kid? So they, you know, they wanted me to good manager and my management skills were really poor and I didn't know why and they didn't really know why. So they sent me to Guild, which was an amazing workshop. I had a, you know, personal coach, who's still you know, follow some of my LinkedIn stuff and comments. And I remember meeting with her for the first time and she Like, so when you go to meetings, you ever bring doughnuts? I said, Why would I ever bring doughnuts to a meeting? And she's like, how do you respond to emails? And she looked at some of my stuff, and she's like, okay, whenever someone sends you something, I need to thank them. So she gave me a whole bunch of mechanical tools that I could use them on sticky notes all the way around my monitor.   Betsy Furler  18:21   Yeah, kind of more scripts.   Michael Szafron  18:23   Right. It was it was more scripts to interface in business, more professional business at a higher level. So I went through that, and then they're like, man, his kid is still not figuring it out. So they did. Emotional Intelligence course. So they flew me out to Bangkok, Thailand, we did a week long course out there. And, you know, I didn't really get it, but I definitely learned how to pass the test. You know, memorize that book front to back, you take the follow up test, you know what the answers need to be and then keep going. Right, right. So then, oh, man, then it gets crazy. And then I was, you know, really recruited to a tele medical services company they wanted someone with oilfield it and medical experience. I was there. And then I worked for an Israeli MRI company that wanted to move to the US. And then finally I ended up starting a business consulting company and, and turn through that and during that phase you know, I was still I read this book called very last lap, very late diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. And realize that, you know, this was me. So I went and got a and and got diagnosed and I went and told my parents, my family and everybody and they're like, no, you're just smart. You're not you're like us. We're like that too. Okay, so I'm like, you know, when about another year and I'm like, I need to go back. So I went down and other psychiatrists took whatever the newer test is, and it came back definitive as well. So it was just very interesting. But the the thing that made the difference, getting diagnosed was then being free to tell people. So now when I work with people, there's a guy, Michael McCreary if you heard of him, no. So he's a Canadian guy at a Toronto. He's called the aspi. comic. And he does a lot of really great material. And whenever I work with people now I tell them, I'm autistic, I usually wear an artistic button to conferences. And if I, if I'm going to work with someone, I also I send them all this video to watch. And I also tell them, you know if I say something wrong, or if you get offended, because I say a lot of facts that sometimes offend people, you know, just just let me know, and let me know how I could have phrased that better. You know, so I, everybody that works with me now gets a little crash course on autism awareness and what it means and how to interact with people. And that's done amazingly well. People don't get you know, upset when I say fax in a meeting anymore. They say, Michael, this is why we're all upset about what you just said. And I learned from them keep going.   Betsy Furler  21:07   That's, that's incredible. I i that is amazing that you have those self advocacy skills. And I think that many people would would benefit from being able to do the same thing. And it's something that I as I've gotten older, I've been more upfront with people in my life of, you know, saying I think it's partially because of my training as a speech pathologist and I, I have this sense for many people that they're not meaning to offend you, they just do accidentally and if you say, Look, when you said that, this is how it made me feel, or I really need to know this information from you. Not that then they're like, Oh, yeah, no problem. Here you go. As opposed to not being up front with people and ending up having a lot of poor communication and bad feelings about Situations   Michael Szafron  22:02   write well, and it, I think it helps them more than me, I still don't know why I'm upset by it.   Betsy Furler  22:07   Exactly. Right. Exactly. And it helps the other person, or, you know, the person kind of who's sitting on my side of the table to be able to understand you better. But that's amazing that you're able to do that. And that that's really, I'm sure, a huge part of your success, but also such a gift to the people that you are dealing with.   Michael Szafron  22:36   Well, I mean, it's, it's interesting, I think there is still a bit of a, I mean, people will still think you're weird, but at least they can appreciate, you know, some of the stuff and then you know, like my old boss used to say being smart enough. It's all the soft skills that makes a difference in business and a lot of things and you try to learn those skills, but there is there is still you know, sort of us stigma against autism, I think because when I, I published an article sort of my first, you know, coming out to the network that I'm autistic and here's what it's about and blah, blah, blah. I had so many comments saying that was brave. And then finally asked, I said, Why was that brave? That wasn't brave? I said, Yeah, because people think autistics are XYZ that's like, wow, I really   was. Interesting.   Betsy Furler  23:25   Yeah, I think we've I think there's been a lot of progress made. I think there's a lot of progress left to be made as well. Because I do think it maybe that's coming from a neurotypical standpoint to   Unknown Speaker  23:41   have   Unknown Speaker  23:43   it you know, is it   Betsy Furler  23:46   because if as a neurotypical person I really care about whether what other people think of me and and, you know, and possibly you coming from and all artistic standpoint, you don't care that much about what other people think. And so, so maybe you feel of it as more of an information where I'm like, oh, that took so much of your heart to express that. And yeah, I mean, I think we still have a lot to learn about other people's perspective and realizing that not everybody thinks the same way we do. And I'm speaking from as a neurotypical person. You know, we, I know we can really project our own feelings on other people. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, and I do think i think but i think i think the world has has changed. Is is changing, I would say, I would say is changing. I think that one of the reasons I started this podcast I have I don't even know if you know this, but I think my listeners now I talked about it enough. I have a software company where I'm helping employer support their employees who think and work differently. And including ADHD, dyslexia, learning differences, autism, etc. And because what I saw as a professional was that people were so misunderstood on the job, and especially people can who can kind of pass for, quote unquote, normal that normal bots. And they end up having so many problems at work, because the people that are working around don't understand them, and so therefore, they're not able to work to their potential and not able to be as productive or efficient as they could be if they weren't forced inside this box that they don't really fit in. And, and so, so, as I started, as I started doing this, I started talking to some of my advisors and other people, other people in kind of an advisory role. Not necessarily my Direct advisers but people in an advisory role a lot of tech people, and several people expressed to me how thankful they were that I was doing this, because they have one of these conditions, but they're so embarrassed about it that they don't ever tell anyone. And, and these were like amazing, successful, wonderful people. And I was like, Really? You're like this, that it surprised me It surprised me the level of that and also several families that I met who were just devastated by their child's diagnosis. And I was like, you know, this isn't a death sentence and this isn't even something to be fixed. This is something to understand and work with and, and, and be able to bring out the gifts and people gifts on all of us and the differences in all of us. So anyway, I think I think what you are doing for the people that you work with is absolutely amazing, both to help them understand you better and probably you're able to work more productively and efficiently when they do. But also for the for other people with autism and other other types of neuro diversity.   Michael Szafron  27:17   Yeah, no. And they're just to know why like, they think sometimes it might be in malicious behavior, you're doing things specifically to hurt them and you're not. They just take it that way. They need to know that it's not malicious.   Betsy Furler  27:32   Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's fantastic. And, and I'm also I also think it's amazing that you went for that second opinion, for your diagnosis. I think that was probably helpful for your family. Maybe not so much for yourself, but again, again, for other people in your life.   Michael Szafron  27:52   Well, I mean, it was just it was just fact checking, right? Like it was like, Okay, well, maybe and you do some reading some things and Okay, well, maybe, maybe not. Or, I guess, yes.   Betsy Furler  28:03   Well, and I mean, I think it's the same as getting a medical diagnosis of any other type. You know, if you go somewhere and a doctor diagnose you with something, it's, you know, it's not always the best thing to just go, Oh, okay. That's what I have, you know, you frequently Well, I mean, our family frequently will go on to another doctor and get another opinion because just one person's opinion is not always accurate. And so, and but, but you rarely hear of someone getting a second opinion on a diagnosis of autism or ADHD. Um, I, I've, I don't know if I've ever heard of that. I've heard maybe a couple of times, but that's a it's a rare story. Um, so thank you so much for being here. Is there anything else you wanted to tell my audience   Michael Szafron  28:57   there was one last thing that came to mind when you We're talking about people and and the stigma and people who worry about the diagnosis of a child or something like that. When one of my friends, he used to work with me back at Tesco, he's, he's an engineer with an MBA, but he's actually really personable and fun. And he wants to start up a career as an industrial comic, which is kind of a side gig. And he came up to me and he was a little bit sort of hesitant, because he had this new bit that he wrote about autism. And he wants to try it out. I'll be of course, I don't know, dude, it's totally cool. I got you. And it was really funny because it was about vaccinations. And he starts talking about, you know, I don't know what's wrong with all these people that worry about, you know, their child's getting autism by getting a vaccination. Because I'll tell you what, if there was a way that my child could get autism, look at these people, they're successful. They're engineers, they're scientists. They're, I mean, he's looking at high functioning. Autism right about Yeah, and all the benefits and the superpowers. I mean, he's like, look at you, like if I could get a vaccine that would guarantee my child has autism, I'd be lined up around the street to get that thing. So, it was just, it was very interesting that you know, that stigma is starting to shift because he is, you know, 100% neurotypical.   Betsy Furler  30:22   Right, yeah, yeah. And, and I, I so love and appreciate people with autism and ADHD and all sorts of other forms of nerd diversity and and love the, the difference that that you all bring to the world and, and such a different outlook on life than I have. And, and it really like it. I appreciate it so much. I appreciate that creativity and thinking in such a different way. It's so valuable, and that's really cool that he is developing that That routine, and at the end that he ran it by you first, just to make sure,   Michael Szafron  31:06   yeah, not to offend anybody, but it was really good material. So,   Betsy Furler  31:09   exactly. Well, if my audience wants to connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that?   Michael Szafron  31:16   Best way to find me is gonna be on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active on there. I've also published a lot about autism and also sales and other things. So LinkedIn is probably the best way to find me get a hold of me, send me a message Connect.   Betsy Furler  31:30   Okay, and your last name is spelled with an S and is sc. Right?   Michael Szafron  31:36   Yes. z AFR o n. Michael. To be confused with my my cousin Microsoft friend who's a who's a math professor.   Betsy Furler  31:49   Oh, interesting.   Yeah, cuz you have that very unusual last name, but you know, same name, as somebody related to   Michael Szafron  32:01   run in families. I'm the one that says autistic superpowers in my headline.   Betsy Furler  32:06   Okay, awesome. That'll be a great way for everyone to find you. Well, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for being on the show today.   Michael Szafron  32:14   Thanks very much. Appreciate it.   Betsy Furler  32:15   Yes. Great and tell my listeners thanks so much for tuning in. Again, please rate and review the podcast on whatever podcast outlet you're listening to us on. And please share my podcast with all your friends and family. Thanks again.

- Paul Ashley Because it dismisses it dismisses who who I am or whoever that person is. You're saying it, too. It dismisses who their whole self is. Yes. Right. Again, the dichotomy of the fact that I have depression, yet I'm a hoot to be at be at a party with or are both true and at the same time. And if you dismiss either part of that, like all, if you're depressed, you can have fun.  If you're fine, you can be depressed. Right. You're basically saying I'm not me, and that's offensive.   INTRO Paul Ashley is a Vice President and Managing Director at First Person Advisors.  He has also lived most of his life with depression and, at the time of this podcast recording, has just published an article taking on the stigma associated with depression.   Liesel Mertes What is the American 24th twenty first century associations and stigma that go with depression and particularly for you as a white male? Yeah. How do you feel it?   - Paul Ashley Well, I think I've blown through some of that. I think I've realized the stigma that I believed existed. Maybe isn't true. But let's say let's say I didn't yet. So what is the low level stigma? I think that as a man, we're maybe called to be brave and strong.   - Paul Ashley Maybe it's different than feminine, right? Female.   - Paul Ashley As a successful business person, what do you have to complain about as a person and business? You can't show people you're weak because weakness will get preyed upon. I think those some mixture of all that is a stigma.   But Paul is more than just his depression.  He is married to Amy and the father of five children, including twins.  And he has three dogs.  And a fish.    - Paul Ashley Technically the fish's name is Mr. Unicorn Pants. Because it spent some time in Amy's classroom at school and sometimes at home. But at home I call Mr. Bubbles.   He is also a wine expert, which has a proper French name that I have been struggling to pronounce.    - Liesel Mertes Tell me a little bit more about. I'm not even going to pronounce this word correctly. I only see it written being at O somewhere.   Yay! Oh, say it again. Some of yeah. Some it s a French word. Just super friendly French words. Tell me more.   - Paul Ashley Yeah. So that's part of what's helped in my journey is having things that I enjoy in life. And one of them is I I enjoy wine, education and wine knowledge. And officially a few years ago I earned what's through the courts of master sommeliers is my level one designation.   - Paul Ashley Sharing wine and food like is there a better way to have community, you know, good people, good wine, good food and that wonderful banquet table, by the way. And in that order, people, food and wine like you put those three together. You're going to have a great time.     Paul takes trips down to Haiti with Filter of Hope, to address Water Insecurity.  In addition to his international travels, Paul is raising money for Cancer Research this month as a Man of the Year candidate, more on that later.    And as we begin this important conversation, I want to thank our sponsors.  FullStack PEO is a full-service benefits firm that provides great services and packages for small companies and entrepreneurs.  This month, we are also welcoming Motivosity as a friend and sponsor of the podcast.  Motivosity is a peer recognition and employee feedback software that will have your employees more motivated than ever.  Finally, we are sponsored by Handle with Care Consulting.  Contact Handle with Care for interactive, powerful sessions that equip your people to competently offer care when it matters most.    As I mentioned, Paul also become more vocal about his journey with depression.  As we began to talk, Paul memorably described depression like a dog.    - Paul Ashley It's. It sort of has. You've ever seen the World Health Organization video they put out on depression, though? With the metaphor that it's a black dog. Mm hmm.   - Liesel Mertes No, tell me more.   - Paul Ashley Well, so this idea is that this black dog follows you everywhere in life when you have depression.   - Paul Ashley And sometimes the black dog is this massive creature that stands over. You like foreboding. Other times, it's this little puppy that's in your lap that you can control. And it's he's always with you, right? Well, I sort of feel like it's helped make the black dog be like, yeah.   - Paul Ashley T-Mobile doesn't cure it. The black dog is never gonna go away. Not cuddly. But yeah. Just survivable. Yeah. Yeah.   Like president that present but not out of control. Right. Not a slobbery, you know, vicious dog.   - Liesel Mertes Well you said was it your teenage years that you.   - Paul Ashley Yeah. It started when I was 17 to 17. Yeah.   - Liesel Mertes Tell me more about that.   - Paul Ashley So growing up in a in a you know, in a house that was imperfect as most homes are, even the home I have with my wife and it's we we aren't perfect. You are still. Yeah, right.   - Liesel Mertes You do?   - Paul Ashley Yes. What a coincidence. Especially the greater number of children you have, the greater chances for imperfection.   You think? Yeah. Because you have more human fallibility mixing together.   [00:01:42.420] - Paul Ashley You know, I in really quite frankly, family history is is very present on both maternal and paternal side of the family with mental health issues, depression, anxiety, other stuff.   - Paul Ashley And I, you know, was dealing with teen angst as one deals with and I can I can see it as plain as day. We were I was I was driving somewhere in the evening in my hometown of Columbia, Missouri. And there was an intersection. That's actually not too far from University, Missouri, where this one road comes to a T. And on the other side of that, T is a limestone, you know, cut out from where they blasted to have to have the road built.   - Paul Ashley Right. And I remember turning onto the one road that tease out there and thinking, I'm just going to gun it and just like hit the wall and make it all go away.   - Paul Ashley And I realized, whoa, that is that's a suicidal thought, that self-harm like that's not that's not good. That's real bad. I was like, what is causing that?   - Paul Ashley And I reached. Luckily for me, thank God, my best friend growing up, best man at my wedding.   - Paul Ashley His father is one of the most world renowned child psychiatrist.   - Paul Ashley And he his actual specialty is working with children in war and where they've gone through massive events, things like Syria. And remember, in the 90s, Bosnia and Herzegovina and all that they dealt with, he did a ton of work with the U.N. and he's just unbelievably gifted. Well, you know, fearful as a 17 year old who just didn't like didn't know what all this is about. I called I called him and said, I need help. And he said, listen, I normally don't treat people that close to me, but I'll take care of you.   - Paul Ashley And he did and sort of started me back to stability pretty quickly. Once a cult classic story.   - Liesel Mertes So a childhood context of, you know, your parents having their own mental health issues. Did you feel like you had? Because it strikes me as particularly self-aware in some ways that you at 17 were able to recognize that thought is damaging, feel like you had agency to reach out to someone. Was that formed? Did you have an awareness with your parents like, oh, they are going through a mental health episode or because I'm struck for some children, like they just internalize that as I deserve what's going on or I'm the cause of that.   - Liesel Mertes Like what sort of a formation did your perception as a child have allowed you to reach out the way you did?   - Paul Ashley What a brilliant question, because I don't know that I ever have ever thought about that. You know, it's something I was able to do. And so at the same time, I think what what your question helps me think about and realize is that as imperfect as some of the upbringing was and as as much pain as can get caused in the household, my parents, my dad has passed away. My mom still living. Did a lot, you know.   - Paul Ashley They gave me enough there was enough love in that house. There's, you know, everybody's doing their best that they probably not only do they give me the genetic disposition to have the problem and some of the triggers that would exist to create it. I'm not blaming them, don't get me wrong. But they also gifted me with the bravery to self-identify and be self-aware at the same time. Isn't that interesting that you both would coexist?   - Liesel Mertes Did you see some of that bravery for them in your upcoming light at the time?   - Paul Ashley No. As I now, as an adult, as a as a parent of five kids, I I see it. I see the bravery in hindsight, but not the.   - Paul Ashley That's certainly not in the moment. Yeah. You know, there's more blame and payment pain and blame than there was. Looking back and saying, you know, bless them for. Yeah. But they were able to do well.   - Liesel Mertes I mean, that's such an age where you're just beginning to make sense of who you are. Is there an emerging in the washer and what you take from your parents, what you choose to leave behind? Do you remember that as you're beginning to work with this friend's father of just I imagine I could feel really tumultuous, like my parents have given this to me or they've wounded me in this way. Do feel free.   - Paul Ashley Yeah, I think there's a definite wounding, you know, the wounds, wounds as you have as a child. And, you know, even today it almost 43. I'll be 43. And in April this year, happy. Almost. Thank you for almost having a birthday.   - Paul Ashley Yes. I think there's still that childhood wound that doesn't fully go away. Not at all. Does it fully go away? Yeah. It's just it's hard. You know, even though I I'm blessed that I've been connected with Cindy Rep. Ragsdale. Yeah. You know, Cindy.   I do. And and her husband. Unbelievable artist Kyle, her husband.   - Liesel Mertes My husband and I have gone to marital counseling with Cindy. Well, let's just say I have sat in her office.   - Paul Ashley So this is the Cindy Ragsdale fan club right here.   - Paul Ashley So Cindy and I have been working together for probably a year and a half now, 18 months, pretty consistently. You know, every three weeks, give or take. And, you know, we're, we're, we're going back and dealing with some of those childhood wounds.   - Paul Ashley But the big realization I have from all that is that that the things you did as a child to cope, survive and thrive were were the right things and they were effective. It's as you get later in life and continue to work on yourself and become try to become the whole you that you're supposed to become. You begin to realize that those same skills that were really effective as a child becomes super and potentially super ineffective and damaging as an adult. Right.   - Paul Ashley Right. But there's grace in that. Yeah. Like, that's okay. And you you don't you don't trash the old behavior because it was what you needed at the time. And you just you sort of learned to evolve throughout that process. That's kind of where I'm at right now in terms of that counseling. And, you know, there's bad behaviors that again, sins of the fathers. Right. Like, right. If I don't if I don't do my thing to get healthier, I'm I'm just kicking the can down the genetic stream to my kids and their kids and their kid's kids.   - Liesel Mertes Well, it's it's a brave and painful journey and not be able to do that work. And like you said, to to work is not to evade, but to sidestep some of this weirdly inside eddies that are all about like, oh, man, I'm so messed up and I've been messed up since I was six. And I started doing, you know, this thing to survive and to be able say, you know what, I'm recognizing that that exactly what you said was what I needed to survive at that time.   - Liesel Mertes But that doesn't mean that I, as a choosing an aware person, have to keep being hijacked. Right. That pattern.   - Liesel Mertes Exactly. And breaking. It's not easy because it served you well, right? It's certainly not your neural pathways.   - Paul Ashley Ray, there's some neural pathways that are pretty solid. Yeah. Based on survival.   MUSICAL TRANSITION - Paul Ashley And so it was like I thought of this thing. It was crazy. Help me. That's all I had, which was all I needed at the time. And I think that was what I've taken from that is I've as time has gone on, I've been more willing to be more public about my journey. I think to realizations. Number one, being able to say this is this this journey with depression has existed in my life continuously since I was 17 and now at 43, realizing it's probably never going to be cured.   - Paul Ashley Air quotes inserted here, right. Like it's not going to go away. It's probably always going to be present. OK, so relax. Except that doesn't mean you're broken. Doesn't mean you're messed up. It just means that's true. Yeah.   - Liesel Mertes If someone were to say, well, I'll feel sad sometimes. Yeah. How does depression feel or look different? Like what are the undertones? Does depression for you? Come on, quickly. Is it cyclical? How is that looking for someone who would say it hasn't been a part of my story?   - Paul Ashley Yeah, I mean, sadness exists in this world no matter what your clinical background is, you know? But there are sad things that happen all the time. Life events and and sad, you know, occurrences, I would say. For me, depression is more like the consistent who who I am. And I don't know that it's cyclical. It's it's always present. But it does have general peaks and valleys. And a lot of those peaks and valleys depend on sort of what I'm doing to either take care or not take care of myself.   - Liesel Mertes Right. So when you're not taking care of yourself, what does that look like and where do you find yourself going?   - Paul Ashley Problem biggest indicator for me of how I feel when those, you know, sort of the values are more present is our mornings where it feels like it is every fiber in my being to get out of bed, you know, to simply put the feet on the floor and get out of bed and face the day like, I don't even want to go to bed. I just want to close my eyes and never get out of that. Get out of bed.   - Paul Ashley And there's been some seasons where I have had I don't have suicidal thoughts. Is there nothing like ideation with a start of a plan like I had when I was 17? But I've have had thoughts at times when those valleys are true.   - Paul Ashley In addition to get out of bed where it is, where I've had some sort of like like man officious was if this life was just over, there would just be this all would be solved. Like the pain would be gone. I'd be fine.   - Liesel Mertes And how does the day progress from there? Where is that reckoning of like, oh, I only want to get out of bed.   - Paul Ashley And there's some days we're all cancel meeting or all. And this doesn't happen anytime recently, but I'll cancel a meeting or, you know, get up at the last possible second.   - Paul Ashley You know, like, can I get 30 more seconds but not facing the world and think the other thing that I see to do is withdraw from mostly with the family, for my wife and my five kids, you know, getting sucked into social media as a escapism. I think that you see a lot of that too little. That's adult a._d._d as well. But the addiction of social media made to be addictive. Right. Like, they literally have designs.   - Liesel Mertes They're not doing this by mistake. So I think those are probably some indicators that I see. Right.   - Paul Ashley What's interesting about, you know, my role professionally is I'm in an advisory role and I'm also in a business development role. And so this idea of being onstage and performing those two can sometimes not mix so well. Luckily, I've been able to, you know, particularly the last 10 years, been pretty successful despite this ever present friend that I call depression.   - Paul Ashley And then in the writing and in in conversation with you and other people, I I phrased it a little differently every time. But I essentially say when I tell people about my journey with depression and oftentimes the reaction I will get, which is not they don't mean harm and it doesn't hurt me, is really. Yeah, you you're depressed or you, you have depression or really this is a journey you've been on. But Paul, you're literally one of the most fun guys to be around in your.   - Paul Ashley So you're the life of the party and you're engaging. And my response to them is, yes, both are true and literally at the same time, which surges like day. Right.   - Paul Ashley And that's a that is that dichotomy is really weird. And it's sort of in some ways beautiful and painful.   I’ve been at events that Paul has hosted.  He is high-energy, with a warm smile and a quick retort:  a talented connector and facilitator.  But this sense of being on came with a cost.    - Paul Ashley I hold it together at work. When those those episodes are seasons are there. And then at home, I'm just darn near worthless.   - Paul Ashley You know, I I see the damage. I see the damage that is done at home. And Amy and I have a really solid marriage and a great relationship. And it's almost 19 years now. But there are you know, there are seasons and days I can't get back. And I think she's as an adult, she's more aware and gracious. I think it's really it's been really hard at times on the kids.   - Paul Ashley Yeah. So. So the kid, the kids of, you know, they're they're resilient. Right. So they'll bounce like the seasons that I've where I've done damage by not being present, you know, much like I'm I'm resilient from my childhood. They're gonna eventually be fine. But it it hurts.   - Liesel Mertes Is there a conversation? Because there is a complex web of modeling, genetics, stress points. That is not something that's easily clinically or relationally passed out. Yeah, but there is an element of, like you said, aspects that run through families that make children predisposed towards certain behaviors and your own journey. How do you find yourself talking and framing life experience around depression or anxiety to your children to equip them in ways that perhaps you were underequipped?   - Paul Ashley I think that's the next horizon for me and my journey. I think where I've been able to be a little more clearer for what I need a little more clear about sharing. Publicly out in the world where I don't have relations, like I think the next horizon is figuring out how to be public with my kids in a way that's productive for them and for me, but also realizing there are five different humans at four different ages. Right. Right.   - Paul Ashley And you know what? I know I've hurt them because I'm a human. And that's what we heard our kids, even though we don't want to. And so what can I do to equip them, to help them understand why that is, how these reasons and things have happened?   - Liesel Mertes Well, I'm struck that as you're living those questions towards their answers. That's his own gift that you give not only to your children to equip them more, but hopefully, you know, it's not just this aspirational like American dream, but to equip our children, to not have to make the same sorts of mistakes in the same kind of way. And then should they have children to equip them to give even more and to be able to pass wisdom down?   - Paul Ashley Yeah. Yeah. And it's a I mean, they're dealing with things as adolescence that I never had to because they're they have a supercomputer in their pocket. Right. I didn't have that.   - Liesel Mertes Well, they have so many feedback mechanisms to when we talk about some of the things that can spark whether anxious episodes are depressing. You know, so often it is based off of perceived social cues. And you're so inundated with so many people's thoughts and likes and dislikes of you all the time. It's just a different psychological reckoning.   - Paul Ashley It's really is. And being a kid isn't easy. Right. Never has been. And I think it's not going to be easier.   - Liesel Mertes Well, and it's always good to remember, I think as a child, you actually as you encounter the escalation of life stresses, you don't actually know if you're going to survive them or not. Like it's only through surviving the chaos of that first time that you can have any sort of sense of building resiliency. And so the the pitch sometimes of of children's emotion to be like, well, they're not sure if they're going to die from this pain or not, you know, and it's it's survivors slowly like and living through it when you are in the midst of.   - Paul Ashley A depressive season. That's the word I use. Season, season. What are some of the things that have proven helpful for you not to, like, suddenly snap out of it, but that are helpful?   - Paul Ashley So I think talking about it is probably the most helpful because that that whole if it's if it's hidden away in its secret, that's where it festers. And, you know, as a person of faith, I think there's a spirituality that there's a kind of spiritual warfare going on there. But if you don't talk about it. You know this. The you know, the devil can steel industry. Right. You know, that's how I would describe it for somebody who's not a spiritual person.   - Paul Ashley I just think things in secret versus things that are brought out in truth are damaging. Yeah, I mean, the secret is damaging. Truth is his life-giving. So talking about it, whether that's a counselor or a confidant and a friend, whatever.   - Paul Ashley It just any conversation, most any conversation should be helpful with somebody you trust. Sleep healthy sleep, which I know is kind of ironic when I say I can't get out of bed. But having a healthy sleep pattern has been helpful.   - Paul Ashley Exercise is, you know, clinically been proven. That is one of the best ways to fight depression, even without medication. You know, the way your body doesn't have to be, you have to be a marathon runner. You know, do.   - Paul Ashley What does that crazy gym thing called   - Liesel Mertes CrossFit.   - Paul Ashley CrossFit, you know, to be a CrossFit expert. Right. You just have to get out and get your heart rate up a little for 20 or 30 minutes every day. And that's the science on that. Is that what it does from an endorphin perspective and sort of a natural defense mechanism to depression?   - Paul Ashley So a little bit of exercise or lot, if that's your thing. Diet certainly plays. You know, if I if I eat foods that are way too regain, you know, eat too late at night. And, you know, if I if I alcohol's at the presence of I, you know, entertaining and I have too much alcohol. That doesn't help. And then, you know, for me, medication and medication is not for everybody. And it's not exact science either.   - Paul Ashley It's a search for what works best.   - Paul Ashley And I think kind of any combination of those have really been helpful.   These are all personal things that Paul does to manage his depression.  However, as a benefits specialist, he also has a lot to add about how employers can help their people as they live with depression.    - Paul Ashley And you know, in the workplace there's all sorts of stuff like, you know, most employers have what's called an EAP   - Liesel Mertes  An Employee Assistance Program.   - Paul Ashley Those EAPs can be super helpful. Yeah. It's like if you're a leader and you have somebody in your team who you think is struggling, you as the leader call that the EAP and say, here's what's happening. And they they these are professionals. They can help you.   - Liesel Mertes So for people who don't know EAP are license agreements with clinical providers to be able to have as a resource for your people to call to get help to hook appointments?   - Paul Ashley All sorts of stuff. Right. Yeah. And they're highly underutilized. Yes, they are. So employers pay for this or it's it's included as a value add in certain products they buy.   Paul also notes how the Canadian system is structured in a way that invites employers to be a part of solutions.    - Paul Ashley They have an opportunity to to create perks that because they're not paying for while they're paying for it, but because they're not providing basic health care.   - Paul Ashley The government takes care of that. They then to attract and retain employees have to be thoughtful about what their different perks are. And one of the things the Canadians have done is and the workforce that the employers believe they have a role to play in helping people with mental health and that it's something that's talked about in the workplace. And it's a benefit that is well thought of. And there's different models that employers provide above and beyond what the health care system does.   - Paul Ashley And so as I go to industry conferences, the Certified Employee Benefits Specialists, which is a designation I have. We do our national symposium or the international symposium every year because our Canadian friends are there. And it's I always stop in and listen to what they're doing on the Canadian track, because what they're talking about in terms of mental health in the workplace is so far ahead of where we are. I mean, they're probably a good 20 years.   - Paul Ashley It's like awareness, specific support systems, counselors on site, incentives to seeking out care, whether it's the stigma is different.   - Paul Ashley I mean, there is probably still a stigma not being in it. It's hard to say, but it feels like the stigma is less if nonexistent.   - Paul Ashley It feels like they invest from an employer perspective in programs, telephonic support apps, you know, various different modules and modes to support people, investment of time and dollars and just a cultural difference as seen as a lot more of a buy in.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   - Liesel Mertes When you're in a depressive season, what are things that people either purposefully or inadvertently say or do like is not helpful?   - Paul Ashley I think I used to be bugged by the the thing of, well, you can't be depressed. You're super happy. Right, like that. That can be hurtful. How?   - Liesel Mertes Tell me more about that. What level does that hit for you?   - Paul Ashley Because it dismisses it dismisses who who I am or whoever that person is. You're saying it, too. It dismisses who their whole self is. Yes. Right. Again, the dichotomy of the fact that I have depression, yet I'm a hoot to be at be at a party with or are both true and at the same time. And if you dismiss either part of that, like all, if you're depressed, you can have fun.   - Paul Ashley If you're fine, you can be depressed. Right. You're basically saying I'm not me, and that's offensive.   - Liesel Mertes What does it feel? Also, I can imagine I could feel like you're invalidating what I'm saying. Yeah. And that what I'm saying could be true. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.   - Paul Ashley But. There's no way you're depressed. You're too much fun to be around. Really? You really want to see that?   - Paul Ashley You really come on over it. Yeah. Come on. Come on over all. You live in me for a while and you'll get me a real back.   But that's over. I'll show you. I'll show you. Depressed. So that can be hurtful.   - Paul Ashley And, you know, ninety nine point nine percent the time people are not trying to trying to be hurtful. I think the other one this just popped in my mind.   - Liesel Mertes Bless these people.   - Paul Ashley So the other one is in Communities of Faith Church and my you know, Christian Church.   - Paul Ashley I've had people say, well, you know, you just pray harder and have a little more faith. God will take away your depression.   - Paul Ashley Do you not think that I haven't already brought this to God and said, if you know, if you 're willing take this away, make this not be part of who I am. Do you not think I haven't tried that? Yeah. Do you not think that hasn't been part of my faith journey? Right. That hurts a lot.   - Paul Ashley Like that is unbelievably right. Because that's not you know, that that's just it's just not it's just not true. I mean, that's just not how God works.   - Liesel Mertes  I think you touched on this, but I don't know if you say it differently. If you could give a greater awareness to people who have not experienced depression. What would you want them to know? What would you feel is really important?   - Paul Ashley That people who are suffering from depression all don't look the same. And. It can be as debilitating as any other chronic illness that you've ever heard of, like diabetes or cancer or things of that nature and that, but it is because it has been stigmatized and it's harder to see.   - Paul Ashley That you sometimes don't even know who's walking around with it. Yeah. And that's just another proof point that we need to just be a little nicer to each other, right? Because you don't know what somebody's carrying around with them.   - Paul Ashley I thought about that thought about any disease, just that, you know, everything you everything you need to know, like you learned in kindergarten. Yeah. Right. It's just be nice.   - Paul Ashley Try to be what good does it quantify a little bit and then come back and then come back and try again.   - Liesel Mertes I'm struck with in your story, as I said, you had a noteworthy ability early on to be seeking community. As a 17 year old, to be not just internalizing it and keeping it private. If someone is listening and they say I know someone who man, they're definitely depressed, but they're, they're not doing some of those things like they're not they're not exercising, making healthy choices. They're not utilizing a counselor. They're depressed. And it's very much something that's tightly held for them.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, for support people. They can often feel at their wits end of wanting to make a difference, but being unable to. What would you say for those people that are listening and they say, I don't know how to help someone like that?   - Paul Ashley Well, they're not an actual clinician. Don't try to be one because you can do more damage than good.   - Paul Ashley And sometimes pursuing them and asking them to do things, you know, that they historically have found to be fond or enjoyable and asking them to do them with you, even if they reject you multiple times, continue to ask, because sometimes all you really need to do when you're in those depressive seasons is simply get out and start living. Go for what if if going for a walk was your thing. And bottom for a walk if you are going to see a movie is their thing environment.   - Paul Ashley But you may have to ask again and again and again and again. Right. And that's something that anybody can do, is join them in something, you know, they enjoy and get them. Just get them moving. Get them living. Be willing to be persistent. Yes. Yes. Yeah.   - Paul Ashley And sometimes if somebody is really suffering, sometimes it's just simply out your relationship simply go into their house and just being present. Mm hmm. Yeah.   - Paul Ashley Just physically present and not. I've never been in that stage where I've that's I've never gotten that bad. But I can see why that would be a spot where if somebody that truly cared about you just showed up and just sat there and didn't necessarily want you to talk, you just weren't alone and you knew somebody cared. Right.   - Paul Ashley That can go a long way. And that can be its own practice of self-discipline and restraint for the person who arrives for the caregiver.   - Paul Ashley Yeah. Oh, yeah. Do not say all the things that are perhaps at the tip of their tongue. Be that advice or you just need to hear this or.   - Paul Ashley Yeah. I don't know that they need to just show up and be silent the whole time. But if the person doesn't wanna engage and talk, I mean you ask a few open to the questions. Right. How are you today. Would you want to do it? Still try to engage them. But if if all you get is silence just being followed, you'd be amazed at how much presence can you help   We are going to move, in a moment, to the three key take-aways from this episode.  But I want to remind you that Paul is currently engaged in a great advocacy campaign to raise money and awareness from now until May 9 of 2020 for the leukemia, lymphoma society man and woman of the year.    - Paul Ashley I t's about raising money for L.A. less. And L.A. Less is an amazing organization that does work in research, huge research, patient advocacy and resource connection for families.   Paul is inspired by the cause and by Finn Stallings, who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five and, three and a half years later, Finn just rang the bell to signal that his treatments were over.  I’ve donated to support Paul and Finn and this meaningful research and I am including a link in the show notes so you can too.    MUSICAL TRANSITION   Here are three take-aways from my conversation with Paul   If someone confides in you about their depression, listen and resist the urge to say something that minimizes their disclosure.  Paul was especially triggered by statements like “But you are always so happy!”  Which leads to my second point Depression can take all different forms.A person that is often “on” in their job function can be absolutely exhausted at home.  Widening our perception of what depression looks like (and how debilitating it can be) will go a long way to breaking down the stigmas that promote a culture of silence.  If you know someone that is struggling with depression, regularly checking in with them can be really important.Remember, as you make contact with them, they might not respond initially, you might need to continue checking in.  As Paul said, coming alongside them and doing something that they have enjoyed in the past or just showing up to be with them, even if that means not talking for awhile, can powerfully show support.    As we close, I want to thank our sponsors.  FullStack PEO is the premier benefits provider for small businesses and entrepreneurs.  They give you great options, their staff is top-notch.  Let FullStack handle your benefits so you can get back to work.  We are also welcoming Motivosity as a sponsor.  Motivosity is a software solution that creates motivated employees and helps to spread fun and gratitude.  Finally, we are sponsored by Handle with Care Consulting.  Through interactive workshops and keynotes, we help you offer support when it matters most.   OUTRO   https://pages.lls.org/mwoy/in/indy20/pashley - Man of the Year Campaign https://firstpersonadvisors.com/paul-ashley/ - FirstPerson/Paul Ashley bio page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCrniLQGYc – WHO Black Dog video https://www.bizvoicemagazine.com/interactive/2020/03/index.html#p=16 – Reducing the Stigma, BizVoice Magazine Article    

The Gray Beards unfiltered? Really? You may have thought this was the case all along. Maybe not. Tune into this conversation on politics, social media, and a few other things and you'll gain an even greater understanding of who we are and what we stand for. The National Anthem is one thing we STAND for and you should too! Enjoy...

How to Be Authentic and Live Confidently as Yourself   1:19 How to Be Authentic 17:03 Being Authentic with Sarah Dubbeldam 41:10 Encouragement: God Did Not Create You to Berate You Resources 2020 Business Boutique Goal Planner Get going on your goals and make 2020 your best year yet! Order the new Business Boutique 2020 Goal Planner at BusinessBoutique.com/Planner and use the code BBPLANNER to receive Christy’s Setting Goals video that you can watch right now! If you have a success story you would like to share with the Business Boutique community, email me at podcast@businessboutique.com. New podcast episodes are available every other week. Be confident in your authenticity, even when life and other people try to push you around or tell you to be someone you're not. A couple of years ago, I was asked to write an article for a very professional publication. Their readers are intellectuals, academics, and probably more conservative and elite. So, you can imagine my surprise that they wanted me—someone who prefers to be more casual and down to earth—to write an article for them about starting a business. I submitted the article and was a little surprised when they came back with feedback that the tone of my writing was “too chatty.” I was like, Really? You’re surprised by that? Have you not heard me speak, read my blogs, or listened to one of my podcasts? Because that tone is actually my entire brand! I remember thinking, If you don't want chatty, then you probably don't want me. Related: Ep 86: Be More Confident by Believing in Yourself I felt like this publication wanted me to be someone I wasn't. They wanted me to write like an academic with big fancy words, and that's just not how I write, talk or connect with people. Thankfully, we ended up getting to a good place where they felt like the article met their standards and could be published while staying true to my voice. But it was really eye-opening for me to realize how important it is to not only be authentic, but to be confident in that authenticity, even when life and other people try to push you around or tell you to be someone you're not. That's why today I want to walk you through how to be authentic in your daily life. This is going to help you not only be authentic, but also remain authentic no matter who tries to push you around. Let’s jump right in . . . How to Be Authentic 1. Be vulnerable. Let me go ahead and start by saying this is not my idea. Brené Brown introduced this idea of vulnerability years ago with her book Daring Greatly and her TED Talk “The Power of Vulnerability.” It's a brilliant concept that says, as we step out in vulnerability—as we open ourselves up, not just to pain but also to love—we’re able to have deeper connections and a deeper sense of confidence in who we really are. As an Enneagram eight, vulnerability is really hard for me. So often I want to put up a tough exterior like I've got it all together. But the truth this: Authenticity is about trueness, and you can’t live your truest self without being vulnerable. If you’re always holding back a piece of yourself or hiding behind a tough exterior, how can you become who God created you to be? That’s why vulnerability is so important when it comes to being authentic. 2. Tell the truth. There are two extremes when it comes to telling the truth: There are those who never share the truth, and those who refuse to accept the truth. Those who never want to share the truth lack the ability to be vulnerable. They want to act like everything is always great, so when someone asks how they’re doing—even if they’re going through a hard time or their kids are driving them crazy—their response is always, “Oh, I’m fine. I'm doing great.” The other extreme are those who downplay or don’t acknowledge when things are going well in their lives. You know, this person: You give them a compliment about a beautiful meal, a flattering dress, or the way they lead the charge on a big project at work, and they dismiss it or downplay it. They say something like, “Oh, this old thing?” or “It was really a team effort. I didn’t do much.” Related: Ep 83: Develop Self-Awareness and Turn Your Weaknesses Into Strengths When you dismiss compliments, you're not only dismissing your own sense of confidence in that moment, but you're also dismissing the truth. So, instead of always rejecting the kind things people say about you, resist the urge to say anything other than thank you. To live a more authentic life, tell the truth—when things aren’t going well and when they are. 3. Know your values. So often we identify with the roles we play, like wife, mom, sister, friend, leader, etc. And what's interesting is, if we're not careful, we’ll always operate from the surface level of our roles. We’ll fulfill tasks for the people in our lives while missing the deeper layer of what our mind and our heart truly desires and values. We say things like: “I’d love to work out, but I don't have time to. I value playing with my kids outside, but by the time I get home from work, I don't have any energy left. I’d love to go on a vacation with my husband, but we haven't even been on a date in months.” How can you say you truly value those things when you don’t actually do them? When you don't spend your life and your time on things that are important to you, you'll live your life stressed, anxious and exhausted because there's an inconsistency between what you value and what your life actually reflects. So, a key to being authentic is to close that gap—to identify what’s important to you, and then actually do those things. 4. Love yourself. It's amazing how we—women especially—will spend our entire day, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, beating ourselves up about how we look, how we dress, how we keep our house, how we parent our kids, how we fail at work, etc. It’s an all day, every day narrative in our head that is mean and exhausting. But you know what? You can't offer something you don't have, and you can't lead others where you are not. So, if you want to love people in your life, sister, you better love yourself first. I love how Brené Brown says, “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” Here’s a really practical tip to help you do that: Go to your Bible! God has some amazing things to say about you. He says He delights over you with singing. That He knit you together in your mother's womb. That He would move heaven and earth for you. That he chose you and that he loves you. You are precious in his sight. Replace the lies in your head and heart with those truths. If you’ll practice these four things, you’ll be on your way to living a much more authentic life—one that is true to you and that you’re proud of. Being Authentic with Sarah Dubbeldam I'm so excited about my guest today, Sarah Dubbeldam! Sarah is the founder and creative director of Darling Media and Darling magazine, a publication that celebrates real women. I love this magazine so much. They have a beautiful quote on the back of their magazine that I believe illustrates what it means to live authentically. It says: “Darling is the art of being a woman. Darling magazine holds the modern mold of women up to the fire to evoke a discussion on femininity and reshape an authentic design. Darling is a catalyst for positive change; leading women to discover beauty apart from vanity, influence apart from manipulation, style apart from materialism, sweetness apart from passivity, and womanhood without degradation. Darling leads women to practice the arts of virtue, wit, modesty and wisdom, all while creating beauty and embodying love. Darling says women are not only interesting but original, not only good enough, but exceptional, not just here but here for a purpose.” On this episode, Sarah and I talk about: Why it’s so important to live according to your values What modesty actually means and what it looks like How living authentically leads to living confidently Encouragement: God Did Not Create You to Berate You A few months ago, I had an experience that absolutely rocked me to my core. My husband, Matt, and I were hanging out at our friend’s house for a cookout. The weather was amazing so we—the adults and the kids—were hanging out in the backyard. My husband watched the boys while I ate, and when I finished, I told him I’d take over watching the boys so he could go inside and get some food. Well, I went to throw my plate of food away, and the next thing I know, I see my husband running out of the back door to the front of the house. And as soon as I saw him dart past me, I knew what had happened: Conley, my son, had run off. I took off after my husband and saw Conley standing at the end of the driveway with his toes on the street as cars were flying by. Thank God we got him. Nothing happened. But him getting out of the backyard and near the street was my fault. I was supposed to be watching him. I cried the rest of the day and kept thinking, How could I be so stupid? What must my husband think of me? What must my friends think? Those thoughts went on and on as I beat myself up about the mistake I’d made. Now, I want to be clear: The mistake I made that day—taking my eyes off Conley—was not okay. But you know what else was not okay? How I lived in that shame for the rest of the day. Related: Ep 76: Practice Self-Care and Give Yourself Grace As I was praying throughout the day—praying and crying and praying and crying—I felt God say to me, “Christy, we’re a team. Conley is my son too, and I'm going to help you when you fall short. I'm going to be there. There's grace for you in your mistakes.” I was so incredibly thankful for that reminder. And today, I just want to remind you: When you have those kind of voices in your head—when you make a mistake or you slip up and you're just beating yourself up—I want you to stop and ask yourself a question: Is this what God says about me? Because I guarantee you, those voices are not from God because God did not create you to berate you. God will coach. He will correct. He will convict. He will help you grow, improve and mature. But He will not tear you down. He is a God who builds up. He is a God who gives grace. He is a God who shows up. And He is a God who loves His children. God doesn't just love Conley. God loves me—even in my flaws, my failures and my setbacks. I love how the Bible reminds us that God is love. First and foremost, God is loving. So, if the thoughts you're feeling or the words you're hearing in your mind aren’t loving, then they're not from God. At the end of the day, the most important identity you take on is that of a loved, chosen daughter of the King. Rest in that today. I hope this not only encourages you to appreciate someone that might be wired differently than you, but also gives you some practical tips to work better with them.

What's that Autumn? You wear WHAT type of underwear?! Are you sure you want to give THAT MUCH detail? It's very descriptive. Graphic even. Oh my god, did you really just reveal that? My heart is pounding. Really? You want to post pictures of it? Photos that are accessible via code that only people who listen to the whole episode get? Okay...suit yourself.* *The episode may or may not match the above description.

Did you ever wonder why IT diagrams always use a cloud to show an element where stuff goes in and comes out, but we're not 100% sure what happens inside? That was originally called a "TAMO Cloud" - which stood for "Then A Miracle Occurred". It indicated an area of tech that was inscruitable, but nevertheless something we saw as reliable and consistent in it's output. For IT pros who hold a strong religious, ethical, or moral point of view, our journey has had its own sort of TAMO Cloud - where grounded technology and lofty philosophical ideals blend in ways that can be anything from challenging to uplifting to humbling. In this series, we sit down with members of the IT community to explore their journeys - both technical and theological - and see what lessons we can glean from where they've been, where they are today, and where they see themselves in the future. This episode features my talk with Programmer Chaim Weiss. Listen or read the transcript below. Doug: 00:00 Welcome to our podcast where we talk about the interesting, frustrating and inspiring experiences we have as people with strongly held religious views working in corporate IT. We're not here to preach or teach you our religion. We're here to explore ways we make our career as IT professionals mesh or at least not conflict with our religious life. This is Technically Religious. Leon: 00:24 Did you ever wonder why IT diagrams always use a cloud to show an element where stuff goes in and comes out, but we're not 100% sure what happens inside? That was originally called a TAMO cloud, which stood for Then A Miracle Occurred. It indicated an area of tech that was inscrutable, but nevertheless something we saw as reliable and consistent in its output. For IT pros who hold a strong religious, ethical or moral point of view, our journey has had its own sort of TAMO cloud, where grounded technology and lofty philosophical ideals blend in ways that can be anything from challenging to uplifting to humbling. In this series, we sit down with members of the IT community to explore their journeys, both technical and theological and see what lessons we can glean from where they've been, where they are today, and where they see themselves in the future. My name is Leon Adato and the other voice you're going to hear on this episode is Chaim Weiss. Chaim: 01:15 Hi. Leon: 01:16 Hey there. So thank you so much for joining on this particular episode of Technically Religious. Before we dive into things, I want to, uh, do a little bit of shameless self promotion. Chaim, tell us a little bit about who are you and where you work and where people can find you. Chaim: 01:30 Yeah. Hi everybody. Hi, I'm Chaim Weiss. Here right now I am a front end angular developer working at Decision Link. We're doing some front end work. If you want to get a hold of me, I'm, I'm on LinkedIn. Get messaged me. Say hi. Leon: 01:43 And how do you identify? Like are you Buddhist? Are you Hindu? Like what's your religious point of view? Chaim: 01:48 Yes. Oh yes. And I am a, I consider myself an Orthodox Jew. Leon: 01:52 There we go. Okay. Boring because I am too. Can we get some variety here? That's all right. But at least birds of a feather. And I should do, I should do the same intros. Uh, my name is Leon Adato. I'm a Head Geek at SolarWinds. Yes, that's actually my job title and SolarWinds is neither solar nor wind. It's all geek. Uh, you can find me on Twitter @LeonAdato. Uh, you can also hear my musings and ponderings that I write about, uh, on the website AdatoSystems.com. As I said, I also identify as Orthodox Jewish. And if you're a scribbling madly trying to write down all those websites, don't bother, just sit back, relax, enjoy the conversation that's about to occur because, uh, we'll have some show notes and all the links to everything we've talked about is going to be in there so you can just relax and leave the driving to us. So I want to start off with the technical side of things. Um, tell me a little bit more about what kind of work you're doing today in technology. Chaim: 02:48 So right now today I'm doing some front end work building a website. We have this app, awesome app, and it's actually kind of a startup really started doing really well, but they need a website, everyone needs a website. Everyone needs an app. We're doing the front end work. I'm in the JavaScript world of programming. It's programming. Programming is awesome. There's front, then there's backend, done it all. It's all awesome. I recommend it to everybody, I think. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it. Leon: 03:14 Right. Everyone should be a programmer. Everybody. You! You're a plumber. You should still be a programmer. Yeah. Yeah. And did you start out as a programmer when you first thought about a career or you know, you just start someplace else? Chaim: 03:29 Actually, I'm funny you ask, I started, I started my career. I started teaching. I was here in local and Cleveland. I was teaching in one of the, one of the religious institutions in the Beachwood Kollel. I was there for a number of years and throughout those years I knew nothing of tech. Everyone said, "You needed something in tech? Don't, don't ask. Chaim. Oh, he doesn't know what he's doing." Uh, last time, how often was I on a computer? Almost never. Microsoft word. Maybe. I knew nothing of nothing. I, I w I mean, I was, I was, had a great time. I was doing my teaching all my teaching I wanted to do, but had very little attack. Very little. No computers. I wasn't um. I had a flip phone, a flip phone! Nothing. Imagine I didn't even have an email address, can you imagine? Leon: 04:22 Ya. Luddite! Chaim: 04:24 Yeah. Yes. I had nothing but after a few years, there was an amazing, incredible course that I took. It was of course, the, the amazing Head Geek of SolarWinds, the, the handsome, famous Leon Adato decided he was going to open up a computer course and say, "Hey, I know you guys." It was a few friends of mine. He said, "I know you guys know nothing about computers, but it's easy. It's not hard. You just need a little direction. "So he sat with us for quite a few weeks and taught us the ropes. And slowly but surely we were like, "Yeah, this is easy and big sense. Oh this, Oh, of course. And this is more than easy. This is fun. This is exciting." As we went on, as the weeks went on, we got more and more learned more and more until eventually I got, um, basically an internship out here in Cleveland and, uh, another fantastic place at FireCoding also here in Cleveland. Great place. He was mentoring and teaching. He had awesome clients. So I really learned to work ropes, real world programs and there are a lot of great programming and, and it really took off and I'm super happy. I did. Uh, I really enjoy what I do and I have fun doing it. Leon: 05:34 Nice. And thank you for the kind words. I appreciate. I'm, I'm, I'm over here blushing. Chaim: 05:38 I, I'm, I'm totally serious. It was fantastic. It was really great. Leon: 05:42 Yeah, well it was a, it was a really unique group of, of guys and that's the topic of a completely different podcast episode. I'll, I'll, what we need to do is get everybody back on and talk about those days. But, um, everybody worked really, really hard and they had, um, some really good brain power behind them because that's the only thing that that was gonna... That was the only thing that was going to get you from, from there to here. So you, you started off, like you said, with nothing much more than a flip phone, not even an email address. And now you're programming front end, back end, angular, javascript, .net. You know, the whole, the whole stack. Chaim: 06:20 The works! Leon: 06:20 That's, you know, that's fantastic. Um, so I wanna take the same set of questions and turn it around and talk about religion. Starting off with where you are now. Labels are hard and a lot of times when you ask somebody, "So, so what are you?" You know, somebody says, you know, "I'm, I'm Hindu or I'm Muslim" or whatever. It's like, well, what does that mean? Like what kind are you? And that's where a lot of the, "Well, I do this, but I don't do that. But there's this, but there's that." It's, it's more nuanced than a single title or label. So tell everyone a little bit about what Orthodox Judaism means for you. Like how, how that comes out for you. Chaim: 07:02 Yeah. So Orthodox Judaism, it's, it's, I've been doing it forever and before I was born. Leon: 07:09 (laughs) Infinitely I've been infinitely doing it? Chaim: 07:12 Yes. Yes. I, I, yeah, I was born doing it. I grew up doing it, went to school, doing it. For the first part. I, I don't, I don't even know of anything else until, until I got to see the other big part of the world. I thought that's all there was. Um, I, I went to school that was religious. I went to high school, Orthodox, religious, and that's what I'm doing. Everything was doing, it was just all about the rules, the laws, and following it all. So as I went on, um, I learned more. I, "Hey, there's, there's more to the world". And it was in the beginning as I was going out into the world, seeing things from other people's perspective, I have to understand, Hey, I know I'm Orthodox. They're not, they don't understand what I'm doing. They don't understand my customs. They don't even, they don't even, they even think they think I'm, I'm Amish. Leon: 08:00 This is a common, it's a common mistake. Chaim: 08:06 Yeah. Well it's really happened. Leon: 08:08 So that's an interesting point that your religious experience has been fairly consistent from, from birth forward. But I'm curious even within that, you know, did you find yourself, you know, when we grew up in our parents house, we take on their level of observance regardless of whether we were talking about, again, Islam or Judaism or Christianity or whatever, you know, our parents' houses, our parents' house, and that's what happens. But when you go out on your own, did you find that there was your own particular spin? Maybe, you know, you were doing some things more strictly or less strictly or not even on a spectrum of, of more or less, but just different. Did you find that that changed as you grew, as you started a family, those kinds of things? Chaim: 08:50 Um, interesting question because really, um, in religion, in, in anything specifically religious for anything that means something, you have to make it your own. Um, so if you, you want to be genuine, you want to be genuine. If you're just doing somethings out of rote because you always did it, it's not going to have as much meaning yet. You have to understand things and you ha you have to, you have to understand thing and do, do it for what you want. Right. So that'll automatically, sometimes you'll be different. On the other hand, I'll always understand that things are just out for me. People that are older, you are smarter than you. They know better. So yeah, no you don't. We don't just say, "I'm, I'm, I'm going to start this myself." But yes, I try everything. I go out of my way to try and do things different to, to understand, yeah. I go out of my way now that I was on my own. And married, had a family. Yeah. I'm doing things like... I don't want to do things just like before. I want to do it my own because I want to understand, I want it to be real. I want it to be genuine. Leon: 09:48 So we talked about the technical, we talked about the religious and I'm curious about now you've, you've been in tech for how long now? Chaim: 09:57 Close to three years. Leon: 09:58 Three years. Okay. So fairly early in your career, you know, um, we have some people on here, uh, on the podcast who've been doing it for you know, decades. Um, you know, some, uh, you know, moving on in some cases to half a century, um, in time. So, which is, you know, kind of mind boggling, but those people are around. So even this early in your career, has there been any situation that you found with the overlap between your, you know, religious life, which is a strongly held point of view. It's not just a nice to have, it's off on the side. It's sort of central to your life. So has there been a point where that created a conflict or a challenge or a hurdle that you had to get past to make it mesh with your technical career? Chaim: 10:45 Yeah, definitely. Until, until my career until three years ago. Right. Everything I did, I was teaching that was religious. When I jumped into, into the tech world. So that's, they care about deadlines. They don't care about religious. Leon: 10:58 (laughs) That IS the religion. The religion is "get it done" Chaim: 11:02 Yeah, exactly. So yeah, th th there were definitely things... There are definitely conflicts. And besides the conflicts, the people who are working with, they didn't even know about my conflicts. They said, "well, of course we're working late into the night Friday. Why wouldn't you?" They just don't understand. Now I know, Hey, I'm really just like, I can't work late late Friday, Friday and Friday night. We have, the sabbath, we can't... We can't do that. There's your conflict. But what I did notice, at least in up until now in my short career, people are great. Um, so for, in my situations, everyone's totally understanding. Everyone's, everyone's out to be, to be nice. I mean, you don't walk over anybody. You say, "Hey, I'd love to work it out. I have to make sacrifices. I'm going to work Saturday night to finish what I need to do for Friday." And everyone's okay with that. They're just, people just don't know. People love to hear. People love to listen to. People love to learn. They say, "Oh, you're Jewish. Oh, what does that mean? What does that mean to you? What do you have to do? What are the rules? Oh, you can't work Friday, Friday night. Oh wow. Really? The whole day, like, like no cheating. Oh my." Leon: 12:06 (laughs) I love it. No cheating. Yeah. My other favorite was "Every week?". Yeah. Sabbath comes every week. It's amazing like that. Chaim: 12:14 But, but people are accommodating. It's super nice how people who are, who don't share my views, don't, don't observe what I observed there. They're out there. Ultimately, you just ha if you're out, if you're open, everyone can get along. Everyone can be accommodating. You just have to be open and be clear and be straight, and then it's just, it's really great to have people work together. Leon: 12:35 That's wonderful. Okay, so that was, those were some of the challenges and how you, how you overcame them. I'm curious if they were any... That almost sounds like this, the second part of the question, which is, you know, were there any unexpected benefits or surprises where your religion actually ended up being a, a benefit that you didn't expect it to be? I think sometimes when we come into the technical workplace we think that our religious life and you know those restrictions are always going to be negatives, are going to be challenges or hurdles that we have to get over. But every once in a while there's something that just pops up and it's like, "Oh wow, this is like, this is like a secret super power. This is, this is a skill I didn't expect was going to be usable or leverageable in the workplace." I was curious if you've had anything like that. Chaim: 13:19 Um, so actually well there's the obvious one that since I do, I do religious holidays, so non religious holidays, I'm free to work on. Awesome. Beside for that and the Beachwood, Kollel, one of the things we did was we constantly, we were constantly learning, constantly studying, analyzing, going back and forth. The, the fighting, the, the figuring out to getting to the, uh, to the bottom of things that totally... That. Well, at least programming and I'm sure he played an all tech. Basically it's analyzing problems, coming up with solutions, figuring things out that that's what it is. And I knew that I could do that. That was great. Oh yeah. Figure out this problem. It's super exciting. I could do that. There was, it was totally fun and I, I've done this before, so that was pretty cool. Speaker 2: 14:03 yeah, you've, you've never done, you've never done this before, but you've done this before. Chaim: 14:06 Exactly Leon: 14:07 That's, that's the, it's a wonderful discovery when you realize that this, this whole set of skills that you'd honed for a completely different reason are applicable in this different context. That's wonderful. Do you have any final thoughts? Anything that you want to leave everybody who's listening, you know, with a little nugget of wisdom or just your experience or anything like that? Chaim: 14:28 The only thing I'd like to say is that I know I could tell you 15 years ago I did not think of, I did not think I would be here today. The world of tech was, was out of my horizons. I do not think it was possible to me. I was in a totally different world, but here I am. Really? You can do anything. It's but specifically the tech is. It's, it's there. It's out there for the taking and go for it. Leon: 14:48 Wonderful. All right. Hi, I'm thank you so much for joining me. Chaim: 14:52 Thank you so much for having me. Josh: 14:54 Thanks for making time for us this week to hear more of Technically Religious visit our website, TechnicallyReligious.com where you can find our other episodes, leave us ideas for future discussions and connect with us on social media.

In this episode Brian Ingraham goes through 12 tips connected to more accurately seeking to hear the leading of God from Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) and his sister Janice Rogers. These 12 tips are found near the end of their book "Is this Really You, Lord?" Also entitled, "Is this Really You, God?".

Who are you? Really? You, me and everyone on this planet is make believe. We define ourselves by a multitude of categories. Each of these categories are made up. But that shouldn’t worry you. You are beyond explanation, categories. You are light and Love and that is what people really experience. Let’s talk about it. Become a super-fan of ZEN commuter and 5 Minute mojo and receive bonuses exclusively for Patreon subscribers. THANKS FOR LISTENING! Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page. Also, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful, they help it reach a wider audience.  The more positive reviews the higher in the rankings it goes.  Of course that means more peace in the world.  So please let me know what you think.  I read ever one of them. If you have an idea for a topic or just want to say hey, drop me an email. The best part of producing ZEN commuter and 5 Minute Mojo is talking with listeners.  Don't be shy.  Drop me a line. 

Video games and the gym? Really? You bet! Does Batman skip Leg Day? NO! So neither should you! To us, nerdiness and the gym is a match made in heaven; like peanut butter and jelly, or Pikachu and Ash. We talk video game and gym stereotypes, some #motivationmonday, and how some clichés have changed. Also, how can we help each other at the gym? Follow us on Instagram @superswolebrothers Leave us a voice message on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/superswolebros and follow us on Facebook!!! https://www.facebook.com/sswolebros Oh yeah... #getswole ... #kangaroosensei --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/superswolebros/message

When writing a headline for your email or your sales page, one of the most effective practices is to try challenging your readers. Specifically, it’s about challenging one of their deeply held beliefs. If you’re a health and wellness coach or a nutrition expert, your headline may be something along the lines of: “Everything You Thought You Knew About Cholesterol Is a LIE” or “What If Your Keto Diet Is Only 10% Effective?” What you’re doing is you’re challenging what their doctor, their cardiologist, their personal trainer, even their spouse has told them for years. It catches their attention and creates an opportunity for you to engage with their skepticism. “Everything I believe about my cholesterol is a lie? Really? You must be crazy, so I’m curious and I’m going to keep reading…” That’s the reaction we’re aiming for: we want them to be surprised, maybe even defensive. It gives you a chance to clearly lay out your argument in a way that’s designed to help them have a better tomorrow starting today. Think about one deeply held belief that your audience has that you’re wanting to challenge or even question. Create one piece of content today, whether that’s an article, a video, a podcast episode, whatever you choose, and challenge that belief with your content. Have fun and remember, your Message matters. The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

It's easy to go through life wearing masks, pretending to be something you are not. Love is honest. Build your marriage with honest love. A love that is secure in whose you are, not by your personal accomplishments or the decorative masks you wear. Desire to be supported and encourage by other like-minded women? Join us at Women of IMPACT. http://bit.ly/WomenofIMPACT Not a prideful attitude --- "I've got it all together!" Really??? You don't! You can pretend all you want. But eventually, your hiding place in your heart of pride will be found out. You'll be pushed to make a change one way or another. Relationships can't survive on whims and masks. Marriage isn't pretend. It's real life, moving forward or backwards. Think about how your marriage is. Your relationship with your spouse. Is it open and honest, all fears and flaws exposed? Or are you hiding in the swamp of chaotic make believe? It's time to climb out of your hiding place. The K.I.S.S. ~ Love is honest! When you are honest, you are sincere in heart, action, mind, and body. There is a commanding truthfulness that fills your life. "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." ~ 1 Timothy 1:5 God wants to see your marriage succeed. He wants to see joy in your heart. But you can't envelop yourself in joy and what God desires for you when you are wearing masks, pretending to be someone you are not. There is no sincerity when you can't be you. You must be willing to break the mold of masks. So what is it going to take for you to break-free of the masks? No more masquerade balls. The party is over. The time is now to focus on your marriage and make each other a priority. Whether or not you think your spouse will be onboard, you take the first step. Begin with a pure heart, releasing the masks. Open your heart to what God desires. Take each step knowing God is leading you. It's not what you can do, but what God can do through you. Love is honest. Choose to see honesty in love as an open door for your transformation and restoration, forgiveness and hope. "Love is honest."   TAKE A.I.M. ~ Action Ignites Motivation  - This is a complimentary (FREE) coaching call with me. You will be able to discuss your specific situation and gain tools and strategies to move you forward. Live. Love. IMPACT!  "One step at a time leads to miles of greatness!"   Subscribe to Create Your Now TV on YouTube. Listen to Create Your Now on Spotify and Pandora. Listen to Create Your Now on iHeart Radio. Click here. The Create Your Now Archives are LIVE!! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here.  http://bit.ly/CYNarchive1 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive2 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive3 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive4 and http://bit.ly/CYNarchive5 Contact me at YourBestSelfie@CreateYourNow.com THE NO FUSS MEAL PLAN Instagram @CreateYourNow @Kristianne Wargo Twitter @KristianneWargo @CreateYourNow Facebook www.facebook.com/TheKISSCoach www.facebook.com/CreateYourNow   PERISCOPE USERS!!! Click here for ANDROID Users / GOOGLE  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.periscope.android Click here for APPLE Users  https://itunes.apple.com/app/id972909677   Read more from Kristianne, a contributor to The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, Thrive Global, Addicted2Succes, and She Owns It. https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-things-to-do-while-waiting-for-success-to-manifest-in-your-life/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristianne-wargo/ http://bit.ly/9amHabits https://journal.thriveglobal.com/how-to-configure-a-sleep-pattern-fit-for-you-d8edd3387eaf#.sniv275c3 https://sheownsit.com/when-failure-is-your-middle-name/   DOMESTIC BEAUTIES (Announcements) 1. Come and let's connect on Facebook - Women Of IMPACT  http://facebook.com/groups/thewomenofimpact 2. Create Your Now ~ Your Best Selfie can be heard on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Pandora! 3. Create Your Now Archive 1 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive1 4. Create Your Now Archive 2 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive2 5. Create Your Now Archive 3 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive3 6. Create Your Now Archive 4 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive4 7. Create Your Now Archive 5 is LIVE! You can subscribe and listen to all the previous episodes here. http://bit.ly/CYNarchive5 8. NEW Website! Go check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.createyournow.com 9. Sign Up for The A.I.M. Academy! You will be the first to learn all about it. http://createyournow.com/m-academy-2 10. Schedule a Discovery Call. This is a free 30-45 minute call for those serious about coaching with me. 11. Newsletter and Library: If you desire to get weekly emails, be sure to sign up here so you can stay connected. http://createyournow.com/library   Cover Art by Jenny Hamson   Music by Mandisa - Overcomer http://www.mandisaofficial.com Song ID: 68209 Song Title: Overcomer Writer(s): Ben Glover, Chris Stevens, David Garcia Copyright © 2013 Meaux Mercy (BMI) Moody Producer Music (BMI) 9t One Songs (ASCAP) Ariose Music (ASCAP) Universal Music -  Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) D Soul Music (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Hey there everybody. Welcome to Hack That Funnel Radio. Today we’re talking about the backstories that we’ve all gone through. What is brought all of us here? What is the common thread that brings all of us funnel hackers together? A lot of us consider ourselves Funnel Hackers. Some of us don’t. That’s okay. We’re just funnel builders. We’re digital marketers, we’re agencies. It just kind of all depends on where you see yourself and that’s totally fine. But there’s treads that I’ve seen all the way through. So I’ve been at this game for a while now and it’s been really interesting. One of my favorite questions to ask anybody, whether I’m going to Funnel Hacking Live or Traffic and Funnels or Offer Mind or whatever event I’m going to is- so how did you get started? Why are you here? And the backstories are so similar. It’s like, we were all like trying to accomplish this one particular goal, and they all went in the same direction. So what I want to do is just kind of describe the generic path. And as I do that, look at why you’re here, look at why you do Funnel Hacking and see if you match this at all. See if you are generic or if you are a true-blue funnel hacker, this is going to be fine I tried MLMs and it didn’t work. I was selling stuff on Amazon. I was selling stuff door to door and it really stunk. I wanted to faster way. I wanted to be able to have a business without ever talking to people because I’m not very personable. I’m very introverted. I’m not an extrovert like all those other people. At the end of the day, I really just wanted to be able to take care of my family. I was in a place where I couldn’t take care of my family, and I wanted to be able to provide more. I wanted to be able to be at home with my family most of all. At that point, I was working away from my family constantly. I was on my drive and I wanted to know what could I do that would actually keep me home that was legitimate and that would be able to provide for my family. I have a dream. I had this passion, I just woke up inside of me like a fire in my belly and I could not move without thinking about this and I needed to be able to share it somehow. And I didn’t know how to share it. I didn’t know if sharing it would even make an impact. At this point, but I knew that I had a calling. There was something I had to do and I was driven to do it. These are some of the general reasons why we all get started in this path. It’s like a hero’s journey. We’re all called to something, but before we’re called, we’re all in a place of some kind of a pain or in some place of discomfort where we’re not in a comfortable situation and we hope for something better. We’re looking for something that will work. And you want something that’s big. You want to be able to stay at home with your family. You want to be able to share your dream, would you believe you’re called to? Do you want to do all these things like you received these callings and these ideas. You have this big external desire, but really internally, your whole goal is to provide for yourself and you might want to make your family safe. You want to make an impact. You want to be able to sleep at night comfortably without going through panic attacks because the road that you’ve already taken up to this point, it doesn’t make any sense. And you can’t imagine being in your current situation for another 30 years in your life. There are these internal and external desires to start playing and suddenly like there’s extreme discomfort and we suddenly get this call to action where we can do it and we’re ready to do it, but there’s this reason we can’t, and this is, this is like, this is what I hear a lot of the times is, you know, I wanted to do it, but my wife wasn’t really supportive of the idea. I wanted to build my business, but I felt like I was in the wrong product at the wrong time. I just couldn’t get it moving. I didn’t really know how to make this work. I mean, how do you actually do this? Really? You have the other people that say, you know, I wanted to do this, but there was no path for me to get this out of my head, out of my heart into something tangible. There’s a wall that we all hit. We have this, we have this discomfort, this need to move forward and we all hit this wall and it’s impedes our progress and it makes things much more just comfortable, uncomfortable. We just keep pushing and we just cannot get past this wall and we don’t know why. We say, why are we uncomfortable, but we can’t stop and we feel stuck. We feel like we can’t do anything more. We’re just in a place where moving forward isn’t an option and it causes extreme discomfort and we can’t figure out why can’t we just x? Why can’t we adjust readily? We all hit this big old wall and then this thing happens. I had a friend reach out to me. I was online late one night and I saw an ad or I was on line late one night and I found a YouTube video from somebody who actually felt, I felt like they knew what they were doing and I felt like they had a path that matched where I needed to go. I went and I bought a product and the way that they bought product was beyond compare. I was on Facebook and I saw an ad that literally told me how to be able to get my goal, grow my gym without having to talk to people one on one- I could grow it online. There are all these different ideas, these different things, these epiphanies, these Aha moments. A lot of them come for us as Funnel Hackers and digital marketers. I’m not going to leave you guys out. A lot of it happens to us when we are late at night, when we have been struggling for awhile. We’re literally knocking on the universe’s door or hitting this waltzing. Come on, give me something, shed little light on me. Let me know where I’m supposed to go. And as we’re knocking on that door, suddenly something comes up. Whether it’s an ad, a person, or whether it’s a literal person. Like somebody is not just like a YouTube video can be an actual person. It could be whatever. But it usually comes late at night for us and it usually comes while we’re exhausted from looking. We finally relaxed and something just clicks or something that’s just there and there’s just this little burst of light and you go, Ooh, and you followed that little burst of light. How far can this go? Is this anything like I’ve been searching for? So cool. I love it. Suddenly you have this light bulb moment. You have this, you have this, this moment of hope. There’s this ray of hope that’s come shining down and it’s lit that fire in the belly. It’s lit that that hope in the mind, that desire in your heart and you’re just like, you suddenly have all this energy you’ve been pushing against the wall and you get tired and you just kind of lay back suddenly because there’s little bitty light turned on. You are ready to push full individually last, make this happen. Let’s do this. This is what works. This is how it all clicks. And you are just ready and you push and you go and at some point they lay out the plan for you. This is how you’re going to do it because we’re going to go, okay, that’s my plan. And you lay out the plan and you come to this point where the plan doesn’t work. Things don’t exactly get worked out the way they’re supposed to. Whether the plan was the fault or whether we were the fault, things did not pan out. And it comes a time for you to say, do I stay or do I go, okay, do I give up on this or do or do I keep believing that this is possible? I guarantee you that as you keep dreaming it’s possible. You will find that that light that you felt is actually a smallest ray of the sunshine that shines when you reach that transformation moment. When you get all those desires that you want it, but you also become somebody new and that hope, that dream of getting to that point, and I’m not talking about putting a laptop on your, on your lap and sitting at the ocean, I’m talking about real situations, not fake marketing stuff. I’m talking about really being able to live on your own terms, but at the same time be able to take care of your family, your loved ones, be able to have the dream car, be able to do all these things, but at the same time be real person and live and enjoy life. Be able to transform your life aside from all the external stuff they tell you it’s there and I tell it to you. Having spoken to so many people and having gone down this path multiple times, this is the funnel hacker path. This is the digital marketer path. This is why we’re here. This is our calling and I challenge you to keep pushing forward, keep moving forward. There is a conflict. There is a make or break moment in your business right now in your life. My challenge is to face it head on.  Do not go back, do not quit, keep moving, and as you keep moving, you will find that when you accept, yes, I will do this. Just like when you were pushing on that wall and praying for that beam of light in the do or die moment, that light will come again and it will shine. The brighter that is the backstory of the funnel hacker. That is the backstory of all of you guys. You are living in a movie that has yet to be written about how spectacular your challenges were and yet you overcame and built something that changed not your life, but thousands of lives around the world. That is your calling. That is what is beating in your heart and you now have the tools to be able to do it. That is why we’re here because it can happen. Okay. That is our path. That is our calling and what we do does matter, so keep moving forward. I told you this is kind of a unique podcast. I really meant it guys. I hope you enjoyed this in some small way, truly and whatever you’re doing, just keep focused. Everybody wants to hack. Everybody wants a shortcut, that’s fine. There are paths that are faster than others and we’re talking about those. But really what I want you to make sure you are doing is not trying to shirk the challenge because after the challenge, the light comes in, the light chains, all the brighter and you want to be able to stand in that light and basket it for woman to go, yeah, I made it, I made it guys, I’ll see you in that light. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening today. Sweet, awesome sauce. I hope you found something in this episode. The major might explode now would you like to take to the next level? What if I give you the keys to the funnel hacking kingdom? What I want to give you is my master pack. Five day training for free I’ll have to do is go to hackthatfunnelradio.com put in your email, submit, and you’ll get my funnel hacking master pack right now, 100% free. It will teach you what to hack wire to hack how to hack and winter. Let’s go!

Hey, Mick. Would you mind transferring me the money on your phone? 嘿Mick，你能在手机上转钱给我吗？ Right now? To be honest, I don't have mobile banking. 现在吗？但是，我没有手机银行。 Really? You are behind! Why don't you just download the bank app now? 什么？你太落伍了！你为什么不现在就下载一个银行APP呢？ I would but I'm kind of paranoid about security. What if someone hacks my account? 但是我特别担心安全问题。万一有人盗我的账户呢？ It'll be fine! Bank apps are pretty secure. Besides, it makes it so much easier to manage your finances and make credit card payments on the go. 不会的！银行的应用程序还是很安全的。而且，用手机App理财、信用卡还款都特别方便。 That's true. Could I also use it to check on my investments? ...

Zak, Nick, and Aaron head to the historical La Purisma Mission in search of some ghosts of oppressed Native Americans. They find that, as well as some soldiers and… Ben Franklin in drag? Really? You’ll have to listen to the episode to hear the explanation for that one, so stop running from this podcast!

Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Apple Bitz XL Podcast. For 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to grammarly.com/applebitz Apple Bitz XL Senior Legal Correspondent Gil Cabrera (@GilCabrera on twitter) joins the show to talk about the suprise deal between Apple and Qualcomm to squash their 2-plus year beef and work together again. It's a win for consumers, but the big loser? Intel shuts down their 5G modem business. New iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 details and a story about people wearing AirPods while having sex? Really? You can support this show and my independent work at www.patreon.com/briantong THANK YOU! Call into the show at 833-888-ABXL(2295) or send a Voice Memo to applebitzshow@gmail.com

This episode is sponsored by Mimosas or as the French call them “Really? You’re so much of an alcoholic that you can’t have ORANGE JUICE without alcohol, Karen?!?”…… Ummm anyway here are todays topics:- GIF vs. JIF- Where’s my fucking omelette, bitch?- Orange jizz.- Asians, metric system…- Is someone peeing?- Keep your face outta my vagina.- Is that a marble in your vagina or are you just sad to see me?- One pick? Small dick!- I should have been born a sidechick.- Are you my mother? Oh shit. Then where tf is my fucking mom?- White mom problems or white mom emotionally free to do whatever tf you want lifestyle?- Bad southern accents and the devil’s cunnilingus.- Chicks with dicks are stealing souls out here and I like it.- Smooth dick heads.- Lets rub some bellies.- Why didn’t anyone congratulate my fake marriage?- FUPA- I’m not putting my period blood in your food, dude.- You ready for the paaaaaain?- That Ike Turner meme isn’t working in your favor.- One pussy pic for them all- Don’t fuck my foot stool- So is we chomping this dick off or what?

Dress code. Really? You have so much stuff to deal with growing your company with like, no resources, and having to beg investors for cash to make the hires you need to close. Seriously, now we’re talking about fashion with VCs? Well, you’re reading this blog, aren’t you?

Show Summary: Tech Abilities is back in the studio and Serina, Andy and Jeff talk about Smart Devices. From Smart Switches, Smart Thermostats, Smart Smoke and Gas Detectors, Door Bell Cameras and the Google Hub. But is the Apple Home Kit App good enough? Check out this entertaining and informational look at the devices watching you and putting some convenience into your life. How did we get by without it? Hmmm. You can follow Tech Abilities on twitter @AbilitiesTech Contact: Tech Abilities is part of the Blind Abilities Network and be sure to check out all of our shows and podcasts. Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities Appon the App Store.   Full Transcript: Tech Abilities: Hey Portal, You Watching Me? Smart Home Devices and the Smart Shadow Enters the Thought Bubble Serena Gilbert: It's called the Facebook Portal. Does anyone here trust Facebook? Andy Munoz: Other than the fact that we're tech nerds ... Serena Gilbert: Nope, I don't think I'm going to upgrade, and both of you did in a week. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, an accessible thought bubble. Serena Gilbert: Do you have a smart phonograph, Jeff? What the heck is that? Andy Munoz: Google's your friend, look it up. Serena Gilbert: So, you want a smart shadow. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Andy Munoz: Having these smart devices, they are truly game changers. Serena Gilbert: Silver. Andy Munoz: Space gray. Jeff Thompson: Gold. Andy Munoz: I smell smoke. Is your Nest going off, Jeff? Serena Gilbert: See what happens when you tell me I'm getting fat? Andy Munoz: I said you could grow into that Blind Abilities t-shirt. Jeff Thompson: Boom, music comes on and six sheets of toilet paper pop out. Serena Gilbert: Exactly. Serena Gilbert: All right, you guys ready? I'm not going to count down. I'm going to make you look for when we start [inaudible]. Good luck. Andy Munoz: Three, two- Serena Gilbert: No. Andy Munoz: One. Serena Gilbert: Nope. All right, I will count down. I'll be nice. Three, two, one. Welcome back to Tech Abilities. This is Serena Gilbert and I am, of course, joined with Jeff Thompson and Andy Munoz. Jeff, how are you? Jeff Thompson: Sorry. Serena Gilbert: Apparently, Jeff is choking. Jeff Thompson: I'm doing great, Serena. Glad to be back. Serena Gilbert: We haven't been around for a while now, but we are back and we've got a great episode. Andy, how are you? Andy Munoz: I'm good. I'm good. I'm actually glad to be back. Serena Gilbert: And, Andy's not choking for the record. Andy Munoz: Nope. No choking here. Jeff Thompson: Ouch. Serena Gilbert: Ouch. You'll be okay, Jeff. You're a big boy. Have you guys heard about the latest news about Facebook? Jeff Thompson: Oh, do tell. Do tell. Serena Gilbert: Apparently, they have a new smart device coming out called the Facebook Portal. Jeff Thompson: I'm got a feeling somebody's watching me. Serena Gilbert: Right? Andy Munoz: Cue the Michael Jackson song. There we go. Serena Gilbert: Perfect timing, Jeff, as usual. Everything about it is ironic from the name of it to all the press surrounding it. It's called the Facebook Portal so theoretically I know what they were going for there. It's like you're in the same room, but does anyone here trust Facebook? Jeff Thompson: How about you, Andy? Do you trust Facebook? Andy Munoz: You know, can you trust anything, honestly? Jeff Thompson: Right. Andy Munoz: Yet, we still use it. The way I look at it is I don't put something out there that I don't want somebody to know 'cause even with locking it down and doing all that stuff, there's people, they want it ... Where there's a will, there's a way. Don't put nothing out there that I don't want nobody to see. Serena Gilbert: The weird thing about Facebook is there's already a theory that we think Facebook listens to us when we're not in it. We've tested this. Start talking about childcare and all of a sudden, you're going to have every childcare center ad in your newsfeed that you ever wanted to see. Andy Munoz: Yep, yep. Serena Gilbert: There's something to it. I really do think that there's something that they're listening to. Imagine putting that in your living room where they're not only able to listen but see what you're doing. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, we could really paint this into a corner if we want to, but when you look at other companies such as Target and Home Depot and various other ones on the internet that have had hacks exposing people's identification and personal information, it's inevitable that stuff like this is going to happen, I imagine. It seems like when something like this happens to Facebook, it seems like it really gets a lot of attention. Andy Munoz: Usually, if you have a big name and something happens ... We've all got these high expectations so then they lose credibility, but it really can happen to anybody. Serena Gilbert: Well, let's hear about the specs on this Facebook Portal and then tell me what you guys think about it too. It's funny when you think about it. There's two different versions. There's the standard one. It will be $199. The Portal Plus, as they call it, is a much larger screen and then it's an HD. That will be $349. Both of them say that the camera essentially will follow you as you're talking to somebody or video chatting with them. Serena Gilbert: They initially said that no data was going to be stored and that everything was nice and secure. They then came back and said, "But, wait. We will the information to target ads to you." Yeah. So, the camera's following you in the room and they're targeting ads at you. Still like it? I don't know. Andy Munoz: Regardless of whether you like it or not, there's just no getting away from it because you get the ads even on Facebook itself. I can go right now and I can do a search on Amazon for smart home devices and I guarantee you as soon as I click into Facebook, it's going to show me what I last searched for. For me, it's more or less going to be about what all can it do? What are all the different features? What's going to sell it to me that's going to allow me to really overlook that targeting commercial stuff to me? Serena Gilbert: You're not taking it off your Christmas list yet? Andy Munoz: I wouldn't say I would take it off. It doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to get away from that stuff. As much as you'd like to, as much as I'd like to, it's there. At this point, again, it's going to go back to, what are the features? What's going to make me want to buy this thing that I can't do with another device? Serena Gilbert: Yeah. Jeff, you have this on your shopping list? Jeff Thompson: No, I don't have it on my Christmas list yet, but I should get that started. The thing is, with all these different devices and ecosystems out there, I'm starting to wonder if someone should start with one ecosystem and stick with just one such as yourself. What benefits does the Facebook Portal have over your Amazon Show? Serena Gilbert: I don't think it offers anything different because they both do the video chatting. The screen does appear to be a little bit larger on the Facebook Portal. I think that the entry-level price on it is cheaper because the Amazon Show is, I believe, $229 and the Facebook Portal would be starting at $199. There's a $30 difference there. Serena Gilbert: It's really funny because I saw the ad on Facebook, of course, and the comments ... I just had to read the comments 'cause they were so funny and everyone's like, "So, why can't I just FaceTime?" Jeff Thompson: Yeah, right? Serena Gilbert: You're offering me a speaker that you say I can make all these calls on, I can just do that on my phone already, so what's the point? 'Cause they're not boosting that it has this awesome sound quality, they're not advertising that it's smart. I guess it will have Alexa built into it. Sorry, guys. It will have the 'A' lady built into it, but why would you spend the money on a third-party device to have the 'A' lady when you can get that straight from Amazon anyway? Andy Munoz: The other part of it too is you can actually video chat via Facebook Messenger just depending upon what device you're using. If I'm sitting at my computer, I've already got a 19" HD display so why would I want to invest in something different other than the fact that we're tech nerds and we like to know these things and we never know when we're going to run across something where we're maybe going to have to maybe troubleshoot something like that. That would be maybe its sole purpose. Jeff Thompson: Well, I think that Facebook is coming late into the game in this. The newness of the new products coming out, everyone wanted to experiment or explore these new gidgets and gadgets and now we all have probably multiple ecosystems in our house. You might have a Google or Amazon or an Apple device going right now. Is it time right now to add one more to the mix that we have in our house? That sometimes I think it's not doing exactly what I thought it would. So, I think people are being desensitized from the thrill of it all, the newness of these types of gadgets and Facebook is just a little late into the game. Serena Gilbert: Yeah, it always makes you wonder, is there really room on my shelf for one more smart device? Where would I even put it? Jeff Thompson: I wonder what we're going to have to say to invoke the Facebook Portal, "Mr. Senator," or "Yo, Zucker." Serena Gilbert: You say, and does this sound at all familiar, "Hey, Portal." Jeff Thompson: Really? Serena Gilbert: Yeah, which those of us who are super lucky enough to have HomePods ... Jeff Thompson: Super lucky. Serena Gilbert: Super lucky. Jeff Thompson: Super. Serena Gilbert: Super- Jeff Thompson: Lucky. Serena Gilbert: ... lucky. We know what the wake word is for that. Very similar. Jeff Thompson: It'd be funny if it was Mr. Senator. Yes, Senator. Yes, Senator. Andy Munoz: What kind of responses does it give if you call it the wrong name? Jeff Thompson: I have no idea. It's not out until, what, November? Mid-November? Serena Gilbert: It says November. It doesn't even have a specific data, it just says November. I predict ... I think this is going to be a big, huge flop for Facebook. I think this is going to be a lot of lost money because who knows how many they've already produced. They'll probably sell maybe 100,000 which is nothing when there's how many billion users on Facebook? Jeff Thompson: Yeah, plus the fact when I looked it up. I think ten things came up when I did my search, nine of them were about, "Is this a good idea? Should they pull the plug now? Should they save their costs? Are the stocks falling on Facebook?" and, "Do you trust Facebook to secure this information that it's gathering?" I don't know. I don't think it's going to be on my Christmas list, Serena. Serena Gilbert: I know one thing that I keep trying to get you to add to the Christmas list, but I don't know if you will. Jeff Thompson: What's that? Serena Gilbert: Remember? I told my bestie that you wanted a HomePod. Jeff Thompson: Oh! And you want to go to CSUN. Serena Gilbert: You know it. Jeff Thompson: That's coming up. That's around the corner. Serena Gilbert: Better get to planning. Jeff Thompson: The more we talk, the closer it gets. Serena Gilbert: There's a really good Christmas gift right there. Andy can go too. Andy Munoz: Hey. Jeff Thompson: There you go. Serena Gilbert: We'll get in all kinds of trouble. It's in Anaheim this time. Jeff Thompson: Someone's got to run that Colorado show out there though. Serena Gilbert: We'll be okay. Andy Munoz: We'll survive. Jeff Thompson: A new device that's out from Google is the Google Home Hub ... Yeah, the Google Home Hub. Serena Gilbert: The need a better name for that one. Jeff Thompson: I was wondering if this was the answer to anybody out there that has collected a few devices, one for their Google Home that works on their ... One works on the Amazon Device. If this is the answer that will solve some of the problems of bringing everything together. Serena Gilbert: How does the Hub work? I don't fully understand it. Jeff Thompson: Okay. A hub is also known as a bridge and what it is is a central location device that actually can control all the different smart devices that you have located throughout your house. If you have smart plugs, smart switches, smart doorbells, smart thermostat, you can actually connect them up all to one spot, which is a hub and then access that. Jeff Thompson: Typically, what people do is access it through an iPad or something so they have one control. From there, you can set up groups, you can set up different modes for things to be on that come on at certain times, go off at certain times. You can group lights together, you can have full control over all these devices in one location rather than using the TP app, the WeMo app, and the Nest app and figure out everything else. You can actually tie them all together and that's what a hub/bridge does. Jeff Thompson: The HomeKit app, that app was put out, is something that was trying to become a bridge in your wi-fi system to tie all these together. Now, you've got to remember that everything has to be able to reach the wi-fi system. You might have a plug or a switch far enough away where your wi-fi isn't that great, so you'll have to do an extender. Whereas, you can get pretty elaborate. You can go into the Z-Wave system, which actually every device that's hooked up becomes a little transmitter too so it can chainlink all these together so it can reach a further distance. Jeff Thompson: Interesting stuff once you get interesting stuff once you get into the high-end of homes, but as for affordability and everything, I think Google Home Hub is an idea. It might be something that works good for you, but I think HomeKit really has the advantage here in wi-fi in the future. If you're just talking about adding some conveniences to your house and not really going into the major planning of a full day operation of automation going on. Jeff Thompson: Shades open. Lights on. Mood setting. Thermostat adjust and someday turn on stereo system. Play phonograph. Set the mood. The possibilities could be endless. You can do some of that with HomeKit, but yeah. Basically, that's was a hub/bridge does. It ties everything together under one physical device that you can access and control everything. Serena Gilbert: I'm just so distracted because I'm pretty sure you said phonograph. Andy Munoz: He did say phonograph. Serena Gilbert: What the heck is that? Andy Munoz: It's a record player. Serena Gilbert: Do you have a smart phonograph, Jeff? Jeff Thompson: I'm just saying, yeah, there probably is one. You can get one to skip and ... Andy Munoz: Yeah, you can get it to do some scratchin'. Scratchin'. You know? You know? Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Serena Gilbert: Yes, Jeff. You are definitely the old man right now. Andy Munoz: Well, it's funny because my kid's now into buying vinyls and I'm like, "Why are they even still making those," and come to find out yeah, they're making record players again. Jeff Thompson: I have two record players and I collected albums back in the day and I still have them. They're popular again. It's kind of neat. Andy Munoz: It's kind of interesting how technology's going full circle. Serena Gilbert: Jeff, for the young ones listening to our podcast, what's an album? You going to tell them that? No, I'm just kidding. Andy Munoz: Google's your friend, look it up. Serena Gilbert: On your smart speaker. Andy Munoz: Ask the 'A' lady, she'll tell you. Serena Gilbert: I am curious, because this is all about smart devices, if we could go around, I guess the virtual table and let's hear about what smart devices you have in your home right now and what you like, what you don't like, maybe, if you're on the market for a new one. We'll start with you, Andy. Andy Munoz: Okay. So, right now, I don't have any. I'm in the market. I've got a pretty archaic thermostat. The thing is huge, but the problem is I can see the numbers, but I can't see how it programs. I certainly want something that I have a little bit more that I can do with it then having to rely on somebody else to set it up. Jeff Thompson: What you're saying is you want to be the master of your own domain. Andy Munoz: There you go. Jeff Thompson: There you go. Serena Gilbert: Seinfeld reference. Andy Munoz: Primarily, I'm just looking for a thermostat. Ceiling fans would be nice. Serena Gilbert: They make smart ceiling fans? Andy Munoz: Yeah, they make ... Serena Gilbert: I didn't know that. Andy Munoz: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Serena Gilbert: That would be really cool. Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. They invented the ceiling fan right after the phonograph. When I was looking up the Google Home Hub, the GHH, they claim that it can connect up to 5,000 different devices. So, that probably includes the phonographs and let's see, what came out right after phonographs? Ceiling fans, Serena. Yeah, there's probably a smart gidget or gadget out there for pert near anything. Andy Munoz: Oh, yeah. When I was working with Apple, I got a guy that called in that was setting up a smart garage door opener. Serena Gilbert: Now, why do we need that? I really don't understand that. What does it recognize your car when you drive up to it? Jeff Thompson: Well, when you have your smart Amazon Drive in your car, you can then just say, "Open, sesame." Serena Gilbert: Oh, my God. Jeff Thompson: Lower the drawbridge. Serena Gilbert: Secret passcode, right? I really don't understand what a smart garage door would do that a regular garage door ... You push a button and it opens. What else do we need it to do? Jeff Thompson: You have to actually move your arm to push the button. Serena Gilbert: I get it because ... We laugh at how lazy this is making us 'cause we don't have to leave our couch to turn the light on or off or adjust the thermostat, but it truly does open up accessibility for tons and tons of people with disabilities that have mobility impairments or maybe even a cognitive impairment where it just makes a life a lot more independent and affordable. Before, doing something like this would be thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, now they can just get it right on the market. Andy Munoz: Or, even just the simple fact that you either make some sort of adjustment cosmetically or what have you so that it could be used or you stay reliant on somebody to help you with that. Having these smart devices, they are truly game changers. For the rest of us, yeah, it makes us lazy. Jeff Thompson: As long as your wi-fi doesn't get knocked down. Andy Munoz: Yeah, that too. Yeah. Serena Gilbert: I was just thinking that. I was just about to say, "Until somebody hacks it." Then, it will drive you crazy. Jeff Thompson: One of the concerns I would be looking into is if I was going to get the Canary or the HomeSafe alarm system that hooks up to your wi-fi and is a smart device, that, just like the bridge and the hub, are these connected to just your wi-fi or if someone cuts your wi-fi cable, will it give you an alert through cellular or run off the cellular? Andy Munoz: I believe that they do because actually my brother-in-law just made some changes. He gave up his business-class wi-fi and went back to residential and they bundled it all and got the security system. Yeah, if the wi-fi goes down it then does go to cellular. Jeff Thompson: Oh, that's nice. Serena Gilbert: Yeah, 'cause we have a Honeywell Lyric. With got it for free from our home owner's insurance company and they gave us four of them. What it is is you put anywhere that there's water that could possibly leak and it's connected to wi-fi. It also puts this obnoxious, loud beeping sound A, when there is water that it detects and B, just when the battery is dying. Andy Munoz: Does it go onto the floor? Serena Gilbert: Well, you can do it two different ways. We have one on the hose of our washer and it's got this cord that you can wrap around it that if it detects the water then it will set off the alarm. Or, you can just set it on the floor and you don't need the cord then. As soon as it detects water it will start beeping and it will send a notification to your phone. Serena Gilbert: When we changed our wi-fi, we never put them back on the new wi-fi 'cause I frankly couldn't remember how to do it. When we changed our router out and had to get a new wi-fi network put up, it sent emails to me saying that they were offline. That's really cool because your hot water heater could be leaking for days and you'd never know. Ours is in the basement. We don't go down there but maybe once a month. Jeff Thompson: That's neat. That's less invasive. There's a more invasive one that actually goes right into your plumbing system. You cut the line and you put this device in there and it will notify you if the pressure drops. If you're on vacation, your lines should have no open valves so there should be a constant pressure and if that pressure drops significantly, then it will give you a signal and notify you that there's been a change, possibly a leak, that could really devastate your home. Serena Gilbert: Yeah, that could save a lot of money. Imagine if you came back from vacation and there were six feet of water in your basement. Jeff Thompson: Swimming pool, yeah. Serena Gilbert: Yeah. Andy Munoz: Well, I was talking to somebody that they were out of town, but their son was there. He didn't realize it, but there had been a leak. So, their basement flooded and, on top of it, they ended up with a $5,000 water bill. That was in the course of three weeks. Serena Gilbert: Oh, my God. I would cry. Oh, my God. Andy Munoz: Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Jeff Thompson: Oh, wow. I think a lot of these devices, like you're saying, for someone that has a speech impediment of some sort or something, that there's alternative devices now that through your wi-fi, making the home smarter. We just usually think about these devices that we're using today, but a lot of these switches and commands that we're using are pretty versatile and available to other people. Like you said, it used to be tens of thousands of dollars to make a home accessible for someone with a disability that it may help them open a door or turn on lights as you said, but now, these devices are stuff we buy off the shelf. Jeff Thompson: You can get the Hue lights and dim your lights and do other things and the switches and put everything on a timer. My driveway lights ... I have a WeMo light switch that my driveway lights come on when it gets dark, sunset, and goes off at a certain time. Then, I have some lamps in the living room that come on at the same time and go off at the same time. I have three switches working like that, plug in switches and one light switch. I like that automation because kind of get it. The lights come on. Oh, it's dark out, if you can sense that. If someone comes over, the house isn't just totally dark. Andy Munoz: Well, it's nice especially in today's society, you definitely want to have those lights on on the outside. You don't want people creeping up on your house. For me, I look at the negative side of that just because it is real. You definitely want to make sure that you have some light so your house can be seen, and I think it detracts from people wanting to do anything to it in a negative manner. Jeff Thompson: Plus, when you're away from home ... When I was in England, I could actually turn the lights off or on just from a flip on my phone, from the app. Andy Munoz: Right. Jeff Thompson: Something to remember about some of these home devices, it seems so great. Hey, just put a light switch in, but to put a light switch in with the WeMo and other ones, you do need all three wires there. You need your positive, your negative, and your neutral wire. Andy Munoz: Right. Jeff Thompson: Typically, a house that was built pre-90s, I believe, somewhere around there, switches were interrupters. So, they only ran the hot wire down to one side and to the other so when you switch is down, it breaks the connection. Lot of houses either had them drop down from the ceiling or they came up from the basement. The switches were not the place to run all the wires. They ran those to the lights above and just dropped down the ones. Jeff Thompson: That may be a problem if you want to add a light switch or a dimmer switch, but you will need to have all three there. If you don't, then you have to have an electrician come in and run a neutral wire up and facilitate it that way. So, that could get expensive. Andy Munoz: Right. It's good just to know that in general. Jeff Thompson: Oh, for sure. It also might justify spending the money for a smart light bulb where you can control that specific light bulb or a group of light bulbs with a command from an app or a voice command directed at one of your personal devices such as an Amazon, Google, Apple device, your smart speaker device. Jeff Thompson: Another device that I'm kind of interested is the Look or Nest makes a product, a couple other people make these products, they're cameras on your doorbell. When motion happens at the front door, you'll get a message on your phone that says, "Motion at front door," and that solves the problem of thinking, "Why do I need a camera at the front door?" Well, the camera does give the indication that there's motion, which then triggers the notification that you'll get, but these two need the existing wire that the previous doorbell used because they need a transformer. So, that's something you want to look into. Jeff Thompson: If you don't have a doorbell, then you'll have to install this pre-wiring beforehand. If you do have one, you have to make sure that it's 24 volts running to it because all these devices do need a power source to be running. Just beware, when you're thinking and considering and buying these products, read the small braille. Andy Munoz: Love it. Love it. Small braille. Serena Gilbert: Oh, man. Isn't all the braille small? Jeff Thompson: There is jumbo braille for people with neuropathy. Jeff Thompson: Serena, what kind of devices are you working with? Serena Gilbert: I have a WeMo plug. One thing I wanted to share with you guys is that, if you have Amazon Prime, there's been a few times just in the last few months where they sent out a deal where you can get a smart plug or a smart light bulb for only $10. We bought one when they did that and, sad to say, it's still sitting in the package because I need two and I've just been too cheap to buy the second one for my lamps downstairs. Serena Gilbert: It was summer when I bought them, so I was like, "Oh, we never need the lights on anyways." Now, it gets dark at like 6:15, 6:30 and it would be nice to just go on my phone and turn them on or use the Echo to turn them on. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, I noticed and that's how I've got ... I don't know why I'm coughing. Serena Gilbert: You're just getting too old over there. Jeff Thompson: Geez, you're sticking with this one. Serena Gilbert: See what happens when you tell me I'm getting fat? Jeff Thompson: I didn't say that. I know not to say stuff like that. Serena Gilbert: Would you like to share what you said? Jeff Thompson: I said you could grow into that Blind Abilities t-shirt. Serena Gilbert: No, you said I'm going to grow into it because of the shake that I had. Jeff Thompson: Why don't you tell the listeners what you put in your shake tonight? Serena Gilbert: Shameless plug for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I had a shake and I added Oreo to it and Oreo cream and Double Stuff Oreo. I see nothing wrong with that. Jeff Thompson: Plus, some ice cream, right? Serena Gilbert: Milk, with sugar. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, so I'll repeat it. You'll probably grow into that t-shirt. Serena Gilbert: This is not helping you. You're going to get some hate mail from all the ladies out there. Jeff Thompson: If anybody else would like to grow into a Blind Abilities t-shirt, email us at info@blindabilities.com. Andy Munoz: Yeah. Serena Gilbert: Oh, my goodness. Not very nice, Jeff. Andy Munoz: But, it is funny. Serena Gilbert: I'm telling my bestie on you. Jeff Thompson: You do have a HomePod, right? Serena Gilbert: I do. If anyone's ever listened to me on any podcast, they know I absolutely adore that HomePod. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, I hear it is good sound. So are the Sonos. The Sonos are pretty good and with the smart device built into those too. The thing is, with API on those since it's not a true Amazon device, you only get partial use of the full functionality of what you'll get out of an Amazon device like the Dot or the Echo. Sometimes you forget that you only get that limited usage out of them. I wonder how much the Facebook Portal will have? Serena Gilbert: It's probably the same API that they have on the Sonos because the Amazon's got to give you some reason to buy theirs. Why would you ever buy the Amazon one when the Sonos clearly sounds way better sound-wise. There has to be some incentive. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, just be aware when you're buying these devices what they connect up with. Some connect up with more than one platform. It might connect up to Amazon or it might connect up to Apple, but just check that out. Jeff Thompson: With the HomeKit app in your iOS device, that application is your hub, your bridge, and that might be the thing of the future, using your wi-fi. Whereas the hub, it just may be ... Serena Gilbert: I feel like it's another way for them to get you to spend- Jeff Thompson: More money. Serena Gilbert: $100. With me, 'cause I have the HomePod, I have the Amazon device, I'm trying to be smart about the devices that I choose since we don't have a smart home yet where either I can find some that work with both or depending on where the device that I'm buying is going to be, it works with whatever is closest to it. Andy Munoz: Definitely some strategy into it. Serena Gilbert: Yeah. One weird thing that I noticed when I did get the HomePod is, for some reason, and I don't know if it's the way that Apple's system is so locked down, but the devices that say they're compatible with HomeKit, they're never the ones ... They're always more expensive it seems. The ones that are compatible with the Amazon devices, there's so many of them that the price has come down on them. When you look at the ones that say HomeKit, it's like upwards of double the price for the same functionality. Andy Munoz: I'm guessing you're right that Apple is so locked down with everything that they do and you don't have a lot of choice as you do with Amazon or Google. A lot of the coding and development and stuff that goes into all that stuff is open source. Not to dog Google in any way, shape, or form by saying this, but their standards are more open than what you get with an Apple. I would venture to say that you're right on that. Jeff Thompson: When I first started down this path of adding smart switches and smart plugins, outlets to the house, I went with WeMo and I stuck with it. It seems to be doing good and just lately, I got an update and now the WeMo switches, the smart, mini WeMo switches, are able to work with the HomeKit, which is the native app in your iOS device titled, "Home," H-O-M-E. Jeff Thompson: The new ones that you get, they'll have a little code on them and you just scan it and it will register right into your application of your HomeKit and boom, there you go. That is very similar to my Nest Protect because all I did there was scan in the product and boom, it was connected up into my app, which just makes it very nice. Jeff Thompson: In the app, it does incorporate that these devices can now be synced up together. I have them synced up with my Amazon device, my google device, my iPhone. I can make my iPad, which stays at home basically, as the hub. By me invoking the HomeKit as my hub, do I really need a Google Home Hub? Do I really need a central device? I think I'm okay. Andy Munoz: I guess if you look at it from most people's perspective, we want it with generally a handheld device. Let's face it. There's times that we're not going to be in our home, when we want to be able to have that remote access, that remote control. I think that the hubs are a nice thought, but I don't know how realistic it is. Jeff Thompson: Serena, you had mentioned that you were considering a basement remodel. Have you thought about incorporating the smart home features? Serena Gilbert: It would be nice kind of thing, but yeah, we haven't officially done that. All I really want in the house right now is a smart thermostat because I really struggle with what temperature it is in the house. The house is only two years old. I meant the builder if they could put in a smart one for me and then I just spaced it. I regret that. Serena Gilbert: I really have to rethink it 'cause I know that my husband would like a doorbell camera at some point. It's like do we go with Ring; do we go with Nest because I'd like it to just all be the same brand just to make life easy. Jeff Thompson: I have a Nest Protect and that's a smoke alarm that mounts to the ceiling. If I buy another Nest Protect, they communicate with each other and announce their location. In a case of an emergency, you will know where the smoke is coming from. Speaker 4:           Emergency. There's smoke downstairs. Jeff Thompson: If I do get a Nest thermostat, that too will connect to the family of Nest products. If there is a fire, it will shut off the furnace so you don't have the air blowing around and flaming the fire ... Flaming? Wafting the flame. Serena Gilbert: Good job. Your old brain worked. Jeff Thompson: Oh, it may not be as quick as a Millennial, but it's wiser. Jeff Thompson: So, having items from the same family, the same Nest products in my situation pays off for me. I would also like to mention that the Nest Protect, the smoke alarm that's in the ceiling, has a glowing light on it and it comes on when it senses motion. So, in the middle of the night, if you walk past it, it will glow brighter. Serena Gilbert: That's cool. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, so that's a neat little feature that will help family members as well. Serena, you mentioned the doorbell with the camera. Now, some people may say, "Why do I need a camera when I can't see who's out there?" However, the camera senses motion and then it will send you a notification that there's motion at the front door. Serena Gilbert: That's very cool. Jeff Thompson: I see the benefits in that as well. Jeff Thompson: Now, a friend of mine, just to be fair, has the Honeywell thermostat. Serena Gilbert: Is the Honeywell app accessible? Jeff Thompson: He says it is, however, he doesn't use voice over but he tested it and he says it is. I haven't put it through the rigors, but it's $100 cheaper and Honeywell is a good product. It has high ratings on it as well. However, being in the same family and interconnecting as such, I think Nest makes a good line of product that really should be considered. Plus, Nest is owned by Google, right? Serena Gilbert: Is it? Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Serena Gilbert: [inaudible] conspiracy. Andy Munoz: I have to say though, I'm with Jeff on the whole ... Usually, if I buy a brand, that's usually what I like to stick to and keep it consistent. A lot of it, I think, has to do for me about what the previous experiences have been. If I bought something like a Samsung TV and it's worked well for me, I'm going to be more inclined to go back out and buy that same brand just because I've had that good experience and I trust it. I think too, part of it too is if they can communicate with each other in some way, shape, or form, all the better. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, safety first. That brings up home security systems in your house that hooks up with wi-fi from doors to windows. I'm starting to wonder how many devices you can have connected up to your wi-fi system before it becomes over-weighted or strained. That's probably where a hub comes in because it would take that load. Until you get to that point, I think that's when you start wondering about a hub. Jeff Thompson: I just want to use the apps that each thing comes with. Set it up one time and move on. I don't want to have to pull that out all the time and say, "Honey, let's set the mood lighting for this movie," or have all my Christmas lights on my iPad so I can spell words or have special designs going across. That's not my bag. I just want these devices to work out of their own app. I just think the HomeKit, the home app, will suffice for most people that are venturing into the smart home devices. Andy Munoz: Well, because I think too we all have this thing where we generally know when we're going to be home and when we're not unless you have something where you're out of the norm, you have a function that you're going to go to or what have you. In my house, I generally know who's going to be home and when they're going to be home. To be able to say, "All right, yeah, let's have a heat come on at this time. Have it shut off at this time," that kind of stuff is super convenient. Andy Munoz: Because right now, it's one of those things where because I can't program it the way that I want and my wife isn't able to program it, she's [inaudible]. It's just an archaic thermostat. There's times she'll say 8:30 at night, "It's cold." I have to turn it up because yeah, it shut down when it really should have been on. There again, it would be nice to have something where definitely have that control and to be able to do that and know that it's going to be consistent. Jeff Thompson: Serena, do you want the Amazon Bathroom where you walk in and the lights come on, the toilet seat heats up, and boom, music comes on and six sheets of toilet paper pop out? Serena Gilbert: If you can find a way to heat my floor in my bathroom, I'd be happy. Jeff Thompson: Oh, they have that. Serena Gilbert: I don't know if I need the toilet seat heat. I'm okay. But, I was thinking about what you guys were talking about and I was just thinking of the cost savings with that. Just the heat alone to save it ... 'Cause right now, our heat's just either off or on. Then, we all know the theory behind how long it takes to raise the heat so many degrees. It's more expensive then to keep it steady. Serena Gilbert: Then, there's also the cost savings of if you own your house. Especially with the smoke detectors that you have, Jeff, I'm sure you're saving money on your home owner's insurance too. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, that's great, Serena, because if you contact your insurance company you can find out so much more about what you could be doing to your house for safety-wise that will ultimately save you money in the insurance policy premium. Serena Gilbert: It'd be totally worth it. Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. You want to tell them you have a smoke alarm. Don't call them and tell them you don't have any. Serena Gilbert: What do you mean you didn't have one? Hold on a minute. We need to raise your premium a little bit. Jeff Thompson: Back pay. It's just really nice that there's devices out there that we can implement into our lives. Like you said, Andy, just make it more convenient and ... Especially the doorbell. I'm really intrigued about that, the camera. I was the one that would always say, "Why do I need a camera? I can't see blah, blah, blah," but that it alerts you, you know? Serena Gilbert: Some of them have it where you can speak to them. Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Serena Gilbert: And, hear the sound. Jeff Thompson: That's a neat alert. You know someone's at the front door. Andy Munoz: Yes, I was just going to say, "And, they have no idea that you're not even home." Jeff Thompson: Right. I'm going to get one before trick-or-treaters come out. This will be fun. Serena Gilbert: Scare them. Oh, my goodness. Well, it will especially help during the holiday season when you're expecting your Amazon packages 'cause if there's sound with it too, there's pretty distinct noise when the UPS truck pulls up. Jeff Thompson: I think if you do it right ... We should appeal to all the truck drivers that deliver packages to wear little bells on their shoes so we know it's them. Serena Gilbert: It's like a code. That reminds me though. I was watching Shark Tank a few weeks ago and there was a business on there and they didn't get a deal, but it was a smart device that it was a box that the driver would scan the code on the package, it'd open up the box, they'd put the package in there, and then it would close back up again. They didn't get a deal for obvious reasons because, frankly, the UPS drivers probably aren't going to scan it. They're just going to sit the package on top of the box and keep going. Serena Gilbert: It did bring up an interesting thing though. If they could have licensed that to UPS or FedEx or USPS, made it part of their flow, that could really curb porch pirates. Jeff Thompson: I got a question for you guys. What device isn't out there yet, but you would like to have a smart device as? Serena Gilbert: Oh, you know what I'm going to say as my son always says when I ask him questions. I want my smart self-driving car. Jeff Thompson: That's coming. Serena Gilbert: But it's not accessible. There's too many laws. Jeff Thompson: They'll probably have a little screen to open the door and it will be like, "Everything's accessible except you can't get in the door." Serena Gilbert: Yeah. You have to put in this passcode that's on this touchscreen. Jeff Thompson: They'll have a Captcha. Serena Gilbert: God, I hate those things. Then, you try to listen to it. Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. Four seven three apple two orange W. Serena Gilbert: You're like, "Are you in a call center doing this?" I don't understand. Jeff Thompson: I know it's crazy. It's like, "Gosh, I had good hearing until I heard that." Andy Munoz: If you'd get you a tin can that would sound so perfect. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Serena Gilbert: I hate those things. Jeff Thompson: I was on a website today. I know this is off topic. I was on a website today. It was all about accessibility. It's supposed to be an educational accessibility thing and all this stuff. It was really interesting. I was actually intrigued with the layout and stuff and they had a Captcha that was inaccessible. It's like, "Really? You did all this and now that." Andy Munoz: Somebody did not think that through. Jeff Thompson: No. Serena Gilbert: #accesibilityFail. Jeff Thompson: They have accessibility in their name. Serena Gilbert: Did you send them an email? Jeff Thompson: No. Andy Munoz: Wow. Jeff Thompson: I got off of it and I just sat there for a minute thinking, "That's so stupid." Serena Gilbert: You didn't make your trademark noise? Andy, what's the smart device that you're hoping for? Andy Munoz: Wow. That could be plenty but something that would open up my dryer and pull out my laundry and hang it up. Serena Gilbert: Oh, so you want the robot from the Jetsons. Andy Munoz: There you go. Jeff Thompson: That's be Judy wouldn't it? Serena Gilbert: Just your luck 'cause wasn't George always getting all this technology failing for him? Andy Munoz: Yeah, she malfunctioned one day and she did a bunch of different weird stuff that was all backwards. Jeff Thompson: I think for a device that I'm looking forward to and I hope they have it someday, is really a personal assistant, but not a physical one that would actually do things for me but you know how you think of to-do lists and you think of all this stuff? Something that follows your thought like that. When you wake up the next day, it's like, "Jeff, remember the garbage." Serena Gilbert: You want a chip implanted in your head. Jeff Thompson: Just call it the thought bubble or something. Serena Gilbert: Thought bubble. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, an accessible thought bubble. Just like, "Lori told me three things yesterday. What was that?" "Jeff, you weren't listening where you?" I want that companion, that thing that actually helps me move along. Serena Gilbert: Jeff, all you have to do is win the Powerball and then you can just pay someone to follow you around for the rest of your life. Jeff Thompson: But, I think this would help people. We're talking about old age, but people who have memory issues and stuff. That seems to be a prominent thing in today's world. Everyone knows someone that might be going through it or someone that is affected by it. Something that could shadow you, your shadow. If your shadow could talk, it would remember. Serena Gilbert: So, you want a smart shadow? Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Do you guys think that's far off? Andy Munoz: Time wise maybe. I don't know. Technology's so rapid that anything's possible at any given point. I think, for me, it's even pointless half the time for me to put stuff even as reminders 'cause I just ignore them. Serena Gilbert: I'm the same way. Andy Munoz: For work and stuff, obviously, I pay attention to my calendar and that sort of thing, but outside of that, I'll say, "Yeah, I put it in my calendar. I'll do this, that, or the other." It's like it's there but nine times out of 10 I'm just going to blow it off and ignore it anyway. Serena Gilbert: I have a reminder on my phone right now that's 19 days old but I still didn't do it. Like, "Oh, I'll just ignore it and it will pop back up in a couple weeks." Jeff Thompson: Avoid shakes from Five Brothers. Serena Gilbert: Five Guys, get it right. Jeff Thompson: Avoid shakes from Five Guys. Serena Gilbert: You guys don't have Five Guys up in Minnesota? Jeff Thompson: No. We only got three guys. We're working on it. Serena Gilbert: You don't know what you're missing. You don't have Dutch Brothers. You don't have Five Guys. God, how do you live? Jeff Thompson: Well, you're in the fastest growing city in the United States right now. Serena Gilbert: It's 'cause we've got all these Millennials. They love it here. Jeff Thompson: Really? Serena Gilbert: That's why we're getting all these cool home deliver things. We just got Prime Now here. We can get Whole Food delivered in two hours for free. Jeff Thompson: That's awesome. Serena Gilbert: Yeah. Jeff Thompson: How big is Cold Spring? Serena Gilbert: Old Spring? Jeff Thompson: Colorado Springs. How big is Colorado Springs? Andy Munoz: The general city is like 400,000, but then you've got the surrounding areas that make up more and we're probably closer to 650 to 700,000. Jeff Thompson: Really? Serena Gilbert: I think they said by ... Do you remember what year it was, Andy? Maybe it was like 2050, which sounds far away, but it really isn't if you think about it. We would actually be bigger than Denver technically. Andy Munoz: That's what they're saying. Serena Gilbert: Yeah. Andy Munoz: It's ridiculous to think because when you go to Denver, you go to downtown Denver and you see all the big high rise buildings and stuff and then you come to Colorado Springs and you look at our downtown. It's like no comparison. I think the highest building we have is maybe 20 stories. Serena Gilbert: I don't even know if there's a 20-story one, honestly. If there is, then it's one of the hotels. Jeff Thompson: Which leads into is Colorado Springs going to be a smart city? Serena Gilbert: I don't think we will. Just politically, our city and then the other city, there's another small city that's in between Denver and Colorado Springs called Castle Rock, our two cities had the option to be part of the light rail system that's in Denver and they refused. Every time that it comes back up, they keep resisting and keep refusing because they don't want light rail here for some reason. I don't get it. Andy Munoz: Smart city means that you have to have some intelligence and Colorado Springs operates on the motto, "If it doesn't make sense, do it." Jeff Thompson: Yeah, it's really neat here because we do have the light rail running right through Fridley and it's neat. Even our buses and our light rails now have wi-fi while you're on them. Serena Gilbert: Very nice. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, we're not a bustling city anymore, but it's a big area. I think two-thirds of the population of Minnesota is located right in the twin cities, Saint Paul-Minneapolis and the seven-county area. It's nice that you get those little amenities like that but I always thought Colorado Springs was a ... Well, it's not Denver. It's a quaint little town. But, wow, number one in the United States for growth. Serena Gilbert: Real estate too. Andy Munoz: It's really been in just the last several years. It's just really kind of just took off. Serena Gilbert: Well, a lot of it is the people from Denver have moved down here so they're still making their Denver wages. So, they move down here and we're buying Colorado Springs waged houses and then that's driving it all up, but then they're still commuting to Denver for work. That's contributing to the traffic problems too. The commute's about an hour, hour and 10 if you go early enough. Andy Munoz: Yeah, if you go early enough. Jeff Thompson: They need to get that tunnel. Serena Gilbert: I still want my hyperloop. Jeff Thompson: That's ready to open up, isn't it? Serena Gilbert: No. There's a test track in L.A. it's either two minutes or two miles. It's probably the same difference, but they're going to open that up and let people actually be able to test run it. Like, regular people. Jeff Thompson: As opposed to the irregular people? Serena Gilbert: Hey. Jeff Thompson: No, I think it's really neat that smart cities are coming about. A lot of devices are happening. A lot of transportation things like you want the car and I think everyone's been thinking about that and dreaming about that and wondering. Now, we say it's right around the corner, but that's a long ways to that corner sometimes. Serena Gilbert: You know, it will be interesting though because you just told me the NFB conference next year is in Vegas. Vegas is testing a... Lyft is testing a whole fleet of driverless vehicles on the strip there. Jeff Thompson: So, beware. Serena Gilbert: That would be interesting. Andy Munoz: Stay off the sidewalks. Jeff Thompson: Tap widely. Serena Gilbert: But they're safer than human drivers you guys. The accidents they have are only when the human does something to it to cause it to happen. Jeff Thompson: Well, I think ideally it's all going to be safer when there's more and more of them because they'll be able to communicate with each other just like my Nest will be able to communicate with things. Those cars will communicate with the other cars so it will almost be like a light rail once you get a stream of them going in a sense. Serena Gilbert: The only thing I worry about is because obviously to get where you're going it's reliant on some sort of GPS. So, you know there's a couple things that go with that. When the network's down, what happens to the cars? Or, when you're like my house where you weren't on the GPS for two entire years, where does it go? Does it stop somewhere and say you're there when you're really not? Those are things they'd have to definitely fix. Jeff Thompson: From smart devices, smart houses, it will be interesting to learn more about smart cities and smart automobiles. Probably by next show we could get a smart host. Serena Gilbert: I guess I'm coming down off my sugar high. Andy Munoz: She's thinking, "I smell smoke. Is your Nest going off, Jeff?" Jeff Thompson: Maybe the wi-fi went down and the house is burning. Andy Munoz: Uh-oh. Serena Gilbert: Oh, my goodness. I could just see a comic right now where there's a drawing and there's clearly smoke and fire, but the person's just looking at their phone and it says they are like, "Nope. Smoke detectors say that there's no fire." Serena Gilbert: Well, I have had tons of fun talking with you guys. Hopefully, we've got some ideas for our Christmas list right, Jeff? Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm. CSUN. Serena Gilbert: Still haven't sold you on the HomePod have I? Jeff Thompson: Well, I'm going to be here to look under my tree or I'll just listen under my tree. Maybe it will tell her how to set it up too. Serena Gilbert: But, it's Apple. It just works, right? Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. Andy Munoz: There you go. Jeff Thompson: I have to say that I sit amongst an orchard of Apples. Serena Gilbert: You've got every color Apple there is. Jeff Thompson: Oh, by the way, what color is your iPhone X? Serena Gilbert: Silver. Andy Munoz: Space gray. Jeff Thompson: Gold. Serena Gilbert: You got a pink one, Jeff? Jeff Thompson: No, I didn't get rose gold. I got gold. Serena Gilbert: Are you sure you didn't get rose gold? Jeff Thompson: Well, I don't know. I got the case on. I'll never know. Serena Gilbert: Exactly. I just find it so funny with the last podcast we did how much you guys specifically said, "Nope, I don't think I'm going to upgrade," and both of you did in like a week of each other. Jeff Thompson: I walked into the Apple store. That's what went wrong. Andy Munoz: Yeah, I walked into the Sprint store with my son and there we go. I have to run guys. I do have an errand that I need to run. Serena Gilbert: That sounds awful suspicious considering that it's like 10:00 at night. Andy Munoz: Got to go to the pharmacy. Serena Gilbert: I don't even want to know, Andy. Serena Gilbert: Anyway, I enjoyed talked with both you guys and I can't wait to record the next episode and until next time, bye. Andy Munoz: Peace. Jeff Thompson: Bye-bye. Serena Gilbert: Get off the phone. Andy Munoz: I want to thank you for listening. Be sure to follow Tech Abilities on Twitter. That's @AbilitiesTech. A big thank you to Jeff Thompson for the beautiful music. Once again, I want to thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed. Until next time, bye-bye. [Music]  [Transition noise]  -When we share -What we see -Through each other's eyes... [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence] ...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities. Download our app from the App Store, Blind Abilities. That's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.

Do you believe in love at first sight, Mina? Mina，你相信一见钟情吗？ Personally, I’ve always thought the idea was a bit far-fetched. 就我个人而言，我一向认为这种说法挺扯的。 Really? You’ve never experienced it? What about with your husband? 是吗？ 你从来没感受过一见钟情？跟你丈夫都没有？ We hit it off, sure. But there was no spark. He just grew on me over time. 我们确实一开始就挺谈得来的，但也不是火花四射那种。是相处时间长了，我才逐渐喜欢上他的。 Not with my wife and me. When I first saw her, there was an instant attraction. 我和我太太跟你们不太一样。第一次见到她时，我就被她迷住了。 I actually read a study that said men reported they experienced love at first sight more than women. 我以前看过一项研究，说更多男性会称自己经历过一见钟情，比女性数量多。 BackGround Music：City of stars Artists：Rya...

The 12 Questions series of interviews continues this week with Clint Bowyer of Stewart-Haas Racing. This interview is recommended as a podcast, but is also transcribed for those who would rather read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? I don’t really dream, Jeff. Helluva question. Really? You just sail right through the … Continue reading "12 Questions with Clint Bowyer (2018)"

Download this episode. Jason spent the mid to late 80’s in high school developing an “advanced gift of gab” and pursuing his GED. Jason finished top of his GED testing class (he finished the 8-hour test in an hour and 45 minutes prompting a rolling of the eyes from the instructor) and promptly applied to the Marine Corps. Upon realizing that his GED wasn’t even good enough for the military, he packed up and moved to Colorado where he planned to seek his fortune as a ski bum. But fate had another plan. Jason’s 1982 Volvo exploded the day he arrived which led to him seek a career selling cars. Mostly because he needed a car and back then car salesmen were given a demo. This was the beginning of a lifetime in sales. By 2000 Jason was 30 years old and made a move to the mortgage industry. From 2000 to 2006, the mortgage business was a gravy train with biscuit wheels. But, alas, all things come to an end and it turns out that the mortgage bubble was real! In 2007 & 2008 Jason watched his business fail. It was time to figure out what to do next. Armed with a GED and 18 years of sales experience, Jason was waiting tables at Pappadeaux. 38 years old with 3 young children, a loving wife, and broke. But not broken! After about 10 weeks of selling fish to rich people, Jason was offered a job selling roofing, which he immediately declined. Jason’s wife, Kimberly, said “Really? You want to put the bow tie back on and sell some more fish? You should go talk to them!”. And so began Jason’s career in the roofing business. Today Jason is still a mess! But over the last 4 to 5 years, he has become a trainer, coach, and influencer in the roofing industry. D&G Roofing company has gained attention for innovation and a commitment to a “forward-thinking” approach to a business that has operated mostly the same for over 35 years. Voted “Best Of” in Fort Worth Magazine in 2016 & 2017 and being awarded several industry awards are a few of the accomplishments that Jason is most proud of. But the best thing that has come of his twisted path is the impact his story has had on others! “There is too many “look at me, I’m so successful, you can be too, just follow my system… blah, blah, blah” stories. Most people can relate to my story and I love sharing it!” says Jason. Website: http://www.dgroofsystems.com   If you enjoyed this episode, please Comment Share and leave a review…   Come Hang With US as WE Discuss The Show   Join the Conversation in our Facebook Group Success Champions Each Sunday we send out an email with the 5 episodes that aired along with this interview Sign Up Here   Affiliate Links - Which means if you click and buy our company will get paid... Audio Books have been a huge part of my journey. Audible changed the game by taking the books you love and turning them into Audio.... Check it out here https://amzn.to/2KeGXC5 Have you struggled with getting on podcasts? Have you found it difficult getting exposure? Check out what Abigail Sinclaire is doing with Human Network Connection

Download this episode. Jason spent the mid to late 80’s in high school developing an “advanced gift of gab” and pursuing his GED. Jason finished top of his GED testing class (he finished the 8-hour test in an hour and 45 minutes prompting a rolling of the eyes from the instructor) and promptly applied to the Marine Corps. Upon realizing that his GED wasn’t even good enough for the military, he packed up and moved to Colorado where he planned to seek his fortune as a ski bum. But fate had another plan. Jason’s 1982 Volvo exploded the day he arrived which led to him seek a career selling cars. Mostly because he needed a car and back then car salesmen were given a demo. This was the beginning of a lifetime in sales. By 2000 Jason was 30 years old and made a move to the mortgage industry. From 2000 to 2006, the mortgage business was a gravy train with biscuit wheels. But, alas, all things come to an end and it turns out that the mortgage bubble was real! In 2007 & 2008 Jason watched his business fail. It was time to figure out what to do next. Armed with a GED and 18 years of sales experience, Jason was waiting tables at Pappadeaux. 38 years old with 3 young children, a loving wife, and broke. But not broken! After about 10 weeks of selling fish to rich people, Jason was offered a job selling roofing, which he immediately declined. Jason’s wife, Kimberly, said “Really? You want to put the bow tie back on and sell some more fish? You should go talk to them!”. And so began Jason’s career in the roofing business. Today Jason is still a mess! But over the last 4 to 5 years, he has become a trainer, coach, and influencer in the roofing industry. D&G Roofing company has gained attention for innovation and a commitment to a “forward-thinking” approach to a business that has operated mostly the same for over 35 years. Voted “Best Of” in Fort Worth Magazine in 2016 & 2017 and being awarded several industry awards are a few of the accomplishments that Jason is most proud of. But the best thing that has come of his twisted path is the impact his story has had on others! “There is too many “look at me, I’m so successful, you can be too, just follow my system… blah, blah, blah” stories. Most people can relate to my story and I love sharing it!” says Jason. Website: http://www.dgroofsystems.com   If you enjoyed this episode, please Comment Share and leave a review…   Come Hang With US as WE Discuss The Show   Join the Conversation in our Facebook Group Success Champions Each Sunday we send out an email with the 5 episodes that aired along with this interview Sign Up Here   Affiliate Links - Which means if you click and buy our company will get paid... Audio Books have been a huge part of my journey. Audible changed the game by taking the books you love and turning them into Audio.... Check it out here https://amzn.to/2KeGXC5 Have you struggled with getting on podcasts? Have you found it difficult getting exposure? Check out what Abigail Sinclaire is doing with Human Network Connection

Oh. Okay, okay. What's happening? I need this tripod back. Oh my God, you will not even believe what I'm doing to my Chanel handbag down there on this rock. I just, I cannot see. Do you think I need my sunglasses, or do you think the sun is going to play nicely with me? Okay, hey peoples of the internet. I have the things to tell you. Hello Shannon, what's happening? Okay. I'm going to jump off the rock ... face down. Okay, please work internet. I want to share this over to my page. Do you back yourself fully in your business? What about the rest of your life? That is our topic. I've got some ass kickery for you. I'm gonna jump down. Okay, I'm coming back. I've gotta climb up, oh my God. Okay, I can't get up. All right, I had to go the lazy way around. Okay, the internet keeps fucking up. Okay, Joseph, I noticed that every time you come on my live steams, you say your name. Hello, hello, Joseph, I can see your name though, from your profile. I'm gonna give you guys an ass whooping, is that all right? I'm just trying to figure out, should I switch to my phone data? Why are you putting your phone number in dude? What's happening? Did I ask for dates on the internet or he's telling something? I'm looking rocky. That's cause I'm rocky as fuck. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I've decided to back myself in my love life. How do you feel about that people? I'm gonna kick my own ass about that. I did just kick my ass. I was just on the phone with a private client just now doing a VIP session. Things got a little bit heated. I'm wearing your favourite leggings. Wait until you see my leggings that have "Grateful as Fuck," written on my ass. Actually, I think it just says, "Gratitude," or it says "Grateful," I don't know. I don't look at my own ass often enough. Brandon Marshall is bringing it like a soul brother. Thank you. Thank you for backing me there. Okay, I thought I was gonna get in trouble. Someone stopped. All right, what about ... Do you know what's hilarious you guys? When I jump into the search bar on my Facebook on my laptop, and I'm searching for my own page so that I can then share the live stream. The thing that's hilarious is that I can then see the search history, and the search history of my personal Facebook is stuff that my team have searched when logged into my profile, as well as obviously stuff that I've searched. I swear to God, sometimes the cat ninjas are using my profile to Facebook stalk, and fan girl stalk people that they're interested in or something, so that it doesn't come up on their profile, or something like that. Because I'm like, what is up with this search history? What do you guys think you're doing? What's happening? All right, why is this live stream not coming up so that I can share it? I'm not gonna sell a couch, but I'll sell you this delightful rock that you can come and sit on with me. It's beautiful. What do you want me to give you? Can you stop with the frick ... What are you guys doing? Yeah, I should use Live Leap. I'm so lazy at remembering to use things. Okay. Here's the deal, right? This is gonna get preachy. I'm just gonna warn you. I'm gonna remind you in case you didn't remember, in case you've forgotten. Do not fucking forget. Can someone share this to daily ass kick? 'Cause my sharing thing is not working. Do not forget ... Oh, don't even worry about it. I'll share it later. Do not forget that there's a one day event happening with me in New York on Tuesday, if you wanna come spend the day with me on New York on Tuesday. One day, VIP, intimate event, and then one day even with me at Soul Shift and Money Making in San Diego the next Tuesday, which is April third. So, if you wanna come along to either of those, or you'd like to know more, there's a couple of places left in both of them. Message me on my personal page is best, and I'll get you those details. I wish I had my sunglasses, but right now the bottom of this tripod, because the rock down there is on an angle, so I've elevated the back two legs of the tripod by chucking my Chanel handbag down there on the rock and sticking the back two legs of the tripod into the bag, and my sunglasses are in the bag. So, it presents somewhat of a dilemma. But we'll figure it out. So, I'm on the phone just now, with my client, and essentially we were talking about the fact that she's always trusted in herself and that's how she's got results in her life in different areas, but that when it comes to business and getting the results that she wants in her business, and this was our first one on one call, right? She's doing a VIP one on one trial session with me, that she's noticing this feeling of basically well should I? Should I go and follow along with what such and such people are teaching or saying that I should do, whoever such and such people happen to be. The people who are commonly or uncommonly known as the gods of the internet, self appointed. Now, obviously we can all self appoint ourselves as anything, but ... This tripod is self appointing itself as a little bit of a biotch. I'm worried it's gonna fall over and then I'll have to quickly jump off the rock and grab it. Okay, it's under control. All right. So, you know, we've all done this. Give me a love hot shower if you've done this, or if you ... Hopefully I'm not gonna fall off the edge of this rock. I'm sitting with one ass cheek off the edge of it. I don't know why I do the things I do. I just like to live on the edge, literally, on the edge of this rock. There's an ass cheek hanging off. Oh. It's gonna be fine. Okay. Give me a love hot shower if you do this. You're already giving the love hot showers and I didn't even ask the question. You guys are on the ball. You're level as fuck. You're playing tight. It's very stypical of our community, and if you don't know the new words of the community then figure it out. We do this where we question ourselves, right? And we start to wonder, are you doing this in your business? You start to wonder, maybe I should do it the way that these internet marketing people say to do it. Maybe I should do like the 26 fricking copy written emails, or whatever it is, right? And you wonder if you should follow these different systems or strategies to build a funnel, or to build recurring income, or build any fucking thing, I suppose. Or in general, you just start to wonder whether you should do it like how other people are doing it. But then at the same time, and there's nothing wrong with learning from other people, by the by. Obviously. But then at the same time, there's a part of you, it's a big fucking part I think, which is just oo, this is gross, right? Like, it feels disgusting. Give me love hot shower if you relate to that, and I swear to God, this sun is just like, I'm gonna get you bitch. I'm right in your eyes, and I'm not backing down. I've just had a fantastic idea. I could turn around the other way. That would make actually a hell of a lot more sense because I'm literally sitting here like a squinty eyed squirrel. All right. I'm gonna, oh fuck. I'm gonna sit on this rock down here. Okay, oh my God. Now I can see nothing. Do you know one time I helped my ex husband launch a programme online called Rock Hard Results? It was a great programme name. Now I can see nothing. So, it's actually even worse now. We're figuring it out. It's a team effort. I'm totally in the dark now though, so I don't think that's better. Okay. See, here I can see but here ... Okay. Don't revolve around the sun. Let the sun revolve around me. I like it. Okay. Here's the rule. I'm gonna try and cut to the chase. I have a habit of rambling on. I don't know if you've noticed. The rule is, if your soul is staying disgusting, like if something inside of you is just like this is oo, right? E-U, like ugh. This is gross and it feels gross inside my body, and it feels scaly on my skin to be taking action like this, or to imagine that I should do so, then if you feel that, then that's how it is. That's the rule, okay? This current situation makes no sense at all. I'm gripping the tripod between my feet in order for it to not fall over. So, this is requiring massive inner strength of abductors, which is my inner thighs. I already have inner thighs like that woman on James Bond that kills a man with her thighs. My inner thighs are extremely toned and tight and strong. And they're now getting stronger by the moment. I hope you guys appreciate the effort because I did already work out today. I don't know why I can't just let it be easy. I just like, my room is like right there. I could be sitting in my room live streaming, but it's very dark. And it's not as fun as being on a rock gripping a tripod between your legs. So, anyway. I'm getting there, right? I'm getting to the point. I think I said what I needed to say already. The point is back yourself. When are you gonna finally back yourself, okay? So, I was using an example with my client. I was like, listen to me. You already know ... This is what I wanna say to you now. You already know that everything you feel inside of you is real. You already know that the way that you're being directed to do it through your soul is the way that it's gonna work. You already know that if you were to go against your own soul, and your own nature, and you were to essentially go and try and do ... In a way that ... Okay, I think it just kept freezing. In a way that feels kind of icky to you, or it's just boring, it's not interesting, it's not expansive, it feels really, do I really have to do that? Oh, okay, I guess I better. That's what's gonna get me a result. Okay. And it's kind of like this head hanging type of feeling, right? If you were to do it in that way, you know that it's not only not gonna work, you know this at your core, right? You might be buying into a story, you might be telling yourself all manner of things that are definitely not true. You might be trying to justify and convince, you might be like, "Well, that person knows better than me", or, "They're further along than me and maybe I don't really know because I haven't achieved that goal yet", whatever your goal is, right? In your business. And so, "They probably do know better, and I probably should do it this way", and you're going down this pathway of essentially trying to convince yourself to not back yourself, which when you put it that way, sounds really kind a crazy, and not good crazy. And it sound sad I think, as well, right? And then the other side of the coin, the flip side of that is you 100% know, give me a love hot shower, give me a love shower about this, you 100% know, if you agree with me give me a love hot shower. You 100% know that what's inside of you is real. You know that the things you feel inside of you about where your success is gonna come from is correct. And one thing that I love to journal on again, and again, and you might like to save this as an idea for later, and write it down as a journaling prompt, or somebody can put it in the comments if you want because I'm having a hard time getting my laptop to work here. I like to journal often on where do I ... A question I've asked myself many times over the years, where do I really believe, for example, my hundred million dollar empire is gonna come from, or before I was already making multi millions a year, then I would journal on where do I really believe my multi million dollar business is gonna come from, or where do I really believe my fame or my impact, or whatever it is, is gonna come from. So, the thing that's a big thing for me at the moment is soul mate love. Being in a soul mate relationship, right? That is kind of the biggest focal area for me, or the thing that I've not achieved yet. And I now and trust that I will. So, if I would tune in and journal on where do I really believe that that level of love and romance is gonna come from, and being in a relationship with my soul mate, and then I would look at some of the crazy ass shit that I've done over the past 18 months, since I became single, since I left my marriage, I went through this period, I went through initial period of what did the fuck, where the fuck do I even start? I don't even know what dating means, I don't even know how to do that. I've been in long term relationships for 15 years at the time. I'd literally been in long term relationships since my first ever boyfriend. So, it's like I don't even know what I the means to date, right? So, that was ... Being a brand new entrepreneur on the internet, like what's a lead page? I didn't even know. I'm like, "What do you do and a date? I don't even know." I don't know, somebody tell me. I don't think I ever even went on a date with my first two husbands. I think we just somehow became in a relationship after meeting at the gym. I literally had no clue. And then, I went through the next phase, which I feel like is what all entrepreneurs who are driven, motivated, bad asses like we have here too. The next phase is, well you know what? I'm a high achiever, and I'm a good student of life, right? Okay, finally this is gonna let me share it, so let's share it. I'm a good student of life, and I like to do really well at stuff, and I'm committed, and I will get good results, and so I'm gonna go and learn how to do it properly. Who's done that as an entrepreneur? Right? You go along and you're like, give me an amen or a hell yes or something on the comments if you've done that as an entrepreneur. You go, "I wanna do this properly. So, I'm gonna go and learn from the best people about how to market, and how you build an audience online, and how you sell a programme, or how you make a programme in the first place", or whatever it might be. And so, you go along and learn, and because the vast majority of people out there are teaching some kind of non thinking system, like join these dots, do it this way, here's the right way, here's the wrong way, that's probably what you fall into, right? And there's only a very limited number of people out there who teach like I teach around business and entrepreneurialism, which is follow fucking flow and soul intuition, fuck everything else. There are no rules, there is no right or wrong. Let's tune in, let's get you connected to soul, let's get you back to what you've always known. Let's act from that place and then sure, if you wanna know a few little, if there's things you literally don't know, you never heard of what a lead page is and you wanna know, cool. We can learn that, but actually you don't even need that to be successful and to make money, right? So, for me, if we relate it back to the dating thing, I did that same thing. At first, I was like, "I don't even know what dating is. I literally have no clue what that means or how to do it." I've heard the word, and I am 38 years old so in theory I have some sort of concept around it, but I'm not sure. Somebody's gonna have to tell me. So, then I started hiring coaches. Now, fortunately I hired an amazing sex and love coach to start with who helped me connect with intuition and flow, which was my good friend Alexa Martinez, and cannot recommend her highly enough. She's actually doing a soulmate manifestation free challenge this week on her Facebook page, so worth checking out. And that was amazing, and that just taught me so much about, oh my God. I was like, "What? Oh my God. All these crazy things I've felt inside of me about what I really want from romance in a relationship, you're telling me that's okay? You're telling me I can even have that? You're telling me I've got permission to be me? What? You're telling me I should tell men how I feel?" I was like, mind is blown, right? So, same thing as well. I teach a lot of people around business, but then after that, I got kind of, I did that for a little bit, and then I just, I got pulled in, right? And we all do it. You get pulled in and distracted by, if you're on Facebook for example, you're gonna get pulled in and distracted by so many fricking people on the internet who are telling you the right way to make money, or to sell an online programme, or to do anything at all. And so, I got pulled in, and I jumped on a few different mailing lists for example, with people who would send out, "Here's 10 scripts to get him to respond in a text message." Stuff like that. Or here's how to say this, or here's what never to say to a man, or here's 10 reasons why he's lost interest in you. Stuff like that. And I was on these mailing lists, and I did some coaching with people who teach like this as well. I paid for some coaching with people who teach like this, because I was like that newbie entrepreneur, who's like, "But I don't know. And I don't know if I know what I know, and I haven't had success in this area yet. I've had two failed abusive marriages, and ..." Okay, stuff that was on me as well. Let's just be clear and on that, all right? I don't wanna be blaming and doing anything like that. But I've had two marriages that didn't work out, and clearly I have no fucking clue what I'm doing, and how do I know how to choose right? So, I should go and learn from an expert, right? And we all do that with business, or we've all done that. I did the same thing with business. I know so many entrepreneur who can relate to having done that in business, but yet I was getting this information and I was getting to taught these things and the whole way through, when I would be told, "Okay, say this in a text. Oh no, don't ... What? You were thinking of saying that to him? Don't say that. Never say that to a man. That's a terrible idea." And then, there would be this feeling inside of me like, oo, really? I did even send ... I think I did it like two or three times, where I used a little script from a text messaging thing. And I kind of thought it was funny, I was laughing at it, but I was also like, this is kind of gross, right? It feels icky. It feels like, yuck. And it's kinda like, really? And then, a few times where I didn't speak my truth in a romance situation because I was listening to the advice of coaches at the time who were like, "No, no. That's coming from a hurt place inside of you, or that's something you need to heal inside. Don't say that. And this is the right way to communicate with a man, and this is how to do it. And I was like, ugh. And something inside of me was shrinking, right? I was feeling contracted. I was feeling like maybe they're right? Because I don't know, and I'm not an expert, and I don't have results in those areas. So, maybe I should listen to them and I'm willing to try it, and I said that. And I spoke up. I was like, "I don't really feel ... But okay. I'm open to it." And they were like, "Yeah, well ..." They were basically like, without saying you're wrong and I'm right, that's basically what they were saying. They were like, "Well, this is how it works. I'm right, do it this way." I was like, "Okay." And then I just didn't follow through though. I didn't follow through. In the end, I sent the fucking letter that I wanted to send to a guy, even though everybody said don't send that letter, right? Or everybody who you asked, which is a very small group of people. But my coach, and one or two friends, and in the end I was like, "Fuck it. I've always spoken my truth in business, and I'm gonna speak my truth in this area as well." Because here's what I know for sure. Anything that's feeling contractive, anything that's feeling like it's actually making me feel sad to follow that method if I would follow the method of that particular person or coach, or whatever. Or the strategy that's being taught online around dating, it's making me feel sad and contracted, and icky all at the same time, anything you're feeling like that in business, or think that you should be doing but it makes you feel that way relevant to business, I'm gonna tell you flat out 100, 1000, one million percent, all the percents, gathered into a big percentage bucket, don't do that shit. It's not gonna work for you. And by the way, if you got some kind of supposed outcome from doing stuff that goes against your soul, do you think it's gonna make you feel happy and fulfilled? So, for me with the dating stuff, I just started to remind myself, and this is kind of what I was kicking my client's ass around just now on the phone, I just started to remind myself that all of my results in my entire life, back to when I was a child, and even in my business before I got results and how many results, I had to remind myself of thins and getting into believing in myself, and coming from faith, and coming from self belief before I had the results to back it. Every result has come from when I trusted in myself, and anytime that I achieved any sort of success, quote unquote success, by doing something that went against my soul and that didn't feel right, it made me feel icky or it made me feel contractive, or it made me feel sad, then that success meant nothing to me. I have made money in the past by doing stuff that wasn't my soul work. I've never done anything that's felt like immoral, or completely wrong or something, but I've done plenty of stuff to make money in business where it was like, "Oh, really? Yeah, okay. All right, I guess. Because I want the results and so I'll suck it up." And when I did make money doing things that way, it slipped through my fingers. I didn't even fucking care. It meant nothing. It was not fulfilling. So, I started to think about the dating, and I was like, "But if it's true. If it's true that if I would say it in this way and follow, and learn these scripts until they become automated inside of me so that I'm communicating properly, as how you're supposed to communicate to a man. If that's true, then how could I possibly end up in a fulfilled soul relationship for me?" Because it would have been based on me not being me. Every step along the way it would've been based on me going ... Me being me, and who I am in this moment in time, with all my faults, and all my uncertainties, and all my weaknesses, me being me is not enough to get that relationship. I would have to catch a man by saying things right. Hello, what kind of fucking relationship's that gonna be, right? Just like what kind of fucking business is that gonna be that's built on a foundation of not a beautiful rock like this? It's not built on a solid rock foundation. How cool is that? I'm sitting on a rock. I'm super excited. Look, here's the rest of the rock where I was sitting before. I was up there. Now I'm just on a lower bit, but there's all these little rocky foundations all the way around. I'm in Orlando. So, I just ... It was like a wake up call. It was like, hello. How do you wanna believe in yourself, right? Like, hello. Where do you ... What foundation do you want this relationship to come from? Hello, do you actually wanna choose to believe that if you speak your truth, and be you, that that's not enough? And I was like fuck that shit. I'm gonna start saying exactly what I want, I'm gonna chose to back myself, I'm gonna chose to trust myself. And like the particular situation with a particular guy where everything that I wanted to say to him was breaking all the rules, like don't say that. I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna fricking say it, and then some." And the stuff I said was like, stuff you definitely aren't supposed to say to a guy. And my choice was that if I would be myself fully, and it didn't work, then that's exactly perfect and what was meant to be. And my choice was also that actually it's impossible to screw up being me, because when I be me and back myself and trust in myself, only good and positive outcomes can come from that. And so now, I feel 100%, I'm fricking so in trust and in certainty around where I'm going in the relationship area of my life, and I know that I'm getting the results that I desire. Awesome Nicole, thank you for jumping on first. All right. Janice says, "I feel this icky energy nine hours a day." Soulmate relationship and not backing myself in business, [Keja 00:22:05]. That's exactly the same situation that was happening with the client that I was just on the phone to, right? We were talking about a similar conversation to this, but obviously personal to her, and it was exactly the same. She's got the results in her health and fitness, and in her relationship, and then we're talking about the fact that you know, and this is why I was using the relationship example to her. I was saying to her, I know that me being in a relationship with my soulmate, it's gonna come from me being fully me, and I know that it's about me speaking my truth, trusting my own inner guidance, and anybody who's basically trying to direct me or tell me what to do, whether it's somebody random on the internet, or someone who I'm personally speaking to, if it goes against what feels right inside of me, then I know that it's not right for me, and I know that that's not how I'm gonna get the results that I want in my life, and I know that I just don't have it within me to do stuff that doesn't align for me on a soul level. I know that in business, to get to where my business makes millions of dollars a year, and I have only 100% soul mate clients who are so fricking cool and badass and do the work, for that to happen, I had to fully back myself. I didn't have money. I was over $100 000 in debt. I was gonna go bankrupt, I couldn't even buy coffee, and I realised I was one foot in and one foot out. I knew inside of me, I just knew that I was born for more. I knew I'm gonna get those results. I had the faith inside of me, and I believed that I could make money doing what I love, and doing this and speaking my truth every day, and just hanging out and being fully me, and not being worried about if I'm professional and whatever else, but I wasn't backing myself. I was one foot over there, and one foot, "Oh, maybe I should do it your way? Maybe, okay. It doesn't feel good, but okay. You have more results than me so I probably should do that." And then eventually I was like fuck this shit. I'm gonna fully back myself, and if I have to do that every single day for the rest of my life, and never make money, then that's gonna be fulfilling to me rather than living a life of if I follow your rules and do it this way, maybe then I'll get a result that I won't even fucking care about because it didn't come from flow. So, that's what I apply over now to the relationship area. I'm like, this is like a done deal. 100% the results that I desire are gonna come from me backing myself and trusting in myself. Somebody said, "What about if you being yourself will cause others to shun you?" Which is a great question. Well, they will. They will. They will. I'm gonna tell you a great answer about that. First I'm gonna open my laptop, because I just saw that my brother WhatsApp'd me. It came up at the top of my phone. He doesn't know I'm sitting here waiting for him live streaming. He's asked me what time we should leave for dinner. So, I don't know. How long's it take to get from fricking, a Disneyland resort to downtown Orlando? Let me just message him back. Don't know. Can you check? Downtown Orlando. Am on a live stream. All right, cool. Did that work? I don't know. We'll see. Okay, so here's my answer. How are you gonna feel about whether people shun you. The reason I'm at a Disneyland resort, I'm so not a Disneyland person. I actually really don't like Disneyland. I don't like a lot of people around me, and I just don't like Disneyland. I don't like rides. Sorry all the people who love Disneyland. You can hate on me for it if you want, because we're at a conference here, and I'm like playing hooky on the conference because I'm not really a conference person either. So, that's why I'm sitting on a rock on a live stream, instead of being in a conference. So, he's in the conference room and he's just messaged me about dinner. All right. So, yesterday I found out that in certain groups on the internet, of Facebook groups, that people talk all the time about what a bitch I am, right? And how they can't handle my life streams. And I'm just like, okay. I'm just gonna say something directly to those people right now. Just so you know, if you say that you can't even, even, with me, and you can't handle my live streams, and did you see what she did on her latest live stream, I'm just gonna point out the obvious, which is that the only way you know that is because you're watching the fucking live steam. So, technically that makes you a magnetises fuck fan. Who's triggered as fuck, by the way. And if you are triggered and emotionally charged by me, that's because I'm being a mirror, and because I'm confronting in you something that you know you get to address inside of you, and basically probably you're gonna become a client in about a year, and then you're gonna tell me that you used to hate me and bitch about me behind the scenes but I already knew because other people told me. If you didn't actually care, if you weren't connected to me on a soul level in some sort of way, then you wouldn't watch the live streams, and you wouldn't bitch about me behind the scenes, and you wouldn't care. You'd be like, "I'm not interested. I'm not attracted to her. I'm not magnetised to her", and you would just not even observe. You literally wouldn't care, right? It happens all the time, Melissa. I actually was a little shocked because I'm so in a love bubble of my own cult and my own world that I've created that I haven't heard it for a while, but I used to be much more conscious of it, and to answer the person's question who asked about this, I knew about it more and I was conscious of it because I was concerned about it, and because it would cause me to shrink and be worried, and not speak my truth. And then I just gradually over time let go of that, because I still care. Yesterday I was like, I was triggered and I was a little hurt. I was like, "Oh." I was actually like, "Oh, I thought everybody loved me now." I really did. I was like, "Oh. Well, okay." And then I was like, "Oh, well technically I suppose I could ..." I do actually know that people don't like me but I kind of forgot because I'm only surrounded by love, so I was a little triggered, and I was kinda like, "I think I wanna go around to their houses and cook them dinner, and just sit them down and just explain to them, just so you understand, I'm a nice person." And I'm actually like really nice, and I'm really introverted and quiet in real life, and everything as well. I think you would like me, right? Like, really, I'm an actual ... I'll buy you a present. I'll bring you chocolates. I'll do that. I do that all the time anyway. So, I kinda felt like I need to deal with this situation so that people understand how awesome I actually am. But then the other part of me was like, not fuck them. I got into curiosity, and I think it's funny because the reason I said, I'm like, "Well, if you're watching my life streams, then it means you're a fan." Just technically. Just saying. So, I think it's funny. But also, even if I feel hurt, or even if I've lost people along the way, and I've lost friends, and I've lost some clients along the way who I got too much for them, I got too intense for them, and some of them came back and then they're like, "You've got too much for me. You got too intense for me. I couldn't handle it. It was like a trigger for me." One of my newest clients who joined my inner circle, first thing he did introducing himself is, "Oh, I'm probably like a lot of people here when I first came across Katrina Ruth, I wanted to punch her through the computer screen." I was like, "Aww. People say the sweetest things about me." And for real though, my clients say that all the time, right? So, it's really, really common and normal, oh, thank you. Thank you for the present in advance. So, anyway. My point is, I got to a point of understanding that my message and my art, and speaking my truth is more important and bigger than what people wanna say about me, right? And that I have to put that first. So, don't assume that somebody like me just doesn't care, or is so confident, because it's not that. I'm still hurt at the idea, and I don't like the idea, and quite honestly, even at a big conference like this, there's three and a half thousand people here, I'm conscious that there's people in this room, and some of them I know who they are, who really fucking don't like me and think I'm a bad person, or I'm too aggressive, or I'm unprofessional online, and that fricking annoys me, right? And I let it go, because in the end I have to be me, and I have to speak my truth, and even the real life friends how I've lost along the way, I've just been like okay, there's some sadness there, or sometimes there's a grieving process to go through depending upon who the person is in your life, and technically not just as friends, but really even my marriage was a fallout of me being fully me, right? There's many reasons that went into that, but it was. I'm so fully me that you can't have me in your life if you don't ... For somebody who's not fully being them in their life, and not fully pressing play, or they just, they disagree with my values or my beliefs, how can you keep me in your life, right? You can't. You're either gonna ... If I'm in your life, there's only two reasons for that. Either you really love me and you resonate so fucking fully with me, and we're basically come from the same glorious pot of souls, which is why when we hang out in real life we're gonna have the bestest time ever and I won't be hiding from you like I'm hiding from everyone else here. I know there'd be some cool people here, I just don't know where they are, right? For real though, whenever I meet any of my tribe or my clients, or people who follow me online and who are the same as me, when we meet in real life, we're instantly magnetically best friends because we're the same sort of person. Or there's the people who hate me. And if they actually say that they hate me, or they're like I can't stand her, or whatever, then actually it's because at their core, they're the same sort of person, and they're just not owning their truth. That's a reality, right? That's just how it is. Okay. What else? Where was I even up to? I am not who you think I am. I am ... You are who you think I am. Reflect your own truth. Thank you Ruby. You are also the most beautiful soul. Thank you for seeing that in me, and I reflect it back to you. I'm shooting it back to you like that super hero who shoots stuff out of there, like Spider Man who shoots his spiderweb out. I'm shooting back love and acknowledgement. All right, what else? So, anyway. I think one of the hardest things, in theory, it's a choice whether or not it's hard, is when you don't have the results yet. You don't have the money results, so you don't have whatever results you're having in your business. And you know, you know on a soul level what is right, and what is aligned, and how you're gonna get results, right? But you don't have the results. So, that voice comes up ... Maybe you have some other people who are lovely enough to tell you all the time that you're doing it wrong. Eliminate those people. I don't mean in a bad way. I just mean turn away from them energetically, or physically, or whatever else is required, right? Don't listen to them. Literally, la-la-la-la-la, can't hear you. Not listening. Choose to only listen to people that affirm what you already know inside of you, yeah? To me that seems obvious. But, mind you, I've definitely gone against that myself at some points in time. So, there's that. But then the other thing is it's not just the voices of other people, right? It's the voices, shit. It's the voices inside of your head. Those things are little bitches some of the time. And they come up every day and be like, "Really? Are you sure? Because that sounds kind of stupid to me. And besides which, how can you prove it? And I bet you're wrong. And I bet you're gonna screw everything up, and I bet probably if you do that, or say that, everybody's gonna tell everybody, and then the whole entire internet is gonna laugh at you because you're stupid." That's what the voices inside your head will say. Or it'll be like, "Who do you think you are to do that? Somebody else could do that, but clearly you have no clue what you're talking about. You don't have the results, you can't prove yourself, you don't speak properly, and your hair doesn't look good." And so, these are the normal every day thoughts that we all have. I have these voices inside of my head as well, and I know, I see them for what they are. I'm like, "Bitch please. I see what you're trying to do here, and I'm gonna let you know that I'm gonna be over here doing what I'm meant to do anyway." But sometimes they get to me. Sometimes they got to me with the dating stuff, right? And now I became stronger over time, because I just kind of thought back, and I thought back to my business stuff, and I'm like, "Hmm, well, took me like five fucking years, or however long, to really get this with my business, but then when I did, shit started working. When I fully backed myself. So, I think, thank you for coming along, and telling me all of your thoughts for today, and if you insist on carrying yourself around and following me everywhere, and talking shit, then I guess I can't stop you. I'm still gonna be over here pressing fucking play", and I'm gonna learn this lesson a lot faster, right? So, it's about realising that you can have these voices inside of your head, you can have the voice of doom and gloom, and self doubt, and whatever bullshit is going on or coming through you, or even coming at you from outside of you, all of that can be present and in attendance, and you can still do whatever you know what you're meant to do. And so, what that comes down to is you've gotta be bold enough, and trust enough to actually back it up and follow through though. It's not gonna be enough to feel and know inside of you what's true and what's gonna get you results. That is not gonna cut it. You're gonna have to back it with action, right? Which means, from my example, the dating example, it means that when I have an instinct or an impulse, or a soul nudge comes through me, like, "Hey, say that to this guy. Speak your truth. Say this", and my voice inside my head's gonna be like, "Oh my God, are you crazy? Don't say that. Really? You already said such and such thing. Like, really? You're gonna morally now? You're gonna say that?" And, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't, and maybe this, and then let's go check what he's posted on Facebook today because maybe that's gonna put me off because you don't know ..." Like, what? What if I just always followed my soul nudges? Because I can tell you something for sure, in my business now, and it took me however long it took me to get this, I always follow my soul nudges. That doesn't mean only when it feels exciting or inspiring. That means especially when it feels terrifying, when it feels reckless, it feels crazy, it goes against what everybody's saying, and I built a multi million dollar per year online empire where I get to do only what I fucking want everyday, and I have a 100% soul mate client base. My clients are now becoming millionaires and multi millionaires in the last year as well. Multiple clients who've gone from where they were making 8 to 10K a month at the start of last year to where they're now making 50, 60 and over 100K per month in numerous cases, over 200K per month consistently in multiple places as well, and all of these women and a few men who work with me, are doing what I'm talking about here, following soul nudges. And not only attracting such badass from only following soul desires, requirements, and flow. It's not just when it feels easy or comfortable or fun or exciting. It's when it feels terrifying. It's when it's scary. It's when it feels reckless. It's when it feels ridiculous, right? And here's something else. Let me just check in in what my brother's saying. He's just messaging me more. 36 minutes. Am on my way back. Okay. We can go for like 5 or 10 minutes more. Okay. Am on a rock. I'm telling him. Don't forget, if you jumped on late and you didn't hear me, I'm doing a one day VIP very intimate event this Tuesday in New York, and I'm repeating the same event the Tuesday after, April 3, in San Diego. These are soul shifting deep dive days to get clear on exactly who you are as an entrepreneur, who you wanna be as an entrepreneur, creator and leader, and the best fucking way for you to make fuckload of money and a fuckload of impact doing that. That was too many fucks. Maybe. Not maybe. Whatever it was. It's something like that. I can send you the whole written overview, so message me over on my Katrina Ruth personal page if you wanna know more about that. Okay, so then coming back to this. Here's how I actually got into this business, because as I've been sharing, I don't have the results yet, I'm like working towards these results in my romance side of my life, and I know that it will come from backing myself, but I also know that that means I can't just sit around being like, "Yeah, I believe that I'm gonna have a soulmate relationship, and I believe that it's gonna work out for me and I have faith." It means that I've also gotta follow all actions that my soul tells me to take, even though I feel like a fricking crazy person half of the time, okay? And the reason that I knew that first for business though, and where I can now apply it from business over to love, I knew it for business because when I was broke in my business, and when I was over $100 000 in debt, and I thought I was gonna go bankrupt, I sat down one day, and it's funny because I'm kind of at a theme park now. I'm at the resort anyway. And I was at a theme park. I was at a Wet and Wild theme park, like a water one. And I went and sat down for coffee, and I made this list and it was based on the fact that I'd been a personal trainer for 13 years before I built my own online business, and so I've now been actively involved in the fitness industry for 21 years, since I was 17 years old. And so, at the time, it was maybe like six years ago or something, so I would've been involved in the fitness industry at the time for like 15 years, and I had complete faith and certainty around my ability to always be in great shape. Now, it didn't mean that I always was in my ideal shape, because sometimes I would slip a little bit out or whatever, but it never was a problem. I was like, "I know how to be in fantastic fucking shape. It's very simple and straight forward, and easy, and it's just automatic that of course I get to have that." I have zero doubt, and also that it comes from me following what I believe is true and real for me inside me. Never once have I followed a diet plan. I've tried to do it a few times in years gone by, and I always was like cheating all the way through on those diets. And I don't follow structured training. All my training and my eating is intuitive. I even wrote a book about five or six years ago called Think Thin, The Intuitive Diet for Women. You can get it on Amazon if you go to books for kick ass women dot com, you're gonna see over 60 books on Amazon that I've self published, and Think Thin is one of them, right? So, that's my way of eating and staying in shape. So, I sat down and I thought about what if I had the same beliefs for business and for money that I have for fitness? What if I just always knew that I know what's right for me? What if I fully trusted in myself, what if I fully backed myself, what if I went from soul flow and intuition, and I basically sat there and I wrote a big list of what are all my beliefs to do with fitness and my body, and being in great shape? And they're all really powerful positive beliefs that would serve a lot of people well, as I'm sure you can imagine, right? And then I looked at what my money beliefs were at the time, and I had so many money and business beliefs around not trusting myself, or there's gotta be a wrong way, or something like a right way or a wrong way, or I've gotta get it right, or something along those lines, right? And other people maybe know more than me, and I've gotta do stuff that doesn't feel good, and just all these beliefs, and I literally sat there and I took all of my positive and powerful fitness beliefs and and I rewrote them into powerful positive beliefs for my business, and for money, and I just made a decision. I was like, that's how I'm gonna choose to think. I'm gonna choose to back myself, I'm gonna choose to trust myself, I'm gonna choose to basically operate from inside of me. And even last week I had another breakthrough around this, because I noticed that in my business there's still a couple of areas where I feel like I'm not fully showing up, right? Where I feel, you know that sense of disease, or feeling uneasy, or restless, or unsettled, because you feel like ... I had a general feeling that there's some discontent present in my business. And a general feeling of feeling like I notice that pretty much every day I feel slightly restless, like slightly, just like what am I missing? That was it. I journaled on why do I feel like there's always something missing in my business? I just have this niggle all the time, and I thought ... I said to myself, this was like the other day in Santa Monica, sitting in the tea and coffee bin. And I thought, "Well, I don't feel that way in fitness. I have like zero restlessness or niggles in fitness." Even if I go into [inaudible 00:40:58] and I'm in my little shorts and my sports bra, and I see that I got a bit puffy around the waste or something, it does not remotely bother me. I'm like, "That's fine. I know exactly how to fix it." Right? And I have only self love, right? Like I actually really, it took me several decades, but I really love and accept myself regardless of what my body's doing, and I have full trust, right? And I thought, "Why do I have such contentedness in fitness, but in business I still feel a little uneasy?" And I was like, "Oh my God." And I realised it's because with fitness and nutrition, I 100% follow every single soul command and desire and requirement. So, what that means is, like this morning, I was like, "I gotta go to Bikram Yoga this morning." Hot yoga. That's how I felt. That's what my body wants. Well, I had a schedule of going to a conference today. I'm like, "Too bad. I'm going to Bikram Yoga because that's what I feel I need." The zero of the time will I not follow soul urges in that situation, right? 100% of the time with fitness and my body, I do what I'm told to do from within ... Not by other people. Zero percent of the time I do what I'm told to do by other people, and 100% of the time I do it even if it comes at the cost of something else that I was supposed to be doing, but it's also on the times when I don't feel like doing something. Maybe I'm like ... Oh, the other day. I didn't feel like going to the gym. Too bad. I go to the gym if I know that it's what my soul's telling me to do. But by the same token, if I go to dinner, and there's like an amazing dessert and I wanna eat it, I'm gonna fricking eat it, right? If that's what feels good for me. So, then with business and money, I noticed that there was still times, or there's still times where I'm not doing what my soul tells me to do. You know, I like to rebel even if it's against my own self, from time to time. Just to kind of prove a point, that I can do what I want, I think. But I had to kind of acknowledge this. I'm like, "Oh, I have a feeling of discontent, or dis ease sometimes in my business because there's certain things that I know I actually should, quote unquote, should be doing from a soul point of view, like my soul's directing me to do it. Could be like whatever little task, or getting back to somebody on my team, or finalising an idea, or what it is, and it's that kind of little girl inside of me that's still like if your Mom tells you to clean your room, you're like, "Well, I was gonna clean my room, and now that you've told me to clean my room there's no fucking way I will clean my room." It's exactly the same reason that I refuse to see the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies, because everybody was like, "You've gotta see them. They're really good." I was like, "Bitch, please." If everybody's seeing them, there's no way I'm gonna see them because clearly I'm better than that. And then eventually I saw them and I was like, "I guess they were okay." So, it's just that ... I recognise that part of myself, and so I kind of kicked my own ass around it. And so then with love, and relationship, and sex and that sort of thing, I was like ... Oh, shit. I was like, "Well, okay." I went through this phase last year after I left my marriage, which was the year before, and so last year my phase was like, trying to do the things that I thought that I should to do be successful at dating or whatever, or try and learn about it, and doing things ... But also, I was in this most ridiculous pattern, which was so stupid, I can't even believe that I did this, where if I would go on a date with a guy, and I wasn't attracted to him, like romantic, to where you're like, "Can we just have sex right now?" That I would still kind of convince myself and I would be like, "Oh, well maybe I am attracted and I just don't know it, because he's a really nice guy." And now I say it, and I'm like, "That's hilarious." How could that be a thing? You either are or you aren't, and you fucking know where you are because you're like, can we just seriously, can I just crawl into your skin immediately? In a non weird way. And so, it was kind of this phase of trying to make it work, right? And now I'm like, "Okay, it's either I'm fucking feeling it, which is relatively rare, but that's the whole point, or it's nothing", right? And either way is totally fine, but I'm not gonna keep on meeting up with somebody just in case I somehow at some point magically wake up one day and in massive lust and attraction, or whatever, right? But by the same token, it also means ... That's fun. But by the same token it also means that if I'm feeling like, "Okay, I should say this to this guy", or message this or whatever ... I do this where, it even happened last week I think it was, last weekend, where I'm like, "Oh, don't message that." I met a guy, and I'm like, "Don't message that. That's a bad idea." And then I felt like messaging it. I'm like, "My soul is telling me to message that, so I'm gonna message it." And either outcome is fine, right? And it's just that continual process of I'm gonna continually back myself, I'm gonna continue to follow what I'm directed to do inside. Whatever the outcome is actually doesn't matter because the point is that I'm proving I fricking believe in myself, right? And I'm proving I'm gonna back myself, and I'm proving that I fucking mean what I say when it comes through me from the inside. So, I'm building inner strength, I'm building self belief, I'm building resilience, I'm building tenacity, and all these areas can just be related to each other, whether it's fitness stuff, business stuff, love and romance and sex stuff, all of them just connect into each other, and I have to fricking go. I could live stream all night, but I'm gonna go and have dinner with several badass people. So, I'm sure I'll have many more things to share with you tomorrow. I would really encourage you to watch the replay of this live stream. I feel like I brought the message and the preaching tonight, this afternoon, whatever it is. So, go watch the replay, leave me a comment, send me a message, let me know what you thought, and seriously, what if you just fully decided to back yourself? I've built a multi million dollar per year business where every day I just wake up, and sit around and talk to cool people on the internet like I'm doing now. I only do what I want, I have the best time ever. I travel the world continually. You guys see this, and I just want you to really know that's available for you. I didn't have all that. I built it up, and I built it from backing myself, right? And I literally used to write in my journal, all I really wanna do is inspire, educate and motivate people, and talk to cool badass people on the internet, and now here we are. So, I know that this is available for all of us in all areas. Don't forget that if you wanna spend a day with me in person in a VIP private event, on Tuesday in New York, that that's happening. There's several places left, I think three maybe for New York. Send me a message on my personal page, and then there's a couple of places left for San Diego the week after as well. So, it's gonna be April, sorry. March 27 in New York City, and April 3 over in San Diego. Message me on my Katrina Ruth personal page, or you can message on this profile if you're confused about how to find it, but maybe someone can tag in my personal page right now, or I'll do it in a moment when I jump off, and send me a message there because it's just easier for me to PM over on my personal one. I prefer it. And I'll get you all the details of exactly what we're covering, and the cost, and all that good stuff. Have an amazing day. Go take massive action, from your soul. And do not forget, life is now. Press fucking play.

Today we're going to talk about chatbots. Using Chat Bots to Triple Your Sales Conversions without being tech savvy.  With Heather Havenwood all about using Chatbots within Facebook to grow your business. I'm happy to have a returning guest with us Heather Havenwood. And we had her on a while ago and she offered up some awesome content to know who you're selling to. So, after this episode, you might want to go and listen to that episode of know who you're selling to. But today we're going to talk about chatbots. How to triple your conversion rates with your sales without being tech savvy. So, if you don't know about Heather let me tell you a little bit about her. She is CEO of Hazelwood worldwide. She's sexy boss, a serial entrepreneur and is regarded as a top 40 in internet marketing business strategies and marketing. She since marketing her first online business in 1999, brings together clients and personal coaches. She has played an active role in online marketing world since before most of us even had computers. In 2006 she started developing and growing online information marketing publishing company from ground zero to over a million dollars sales in less than 12 months starting with a list of the product name or an offer. Heather and molded her clients into successful gurus now known as the expert in this field. She is awesome, and she really knows her stuff. So, let's welcome Heather today. Heather so great to have you again. And I'm just so excited to really talk about chatbots. I know it's something new that I've heard about a little but almost nothing. So, this is going to be exciting. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. This is going to be a lot of fun so it's going to be different and chatbots, feel like what's a chatbot, I will explain all of that. Awesome. OK. All right. So, here's what chatbot is. I mean just kind of dive into it if you're ok with that. My name is. My name is Heather Havenwood and I'm a marketer in an online marketing for since 2001 and I had my, I actually got my online degree my master's degree in 2010. My first million online was in 2005 right so I've been around a long time in one of the things about me is I'm an early adopter. Not everyone's like that. I got that from my father actually. Whenever there was a change of technology from BETA to VHS to like those discs we had for a while he was like the first one out the gate to buy the technology. In fact, in 1985 just to give you I guess when I get this from 1985 he had a physical bone in his car wired in his car he drove 80 miles from our house to the nearest train and when the train ran by he called his buddy and said look I'm, I'm in my car and a car phone is like 1985. OK. Wow. And I think it was like 50 dollars a minute or whatever it was. But this is before the bag phone. He was one of the first people in Houston Texas in the 80s to get a phone and he was very proud of that. So that's just I think that's where I get it from. I'm a true early adopter and I kind of have it. It's like I've heard about it. I'm probably late. I just have this kind of weird thing. But, I will say with chatbots it's a little bit different technology, but it really is the future. So, let's kind of take you back down to a technology lane if you will. Right. Let's start with good old-fashioned Yellow Pages. Yellow Pages. I remember going up we have yellow pages. My grandmother lived on her yellow pages. He wanted a plumber, or they wanted a roofer, they wanted whatever they open the yellow pages and all the market people talked about the yellow page remember that. Yeah absolutely. All right the bigger the ad the more people who will get to read the copy. And then what you trying to get them to do. You tried to get them to do what. Call the office sure. That was the thing. And then you got them to convert from there. Then we had the big explosion of online marketing in the last couple least of decades. Is it all about ads. Now no longer Yellow Pages but now that it was newspaper ads direct mail it's all about no matter what your ad is Facebook, online, Google, Yelp what are you going to do. Call. You still want them to call or go to your Web site and call. Especially with service-based businesses. Absolutely. Mainly because you want to say what's going on what's happening. When can we meet? Here's what's happening with text messaging. So, let me give you kind of an example. Go back three years. I opened a weight loss company here in Austin. So, it was a service-based business. Local business right. And it was kind of a new business and so what we want to do is again like you guys we wanted them to call to set an appointment. But from the beginning, I knew that a couple of things one of our target markets was women in the construction business even though it's predominantly male-dominated the customer is the woman. Absolutely right. She's the one dealing with the leaky roof she's the one dealing with all of that. The plumbing situation even though maybe you know the man comes in to fix it. The customer is a woman. Absolutely. Go back to this weight loss program. I knew the market was women and women like texting more than men. There's stats on that. OK. So, I thought to myself OK well we're going to set this phone number up. Obviously, we said the phone number, but it was a virtual number for the beginning. There's all kinds of companies you can use Grasshopper, Google Voice, whatever. And the number one thing that I said the company we have to make sure the phone number is textable and the like really __, it has to be textable and it has to be text was such a way that no matter who is working that day, myself I work in the office as virtual or anybody that we actually had in the office that they physically, they could text message back the customer as fast as they possibly could. So, it first happened my staff was like no one's going to text us or on my watch. Sure, enough we put on all our ads either on the Website, Yelp, Google ads whatever our thing was when we did even radio we said call or text number, call or text number. And guess what happened. We had people text and they say: “I just heard your ad on, I just saw your ad on Yelp, whatever can you tell me more about it?” Now here's what's happening. People are busy. They got their lives going on their moms or whatever they're busy lives right. They go oh I really want to try that. I'll send them a text but they don't really want to have the time to call and have this big conversation. Right. Right. So, it's their way of kind of like oh I'll start something and then like a follow-up. But they don't want to e-mail either because they kind of want to talk to somebody, so they text. Now here's another example. So, we actually had a huge amount still, do have you drop people texting. And then what we do is we'll text back and forth a little bit and then go hey is this a good time to call you so we can now continue the conversation get your schedule and then they’ll go “Yeah, come in 10 minutes or actually give me five minutes. Yeah. Call me now” Boom. Now we’re calling, we've had we've had a connection, come on the phones, schedule an appointment, you'd be surprised. Well the interesting thing, I’m hearing you're going through the whole sequence. You’re texting back and forth and you're creating a dialogue and a familiarity and then you're asking them permission to call them which then they're saying yes. Yeah exactly. They reached out with the text which is what I call a soft connection. No commitment. And then-then we would always encourage our staff to say try to get on the phones as fast as possibly can so they can answer questions faster. Of course, and get an appointment. And but when you're in that dialogue then you can have a permission-based conversation where you're like hey is a good time call you when should I call you? Perfect timing I'm driving. Great. You know or hey you're going to be on speaker with the kids. No problem. You know so now you're calling them and they are inviting us to call them. I know that's so awesome. It is also, that we did. So, here's another thing and give me another example here just in case you're just like oh I don't believe it. I had a gentleman who was in a mastermind with me who his agency did all was managing all the lawyer infomercials to just commercials right across the country and that the lawyer was one of those ones where it's like: “Do you this crazy sickness I can never say it. OK. I can't say I call this number does you have this. This is, call this number. You know your part of a class action lawsuit” So that was his agency like blasting this and their conversion wasn't getting very high and they didn't understand. So, they, once someone said someone called in the customers who are feeling like and she goes well someone called in the other day and said they tried to text the number and nothing happened. And of course, everyone in the agencies that text the number that they go to. Why don't you make the number textable and see what happens? So, said what we could do that. Right. So, they made the same phone number. No changes really textable. And I think on the ad they put, call or text. What do you think happened? They got and ended with texts because nobody wants the call and really talk to somebody right now. Exactly. They don't want to be sold. Right. And you also don't know maybe they're in a loud factory or maybe a hospital, maybe they didn't want to actually talk to, they can't, maybe they legally can't, maybe are in front of people they don't want to have a conversation about right. Oh yes, let’s talk to a lawyer right. So, there are all kinds of reasons why people text versus call. Sure. Right. My sister, when she's in a certain area of her work. She can't take calls because for some reason the area is restricted. She's like I can text you but I can't call you back. Right. So, stuff like this you just realize that you can still get in communication and so give the customer through text so what they did they made it textable and they got inundated their conversion went way up and they're all happy. Right. Yeah. Instead, they made the customer service people take the text and they, it’s just like chat nowadays. I mean I go when I do customer service for clients or I go into a software that I'm purchasing the first thing I do is chat right because I have music in the background or I have you know kids screaming the background the dogs, but I can chat through what I need but I can't get a call. So, the point do you want to do more of that and that's where chatbots come in. OK So, here's what's happening now because people are already used to texting. And sometimes people don't even want to give out their phone number because when they text you, you’re the front of them. Yeah. What's happening now is Facebook early 2017. They opened up their API. We will talk for a second. They opened up their API for their messenger which is their texting communication right. They opened it up, API really from the concept of what do we do with this thing. We want more people on our platform. We pretty much want to take over the world. We don't want anyone anymore to even use their phone. They want us to call and voice call and video call and do everything with Facebook. How can we get more businesses to use our services? How can we get more businesses on our platform? They go well let's open up the API and see what happens. They open up the API. Kind of like OK developers go. We don't know how to sell this so why don't we just open up the platform. And there's about 40, 50 companies in San Francisco area and they are kind of tap the shoulders on and said OK. You start your own company and we're going to let you API into our service. It's not for the public it's just for like who we tap and see if you can find a way that will you know will basically increase the amount of businesses on our platform. So that's what happened. And it's only been around pretty much since the first quarter of  2017 and what's happened now is there are all these different services trying to figure this out where they are now no longer on their Website no longer saying things like click to my Website or click to chat or click to call. They're saying hey click here to talk to somebody right away. And it opens up the Facebook messenger app on desktop as well as mobile. And so, what happens is you now are engaging with the company via their Facebook app, via their fan page or their business page immediately. Interesting. Yeah. So, then you can move them from there to wherever you want. Here's a link to site for a service. You know why don't you give us a call I'm available right now. By the way, you're on our fan page if you click on this link it takes you to our service agreement whatever you want. What they're trying to do is have it so that business is really no longer would have Websites they just have business pages. Wow. That’s interesting. And that's why I think it is. And it's clickable so here's how it hits it and then I would go to the next level of this. So, I'm going to give you my chatbot link right now and I want everyone listening to go to this URL and engage with my chatbot and notice how different it is than going into our website to opt-in or just calling me or anything like that. Notice the differences here 's the URL, ready? Yup. www. askheatherann.com.  My name is Heather Anne so, askheatherann.com. Now you put that in URL, no matter if you’re on desktop, no matter if your iPad, or your phone it's going to happen. It's going to open it and it's going to turn, you'll see that like open and open again, and it will go right to Facebook Messenger. Wow. Ok. . Yes. So that once you experience it now mine's customized and the first thing it says is like “Hi” and it starts to have a conversation like Hi I'm Heather Havenwood. This is what I do, you know. And then I ask it a question. The first question I ask when I ask you is “What's your name?” What am I doing? I'm building a list near you. David, you're like great Dave. They'll say tell you what do you own a business because that's what I do. Right. And you can say yes or no. “Great!” right you're in a business that's awesome because that's what I do I help businesses expand their space expand their revenue through different through exposure visibility and profitability. You go, “Great!” And it will tell you what I like because “I'm a bot. I don't know if you're man or woman. Will you tell me if you're man or a woman? Then you say, “Man” Type in MAN. “Great!” Right. Expands things, I go, tell you what I should give your free gifts just for your time today. Here is. Will you please give me your e-mail address? You type your e-mail address. Press ‘send’. Awesome. Here is your gift. I just had an entire interaction with you. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. Now here's what's cool about it. Why you're having that interaction. If I can actually watch you do this entire process live. Like I can be sitting at my desk as a customer service person or the CEO of the company. Watching people interact and at any moment in the middle of the conversation. I could just like come in and go “Hey”, “Hey, how's it going?” And I can totally take away the competition of the bot and just literally have a conversation with you. I don't know what to do. And the chatbots going. You can literally have someone go Oh hey you know I'm here right now we're available we can get someone out. Can I get your number to call you right now and what's going on? What's your address? Now, what can we do for you? Start actually communicating with the right way via chatbot and everything's recorded and everything you can see at any time. Wow. That's way, way better than a Web site. It's way better than a website right. First of all, it doesn't go there then opt-in and you get autoresponder. You just need a whole process right. And so, you can so much time. But here's the cool piece. It also brands you it has a conversation. There's a company here in Austin called the Reliant plumbing. And oh my god they, they do the best ads. They really do.  I have to give them credit. The radio ads and ads and its husband-wife team. I’ve never used them but I hear their stuff all the time. And, the radio ads. it's husband-wife team. And they have this kind of brand, the whole fun team going on. But they’re still on plumbing for God’s sake.  And you got to rate it, it’s funny. So, they lost the whole brand through fame. Now they just drive people to the website of course and their brand and their phone number. And I don't they do text messaging but they've created this kind of funny brand. Between them, you know between the husband-wife. He acts like these guys as goofy guy and she acts like she's like seriously honey you know like that whole thing. Imagine if you had a cartoon of them were few ones with chatbots and high, and all of a sudden you had the spokespeople the CEO's husband-wife team basically talked to you go “Hey!” And they had this little fun banter for ten seconds. You're reengaging with them and you're reengaging with your brand. And that's key because we want to, at the end of the day businesses what do business people it's human to human interaction. They don't run businesses with brands. But what they what they what we're doing now with artificial intelligence basically is rebuilding connection with bots which is aka a cartoon of Disney. We have a relationship to Winnie the Pooh. We have a relationship to Mickey Mouse. We can have a relationship with a cartoon right represent something to us. Remember that the movie with Tom Hanks where he's alone on an island for forever. He literally had a relationship with a volleyball called Wilson. Right. Right. He built this interaction with it. We have this is old school, Wendy’s. You know we've had interactions with the dog, Spot. I think it was Budweiser. We've had we've had relationships with inanimate objects before and cartoons. That is a way to connect with an audience. So that's how Chat Bots allow, you to do that and it also allows you going at one level but also alleged that sustained interaction fast speed connection with the with the with your customer and you don't have to have a big hole. You know there are services you get that are called chat services. Yeah. Yes, that's true. That takes a little more manpower right because any anybody in your office can be logged into and be a part of the Facebook business page. And anybody can be having a conversation with a client. It starts with the CEO. Yes. Yeah. It's kind of interesting because it's like you know even when you get a text on your phone or you check it always before you will an e-mail. So, the chatbots if you’re on the other end you just know that it's up and running all the time and you would be able to use it so much better than answering the phone ain’t it? Yeah absolutely. And plus, on top of that you know you again you don't know are people going on in the background their world right. Being able to chat and have a conversation with a service provider like Hey I like to have you come out roofing. I've got a hole Yeah, I live in South Elvis or the South Austin. I really rather have it on Tuesday and how this whole conversation and go Yeah. Well, we have something available 2;00 on Tuesday. Here's my address. Thank you so much. We'll follow up with you in a week. All that can be done. In fact, my head my AC go out actually three months ago and believe it not I was very impressed. This company texts me a text me but the only thing that I think they did incorrectly is that I had a phone number I called. And then the text came directly from the technician. The problem with that is a different phone number. Wouldn't it be that everything comes from one place? That's the beauty of Chat Bot. You don't have three numbers right. It could be anyone. Right. Because the technician can leave. They can leave the company tomorrow, in a year, and you really don’t want to have that right. When you want to own the customer. And with all the technology there is today you can have all your phone numbers from the company forwarded from one out. Yeah. So, if I have five technicians they could all be routed through that one number. Exactly. Yeah. So that way. Anyway, like I said with Facebook how Facebook as if I own a Facebook page and I own a business I can have you as they call it editor. I don't have this system. I can have a business manager all the editors at any moment. Everyone's texting from the same location to the customer. So that's continuity. Right, it’s continuity to the customer, so a customer's text via Facebook Messenger. They used to clock smart. That sounds great. Awesome. And then all of a sudden you have the technician Mike go “Hey Sarah. This is Mike your technician”. And again, it's coming from the same place it's coming from Facebook Messenger. Just want to let you know I'm on my way. I'll be there in 15 minutes 20 minutes. I'm running late. Whatever. You know if there's any problems or any changes please just text back to this Facebook Messenger and either myself or someone from our team will help you. Right. And that's a cool thing to do because like now I and my other business have people when I talk to them though I'll ask them what method you prefer. And they probably say text me the most. Most of them are saying text now because they're on the go and no glance at a text and no answer. Or you know at times I’ll call somebody and knows you know on my phone and says I can't take the message now so they end up getting a text right. They got texts right. And I've actually had a situation where it was a service provider and I said I can't get on your calendar. You could text me and like well we don't text them you need to step up. They are in the real world so the point is that you want to have both right now. I think having your phone number textable. You can do this you can do that through Central, you can do that through Grasshopper, Google Voices is a lot of different areas you can do that is OK. But then also having the Facebook ad or the Yelp ad, you can literally text have the URL go right to the messenger. So askheatheranne.com goes right to the chat box experience. It doesn't go to my page. And then you click. No, it goes right. Right. Right. The Chat Box experienced first thing actually the interaction. And you can actually like you so you say you can give a free report or give me a free gift from there. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then you can then you can send them to your web page if you so desire to. Exactly then definitely. I mean you'd be surprised nowadays. I mean just the other day I went to Facebook I'm looking for a new gem on something. I went their Facebook page, their business page and this was me testing them. So, went their Facebook page a business page. And I went to their message and I started texting them questions. Now, it was late at night. Like it was late, was like ten o'clock and I didn't expect them to respond at all like I expected either they weren't going to respond, or two, may or may not respond in the morning if someone's actually managing their Facebook page. What's interesting about it is the owner, she responded in 20 minutes. She’s like “hey yeah, I was sleeping. It’s all right, Sure, you know what Why don’t we give you a free weekend.  Love for you to come in. My name is Sam, I’m the owner.     I love to connect with you and see how we can support you. I was like “Awesome!”. Because well have the days of weak control of when people buy over. The nine to five is over. And so, I'm not saying you have to sit there all night. You know, and you can't ever turn your hours off and you can but have to allow people to connect with you when they want to connect with you. And lots of times it happens at seven o'clock at night when they're at dinner and their husbands like we got to fix the plumbing Let’s push it in the morning. Doesn't work anymore. It's like you know what I'll text them right now and they'll get it in the morning and they'll call me when I'm running around 8 o'clock in the morning because of so many of those in our weight loss company people text as after hours. Really? You know the interesting thing too is like I've done a lot of research, not research but you know playing with other people's websites and see how they respond. You know to email him or send him an email from their website and nobody virtually nobody checks the email that they get from their websites. Yeah, that's really strange to me. I get a lot of people don't. But if you do a texting and it is going right to you in a different format than you know, I think that's pretty awesome just the way that that whole thing set up. I’m going to have to check it out. So how did you pick up your URL? You just put it into when you set it up. Yes, you can buy your URL anywhere, of course, godaddy.com or whatever. And then ask. It doesn't make sense. I just I had I had it sitting there and now you can make it whatever you want. You can make it your company.com/contact us what you can make it whatever you want it's just an easier redirect obviously, because we’re sitting here sitting here the audio you know you know I've explained to you what it is or what's happened with the API with Facebook the techie is to notice nowadays your Facebook Messenger is now an entirely different URL M./ What Facebook did is basically, Facebook now has two websites, it’s Facebook.com and m.com. Yes, so that's why your app you have an app for Facebook and an app for messenger. OK. From a distance, so your Facebook business page Messenger is literally an entire another URL. And so, this is new to me. So, I could have Facebook off. Right. So that's how I open up my desktop with Facebook because it's too much drama. But I can communicate with business people all day long on Facebook Messenger. So, I close Facebook, but I open that messenger and I go to m.com/ you know and that opens up my messenger so all I see on the desktop is messenger. Anyone talking to me. I don't see any of the blog posts or drama or ads or any of that stuff because that's turned off okay. So, it's two, it's two entities at this point. You look at Facebook as if there's two companies two URLs and that's why the messenger literally is its own world and they're going to start. They've already started but they're slowly rolling it out. They're going to start so that you can actually advertise inside of messenger. So eventually, especially 2019. That's a good or bad thing. Yeah right. The cool thing though about that for a local business right. Save money or whatnot. A local business you can really you can really focus on people that are in their message or app at 10-mile radius or at a 50-mile radius. The other thing with that is here's what's really cool which I forgot. So, let's the moment you start interacting with my chatbot and I mean the moment all you have to say is hello. And that's considered it opt-in. So, what's happening in the background is I'm connected to a third-party service remember this third-party company I told you about I'm connected to a third-party server I pay $20 a month and there are tons of out there. One of them is called many chat spells it M A N Y C H A T.com, 20 bucks a month. What it's doing and again it's this open API company okay. What it's doing is at the moment you say “hello”. OK. On my page the moment, many chat considers that an opt-in. You've interacted. You've interacted therefore you are at opt-in. Therefore, you're now on my list. I can broadcast. I can send a New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve special to anyone that's ever interacted with my business page messenger ever. You're on my list. The cool thing about that looking e-mail list right is the messenger app is an 80-90% open rate. Message my broadcast my message list. I'm going to get a huge open rate versus an emailing blasting my list. Wow. This is just the beginning it's only been around not 11 months or so yet. It's a whole new world the about ready to explode. It is. It is and it's geared towards businesses. It really is geared towards businesses because Facebook wants to pretty much take over the business page. They want to take over the Yellow Pages right. They want to be the pages for the world so they don't know how to do that. So that's how they opened it up and now all these things are kind of coming about with entrepreneurs and they're all figuring it out. I mean a chance really expands $20 a month. All it does is basically talk to Facebook and as a third party or you know interaction that they've got the blessing from Facebook. So basically, what the Many chat does is it take everyone that interacts with you it just takes their information, stores it with you it just takes her information stored it for you. It's pretty good. So, think of it like a Manychat, board member or eye contact where you log in and you say I want to send a broadcast tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. and I want to have a little image. You don't make the thing about Chat Bots you know broadcasting for Chat Bots as you make it short like a taxi you'll see like an image in like a little thing like “Awesome offer new year's offer click here or call us now for your offer” like Texas small. Yeah. Right. But then you press a button and the system sends it to everyone on your broadcast list. So, 90% open rate of your offer. Wow, that's pretty awesome.  It is awesome, right? I'm just thinking about what awesome possibilities. So, so what I do. I work with companies to do that. I mean I set their Chat Bots and it starts around a thousand dollars to do a full set up. And the reason why it takes that much money is that yes you can do it yourself there are many chat bot but I do an entire process and a marketing process of how are you using text now and how can we integrate that with your current system. Consulting involved. So, it starts with thousand usually about a two or $2,500. But I mean how many clients do you need to make up one, you know $2,400. Right. One or two in the construction business. Sure. Especially if what you are selling off its roofs. It's one deal if it fits windows and doors are its kitchens and yeah, it's one deal. Take care of it in an armpit. So, I hope that helps and I love for people to get a hold of me at www.heatherann.com and that is my own private page. So, I am the one answering questions of you really seriously have a question you can just literally message me and it's me because I'm the one logged in. Or you can go to call with www.callwithheather.com, callwithheather.com and that is my schedule on the phone with me and have a conversation and let me know how I see you I can help you know to consult with you and your marketing. I do marketing advice right, so I work with service providers as well as authors and speakers specifically and how do they increase their ROI their current marketing. I do a lot of local businesses so lawyers, Service providers, Weight loss. That's cool. That's awesome. Yeah. And if they if they get in touch with you and www.askheatherann.com then they'll get a whole preview of what they can possibly expect to get you know on the short side. Yes absolutely. And are actually looking at. Call and interacts with them. So that's pretty cool. This has really been cool. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. This is just killer information like the last time I know how to do the Chat Bots that's the last time was. Know who your customer is so you can sell them. Yeah. Forgot about that other piece about that know who your customers. Just circling back. Yeah. Though women like to text more than men. Like I said that earlier. That is why if your target market is women, this is just brilliant. I mean it really is brilliant. Really. I know that the technicians usually are men were generalizing of course but women are usually the ones writing the check. Right. I agree. Just like my daughter, she has six kids don't even think about calling her. Oh my. Oh my God yeah. Text her, and if one of the other kids see this they'll pick up the phone and text back. But she barely really answers the phone. Well, I can only imagine. Right. So yes, I'm surprised she can even text but a good example. A lot of what I mean. Yeah. You’d be surprise texting I'll do stop in there. They're doing all kinds of things and they'll text. But getting a phone call out of them is like forget about it. You'd be surprised how just doing this one thing can really just increase your conversion. Because remember your target market is. And if you're over there going I'm old school. What the hell are you talking about Heather? I’m like “What? look you're not your market. You're not the one writing the check. Yeah. They’d get up to speed or die, it’s about it. Let the millennial business owner take your spot in the market. Exactly. My father last, I checked I haven't even tried it in a couple of years. He hadn’t a flip phone. You know like he doesn’t even get texts but he's an early adopter too which always makes me like what happened to you. I think he got retirees, forget it I’m not an early adopter anymore. But I did my first text message in 1988. 1988. And it was. I was working for a telecom company and we, of course, have the cell phone and that Nokia; the Nokia dealer was there at the offices way back. You remember that. And they were explaining to us text message and were all in the conference room about 10 of us. And I never forget it. And I said to my friend Brad, “Brad I'm going to text you ok. Hold on a sec” I put HI. You know you heard his little phone go ding ding. He’s like WOW, I got it. He's like OK I'll text you back. Hi. Oh my God, Oh, my god. We are in the same conference room. It was like, Woah, that’s so, really, how did you get to. So, things had changed a lot.  Oh yeah. We still want to talk to humans. We still want to have a relationship with the people that we're giving money to. So, believe it or not, text us. Text us here. No, it's not something that's going to get progressively more interesting let’s put it that way to interact and engage with our customers. So, thanks for having me I really appreciate this. I really appreciate you being with us this morning. It has been an awesome day. This has really been some awesome content. Heather has just given us some tremendous information on how you can jump ahead of the game. Jump ahead of your competition and be that guy or gal that's in control of what's going on within your business triple your conversion rates. Figure out how to use chatbots is just another tool in your toolbox. That's all it is. So, until the next time, we meet be profitable, have fun enjoy your business. . You may visit these websites to connect with Heather Havenwood: www.askheatherann.com www.heatherann.com www.callwithheather.com There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.   4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers   If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com   and she will send you our guest sheet.       Our sponsors   Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money   How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb   Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/  

Run Your Contracting Business with Less Stress More Success He created the systems in his family business that allowed him to sell his shares of the family business at the young age of  50 to pursue a consulting career to other business owners create less stress and more success Out of that process, he wrote a book called Run your Contracting Business with Less Stress and More Success, the 7- Power Contractor. Al Levi he is a former heating air conditioning and electrical guy had his own business and at work for 25 years and his family business created systems and now actually had put his stuff in place to enable him to sell his share of his business to his brothers and retire before the age of 50. And of course, in return I thought is giving up some things that he doesn’t want to do to. So now Al has written a book and he does consulting and helps other companies become successful through the systems in the manuals that he created for his company that gave him so early retirement. This is Dave Negri with Contractor Secret Weapon and today is another fine day in Florida. Sorry Sinos. How many of you guys are up in the winter and snow? Today, I have Al Levi with me and I'm excited to talk to him because he is a former heating air conditioning and electrical guy had his own business and at work for 25 years and his family business created systems and now actually had put his stuff in place to enable him to sell his share of his business to his brothers and retire before the age of 50. And of course, in return I thought is giving up some things that she doesn’t want to do to do some things that she does want to do. So now Al has written a book and he does consulting and helps other companies become successful through the systems in the manuals that he created for his company that gave him so so early retirement. He's probably working harder now, aren't you? Let me do it all right. I'm not working. Right. Contract as well. Appreciate that you know the life that I lived then before I was lucky. I was third generation in our company started 1936 and we also did plumbing by the way. Okay. So, it was 24/7 365 and I don't need to we just ran ahead. We literally have our shift on to cover those hours. There were real people there wasn't somebody up and come out. You know it was non-stop and it really was you know. Good news is I was making a lot of money. The bad news it was killing me. So, I had to change the thing and that was what this is all about. You know I created with help from other reasons seven power concepts which is the second things to run a company. My dad did raise myself and my brother was the time we were young teenagers. To be in business meetings. So, we got a big education from him and the nature of it is that we also were surreal entrepreneurs. Beyond that we had a cable, liquor stores. We had an ice cream shop. We had to multi state real estate, the main golden goose was always the contracting business and that was really about the seven thing which was Planning, Operations, Staffing, Sales, Sales Coaching, Marketing, Finance. All those are the seven things because Dave, contractors it feels like there's a million things. We have to handle, a million of things we have to do. And I know what that chaos is about, but it really boils down to seven things I just rattled off and what I changed to be able to make those things systematic the fact that I had all these people that were now in power to help to me to themselves and most importantly to our customers and even better way than we have been That's really what was the secret. And so, I decided because I hope you appreciate the story as well as most contractors. We are able to do it in seven hours you know because they do seven hours in working hours trying to tell everybody this is how long would you say a good employer will give you notice that are leaving two weeks maybe a week. I said you know in my case sometimes my employees would just leave the keys on the desk and I'd have to go and find it you know. In all the places. It's how to get my brothers and my dad three years notice that I'd be leaving. Three years, that was, let it wash over you for a second. So, you would know what kind of fleener I am. Because that was not believable right. I really just wrote all the system that we put in place. Letting out all the ability to create people who are willing with no skills and the people that are willing with skills and that all positions, I don't mean tech position. But inside the office and all the other kinds of things right. The backbone of that is the operations manuals. That's a one of a kind thing that I spent one year of my life. I didn't take all three years while I was doing all my other jobs. I sat with everybody when he walked out without warning calls and stuff I would make notes to create an outline. Of all the things it took all the tests that our company had grown to give and to create that. That backbone I hired a writer. Initially, I gave Dan Callahan to help me run meetings. And we spent you know about a hundred thousand dollars in 1996 money. Now got hundreds of hours putting these manuals in. So, their policies and procedures were plain English. We got fired from the store from our staff from all these meetings and we were union shocked by the way, so, if everybody is listening you would say well that's fine it won't work either. My answer is I was a New York shop at a union shop and trust me. I've been all over this country for the last 15 years doing one on one consulting with people. Now I'm switching that up to where I'm going to be running these program workshop where people can pick a manual with me and show them how to do the same thing at their own company So that's really the essence of what it means that I, I've been doing. But there's a lot more to it. And I want to be careful about how much I live in here because I know you're in the lead but I've got some exciting things to share about how you can really transform your company to make it in a place that's attractive to come to work and that you surround yourself with people that you want to be with. It's a world of difference. It's what you were talking about creating your system before putting books together and working in a union shop of course you know the 90's and so on and I'm thinking about what about today. You know I hear so many stories of people trying to attract the new generation the millennials. And getting to go to work for their contracting company. And there are just some are just having a horrendous time and when you get to that I can assure I also have a franchise. I talked to my partners. He's actually a client I've been to back in 2005. You haven't been to tell us story. Absolutely. OK so in 2005. I'm going to my plumbing meeting and cooling. I got some frame worker or at least I thought I I’d had done framework, you know plunger, you know big kind of steak and the rest of it is like oh, and I have to tell you and finally this is not telling a story I can't get notice from. So, I get a call from these guys in Philly.  Two young brothers. They're in their 30's and, all they do is just framework and they're telling me that and they do you know whatever specialized framework and I'm thinking 'yeah right'. So, it's all the job that there is you might be snap in picking up in plumbing, heating and air conditioning and electrical.  And so, I get down there and walk around and dirty and you know what I mean disorganized. Pretty much what I expected. But then I sit down and give adjacent to create magics for. And I get an education. I had no idea your client's framework and the way they do it with water Dave, camera and stuff. Was just incredible to me. Wow. That's the joy of this whole thing. And so, the funny part of this is he was a missionary, say's to me because you know how this is this is only like two months into the process they get the picture. He says to me I would love to license the franchises and look at this in a snarky New York attitude and go "franchise this?" How about if we just get the guys dressed to go to meetings clean up the trucks. Obviously, here's the big story here.  Two to three years we had got everything. We had got to the point where we let training centers and built new pipes, and meetings guys dressed in this profession and working in white shirts all day long and doing all these things and so I'm not a contractor. So, a lot of I said you know were all good and then I go off with my good friend. Ellen Moore is the model of Ben Franklin plumbing. And so, she finishes over there. She and I had worked together for many years. She says to me "Al, do you know any clients that might be interested with franchising?" And I said "Sure do Olives. I thought you worked with them. Zoomed trained. Not really. So, I called up Jim and I go "Jim, remember you said you have that desire to own the franchise, you still interested? And there's a pause and Jim say "I've been waiting by the phone all this time for you to call." The rest as they say is history. Get a franchise down in Orlando and up in New England and down the Long Island. Me old stomping grounds. That's really great, but you know what's so great about them. They are living breathing the manual staffing systems that are put in place. All of the other things the weekly meetings working on the top five everything that I've create is living breathing. That brings me back to this because that will have nothing but young guys like the breed young people who want to build a career or not have a job who's not kids and motivated young kids. They're not motivated because we as leaders have failed. We are not heeding a vision of where they can go in this company. And they want more. And it's not who everybody thinks this is new. So, I'll take you back if you will when I arrive at my job and like I told my dad well why don't you guys can do this, and why aren't they do this and my dad says sorry you weren't born 30 years your younger, 30 years earlier because maybe you could have done that. But nobody is doing anything around here unless they know what happens to them in a good way. What happens in a bad way. Yeah. That was an education I've got early on. So, here's the rest of that story. The guys from the Vietnam era were just ahead of me when I arrived. Phil Atami was one of them and he's talking to me because we're training new candidates back in the 90s. And he's telling me these kids have no work ethics. They just want to play around. They're not that interested in this. And I said, Tommy it's funny because the old guys used to say the same thing about you and the rest of us. As for the essence of this is Zoom is one example of all the companies that I work with today that take good young millennials and show them there's a career path. And if you don't have a great organization chart that shows where am I today and where can I go tomorrow? You're not going to sign the equal your shoes to your door. But your heart and soul are not there. Alright. What you must have is heart and soul. So that's another way. And from what I'm hearing you say is what you're doing is you're creating a team that's buying in to the whole company and the future of the company it's not a job. And for themselves, that this is where I want to be. Right. My dad had a great line. Employees boat with their feet. Every day they decide that you can be here or be elsewhere. That's a great way to see it. Wow, that is really awesome. So, this is just amazing. And a lot of it had to come with you creating the manuals from the business that you're in with your dad and creating that whole process and how wow this is just how long does it take like for you to walk into company NSA and a decent size company. I don't know 10 ,12 employees and I'm sure most of the time when you walk into something like that they're pretty much flying by the seat of their pants and its chaos. How long does it take to create for them to help them correct that system to get it up and viable in place? You're going to tweak it on a regular basis. Well there are two types of companies that I've worked with over the 15 years doing this job now, and they're one of two flavors. One is that they are fast growers and it's nothing but chaos. Every moment of the day. So, they got this great house built on a really bad foundation or no foundation at all. Right. And my job was to come in Dave, and put a foundation under that company so that control can come back in and stop chaos. Every moment you go there's a plan of we work plan. So, first thing I with planning power which is teaching them how to get a master project list the top 30 and work on the top five which make all the difference. One of the top five is always the operations manager which are my managers and they're pretty much 90-95 percent of the way that they need to have them. Because they make adjustments to better fit their company. And I work with blue frame and photographers and believe or not it's still pretty much the same. Yeah pretty much. Pretty much the same. Yeah getting reform just back to the rest of it and so I fix those areas right around the start. Then we move want to staffing it. That's what needs to be done which is, I teach them how to leverage the manuals and have one of a kind building blocks for training people all the way up apprentice, taxicab field supervisor and all. And so, it's also hands on training center. I built hands on training centers for ever and now I've been all over the place building training centers everywhere we go it's not the training center alone about what we're talking about hands on where you can create the problems that people will encounter in the field of your employees as far as setting faucet showers. If it's it's heating, it's warm their or colder, whatever.  It's working breathing and you can simulate all the problems. So by the time they get in the field, attack can do the three most important things she's talked to customers, communicate and today that being said, was it the customer's best interest?  in what I call ethical self. No one will ever hear that I want you to sell anybody anything that's not in your best interest. Right. But you are here to serve them. You are the one that's the expert and it's your job to take the blinders off and look around. Not just think fix the handle of the toilet have along the toilet that you know is 30 years old and we are back from our fix in a flap or not. You know you don't change air filter out when you know you really need to change the unit out. Those are the things that you know we train right from the beginning because ultimately that serves people best. You know the fact the matter most couples these they've told got to go to work and you have good high paying job. Nobody wants to take home more time to go hang out with your plumbing heating pool electric guy. So you've got to fix it right the first time. And a lot of times that means selling the right things and doing the right repairs. So sales operation technical are the skills that you must train. That's a where good sale system which is another thing that really helps to ratchet it off. But at the backbone of it all it's really the manuals. The operations man buying policy procedures and that's the way I'm doing it today is still your operating manual. First of all, that's where people will be doing, kind of what I used to do when I came to their shop. So the answer to your question is; the fastest anybody run with all of my programs today and not everybody goes all through the programs. Then what. I've had so many do it in 18 months and they've gone from 9 million to 33 million in sales that just because of me because they were great guys. They just need to get the foundation right. I've had guys typically like the Zoom guys I was talking about thought we had done everything in three years because it's not how fast you show progress out. It's how well you get them. So I don't just come there as and pull up and changed my residence and hang out with you. You got to be able to do these things and get each one of them because they build on each other the good way to see this. Imagine a pyramid the higher and bigger you want that pyramid the longer you want to last. That starts at the bottom not at the top. That's right, the better the base and the selling power concepts are, it blocks. Better those block form which is planning which means working on right thing at the right time, the right way. That's what planning power is. Operating power is having the manuals that handle 80 percent. Nothing's gonna cover 100 percent of what goes on. But handling the 80% of the policies and procedures of each of the boxes on your old chart, the things that go on. So, it's replica and people can be empowered from the day they show up. And then there's Staffing which is again building you know young willing people into skilled willing people and giving them a career path. And that its Sales, have your sales system for both techs and also or ticket sales people. And if you're in a commercial like that was what I called Commercial sales agents the person who goes to order to pick places open up accounts keep them happy and keep them buying from you. Which is critical so there's sales process for that. That's another block. Sales Coaching, which is coaching the right things and you get the right rewards and they win. But ultimately always the customer first wins. Right. Marketing which is what you're seeking is a contractor is right about a call from the right customer at the right time. The three rights of Mark and so we beyond that is Financial which is you know you can do all that off and if you don't charge and if you're not careful about your expenses it doesn't matter anything else, you won't be in business. Yeah it's called The Leaky Bucket Syndrome. Yeah exactly right. And sometimes, you're lucky it was just The Leaky Bucket is exploded. What are you.  Yeah yeah I've never heard that one but yeah when I heard one no one guy "Some days you're the bug again. Some days your the windshield". It's a country song. Yes. I love that one. Yeah he was a plumbing contractor. But that was kind of funny. So how did you come up with the idea here. Have you booked. I actually when I changed for me you know it's hard to remember when you make a change. You're in the midst of craziness. Yeah. You know my kind of day was so I could wake up at 5 a.m. get back home in 2 am and get my three hours of sleep. I always have always really love sleeping because the phone next to my head was going to ring. Yeah from the guys who are on the call shift that were stuck yeah. I was mad as heck at them for calling and waking me up Sure. But, he it was needed. That's the awful truth of being an owner. I never gave them enough information. I never documented it. They were in a position where they had to call. Yeah. And it was really kind of crazy when my brother, Richie, and I rode up the manual with them we defied you know. Do these three thing before you call Richie. And, 50% of the calls went away. Yeah I was doing in class education class one day and the guy was a remodeling contractor and his guys were calm all the time. Lucky for him it was just normal business hours so it wasn't like 24/7 like yours was. But he'd finally get to the point he goes what would you do if I wasn't there. But no, I want you to think about. Give me the answer What would You do if I wasn't there. He said you know it's if you ask me that question enough times they come up with the answer. I agree. And it actually in seminars that I teach about how I train a stepping power agent is. If you ask a question and you answer it on your own. Why should I think right? You may ask the question shut up and let them. Even if they guessed wrong. Give me a call because they have the guts to speak up right. And you treat I like that. I think that's great. That's a really good first step. Yeah it was just so then. Next time you about these three or four times before you call me. he said he tends closedown. He said I got some but he said it was nowhere near what I got before then. And it's like you said it's just it's goes back to the training. Yes. And part of that thing now is that we're going to speak to a deeper level issue. So why didn't I share all this information. Why didn't I do all of this stuff. Was the question at all? Yeah. One day this fellow, I was talking about Dan Callahan, he was an industry giant and he didn't go as well as everything else. I was one of the lucky guys that he actually rode in my truck and he's in my truck. I know the same thing but I always read my pages go at all. My friend Dan looks over at me, while I'm driving and he goes "You think that's normal, don't you?". And I stopped for one second and I go "Yeah I do" and then i said "I hate it." And then one second later I said "But I'm really indispensable." And, I just popped out. And that was it. We as owners, first of all what made as great is what sabotages us. Right. Great text, so we were great at whatever that thing was, and so with the the rest of it. Nobody else can do the job as well as us. What you're not saying is untrue but you really can't have people I'm certain but you really can't have people you can't group because you automatically get a lid on the pot and you can't you can't have business run run without you. And you can have vacation. You can't get sick. You have to be on target. All of them. Yeah yeah. Unless you are willing to be in the base. So here are the three syndrome that I finally pointed the finger back at me. So are you ready. Yeah, I like being a rescuer. I like running to the rescue. OK. And I like coming in and be able to you know to pull out that thing. I like being the fire. What I didn't realize is I also was hoping to set the fires that I could put out that way. Here's the last one. You know coming from New York this one will make sense. I like being the guru. Seems right now we're renting. Dave, you don't know how to do that? Really? You know what? I know, would you like to know. Because I'll be happy to share it with you. I was I was operating and when I witness the contractors I worked with over the year they to their credit finally go yeah, I get it. And that is what you have to deal with first.  Because even with quick manuals, even with the training centers and everything else that you can do on the marketing systems because every one of these things are a system. If you're not willing to give up those three identities you are automatically sabotaging everybody who's trying to help you. That's that's. Say that again because that's profound. If you are not willing to give up being a rescue or a fireman guru like I was you are automatically sabotaging those who are there to help you or anybody who will arrive. You know. Wow. That was a big Aha moment. It was a big aha moment and I thank my friend for sticking the truth mirror in my face. Yeah. Wow that's it's amazing that that's you know that's one thing in two set. We are in our own businesses or so in the weeds we can't see what's going on and it takes you know someone like you or you know someone to come along and say like your friend did he could see beyond the weeds because he wasn't in the depths of it. I like that analogy. It's really important for that. And you know even to this day Elle Agror who's the one I was mentioning before she has a consulting business in dozen, and we worked together. She also in the branch with me. We had a meeting where she an I know her sister Ellen Gayle in Ellewood she's H.D. and we meet and we look at each other's business even though we talk to each other all the time. That meeting is all about you know looking at things we haven't got every time we have that meeting every year all three of us. Our business grows and gets better. To this day after all these years. Wow that's pretty amazing. If she can have someone that would help you you know that you could go to a lot of times most of us are afraid to unravel the thing before us because so few will get ridiculed. It's dealing with people who are like minded and think alike and want the best interest for you. Put that to can do that. You know it's interesting when you mentioned that when they think about it when you go to the doctor for your health care check-up or you need. When you're not in your clothes off it out at the end of it. It's the same thing with your business which is you can't see it. And I'll give you guys. Listen to this quote I can see it. Here's another. How many times have you got to another company that you don't know. And by the time you walk through door and spend 30 minutes and you know what's broken. Yeah that's good. Why is that. Why is that. Because you're not emotionally invested in it and that's why it's so hard for any individual to do it all on your own. To think that you can see your own business the way you need to. And that's why there is outside people that you know they're the doctors. That's really what it is. Right. I know that you do a lot of consulting and if someone wanted to learn your 7 signatures or your power your signature or seven power contractor system, how do they get a hold of you? How do they reach you? Oh, the best thing they could do is to go to my website which is www.7powercontractor.com . And there's two things, there's a, and you'll see plenty of videos and testimonials from clients. Not because I needed for my ego but I know you need to hear from other people that it's been done right. I don't do one to one consulting like I did before. What I'm doing now is you have two things. When it comes to me is One you can go there to the shop and but this book that's 7 power Contractor System. There's an e-book $9.99. . Link on the website. I wrote it, and I made it short for a reason, for who are incredibly busy I'm asking you for more hours and if you're a quick reader two hour of your life. OK. Because it changed my life and it will change your life. Not because I wrote it and I had a good editor that helped me do it. We really worked hard to make it less. It's easy to make it fat. It's way hard to make it thin and effective. I know it's amazing isn't it. Yes. I created a 39 second video. And that's what I call that thirty-nine second video. It took me two hours to create it. Oh yeah. I know that. I know that. Exactly. And the other thing is I am feeling starting It's really the best thing that you can do to get the systems in place because without it you're going to be stuck in a. You know it's because of trying to write it on your own. If you could take your chances of getting it in the right way and getting buying. I've been up the mountain. What I see myself is a trivial guy. Yeah and you've done it. You know what it takes and I think that for the most part most people are. All right let me buy fill in the blanks and we'll go from there. Well you know to a certain point. You always have to put in you know what's apropos to what's your complete system is. But for the most part it's you know it's cutting time out is what it's doing.  The military cannot possibly know what are the books that they're holding out and more that we spoke about way back when they told me you got to read this book, and it was in the 90's it was Michael Gerber's E-Myth. Yeah that book told me why things weren't working and what to do. He didn't tell me how, but it was the first time that I heard that you go if you're only working in the business and never working on it nothing is going to change. And that was what I set about in creating this system. Now that really the catalyst for the manuals that you describe this hotel that work like all automatically and he said that's where I want my business be. Right. So that's what I set off to do. So, it was one of those books that really changed me. That's really kind of the essence of it but it wasn't out there so I had to create it. And the good news is I hired somebody to help me and its way better than it was 15 years ago. What I left on was it not those it was on a thousand dollars all the hours we paid all of that back in two years. In my company. Oh, I'm sure just in two years. Yeah. That's amazing. So whole activity then will call backs, insurance claims. All of the things are now getting better. So, we started to build on top of it with the organizations and better meetings a lot with things that go into it. But that's really kind of back bone essential that you want. Cool. That's awesome. This has really been awesome. I think we're going to put all of your contact information on our Web page when you want to write off. Must have been great. It was really fun talking with you about everything and will look forward to getting you back. You can a copy of his book click here  to go to his website  https://www.appleseedbusiness.com/ You can contact Al https://www.appleseedbusiness.com/contact/ Phone: 480-205-5164 Fax: 212-202-6275 al@appleseedbusiness.com There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.   4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers   If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com   and she will send you our guest sheet.       Our sponsors   Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money   How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb   Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/  

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 現在、Hiroshima University's English PodcastはYouTubeを利用した配信も行っております。今回は本ポッドキャストのYouTubeチャンネルで、アクセス件数ランキングの上位より４本のエピソードをお届けします。YouTubeチャンネルの登録の方もお待ちしています！ （初級〜中級）*** Script *** [ Battle of the Insects ] Hey Mike, did you know Japan has some pretty amazing insects!? Oh, yeah? Tell me about it! Out of all the bugs in the world, which do you think is the most brutal bug? Well, I've heard some spiders are pretty brutal... like the black widow! Apparently, the female black widow spider, who is a whole lot bigger than the male, eats the male after mating! Ha ha. That IS a pretty big sacrifice just to get laid! Ha ha. So, what bugs do YOU think are savage killers? Well, I think ants are pretty cool. Ants? Ants are so annoying: always trying to steal my food! Yeah, but ants wage war against each other! They are one of the few other animal species, besides humans, who have wars! I thought we were the only species that stupid! You know, I think those terrifying Japanese giant hornets should be the winner! They are venomous, and they even kill a few dozen people every year, not to mention they freak the bejeesus out of me. Ha ha. Hey, I just heard about giant hornets recently! Did you knoif a giant hornet finds a honey bee hive, it leaves pheromones to attract other giant hornets. Then, loads of these hornets destroy the entire bee hive in just a few hours? That's something like 30,000 honey bees! They even dismember the bees and take them back to the nest to feed to their larvae. Wooooah. That IS disgusting! It would suck to be a bee! How does Japan even have any bees left, if they are all killed like that? Well, unlike European honey bees, Japanese honey bees apparently have a defense against giant hornets. If a giant hornet goes into the bee hive, they all surround it, making a sort of ball around the hornet. Then they beat their wings so fast that the inside of this ball becomes so hot, the hornet dies! Wow, I suddenly like bees! [ Living in Saijo, a Rural Area ] Yesterday I just finished moving into my apartment, so today I was thinking about having a look around Saijo. Would you like to join me? Yeah, sounds great. I've been here for a year, so I can be your tour guide! It must be tough for you, to come to a new country and live in such a rural area like Saijo. I don't think it'll be too bad. So, what do you normally do for fun? Well, a few of us like going out drinking. There's a few good izakayas around here. Oh! That doesn't sound too bad. We can also go to karaoke, and the Game Centre is nearby. Oh, and down the road a bit there's a place we go to shoot pool sometimes. That sounds like fun! We should go some time! If you want to look around, Saijo is the 'capital of sake'. We have the breweries near the station. They're cool to look at, and you might even get a few samples. Yeah! I really want to check them out! In October there'll be the annual Sake Festival. The area close to the station is packed with people and stalls. And there's an all-you-can-drink area with sake from all over the place. That sounds awesome! Yeah, but other than that, there's only the Kagamiyama Castle ruins, the ancient burial ground, called a 'kofun', and there might be international events where people gather to talk and practise their language skills. Besides Japanese friends, you might even meet people from lots of other countries. That's so cool! Yeah, but it must be tough to adapt to such a small town... Hey, are you listening to me? You listed so many interesting things! I'm sure I'm gonna love the Saijo area! [ The Things a Guy Will Do for a Girl ] Hey, did you hear about what Suzuki-san is doing during Golden Week? It's ridiculous! No, I didn't hear. What's he gonna do? Well, I heard from Tammy that she heard from Kazuya that Suzuki-san is going to walk all the way from Hiroshima University to Hokkaido! From here to Hokkaido in a week? Walking? That sounds highly impossible. Not only that, but Suzuki-san is a chain smoker. He gets winded just walking from the library to the cafeteria! Ha ha. I KNEW you wouldn't understand, Kimberly. What's THAT supposed to mean? Look, Suzuki-san isn't doing this because he wants to. He's doing it because he got invited to go by Sarah Fisher. Sarah Fisher? That fitness freak who scaled Mt. Fuji on a tricycle? That would be the one! Suzuki-san's madly in love with her, and he'll do whatever she asks! Well, she IS like the most popular girl in school, so it isn't too surprising she has that effect on a guy like him. If you ask me, he's just acting like a desperate loser! Maybe you're right. Uhhh, Kimberly, something came up. I gotta go. What? I thought you said you were free all day? What is it? Sarah Fisher just invited me to free climb the biology building! I gotta go! Wait!... Ah! And he said SUZUKI-SAN was a desperate loser? [ It's Important to Be Honest during Interviews ] Alright... how are you, sir? I'm Candice, and I'll be interviewing you today. Hi Candice. It's nice to meet you. Oh my! Your hand is a bit sweaty! Can I be honest with you, Candice? Sure, in fact I'd prefer it. I'm a bit nervous about this whole interview thing. That's perfectly fine! It's normal for people to be nervous during interviews. It's a part of human nature. But this isn't just ordinary interview anxiety. I'm nervous because... um... because I've done some horrible things. Unforgivable things. Things that if you ever found out about them, you probably wouldn't want to give me this job, or even look me in the eye! OK, well, now that you've brought it up, I feel inclined to ask you what these "horrible" things are. It all started last Wednesday. I was at the local Walgreens, buying some candy. I then decided to buy a birthday card for my mom, and I forgot about the chocolate bar in my hand... I walked out of the store without paying for it! I wanted to go return it, but by the time I noticed I was half-way home! Um... Well, that's an interesting story. I knew you guys would find out during the lie-detector test so I thought I'd just get it off my chest now. Lie-detector test? Um... this is an interview for a position as a janitor at McDonald's. We don't do lie detector tests. In fact, if that's the worst thing you've ever done, you might just be the best employee we've ever had! You're hired! Really? You mean it? Yippee!

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 現在、Hiroshima University's English PodcastはYouTubeを利用した配信も行っております。今回は本ポッドキャストのYouTubeチャンネルで、アクセス件数ランキングの上位より４本のエピソードをお届けします。YouTubeチャンネルの登録の方もお待ちしています！ （初級〜中級）*** Script *** [ Battle of the Insects ] Hey Mike, did you know Japan has some pretty amazing insects!? Oh, yeah? Tell me about it! Out of all the bugs in the world, which do you think is the most brutal bug? Well, I've heard some spiders are pretty brutal... like the black widow! Apparently, the female black widow spider, who is a whole lot bigger than the male, eats the male after mating! Ha ha. That IS a pretty big sacrifice just to get laid! Ha ha. So, what bugs do YOU think are savage killers? Well, I think ants are pretty cool. Ants? Ants are so annoying: always trying to steal my food! Yeah, but ants wage war against each other! They are one of the few other animal species, besides humans, who have wars! I thought we were the only species that stupid! You know, I think those terrifying Japanese giant hornets should be the winner! They are venomous, and they even kill a few dozen people every year, not to mention they freak the bejeesus out of me. Ha ha. Hey, I just heard about giant hornets recently! Did you knoif a giant hornet finds a honey bee hive, it leaves pheromones to attract other giant hornets. Then, loads of these hornets destroy the entire bee hive in just a few hours? That's something like 30,000 honey bees! They even dismember the bees and take them back to the nest to feed to their larvae. Wooooah. That IS disgusting! It would suck to be a bee! How does Japan even have any bees left, if they are all killed like that? Well, unlike European honey bees, Japanese honey bees apparently have a defense against giant hornets. If a giant hornet goes into the bee hive, they all surround it, making a sort of ball around the hornet. Then they beat their wings so fast that the inside of this ball becomes so hot, the hornet dies! Wow, I suddenly like bees! [ Living in Saijo, a Rural Area ] Yesterday I just finished moving into my apartment, so today I was thinking about having a look around Saijo. Would you like to join me? Yeah, sounds great. I've been here for a year, so I can be your tour guide! It must be tough for you, to come to a new country and live in such a rural area like Saijo. I don't think it'll be too bad. So, what do you normally do for fun? Well, a few of us like going out drinking. There's a few good izakayas around here. Oh! That doesn't sound too bad. We can also go to karaoke, and the Game Centre is nearby. Oh, and down the road a bit there's a place we go to shoot pool sometimes. That sounds like fun! We should go some time! If you want to look around, Saijo is the 'capital of sake'. We have the breweries near the station. They're cool to look at, and you might even get a few samples. Yeah! I really want to check them out! In October there'll be the annual Sake Festival. The area close to the station is packed with people and stalls. And there's an all-you-can-drink area with sake from all over the place. That sounds awesome! Yeah, but other than that, there's only the Kagamiyama Castle ruins, the ancient burial ground, called a 'kofun', and there might be international events where people gather to talk and practise their language skills. Besides Japanese friends, you might even meet people from lots of other countries. That's so cool! Yeah, but it must be tough to adapt to such a small town... Hey, are you listening to me? You listed so many interesting things! I'm sure I'm gonna love the Saijo area! [ The Things a Guy Will Do for a Girl ] Hey, did you hear about what Suzuki-san is doing during Golden Week? It's ridiculous! No, I didn't hear. What's he gonna do? Well, I heard from Tammy that she heard from Kazuya that Suzuki-san is going to walk all the way from Hiroshima University to Hokkaido! From here to Hokkaido in a week? Walking? That sounds highly impossible. Not only that, but Suzuki-san is a chain smoker. He gets winded just walking from the library to the cafeteria! Ha ha. I KNEW you wouldn't understand, Kimberly. What's THAT supposed to mean? Look, Suzuki-san isn't doing this because he wants to. He's doing it because he got invited to go by Sarah Fisher. Sarah Fisher? That fitness freak who scaled Mt. Fuji on a tricycle? That would be the one! Suzuki-san's madly in love with her, and he'll do whatever she asks! Well, she IS like the most popular girl in school, so it isn't too surprising she has that effect on a guy like him. If you ask me, he's just acting like a desperate loser! Maybe you're right. Uhhh, Kimberly, something came up. I gotta go. What? I thought you said you were free all day? What is it? Sarah Fisher just invited me to free climb the biology building! I gotta go! Wait!... Ah! And he said SUZUKI-SAN was a desperate loser? [ It's Important to Be Honest during Interviews ] Alright... how are you, sir? I'm Candice, and I'll be interviewing you today. Hi Candice. It's nice to meet you. Oh my! Your hand is a bit sweaty! Can I be honest with you, Candice? Sure, in fact I'd prefer it. I'm a bit nervous about this whole interview thing. That's perfectly fine! It's normal for people to be nervous during interviews. It's a part of human nature. But this isn't just ordinary interview anxiety. I'm nervous because... um... because I've done some horrible things. Unforgivable things. Things that if you ever found out about them, you probably wouldn't want to give me this job, or even look me in the eye! OK, well, now that you've brought it up, I feel inclined to ask you what these "horrible" things are. It all started last Wednesday. I was at the local Walgreens, buying some candy. I then decided to buy a birthday card for my mom, and I forgot about the chocolate bar in my hand... I walked out of the store without paying for it! I wanted to go return it, but by the time I noticed I was half-way home! Um... Well, that's an interesting story. I knew you guys would find out during the lie-detector test so I thought I'd just get it off my chest now. Lie-detector test? Um... this is an interview for a position as a janitor at McDonald's. We don't do lie detector tests. In fact, if that's the worst thing you've ever done, you might just be the best employee we've ever had! You're hired! Really? You mean it? Yippee!

"Really? You don't think Jefferson has a geopolitical plan here?" — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, we return to the Jefferson 101 series and discuss Jefferson’s first term as President. In particular, we discuss the Barbary pirates, the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark expedition. Find this episode, along with further recommended reading, on the blog. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

This week I'll share with you the real difference between passion and desire; what that Disneyland kid taught me; how you should prepare for the reaction of those around you when you absolutely know you have to do it. Speak the Lingo: Today's Leadership Lingo Term: Desire vs. Passion We often hear people use the term passion when really they just desire something. Desire comes and goes. Passion doesn't let go. "Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you." --Oprah Winfrey "You can't fake passion." --Barbara Corcoran Today's focus: Everyone has that one thing they've been talking about doing. Some of us know people who never take the steps to make their dream come to fruition. On my email list, yes, I email them every day, we have been working through some kinks the month of April to make these people's ideas become profitable business ideas. When you absolutely know you have to do it. I share with you what I learned from the Disneyland kid. What you need to know about the phases other people go through trying to accept/understand your "crazy dream..." They'll say to you things like, (Each one of these a phase the people you love go through to accept the "new you" and your passion/project/big dream.) "This is so weird." They don't understand. It's awful. "What? Are you serious about this?" They are kind of intrigued. They half-mock/half-listen. "Really? You want to do this?" Now they are interested. They start to listen to you. "How does that work?" Now they are entertained. They want to know your story. "Why does this matter? Or, Why didn't I think of that?" They are enchanted. They love what you are doing. They are cheering you on in your journey. "Don't die with your music still in you." -- Wayne Dyer Want a daily email to light you up? Consider it your 5 minutes away, the vitamin B for your soul. Sign up here: http://thinkenriched.com/5-minutes/ You can now start your own podcast and get your first two months of hosting. Go to libsyn.com/amy for your discount code. Let’s connect! Follow in social media: Facebook, Instagram.

Secret Service is claiming that Protecting President-Elect Trump in Trump Towers is a "Security Challenge". Really? You might not want to miss this! http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-tower-president-elect-s-residence-new-security-challenge-n681641*** http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/secret-service-turns-manhattans-trump-tower-into-fortress-35208579.html

If my candidate doesn't win, I'm moving to Canada! Really? You said that? We talk with a former Canadian who wrote a book about life in the Great White North to find out what it's really like. Plus Malia Obama on Pot, Her Dad's sexy summer playlist, and a kid who uses his smart who uses his smart watch to escape from scary bad guys. This bite-sized chunk of episode 284 is sponsored by the Dromma Bed.

Do you have a favorite place? Someplace on the planet that you think about when you wish you could just get away from it all? Someplace where you are both relaxed and excited at the same time? For me, that place is a little campsite in the Yosemite wilderness. It’s a place nestled in where the Merced river takes a gentle 09 degree turn on its way down to the Yosemite valley. I love to sit, in my mind’s eye, just at that corner, amidst the pine trees, as the Stellar’s Jays call out and the occasional brown trout jumps out of the gently flowing water chasing a mosquito for dinner. Since it is in the wilderness, this spot is well away from the crushing crowds of tourists who never leave the paved paths of the valley. Only backpackers get to see this area. It’s a peaceful spot, and oh so exciting at the same time because so relatively few get to enjoy this place. That’s how I feel about Romans, chapter four. Peaceful and excited. I love to read this chapter. The excitement comes first, for me. How can you *not* be excited to read, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Wait. What? All he did was believe God, and God credited him with righteousness??? Really? You mean old Abe didn’t have to go slay a dragon or kill 100 bulls or starve himself for a month or, or, or? He just believed God? Yeah. That’s it. You say that can’t be right. Surely he did something. Nope. Listen. “Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Abraham faith was credited as righteousness. Not his work, because that would have been a payment of obligation. Well, you heard the chapter. Paul went into a fair amount of detail…all of it good. And it is all so exciting to see that it is not works that earns righteousness. And that’s a good thing, keeping in mind what Paul wrote in chapter three. You know, where he said, “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is on one who show kindness, not even one.” But back here in chapter four, we get the good news that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. What’s good about that? The closing sentences tell us, “ But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’ssake, 24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.” This is the part of the chapter that gives me peace. I’m excited that God’s plan for man is so incredibly generous. Believe and be righteous. I find infinite peace in the knowledge that this lavish grace is extended to me and to you. When we really begin to grasp this truth, there is nothing that can steal your peace.

It saddens me when I hear people say, “I’m not celebrating this year.” Or “I’ve stopped celebrating.” Really? You’ve chosen to not celebrate the last year you’ve been gifted? Nothing in the last 365 days held any significance for you? You can find nothing to be grateful for during that time? And you’re not looking forward to the new year that has presented itself to you? Oh, please change your mind. 

We are back again to talk about another Naschy film. Of course, this one has very little Naschy in it, but at this point we'll take what we can get! MORTAL SIN is a pastoral drama set in a Spanish country in the 1940's with the ghosts of the previous decades civil war hanging over everything. The story plays out as a study of several characters attempting to find their place in the war changed world with particular focus on the three female members of the family - two sisters and the widowed matriarch - as they react to the presence of a young man of marriageable age who moves into the house. The three servants also factor into the proceedings as the relationships become more complicated and the expected romantic entanglements begin to take shape. You might think this is very different from the films we have covered here before but, as we point out, there are many similarities to past subjects of this podcast than you might think. One note- both Troy and I refer to this as episode #55 at the beginning of the show and we are mistaken. I don't know how we screwed that up but we did. I guess jumping back and forth between this and The Bloody Pit is making us lose track of numbers in general! Sorry! This is #54. There is no mail in the bag this time around but that doesn't stop us from veering far from our stated purpose in this one. The first half hour we discuss the KickStarter campaign to bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000; the Daniel Craig Bond films and how the new one measures up (spoiler free!); the difficulty of actresses being nominated for genre work and our respective horror Halloween viewings before we segue into going all moist over Paul Naschy. After the discussion and Our Man in the Field Dan's new horror host segment we then talk at length about the SAW movies and the various long running horror film series. Has anyone out there ever watched all the Children of the Corn films? Really? You can reach us at naschycast@gmail.com or over on the FaceBook page. Don't let us ramble free-range like this again folks! We'll get even further off into the weeds next time without leading questions.

Fifty years ago, it was common for workers to have the same job (or stay with the same company) from graduation until retirement. Today, the average American will have seven to ten different jobs in their lifetime. This volatility in employment has created more uncertainty--but also more opportunity--for career-minded professionals. The secret to thriving in this job market is successful career management: being focused, knowing your goals, and marketing your skill set.   In this episode of Find Your Dream Job Mac speaks with career advisor and author Dawn Rasmussen. Dawn contends that “job security is dead” and that the key to professional success lies in improving your job marketability. She shares her tips on having a clear vision for your career, keeping your skills up-to-date, and adroitly marketing your transferable skills. In this 30-minute episode you will learn: How to discover your professional purpose and what you do best How to change careers by breaking down your transferable skill sets The habits of successful career managers How to overcome the fear of a career change or job search This week’s guest: Dawn Rasmussen (@DawnRasmussen)Principal, Pathfinder, Writing and Career ServicesAuthor of Forget Job SecurityPortland, Ore.   Listener question of the week: How can I transition from the for-profit sector into the nonprofit sector? Do you have a question you’d like us to answer on a future episode? Please send your questions to Cecilia Bianco, Mac’s List Community Manager at cecilia@macslist.org. Resources referenced on this week’s show: Who Moved My Cheese? Forget Job Security: Build Your Marketability Pathfinder Writing and Career Services Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Find Your Dream Job in Portland (and Beyond): The Complete Mac’s List Guide If you have a job-hunting or career development resource resource you’d like to share, please contact Ben Forstag, Mac’s List Managing Director at ben@macslist.org. Thank you for listening to Find Your Dream Job. If you like this show, please help us by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. We appreciate your support! Learn more about Mac's List at www.macslist.org.   Full Transcript: Mac Prichard: This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life. I'm Mac Prichard, your host. Our show is brought to you by Mac's List, your best online source for rewarding creative and meaningful work. Visit macslist.org to learn more. You'll find hundreds of great jobs there, a blog with practical career advice, and our new book, "Land Your Dream Job in Portland and Beyond." Welcome to episode two of Find Your Dream Job. Every week we bring you the career tools and tips you need to get the job you want. Now according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics the typical American changes jobs every 4.1 years. With most of us working well into our 60s that means you may have 10 or more employers in your lifetime, and you'll not only change jobs but careers too perhaps up to seven times some experts say. None of this comes as surprise to our guest today, Dawn Rasmussen. She says job security is dead and what matters now is employability and knowing how to manage your career. Dawn is president of Pathfinder Writing and Career Services, a company that provides resume, cover letter, and job search coaching services. She's the author of, "Forget Job Security: Build Your Marketability," a step-by-step guide to how to manage your career, attract promotions and salary increases, and find new opportunities. Dawn is also a career columnist for OnePlus magazine and talentzoo.com and she's been featured on CBS Morning Watch, CareerBuilder, and in business journal newspapers across the US. Dawn, thanks for joining us today. Dawn Rasmussen: Thanks for having me Mac. Nice to be here. Mac Prichard: It's a pleasure to have you here. I find that when I talk to job seekers when they get their job they think that's it, I'm all set, my job search is over, and now I'm employed and I don't need to think about that anymore. Now tell me why you advise the people you work with to think differently. Dawn Rasmussen: Mac, I always try to encourage people to see their career as something that's happening concurrently to their actual jobs, so while you're in your job your career's happening at the same time, but the career is actually like a river that's running underground and that's carrying you onto the next destination. It's all the things that you can do that can help prepare you for that next opportunity or position. You need to be in the right place when that opportunity does happen. It's not just being a static thing. It's a constant process. You really have to think about where do I want to go and what are the things that’ll get me in that river so I can navigate it, even though you're in your current job but there's some things you can take with you that will get you to the next destination. Mac Prichard: So you're in the canoe, you're going down the river. Dawn Rasmussen: Good metaphor, I love it. Mac Prichard: Now what do you do next? How do you know where you're going? The way I've seen people do this successfully is they're clear about their purpose. What do you see with the people you work with? Dawn Rasmussen: I think for the most part the people I work with are pretty clear on what they want to do, although I will get the occasional client. For example, I've had recently someone who was trying to do too many things. She was applying for a medical ... Well she was a medical billings person and she was trying to get into marketing and patient representation and a whole bunch of other things. She was trying to cover all these different bases, but she wasn't being very clear on what she does best and how she might help the employer. She was just being a job search chameleon, that's a term I like to use, that she was changing the color of her spots for each job opening. If you're not pretty clear on what you do best then that's going to be a problem because nobody else can see that either. The clarity helps you answer specifically what the employers needs are. It's really important to have a vision of what you want to do. That can change as you alluded to earlier having some kind of ... Change in your life is inevitable, that's fine, but the main thing is to really be clear that okay I'm going to target this next thing and then that may roll into something else later on down the line whether you get bored or another opportunity comes along. It's not a be-all end-all, but it's something that's a jumping off point to the next thing. It's a constant process. It really is. Mac Prichard: Let's drill down to that process Dawn because I can imagine some listeners might be saying, “Well, I get that, vision matters, clarity matters, but I don't want to close out my options. I want to be open to a lot of different things, because by doing so I'll make myself a more attractive candidate.” What steps do you see people take who are successful into finding their purpose and getting clarity? Dawn Rasmussen: I use the example no employer is going to hire a generalist. If they have a need for X, whatever that job is, then they're hiring for X and they're going to be putting that perspective, that microscope on X, looking at all the different candidates. If you're not sure … You can have more than one version of your resume. You can have a couple different iterations. Myself personally I have a lot of different curves under my belt that are extremely different from each other. I've been obviously a writer, I've been an educator, I've been in sales, I've been in tourism, I've been a meeting planner. I can't cram all those things in one resume. I have to be clear on who my target audience is. How would someone perceive what I'm saying in this document? Is it meeting their needs specifically? It doesn't mean you have to cram all the non-relevant stuff in there, you can summarize it. But having a real understanding of how are you answering their call, their need, and drilling down to that. Reading job descriptions, if you're not sure, that's okay. A lot of people, they don't know what they want to do. That's maybe where a career coach can help you work through that process because you really have to have that clarity. If you don't know what you want to do then how do you expect an employer to know that either. Having some help or using some online tools such as MBTI, Myers-Briggs, and some of the other tests can help you, or working with a career coach like I mentioned are all things that you can use to help pinpoint or narrow down what your focus is. Then have a separate resume for each one of those areas that addresses that. Mac Prichard: I hear that from a lot of employers. They tell me that when they're interviewing candidates the question that's often going through their mind first and foremost is, “What can this person do for me? I've got problems. I've got work piling up on a desk. How is this person going to make my life easier?” They say that the candidates who address that are the ones who stand out. Dawn Rasmussen: Exactly, you need to figure out what the pain points are of the employer and how you're going to solve them for them, and then write your resume in a way that shows specific examples of how you have addressed those pain points in a relevant way that matches the job requirements. Mac Prichard: Let's get back to purpose and vision. Many people may switch careers several times during the course of their working life. How have you seen people when they're thinking about changing careers do that successfully? Dawn Rasmussen: It's really, Mac it boils down to looking at what are my transferable skill set. For some people it's a pretty easy leap. I'll give you an example. There was one client of mine. She was in Chicago and she was a writer. She wrote books. She did the whole publicity, marketing, and all that kind of stuff, familiar with that aspect. Then she really had a passion for wine to the degree that she was going down to California and spending time with the wine maker. She actually did a bootcamp where you make your own wine. She toured with the wine maker. She worked part time in a very high end wine store in Chicago and her passion was to really get into promoting wine. By looking at breaking down her transferable skillsets it was an opportunity for her to basically say wine marketing specialist. We married her marketing skills plus her wine knowledge into a resume that really covered all those bases. It was a easy step for her. For some people, they don't have that immediate step in front of them. My suggestion is that if you're considering a career change, don't despair, you have to take an inventory of what skillsets that are relevant to where you want to go that you actually possess, and if there are gaps there are opportunities to add in experience. For example, you can take a class that would fill in a knowledge gap area so then you remove that liability from your job search. A second thing might be volunteering for a professional organization or a civic organization, performing the types of tasks that would matter towards where you want to go. Finally, for the people that are in school that may have gone back to school, they're more the nontraditional learners that they're going back and maybe getting a new degree or re-purposing their background, I suggest that you really go through your classroom experience and think about what projects, what kinds of papers, what kinds of experiments or anything else that would be real life applications of the concepts you're learning and cite those as examples in your resume. Your header should be relevant experience which can encompass both paid, volunteer, and educational experience, so that way it’s sort of a loophole. Mac Prichard: What I'm hearing is be clear about your purpose, be prepared to switch jobs throughout the course of your career or even switch careers, and when you're ready to switch careers Dawn think about those transferable skills or you acquire them and document them. Now how do people know it's time to switch? A lot of people I think don't think about these things until someone says, “Oh there's a great job over at this company or this nonprofit organization.” Or they get a new boss and things aren't working out well and then they try to catch up. So instead of thinking about their career over the long term and the investments they need to make, they try to catch up and do all these things when perhaps it's too late or things they might have done. What are some of the habits that you see people who are successful career managers adopt and practice during the 30 or 40 years they'll be in the workplace? Dawn Rasmussen: Oh gosh, there's so many. Networking is probably job number one. We do tend to get quite a bit complacent once we take on a new job. The heavy lifting’s been done. You beat all the connections. You've landed that job. People are usually so consumed with learning the ropes of the new job that they really don't invest as much time or energy into the networking piece that they were spending during the job search phase. My biggest concerns I see a lot of people just tune in and tune out basically on the networking. “I'm too busy. I don't have time to go to this networking function. I don't have time to do that.” Your networking piece is really the critical life line. Most people find jobs through someone they know. I know and I think its Gerry Crispin from CareerCrossroads had a statistic that said if you apply only online you have a 2% chance of getting interviewed. If you apply and you apply working through someone that you know you have about a 50% chance of getting interviewed. That really in stark contrast really shows how directly the networking impacts your job search success. Building that relationship and nurturing it and continuing the conversation from the initial meeting point is going to be critical for laying the groundwork in the future, not only just when you need to talk to them, but they may consider you and may come to you organically unsolicited even. That could be one way. Another thing that I see a lot people doing that are really good career managers is that they always see professional development as a center to their own development so that they can continue to learn and grow their skill sets. Employers are hiring subject matter experts. The more that you can gain job specific knowledge, it can be anything related to your particular job function, your industry, or management, anything in those realms, those are some things you should be adding one or two activities a couple of times a year so you show progressive job knowledge. If your employer doesn't pay for it this is absolutely an investment you need to make in yourself. It's not something you can say, “Well, throw up my hands. The boss won't pay for it. Oh well, I won't do it.” Really? You can't do that. Mac Prichard: Yeah, I think that's- Dawn Rasmussen: You need to be able to invest in yourselves. Mac Prichard: That's an excellent point about investing into yourself. Just to back up and think about that, people who apply only on online job boards, and that's 2% success rate that you cited, to put that in perspective I think 8% of people apply to Ivy League Colleges get in, so you may have a better chance of getting into Harvard than to getting a job on an online job board. Dawn Rasmussen: Lots of pretty ... Oh I love a good statistic. I love that one. The other thing I was going to mention too is that getting involved, I mean, we're all pressed for time. It's really hard to try to carve out the volunteer experience, but by golly, that's another way to get familiar with other people and similar types of jobs, and you end up becoming a known quantity as you give back through either volunteer experience if you're on a committee or on a board. Those are all really important factors as well as far as the people are really successful. They're the ones who are constantly doing those types of things. I realize not everybody is this super type A person, but you don't have to be the leader of the committee. You can be involved in volunteering and be that background person too and that's okay. It's just, make yourself known because no one is going to just reach out directly to you and say, “I'm going to help you throughout the rest of your career.” That doesn't happen. Mac Prichard: Get away, step away from the desk, get out in the community, go to a professional association meeting, do informational interviews, and volunteer when and where you can. Dawn Rasmussen: There's some other simple things too that, if I could just interject, that if you go to a conference, write a recap of some of the biggest things, your biggest takeaways and share it with your office. Your boss sees the value, and them sending you to the office and you help enhance the knowledge of your colleagues, that's a great way to really help show value to the organization too. There's a lot of things you can be doing all at once. It doesn't mean that you'd have to enact thus immediately when you start looking for a job. If you're constantly doing it, it's adding to that momentum, that river I was talking about. Mac Prichard: We're coming to the end of our time together. I want to hit any of the remaining points that you'd like to address. But one thing I'd like to bring up is when I talk to job seekers I think many people get this, they understand they need to think about their career over the long term, they need to think about how to manage it, and they need to get out into the community. One of the biggest barriers that they share with me that they face is fear. They're not sure how to do it. They're worried about rejection. Tell us about examples that you've seen of people who have overcome fear and how they do it? Dawn Rasmussen: I think a lot of it, there could be the fear of rejection and the salary discussion. I think why people have a lot of trepidation about that particular discussion in particular are because you're finally putting a number on what you're worth, what you think your value is. By spending some time and doing some research and really looking at the numbers you should start to feel very comfortable based on what you know your contributions are. That should really help you justify what your salary requirements are. Part of that is making a business case. The business case comes from keeping track of your accomplishments. The more you can quantify results and show benefits to employers that means that you have demonstrable valuable value to the company, and if you can back it up then no one is going to question your numbers, they're going to say, “Okay, I really see how important this person is,” and be willing and able to talk about it. That's thinking about it and owning it really. Mac Prichard: Those are great negotiating strategies. When you think about career management in general Dawn and people who are uncertain about how to begin and get stock, how have you seen people overcome that? Dawn Rasmussen: I think that they realize at some point that they need help and they reach out to maybe career coaches or writers or talk to mentors or talk to their trusted confidants. Everybody goes through a period of fear I think in their career management at least once or twice. I don't know if you have Mac, but I know I have. Mac Prichard: Oh no, I certainly have. I've been stuck myself. Dawn Rasmussen: You have to swallow the fear because ultimately, like I said before, there is no job security, you really have to be your own advocate, so understanding and gravitating into that mindset will help you realize that no one is going to do it but you. Mac Prichard: I too have gotten stuck several times in my career. I've gone through two long periods of unemployment. What helped me overcome that fear and those obstacles was to get out and talk to people through informational interviews and follow many of the strategies that you've laid out, volunteering and networking. Dawn Rasmussen: Exactly. Mac Prichard: Tell our listeners how they can find you online and learn more about your book and your company. Dawn Rasmussen: My web address is www.pathfindercareers.com. I've got all kinds of social media links. I'm on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn, so you're more than welcome to connect me there. It's pretty easy find. Mac Prichard: Thank you Dawn. Joining us today has been Dawn Rasmussen, president of Pathfinder Writing and Career Services. Thank you for being on Find Your Dream Job, Dawn. Dawn Rasmussen: Thanks for having me. Mac Prichard: Joining me in the studio today are Ben Forstag, managing director of Mac's List, and Cecilia Bianco, our community manager at Mac's List. How are you two doing today? Cecilia Bianco: Good Mac. Ben Forstag: I'm great. Mac Prichard: Good. It's a pleasure to have you here. Every week Ben scours the internet looking for blogs, podcasts, and other tools you can use in your job search, and Cecilia is listening to you our listeners and she joins us to answer your questions. Ben, let's start with you. What do you have for us this week? Ben Forstag: Mac this week Dan Rasmussen talked about all career management. That is essentially preparing yourself for the uncontrollable changes in your work life. This is a great thing to master because as we all know the only constant into this world is change. What do you guys feel about change? Mac Prichard: I have two minds about it. I certainly enjoyed the opportunities that changing jobs has brought, especially the chance to learn new skills. But I have to also share with our listeners it's scary going into a new office, and learning the ways of a new boss, and mastering new responsibilities. Cecilia Bianco: I agree with Mac. I think change can be both refreshing and difficult, but I think that it's good to adapt to change and to keep learning how to better deal with it throughout your career so it's a good learned skill to have. Ben Forstag: Yeah, I think most people struggle with change at some point in their life, and I do think it is a skill that you can learn. My suggested resource this week is a book that provides some perspective on how to successfully navigate change, whether that change happens in your work or your private life. The book is called "Who moved my cheese" by Dr. Spencer Johnson. This is a best seller back in the late 90s. Have either of you heard of it? Cecilia Bianco: I haven't actually. I missed this one. Mac Prichard: I do remember this book Ben. In 1999 I was the Y2K communications manager for the Oregon Department of Human Services. My boss at the time, a terrific fellow, Dan Postrel, had a copy on his desk. He was a big fan of it. Ben Forstag: This book was everywhere in the late 90s. I remember when I was training to become a YMCA camp counselor they actually gave us a copy to help us with that job. This is a fast and easy read. But I think it contains a lot of good takeaways. The book is a parable about mice and very tiny people trapped inside a maze looking for cheese. When the usual source of their cheese disappears the characters responded different ways. The mice, who are evidently moreresourceful than the humans, were already prepared for change and quickly move on to find other sources of cheese. The humans in the meantime are paralyzed by the question of who moved our cheese. Resistance to change and fear of the unknown prevent them from adapting to new realities and ultimately keep them from what they want. Cheese of course is just a metaphor for anything that you're searching for or anything that you want. It could be happiness or career contentment or new a job. When the book was really popular and the business world was using it as a training tool cheese was often representative of higher profits and increased sufficiency. The author doesn't ever say that. He never really says what cheese is at all. It's up for the reader to decide and really there's no answer or wrong answer. It's whatever you think or want. The book can't tell you what's important to you obviously, but it can provide some perspective on how to navigate a constantly changing world to help you find your own personal cheese. I recently reread the book after almost 20 years and I got a lot of value from it. Folks who are going through the uncertainty of a job change or a career change will definitely find some good lessons as well. Check out "Who moved my cheese," by Spencer Johnson. You can find it on Amazon or any major bookstore. We'll provide a link to it in the show notes for this podcast. Cecilia, since you haven't read it, this is your homework for the next week. Cecilia Bianco: Okay Ben, I will get on that. Mac Prichard: Thanks Ben. Again, if you have a recourse that you'd like to share with our listeners please write Ben. His email address is ben@macslist.org. He is standing by his computer right now, waiting to hear from you. While he's doing that, hitting the refresh button constantly on his email. Let's move to Cecilia. Cecilia, what are you hearing from our listeners this week? Cecilia Bianco: Thanks Mac. This week our question is: How I can transition from the for-profit to the nonprofit sector? As you know we get this question at every event. It's a common question from our readers. We actually had it at our most recent spring panel. It was our first event at University of Portland. I'm sure Mac remembers this. Mac Prichard: It's a wonderful venue up there and a beautiful campus. Cecilia Bianco: Ben, I remember you were in the crowd as a guest and you actually asked our panelists a question. You got on the mike. I remember that. Ben Forstag: I'm sorry that you do remember that. But yes, this was before I worked at Mac's List, back when I was back in nonprofit management. Cecilia Bianco: I bring this up because one of our panelists actually asked this specific question, how to transition from the for-profit to the nonprofit. She had a really interesting answer that stuck with me. She was the HR consultant for Oregon Health and Sciences University Foundation and she said that she has found for-profit backgrounds to actually be more valuable in some cases to a nonprofit. She said that they bring some skills that nonprofit professionals sometimes don't have from their work in the industry. That really stuck with me because we don't hear it a lot and we hear people in the for-profit industry nervous and thinking they can't transition because they don't have what nonprofits are looking for. One of the most important things that I got from that it's a transition you can make but you have to focus on framing your application to meet what the nonprofit is looking for. As Dawn mentioned earlier one of the most important things to do is to focus on your transferable skills and how can you apply your for-profit experience to show how it will contribute to a nonprofit success and the needs that they have. I think that's one of the most important ways to start your transition. What about you Mac because I know you get this all the time too? Mac Prichard: I agree. Highlighting your transferable skills is a very smart thing to do. The other lesson I draw from that story that you're sharing with us Cecilia is the importance of going to the source. If you have an objection in your mind about finding a job in a sector, or organization, or company, get out there and talk to people in that sector or in that organization and in that company and ask about the concern. This [inaudible 00:26:02] you, we’re hearing from the source, a human resources director at a foundation who says she's eager to hear from people in the private sector and that the trick is to highlight your transferable skills. Ben Forstag: Yeah, I'd agree with that Mac. I think the good news here is that there's a lot of new pressures on the nonprofits sector to compete for limited resources, and a lot of nonprofits are bringing in new practices that they've gotten from the for- profit world so folks who have experience in sales or business analytics or statistics there's a lot of new opportunities for folks like that in the nonprofit world. Cecilia Bianco: Yeah, I definitely agree Ben. I think I would add that another important thing for people to do is to get on the community and network and volunteer and get to hear the things that they're not getting in their for-profit background so that they can know what's going on in the nonprofit world and get connected to the important people and learn the important keywords. I actually just spoke with a reader recently. He took the advice that we're always telling people. He was coming from the public sector to the nonprofit industry and what he did was he made it a big part of his life to get out in the community and network. This helped him learn the skills that he needed to work on that he was lacking. Because everyone in the nonprofit community when you get out there, they want to help you and they'll give you the information you need, so you just need to put yourself out there which is exactly what he did, and be on networking. He also volunteered at Habitat for Humanity. This gave him some really great connections and he ended up learning the skills he needed to work in a nonprofit and he actually recently landed a job. You'll see him featured on our blog shortly. I'm sure Mac will look forward to that. He loves hearing our reader stories. Mac Prichard: I do enjoy those stories. If you have one in addition to a question but you want to share your own story about finding a job again Cecilia's address is cecilia@macslist.org. These segments by Ben and Cecilia are sponsored by the Mac's List Guides, publisher of our new book "Land Your Dream Job in Portland and Beyond." Now the Mac's List Guides give you the tools you need to get the job you want. We show you how to crack the hidden job market, stand out in a competitive field, and how to manage your career. In each of the books’ eight chapters experts share job hunting secrets like how to hear about positions that are never posted and what you can do to interview and negotiate like a pro. You can download the first chapter of the book for free. Just visit macslist.org/macslistguides. Thank you for listening. We'll be back next week with more tools and tips you can use to find your dream job. In the meantime visit us at macslist.org where you can sign up for our free newsletter with more than 100 new jobs every week. If you like what you hear on our show you can help us by leaving a review, a comment, and a rating at iTunes. Thanks for listening.

Really? You let us do 60 of these? Thank you so much for the support it means the world. Today we talk about what happens when your competitor is on social when you are not and how you can swipe right for tickets.

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: Lucy Sanders:  Hi, this is Lucy Sanders. I'm the CEO of NCWIT, The National Center for Women and Information Technology. This is another in a series of interviews that we're having with wonderful women entrepreneurs, people who have started innovative companies, doing great things. All the way from cars, to web services, to education, and lots of interesting entrepreneurs in this interview series. With me Larry Nelson, w3w3.com. Hi, Larry. Larry Nelson:  Hi, I'm so happy to be here. This sounds like it's going to be a real interesting interview. Of course it'll be in a few different places, including on w3w3.com, where you can listen to it anytime you want. Lucy:  That's awesome. Well today, we are interviewing an entrepreneur in the quote "gamification space." The combination of education and the gaming fields, and also, I'm very proud to say a NCWIT member company in our entrepreneurial alliance. Moira Hardek is the president and CEO of Galvanize Labs. Galvanize Labs is a hybrid education and gaming company focused on teaching critical technology skills. They have produced a number of educational video games and most recently, a game called "Taken Charge." That's a merge of players and very captivating learning stories while teaching them some of the fundamental building blocks of a quality technology education. Before that, Moira spent a number of years at Best Buy where she created and piloted a program I think many of our listeners will know well as part of the Geek Squad Summer Academy. This was a really great hands‑on technology education camp. It's still going on today. Very successful, and had a particular emphasis on young women. Before we start with the interview questions, Moira, why don't you give us a little bit about the latest at Galvanize Labs? This is a relatively recent startup, correct? Moira Hardek:  Yes, we're just a little bit over a year old, and our big launch right now is Taken Charge. Taken Charge is all about teaching about the building blocks of technology education. To be able to get into things like coding and game design and more advanced technology topics, we are teaching the building blocks of technology to get more kids prepared to get into more advanced topics of tech education, and we're really excited about it. Lucy:  This is a follow‑up question to that. You're in this hot space of computing education in the K‑12, K‑16 spaces. What are you seeing out there that's going on? Is there a shift, do you think, in the general public's interest of this area? Moira:  I think so, definitely. Technology is everywhere. It's not just an industry and a field to work in, although it's a very, very exciting place to work in. Technology is part of any type of career that you want to be part of. We used to ask that of all of our students when we were taking other types of programs. We've challenged kids. They would say, "I don't know if I really need to have Tech Ed, because I don't know if I want to be a programmer, and I don't know if I want to be a game designer." We challenge them, we said, "Can you name a career or name a job where you're not going to interact with technology?" You can't anymore, so this is important across any type of career that you're going to have. We think this is just a key building block for anything you're going to do today. Lucy:  We agree. We think too, at NCWIT, that we're seeing a key change here and it's good. It's about time. Galvanize Labs is going to play a huge role in that. Moira, why don't you tell our listeners how you first got interested in technology? You had a technology career at Best Buy, and Geek Squad Academy, and now at Galvanize. Tell us a bit about how you got there. Moira:  First, it's that interest in technology, I think probably the way that you get interested in anything. It was just purely curiosity. Not to date myself, but there weren't computer or tech‑ed classes when I was in school. That stuff really wasn't available, and I think the first computers that I ever saw was Apple IIE's, and giant Gateway towers that were like three and a half feet tall. I was just curious. I just wanted to know what they were and I knew just enough to be dangerous. I think I'll never forget the first thing I ever did was, I'd deleted a file that was called "AutoExec.Batch" because I was like, "I've never seen that, or used that before, so I can just delete that [laughs] and get rid of it." Little did I know, you need that for Windows to start. I knew enough to be dangerous. Being dangerous means I did damage. Then I had to learn how to repair things. That's was how I got started... Lucy:  [laughs] Moira:  ...was I was just really self‑taught. Lucy:  [laughs] Larry:  Wow. Lucy:  I guess that's how you learn how to repair things. I have to tell you a similar story that when Bell Labs first brought Unix from out of Murray Hill and West of the Mississippi, I was one of the first Unix Administrators on a little PDP server, and one of my colleagues dared me to erase a file that was a root file. To sit up at root and do an RM minus RF star and he goes, "Certainly it won't allow you to erase the whole file system." [laughter [ Lucy:  Guess what? Certainly it did. [laughter] Moira:  Yeah. Lucy:  Everybody started complaining, "Where are my files? Where are my files?" I almost didn't want to come to work the next day. Larry:  [laughs] Lucy:  It was bad. Moira:  It was the lure of gaming too. I never really had played computer games or anything like that. Someone had told me a story about this game, and it was like, "You can build civilizations." I really like history, and I was like, "Really? You can watch history evolve digitally?" They said, "Yeah, there's this game, it's called Civilization, and it's by this guy Sid Meier." I was like, "That sounds like the coolest thing." It was the original Civ, but you could really only play it on Linux. I was like, "What's that?" They said, "It's another operating system." I was like, "What do you mean? There's Windows, and what else is there?" I didn't know. I learned enough, and I remember I had to learn how to create partitions and a parallel boot on my first laptop I ever to at college. It was a disaster, and I totally blew it up, and I think it took me like three months. I finally figured out how to do it, all because I wanted to see Civilization. Lucy:  That's amazing. Larry:  Yes, wow. You certainly do have a very interesting website too, by the way. Lucy:  Plus, I'm sending her all my broken tech. [laughter] Larry:  Well, very good, excellent, excellent. Oh no, but with all of this in the field that you're in, why are you an entrepreneur, and what is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Moira:  For me, it was just about being able to solve problems. That is just my favorite thing to do, whether it's around the house...Actually, the first thing that I studied in college, and that I was interested in, and I got into it actually in high school, was animal behaviors. I thought that was so interesting because it was very pure and very simplistic. It was "Why do animals do things?" without the complexity of human emotion behind it, and the drama that we can create, and the circumstances of our situation. It was really just about narrowing it down to the simplest basic need. Problem‑solving became something that was really important to me, and so entrepreneurship became really very natural, because to me it's all about "see a need, fill a need." It became, "find a problem, solve a problem." That was my favorite part, and I love to do it, whether it's...I think that's probably why I initially started in tech support, and the same way from...I really wanted to see what the game Civilization looked like, and I spent months. I was, "Darn it," I was going to see that game. I wanted to solve for that. That was the biggest thing for me, and entrepreneurship to me is about solving problems, and I love to do it, and it's why I get up in the morning, is to solve a problem. Larry:  I love it. Lucy:  Along this career path, who has influenced you, what types of mentors or role models? Moira:  Oh my God, I have tons. I think... Larry:  [laughs] Moira:  ...the funniest thing right now, the one that everybody gets a kick out of is I am probably some creepy, perfect hybrid of my parents. My mom spent 35 plus years in Chicago public schools as a teacher, and as a counselor, and special‑ed. My father worked in a lot of Silicon Valley start‑ups, back in the day. To be doing educational start‑ups now is just hilarious for my whole family. It's some perfect kind of...It was very natural to me, growing up around this type of environment. I had no idea what it was when I was a kid. It just seemed to make sense. I never really understood the barriers of big business. It was just always, "Yeah, if you want to do something, go out and do it." As far as mentors go, and role models, my parents were great role models. I have one sister, my older sister Kerry. I think she's probably got to be the greatest role model of strength I've ever had. I've spent most of my life looking to my sister and just drawing from her as an example of strength for my whole life. I've had great role models to look to in the industry. A big role model for me was Brad Anderson. He was the CEO of Best Buy for the majority of the time that I was there. People like Dr. Genevieve Bell from Intel, and Jane McGonigal, I think are other great role models. I have been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors. Probably the most impact was a gentleman named Michael Trebony, and he was my mentor for years while I was at Best Buy, and he's still very influential in my life today. Maybe one of the most important things that he taught me was...There are a lot of really charismatic people out there, there are a ton of leaders, there's a lot of people to listen to, there's a lot of influence. I think maybe the most important thing that he taught to me, "It's not so much about what people say, it's about who's saying it, and what are their intentions when they're speaking to you" I think that was probably one of the most powerful things he taught me. Larry:  Wow. Who is saying it? Well, I'm going to ask you the question now. [laughter] Larry:  What is the toughest thing that you've had to do in your career? Moira:  Probably the hardest thing was making the original jump from working for a company, the original jump into starting my own. Working with me was my team, and we've been together for a while. I think that the scariest part, or the toughest thing for me, is the sense of responsibility that I feel for the team that is Galvanize Labs. There's seven of us that make up the company currently now, I'm incredibly close to all of them. The sense of responsibility [laughs] that I feel for their careers, and their futures, and their families, I think has to probably be the scariest thing I've ever done. I feel so responsible for them. That is the only thing that's ever given me a moment of pause. Usually, I'm pretty risk‑averse, and it really can roll off my back. I probably little bit live on the edge, but when it comes to risking others, that's always the hardest thing. Lucy:  That is hard. Larry:  Yeah, it is. Lucy:  That is hard, and that sense of responsibility never goes away. Moira:  Yeah, it's brutal. [laughs] Lucy:  I know it is. [laughs] You can't just shut it off, and that's for sure. If you were sitting here right now, and giving a young person advice about entrepreneurship, and the things you've learned so far, what advice would you give them? Moira:  I think probably the most important thing is, and I made this mistake early on too, is don't do it alone, and you're never alone. It's funny, for the mentors, and the role models that I had, and the things that you read online. Even to be sitting here doing this interview. I do this interview here as an individual. I don't want to send the message that I've never done it alone. I haven't. I've always had wonderful support of my family, and my spouse, and my team, and my mentors. I've never been alone. I think, when you look at those that are running companies, and those that you look up to, you're looking at an individual. You make this assumption, "Wow, look at what they did, and they did it alone, and they persevered." They're not, they're not doing it alone. They have support, and they have help, and there's a lot of people around them. Don't ever try to do it alone. Bring that support with you. It's OK to ask for help, and it's OK to make sure that you're surrounded. You really want to have that. Then I think the flip side of that is my favorite word, the one that got me through all this was, relentless. That's just what you have to be is just be relentless. Larry:  I like that too. With all the different things that you've been through, and reflecting back, what characteristics do you have that give you the advantage of being an entrepreneur? Moira:  I probably think I'd have to go back to my parents for that one again. In that when we were growing up, they instilled this great sense of personal responsibility. No matter what was happening. I remember getting in trouble as a little kid. We all did it. I'll admit it. You go to point the finger. Particularly at my sister, you have a sibling, it was like, "She did it." No matter what happened, they were like, "What did you do? How were you responsible for it, what could you have done to stop the situation from happening?" It was always about personal responsibility, and even if you saw a problem, and whether you chose to act, and it turned out well, or it didn't, or if you chose not to act, that was still your responsibility. I think the biggest piece about this is really the personal responsibility, so from the responsibility to Galvanize as a company, and the responsibility that I feel towards my team, the responsibility that I feel for the problem that I'm trying to solve. Part of the reason that Galvanize is here is I'm trying to solve a problem, and I feel personally responsible to do that, because I have a skill set that allows me to solve it. That's what brings me here. I think that particular characteristic is what I bring to the table as an entrepreneur, and makes a big difference. Lucy:  It's interesting that you point out this area of personal responsibility when you choose not to act. Moira:  That's a choice too. That's always a big one is choice, and not acting is also a choice. I think most people...I don't know if everybody sees it that way, and again I really felt I had to think how deeply that was instilled in me and ingrained in me is that not acting is also a choice, and you're responsible for that as well. Lucy:  Wow. I think that's so tremendously important, and we don't hear that said very much. There was this one time when I took a leadership course when I was working at AT&T. They were trying to make a point with us, choosing not to act, and not to bring up problems when you see them, and they called it sabotage. [laughter] Lucy:  I thought for a while "Whoa! That's a strong word!" Obviously, I never forgot it. There is an element of truth to that, when you choose not to act. Maybe not. Moira you have a spouse, and you have other friends and family, and other personal interests, and also a busy professional life. How do you bring balance to all the different things you do? Moira:  You hear the conversations a lot about work‑life balance. I've sat in those seminars too, where we get sent to those when you work for a big company, about work‑life balance. I watched a lot of people struggle with it. I was really confused for a while. I didn't feel it, and I didn't see it. I watched people struggle with it, and I thought something was wrong with me. Lucy:  [laughs] Moira:  I remember talking to my spouse about it and I said, "Am I missing something?" What dawned on me is, and it almost had to be explained to me, was the greatest part about what I'm able to do, I know I'm so lucky and blessed to have this is, what I do for a living is also who I am for a living. I bring who I am in my personal life to work every single day. Sure, I don't know if I'd sit through as many conferences as I would, if it was a personal choice. There are some [laughs] professional lines you do draw. As far as my day‑to‑day, and I'll admit there are certainly some hundred‑hour work weeks, and there have been some overnighters. This is a start‑up it's going to happen. The greatest part about myself and my team is what we all do for our jobs is who we are. We have a ton of fun with that. I couldn't tell you where I laugh more. Do I laugh more in my home or at work? I really don't know, because I laugh a lot at both. There's joking, and there may be a little singing and dancing. You've got to dance it out. [laughs] We just have a lot of fun with it because it's just who we are. For me, I really haven't had to struggle with that. I know sometimes from the outside it can be tough, again having an incredibly supportive family. Particularly with my spouse, who puts up with my really crazy hours. I think a lot of the patience comes from...I may be on my laptop, and in virtual meetings at two o'clock in the morning sometimes. She can hear my laughter, and so it's OK. [laughter] Larry:  That's excellent, wow. You've really shared some very excellent ideas, and I have to ask you this. You've already achieved a great deal. What's next for you? Moira:  As far as what's next? It's simple. We like to solve problems, and there will always be more problems, which means more solutions. That's what's we're looking to do. At Galvanize we have four pillars that really define who we are. We think that combining these four pillars can very effectively solve any problem. The pillars for us are, the first one is data, so being able to collect data and information to properly analyze a problem. We believe very, very strongly in education. It's not just education as in school, although that's what Taken Charge is very focused the education of kids. Even whether it's educating someone on a product, or learning about your city in which you live, or learning about the smartphone that you have, knowledge is power, so education is big for us. Game theory, for us, is really what drives everything, and that's our third pillar. Game theory is all about creating internal motivation. It's not just gamification, it's not just having fun, but creating motivation for your user. Then the fourth pillar being a great user experience, and nobody's going to do anything if they have a lousy experience. We think those four things in combination can solve any problem, and we have a laundry list of problem that we'd love to solve. Once we solve this tech ed things, we've got that covered, we'll move on to the next problem. Lucy:  See? Larry:  Yes. Lucy:  It gives me great hope, because we're going to have all of these young people learning these really critical 21st Century skills, and they need them. Larry:  Thank you Galvanize. Lucy:  Yeah, [laughs] thank you. Thank you, Moira. We really appreciate your time. Moira:  Well, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Lucy:  I want to remind listeners that they can find these interviews at the ncwit.org website, as well as the wonderful w3w3.com. Larry:  Yes. Lucy:  All right, well thank you Moira. We really appreciate it. Moira:  [laughs] Thanks a lot. Lucy:  OK. Larry:  Thanks a lot. Lucy:  Have a great week. Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Moira HardekInterview Summary: Moira Hardek is President and CEO of Galvanize Labs, Inc (http://galvanizelabs.com/) which she founded in early 2013. Galvanize Labs is a hybrid education and gaming company focusing on teaching technology as a subject, instead of merely a collection of topics.  Galvanize Labs has produced the browser-based, technology education video game, Taken Charge (https://takenchargegame.com/), that submerges players in a captivating story while teaching them the building blocks need for quality technology education. " I have been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors. Probably the most impact was a gentleman named Michael Trebony, and he was my mentor for years while I was at Best Buy, and he's still very influential in my life today," said Hardek about who has helped her along the way. "Maybe one of the most important things that he taught me was that it's not so much about what people say, it's about who's saying it, and what are their intentions when they're speaking to you." Release Date: July 25, 2014

“Really? You’re not that big.” So says Diane. You wanna know what was big? AMC’s The Walking Dead premier! And Paul and Danielle were in attendance. WARNING. We spoil the F*&K out of The Walking Dead. Later, Jon plays a voice mail from … Continue reading →

So, here's the dillio, YO! The one and only tween entertainment reporter, planets youngest podcaster, princess of the press (yup, this is getting old) PIPER REESE found herself in YouTube land after TeamPiper said "Hey! Let's drop in at VICON for a few hours." Not long after, we ran into the AWESOMELY talented TAY ZONDAY! REALLY - You've GOT to check out TAY's version of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"! His voice is TOTALLY PiPeRiFiC - ONE OF A KIND!!! He does TONS of his OWN music - really kewl, smart guy AND he's even done a funny video with JENNETTE MCCURDY - yupperz! Chocolate Rain! Be SURE to sub 2 Tay:http://www.youtube.com/TayZondayhttp://www.twitter.com/TayZonday"You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxeYXyPv6lA"RUNNING FROM THE CONCRETE": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCeXTl86ud4 Title: TAY ZONDAY CHOCOLATE RAIN Vidcon Exclusive Interview & Sings Something About Piper's Picks TV PIPER on iMDB: http://imdb.me/PiperReese REGISTER on PIPERSPICKS.TV: http://piperspicks.tv/INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/PipersPIcksTVTWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/PipersPicksTVFACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/PipersPicksTV ©2015 Piper's Picks® TV

It's Really You

Cristina stopped in to talk about Peter Steele's unexpected death. Steele is best known for being the singer and songwriter of goth/metal band Type O Negative. He died of heart failure at the age of 48.PS, Also, hey, I'm sick. I haven't been feeling good since Saturday, and I fear it's probably because I went out every night for the past three weeks. I must've picked up this bug from standing too close to someone sick or just simply that mother nature is trying to shut me down. Either case, I'm taking it easy this next few weeks.W♥M Radio will be going on hiatus for a while. You see, I've become increasingly unhappy with the Comcast service I'm getting. For the most part Comcast works, but on the days when it's not working, it's very frustrating. For instance, today (Tuesday), it's been going in and out sporadically. It happens on all the holidays (the most recent being on Easter when I was so mad that I couldn't get any work done).So here's the thing, I pay $60 a month for their "high-speed" service, and I'm gone for twelve hours a day for my day job and going to shows at night, so when I am home, I just expect it to work, you know? And don't tell me it's my modem or my router, I do know how to reset them if it comes to that.What's my alternative? I can't/won't use DSL. Really? You want me to hook up a phone line first? Really??? No thank you. There's basically no cable-type internet in my area, so my only option will have to be the free wifi coffee shops. I am probably going with the free option with also a $30 unlimited AT&T data plan for the iPad, which is not out until May 7th, so I'll have to wait for this option. That's my plan, I'll probably get rid of Comcast in June or July, we'll see. Subscription OptionsSubscribe on iTunesSubscribe via RSSAdd to GoogleAdd to Yahoo____Archive of this show at archive.org.

Really? You don't love your body because your dick is too big? If you find yourself with so much time on your hands that you have to worry about not loving your body because your dick is too big, then you certainly have enough time to go out and find someone else who does love it that big.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"-Isaac AsimovA magician calls a man up on stage, hands him a mallet and instructs the guy to hit him as hard as possible on the head. The magician then proceeds to put his head down on a wooden block. The man shrugs his shoulders and takes a mighty swing.Three years later, the magician wakes up from a coma in the hospital and goes..."Taa-Daa!""How does it change many dyslexics to take a lightbulb?"Go back up to the previous one-liner and reread it word by word.I’m putting this joke in not because it’s overly funny but because I think that I’ve actually done this. Two IT guys were talking in a bar after work."Guess what," says the first IT guy, "yesterday, I met this gorgeous blonde in a bar.""What did you do?" says the other IT guy."Well, I invited her over to my place, we had a couple of drinks, we got into the mood and then she suddenly asked me to take all her clothes off.""You're kidding me!" says the second IT guy."I took her miniskirt off, and then I lifted her and put her on my desk next to my new laptop.""Really? You got a new laptop?"I was looking stuff up online when I found this on the CDC (center for Disease control) website:“All persons who are obese or overweight should try not to gain additional weight. In addition, those who are obese or who are overweight with other risk factors should consider losing weight.”“Bill Fabrey, co-owner of Amplestuff in Bearsville, N.Y., has been thinking big since 1988, when he started his mail-order business specializing in products for the larger set.”FMC Note: PEOPLE ARE NOT “LARGE SET.” Large Set is something used to describe your baseball card collection."Quantas Problem Solving"After every flight, Qantas' pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet" which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, & then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots & the solutions recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.(P= The problem logged by the pilot.)(S= The solution and action taken by mechanics.)P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.P: Something loose in cockpit.S: Something tightened in cockpit.P: Dead bugs on windshield.S: Live bugs on backorder.P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.S: Evidence removed.P: DME volume unbelievably loud.S: DME volume set to more believable level.P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.S: That's what they're for.P: IFF inoperative.S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.P: Suspected crack in windshield.S: Suspect you're right.P: Number 3 engine missing.S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.P: Aircraft handles funny.S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, & be serious.P: Target radar hums.S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.P: Mouse in cockpit.S: Cat installed.P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.S: Took hammer away from midget.Lost within my own mind and quite happy to be so.-FMCFMC Answers Another Philosophical Question:Q: "Is the glass half full or half empty"A: "Which glass? Where I don't see one"A: "HEY WHO DRANK HALF THE WATER!"FMC solution to the Pot Problem:I recently came up with the prefect solution to the marijuana problem. For those of you with no clue what the problem with pot is we're in the same boat. But apparently some people think it's addictive. Well, so is smoking, porn, alcohol, porn, smoking, gambling, TV, smoking, the internet, eating, alcohol and porn, but only 2 of those thing kills people directly AND indirectly. And I got news for you - they all can ruin lives but chances are if when you step up and spin that addiction wheel and it lands on pot it could have just as easily been alcohol, or heroin. Some people say it's a gateway drug and if you are one of those people please grab your mouse wrap it tightly around your neck and pull both ends until you reach a happy place. Alcohol is a gateway drug I'm betting way before pot, do you know anyone that tried pot with out going through a drinking phase?...I’M WAITING….of course you didn't! Anyways, my plan is fines. This solves a lot of problems.1) I didn't make it legal so it's against the law to posses, sell, and smoke it. So that makes the anti-drug people happy.2) More money for the government. That makes the government happy.3) It's moving along the path to be legal, which makes intelligent people happy, AND4) Less people in jail. (Which makes everyone happy).We could have fines for smoking, selling and possessing, and if your carrying more than a pound of the stuff on you everything gets seized and police are free to test it and resell it, and thus making more money for the local law enforcement and probably increase the number of police officers. Can we please get this done and move onto more important things?

Show # 4 Notes: The survivors divide into two groups, the believers trek to the lair of the mantises, while the skeptics seek out the eagles in the mountains. Segment titles: 1.) How's the podcast going? Lemme tell ya. What's that song with the audio from that movie where the guy is, like, the last guy in the world and he's just, just now getting to, uh, you know, know about it and he's all yelling: "Hello?" with all this great echo effect on his voice? You could say that our podcast is like that. Really? You don't know what I'm talking about? How have you not heard of this? Well, in my mind its all bad casio techno like in all those uh...damn...who's that guy...? You know, that WAY better than B list director who made all those B list horror movies that rule the 80's but have that terrible synth music sound (the guy's, like, the composer toooooo...this might just be one guy, now that I'm thinking it through...but)...I think the song is on the soundtrack for that movie. Anyway, you should check it out. 2.) Hey, segment 1...that's a great idea for a movie. 3.) Political Segment #1: If not oxygen then how about pizza? 4.) Musical Segment: Shhhhh...don't get upset. See that cloud? 5.) Random Sampling: Paul's Purchases. 6.) Paul's Apartment is Wack: Design Toscano 7.) http://www.archive.org/details/1960_kennedy-nixon_1 8.) Experimental Informative Segment Take 2

I was watching poker on TV, and I noticed that the players, many of them, had headphones on. I was, like, “Really? You can do that? You can listen to music at the table?” And then I was wondering, “What would a professional player listen to during a high stakes game?” So I went to [...]